Kennedy’s assassination: The day time stood still

Way past midnight there was a gentle knock on the bedroom door of the Indian prime minister in New Delhi. Jawaharlal Nehru was woken up at 0230 hours. to be given the thunderbolt breaking news: President Kennedy was assassinated on the afternoon of 22 November, 1963. Six decades after America’s youngest president John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s tragic assassination, he still remains an object of universal admiration globally. Born on 29 May 1917 in one of Boston’s wealthiest families, Kennedy was an extraordinary man, and an important figure of the twentieth century. On 10 May 1951 Congressman Kennedy from Massachusetts was introduced to Jacqueline (Jackie) Bouvier at a dinner in Washington DC. A gifted equestrienne, Jackie wrote credible verse and was a photographer at The Washington Times-Herald. In their first meeting, Kennedy revealed his audacious intent to become the president. Over two years of courtship followed, and they were married on 12 September 1953. It was a union of two powerful and wealthy East Coast Roman Catholic families. Bordering on American royalty, the Kennedys were a glamorous and ambitious couple. Kennedy at forty-three-years aimed at the White House presidency as the Democratic Party nominee. A war hero, he was honoured with a Navy Marine Corps Medal and the Purple Heart for his bravery in the Pacific theatre during World War II. Additionally, he earned a Harvard degree, won a Pulitzer Prize and was backed by his powerful father Joe Kennedy. In the 1960 presidential election, the telegenic six-footer Kennedy with movie star luminescence managed to narrowly beat the brilliant lawyer and vice president Richard Nixon. After taking oath as the 35th president, Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen. The appearance of Kennedy in the White House during the Cold War era unleashed an unmatched wave of hope and optimism in America. In his inaugural address, he stated “a new generation of Americans, born in this century” had come to power with him. He implored Americans to ask what they could do for their country, announced a mission to the moon, showed solidarity with the fledgling civil rights movement, invested in the Peace Corps, skillfully averted the threat of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis and reached an agreement with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev for a nuclear test ban treaty. One of his most famous lines from the “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech is quoted even today: “Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in”. The Kennedys exuded charisma, charm and culture to the outside world. With babies in the White House for the first time in the twentieth century, the youthful president also presented a positive public image as a son, brother, husband and father. Jackie’s East Hampton social skills and great taste were in evidence at the spectacular White House dinners. For Kennedy’s detractors, he was a triumph of style over substance and a superficial playboy for whom Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe in a flesh-coloured, skin-tight dress gladly sang ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’. Though Kennedy was not the candidate for Mount Rushmore, yet with him as the American President, the world had faith that better days lay ahead. The visionary Kennedy regarded India as the key area in Asia stating, “We want India to win that race with China… If China succeeds and India fails, the economic-development balance of power will shift against us.” Earlier on a trip to New Delhi Kennedy had lunch with the British educated PM Nehru on 13 October 1951 and noted in his diary, “Generally agreed Nehru is everything in India - the works.” Then in his first State of the Union address on 31 January 1961, Kennedy claimed he had drawn inspiration from “the soaring idealism of Mr. Nehru”. Kennedy’s first official function after assuming office was the screening of Satyajit Ray’s prize-winning film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) at Dupont Theatre, the first non-segregated movie house built in Washington DC. Before the year was out on 7 November, 1961 prime minister Nehru sat in the Oval Room, facing Kennedy. However, Nehru’s long talks proved to be a disappointment for Kennedy who wished for a closer relationship with India. Kennedy’s advisor Arthur Schlesinger, noted in his book A Thousand Days, Kennedy thought it was “a disaster… the worst head-of-state visit I have had”. Schlesinger added, “President said later, like trying to grab something in your hand, only to have it turn out to be just fog. It was all so sad: this man had done so much for Indian independence, but he had stayed around too long, and now it was all going bit by bit.” It has been revealed that Kennedy felt that democratic India, not Communist China, should be the first Asian country to conduct a nuclear test. But India rejected the offer of conducting an American-sponsored nuclear test on its soil. The Indian prime minister also shockingly turned down the opportunity for India to be part of the United Nations Security Council even though America supported the idea. Nehru, on returning from America in December 1961, ordered the Indian Armed Forces to liberate the 451-year-old Portuguese colony of Goa. American ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith, who was no friend of Lisbon, on behalf of his president argued against the use of force. Unlike the other compliant leaders of the developing nations, a resolute Nehru promptly rejected Kennedy’s multiple pleas and ensured the official surrender was signed by the Portuguese on 19 December, 1961. Kennedy in very strong language berated the Indian ambassador Braj Kumar Nehru saying, “You spend the last fifteen years preaching morality to us, and then you go ahead and act the way any normal country would behave … People are saying, the preacher has been caught coming out of the brothel.” To mend fences on 12 March, 1962, less than three months after the liberation of Goa, on Nehru’s invitation, the First Lady Jackie Kennedy, arguably the most famous woman in the world at that time, arrived in New Delhi. In her nine-day visit to India, she solemnly laid a wreath of white roses on Mahatma Gandhi’s tomb, rode with members of the Indian cavalry regiment, the President’s Bodyguard, and celebrated the festival of colours—Holi in Delhi. Jackie, armed with her