:00:09. > :00:17.I'm Tim Wilcox in London with Nick Bryant in Dallas for this BBC news
:00:18. > :00:22.special as America remembers President Kennedy. It is 50 years
:00:23. > :00:25.since he was assassinated with the shots that reverberated around the
:00:26. > :00:34.world. 50 years ago, Dallas was known as
:00:35. > :00:50.America's city of hate but today it is a place of Atonement.
:00:51. > :01:07.50 years ago today on the 22nd of November, President Kennedy was
:01:08. > :01:11.shot. He was 46 years old and barely halfway through his first term in
:01:12. > :01:15.the White House. His short`lived residency was perhaps the most
:01:16. > :01:20.elaborate America has ever known that we will never know what kind of
:01:21. > :01:26.president he would have become. Let us take you live now to Dallas which
:01:27. > :01:32.is the focal point of commemorations. Dozens of people
:01:33. > :01:41.have gathered in the Park. Our correspondent is among them. This is
:01:42. > :01:49.the first official memorial of the assassination.
:01:50. > :01:54.Yes, Dallas has always been very embarrassed about its role that day.
:01:55. > :02:00.Many people urged President Kennedy not to come here because it was
:02:01. > :02:04.simply too dangerous. One of his senior officials had been attacked
:02:05. > :02:09.only a few weeks before and there were concerns about his safety. But
:02:10. > :02:24.he received a rapturous welcome as he drove through this grates that
:02:25. > :02:29.Mac `` the streets of Dallas. That was when American history took a
:02:30. > :02:34.very ugly diversion. When it went on an alternative path.
:02:35. > :02:44.So many conspiracy theories ever since that day. Are those recognised
:02:45. > :02:48.today in Dallas as well? Not in the official commemorations.
:02:49. > :02:53.There is a convention of conspiracy theorists that has met over the past
:02:54. > :03:05.few days in Dallas and as you walk around, often conspiracy theorists
:03:06. > :03:09.will come up to you and posit there own theories about what happened
:03:10. > :03:14.that day. Many do not believe that Lee Harvey Oswald could have carried
:03:15. > :03:23.out the assassination on his own. But so many of the other conspiracy
:03:24. > :03:28.theorists sound plausible. Let us look at those events and
:03:29. > :03:36.Dallas half a century ago and how they have shaped and divided
:03:37. > :03:46.America's view of John F. Kennedy. Dallas Texas and the most beautiful
:03:47. > :03:50.couple who had ever occupied White House were about to embark on a
:03:51. > :03:55.journey which changed America and the world. Instantly iconic. The
:03:56. > :04:03.images are so familiar. The welcoming crowds, the open top
:04:04. > :04:10.limousine. It appears as though something has
:04:11. > :04:18.happened in the motorcade. This film, the last moments but we cannot
:04:19. > :04:30.show you the last frames because they are just too horrible to watch.
:04:31. > :04:35.President Kennedy has been assassinated. The president is
:04:36. > :04:40.dead. He was 46 years old. His fleeting
:04:41. > :04:49.presidency lasted little more than 1000 days. This man was a reporter
:04:50. > :04:54.that day. He was opposite from where the three shots rang out.
:04:55. > :05:06.50 years later I am in the same spot and I can see the car turn and if I
:05:07. > :05:17.face its eye will see the whole ten seconds again in slow motion. The
:05:18. > :05:23.impact is indescribable. The official version is that Lee
:05:24. > :05:28.Harvey Oswald, a former US marine, was responsible. Two days later, he
:05:29. > :05:34.himself was gunned down. Many people still find it
:05:35. > :05:39.inconceivable that a 24`year`old loner could gunned down the
:05:40. > :05:42.president on his own. But many of the conspiracy theories are even
:05:43. > :05:47.more implausible. We still do not have a definitive account of what
:05:48. > :05:54.happened at the world 's most famous crime scene.
:05:55. > :06:01.Now that we know that Mac nor do we now hope resident Kennedy's
:06:02. > :06:06.presidency would have unfolded. We all get to decide how his story
:06:07. > :06:17.could have ended. We will be discussing the legacy and
:06:18. > :06:29.those conspiracy theorists with our guests but let us go to a producer
:06:30. > :06:36.at the BBC involved in social media. What sort of reaction has there
:06:37. > :06:50.been? JFK is obviously a has to go figure
:06:51. > :06:55.but he is very present on social media. It has become a global
:06:56. > :07:01.conversation. We have people from around the world, Asia and Africa,
:07:02. > :07:10.messaging about the assassination. Lots of them caught their favourite
:07:11. > :07:16.quotes from JFK. The most favourite is, as not what your country can do
:07:17. > :07:25.for you but what you can do for your country. He is very much a global
:07:26. > :07:30.figure and his legacy lives on. The comment is often made, where
:07:31. > :07:38.were you when the assassination happens? How many people are you
:07:39. > :07:44.seeing comments from who were around at that time or is it a younger
:07:45. > :07:52.audience? Many people would have been in
:07:53. > :07:56.school at the time but the younger people, teenagers and those in their
:07:57. > :08:03.early 20s, they are exploring more about JFK. If you go to sites like
:08:04. > :08:10.YouTube you see a resurgence of people uploading archive material of
:08:11. > :08:27.John F. Kennedy. These are people in their 20s and their teenage years.
