The Day Democracy Died
Democracy suffered a violent end in the United States of America. The death of a president, an ongoing coverup of a coup, and a national trauma that continues nearly 60 years later.
I remember the day it happened, November 22, 1963. I didn’t have to work that Friday morning, so I was taking my ease in a drive-in restaurant with Glen Dean Taylor.
We talked about the upcoming weekend. I said that maybe we could get some girls and go to the drive-in movies (our 20-year-old lives revolved around cars). Then Glen Dean pulled some pills out of his pocket. I looked over, and our plans changed immediately. He was holding a handful of Dexies (Dexamphetamine), officially a diet pill, but also a pandemic of speed.
Then something happened that made us forget about the speed. While we were under the awning at the drive-in, which was about two hours, we couldn’t get any radio reception. We were sitting in my ‘47 Plymouth, which I had just bought for $15 the day before. Even in 1963, its radio reception was ancient.
I backed out of the parking place and for the first time heard the radio. The announcer was saying something like, “the doctors have just said the president is dead.” I wondered what president they were talking about.
It didn’t take long to understand that President John F. Kennedy was dead. As we drove to Richard’s house, we learned some of the details. My head felt like it would explode and there were tears coming from my eyes.
We stopped for gasoline. The attendant, who seemed very agitated, took our order, “Give me a dollar’s worth.” I walked back to the pump. The attendant said, almost yelling, “Well, they finally got what they wanted, the bastards!
That was the general reaction of all of my friends who were usually not interested in politics. Richard later told me that his 9th grade twin sisters said that when the teacher announced the news, the class cheered (sign of a bad upbringing), but that reaction seemed to be an anomaly.
We were all sitting around Richard’s house (his parents had gone to work) as more friends drifted in. Since his parents usually didn’t come into the kid’s rooms, it had become our clubhouse. Everyone had their their heads down and looked glum.
Then someone said, “We might as well take these dexies, we can’t bring him back.”
The rest of the weekend was a blur. We mostly drove around, visiting other friends. So many wanted to come with us that we had to add a couple of cars to our caravan. We stopped at guys’ and girls’ apartments and even at some kids’ parent’s house. It was the same story everywhere we went - people sitting around staring at a black and white TV, not saying a word, afraid they’d be missing something.
We walked into one guy’s apartment just in time to see Oswald get shot by Jack Ruby. No one believed that Oswald was a “lone gunman.” It was too obvious even to 20-year-old kids that it was a plot to kill Kennedy.
Our speed jaunt wound down after three days. Some of the “adults” didn’t even realize they hadn’t seen us in days. They were in a state of shock.
The whole country was in a state of funk that lasted about six months, until the Beatles burst on the scene. People didn’t forget what had been done to Kennedy, but what could you do?
Fortunately for my longevity, my encounter with bennies, dexies, Black Beauties, and the like, didn’t last long. I can genuinely say that Pot saved me from these more destructive drugs. That’s when I decided that going to college was a better career move than pumping gas, which had been my job at the time.
Journalism ran in the family so I thought I’d give it a try. That was how I managed to get an exclusive interview with the famous lone gunman debunker, Mark Lane, a couple of years later. That, and the fact that I volunteered to give him a ride to the airport the next morning. He was leaving town after giving a standing-room only speech that brought the house down.
It wasn’t my greatest interview, but it was a big breakthrough for a novice reporter. At the time, Lane was hot on the heels of a right-wing preacher, Edgar Eugene Bradley, who could have been involved in the assassination. So that was my scoop. Later, Lane crossed him off the list of possible accomplices.
I was happy to have met Mark Lane. He was the first researcher and civil rights lawyer to publicly state that Kennedy’s murder had been a conspiracy. His tireless speeches and media appearances across the country, on behalf of his book, “Rush to Judgement,” convinced millions of Americans that they hadn’t been crazy on that November day when they saw a massive coup unfold before their eyes.
Our eyes were not lying that day. Just as important in sealing the case has been the dramatic change in this country. JFK was not perfect. America doesn’t elect perfect people. Yet, Kennedy was a Social Democrat, which means he wanted to improve the lot of the working class. Despite the rhetoric, we haven’t had a president for the people, not the corporations, since.
After the assassination everything changed. Our presidents have been either Southern Democrats or Republicans, with one exception. Let’s take a deeper look at what happened after Kennedy’s murder:
Lyndon Johnson (Southern Democrat): If he didn’t play a key part in Kennedy’s murder, he at least knew about it, and didn’t object; public opinion forced him to implement Kennedy’s domestic policy, including civil rights and Medicare; he started the Viet Nam war (Kennedy signed an executive order to withdraw the military advisors, Johnson’s first order of business was to reverse it).
Richard Nixon (Republican): Escalated the Viet Nam war; cracked down on protests; was forced from office by the elites, including the CIA, FBI and MSM.
Gerald Ford (Republican): In office for two years, which was plenty of time for a devastating recession; a Rockefeller asset, in fact Nelson Rockefeller was his VP.
Jimmy Carter (Southern Democrat): Neo-liberalism began under Carter. While he can’t be blamed for this massive economic shift, he is responsible for letting it happen without opposing it. Carter began supplying billions of dollars and weapons to the mujahideen in Afghanistan to fight the Soviets. Bin Laden and others later used the largess against the U.S. Inflation soared and an energy crisis took place under Carter.
