The moment I heard the news, I was in the bath in the Toorak flat where I was living with my parents and my sister Sue. It was 1963: Saturday 23 November for me, Friday 22 November for John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I was 16 years old. JFK was 46, and it was the last day of his life – 45 years ago today. The 35th US President was almost three years into his presidency when he was gunned down in Dallas, Texas. Assassination conspiracy theories continue to this day. JFK was handsome, wealthy and charismatic. But he was flawed, having Addison’s Disease, and also affairs with Marilyn Monroe and others. Notwithstanding, he came third (after Martin Luther King Jr and Mother Teresa) in a Gallup list of the most admired people of the twentieth century. Who can forget the image of JFK Jr (‘John-John’) at his father’s funeral. John-John, aged 38, died in a plane crash in 1999, continuing what’s become known as the Kennedy Curse. JFK is the last of the eight US Presidents who’ve died in office. Four were assassinated. He remains the only Catholic US President. Among his many memorials, probably the best known is John F Kennedy International Airport whose official code is JFK. Former US Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said of JFK ‘All of us…will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours’.
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