Some events so strongly affect the world that people remember exactly what they were doing when they heard the news. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was one of these events. Ask almost any American who was alive at the time where he or she was when his death was announced, and you will get an answer. A Democrat with plans for social reform, President Kennedy was both loved and hated. Despite the political friction his ideas generated, no one would have predicted the events of November 22, 1963, when, supposedly, a lone gunman changed the course of history. Most of Kennedy's idealistic platform went to the grave with him. Almost half a century after his death, the United States continues to battle these same issues.