‘Though the heavens fall’: The JFK assassination in our media and culture

President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963.

It would be hard to argue that the modern American era, the era that we’re still living in more than 60 years later, didn’t begin on that Friday afternoon in Dallas. It would be hard to overstate the effect and influence of that event, that act on the American psyche.

This hour, a look at the shadow that the JFK assassination still casts over our news and politics, our movies and music, our media and culture.

GUESTS:

• Stephen Battaglio: Writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times
• Timothy Hampton: The author of several books, including Bob Dylan: How the Songs Work
• Sean O’Neal: A writer, a contributor to Texas Monthly, and the former editor-in-chief of The A.V. Club
• Steve Rose: Assistant features editor at The Guardian
• Philip Shenon: The author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

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Colin McEnroe, Joey Morgan, Cat Pastor, Lateshia Peters, Dylan Reyes, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, parts of which originally aired November 22, 2017, and November 22, 2023, in a different form.

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