...ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY: The Memory and Legacy of John F. Kennedy

The famous psychic Jeanne Dixon predicted the death of John F. Kennedy. She begged friends of the president to warn him away from Dallas on November 22, 1963. Tragically, her prediction came true. This recollection and others regarding that fateful day, from politicians, friends, soldiers and ordinary people, form this collection. It is filled with often surprising details that dispel much of our common knowledge about that day. Political adversary Barry Goldwater, who greatly admired Kennedy, was attending the funeral of his mother-in-law, not giving a political speech (as Walter Cronkite reported), on the day of Kennedy's funeral. Another politician from the opposite side of the aisle, Gerald Ford, also admired Kennedy for his service to his country as well as for his charm and intelligence. The pilot of Air Force One tells of ripping rows of seats out of the plane so that the casket could be placed with the passengers rather than in the cargo hold. And Sgt. Keith Clark, the bugler who played taps at Kennedy's funeral, recounts the first bad note of his career, a sound the world heard as a symbolic sob. This gathering of memories by Fleming, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, is refreshingly lacking in controversy, instead filled with admiration and fondness for Kennedy, and with curiosity about what his presidency might have meant for the country had he lived. B&w photos. (Dec.)