Part 15 (1/2)
Although Kennedy enjoyed successes politically with cleaning up the growing problem of organized crime in America, and s.e.xually with his conquests of Marilyn Monroe and Judith Campbell Exner, there were some hiccups during his presidency. Kennedy okayed the Bay of Pigs disaster and had difficulty pa.s.sing social reform. In spite of his uneven first-term results, he was beginning to look toward securing re-election when he traveled to Texas in November 1963.
The Dallas Disaster.
Maybe if Kennedy had been less focused on changing Was.h.i.+ngton's nickname to the ”unbuckled beltway,” he would have realized that sitting in the back of a convertible with the top down waving to a crowd of strangers is never a good idea for anyone who has made an enemy or two over the years. It takes only one bad day for a psychotic, socially disturbed malcontent to bring a gun to work.
As the presidential motorcade made its way through Dallas, cheering crowds lined the streets. When the president's car pulled in front of the Texas School Book Depository, three shots were fired, and chaos erupted. The first shot was wide right, the second nonfatal shot was buried deep in the spleen of the Texas governor, and the third was a fatal headshot to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. With the president dead, police arrested Lee Harvey Os-wald, the aforementioned psychotic, socially disturbed malcontent.
Who Is Responsible?
Many Americans never wanted to believe that Oswald acted on his own. As a result, dozens of theories concerning who was responsible for JFK's murder have been offered up. The Russians did it. The Mafia did it. The vice president was power hungry. Who would shoot the man whose secret service detail gave the code name The Golden p.e.n.i.s?
Speculation ran on endlessly like a Kenyan. It was three shooters; it was a shooter on the overpa.s.s. It was a shooter on the gra.s.sy knoll. n.o.body knows for sure. But most evidence leads us to believe it was Lee Harvey Oswald. Unfortunately, we never got to hear from Oswald. AS HE WAS BEING TRANSFERRED BETWEEN PRISONS, STRIP-CLUB OWNER JACK RUBY SHOT OSWALD TO DEATH ON LIVE TV, WHICH IS A GOOD LESSON FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG CREDIT AT A STRIP CLUB. Ruby was later arrested, tried, and sent to prison; he died from cancer in 1967.
For many Americans, the Kennedy a.s.sa.s.sination is the crown jewel of unsolved mysteries. To date there have been over 2,000 books written on the Kennedy a.s.sa.s.sination, and not one of them unequivocally holds the nuts to the question, who shot President Kennedy?
Obviously, other presidents before and after JFK have indulged in extramarital affairs; however, this is an appropriate place to pause and reflect on the all-time greatest White House mistresses, because no one did it better than John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The following rankings are based on the mistresses' looks, stature in the community, and length of s.e.xual service to the president. There is no weight given to their skills between the sheets, as most often the presidents themselves have yet to comment on the individual performances of their mistresses.
Top Ten All-Time White House Mistresses.
Marilyn Monroe: She's in a league of her own. An object of men's fantasies around the world in her prime. Even JFK's wife gave him props on this.
Sally Hemings: Sally was Thomas Jefferson's slave with whom he had children. He loved to tell her, ”I own you!” because legally, he really did.
Blaze Starr: JFK scores again. She was a stripper, and frequently referred to her bedroom as the ”Oral Office.”
Mary Gibbons: George Was.h.i.+ngton got the presidential ball rolling with this spicy little number. It is a little-known fact that when George was talking about cutting down the cherry tree, he was actually referring to taking Mary's virginity.
Judith Exner Campbell: JFK makes his third appearance on our list. Campbell was known to be a mistress of the Chicago mobster Sam Giancana. Really JFK? We're disappointed. Sloppy seconds? C'mon! You bagged Monroe! Dust yourself off and get back out there.
Crown Princess Marta: Franklin Delano Roosevelt makes our list. She was the crown princess from Norway. And more importantly, she was hot.
Nan Britton: Warren Harding shows up in the #7 spot. One of the favorites on the list, Harding was president during the Roaring Twenties and bagged Britton, thirty years his junior. Harding is often described as a ”compulsive adulterer.”
Monica Lewinsky: Our most recent addition to the list is known for seedy encounters with President Clinton. Literally helped redefine the word s.e.x. Now making a living off her s.e.xual exploits.
Kay Summersby: Dwight Eisenhower's mistress during his time as a general. Some sources report it as an illicit affair, while others maintain it didn't go beyond kissing. Which one is it? We need to know. If it was only kissing, then she's off the list, and she won't have a second crack at it either. Not because we're b.a.s.t.a.r.ds; she died in 1975.
Kennedy's secretaries: Now that's how you bounce back from sloppy seconds. A good old-fas.h.i.+oned threesome in the White House pool with employees. Man, this guy pulled in some serious tail. You are a role model for all American men, Mr. Kennedy.
1964 THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.
A call-the-doctor itch for equality.
Equal in War, Equal in Peace.
With the sequel to the Great War over and the Korean conflict fading in the rearview mirror, black American men began to develop a call-the-doctor itch for equality. After Harry S. Truman ordered the integration of the United States military in 1947, black men were given the opportunity to live, work, and die with the more popular and more highly regarded white man.
Witnessing the ease in which a white man could get a table at a restaurant, tickets to a ball game, and purchase a car, men with African heritage took an interest in the benefits of the white man's lifestyle. Using the momentum developed by the Supreme Court ruling of 1954 calling for desegregation of U.S. public schools, black people across the United States took up the tussle for minority equality.
Politely Asking for Equality.
Instead of using the threat of death that gun-in-hand armed Robin Hoods use today to influence convenience store workers to politely and quickly put the day's revenue in a brown bag and graciously give it to them, African Americans in the earlier sixties began a much quieter movement centered on peaceful marches. Tens of thousands and at times hundreds of thousands of black people would congregate in political epicenters to kindly ask for the same opportunities that the American majority were experiencing.
Leading the way was a charismatic brutha named Martin Luther King. King met great resistance for his cause from the Confederate flag - wors.h.i.+pping southern males. It was obvious that King and his movement had a chance to become more than just a nuisance, threatening a real possibility of long lines at newly ordained mixed-race water fountains all around the country. FEARING THIS OUTCOME, DEER-HUNTING, TOBACCO-CHEWING, BUSCH LIGHT - DRINKING REDNECKS PUT FORTH THE THEOLOGICAL PROPOSITION THAT G.o.d NEVER INTENDED TO CREATE ALL MEN EQUALLY.
Progress Has Its Price.