The Kennedy Half-Century (132 page)

47
. Jacqueline Kennedy,
Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy
(New York: Hyperion, 2011).

48
. Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin,
The Kennedy Detail
(New York: Gallery Books, 2010).

49
. Brian Latell,
Castro’s Secrets: The CIA and Cuba’s Intelligence Machine
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).

50
. Stephen King,
11/22/63: A Novel
(New York: Gallery Books, 2012).

51
. Mimi Alford,
Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath
(New York: Random House, 2012).

52
. Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard,
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
(New York: Henry Holt, 2012).

53
. Stephen Hunter,
The Third Bullet
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013). Hunter’s fictional story revolves around a second shooter in the Dal-Tex building, which was directly across the street from the Book Depository. Dallas authorities briefly detained a suspect named Jim Braden who was spotted in the Dal-Tex building around the time of the assassination, but he was released after questioning. See Dave Reitzes, “Phone Factoid: Tortured Connection,” Kennedy Assassination website,
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/factoid.htm
 [accessed February 21, 2013].

54
. Archbishop Philip Hannan with Nancy Collins and Peter Finney, Jr.,
The Archbishop Wore Combat Boots
(Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2010), 27–28.

55
. Indeed, the archbishop said he included the letter to counter the idea that JFK and Jackie had “a loveless marriage of convenience.”

56
. The National Geographic Channel aired
The Lost JFK Tapes: The Assassination
(2009) and
JFK: The Lost Bullet
(2011); the History Channel aired
JFK: 3 Shots That Changed America
(2009); and the Discovery Channel aired
Did the Mob Kill JFK?
(2009),
JFK: The Ruby Connection
(2009), and
The Kennedy Detail
(2010).

57
. Players’ scores are based on how closely their version of the assassination matches the Warren Commission’s narrative. “ ‘Docu-Game’ Recreates JFK Assassination,” Associated Press, November 22, 2004, reposted on Fox News.com,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139213,00.html
 [accessed June 14, 2012].

58
. Judy Keen, “JFK Relics Scattered Across U.S. Still Hold Mystique,”
USA Today
, November 19, 2009,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-19-JKF-relics_N.htm
 [accessed June 14, 2012].

59
. Also included in this odd grab bag was Oswald’s mother’s death certificate. United Press International, “Brother Sues Over Oswald’s Coffin,” UPI.com, January 18, 2011,
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/18/Brother-sues-over-Oswalds-coffin/UPI-60551295389189/
 [accessed June 14, 2012].

60
. David Schwartz, “Purported JFK Ambulance Sold for $120,000 at Auction,” Reuters, January 24, 2011,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/24/us-ambulance-jfk-odd-idUS-TRE70N4FS20110124
 [accessed August 7, 2012].

61
. Roy Appleton, “Owner to Sell Rooming House Where Oswald Lived Before JFK Assassination,”
Dallas Morning News
, May 8, 2013,
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/explore/20130508-owner-to-sell-rooming-house-where-oswald-lived-before-jfk-assassina-tion.ece
 [accessed May 9, 2013].

62
. Katya Kazakina, “Abraham Lincoln Glasses Could Fetch $700,000 at Auction,” Bloomberg, April 23, 2012,
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-23/abraham-lincoln-glasses-could-fetch-700-ooo-at-auction.html
 [accessed August 8, 2012]. The glasses did not meet the minimum reserve price at this auction, and thus were not sold then. But another attempt in the future is probable.

21. THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT

1
. For more information on Kennedy’s enduring popularity, see Costas Panagopoulos, “Ex-Presidential Approval: Retrospective Evaluations of Presidential Performance,”
Presidential Studies Quarterly
42, no. 4 (December 2012): 719–29. Panagopoulos shows that Kennedy, of all presidents since and including FDR, had the highest average approval ratings during his presidency (80%) and one of the highest postpresidential approval ratings (88%). Roosevelt, whose average approval during his dozen years as president was 66%, had slightly higher postpresidential ratings than JFK (91%).

2
. A score of 7–10.

3
. It should be noted that this was an openended question asked at the start of the survey, without any comprehensive list of presidents presented to prompt respondents. People had to rely on their memories, and most simply named a recent president they liked.

4
. John F. Kennedy, “Remarks during the Loyola College Alumni Banquet, Baltimore, Maryland, February 18, 1958,” John F. Kennedy Quotations, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum,
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx
 [accessed August 14, 2012].

5
. John F. Kennedy, “Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1961, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,
The American Presidency Project
,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032
 [accessed August 14, 2012].

