The Nation must move forward without faltering. And it will. Even as the shocked American populace was mourning the death of the late President Kennedy, it was rallying behind Johnson who, as Vice President, had quickly taken up the reins of Government. Really, the people were rallying behind more than a man. They were rallying behind the Nation and what the Nation stands for-freedom and justice. The new Chief Executive, fortunately, is a man of proven ability-and by far better fitted through experience to step into the White House than any Vice President before him who found himself in a similar position. Johnson had a long and distinguished career in Congress. As Vice President, he has had important roles in decision and policymaking. The late President entrusted him also with important assignments in foreign lands. Still, there is no job quite like the Presidency. The President necessarily is leader of the free world as well as of the Nation. It is a lonely job and one of awesome burdens. The President is called upon time and again in this period of world turmoil to make momentous decisions and to assume full responsibility for them. He is going to be sorely tested in the weeks ahead. The Communist world especially is going to set out to find what manner of man he is. And, of course, there are vital issues and problems at home. And so, in this period of transition, he is going to need the moral support of the American people. We are sure he can count upon it from the vast majority. It is a time for faith to be reborn and allegiance to be roused and sustained. The struggle against communism must be carried on all over the world. At home, hate and violence must be purged from the Nation's life. Today, it is essential that the Nation be united and move forward toward its worthy goals. We are confident it will. [From the Daily Kennebec Journal, Nov. 26, 1963] The words just won't come. There's the awareness that words aren't going to do much good, anyway. This is being written on Monday, the day of President Kennedy's funeral, when one would prefer to be writing nothing. Augusta, like communities large and small wherever the American flag flies, is a city in mourning. The expression, "with a heavy heart," has a literal, physical meaning, one knows now. So much has happened-so much that is so terribly wrong-since last Friday noon in Dallas. Yet this country must learn quickly to live with its grief. John F. Kennedy certainly wouldn't have wanted us all to sit around with long faces, leaving America's work undone. Let's think of it that way, and roll up our sleeves and get on with the job, then-the job each of us has to do: Keeping the national economy ticking, doing our part in support of the national defense, striving toward better citizenship and, in consequence, better government at every level, for our country. When he said it, in his 1960 inaugural address, it sounded a little melodramatic-to his critics, at least. But those words of President Kennedy have taken on new meaning now: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." All right. Let's ask-every individual one of us: "What can I do for my country?" And find an answer. And work at it. If all will do that, there will be literally no limit to the greatness America can achieve. John F. Kennedy gave his life for this America of ours. Keeping that in mind, let anyone ask, every day from now on: "What can I do for my country?" [From the Bangor Daily News, Nov. 28, 1963] THE LATE PRESIDENT'S WISH This Thanksgiving Day will be a sorrowful one for America. The late President John F. Kennedy, who prepared a proclamation on the occasion of this traditional American observance, is dead, and the Nation is mourning its loss. Yet, John F. Kennedy noted in his proclamation that America had much to be thankful for. And this still holds true even in a time of national tragedy. Here, using the late President's own proclamation words, are reasons why all Americans should join in thanksgiving today: Going back to the early colonists, noted the late President, "they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the laws which bound them together and for the faith which united them under God "Today, we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers-for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of will, for the courage and humility, which we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them "Let us gather in sanctuaries dedicated to worship and in homes blessed by family affection to express our gratitude for the glorious gifts of God; and let us earnestly and humbly pray that He will continue to guide and sustain as in the great unfinished tasks of achieving peace, justice and understanding among all men and all nations and of ending misery and suffering wherever they exist." Let these words from the dead guide today's observances. Man is mortal, but not his principles. Let there be prayer and thanksgiving, though sorrow still hovers over the Nation. A BRAVE AND GRACIOUS LADY In the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, the world has been given a new and splendid insight into the character of the Nation's and President's "First Lady"— Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. She resolutely controlled her own profound grief and faced up to the public role which necessarily befell her. She performed the role magnificently. The Nation first came to know Mrs. Kennedy as "Jackie"-a beautiful young woman born to wealth and elegance. She loved to ride horses, to promote the arts, to travel and to enjoy gay parties. This, in the main, was the way the Nation thought of her. But she's "Jackie" no more. This happy phase of her life was wiped out in a terrible twinkling of time on a fateful sunlit day in Dallas. One moment a happy married woman, the first lady of a great nation; the next a young widow and a former first lady-her beloved husband of only 10 years cruelly taken from her by the assassin's gun. Under the circumstances, she might well have crumpled, and the Nation would have understood. But duty lay before her duty to the memory of her husband, to the Nation and to her children, Caroline and John. She did not falter. Instead, she drew upon what must have been a vast amount of spiritual strength and met