The Assassination of Pim Fortuyn

I have often made the point that there is basically—no difference between the far left and the far right, If there ever was a clearer indication of that it was Pim Fortuyn, initially a Marxist and communist, who later did a complete U-turn. Although I don’t consider extreme right, he was leaning towards the far right, and we don’t know how far that would have gone because he was killed that day on May 6, 2002. His assassination did change the political landscape of the Netherlands.

Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, academic, and publicist who rose to prominence in the early 2000s. He was known for his charismatic personality, provocative statements, and criticism of immigration and multiculturalism in the Netherlands. Fortuyn founded the political party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) in 2002, which quickly gained popularity.

His views on immigration, Islam, and the integration of minorities into Dutch society stirred controversy and polarized opinions. Tragically, Fortuyn’s political career was cut short when he was assassinated by an animal rights activist in May 2002, just nine days before the general elections in which his party was expected to perform strongly. His death shocked the nation and sparked a national debate on issues such as tolerance, immigration, and the role of Islam in Dutch society. Fortuyn, an openly gay sociology professor and publicist, rocked the boat of Dutch politics.

Volkert van der Graaf is the individual who assassinated Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6, 2002. At the time of the assassination, van der Graaf was an environmental and animal rights activist. He opposed Fortuyn’s political views, particularly regarding immigration and multiculturalism.

After the assassination, van der Graaf was arrested and later convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the maximum penalty under Dutch law, at that time. He served his sentence and was released on parole in 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, which is common in the Dutch legal system.

Van der Graaf’s actions had a significant impact on Dutch politics and society, prompting debates about extremism, political discourse, and security measures for politicians.

Van der Graaf was born in Middelburg and by the time he attended university in Wageningen, he was vegan and an idealistic supporter of animal welfare. Van der Graaf was said to be highly intelligent and a perfectionist who was emotionally uncommunicative and intolerant of those with different values from his own.

Although it was a brutal, calculated, and premeditated murder, van der Graaf was only sentenced to 18 years, of which he only served 12. He was released only a few days before the 12th anniversary of Pim Fortuyn’s assassination.

The prosecution and the defence both made appeals against this sentence. Prior to the appeal, suggestions in the media that Van der Graaf may be suffering from Asperger’s syndrome were rejected by workers at the PBC(Pieter Baan Centrum, where he had been detained during the trial), who said they had considered and then declined the possibility. The prosecution argued that the court had not taken account of the political nature of the murder, and asked again for life imprisonment. But he was released on May 2, 2014.

Sources

https://news.sky.com/story/pim-fortuyn-politicians-killer-is-freed-early-10407206

https://murderpedia.org/male.V/v/van-der-graaf.htm

https://nltimes.nl/2014/03/26/fortuyn-killer-released-2nd-may

https://theconversation.com/a-history-of-dutch-populism-from-the-murder-of-pim-fortuyn-to-the-rise-of-geert-wilders-74483

https://www.vox.com/2016/2/19/11059604/donald-trump-pim-fortuyn

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-forgotten-fortuyn

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27261291

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Ides of March

A few months ago I had the pleasure to interview Jim Peterik known from Survivor, but also from “The Tides of March”. However, this blog will not be about the band, although the name is clearly inspired by the actual event called Ides of March.

Julius Caesar must be without a doubt the most well-known historical figure from the Roman Empire, and definitely one of the best-known people in world history. A fact that may not be common knowledge is that his heir and nephew would become the wealthiest man to have ever lived. He had an estimated net worth of $4.6 trillion when counting for inflation.

March 15, 44 BC, would turn out to be a dramatic day for Julius Caesar. He would be stabbed 23 times. Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators. during a meeting of the Senate at the Curia of Pompey of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome. They claimed to be acting over fears that Caesar’s unprecedented concentration of power during his dictatorship was undermining the Roman Republic. At least 60 to 70 senators were party to the conspiracy, led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, and Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. Despite the death of Caesar, the conspirators were unable to restore the institutions of the Republic. The ramifications of the assassination led to his martyrdom, the Liberators’ civil war and ultimately to the Principate period of the Roman Empire.

Julius Caesar was immensely popular with the people of Rome. He was a successful military leader who expanded the republic to include parts of what are now Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium. Caesar was also a popular author who wrote about his travels, theories, and political views. Many members of the Senate, a group of appointed (not elected) political leaders, resented Caesar’s popularity and arrogance. After Caesar attained the status of dictator for life in 44 B.C.E., these officials decided to strike the ultimate blow against his power.

