I went to the library the other day to look into books about John F. Kennedy’s death and legacy, only to discover before me three bookshelves, with about 10 shelves each, simply filled with books about JFK’s presidency and death. Most of the last bookshelf was filled with ONLY books on his assassination. Due to the massive amount of books and the vague descriptions in Fondren’s catalog, I had a tough time finding books about what I really wanted to look into specifically- why JFK’s assassination made him the figure he is still seen as today, despite some plunders in his presidency as well as social life.
One of the books I checked out was a little more helpful than the others (though I’ll have to go back to Fondren to see what else I can find), as it’s main focus is, as the title says, the “Unfinished Life” of Kennedy. I actually think this is one of the reasons Kennedy became a legend– he had all this promise that was cut so abruptly short.
A man by the name of Dallek is the author of this look into Kennedy’s life and death. The vast majority of it is biographical, its many pages focusing on the life that Kennedy lived, but his final chapter, “An Unfinished Presidency”, as well as the epilogue were particularly insightful as to the reason that JFK lives on in the hearts of America.
People could tell, Dallek said, that Kennedy simply loved being president. And that rubbed off on the American people- for the most part, they loved seeing him as president. They loved seeing a handsome young man take control of the country, and foresaw for him great things. What those things may have been? It doesn’t even matter; what mattered to Americans once they heard about the shots that ended Kennedy’s life was that that bright future was gone! I think they saw Kennedy in their hearts as comparable to the nation: young, compared to the long lived European countries, but ready to make his footprints on the sands of time, ready to make a difference in the world.
So those two shots (or three) violently and suddenly blasted away that man and that symbol in 1963.
All that might have died down, though. It seems to me that the constant theories of conspiracy focusing on the Kennedy’s assassination keep him always a current topic. I read somewhere once that around a third of Americans still don’t believe we have the full truth about Kennedy’s death. The forensics are looked into in another book I have found, but only been able to skim (though I am excited to examine his evidence fully): Fuhrman’s A Simple Act of Murder.
In his introduction, Fuhrman points out that this is a case with too much information and too many variables, both laying out for the public to see. But he also insists that murder is simple once you examine the facts. It seems he plans to prove that the JFK assassination went exactly as the Warren commission found it did. The fact that he can write a whole book on this, that there are entire shelves dedicated to this in the library, that there ever had to be a commission in the first place to investigate what looked like simple murder at first… it fascinates me.
I think that’s a good topic to look into- why are we, as a nation, so concerned and suspicious about the death of a President? Would this have happened to any president, or is it special to the case of JFK?
Dallek, Robert. An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little, Brown, and, 2003. Print.
Fuhrman, Mark. A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963. New York: William Morrow, 2006. Print.
In regards to your last question, maybe it would be fruitful to compare the reaction to Kennedy’s assassination to the reaction to other presidential assassinations. You’d have to ask, though, whether the differences in the reactions are caused primarily by the fact that it was Kennedy, or by the time period in which the assassination occurred, or some combination of both.