{"id":1640,"date":"2018-02-07T15:25:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T15:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2018\/02\/07\/no-single-gesture-would-do-more-to-demonstrate-continuity-and-stability-to-show-that-the-government-of-the-united-states-would-continue-to-function-without-interruption-despite-the-assassination\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T15:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:12:11","slug":"no-single-gesture-would-do-more-to-demonstrate-continuity-and-stability-to-show-that-the-government-of-the-united-states-would-continue-to-function-without-interruption-despite-the-assassination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2018\/02\/07\/no-single-gesture-would-do-more-to-demonstrate-continuity-and-stability-to-show-that-the-government-of-the-united-states-would-continue-to-function-without-interruption-despite-the-assassination\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;No single gesture would do more to demonstrate continuity and stability &#8230;&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-quote mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p>&#8220;No single gesture would do more to demonstrate continuity and stability &#8212; to show that the government of the United States would continue to function without interruption despite the assassination of the man who sat at its head &#8212; and to legitimize the transition: to prove that the transfer of power had been orderly, proper, in accordance with the Constitution; to remove, in the eyes of the world, any taint of usurpation; to dampen, so far as possible, suspicion of complicity by him in the deed; to show that the family of the man he was succeeding bore him no ill will and supported him, than the attendance at this swearing-in ceremony of the late President&#8217;s widow.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-classic mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-paragraph mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            \n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><strong>Why is it great?<\/strong>&nbsp;The great presidential biographer Robert Caro has proved countless times that he understands the power of a short sentence.&nbsp; His description of the instant in Dallas that changed LBJ&#8217;s &#8212; and America&#8217;s &#8212; life forever is told in just six words &#8220;There was a sharp, cracking sound.&#8221; Contrast that to the 115 words in the example above.&nbsp; Notice that it contains the two qualities that characterize good long sentences.&nbsp; It takes us on a journey of sorts, not across a landscape, but across a plan of action.&nbsp; And it contains an inventory, not of physical objects but of a set of purposes.&nbsp; It adds a final element, though: a body of evidence. The case is made early and late in the sentence that after JFK&#8217;s assassination, the best way to show the peaceful transfer of power in America was by the presence of Jacqueline Kennedy at LBJ&#8217;s swearing-in ceremony.&nbsp; Every word within that frame is designed to convince.&nbsp; (Editor\u2019s note: This is excerpted from Clark\u2019s latest book,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/roy-peter-clark\/the-art-of-x-ray-reading\/9780316282178\/\">\u201cThe Art of X-Ray Reading:&nbsp; How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing.\u201d)<\/a><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2014LBJ biographer Robert A. Caro in the book \u201cThe Passage of Power.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"topics":[],"authors":[38],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-1640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-one-great-sentence","authors-roy-peter-clark"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;No single gesture would do more to demonstrate continuity and stability ...&quot; - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2018\/02\/07\/no-single-gesture-would-do-more-to-demonstrate-continuity-and-stability-to-show-that-the-government-of-the-united-states-would-continue-to-function-without-interruption-despite-the-assassination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;No single gesture would do more to demonstrate continuity and stability ...&quot; - Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2014LBJ biographer Robert A. 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