November 1963

Sprint 14:00 Official 11/20

What do I write about today? 62 years ago, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I was ten, in the fifth grade, in Mr. Greens' class.

Someone came and called Mr. Green out in the hall. He closed the door as he left the room. He wasn't gone ling and he looked a little strange when he returned. Someone asked what happened. He shook his head. "They don't want me to say," he said. Looking down.

There was an immediate response from almost everyone in the class. Demanding to know. After several minutes, he finally said, "I guess you are all old enough."

He left for a minute or two, returning with a tv on a rolling stand. He didn't say anything. He just turned on the TV, adjusted the rabbit ear antennae to get a good signal, turning the channel to a news broadcast.

We all watched in silence as the reporters told us, and the world that the president of the United States had been assassinated. At first, I don't think anyine understood that word. Then the reporter said, tearfully, "He's dead. President Kennedy is dead."

I was stunned. Some of the girls started crying. There were some who asked, "Who did it? Why?" But there was no answer.

Moments later someone from the office called for one of the students to report to the office. More and more students; were called, Finally, there was an announcement that school was being dismissed.

I don't remember if my parents picked us up, or not. My siblings and I attended the same school. My sister was crying, although I don't know if she really understood what had happened. I think she was reflecting the adults' emotions that surrounded us.

The days that followed are a bit of a blur. I remember the news when Jack Ruby shot the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald. I vaguely remember there being a large number of people who thought it was a set up and that Ruby was sent to kill Oswald by someone else...the FBI, the CIA, the MOB. The theories abounded. I remember listening to the adults in my family discussing the issue, endlessly.

Camelot had fallen, that was said by news stations. It took me awhile to understand they meant the reign of JFK and his lovely wife, Jackie.

It was the end of an era and the end of innocence by many school children and our country.

There were so many who thought the Kennedys were almost god-like in their altruism. As time went on, it became clear that this family, powerful as they were, were as human as us all. They had skeletons in their closets, and many unpleasant facts came out. The patriarchs' treatment of the sister, Rosemary, the many affairs of the brothers, John and Robert.

It was scary when Robert decided to run for president and were in shock and dismay when, he too, was killed on national television.
It was a scary, intense, uncertain time and colored the next several years, especially for those who lived through it.