I saw JFK 40 years ago today

40 years ago, on a bright, warm and sunny day, not at all unlike today, JFK was in San Antonio on a visit. Kennedy was in town to, among other things, dedicate the School of Aerospace Medicine at the then Brooks Field (later Brooks AFB) and to dedicate the new John F Kennedy High School.

Our school was taught by real Irish nuns from Ireland. I'd never seen the nuns acting like they were that day. They were giddy as school girls at the thought of seeing JFK, the Irish-American Catholic president, drive by in person. They were, however, able to control theirselves enough to take me and all my other schoolmates down to Roosevelt Avenue south of downtown to view JFK's motorcade as it made it's way to Brooks Field for the dedication.

I remember seeing the police everywhere. I vividly remember the policeman on the railroad overpass holding some kind of rifle up on his hip with the barrel pointed skyward; a kind of classic Texan pose with a rifle. There were police parked at the street corner and standing on the sidewalk. However, they appeared relaxed with no serious sense of urgency about their business.

It was starting to get hot standing there in the bright sun. But soon, several cars of dignitaries started going by and we waved at and cheered all of them. Then, after what seemed like several minutes of delay, JFK's motorcade emerged up from under the railroad underpass and he was coming our way. A spontaneous cheer erupted from not only our school, but everyone including the area residents that were two and three deep on the sidewalk.

As JFK's car was right in front of us, we were to his left and he was looking to his right. But Jackie was looking right at us. I remember how Jackie reached over and touched Jack on the arm and and pointed to us standing there in our Catholic school uniforms. Kennedy smiled broadly and waved at us. We were ecstatic.

One of the things that struck me most was the color of JFK's hair. In 1963, TV was black and white. Only in magazines like Look or Life did you see color pictures. I had always thought JFK had medium brown hair. When I saw him I was struck by his bright chestnut colored, but not red, hair. Instead of seeing JFK as a black and white image on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, there he was alive and in person with his fiery chestnut hair and the beautiful Jackie next to him.

Just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone and we returned to class. The rest of school that afternoon was a waste of time between the nuns still being giddy and talking among theirselves outside and our excitement at seeing the president drive by.

We went home that afternoon and to our surprise, a local TV station actually filmed our school standing there and waving. We were so excited watching our schoolmates on TV. I also found out later that my parents had gone to Brooks Field to watch the Aerospace Medicine school dedication.

We've always been a Democratic family. Three years previous, I remember my parents watching closely and on the edge of their seats, the cliff-hanger election returns of the 1960 election between JFK and Nixon. We were overjoyed that Kennedy pulled it out and won. Now, three years later, here we were watching this wonderful man driving by, and smiling and waving at us. November 21, 1963 was one of the most exciting days in not only my life but everyone else in San Antonio that shared that experience.

It was hard for us to go to bed that night, but we did. We woke up the next morning, got dressed and went to school with the residual excitement of the day before . Then, while we were at lunch came the first news that JFK had been shot. A short while later came the news that he had died. The happiness everyone experienced the day before was utterly and completely destroyed.

They say that nothing was the same after JFK was shot. It's true. The wonderful hope and promise about the great and wonderful things that JFK stood for were now gone in a sense that was brutally, viciously and unemotionally final.

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Mods, I thought about putting this in the Lounge, but after rereading the GD rules thought it would be OK here. If you don't agree, I have no problem with you moving it.

One of my earliest memories was waking up late at night to the sound of my mother crying. It was the night Bobby Kennedy was killed.

My earliest political memory is the debate about whether a Catholic could or should be president. My family was split. My uncle married a Catholic woman during World War II, and converted, as he had to in those days. My grandmother (his mother) was anti-Catholic. Must have been a hell of a run-in in the '40s! Anyway, I remember sitting around the dinner table listening to the debate in 1960. My cousin - their son, of course Catholic - was about 13 or 14 and very heated about it. I was 9, and just listened. Later, I stayed up very late fascinated by the closeness of the Nixon-Kennedy election. And I have been fascinated by elections since. You brought that back. Thanks again for a great post.

