There are few events so universally ingrained into memory as the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Ask anyone over the age of 60, and it’s likely they can tell you exactly where they were, what they were doing, the thoughts that ran through their mind and the events that immediately followed.
Fifty years removed from that fateful day, Nov. 22, 1963, baby boomers and their elders can name the high school class they were in, the teacher who broke the news and the rush of reactions ranging from despair to disbelief as they were glued to the family’s old black-and-white television set for the days that followed.
Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was sitting in the back seat of a SS-100-X open-roofed presidential limousine along with his wife, Jacqueline; Texas Governor John Connally; and Connally’s wife, Nellie; when he was shot and killed while riding through Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.
The assassin, later discovered to be Lee Harvey Oswald – a fact still disputed, according to a recent Associated Press poll – fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository using a 6.5mm Carcano carbine long rifle. He was then arrested later that day by police in the Texas Theatre.
Two days later, Oswald was shot to death in the Dallas city jail corridor by night club operator Jack Ruby as Americans watched live on television, leaving many unanswered questions and giving rise to various conspiracy theories involving U.S. politicians, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cuban President Fidel Castro and the KGB.
Schools were closed nationwide Nov. 25, 1963 as Americans watched Kennedy’s funeral procession in Washington, D.C. The image of Kennedy’s son, “Little John John,” saluting his father’s casket is etched in the minds of many.
Here are a few of their stories.
Do you have a story to share? Email Scott Forstner at sf*******@sv**********.com.
Bob Dillon, 66
-Former Gilroy City Councilman, former columnist for the Gilroy Dispatch and Editorial Board member
“Nobody forgets that,” were the first words out of Dillon’s mouth when asked if he remembered where he was on that infamous day.
At age 16 growing up in Ohio, the high school sophomore quite succinctly recalls being in his English Composition Class with Mr. James W. Bartee, who was summoned out of his room by another teacher and informed of the President’s assassination.
“Somebody behind me said by, ‘God we’re at war,’” said Dillon, recalling how Mr. Bartee returned looking “as white as a sheet of paper.”
Dillon remembers Mr. Bartee’s exact words: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I regret to inform you an attempt has been made on the life of the President of the United States….it may have been successful.”
Then came instructions from Dillon’s principal, Edward W. Billingsley, over the loud speaker: “Students, school is dismissed for the day. I’d like you all to go home and turn on your television because you are watching history being made.”
On his walk home, Dillon stopped in the Catholic church, said a prayer, and joined his family in front of the television set. Two days later, he watched with his mother and brother as Ruby emerged from the crowd and shot Oswald.
“We were just stunned,” Dillon recalls. “Now we’ll never know [if Oswald acted alone].”
Dillon remembers feeling “great sadness” as he watched Kennedy’s funeral procession and trying to digest everything that had happened in such a short period of time.
“The whole weekend was just stunning. It was almost too big to process,” he said. “It was overwhelming and stunning and you kind of got this feeling that things would never be the same again.”
Christa Hansen, 65
-Director of the Living and Loving Education Center in Morgan Hill
As a sophomore in her high school geometry class, Hansen was “devastated” by the news announced over the school loudspeaker of Kennedy’s assassination.
“I remember like it was yesterday,” she said. “It’s hard to believe it was so long ago.”
Hansen had the fortune of seeing and listening to President Kennedy in person when he visited Davenport, Iowa during his presidential campaign.
“He was close enough almost to touch,” Hansen recalls. “To see him in person – not just on TV and not just reading about him [in the newspaper] – he was such a good speaker; you wanted to get mobilized behind him; you were proud to be an American and wanted to be part of making America better.”
With Kennedy being the first Catholic President, this hit home for Hansen. A Catholic herself, it showed that there were “no borders of religion,” she said, for being President.
“He made people really want to rally behind the United States,” Hansen shared. “It was a big shock.”
Gene Sakahara, 65
-Spent 10 years as a Gilroy teacher; 17 as a principal; remainder of career as assistant superintendent; now retired.
Sitting in Mr. Dukes’ Algebra II class at Gilroy High School, then teenager Gene Sakahara (14 or 15 at the time) quite vividly remembers the announcement over the loud speaker that President Kennedy had been assassinated.
“Everybody was in shock,” recalled Sakahara of his fellow classmates as they congregated in the center of the quad after being dismissed from class. “There was just this somber, stunned atmosphere. It’s a day that I won’t ever forget…It was kind of a gray, misty day, which was very appropriate to the event.”
Sakahara noted that all the schools were closed the following week as “we were a nation in mourning.” He said he took a bike ride by himself “just to reflect on the sadness, not only for myself, but for the entire nation.”
Just two days later, he recalls how everyone was glued to their black-and-white television sets, watching as another horrifying historic event took place “when Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald.”
“I remember the police officer in the cowboy hat was leading Lee Harvey Oswald out of the jail and then this black figure comes up and blocks the TV camera,” recalled Sakahara. “It was Jack Ruby…[I remember] this grimace on Lee Harvey Oswald’s face and the police officer had this shocked look. That’s etched in my memory as well.”
