"Forever 1963": Witnesses Recall the Day JFK Died

Eyewitnesses recall the fateful day John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated. Pavithra George reports.

Published

5 months ago

Categories

US, Arts & Society

Topics

United States, US Politics, History

People

John F. Kennedy, Ronald Jones, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (5), Bob Huffaker, Pierce Allman, Tina Towner Pender

Places

United States of America, Texas, Dallas

Transcript

November 22, 1963. America's 35th President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie receive a warm reception in Dallas- a festive scene - that would take a sudden, dark turn. Bob Huffaker, former reporter at KRLD radio in Dallas. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOB HUFFAKER, EYE WITNESS AND FORMER REPORTER AT KRLD RADIO IN DALLAS, SAYING: "It looked as though the entire city had turned up. It was really great. Dallas had shown that it really loved that president." Pierce Allman, then with WFAA radio, joined the cheering crowds at Dealey Plaza. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PIERCE ALLMAN, EYE WITNESS AND FORMER WFAA RADIO REPORTER "I didn't even notice John and Nellie Connally in the jump seat.I was absolutely captivated by Jackie, who was the nearest, she was on the left side of me, the president to the other side - and I thought - that's what a first couple ought to look like...I was carried away and hollered out something like 'welcome to Dallas, Mr. President' and they turned the corner and boom, that first shot, that's a sound you don't forget." Tina Pender, then 13 years old, was filming the motorcade with her father's movie camera. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TINA TOWNER PENDER, THEN-13-YEAR OLD EYE WITNESS, SAYING: "As the first gunshot sounded I looked up to the building, thinking somebody was throwing firecrackers out of the window but I only had a split second before some stranger, and I still don't know who it was, pulled me to the ground," (SOUNDBITE) (English) KBOX RADIO NEWSMAN SAM PATE SAYING: "It appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route. Something, I repeat, has happened in the motorcade route. ..Parkland Hospital - there has been a shooting - Parkland Hospital has been advised to stand by for a severe gunshot wound. I repeat: a shooting in the motorcade in the downtown area. Parkland Hospital has been advised for a severe gunshot wound." Kennedy was hit in the neck and the head and was rushed to Parkland Hospital. Dr. Ronald Jones was one of the surgeons that operated on the wounded president. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. RONALD JONES, FORMER CHIEF RESIDENT AT PARKLAND HOSPITAL WHO OPERATED ON KENNEDY, SAYING: "The President was on a stretcher. His arms were out on arm boards like this and Dr. Carrico, who was a second year resident was trying to put a tube into his windpipe and then the tracheal tube to get an airway established, but the president was motionless. I never saw any movement. His eyes were open in a fixed stare." NATS (SOUNDBITE) (English) KBOX RADIO NEWS DIRECTOR BILL HAMPTON SAYING: "President Kennedy has been assassinated. It's official now. The president is dead." (SOUNDBITE) (English) PIERCE ALLMAN, EYE WITNESS AND FORMER WFAA RADIO REPORTER, SAYING: "The city had gone silent. I think the community was going through a soul-searching process, maybe unlike any American community in this century." Journalist Hugh Aynesworth says the assassination transformed the city. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HUGH AYNESWORTH, EYE WITNESS AND FORMER DALLAS MORNING NEWS REPORTER, SAYING: "At that time we had nobody of color, no black, no brown, nobody else in government, making any major decisions. That changed like that, because we got so much hate, so much derision, so much attack." But for some eyewitnesses time has stood still. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PIERCE ALLMAN, EYE WITNESS AND FORMER WFAA RADIO REPORTER, SAYING: "It doesn't seem like 50 years at all. When you come down here, it's forever 1963." Fifty years later Dallas prepares to relive that fateful day in Dealey Plaza with a memorial service - an unusual step for a city that has sought to shun publicity for that dark day.