My memory of this day 50 years ago is of an announcement from the PA system in my 8th grade classroom in New York City...an early end to the day's classes, and an enveloping sadness.
Yet in at least some similar classrooms in the state that would become my home thirteen years later, there were cheers.
Montgomery lawyer Julian McPhillips was attending a military academy in Tennessee, and wrote a letter to his Father during the hour that followed word of the assassination.
He wrote of his deep sorrow, and of his hopes that the President's death would somehow make America better.
He blames the cheers on what the Alabama high school students heard from their parents at home, hatred for the Kennedy family for their opposition to the ingrained segregation that was so much a part of life in Alabama.
The letter ended up being published by a Montgomery newspaper under the headline "Letter from a boy who didn't cheer," and McPhillips says he was amazed at the number of people who read it a half-century ago.
Yet in at least some similar classrooms in the state that would become my home thirteen years later, there were cheers.
Montgomery lawyer Julian McPhillips was attending a military academy in Tennessee, and wrote a letter to his Father during the hour that followed word of the assassination.
He wrote of his deep sorrow, and of his hopes that the President's death would somehow make America better.He blames the cheers on what the Alabama high school students heard from their parents at home, hatred for the Kennedy family for their opposition to the ingrained segregation that was so much a part of life in Alabama.
The letter ended up being published by a Montgomery newspaper under the headline "Letter from a boy who didn't cheer," and McPhillips says he was amazed at the number of people who read it a half-century ago.
This was the unfortunate truth about the South. I saw the same cheering and dancing in my third grade class and wrote a little bit about that day on my blog. I have read other recollections today by southerner about my age who also saw this behavior. Yes, the children were reflecting what they saw and heard at home in their disdain for JFK. Everyone knew the times were changing, virtually no one was admitting it. The loss of what might have been and our own needless and insecure hatred added to the weight of our grief in the days that followed.
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