<p>The accusations I heard yelled that day were “well, I guess you are happy now!” </p>
<p>The 1960 election had JFK get only 112,827 more votes and carry 3 FEWER states than Nixon. You also had a lot of people who did not like Joe Kennedy as a prohibition bootlegger/rum runner and his pro-fascist statements as Ambassador to England. Add in the anti-Catholic nuts. Flavor with the Bay of Pigs fiasco etc. There was a lot of anti-Kennedy feeling of a violent nature.</p>
<p>google “Ted Dealey” and “Welcome Mr. President” to see the article in the Dallas Morning News the day President Kennedy was killed. Also google “wanted for treason” and jfk and Dallas. It is a handbill that was being passed out in Dallas on the street a couple of days before Pres. Kennedy was to arrive.</p>
<p>BTW–Ted Dealey (the publisher of the Dallas Morning News) had a history with JFK going back to a meeting in Washington in 1961.</p>
<p>Also, Dallas had Gen. Walker and the John Birch Society. There were lots of groups who called out JFK as a traitor prior to his death.</p>
<p>pps-I was at a hearing downtown today at the court house. So, I could see Dealey Plaza (named after George Dealey, Ted’s father) and the grassy knoll as I went into the underground parking. There are tourists with cameras everywhere. Also, Friday has been declared a county holiday and the government buildings (which all overlook Dealey Plaza) are all closed starting at 4:30 pm on Thursday. These are a lot of security precautions taking place in Dallas with the JFK anniversary, the Bush Library, etc.</p>
<p>Another of the generation that was directed to put on our play clothes after school before we took off on our bikes with instructions to be home by dark. I was in the first grade and remember that day fairly well given my young age. Our teacher was summoned to the door and evidently told the president had been shot. At that point, I think we were given a quiet activity or told to put our heads on our desk. In CT, it was only a little after 1 pm and we often did put our heads down after lunch. I think at some point we might have prayed as a class. Despite the fact that it was a public school, we said The Lord’s Prayer every day. Shortly after that, we were told that the president had been killed and dismissed. I was a walker and was dismissed to walk the 3 blocks home from my neighborhood school. The expectation was that most everyone’s mother would be home to greet their children or there would be someone picking up those children whose mothers worked (and there were few of those).</p>
<p>Like so many on this thread, my family had the television on constantly until Monday and I saw the live Oswald shooting. I think my family identified heavily with the Kennedys partly because I am the same age as Caroline and my brother is the same age as John, Jr. As well, Kentucky was a heavy blue state at the time (my, how things have changed). In fact, when my brother was born in 1960 we were living in Bowling Green, KY. My parents were blocked for a few minutes in traffic when bringing my brother home from the hospital by the Kennedy motorcade as JFK campaigned there in October.</p>
<p>I was in the 10th grade in Houston, where my father was the editorial page editor of a (progressive) daily newspaper. The 9th-grade girl sitting next to me in my last class of the day said, “It’s too bad he’s dead, but I never liked him.” Not everyone was that polite. I have just read Dallas 1963, a book about the dangerously extremist political climate in Texas at the time. (You would like it, 07Dad). It all brings back memories of my dad, who fielded calls at home from John Birchers who didn’t like the paper’s editorials. </p>
<p>What I remember most from that day, though, is the silence. People were in shock. I have realized just lately that I feel like my childhood ended that afternoon. It was a lot to deal with for a 14-year-old–raised by parents and grandparents who had the postwar optimism of their respective generations. I wish I had taken the time to have a conversation with my dad about that weekend and what it was like for him. He wrote a beautiful editorial for the Saturday paper, which was always framed in our house and which I got out this afternoon, just to have him in the room. He was only 59 when he died–ironically, on November 22.</p>
<p>In 1963 very few homes had color TVs…the TVs had tubes and a 19" screen was kinda normal size TV. Of course no one had a computer or internet back then…people got news from newspapers, radio, and 6 o’clock evening news on the TV.</p>
<p>I was in kindergarten, and I distinctly remember being annoyed that my afternoon T.V. programing was interrupted. I wish my memories were more profound.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to remember that if we arrived home and no one was there in 1963, we’d have just gone to a neighbor’s house. Probably wouldn’t have thought about our parents at all. Or in my neighborhood, the back door might have been open anyway. Times were different.</p>
<p>I wish I had a copy of that. I have a drawer full of big-event newspapers, beginning with Nixon’s resignation, followed by the 1981 royal wedding, the Challenger disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the day of my D’s birth, Princess Diana, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, President Obama’s election and inauguration, and the 2011 royal wedding. I’ll pass them along to my D some day.</p>
<p>I was 11 months old, just learned to walk and we waved to the President. I obviously don’t remember it but it’s a bittersweet memory for my Mom. She saved the newspapers.</p>
<p>I was a 6 year old second grader and just by chance was sick that day and stayed home from school. I remember lying on the living room sofa and my mom was watching “As the World Turns” when the program was interrupted. Also remember watching the funeral coverage on TV a few days later.</p>
<p>I was in kindergarten in Illinois…the 3rd grade teacher came in crying, said something to my teacher, who then started to cry. They told us what had happened and I remember feeling weird because they were so sad and I wasn’t. That was my first awareness that there was such a thing as a President. What is burned in my brain is the drum beat from the funeral procession. And I really loved the song Hail to the Chief.</p>
<p>My drive into downtown Dallas has already been disrupted by street closings. It will get worse as the week wears on. So odd that the assassination was one of my early memories and now I drive past the scene to and from work 5 days a week.</p>
<p>On the 25th anniversary I asked some of our older partners if they had seen JFK that day. To a man, the response was basically that they couldn’t have possibly been bothered to go outside to see that damned [insert Democrat, Catholic, etc.]</p>
<p>You saw that they jack hammered the two “X” off the street at Dealey Plaza that mark the spot where JFK was shot, right? You don’t do much (any?) trial work, but the court buildings over looking Dealey are closed Friday.</p>
<p>Remember Dallas Moore from our law school class?</p>
<p>I was too young to remember when JFK was shot, but I clearly remember when Bobby Kennedy was shot 5 years later. We were on vacation camping and I remember my Mom sitting at a picnic table crying. First time I remember ever seeing her cry so hard which was scary to me. </p>
<p>Neighbor ladies used to come for coffee some mornings, and I remember later (not sure exactly when) them discussing whether “Teddy was going to run,” of course referring to Teddy running for President. But at the time I assumed they were discussing whether Teddy was going to run away - something I would not have blamed him for after having 2 of his brothers assassinated :(</p>
<p>A lot us are getting pretty old. I was in 7th grade and in some ways it feels like it happened yesterday. My memories of it are still very vivid.</p>
<p>I thought I’d bump this up because it is the anniversary today.</p>
<p>Food for thought: about 100 years ago, I wonder if people were having the same discussions about how they remember where they were when they heard Lincoln was assassinated.</p>
I was in 7th grade and in some ways it feels like it happened yesterday. My memories of it are still very vivid.</p>