Posted by Dan Greenfield on Nov 22, 2023
RETRO HOT PICKS! On Sale This Week — in 1963!
Scott and Dan hit up the comics racks from 60 years ago… This week for RETRO HOT PICKS, Scott Tipton and I are selecting comics that came out the week of Nov. 22, 1963. Last time for RETRO HOT PICKS, it was the week of Nov. 15, 1981. Click here to check it out. (Keep in mind that comics came out on multiple days, so these are technically the comics that went on sale between Nov. 19 and Nov. 25.) So, let’s set the scene: On Nov. 22, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. At 12:30 p.m. local time, Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally were shot from long range as their car passed the Texas School Book Depository. Within eight minutes, Kennedy was at Parkland Memorial Hospital but was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. (Connally survived.) The shocking, heart-wrenching shooting forever damaged the nation’s psyche and altered the course of American history. The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested at 1:50 p.m. Less than an hour later, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on Air Force One before it left Dallas. Standing beside him was JFK’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. The airplane, carrying a coffin with Kennedy’s body, arrived at Andrews Air Force in Maryland just before 6 p.m. local time. Two days later, on Nov. 24, as the reeling nation continued to mourn, Oswald was shot at 11:21 a.m. local time by nightclub owner Jack Ruby at Dallas police headquarters. Oswald died less than two hours later, at Parkland. Conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s assassination and its aftermath continue to endure to this day. On the same day, the Vietnam War hit a turning point that was directly related to Kennedy’s assassination: At one of his first meetings with foreign policy advisors since becoming president, Johnson rescinded Kennedy’s plans to withdraw soldiers from South Vietnam. According to National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, Johnson said, “I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went.” Johnson then issued a statement reaffirming the United States’ commitment to support South Vietnam militarily and economically. On Nov. 25. Kennedy’s state funeral took place in Washington, with a procession to Arlington National Cemetery. Millions watched live...
Read more