The term Ides derives from the Latin word iduare (Latin: “to divide”), with the full moon serving as the division point in the middle of each month. The phrase is widely known from William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” when a soothsayer warned Caesar to “beware the Ides of March.” That brings me back to the band “The Ides of March” bassist Bob Bergland suggested the name after reading the very Shakespeare play ‘Julius Caesar’ in high school.

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ides-of-March

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/03/11/when-is-ides-of-march/72879681007

https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-ides-of-march

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/julius-caesar-assassinated

https://www.thefactsite.com/100-history-facts

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-ides-of-march

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The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

US President Abraham Lincoln was the third American president to die in office , and the first of four presidents to be assassinated. The other three were James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901) and John F. Kennedy (1963). Lincoln’s death came in the closing days of the American Civil War, and a day after he was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an American stage actor.

Booth was the 9th of 10 children born to the actor Junius Brutus Booth. John Wilkes Booth was outspoken in his advocacy of slavery and his hatred of Lincoln.

The original plan of Booth and his small group of conspirators was to kidnap Lincoln, and they later agreed to murder him as well as Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

On the morning of April 14, 1865, Booth had found out that Abraham Lincoln was going to to attend an evening performance of the comedy Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in the capital. Booth quickly assembled his band and assigned each member his task, including the murder of Secretary of State William Seward. He himself would kill Lincoln. About 6:00 PM Booth entered the deserted theatre, where he tampered with the outer door of the presidential box so that it could be jammed shut from the inside. He returned during the play’s third act to find Lincoln and his guests were unguarded.

Booth shot President Lincoln once in the back of the head. Lincoln’s death the next morning completed Booth’s piece of the plot. Seward, severely wounded, recovered, whereas Vice President Johnson was never attacked. Booth fled on horseback to Southern Maryland on his horse called Peanuts. A reward of $100,000 was issued for his capture. Also rewards of $50,000 and $25,000 for some of Booth’s conspirators.

On April 26, Federal troops arrived at a farm in Virginia, just south of the Rappahannock River, where Booth was hiding in a tobacco barn. Herold gave himself up before the barn was set afire, but Booth refused to surrender. After being shot, a bullet had pierced three vertebrae and partially severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him. In his dying moments, he reportedly whispered, “Tell my mother I died for my country”. Booth was carried to the porch of the farmhouse, where he subsequently died. The body was identified by a doctor who had operated on Booth the year before, and it was then secretly buried, though four years later it was reinterred.

Booth’s conspirators were Lewis Powell and David Herold, who were assigned to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, and George Atzerodt, who was tasked with killing Vice President Andrew Johnson. By simultaneously eliminating the top three people in the administration, Booth and his co-conspirators hoped to disrupt the United States government.

In the turmoil that followed the assassination, scores of suspected accomplices were arrested and thrown into prison. Anyone discovered to have had anything to do with the assassination or even the slightest contact with Booth or Herold on their flight were put behind bars. Among the imprisoned were Louis J. Weichmann, a boarder in Mrs. Surratt’s house; Booth’s brother Junius (playing in Cincinnati at the time of the assassination); theater owner John T. Ford, who was incarcerated for 40 days; James Pumphrey, the Washington livery stable owner from whom Booth hired his horse; John M. Lloyd, the innkeeper who rented Mrs. Surratt’s Maryland tavern and gave Booth and Herold carbines, rope, and whiskey the night of April 14; and Samuel Cox and Thomas A. Jones, who helped Booth and Herold escape across the Potomac.

All of those listed above and more were rounded up, imprisoned, and released. Ultimately, the suspects were narrowed down to just eight prisoners (seven men and one woman): Samuel Arnold, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlen, Lewis Powell, Edmund Spangler (a Ford’s stagehand who had given Booth’s horse to “Peanuts” Burroughs to hold), and Mary Surratt.

