Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Sixty Years Ago Today

Over the course of the next few years, Forgotten Hits will be looking back 

"60 YEARS AGO TODAY" ...

We'll see the world change in ways we never could have imagined ...

We'll see the music world change, too.

Our story starts here ...


If you were alive on November 22, 1963 ... no matter how old you may have been at the time ... these images are ingrained in your mind forever.  We had never seen a man actually shot and killed live on tv before ... especially such an important and prestigious man ... the leader of the world's greatest nation, gunned down before our very eyes.  (Who could have imagined that two days later we'd see his accused assassin murdered live on tv as well.)  How do these images not leave you?  Even today, sixty years later, there is that moment of shock, even when you know what is coming.

The Zapuder film shows The President Of The United States being shot once just as the motorcade passes a road sign ... and then again just two seconds later ... by all appearances from the FRONT of the limousine, rocking the President's head BACKWARDS in a way that a shot from behind wouldn't have done.

This has been the main matter of debate ever since President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd, 1963.  How could Lee Harvey Oswald have shot and killed The President of The United States from BEHIND the motorcade from the Book Depository Window?  And what type of marksman would he have had to been in order to do so?

It consumed our very existence ... newspapers in every major city were putting out multiple daily editions with the latest details.  All three network television stations going around the clock to bring us the latest news and developments.

It has probably been analyzed more than any other event in American History ... and yet most people still feel that we don't know the whole story.

When the news finally came, shortly after 1 pm Central Time ... "apparently now official" that The President had died, the nation ... no, the entire world ... went into a state of shock.  It was something we couldn't even comprehend ... but it was coming from perhaps the most trusted man in America, newscaster Walter Cronkite ... so it MUST be true ... the very WORST imaginable news must be true.

Here is how some of American got the news ...

It takes a second or two for Cronkite to compose himself to continue his broadcast.

A manhunt was immediately put in place, trying to locate the shooter.  A rifle is found near a sixth floor window in The Book Depository.  Lee Harvey Oswald, presumably in that window as the motorcade went by, had immediately fled the scene after the shots were fired.  He then stops home to pick up a pistol and is later found in a movie theater.  (He will also be accused of shooting Police Officer Tippit while en route.)

The encapsulated news story is simply this:

On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.

Also in the vehicle were Kennedy's wife, The First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Govenor John Connally (who was also wounded in the attack) and Connally's wife Nellie.

The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone, assassinated the President by firing three shots (one of which missed the car completely) from The Texas Book Depository when the motorcade passed its location as part of the predesignated (and publicized) route.  The streets were lined with people out to see The President and welcome him to Dallas.

After The President had been hit, the motorcade rushed him to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was officially pronounced dead approximately thirty minutes later.  Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into the presidency onboard Air Force One shortly thereafter.

Those are the events as documented that day.

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

11/22/63 – President Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas, TX

Also on 11/22, The Beatles release their second British album “With The Beatles” in the UK.  (It will come out in America two months later as “Meet The Beatles” with a shuffled song line-up, which would be the case with most of their US album counterparts through 1966.)  A week later, their latest single British single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” / “This Boy,” their fifth, would also be climbing the British charts.

Beatlemania has already engulfed most of Europe by this point ... but The United States will remain immune for another few weeks until "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (coupled with "I Saw Her Standing There") is released here Stateside.  When The Beatles finally touch down at newly-named JFK Airport in New York City on February 7th for an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," The United States has fallen victim, too.  The arrival of The Beatles ... and The British Invasion to follow ... will change the course of music forever ... but wait ... we're getting ahead of ourselves!
 
Also on 11/22, The Phil Spector Christmas Album is released.  It will not get the initial recognition it deserves, due to all the chaos of the day ... but will continue to grow in stature over time, and go on to rank as one of the greatest Christmas releases of all time

Also on 11/22, after a concert in Marysville, California, The Beach Boys go back to their hotel room in Sacramento and, feeling in a very melancholy mood due to the events of the day, Brian Wilson and Mike Love compose the song "The Warmth Of The Sun," which they will later say was inspired by the assassination of President Kennedy.

[Reports as to the accuracy of this event have varied considerably over the years ... for OUR best interpretation of the history of this song, please see our article posted on The Forgotten Hits Archives website:

http://forgottenhits.com/the_story_behind_the_warmth_of_the_sun]

Also on 11/22, after scouting potential locations for months, Walt Disney decides to build his second “Disneyland” in Orlando, Florida, as a counterpart to the original park located in Anaheim, California.  Walt Disney World will officially open on October 1st, 1971, nearly eight years later

Also on 11/22, William Clay Ford, Sr., a direct descendant of Henry Ford, purchased The Detroit Lions football team for $6 million.