Lincoln Discussion Symposium

One hundred and forty seven years ago, the nation reeled from the assassination of President Lincoln. We read about it today-and there may be no emotion evoked because of it-after all-we weren't alive then. But many of us have lived through a similar time. Many of us were alive and remember the assassination of President Kennedy. Were the emotions experienced akin to those that were felt by people alive during Lincoln's assassination? I would think so. What an awful day November 22, 1963 was! I personally experienced deep shock, disbelief, and overwhelming sadness that our President was killed. And countless others felt the same way. What was that day like for you? I think we who went through the JFK assassination, can better appreciate in some way what people experienced in reaction to Lincoln's murder. Perhaps, artist Bill Mauldin said in his drawing what people felt everywhere when he drew Lincoln in deep grief over the killing of JFK. Remember this?:



With sadness as we approach the 49th anniversary of Kennedy's murder, we think of him and Lincoln. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance-and there is a cost.

Bill, isn't it the 49th anniversary that is approaching?

Laurie: how right you are! That makes me feel even older. I made the correction.

I remember that day so well. I had just finished my last class of the day and was back in my dorm room when the news was broadcast. Everyone stopped what they were doing, abandoned the classrooms, etc. and gathered in what we called the Quadrangle. Within the next few hours, people were crowding into the chapel on campus or heading into town to churches.

I went to a state college about four hours from D.C., and many of the students were from the Washington area. Within twenty-four hours, the campus closed down because so many of us headed home. Those who grew up in the 50s and 60s near the nation's capital and Andrews AFB were constantly aware of the Cold War and the threat of attacks. We were sure that the end was near; after all we had just waited with baited breath through the Cuban Missile Crisis. Scary times.

P.S. I never want to hear a funeral dirge or the drum cadence for a military funeral again. Those days are engraved in my memory forever.

The defining moment of history. Where were you when...?
We all remember where we were and what we were doing.

For many of us it was JFK's assasination. For our parents it was Pearl Harbor. For you youngsters, its the 9-11 attack on the Twin Towers. It's the major single historical event that effects the whole country, maybe the world, and they are usually very bad. It's usually something we don't see coming. I hope there are no more of theses in my lifetime.

Gene and Laurie: nice to hear your input. Even after all this time it doesn't take much to bring us right back to that day. It also gives us some emotional insight into what mourners for Lincoln felt.

You folks are so right. At that time I was a Kappa Sig on the campus of Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Friday afternoons and nights were times of boisterous activity and much levity in the frat house. The pall that set in that day was overwhelming. People who were usually noisy, immature, and wild were totally subdued. I had never before seen such a change. I didn't think anything could ever interfere with the Friday night partying, but that assassination changed everything.

I also remember thinking to myself: How could this happen? Even though we knew intellectually that Lincoln (and other presidents had been assassinated)-it didn't seem conceivable that a president in 1963 could be killed.

Anybody read Killing Kennedy yet? I have not. After Killing Lincoln-I'm not enthused by the notion of the Kennedy book. However, if you have read it- I value your opinion. We have said the the Killing Lincoln book probably encouraged a lot of people to get more interested in Lincoln. Will that also be true of the Kennedy book?

I read Killing Kennedy and enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy that kind of topic). I found O'Reilly and Dugard much better on the history of something that was current events to them fifty years ago. O'Reilly actually was a reporter in those days. There is also a brief sentence about a pilot named Dugard who was set to be part of the air power to support the Bay of Pigs invasion before they were pulled off at the last minute. Martin Dugard has to be talking about his own father in that.

I liked the style of writing because it sets a scenario where about a half-dozen people or groups could be held liable for backing the assassination, but points the finger at no one.

I am really looking forward to James Swanson's End of Days book on the Kennedy assassination. His children's version is already in stock at Surratt House, but the main book is not due in until November. Surratt House has been offered a special deal by James. While we will not be carrying the book as a regular item in our gift shop, we are taking orders for it until its release. At that time, James will be inscribing (not just autographing) our copies before we mail them out to the customers.

If interested, call 301-868-1121 and place your order via MC or Visa and tell us what you want the inscription to say. We are also accepting checks and money orders made payable to Surratt House Gift Shop and mailed to 9118 Brandywine Road, Clinton, MD 20735. The adult version is $25 + $3 postage (MD residents must pay 6% tax on the $25). Children's version is $15 (plus 6% tax) and $3 postage.

I'm pleased to hear a more favorable review of the Kennedy book. I suppose it could also make a difference for people like us Laurie- that we were alive when it happened.

I actually had something cleared up for me in the book, and Anita reinforced for me. I was in college and my first years of teaching for much of the Vietnam War. I was so busy learning and teaching history, that I was not absorbing all of the current events swirling around me.

I remember being horrified by the images of the Buddhist monks burning themselves alive in protest of the government, but I don't think that I ever really understood why. It took O'Reilly's book to give me the answer: The U.S.-backed, Catholic regime in Vietnam was really conducting a religious war on the Buddhists.

I didnt know that either.