If you know, you know
61 years ago today.
was the main reason the 25th amendment was drafted and ratified by 1967.
Had to think about it, but then it hit me.
I was in first grade in Lawton Oklahoma when Kennedy was shot in Dallas. My dad was in Vietnam and mom and I were in Lawton during his tour since my older brother and his family lived there. An older kid came into our classroom and exclaimed "the president's been shot!" and then ran out into the hall, spreading the news. Our teacher left the room, closing the door, and came back after awhile and reassured us that no, everything was OK. She was pale and clammy. My mom picked me up after school in the Oldsmobile and had the radio on which was playing churchy music. I asked what's with the church music and she said "the president was killed today". We went back to the Holiday Plaza apartments and me and the other kids played cowboys and Indians, as was our routine. At dinner mom was teary eyed and shaky. It must have been hell on her. Dad was flying Huey gunships as an "advisor" in Vietnam, where the South Vietnamese president had been killed a couple weeks before in a coup and now JFK had been assassinated.
I was home from school with Strep Throat that day. Ironically I was home from school sick the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot also. I don't think I missed another day until I graduated.
