A Dark Marker In History

Forty-three years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas during a motorcade to a speaking event. The consequences of that day still affect our nation and culture, from security mindset (no President has ridden in an open-car motorcade since that day) to our trust in government. This second feature is most notable in the fact that a large portion of the population does not believe the findings of the Warren Commission were truthful, a condition which has been strong since 1967. Whether Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK on his own, with accomplices, or was an unwitting stooge as some maintain, is not the focus here, but rather the enduring controversy, which refuses to go away and which therefore has undermined trust and confidence in the federal government. Mistrust of President Johnson hurt his credibility to the point that he chose not to run for re-election in 1968, and no President since the Kennedy assassination has been completely free of suspicion of some kind.