the ordealing days head on. successor. The President had been dead less than 2 hours when she stood beside Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson as he took the oath of office which made him her husband's She added several thoughtful touches to the funeral arrangements, including the inviting of John F. Kennedy's Irish kin to the rites. And there was her unannounced visitation to the President's casket as it was being viewed by the public in the Capitol rotunda. There was the silent midnight visit to her husband's grave on Monday night where the eternal flame was burning. The flame, too, was her idea. Throughout the 4 painful days, Mrs. Kennedy was a picture of grief, but of composed grief; a grief she sought to shield from her children and from the watching world. The children were too young to comprehend, yet at times they seemed to have a sense of the tragedy and when they did she was quick to console them. Mrs. Kennedy won the heart of a heartsick world in her last role as First Lady. If her dead husband could speak, we think he might say to her with pride, borrowing a term from his naval days: "Well done." [From the Maine Campus, Dec. 5, 1963] "There was a sound of laughter; in a moment it was no more. And so, she took a ring from her finger and placed it on his hand ⚫ and kissed him and closed the lid to his coffin." The words of U.S. Senator Mike Mansfield will long be remembered by the millions of Americans who witnessed the tragic death of a beloved leader, a brilliant statesman, a humorous wit, a sincere man, a loving father, a giving husband who wanted that there be no room in our hearts for hatred and arrogance. A stunned campus received the news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on that Friday afternoon 2 weeks ago with shock and disbelief. One young man, reluctant to turn away from a television set late that Sunday evening, said, “People find it hard to believe that he is really dead because he lived so much." It is true that he lived a lot. He lived in our hearts and it is there that we hope his spirit will continue to live. The dazed University of Maine mourned and mourns with the rest of the world at our great loss. As so many others in the world, we feel that we have lost a true friend. The perfect American, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, only a little over a month ago became an alumnus of the university when he addressed the people of Maine here. John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave of himself, "above and beyond the call of duty" to his country; he made an indelible mark of progress in the quest for world peace; he achieved the supreme position of leadership in a modern, dynamic, powerful country. We, who considered ourselves friends of the late President, will never forget his energetic youthfulness, his brilliance of perception, his unfaltering memory, his commanding personality, and his high standards for himself and his country. We extend our deepest sympathy to Jacqueline Kennedy and to the family of our late President. [From the Maine Campus, Dec. 5, 1963] OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, Orono, Maine, November 22, 1963. The news of President Kennedy's assassination comes as an incomprehensible shock to the university community. Only a month ago we were honored by his presence at a special convocation on our annual Homecoming Day. Let us learn, however, from this shattering lesson that hatred can gain control of the human mind and override justice and truth. We are prone to make heroes or villains of our public figures in such a way as to cause some citizens to lose sight of their humanity as individuals. Our civilization must take cognizance of the creation of circumstances which have led to such a terrible event as that of the death of the President of the United States and muster all the forces of reason and judgment so that such an event cannot possibly happen again. LLOYD H. ELLIOTT, President. [From the Bates News, December 1963] TRIBUTE TO PResident John Fitzgerald Kennedy Brought to an untimely and sudden end by an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Tex., November 22-always to be remembered by this and future generations as a day of infamy and agonizing grief, but also as a day of rededication, by all Americans, to the ideals and principles which inspired and guided our late leader in his relentless struggle for unity and peace for mankind here and throughout the world. Few nations down through the centuries have had the privilege and honor of vesting their responsibilities of high government office in a man equal to his brilliance, courage, loyalty, and compassion. It is most fitting that the world measures him as a statesman of great stature. Truly, if a man is to be inspired and influenced in his pursuit of a better and constructive way of life, he has but to follow the life and deeds of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. For they provide the undimming beacon lights for that ultimate goal. History shall surely record that society was bettered by his many endeavors in private and public life. TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY BY THE CUMBERLAND COUNTY WOMEN'S DEMOCRATIC CLUB, DECEMBER 9, 1963 To be thankful for the time he spent with us, rather than to be sorrowful for his death; To go on with the work that he began, rather than to stand mutely stricken, because he can't finish it himself; To keep his qualities of character and personality alive within ourselves, Rather than to let them be buried in a grave in Arlington; Let this be our tribute to John Fitzgerald Kennedy. ADDRESS BY Hon. John Sherman Cooper OF KENTUCKY Mr. President, it is difficult to speak of John F. Kennedy. One must be careful not to give undue significance to associations and experiences in the Senate, or elsewhere, happy as they are in our memories. The outpouring of grief and concern which attended his death does furnish insights into the regard with which he was held by the people of our country and the world. There is shock, of course, because of the tragic circumstances of his death. We can believe also that concern is caused in part by recognition of the importance of the office of the Presidency. And we can say humbly that it reflects