Jan. 29, 2025: Relevant more than ever … MMB

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: WALTER CRONKITE, CBS NEWS, 1:38 p.m. CST: “From Dallas, Texas, the Flash apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.”

Sixty years ago today, I was a second-grader at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Clarksburg, W.Va. Sometime after lunch, our principal and the pastor of the parish came into our classroom and told us something terrible had happened to the president and we must pray for him.

About 30 minutes later, they returned. We did not need to be told what had happened; it was evident from the wailing and crying up and down the hallways from the grieving adults that JFK was dead. The loss of Kennedy’s youthful promise, and “our” guy – the first Catholic president – was beyond devastating. They entered our classroom, repeated the horrifying news, instructed us to pray further, and left for the next classroom. The rest of the afternoon in the desk – perhaps 30 minutes – I don’t recall; I sure didn’t know what I was supposed to pray.

I do remember, in great detail though, the scene outside the school after the bell rang.

Stunned silence. Everyone. Nuns, priests, teachers, parents. I recall it as a whirling scene – awash in Navy blue and white – the color of our school uniforms. The small plaza in front of the school, the American flag standing as a quiet sentinel that adults stared at as tears streamed down their faces. My older sister, Mickey, finding me in the chaos.

The next few days passed in a blur of black and white. The next memory is of sitting with our mom and watching the president’s funeral. Dad and my sisters recede into my memory because I was shaken by mom’s uncontrollable grief.

I understood that people cried when people died, but I didn’t understand why mom was so sad.

Today, I do. One, of course, is the grave danger the nation faces when it is vulnerable. I doubt, though, that our mom was thinking that. This is what I believe she knew – all that Kennedy had to offer us was gone. In an instant. In this clip from Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, one can understand why he offered hope in the midst of the Cold War. Hope that the “new generation” offered.

“And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

President John F. Kennedy in his Inaugural Address

Kennedy – a World War II veteran – stated, “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.” He then immediately added, “I do not shrink from this responsibility; I welcome it!”

The confidence in himself and in his generation that had sacrificed so much to save the world from tyranny was on display. He challenged his fellow citizens to view national service in a way that is opposite of what we hear from so many corners today – “Gimme! Gimme!”

No, that is not what JFK or my parents taught me. From what is almost certainly the most famous line from his short speech on that frigid January day in 1961 when he assumed the presidency, President Kennedy said to his fellow citizens: “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” He did not stop after that most famous of appeals though. He continued, “My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

It is noteworthy that all this occurred without a challenge from the Republican loser, Richard Nixon, in what was – to that date – one of the closest presidential elections in American history.

Today, 60 years after JFK was murdered, I find myself standing in my back yard, reflecting upon current events, and find myself feeling like that St. Mary’s second-grader. The world is spinning. People are crying. American citizens of all stripes and ages demand to know what their country is going to do for them. Nations turn to us too because they have become dependent upon our protection. Just 15 years before JFK was elected, we had won World War II, saving the world from a madman that oversaw the Holocaust.

As history repeats itself (because we don’t study it!), I doubt quite seriously if our generation is up to these mighty tasks of putting national service before self and working with other freedom-loving nations to secure the liberty of others.

Do you?

America needs to again embrace the outlook of JFK. As citizens, we have a rare opportunity to actively participate in and influence our government.. So, if we do not embrace the counsel of JFK to put our priorities in order, another famous, ancient quote will trump that of President Kennedy’s – “United we stand; divided we fall.”

Better get ready for that gravity storm.

© Michael M. Barrick, 2023. JFK photo by History in HD on Unsplash