Last Sunday, the whole group came together to discuss our project. After some consideration, I agree that my book doesn’t demonstrate the legendary image of Kennedy as well as Laura’s book. It focuses on the legend of the assasination rather than Kennedy himself. We came to agreement on some of the primary topics possible for the discussion and plan to send our materials together this week. Though I doubt we will go over our page limit, I think the material is dense with information. I think that one more meeting might be required after reading all relevant materials to finalize the discussion structure.
This week, I want to discuss a topic I thought about when I was suggested a book by Professor McDaniel. He mentioned that Stephen King had just released a new book “11/22/63” about a time travler who went back in time to stop his assasination. After looking into the reviews of the book, I got a general summary: The protagonist Jake goes back in time to stop Oswald taking a shot at Kennedy. He succeeds but it makes the future worse off and he has to stop himself from changing history.(Janet, 1) This got me to thinking about the role of death in legendary Americans. Sometimes, it is better for their image when they die in the circumstances that they did. One example of this sort of alternate universe came to my mind: Abraham Lincoln’s assasination couldn’t have come at a better time for his image. He had just won the Civil War but was going have to deal with Congress over his use of executive war powers. But Booth beat Congress to the punch and so we only remember Lincoln as the victor of the Civil War and not the invetiable conflict with Congress that never occured.(Hyman, 39-47) In “11/22/63”, a similar case is presented but this time, the killing of Kennedy prevented a nuclear holocaust apparently (Janet, 1).
However, death doesn’t just prevent Americans from ruining their own images. It can also obscure their images. This could be said of the death Davy Crockett. There were no surviving defenders of the Alamo and few sources from the Mexican army detail his death. Thus, obscurity allows Americans to purport the theory that he went down fighting.
But even when the circumstances of death are blatantly obvious, they can add sympathy or even more respect onto their image. Elvis died alone with alcohol and drugs which highlighted the sympathy his fans have for him. Harriet Tubman died penniless and uncompensated according to some of her supporters. John Brown’s death circumstances was his biggest accomplishment as he became a martyr for the anti-slavery cause.
So maybe the key to being a legend isn’t just about how it starts or what it contains but also when or how to just end it. An abrupt ending might stop it from getting sour. An open-ended one allows the audience to utilize their imagination and make the legend even larger. But there are some clear-cut endings that add even more respect to the character. In this case, I believe Kennedy’s death is a combination of the first two. There was some domestic unrest already of the Civil rights movements and Kennedy didn’t want to be too vocal for the fear of alienating southern support (John,1). Also, the “mysterious” conspiracies surrounding Kennedy’s death allows the possibility that Kennedy was a big enough threat to oragnized crime/Soviet Union/CIA that he had to be taken out instead of him being the target of a small-time Soviet supporter.
Works cited
Hyman, Harold. Papers of Lincoln Association. 5. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 39-47. Web. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20148826.
Janet , Maslin. Review: In Stephen King’s ’11/22/63,’ a time traveler tries to save JFK in Dallas. New York: New York Times, 2011. Web. http://www.mercurynews.com/books/ci_19282206.
John Kennedy and Civil Rights. UK: History learning Site, 2011. Web. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/john_kennedy_and_civil_rights.htm.