:08:28. > :08:35.Let us speak to a couple of guests, a professor of American history and
:08:36. > :08:43.a former White House correspondent. The big question is what might have
:08:44. > :08:51.been. America is divided on that, isn't it? It has to be if he is not
:08:52. > :08:56.there to answer the question. He was only president for two and a half
:08:57. > :09:03.years so perhaps the trajectory wasn't as clear as it might have
:09:04. > :09:16.been. Look at Vietnam for example, or the
:09:17. > :09:30.Bay of pigs. Which he have taken trips out of Vietnam?
:09:31. > :09:52.There is evidence on either side. You can see in his performance after
:09:53. > :10:04.the Bay of Pigs, good judgement because he didn't just trust the
:10:05. > :10:15.easy answers. The optimistic scenario is that he would've made
:10:16. > :10:19.more efforts at world peace. One of the things is that you can
:10:20. > :10:30.put your own ending on story. We want to see growth in office. He was
:10:31. > :10:37.the youngest American president in history and clearly made a mistake
:10:38. > :10:45.in the Bay of Pigs but he learned from those by the time of the Cuban
:10:46. > :10:51.missile crisis and knew not to put your opponent in a corner.
:10:52. > :10:56.Many thought he wasn't qualified enough for the role as president.
:10:57. > :11:08.Importantly, he stepped up and acknowledged his responsibility and
:11:09. > :11:14.his ratings went up. He also moved forward with the first regular test
:11:15. > :11:28.ban treaty as well which was important in the Cold War. `` first
:11:29. > :11:46.the . It is a very strange story. I
:11:47. > :11:58.happen to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. All the
:11:59. > :12:03.strange physical evidence. In the current age there would be a million
:12:04. > :12:16.photographs and videos and because triangulate everything. `` they
:12:17. > :12:20.could triangulate. This is what always happens in complicated
:12:21. > :12:24.events. Princess Diana's death as well. You can always make a
:12:25. > :12:46.conspiracy. We can see the can is `` the service
:12:47. > :12:50.now beginning. Let us listen in to who is going to be speaking at this
:12:51. > :13:17.commemoration in Dallas. BAGPIPES PLAY.
:13:18. > :13:22.If you are just joining us, you are watching a BBC News special focusing
:13:23. > :13:28.on this commemoration service in Dallas, Texas 50 years after the
:13:29. > :13:31.assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This is the first official
:13:32. > :13:58.memorial held in the city. The ceremony has started now and is
:13:59. > :14:03.carefully harry aircraft to coincide with the time that President
:14:04. > :14:10.Kennedy's motorcade passed through these packed downtown streets in
:14:11. > :14:16.Dallas 50 years ago. Thousands turned out to greet the president
:14:17. > :14:20.and his wife on that particular day. Very different weather, right,
:14:21. > :16:30.sunny, cold. All mighty endeavour the full god,
:16:31. > :16:38.today we lift up our minds and hearts to you because you lot have
:16:39. > :16:42.lifted us up from the horrible tragedy enacted in this place, from
:16:43. > :16:49.the cruel suffering that was born on this hill. From the shock and horror
:16:50. > :16:55.that gripped our nation and from the years when we as citizens of the
:16:56. > :17:03.city suffered and were implicated by the gun shot by one man that killed
:17:04. > :17:08.a president in whom many of us had set our hopes and streams for a
:17:09. > :17:15.better America. `` hopes and dreams. It was your abiding inspiration and
:17:16. > :17:21.active presence among us, Lord, that moved us ever followed, despite the
:17:22. > :17:27.temptation only to lament and be paralysed by day. `` by grief. Yet
:17:28. > :17:32.under our sorrow into a firm commitment to move forward. Yet
:17:33. > :17:38.turned our grief into a resolve to refashion our city to a place where
:17:39. > :17:45.life flourishes and true love abounds. You turned our devastation
:17:46. > :17:54.to a commitment to rebuild here this city of God, a city where all are
:17:55. > :18:00.welcomed, nurtured and cared for. We rejoice with gratitude in all that
:18:01. > :18:06.you have caused to happen here and a place that was disgraced, scorned
:18:07. > :18:15.and ruthlessly judged by ourselves and others. May your heavenly Father
:18:16. > :18:20.continue to sustain us as we celebrate that the Phoenix has risen
:18:21. > :18:26.from the ashes of violence. That hatred can be turned into harmony.
