47 Years Ago Today

President Kennedy was assassinated on this date in 1963. Almost everyone in my generation remembers where they were when they heard the shocking news. I was sitting in my high school biology class when I heard the announcement over the PA system. Many of the girls in the class cried.

In some ways, he was the President Obama of that time. He was the first Catholic president, and the first president of Irish descent. Most people forget that the Irish were treated like dirt in the early 1900's, and I observed that it took about 50 years for Americans to drop that prejudice. And I estimated many years ago that America would be ready to accept a black president about 50 years after the Civil Rights Act in 1964, or about 2014. It takes that long.

Think we'll be ready to accept a gay president by 2040?