The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Remembering JFK’s death

“I’ll never forget where I was,” said the Rev. John Naus, assistant to University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild. “I was about to give a talk at a retreat for Marquette students in Oshkosh. Oddly enough the talk was going to be about death and judgment after death. Someone walked in and notified me the president had been shot and killed. I couldn’t go on with my speech so I just told the guys there that we were going to walk around by the lake and think about what happened.”

Naus described the atmosphere of the retreat after the news had been relayed to those on retreat.

“Everyone was shocked,” he said. “This young man was dead. And then later watching the picture of little John saluting his father’s casket as it rolled by. There was just a feeling of total sadness. This boy had lost his father, and the worst part was he probably didn’t realize it yet. He was such a young man in the prime of his life.”

Provost Madeline Wake recalled the events of the day and how her life changed after the assassination.

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“I remember I was at class when I found out,” Wake said. “It was a state of absolute shock. The notion of presidential assassination was just not considered. I think the nation moved from feelings of shock to sadness. And to watch the rest of the story unfold on live television. I remember when Oswald was shot, too. I remember the whole thing.”

Professor of journalism and Nieman Chair Phillip Seib attended the funeral.

“I remember the muffled drums,” Seib said. “I remember the single horse carrying the carriage, and I remember in the horse’s saddle, and the pair of boots hitched in backward. And I remember the horse acting up while it was on the march.”

Dean of the College of Communication William Elliott remembered the procession as well.

“I remember seeing Charles De Gaulle lead a procession of international leaders behind the horse drawn carriage carrying Kennedy,” Elliott said.

Elliott reflected on the impact Kennedy had around the world.

“I was in the Peace Corps teaching in Nigeria,” Elliott said. “And I remember you could walk into rural houses and find pictures of Kennedy hanging in their homes. It really showed how much he meant to people. ”

Dean of the College of Professional Studies Robert Deahl was in his third grade class when he learned of the assassination.

“I was in class and my teacher Sister Mary Francis alerted us to an announcement being made on the P.A. system,” Deahl said. “And I remember quite vividly the headlines in the paper the next day, ‘EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!’ all in red ink, and of course it had the coverage of the whole thing.”

He remembers the nation’s mourning.

“It was so very sad,” Deahl said. “Our president was gone and there was (John F. Kennedy Jr.) without his father. I remember the grieving of adults all around me. That’s the way it was for the whole week.”

Political science Professor Janet Boles assessed the long and short-term ramifications of the assassination.

“In the short run it made the nation very seriously contemplate an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to make sure there was always a sitting vice president,” Boles said. “At the time our Vice President Lyndon Johnson had a very bad (heart), the speaker of the house was in his 80s and the Senate majority leader was in his 90s, so there was a serious concern about a crisis of succession for the presidency.”

Boles also mentioned the long-term consequences.

“It’s because of the Kennedy assassination that we now have such far reaching security measures for presidents and their families, candidates for president and political figures in general,” she said.

Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was also the youngest. He was inaugurated at age 43.