REFLECTIONS

Is it possible? Yes, it is possible, and it has happened.

It’s 60 years since the nation’s 35th president, John F. Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas, Texas. I had just finished taking a college exam at Austin State Junior College and went with a friend to unwind.

We went to the Crest, a downtown recreation center in Austin, Minn.

As we were shooting pool, I noticed the radio in the center was getting louder and louder. I went up front and asked the manager what was going on. He said: “President Kennedy has been shot.”

After hearing that startling news, I quickly decided to go home. My home at that time was still with my parents on a small dairy farm, just seven miles southwest of Blooming Prairie.

Where were you when this news first captured your interest? I’m sure you have never forgotten. Ten years ago, my granddaughter Kaley and I went to Dallas to take part in some of the 50^th anniversary observances. We were credentialed as members of the press.

Kaley was a student at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and I was still working for ECM Publishers.

Kaley and I had a front row seat, so to speak, as we were able to tour the Sixth Floor, a museum recalling the events of Nov. 22, 1963, and after. We also took a shuttle ride to view the various events associated with the Kennedy assassination.

This is what we saw on the shuttle tour:

1. The Kennedy motorcade. We followed what was the original motorcade on that day.
2. The spot where the shots rang out in Dealey Plaza
3. Texas School Book Depository
4. Gunman Lee Harvey Oswald’s boarding house room
5. Spot where Oswald shot and killed Dallas police officer. J.D. Tippit
6. Dallas Theatre, site of Oswald’s apprehension
7. Dallas police station, site where Oswald was being transferred to another jail

Touring these famous sites brought back many memories for me, because I have been a follower of JFK since I was a college student in 1963.

Actually being part of the remembrance has kept these memories alive for Kaley and me.

During that visit to Dallas, Kaley and I went to the house of James R. Leavelle, the detective who interviewed Oswald soon after his apprehension. Leavelle also was the officer manacled to Oswald when he was shot by Jack Ruby.

I had a lot of admiration for President Kennedy and as an 18-year-old, I felt that my life would never be the same.

On the 60th anniversary of his death, I choose to use words written by Nicole Hassenstab for the American University website (read the full piece at american.edu/sis/news/20231116-60-anniversary-of-jfk-assassination-reflecting-on-human-rights-legacy-cut-short.cfm):

November 22, 2023, marks the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. This shocking event is engrained in the collective memory of Americans, and most view it as a defining event of the ’60s. The youngest elected president in U.S. history led the country at a turbulent time. His short term included security challenges, chiefly the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, but also included high points like the formation of the Peace Corps, the March on Washington, and the signing of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons. A recent Gallup poll conducted in June 2023 saw Kennedy’s retrospective approval rating rise to 90%— the highest of any post-World War II president.