That Was The President

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." --John F. Kennedy

42 years ago today, I was sitting in my 7th grade math class when the intercom crackled to life. T.R. Kennedy, our principle, who coincidently, was a distant relative to the President, was announcing to the school that the President of the United States had been shot. He died later that day. John F Kennedy was 46.



Here is a song written about that day:

That Was the President, that Was the Man
(Phil Ochs)

The bullets of the false revenge have struck us once again,
As the angry seas have struck upon the sand,
And it seems as though a friendless world has lost itself a friend,
That was the president, and that was the man.

I still can see him smiling there and waving to the crowd,
As he drove through the music of the band,
And never even knowing no more time would be allowed,
Not for the president, and not for the man.

Here's a memory to share, here's a memory to save,
Of the sudden early ending of command,
Yet a part of you, a part of me is buried in his grave,
That was the president, and that was the man.

Everything he might've done and all he could've been,
Was proven by the troubled traitor's hand,
For what other death could wound the hearts of so many men,
That was the president, and that was the man.

The glory that was Lincoln's never died when he was slain,
It's been carried over time and time again,
And to the list of honor you may list another name,
That was the president, and that was the man.