50 years ago

[Paul A]

50 years ago I was a junior at Mankato State. At 12:55pm I was on my way to a choir rehearsal when I learned of the shooting of President Kennedy.

The Moscow Chamber Orchestra was scheduled to perform on campus that night as part of the Arts Series. After much discussion with the State Dept and the Russian Embassy it was determined to host the concert. The opening number was dedicated to the memory of President Kennedy. The piece the orchestra played was Bach's Air for G String. The night is forever implanted in my memory.

Pete

 

[mikephillips]

I was a little younger than that myself, I was a first grader then. While I don't remember being set home or school disruptions, which I'm sure happened, I d remember watching the funeral on the black and white tv my family had. At that age the significance of it all was lost on me, it was just an unexpected day off school to play. To the folks who sit around me at work who are 20s and 30s it's all ancient history little different than the civil war.

 

[MikeH]

I was in the 3rd grade and I, too, don't recall the events of the day at school. I do remember watching the following events unfold, in what is now stated the be the first "live" news coverage of an event, and remember the surprise of seeing Ruby shoot Oswald.

 

[DanR]

November 22, 1963! I'll probably never forget.

I was on the South Pole at Byrd's Station during Operation Deep Freeze.

There were four of us sitting around the stove in a Quenset Hut on the edge of the ice where we greeted the arriving aircraft. We were playing cards and waiting for the next arrival. My job was to look after the Logistical portion of materiels that made to "Wintering Over" for the personnel that had such beautiful duty.

My Teletype began hammering away and as usual we would wait until it stopped.

It did not stop spitting out paper! I took a look and was totally shocked at what I was reading. I immediately made a copy and delivered it to my Commanding Officer Col Clark. Man that was some news to deliver.

It spread rapidly through out the Station that President JF Kennedy had been shot.

We some how arrived back to normal for a couple of days then we have an unexpected arrival of two Russian Badger aircraft.

They were escorted by the US Ambassitor to Russia.

Next came an order to furnish them with all of our JP4 fuel that they needed!

That caused a ruckus. Almost a rebellion because JP4 was in short supply for our C-130E models. We were ordered to utilize Avgas 145 which would shorten the life of our jet engines.

We did not like that at all!

We also wondered "why two Russian aircraft had suddenly arrived from the states (around Washington DC Area). and if there was a connection.

We were told to forget it! Nothing was connected!

I still have a copy of that Teletype Message and have referred to it several times years ago.... still wonder if there was some sort of connection???

DanR

 

[mikephillips]

A lot of rushing around going on during the days following it. I'm sure it was probably related to someone wanting to deliver a don't look at us message or verifying something the government had been to or such. It's just recently come out that there was a secret meeting with Castro where he basically said " I didn't do it, we're not crazy".

 

[Tom H]

I was a junior at John Carroll Univ and as I was walking between classes, some students were saying they had heard that Pres Kennedy had been shot. But no one knew his condition, how seriously injured. Just then the bells began to ring and everyone knew. As many of us gathered in the student center, there was word that they had caught the killer. My reaction was "who cares" , it did not matter. I knew then and there that the world would be forever different. Looking back now, I think I was correct. I really believe our world would be quite different had he not been killed. I doubt the Vietnam war would have taken the US in the direction it did. There would not have been all the peace marches and divisiveness of the 60's and 70's.

Tom

 

[John W]

I was on Main street Between 2nd and 3rd avenues in Hendersonville NC when my mother turned up the radio and said "They shot the president!" I was in the passenger side back seat and pulled myself up by a velvet rope attached to the back of the front seat and wondered if the president was dead or not and my mother just kept listening to the radio intently and didn't say anything.

 

[Series6]

I was in Mr. Newton's 7th grade math class when the other math teacher Mr. Kush came in and whispered to him. Newton sat down and Kush announced it. Some of us laughed. Thought it was a joke. Mr Newton got mad and told us it was very real. We were in shock. Then some kids began to cry. We were dismissed but told to come back after lunch. For the next few days we were never far from the radio or a tv. I remember Ruby shooting Oswald and the funeral. Jackie walking with his brothers and the horse with the boots reversed.

