Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/5/2023
SPRINGFIELD — About 100 people gathered on Nov. 22 on a chilly damp day in Forest Park to note the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
It’s been an annual event for decades, but this year the event seemed to carry more meaning with the landmark of time.
Kennedy was shot while visiting Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963, as part of an early reelection trip.
After the colors were posted by the honor guard of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, Anthony Cignoli, the master of ceremonies, started the event.
James Sullivan, the brother of the late Mayor William Sullivan, recalled how during his brother’s administration the idea of having a permanent memorial to Kennedy was introduced.
With the help of former Mayor Charles Ryan, a location in Forest Park was selected and an eternal flame was built. It is one of only two such memorials for Kennedy in the nation.
Sullivan said, that while visiting the memorial people “don’t come to mourn but to remember JFK as a president of the people.”
Mayor Domenic Sarno noted that Kennedy “brought wit and grace” to the presidency.
“His tenure was cut short, but his legacy lives on,” Sarno said.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal noted how Kennedy stood for religious freedom and the separation of church and state as well as advocating for civil rights. Neal also explained that Kennedy had invited Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis to the White House after the March on Washington at which King delivered his “I have a Dream” speech.
Neal also spoke of Kennedy’s involvement in starting the space program that culminated with the trips to the moon, the Cuban missile crisis and his Berlin Wall speech.
James Beucke sounded “Taps” at the end of the ceremony.
Following the memorial, people were invited to view a temporary display about Kennedy presented in the newly renovated Monkey House building, once part of the original Forest Park Zoo. People visiting the exhibit were offered a free copy of the Pulitzer Prize winning account of the Kennedy Administration by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
The audience at the event were given a program which contained several quotes from Kennedy including one that seemed particularly appropriate for the current climate of politics in the nation. Kennedy said, “And if we cannot end our difference, at least we can make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”