[2][3] On Friday, November 22, 1963, Leonard Bernstein was preparing for a video tape recording of the Young People's Concerts, when he heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas.
[6] On November 25, 1963, at Madison Square Gardens, the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York presented its 25th annual “Night of Stars”.
[8] Since then, the extracted words: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly, than ever before” have inspired, been reprinted, graffitied, spoken, blogged, sung and dedicated to victims of unspeakable tragedies.
Composer Carl Holmquist wrote: “[Bernstein] was the consummate musician, a true force of nature that inspired people like me to want to make music like he did.”.
[18] Senator Susan Collins said of the premiere: "With the scourge of violence unabated in our times, we all must increase our devotion to the highest ideals of humanity.”[19] On June 1, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alumni, students, musicians and composers performed a concert called: “Our Reply” in tribute to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018.