Anniversary, 2018

A very brief excerpt from Chapter Thirteen, “The Circus.”
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Being in Dealey Plaza at half past noon on the anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination is an incomparable experience. Whether you care deeply about who killed Kennedy or think the whole conspiracy thing is a crock, you cannot help being impressed, for better or worse, by the reality of Dealey Plaza on a sunny midday in late November, and by the people who show up there to remember JFK.

Like September 11th and December 7th, November 22nd is a date synonymous with national calamity. The implications of the assassination loomed over the United States for decades, but I don’t think that’s true anymore. Maybe it’s because so few people still care. Or maybe it’s because of that whole new form of government Jack Ruby warned of. Or maybe it’s that, between the stigma associated with “conspiracy theory” and the passage of so much time, the issue has been effectively neutered.

As I grew up, though, the assassination seemed ominous and real, especially on each anniversary. The next day’s paper always had a picture of surviving Kennedys gathered at JFK’s grave at Arlington. One of them, usually Teddy, leaned forward to place flowers by that eternal flame, while the rest knelt beside him, their heads bent in prayer. That picture didn’t change much from year to year – except gradually, as strange fates and the inevitable claims of time left fewer family members to mark the occasion.

...above text excerpted from Conspiracy Nut, © 2018 by John Kelin