..to be a tad surprised that JFK....

[KnockMeDown]

..is being totally eclipsed by Dr Who?

Both 50 year anniversaries. One a TV show, albeit a classic, long running, etc.... The other the assassination of the leader of the free world, a pivotal moment in history

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Dr Who - in particular David Tennant, and have already set tomorrow night's show to record, but the sheer disproportion of the coverage and interest just seems odd to me. Am I the only one?

[KatherinaMinola]

ILetHimKeep - no, it's 70 years after author's death that copyright expires.

[ILetHimKeep20Quid]

Thanks, I thought it was 50

[mrspremise]

Aldous Huxley died on the same day as C.S Lewis and JFK... No one remembers that, either

[specialsubject]

there is no actual controversy about who killed JFK. Lee Harvey Oswald, lone nutter.

there's a readable book called 'Idlewild' in which JFK survives the assassination and Marilyn Monroe survives the barbiturates. Interesting alternative history, in which JFK gets a second term and makes all the same mistakes as his successors.

he is a big historical figure but no more than many others. And there has been some coverage.

[RussTDaviesBear]

It was 50 years until 1996, ILethimKeep, it was changed in the 1995 Act.

[FrankelInFoal]

Part of the aura around JFK is the "what if?" A lot of Americans see him as the perfect President when in reality he was probably not a very nice person: he only won his first election in Chicago because his father paid someone with the same surname as his opponent to run and split the vote; he was a serial womaniser; he didn't give two hoots about Civil Rights for the first 2 years of his Presidency, suggesting that his later support was more of a political move than a moral one.

The BBC have this article on the man v the myth, worth a read.

Interestingly I remember one documentary on JFK a few years ago saying that the character of President Bartlett in The West Wing is supposed to be the embodiment of what many Americans hoped JFK would have become.

There has been a lot of JFK coverage on all channels/radio stations if you look for it.

[BumPotato]

Idlethimkeep20quid her recovery was probably helped by the fact he was an unfaithful arse I'd say.

[Dawndonnaagain]

Well he avoided nuclear war because the Russians were playing brinksmanship with devices sited on Cuba.
No he didn't. Russia pulled back, NOT the USA.

[Meerkatwhiskers]

I would much rather watch JFK stuff than dr who any day. I've been to dealey plaza and the book depository in Dallas. It's an eerie place and fascinating. Full of conspiratory theorists. There was a great programme on the other day that said that the 3rd bullet came from the secret service car following and they think one of the agents (who is photographed with a machine gun in his hand) accidentally shot it when he picked it up from under the seat. It matches the trajectory perfectly. The gun was cocked and loaded under the seat.

Never been in a

[Seff]

JFK was a real life person, who was president of America at a very important political time in history. (Also now thinking he was possibly accidentally killed by his own secret service. Although still because of L.H.O.)

Dr Who is a character in a TV program.

[NorthernLurker]

JFK's death is one of the major turning points in history. History is as much made up of myths as it is facts.
We know now that JFK was a lousy husband and a deeply flawed human being. No surprise in any of that. We also know though that Johnson took the USA in all likelihood a different direction than Kennedy would have done. Everything that's happened since is built on those foundations. Kennnedy's death changed history - just like Lincoln's, just like Hitler not getting killed in WW1. If you don't know much about it then go and read it up. It's fascinating and there have been a TON of programmes about it this week. On the one I was watching last night somebody said 'He told us we could go to the moon - and we believed him' That's the magic of Kennedy and yes it's mostly a myth. But that doesn't mean it wasn't real.

[TalkativeJim]

'Tis bread and Tardises alas

[FrankelInFoal]

Meerkat I saw that programme too. It was very plausible to me and I'm in no way a conspiracy theorist.

[Mattissy]

JFK's anniversary was yesterday, today is Dr Who.

Seriously do we have to be interested in either one or the other, I've seem prettying everything I could see on JFK, I've never seen Dr Who's 50th anniversary show before.

