It All Started with Socks...
Or how my Kennedy Memorabilia collection threatens to take over my room.
I mentioned this in the last post, I do live in Massachusetts. And I love antiquing. With that in mind, it makes it very easy for me to collect Kennedy things. I can just take a short walk from my place of employment to find all sorts of stuff in bargain bins and glass cases.
To be honest, this isn’t even everything…
So lets start with the funny, shall we?
The Funny
A few years ago I was out shopping with my mom and sister in a cute boutique shop. Along one of the walls was a display of colorful socks.
My sister pointed to a pair. “Hey Rachel, you need those!”
Of course, I bought the JFK socks. They make a good conversation starter. And if you turn him inside out, he looks like George W. Bush.
My friends are well aware of my interests. If there’s anything Kennedy related going on, I get asked for my opinions. Thus, I am deservedly roasted. And so one Christmas my friend gifted me with this thing.
Meet The Plate.
The plate was made by the company Homer Laughlin, the creator of Fiesta dinnerware. As they did make memorial plates after the assassination, I think it’s safe to say that this one was made while JFK was still alive.
Jackie looks okay. But him? *shudder*
Funkos are STUPID. I know this. Yet I have a few. When my local comic shop had JFK, well… he came home with me. A few months later, I found Jackie in a reduced price bin with Jimmy Carter. Sorry Jimmy. I’m only allowed to buy one dumb thing a day.
When I got JFK there was also a funko of Ronald Reagan. I kinda should’ve bought it so I could ritualistically melt it. Maybe next time.
I’m glad that they put Jackie in her outfit from the inauguration instead of the infamous pink Chanel suit she’s associated with. I think it would’ve been in poor taste. Even for a Funko.
The Historical
For the most part, my historical collection is largely magazines. Seriously, people just throw them out and I find the cool ones.
Life from November 29, 1963 is the oldest one in my collection. This serves as the primary memorial issue for JFK. Its one of big stack I found in a basket. I guess an Irish-American Grandma passed away or something.
The next is Life from December 6, 1963. It does not have a cover. I’m fairly certain that it was kept by whomever originally collected these. This is the last page. Poor kiddo. I do have memories from before I was three years old. While they are distinct, they are brief and usually random. I have seen porcelain figurines of John saluting his dad. Personally, I find them exploitative.
The missing cover looked like this.
As it was published in December, it’s a goldmine for vintage Christmas advertisements.
December 13th, 1963. LBJ gets the cover.
Now we move on to March 1964. This Life magazine is one of my personal favorites. The cover story is about predictions as to whom LBJ would pick to be his vice-president. The editorial team strangely chose a lot of photos of the prospective choices playing sports, so there are some funky facial expressions.
But the subtext of the article is largely that we can’t make fun of the vice-president anymore, because look how quickly they can the top job. And Hubert Humphrey is eventually the guy, becoming one of America’s funnier named VPs.
This one is sad. The November 1964 Look focuses on Jackie and her children, nearly a year later. It features rather candid comments from her about grief and how her daughter and son are coping.
Skip ahead to 1966. It’s still believed that Johnson will run again in ‘68, but Newsweek speculates on the possibility of either/both Robert or Ted becoming president in this dual profile.
Ted is my personal enemy, but that’s next week.
And as we know, neither of them became president. (I personally do not think that RFK would’ve won in ‘68 had he not died, but I don’t think we would’ve ended up with Nixon… or worse, Wallace.)
There are some pretty funny political cartoons in here.
November 1966. The Warren Commission comes out. One of it’s biggest critics is Governor John Connally. I do believe Oswald acted alone, but I’ll save writing more for another newsletter.
June 1968. RFK’s memorial issue. Instead of the black banner his brother got, he’s on the beach with his dog, Freckles.
It documents the final hours in the Ambassador Hotel, and also includes a photo of Sirhan Sirhan’s mother, Mary, sobbing after finding out what her son has done. (She is not named in the magazine. I went looking for it myself.)
Over the past few years I’ve managed to find numerous (mostly from doomed) campaign buttons.
As I said earlier, this isn’t even everything. As I’ve started to run out of space, the goofier (more than the socks and the funkos, trust me) things in my collection will have to wait for another time.
Special Note: This photoshoot wouldn’t have looked nearly as nice without my mom’s quilt providing background. Thanks Mom! <3
Next Time: Mary Jo Kopechne’s death, 52 years later.