:18:27. > :18:30.That ignorance can seemed to understanding. That prejudice can
:18:31. > :18:40.read to open this. `` leads to openness. Vickers instruments of
:18:41. > :18:44.your peace and help us always temper instinct with mercy. That changes
:18:45. > :18:51.what appears to be defeat to the reality fed by providence that all
:18:52. > :18:58.will be well. Lord, may you walk always with us. May you inspire
:18:59. > :19:05.others as you once inspired President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to
:19:06. > :19:09.dream of a world that never was and to say, why not? May God bless the
:19:10. > :19:24.United States of America. That was from a bishop of the
:19:25. > :19:26.Catholic dioceses there. Now we're going to hear from the Mayor of
:19:27. > :19:39.Dallas. And you either don't `` a new rear
:19:40. > :19:47.adorned and another waned half a century ago. When hope and hatred
:19:48. > :19:53.collided in Dallas. We watched the nightmarish reality that in our
:19:54. > :20:02.front yard, our president had been taken from us. Taken from his
:20:03. > :20:06.family, taken from the world. John Fitzgerald Kennedy's presidency, his
:20:07. > :20:11.life and yes, his death, seemed a mythological weight usher in ``
:20:12. > :20:15.seemed to mythological weight usher in the next 50 years. What ensued
:20:16. > :20:22.was five decades filled with other tragedies, turmoil and grey trials.
:20:23. > :20:38.`` great triumphs. We were all very young. Our lives... We had our hopes
:20:39. > :20:44.and dreams in front of us. Dallas was very young as well. Be only one
:20:45. > :20:51.century old. Not even one century old. In youth, we all felt
:20:52. > :21:01.invincible. It seems we all grew up that day. Suddenly, we had to step
:21:02. > :21:07.up to try and live up to the challenges of the words and visions
:21:08. > :21:11.of a beloved president. Our collective hearts were broken. Like
:21:12. > :21:15.so many of us who were too young to fully comprehend, I remember being
:21:16. > :21:28.called into the school gymnasium, hearing the terrible news and told,
:21:29. > :21:30.go home. Stunned civic leaders at the luncheon and waited a president
:21:31. > :21:35.who would never arrive. Crowds prayed outside the hospital, traffic
:21:36. > :21:44.stopped across cities in the country as news spread from car to car. And
:21:45. > :21:47.the world grieved with us. Newspapers reported that flags were
:21:48. > :21:53.lowered to half staff around the globe. Germans on both side of the
:21:54. > :22:01.Berlin Wall placed candles in Windows. And eight`year`old Nigerian
:22:02. > :22:10.girl recited the entire inaugural address from memory. Her father
:22:11. > :22:19.wept, just like the skies today. Well the past is never in the past.
:22:20. > :22:24.This was a lifetime ago. Now today, we the people of Dallas on the
:22:25. > :22:31.life, legacy and leadership of the man who called us to not think of
:22:32. > :22:36.our own interest, but of our country. We give thanks for his life
:22:37. > :22:45.and service. We offer condolences to his family, especially his daughter
:22:46. > :22:48.Caroline, on this difficult day. We pay tribute to an idealist without
:22:49. > :22:54.illusions, who helped build a more just and equal world. We salute a
:22:55. > :23:02.commander`in`chief who stepped down a nuclear threat to this country. We
:23:03. > :23:11.praise a writer who profiled true courage and modelled it himself. We
:23:12. > :23:17.applaud a bed is many `` a visionary who promoted peace around the globe.
:23:18. > :23:22.We stand in the dreamer who challenged us to literally reach for
:23:23. > :23:27.the moon, though he himself would not live to see us achieve that
:23:28. > :23:35.goal. Other goals were even tougher. Have taken longer to reach. We use
:23:36. > :23:41.the net `` we the United States still struggle to what some as we
:23:42. > :23:44.speak, as to be in Dallas. But we are fortified by the knowledge we
:23:45. > :23:52.have always had big goals and big aspirations in the city, set by our
:23:53. > :24:01.founding fathers like John Bryan and George Daley, the namesake of this
:24:02. > :24:04.plaza. It is re`energised by the Mayor who led Dallas in the
:24:05. > :24:18.post`assassination years. These five decades have seen as... As `` have
:24:19. > :24:24.seen as go from existential vulnerability to greater maturity as
:24:25. > :24:30.a city and community. On the one Yannis Crime and Courts Bill `` on
:24:31. > :24:36.the one`year anniversary of the assassination, one of our city's
:24:37. > :24:43.latest spiritual leaders gave voice to Dallas's communal pain that was
:24:44. > :24:48.unleashed on that day. He said on that day, quart, contrary to the
:24:49. > :24:57.impassioned judgement of that horrible moment, the city is not
:24:58. > :24:59.guilty of the crime. But in those Sundays following the
:25:00. > :25:05.assassination, the most powerful searchlight man possesses was
:25:06. > :25:10.focused on this city. Every floor Kamara `` every floor, everyone spot
:25:11. > :25:17.and wrinkle and an cleanness was put under a microscope and shown to the
:25:18. > :25:20.world. He continued, the city of rich palaces and told tales of
:25:21. > :25:30.commerce or sit amidst slums and hovels. The powerful light shone
:25:31. > :25:37.upon it and the city was shown to be inhospitable to honourable debate.
