California State University Northridge - Sunburst Yearbook (Northridge, CA)

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IN MEMORIAM ngn the long history of the world only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hours of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -I welcome it? Unaugural Address of John F . Kennedyi When President Kennedy 'was assassinated the nation had an opportunity to witness the efficiency of the American government. In less than two hours after the Presidentgs death, the United States had its thirty-sixth President. But in that first dark moment there was something of greater gravity that we had wit- nessed; something that was not immediately apparent. It wasn,t only the Presi- dent of the United States that lay beneath the closed lid of that bronze casket. John F itzgerald Kennedy had been shot down in the streets of Dallas. And, that is the tragedy to which the nation and the world awakened from its shock. The President could always be replaced t the man could not. Intelligence was the spirit of John Kennedyls short presidency and with it came an excitement and energy which had not been seen in the office for many years. When he took over the presidency he brought with him men, who like himself, were young, equipped with a wealth of knowledge and well-qualified to serve their country. It was this spirit which earned for the Kennedy administra- tion the label of chew F rontierfl And it was the energy that was inevitably tagged with that famous Kennedy noun - vigor. bbThere was a wit in a man neither young nor old; but a wit full of an old man,s wisdom and of a child,s wisdom . . f, The wit and youthfulness of John Kennedy were the two traits which most captivated the American people. The televised press conferences with their informal ad lib atmosphere were the occa- sions which best displayed the Kennedy personality. He delighted in responding to the questions of the reporters, punctuating his replies with the stabbing index finger and the halting emphasis of his Boston accent. In return, the reporters delighted in provoking him to the witticisms that he was so adept at calling forth on such occasions. But, he had a deeply serious side also. He could be a powerful adversary to those who threatened the nation which he served and the principles which he be- lieved in for this nation. He had a deep sense of duty to the American people. He told a reporter at the inauguration that he had taken two oaths that day. One was public, and it committed him to lead and protect the American nation. The other was private but it was no less binding on his conscience, for it committed him to sustain and direct the free nations while the heritage of democracy is under remorseless siege. His life had been marked with struggles against overwhelming odds. As a young lieutenant in the South Pacific he demonstrated his devotion to duty in a now legendary epic. While he was serving as Senator he was stricken with a back injury, so severe that he received the last rites of the Church. When he was re- covering from this illness he used the long period of convalescence to write a Pulitzer Prize winning book. When he ran for the presidency he was campaigning against the V ice-President and working against a prejudice which presumed that one of his F aith could never be elected President of the United States. On Novem- ber 22, 1963 e the odds were too high.

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