I was in 3rd Grade, Catholic school. The Principal, who was a nun, came to each homeroom and told us the President had been shot and we would be going home early. We prayed for President Kennedy before we were dismissed.
Prior, there was much excitement from the nuns because Kennedy was the only Catholic President elected in our nation's history.
My Dad worked at our City's Newspaper, a Scripp's Howard publisher. He had to stay until the afternoon edition was out, but he was always home by 3pm as we arrived home from school. What a great job he had, working from
7-3 and always being home for dinner. It was a simpler time, wasn't it?!
Our entire family sat glued to the TV watching Walter Cronkite that fall day.
Months before, my entire family was on the Ohio River Blvd. throwing confetti and holding signs which said, "We Love You", as Kennedy sat on the back of a convertable and waved to the crowd coming from the Pittsburgh Airport to an affair in Downtown. He pointed directly at me and acknowledged my sign, made by my mom.
5 Years later, we would be in front of the same TV watching Walter Cronkite show us footage from the jungles of Viet Nam.
From 8 years old to 13, I knew what it was like to strongly love, then vehemently dislike a President and his policies.
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