Thomas Daschle: “for those of us who are old enough to remember President Kennedy, November 22 is always tinged with a sense of sadness…”

“for those of us who are old enough to remember President Kennedy, November 22 is always tinged with a sense of sadness and loss. Today, on this 40th anniversary of President Kennedy's death, we are especially aware of that loss. One floor above us, in a corridor leading to the House side of the Capitol, there is a wonderful exhibit by a long-time Senate photographer named Arthur Scott--``Scotty.'' He was an official Senate photographer from 1955 until his death in 1976. One of my favorite of his photos up on the third floor shows a very young-looking Senator John Kennedy playing catcher in a baseball game with other Senators in 1958. Scoop Jackson is at bat and Mike Mansfield in umpiring. John Kennedy looks more like a staffer than a Senator. About 12 feet down that same hall hangs another photograph. This one was taken on January 20, 1961. It shows a smiling, older-looking JFK walking into the Rotunda shortly before he was sworn in as President. Next to that is another photograph, also taken in the Rotunda. It shows a grim-faced Everett Dirksen with his arm around the shoulders of Hubert Humphrey as the two men walk past President Kennedy's casket in November 1963. Only 5 years passed between that first photograph and the last. Only 1,000 days elapsed between John Kennedy's inauguration and his death. Not long at all.…”