JFK assassination: 10 'where I was' stories

"November 22, 1963" gathers dozens of "where I was" stories from the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

8. Jack Gertz

Reuters

Gertz was a member of the White House press corps representing AT&T

"I was riding in the White House press bus in the Dallas motorcade.... I remember that many people on the parade route were carrying or holding signs – some pro-Kennedy and some anti-Kennedy. There was one particular sign I will never forget. It read: 'Please, Mr. Kennedy, give us another ex-President.' It was about the length of a bus, held by 15 people and I feel sure this was one of the last ones the President saw. We all shook our heads in disbelief when seeing it.

I did not hear the shots fired. We were not aware of any trouble until we saw a policeman on a motorcycle as he jumped off, drew his pistol, and began running. Looking ahead, we saw the presidential limousine taking off, full-speed ahead.... [On the return trip to Washington], the atmosphere was unreal. Some of us were quite emotional and a few of the women cried continuously. There were bloodshot eyes all around. Many of us had known and had traveled with JFK for years. We had a very special feeling for him and the sadness was overwhelming."

8 of 10

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.