John F. Kennedy Read online

  Jack Kennedy walked out of the hotel with his familiar buoyant stride. Hatless in spite of the rain, he looked around the crowded parking lot and smiled his obvious enjoyment.

  “There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth. I appreciate your being here this morning.”

  In response to a disappointed murmur from those hoping to see the First Lady, he said, “Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself.” There was a burst of laughter and he continued, “It takes her longer, but of course, she looks better than we do after she does it!”

  This time, the president joined the laughter.

  Later, at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast, he was in top form. His speech was well received. After special presentations and further good humor, the presidential party boarded the plane for the next stop—Dallas.

  The drizzling rain was left behind. The sun was golden in the blue Texas sky when Air Force One set down at Love Field. The president and Mrs. Kennedy were welcomed enthusiastically. Governor Connally and Vice President Johnson surveyed the scene with pleasure. The Texas trip was going perfectly!

  The motorcycles roared impatiently. The president seated himself in the Lincoln limousine beside Mrs. Kennedy. Because it was a sunny, beautiful day, he decided against using the bulletproof top.

  For a supposedly unfriendly and dangerous city, Dallas was giving a rousing welcome to the Kennedys. Cheering Texans jammed the sidewalks and spilled out into the street. The lead motorcycles rolled toward downtown Dallas.

  As the president turned to wave at the people thronging the curb, the governor’s lady smiled at him over her shoulder. “You can’t say Dallas isn’t friendly to you today!”

  The president laughed and started to reply.

  His answer was stilled, forever stilled, by the sharp crack of a rifle—

  Friday, November 22! The president of the United States was assassinated! Across the nation and around the world, flags flew at half-mast. In a thousand cities, towns, and villages, bells began to toll.

  All over the globe, America’s grief was felt and shared. Great names and common people alike mourned our leader as their own. There was a shocked sadness, not only for what President Kennedy was, but even more for what he might have been. John F. Kennedy’s death was particularly tragic because it came at the beginning, not at the end, of his career.

  The world will long remember the poise and self-control of the president’s widow. Never to be forgotten was the contained grief of the president’s family. This tragedy marked the third violent death the Kennedys had known. Joe Jr. had been killed in action in 1944. Their beloved Kick had died in a plane crash in 1948. Now, the assassination was a dreadful climax. Yet Rose Kennedy had borne each death with courage and grace, with a mother’s love, and heartache.

  Church bells tolled on Sunday morning, November 24th. Along Pennsylvania Avenue came the roll of muffled drums, as John Fitzgerald Kennedy left the White House for his last journey up to Capitol Hill.

  The same horse-drawn caisson that carried the coffin of President Roosevelt eighteen years before moved slowly up the avenue. Behind the presidential flag followed a riderless horse. From the empty saddle hung a black-handled sword in a silver scabbard. A pair of boots was reversed in the stirrups, signifying that a commander had fallen and would never rise again.

  When the slow cortege arrived at the Capitol, the Navy Band played “Hail to the Chief.” Cannons boomed a twenty-one gun salute for the president. Because Jack Kennedy loved the navy, the band played the solemn navy hymn, “Eternal Father.”

  Military pall bearers, representing each one of the services, carried the casket of their Commander-in-Chief into the Rotunda of the Capitol. The president lay in state with an honor guard. A quarter of a million people waited in line throughout the long afternoon and all through the chill of the night to pay their respects.

  Final ceremonies for President Kennedy were observed on Monday, November 25th. The last religious rites were held at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. The cadence of the muffled drums throbbed through the city, measuring a sad, slow pace for the procession to the church.

  Following the flag-draped caisson was the president’s widow, walking with his two brothers, Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy. The marching mourners numbered two hundred of the world’s leaders, the greatest congress of foreign dignitaries ever in Washington. Emperor and queen, presidents and prime ministers walked side by side.

  Also walking to the cathedral was America’s new president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, with Mrs. Johnson, the new First Lady. Urged by Secret Service men to ride to the funeral, President Johnson replied, “I’d rather give my life than be afraid to give it.”

  Waiting at the cathedral were the two men who had led the nation before John F. Kennedy—former Presidents Eisenhower and Truman.

  Richard Cardinal Cushing, the intimate friend of the Kennedy family who had presided at the wedding of the president and spoken at the president’s Inauguration, officiated at the funeral. At the Altar of St. Matthew’s, he celebrated the Requiem Mass. “May the angels, dear Jack, lead you into Paradise.” For the next few moments, countless millions paused to honor the president of the United States. Memorial services were held all over the world.

