The leaves are turning, it's almost winter, and it's that time of year.
It's JFK Assassination time.
And this year is the fiftieth assassination anniversary, so the tv shows have started two weeks early.
So far this year I've watched Parkland, listened to the tapes of the Dallas radio station broadcast, and watched one fourth of Dark Legacy (aka JFK II: The Bush Connection).
Parkland was engaging and interesting. I had no idea that Oswald's mother was such a nutjob, or that JFK had a heartbeat at the hospital, or that doctors and nurses smoked so much in the sixties. However, they glossed over LBJ, who I have heard did not comport himself well. I was looking for some LBJ dirt because I am a nasty nasty person and a Bad Technical Texan. Some viewers complained that the movie had no plot, yet it didn't matter to me.
Gary asked why I found the JFK assassination so interesting, and the tapes of the radio broadcast pinpoint why. It happened in Dallas, an average city. Not New York (NY is special) or Washington D.C. (also special) but plain old Dallas, where radio DJ.s are plugging beer and turkey and then slowly realize the president's been shot.
Dark Legacy was a manipulative, deceitful pail of slop that rivals Jim Garrison's Book of Tenuous Connections for spinning suspicion out of coincidence. Of course, I'm only one-fourth in, but it makes me feel dirty. It reminded me of the theorists in a movie I recently watched, Room 217, in which viewers tint The Shining with their own agendas. (No link for The Shining, there. You've seen the Shining, did you know it was Kubrick's confession for staging the moon landing?)
I have no personal connection with the Kennedy assassination (since I was one), but for the story that on November 22, 1963 my father Jerry did not pick up my Mom's best friend at the hairdresser in Houston because he worked at the paper and Kennedy had been shot.
This always prompts a yearly search for anything Jerry, an investigative reporter, might have written about the shooting. Still no results, but I did find a photo of him at this site:
Jesus! he says, you found me.
Oooh, I'm intrigued by LBJ dirt. I have a complicated relationship with him. He was a fantastic speaker, and I think some of the stuff he did was good, but man, was that dude ever an asshole.
Posted by: Angie | November 11, 2013 at 10:00 AM
I lived through it all. (Pauses to creak with age)
LBJ was a boor and an asshole, a real Texas pol.
But having thought a lot about the assassination and about what kind of a little creep Oswald was, I'm sure he acted alone. It was his last chance to become famous, because he was a total loser in every aspect of his life and yet thought he was destined for greatness.
This is the article that clinched it for me, from the Sunday Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/magazine/lee-harvey-oswald-was-my-friend.html?_r=0
Posted by: Hattie | November 11, 2013 at 01:59 PM
Am I getting old? My 13th birthday: school principle comes into our 8th grade class and tells us to all go home; the president is dead.
At home, TV on all day, every day, for the next many days. (Unusual in the sixties.) That was the first time I remember news media covering one story endlessly and repetitively. In that case, it seemed merited.
Kennedy and his family were similar to the Obamas in the natural charisma they possessed. Although, the Kennedys also seemed obviously of an upper crust/privileged class. Not sure that would be so popular these days.
Posted by: Arlene | November 11, 2013 at 07:23 PM
The whole country was paralyzed, sitting in front of the TV. It was just horrible.
Posted by: Hattie | November 16, 2013 at 12:05 AM
Angie - I heard he was a paranoid schizophrenic.
Hattie - What clinched it for me was when I saw the JFK morgue photos. (Gross warning: http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/autopsy.htm)
Arlene - You know, John Kerry was a rich Democrat. That might be one of the things that did him in.
Hattie - Sounds like 9/11. That TV wasn't off for a month.
Posted by: TheQueen | November 17, 2013 at 01:25 PM