Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor is a prolific author with over 100 of written or recorded works. He is also a storyteller, performance artist, radio host and comedian.

“That long limousine” - 11/30/2011

Transcript

And I realized when I stood up in front of these people, that that black Lincoln Limousineback there -- that long limousine -- was the car that Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy were riding in,in Dallas, on November 22nd, 1963. And indeed it was. I knew it somehow. And it wassitting there, just beyond this group of people having drinks and waiting for me to talkabout Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. It was an enormous disconnect to stand there andattempt to be a humorist and look out at this monster, this monster of history, and thisdragon, this car which you and I have seen how many hundreds and maybe thousandtimes in newsreel footage, over and over, making that turn in Dealey Plaza, and comingup under the elm trees. I just couldn‘t get it out of my mind. And yet, I was not there to talk about this, you see. I was there to tell stories. But it was there, this car, which was the scene of a great change in the history of our country.

We can talk about that for years to come, but it was. Out of that moment, people startedto feel a disconnect from their own government. Conspiracy theories abounded, that thegovernment itself had killed the President. So much darkness followed from that very moment. And how many times have we gone back and rewound that film, wanting it to come out a different way? It seemed to be monstrous that we were sitting here around tables and having drinks. And there that car was parked, just beyond us. And yet, this is the challenge of humor that, somehow, it must comprehend darkness and death.