  As the honor guard took the coffin back out into the sunshine, the band struck up “Hail to the Chief.” On the cathedral steps, Caroline held fast to her mother’s hand and brushed a tear away. John-John, who was three years old this same day of his father’s funeral, saw the flag on the casket and saluted in a touching gesture.

  At Arlington’s National Cemetery, the headstones mark the last resting place of those men who have served their country. Only one other president, William Howard Taft, had been buried at Arlington. In a way, Jack Kennedy had unknowingly suggested the site himself. A few months before, he had slipped over to Arlington for a breath of air. Looking out over the magnificent view of Washington, he said, “I could stay up here forever!”

  At the graveside service, bagpipes wailed their mournful tune as the pipers from the air force marched past. Overhead, fifty jet aircraft, one for each State of the Union, streaked through the sky. The apex of the last V formation was empty, symbolizing a fallen leader. The president’s personal plane, Air Force One, trailed the formation, dipping its wings in a final tribute.

  A twenty-one gun salute boomed in the distance, the last for our 35th president. Up on the hill, three musket volleys cracked. A bugle sounded its first lonely note. The bugler faltered, then the haunting sadness of taps echoed on the air.

  The sloping hillside of Arlington looks out over the Washington that was John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. The Avenue of Heroes leads straight across the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial. Beyond it, the Washington Monument towers toward the sky. In the far distance, the dome of the United States’ Capitol is a shining landmark by day and night.

  During the twilight hours of that November 25th, planes took off for all the corners of the earth, returning the world’s leaders to their native lands, taking Americans home.

  One of these planes was bound for the New England that Jack Kennedy had loved as a boy and represented as a man. As his flight took off over the Capitol at dusk, Seymour St. John, the headmaster of the Choate School, wrote a tribute to a famous alumnus, to John F. Kennedy.

  “Take off across the silver river,

  Washington’s Potomac, Lincoln’s,

  Kennedy’s now; and on it flows.

  Others fell that day—ten thousands

  Died November 22nd;

  And some were old, some very young,

  But only one was forty-six.

  The Capitol shines white below;

  The marble halls of government

  Stand out against their drabber neighbors.

  These were his; he gave them life,

  And they gave back vitality.

  Can it be true he’s wrenched away?

  That all these forums of a week

  Ago are silenced, lifeless
left?

  The sunset afterglow behind

  The wing makes fiery western skies.

  Ahead it’s dark. The streets beneath,

  Lamp-lighted now, blind alleys start

  And wander off to nothingness.

  What’s left to us? God help us think:

  His humor, warmth—these can’t be crushed.

  His vision of a world made free,

  His faith in reason, hope for country,

  All that we believe in, shared;

  His hate of prejudice, of strife.

  But look: there shines the evening star.

  What has he left to us?

  His life.”

  HAIL TO THE CHIEF!

  THE BABBLE OF young voices rose to a din, then quieted down as the teacher entered. The class in public affairs was meeting in the school library. Students for this new course in American Government had been carefully chosen from fifth- and sixth-graders.

  The boys and girls listened intently to the teacher. “The discussion topic for today is the presidency of the United States. Last week, the class agreed to choose one feature of this huge topic to talk about. What’s your choice?”

  A boy in a football jersey answered. “No matter what happens to the man who is president, the office of president continues. We wanted to learn more about this.”

  “Excellent!” The teacher approved.

  A girl in the front row said, “There’s terrific information about the presidency in our library—books, magazines, and papers.”

  The boy sitting next to her agreed. “One magazine was published by the United States Information Service just after the assassination of President Kennedy. It’s called ‘The president of the United States of America’ and it shows just how our country carries on after a national tragedy or emergency.”

  During the discussion that followed, the boys and girls learned that in many countries around the globe, the sudden death of the head of state or the assassination of the political leader would result in public chaos. The government might be taken over by a rival political power or the armed forces might revolt.

  Not so in America. President Kennedy’s death, tragic though it was, proved that our government is a remarkably shock-proof system. A crisis that would have been fatal to most governments simply served to unite Americans.

