Welcome to the weekend and Podcast #101. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, we welcome Tom Delisle, a longtime friend of the Kennedy Family to my dining room table.
We talk about how even now, after half a Century, it's hard to believe that the most important person in the world - so young and vital - could be brought down by a misfit loner like Lee Harvey Oswald with a "lucky shot". And I, who have never bought into any conspiracy theories, reveal how recent events have led me to question things I used to accept as truth.
While the JFK assassination seems just like yesterday to many of us, we are puzzled by the lack of knowledge and interest young people have about what was undoubtably the "Crime of the Century".
On a personal note, I'll tell you the story (that frankly still amazes me) of how I ended up interviewing JFK during his presidential campaign...and the incredible connection to that interview, a lunch that followed, and the man who - three years later - stood outside Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and told a shocked world that the President was dead.
Delisle also reveals the amazing chain of events that led Jack Ruby to be in that Parking Garage just as Oswald was being transferred and ended the Assassin's life with a single shot.
Tom then also tells us how a good friend of his ended up being one of Lee Harvey Oswalds's pallbearers - and how Ruby's gun ended up in Detroit.
We also explore JFK's eye for the ladies... ONE OF WHOM JOINS US ON THE PODCAST, How I stood 4 ft. from Kennedy the day he delivered the famohous Cuban Missile Crisis speech. (Not to sound like Forrest Gump, but I also spent the evening with then NYC Mayor Rudy Gulianni, the same night "Shock and Awe" was launched in Iraq).
And to end on a "high"note...Tom and I tell recall the night we both met the amazing Tiny Tim!!! (That was a different kind of "Shock & Awe")... and on a "low" note (at least from a Father's perspective!) Jackie tells us what she would have done if she was in the ill fated plane with John F. Kennedy Juuuunnnnnior!
So join us for the next 48 minutes as we look back to those incredible days and happenings 50 years ago on Podcast #101.
Have a great weekend!
-Dick