On this day in 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas. Kennedy was a naval officer and war hero in WWII, then a Congressman and Senator. A complex man whose presidency was cut short, yet was also significant for the crises it faced in its 1000 days.

Kennedy served in WW2 in the US Navy - by contrast to the Boomer generation & Vietnam, young Kennedy, with a terrible medical history, lied in order to join the US Navy, first serving in Naval Intelligence and then in the SW Pacific.

In 1943, the US Navy's PT-109, serving in the Solomon Islands campaign. is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri. The boat's Skipper, LT(JG) John F. Kennedy, swam for 4 hours to rescue & then save his sailors. Australian coastwatcher, SBLT Arthur Evans, helped save the crew.

For Kennedy's heroism, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. More importantly, Kennedy for the rest of his short life would privately look after the families of PT109 sailors lost. Kennedy himself would be invalided out of the Navy.

Both of John F & Joseph (jr) Kennedy would serve in the US Navy. Joseph's would die in an almost suicidal mission in 1944. Robert Kennedy served in the US Navy as well. The patriotism of the Kennedys at war & their suffering helped deflect anti-Catholic attacks in 1960.

After WW2, JFK entered politics - he campaigned among miners as he would bankers, shaking hands & asking for votes. Kennedy's sense of humour & unwillingness to pander sits oddly today. But they had all been through the Depression & WW2 & likely had little time for pretensions.

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect - but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in"
~President John F. Kennedy
West Berlin, 26 June 1963

The heartbreaking image of Jacqueline Kennedy on the evening of the assassination of President Kennedy, still wearing the clothes spattered in her murdered husband's blood and remains. She was only 34.

Kennedy was, as I said, a complex man, and his reality often at odds with the public image. At the same time, he was a compelling figure & his premature death left a deep wound for his contemporaries. I suspect he would be quite amused by the myths around him-Jackie as well. RIP