VALE John F. Kennedy 22 Nov. 1963
November 23rd 2008 03:23
It was 45 years ago, that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I remember that day clearly, as a young whipper snapper, hurtling around the beach and yacht club. I remember seeing a woman sobbing in the street, having just heard of his murder. We were not in America, we were not Americans, but Australians, so far away, yet so very aware of the role that America played in the Second World War, a role that saved our continent nation from invasion by the hoards of Japanese, descending on South East Asia. A role that Britain chose to ignore.
This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
I was brought up to respect America, to learn about what they did for us and, of course, I and everyone else in Australia loved their television programmes (Mickey Mouse Club and Disneyland, The Cisco Kid, Roy Rodgers, The Rifleman, The Honeymooners, The Ed Sullivan Show, etc), as much as we loved our own fledgling versions (In Melbourne Tonight, Mavis Bramston Show, Homicide, Division 4 etc), probably because our comedy was usually live to air, as a lot of TV was in those days, and we had not seen ourselves, nor our country and various lifestyles, depicted on television.
We then watched the horrors of the Vietnam war, every night on the news, like the girl burned by napalm, the Vietcong guy being shot dead by pistol in the temple, and then seeing the blood, in black and white, spout like a fountain from his head, as he lay dying on the ground. I, and others of my era, grew up with a television news that was practically uncensored.
I was not scarred by such sights, I actually feel that my inner moral compass began to be forged by seeing these things, helping me realize how wrong they were. I objected about the Vietnam War, both my brothers missed the draft, we all knew three in one family would be impossible odds. I decided, should the conflict last till I was old enough, (I was just short of three years off conscription before Whitlam ended it, bless him!), that I would go to war, to the front, armed only with a pen. I could not ever see myself as killing another human being.
However, until one gets into war, and sees one's friends shot dead next to you, I, nor anybody else, cannot positively say they would remain pacifist.
Out of respect for our American cousins, I will not post the film of President Kennedy's assassination here. I have posted about the conspiracy before, regarding his assassination, if you wish to see it, you can look back through my archives.
President Kennedy's murder was not only a great tragedy for the nation of America, but for all the free world. America had lost a great leader and, unwittingly, had fallen victim, as did the whole world, to an enduring web of lies and obfuscation of truth, that lasts to this very day, surrounding the circumstances of his death.
Vale President Kennedy.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.
Note: This only applies to works of the Federal Government and not to the work of any individual U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, county, municipality, or any other subdivision. This template also does not apply to postage stamp designs published by the United States Postal Service since 1978. (See 206.02(b) of Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices).
President John F. Kennedy: 11th july 1963. Four months 11 days later, murdered.
This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.
I was brought up to respect America, to learn about what they did for us and, of course, I and everyone else in Australia loved their television programmes (Mickey Mouse Club and Disneyland, The Cisco Kid, Roy Rodgers, The Rifleman, The Honeymooners, The Ed Sullivan Show, etc), as much as we loved our own fledgling versions (In Melbourne Tonight, Mavis Bramston Show, Homicide, Division 4 etc), probably because our comedy was usually live to air, as a lot of TV was in those days, and we had not seen ourselves, nor our country and various lifestyles, depicted on television.
We then watched the horrors of the Vietnam war, every night on the news, like the girl burned by napalm, the Vietcong guy being shot dead by pistol in the temple, and then seeing the blood, in black and white, spout like a fountain from his head, as he lay dying on the ground. I, and others of my era, grew up with a television news that was practically uncensored.
I was not scarred by such sights, I actually feel that my inner moral compass began to be forged by seeing these things, helping me realize how wrong they were. I objected about the Vietnam War, both my brothers missed the draft, we all knew three in one family would be impossible odds. I decided, should the conflict last till I was old enough, (I was just short of three years off conscription before Whitlam ended it, bless him!), that I would go to war, to the front, armed only with a pen. I could not ever see myself as killing another human being.
However, until one gets into war, and sees one's friends shot dead next to you, I, nor anybody else, cannot positively say they would remain pacifist.
Out of respect for our American cousins, I will not post the film of President Kennedy's assassination here. I have posted about the conspiracy before, regarding his assassination, if you wish to see it, you can look back through my archives.
President Kennedy's murder was not only a great tragedy for the nation of America, but for all the free world. America had lost a great leader and, unwittingly, had fallen victim, as did the whole world, to an enduring web of lies and obfuscation of truth, that lasts to this very day, surrounding the circumstances of his death.
President Kennedy: Official White House portrait
Seal of the President of the United States of America
Vale President Kennedy.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code. See Copyright.
Note: This only applies to works of the Federal Government and not to the work of any individual U.S. state, territory, commonwealth, county, municipality, or any other subdivision. This template also does not apply to postage stamp designs published by the United States Postal Service since 1978. (See 206.02(b) of Compendium II: Copyright Office Practices).
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