SCENE ONE
(The conversation continues on the couch. Dad occasionally stands up to make a point. Mom goes in and out, serving drinks and popcorn).
MOM: A tall, handsome man of great charm, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, whom the nation fondly embraced as JFK, was elected President by a narrow margin, and euphoria filled the air. He captured the imagination of the people in his inaugural address, as he made an enthusiastic appeal for every American to contribute to the public good—
Enactment:
JFK: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but instead, ask what you can do for your country,” he admonished.
MOM: Our people loved the speech, but many wondered if we were part of the audience he was addressing. Knowing he was an intellectual mind, however, our people hoped we could do business with him. He had his match in Dr. King—
(Beatles playing—Let it be)
Enactment:
JFK: “We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others too.—Many years ago, the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked—why do you want to climb the mountain?—He answered—”because it is there.” Well, Space is there, and we will climb it.”
(Hey Jude, by The Beatles playing).
DAD: JFK had beautiful prose. He knew how to play with and weave words together to arouse passion. In addition, he had an adorable wife, Jackie Kennedy, who stole the hearts of people in a way that only Princess Diana would, three decades later. On their visit to Paris, the thronging crowd poured praise on Jackie. Alluding to this later at a Press dinner, JFK said— “I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself to this audience—I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.” (Enactment: Jackie in Paris).
We loved Kennedy, but he was elected President sooner than he had to confront a test—the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world was on the brink of nuclear war as the Soviet Union made a bold but careless move to install missiles in Cuba, all pointing at the United States. Kennedy sent US Naval ships to quarantine Cuba, and he gave the Soviet leader an ultimatum. Kennedy went eyeball to eyeball with Nikita Khrushchev, and Nikita Khrushchev blinked. JFK came out shining like a newly minted silver coin. The Soviets withdrew the missiles.
CURTAIN
SCENE TWO
(The conversation continues on the couch).
MOM: As Kennedy was taking a victory lap on Cuba, there was trouble brewing at home. The Civil Rights battle was getting to fever pitch level. America had to confront a great moral question. “How could America reasonably declare they were fighting Communism and fighting for the rights of peoples to Self-Determination across the world when their citizens were still in bondage?” That was the question Dr. King had for Kennedy. Dr. King sent public appeals to Kennedy urging the President to address the issue of segregation more forcefully. Pressure from Dr. King helped define and mold Kennedy’s approach to the Civil Rights movement as he described the Civil Rights crisis as “moral, as well as constitutional and legal.”
JUNIOR: Was President Kennedy willing to do what was necessary to fight segregation?
DAD: Here is what we know. JFK had had enough after Governor Wallace grunted and growled—“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” at the steps of the Capitol in his inaugural speech as governor. So, he sent his brother, Robert Kennedy, who was Attorney General, to confront the outrage. Without mincing words, the Attorney General made clear in a press conference after meeting with Governor Wallace that even though the Federal Government was willing to leave integration to States, the Federal government must enforce the ruling of the Court in Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka. A confrontation was inevitable. In June 1963, Governor Wallace blocked the entrance to the auditorium of the University of Alabama to prevent two African American students from registering. In a swift response, JFK signed Executive Order 11111. It federalized the Alabama National Guard and Guard General; Henry V Graham then commanded Governor Wallace to step aside. (Enactment below)
DISPATCH RIDER: Here is a dispatch for you sir, (Hands a note to the Assistant Attorney General. He reads it).
ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Guard General, here is an order from your Commander in Chief.
GUARD GENERAL: (He reads it. He turns around and faces Governor Wallace). Mr. Governor, I have an order from the President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. It reads—“This is Executive Order 11111. The National Guard of the State of Alabama is by this order now federalized.” Mr. Governor, step aside, or I will arrest you!
GOVERNOR WALLACE: (He is ashen-faced. He knows not to utter a word. He walks away).
DAD: Kennedy was a thoroughbred Irish American. He was a man of rare metal. He was not a man with whom you toyed. Governor Wallace was said to have spent the rest of his life apologizing for his grave missteps.
JUNIOR: I am in total disbelief.
MOM: Governor Wallace’s speech was a dog-whistle for police brutality and also, a trigger for White supremacists to unleash mayhem. There was little surprise therefore, that lynching, burnings, and bombings of Black people and homes and Black Churches became rampant in the State of Alabama, and many of those cases went unsolved. Sadly, and the scars remain with us till this day, four Black girls were killed in one of those bombings on Sunday morning during service at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In this same period, Malcolm X, not satisfied with Dr. King’s preachments of non-violence, urged the Black person to protect himself from White violence “by any means necessary.” Malcolm X gave America a choice in his fiery speech titled: The Ballot or The Bullet. He could not have been more succinct. (Mississippi Goddam by Nina Simone).
MOM: I believe the two opposing views on the actualization of the Civil Rights of Dr. King and Malcolm X would have merged eventually if Bill’s signing delayed for much longer. You know, when Dr. King said—(Enactment)
DR. KING: “—We have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands did not force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. But now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence and non existence. That is where we are today.”
I saw that as a watershed moment, speaking to his frustration.
DAD: I also agree with that view. The killing of Medgar Evers, another Civil Rights icon by a White supremacist, Byron De La Beckwith, put considerable pressure on John F. Kennedy. Historians, however, believe that the most significant contributory factor was the march on Washington. The sea of humanity that showed up and the power of the Prose—“I have a Dream”—shook up Kennedy so much so that he retorted—“America will never be the same again. He is damned good! Damned good!” (Enactment). After the speech, he hosted some of the marchers and praised the speech effusively. At Kennedy’s killing, the Civil Rights Bill had been frustrated in Congress for one year. (Enactment: Daley Plaza. Shots are fired. Kennedy is killed as darkness falls over the nation. America is glum as a blood-stained Jackie is seen holding his head in her arms, wailing. There is a pause. Lyndon B. Johnson, LBJ, is sworn in as the 36thPresident of the United States).
DAD: We do not know if Kennedy would have had the savvy to do what LBJ, a consummate Southerner from Texas, was able to achieve with his fellow Southerners. He was one of them. LBJ did not have any particular love for Negroes but the time had come as he found himself at the crossroads of history.
JUNIOR: Who killed Kennedy?
DAD: It is still a matter of controversy if the theory of a lone shooter holds any water. We may never know the full circumstances, but as the story goes, Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US Marine, fired a rifle from a nearby building. Thirty minutes after the shooting, John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead at the Parkland Memorial Hospital. Lee Harvey Oswald never lived to face trial as he was shot amidst heavy security while being moved from City jail to County jail in front of television cameras. His death at the hands of a Nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, fuels conspiracy theories about JFK’s death to date. We may never know the truth.
JUNIOR: America our America!!!
DAD: The year 1964 brought a few smiles and some respite following the gruesome deaths of JFK and Medgar Evers. On February 25, 1964, Cassius Clay, at 22, beat Sonny Liston in Round 6 to win the World Heavyweight championship. (Enactment: Cassius Clay is shown in the fight as he floors Sonny Liston. He is trash-talking: “You big sucka, I got you now.” “Get up and fight, sucker”). The signing of the Civil Rights Act followed the euphoria of Ali’s victories. Thus, the American Civil War, which began with a sword on April 12, 1861, ended effectively with a pen on July 2, 1964, as Lyndon B. Johnson set the captives free. Free at Last!!!
CURTAIN
If you are reading Act 8 of our serialization of the book: 100 Years & 5 Chronicles for the first time, please scroll back to read Acts 1-7. If you live abroad, you may order your copy from Amazon. If you live in Nigeria, call Tony: 08086390607.
