undergird us. we want to look at the event that i think most people would agree is the most traumatic event of the last half century of american life, the assassination of jfk. even if we judge september 11 more consequential. at almost 50 years removed, is there anything new to be said about this grim episode? surprisingly there is. jim pearson argues in camelot and the cultural revolution that the trauma of his killing went beyond the nation s grief and outrage and led to the d deformation of our political consensus. it was the catalyst for transformation of liberalism in the 1960 s and should be regarded as a key turning point of the end of america s long liberal tradition and the beginning of a new kind of liberalism that represents a repudiation of the older tradition. whether this older tradition was too brittle because of its predecessors is a matter that the panel will take up. we have david brown and the author of a biography of richard hofstadter. hofstadter is imp