JFK remembered

Just before Thanksgiving each year, Americans are reminded of the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Persons of thinking age on Nov. 22, 1963, remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on the day Lee Harvey Oswald (or others, if you believe the conspiracy theories) fired the fatal shots in Dallas. The event is remembered just as Sept. 11 will be remembered 40 years from now.

Millions saw Kennedy as a new beginning for the country and his inaugural speech is considered to be among the greatest in American history. “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” was a lightning rod for citizens to get involved.

However, Kennedy was not loved by all. Wining the election over Richard Nixon by fewer than 125,000 popular votes, being the youngest man ever elected president and belonging to the Catholic Church while most American Christians were Protestant, were factors against him at the start. Then there were issues like the Bay of Pigs, hostilities with Russia, extra-martial affairs, his administration’s investigations against the Mafia and problems with big oil – all fodder for assassination theories.

Whatever the feelings for or against JFK and party affiliations, Americans took the murder of their president personally, and it was devastating to our country. JFK is still admired by many baby boomers, as evidenced by a periodic Gallup poll that asks 1,000 people nationwide whom they think is America’s greatest president. Those in the age group 50 to 64 rank Kennedy ahead of all others.

The following are responses received from an informal poll asking Idahoans where they were and what they were doing on Nov. 22, 1963, with their own memory of that day.

“I was in the library at Lake Forest, College (Illinois). We were told to return to our dorm. JFK had an ability to inspire the country.”

Bev Moss, Kootenai County Democratic Party chairwoman

“Only 4 years old, I was sitting on the living room floor at my parents’ home in Libby, Mont. Too young to know what was going on, I was just upset my Mickey Mouse show was canceled.”

Julie Chadderdon, regional chairwoman for the Republican Party

“I was at home in Spokane with my kids, watching TV. I was not a Republican until Ronald Reagan, but I believe we all felt a loss, regardless of the party. This was our President.”

Kathy Sims, former Idaho state senator

“I was working at Sears in Sandpoint. The TV was on, so we all stayed at work and watched the news. A friend of mine was so upset that she ran through an intersection in downtown Sandpoint, causing an accident.”

Jean Coleman, Coeur d’Alene

“I was a 19-year-old working in North Hollywood, Calif., for a sheet metal shop specializing in prototype fabrication. My boss was the father of a girl I was very interested in while we were in high school. I guess I thought if I went to work for dad, I could woo the girl. She helped me get the job, but I didn’t get the girl. I was working on a piece of sheet metal. When the news broke everyone stopped and listened in silence as the newscaster described the events. Someone went in and told the boss, who came out to the shop floor and told us anyone who wanted to could go home, but without pay. As I remember it, we all stayed and continued working after a brief break, and just monitored the radio for updates of the assassination. Two years later, while I was in the Army and assigned to the Pentagon, I visited the grave site at Arlington Cemetery.”

Kent Setty, retired LAPD, Coeur d’Alene

“I was a sophomore in high school, and was in biology class where I’d just gotten detention for screwing around, when Sr. Elizabeth Claire was called to the door by the principal, Sister Jeannette, who was crying. After they spoke, Sr. E.C. came back in the room, also crying, and told us that President Kennedy had been shot. Our first reaction, of course, was shock. It was unbelievable that such a thing could happen, and stranger still to see any of the nuns cry. They never showed emotion about anything. A few minutes later, Sr. Jeannette announced on the school’s p.a. system that the president was dead. It was a day when high school students were stunned to silence. It seems like we were sent home early, but I don’t even remember that part for sure. The days that followed are foggy, but I can still remember how sad they were. My mom had voted for Kennedy, my dad for Nixon, but there were no partisan feelings about it.”

Kitty Fleischman, publisher/editor Idaho magazine

“We were having lunch at a downtown Dallas restaurant and a waiter told us the news. It was terrible tragedy to everyone, no matter if you were a Democrat or a Republican.”

Bess and J.D. Lee, Coeur d’Alene

“I was in between classes at Santa Monica City College when all of a sudden the entire campus was very eerily quiet. People just stopped and were milling around …. some were crying and others just shaking their heads in absolute disbelief. A friend stopped me and asked if I’d heard the news. I hadn’t to that point …. I think classes were canceled the rest of the day. Talk about a day that changed the world!”

Carol Emery, Rathdrum

“I was sitting in history class at Shadle Park High School when the vice principal announced that the president had been shot. Two things really hit me that day. Fifteen minutes after he had announced that the president had been shot he informed us that he had died. This man was the enforcer, tough guy and he was on the verge of tears. The other thing that brought it home was after class I noticed the flag was already at half-staff. Usually between classes there was a lot of talking, chatter and horseplay not that day. These are images that have been ingrained in my mind.”

Rich Emery, Rathdrum

“It was warm sunny fall day and it was my first parade. Only 13 years old, I was shorter than the crowd standing between the street and me where the motorcade would soon pass, so I did the only logical thing that my teenage mind could think conceive. Climbing onto the seat of a Dallas Police Department three-wheeled motorcycle, I got a glimpse of the president of the United States, just before one of Dallas’ finest snatched me off his patrol bike. Running along Main Street with my schoolmate, we initially planned on following the motorcade to Houston Street, where it would turn at Dealey Plaza, giving us a better chance to see the president. Having run a block or so, one of us smelled hamburgers grilling so we changed our plans. We now focused on lunch – even a greater priority for a growing teenager than seeing the president. We didn’t get our hamburgers. Blaring over the radio, were the words the citizens of that day have not forgotten: “The president has been shot.”

Mike Kincaid, Coeur d’Alene