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Death of a Dreamer: The Assassination of John Lennon PDF

100 Pages·2012·10.814 MB·English
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B E H N K E NEW YORK , : DECEMBER 8, 1980 “YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DREAM.... ALISON MARIE BEHNKE IT’S QUITE POSSIBLE TO DO ANYTHING, but not The announcement shocked the world. is an author and editor of books for children and if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t Beatles founder and legendary musician John Lennon had been murdered in front young adults, as well as a photographer. expect [Presidents] Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko of his New York home. With no warning, Her books include biographies such as Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. a lone gunman opened fi re, shooting Jack Kerouac and Pope John Paul II You have to do it yourself.” Lennon in the back just as Lennon and social studies titles including returned from a recording session with The Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits: JOHN LENNON his wife, Yoko Ono. Husband, father of Depression and Wartime Fashions from the two, cultural icon, and hero to millions, 1930s to the 1950s, Kim Jong Il’s North Lennon was dead. Korea, and The Conquests of Alexander the “[LENNON] WALKED UP, he looked at me, I tell Around the globe, people mourned Great. She loves to read, write, and travel. you the man was going to be dead in less than fi ve minutes, and the loss of a man who had stood for She lives in Minneapolis. he looked at me, I looked at him. He walked past me, and then I peace, a man who had given so much AND I JUST PULLED THE joy to the world through his gift of heard [a voice] in my head . . . music. No one had seen it coming... TRIGGER steady fi ve times.” except one man—Mark David Chapman, MARK DAVID CHAPMAN Lennon’s assassin. What drove this former Beatles fan to commit such a terrible act? Follow the lives of both Lennon and Chapman, T W E learn about the political and cultural N T Y settings in which both grew up, and – F IR trace—step by excruciating step—the S T C fi nal moments of John Lennon’s life. E TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BOOKS N T A division of Lerner Publishing Group U R 241 First Avenue North • Minneapolis, MN 55401 Y www.lernerbooks.com PRINTED AND BOUND IN U.S.A. REINFORCED BINDING B E H N K E NEW YORK , : DECEMBER 8, 1980 “YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DREAM.... ALISON MARIE BEHNKE IT’S QUITE POSSIBLE TO DO ANYTHING, but not The announcement shocked the world. is an author and editor of books for children and if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don’t Beatles founder and legendary musician John Lennon had been murdered in front young adults, as well as a photographer. expect [Presidents] Carter or Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko of his New York home. With no warning, Her books include biographies such as Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. a lone gunman opened fi re, shooting Jack Kerouac and Pope John Paul II You have to do it yourself.” Lennon in the back just as Lennon and social studies titles including returned from a recording session with The Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits: JOHN LENNON his wife, Yoko Ono. Husband, father of Depression and Wartime Fashions from the two, cultural icon, and hero to millions, 1930s to the 1950s, Kim Jong Il’s North Lennon was dead. Korea, and The Conquests of Alexander the “[LENNON] WALKED UP, he looked at me, I tell Around the globe, people mourned Great. She loves to read, write, and travel. you the man was going to be dead in less than fi ve minutes, and the loss of a man who had stood for She lives in Minneapolis. he looked at me, I looked at him. He walked past me, and then I peace, a man who had given so much AND I JUST PULLED THE joy to the world through his gift of heard [a voice] in my head . . . music. No one had seen it coming... TRIGGER steady fi ve times.” except one man—Mark David Chapman, MARK DAVID CHAPMAN Lennon’s assassin. What drove this former Beatles fan to commit such a terrible act? Follow the lives of both Lennon and Chapman, T W E learn about the political and cultural N T Y settings in which both grew up, and – F IR trace—step by excruciating step—the S T C fi nal moments of John Lennon’s life. E TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BOOKS N T A division of Lerner Publishing Group U R 241 First Avenue North • Minneapolis, MN 55401 Y www.lernerbooks.com PRINTED AND BOUND IN U.S.A. REINFORCED BINDING De ath of a Dre amer t h e a s s a s sin ati o n o f Jo hn L e nn o n Alison Marie Behnke TwenTy-FirsT CenTury Books / Minneapolis Dedicated to John lennon and all the other songwriters whose words bring us happiness and hope Copyright © 2012 by Alison Marie Behnke All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Twenty-First Century Books A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Behnke, Alison Marie. Death of a dreamer : the assassination of John Lennon / by Alison Marie Behnke. