I'm reviving this thread, as I heard a reference to the Thresher today.
Today, I heard a piece on NPR about a new book called "Letters to Jackie" about the hundreds of thousands of condolence letters written to Jackie Kennedy in 1963.
The author, Ellen Fitzpatrick, then noted that she herself had received a letter of condolence from JFK after her husband died in the Thresher, which sank off Cape Cod.
She had heard about the tragedy from Walter Cronkite, just as many heard about JFK's death from his lips.
Also, I didn't know that the Kingston Trio recorded a song about it:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=882mvUlwXNc[/youtube]