At 1 p.m. 50 years ago President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
Kennedy was the United States 35thPresident and the fourth and last President who has been assassinated while in office.
Some faculty and staff members at Park University still remember hearing about JFK’s death and Lee Harvey Oswald as the triggerman. That event became a part of them for the rest of their lives.
Some heard second-hand that the President was killed. Glenda Holder, administrative assistant to the Dean of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), said she was in the sixth grade working in her school library in Texas.
“I was doing my work study in the elementary school library when a friend of mine came running in screaming ‘He’s dead! He’s dead! The President is dead!’ I remember being shocked and stunned,” she said.
Since she lived in Texas at the time she remembers people questioning why the assassination had to happen in Texas. She also recollects watching Jack Ruby shoot Oswald live and hearing the guns popping sound. Oswald died from his gunshot wound not ten feet from when Kennedy died from his only a few days prior.
“It affected everyone in the world,” said Holder. “And I don’t think everyone really understood that he (Kennedy) had just a long reach.”
Librarian Betty Durlang said she was going home when she first heard.
“I was driving home from shopping at Red-X (in Riverside, Mo), and heard it on the radio,” she said.
After hearing of Kennedy’s death, Durlang remembers that people watched their televisions wanting to know more information.
Professor John Lofflin, communication arts department chair, was in high school at the time of the assassination.
“I managed to escape English classes while I took journalism one, but (the school) finally caught me,” he said.
The only English class that was open was a troublemaking class, which he affectionately called “English for Criminals.”
“We had three teachers in just one year,” he said. “I remember one student took a typewriter and threw it out the window. To me it was a wonderful environment. I love it.”
“When the announcement was said (over the school’s intercom) a huge cheer was heard throughout the classroom. The students were ‘Rebels without a Cause’. They thought it was cool that the President was shot. It affected me more when I got home and realized the magnitude (of the situation).”
“English for Criminals” was the same class where Lofflin was stabbed by a fellow student while reading the part for Julius Caesar.
“I relate the assassination to my own attempt,” said Lofflin.
Many conspiracy theories still abound from the grassy knoll with a second shooter or CIA/Secret Services being in on the assassination.
Lofflin strongly believes that Oswald was the shooter.
“I don’t believe theconspiracy theories about Kennedy,” said Lofflin. “He (Lee Harvey Oswald) acted alone. There’s no chance of our country keeping a secret.”
Dr. Andrea Southard, theatre professor, was watching the parade live on TV.
“I was watching the parade on TV with my mother while we were eating lunch,” she said. “I saw it happen in real time.”
Almost two weeks ago on Sunday Nov 10, National Geographic aired “Killing Kennedy”, which is an in-depth TV movie about Lee Harvey Oswald before and after his shooting of Kennedy.
“Killing Kennedy” is based on the best seller written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The program stars Rob Lowe and Ginnifer Goodwin as the President and Mrs. Kennedy respectively.
Another airing of the TV movie will be shown on National Geographic at 4 p.m. today, Nov 22.
