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Showing posts with label John F. Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John F. Kennedy. Show all posts

Saturday, November 16, 2013

As U.S. approaches 50th anniversary of JFK assassination in Dallas, our thoughts at the blog are all over the place: JFK & LBJ and Texas and... Bryan Cranston playing LBJ on Broadway in Robert Schenkkan's "All The Way"; UVA Prof. Larry J. Sabato's fascinating new book on JFK, and CBS News' veteran reporter Bob Schieffer, who covered the JFK visit 50 years ago, now busy hosting a Saturday night network special on JFK and hosting 'Face The Nation' on Sunday morning from the scene of the crime

                       
KVUE News video ‏-Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston visited Austin today to talk about his new Broadway role as LBJ.
by KRIS BETTS / KVUE News and photojournalist MATT OLSEN 
Posted on November 15, 2013 at 8:20 AM 
Updated yesterday at 1:41 PM




 As some of you reading this blog may well recall from my having told you before in-person, in Indiana, Illinois Washington, D.C. or here in Florida, or even here on the blog, both of my parents actually saw President and Mrs. Kennedy the day before the fateful day he was killed. The reason is that both of them worked over at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, my Mom as a secretary for the Base Commander, and my Dad, who worked in the Medical Corps. 
(I was actually born next door at the hospital at Lackland AFB, one month after JFK was inaugurated.)

 They were at Brooks because President Kennedy was dedicating the new School of Aerospace Medicine, which was quite a big deal at the time given the space program, but as things turned out, of course, it was to be his last official act as president.

 My Mom still has the official photos that were taken of the welcoming ceremonies there at the base by the vigilant base photographers, and I grew-up knowing those photographs, one in particular, from just a few feet away, like it had always been part of my memory.
Because it had been.
The Last Two Days, November 1963: 21-22
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHF-WHN17.aspx

 That's the late Henry B. Gonzalez coming down the stairs off Air Force One behind JFK, to his left, and then again at 01:06 in the film, waving to the crowds.
Henry B. was the longtime congressman from San Antonio and someone I was very fortunate to talk to be able to talk to a handful of times when he was still in Congress when I was living and working in the Washington, D.C. area. 

 I was fortunate enough to attend a few of the public birthday parties that got thrown for him that were held outside in one of the House Office Bldg.'s courtyards, as his party was always one of the real highlights of the year I looked forward to, as far as having real fun was concerned. Complete with a kick-ass Mariachi band, attractive and talented dancers and a variety and huge amount of really great food and cold Texas beer, I only wish that I'd taken more photos back then, because besides his very loyal and longstanding staff, other Congressmen and staffers, Democrats as well as Republicans, he had quite a few well-known people come swing by the party to say hello, many of whom he had known for most of their adult life or even before. 
Those friendly get-togethers meant a lot to him, but I grew to believe they meant just as much to the people who attended them, because they were old-fashioned relaxing fun of the sort that 95% of the events we attended in DC never were, but wished they were.

 By the time I got to Washington, Congressman Gonzalez was still a very beloved-yet-controversial figure, and I think for most of the time I went to those events on The Hill, or saw him at other Texas-related events, he was either the Chairman of the House Banking Committee or Chair of one of the important Subcommittees, and even then though there should be an audit of the Federal Reserve, much as Sen. Rand Paul and many others do now. Transparency and public accountability.

But when that film above was made in 1963, Rep. Gonzalez was an eager and excitable second-term congressman, albeit one who had already done quite a lot for san antonio and in the texas legislature, often against great odds.
He was the first Hispanic congressman ever elected from Texas, something that he was very proud of in a not-at-all unreasonable way, especially for the times.
http://www.cah.utexas.edu/feature/0611/video.php?connection=dialup

 In all my dealings with him, you could not have met a warmer and more sincere person or someone with a better memory, and if you didn't know any better, you'd probably have guessed that he was either a retired pediatrician or veterinarian.
That memory of his was one of his great talents for succeeding in politics, since he remembered my Mother's name from a conversation we'd had many months before, even though I'd said it only in passing when talking about the fact that when JFK ran in 1960, it was the first time that she could legally vote.

 At 06:19 and 06:33, not wearing an overcoat, you can see future Speaker of the House Jim Wright, the congressman from Fort Worth.
As U.S. approaches 50th anniversary of JFK assassination in Dallas, our thoughts at the blog are all over the place: JFK & LBJ and... Texas and Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston of 'Breaking Bad' visiting Austin and the LBJ Library as he prepares to play LBJ on Broadway in Robert Schenkkan's "All The Way"; UVA Prof. Larry J. Sabato's fascinating new book on JFK, and CBS News' Bob Schieffer, who covered the JFK visit 50 years ago, busy hosting a Saturday night network special on JFK and then hosting 'Face The Nation' on Sunday morning from the scene of the crime, with Luci Baines Johnson slated to be a guest
As always, Prof. Larry J. Sabato's wise words and depth of knowledge are a useful antidote to years of revisionist history, both Democratic and Republican, foreign and domestic.

