Communications tools were limited in following 1963 assassination
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Nov. 23, 2013
Even those of us who remember well the events of this week 50 years ago forget how limited our communications were then.
There were, of course, no cell phones and no Internet. Not everyone had “landline” phones, but some pay phones were available. Arkansas State College’s Danner Hall, where I was at the time of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, had one — shared by 200 or so residents.
We got most of our news from newspapers and radio, the latter providing my first notice of the tragedy in Dallas.
Television was still in its infancy — black-and-white only, if you can imagine that, but the only one I recall in Danner was in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity suite in the basement. I wasn’t a member yet, but as a rushee I had access and watched events of the next few days there along with a lot of other guys.
However, TV choices were limited. If you had only rabbit ear antennas, you could get fuzzy images from three Memphis stations. The brand new KAIT came in better but didn’t have a network affiliation. An ad in that Saturday’s Jonesboro Evening Sun, though, said KAIT would telecast all NBC programs related to the assassination so that’s probably what a lot of people here watched.
In an earlier column I described the Sun’s effort to remake its Friday afternoon edition to include news of the assassination. The Saturday afternoon edition brought much more coverage, starting with a banner headline on page 1, “Pro-Castro Texan Charged With Murder of President.”
A front-page story said that all business in Craighead County, by request of Jonesboro Mayor Herbert Sanderson and County Judge Ted Spurlock, would cease at 11 a.m. Monday for a 30-minute period of mourning. That was to be the time of a Pontifical Requiem Mass for the slain president in Washington, D.C.
ASC President Carl R. Reng also announced that all activities on campus would be suspended for an hour beginning at 11 a.m. Monday. All schools in Jonesboro were also to be closed. Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church — Kennedy was a Catholic — planned a special service Monday morning.
A photo showing the American flag flying at half-mast in front of the Craighead County Courthouse accompanied the story.
A short editorial headed the opinion page, which was otherwise mostly filled with news stories.
“John F. Kennedy will be best remembered for his role in world peace. His accomplishments shed a new light in a war-threatened world,” the Sun said.
In an obvious reference to Kennedy’s civil rights stance, the editorial added: “Though there was disagreement over a number of his domestic policies, there was no disagreement that he was a dedicated leader who loved his country and who ardently sought world peace.”
“The prayers of the nation and the world go with Lyndon Johnson as he assumes the heavy responsibilities of leadership of this great country,” the Sun concluded.
There was no other localization of the story except for a roundup that I wrote for the sports page, noting that Jonesboro High School season-ending game had been postponed from Friday till Monday night and that ASC’s game with Trinity University at San Antonio, had been canceled.
Nevertheless, a photo right below that story indicated that the 6-member tag team wrestling match, scheduled Saturday night, would go on as planned in the American Legion Arena, which incidentally is where the Sun is now printed.
An Associated Press story said the University of Arkansas and Texas Tech would play Saturday at Fayetteville, one of the few football games in the country to go on as scheduled.
Sun Sports Editor Tom McDonald wrote a column for Tuesday’s paper about the ASC team’s trip to San Antonio. One of the team’s two chartered planes was at Dallas’ Love Field when the assassination occurred downtown, and many aboard saw Air Force One parked there. They didn’t learn of the shooting until the plane was en route to San Antonio.
The Sun didn’t have a Sunday edition in those days so the next news related to the assassination wasn’t printed locally until Monday afternoon. The banner headline and story chronicled the funeral services held that morning.
However, right below that was a story detailing the murder of his accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, which many of us watched happen on television Sunday morning.
These stunning developments in such short order convinced many Americans that World War III was starting. Oswald’s sympathy for Cuba and 1959 defection to the Soviet Union seemed to be strong evidence.
Another page 1 story in Monday’s Sun covered the service at Blessed Sacrament and another conducted by the Jonesboro Ministerial Alliance at First Baptist Church.
On Monday night the Jonesboro City Council passed a resolution of sympathy for the late president and his family while also affirming its faith “that our system of government shall survive whatever obstacles or tragedies may befall it.”
At the First Baptist service the church’s pastor, Dr. C.Z. Holland, said in his eulogy: “Every man, woman and child, every race and creed, has felt the sting of the assassin’s bullet that felled our beloved president. Without question he was one of the most widely known and universally respected men that this or any other generation has produced ...”
And then life went on for others. That night Jonesboro High won its football game over Wynne.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.