How One Man's Death Can Change History

Fifty years ago today I had gone the pharmacy picking up my wife something for her discomfort. When I returned home she said JFK has been assassinated. I told her she had to be kidding. Presidential assassinations are very rare and there must be some mistake. But there was not. As I sat watching Walter Cronkite on the television telling the details and time of death I felt as though the blood drained from my body.

I was a communications specialist in the United States Air Force stationed at Andrews Air Force Base. Even though I was not a democrat I liked the man. He didn’t know me but I felt he and I had gone through a bad time together. Remember the Cuban missile crisis? I do. When it started to look serious I got a call to report to base prepared to travel and be gone for a while. I packed my duffle and reported to the operations building and they told me to be prepared to leave at sunrise the next morning.

The next morning we took our duffle and were issued parachutes and put on old World War II C47's. We didn’t know where we were going but we were in the air at low altitude headed north. After a couple of hours we landed at a small field near an Army base. We boarded army buses and were carried to Fort Ritchie, Maryland. Our security clearances were reviewed and then we were fed and allowed to lounge around the rest of the day. We were told that after breakfast next morning we would continue our trip by Army bus.

I took time to write my wife and tell her were I was but I didn’t know where I was going next. After breakfast the next morning we again boarded the bus which drove some few miles and a mountain opened up and we went inside. For several miles we drove through a long, wide tunnel until we arrived at an area large enough for buses and other vehicles to make a wide turn around to go back out. They stopped in front of a large steel door which swung open to allow our admittance.

Once inside there were elevators and many levels in nuclear proof building. We were told which elevator to take to what level and to report to a particular Sergeant. We were told where we would sleep, eat, work, and take our showers. This place was filled with nearly all branches of the military plus many officers. As a communications specialist who handled highly classified information I was working in the communications room with a great number of teletype machines and radios. Even though I gave thought to my wife and children living just outside Washington, DC, I was far too busy to worry. The thought crossed my mind if Khruschev decided to go to war with us then my wife and kids may not be safe.

Eventually, after calling Khruschev’s bluff, JFK won out and Khruschev backed down.

Not many knew that there were nuclear armed Russian submarines off the coasts of Florida and Cuba who were on standby orders to attack. Our submarines, equipped with our sophisticated sonar picked them up and gave chase. Their every move was followed and one was captured. The commander of that submarine said he would rather surrender than to be the one who launched a nuclear attack against the United States. I don’t know what happened to that commander but I’m thankful that he didn’t launch his nuclear torpedo and start a nuclear war. The other two submarines, knowing they were being followed closely, turned and sailed away from our shores.

After all was over and things were back to normal, I was proud of how John Fitzgerald Kennedy had handled the situation. I know he must have had a long worrisome time wondering if he was making the right decisions. I can imagining him sitting in the oval office reading over the reports and studying over all of his options knowing there were nuclear armed Russian submarines off our coast and Cuba had long range missile sites aimed at us. It could have ended catastrophically. But JFK was, in my eyes, the hero of the day for his ability to think clearly and avert a disaster.

I had great admiration for John Fitzgerald Kennedy after that and his assassination was a great disaster for the country. It placed Lyndon Baines Johnson on the throne of the United States and Robert McNamara as his secretary of defense led us to the greater disaster for our country, the Vietnam Conflict. They refused to call it a war. McNamara ran the war in favor of the Military-Industrial complex and spent millions of tax dollars and the lives of tens of thousands of our young men on a war they had no intention of winning.

While John Fitzgerald Kennedy rests in peace in Arlington Cemetery, our country is much worse off because of his assassination. Isn’t it strange that one man’s death can change the history of a Nation?