“It was just a horrible, horrible time,” he continued. “The nation was already stunned and now we watch this execution in black and white on our TV.”
Sakahara also recalled President Kennedy’s funeral procession, watching “Little John John saluting his father as his casket rolled by.”
“It just seems almost like yesterday,” Sakahara said.
Steve Tate, 69:
-Mayor of Morgan Hill
In the fall of his junior year at UC Berkeley, a then 19-year-old Steve Tate was walking to one of his favorite meeting spots called the Bear’s Lair near campus when he learned the news of President Kennedy being shot.
“[I was] just in non-belief,” said Tate, who got together with friends at the coffee shop, where everyone “watched the whole aftermath” on television.
Tate, a mathematics major at Berkeley from 1961 to 1966, said he was “not even close” to thinking about his own future in politics at the time. He remembered that classes were canceled for about a week and everyone was “just glued to their television sets for four to five days.”
Looking back, a now 69-year-old Tate says Kennedy’s historic words – “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” – especially resonated with the Berkeley community as many were inspired to join the peace corps and other humanitarian efforts.
“He was kind of the younger generation; he was the youngest president; and he represented youth and liberalism, and Berkeley was kind of the heart of liberalism,” Tate said.
Connie Rogers, 71
-President of the Gilroy Historical Society
Jim Rogers, 74
-Former police chief at Larson Air Force Base in Washington
The married couple was living in Washington at the time – Connie, a social worker for the Grant County Department of Public Assistance, and Jim, the police chief at Larson Air Force Base.
“It was very upsetting,” said Connie, who recalled having a friend visiting from Seattle later that day and “we spent the rest of the weekend watching television…and saw Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.”
She remembered the “blood on Jackie’s outfit” and “LBJ [Lyndon B. Johnson] being sworn in on the airplane.” She also mentioned that President Kennedy had visited Larson Air Force Base a couple months prior to his assassination.
Jim was on duty at the Air Force base when Kennedy was assassinated and recalls the troops “received an alert.”
The base, which encompassed a housing area for about 10,000 people, had B-52 bombers and 135 re-fuelers, as well as Titan missiles.
“I was a Kennedy fan and supporter. I voted for him,” said Jim, who to this day does not like to read books or view photographs depicting the gruesome assassination. “When you lived through it and almost seen it live, you don’t want to deal with it much more…it’s still hard 50 years later even to think about that.”
Rogers described Ruby shooting Oswald as “really bizarre” since Americans all viewed it on television as it occurred.
“Ruby came out of the crowd and shot him at close range,” Jim remembers. “You couldn’t write anything more bizarre.”
Don Gage, 68
-Gilroy Mayor
A then 18-years-old Don Gage was starting his freshman year at San Jose State University, sitting in his Marcum Hall dorm room when he overheard other students saying that the president had been shot.
“It took a quite a while for them to say he died. They kept talking like he was still alive,” recalled Gage, who sat alone in his room watching the events unfold on the television before joining classmates outside.
Studying law enforcement at SJSU, Gage said he was “shocked” that the president could be shot during a presidential motorcade since he was protected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“I just remember thinking this can’t be true because [the assassin] had to be 500, 600 yards away,” Gage said. “I thought it was a joke or something at first.”
When he later watched Ruby step out of the crowd and shoot Oswald on live television, Gage described it as “fishy” and “too coincidental.”
“It just didn’t seem right to me,” recalled Gage, who believes there was a conspiracy and “they” were trying to get rid of any evidence by killing Oswald before he stood trial. “He was a prisoner surrounded by FBI…and just how someone could walk up and shoot him didn’t sit right with me.”
Conspiracy theories aside, Gage said he respected Kennedy because he “was a very gutsy kind of guy and he did what had to be done and took responsibility for it.”
“He showed guts with the Russians,” said Gage, referring to the United States’ failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban regime during the 1962 Bay of the Pigs invasion directed by Kennedy’s administration. “He wasn’t a pushover.”
Dennis Kennedy, 75
-Former Morgan Hill mayor of 12 years, ending term in 2006; currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
A first lieutenant in the Army in 1963, Dennis Kennedy was overseas stationed at an air defense missile site on the East-West German border during the height of the Cold War when he learned that his “hero” and “idol” had been assassinated.
“I cried,” said Dennis, who reported for duty that morning only to hear from his commanding officer that JFK had been killed. “I was very much a follower of the ideals of John Kennedy…hearing that he’d been assassinated was just a terrible blow to take.”
Dennis said Germans “cried as well,” especially since the president had recently visited Berlin – a divided city at the time – and given a speech.
“It just hit a chord in their hearts that here was an American president who came over to Berlin…and gave his support of free Germans in the western sector,” said Dennis, who served in Germany from late 1962 until returning in 1964.
Unlike most Americans, Dennis did not watch on television as Ruby shot Oswald. Instead, he remained on active duty and had “radars and missiles to man.” But he recalled wondering “what the heck is going on [back home]? This is crazy.”
