Locals Recall Kennedy’s Assassination On 50th Anniversary By TYLER DOUGLAS, TOM WOERNER and BRIAN HANEY Of The Record Staff Fifty years ago today, a large crowd gathered along Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. People stepped out on the sidewalk just before lunchtime to catch a glimpse of President John F. Kennedy passing through the area with his motorcade. Around 12:30 p.m., President Kennedy’s limousine eased past the Texas School Book Depository and a bullet whirred from the building, then another and another. He was hit in the upper back, then the head. While Secret Service agents scrambled over his body, it was reported that Jacqueline Kennedy kept repeating, “They have killed my husband.” President Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital — he was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. The White House officially announced his death at 1:33 p.m. In just over an hour, the United States had changed forever. Several investigations began in the wake of the assassination, helmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Warren Commission, the Dallas Police, medical experts dubbed the Ramsey Clark Panel and the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations, among others. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became President Johnson, Lee Harvey Oswald was identified and arrested and conspiracy theorists began pondering as the committees arrived at different conclusions — discrepancies that remain today. The death of the 35th president sent tremors through communities nationwide. Residents in Harnett County and surrounding areas, like so many Americans, still remember the day vividly. ‘Shocking To The Whole Country’ State Sen. Ronald Rabin was a captain in the U.S. Army at the time President Kennedy was killed. He was in the degree completion program at the University of Southern Mississippi. “I was in the car doing a little bit of reading and a little bit of listening when the news came over the radio that the president had been shot,” he said. “I immediately went over and lowered See Remembering, Page 3A Article Continued Below See REMEMBERING on Page A03 Remembering Continued From Page One the flag to half-staff. I went in and told the president of the university what I did. I felt it was important for us to show some respect for our country at that time.” Sen. Rabin, a Special Forces soldier at the time, said President Kennedy was seen favorably after he reinstituted the green beret as part of the U.S. Army uniform. “He was well liked in the Special Forces,” Sen. Rabin said. “I don’t mind telling you I was a little emotional as the news came across. It was shocking to the whole country, no matter what side of the political aisle you were on.” ‘Everything Got Quiet’ Harnett County Commissioner Beatrice Hill will never forget where she was when she heard the news that President Kennedy had been killed. Mrs. Hill was working in Chicago as a social worker and was in her office when she learned the president had been shot. She said the entire office fell silent and “it was like a shock came over everybody.” “Everything got quiet,” she said. Even though the president’s condition did not seem good, Mrs. Hill said everyone in her office was hoping he would pull through. When President Kennedy was finally pronounced dead, she said the whole nation was in disbelief. Looking back, Mrs. Hill noted, the assassination of President Kennedy was the first of three events which significantly impacted the Civil Rights Movement. Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Kennedy’s brother, Sen. Robert Kennedy, were both killed by assassins in 1968. Mrs. Hill said President Kennedy was viewed as a friend of the Civil Rights Movement. She noted how the president and his brother, who was serving as U.S. Attorney General, sent National Guard troops to the University of Mississippi in 1962 “It meant a lot,” she said of President Kennedy’s support of the movement. Prior to his assassination, she said, nobody could have imagined someone would try to kill the president. “We were so elated over having a president who would do what’s right by the people,” she said. “We thought this was what they wanted.” ‘A Dark Day’ Harold Medlin, Benson’s unofficial historian, was at his home along Hill Street. It was lunchtime and he and his wife were watching television. “We had a corner TV at that time and we stayed glued to it watching him in the Texas area. We wondered if there would be any problems and, of course, it turned out there was,” he said. “I thought it was awful. I was a Kennedy fan and (his assassination) looked like a new day — a dark day,” he said. “I watched (Kennedy’s) inauguration. Back then, you did those kinds of things — stayed up at night and watched the conventions. I was interested in politics a good bit and Kennedy was my man.” Mr. Medlin said despite President Kennedy’s political detractors, his assassination seemed to bring forth a collective sadness throughout the area. “Most people were sorrowful,” he said. “Of course, everybody remembers little John and his salute at the funeral, the lighting of the eternal flame and so forth. I went to Washington one time and went by to see that.” “Those are the kind of dates to remember,” Mr. Medlin said. It Shocked The World Former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington said the assassination of President Kennedy shocked a generation. “No one ever thought something like that could happen,” Rep. Etheridge said. “People were shocked, not only here, but all over the world.” Mr. Etheridge was a freshman student at then Campbell College when the assassination occurred. He said his recollections involving sitting around television screens watching the entire week of events, ending with the historic funeral and burial in Arlington National Cemetery. “We just kept watching and no one could believe it,” Mr. Etheridge said. The motorcade of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 22, 1963.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 02:48:01 +0000
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