We Spent the Next Week in Class Studying About 9-11 and Events As They Unfolded

I not only stopped my lesson plans for September 1, but continued doing so for the next week.  I told my students this was going to be their Pearl Harbor or JFK assassination.

We located Israel, the Arab countries of the Middle East as well as Washington, D.C., New York City and Pennsylvania, all major parts of 9-11.

I then started talking about world events that led up to what happened.

My seventh graders then began writing a 500-word essay on their own experience on 9-11.  You can't get any closer to history than when you write about something you have actually experienced.

I retired in 2006, but every one of my classes after 2001 had to write a 500-word essay on their experiences from that day.  They could also include what happened to the rest of their relatives on that day.

U.S. Presidents Who Served Less Than Four Years-- Part 5: Kennedy and Arthur

JOHN F. KENNEDY  (January 1961-November 22, 1963)

Arguably, the best-known president on this list, John F. Kennedy served as the 35th president.  At age 43, he was the youngest person ever elected.  His biggest challenge was the Cold War with the Soviet Union and faced crisis after crisis, including the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In addition to the international crises, he was in poor health, despite  maintaining an image of youthful vigor.  He served for two years and ten months and was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

CHESTER A. ARTHUR  (September 1881-March 1885)

When President James A. Garfield was assassinated on his way to New England in 1881, Vice President  Chester A. Arthur became president.  Initially unpopular, he gained points with the American public by introducing the Pendleton  Civil Service Act, that held  federal employment would be based on merit instead of  political party affiliations.

Suffering fro  a kidney-related disease, the 21st president  managed to finish his partial term of three years and five months before moving to New York City and dying the following year.

--CootPres

Anatomy of a Front Page-- Part 4; The Chicago Bears

THE BEARS:  Editors of the Nov. 25, 1963, Chicago Tribune did find space on the front page to report the Bears-Steelers 17-17 tie, which left  Chicago with a half game lead over the Green Bay Packers.  It was the only non-Kennedy news to make the front page from Saturday (the day after the assassination) to Tuesday.

The fact the game was played was controversial.  The rival AFL postponed its games, but NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle stood by his decision to let the league's games go on, saying, "I cannot feel that playing the games was disrespectful, nor can I feel that i have made a mistake."

The Bears went on to win their eighth NFL title that season.

--Cooter

Anatomy of a Front Page, Nov. 25, 1963 Chicago Tribune-- Part 3: Chicago Connection

This was the front page featuring Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby.  Continued from July 3rd, 2014 blog.

CHICAGO CONNECTIONS:  Jack Ruby, or Rubenstein, was a former Chicagoan, the Tribune noted on page 1, fleshing out his connections in another story inside.

Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, was one of weight children raised in his family on Chicago's Maxwell Street area.  "He grew up to be a tough street fighter who struggled throughout his life to support himself and members of his family.  Some of the means he used were extra-legal," the Tribune reported.

The next day, the Tribune continued that he was linked by federal agents to "a number of Chicago hoodlums.

Ruby  was the second Chicago connection to the president's assassination.    The Sunday Tribune, Nov. 24 Tribune reported that the gun used to kill Kennedy was a "mail order rifle purchased in Chicago for $12.78" from Klein Sporting Goods on West Madison Street.

Anatomy of a Front Page: Slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald-- Part 2

PHOTOS on that front page:

One of the most recognized news photographs of the 20th century-- the picture of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in a jail corridor, surrounded by law enforcement officers and reporters-- told the story in a way rarely seen then or now.

The crime was broadcast live on TV, witnessed by millions of Americans who turned in to see the man accused of killing President John F. Kennedy.

Anatomy of a Front Page: Slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald-- Part 1

From the November 17, 2013, Chicago Tribune.

Headlines of the Monday, November 25, 1963, Tribune.  Price: 7 cents  ($1.50 now.)  "ACCUSED ASSASSIN SLAIN: President's Body Lies in the Capital."

Other front page headlines:

Thousands File Thru Rotunda, View Bier
Widow Will Lead March to Cathedral
Chicagoans to Mourn for Kennedy Today
Find Oswald Palm Prints On Sill, Gun
Oswald Shot in Jail in Custody of 60 Cops
Bears and Steelers Tie

Photos:

Oswald being led out
Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby
Mrs. Kennedy
Jack Ruby

Back Brace May Have Cost JFK His Life

From the Nov. 18, 2013, Yahoo! News "Doctor: Back Brace may have cost JFK his life" by Jay Hart.

