JFK Assassination 50th Anniversary

What do the letters JFK bring to mind?  President…Bay of Pigs…Jackie…Cuban Missile Crisis… Dallas…

 John F Kennedy, our 35^th President was a complicated man.  Like many of us, he was both flawed and brilliant.  This month marks the 50^th anniversary of his assassination.  His death marked the end of an era that even he liked to call “Camelot.”  

“Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy,” is a multi-media experience.  In a controversial move, John Kennedy installed hidden recording systems in the Oval Office and in the Cabinet Room.  This book is a result of those recordings.  Along with many pictures, there are two audio CDs in the back of the book with the actual recordings made by the president.

Kitty Kelley wrote “Capturing Camelot”, but in this book, her words are

secondary to the photographs of Stanley Tretick.  A photographer for “Look” magazine, Tretick had extensive access to the President and his family.  When you open this book, you take a glimpse into a blessed life that ended too soon.

The most well known book of the past several years is Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Kennedy: the End of Camelot”.  This perpetual best seller delves in to the life of John F. Kennedy before and during his time in the White House.  As you would expect, this is a “no holds barred” account.  You learn of his failure but eventual heroism during WWII, with the tale of PT-109.  The details of the “Bay of Pigs” debacle are outlined, as well as the success and respect won during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  

That day in Dallas our country was changed in an instant.  Despite tragedy, we continue on.  But, from time to time it is good to look back at what was, and ponder what might have been.