6
. Ibid.

7
. Ibid.

8
. John F. Kennedy, “Address at Rice University in Houston on the Nation’s Space Effort,” September 12, 1962, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,
The American Presidency Project
,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8862
 [accessed August 14, 2012].

9
. John F. Kennedy, “Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy, Civic Auditorium, Seattle, WA,” September 6, 1960, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,
The American Presidency Project
,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25654
 [accessed August 14, 2012].

10
. Kennedy, “Inaugural Address,”
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032
 [accessed August 14, 2012].

11
. 56% of Republicans singled out “Ask not …,” compared with 47% of Democrats and 42% of Independents.

12
. Respondents viewed footage of the following: (1) “But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too … We shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, reentering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun—almost as hot as it is here today—and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out, then we must be bold.” (2) “So, let us not be blind to our differences—but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” (3) “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” (4) “It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union … I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations.” (5) “We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their
grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”

13
. All respondents were asked if they were “fairly” or “very” familiar with the following: Set a goal of putting a man on the moon within 10 years—66%; Stood up to the Soviet Union on the expansion of missiles into Cuba—65%; Used the authority of the federal government to protect the civil rights of African Americans in desegregating schools in Alabama and Mississippi—58%; Proposed the legislation that became the Civil Rights Act—52%; As the first Catholic president, spoke about the importance of the separation of church and state—46%; Developed the Peace Corps to influence public service—47%; Supported Berliners in their stance against communism—40%; Negotiated and signed the first treaty ending above ground testing of nuclear weapons—32%; Issued an executive order creating a commission on women, and signed the first equal pay law—30%; Passed a major tax cut—21%. More information on this poll, including the breakdown by age, is available at
TheKennedyHalfCentury.com
.

14
. Here are our respondents’ top choices of JFK’s greatest accomplishments (combined percentages, all adults): Stood up to the Soviet Union on the expansion of missiles into Cuba—51%; Proposed the legislation that became the Civil Rights Act—48%; Used the authority of the federal government to protect the civil rights of African Americans in desegregating schools in Alabama and Mississippi—43%; Set a goal of putting a man on the moon within 10 years—38%; Issued an executive order creating a commission on women, and signed the first equal pay law—33%; Negotiated and signed the first treaty ending above ground testing of nuclear weapons—25%; Developed the Peace Corps to influence public service—19%; As the first Catholic president, spoke about the importance of the separation of church and state—17%; Passed a major tax cut—15%; Supported Berliners in their stance against Communism—10%.

15
. All respondents were asked if they had “fairly” or “very” major concerns about the following: Under JFK, U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated, which led us into the Vietnam War—53%; JFK approved the wiretapping of civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., and his advisers—46%; JFK was involved in several extramarital affairs while he was in the White House, including recent accounts of his relationship with a 19-year-old White House intern—33%; Through the CIA, JFK secretly supported coups and the assassination of foreign leaders in Latin America, Iraq, and Vietnam—30%; JFK was unable to push through major civil rights legislation during his own presidency, and it was not until Lyndon Johnson became president that the Civil Rights Act was passed—23%. More information on this poll, including the breakdown by age, is available at
TheKennedyHalfCentury.com
.

16
. The final 3% said, a bit oddly, that the affairs made them feel more unfavorable to JFK as a president but did not affect their view of JFK as a person.

17
. The “strongly agree” total for age 55+ was 38%, to 32% for those 54 and under.

18
. Among those under age 55, 93% chose 9/11, with the Oklahoma City bombing second at 35% and the explosion of the space shuttle
Challenger
at 20%.

19
. The other “clear and vivid” ratings were: Challenger explosion (63%), Oklahoma City bombing (36%), and the King assassination (34%). In each case, we included only respondents who were old enough at the time of the event to potentially recall it.

20
. Respondents 55 and older were asked which major televised events they remembered
watching on live television during the assassination weekend. JFK’s funeral procession—81%; John F. Kennedy, Jr., saluting his father’s coffin—73%; JFK’s coffin lying in repose in the White House—68%; Watching Air Force One land for the removal of JFK’s coffin—57%; The lighting of the eternal flame and JFK’s burial in Arlington—57%; Jackie Kennedy watching LBJ being sworn in as president—55%; Watching Walter Cronkite report on the JFK assassination—50%; The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald—43%; The assassination of JFK in a convertible in Texas—31%. More information on this poll, including a breakdown of those who remember watching the events on television after they occurred or not at all, is available at
TheKennedyHalfCentury.com
.