November 22 is the 30th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States. It happened as Kennedy was riding in a motorcade in downtown Dallas. For the next four days, there was continuous network coverage for the first time ever in the history of television. The assassination and the events that followed touched the American psyche deeply. Anyone old enough to understand what was happening remembers the widespread shock and confusion. The TC News decided to find out just where our faculty and students were at the time and how they reacted to the news.
JOHN COLLINS, Security and maintenance
“I was wiring the Montgomery Ward store at the time – it was brand new. I heard it over the radio and was totally shocked. We just shut the job down. It was horrifying – a moment without a leader.”
SCOTT VOLENTINE, student, Texarkana, TX
“I was only 12 at the time and I was in parochial school. The nun came and told us the news and we went to the church. We cried because he had been the only Catholic president.”
MELISSA CARSON, student worker
“I was in fourth grade in a Catholic school here in Texarkana. There were people in my class who were crying and I remember thinking ‘How stupid – they don’t even know him.’”
LAUREN HEHMEYER, reference librarian
“I was in seventh grade gym class in south St. Louis. The reality didn’t hit me until later. The thing that affected me most was the shooting of Oswald on camera, because I had never seen that kind of violence before.”
ADOLPHUS HINTON, assistant professor, management
“I was in the army at Ft. Benning, Ga., working with new concepts for air assault training. I was shocked. We had lost not only the president of the United States but the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. I lost my fearless leader.”
BILL HUGHES, dean of students
“I was director of special education for the Crossett, Ark., school system. I had finished eating and gone to the office of the Calhoun school principal. She had a radio on and blurted the news. I was shocked that an American president could be assassinated. The enormity of the crime seemed incomprehensible. Even though I hadn’t voted for him I respected the office. He was our president.”
DR. CARL NELSON, president of Texarkana College
“I was teaching algebra at Texas High when a student ran into class and said the president had been shot. It was shocking to a degree that people today can’t understand. Things like that just didn’t happen in 1963. Those were days when you could leave your car unlocked and not lock your house at night.”
JEAN STOW COTTEN, director of public relations
“In 1960 I campaigned for Kennedy but couldn’t vote for him because I was only 17, and 21 was the minimum voting age. Two weeks before the assassination I turned 21, and I was excited that I was finally old enough to vote for Kennedy! Then the assassination occurred and, for a lot of people my age, hope and faith in the future died that day, too. On Friday, Nov. 22, I was working at Bowie-Cass Electric Co-op in Douglassville, Texas. The bookkeeper came in and said the president of the United States had been shot. The boss turned on the radio broadcast on the intercom, and all afternoon we just sat and listened to the terrible news. Work had stopped for the day.”
Interviews and photos by Bob Walters, Pat Miller and Barbara Wright. Page layout by Barbara Wright.