While watching the first two hours of "The Kennedys" on the Reelz Channel Sunday night, it was interesting to consider how both the Kennedys and the Beatles were two incredibly powerful icons of the '60s.
America loved the Kennedys. For example, the years of the John F. Kennedy presidency were called Camelot. And the Kennedys' incredible impact was huge not only after John F. Kennedy's election as president in 1960, but the family remained on the national stage thanks to JFK's brothers, Robert and Ted, both of whom had careers in the U.S. Senate, embraced various goals and ran for president. The Kennedys were constantly in the news all through the decade and they were embraced by America and the world.
Some authors who have analyzed the Beatles' rise in America say the assassination of JFK caused Americans to search for something to help them forget the shock and the pain and the Beatles helped ease it. But the Beatles didn't really need that kind of boost. They'd achieved huge fame in England and it was only a matter of time for America to be conquered. And they were -- America and the rest of the world embraced them after their rise to fame through the rest of the decade. Like the Kennedys, the Beatles were constantly in the news. And like the Kennedys, they were loved and adored.
In 1980, Jack Garner of Gannett News Service wrote, "The death of JFK swiftly ended the nation's calm optimism, the deceptively carefree feeling that all was right with the world. The young, in particular, felt a distinct loss of leadership and of direction. They also had felt a crumbling of taste and values In the music to which they were listening. The void was filled by a British rock 'n' roll band. Just as most people can remember exactly what they were doing when Kennedy was killed, many can also remember the first time they heard the Beatles."
That explanation may be a bit too deep, but it's clear the Kennedys and the Beatles were two of the cornerstones of the '60s and their impact in their spheres of influence in politics and music, respectively, is still with us.
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