JFK remembered, 50 years since his assassination

Next Friday marks the 50th anniversary from the day that John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the young and charismatic President of the United States, was shot and killed during a political trip to Texas.

Kennedy was travelling in the Presidential limousine along with his wife Jackie and fellow Democrat John Connally on 22 November, 1963. As they reached the Dallas centre, the limo came across a rapturous crowd, gathered there to greet their President.

As the unguarded motorcade slowed down, the sound of gunshots came crashing down on the cheery mood. The President was the target, suffering a total of three bullet wounds- one in the throat, one in the back, and a fatal one to the head. Kennedy was rushed to the nearby Parkland Hospital but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

America stood still. The world stood still. The most powerful man on earth had been killed.

At 46, Kennedy would become the youngest US President to die but the manner of his death was what really compounded the general feeling of utter disbelief.

Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee at the bank from where the shots are believed to have been fired, was initially suspected of the murder but was himself killed by Jack Ruby a few days later. Oswald was never actually tried and, for many, justice had not been done.

The shockwaves that emanated from the fateful events of that day in Dallas were far-reaching.

Malta was no exception.

The front page of local newspapers of the time, Il-Berqa and L-Orizzont - which had only been in existence for a year before Kennedy's assassination - carried the headlines 'Kennedy Assassinated', whilst the Times of Malta wrote that 'a bright flame was extinguished by a murderer's bullet'.

Joseph Zahra, ex-editor of local newspaper In-Nazzjon said that the nation was 'dumbfounded' at the news of Kennedy's killing.

"As a nation, we were dumbfounded. I could not believe my ears when I heard the news. It struck me as if I had lost a family member," he said.

Zahra said that Kennedy 'had everything to make him popular with the Maltese people'.

"Individually a lot of people wept on hearing the news. A great man - a young, handsome, family man - who was changing the face of the world, had been assassinated," he said.

Zahra remembers that only a few months before the shooting, on 9 September, Malta's Prime Minister at the time, George Borg Olivier, had visited Kennedy at the White House and he believed that his meeting would help to increase the President's reputation in Malta. "Borg Olivier was impressed by Kennedy's depth of knowledge about Malta. The visit increased the Maltese population's appreciation towards the American president. The great majority were hoping that the US would help Malta once we attain independence.  When he died, we mourned for someone we regarded as a friend," he said.

Zahra was not the only one to be shocked by the news of Kennedy's murder.

Charles Mizzi, at the time a 22-year old journalist with l-Orizzont, initially thought that the rumour going around was a joke. "I remember I was in Valletta at the time when I heard the news. A person in the street was shouting out that Kennedy had just been shot. I couldn't believe it at first, in fact I thought he was joking!" he recalled.

"Many people in Malta were very upset about it," he said. "It was a big, big tragedy and one which left a lasting impact on anyone that remembers it," he said.

Mizzi had first heard of Kennedy whilst living and working in the United States, where he stayed until 1959. He quickly became aware that Kennedy was "something different".

"I remember this young senator by the name of John Kennedy coming through the political ranks. There seemed to be something different about him, he wasn't your average politician - he had a certain charisma about him," he said.

"When he became President, and up until his death, I remember being struck by how many people in Malta liked him," he said, adding his belief that the fact that Kennedy was the first Catholic President of the United States helped in this regard. "The Maltese were always going to take to that."

Karmenu Micallef, a colleague of Mizzi's at the L-Orizzont, agreed that this was probably one of the reasons why the Maltese liked the American president. "The Maltese took a liking to him in a way that they hadn't with any other US President until then, and probably since then too. Historically, we're not a people overly concerned about foreign political leaders, unless the person in question has a direct influence on Malta. But because Kennedy, the most influential leader in the world, was Catholic and was open about his beliefs, the Maltese felt they could relate to the man."

Part of Micallef's job at the time was to work on the newspaper's front page and he said that the next day's front page had already been decided upon but had to be scrapped because of the Kennedy assassination.

He said that Malta's admiration for Kennedy showed when, only a few months after the assassination, a campaign was launched to honour the late President by building a garden in his name.

The garden was co-funded by American citizens living in Malta and the US government and it was to become the Kennedy Grove we all know today.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death, a new movie 'Parkland' has been made. The movie, named after the hospital where Kennedy was pronounced dead, focuses on the immediate aftermath of the shooting, from the eyes of the doctors and nurses who were unable to save the President's life.