Dallas

Only a few hours from now, at 11:30 a.m. in 1963, we lost a president and our innocence.

We have been submerged this week in Kennedy everything. Camelot, the assassination and its aftermath.

It seems that, cumulatively, most profiles of JFK leave us with the thought that, while his presidency did not fill an entire term, he will still be memorialized as one of America’s greatest.

Part of that certainly is the shocking way it all came to an end. Some of the sanctification was directly linked to the glamor factor — Jack, Jackie, the kids, PT-109, football on the beach at Hyannis Port.

But in reality, he was heavily criticized on a number of journalistic fronts about issues ranging from the Bay of Pigs to Vietnam to inaction on civil rights. He was far from perfect, personally and politically, but the eternal flame will always burn in his memory.

And while I loathe conspiracy stories of any kind, how do I explain Texas Gov. John Connally, the other casualty in the Kennedy limo that day, telling me on the radio he believed there was another gunman and then a few years later denying that he ever said it?

The not knowing still bothers me.

I’m Pat McMahon.

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