On June 29, 1865, the Military Commission met in secret session to begin its review of the evidence in the seven-week long trial. A guilty verdict could come with a majority vote of the nine-member commission; death sentences required the votes of six members. The next day, it reached its verdicts. The Commission found seven of the prisoners guilty of at least one of the conspiracy charges. Four of the prisoners: Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, and David Herold were sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until he [or she] be dead”. Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel Mudd and Michael O’Laughlen were sentenced to “hard labor for life, at such place at the President shall direct”, Edman Spangler received a six-year sentence. The next day General Hartrandft informed the prisoners of their sentences. He told the four condemned prisoners that they would hang on July 7,1865.

sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Wilkes-Booth

https://www.onthisday.com/photos/assassination-of-president-lincoln

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Abraham%20Lincoln%20conspirators

The original version of “Sympathy for the Devil”

Who doesn’t know the Rolling Stones master piece “Sympathy for the Devil”?

For anyone of you who don’t know the song, go to YouTube, Spotify or any other music streaming platform and listen to it. I don’t mean that awful Guns N Roses version but the original by the Rolling Stones.

The song is basically a brief summary of 2000 years of history compressed in to a few minutes.

The lyrics focus on atrocities in mankind’s history from Satan’s point of view including the trial and death of Jesus Christ :”Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands to seal his fate”

European religious wars: “I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the gods they made”.

The violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the 1918 execution of the Romanov family during World War I :”I stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change/Killed the Tsar and his ministers/Anastasia screamed in vain”.

World War II:”I rode a tank, held a general’s rank when the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank”.

It also mentions several other historical events which happened up to the time the song was released. Originally the song was going to be released including the lyrics: “I shouted out ‘Who killed Kennedy?'”. However they had to change the lyrics after Robert Kennedy was also assassinated on June 6,1968. They changed the lyrics to “Who killed the Kennedys?”

The recording of “Sympathy for the Devil” began at London’s Olympic Sound Studios on 4 June 1968 and continued into the next day; overdubs were done on 8, 9 and 10 June.

The assassination of Robert Kennedy did not make much of a difference lyrics wise but it clearly would have had an impact if they would have left the song as it was.

How many artists are able to say that they wrote a song about historical events as they were happening?

Ending up with that master piece.

May 10, the day of the assassins

I don’t subscribe to any conspiracy theories although I always try to keep an open mind. And I am not about to start a new conspiracy theory. However most, if not all, conspiracy theories have an element of truth in them.

In the movie ‘Conspiracy Theory’ the character Jerry Fletcher, played by Mel Gibson says this:

“- Jerry Fletcher: Serial killers only have two names. You ever notice that? But lone gunmen assassins, they always have three names. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark David Chapman. Alice Sutton: John Hinckley. He shot Reagan. He only has two names.

Jerry Fletcher: Yeah, but he only just shot Reagan. Reagan didn’t die. If Reagan had died, I’m pretty sure we probably would all know what John Hinckley’s middle name was.”

He was wrong about the serial killers bit. One of the most prolific serial killers was executed on May 10,1994.

John Wayne Gacy, (born March 17, 1942, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died May 10, 1994, Statesville, Illinois), serial killer whose murders of 33 boys and young men in the 1970s received international media attention and shocked his suburban Chicago community, where he was known for his sociability and his performance as a clown at charitable events and children’s parties. He had 3 names.

The character Jerry Fletcher was right about the lone gunmen assassins, even about John Hinckley. His full name was John Warnock Hinckley.

He also mentioned Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wiles Booth and Mark David Chapman.

Lee Harvey Oswald received a certificate as sharp shooter, or sniper, with the US Marines sometimes before the 13th of May in 1959. He was classified in a scale of marksman–sharpshooter–expert.777.

The other 2 assassins mentioned were both born on May 10th.

The stage actor John Wilkes Booth was born on May 10, 1838

On the morning of Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Booth went to Ford’s Theatre to get his mail. While there, he was told that the President Lincoln and his wife would be attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre that evening, accompanied by Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant.

Booth entered Ford’s Theater at 10:10 pm. In the theater, he slipped into Lincoln’s box at around 10:14 p.m. as the play progressed and shot the President in the back of the head with a .41 caliber Deringer pistol.

Booth was killed on April 26,1865 by Sergeant Boston Corbett.

Mark David Chapman was born May 10,1955, in Fort Worth Texas.

On December 8, 1980 Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon. He was a fan of John Lennon and a few hours before he killed Lennon, he had approached him already carrying a copy of John Lennon’s album “Double Fantasy”

Amateur photographer Paul Goresh was nearby and took a picture as Lennon signed the album. Chapman said in an interview that he tried to get Goresh to stay, and he asked another close by John Lennon fan to go out with him that night. He suggested that he would not have murdered Lennon that evening if the girl had accepted his invitation or if Goresh had stayed, but he probably would have tried another day.

