WPCNR NEWS COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. November 22, 2011 (Originally published in 2001):
Forty-eight years ago at about midday today eastern standard time, President John F. Kennedy was shot.
When I heard the news, I was heading up the steps of Gray Chapel at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. It was sobering news. Then within the hour it was reported that the President was dead, and the search was on for potential suspects.
It was the first time in my life a national event had ever affected me.
Persons in their late 50s can probably remember exactly what they were doing when they heard that electrifying news.
Disbelief. Concern. Sadness.
Who would shoot the President? How could they?
President Kennedy’s popularity was ebbing at that time. The public was initially inspired by the vision of Camelot and the likable, energetic young president. However, by the time he was assassinated, President Kennedy was coming under harsh criticism for his foreign policy and his inability to move an agenda through congress. He was ridiculed by impressionists and pushed around by congressional heavyweights.
But, when he was shot, the American public, even those who disagreed with his politics and considered him in over his head in the presidency, were stunned by grief and horror.
Nothing had happened like that in America since 1901 when President William McKinley was assassinated.
An entire nation reflected in guilt for a week as the three television networks showed 24 hours a day assassination and funeral coverage.
Until the Trade Center Horror in 2001, this nation had not experienced anything on that national scale of reaction to an event.
Were we a more sensitive nation then? More sensitive to what killing actually is? I wonder. In the fast-moving sensationalism of news today, would the same sensitivity be there today?
Or, have we been hardened to violence, and do we now see violence as more of an acceptable solution to problems than to be avoided at all costs?
I remember how Americans sat mesmerized in front of their televisions as the Kennedy goodbye played out. I remember, too how Kennedy’s death swiftly paved the way for the landmark Civil Rights act of 1965, legislated by Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. That legislation, without Kennedy’s assassination would probably never have been passed. I believe it passed because of collective guilt over Kennedy’s demise.
For 48 years, politicians, when their charisma is measured, have always been compared to Mr. Kennedy.
However, charisma does not get things done. Does not make for change by itself. It is nice but it achieves nothing unless you have some solid ideas, management skills, and are willing to work hard for it. Even, then, as a recent Kennedyesque President found out, it may not happen.
However, the political rancor and hysterical hatred of our current President expressed in the Republican debates, on talk radio and by candidates who should know better has created an atmosphere of disrespect for the President that exceeds even that aimed at George W. Bush.
The lack of respect for the Presidency today has created an atmosphere that is far more dangerous for the President than we can ever tell.
Ideas and rhetoric are one thing, but to vilify the President on the scale of what we hear today is irresponsible.