..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?

[Alisvolatpropiis]

friday

I wasn't conspiracy theorising,just saying he must have been damn good!

I fully believe he acted alone.

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

Yes, I believe that he acted alone and that he fired all three shots.

[FannyMcNally]

Thanks for the link. How weird that Jackie was trying to collect brain material, it looks like she is terrified and just trying to get as far away as possible.

The programme on the serviceman accidently firing the third shot is a handy way of tying the lone gunman theory to the conundrum of the different calibre bullets. Otherwise it would point to more than one gunmen.

[HettiePetal]

Bottom line, if Kennedy had dropped dead of a heart attack, I doubt he'd be remembered much now. He really wasn't a very good president & I don't accept that his death was a "pivotal moment in world history" - no more than the ending of one presidency & the beginning of a new one, any way. If anything, the world was a safer place with him gone.

Leader of the free world? According to who? The Americans? Well, they are rather biased about this.

[ElkTheory]

I cringe when I hear the phrase "leader of the free world." No, he wasn't. He was the US President. (I'm American, BTW.)

Kennedy was a significant figure in modern history. His presidency and his death are far more significant historically and culturally than a popular television show.

Kennedy's legacy is certainly a mixed bag. On the one hand, the Bay of Pigs, the brinkmanship of the Cuban missile crisis, the beginning of involvement in Vietnam -- all dangerous and deeply flawed decisions with far-reaching consequences. On the other hand, he was the first president to really grapple with issues of civil rights. He should have done far more, but he made a start. His philosophy about the cold war was evolving as well. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn't been assassinated?

Always delightful to see the usual anti-American insults being tossed about. MN never disappoints in that regard.

[ElkTheory]

As for the assassination itself, I think we do not know the whole story and perhaps never will. I can well believe that Oswald was the only gunman. I am far from convinced that he was the only person involved in the plan to kill Kennedy.

[redshifter]

It's weird that some people think it is acceptable to say things like silly americsns.

Would they say things like "silly Irish" or "silly Germans"?

Disgusting

[Zarazog]

did not even know a jfk docu was on....switching channels NOW

[Zarazog]

cannot find JFK doc on my tv guide what channel is it on?

[Zarazog]

damn have misunderstood thread and thought I was missing something decent on tv. watched executive action 1973 film this morning on youtube.

[Golddigger]

Everything and everyone becomes history very quickly. Apart from perhaps the british Royal Family.

[Zarazog]

I do wish the entire Royal Family would become history though...

[pippitysqueakity]

Surely the fact that an American PRESIDENT was , apparently, so easily murdered in front of thousands of people adds to the importance of events?

[abbscrosswoman]

The reason he attracts this level of media attention is because he was a Democrat and the media always have a thing for left of centre politicians. Multiplied by the image the media created of 'Camelot' plus relatively young an photogenic. Also a minor interest in the fact that he was Roman Catholic./

I don't think anyone would show this level of interest in Ronald Reagan had he died after the attempt on his life.

[Whistleblower0]

JFK was an icon, a world leader, and as charasmatic a president that ever was. The only one who has ever come remotely close to him was Clinton!
Anyone who ever met him has said the same thing, even his enemies.
I think the world became a much poorer place withouth him,- not just america.

[PeppiNephrine]

He was not a WORLD leader, he was an American president.

[Whistleblower0]

In his case, i would beg to differ. He was much more than just an American president.

[friday16]

He was much more than just an American president.

Indeed. He was also a womanising liar and political disaster area. His inability to rein in the extremists in the US Air Force (LeMay, in particular) took the world to the brink of nuclear destruction at least once. His and Dean Rusk's naiveté in Vietnam plunged America into its greatest national trauma certainly since Pearl Harbour and, arguably, since the Battle of Fort Sumter, which lead to fifteen years of pointless bloodshed and tore apart American's post-war settlement. Like Gordon Brown, he wasn't averse to trying to claim for himself other people's writing ("Profiles in Courage" was largely written by Ted Sorensen). His relationship with Joe McCarthy was ambiguous, at best, and he never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to criticise him (his brother Robert, the liberal great white hope, worked for McCarthy).

Sure, there's stuff he did that deserves praise, but most of it's domestic. He faced down Wallace, including federalising the Alabama National Guard, in what is probably the pivotal moment in the civil rights movement (Nicholas Katzenbach, who actually did the literal facing down, only died last year: a great, great man). But the Apollo programme would probably have gone ahead anyway, it was Reagan whose policies led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and Johnson's tragically short presidency was not helped b having to clean up the mess JFK had left behind.

[PontyPants]

[ThreeMyselfAndI]

I agree op both myself and dh have been watching lots on jfk recently it's fascinating.

dr who is utter balls to be frank!!

some on here should brush up on the terrible history of events on that fateful day as some of what has been typed above is simply not true/fabricated lies/ scientifically proven impossible.

there is far more to the assassination and there has been major couver ups/fuck ups and down right treason carried out. regardless of him being faithful or not he was the president of the United States and had his brains blown out over his wife.

oh and jackie wasn't escaping the car she picked up a part of his scull and handed it to the doctors at a and e. subsequently it was handed to secret services and never seen again

[MinesAPintOfTea]

JFK's death is interesting in terms of considering motivation of his killer etc, but there have since been other US presidents and it wasn't a pivotal moment in the world other than maybe spelling the end of open-top motorcades.

Doctor Who isn't terribly important, but its the time of year when people need a bit of a celebration whilst staying in their own home and so many people in the UK have watched it at some point in their lives that its not surprising that there was excitement.

[Whistleblower0]

ThreeMyself well said.