How Much The World Has Changed In 46 years

[semperfi71]

Photo was taken on November 21, 1963 in San Antonio, Texas.

Today very few people of "unknown quantity" are allowed this close to the President of the United States.

 

[semperfi71]

Photo was taken on November 21, 1963 in San Antonio, Texas.

Today very few people of "unknown quantity" are allowed this close to the President of the United States.

 

[Sgt Preston]

Sgt Preston here. I was 19 when President Kennedy was assinated & I clearly remember thinking, "this is the beginning of the end for the USA". Obviously the USA has survived, but it has never been the same place. It was a pivotal moment in our history. I'll never forget the day that JFK died.... or President Johnson who followed and his "Great (Socialist) Society" & "his" Vietnam War. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

 

[Iggy]

A month before he was shot. He was at the University of Wyoming for a speech.

After the speech I walked out of the crowd along the street to the side of his car as he was leaving and shook his hand.

He simply reached out and shook my hand as they drove by. It never occurred to me that I was a threat and I didn't see anyone react to stop me.

Maybe a ROTC uniform gave me a pass, I don't know.
I do know that I was stupefied that someone would shoot him when it occurred.

The whole world changed that day.

 

[Jack Flash]

I don't think the Whitehouse even had a fence around it in those days. (If it did, it wasn't much of one.) In the OP photo, it's interesting how folks are on rooftops, nearby parked cars with the doors open, etc. Definately different times.

However, I don't think the change was as abrupt as it may look like it was looking back now. Recall that President Ford was walking through a crowd in California when Squeaky Fromme attempted to do him in with a Colt 1911. She had it trained right on him from a few feet away. She never got a shot off since she had (fortunately!) neglected to educate herself the proper operation of said handgun. To think that a nit-wit like that came so close to assinating the President.

 

[dennis40x]

Kennedy’s assassination yes a defining moment. I remember his visit to Pittsburgh with the motorcade coming into the city via the Ohio River Blvd going by our residence at the time. Yes the world changed but the world was changing his assassination served as a benchmark of what was and what was to come.

As for LBJ he accentually kept the Kennedy team in place. Having no good words to say in regards to that man I harbor bitterness.

 

[deralte]

30 years old and with the 465th Bombardment Wing (Heavy), Robins AFB, GA when it happened. We immediately were placed on alert and 9 nuclear armed B-52s were manned and ready to go. And yes, things have really changed.

 

[Lubbock Louie]

I suspect Kennedy getting killed was one of the worst things to happen to the US in the 20th century. It put LBJ and his Great Society in office. Kennedy had some sense. The other worst thing to happen to the US in the century was WW2. Grew govt. to huge proportions, employed millions, and got those millions trained to the govt. being in their lives like never before. That hasn't subsided. YMMV

LL