November 22st 1963 is the day Jack Kennedy's presidency was ended with precision that left his wife covered in his own blood. She did not change her dress that day, and said "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."
We are haunted by those bloody images. In his death on that day in November, Irish American leadership was fated to a complex mythology where our greatest symbolic triumph becomes a Shakespearean tragedy mired in blood.
That's why every glimmering second of his last moments on November 22st, 1963 are so sacred to Irish Americans of memory, and why these new fleeting images are so important to us.
The video that was released today of JFK and Jackie was taken on the eve of that awful day at a baseball game by Roy Botello, who's now 88.
The President and first lady were touring San Antonio, and stopped on-the-fly to hear some Mariachi music. Jackie spoke some Spanish and translated some of the song for her husband--the couple were laughing and smiling.
Botello kept the video in a drawer in his living room in the San Antonio area for 47 years and now plans to donate what he called a "national treasure" to the people of the United States.
We are haunted by those bloody images. In his death on that day in November, Irish American leadership was fated to a complex mythology where our greatest symbolic triumph becomes a Shakespearean tragedy mired in blood.
That's why every glimmering second of his last moments on November 22st, 1963 are so sacred to Irish Americans of memory, and why these new fleeting images are so important to us.
The video that was released today of JFK and Jackie was taken on the eve of that awful day at a baseball game by Roy Botello, who's now 88.
The President and first lady were touring San Antonio, and stopped on-the-fly to hear some Mariachi music. Jackie spoke some Spanish and translated some of the song for her husband--the couple were laughing and smiling.
Botello kept the video in a drawer in his living room in the San Antonio area for 47 years and now plans to donate what he called a "national treasure" to the people of the United States.
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