Kennedy will be long remembered

The following editorial was published under the headline “The free world grieves” in The Commercial Review on Nov. 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
People throughout the free world are grieved by the tragic and premature death of John F. Kennedy. Tributes and eulogies … some pompous and politic … some simple and touching, will dominate the press, television and radio for days to come.
Regardless of political persuasion, Americans know they have lost a leader of vigor and of courage … a politician with remarkable skill garnished with a deft touch of Irish humor.
Some of the eulogies will liken John Kennedy to the greatest leaders of American history. It is doubtful his brief career of less than three years in the presidency entitles him to acclaim of that magnitude.
But Americans as well as America’s enemies will remember him as a man abundantly blessed with the courage of his convictions.
We recall reading years ago the writings of an astute business analyst who observed that any president who made a determined effort to change the drift of our government and right some of its wrongs, whether in the field of financial solvency, in the area of civil rights or on any of the burning issues of the time, that man would be an almost constant target for an assassin’s bullet.
John F. Kennedy is the first victim since that prediction was made.
But America must have the sort of forceful direction that risks the murderer if she is to retain her position of world leadership.
Events will soon tell if the nation now has such direction.
Someone said years ago that the only cure for grief is action.
And there is little doubt Americans will soon shed their grief in action … but John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s name will be long remembered. —H.R.[[In-content Ad]]