Kennedy, John F. (1917-1963)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Nov 28 p. 1

Birth date: 1917 May 29

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The World's Week

A Moment In History

THE doleful drums rolled on Pennsylvania Avenue. Where a President had ridden in triumph, a military caisson bore him slowly along in death. John F. Kennedy was gone, and a world mourned.

The awesome drama was played from beginning to end on one long November week end. On Friday noon the President was in Dallas, vibrantly alive. A few hours later he was back in Washington, dead. Time, space and history itself were foreshortened in a technological age.

“A bad man shot my daddy,” said John F. Kennedy, Jr. three years old the day of his father's funeral. “His world was strangely different, in little ways a child notices, but does not understand,” wrote the UPI. General MacArthur summed up everyone's personal sorrow: “When he died, something died within me.”

AMERICA'S self-confidence was shaken. In a country of law and reason and light, the dark and brutal spirit of the jungle possessed the heart of an assassin with a mail-order rifle. A nation accustomed to smugly lecture its Latin neighbors about their violent politics drew itself up short for a searching look at its own soul. What were we coming to? The deep melancholia of an entire people called forth Shakespeare's lines:

For God's sake let us sit upon the ground,
And tell sad stories of the death of kings.

JOHN Kennedy was not a king, but no caesar ever had more power to decide the fate of nations — the might of the nuclear thunderbolt. During his brief three years in office, the force of the atom had once again been contained, however precariously, and the world was grateful. His successful efforts for a nuclear test ban treaty raised the hopes of fearful humanity.

The U. S. Chief Executive was more than a national symbol, for he identified himself with the larger cause of mankind, “I am a Berliner,” he declared last June to the throngs in beleaguered West Berlin. A marked contrast to the aged leaders of Europe, the President and First Lady inspired the world with a spirit of youthful optimism.

AMONG the ironies of this moment in history was the obvious parallel to President Lincoln, assassinated on Good Friday, 1865, after preserving the Union in the Civil War. Though separated by a century of change, Lincoln and Kennedy faced many of the same basic domestic problems. Kennedy, a strong civil rights advocate, was martyred in the centennial year of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The London times described the late President as one “who felt that he was challenged to carry forward the implications of Lincoln's work and who, “in this last year, has been seen wrestling with the critical issues of race and national unity.”

With the numbing shock came also a sense of national rededication to making real the ideals of American civilization, and of Christianity itself. John Kennedy's goal on national brotherhood — transcending even racial barriers — was elusive during his lifetime. Now, at his death, it seemed strangely closer to realization.

IN the three grief-filled days from her husband's death to his burial, Jacqueline Kennedy was a model of courage. The darkly-veiled young widow bravely led a unique gathering of the world's dignitaries from the White House to St. Matthew's Cathedral for the funeral. Following the requiem mass, quotations were read from the Kennedy inaugural Address (”Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”) and from Ecclesiastes (”A time to be born and a time to die”).

It was the making of a legend. The statue of the Great Emancipator looked down upon the somber yet majestic funeral procession as it wound past the Lincoln Memorial toward a hero's grave across the Potomac. And the drums rolled. . . .

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Dec 5 p. 3

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Pall of Sorrow Hangs Over Thanksgiving Festivities

A pall of sorrow hung over the nation as it engaged in the traditional Thanksgiving festivities Nov. 28. It had been only three days before that the slain President Kennedy had been laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery.

Upon request of President Johnson, the Kennedy Thanksgiving proclamation was read in churches throughout the land. Many communities held union churches.

Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy asked White House press secretary Pierre Salinger to express her appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of “compassionate messages” that had been sent her since the death of her husband. A bill to provide Secret Service protection for her and her two children for a year has been introduced in Congress. She will also have the lifetime privilege of free mail traditionally allowed widows of presidents.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Dec 5 p. 6

Two well-known American Mennonites now in Germany sent reports to the Review this week commenting on European reactions to the assassination of the late President john F. Kennedy.

Roy Roth, former president of Hesston College, is studying music for a year in Oldenburg, Germany, under a program sponsored by the University of Oregon.

Dr. Cornelius Krahn, on sabbatical leave from Bethel College, is spending a year in Europe doing research and writing in the field of church history.

