In an email, James Piereson–author of the indispensable Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism–points to a column by New York Timesman James Reston, written hours after JFK died. Here’s Reston:

When the historians get around to assessing his three years in office, it is very likely that they will be impressed with just this: his efforts to restrain those who wanted to be more violent in the cold war overseas and those who wanted to be more violent in the racial war at home. … And from the beginning to the end of his Administration, he was trying to damp down the violence of the extremists on the Right.

Then and now, while corpses are still warm, it’s always the fault of conservatives.