the importance of our country to countries and peoples throughout the world. But at last we know that the sense of loss and concern is personal. It comes from the knowledge that President Kennedy set high goals for our country-goals, though they have not always been realized, which have given hope throughout our history to the people of the world-equality of citizenship, the provision of opportunity for all our people, and compassion for the least fortunate among us. He had a calmness about the problems of the world. He knew they could not be settled by some swift, clear stroke; and his calmness gave assurance to our people and to other peoples of the world. He had the courage to set in motion measures to cut through the cold war, to seek solutions of its issues, and to move toward peace. The standards he set for our country were noble. They expressed more truly than our wealth and power the essence, the majesty, and the promise of our Republic, those goals which another martyred President said were the last best hope of man. In time, because of his work, we shall come nearer to realization, and that, I believe, will be his best memorial. He was an idealist and a realist, a man of reason and a man of heart, a man of courage and a man of peace. We shall remember him as President. We shall remember always his tolerance, his essential fairness, his courtesy, his humor, the happy qualities of youth, and something about him which endeared him to us and made us love him. I think John Mansfield's tribute is appropriate: All generous hearts lament the leader killed, Into sublimer pathways, leading on. ADDRESS BY Hon. Milton R. Young OF NORTH DAKOTA Mr. President, I join my colleagues in the Senate today in paying tribute to a most distinguished former Member of this body, the late President John F. Kennedy. There is little I could add to the millions of words of well-deserved tribute to this great young President of the United States who literally gave his life for his country. President Kennedy was the youngest man to ever assume the Presidency of the United States. He brought to this most important office, and all of the world, great intelligence, vision, and indomitable courage. More than any other President of the United States he represented the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the young people of this Nation. His tremendous popularity here in the United States and all over the world is a great tribute to many causes he espoused and especially his efforts toward peace in the world. His hopes, dreams, and aspirations for a better world will live on. He left a spot in the hearts of untold millions of people that can never be filled by anyone else. I will always cherish the memory of the warm personal friendship I enjoyed with him all during his service here in the U.S. Senate and as President of the United States. He was an exceptionally likeable person, and a friend one always felt had a real interest in him. Not the least among the fine qualities that endeared him to so many was his superb Irish wit and humor. Mr. President, of the millions of beautiful and appropriate words written about the late President Kennedy and his wonderful wife, Jacqueline, the article written by Mr. Theodore H. White entitled "For President Kennedy: An Epilog-For One Brief Shining Moment, Camelot," seems to me to stand out above all others. It reads as follows: FOR PRESIDENT KENNEDY: AN EPILOG-FOR ONE BRIEF SHINING MOMENT, CAMELOT (By Theodore H. White) HYANNIS PORT.-She remembers how hot the sun was in Dallas, and the crowds-greater and wilder than the crowds in Mexico or in Vienna. The sun was blinding streaming down; yet she could not put on sunglasses for she had to wave to the crowd. And up ahead she remembers seeing a tunnel around a turn and thinking that there would be a moment of coolness under the tunnel. There was the sound of the motorcycles, as always in a parade, and the occasional backfire of a motorcycle. The sound of the shot came, at that moment, like the sound of a backfire and she remembers Connally saying, "No, no, no, no, no.” She remembers the roses. Three times that day in Texas they had been greeted with the bouquets of yellow roses of Texas. Only, in Dallas they had given her red roses. She remembers thinking how funny-red roses for me; and then the car was full of blood and red roses. Much later, accompanying the body from the Dallas hospital to the airport, she was alone with Clint Hillthe first Secret Service man to come to their rescueand with Dr. Burkley, the White House physician. Burkley gave her two roses that had slipped under the President's shirt when he fell, his head in her lap. All through the night they tried to separate him from her, to sedate her, and take care of her-and she would not let them. She wanted to be with him. She remembered that Jack had said of his father, when his father suffered the stroke, that he could not live like that. Don't let that happen to me, he had said, when I have to go. Now in her hand she was holding a gold St. Christopher's medal. She had given him a St. Christopher's medal when they were married; but when Patrick died this summer, they had wanted to put something in the coffin with Patrick that was from them both; and so he had put in the St. Christopher's medal. Then he had asked her to give him a new one to mark their 10th wedding anniversary, a month after Patrick's death. He was carrying it when he died and she had found it. But it belonged to him-so she could not put that in the coffin with him. She wanted to give him something that was hers, something that she loved. So she had slipped off her wedding ring and put it on his finger. When she came out of the room in the hospital in Dallas, she asked: "Do you think it was right? Now I have nothing left." And Kenny O'Donnell said, "You'll leave it where it is." That was at 1:30 p.m. in Texas. But then, at Bethesda Hospital, in Maryland, at 3 a.m. the next morning, Kenny slipped into the chamber where the body lay and brought her back the ring, which, as she talked now, she twisted. On her little finger was the other ring: a slim, gold circlet with geen emerald chips-the one he had given her in memory of Patrick. There was a thought, too, that was always with her. "When Jack quoted