11.22.63: What was lost: JFK made us realize America was still a young country. The legendary Ben Bradlee reflects on John F. Kennedy and what his death did to a nation.

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 24-NOV-03

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Byline: Benjamin C. Bradlee

I was in the Brentano's bookstore in the old Washington Press Club building around lunchtime on Nov. 22, 1963, when I heard the whispering. The president had been shot in Dallas. I was NEWSWEEK's Washington bureau chief at the time. The next three days were a blur of work and sadness. I wrote a piece about JFK which NEWSWEEK headlined THAT SPECIAL GRACE

As I think about him--I really only knew him for the last five years of his life--he was really two people. He was urban, urbane, debonair, suave, witty, not a statesman really, but so bright. Then there was the other side--the tough Irishman, like his father and grandfather. That Kennedy was not...

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