My Kennedy connection

[sofadoc]

As you all are probably aware, the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination comes up in a few days.
The Dallas police officer that was also shot by Oswald that day was J.D. Tippit.
Here is at Marie Tippit at her husband's funeral, flanked by her 2 brothers:


That's officer Tippit in the inset photo.
The brother on her left was a Greenville police officer well on into the 80's.
He used to give me a police escort home every evening when I umpired baseball games in a rough part of town (there were people that took their youth league baseball VERY seriously).
He always made sure that I got home OK.

[Mike]

interesting  story sofa

[gene]

He used to give me a police escort home every evening when I umpired baseball games in a rough part of town

Was it because of the 'rough part of town' or because of the level of competency in your umpiring? LOL  ;D

That is a great memory. I'm sure all those police officers felt a great sense of failure, and anger, in that event.

I came home from kindergarten and my mom was crying and there were no cartoons on TV. I asked her why and she wouldn't tell me. That's my memory of that event.

It was a liberal Communist that did the killing and it was the liberal news media that fueled the conspiracy theories.

How different the office of president has become: Marilyn Monroe. Monica Lewinsky.

gene

[Mojo]

That was pretty much my memory gene. I can remember it was a cold, rainy, dreary day and I am came home to a Mom crying and the house quiet.

I Liked Kennedy and what he stood for. I can appreciate his taking a stand against the Russians
and he helped command respect for the USA.

Chris

[sofadoc]

He used to give me a police escort home every evening when I umpired baseball games in a rough part of town

Was it because of the 'rough part of town' or because of the level of competency in your umpiring? LOL  ;D

LOL! That thought crossed my mind many times.
After every call I made, half the people thought I was a genius, the other half thought I was blind. I was a skinny kid, who got challenged to a fistfight by grown men in the parking lot after every game.
But I needed the 4 bucks.

I soon learned that if I call strikes, I anger just about everyone. BUT if I call balls, I only anger 2 people (the pitcher's mom and dad).

When all the middle-class white people in town migrated southward toward the interstate highway, they forgot to build a new ballpark. So the lilly-white kids had to play their games in a "transitional" neighborhood. There was always considerable tension.

Now, we have a beautiful ballpark on the other end of town. No racial tension anymore (there are only about 3 or 4 black kids in the whole league).

These are the kind of problems that Kennedy faced head-on. He was a great president, but a terrible politician. He hadn't learned the fine art of "saying something without really saying anything". If he had only learned to call a few more balls, and a lot less strikes?

[Mojo]

I was the kid who got tossed out of a couple football games for fighting. Got a technical called on me for throwing a basketball at a Ref. My coach about killed me for that one since we were in double overtime. Thankfully we won. :)

I seemed to always have problems with the Zebra's except in baseball. I was a pitcher and I always knew when I threw a good ball. I was lucky as I had good umpires back then who also knew when I threw strikes.  :)

Chris

[bobbin]

I was four and remember watching the funeral on TV.  I love horses and remember the beautiful prancing, riderless horse with the boots turned backwards in the stirrups.  His name was Blackjack, I believe. 

I very much enjoyed the 2 part American Experience, JFK on PBS.  I was particularly struck by Kennedy's willingness to "cool it" during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  More particularly that he understood the potential danger of continually amping up the nuclear race.  Also, that he refused to "do a victory dance" and stressed the importance of not embarrassing or humiliating Kruschev.  "We won, that's enough".  I also liked the program on the forensics (or the lack of them) following the assassination.  And I managed to fall asleep about half way through the Frontline program on Lee Harvey Oswald, hope that comes back around. 

And was very touched by the letter from Jackie Kennedy to Officer Tippit's widow.  A thoughtful and gentle gesture. 

[sofadoc]

I caught part of that Frontline program last night. Some reports indicated that Oswald might be working both sides of the fence while in New Orleans. He was distributing pro-Castro literature that was linked back to anti-Castro groups. Guess we'll never know the whole truth.

Personally, I believe Oswald did act alone. But Ruby killing Oswald was a mob hit. The mob hated Kennedy, and even if they had nothing to do with JFK's murder, they couldn't afford to have the FBI pokin' around in their business. So taking Oswald out put a nice neat bow on everything.

Here's Oswald's wife today, at a Wal-Mart about 25 miles from here.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2485077/Pictured-time-25-years-The-reclusive-widow-Lee-Harvey-Oswald-lives-fear-killed-Secret-Service-turned-3m-talk-JFK-assassination-ahead-50-year-anniversary.html

 

[gene]

I coached a 3rd and 4th grade basketball team years ago. One parent on our team kept score and one parent on the other team kept score and they compared scores throughout the game to make sure it was correct.

One team had a mom who kept cheating. Our parent complained to the ref everytime they compared notes. THIS IS 3RD AND 4TH GRADE!!!

The ref stated the score and had each parent right it down. At the next time out our parent complained again. The ref looked at the two scores. He had been keeping score himself.

He told that other parent to leave the gym or he would have her arrested, her team would forfeit the game, and that team would be removed from the league, and every kid would not be allowed to play on any other team for the rest of the season.

Sometimes I think parents should be required to take a drug and alcohol test to attend their kids sporting events. But then what do you do when parents are just awful human beings?

gene

[Mike]

they say it was one of those " I know right where I was's" but me I was 3 in California I remember something but not much I was probably outside playing

[Dede]

they say it was one of those " I know right where I was's" but me I was 3 in California I remember something but not much I was probably outside playing

I know exactly where I was, but remember even less than Mike... Mom was pregnant with me.

[Darren Henry]

I'm younger than Dede---I was in Bagdad. (Think about it)

Guess we'll never know the whole truth

One of the things that lent itself to all the conspiracy theory up here (be that CIA,mob,Castro,whoever) was how quickly Oswald was killed. We covered the incident in history class (we cover American,British and Canadian history)  and I always wondered what information was "filtered" for the masses and what he took to the grave with him.

BTW; The anniversary of the assassination was big news all day on the radio at work yesterday.
speaks volumes for the man's recognition globally as a leader,decorated vet,etc....