Kent Barker Collection / The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
January 2, 1960
JFK ENTERS THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Senator Kennedy announces his candidacy for President of the United States.
Listen to an excerpt from the oral history interview with Jacques Lowe, the Kennedys' personal photographer for many years, by clicking "Find out more."
Image: Kennedy's presidential campaign button features his face on a background of red, white and blue stripes.
I was nine years old. A fourth grader in NY. Just before school ended for the day there was an announcement instructing us to go straight home immediately. As we exited the building our gym teacher stood at the door in tears saying “The President has been injured. Go home children.” You could feel the sorrow of the staff members. It silenced all of the children. That silence is what I most remember. For several days it felt as though our country’s breath had been taken away. It was still. It was quiet. I’ve never felt anything like it before or since. It was a shared collective sense of shame and grief. A wound that never quite healed.
On Nov. 22 1963 my dad was teaching school and my mom was home with a stomach bug. My uncle heard about it on the radio and stopped to tell my mom. My mom couldn’t believe it. Mom and Dad watched all the coverage on their black and white tv that whole weekend. They saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald live on tv. Mom & Dad are both still living and remember it well to this day. My dad remembers voting for JFK in 1960. My mom adored Jackie. Mom says to this day she never fully got over the assassination.
I’m in a number of photographs taken just before as well as after the assassination. A friend and I were actually held my police on the overpass 20 or so minutes after the shooting. Once their attention was diverted we slipped down to the knoll and back over into the crowd at the book depository. There are photos circulating of me beside the limo as it was turning on Elm. We saw the entire event but we’re never questioned at all. As 14 year old I guess our thoughts weren’t important to the powers that be.
I was in first grade at Serrania Elementary School in Woodland Hills, California on November 22, 1963. My teacher was crying, and the principal came of the PA system and announced the tragic news. Students were dismissed early to return home. As I walked the one mile to my home I noticed many cars in the streets returning very early to their homes for an early Friday afternoon. I walked into a market to buy a soda. Many adults were crowded inside watching a small TV on the wall that was broadcasting the lasted news involving the assassination.
Since that day I have had a great interest in the JFK assassination. In October of 1990 I flew to Dallas to make a tour of as many of the locations of November 22-24 as I could find. First, I flew into Love Field. As the taxi cab drove me to the hotel we drove directly into Dealy Plaza. I could see the Book Depository, and Grassy Knoll as I looked out the taxi cab window! Wow! What a memorable experience to see it in person after studying about it for 27 years.
During my visit to Dallas I went to the Sixth Floor Museum on October 30, 1990. I have since been back five times to see the Museum and other locations. During the visit in 1990 I went to the City Police station and went down to the basement to see the location were Ruby shot Oswald. A very nice security guard showed me the exact shot. The security guard then told me very politely that I needed to leave, it was a restricted area.
I also went to the site on 10th and Patton were Oswald shot Officer Tippit. I went to the Texas Theater, the site of the Hardy Shoe Store on Jefferson Blvd. where Johnny Calvin Brewer was the manger, Parkland Hospital. Last February I visited the gravesite of J.D. Tippit and his wife.
I hope to be back in the Dallas area soon to visit The Sixth Floor Museum again. I hope I can watch in person on the seventh floor one of the great guests Stephan Fagin interviews for the oral history-living history projects. I hope Mr.Fagin interviews Roger Staubach, John Brewer, or Bob Jackson AGAIN while on am there.
Roger Wilson
68 years old
Woodland Hills, California
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