  Seven times before that fatal November 22nd day of 1963, an American president had died while still in office. (Three of those times had been by an assassination.) Seven times before, the office of president had been immediately filled by the vice president. This was the law of the land, the law of the United States of America, provided for in a one-sentence clause of the Constitution of 1787. Just as our founding fathers ordained centuries ago, Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson became president.

  “Here’s a clipping that brings out this continuity of the presidency,” another boy volunteered. “It’s dated November 25, 1963, the same day President Kennedy was buried at Arlington. ‘A Legacy of Courage’ is the title of an editorial in The Christian Science Monitor.”

  “Please read it,” the teacher asked.

  “It begins with a quotation from another congressman who became president, just as John Kennedy did,” the boy explained.

  “ ‘Fellow citizens! God reigns and the Government at Washington still lives! With these words, James A. Garfield, then a young congressman with an outstanding war record, reassured the people after the assassination of President Lincoln.

  “ ‘Fifteen years later, President Garfield himself succumbed to the effects of a bullet fired by a disgruntled office seeker. But then, again, “the Government at Washington” lived on!’ ”

  The boy paused. “I’ll skip a little to save time. The next part says, ‘John F. Kennedy served his country in this tradition. He had a warm feeling for everyday people and was warmly loved by them. He gave unstintingly of the best of his abilities in behalf of the public good. He brought able men into the government and led them with courage.’ ”

  When the teacher asked for other information, a boy in a Scout uniform suggested, “There was an article on the presidency and on John F. Kennedy in Boys’ Life for February, 1964. This isn’t in the school library, but I have a copy.”

  “Read a few lines,” the teacher suggested.

  “The article is by Bob Hood,” the boy explained, as he started to read. “ ‘In the gloom of that grim weekend last November, there were things to be proud of. Through its grief and through the presence of its great leaders at the funeral, the world paid respect not only to a fine man but to the presidency itself, an office which has great meaning to all people. Although an assassin cut down the president, the presidency lived on, as always.’ ”

  The boy turned the page and read on. “ ‘We should all take pride in our government, in how it pulled together in crisis, reassuring its citizens and people of the free world that the Union stood firm. We should take pride that our nation did not falter, that it continues in the spirit of President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address: With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessings and His help but knowing that here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own!’ ”

  “This is a remarkable collection of quotations,” the teacher said. “Any others?”

  “President Johnson spoke to the nation on Thanksgiving Day in 1963, a few days after the assassination.” The girl in the front row spoke up again. “He said, ‘A great leader is dead. A great nation must move on. Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. . . . A deed that was meant to tear us apart has bound us together.’ ”

  “You boys and girls have certainly given this topic much thought,” the teacher said. “Any other comments?”

  “Yes, please,” a girl on the far side of the room said shyly. “I’d like to share some words of President Kennedy’s that aren’t very well known. He spoke at a small gathering in South Carolina the same year as his death and I’ll never forget his words: ‘A man may die, nations rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.’ ”

  The library was hushed and quiet.

  “An idea lives on.” The teacher broke the silence. “No thought could more eloquently express the presidency of the United States!” He cleared his throat and said, “Like all great Americans, President Kennedy will live on in the words and works which he left behind. Many of our past presidents have been honored by memorials and monuments. We’re all familiar with the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Today, there are Kennedy memorials everywhere—in our national capital, throughout America, and around the world. But no monument could be a greater honor to any president than the Presidential Medal of Freedom which was awarded posthumously to John F. Kennedy.”

  The room was quiet except for the sound of the teacher’s voice. “President Johnson read this citation in ceremonies at the White House on December 6, 1963. ‘John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, soldier, scholar, statesman, defender of freedom, pioneer for peace, author of hope—combining courage with reason and combatting hate with compassion, he led the land he loved toward new frontiers of opportunity for all men and peace for all time. Beloved in a life of selfless service, mourned by all in a death of senseless crime, the energy, faith, and devotion which he brought to his extraordinarily successful though tragically brief endeavor will hereafter light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.’ ”

  LUCY POST FRISBEE (1917-1997) was the author of several Childhood of Famous Americans titles, including books about John F. Kennedy, John Burroughs, and Brigham Young.

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This Aladdin edition January 2015

  Text and interior illustrations copyright © 1964 by Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.

  Cover illustration copyright © 2015 by Chris Whetzel

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Cover designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena

  Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Caslon Pro.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2014933320

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2504-9 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-2503-2 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3077-7 (eBook)

  This title was previously published individually by Aladdin as part of the Childhood of Famous Americans series.