Wednesday, November 22, 2023

60 years ago today: A nation mourns a fallen President

 I think we can all remember where we were 60 years ago on this day.

For example, I was in my crib at home. I was just 9 1/2 months old, too young to understand the day's biggest headline.

John F. Kennedy, 46, the 35th President, was shot by an assassin's bullet in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who reportedly fired the fatal shot, was himself killed by Jack Ruby not too long after, and, thus, 60 years later, people are still debating whether or not Oswald acted alone, or if there was a conspiracy against the President.

All three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) cut from scheduled programming, or, in some markets, syndicated fare, to deliver the grim news, and suspended programming for the weekend in favor of continued coverage. Earlier this morning, CBS Radio reached back into the archives to pull one of the most famous sound bytes of all time from anchor Walter Cronkite, which is included in this video, from CBS News' YouTube channel, uploaded nearly a year ago.


There have been 2 assassination attempts against American Presidents since then. Gerald Ford was targeted in 1976, months before losing the Presidency to Jimmy Carter. In 1981, just weeks after his inauguration, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr., but survived.

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