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John F. Kennedy has always been a subject of fascination. Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy (May be subject to copyright) |
It was my first semester of Grade 7, and I had to give my first real speech to my class. It wasn’t my whole class, just my debate option class.
The teacher was Mr. Terry Roth, and he arrived at our school, from Bow Island, at the start of that year. Before we got into actual debate, he wanted to get us comfortable public speaking, which is something I will be eternally grateful for.
We were allowed to choose our own topic to make a speech on, and I chose John F. Kennedy. He in particular, but the Kennedys as a whole, were a source of fascination for me back then.
They came to mind again a couple days ago when my spouse introduced me to a show she said I would really like called, “11/22/63”.
November 22, 1963 was the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Inspiration
I am not sure how I got interested in John F. Kennedy. I think it was a cartoon I saw when I was a kid, one of those one or two minute profiles of famous people. I recall hearing how Kennedy was a war hero. His ship had been hit, the crew was abandoning ship and he swam in burning oil on top of the water to help some of his men.
I am not sure how I got interested in John F. Kennedy. I think it was a cartoon I saw when I was a kid, one of those one or two minute profiles of famous people. I recall hearing how Kennedy was a war hero. His ship had been hit, the crew was abandoning ship and he swam in burning oil on top of the water to help some of his men.
If that wasn’t my first experience with John Kennedy, it definitely made the biggest impression on me.
I remember talking to my Mom about John Kennedy. That’s where I first heard the phenomenon that everyone remembered where they were, and what they were doing, when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. She was baking in the kitchen. She often didn’t listen to the radio in the afternoon, but on that day she had the urge to turn on the radio – and that’s when she heard the news.
She was the one who told me Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin, and that he in turn was killed a week later by Jack Ruby.
Mom was also the one who told me about Bobby Kennedy. How he was taking over for his brother, running for president and how he too was assassinated in 1968. She said she really liked Bobby.
I found all of that very interesting, so when it came time to choose a topic for that speech, I chose John Kennedy.
Debate class
The debate option turned about to be quite memorable for me. I had taken an instant liking to Mr. Roth, and he would go on to be one of the teachers who encouraged my creative writing. At that point though, he was brand new to our school.
The debate option turned about to be quite memorable for me. I had taken an instant liking to Mr. Roth, and he would go on to be one of the teachers who encouraged my creative writing. At that point though, he was brand new to our school.
I recall doing a number of different things in debate class, before we actually debated. Looking back, they all seemed designed to get us comfortable speaking in front of a group.
The first exercise I remember was a “Celebrity Roast”, like the ones Dean Martin did on TV at that time. A celebrity would be chosen as the guest of honour and roasted – that is all the other guests would poke fun at the guest of honour. In our debate class, our classmate Doug volunteered to be roasted. I ended up as the emcee, so I introduced everyone. A lot of the class did not come prepared so, as I emceed, I would comment on that. When I got my mark from Mr. Roth, he commented that he liked that, but thought I could have used the opportunity to poke my own fun at Doug. It would not be the last really good constructive criticism I got from Mr. Roth.
We also did a celebrity interview. To address some of the nerves we may have had doing it in front of the class, we took turns recording our interviews on tape in the library, and later played them for the class. I was John Lennon of the Beatles, interviewed by my friend Dave Hetesy. I tried to do my best Liverpool accent, basing it on a interviews I had heard on Stampede Wrestling of “The Dynamite Kid” who was also from Liverpool. My accent made my classmate Meriel Kingston cringe. She was from England. One of the other interviews was Clint Crombez playing wrestling champion Bob Backlund, interviewed by Mike Kozbial, who was a huge wrestling fan.
Mr. Roth also talked about the choral festival, which had categories in addition to singing. There was reciting poetry and reading. He demonstrated reading, where you actually read a passage from a book, but with as much feeling as inflection as the passage warranted. He read a passage for us, and it was amazing. It sounded like a radio play. He told us, when you compete in the festival, you practise so much, you know the passage by heart and aren’t even reading it – you’re living it and performing it.
Ultimately, we did do a debate and I recall the topic well – should England have declared war on Argentina over the Falkland Islands? We faced Meriel who was very passionate because she was defending her native England. What I recall most was focusing on how England had sunk an Argentinian ship called the General Belgrano, which made them not completely blameless or the victim. We still lost.
The first activity we did which again was designed to make us more comfortable public speaking was that speech.
So, I set to finding out more about John F. Kennedy.
Doing my research
It was the first time I really delved into the life of John Kennedy, and one of the first personalities I ever researched.
It was the first time I really delved into the life of John Kennedy, and one of the first personalities I ever researched.
