On this day
58 years ago, I was in the 8th grade at Ezekiel W. Cullen Junior High School in
Houston. It was a Friday. I had just finished lunch. I went to my algebra
class. The teacher was Raul Munoz. He gave us the sad news that President
Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Reflexively, I told him that he was kidding.
He looked at me sternly. He assured me that it was not a joke.
Television sets went on everywhere in the
school. Soon afterwards we got the news that President Kennedy had died at
Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The whole country was in mourning and glued to
their television sets. Monday was declared a holiday. A man from Texas, Lyndon
Baines Johnson, became president.
Thanksgiving came that year on November
28. My mother, dad, sister, and I got in our 59 Pontiac Catalina. We drove 50
miles south to Galveston, Texas. The road was empty. There was still a feeling of
profound sadness and shock. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at our beloved John's
Oyster Resort. A lot of diners were there. All seemed quiet and subdued.
There has been a massive amount written
about what would have happened had Kennedy lived. To make a long story short, I
do not think that Vietnam would have been the nightmare that it became with
58,000 Americans, 4,000 South Koreans, 500 Australians, and 3.25 million
Vietnamese dead.
A bright light was put out for good.
Only later did we come to appreciate his incredible intellect, great skills as
a leader, and his humanity and compassion.
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