JFK 50th Gettysburg 150th

[Richard Hocking]

JFK visited the Gettysburg battlefield on March 1, 1963.

Below, JFK, Jackie and their guide.

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=11469

… on November 19, 1963, John F. Kennedy, had to turn down a request to speak at the 100^th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. He was needed to fly down to Texas to help mediate a political dispute and then take part in appearances in Dallas with Vice President Lyndon Johnson on November 22, 1963.

Kennedy did send a special statement to Gettysburg for the event, which ended with this phrase: “On this solemn occasion let us all rededicate ourselves to the perpetuation of those ideals of which Lincoln spoke so luminously. As Americans, we can do no less.”

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/11/the-lost-presidential-speech-made-at-the-gettysburg-address-anniversary/

…

that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain –

that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom –

and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

- Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

Edited November 21, 2013 by Richard Hocking

[Harry J.Dean]

GETTYSBURG - 150th

I am here at Gettysburg

My name is called unknown

On every side the battles surge,

The guns spit fire and death is sown

I see some mother's sons

Falling from the line

They cry in pain, their end has come...

...another day, another time

We might have known peace,

Hark! The victor's cry is heard

Now this bloody siege will cease

As these guns are stilled at Gettysburg

All is quiet now at Gettysburg

And we sleep in shallow grave

No more to hear loved ones, or the words

Of Abe Lincoln as he speaks of all brave

Living and dead who struggled here,

Of our faith in God, in America and in liberty

That these shall not perish but long endure

Beyond this battlefield, beyond the centuries.

© H. Dean