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Distant Tragedy Viewed As If Next Door

By Cornelius Krahn

File:Krahn cornelius 1963.jpg

Frankfurt, Germany. — It electrified and stunned every person. On streets, in homes, at work, at public meetings, and even at places of entertainment, it was announced in the midst of performances: “Mr. Kennedy has been shot!” Performances stopped right there and everyone went home quietly. Even from Poland reports came in that when at a dancing place the music was interrupted with this announcement the party was over.

Not only the Voice of America stopped all entertainment and revised its program, but also most other European radio and television stations. Only solemn music with reports about the happenings in America were broadcast.

AND WHAT a miracle a little transistor radio is in a situation like this. One station takes one in a moment to Dallas, Texas. Switching to other stations, one can hear the reports and reactions of a score of other European countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain. In all of them the first reaction was that of shock and inability to comprehend. But radio, television and press left no doubt that there was any mistake in reporting. The President of the United States was dead.

Every move in Washington, D. C. was reported, with an occasional glance at Dallas. The procession on the day before the funeral could be followed by radio as if it was next door. The drums and hoofs of the horses were hard as if one was standing next to them.

DURING THE DAY of the funeral all details were shown on television and related by radio. Being six hours ahead, the American armed forces and civilians had special services earlier in the day. The public in various countries joined in commemoration services. During the day students of many cities marched in a solemn procession to places where Kennedy had addressed large audiences when he visited Germany during the summer. People in various countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain filed into offices of the American embassies to sign their names in the Book of Condolences.

While we were watching final services in Washington, D. C., the German television broke off at the time of the mass in the St. Matthew's Cathedral and switched to a commemoration service in Berlin. That was quite a change. From the chanting of the Latin Mass to the immediacy of the great concern for events to come. It was reported that the number to take part in the commemoration service for Kennedy was as great as the number attending the meeting when he spoke to them during the summer.

ONE SAW DEEP sorrow and some tenseness on the faces of these people living “on an island in the Red sea.” Tears streamed from many faces when the speaker reminded his listeners of the words which Kennedy had uttered during his speech: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). It was very impressiv when all lights went off and only one spotlight focused on the new sign to be put up on the square where he had spoken. It was: “John F. Kennedyplatz.”

One cannot start sampling all the papers that have devoted major parts of issue after issue to the tragic event. All details from the visit of the Kennedys last summer to the present are presented in illustrations and descriptions.

QUESTIONS are raised how this could happen? And then to top it off, a second murder takes place right in the midst of the enforcers of the law. The man on the street asks these questions and tries to explain them so that they will make some "sense" in a world shaken by the tragedy. Some of these questions do not strengthen the confidence in the big American brother.

But somehow life must go on. The day after the burial of the beloved President, the German radio and television introduced the new President. A detailed account of his life and his possible future policies was presented. It was well done, with excepts of speeches which Lyndon Johnson gave when he visited Germany, including Berlin. The gist of the program was that the new President will follow the policies established by his predecessor but that sooner or later he will be President in his own right.

ONE OF THE great concerns of the Europeans and particularly the West Germans is of course what his attitude will be in matters regarding East and West relations. Reassuringly, he was introduced by the broadcast as a man with a policy of flexibility in detail but firmness in principle. The man from the South, who occasionally appears folksy wearing a cowboy outfit,cannot be shoved around easily.

These are a few observations during the tragic days that shook the world. In our day great events affect all. The world has shrunk and has become one great neighborhood, whether we realize it or not.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Dec 12 p. 9

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MEMORIAL SERVICE AT MT. LAKE

Mt. Lake, Minn. — A community memorial service for President John F. Kennedy was held at the Bethel Mennonite Church here Nov. 25 under auspices of the Mt. Lake Ministerial Assn.

Meditations were given by Rev. Albert Gaeddert, Rev. Willard Wiebe, Rev. Julius Olson, and Rev. H. Albert Johnson.

Leading in periods of prayer were Rev. Paul Dahlenberg, Rev. Emil Krahn, Rev. Irving Malm, and Rev. Loyal Martin. The invocation was by Rev. Daniel Regier.

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Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1963 Dec 26 p. 3
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1964 mar 19 p. 3