I wonder how many DUers remember when all TV was black and white? Or when there was no TV? I could already read before I ever saw a television set -- and the picture was mostly "snow." My husband told me recently that only one of his students (college) can remember a TV without a remote! Obviously, we're antique humans.

Words escape me, seriously. It's enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Nov 22, 1963 truly is the day the dream for most Americans began falling apart. It really is the day that tore the 20th century in two for this country. The optimism began to fade, the cynicism and pessimism started to grow. And 40 years later, we're still trying to come to terms with it.

and the next he was gone ranks up there with the loss many years later of my parents. It was that emotionally shocking.

Even today, I still think that it didn't have to be that way. He didn't have to die.

I was in 4th grade.

for sharing that.

eom

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Thanks for sharing what sounds like a great memory! I also went to Catholic school and wore a uniform. Alas I was born in 1965.

I too remember that fateful day. I was in Mrs. Smith's 8th grade class at West End School when the news of President Kennedy came through our intercom. America lost a little bit of her soul that day.

How many million Americans wish they could have been with you that day, even those of us not yet born?

happened this morning. I had to take my dog to the vet so I was in the car with the radio on. A recording was played. It began with a man asking a small child four questions, do you know what hatred is? do you know what racism is? do you know what prejudice is? There was one more I forgot. What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love was played in the background as they played an excerpt from a JFK speech, and then the broadcast from Dealy Plaza, next came MLK, then Bobby Kennedy. It ended with the man asking the child the same four questions. Damn!! I suddenly found myself bawling out loud and sobbing so hard I could barely drive, and I'm starting to do it again, just thinking about it. It was soul-wrenching.

much of the emotion started coming back as if it all happened yesterday. I think all of the emotion is still there today for all of us that remember. It's just not close to the surface. But the unavoidable memory and the significance of the 40 year milestone is too much to keep that emotion buried.

I understand exactly what you experienced this morning. It didn't have to be this way. John, Bobby and Martin didn't have to die. It brings tears to my eyes now knowing that it didn't have to be this way.

left us, unlike death, destruction and despair which our country is feeling today.

I was little more than a toddler at the time of his death, and at the time I didn't understand why everybody was upset, nor what was really going on. It wasn't until some years later did I realize how great our loss truly was.

Thank you for sharing your memories of that great day and how the world changed the next. You are an outstanding writer — it was like being there!

PS: Bookmarked.

One of my first memories (if not the very first) was a trip to DC with my family. I was about 3 years old. We were paying our respects to Kennedy at his grave which has an eternal flame. It was roped off. I only remember looking at the flame, but my folks say that i ducked underneath the ropes and ran across his grave to the horror of everyone there.

Don't remember when, I think '62 but I'm not certain. I remember it was a gray, overcast day, but my memory of 18 years there is mostly of gray, overcast days.

One thing I do remember is how close we could get to him, practically within touching distance of the limo - which was open. My father was an usher at a Mass he attended that day, but I didn't get to go to that. How different from the home life of our dear King.

Strangely, the only thing that sticks in my mind about the assassination was that we got Monday off from school.

linda

She was working at Texas Instruments at the time and she heard that the motorcade was going to drive past her building. So several of her co-workers and herself ran out to the curb to wave to the president.

as he drove by, my grandmother told me that everyone was commenting on how much make-up he was wearing. Her boss made the comment "he's driving so close to the crowd with the top down. someone can just run up and shoot him"...

or maybe Dallas? I don't remember TI having anything in SA even back then.

a wonderful, sad story.

but a beautiful story. RIP Jack Kennedy.

:cry:

I saw JFK in May 1961, and my first thought was that his hair color was so vivid. Color photographs which appeared in magazines of that time didn't do it justice.