Friday Flashback: A Look Back at JFK

This entry, which contains links to several previous posts from The Prices Do DC, originally appeared in The Lantern Lit.

It is said that everyone who was alive in 1963 remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. And while all may have memories, some memories are more dramatic than others. Take those of former PBS news anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer. At the time, MacNeil was a young NBC TV reporter covering the presidential trip to Dallas. Lehrer was a young staffer for one of Dallas' local newspapers. Here is what they remember about that fateful Dallas day 50 years ago that changed their lives and all of America forever. What follows is a series of articles offering a look at JFK's life, death, legacy, and legend.

Before That Fateful Day in Dallas
The Election

• The 1960 campaign. (from the JFK Library Presidential Library and Museum)
• The phone call that may have made JFK president. (from The Prices Do DC)
• Did Kennedy really win because he looked better on television? (from Slate)

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• To the brink. (from The Prices Do DC)
• The words that could have ended the world. (from The Prices Do DC)
• Thirteen days to the destruction that wasn't. (from The Prices Do DC)
• Armageddon avoided. (from The Prices Do DC)

JFK and the Early 60s

• Herblock looks at 1962. (from The Prices Do DC)
• What was life like in 1963? (ABC News)
• Painting the president. (from Face to Face)
• The Beatles, Phil Spector, and JFK. (from Slate)
• JFK's 10 greatest political accomplishments. (from Netplaces)
• A collection of stories about the JFK years. (from Byliner Anthologies)

November 22, 1963

• Dallas then was a place of hate. (from The Guardian)
• Ten facts about the assassination you probably don't know. (from Yahoo)
• The day as reported in the New York Times.
• The day my history teacher cried. (from The Huffington Post)
• The flight from Dallas. (from Esquire)
• 22 days of JFK. (from The Daily Beast)

Unfinished Business

• What would have happened had Kennedy lived? (from The Denver Post)
• The speech JFK would have given on the night of his death. (from The Huffington Post)
• Kennedy's vision for mental health. (from The Huffington Post)

The Immediate Aftermath

• The day JFK died, TV news came of age. (from SF Gate)
• How the assassination changed the Secret Service. (from GPB News)
• How sports changed on that November weekend. (from USA Today)
• Classical music paid tribute. (from The Los Angeles Times)

Let the Conspiracy Theories Commence

• The enduring need for a conspiracy. (from The American)
• 1966 book starts the avalanche. (from USA Today)
• All the theories. (from Wikipedia)
• TV detective Munch tackles real-life JFK mystery. (from The Prices Do DC)
• Oliver Stone talks about JFK movie, conspiracy. (from The Prices Do DC)
• Fidel Castro says Oswald couldn't have killed Kennedy. (from The Atlantic)
• Why the Warren Commission is right in saying Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. (from Probe)

Where JFK Stands Today

• Gun debate started by JFK killing still rages. (from ABC News)
• 14 movies we still watch that come from the assassination. (from The Wrap)
• Why the fascination endures? (from CantonRep.com)
• We are still trying to understand the elusive president. (from The New York Times)
• We are still saddened by all that was lost. (The Washington Post)