A pivotal moment in time for the baby boom generation

Where were you when you hear President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas? Where were you when you heard he had died?

If you were old enough to be aware, you can probably remember both places.

For the aging baby boomer generation, few events had the impact of the assassination of JFK. By comparison, the deaths of his brother and Dr. Martin Luther King seemed like sad summer reruns.

The JFK assassination seemed to mark the end of an era of optimism spawned by the end of World War II, and the beginning of a period of social and political turbulence.

The shooting in Dallas was perhaps the defining leading edge of the mass-media spectrum that extends across today’s Word Wide Web and Starlink constellation. The extensive coverage, including Walter Cronkite’s emotional announcement on CBS, left a lasting impression, coloring our understanding of today’s current events.

The assassination shattered the sense of innocence and idealism that characterized the early 1960s. It influenced the art, music, and literature of the time.

We baby boomers can remember how the event was reflected in popular culture, with songs like “Abraham, Martin, and John” and films like “JFK” later exploring the impact and conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination. One could speculate that America’s unprecedented embrace of the youthful Beatles rock-n-roll band was a reaction to the profound sense of loss.

The aftermath of JFK’s assassination had significant political consequences. Lyndon B. Johnson became president, and the Vietnam War escalated. Would Vietnam become the all-defining morass it was had JFK lived? We’ll never know.

The 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination should serve as a time for collective remembrance and contemplation of the enduring impact on our lives and the nation as a whole.

So many changes, such profound effects on all aspects of our lives that reverberate still as a result of that first news bulletin from Dallas.