That was such a cowardly thing to say, trying to put some of the blame on others.

John Hinckley and Mark David Chapman both had a copy of the 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

Chapman identified with the novel’s narrator to the extent that he wanted to change his name to Holden Caulfield. On the night he shot Lennon, Chapman was found with a copy of the book in which he had written “This is my statement” and signed Holden’s name. Later, he read a passage from the novel to address the court during his sentencing.

After John Hinckley, Jr.’s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981, police found The Catcher in the Rye in his hotel room. Hinckley later admitted to being an admirer of Chapman and studying his attempt on John Lennon. Hinckley’s possession of the novel was later dismissed as an influence, as a half dozen various other types of books were also discovered in his possession.

Another murderer ,Robert John Bardo, who murdered actress Rebecca Schaeffer, was carrying the book when he visited Schaeffer’s apartment in Hollywood on July 18, 1989 where he murdered her.

So May 10th which has the birth of at least 2 murderers/assassins and the death of one serial killer can probably be called “The day of the assassins”

source

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118883/

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The forgotten events of November 22-1963.

The biggest event of November 22,1963 was the assassination of President J.F Kennedy. However there were a few other events that day which were overshadowed by this.

One of these events had a direct link to the assassination of JFK. Relay 1 was the first satellite to send a  television signal from the United States to Japan. The first broadcast during orbit on November 22, 1963 was to be a prerecorded address from  President John F Kennedy to the Japanese people. Instead, the broadcast was an announcement of his assassination.

Also on November 22,1963 , the Beatles released their 2nd Album,”With the Beatles”. The album also included the first song written by George Harrison “Don’t Bother Me”

Two best selling and renowned authors also died on November 22,1963.

C.S. Lewis died of a chronic kidney disease. He had collapsed in his bedroom at 17:30 pm and died just a few minutes later. A week before his 65th birthday.

Although in a different time zone ,fellow British author Aldous Huxley, died at nearly the same time. His time of death was 17:20 pm albeit Los Angeles time. Huxley known for great works such as “A brave new World” suffered from advanced laryngeal cancer. He was 69 when he died.

J. D. Tippit was a police officer who  with the Dallas Police Department.

At approximately 1:14 pm, 45 minutes after President Kennedy was shot, Officer Tippit stopped the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was on foot and fit the general description of the assassin that was being broadcast by the Dallas police radio.

After being summoned by Officer Tippit, Oswald came over to the passenger side of the patrol car where they spoke through an open window. After a brief conversation, Officer Tippit got out of his car and as he was walking toward the front of his patrol car, Oswald suddenly shot him three times at point blank range with a .38 caliber revolver. After Officer Tippit fell, he was shot in the head by Oswald, which proved to be the fatal shot.

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Sources

https://www.odmp.org/officer/13338-officer-j-d-tippit

Rolling Stone

YouTube

WikiPedia

Nasa

The assassination of William McKinley.

On September 14, 1901, President William McKinley,the 25th President of the USA, died, as a result of a shot in the stomach, which happened eight days earlier at the World’s Fair in Buffalo, New York. He was the third U.S. President to be assassinated.
President, McKinley became known as a protector of big businesses, which enjoyed unprecedented growth during his presidency He advocated for  the protective tariff as a way of protecting U.S. business and labor from  competition abroad , and he maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of free silver.

 

On September 6, 1901, William McKinley, , was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. He was shaking hands with members of  the public when Leon Czolgosz, a Polish-American anarchist and former steel worker, shot him twice in the abdomen.

McKinley was approached by Leon Czolgosz,  carrying a concealed .32 revolver in a handkerchief. Drawing his weapon, he shot McKinley two times at close range. One bullet deflected off  button on McKinley’s suit , but the other went into  his stomach, passed through the kidneys, and lodged in his back.

Dr. Matthew D. Mann and a team of other physicians were not able to find  the bullet during an operation, due to this gangrene soon spread throughout his body. McKinley died eight days later.

Czolgosz was convicted of murder and executed on October 29, 1901. His last words were

“I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people – the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime. I am sorry I could not see my father”

The president had, had a fairly relaxed approach to security, even though two of his predecessors (President Lincoln and President Garfield) had been killed in the past half-century.

