1960s, most violent decade: Assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King much worse than in the 2020s

Remembering JFK — 62 Years Later

Those of us Baby Boomers who can remember exactly where we were on Nov. 22, 1963, when we learned about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are becoming fewer and fewer.

However, that event was the start of a horribly violent period of American politics and public life. While some say that the 2020s are terribly violent, pointing to the killing of a young conservative a few months ago, that event had none of the national emotional impact that the killing of JFK, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy did in the 60s.

The assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are pivotal events in American history that reflect the intense socio-political climate of the 1960s. John F. Kennedy, the youngest elected president and a key figure in the civil rights movement, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, leading to widespread shock and mourning. His assassination brought to light the dangers faced by political leaders and cast doubt on the official narrative provided by the Warren Commission, which asserted that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

“Assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Ebscohost

Sixty two years ago

The shock in the United States after the JFK assassination was intense. Everyone in America huddled around their television sets, first to follow the death of the president and the quest to find his killer.

Then, on national television, the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed on live TV in one of the stupidest police episodes in history. Instead of taking him out surreptitiously, the Dallas police took him out in front of the media and a national TV audience that watched Jack Ruby kill Oswald.

However, after the shock of that, the actions less than five years later led to tremendous questions about America’s propensity for violence.

1968: The Bloodiest Year

After the 1960s had ended with two more assassinations, renowned historian Richard Hofstadter wrote, “Americans certainly have a reason to inquire whether…they are not a people of exceptional violence.”

Today, that is very true, but the emotional impact of those three assassinations continue to resonate through the country. In truth, relatively few Americans knew who Charlie Kirk was when he was shot, yet the rage about the worst political violence in history came out from those close to him.

That had little comparison to the violence of the 1960s. The anger over the Vietnam War and battle for Civil Rights created violence throughout society.

As ’68 brought shockwave after shockwave—assassinations, urban riots and ugly news from the Vietnam War front—a fierce national debate buzzed: Was the United States a society far more prone to violence than all other industrialized nations? And if it was, what made it so?

Fifty -seven years later, the debate still rages.

The question crossed the lips of political leaders, activists and those in the nation’s mainstream news media. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil-rights icon and Nobel Peace Laureate, told striking workers in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968 that “the nation is sick, trouble is in the land.” After a racist gunman shot and killed King the next day,

The Los Angeles Times editorialized that “we are a sick society that has fallen far short of what we claim to be,” adding that a “kind of mental and moral decay is eating out the vitals of this country.”

The New York Times pinpointed the sickness as coming from the stench of racial prejudice and racial hatred that remained powerful currents of thought and were at the root of the murder of the iconic civil rights leader. “We are becoming…a violent nation of violent people,” the Louisville Courier-Journal moaned.

Matthew Dallek, “Was 1968 America’s Bloodiest Year in Politics?” History.com;

In many ways, the United States is much more violent today than in the 60s. Here is what is evident,

Gun violence in the 2020s, particularly in the early years, saw a significant increase, driven by factors like the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the U.S. recorded a record high of 45,222 gun deaths, a 35% increase in gun homicides from the previous year. Firearm-related homicides became the leading cause of death for individuals under 25 by 2020. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In that sense, America is horribly violent. At least in the 1960s, some of the violence could be attributed to causes that had a moral foundation — though that did not justify them.

Today, little of the violence has a social essence.

Why was JFK shot?

No one knows exactly why Oswald killed Kennedy, and many still argue that he was not the killer. Here is the sad story,

During the 1960 presidential election, few Americans expected that either candidate Senator John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts or Vice President Richard M. Nixon would significantly change American society. Kennedy won an extremely close election on November 8, 1960. When he was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, he was forty-three years old, making him the youngest person ever elected president. He was also the first Roman Catholic president.

Although Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline, and their two young children, Caroline and John, Jr., were popular with the public, the new president quickly made enemies ,,,”

“Assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Ebscohost

JFK was very popular but was also hated by many including the people who accused him on treason in a newspaper ad in the Dallas newspaper the day of his assassination. The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs was another harbored tremendous animus toward the president.

However, his youth and vitality were key components in the eyes of so many. Having young children and a beautiful wife certainly symbolized the American Dream — and you could argue that the Dream died on Nov. 22, 1963.

No doubt, it appears to be dead today, but the death has been gradual.

I wish that I could say that we recovered from the death of JFK, but I think not. I now believe that Richard Hofstadter was right about America and violence.

"Happiest day of my life"

I remember while in graduate school sitting at a lunch table and talking about JFK. We were shocked when a young man from Florida, a grad student in history, said this,

"The day Kennedy was killed was the happiest day of my life."

So, the hatred that is so prevalent in society today was also clearly evident in the 1960s.