[eweissenbach]

I had just finished my last morning class as a freshman at the University of Missouri. I went to the cafeteria for lunch and someone shouted out that the President had been shot in Dallas. I ran back to my dorm room and turned on the radio and my reel-to-reel tape recorder to capture the broadcasts. I was going home that afternoon and when I met my ride, one of the other riders said that his professor had come into class, where a big test was scheduled, and sadly announced the President had been shot, then told the class to go home, that they would all be receiving an A for the test. I went home and watched all the news broadcasts, including the live broadcast on Sunday, when Jack Ruby jumped out of the crowd to shoot Oswald. Jack Kennedy was the first political hero in my life and I felt a visceral reaction to the loss, for myself and more importantly, for our country. It is too bad, but understandable, that a little loser and coward like Oswald is remembered as a prime figure in history.