What Would Have Become of Camelot?

President John F. Kennedy and Mary Pinchot Meyer in Pennsylvania in September 1963.

I remember the day all too well.  I was in Jr. High School, in 1963.  An announcement came over the loud speaker, it was our principal announcing that John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Texas.  School was immediately let out, tears streamed down students' faces, as if they had lost one of their own.

John Kennedy was bigger than  life to me at 12 years old.  He looked differently, acted differently, and was so handsome.  Nobody wore their hair quite like him, he had charm, and wasn't afraid to use it.  He cracked jokes as easily as downing a beer, and the media loved and protected him.  Something that would never happen today.

When I looked over this account of his latest dalliance, I wasn't surprised. Mary Pinchot Meyer JFK Mistress Assasinated.  I take the fact that Kennedy was a philanderer with a grain of salt.  He was so precious to me as a young girl, that, in my mind, he had no faults.  I felt, and still feel, that he always had the best interest of his country in mind, and would gladly die again for America.

I don't think this article, or anything else that has exposed his liaisons with actresses and acquaintances can ever ruin his credibility.  He was just too brilliant and kind for that to happen.  When he addressed the nation, you know he meant business.  We felt protected and privileged to have such a progressive, forward thinking leader.

We reveled in his family outings with John and Caroline.  We loved watching Jackie jump her horse, and watching Caroline learning to ride on her pony.  The one photo- besides the one of John John saluting his dad at the funeral - I will never forget is of John John playing under his desk at the White House.

Jackie, so fashion forward, was a breath of fresh air.  I especially enjoyed watching her first television presentation, when she took America on tour after redecorating the White House.  After the Eisenhower administration, the Kennedy's were royalty in the White House.  President's before Kennedy, were stuffy, formal.  We didn't see their wit, or have a window into their family life.

No wonder the years' Kennedy spent as our President are fondly remembered as the Camelot years.  Those years' were a fairy tale for most of America.  Even Khrushchev was charmed by Mrs. Kennedy, sending her a little dog she had expressed an interest in that was part of Russia's space program.

With the death of John Kennedy Jr, Caroline is all that is left of Camelot.  I often think of what Camelot would be like today, if John F Kennedy were alive.  I imagine he would be writing,  and still be involved in politics.  His reign ended far too soon, like all good fairy tales.

We can only wonder what would have become of Camelot had he still be alive.