President Kennedy was plagued by severe back pains much of his life and had to take shots and pills for it. It was so bad, he couldn't put his left sock and show without help.

When the president arrived at Dallas' Parkland Hospital that day, Dr. Kenneth Saylor, then 27 and a resident, was the doctor on duty. Kennedy was still breathing in a "sort of agonal, labored, close-to-your-last sort of breath."

He was wearing a corset-like brace which Saylor believes cost the president his life.

"The first shot that hit him went through the soft tissue of the back of his shoulder and exited through his trachea. That same bullet went through John Connally's chest, through his right hand and into his thigh and knocked him completely down in the car."

Connally immediately slumped over and the Zapruder film shows Kennedy didn't. He remained upright and the second shot struck him in the head, the fatal blow. Kennedy had remained upright because of the brace. If he too had slumped over, perhaps the second shot wouldn't have hit him.

Makes Sense to Me.

JFK's Dallas Limo

ABC World News.

That limo "remains one of the most powerful symbols of his final hours. The 1961 4-door Lincoln Continental is now at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

It had no armor that day but was refurbished and remained in the presidential auto fleet until the 1970s.

It had a removable roof and bubble top, but it had been removed that day in Dallas after the rain cleared as President Kennedy didn't like it. Standing White House orders were to remove the top anytime the weather permitted. However, it wasn't bullet-proof.

Now there is near-silence when people see it. Everyone's images of that day include this car. People can't help to think, "What if the car was moving faster?" "What if the top had been on?"

The car had been flown out from D.C. on a cargo plane accompanying the president's plane. (I know as I asked one of the people at the Air Force Museum this past Nov. 22nd if the limo had been ferried by JFK's Air Force One, which is at the museum, the other iconic image of the assassination). I didn't think a 747's cargo bay was big enough to hold a limo like that.

After the assassination, the limo was brought back to Washington where the Secret Service and FBI intensely studied every square inch of it. It was then refurbished with titanium armor and a permanent top.

It was code-named X-100 and is painted a midnight blue.

Clint Hill, the First Lady's Secret Service Agent that day, will revisit the limo and will be at the car November 22nd. (Was he the one that climbed up on the trunk when Jackie Kennedy appeared to be crawling out of the car?)

A Real Piece of History.

On JFK's Air Force One Fifty Years Later

I was already going to be driving to North Carolina for Thanksgiving anyway and passing by Dayton, Ohio. I had just found out that the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB had the original JFK Air Force One. I figured that would be a great way to commemorate the event by visiting it and hopefully either seeing it or, even better, going on board.

I met my buddy Denny at the museum and we were one of the last ones to get seats on the bus out to what they call the Presidential Hangar which has planes used by FDR, Truman and, of course, JFK's Air Force One.

When we got to the hangar, everyone rushed AF1, so Denny and I took a walk around the research and development planes until the line went away at JFK's plane. Not only did we see the outside of the plane, but we also got to go on it. I went through twice, first taking video of it from my VHS-C camcorder and then a second time to take still pictures.

We saw where the LBJ swearing in took place in that famous photo with Jackie Kennedy standing next to him and also saw the seats that were cut away to allow JFK's casket to be flown back to D.C.. Most caskets would have been relegated to the cargo hold but that wouldn't do for a presidential one.

Sadly, though, plexi-glass lined the hallway and it was difficult to take pictures, but,I WAS THERE WHERE ALL THOSE EVENTS TOOK PLACE FIFTY YEARS AGO TO THE DAY. One man in the group was an expert on all things dealing with the assassination and he said that we were on the plane at the same time JFK would have been on it when he took the short flight from Fort Worth to Dallas back on November 22, 1963.

That Close to History!!

My Recollections on JFK's Assassination

I'll be on the road this Friday, November 22nd, and not sure if I'll have internet access. I do hope to be at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, northeast of Dayton, Ohio, where I hope to see and go in to Kennedy's Air Force One, which was very much a part of that day.

But, back to my memories of the day and days afterwards. I was a seventh grader in Mrs. Banie's social studies class when the principal came in and told us. Some of the girls started crying, but I just sat there, along with most of the boys, with no expression.