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–8225–9036–1 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) 1. Lennon, John, 1940–1980—Juvenile literature. 2. Rock musicians— England—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title. ML3930.L34B44 2012 782.42166092—dc22 [B] 2010005550 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – DP – 12/31/11 eISBN: 978-0-7613-8849-4 Co ntents inTroDuCTion 4 CHapTer ONE The POET 8 and The DREAMER CHapTer TwO “Give PEAcE 28 a chAncE” CHapTer ThrEE STORy of 40 an ASSASSin CHapTer FOur DEATh on 52 The DOORSTEP CHapTer FivE 64 POSTMORTEM CHapTer Six “STRAwbERRy fielDs 78 forever ” TimeliNe 86 Who’s Who? 88 source NoTes 90 selecTeD BiBlioGraphy 92 for furTher iNformaTioN 92 iNDex 94 iNTrOducTiON An unSPEAkAblE TRAgEDy cOnfiRMED TO uS by Abc nEwS in nEw yORk ciTy. JOhN lENNON, outside of his apartment building on the west side of new york City, the most famous, perhaps, of all of the Beatles, shot twice in the back, rushed to roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. — hoWarD cosell, DecemBer 8, 1980 a large crowd assembled outside t he Dakota, the new York City apartment building where rock icon John Lennon had lived with his wife, Yoko ono, and their five-year-old son, sean, since 1973. s portscaster Howard Cosell broke into the live television broadcast of Monday Night Football as millions of Americans watched and listened in disbelief. In those early moments, some of Cosell’s details were wrong, but the most important and devastating fact was true. John Lennon—former member of the legendary rock group the Beatles and one of the most famous people in the world—had been shot and killed. Gunned down late at night outside his home by a lone assassin—Mark David Chapman—Lennon was pronounced dead shortly after reaching Roosevelt Hospital. Reports of the assassination stunned the world. Fans reacted with shock and grief. Anchorman Walter Cronkite opened the December 9 CBS Evening News with, 5 away as Hungary, Japan, and Russia—spread the news. In the first hours after Lennon’s death, many mourners simply wanted to sing his songs and remember his life. Questions about the man who murdered Lennon came later. In New York City—which had been John’s home for almost a decade—some fans gathered outside Roosevelt Hospital. A larger crowd assembled outside the Dakota, the apartment Police arrested Mark David Chapman within building where rock icon John minutes of his shooting John Lennon. this mug Lennon lived with his wife, Yoko shot was taken the next day, December 9, 1980. Ono, and their five-year-old son, Sean. By four in the morning, “The death of a man who sang and a crowd of five hundred people played guitar overshadows the news maintained a vigil outside the Dakota. from Poland, Iran, and Washington The crowd would later grow to about tonight.” That same night, the U.S. one thousand. late-night news show Nightline focused Cynthia O’Neal, a resident of the on Lennon’s life and death. Many radio Dakota in 1980, was at home when one stations set aside their usual schedules of her sons heard gunshots outside the to play the music of Lennon and the building. “We turned on the television Beatles. Newspaper headlines around and watched the horror [of Lennon’s the United States and Great Britain, assassination] unfold, terrible detail Lennon’s birthplace—and even as far by terrible detail,” she said. O’Neal 6 DEAThly DEfiniTiOnS T he dictionary defi nitions below help clarify what makes an assassination a unique crime. aSSaSSiNaTE: to murder (a usually prominent person) by sudden or secret attack, often for political reasons kill: to deprive of life; cause the death of murdEr: to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice [intent to do harm] Lennon’s death is generally viewed as an assassination. Chapman singled him out because of the singer’s fame and views on religion and politics. went on to recall the impromptu tribute that followed Lennon’s death. “People started arriving outside the building almost immediately. That night was the first of many when I lay in bed, completely awake, eyes wide, listening to the chanting, the mantra, float up from the street below....I found it very comforting. I liked knowing how many other hearts were broken.” For the rest of the night—and for the next several days—brokenhearted fans honored and mourned their hero. With candles in their hands and with tears streaming down their faces, they sang John Lennon’s songs into the chilly night air. 7 CHapTer ONE POET The DREAMER and The

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