What Does November 22 Mean To You?

It's no secret that I'm old, older than a lot of the readers of this blog.  The November 22 I'm referring to was in  1963.  That was the day United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.

Yes, I remember that day.

I wasn't a young child.  I was a teenager in high school, though the 9th grade was part of the junior high according to the 6 + 3 + 3 system.  It was just my second year in Great Neck North after moving there from Bayside, NY.  The announcement was over the loudspeaker.  The teacher took it calmly, so we did, too.

Always the political observer, even as a kid, I was very impressed by the quick, business-like transfer of power to LBJ, Lyndon Baines Johnson, a man so different from Kennedy in personal style and political experience.

Johnson was a very experienced and wily politician.  He got straight to business as President.  If he had been the president and Kennedy the VP, suddenly thrust into the role, I highly doubt that Kennedy would have done as well.  Don't forget that they had been opponents at the Democratic Convention.  This was long before the big primary system got started.  Presidents were chosen over deals and there was real suspense during the convention voting.

It was all so long ago...