Never-before-seen video of JFK on his last night alive
Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 09:16 PM
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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.
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susanna | May 23, 2010, 01:08 PM EDT
Wow, I forgot how handsome he was.
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boxingclever | May 18, 2010, 03:43 PM EDT
THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED
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McNamara31 | May 18, 2010, 09:15 AM EDT
Two days before his arrival in Dallas, posters and articles that smeared President Kennedy as being a "communist" and one who "betrayed the Constitution" were circulated by the southern conservatives. I would hope we could learn from this terrible event.
Poster: http://newsericks.com/dallas/
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McNamara31 | May 18, 2010, 08:47 AM EDT
To see them so happy, never did they know what would await them and the country in Dallas.....So sad.
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Ms.Gail | May 17, 2010, 01:58 PM EDT
It is kind of Mr. Botello to share this.
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MarinaWhelan | May 17, 2010, 01:48 PM EDT
I think it is a great piece of history. Thank you to Mr.Botello for sharing this footage.
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Nelliegrace | May 17, 2010, 12:01 PM EDT
Incredible footage. So young, so vibrant, so alive.
And all these years later we still ask "what might have been?"
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PatriciaHarty | May 17, 2010, 11:26 AM EDT
did you know that JFK died 105 years to the day that his great grandfather Patrick Kennedy died on? Patrick arrived in Boston on April 22, 1849. He died of cholera 9 years later (on November 22) leaving a wife Bridget (also and Irish immigrant) and four small children, the youngest of whom, Patrick Joseph Kennedy, would become John F. Kennedy's grandfather.
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RiverAveGuy | May 17, 2010, 11:16 AM EDT
I'm Irish American and don't care ! Not all Irish American supported Kennedy. Deal with it.
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pounder | May 17, 2010, 09:43 AM EDT
"his last moments on November 22st, 1963 are so sacred to Irish Americans"
Not just Irish Americans, all people throughout the world.The world has not been the same since that day.
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joanmoody | May 17, 2010, 08:50 AM EDT
Actually they were visiting San Antonio
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