St. Paul recorder., 1963-11-28
Kennedy Died In Line Of
Duty, Even AS Lincoln

The tree Of liberty must be refreshed from
time to time with the blood Of patriots and
despOts. 1t Is its natural manure.-ThOmas
jefferson.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 35th President of
these United States died Friday, November %, from
assassins bullet even as predecessor, Abraham
Lincoln, died in the cause Of liberty justice and
freedom for all people.
President John Kennedy like Abraham Lincoln
is a martyr to the cause of human rights and de-
cency. His death should the entire nation to
re-eXamine any unreSolved problem, domestic or
international which would cause the public murder
of dedicated public servant who sought to the
interests of all the people. state Of mind which
would cause the bombing of church Sunday schoo
in country would not spare President from
assassination
Kennedy Joined Medgar Dvers, the Mississippi
NAACP officials who was gunned down in front OF
his home for advocating freedom for us. Negroes;
the six young Negroes who victims Of bombers,
and other assasins in the streets of Birmingham In
giving his life for freedom and justice.
President Kennedys death may be attributed to
number of reasons beside the civil rights issue by
many but this newspaper believes the rights issue
was an overriding influence in the tragedy. The
personal attacks of the Faubuses, the Barnetts
the wallaces on John Kennedy and his brother are
contributing causes to the temper which have made
many extremists resort to murder.
The reports at hand indicate that fanaical
devotee Of Mar1dsm and Ffdel Castro pulled the
trigger which took the life Of the President. this
is true 1t renforces earlier statement that Ken
nedy a victim Of the forces opposed to freedom
and justice. Both the left and the right in our
country and elsewhere were rejected by John Ken
nedy and he became symbol of their fear Of the
achievement of true liberty, freedom and democracy
in the world
Many an American recalling the customs and
death of Medgar EVers breathed sigh Of relief
that the actual assassination could not be traced
directly to anger In the South at the Presidents
civil rights posture
1t is true that In our preoccupation with the VIC
iolE attacks Of the extreme right in this country
against Kennedy President, and most shame
fully as a personality we have often forgotten that
just vicious and unprincfpaed the ghtists and
racists the extreme left as represented by the
Communists and leftast oriented groups in the US
OF the many members of Congress who ex-
pressed thoughts on the tragedy the most forth
night read heard were those remarks Of Con-
gresham Hale Boggs Of Louisiana who attributed
the assassination to the climate Of personal hatred Of
the President which he had cautioned the people Of
his native Louisiana against In a speech in New
Orleans recently. Congressman Boggs, certainly no
civil rights advocate, had the courage and convic-
on to offer the hatred stirred up by the racists as
a contributing factor in Fridays great tragedy.
President Kennedy may have been the victim
of the split personality, a national characteristic
which has continued in this nation-a personality
that allows to sing praises to republic for its
liberty. justice. freedom, and equahty-even as we
know that in fact 1t does not exist for at least 10
per cent Of our population. Most certainly he vgor
ously opposed our national schizophrenia.
In this nation we have been relatively free Of
political murders. but there is a growing virulence
which is best represented by the political rghtists
in this nation which indicate that such assassination
of political leaders occurred Friday may become
a new phase Of American life it has been in less
fortunate countries.
1t can hope that the horrible murder Of our
national leader win so shock the conscience Of our
nation that we return to sanity and face the need
to get our moral house In order-a cause and hope
for which President Kennedy died.