JFK's Assassination: Where Were You?

After 9/11 we said that "everything changed." I'm not sure that's completely true anymore but I do know that 43 years ago, on the eve of another Thanksgiving, they really did. That, of course, was the day that President John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas. Where were you? It's no longer a universal question like it once was. Now, in 2006, probably more Americans weren't even born by November 22, 1963 than were.

I was in grade school, attending Peter Boscow Elementary in Hillsboro, Oregon. When we came into the lunchroom the TV was on and we'd heard that he was shot. Our entire class had to eat at the same table every day and our teacher, Mrs. Braden, was one of the toughest old birds in the educational system, so tough that she always forced us to eat our entire lunch, especially the vegetable, even if they included broccoli. On this day, however, she let us eat whatever we wanted and throw out what we didn't. She sat at the head of the table and cried. By the time lunch was over Kennedy was dead and Mrs. Braden looked like a really old broken woman. I had lived nearly three months in fear of her in the classroom and seeing her so weak and shaken shook me almost as much as Kennedy's death. Almost...

We went home early from school. My mother and father came home early, too. We turned on the TV, like everyone else in America, and cried some more. We cried all weekend, watched Lee Harvey Oswald get caught, saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald on live TV, and watched the funeral on Monday and cried some more. My father's name was Harvey and it really bothered me that the man who killed the President shared his name. What bothered me even more was that my middle name was Harvey. Bryce Harvey Zabel. Like that killer. Lee Harvey Oswald. I hated that name. I hated that if I ever did anything bad they'd use my middle name in the papers. So that, I expect, is why I've stayed on the right side of the law all these years.

I remember feeling about President Kennedy the way you'd feel if you had a really cool dad. When he was killed, it left me with just my own real father, who wasn't in the same universe of cool. My dad, the aforementioned Harvey Zabel, was incredibly reliable, honest, and a family man -- traits we assumed President Kennedy also had, although the facts as they've come out over the years have shown that not to be true. But cool, yeah, JFK had that down pat.

Six days after the assassination of President Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation on Thanksgiving Day, 1963. He announced that Florida's NASA Launch Operation Center would be renamed the John F. Kennedy Space Center and he asked the public to remain "determined that from this midnight of tragedy we shall move toward a new American greatness."

I'm not sure, but I think our family drove up to my grandparent's home in Bingen, Washington. I do remember that the food was good but none of us were that hungry.

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Comments

[amy berg]

This is unrelated to JFK, but did you hear that they are closing Peter Boscow this year? There is a reunion/goodbye party on may 31st.

[Patty]

The Day JFK was Assassinated I was feeding my New baby boy...John, in the State of New Mexico, my husband at the time was in the Air Force...I named my 1st son after John F. Kennedy. I was so in Love with JFK, he was my hero and he was a Great President..I was 16 years old and knew hardy anything...but I knew he was something Good and Great for our Country!!!.. Though all the years afterwards.... with all the stories I have never changed my mind about JFK...I will always think of him as One of the Greatest that ever lived...I know he is with the Lord.

[James Armistead]

ALTERED JFK EVIDENCE:

The “Rosetta Stone” of the JFK Assassination is the famous AP photo by James “Ike” Altgens, which was taken about one second after the first throat wound of JFK.

It is the only photo in the historical files that shows a motorcycle cop next to the limousine during the final seconds, or on any later photographs, or on any frame of the Zapuder Film. The Z-Film frames move upwards near the final shot to hide the motorcycle cop with black frame lines. (Altered evidence.)

And, if you start cross-referencing the following photos to each other by time and angles, you will discover that the Stemmons Freeway Sign was added to the Zapuder Film to block the motorcycle action around the limousine, during the assassination. And, therefore, was added to many other photographs before they were released by the FBI.

1. Willis slide #5 shows saddlebags under JFK, but the rider is behind the SS car.
2. Willis slide #6 shows two men setting on the curb with no nearby sign.
3. A Bronson slide shows people in front of the sign (the umbrella man and the man near the curb), while Willis #5 shows them behind the Freeway sign.
So, Willis #5 is really botched by someone.
4. “Aftermath of the Assassination in Dealy Plaza, with Bill and Gayle Newman on the ground”. Four sidewalk lines (16 feet?) can be seen with no Freeway Sign.
Also, notice the sharp angle of the sun shadows.
5. “Aftermath of the Assassination” by Press Bus photographer, shows an unknown sun shadow, but the angle is not consistent with other shadows.
6. Both of Altgens photos show Agent Clint Hill on the SS Car fender. But, the home movie of Jefferies shows him on the limo on Main St. So, did he jump cars at 10 mph, or did he shoot JFK from the bumper, fell off, and then got back on after the Limo stopped? (Was he Jackie's lover?)

Other photographs can be found that question the real location of the Stemmons Freeway sign, if any, like “Dealey Plaza” that appears in Jim Garrison’s book, On The Trail of the Assassins and “Dealey Plaza and the Dream” by Mack White. (Find with Google.)

So, if you advertise in Dallas for any (Nov. 23 to Nov. 30, 1963) pictures of Dealey Plaza, you might discover that the sign was invented by JFK Assassination censors.

Conclusion: A motorcycle cop may have shot JFK from the street level, since many reliable witnesses smelled gun smoke. Plus, the dent in the windshield frame has never been explained, unless the first throat shot was at an upper angle that went through the throat and hit the windshield frame, afterwards.