Mrs. Banie talked about it some then went on with our lesson. I know we were quite excited when we were told there would be no school for some of next week (I think three days).

Once home, all you saw on our five TV stations was news about the assassination. I was kind of disappointed that nothing else was on. But, watched a lot of it.

The only thing that really got me was the funeral procession and those muffled drums and that cadence they beat out. Even today, when I hear it, I tear up.

"I Could Stay Here Forever:" JFK Picked His Final Resting Place

From Yahoo! News.

A half-century ago "grief and hope were made tangible in the glow of a flame" lighted by Jackie Kennedy in her final official act as First Lady. The Eternal Flame was her idea.

Section 45 is on a steep hillside leading up to Robert E. Lee's Arlington House and not the spot you'd necessarily think would be right for a president to be buried. But, just eight months before the sad event in Dallas, President Kennedy visited Arlington National Cemetery, one of his favorite spots, and taking in the view from the house said, "I could stay here forever." His wife remembered his words and decided to have him buried there so he can belong to the people.

Just 24-hours before the burial, Jackie Kennedy decided she wanted an eternal flame. Most didn't even know what she was talking about at the time, but making one was turned over to Army Col. Clayton Lyle and Lt. Col. Bernard Carroll, who decided to model it after a Hawaiian tiki torch. To light it, they had a piece of wire with a big wad of cloth dipped in kerosene. It worked on the day of the funeral and burial on November 25th.

Those assigned to stand by the grave also had to always have a book of matches on them as the wind often extinguished the flame as did a nun once while blessing it with too much Holy Water.

Huge crowds attended the burial ceremony that day.

The Flame underwent its first major renovation just a few years ago and still operates on the same principle. I always thought they had put in a gas pipe to the grave.

There Sure Is a Lot of Stuff Out About the JFK Assassination Anniversary

There are plenty of those special $10-$12 magazines in the racks at stores (I bought one) and plenty of articles in the papers about different aspects...and rightfully so. This was my generation's Pearl Harbor and later generations 9-11.

I wish that my teachers back then had made us write a report about how it affected us. The last five years I taught, my seventh graders had to write a report about them, their families and 9-11. And, I taught seventh graders every year for 33 years and I was in seventh grade when it happened. I even had my kids that day, write about it in class as we listened to the radio. It is so important to write these things down, especially while it is happening or as soon as possible afterwards.

Fifty Years Ago, That's Half a Century. Has It Been That Long?

Ten Facts You Didn't Know About the JFK Assassination-- Part 4

3. Were there really "MYSTERIOUS DEATHS?" The rumor went around that many witnesses died under mysterious circumstances. Perhaps there was a secret "hit squad" silencing people. However, many died long after their ceremony, most of heart disease which is the #1 killer anyway.

2. There was no "FOURTH SHOT" from the grassy knoll. The Warren Commission ruled that there were only three shots. Several years later, the House Select Committee on Assassination indicated a possible fourth shot coming from the knoll, but 12 acoustic experts have ruled that out. And, the "fourth shot," if it happened at all, came a minute after Oswald's shots and by then the motorcade was well on its way to the hospital.

1. The REAL KILLER of JFK, depends on the decade. In the 1960s, it was the Soviets. In the 1970s it was the CIA and in the 80s, The Mob. It would seem that JFK's killer is whomever we are the most afraid of at the time.

Ten Facts You Don't Know About JFK's Assassination-- Part 3

5. KENNEDY'S FAMILY chose to keep secrets as well. They kept his hospital and autopsy records under wraps which gave the perception that the family had something to hide.

4. The government isn't keeping very many JFK secrets and won't keep any at all for much longer. Oliver Stone's "JFK" film did lead to declassification of 97% of the documents. The other 3% will be declassified in 2017 unless the then-serving president decides to continue them under wraps.

A Really Sad Time.

Ten Facts That You Don't Know About JFK's Assassination-- Part 2

8. OLIVER STONE'S "JFK" mixed fact and fiction.

7. There was no 'MAGIC BULLET." This idea holds that a single bullet changed direction twice in JFK's body then hit Texas Governor John Connally and emerged pristine. It couldn't have happened and a bullet was flat on one side.

6. The U.S. ERRED in keeping its investigation secret. It was held behind closed doors which is a major problem of all the speculation.

