"Three shots were fired today at President's Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas."
YouTube audio, First Kennedy Assassination Bulletin- ABC Radio, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHz0k3kkFw ) (1:07 min.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uw2yruChK8 YouTube video on the breaking news of JFK's assassination events (from breaking the story to the rest of announcements as they progressed.) (7:20 min/sec.)
Reflections- from personal recollections of the time.
For many people like me, the whole story of this assassination of the President was something we experienced, minute by minute, something that was as stunning and incomprehensible at the time as nothing else we had experienced. For many of you younger readers who weren't born yet, you might compare what happened here with another tragic event that you should vividly remember. It was as maybe, in many ways, the kind of feeling that we had as we experienced the events of the 9-11 attack and the feelings that this tragedy left us with, lasting in various ways to now. But it still was different. It was one man, not 3,000 people killed, yet the impact was enormous.
I was still in Nightingale Jr. High and it was right before lunch time that we heard the news of the shooting and they told us that the President was taken to the hospital. The news came back almost two hours later and the announcement was made that President Kennedy died.
I did not see the television reports or hear the radio news directly until I got home and then all the stations had stopped regular programming for four days, going with continuous coverage that supplied more and more details on this unimaginable turn of events. For me, as the news gradually sunk in, I felt sadness for our loss and then, thinking of his family, for their loss.
That continuous coverage included Sunday's morning's fatal shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin, by Jack Ruby, as Oswald was being moved with detectives at his side. We were still at home getting ready for church when that happened. Jack Ruby's bullets, apparently fired to avenge the President's murder, selfishly robbed us of the opportunity to learn anything more from Oswald about the assassination.
The funeral for JFK was held on Monday after the casket bearing the President was kept in the Capitol rotunda for 24 hours while mourners filed past it to pay their respects.
Thinking back to those events still is sad for me after all these years. At that time, we were typical jr. high kids and reacted with denial and even joking around before the death was announced, since the gravity of the situation was nothing like anything ever presented to us before. And I remember we mostly all liked Kennedy a lot, so different from now. Not even President-elect Obama, as popular as he is, had that amount of admiration. So, for us being concerned with regular things of youth, you really don't want to believe that something serious could be happening as it was in this case. We found out later that the report was not a mistake when they told us he was shot and he was dead.
P.E. class was after lunch and I don't remember much detail except that the teacher said we probably would be back in school Monday. That teacher was Mr. Hodson, who said in his usual loud voice, but in an oddly quiet way, "President Kennedy would have wanted us to stay in class" or something like that. Of course, he couldn't know anything of the sort, but we just listened. He was probably trying to keep things at a low key level since the teachers must have been stunned by the news, too. Of course they were, they were adults. We were 13 and 14 years old, most of us, so what experience did we have to apply here to judge anything?
The Assassination.
President Kennedy arrived in Dallas at 9:40am Pacific Standard Time (9:40 am PST, and 11:40 am CST) and was shot while riding in a motorcade from the airport to the Dallas Trade Mart where he was to give a luncheon speech at the Dallas Trade Mart. He was 46 years old. He was the youngest person ever elected as President of the United States at 43 years of age. Only Theodore Roosevelt, at age 42, was younger when he took office after President William McKinley's assassination in 1901.
President Kennedy was riding in the Presidential limosine with the bubble top taken off, accompanied by his wife, Jackie, and the Governor of Texas, John Connelly and the Governor's wife. Governor Connelly also was shot but would recover from the wounds.
The motorcade went immediately to Parkland Hospital with the wounded President and Governor. And about an hour later, on t.v., you could see Walter Cronkite make the announcement that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was dead.
President Kennedy's official time of death was 2 pm CST (11am PST) and was announced in the news about 40 minutes later, right after the information was released..
CBS news announcement of death of JFK, Walter Cronkite reporting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CjWbemTNcw&feature=related (00:26 sec.)
The Funeral.
The funeral was held on Monday, November 25, 1963. That Monday was also the third birthday of John F. Kennedy, Jr. I remember watching the procession that went slowly from the Capitol to the Cathedral with a riderless horse ahead of the casket. I also remember when watching this on t.v. that my grandmother mentioned, in Spanish, that it was like President Roosevelt's funeral. I say here, "in Spanish," since that was all she and my grandfather spoke. We never considered why ONLY Spanish; there weren't classes everywhere like now, and many free, to learn English, but they still managed in all their years.
The funeral was held on Monday, November 25, 1963. That Monday was also the third birthday of John F. Kennedy, Jr. I remember watching the procession that went slowly from the Capitol to the Cathedral with a riderless horse ahead of the casket. I also remember when watching this on t.v. that my grandmother mentioned, in Spanish, that it was like President Roosevelt's funeral. I say here, "in Spanish," since that was all she and my grandfather spoke. We never considered why ONLY Spanish; there weren't classes everywhere like now, and many free, to learn English, but they still managed in all their years.
That recollection later reminded me of how much we lose in those memories from our own families. We don't do something as simple as write down or video record or audio tape little "interviews" on subjects to preserve things as our parents and grandparents remembered them, and a lot of it all before our time. We take much for granted until we have lost both the person and the opportunities of the moment.
I have included a link to another website that contains photos and details of the funeral that carry, in images and words, the message of loss for those days. (You can see other details and photos concerning the assassination in separate pages on this same website.) http://www.fiftiesweb.com/kennedy/kennedy-assassination-25.htm
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More about the history of the 35th President of the United States,
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
There is a lot of material that tells us about President Kennedy, his family, the times and the assassination, that give different opinions covering many of these subjects. There was even a movie, "JFK," directed by Oliver Stone, that has been used in some schools to present its views, often taken as fact, on the assassination. The film fuels the position that there was conspiracy to kill President Kennedy and that the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, did not act alone in the shooting.
The movie portrays several convincing "facts" that have not been established and remain only as opinion. Some parts of the moview are inserted as part of the story but did not happen, a criticism of other movies by Stone, with subjects including Nixon, and the Doors band. There are many people who use that movie to form their opinion as to conspiracy.
I found a good website http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkennedyJ.htm that you can scroll through to see a very readable history of President Kennedy and his related events, with links to other reference sources.
One thing that stood out as a distinguishing feature of President Kennedy was his sharp wit. He seemed to be able to respond with agility of thought and word in most situations, adding his own taste of humor in a spontaneous way that you do not see anymore.
There are some of the more polished areas of his speeches that brought us many well-remembered quotes, as well as others quotes that may not appear as familiar. A collection of John F. Kennedy Quotes can be found at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_f_kennedy.html
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A list of "coincidences" is compiled for these two major American figures in history
It brings out a lot of coincidental things about President John F. Kennedy and President Abraham Lincoln, another president who was assassinated almost 100 years earlier- and for whom our school was named.
And sadly, Lincoln High students have generally little knowledge of our namesake, Abraham Lincoln, one of the most important of the Presidents of our country. Even more sadly, that condition is allowed to continue by the institution that should be promoting more education and using the numerous "teachable moments" presented so frequently. Bringing back more education can bring back the some of the pride that's gradually been lost at Lincoln.
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"Now For Some Strange Facts About Abraham Lincoln's & John F. Kennedy's Assassinations"
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
*
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
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Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
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Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
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Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
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Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
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Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908
*
Both assassins were known by their three names.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
*
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
*
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.
*
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
*
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
*
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
*
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908
*
Both assassins were known by their three names.
*
John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
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Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
*
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
*
Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
*
Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
*
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
*
Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theater.
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