by Donald Jeffries, “I Protest”:

I’ve described the impact that the JFK assassination had on me, as a seven year old child. My Catholic family was in mourning, as reruns of Superman, Popeye, The Little Rascals and the Three Stooges were preempted for the nonstop coverage of Kennedy lying in state and then the funeral, with a riderless horse leading the procession.

There was a somber mood over the country, and within my family’s small brick rambler. Like most Catholics, my parents were enthralled with the handsome and well-spoken John F. Kennedy, the youngest president ever elected, and the first one who shared our religion. I was as impressionable as any other kid that age, so I was enthralled with him, too. He was the first president I remember, and that dignified and articulate persona set the template for what I imagined the leader of our country was supposed to be like. Going from that to the crude and bumbling Lyndon Johnson was a culture shock that I think contributed to a national loss of confidence.