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Re: That Most Searing Day



I don't get it...I thought historians were supposed to look at history from
as many directions as possible to get a clearer picture of the past.
Daniel's message seems ballanced and logical.  The rest of you need to
lighten up, sheesh.
Chris Corley

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Sokolow <daniel_sokolow@MCGRAW-HILL.COM>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2000 9:20 AM
Subject: Re: That Most Searing Day


> I've been ignoring this thread, but I can only assume from this particular
post
> that things have gotten a tad nasty.  I for one wasn't born (and wouldn't
be for
> some time) when JFK was killed, but I think historical perspective is sort
of
> useful when this kind of thing comes up.  I imagine that the reaction (of
> Europeans of a particular social class, granted) was similar when the
Archduke
> Franz Ferdinand was killed, igniting WWI.  Perhaps there was similar
distress
> when Caesar was stabbed (Et tu, archivist?)
>
> I think that assasination is, like it or not, part of human existence, and
has
> been for many thousands of years.  Kennedy's death is different, if only
because
> the images have been broadcast so vividly and so quickly.  Add the
mystique of
> the Kennedy family, the telegenic first family, JFK's relative youth, and
you've
> got the makings of a cultural icon and the enormous outpouring of grief
still
> felt to this day.
>
> It will take a more distant, dispassionate crop of historians to fit JFK
and his
> assasination into its proper historic context.  I understand that JFK's
track
> record as president was mixed, and had he not been killed, I suspect he
would
> have been pilloried or praised, depending on the political bent of the
writer,
> but he probably wouldn't have been sanctified (if not deified.) I can
respect
> the trauma that the event had on people who witnessed or experienced it,
but I
> don't think it's fair to expect everyone else (foreigners, those of us
unborn,
> etc.) to share the same feelings.
>
> Just my two cents, dropped into the already roiling waters.
>
> DS
>
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>