The first place I went, as I always did to start any history project, was the Encyclopedia. I was greeted by Kennedy’s presidential portrait, and quickly learned he was the youngest man elected president. He was also the first Roman Catholic, which seemed like a big deal in the States. It wasn’t a big deal to me, because I went to Catholic school and was surrounded by the faith.
I also learned he had been in the United States Navy, and was a war hero. Kennedy was also injured in rescuing his men, and spent months in the hospital. He wrote two book, “Profiles in Courage”, which won him a Pulitzer Prize, and “PT-109” about his experiences during the war.
Eventually he stood for office, was elected to the United States House of Representatives and later the Senate; secured the Democratic Party nomination for president then, in 1960, defeated Republican Richard Nixon to become the 35th President of the United States, at the age of 43.
One of the more interesting facts I learned was that Joseph Kennedy, John and Bobby’s father, had always aspired to having his son become President of the United States.
The speech
The day came, and I overcame my nerves to give that speech. I was really impressed with myself for being able to overcome my initial nerves. I went through Kennedy’s life as I had researched. I ended the speech with a quote I found from Joseph Kennedy Sr. saying if Joseph Jr. died then it would be John and if died, Robert would do it. That was exactly what came to pass.
The day came, and I overcame my nerves to give that speech. I was really impressed with myself for being able to overcome my initial nerves. I went through Kennedy’s life as I had researched. I ended the speech with a quote I found from Joseph Kennedy Sr. saying if Joseph Jr. died then it would be John and if died, Robert would do it. That was exactly what came to pass.
As a journalist, I still employ that technique of finishing some of my stories with a strong quote.
After I was done speaking, my class had an opportunity to ask questions. Only Mr. Roth asked a question, wondering if I had come across the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs Invasion. I hadn’t. When I got my mark, Mr. Roth said I should have mentioned them.
It’s funny, because now I know both of those events very well, especially the Cuban Missile Crisis. There was a great movie about it called “Thirteen Days“ just a few years ago with Canadian Bruce Greenwood playing John F. Kennedy.
That wasn’t the first time I learned more about the Kennedys from pop culture
Movies and song
During the ‘80s I saw parts or all of a few movies that filled in more of the Kennedy story. One was “Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy”, a TV movie that came out in 1977, but I saw on Channel 7 in reruns a few years later. Peter Strauss plays the oldest Kennedy, who was earmarked by his father to be President of the United States, but who died in action in the Second World War. I only saw a few minutes of this movie, just in time to see him on his way to his death.
During the ‘80s I saw parts or all of a few movies that filled in more of the Kennedy story. One was “Young Joe, the Forgotten Kennedy”, a TV movie that came out in 1977, but I saw on Channel 7 in reruns a few years later. Peter Strauss plays the oldest Kennedy, who was earmarked by his father to be President of the United States, but who died in action in the Second World War. I only saw a few minutes of this movie, just in time to see him on his way to his death.
Another movie was “Blood Feud”, a two-part TV movie that came out in 1983, telling the story of the battle between Bobby Kennedy, played by Cotter Smith, and Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, played by Robert Blake. Again, I only saw part of this, but I did learn more about Bobby’s time as attorney general.
Bobby’s death even appeared in the 1987 Blue Rodeo song “Outskirts”. There are lines in the song that g “And there’s a picture we’ve all seen/It was taken in the lobby of the L.A. Ambassador Hotel/It’s the silhouette of a man in another’s arms/So turn off your TVs, and let that train go home/’Cause everyone warned you that California?Wasn’t goin’ to be the end/California wasn’t gonna be the end.”
It was only a year or two ago I realized they were talking about the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.
I just read on www.songfacts.com the song is Greg Keelor’s interpretations of the death of David A. Kennedy, and the anguish he went through growing up in the public eye, as the fourth child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. David A. Kennedy died of a heroin overdose on April 25, 1984 at a hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.
Yet another sad death in the Kennedy family.
Parting thoughts
When I was growing up in the ‘80s, the Kennedys were still considered by many as the closest America had to a royal family. They were put on a pedestal.
When I was growing up in the ‘80s, the Kennedys were still considered by many as the closest America had to a royal family. They were put on a pedestal.
Over time, history has chipped away at that legacy, most notably John F. Kennedy and his various personal flaws.
Yet, in so many ways, that has made me like him more, because as cliché as it sounds, no one is perfect. He was still a war hero, and I believe he tried to do the right thing. Plus, no one deserves the fate he did.
The other thing that has changed over time is how much I admire Bobby Kennedy. As I have learned more about him, I have discovered not only was he a man of courage, integrity and deep faith, he was the conscience of John Kennedy. So many people have speculated how great a President of the United States he would have made.
I am one of them.
So, the Kennedys continue to be a subject of fascination for me, and I was again reminded of that when my spouse so astutely invited me to watch “11/22/63” with her.
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