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November 22, 2007
Kennedy Assassination, Nixon, and Coincidence
On this anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, people argue coincidences and conspiracies (pssst- there wasn't any, Oswald was all alone). But there is a story about that day that is funny in its own right, probably true, and might give rise to a nice reflection on coincidences. Richard Nixon told this account to Larry King; I cannot find it online but I recall it from a book. The story is quite plausible even if Nixon wasn't always so.
Nixon, who had run against Kennedy in the previous election, flew from Dallas to New York the morning of the assassination in November 1963. As he and his driver drove through some poorer class neighborhoods in the early afternoon (apparently with the car radio off), they saw a woman come running out of a residence, screaming. They opened the window and Nixon asked if something was wrong, can I help? The woman then fainted.
When it was all sorted out the woman related that she had just heard that President Kennedy was shot, and then ran out in distress, and the first person she bumped into was . . . Richard Nixon. " I thought the world was coming to an end."
Meaningless but one can reflect here on the nature of coincidence, even without smoking a joint.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at November 22, 2007 12:27 PM
Filed Under: American Culture
, Egghead Stuff