:25:38. > :25:43.The rabbi captured the heartbreak and hacked the city felt. He stated
:25:44. > :25:48.plainly the defects and feelings that were laid bare before the
:25:49. > :25:51.entire world. Most important, he called for Dallas to use this
:25:52. > :26:01.tragedy to seek a true transformation. Look around today. I
:26:02. > :26:04.believe we have heeded that call. The people of this city have been
:26:05. > :26:09.filled with a sense of industry born of tragedy. Driven to improve the
:26:10. > :26:14.substance of Dallas, not just the image of it. Today, because of the
:26:15. > :26:23.hard work of many people, Dallas is a different city. I believe the new
:26:24. > :26:30.Frontier did not and that day end. `` did not end that day. I believe
:26:31. > :26:33.President Kennedy would be pleased with our humble efforts towards
:26:34. > :26:37.fulfilling our country's highest calling, that of providing the
:26:38. > :26:43.opportunity for all citizens to exercise those rights of life,
:26:44. > :26:50.liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The city of Dallas will
:26:51. > :26:56.continue on that course. The man we remember today give us a gift that
:26:57. > :27:01.will not be squandered. He and our city will forever be linked in
:27:02. > :27:05.tragedy, yes, but out of that tragedy, an opportunity was granted
:27:06. > :27:13.to us. The chance to learn how to face the future when it is the
:27:14. > :27:17.darkest and most uncertain. How to hold high the torch, even when the
:27:18. > :27:24.flame flickers and threatens to gloat. `` go out. As the people of
:27:25. > :27:33.Dallas did then, each of us will meet our oncoming challenges head`on
:27:34. > :27:37.with courage , honouring but not living in the past. And never
:27:38. > :27:44.flinching from the truth. We will make the future with the same
:27:45. > :27:48.vigour, optimism and unfailing sense of duty that our young president in
:27:49. > :27:58.body. `` our young president embodied. President Kennedy plotters
:27:59. > :28:08.that message will stop `` brought us that message. In his pocket, then
:28:09. > :28:11.that's great, in 1963. That message was to be delivered in a speech a
:28:12. > :28:19.couple of miles away following his parade. It was a speech he never got
:28:20. > :28:24.to make. But those unspoken words resonate far beyond the life of the
:28:25. > :28:33.man. To commemorate that day and those words, we are unveiling a
:28:34. > :28:37.model right here in the systolic plaza `` historic plaza. It has the
:28:38. > :28:41.last lines of his undelivered speech and will serve as a reminder and
:28:42. > :28:54.permanent monument to President Kennedy's memory. I leave you with
:28:55. > :29:03.those resonant words. We in this country, in this generation, are by
:29:04. > :29:15.destiny rather than choice the watchmen on the walls of world
:29:16. > :29:19.freedom. We may be worthy of our power and responsibility. That we
:29:20. > :29:25.may exercise your strength with wisdom and restraint. And that we
:29:26. > :29:35.might achieve in our time and for all time, the ancient vision of
:29:36. > :29:40.peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That must always be our goal.
:29:41. > :29:47.And the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength.
:29:48. > :29:55.For as was written long ago, accent the Lord, it keep this city, the
:29:56. > :30:03.watchman weakest but in vain. `` the watchmen wake. Would you join me in
:30:04. > :31:00.a moment of silence in honour of the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
:31:01. > :31:18.# America, America # God shine his grace on the
:31:19. > :31:49.#. # # America, America
:31:50. > :31:52.# God shed his grace on the # And bring thy good with
:31:53. > :32:19.brotherhood # From sea to shining sea. #
:32:20. > :32:46.# America, America # Until all success be nobleness. #
:32:47. > :32:50.As we listen to this, some first thoughts.
:32:51. > :32:58.This seems to be more about Dallas than about John F Kennedy. You are
:32:59. > :33:03.right. This was a tribute organised by the city fathers and mothers of
:33:04. > :33:06.Dallas. It is not a national ceremony. It has a parochial feel.
:33:07. > :33:12.It is, however, important for Dallas. This has been a stain on
:33:13. > :33:16.their reputation and psychology, and they look at this as a chance to
:33:17. > :33:24.finally expiate this long legacy of unhappiness. Would you agree that it
:33:25. > :33:28.is exorcising the Demons? Absolutely. It was a maudlin
:33:29. > :33:32.performance. You heard the mayor and he did not talk about the fact that
:33:33. > :33:36.there were schoolchildren celebrating and cheering at the news
:33:37. > :33:41.of events in Dallas that day. In many ways, you have to question the
:33:42. > :33:46.appropriateness of this. There was very little of John F Kennedy in
:33:47. > :33:54.what we heard today. Let's go back, because we are going to be hearing
:33:55. > :33:59.now from an author and historian. Let's listen in for a phrase or two
:34:00. > :34:07.and discuss what we were talking about in more depth. Unity of
:34:08. > :34:17.purpose, education, the life of the mind and the spirit, art, poetry,
:34:18. > :34:28.service to one's country, and the courage to move forward into the
:34:29. > :34:32.future because of peace on earth. His was the inspiring summons to
:34:33. > :34:39.serve, to hard work and worthy accomplishment, a summons we longed
:34:40. > :34:50.for. He was an optimist, and he said so, but there was no sidestepping
:34:51. > :34:55.reality in what he said, no resorting to stale old platitudes.
