JFK: 50 years after
Dallas marks JFK assassination anniversary with prayers and solemnity
DALLAS (CNS) -- Under cloudy skies and blustery winds, thousands of people gathered Nov. 22 at the spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago to the day, a tribute to his legacy and a ceremony many local officials also hoped would finally wipe the stain away from Dallas' darkest day.
Author’s ‘what if’ offers fascinating view of JFK’s second term
Author Jeff Greenfield probes what might have been if on that rainy day in Dallas the sun had not come out and the plastic "bubble" on the presidential car had not been removed. If it had stayed on, Greenfield plausibly posits, the shots that hit the president might have been serious, but not fatal.
Washington cathedral, site of Kennedy funeral in ’63, is ‘holy ground’
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On Nov. 25, 1963, a television audience of millions of people around the world prayerfully bid farewell to President John F. Kennedy, as his flag-draped coffin was placed before the sanctuary of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, during the funeral Mass for the slain president.
Priest’s presence seen as comfort for Kennedys upon return from Dallas
One Youngstown diocesan priest, the late Father Robert Brengartner, was present to meet the Kennedy family when they returned from Dallas to what was then called the Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington.
JFK anniversary inspires memories, sadness and regret
The anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination leaves me saddened on many levels. Like other Americans who were alive at the time, I keenly remember how devastated the country was. Looking back, I see how the young JFK was growing in his presidency and imagine what he might have accomplished.
Memoir recalls bishop writing, delivering Kennedy eulogy
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Auxiliary Bishop Philip Hannan of Washington was a close friend and confidant of President John F. Kennedy, but he had kept that friendship secret. Then he was called upon to deliver the eulogy at the funeral Mass for the country's first Catholic president, killed by an assassin in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963. "My own grieving ... would have to wait," wrote then-retired New Orleans Archbishop Hannan in his 2010 memoir. "First lady Jacqueline Kennedy had asked that I deliver the eulogy for her husband -- and my friend."
Washington priest recalls narrating Kennedy’s funeral Mass on radio
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At 82, Msgr. Leonard Hurley still has a distinctive speaking style and ad-libs easily, qualities that served him well 50 years ago when he narrated President John F. Kennedy's funeral Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington for a worldwide TV and radio audience.
Vincentian pastor recalled for administering last rites to Kennedy
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The late Vincentian Father Oscar Huber was a hard-working, dedicated pastor who made many friends throughout his years of faithful ministry. The priest, who died in 1975, is still remembered for all that. And for one other thing. A Dallas pastor at the time, he administered last rites to President John F. Kennedy, after an assassin's bullet Nov. 22, 1963, brought down the nation's 35th president and he lay mortally wounded at Parkland Hospital.
Call to ‘ask not …’ still resonates in commitment to public service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated 50 years ago this week, admonished Americans to "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." He didn't live to see how it played out, but there are plenty of people trying to keep his vision alive.
As president, John F. Kennedy faced challenges of fast-changing world
DALLAS (CNS) -- A young first family, captivating and chipper, reinvented life in the White House during John F. Kennedy's 34-month presidency in the early 1960s. As Kennedy, then 46, arrived in Texas in November 1963, the visit came against a backdrop of the Cold War, the space race and the nation's volatile civil rights scene. Reflecting on the president who was assassinated 50 years ago this week, a historian argues Kennedy earned a reputation for inspired crisis management at a time when humanity grappled with unprecedented fears.