Tippit honked at Oswald's with another Officer. He then stopped at a gas station for 10 minutes for the assassin to change clothes. Next, he was shot, since he knew too much, at about 1:15 PM. The assassin worked for a mansion near where he was killed.

But, was it Clint Murchison's or H. L. Hunt's mansion?
And, was the assassination like a football play?

Theory by: James H. Armistead
Banned from JFK Lancer Forums

[Tom Dockery]

I had seen JFK from 6 feet away as rode by me in his motorcade(no bubble top) in Newark,NJ on Columbus Day 1962,so I felt a kinship with him,both of us being Irish Catholics.On that terrible day of his death,I was in the 8th grade.About 1:40 P.M.,the principal came into the room crying"The president's been shot."The teacher attempted to play an old radio that was lying around,but it wouldn't work.So,he sent me home to get one of mine.I brought it in and the class and I listened to the horror transpiring in Dallas.When they began to play somber music,we all knew he was dead.

[contessa]

I wasn't born but learning about history is important ,out of all the presidents i liked jfk better because he was young and he had his facts what to do with america straight.and even though i wasn't born I still feel that he was in fact a great man, and he done wonderful things for our country and if he were still alive he would still be doing great things for our country. love you president Kennedy and you will be forever in my dreams , hopes and you were the georgeous president we ever had there is no one like you and there will never be anyone like you.unlike this president bush i swear he ain;t doing nothing for this country and im only 15 and a half and im really sick of him.and if KENNEDY WAS HERE HE WOULD GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ
BUSH!!!!!!!!!.

[Jacquelyn Gross]

im studying this in school and im soo glad ur doing this web page. im 14 and i can only vaguely imagine what that day might have felt like. so thanx for fiving me some insight

[brenda mcdonough]

I was in 7th grade @Gunston jr. Arlington,Va.My choir director had sent me to the office to deliver some papers,and I heard the news on the radio.I ran back to the choir room and told everyone,"Kennedy has been shot"!Everyone looked at me,like what?..But nobody said a word. About a min. later an announcement came on that the school was closing.and I saw the whole class shudder as one person.I'll never forget that.!WE were told ,that buses and our rides were on the way.Limos and taxis to get congressman,and pentagon kids,and a nephew of of future v.p.out NObody knew what to expect next.My mom sent a taxi to get me.I lived at Riverhouse across from Pentagon.When I went up to my piano teacher's apt early,she asked why I was out of school?I told her Kennedy had been shot.She turned on T.V, and couldn't stop crying.School was closed for the next 3 days.I went down Penn.Ave to watch the cassion going to the Capitol.It was So COLD!!A man standin beside me had a transitor radio,and we heard Oswald had been shot.I rode my bike over to the funeral,the next day with my camera around my neck.Got some good pic's,but one was one of Jackie trippin on the rollup grass.A man in a blue suitand sunglasses took my camera saying he was secert serv.My mom knew some people,got my camera back,but never my film!

[Luis]

iwas about 5 years old and I remember my mom crying and my dad laughing his ass off I did not know what was going on

it is sad

[Kay Armstrong]

I was in the first grade. I will never forget how my teacher ran in the room and cried. We asked what was wrong and she said Our president has been shot. I knew who our president was because my parents had been for him and loved him. I remember that weekend my daddy and mama crying.

[Michael]

I was in homeroom in junior high school in Dallas waiting for class to be over. There’s one thing that I will never forget for the rest of my life. I looked at the clock at exactly 12:30—the time of the shooting. For some strange reason that has always stuck with me all my life. I was in a big hurry to get out of a class that I hated and at the same time someone was being publicly executed downtown. My family had nothing good to say about JFK because of his stance on civil rights, but when he died I remembered my mother crying in front of the television that weekend. She made my father run out and buy all the newspapers and magazines he could get a hold of concerning the assassination. We in Dallas knew that something wasn’t kosher about the whole affair. We couldn’t put our finger on it, but we knew. There’s just no way that LHO pulled that trigger.

[Toby O'Brien]

I was in grade school as well - St. Joseph's in Meriden, Ct. The nuns herded all the students into the basement for fear that the bombs were going to drop any moment.

I remember the girls were all crying and the boys were trying to act strong, but I know I couldn't have been the only one shaking from the news.

After about half an hour of this, they let us all go home and the rest of the week was pretty much a blur.

And now... I tried the "Where were you on Nov. 22nd 42 years ago?" at work this morning and got mostly blank stares.

Hard to believe something as galvanizing as that event could be fading from memory even if four decades have passed......

[Kaye Crandall]

I was with you in Mrs. Braden's class. What I remember most was having that TV in the lunch room. That was unheard of! It was one of the few times that my parents had planned a little trip without us and we stayed at my grandparents house in Forest Grove that weekend. I remember I was watching their TV when Oswald was shot.

[Brent McKee]

I was sitting in front of the television. I was 7 years old and I'd been sick, and even though I'd gotten over the illness the correct procedures hadn't been followed so I had been sent home until the correct paperwork had been filed with the school. The local station showed old movies in the afternoon and I was watching one of them when an initial news bulletin was reported. I remember that instant but for the life of me I can't remember much else about that weekend - for example unlike so many people I never saw the Oswald murder on TV. I suppose that, since I'm Canadian the coverage wasn't as wall to wall as it was in the U.S. I know it wasn't in Britain - did you know that "Dr. Who" debuted the day after JFK was shot? Still I just don't remember much beyond the original news report.