something, it was usually classical," she said, "but I'm so ashamed of myself—all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy. "At night, before we'd go to sleep, Jack liked to play some records; and the song he loved most came at the very end of this record. The lines he loved to hear were: Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot." She wanted to make sure that the point came clear and went on: "There'll be great Presidents again-and the Johnsons are wonderful, they've been wonderful to mebut there'll never be another Camelot again. "Once, the more I read of history the more bitter I got. For a while I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But then I realized history made Jack what he was. You must think of him as this little boy, sick so much of the time, reading in bed, reading history, reading the Knights of the Round Table, reading Marlborough. For Jack, history was full of heroes. And if it made him this way-if it made him see the heroes-maybe other little boys will see. Men are such a combination of good and bad. Jack had this hero idea of history, the idealistic view." But she came back to the idea that transfixed her: "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot-and it will never be that way again." As for herself? She was horrified by the stories that she might live abroad. "I'in never going to live in Europe. I'm not going to 'travel extensively abroad.' That's a desecration. I'm going to live in the places I lived with Jack. In Georgetown, and with the Kennedys at the cape. They're my family. I'm going to bring up my children. I want John to grow up to be a good boy." As for the President's memorial, at first she remembered that in every speech in their last days in Texas, he had spoken of how in December this Nation would loft the largest rocket booster yet into the sky, making us first in space. So she had wanted something of his there when it went up perhaps only his initials painted on a tiny corner of the great Saturn, where no one need even notice it. But now Americans will seek the moon from "Cape Kennedy." The new name, born of her frail hope, came as a surprise. The only thing she knew she must have for him was the eternal flame over his grave at Arlington. "Whenever you drive across the bridge from Washington into Virginia," she said, "you see the Lee mansion on the side of the hill in the distance. When Caroline was very little, the mansion was one of the first things she learned to recognize. Now, at night you can see his flame beneath the mansion for miles away." She said it is time people paid attention to the new President and the new First Lady. But she does not want them to forget John F. Kennedy or read of him only in dusty or bitter histories: For one brief shining moment there was Camelot. I join all other Americans in extending to Mrs. Kennedy and all of the family our deepest sympathy in their great sorrow. ADDRESS BY Hon. John L. McClellan OF ARKANSAS Mr. President, it is with great sadness and deep personal grief that I join in memorializing our former colleague and the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Our sorrow is heightened by the tragic circumstances under which he was so suddenly summoned to his eternal reward. The horrible and cowardly act of November 22 shocked and stunned the peoples of the entire globe-both those of the free world and of the Communist sphere as well. That such an act of sudden violence and iniquitous villainy could happen in the most civilized country in the world was scarcely believable, and the United States and all humanity have suffered incalculable loss by reason of this heinous crime having been committed in our generation. The fact that John F. Kennedy had so much to live for makes his loss even harder to bear. He looked forward to long years of rewarding and fruitful service to his country, and the American people confidently expected many more contributions to the cause of peace and freedom from this young, vigorous, and dedicated leader. To have these expectations shattered and wrenched from us so suddenly leaves us with a painful emptiness and grief. In the past 19 days, literally millions of words. of sorrow and condolence have been penned and spoken in memory of our late President, but no words are adequate to depict the depth and breadth of the tremendous void which his death has left. We, together with all civilized people everywhere, shall long mourn the loss of our great leader a leader who championed the cause of peace, freedom, and justice for all mankind. For 8 years, John F. Kennedy served the people of the State of Massachusetts and of the entire United States in this Chamber. During those years we all came to know him well as a hard-working and driving Senator, whose full time and attention was devoted to his duties and to the welfare of all Americans everywhere. For of those years, he served with me on the 3 Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, a committee on which his brother Robert, now the Attorney General, served with marked distinction and ability as chief counsel. Day after day that committee met for long arduous hours in meetings which necessitated. equally lengthy and difficult preparation. Through it all, John F. Kennedy was dedicated and thorough-facing with courage and conviction the many challenges confronting the committee. His statesmanlike conduct, both on that committee and on the floor of the Senate, won for him the admiration of his colleagues and the good will and support of the people of the United States. While paying tribute to our late President, we might also pause to thank him for his astuteness in selecting Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate. He selected a man who vigorously opposed him in his efforts to obtain the nomination of his party, but in doing so, he provided the United States with a strong and capable successor. As a longtime friend, both of the former President and of his family, I extend to Mrs. Kennedy, his children and his bereaved parents my heartfelt sympathy in this dark hour of national sorrow. Mrs. McClellan joins with me in paying homage to the greatness of our former President and in the expression of deepest sadness at his loss. At this moment I can think of no more fitting |