ABSTRACT
The integrative experience of Americans with the assassination crisis precluded thinking about either Kennedy or the presidency exclusively in rational, political, or bureaucratic terms. In popular literature and music, references were made to Abraham Lincoln in the sanctification of Kennedy as the ideal man and the ideal president. Each had been assassinated under conditions of crisis and social tension. The simple notion that a single individual, acting alone, had killed the president was insufficient for many people who were emotionally involved with the event. Kennedy's untimely death precluded the fulfillment of what many saw as his historical destiny. Memories of the Cuban missile crisis and the threat of nuclear war were still vivid. People worried whether the assassination was a self-contained event or an indicator of additional tragedies to come. The notion of the Kennedy curse was not only embedded in family history, but also believed by many Americans.
