Speaking of context–and the ongoing polarization from hell–try giving William Manchester’s 43-year-old epic, “The Death Of A President,” a re-read. Or just the first few chapters–enough to reset the pre-JFK assassination, political dynamic of 1963. Dallas was its embodiment in so many ways, but hardly a fringe outpost of right-wing fanatics. Some parallels with today are downright disturbing.
The backdrop was the Cold War, racial unrest and the role of government. The visceral issues ranged from “race-mixing” and “betraying” Cuba to “socialism and big government” and national defense dereliction–as exemplified by the nuclear test ban treaty and the failure to vanquish the Soviets when we still enjoyed the upper hand militarily. The era was polarizingly punctuated by jingoistic Minutemen and the John Birch Society, billboards that demanded the repeal of Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren and inimical references to the “Judicial Kremlin” and FDR’s “Queer Deal.”
For all the Camelot imagery, the early ’60s was not a good time to be JFK in many parts of this country. There were even, unconscionably enough, pockets of celebration over his demise. And hardly limited to the mob.
Upon reflection, “The Death Of A President” now makes eerie, not just uncomfortable, tragic reading.