The Thirty - Fifth American President , JOHN FITZGERALD

KENNEDY , flew aboard Air Force One to LOVE FIELD ,

Dallas , Texas , on 2 2 November 1 9 6 3 ( Friday ) .

Love Field , still a thriving commercial airport to - day

despite attempts to close it and despite the presence of

DALLAS - FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT ( D F W ) from 1 9 7 2 ,

was the very last airport President

Kennedy would ever see .

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Jack Kennedy , slain forty - two years ago to - day ,

served 1 , 0 3 6 days as President . Only WILLIAM

HENRY HARRISON , ZACHARY TAYLOR and

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD had shorter Presidential

terms ( one month , sixteen months , six months

respectively ) . Just forty - three years old at the time

of his successful 1 9 6 0 Presidential campaign and

just forty - six when he died , Kennedy is the second of

two incumbent United States Senators elected President .

( WARREN GAMALEAL HARDING is the other . )



Nine American Presidents left office prior to the end of

their elected terms . All save RICHARD MILHOUS

NIXON ( who resigned on 9 August 1 9 7 4 ) succumbed

to illness or were fatally shot . The short - timers , in order :



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON , 4 April 1 8 4 1

ZACHARY TAYLOR , 9 July 1 8 5 0

ABRAHAM LINCOLN , 1 5 April 1 8 6 5

JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD , 1 9 September 1 8 8 1

WILLIAM McKINLEY , 1 4 September 1 9 0 1

WARREN GAMALEAL HARDING , 2 August 1 9 2 3

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT , 1 2 April 1 9 4 5

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY , 2 2 November 1 9 6 3

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON , 9 August 1 9 7 4



Note : Presidents elected at twenty - year intervals - -

Harrison ( 1 8 4 0 ) , Lincoln ( 1 8 6 0 ) , Garfield ( 1 8 8 0 ) ,

McKinley ( 1 9 0 0 ) , Harding ( 1 9 2 0 ) , Roosevelt ( 1 9 4 0 )

and Kennedy ( 1 9 6 0 ) - - all died while serving as

Commander - In - Chief . RONALD WILSON REAGAN ,

elected 4 November 1 9 8 0 , presumably would have been

the next to succumb , butt Reagan defied the " Zero Factor "

and lived through two elected terms , surviving a gunshot

wound from JOHN HINCKLEY JR . on 3 0 March of 1 9 8 1 .

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If You the Reader are significantly younger than , say , myself - -

I turn fifty on 9 March of 2 0 0 6 - - You mightn ' t quite grasp the

extremes of controversy over the death of President Kennedy .

Over two - thousand books ( ! ) have been published on the

topic , most of which are at odds with the conclusions of the

WARREN COMMISSION , convened after the assassination

to investigate Kennedy ' s death . Prominent among the members

of the commission were EARL WARREN , Chief Justice of the

United States , and GERALD R . FORD ( JR . ) , Congressman

from Michigan and , eventually , the Thirty - Ninth President .



The Commission ' s report dismisses the notion of a

conspiracy to kill the President , and names LEE HARVEY

OSWALD as the lone assassin . Twenty - nine years after the

Warren Commission ' s report , GERALD POSNER ' s book

" CASE CLOSED " ( 1 9 9 3 ) reaffirms the conclusions .



Posner ' s book is excellent . " Case Closed " debunks some of

the most cherished myths of conspiracy advocates , among them :

that Lee Harvey Oswald was not sufficiently adept with the

rifle to shoot the President from the sixth floor of the

Texas School Book Depository . In fact , Oswald was twice

cited for accuracy on the gunnery range during his troubled

stint in the United States Marine Corps .



Conspiracy Folk dismiss the MANNLICHER - CARCANO

BOLT - ACTION RIFLE , Oswald ' s weapon , as inadequate .

This , too , is false ; the Mannlicher - Carcano has been

deployed by Elephant hunters , well - regarded for

being light yet powerful .





ARLEN SPECTOR , now the Senior Senator from Pennsylvania ,

has been reviled by Conspiracy Folk for his " Magic Bullet "

Theory , as regards the second of three bullets from Oswald ' s

gun . ( Spector was Assistant Counsel to the Warren Commission . )

As Posner , via computer analysis , depicts in " Case Closed " ,

there is nothing particularly " magical " about the second bullet :

Oswald ' s second shot struck the President in the throat , hit

Texas Governor JOHN B . CONNALLY in the back and exited

through Connally ' s chest , struck a bone in Connally ' s

wrist , and lodged itself in the Governor ' s thigh . The second

shot is a testament to Oswald ' s marksman skill and to the

power of the Mannlicher - Carcano , and is in any event moot

as the third shot was dead - on into the President ' s skull .

