Tragedy on November 22, 1963

By Emma-Cate Rapose

St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington D.C., where John F. Kennedy's funeral was held.

   Scott Rapose was eager to leave Mrs. Gately’s sixth grade class for the weekend on a Friday afternoon when an announcement came over the loudspeaker.It was November 22, 1963, and Nathaniel Morton School received the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. The classroom filled with silence, and Rapose will never forget the look of shock on his teacher’s face.

Rapose, confused at the age of 11, proceeded to file out of the classroom with his peers and walk outside into the unusually warm November day for a somber bus ride home. None of his classmates on the bus wanted to talk as Rapose rode from his school in central Plymouth to his one-story ranch style home on the north side of town. 

Nathaniel Morton School, where Scott Rapose attended elementary and middle school.

As he walked into the house, where he lived with his parents and two sisters, he found his mother glued to the television. His sisters were still at school, and his father at work. Here, in his living room as he stood by his mother’s side, he found out Kennedy had been shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in downtown Dallas en route to speak at a luncheon at Trade Mart.

Reporters like Walter Cronkite broke into television broadcasts to tell the nation that President Kennedy had been shot.

“From Dallas, Texas, a flash - apparently official - President Kennedy died at one p.m. Central Standard Time, two p.m. Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.” Cronkite said, interrupting the daily CBS broadcast of “As the World Turns.” 

Cronkite then took off his glasses and looked at the clock. Tears welled in the eyes of a man beloved by America, including the Rapose family. His words seemed to catch in his throat. Regaining composure, he slid his glasses back on and continued.

“Vice President Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States,” Cronkite said.

Rapose watched as Lyndon B. Johnson was almost immediately sworn on Air Force One in as the new president with Mrs. Johnson and Jackie Kennedy, the late president’s wife, by his side. Johnson then declared Monday, November 25, as a national day of mourning.

For the entire weekend, nobody in the Rapose household had any energy. Rapose felt weird and uncomfortable being around, as any conversation he had with his family had a darker and sadder tone than usual. The energy in his home was different.

Everyone in his family was a big fan of Kennedy, especially considering the fact they were all Massachusetts natives, like the late president.

As an avid football fan, Rapose was upset but understood that the National Football League had cancelled all of the games for that weekend. Instead of watching the games, the Rapose family sat around the television and focused on the coverage of the assassination and the following events.

On Sunday, November 24, Rapose watched as Jack Ruby approached Lee Harvey Oswald, who was being escorted to county jail by Dallas police, and shot him in the abdomen with a pistol on live television. Oswald was soon pronounced dead at Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where Kennedy had been pronounced dead two days earlier. 

“He’s been shot, there’s a man with a gun, absolute panic, absolute panic,” a news reporter said as the shooting aired live for the country to see.

For Rapose, this was the first time he had seen someone killed live on television.

“Being a kid, you see gun fights on TV shows,” Rapose said. “But this was real, someone in a suit and hat really jumped right out in front and shot him.”

On the same day, Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin was carried out of the White House, accompanied by Jackie Kennedy and their two children, Caroline and John Jr. The coffin was carried to the Capitol Rotunda, where the president lay in state for 21 hours. More than 250,000 people lined up behind ropes, waiting to pay their respects.

The next day, the Rapose family watched the funeral of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the late President of the United States, on live television. No one in the family attended work or school that day, and sat fixed to the television as the entire country said goodbye to the late president.

More than 800,000 people lined up in the cold on Pennsylvania Ave. to watch the president’s funeral procession. At 12:14 p.m., the coffin entered St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Among those present for the funeral mass were Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and more than 53 heads of state. The burial took place soon after at Arlington National Cemetery, and Jackie Kennedy lit an eternal flame.

For the days following, conversations were had regarding the assassination in school, but everyone seemed to mope around. The assassination of John F. Kennedy took a toll on the entire country.

“There is nothing that adds shock to our sadness as the assassination of our leader, chosen as he is to embody the ideals of our people, the faith we have in our institution, and our belief in the fatherhood of god and the brotherhood of man,” Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren said during a eulogy delivered to the late president. “We are saddened; we are stunned; we are perplexed.”