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Remembering Kennedy — 22 Comments

  1. I was about 18 months old. I have no recollection of the shooting as it been a heavy night the night before and I was overhung. Plus, I had popped out for a packet of fags at the crucial time of the announcement.

    Yes, I have read SK's book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    For anyone that absolutely believes he was shot from the book depository, I have five words for you:

    Back, and to the left.

    If you are wondering why that is significant, it means (ballistically) that the man was shot from the front, not from the book depository as claimed.

    I have shot many thousands of rounds from dozens of weapons in my time and I can confirm that not once did the target move towards me after I hit it. Always away. Always.

     

    CR.

    • At least you waited until you were over 18 to start drinking and smoking?

      I saw a fully laid out theory recently, using trajectories and the like that in fact he was shot from a storm drain.  Seemed very plausible at the time.

  2. Like yourself, I have no idea where I was. I am a wee bit older than you but still have no clue as to where I was or even what I was doing in 1963.

  3. I truly don't care.  Sad for his family perhaps, and he was so new to office the skeletons hadn't rattled so media holds him up as a wonderful political whoopdeedoo. Betcha it would not have the impact it seems to have today if he'd been in office longer to piss people off as it always seems to do and even then its the USA's memory not mine.

    • Of course here he was sanctified by his Irish connections.  It's fucking embarrassing that ever since, we have to find Irish roots for every fucking incumbent.  Even Obama wasn't spared.

  4. Well said Cat.  It's an American thing.  I was in second grade on that day 50 years ago.  Someone rolled a TV into the classroom and the nun announced that the President was dead.  Then they turned on the TV and we watched the news coverage of it.

    Over here you don't even have to mention Kennedy's name.  The question is, "Where were you when the President was killed?".

     

  5. Apparently George Bush Senior couldn't remember where he was ….until much later!!

      Your right though about the tedious eulogizing i suspect if he lived we would be remembering on a par with Nixon ,Clinton,W or Barry Today and bemoaning the lost Oswald missing

    • What pisses me off is that the Irish have turned the whole Kennedy family into a bunch of saints.  As the saying goes here – you'd think their shite was chocolate.  He's been dead for fifty years – get over it for fuck's sake.

  6. I was three years and two months old. I have no recollection of ever being that age. some fucker shot that man if the footage is to be believed. Even people who were present at the time seem to have no idea who did it nor why.

    Aldous Huxley and C S Lewis both died on the same day in the same year as Kennedy. Shit happens. Narnia is entered through a wardrobe is it not?
    Seems that Lewis had a better handle on reality than I realised.

     

  7. His departure was before my arrival.

    Thinking about 'I can remember where I was when I heard that…', there are only a few:

    Ayrton Senna's death

    Princess Diana's death

    Twin Towers 11/09

    That's about it. Not sure that reflects of the capability of my memory or what is considered memorable.

    • The only ones that stand out in my memory are the Twin Towers and Veronica Guerin.  The former I was in RTE at the time and the latter, I was driving up Macken Street.

      • Dear Veronica was murdered near Clondalkin and you state "I was driving up Macken Street", so your alibi is sound GD. And you've never learned to fly a Cessna, so your alibi for Twin Towers is airtight too.

  8. I was "hanging out" with a few friends and girlfriends at a nearby housing estate.  We were listening to Radio Luxembourg on the inevitable Tranny when the news came through.  Totally fucked up a promising evening, and minutes later we had a spectacular thunderstorm.  Seemed appropriate somehow.

    Ruined a possibly great new experience.  Never forgive the idiot who did it.

      • It did not  (or perhaps did).  A year later, I accomplished that all by myself.  JFK was not at fault there – just delayed the inevitable.

        Memories of garages, open fields and a long-term love affair.  JfK dominated the time.

        Ain't    teenage experiences wonderful?

          • Very true.  Theatrical sigh.  Tried to make up later, then got married, and success with others massively improved.   Even so, still did not know about JFK's reputation, his serious illnesses and legion of vicious enemies.

            • The Kennedy family, going back to millionaire Joe Snr, has lots of surprising things in cupboards. After the Dallas assassination most Irish people thought JFK was a saint and his picture was posted up in shops alongside that of Pope John 23rd. For many months into 1964 individual entrepreneurs could be seen selling JFK Mass Cards outside the GPO in O'Connell Street. Good to learn you had a satisfactory love life, even if not as hectic as JFK's.

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