This country changed forever that day. Not for the better in many ways.

 

[bulldurham]

I was a sophomore at Warren Wilson College in the beautiful Swannanoa Valley

just outside Asheville, NC.. My job that day was to spread the gustatory remains of 200 head of beef cattle, a job you don't want to stand behind.
The farm manager drove out to tell me that President Kennedy had been shot by an assassin but was apparently still alive.
A student body assembly was called and everyone heard that he had died.
The assembly lasted for some time and one of the things that made it very interesting was the fact that 40% of the student body of 240, were foreign students, including several from Cuba. In fact 2 Batiste family members[relatives] were in attendance. There was much discussion and opinion put forward in that assembly and others in the following days but to a person there was true sadness , solidarity and the knowledge that the act performed that day changed the world . For this to happen in the United States makes for a tense political situation because it just isn't supposed to happen and w/ TV all the world is watching it unfold.
You an take away positive and negative feelings from a crisis; I guess we all felt a bit isolated growing up in the country in 40's and 50's, but the experience of being part of that group, at that time , reinforced my faith in the goodness of people everywhere.

 

[Nickodell]

My wife (of three years) and I had recently vacated RAF married quarters on my discharge and were in our new (3-room) apartment, watching TV, when the regular broadcast was interrupted and a test card PLEASE STAND BY appeared. I think it was about 18.30 Zulu (6.30pm Greenwich Mean Time). Five minutes later a news announcer came on to say that someone had shot at the president during "what Americans call a motorcade." After promising to keep us up to date, the regular program continued.

About 45 minutes later the show abruptly switched to the news desk, where the announcer said that unconfirmed reports were that President Kennedy was dead. 20 minutes later that was confirmed, the newsreader saying that the biggest manhunt in American history was under way. He went on to say that, in view of the tragic nature of the event, regular programming would be suspended. Test card again. Finally, for the rest of the evening, there was just somber music and some videos and stills of Kennedy. Of course, this was long before satellites, so there were no live shots or film from the US.

At 11.30pm there was a brief news bulletin with an update about a suspect having been captured, and then BBC TV shut down. I was in Cat. E of the reserve (subject to recall in a national emergency), and received a phone call to stay by the phone until a stand-down and be ready to report to the nearest base if instructed (there was fear that the assassination might be the initial act in a nuclear attack).

The next day was somewhat similar, with frequent interruptions. The comedy/satire program That Was the Week That Was, starring David Frost, was due to broadcast, and we all wondered if the BBC would cancel it in deference to the feelings of Americans in Britain. When the show started on schedule, a lot of us thought "how crass!" but instead, a completely different, shortened 20-minute version of the show aired, something that is still discussed by those who saw it. No comedy, no sketches or satire; Frost and the others speaking about Kennedy. A song In the Summer of His Years," lyrics and music composed in record time, sung by cast songstress Millicent Martin, ended the program. Americans, particularly in the US embassy, were so moved that a videotape of the program was flown to the States and screened by NBC the next day, and ABC later. Decca Records released a disk of the song, which was also later sung by Connie Francis, Kate Smith, Sarah Vaughan and others. The Francis recording became a Top-40 hit.

Some commentators in Europe were surprised that the British made such a big thing about a US president who was not really close to them - certainly not as, say, FDR had been in WWII - and wondered if America would have done anything close to this if, for example, the prime minister had been assassinated.

Speaking of WWII, there was quite a lot of bitterness in Britain a couple of years later when ex-president Dwight Eisenhower didn't bother to attend Winston Churchill's funeral in Westminster Abbey. This surprised and offended many, seeing as how, as Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Europe, he had worked closely with Churchill (who was commander-in-chief of all British forces), and also interacted with him during the time in 1953-55 when Ike was president and Churchill prime minister.