John F Kennedy: The end of a dream

"It's more of an aura than his political achievements that remain," recently wrote the New York Times. Much of the 1063 days of the presidency of John F. Kennedy has remained unsettled - but the myth remains.

Many political observers look at disillusionment with Kennedy's term of office: he had internal and foreign policy made a lot - but achieved little.

"Kennedy gave great hope this optimism across America, this ability for America to open new adventure that is his inheritance," said Marvin Kalb of the Brookings Institution, ''a think tank in Washington, more friendly'' and addeds: "I would hope we would see more of that today. "

Nevertheless, even the biggest skeptic can the magic of the 'what if' hardly escape that still connects with John F. Kennedy, who makes him so attractive to generations of admirers. Kristin also Donowan, an elderly lady in a memorial concert at the participating Washington St. Matthew's Cathedral, where the funeral Mass for Kennedy was read 50 years ago, has succumbed to the spell. She remembers a bright, inspiring time of new beginnings with a young president and a family out of a picture book.

"For a brief moment there was Camelot (The legend of King Arthur and his court Kennedy's favorite story His wife Jackie was trying to project this myth for the presidency -. Editor's note) It was a wonderful time in our history. . His death traumatized the entire nation., the people sat for hours in front of the television. Churches were crowded. "

The magic that Kennedy left behind is still evident today

Andrew Craft, who came with his friends to the memorial concert, Kennedy did not live to. The young man goes into raptures: "For me personally, he is an icon he is a role model to which you can look up.". An elderly man tries to derive his enthusiasm for Kennedy rational. "It's more of an image than what he has actually done.'s Image was fantastic for me as a young man who came straight from college. He was an inspiration for us to just let the conservative period of 50 years behind us . Times changed and he represented das. "


Dallas, 22 November 1963


In Dallas, the doctor Ronald Jones, one of the first physicians, after the Kennedy assassination administered first aid in the operating room alive. In an interview with DW, he raises as a biblical narrative: "I was sitting in the cafeteria after a medical treatment, it was November 22, 1963, five years after my medical training I received the signal, immediately call the office.. . and I went to the phone on the wall of the cafeteria and called: '. Dr. Jones, the President was shot you take him to the emergency room and just prepare everything,' "he heard at the other end of the line.


Jones has told this story many times. But when he comes to the place that he and his colleagues need to realize after more than eight minutes of countless attempts to revive the death of President Kennedy, his voice trembling, even 50 years after this experience. It was a dramatic experience, but also for the people in the U.S. and around the world not only for him and the doctors of the Parkland Hospital in Dallas.


"We all realized that he was dead," Jones explains. "And I think Mrs. Kennedy did., You probably already knew that he was dying, when she arrived at Parkland Hospital because she had held him all the time in the limo."


The political legacy


What remains of the short tenure of the youngest president in American history?