“The whole scenario of Oswald and Ruby, it was unreal,” recalled Dennis.
Gary Plomp
Gilroy resident; submitted story
“The light rain that had been falling had become a driving rain as Mrs. Chaney pulled her black 1954 Ford coupe up to the curb at 3:00 p.m. Our third grade class at Col. Howard Nichols grammar school in Bakersfield had just been dismissed for the day. Her daughter Cheryl and I were friends and in the same class together on this deep and dark December 1963 afternoon. That old Ford was a welcome sight because it meant we didn’t have to walk home in the wet stuff! As expected, Mrs. Chaney threw open the passenger door and yelled “c’mon, I’ll give you ride home.”
The windshield wipers were chanting whump-whump-whump-whump as Cheryl and I climbed into the warm car which was most inviting. As the wipers chased the raindrops off the glass, nothing could erase the pall that remained cast over us like the slate gray clouds above. Mrs. Chaney was a kind lady, however the look on her face showed dismay. Christmas was two weeks away but this year the joy would be tempered.
Just a month before, on a bright, clear Nov. 22 morning our 10:00 am recess was just about over, confirmed by the ring of a bell. On the playground, I could see a commotion as several teachers were gathered near the classrooms and I knew the 15 minutes that I relished were at an end. Cheryl approached me with a look of bewilderment on her face. “The President has been shot in the arm” she remarked.
It was now 12:15 pm in Dallas, Texas, two hours ahead of us in the Central Time Zone.
I didn’t know what to think! It was hard to comprehend as I joined the other students walking back to the classroom.
“Well,” I thought somewhat relieved, “at least he was not dead and just like images portrayed in the popular T.V. westerns of the day, he would be up and walking in no time!” I was quite naive…….
Upon entering the classroom, teacher Mrs. Silcox with a serious tone in her voice, directed us to sit down. There was a delay, confusion and then she informed us that our President was dead though the details were still sketchy.
Though I was a young kid, President Kennedy already was an imposing figurehead in our lives. He was an articulate and convincing speaker, a decorated World War II veteran and courageous leader in uncertain times. He entered our living rooms each night via black and white television (color T.V. was in it’s infancy and few homes had it). Through this medium, he projected a commanding presence and the viewers seemed to have a personalized attachment to him. Profiles in courage was his book and byline: “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, But Ask What You Can Do For Your Country” garnered admiration and respect.
The news of President Kennedy’s assassination hung like a black curtain over the classroom for most of the day and Mrs. Silcox continued with her lesson plan until 3 p.m. when the school day ended. I anxiously awaited the bell that signaled freedom and proceeded to walk the five blocks to our home where my dear, distraught mom awaited my arrival.
My mom was at home, dutifully at her ironing board, pressing the week’s clothes on this fateful morning, never expecting the newsflash that was soon to appear on our old black and white Sears Silvertone television shortly after 10 a.m.
Suddenly her favorite soap opera program, “As the World Turns” was interrupted by the CBS network and the dour image of the beloved anchorman Walter Cronkite appeared. Wearing his trademark horn rim eyeglasses, and with a sheet of paper fresh off the teletype in his hand, he made the dreaded announcement: “President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas…”
Keep in mind, as the teletype continued to clack away in the background, snippets of breaking news continued to spew forth but no confirmation of his death had yet arrived at Walter’s desk. As the reports unfolded it became clear that the news was not good. When the news of his death arrived, it hit a tearful Walter Cronkite, my mom and the country like a sledgehammer!
Mom loved and respected President Kennedy and she took the news hard! She immediately placed an emotional telephone call to my father who was working at P.G.and E’s Kern Power Plant to inform him. He had already heard the story. My sister, who was 4-years-old, couldn’t fathom it all.
Following the assassination, the television programming continued throughout the night, something that was unheard of in 1963. Usually T.V. stations signed off at midnight, with just a pattern emanating from the picture tube. The country was in shock and disbelief and it’s people were in a somber mood. Many were depressed and in a blue funk!
President Kennedy’s televised funeral and the images of Washington D.C. and Arlington in black and white kept Americans and the world glued to the T.V. screen. For me it was quite poignant, the haunting funeral march, procession and associated music. Taps played over and over and death of a President was visceral for me. My patriotic Mom cried and it was all riveted home so succinctly and I remember possessing a morbid curiosity about death and it’s aftermath. Yes, there was a mystery to it all and hard to comprehend for a young boy at the time.
A large slice had been taken out of the American Pie!
My personal recollections would not be complete without commenting on President Kennedy’s killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. Though somewhat out of the scope of my story, his death at the hand of night club owner Jack Ruby (Rubenstein) is notable.
When Ruby fired one round from his Colt Cobra .38 caliber revolver into a reviled Oswald’s abdomen, it was the first time a murder was shown live on TV. For the most part, the American public was desensitized to uexpected, graphic violence and after this took place, many children lost their innocence on that day. It wasn’t a game of cowboys and Indians anymore and “bang, you’re dead,” took on a whole different meaning for me!
