Cry For the Child If The Tears Will Come/A Christmas Carol/C. Dickens

6. The New Frontier Comes to a Bloody End

"We have come to the edge of a new frontier."

John Kennedy used this phrase as part of his acceptance speech in 1960; Laurel would never forget it. She felt that over-used symptom of "chills running up and down her spine" and "goosebumps on her arms" when she watched the acceptance speech. What an idea--a new frontier. Things were going to change, and things were going to be different. And Laurel thought to herself--it isn't just Jackie and her Dior suits and elegant hats. The nation was going to wake up from its 8 year Republican sleep.
The President said that we would see an astronaut on the moon within the next ten years.

Laurel hated using cliches, even in her thoughts. But looking at the President she could not help thinking: he is a breath of fresh air. His beautiful teeth, his posture, his ease in front of the camera (and a lot of people thought that compared to Nixon in the television debate, Kennedy emerged in control of himself and his thoughts and this won him the election.) His press conferences were a joy to watch. The President'sense of humor quickly became legendary; he rarely used it in a negative way although we were going through the Cold War with the USSR then. It seemed to Laurel that the reporters really liked the President. As he chose the members of his cabinet Laurel read all about it in the Pittsburgh Press. These men were giants of the intellectual community in the United States, had been to Harvard--like our President--and Yale. They had Ph.D. degrees. People were not happy, though, when Kennedy selected his brother Robert as Attorney General. Laurel thought about this for a long time. She could see the problem from two sides. Maybe Robert Kennedy would actually make a good Attorney General. But it also seemed that the President wasn't giving other people a chance. Laurel concluded that she would refrain from thinking about this anymore. Just with Jackie and worrying about how she kept her hats on the back of her head--Laurel felt that she had to trust President Kennedy about bringing in his brother as Attorney General.

So all was well until the President and Jackie took a trip to Texas and the President was shot and killed and Jackie had the President's blood all over the skirt of her pink suit.

Nobody left their television sets during those black days at the end of November, 1963. Laurel and her family watched the demise of the New Frontier. And Jackie wasn't wearing red dresses and suits, white dresses at formal dinners and dances. She was covered in black and held each of her small children by their hands.

Jackie was still alive. But Laurel couldn't get the idea out of her head that Jackie had died too.