:34:56. > :35:03.He spoke to the point and with confidence. He knew words mattered.
:35:04. > :35:13.His words changed lives. His words changed history. Historian David
:35:14. > :35:20.McCulloch, addressing the 5000 people who had won those seats in
:35:21. > :35:24.the Plaza area, selected by ballot. Many fewer than half a century ago
:35:25. > :35:31.when many thousands turned out to see President Kennedy. With me in
:35:32. > :35:39.the studio for this special news coverage of the 50th anniversary of
:35:40. > :35:44.the assassination of John F Kennedy, Jeff McAllister, a former White
:35:45. > :35:49.House correspondent. Just picking up on the expiate of Dallas' guilt, you
:35:50. > :35:54.talked about the schoolchildren who were celebrating on the streets
:35:55. > :35:59.then. Explain the political context to the problems here for JFK, and
:36:00. > :36:06.why he was actually advertised not to go. We are talking about 50 years
:36:07. > :36:12.ago, but Dallas was known as the hate capital of Dixie. Before JFK
:36:13. > :36:18.visited, you had the former UN ambassador of the United Nations
:36:19. > :36:23.spat on and hit. A similar reception greeted Lyndon Johnson. Kennedy was
:36:24. > :36:28.warned not to go. There was concern about the overall political climate
:36:29. > :36:34.there. When he arrived there were flyers going out accusing him of
:36:35. > :36:40.treason. This was a very white `` right`wing town at that point. There
:36:41. > :36:42.was no doubt he was facing down a lot of hate. He was trying to
:36:43. > :36:48.reconcile divisions within the Democratic party, between the member
:36:49. > :36:53.of Congress and the governor, trying to get his chips in line for the
:36:54. > :36:55.forthcoming election in 19 64, in which Texas would have been
:36:56. > :37:03.essential because of its electoral college votes. That desire to keep
:37:04. > :37:06.the Democrats united, did that colour other policy decisions, or
:37:07. > :37:13.lack of, in those 1000 days when he was in office? Well, the civil
:37:14. > :37:18.rights crisis, I would say, was the fundamental place where he has been
:37:19. > :37:23.accused of protecting his electoral chances. You can quite understand
:37:24. > :37:29.it. Southern senators still ran the show. It took his death, and the
:37:30. > :37:33.tremendous electoral victory of Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and his
:37:34. > :37:38.command of the Senate to be able to get the civil rights ill through.
:37:39. > :37:42.You can understand why Kennedy was reluctant to push faster on civil
:37:43. > :37:48.rights. But he was a tactical politician, as he had to be. Looking
:37:49. > :37:54.at his victory, it was a narrow victory, wasn't it? You could say
:37:55. > :37:58.maybe it was the voting machines that Mayor Daley's people through
:37:59. > :38:03.into the lake in Lake Michigan that meant Richard Nixon was not
:38:04. > :38:12.resident. It was narrow as you could get. It was the hanging chad.
:38:13. > :38:15.Exactly. He was doing well and his electoral ratings were going up that
:38:16. > :38:21.he had a substantial problem to solve in getting re`elected. If
:38:22. > :38:24.Barry Goldwater had been his opponent, he could have romped
:38:25. > :38:31.home, not as heavily as Lyndon Johnson, but he did not know that at
:38:32. > :38:38.the time. James, as a TV politician, photogenic with the family, I think
:38:39. > :38:44.it was Jacquie who was the one who coined the phrase, but the oratory,
:38:45. > :38:50.was he a consistent performer, or did he just have a very good team
:38:51. > :38:54.behind him? What is interesting is the distinction between John F
:38:55. > :38:57.Kennedy as Senator and as president. No one expected the
:38:58. > :39:01.inaugural. That came out of the ether. From then on, he and his
:39:02. > :39:07.keyword Smith coined some of the most memorable phrases in American
:39:08. > :39:10.presidential history. If you look across the history of American
:39:11. > :39:13.presidency, presidents say very little that is memorable, and most
:39:14. > :39:19.of those that are memorable come from this 1000 days in office. It is
:39:20. > :39:23.remarkable how quotable John F Kennedy is. Just when you think,
:39:24. > :39:26.this is my favourite, you are reminded, hang on, there is the
:39:27. > :39:33.American University speech, for example. So many commentators talk
:39:34. > :39:37.about not just 1000 days, but the 1000 nights. Do you think he would
:39:38. > :39:41.have survived in the modern media age? Do you think there was always a
:39:42. > :39:47.risk that it would have caught up with him? I think it would have
:39:48. > :39:51.caught up with him during his presidency because it was too widely
:39:52. > :39:55.known and he had enemies. It is amazing he got away with what he did
:39:56. > :40:00.get away with. The press corps was complicit in some sense. I think
:40:01. > :40:04.because of the number of women and the profligacy of effect that he was
:40:05. > :40:08.unbelievable. Almost risky deliberately. It could well have
:40:09. > :40:14.caught up with him. Maybe not before the election, but certainly by the
:40:15. > :40:21.end of another four years. He also had medical problems which he hid.
