Wow...
This coming Friday, November 22... will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I remember a part of that day that I doubt I will ever forget as long as I live.
I say that because for the most part, that morning and noontime in my world was the same as any other day of that week... or month... or year.
It was a Friday, and most of my friends and I were ready for Thanksgiving that would come that next week. I was in the 7th grade, and we had been outside playing during lunch recess... the 1:00 PM bell rang to tell us it was time to go back inside and resume our work...
(... happening while we were playing...)
As we came into the hallway, we were told to get to our homerooms immediately and to sit down... this wasn't normal. When we went into our rooms, we were told to sit down and to be quiet. A radio was being played over the P.A. system...
(...happening while we were playing...)
... we were able to listen and eventually we heard a voice say that "... the president has been shot." We were kids, but we knew that wasn't good... there were gasps... there were "Oh no's"...
We listened and were hearing of places that meant nothing special to us... "Dealey Plaza"... Dallas, Texas... the president was to make a speech.
"Dealey Plaza"
Dallas, TX
Texas Book Depository Building
And then came the radio version of this announcement...
Things really changed... I immediately started wondering what was going to happen now... we had come closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union... far closer than many people will ever realize... and what was going to happen now?
Someone at school decided that we needed to maintain our class schedule for the rest of the day... and we did. The only thing I can remember though is going to a P.E. class... playing basketball.., and actually making a shot from the free throw line.
At the end of the school day, we took the buses home... and I ran to my family's business, where I knew Mom and Dad would be. That symbolized 'safety' for me.
We would gather around the TV that evening... and learn of Lee Harvey Oswald...
"Hell... he doesn't look smart enough to have done this..."
My Dad wasn't a Kennedy fan... and he was already guessing at who was involved in the killing of the President. I had no idea that much of the country was wondering the exact same thing.
... and a few days later, while Lee Harvey Oswald was being moved to a "safer" location, he was shot and killed by a fellow named Jack Ruby... a very low-level mob-connnected guy. This would just fuel more speculation about who all was involved in this act.
Mom and Dad saved copies of the newspapers for all of us... I'm sure my recently departed dear sister got all of them... they were probably used for packing and moving stuff from her house.
Later that Friday, aboard Air Force One, Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn into office as the next president of the United States... Mrs. Kennedy was by his side... Johnson had demanded that she be there, and she made the comment that she felt she needed to be there... she was wearing the same suit that she was earlier in the day when her husband was assassinated.
... and later that evening, JFK was returned to Washington, DC...
My recollection is that we stayed glued to the television set for the next few days... wanting to know what was going to happen next.
~shoes~
Edited:
I 've read another blog where someone referred to the shooter/shooters of JFK as having been 'right-wing nut jobs'... I found this photo which sheds an interesting light on such a perception.
~shoes~
