Good Afternoon Clo!
I was a Senior in High School.
I remember the principal got on the PA and announced that there had been an attack on the President, and then he got back on and announced JFK was dead.
School closed instantly and we all went home in stunned silence.
Kids loved him. It was an incredible shock.
In college I learned that the effect on teenagers was similar to the loss of a parent.
The loss was universal. Eisenhower was beloved by the American people. Kennedy took the Presidency onto the world stage and set the tone for all Presidents to follow. Almost.
I do not believe that the grieving has ever stopped. It changed us instantly. America lost its innocence.
What might have been? Would we have lost 60,000 boys in Vietnam? Would Nixon have won the Presidency? Would LBJ have rammed through the Great Society legislation?
I have a copy of his Inaugural Address near my desk and I read it every so often. Washington's Farewell and the Gettysburg Address segway clearly into JFK's speech.
We expect a great deal from our President. This is one of the reasons that the current occupant nauseates the American People.
JFK will always be idealized and all Presidents will gauge themselves against the stature he gave us in the world.
It was the worst day of my life.
| 