:40:22. > :40:25.He had a lot of secrets he kept. And yet he is somebody who Democratic
:40:26. > :40:29.presidents have invoked the memory of all the way through, knowing all
:40:30. > :40:35.that. There is that famous picture of Bill Clinton greeting him as a
:40:36. > :40:39.student. One imagines what they would have done with that when
:40:40. > :40:46.Clinton was campaigning, had the truth be known. To be fair, the
:40:47. > :40:50.truth was known when Clinton was campaigning. Not only Democrats but
:40:51. > :40:54.Republicans as well try to model themselves. We used to mock Dan
:40:55. > :40:57.Quayle but one of the reasons he was chosen by Republicans was because it
:40:58. > :41:05.was believed he had an element of Kennedy to him and he would get the
:41:06. > :41:10.young women of America. One thing John F Kennedy did know how to do
:41:11. > :41:13.was how to spell. You have seen Bill Clinton riding the Kennedy
:41:14. > :41:21.bandwagon, and most recently, Barack Obama. The legacy of him, despite
:41:22. > :41:29.all of the scandals that could have exploded in his face, how do you see
:41:30. > :41:35.him now, and the impact he has impressed on American politics? I am
:41:36. > :41:39.one of those whose first political memory was his assassination. I was
:41:40. > :41:45.seven and I had the experience of my teacher running into the classroom
:41:46. > :41:49.crying, because he had been shot. I watched television with my family
:41:50. > :41:54.for days after. I grew up thinking about him and under his spell, to a
:41:55. > :41:57.degree. I would say that despite some of the paltry accomplishments
:41:58. > :42:01.that you can put to him in his two and a half years in the presidency,
:42:02. > :42:05.the fact that he knew how to communicate in a new way, and in the
:42:06. > :42:12.television age, and with the kind of economy and depth of almost moral
:42:13. > :42:18.purpose in his own words, made for a lasting legacy. That call to do
:42:19. > :42:22.something more than what you think you can do, for a greater purpose,
:42:23. > :42:28.which is identified with him, I think it still does live in his name
:42:29. > :42:32.and affects politics subsequently. Other presidents wish they could do
:42:33. > :42:38.it as well as he was able to. Bubbly it can never be done again in the
:42:39. > :42:43.same way. `` probably. But that cultural inheritance is an important
:42:44. > :42:52.legacy. And a poetry that connected with the common man. Nick Bryant is
:42:53. > :42:57.watching those events. How would you describe the mood of the people
:42:58. > :43:01.where you are? Listening to those speeches by the Mayor and the
:43:02. > :43:07.Cardinal, the Bishop beforehand, really making this so much about the
:43:08. > :43:16.city, linked forever with the assassination of a president. This
:43:17. > :43:22.is partly about Dallas, as well as JFK. There is a mood of atonement
:43:23. > :43:25.here from city officials, who wanted to have this commemoration. They
:43:26. > :43:30.have never done this in the 50 years since his death. They wanted to
:43:31. > :43:34.gather people almost to say sorry for our role in this, as the mayor
:43:35. > :43:40.said. The city will forever be linked with what was one of the most
:43:41. > :43:43.ugly and formative days in American history. Part of this is to expunge
:43:44. > :43:49.some of the guilt that lingers around it, as we have heard. Dallas
:43:50. > :43:54.was the city of hate. Those leaflets that were circulated on the day dash
:43:55. > :43:58.wanted for treason, with a criminal looking Kennedy's photo on the
:43:59. > :44:04.cover. This is partly about Dallas, this ceremony, as well as about JFK.
:44:05. > :44:10.The mood is referential, people who want to come here to remember John F
:44:11. > :44:14.Kennedy. People had applied for this for months. Tickets were scarce.
:44:15. > :44:18.People had to go through an application process and security
:44:19. > :44:23.checks to get here. There was the fear that some people might try to
:44:24. > :44:27.hijack the event for violent ends. But the mood is one of great
:44:28. > :44:32.reverence for the JFK. Even though, as you have been discussing, his
:44:33. > :44:37.legacy is contested. It is at contradictory legacy. And now the
:44:38. > :45:08.naval choir are singing the Battle hymn of the Republic behind me.