Oswald delivered three shots within eight seconds , each of

which produced an ejected shell - casing that fell to the

floor at the Texas School Book Depository , and which were

in turn audible to employees on the Depository ' s fifth floor .

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Director OLIVER STONE ' s film J F K makes a case of sorts

for the Conspiracy Folk , based largely on U . S . Attorney

JIM GARRISON ' s book ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS .

Stone cast KEVIN COSTMUCH , I mean , COSTNER as

Jim Garrison , of whom one reviewer said the portrayal was

done in " dork earnestness " . Fitting , I believe , as Costner

is one of the worst of prominent contemporary actors .



No thespian skill can change the facts about Jim Garrison ,

notorious in New Orleans for jury - tampering and for

bribing witnesses . ( In a bit of amusingly perverse

casting , director Oliver Stone assigned the role of

Chief Justice Earl Warren to Jim Garrison in J F K ! )

Also suspect is " COLONEL X " , depicted in J F K

by actor DONALD SUTHERLAND ; " X " is actually

L . FLETCHER PROUTY , United States Air Force ,

fount of DIS - information too superabundant for this

blog . ( In the film , " X " informs - - if that is the

word - - Attorney Garrison that New Zealand

journalists , on the far side of the International

Date Line , published information about Lee

Harvey Oswald in advance of the assassination

of President Kennedy , implying that reporters

Down Under were prescient about the President ' s

death . IN FACT , the information was already

in the Public Record here in the States , AND for

good measure , Jim Garrison NEVER MET

L . Fletcher Prouty ! )

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" Assassination Conspiracy Theories " clearly have no

credibility with this Typist , although it is intriguing to

speculate . Theorists can ascribe convincing MOTIVES

to PROSPECTIVE conspiricists : that LYNDON JOHNSON ,

Kennedy ' s Vice - President , was desperate to have the

Presidency and saw the removal of Jack Kennedy as the

only way ; that the PENTAGON wanted J . F . K . out

lest he decline to go to war in IndoChina ; that FIDEL

CASTRO , seething over the botched BAY OF PIGS

INVASION ( 1 7 April 1 9 6 1 ) and aware of Central

Intelligence Agency clandestine activity in CUBA ,

was hot to eliminate the Thirty - Fifth President ;

that CUBAN NATONALISTS , frustrated over the

inability of the Kennedy Administration to remove

Castro and incensed about the CUBAN MISSILE

CRISIS ( 1 6 October - - 2 8 October 1 9 6 2 )

might have been collaborators , although Oswald ' s

days distributing propaganda for the " FAIR PLAY

FOR CUBA " group surely precludes this .



The possible participation of the COSA NOSTRA

is the most intriguing scenario of all , if only because

President Kennedy , prolific womanizer , had an affair

with JUDITH CAMPBELL , Mistress to Mob Boss

SAM " MOMO " GIANCANA . President Kennedy

took the Electoral Votes of Illinois on 8 November

1 9 6 0 , helped in part by Giancana ' s support .

Kennedy ' s brother , ROBERT F . KENNEDY ,

named Attorney General in 1 9 6 1 , hadn ' t any

inclination to cultivate good relations with Giancana

and did in fact intend to use the Department Of

Justice ' s prosecutorial clout to jail Giancana ,

who in turn supposedly had the President

" whacked " in retaliation . Giancana , summoned

to appear before the Senate ' s Assassination Investigation

Select Committee and its ChairMan , Idaho ' s FRANK

CHURCH , never had the opportunity : Sam Giancana

was shot to death at his home in Oak Park , Illinois ,

1 9 July 1 9 7 5 . ( One can see an amusing portrayal of

Sam Giancana in the movie SUGAR TIME , which stars

MARY - LOUISE PARKER as Giancana ' s lounge

singer girlfriend PHYLLIS McGUIRE , and JOHN

TURTURRO as Giancana . )



Putting this topic to rest - - for now , at least - -

this Typist believes the controversy over Jack Kennedy ' s

demise is resolved for good when " DALE GRIBBLE " ,

the bug - exterminator neighbor of " HANK HILL " ,

reads the Warren Report and decides for himself that

the facts of the case support the Report ' s conclusions !