After McKinley’s assassination, newspaper editorials across the country heavily criticized the lack of protection afforded to American presidents. Though it still lacked any legislative mandate, by 1902, the Secret Service was established and  was protecting President Theodore Roosevelt full-time.

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The assassination of a British Prime Minister.

British politics is probably the most intriguing politics in the world. With all its traditions and even the sometimes humorous debates in the house of commons are often fascinating.

However what many people don’t know that in 1812 on the 11th of May the only ever assassination of a British Prime minister took place.

 

Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot and killed in the lobby of the House of Commons in London, around  17:15 pm  Hisassassint was John Bellingham, a  merchant from Liverpool who had a bone to pick  with the government. Bellingham was arrested and, four days after the murder, was put on , convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Newgate Prison one week later on 18 May.

As the Prime Minsiterl entered the lobby of the House of Commons a number of people were gathered around in conversation as was common practice. Many turned to look at him as he came through the doorway. No-one noticed as the quiet man stood up from beside the fire place, removing a pistol from his inner pocket . Nor did anyone notice as the man walked calmly towards the Prime Minister. When he was close enough, without saying a word, the man shot his gun directly at the Prime Minister’s chest. The Prime Minister staggered forward before falling to the ground, calling out as he did so words that witnesses later recalled in different ways as: “I am murdered!” or ‘Murder, Murder’ or ‘Oh God!’ or ‘Oh my God!”

 

John Bellingham was a businessman in his forties, who in 1804 had been falsely imprisoned for debt in Russia. The British embassy would not help him and when he was released in 1809 he returned to England seeking compensation from the British government, which kept turning him down.

On Friday 15 May 1812  John Bellingham  got his day in court, but only to answer a charge of murder. The trial took place in a crowded court room at the Old Bailey, presided over by Sir James Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Bellingham was denied to plead insanity and was found guilty of murder, executed by public hanging at Newgate .

The execution was fixed for the morning of Monday 18 May , his body was then  handed over to the anatomists to be dissected.Bellingham’s skull was preserved at Barts Pathology Museum

Perceval, meanwhile, was brought in an impressive funeral procession from Downing Street to Charlton, to be buried in a family vault at St Luke’s.

 

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Sources

History Today

The Guardian

The other event on April 4, 1968.

Because it is the 53rd  anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, I had initially planned to do a blog to reflect on that event, however after having done research I discovered that so much has already been written about it that there is no way I can add any value to the story. Therefore I will be focusing on another event that took place on that day but was obviously overshadowed.

But before I do that I want to add the one thing to the MLK story which might not be known to most. Martin Luther was assassinated in the The Lorraine Motel

But even before that fateful day, the property at 450 Mulberry Street had a fascinating history in its own right. Before it was the Lorraine, it was the Marquette Hotel that catered to African-American clientele in segregated Memphis. Then, in 1945 African-American businessman Walter Bailey purchased the hotel, which he re-christened the Lorraine after his wife Loree and the popular jazz song, “Sweet Lorraine.”

Apollo 6-The other event

Apollo 6 (also known as AS-502), launched on April 4, 1968, was the second A type mission of the United States Apollo program, an unmanned test of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It was also the final unmanned Apollo test mission.

At the early stages of the space race all launches of spacecrafts would have been major news events.

Unlike Apollo 4’s near perfect launch and mission, Apollo 6’s launch and mission were plagued with problems. A phenomenon known as pogo oscillation damaged some of the Rocketdyne J-2 engines in the second and third stages by rupturing internal fuel lines, causing two second-stage engines to shut down early.

The Apollo 6 spacecraft itself performed well on the mission despite problems with the Saturn V’s first, second and third stages. The problems were solved after the flight and the next Saturn V, the Apollo 8 mission, was launched manned.Ten hours after launch, the craft landed 43 nautical miles from its planned touchdown point in the North Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Even with the engine failures, Apollo 6 provided NASA with enough confidence to use the Saturn V for manned launches.

There was another minor event that day but one that would have a great impact on future cinematography.. On April 4 1968 a movie opened in a limited premiere at the Warner Cinerama Theater in Hollywood and Loew’s Capitol teatre in New York City. The film was 2001: A Space Odyssey,  science fiction opus by director Stanley Kubrick which would change the Sci-Fi genre forever.

