Politician, womanizer, husband, and father, John F. Kennedy will forever be remembered in our history books.
Today will mark the 50 anniversary of his assassination and his legacy will live on. Today, we see JFK on posters in the college dorm rooms, use his quotes in our papers, and idealize his conspiracy.
“He was a mover and changer,” history and psychology teacher, Andy Gagnon said. In the American history textbook used here at Orono, JFK was quoted, “There are new frontiers for America to conquer,” Kennedy said, “not frontiers on a map, but frontiers of the mind, the will, and the spirit of man.”
JFK was a bold president according to Time Magazine. He challenged people. An event that JFK will be remembered by is the Cuban Missile Crisis. He held off the Soviets by going against his own generals.
But this bold, charismatic, and changer was shot and killed in Dallas, TX on Nov.22 1963. Lee Harvey Olswad was the alleged killer but was soon killed in the Dallas jailhouse by Jack Ruby according to Time Magazine.
President Kennedy was on a campaign tour when he and his beloved wife, Jackie, sat in the back of a black car.
When their car was in the Dealy Square, Oslwad shot three times and assassinated John F. Kennedy.
“It was a shocking and sad time,” history major, Pete Makarov Sr. said, “I was fifteen, and when I got home from school, my mother was crying on the couch, by the TV.” The reaction from the public was shock. “It was a really sad time,” said Joanna Arnold. “It was a turning point for America.”
History textbooks tell the same story, “It was gut-check time for America,” said Gagnon.
JFK’s assassination and presidency can be compared to Abrham Lincoln. Lincoln too, was a president who was a mover, changer, and bold in what he did. Lincoln’s assassination was one that made the nation think and react to.
When Lincoln was assassinated, America had to ask the question, “can we make it without him?” Arnold said. When Kennedy was assassinated, people felt like they knew him because of mass media.
There are rumors that the truth behind who killed John F. Kennedy is locked up, in a volt at the University of Michigan. Gagnon believes, “they will never tell us.”
The conspiracy behind his death has many factors. Many believe that Oslwad was either not the killer or was not working alone.
“Oslwad was not the shooter,” senior Juila Mason, “I think it was an inside job and if you watch the video, his head flies back, not forward.”
The conspiracy will forever live on.
“We may never know who did it and why, “ Mason said, “The conspiracy will forever be studied.”
“I won’t be alive when they come out with the truth,” Makarov Sr. said, “But when they do, I want someone to come to my grave, and tell me.”
Though we may never know who killed JFK, we will forever read and study this mover, changer, husband, and president’s leagcay of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.