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Editor’s note: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, made front page news everywhere in the United States, including Lexington. A story in the following week’s issue of The News-Gazette described the various memorial services held at local churches, the gun salutes fired at Virginia Military Institute and the flags displayed at half-staff throughout Lexington. The story noted that Kennedy had recently accepted an invitation to attend the dedication of the George C. Marshall Research Library that was to be held the following May. An editorial in tribute to Kennedy was also published that week, and we reprint that editorial here, 60 years later.
The cruel blow that Friday struck down President Kennedy carried away a peerless leader. The nation and the world have since mourned the loss of this outstanding man.
Mr. Kennedy brought to the White House many unusual qualifications, and set many precedents. He was highly educated and trained in the art of politics and public service. He was our youngest President and had a great capacity for work. His keen mind quickly took hold of a situation and he kept continually abreast of the multitude of problems that confront the chief executive of the world’s most powerful nation.
Another landmark that he established was his election as the first Catholic President. Mr. Kennedy was a devout man who sought comfort and strength from his church. But he so conducted himself that nothing has been heard from those who had feared some link between church and state. - One of his great assets was a lucidity of speech and a rare gift of expression that made him so effective on the platform. He was a splendid looking man – appearing every inch the President. His personal magnetism was so great that people with strong prejudices against him often came away captivated.
Mr. Kennedy had a positive approach. Many proposals which he considered for the good of the country and its people came from his creative mind. Because he was direct and forthright and was faced with many difficult and controversial issues such as integration, the cleavage over his politics was intense. There was no neutral feeling about President Kennedy. In his tragic death, however, there is universal mourning and regret.
One of the most refreshing things about Mr. Kennedy was his sense of humor. He was ready to laugh at himself, something that few men in his powerful position are able to do. He loved his work, which never seemed to get the best of him, and even in his most serious reversals, he remained outwardly calm and good humored. He took his job seriously, but never himself. -A young man among aged world leaders, he had won their confidence and respect, and in most cases their admiration and friendship. It was largely due to his inspiring leadership that the atomic bomb test ban treaty was adopted, something that may prove to be the first step toward genuine disarmament and world peace.
But while warm and friendly in nature, Mr. Kennedy could be sufficiently stern and take the hard line where necessary as evidenced by his Cuban blockade of Russian shipping.
The presence of so many heads of state at his funeral Monday, more than ever before assembled at such an occasion, may have been due in some measure to his exalted position, but also to a large extent was caused by the esteem and affection they felt for the man. President Kennedy’s first concern was the betterment of the poor, the needy, the ill and downtrodden at home and abroad. When he was inaugurated he said, “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans – born in this century, tempered by war … proud of our ancient heritage – and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which the nation has always been committed.”
John F. Kennedy represented the best in that generation. His three years in the White House were dedicated to advancing those human rights in this country and abroad. He gave his life in that fight, a fight that will not be stopped by an assassin’s bullet.