The Washington Post
Five myths about John F. Kennedy
By Larry J. Sabato, Published: November 13, 2013
Most everyone who was alive on Nov. 22, 1963, remembers where they were when they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. JFK was the youngest elected U.S. president and the youngest to die. The fascination with him is never-ending: There have been hundreds of books, TV specials and films about his New Frontier, as well as the enduring controversy surrounding his assassination. Let’s debunk some of the most pervasive myths.
Read the column at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-john-f-kennedy/2013/11/13/bf1d1442-4b1a-11e3-be6b-d3d28122e6d4_story.html


 fact-filled photo gallery
Is there more to JFK assassination? 
By Larry J. Sabato 
updated 4:32 PM EST, Fri November 15, 2013


















Listening to THE FIRST FAMILY for The First Time. I can see why it was a huge hit - until 11/22/63. #JFK50 http://t.co/e75IplT1Ib

 In the early-to-mid 1970's, while living in North Miami Beach, I had a very good friend whose parents still had a copy of this record album, and his father would often play it when his wife was out of the house because he really loved the album and knew the material backwards-and-forwards and would often say the lines along with the actors, and laugh and laugh.

Now I don't recall whether the story was that the father was supposed to have gotten written of the album altogether, or just couldn't have it out where she could see it, but I know that in the hundreds of times I was over there, that album stayed out-of-sight, and NOT with the rest of the records they had near the old-style entertainment center console -with lots of Broadway cast albums I would come to know and love.

It seems that hearing those Kennedy-like accents just made his wife very upset and she'd often start crying and weeping if she heard even some of it.
I know that must sound sort of odd to read right now, but trust me, at the time it was happening, it seemed quite upsetting and turned everything around us upside down.
That was a secret that 12-year old me had to keep on the down low.
The Dad playing the record and the Mom who cried when hearing it unexpectedly. 












http://jfkfacts.org/
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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sorry! Devastating blog post on lying, back-stabber Alexander Lewy to be delayed for a few days

Due to other pressing matters, namely,
the Diplomat LAC project coming before
the Broward County Commission on
Tuesday afternoon, my devastating blog
post -complete with photos and video-
that I had planned on running today,
which I think would have effectively put
the lie to the smug self-serving lies, serial
mis-statements and absurd exaggerations
and claims of experienced big-mouth
back-stabber Alexander Lewy, will be,
necessarily, postponed for a day or so.

But I know you won't be disappointed when
you finally see it.

Frankly, Hallandale Beach Blog's biggest
problem with this forthcoming blog post on
Lewy has not been with what to put in,
but rather, what telling and embarrassing
anecdote about him and his deceptiveness
and self-serving nature to leave out,
on account of time and space -and repetition.

I'll mention it again in the future but just to give
you some idea of his out-of-proportion sense
of self-importance and willingness to lie at the
drop of a hat, consider what I heard from a
person who is greatly admired and respected
in this county, even by people who may often
disagree with this individual.

Asked in late February at a public meeting
whether or not he was running for a seat on
the Hallandale Beach City Commission this Fall,
unctuous Lewy said "No."

Yet according to his own weird Facebook
campaign site, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alexander-Lewy/34138291835
where fidelity to the truth is not a virtue,
it's clearly written in the top left that
"Alexander submitted paperwork to run
for City Commissioner on January 11, 2010."

And he continues to claim he's running.
But when asked about it six weeks later, he lied.

Alexander Lewy

My point?

Well, ask yourself this simple question, which
speaks volumes on his chronic logrolling and
inability to be straight with people.

If Lewy is unwilling to be honest and is incapable
of telling the truth about whether or not he's
even running for office, something for which
there's no logical upside or advantage to him
to lie about, what makes you think he will be
forthright with you on an issue you genuinely
care about?

Sometimes a person's character is most vividly
revealed in a moment of genuine crisis, which
is what compelled John F. Kennedy to write
-with Ted Sorenson?- Profiles in Courage,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiles_in_Courage
so he could better come to understand how
these particular individuals he had chosen
from American history had made the particular
choices and decisions they had, often at great
personal risk and professional reputation.

There's a reason that book won the Pulitzer
Prize and why those sorts of basic questions
continue to greatly interest us today, since
people love to claim that they respect
straight-shooters, even if they disagree with
them, but finding actual proof that that's true
is always elusive.

But sometimes, it's in someone's complete
inability to be honest in answering a very
simple question that someone's character
-or lack thereof- is revealed.

Such is the case here, as Alexander Lewy's
untruthful answer shows what sort of person
he is -NOT the sort of person I want to see
have any degree of power, and certainly NOT
to make public policy decisions that will greatly
affect this city and its future.
And ours.

It's not too much to insist on honesty in candidates,
and by that simple measure, Alexander Lewy
has proven himself NOT QUALIFIED.
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