I'm watching a documentary on the JFK assassination. Aside from the fact that everyone smoked so much in the 1960s that I want to wash the stench from my hair, the feeling I'm left with is frustration over the futility and waste of the events of November, 1963. Prior to 9/11, this was the biggest event of my lifetime, and in many ways our country is still scarred by it. And yet, if you accept the premise put forth by The History Channel, it was an accident of fate. A convergence of losers. The iconic leader who, as author Robert Dallek ends as his biography, spoke to "our better angels" was taken from us by a skinny loner who felt he had to do something huge, just to justify his existence on the planet. And then that assassin was silenced by a faux mobster/pimp with a bad temper.
During the first few months of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald decided to become famous as a political assassin. His chosen target was Texas politico and segregationist Edwin Walker. Oswald spent time photographing Walker's home, plotting entrance and escape routes, monitoring Walker's schedule, etc. In April, while Walker was sitting in front of a window in his home, Oswald took a shot, using a soon-to-be world-famous mail-order rifle. The bullet was stopped by the (presumably bullet-proof) glass. This was yet another thing Oswald had failed at, and in plunged him into depression. As his grip on reality loosened, Oswald chose JFK as his next target. Ironic, since Walker hated the Kennedy brothers and everything they stood for. Clearly there was no ideology in Oswald's actions.
After firing the shot shown in this photo, Jack Ruby told the police -- many of whom hung out at his Carousel Club -- that now he was a "hero." A failed mobster who left Chicago and went to Dallas to manage a strip club, Ruby felt that he had served justice. He had killed the smug little bastard who had killed his President. He had saved Jackie from having to testify at Oswald's trial. He apparently thought the public would be grateful. Of course, because there was no trial, conspiracy theories have flourished for more than 40 years.
And from this came Viet Nam and Watergate. It pisses me off.
Was this documentary on tv? What channel?
ReplyDeleteGood post. Based on how history is being told, manipulated, I remain a skeptic about most of what I am told. How sad is that?
Imagine if Bobby had become president? It would have changed our history so much, one can only wonder.
It's a History Channel documentary. Most of it centers on single gunman vs. conspiracy. But the thing that struck me hardest in this oft-told tale was how TAWDRY the players were! JFK was an elegant thinker with a nuanced mind and he thought of Americans as citizens of the world. Oswald and Ruby were just so ... icky. It amazes me that these three lives ever intersected at all, and yet now they're linked for eternity.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bobby was a heartbreak. After Dr. King's murder, I believe he could have stitched us back together.
I doubt that you're alone in your skepticism. I want to believe in heroes and history. I still try. But as I get holder, it's harder to remain idealistic.