16-08-2013, 06:03 PM
I was 8 years old in 1960 and sensed something really evil about Richard Nixon. I was so worried that he would win that on the night of the election my mother let me stay up until 3AM at which point she made me go to bed. I awoke with a start in the morning fearing the worst, immediately turning on the radio and to my relief Kennedy had won.
I was 11 in 1963, when Ruby shot Oswald I knew it wasn't a lone gunman. I remember being appalled as they mentioned on TV either that night or during the weekend that LBJ was already moving his furniture into the Oval Office. But I was a kid and life went on. When Martin & Bobby were killed it only confirmed what I felt in my gut - maybe most significant to me was Bobby because "they" had already killed his brother, I had suspected LBJ and or Nixon in '63 though now I was more convinced it was Nixon, but life went on.
Dorothy Kilgallen's death was also very disturbing to me, as a New Yorker I read her column in the Journal American and watched her on "What's My Line". I had no idea she was investigating the assassination or her interviews with Ruby. Again, a gut feeling told me that she wouldn't commit suicide but life went on.
One Sunday, probably in 1974, I pulled out the NY Times Magazine section and on the front cover was a picture of Nixon and his "buds", the opening line of the article was something like "Richard Nixon and his cronies boarded a plane out of Dallas on November 22, 1963." I literally stood up and said to my parents "I knew it - Nixon was behind the assassination." They probably looked at me like I was crazy and life went on.
A couple years later I bought a copy of Irving Wallace's "The Book of Lists" and came upon the list of Dallas witnesses who died in such a short period of time - another "ah ha" moment and once again life went on.
I was completely unaware of Mark Lane, Mae Brussell, et al, I had no idea that research was ongoing regarding the case - I just always knew in my gut that things were very wrong.
I went to a Catholic grade school and entered a public high school in September 1966. That first term girls were required to wear skirts and boys to wear ties. In January of 1967 we had Winter Intercession - when we came back to school after 2 weeks, everyones hair was down to their asses, they were all wearing jeans, people were smoking pot and doing other drugs and it literally happened overnight. To this day - all these years later it still boggles my mind - how did it happen overnight?
My friends and I became activists, we protested, went to rallies, etc.. At the same time close friends joined the army and the marines, they all went to Vietnam, we continued to protest while being supportive to our military friends. I never understood why the returning soldiers, sailors, marines were vilified and I never understood why they didn't understand that we, at least my friends and acquaintances didn't blame them for the war, we just wanted them and the country to get out of the war.
I obviously understand now, but it wasn't our intention to hurt them and yet we did so profoundly.
We, the kids I hung around with back in the 60's, were so young and overwhelmed by the war and had so little access to facts other than newspapers (and I use the word facts lightly) we really didn't understand what was going on - though we did sense that things were never the same after the assassination(s).
I was 11 in 1963, when Ruby shot Oswald I knew it wasn't a lone gunman. I remember being appalled as they mentioned on TV either that night or during the weekend that LBJ was already moving his furniture into the Oval Office. But I was a kid and life went on. When Martin & Bobby were killed it only confirmed what I felt in my gut - maybe most significant to me was Bobby because "they" had already killed his brother, I had suspected LBJ and or Nixon in '63 though now I was more convinced it was Nixon, but life went on.
Dorothy Kilgallen's death was also very disturbing to me, as a New Yorker I read her column in the Journal American and watched her on "What's My Line". I had no idea she was investigating the assassination or her interviews with Ruby. Again, a gut feeling told me that she wouldn't commit suicide but life went on.
One Sunday, probably in 1974, I pulled out the NY Times Magazine section and on the front cover was a picture of Nixon and his "buds", the opening line of the article was something like "Richard Nixon and his cronies boarded a plane out of Dallas on November 22, 1963." I literally stood up and said to my parents "I knew it - Nixon was behind the assassination." They probably looked at me like I was crazy and life went on.
A couple years later I bought a copy of Irving Wallace's "The Book of Lists" and came upon the list of Dallas witnesses who died in such a short period of time - another "ah ha" moment and once again life went on.
I was completely unaware of Mark Lane, Mae Brussell, et al, I had no idea that research was ongoing regarding the case - I just always knew in my gut that things were very wrong.
I went to a Catholic grade school and entered a public high school in September 1966. That first term girls were required to wear skirts and boys to wear ties. In January of 1967 we had Winter Intercession - when we came back to school after 2 weeks, everyones hair was down to their asses, they were all wearing jeans, people were smoking pot and doing other drugs and it literally happened overnight. To this day - all these years later it still boggles my mind - how did it happen overnight?
My friends and I became activists, we protested, went to rallies, etc.. At the same time close friends joined the army and the marines, they all went to Vietnam, we continued to protest while being supportive to our military friends. I never understood why the returning soldiers, sailors, marines were vilified and I never understood why they didn't understand that we, at least my friends and acquaintances didn't blame them for the war, we just wanted them and the country to get out of the war.
I obviously understand now, but it wasn't our intention to hurt them and yet we did so profoundly.
We, the kids I hung around with back in the 60's, were so young and overwhelmed by the war and had so little access to facts other than newspapers (and I use the word facts lightly) we really didn't understand what was going on - though we did sense that things were never the same after the assassination(s).