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NOW , seventeen days after the conclusion of the 2 0 0 5

WORLD SERIES , some retrospective . . . .



Who could have foreseen the BOSTON RED SOX and

the CHICAGO WHITE SOX , both into their ninth decade

of championshipless baseball , winning the World Series

in successive years ? What kind of astronomical odds

would bookmakers have offered the wagerin ' Fool

who picked this particular ' Quinela ' ?



As a Fan , I understand well the disappointment other

Fans endure . I comprehend the delerium of long -

suffering Fans of ( fill in the blank ) when at last

their ballclub reaches the summit . When the

White Sox , as the most compelling example ,

FINALLY win a World Series after eighty - eight

( 8 8 ! ) years without , I am mindful that many ' s

the ChiSox fan lived and died without ever seeing

their team reach the pinnacle .



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Certain remarkable parallels become apparent when one

compares the 2 0 0 5 Chicago White Sox , American League

Champions , with the last previous White Sox team to take

the Pennant . ( 1 ) - - THE VENEZUELAN SHORTSTOP /

Actually , manager OZZIE GUILLEN is no longer an active

Major League ballplayer , butt he IS from Venezuela , he did

play shortstop , and he played much of his career with the

White Sox . Forty - six years earlier ( 1 9 5 9 ) , LUIS

APARICIO , Venezuelan National , shortstop , played for

the last White Sox team of the Twentieth Century to reach

the World Series .



( 2 ) - - CUBA / The 1 9 5 9 ChiSox had ORESTES

" MINNIE " MINOSO in the outfield . Minoso was a

native of Cuba , as are two contemporary White Sox

pitchers , JOSE CONTRERAS and ORLANDO

" EL DUQUE " HERNANDEZ .



( 3 ) - - AL LOPEZ / During the decade of the 1 9 5 0 ' s ,

only two teams prevented the NEW YORK YANKEES

from monopolizing the American League pennant ,

the 1 9 5 4 CLEVELAND INDIANS and the 1 9 5 9

ChiSox . Al Lopez managed BOTH of those teams .

Now this , to be sure , is a tenuous connection between

the White Sox of ' 5 9 and the White Sox of ' 0 5 ,

butt is nevertheless worth mentioning . Al Lopez ,

still alive ( Ninety - Seven ! ) at the time of the

2 0 0 5 Post - Season , lived JUST long enough to

see the White Sox win the 2 0 0 5 Series .

( Lopez died 3 0 October 2 0 0 5 . )



( 4 ) - - UNIFORMS / During my Youth the

White Sox wore some of the BUTT - UGLIEST

uniforms in memory ; one writer , R . D . ROSEN

if memory serves , said of the White Sox that they

were baseball ' s version of the Woman who could

never decide what to wear , so often did their

ensemble change , generally for the worse . To

the credit of the White Sox - - and a number of

other Major League teams - - they returned to

their roots ; the Sox reinstated the uniforms of

five decades earlier , white with black pinstripes .



( Why the hell would anyone design a uniform - -

such as that worn by the White Sox in the early

1 9 8 0 ' s - - with numerals on the player ' s

THIGH ? ! Why would anyone need to look just

left of the player ' s CROTCH for his number ? )



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The Chicago White Sox are now the most recent

of the " Second City ' s " ChampionShip teams ,

supplanting the CHICAGO BULLS , whose last

N . B . A . ChampionShip run concluded 1 9 9 8 .

Prior to the White Sox and the Bulls , the N . F . L . ' s

CHICAGO BEARS won their lone Super Bowl

appearance , 2 4 January 1 9 8 6 , over the

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS , 4 6 to 1 0 .



That leaves the CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 ) and

the N . H . L . ' s CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

( 1 9 6 1 ) as the ChiTown teams denied the

longest . The Cubs , ninety - seven years without

a World Series Championship , have no peer in

North American Major Professional Team Sport

for haplessness . The BlackHawks , whose loyal

Fans include this Typist , actually hadn ' t gone

without as long as the NEW YORK RANGERS

and the DETROIT RED WINGS , butt the

Rangers took the STANLEY CUP in 1 9 9 4 ,

their first in fifty - four ( 5 4 ! ) years ,

whereas the forty - two seasons of Cup -

lessness ended for the Wings in 1 9 9 7 .

