Prelude to a President's Assassination

Where were you when you heard that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been shot? It is amazing to me that after 36 years, people still remember vividly where they were, what they were doing, and how they heard the announcement that our President had been shot and then the announcement that he had died. The horror of it paralyzed the nation. It seems difficult for people who were too young then or who were not yet born to understand the daze that covered the nation. As I contemplate the all-encompassing atmosphere of numbness and time seemingly standing still for every individual, I can only speak from my personal experience.

On that fatal day of November 22, 1963, I was sitting in English class when an announcement came over the intercom that our President had been shot. The principal tuned the radio in on the intercom so that everyone could hear history as it happened. The atmosphere in the classroom was a reflection of what was happening across the United States. When the announcement was made at approximately 12:30 p.m. on that infamous day, everyone stopped what they were doing and waited in anticipation and dread to hear if President Kennedy was going to survive or not. A few students started questioning what would happen if he died. It was only about 15 minutes until the dreaded announcement came, but it seemed like an eternity to those of us listening to hear the latest news of what was happening in Dallas. People were in shock and stunned when the announcement came over the airways that our President had been assassinated. By the tone and shakiness in some of the reporters' voices, it seemed difficult for them to make the dreaded announcement that he had been assassinated. It was as if it took all of their being to speak the word "assassinated."

There were a number of world, national and local circumstances that created the shock that permeated the country. In 1963, the Cold War with the Soviet Union and the recent attempt to move missiles into Cuba had been a very intense time that was fresh in everyone's minds. President Kennedy had stood by his conviction that missiles in our hemisphere could only escalate the ongoing Cold War. The Soviets were told that if the missile-carrying ships did not leave the Western hemisphere by a certain date and time, they would be blown out of the water by the United States military. This event was the beginning of communication worldwide for people to know what was happening at any given moment in any country.. The Cuban missile crisis had been mesmerizing to the new television audience and was the beginning of a nation being spellbound by an event.

The election of John F. Kennedy in 1960 had put the first Catholic in the White House (this was a controversial issue) and had been the hottest, most volatile election in several decades. By November 1963, the controversies, issues and fears that had fueled the election campaign were almost dissipated and the nation was beginning to have confidence in and trust President Kennedy. The sixties were the beginning of the United States being changed at an accelerated pace - greater than anyone had ever experienced before. Throughout the previous span of time, technology had changed lives at a much slower pace, giving people time to adjust to whatever newfangled thing came along. Footages of the motorcade and assassination, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in as the new President on Air Force One, Lee Harvey Oswald being arrested and then executed by Jack Ruby, the lines of people at the White House to pay their respects to President Kennedy (people waited in lines for hours), the funeral procession, and the First Family being continuously in the spotlight were shown over and over again, bombarding each individual as though President Kennedy had been a personal friend of every American. There was a great deal of concern over whether one of our enemy countries might take advantage of the United States being in such an internal turmoil. The viewing of this tragedy by millions simultaneously created a catalyst that made the world seem much smaller. There were still many homes at that time that did not have a television, but everyone had a neighbor or relative where they could go watch it.

A circumstance that intensified the daze of the students in my high school occurred in October before the assassination. On a beautiful fall day as students were settling into their 2nd period class, soldiers with rifles dressed in unfamiliar uniforms suddenly invaded our school. A few of these soldiers burst into my Health class, pointing their guns at students and the teacher while yelling orders in broken English to go to the gymnasium. The teacher attempted to contact the principal over the intercom, and was stopped by a rifle in her ribs. Some students asked what was going on, but the soldiers just kept yelling at us to go to the gymnasium while waving their guns. We fled out of the classroom in a panic. I saw one student stop at a water fountain for a quick drink - a soldier pushed him and ordered him to get moving or suffer the consequences.

It did not take long for the principal, teachers, 800 students, and cafeteria workers to assemble in the gymnasium. At that point, everyone's terror level increased to the next higher level when the principal and the boys' gym teacher were corralled by a circle of soldiers in the middle of the gymnasium floor. We all were ordered to sit down, shut up and listen to their Commander. He ordered the principal to stand beside him as the soldiers continued their scrutiny of everyone. The Commander stated that the Soviet Union had taken over the United States and everyone was being rounded up to be put into different types of groups. "Groups," what did that mean? Various questions raced through my mind: Where were my brother and sister; will I get to be with my family; isn't this what was done to the Jews in World War II; how could this be happening to the United States? The gym teacher stood up and attempted to say he did not believe it and that there was no way this could be true. The soldiers gathered around him and told him to shut up and sit down.

The Commander continued to tell us that our small groups would be taken to the Armory (where the National Guard held their activities). I'm not sure what else he said, but he spoke for perhaps another three minutes - an eternity. Suddenly the atmosphere changed to complete relief as everyone on the floor started smiling and the soldiers backed away from the gym teacher and principal. The principal stepped to the microphone and told us this was "simply" a drill for the National Guard. Everyone was greatly relieved it was not true, and of course there were a few "brave" students who claimed they knew from the beginning that it was an act. The guard and principal apologized for scaring us, and we all went back to our respective classes. The community was very upset and the principal was publicly reprimanded for having agreed to let the Guard invade and terrorize everyone. There has not been such a drill since then.

Volumes of books have and will be filled concerning the factors that influenced the United States citizens' all-encompassing numbness on that fateful day in November 1963. For my family and I, it was a great time of fear and trepidation because monumental changes were happening so fast that it was overwhelmingly difficult to adjust to them. During the past 36 years, the rate of change has accelerated beyond anyone's imagination. As I compose this article, my mind wanders as to what the next 36 years hold for the world, our nation and my family, especially my eight-year-old grandson and five-year-old granddaughter. I hope my composition has sparked your imagination in contemplating future changes to come. Each day, no matter if it is a mundane or eventful day, we have so much to be thankful for. What do you think the future holds for you?

Susie Napier, August 2000