60 years ago

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in 60 years ago:

George - do you remember where you were?

Sure.

I was in 7th grade, Mrs. Miers' class, I believe. I was seated on the left side of the classroom, aisle to my left. I was 3 seats from the back when the announcement came over the PA.

[George K]

60 years ago today.

[Copper]

Judge, Jury and Executioner, the taxpayers owe Mr. Ruby a great deal.

[mark]

@Copper said in 60 years ago:

Judge, Jury and Executioner, the taxpayers owe Mr. Ruby a great deal.

Yeah, sure. Mr. Ruby was only responsible for 60 years of conspiracy theories.

[Renauda]

@mark

Exactly.

[jon-nyc]

Oliver Stone owes a great debt to him.

[jon-nyc]

I just learned his original last name was Rubenstein, both parents orthodox Jewish immigrants from Poland.

I wonder how distant a relative Arthur Rubenstein was?

[Copper]

@jon-nyc said in 60 years ago:

his original last name was Rubenstein

Jacob Leon Rubenstein born on or around March 25, 1911, in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago, the son of Joseph Rubenstein and Fannie Turek Rutkowski

Link to video

[Renauda]

I went to school with a Rutkowski. His family was quite active in the Ukrainian diaspora here.

[Copper]

60 years today

Link to video

[jon-nyc]

Jesus you’d think they’d find a horse better suited to the task.

[Copper]

I remember the horse, the drums, the salute, the caisson and its wheels on the cobblestone. When I see the video it comes right back.

It was the biggest thing ever, at the time.

[George K]

@jon-nyc said in 60 years ago:

Jesus you’d think they’d find a horse better suited to the task.

Before watching the video and commentary, I would have thought, "Yeah, but a horse has to horse."

No.

You're right. "Too wild to ride?" Why the hell is he in the most solemn ceremony of the 2nd half of the 20th century?

This is an animal that is not trained, or at worst not trainable. There must be hundreds of black horses within 15 miles of DC that would have been better behaved.

I'm not blaming the horse - he's being himself.

Find a horse that could be himself and not be a spectacle.

ETA: And the comments are...stupid.

This breaks my heart. The horse knew what was happening.

Black Jack was the perfect horse for this funeral. He was big, beautiful, and spirited........just as the best of us in this Nation have always been. A quieter horse would never have been remembered.....Black Jack left his mark on history.

[jon-nyc]

Exactly George.

They said the horse was used for this task because he was unsuitable for riding.

WTF?

This is President Kennedy’s funeral. Find a horse suited for the needed task, not unsuited to some other task.

[Renauda]

Instead of cool headed warm blood (which would have been a true cavalryman’s choice) they had to have a barely halter broke prancing Thoroughbred hot blood because it looks good?