Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Nov. 16, 2005

Where were you on Nov. 22?

"History is the memory of a nation," so said John F. Kennedy.

It was a Friday, Nov. 22, 1963. As soon as the kids were off to school, I spent the morning cleaning because my family was arriving late that afternoon. They were coming to attend a play at the high school which involved our two oldest sons.

Around noon I headed for the grocery to do some last minute shopping. The car radio was playing and as I pulled into the parking lot Walter Cronkite's voice came in with the startling news that President Kennedy had been shot and had died at 1 p.m. at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas.

The rest of that weekend 42 years ago was filled with cancellations as families gathered around their televisions to mourn as a nation. Years later I visited Dealey Plaza and remembered those momentous few days.

This summer, the National Society of Newspaper Columnists met in Grapevine, TX for their annual conference, and on the final day we were bussed to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. In 1963, it was the Texas School Book Depository but in 1989 it opened as the museum. Then on November 22, 1993 the National Park Service designated it as part of the Dealey Plaza Historic Landmark District.

We were there to visit their timely exhibit titled "Covering Chaos." It had been organized to explore the challenges faced by the more than 300 reporters who converged on Dallas to cover the Kennedy assassination. Our group of newspaper people included adults who lived through those terrible days, others who were children at that time and there were quite a few who knew the story only as related years later because they had been born after 1963.

Those younger members found it difficult to imagine how hard it was to report the story with the heavy, bulky equipment used in that day as compared to today's technology. Probably the most distressing thought they expressed was that there no cell phones.

We were surrounded by many photographs and video with the voices and faces of prominent journalists covering the tragedy - Jennings, Rather, Schieffer, MacNeil and Lehrer. The exhibit vividly recreated those four days of chaos.

Three veterans very much involved in those few days spoke to us and answered questions. Hugh Aynesworth, a journalist for 55 years for newspapers, news magazines and TV, was on the scene that day. Bert Shipp reported that big story for Dallas' Channel 8 WFAA-TV news. The third speaker was police detective Jim Leavelle. He is remembered for wearing his Western-style hat while handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald. Millions watched as Oswald was killed by the shot fired by Jack Ruby. Leavelle's famous hat has been displayed in many museums. He retired from the Dallas PD in 1976 but he is a popular speaker. He said his life has never been the same since that day.

As we left the museum and walked along the street where the motorcade traveled we passed many make-shift stands manned by those who cling to the conspiracy theory. They were eager to tell visitors their ideas.

Sad as the reminders are it is part of our country's history. Seeing Oswald's "sniper's perch" at the corner window and the staircase where the assassin's rifle and clipboard are on view behind glass is sobering but a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is well worth the time. It is open daily except Christmas Day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday. She may be reached at ebrush@frontiernet.net