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Chicago ' s American League Pennant makes a liar of

PETER GAMMONS , who picked the MINNESOTA TWINS

to win the American League in 2 0 0 5 . I don ' t mean to

pick on Peter Gammons , for whom I have a high regard - -

something I VERY seldom say about sportswriters . Rather ,

I mention it because Gammon ' s prediction

seemed so astonishing to hear .



I believed the Twins were NOT a significantly better team

than the White Sox in 2 0 0 4 , and that Chicago improved

its ballclub considerably prior to 2 0 0 5 . As it is , not only

did the Twins finish behind the Sox , they ended WELL -

BACK of the first - place Sox AND the second - place

Indians . Really , the Twins were not much of a factor in

the 2 0 0 5 campaign , in which six very good teams - -

the ANGELS , the ATHLETICS , the INDIANS , the

RED SOX , the WHITE SOX and the YANKEES - -

competed furiously for the four post - season berths .



Chicago ' s playoff run was tremendous - - twelve

games , just one more than the minimum , every one

a White Sox victory save the opening game of the

2 0 0 5 American League Championship Series .

Only the 1 9 9 9 New York Yankees , also 1 1 and 1 ,

have a comparable record in the era of the eight -

team Major League tournament .



Seeing the A . L . C . S . vis - a - vis the World

Series was a very notable contrast : the White Sox

received FOUR ( 4 ! ) successive Complete Games

from their rotation against the Angels . Thus ,

MARK BUEHRLE , JON GARLAND , FRED

GARCIA and aforementioned Jose Contreras

pitched nine innings apiece in games Two ,

Three , Four and Five . Against the Astros in the

World Series , manager Guillen made use of his

bullpen in every game , particularly the fourteen -

inning ordeal of Game Three .



Now , the teams with the lengthiest schneids are :



The CHICAGO CUBS ( 1 9 0 8 )

The CLEVELAND INDIANS ( 1 9 4 8 )

The SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS ( 1 9 5 4 , at which

time they were the NEW YORK GIANTS )

The PITTSBURGH PIRATES ( 1 9 7 9 )

The PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES ( 1 9 8 0 )

The ST . LOUIS CARDINALS ( 1 9 8 2 )

The BALTIMORE ORIOLES ( 1 9 8 3 )

The DETROIT TIGERS ( 1 9 8 4 )

The KANSAS CITY ROYALS ( 1 9 8 5 )

The NEW YORK METS ( 1 9 8 6 )

The LOS ANGELES DODGERS ( 1 9 8 8 )

The OAKLAND ATHLETICS ( 1 9 8 9 )

The CINCINNATI REDS ( 1 9 9 0 )

The MINNESOTA TWINS ( 1 9 9 1 )

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS ( 1 9 9 3 )

The ATLANTA BRAVES ( 1 9 9 5 )

The NEW YORK YANKEES ( 2 0 0 0 )

The ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS ( 2 0 0 1 )

The ANAHEIM ANGELS ( 2 0 0 2 )

The FLORIDA MARLINS ( 2 0 0 3 )

The BOSTON RED SOX ( 2 0 0 4 )



Counting the 2 0 0 5 White Sox , some NINETEEN

different franchises have won the World Series at least

once since 1 9 7 9 , over a twenty - seven season span .

This abundantly reaffirms GEORGE WILL ' s observation ,

in his excellent baseball essay book titled BUNTS , that

Major League Baseball entered its most competitive era

by far with the advent of FREE AGENCY . The

reactionary folk who insisted Free Agency would

benefit just a select few teams , would badly erode

competitiveness , have been proven amply wrong .



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This particular post is presented one day tardy . This Typist

has been working a great deal of late , a hazard for writers

looking to be productive . Alas . . . . Yesterday ' s date ,

1 1 November , is a Federal Holiday known to this generation

of Americans as VETERAN ' S DAY . Your Faithful Typist

can recall , however , that the Holiday was known

heretofore as ARMISTICE DAY .

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Originally , 1 1 November was formally observed as a

commemoration for the Armistice that concluded the First

World War . The Documents of Surrender were signed by

German emissaries in a rail car , in Versailles , a small

city some eighteen miles outside of Paris .