Ronald Reagan (Republican): Perhaps the most right-wing president in history, Reagan and his wife, Nancy, escalated the war on drugs and expanded the prison-industrial complex. We are still suffering from Reagan’s filling the judiciary with fellow right-wingers.
George H.W. Bush (Republican): There is evidence that Bush was a CIA agent during the Kennedy years, and was later appointed director under Gerald Ford. He was the de facto president in Reagan’s second term as his predecessor slipped under the grip of Azheimer’s. As such, Bush engineered the Iran-Contra scandal (illegally selling weapons to Iran in exchange for money to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, which was also illegal) and, while his role was unproven, was alleged to be behind the October Surprise, which was a scheme to delay the release of Iran’s U.S. hostages until after the 1980 election. He also invaded Iraq.
Bill Clinton (Southern Democrat): He deregulated several industries by removing safeguards from the New Deal days. They included communications, Wall Street, housing and banking (Glass-Steagall). Many economists believe these changes have contributed to the instability of late capitalism. He also converted welfare to workfare. He was a major player in the Balkans war (the former Yugoslavia), which was the first war in Europe since World War II.
George W. Bush (Republican): The Clinton and the Bush families have been contending for the presidency in recent years. So far, the Bushes have held the office for three terms, while the Clintons have been in office for two terms. Under G.W. Bush, terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers and damaged the Pentagon. With Congress’ willing support he invaded Iraq, causing the most devastating war since Viet Nam. His regime ended with the largest economic recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Barack Obama (CIA?): The first Black president was greeted with an outpouring of enthusiasm by the populace. That soon soured as Obama proceeded to fill him administration with Wall Streeters and other 1 percenters. According to the Monthly Review, Obama’s presidency has been called one of the most friendly to the intelligence agencies. Obama’s mother, Ann Durham worked in Indonesia during the bloody 1965 coup for several CIA-affiliated organizations, including The US Agency for International Development (USAID). Her boss at USAID was Donald Gordon, who has been identified as a CIA agent. Obama’s parents met in Hawaii at a CIA-sponsored training school, which was run, in part, by Stanley Armour Dunham, Obama’s maternal grandfather. Obama, himself, worked for a year in the 1980s for Business International Corporation (BIC), a CIA front.
Donald Trump (Republican): The surprise victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016 took many by surprise. While Trump was a maverick, he turned out to be the most right-wing of presidents, who many note is surrounded by fascist-leaning aides and advisors. His administration showed much of the world, including world leaders, that America was much more dangerous than they thought. His withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords and the Iran Nuclear Deal were two of his most damaging foreign policy actions. Domestic policy has been characterized by being racist to the core.
Joseph Biden (Southern Democrat)(Delaware was a slave state but didn’t join the Confederacy): After one year, the Biden administration’s modus operandi is becoming clear. Domestically, it is status quo. Many of Trump’s initiatives and executive orders have been left in place, including his “Space Force,” another branch of the military that overturns the long-held practice of the peaceful use of space. In Foreign policy, he is belligerent towards any country, including Russia, China and Iran, that doesn’t toe the American line. The threat of nuclear war is larger than it has been in many years.
What would have happen if JFK had not been assassinated? He likely would have served two terms. He might have been followed by Bobby Kennedy for another two. That would have brought us up to 1976. By that time, the political environment might have shifted to the left, more in line with that of European countries.
Other progressives would have contended for the presidency, and several would have won. If the Republican Party still existed, it might be more like it was with Wendell Willkie, Alf Landon and Herbert Hoover. That is, more isolationist and more of an advocate for small business, not Wall Street.
That’s not the way it happened. Two Kennedys were killed and Ted Kennedy’s back was broken in a mysterous plane crash. The former First Lady, Jackie, married a foreign billionaire, Aristotle Onassis, who had his own private army. Their son, JFK jr., also died in a mysterous plane crash. Caroline Kennedy was set to fill a US Senate vacancy in 2009, when she suddenly backed out. Was she threatened with the Kennedy “curse?”
November 22, 2023 will mark the 60th anniversary of that horrible day in Dallas. With this article, I am raising questions that should be discussed in two years when everyone is focused on what we could have been.
Murder Most Fowl (excerpt)
By Bob Dylan
Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63
A day that will live on in infamy
President Kennedy was a-ridin' high
Good day to be livin' and a good day to die
Being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb
He said, "Wait a minute, boys, you know who I am?"
"Of course we do, we know who you are"
Then they blew off his head while he was still in the car
Shot down like a dog in broad daylight
Was a matter of timing and the timing was right
You got unpaid debts, we've come to collect
We're gonna kill you with hatred, without any respect
We'll mock you and shock you and we'll put it in your face
We've already got someone here to take your place
The day they blew out the brains of the king
Thousands were watchin', no one saw a thing
It happened so quickly, so quick, by surprise
Right there in front of everyone's eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun
Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Wolfman, oh Wolfman, oh Wolfman, howl
Rub-a-dub-dub, it's a murder most foul
….
They killed him once and they killed him twice
Killed him like a human sacrifice
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, "Son
The age of the Antichrist has just only begun"
Air Force One comin' in through the gate
Johnson sworn in at 2:38
Let me know when you decide to throw in the towel
It is what it is, and it's murder most foul