COVERING THE BETTER PART OF KANSAS
THE HUTCHINSON NEWS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2013
75¢ newsstand
REMEMBERING THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY – NOV. 22, 1963
Seared Into Our Soul
Kennedy’s death magnified his impact on an idealistic generation BY KEN STEPHENS / THE HUTCHINSON NEWS
athie Moore, a local Democratic activist, was less than a year out of Nickerson High School when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated 50 years ago on Nov. 22, 1963. “After the assassination I went downtown and I couldn’t understand why the businesses were open and people were on the street,” Moore said. “I was tearful
most of the day. It seemed like the whole world should have shut down, at least for a while.” Kennedy had captured her imagination when he was running for president in 1960. “I think I was a sophomore in high school when he started campaigning,” Moore said. “I clipped out every picture, every article I could find. I was enamored with him.”
K
Ultimately, she said, Kennedy was the reason she got involved in politics years later. But when he died, she said, “It was like a shift. The world changed after his assassination. A lot of hope
and optimism (was lost). That was why he was so popular. Maybe it was best. You like to have your dreams and aspirations, and (Kennedy) gave those to me.”
*** 12:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, 1963: CBS News interrupts the soap opera “As the World Turns” with a bulletin: “In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President
Kennedy’s motorcade. The first reports say the president was seriously wounded. …”
Reno County Democratic Party chairman years later, was a senior at Fairfield High when the school counselor came into his
*** Vic Moser, who would serve as
JFK, Hutch publisher formed bond
See IMPACT / A4
Ex-lawmen recall pivotal Dodge visit
BY KEN STEPHENS
BY KATHY HANKS
The Hutchinson News kstephens@hutchnews.com
The Hutchinson News khanks@hutchnews.com
Fifty years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963, Nolan Howell and a handful of others were talking to John McCormally, then the editor of The Hutchinson News, outside a dining room where they had just had lunch at McPherson College. Then a public address speaker crackled. “Did you hear that?” a teacher asked. “The president has been shot.” McCormally had gotten to know President John F. Kennedy over the previous three years and considered him a friend. “McCormally’s face went ashen and his pipe, which he had just lit for the umpteenth time, fell from his mouth,” Howell recalled. “He caught it with one hand before it hit the floor. Then he said, ‘I need a phone. Now!’ ” Howell, then a junior at McPherson College, led McCormally to an office in the student union where he could call The Hutchinson News. McCormally, Howell said, told an editor back in Hutchinson to
More than 50 years later, Ron Long still can’t figure out why John F. Kennedy took such a liking to the Dodge City marshal and his posse. “It was the dangest thing,” Long said, recalling the day Kennedy’s plane landed at the Dodge City Airport back when he was the U.S. senator from Massachusetts and campaigning for president of the United States. Kennedy was so impressed with the group he asked if they would come to his inauguration if he won the election. While Long can’t recall the actual date, he knew it was before the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates in the fall of 1960. According to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, Kennedy made one stop in Dodge City, on Nov. 20, 1959, for a Democratic reception, where he spoke on the Federal Farm Policy. Long, 88, is a retired cattle rancher, rodeo performer and longtime Dodge City businessman. He now lives in Hutchinson,
See FRIENDS / A5
See VISIT / A5
INSIDE: TIMELINE OF PRESIDENCY, A LOOK AT THE FATEFUL ROUTE, A4 INTERCEPTED LETTER:
Fellow citizens recalling day
Dear friends, May we preserve the hope and idealism he inspired. Yours, Hutch
TV LISTINGS LOTTERIES OBITUARIES SPORTS
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NEWS STAFF MEMBERS RECALL DAY, A5
A9 A2 A11 B1
CLASSIFIEDS COMICS CROSSWORD WEATHER
B8 B11 B10 B6
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EVENTS AROUND COUNTRY, A6
31 19 Year 142 Number 142