:45:09. > :45:58.# His truth is marching on # Glory, glory, hallelujah
:45:59. > :46:04.# His truth is marching on. # # I have seen Him in the watch`fires of
:46:05. > :46:09.a hundred circling camps. # They have builded Him an altar in
:46:10. > :46:17.the evening dews and damps. # I can read His righteous sentence
:46:18. > :46:25.by the dim and flaring lamps. # His truth is marching on.
:46:26. > :46:33.# Glory, glory, hallelujah! # Glory, glory, hallelujah!
:46:34. > :47:01.# Glory, glory, hallelujah! # His day is marching on.
:47:02. > :47:15.# In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea.
:47:16. > :47:25.# With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.
:47:26. > :47:33.# As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free.
:47:34. > :47:49.# While God is marching on. # Glory, glory, hallelujah!
:47:50. > :48:22.# Since God is marching on. Our closing prayer will be delivered
:48:23. > :48:29.by the pastor emeritus of the United Methodist Church.
:48:30. > :48:42.Let us pray. Oh, God, I hope in ages past and for years to come, send us
:48:43. > :48:51.forth to claim the brand`new future that you continue to offer us beyond
:48:52. > :48:56.our tragedies and our triumphs. And as we go forth, grant that we may
:48:57. > :49:03.not be sitting where we have been, or on what we have done, but on
:49:04. > :49:12.where we are going and what is possible by your Grace for us to
:49:13. > :49:18.become a beloved community, which celebrates and affirms our unity in
:49:19. > :49:24.the midst of our God`given diversity. And in the challenging
:49:25. > :49:30.words of a Franciscan benediction, may God bless us with discomfort and
:49:31. > :49:38.easy answers, half`truths and superficial relationships, so that
:49:39. > :49:42.we may live the within our hearts. May God bless us with anger and
:49:43. > :49:48.injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that we
:49:49. > :50:02.may work for justice, freedom and peace for all. And may God bless us
:50:03. > :50:05.with tears to suffer for those who suffer from starvation, rejection
:50:06. > :50:10.and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn
:50:11. > :50:15.their pain into joy. And may God bless us with enough foolishness to
:50:16. > :50:22.believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we
:50:23. > :50:29.can do together what others claim cannot be done. And so, in the
:50:30. > :50:35.season of Thanksgiving, we humbly ask these blessings, in the name of
:50:36. > :50:42.the one God who created us all for the sake of a beloved community, and
:50:43. > :50:49.in Thanksgiving to God for the inspiring and courageous life and
:50:50. > :50:59.legacy of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, amen and amen.
:51:00. > :51:06.Ladies and gentlemen, please stand as we retired the colours.
:51:07. > :51:15.STUDIO: A closing prayer there, the pastor of Saint Luke's community
:51:16. > :51:23.United Methodist Church, the colours being taken away from the podium
:51:24. > :51:28.today on this blustery, cold, rainy day here in Dallas, Texas, a very
:51:29. > :51:43.different today from the November the 22nd 1966. When he was
:51:44. > :51:50.assassinated, 50 years ago. And just as we stay with these pictures,
:51:51. > :51:55.let's just pick up on some of the comments that we have heard in
:51:56. > :52:02.Dallas there about the legacy. They talk about the legacy of JFK, but
:52:03. > :52:09.very little fleshed out. What you think we would have seen, at this
:52:10. > :52:13.never happened? I think we would have seen more difficulty getting a
:52:14. > :52:20.civil rights bill. I think he probably would have been... I mean,
:52:21. > :52:23.my bet would be, although it is probably a 51% bed, that they would
:52:24. > :52:29.have been less enthusiasts for the beard now more than Lyndon Johnson
:52:30. > :52:34.showed. `` four BBS now in war. Was more interested in making peace with
:52:35. > :52:38.the Russians and being creative, staring down the forces, including
:52:39. > :52:46.his own military, spies that wanted to escalate the Cold War. The civil
:52:47. > :52:49.rights movement? Martin Luther King criticised him for not having a
:52:50. > :52:55.passion for it. He was not a passionate man in this respect. He
:52:56. > :53:00.had a sense of the indecency of the continued legacy of slavery in the
:53:01. > :53:06.American South and in the North, but he was a cautious domestic
:53:07. > :53:11.politician, and one thinks that his assassination kind of loosed the
:53:12. > :53:16.theories in some way, opened the bounds of American political
:53:17. > :53:25.discourse and violence in a way that we saw in a very difficult decade
:53:26. > :53:30.with the protests over Vietnam and civil rights, too. I think he might
:53:31. > :53:34.have managed to keep the lid on, because he was a unifying figure in
:53:35. > :53:40.a way that is very difficult to play out historically. I think his legacy
:53:41. > :53:46.would have been positive. I said 1966, 1963, of course, apologies for
:53:47. > :53:53.that. James, the same thought to you, had he survived, do you think