Donation

I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.

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Sources

EDN

AVgeekery

November 22 Dallas- The aftermath

I can’t think of any other political family who had to endure the amount of tragedies as the Kennedys did.I will not go into the details of the assassination of President KennedyLyndon B. Johnson because so much is already written about it, I will focus more on some of the events which happened in the aftermath.

But before I do that I will touch a small bit on the Kennedy history prior to November 22 1963.

JFK was not the first Kennedy who had his live cut short .On August 12, 1944 Joe Kennedy Jr was killed in action during WWII.

Joe Kennedy Jr-One last mission

Another Kennedy who is often forgotten is Patrick Bouvier Kennedy , the last child of United States President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Patrick died only a few months before his dad, on August 9 1963.

He was born on August 7  the 20th anniversary of the day the Navy had rescued his Father in World War II.

John F. Kennedy and PT 109

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy only lived for 36 hours.

The swearing in and the inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson

In the hospital, Johnson was surrounded by Secret Service agents, who encouraged him to return to Washington in case he too was targeted for assassination. Johnson wished to wait until he knew of Kennedy’s condition; at 1:20 pm he was told Kennedy was dead and left the hospital almost twenty minutes later.

At this point arrangements were made to provide Secret Service protection of the two Johnson daughters (Lynda Bird Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson), and it was decided that the new president would leave on the presidential aircraft because it had better communications equipment. Johnson was driven by an unmarked police car to Love Field, and kept below the car’s window level throughout the journey.

Johnson waited for Jacqueline Kennedy, who in turn would not leave Dallas without her husband’s body, to arrive aboard Air Force One. Kennedy’s casket was finally brought to the aircraft, but takeoff was delayed until Johnson took the oath of office.

Spare a thought here, Jackie Kennedy who 3 months earlier lost a child and who still had the blood of her husband on her suit had to attend the inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson on Air Force One. What an amazing woman.

I have heard people say “why couldn’t they wait until they were back at the White House” but legally in order to keep the office of the President of the United States of America in continuation, the vice president most be sworn in as soon as possible.

The Kennedy children.

People often forget that the Children were victims too, as their mother had to deal with the grief of losing a child and husband, they had to deal with the loss of a sibling and father.

On the day of JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963, nanny Maud Shaw took Caroline and John Jr. away from the White House to the home of their maternal grandmother, Janet Lee Auchincloss , who insisted that Shaw be the one to tell Caroline about her father’s death. That evening, Caroline and John Jr. were brought back to the White House, and while Caroline was in her bed, Shaw broke the news to her.

John Jr had his 3rd Birthday 3 days after his Father’s assassination. The state funeral was held , on John Jr.’s third birthday. In a moment that became an iconic image of the 1960s, John Jr. stepped forward and rendered a final salute as his father’s flag-draped casket was carried out from St. Matthew’s Cathedral.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr died  On July 16, 1999,when the airplane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The two passengers on board, Kennedy’s wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren, were also killed. The Piper Saratoga light aircraft had departed from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, and its intended route was along the coastline of Connecticut and across Rhode Island Sound to Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

J.D. Tippit

At 12:45 p.m., 15 minutes after Kennedy was shot, Tippit received a radio order to drive to the central Oak Cliff area as part of a concentration of police around the center of the city. At 12:54, Tippit radioed that he had moved as directed. By then several messages had been broadcast describing a suspect in the killing of Kennedy as a slender white male, in his early thirties, 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighing about 165 pounds (75 kg). Oswald was a slender white male, 24 years old, 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall, and an estimated weight of 150 pounds (68 kg) at autopsy.

At approximately 1:11–1:14 p.m.,Tippit was driving slowly eastward on East 10th Street — about 100 feet (30 m) past the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue — when he pulled alongside a man who resembled the police description.Oswald walked over to Tippit’s car and apparently exchanged words with him through an open vent window.

Tippit opened his car door and as he walked toward the front of the car, Oswald drew his handgun and fired four shots in rapid succession. One bullet hit Tippit in the chest, one in the stomach, another in his right temple (one bullet hit a button and did not penetrate his skin). Tippit’s body was transported from the scene of the shooting by ambulance to Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:25 p.m. by Dr. Richard A. Liguori.

I know there are gazillions of conspiracy theories and every one is free to believe them. I however tend to stick with the facts.

 

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