Thursday, November 21, 2013

Another Fateful November Day

Tomorrow marks the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  There's not really too much that I can add to the conversation other than I don't think it was a conspiracy.
The picture is the cockpit of the first 707 version of Air Force One.  It was commissioned in 1959 but was replaced in 1962, so it carried Kennedy but not on that particular day.  If I remember correctly, that particular Air Force One is at the Air Force Museum.  I also seem to remember that there is a notch that was cut in the plane to accomodate his casket.  The above cockpit was taken at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was certainly an inspirational figure in history but I think his accomplishments were cut short by the assassination.  There are certainly some memorable speeches from him and he did have the lasting accomplishments of the Peace Corps and the Special Forces.  He had some negative legacies too, namely the Vietnam War.  It's hard to say how that would have gone down had he not been assassinated.  If nothing else, that particular day in November was the spark in a chain of events that have darkened the faith in our country.

I hear some of his speeches and I wish that we had leadership now that could inspire us like that.

To quote Mr. Spock, "He's not dead as long as we remember him."  This picture is from when I visited Arlington a couple of years ago.  I think it is kind of cool that they built an eternal flame for him.

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