Ten Facts You Didn't Know About the JFK Assassination-- Part 1

From the Nov. 10, 2013, Yahoo! News by Jay Busbee.

The 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination is this Friday, November 22nd. Jay Busbee interviewed author Brad Meltzer for this list:

10. The WINDOW from which Kennedy was shot in the Texas Book Depository Building went missing six years later. Gen. D. Harold Byrd, owner of the building had it removed, framed and hung in his mansion. Another story has it that Aubry Mayhew, who later owned the building, said Byrd had removed the wrong window. He removed the correct window and did the same thing. Both windows ended up for sale on e-Bay, but Mayhew's is the real one.

9. PLENTY OF SHOOTERS HAVE RECREATED OSWALD'S SHOTS. At the time of the shooting, it was believed that no other shooters could fire off three shots from that type of rifle in less than 6.75 seconds. But, according to the Warren Commission, one shooter fired off three shots in 4.6 seconds and eleven averaged three shots in 5.6 seconds. Plus, military marksmen are trained to hit targets at between 200-500 yards away. Oswald's first shot was at 59 yards and the last at 89 yards.

A Big Piece of the JFK Assassination: Air Force One

From the November 10, 2013, Chicago Tribune "JFK's plane at museum"

With a photo of the plane and people coming out of it so evidently you can go inside which makes it even better. "As we approach the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, solemn observances obviously will be many in Washington and Dallas, where he was shot.

But for those looking for a relic integral to that day in Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963, visit the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, six miles northeast of Dayton, Ohio.

There in the museum gallery is the Air Force One that carried Kennedy to Dallas that day, then carried his body back to Washington that night.

It's also where Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office in the presence of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, her clothes still stained with her husband's blood.

More at www.nationalmuseum.af.mil."

That oath of office is a very famous photograph. This is also where the Final Toast of the Doolittle Raiders took place last Saturday.

I am thinking of visiting the museum this coming Friday which not only is November 22nd, but also occurs on the same day of the week as the assassination fifty years ago. It will be a connection with that long-ago event.

The Assassination of JFK-- Part 8: Fifty Things

41. Jackie Kennedy requested an eternal flame be put by the grave.

42. Although she would remarry, today she is buried next to the president.

43. Two of the Kennedy's children, an infant son and daughter, are also buried with their parents.

44. The funeral day, Nov. 25, was also John Jr.'s third birthday.

45. Caroline would turn 6 two days later.

46. A taxi cab driver reported that the funeral crowds were oddly quiet: "...you could hear a pin drop."

47. An Irish military guard paid its respects at graveside, following commands shouted in Gaelic.

48. After the funeral, Jackie Kennedy met privately with three heads of state: Charles de Gaulle of France, Eamon de Valera of Ireland and Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

49. Near midnight that night, Jackie and Bobby Kennedy paid an unplanned visit to Kennedy's grave.

The first two letters that Lyndon Johnson wrote as president were to Caroline and John Jr.

Of all that happened that week, the funeral procession is what got to me the most. I still can't hear muffled drums without tearing up.

It Was Quite a Time.

The Assassination of JFK-- Part 7: Fifty Things

35. The New York Times reported that JFK's 98-year-old grandmother, Mary Josephine Fitzgerald, was not told of the assassination.

36. In Washington, dignitaries from more than 100 countries arrived for Kennedy's funeral. At the time, it was the largest-ever gathering of its kind on American soil.

37. An unexpected 250,000 people paid their respects to the former president as he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

38. Tens of thousands were turned away, some having waited throughout a near-freezing night in a line that stretched for more than two miles.

39. Jackie Kennedy modeled her husband's funeral ceremony after that of Abraham Lincoln.

40. With help from Bobby Kennedy and Robert McNamara, Jackie chose the burial site at Arlington National Cemetery.

The Assassination of JFK-- Part 6: Fifty Things

28. Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder caught the assassination on his 8 mm home movie camera.

29. His secretary had urged him to go home and get it for the presidential parade.

30. Zader's film was later bought by Life Magazine for $150,000.

31. Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby on Nov. 24 was the first homicide caught on live television.

32. A police detective at the shooting called out, "Jack, you son of a bitch!"

33. When wrestled to the ground by police, Ruby cried out, "I'm Jack Ruby, you all know me!"

34. Oswald died at the same hospital as Kennedy, two days and seven minutes after the president.