Minox camera, travelled to Agra, Udaipur and Jaipur and at the end of her trip told newspersons, “It’s been a dream.” Six months later on 28 September, 1962, the former Governor General of India, C Rajagopalachari on a global mission against nuclear arms under the auspices of the Gandhi Peace Foundation visited the White House. Hard pressed for time, Kennedy nonetheless received the distinguished visitor for over an hour and later remarked, “seldom have I heard a case presented with such precision, clarity and elegance of language”. Then weeks later in October 1962 India faced a military crisis from across the seemingly impregnable Himalayas. Ambassador BK Nehru rushed to deliver India’s request to Kennedy. In his book, JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA, and the Sino-Indian War’, Bruce Riedel, has made public Nehru’s appeal for complete air cover by America to assist the Indian Air Force in its battles over the Himalayas against Chinese incursions. Though embroiled in the Cuban missile crisis at that time, Kennedy instantly drew the attention of his military aides to the Indian situation and also ordered the fully armed USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier to head to the Bay of Bengal to counter the aggression. Once the crisis eased, Nehru allowed high-level intelligence cooperation between America and India under the supervision of spymaster Ram Nath Kao. On 3 June, 1963, Kennedy welcomed the president of India Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in Washington DC. In his opening remarks, Kennedy stated, “The President is a noted philosopher. When I commented on the weather this morning, he said, we cannot always control events, but we can always control our attitude toward events.” The Indian president was in Washington after the catastrophic war of 1962 to cement a deeper relationship between the two sister democracies and to thank Kennedy for his support to India. After the Indo-China conflict, president Kennedy was the most popular American in India and his picture appeared in homes and shops and he was viewed by many Indians as the great big hope for the future of humankind. On the afternoon of 22 November, 1963, most Americans were engrossed in their everyday life as the Kennedys were seated in the rear seat of the open-top Lincoln Continental in Dallas. Abraham Zapruder, a conventional businessman and a home-movie hobbyist, held to his eye his 8mm Bell & Howell 414PD at the Dealey Plaza in Downtown Dallas. The bystander had no idea he would enter history books with his 26.6 seconds of silent colour footage shot that day. The presidential motorcade found its way to Elm Street. The photogenic Kennedy then entered the frame at the head of the motorcade. The First Lady looked exquisite in a Schiaparelli pink suit with a matching hat. The procession went past the Redbrick Texas School Book Depository at 11.2 miles an hour. As the president smiled warmly and raised his right hand to wave at the enthusiastic crowd all hell broke loose. Loud, sharp cracks cut through the din of the procession. Zapruder saw through his lens the horrific vision of Kennedy being struck in the head by a bullet. Clint Hill, a member of the Secret Service, was behind the Lincoln convertible to protect the American president. On hearing the gunfire, he instantly rushed toward the presidential car. He saw Kennedy throw his hands up to his throat and move violently to his left. Hill scrambled onto the back of the speeding limousine and instinctively draped his body over the Kennedys. Blood was everywhere. Jackie’s eyes were filled with terror. Hill screamed at the driver “Get us to a hospital!” The motorcade then pulled away at high speed, but it was all over. In the CBS newsroom anchor Walter Cronkite, wearing shirtsleeves and tie, reached across his cluttered desk to grab a piece of paper and put on his black horn-rimmed reading glasses. Pulling himself together, he read the dispatch with visible pain: “From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 o’clock p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o’clock, Eastern Standard Time, some thirty-eight minutes ago.” The news of Kennedy’s assassination shook Americans to the core. It is said on that dark day America wept. For many the loss was the greatest grief they had ever known. The image that remained burned into the American memory was of a little boy John Kennedy Jr. who though not yet three years old, raised his hand to his forehead to salute his late father. Following her husband’s death Jackie received nearly two million condolence letters. She became the symbol of strength for a traumatised America after the assassination. Kennedy’s death sent shockwaves around the world. The future Kennedy was building had come crashing down. Chronicling the moment Schlesinger wrote, “It was all gone non—the life-affirming, life-enhancing zest, the brilliance, the wit, the cool commitment, the steady purpose.” India declared a day of mourning in honour of the iconic president. All government offices and educational institutions were closed, and the Indian flag flew at half-mast. Dr S Radhakrishnan, Nehru and C Rajagopalachari attended the moving memorial service at the American Embassy in Delhi. Kennedy’s proposed presidential visit to India in 1964 was not to be. Many in the gathering were in tears. Memorial services were attended in large numbers across the nation. The IIT at Kanpur, styled after MIT, the Nagarjun Sagar Dam in Andhra Pradesh and the Tarapur nuclear plant remain the highpoints of the brief Kennedy period. The events of 22 November, 1963 have haunted America due to Kennedy’s extraordinary promise and untimely death. A generation of Americans will always remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. Sixty years later this epic American tragedy is still fervently debated. With an estimated 40,000 books, numerous documentaries, TV series and Hollywood films, Kennedy has become a stuff of myths, the subject of counter-histories, and intricate conspiracies. History is sadly left to fend for itself. On the sixtieth anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination and in our time of global turmoil we must recall his famous declaration, “In the final analysis our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” The writer is the biographer of Subhas Chandra Bose, Har Dayal and Sardar Patel and is the author of ‘India on the World Stage’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.