Oh, and I don't see him as being the leader of the UK ever.

[Mattissy]

** pretty much, not prettying

[friday16]

I do wonder if the reason he's held on a pedestal is because he never got to fuck up like every politician does eventually.

As he was responsible both for the Bay of Pigs debacle and taking the USA into Vietnam, probably its most substantial national trauma since Pearl Harbour, God alone know what he'd have done had remained in office for another year.

[FannyMcNally]

Only having Freeview I'm surprised at the lack of JFK stuff, especially as Yesterday has shown loads of programmes over the years and I thought they might have a JFK weekend, even just repeating past programmes.

Having been born in the fifties, the assassination was shocking, not least the footage of Jackie standing next to LBJ taking the oath just hours afterwards. Until there is absolute proof of what happened I think there will always be heaps of interest. I've never believed the lone gunman theory/cover up especially as he was murdered himself a few days afterwards. Agree, the programme about the serviceman's rifle was fascinating, an angle I hadn't heard about before.

Regarding Dr Who, I don't remember this amount of coverage for Coronation Street which has NEVER been off our screens although I am enjoying some of the stuff, especially the programme about all the different doctors last night.

[timidviper]

With hindsight the world was probably a safer place without Kennedy at the helm but it was a world-changing event

I am sick to death of Dr Who atm. The BBC have used so many programmes as cheap trailers this week it's ridiculous. I'm sick of them using things like news-based coverage to drum up publicity for their own programmes

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

It's pretty irrelevant in my view that JFK was a crap husband. His marriage seemed like a political one. Jackie Bouvier was no naive housewife.
JFK was an interesting character because he had been groomed for the job since birth, despite crippling health problems, by his father Joe Kennedy, who was basically a gangster who had made a lot of money.
The reason people are interested in him (aside from the fact he was a prolific shagger) is that he was the first "modern" president. He put his weight behind the civil rights act (1963?) and took steps to address the discrimination of women (with the help of Eleanor Roosevelt). This is why so many grieved when he was shot-because of the lost potential.
I am so bored by Dr Who!

[FrankelInFoal]

My understanding was that Joseph Kennedy Jr was the one groomed for high office, but his death during WWII thrust Jack into the limelight.

From what little I've read on him he didn't actually take much action on Civil Rights during the first two years of his term, it was only when it became obvious that it was a major political hot potato that he started taking action.

The issue over the serial womanising is not so much that it meant he was a crap husband but it also meant he was wide open to potential blackmail or even a Soviet honey-trap.

[friday16]

JFK was an interesting character because he had been groomed for the job since birth,

Up to a point. The real focus of Joe senior's attention had been JFK's elder brother, Joe junior. It was only when he was killed in 1944 that his younger brother became the golden child destined for the presidency. So the real pressure on JFK didn't start until he was in his twenties.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

JFK was just some guy, you know! :)

Maybe he made a difference, but it seems mostly to be legend now and anyway that was then. History does matter, but lots of things happened in history. Some of them didn't even happen in the US.

Oh and 'Leader of the free world' should be avoided because US Presidents tend to think they are and shouldn't be encouraged.

[tb]

It's probably also worth pointing out, that with all his shagging around he'd never have made it to the White House today, as all the candidates seem to have to be squeaky clean.

[BabyMummy29]

How much coverage would the assassination of a British Prime Minister 50 years ago get in the US today?

It's like when they have they have elections. We get coverage rammed down our throats for months on end, but I bet people in the US don't even know (or care) when there are British elections.

[friday16]

It's probably also worth pointing out, that with all his shagging around he'd never have made it to the White House today,

In just three years, JFK and his brother shagged the highest profile film star of her era and the greatest ballet dancer of his era, took the world to the brink of nuclear war and involved the US in one of its greatest national nightmares. By contrast, Clinton was in office for eight years in which he had a brief sordid encounter with an intern. They don't make 'em like they used to, do they?