Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 11/17/2023
Getting onto the school bus one November afternoon in Hadley, I heard our bus driver, the wonderful Mrs. Tudryn, comment about the president being shot. I thought she was talking about Lincoln who we had been studying in the fourth grade.
When I said something, she corrected me and told me it was President Kennedy. I remember being confused.
It was 60 years ago on Nov. 22. For most people this is simply ancient history. If, however, you’re at least 65 years old, your memories of this event may be personal.
For instance, I remember watching the live television coverage of the transfer of the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in the basement of the Dallas police station when he was shot to death by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
For a little kid seeing that taking place was just as confusing as the other parts of this event.
Like nearly all Americans at the time, we watched the funeral on TV. I was bright enough to understand that history was unfolding before my eyes.
American history and politics are rife with terrible incidents, but I think the Kennedy assassination proved to be a definite watershed moment for my generation as well as our parents.
The American scorecard about these matters is sad. Yes, four presidents have died from assassination.
Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were wounded. Other presidents were the target of attempts or plots. They include Andrew Jackson, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Violence has been part of American political life and it certainly continues. The Jan. 6 insurrection certainly showed that using violence as means for political change is very much part of our lives.
John F. Kennedy’s history has made him a special person in the eyes of Western Massachusetts though.
Tucked into a corner of Forest Park in Springfield is an eternal flame. Springfield has a monument dedicated to Kennedy, where every year people gather to pay tribute to Kennedy. I’ve covered that event for years and years ago, the ceremony was attended by people who actually knew Kennedy. The group has decreased with time.
Kennedy was a very real figure to people in Western Massachusetts. For instance, Lawrence O’Brien of Springfield had served in Kennedy’s Senate campaign and was a key member of his presidential campaign. He was riding in the Dallas motorcade when Kennedy was shot and killed.
O’Brien had a lengthy career in both government and the private sector serving as postmaster general as well as the chair of the Democratic National Committee and later as the commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
Another Springfield figure prominent in the Kennedy presidential campaign was Joseph Napolitan, the man who coined the term “political consultant” and is recognized as creating the foundations of modern political campaigning.
The late Mayor Charles Ryan had also known the president. Both of them were young Irish American Democrats.
Holyoke also has connections to the late president. The city’s St. Patrick’s Parade Committee erected a moment to Kennedy and names a prominent Irish American to be honored in his name.
Kennedy had a mystique in politics that few presidents had before him. Being a veteran of WWII, young and vibrant, he was seen as one the best of his generation. I think it is fair to say that his death meant something more to people than simply a political act.
He has remained a central figure in American history, if nothing else because many people have not been able to accept the facts of his death as presented by the government and the investigation by the Warren Commission. Dozens of books have been written trying to uncover an alternative narrative to the idea of a disgruntled lone gunman killed the president.
Although his presidency was cut short and we will never know the full impact he would have made on this country, Nov. 22 is a good time to reflect about what has happened in the past 60 years in American politics.
G. Michael Dobbs has worked for Reminder Publishing for 23 years of his nearly 50-year-career in the Western Mass. media scene, and previously served as the executive editor. He has spent his time with the publisher covering local politics, interesting people and events. The opinions expressed within the article are that of the author’s and do not represent the opinions and beliefs of the paper.