:53:54. > :53:56.he would have made radical changes to America in that era? I think
:53:57. > :54:00.America would be a different place, but for somewhat different reasons
:54:01. > :54:03.than most people might imagine. I think he fought the military in
:54:04. > :54:08.terms of not sending ground troops into Vietnam, the first ground
:54:09. > :54:13.troops, the Marines landed in 19 city five after Lyndon Johnson won
:54:14. > :54:18.an election in his own right. `` 1965. I think he would have been
:54:19. > :54:23.hesitant to involve himself in beard now, but the civil rights movement
:54:24. > :54:34.get a real shot in the arm. `` in beard now. `` in Vietnam. He was
:54:35. > :54:40.warned that the civil rights movement could cost him the
:54:41. > :54:44.election, and arguably the Democrats lost their stranglehold on the
:54:45. > :54:47.south, and it has never been retrained, so you see a complete
:54:48. > :54:52.restructuring of domestic American politics in the 18 months after the
:54:53. > :54:55.assassination because of Lyndon Johnson's use of the assassination
:54:56. > :54:59.to get the civil rights movement marching forward. Nick, I am not
:55:00. > :55:03.sure if you can still hear us, you have spent several days in Dallas
:55:04. > :55:07.just looking at the preparations for this event. What is your sense of
:55:08. > :55:13.there about what people there feel might have been the? Luck, I think
:55:14. > :55:17.that is the reason for the continuing fascination around
:55:18. > :55:20.Kennedy. `` look. Everyone gets to decide how the fairy tale story
:55:21. > :55:26.should have ended, and for some it has become a fairy tale. For some,
:55:27. > :55:29.he is the president who would have saved America from the horrors of
:55:30. > :55:35.Vietnam, who would have been a racial healer, who might have even
:55:36. > :55:38.averted Watergate. But there is a darker side that you have been
:55:39. > :55:42.hearing from your guests. Kennedy was a bystander to the great social
:55:43. > :55:47.revolution of his age. For the first two and a half years of his
:55:48. > :55:52.presidency, he delivered a speech about civil rights as a moral issue.
:55:53. > :55:56.Saying it was as old as the Scriptures and as clear as the US
:55:57. > :55:59.constitution, but for the first two and a half years he did not want to
:56:00. > :56:05.speak out in favour of the moral case for dismantling segregation in
:56:06. > :56:07.the south. He was a president who enlarged America's military
:56:08. > :56:12.involvement in Southeast Asia and Vietnam. He was a president for whom
:56:13. > :56:16.scandal would have hit his presidents had he lived, surely,
:56:17. > :56:20.people would have started to hear about the affairs, it would have
:56:21. > :56:23.been reported, the White House press corps was complicit, really, in
:56:24. > :56:28.keeping them under tabs. He would have been a very different figure.
:56:29. > :56:31.It is hard to imagine, for instance, in becoming a presidential
:56:32. > :56:35.pensioner. An interesting novel was written about 20 years ago,
:56:36. > :56:41.imagining what would have happened to that famous picture of Kennedy
:56:42. > :56:44.and Bill Clinton that was taken in 1963, a moment of almost art theory
:56:45. > :56:49.and transfer of power, when it seemed like Clinton's future was
:56:50. > :56:55.preordained when he met Kennedy on the lawn of the White House. That
:56:56. > :56:59.book imagines a very different version of how the Clinton campaign
:57:00. > :57:05.were desperate to suppress that photo, they were so worried about
:57:06. > :57:09.Clinton being associated with a president that was in such disgrace
:57:10. > :57:14.and whose years were remembered for such scandal. So, in some ways,
:57:15. > :57:20.Dallas saved President Kennedy from decades of tawdry tabloid headlines,
:57:21. > :57:23.people uncovering the darker side of Camelot.
:57:24. > :57:27.Nick Bryant in Dallas, Texas, Jeff McAllister, James Boyce, thank you
:57:28. > :57:31.very much indeed. We are drawing this special coverage to an end, the
:57:32. > :57:36.commemoration of the assassination of John F Kennedy in Dallas, Texas,
:57:37. > :57:39.50 years ago today. Let's just leave you with some of the images from
:57:40. > :57:57.that ceremony we have just been watching.
:57:58. > :58:16.The weather is not going to change of the course of the weekend,
:58:17. > :58:20.broadly speaking it will be cloudy with a bit of sunshine from time to
:58:21. > :58:24.time, but it will be dry. As far as tonight is concerned, some
:58:25. > :58:30.frost on the way, temperatures dipping away in rural spots, `5 or
:58:31. > :58:33.six degrees, but in towns or cities closer to freezing. Certainly below
:58:34. > :58:37.freezing in some of the bigger places in Scotland, mist and fog
:58:38. > :58:40.could be freezing first thing in the morning, take it steady for
:58:41. > :58:44.travelling, slippy in one or two places. Tomorrow, broken cloud
:58:45. > :58:47.across the vast majority of the country, in the south`west some
:58:48. > :58:50.sunshine around at temperatures hovering around five or six
:58:51. > :58:51.degrees. In terms of