This is not the column I originally
intended to write today. I wanted to follow the lead of Caroline Kennedy and
focus on the triumph of her father's life, not the tragedy of his death.
I wanted to write about how
charming he was, and how he inspired my generation to ask not what our country
could do for us, but what we could do for our country.
But for those of us who are old
enough to remember that terrible day in Dallas, the shock and pain of his
assassination still hurts, even after all this time. I think few of us will
really ever get over it.
In the immediate aftermath of the
assassination, a consensus seemed to emerge that two reforms must be
accomplished right away. First, we needed to tighten up the gun laws so
crackpots like Oswald, who purchased the death rifle via mail order for only
$21, couldn't get access to guns.
A simple background check would
have revealed that Oswald not only was affiliated with some very dodgy
extremist groups and defected to the Soviet Union for three years, he had
already tried to assassinate retired Gen. Edwin Walker the previous spring.
The second thing we felt needed reforming
was the culture of hate that was dividing the country.
We already had ample warning that
there was danger afoot before President Kennedy went to Dallas. Some people had
spat on U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson there a few weeks earlier, and local
residents sent letters to the White House begging Kennedy not to come because
of the risk. On the day he landed, the local John Birch Society distributed ominous-looking
leaflets with his picture and the words "Wanted For Treason!"
Needless to say, these much-desired
reforms never came to pass. Despite the subsequent murders of Robert Kennedy, Martin
Luther King and Malcolm X, and the assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, Ronald
Reagan and Gabby Giffords, the gun manufacturers and their puppet group, the
National Rifle Association, have not only blocked attempts at reform, they've
been successful in getting laws passed that actually loosen gun restrictions.
And now the list of victims has
been expanded to include college students (Virginia Tech), high school students
(Columbine), moviegoers (Aurora) and even toddlers (Sandy Hook).
Meanwhile, the culture of hate is
even worse now than it was in 1963. Some Americans hate other Americans more
than they love their country. If you don't
believe me, just go on the Internet and see for yourself. It's a deadly
combination, and I fear for the future of our country.
At President Kennedy's funeral,
Chief Justice Earl Warren asked a question that rings even truer today:
"If we really love this country, if we truly love justice and
mercy, if we fervently want to make this nation better for those who are to
follow us, we can at least abjure the hatred that consumes people, the false
accusations that divide us, and the bitterness that begets violence. Is it too
much to hope that the martyrdom of our beloved president might even soften the
hearts of those who would themselves recoil from assassination, but who do not
shrink from spreading the venom which kindles thoughts of it in others?"
Half a century later, that question remains unanswered.
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