As KURT VONNEGUT JR . said of Armistice Day in his

novel BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS , the Holiday is a

gesture of homage for a specific moment , supposedly the

eleventh second of the eleventh minute of the eleventh

hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the

year 1 9 1 8 . Vonnegut , no fan of the transition from

" Armistice " Day to " Veterans ' " Day , laments the

fact that no formal commemoration honors the end of

World War One .



I won ' t actively disagree , although my own admiration

and respect for the Veterans of the United States Army ,

Navy , Air Force , Marine Corps and Coast Guard is

considerable - - the worst I can say of a roster of

Federal Holidays that includes " Memorial Day " and

" Veterans ' Day " is that it smacks of redundancy .



Even that I believe one can justify by designating

" Memorial Day " as homage to deceased military vets ,

whilst " Veterans ' Day " could then be designated as a

most special Day for the Soldiers , Sailors and Aviators

still extant . It does open ' Pandora ' s Box , ' though :

would it be necessary to have a separate " Presidents '

Day for Commanders - In - Chief Ford , Carter ,

G . H . W . Bush and Clinton ?



Perhaps not so splendid an idea , that .



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This discussion of Veterans ' Day makes the Author ponder

some Hallowed Ground , ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY .

I have been to Arlington several times , have taken in a good share

of the Cemetery on foot , and I ' ve a personal stake : my own

Father was buried at Arlington , 2 April 1 9 8 2 ( a Friday ) .



One gets to see " ARLINGTON HOUSE " on the grounds of

the Cemetery . Herein , some very peculiar historical irony :

General IRWIN McDOWELL , the first of the underachievers

to command President Lincoln ' s ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ,

established his temporary headquarters at Arlington House ,

as it had been vacated by its owner - - none other than

General ROBERT E . LEE ( ! )



Tour Arlington with a sharp eye , as I myself tried to do ,

and one finds grave - sites of note . I recall finding the head -

stone of WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT , Twenty - Seventh

President and former Chief Justice ; the special Memorial

to JOE LOUIS , HeavyWeight Boxing Champion for a

record eleven years and twenty - five defenses , who enlisted

during World War Two ; the MONUMENT TO THE

CONFEDERATE DEAD , situated in a remote part of the

Cemetery ; the JOHN FOSTER DULLES Plot , where

DWIGHT EISENHOWER ' s Secretary Of State was

interred after succumbing to cancer in 1 9 5 9 ; ROBERT

KENNEDY ' s burial site ( the Senator from New York and

former Attorney General was not a combat veteran , butt he

was for many years a resident of Arlington , Virginia - -

the city , rather than the Cemetery ! ) Of course the

ETERNAL FLAME has burnt , to my knowledge without

respite , at the grave - site of the Thirty - Fifth President ,

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY , since 2 5 November of 1 9 6 3 .



Possibly my favorite Arlington spectacle is the CHANGING OF

THE GUARD , done every two hours at the TOMB OF THE

UNKNOWN SOLDIER . The Soldiers of the " BlackJack

Pershing " Regiment take turns standing watch over The

Tomb , timing their turns so they occur at twenty - one

second intervals , taking twenty - one strides at a time .

Save perhaps the " Dress Blues " of the United States

Marine Corps , the Uniforms of the Pershing Regiment

are the Miltary ' s Handsomest , methinks .



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Arlington National Cemetery , I fear , has butt a very

finite bit of space remaining , so I think it fortunate the

Nation has other military cemeteries . I am lucky to have

seen the " PunchBowl " , the Military Cemetery on the

island of Oahu . This typist has been to Hawaii just once ,

6 - 7 - & 8 December of 1 9 9 1 , there to take in the

Fiftieth Anniversary of the Attack on PEARL HARBOR .

( Again , a Family Connection : My Old Man was the

' Officer - Of - The - Deck ' aboard the BattleShip

U . S . S . WEST VIRGINIA on 7 December 1 9 4 1 . )



Arlington , for most interested visitors , is more readily

accessable than Hawaii . If perchance You go : the METRO ,

high - speed regional rail in the Capital Area , has a stop

near the cemetery - - convenient , inexpensive , and an

enjoyable means of travel . Those of You who have Relatives

buried at Arlington may request an automobile pass , which

permits those who insist on driving to take their cars on the

Cemetery ' s paved roads . Otherwise , one may ride the

tourist ' s Tram , or do as this devout Pedestrian is wont to

do : walk , and walk plenty more . ( It is , I think , Patriotic ! )



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