50 YEARS AGO

Acrylic on Paper, 15"H x 11"W

Like many who were alive on November 22, 1963, I can still remember where I was when I heard the report that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I was at my first job out of college as a designer for a company in Alexandria, Virginia. Someone ran into the design studio with the news. Not much work got done that afternoon as we sat by the radio, stunned and grief-stricken. My first-time vote in a presidential election was for Kennedy. I went to his inauguration in January, 1961, and heard his famous "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." He created a real sense of renewal and optimism, especially among younger citizens. President Kennedy was a strong proponent of world peace. He initiated the Peace Corp, negotiated a limited nuclear test ban treaty with the USSR and UK, forged policies linking the US and Israel, and reinforced US commitment to West Germany. He also developed economic and social reforms, the "New Frontier,"  and promoted civil rights legislation and space exploration. Certainly there were many tragedies, problems, and challenges in his life and administration, but those were balanced to some extent by the intelligence, wit, and glamour that he and Jacqueline Kennedy brought to the White House. What might have been....