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By ROB SULLIVAN I grew up in a Kennedy household. Most Massachusetts residents in the early sixties were unabashed fans of JFK and his clan and my family was no exception. That certainly was a common thread in Central Massachusetts where I grew up. I wasnt around in the early 1960s but as I grew up my parents ingrained in all four of their children that we were indeed Kennedy supporters. This was accomplished in both subtle and direct ways. For as long as I can remember, there was a framed and lacquered copy of John F. Kennedys Inaugural Address hanging on the hall. The famed words were embossed in brown and gold with a picture of President Kennedy atop the famed words. From a young age, I was encouraged to commit the speech to memory. In fact, I got so good at it that I had to recite the address in front of Mrs. Schultz reading class in sixth grade. I was too young to realize I should have been embarrassed. There was also a record album that my father frequently played that contained all of Kennedys best known speeches. Besides the Inaugural Address, there was also the speech in Berlin where he famously declared Ich Bin Ein Berliner, (I am a Berliner), as well as the Presidents final speech delivered in Texas on November 21, 1963. My Dad played it quite frequently, believe me. Perhaps the Sullivan family was a little over the top in its admiration of the Kennedys, particularly John, but there was a pretty good reason for it. My father was friendly with John Fitzgerald Kennedy. They werent friends, but they were friendly. I am not saying that John D. Sullivan was a confidant of American presidents: far from it. But he was well placed in the United Steelworkers of America when Jack Kennedy was Congressman in the late forties and the young Congressman needed union support. This was politics after all, so John Sullivan and John Kennedy got to know and like each other. My father liked to tell the story of how he was in line at a small general store in West Boylston, Massachusetts and he got a tap on the shoulder. So, hows everything out in Worcester, John? asked Congressman John F. Kennedy. Recalling that simple exchange always brought a smile to my Dads face. I am sure he was shattered when President Kennedy was assassinated. There were dozens of copies of papers from November 22 to November 26 tucked away amongst his souvenirs. He also had read mostly every book written about JFK that he could get his hands on. My mother could tell you about how she was ironing and watching As The World Turns on CBS when Walter Cronkite interrupted the soap opera with the heartbreaking news about the shooting in Dallas. The scenario was eerily somewhat similar as my Mom watched live as Jack Ruby stepped up and blasted Lee Harvey Oswald with a few fatal shots to the gut. My father died in 2004 and prominently displayed at his wake was a photo of my Dad, his secretary, a steelworker and Congressman Kennedy. All four were smiling brightly. I feel on the 50th anniversary of President Kennedys death, its appropriate to think of both Johns and say a prayer for both of them. Amen.
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