In memoriam: President John F. Kennedy

[OldDem2012]

59. I was in my 7th grade class in St. Petersburg, FL when the announcement was made....

....over the pa system. Almost immediately most of the class exhibited various stages of shock and grief, but about a quarter of the class began cheering and applauding the President's death. The rest of the day was a complete blur.

When I talked with my Dad later that night about what I had experienced at school, he explained that Florida had several military bases and just about all of the personnel hated JFK. He reasoned that most if not all of those kids in class were from military families. He also explained that Florida had a large Cuban-American population that also hated JFK. In short, lots of people wanted him dead.

That was my first real exposure to an underlying seam of right-wing hatred that has helped me identify people like that over the last 49 years. The faces have changed over the years, but the hatred is still just as strong as it has always been.

Farewell, Johnny....we barely got to know you.