Remembering the JFK assassination 55 years ago

Today is the 55th anniversary of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. This was one event in my childhood that I cannot forget. Back then, we didn’t have live television and the most reliable source for news was the radio. When I turned on the radio it was then we heard about the Kennedy assassination. Also in those days, the best news you could get was a weekly newsreel that our major production of MGM or Warner Brothers would send to the theaters and few days later we saw the vigil of JFK inside the White House and the state funeral at the US Capitol. Then Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal appeared behind Jacqueline Kennedy and her brother-in-Law Attorney General Robert Kenney (who was also assassinated in Los Angeles a few years later).

Yes, the entire Kennedy funeral at Arlington Cemetery was featured in the movie newsreel. Including the emotional salute of JFK’s son John Jr. as the casket passed the family. This was my youth and President Kennedy was a huge part of it, including the movie “PT-109” starring Cliff Robertson who played JFK. In fact when I went to the Henry Ford Museum, I was surprised to see and touch the Lincoln Continental JFK rode in when he was assassinated in Dallas. The difference is, after his death, President Lyndon B. Johnson used the Continental and made the bulletproof bubble top as a permanent fixture. So you can see the car with the roof all fixed up. In 1972, I first went to the US and went to Dallas and to the Texas Depository to see the place of the assassination myself.

I don’t know how many times I saw the Zapruder film that recorded the shooting of the president and how close that bullet passed by First Lady Jackie Kennedy. I saw almost all the movies about the various conspiracy theories that exploded after the Kennedy assassination. I even read a portion of the Warren Commission that investigated this assassination and made my own conclusion as to who really shot JFK. I believe the shooter was on the grassy knoll and struck JFK in the head. You can clearly see that in the Zapruder films.

For four days, the world sat transfixed in front of their black-and-white TV sets, watching history unfold. In doing so, they helped legitimize the medium as the primary vehicle for news, one that could capture the immediacy of a moment in ways that print could never rival. While something clearly died inside the heart of America that day, something inside television was born. Indeed, television news became a reality after the JFK assassination. We all saw Jackie Kennedy’s bloodstained pink suit and later on saw the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, the principal suspect in the JFK assassination. Such vivid images have never been seen on television before. This was the time before fake news was even created!

Being a JFK fan meant that I had to be a Democrat! How things have changed since then. I’m more Republican now, supporting President Trump!

The assassination of President Kennedy transformed television, creating the blueprint for all-hours news cycles and information sharing viewers see today. If I’m writing about the Kennedy years of my life, it is because this great event in my youth occupied my time and molded my youth at a crucial point of my growth.

* * *

Remember the infamous Ampatuan massacre? If you didn’t know it has already nine years since 32 media persons or journalists were killed. Hence it was a mistake to send journalists on a political mission because they can’t be protected by deranged killers. I heard from the news that the Department of Justice announced yesterday that the multiple murder cases against Andal “Datu Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. and other accused have been submitted for resolution by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221. Well, what do you know? The rusty wheels of justice have finally started moving and we hope we court will come up with a positive decision. After all we are talking about getting justice for the innocent victims of this horrendous crime!

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com