Where Were You When Kennedy Was Shot?
F or Americans old enough to remember November 22 1963 this question was more than just a conversation starter. It was a slice of Americana. Remembering your whereabouts when you learned that President Kennedy was assassinated became drilled into your national consciousness.
I was seven years old a third grader at Hillel Academy in Passaic New Jersey. It was a Friday afternoon. Dismissal time on Fridays was 1:30 p.m. giving us plenty of time to get home before Shabbos. Kennedy was killed at 12:30 p.m. in Dallas — exactly when we were getting out of school. I knew something was wrong when I saw my mother waiting for me at the bus stop — something she never did before or ever again — to tell me the sad news.
The memory of that day of national mourning is just one reason I eagerly look forward to this coming Thursday when the National Archives in Washington D.C. releases the bulk of the remaining previously classified files on the Kennedy assassination.
Most experts familiar with the case contend that the new files are unlikely to shed any new light on the central and most contentious question still surrounding the assassination: was Lee Harvey Oswald the lone assassin and did he act on his own?
The experts may or may not be correct. A few secrets revealed could lead to more tumbling out. And once someone’s memory is jogged you never know where the trail may lead. Stay tuned. (Excerpted from Mishpacha Issue 682)
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