My friend Frank brought in a yellowed copy of the Nov. 22, 1963, issue of The Paducah Sun-Democrat. You surely know that date. The banner headline — printed in red, six columns, two lines, all caps above the nameplate — is:
KENNEDY IS ASSASSINATED; LYNDON JOHNSON PRESIDENT.
The Sun-Democrat was then an evening newspaper, making it possible to publish the story the day it happened.
But the inside pages were apparently already on the plates before the AP wired the story. On page 7 of the same issue was a story with this headline:
Republicans Get Head Start On 1964 Political Campaign Against Kennedy.
Oops.
To make matters worse, the story quotes Republican leaders in the Senate blasting JFK.
New York's Jacob Javits: "Things have gone from bad to worse."
Texas' John Tower: "Our international standing has clipped low, indeed."
Illinois' Everett Dirksen: "(JFK is) engaging in dangerous economic brinkmanship."
Indiana's Charles Halleck: "... almost total failure ... for three empty years."
Darn those deadlines.
By the way, do you remember what two noted authors' deaths were barely noted in the press because they occurred on the same day?
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2 comments:
C S Lewis, author of the Narnia series, & Aldous Huxley. author of Brave New world, also share the date of death. Though the title slips my mind, someone (Peter Kreeft, I believe) wrote a book about an imagined conversation among them in heaven.
Yes, HM, you are correct. Peter Kreeft's book is "Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialogue Somewhere Beyond Death."
David Cox
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