NEW! 
Reflections: 22nd November 1963
Österbottens tidning English Translation (Daily Newspaper)
What a day that was. I shall never forget it. The week before at school, the students were all talking about what would happen in a few days in our great city of Dallas. Everyone was filled with excitement and hope. There were pictures all over the Bulletin boards in the hallways and classrooms of President and Mrs. Kennedy.
Arriving at Dallas' Love Field Airport
For we Negros (as we were called in those days)... Blacks or Afro-Americans today, Kennedy was our hope. He held the future for our race and other minorities in his hands, so-to-speak. He was not the Lord, but in his own way, he was a kind of deliverer for us, from a time of so much persecution, hardships, ignorance and murder...
Finally the big day arrived. That morning my parents decided that I did not have to go to school, that I could in fact, with their permission, "play hooky" from school and instead, my mom would take me to watch the Presidential Entourage, as it was departing Love Field Airport on to the Convention Hall where Kennedy was to have spoken.
The airport was only 5 minutes from our house and it was always amazing everyday, to see those hugh planes taking off and landing. The noise never bothered the kids back then. I mean a jet plane? It was like something out of the comic books, becoming reality. Propeller planes were more the norm in that era... Today jets, even supersized jets are nothing unusual, but back then, they were like something we could only dream about.
My mom and I drove and found a parking place on Lemmon Avenue, near Mockingbird Lane. When one left the airport, you exited onto Mockingbird Lane and then on into the city.
We stood there, along with thousands, waiting to catch a glimpse of the President and his beautiful wife. We had heard that she was wearing an Oleg Cassini original. He is a famed designer who was at the time the First Lady's personal designer... I remember it well. It was a shocking pink ensemble. She wore with it, the now famed pink Pillbox hat which the world would come to know her for...
For a young black teenager, who had just turned 15, this day remains unforgettable even at the age of almost 62. I remember likewise seeing Governor John and Mrs. Connally, Vice-President Lyndon and Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson.
It was a glorious day! The Presidential Plane came down from the sky like a hugh bird. In those days it was an awesome sight to see that big 707, with the Presidential Seal clearly seen at the front of the plane, as it made ready for landing at Love Field. It was so close that I could actually read: President of The United States...
About 15 minutes later, there they were! Wow. Today maybe for many young people it is nothing to see a leader of a country so close, but in those days, this was almost unbelievable and even moreso for blacks. Usually if we got to attend any official event, we were always placed as far back as possible...
As the entourage approached my mom and I, we were so excited and I remember screaming: "Mr. President! First Lady Jackie!"
It appeared that they saw us and waved back, smiling. The sun was shining and such a beautiful cloudless day in "Big D" (what Texans call Dallas for short).
Then like in a dream, they were gone. The crowd on Lemmon Avenue dispursed and everyone returned to their daily routine. The city's Mayor had not given students the right to be free from school that day to see the President, which most parents thought that odd. But my mom and dad decided that I had to see this historical event.
We got back into the car and went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch. Naturally I wore my mother out with questions and talking about that tank-sized Presidential bullet-proofed Lincoln Continental and the Secret Service, all that... The radio was playing some great soul music and like for many young people, it is always nice to eat away from home in this restaurant in North Dallas that was famed for it soul food and in particular barbeque...
Suddenly in the midst of our conversation, on the radio came a newsflash! "The President of the United States has been shot and is now being rushed to Parkland Hospital..."
Everyone stopped eating and you could hear those brothers and sisters praying out loud. Fear gripped the place...
A few minutes later and the announcement on the radio was that the President was dead. You should have heard the screams, the sighs, the deep moanings and the tears began to flow...
My mother and I could not even finish our lunch. She paid and when left we saw on the streets that all the cars had stopped on the highway; on the streets around. People were crying really loudly and screaming: "Why why why?"
It was like a scene from a movie but this was real life.
Man's inhumanity to man. That day, the President had decided that he did not need the newly designed Clear Bubble Top for the Presidential Limousine... Things might have been much different had they used it. We'll never know.
Below is The President leaving Dallas, hours later, but not like the way he and his wife arrived..
Lee Harvey Oswald...
Jack Ruby...
I remember watching this, "Live!" on tv at home. We saw when the police were transferring Oswald to another facility and out of the blue, right there before our very eyes, comes stripclub owner Jack Ruby, and shot Oswald dead! It was totally unreal, but it was true.
Christian-Charles de Plicque Angel House International Missions Ministries Association Karleby Finland (c) 2009
