So what WERE you doing?

[Ron Ecker]

I am very suspicious of Mark, who claims he cant remember what he was doing, isn't that Nixons alibi.

Stephen,

Did you make any phone calls in Cambridge on 11/22/63?

Ron

[Guest Stephen Turner]

I am very suspicious of Mark, who claims he cant remember what he was doing, isn't that Nixons alibi.

Stephen,

Did you make any phone calls in Cambridge on 11/22/63?

Ron

Ron, my Lawyer has advised me not to answer that question. Seriously the closest my family got to owning a phone before 1970, was two tin cans and a piece of string.

Thanks for your recolections. It would be nice if as many members as possible posted, after all for many of us it was the start of a 40+ year's search.

Interesting side note, my father was a great sports fan, and would often wake me up to watch games, matches, fights beamed in via the new (1960's) satellite technology, on one such occasion we got up at one in the morning to watch the Ali- Liston second fight 1964, we both loved the fights, and had been looking foward to this one for weeks. Anyway to cut it short Ali wiped the floor with Liston in under one round and Dad made some hot chocolate, to help us sleep, we both had a moan about the poor show Sonny had put up, and chatted the way Boys do with their dads,when out of the blue he said, "There's no way Oswald could have made those shots" we chatted a bit about the assassination, and went to bed. Funny thing is, despite my abiding interest in JFK, I cant recall us ever talking about the subject again.

Steve,

Minor point. The second Ali-Liston fight was in 1965--May 25 in Lewiston, Maine. The first fight was February 25, 1964--Miami Beach, Florida.

Mark, your quite correct, it was the 65 one round knock out. Sonny was very pally with the mafia I believe.

[Gerry Hemming]

I am very suspicious of Mark, who claims he cant remember what he was doing, isn't that Nixons alibi.

Stephen,

Did you make any phone calls in Cambridge on 11/22/63?

Ron

Ron, my Lawyer has advised me not to answer that question. Seriously the closest my family got to owning a phone before 1970, was two tin cans and a piece of string.

Thanks for your recolections. It would be nice if as many members as possible posted, after all for many of us it was the start of a 40+ year's search.

Interesting side note, my father was a great sports fan, and would often wake me up to watch games, matches, fights beamed in via the new (1960's) satellite technology, on one such occasion we got up at one in the morning to watch the Ali- Liston second fight 1964, we both loved the fights, and had been looking foward to this one for weeks. Anyway to cut it short Ali wiped the floor with Liston in under one round and Dad made some hot chocolate, to help us sleep, we both had a moan about the poor show Sonny had put up, and chatted the way Boys do with their dads,when out of the blue he said, "There's no way Oswald could have made those shots" we chatted a bit about the assassination, and went to bed. Funny thing is, despite my abiding interest in JFK, I cant recall us ever talking about the subject again.

Steve,

Minor point. The second Ali-Liston fight was in 1965--May 25 in Lewiston, Maine. The first fight was February 25, 1964--Miami Beach, Florida.

Mark, your quite correct, it was the 65 one round knock out. Sonny was very pally with the mafia I believe.

-------------------------------

Let me think back NOW !! OH Yeah !! Just as Twyman suspected: "...I was leaving...on a jet plane...and would not soon be back again...!!"

When Twyman's "aviation expert" tried to suggest various models and routing of jet aircraft, said expert could only reduce the enroute time to about 1.3 hours !! I then told him that the 600+ nautical miles from DAL [DFW didn't exist back then] to HST [Homestead AFB] would have required an enroute time of ONLY 47 minutes !!

That would have been due to the Navy TF8U-4 "Crusader" having been "On Burner" [After-Burner throttled-in] all of the way, and ground-speeding at Mach 1.3 !! That is: until we slowed ["speed braked & went into "wing-upknotch"] at "Gulf-Point Mac/West #4" [27 deg. North Lat. & 127 W-Long] for aerial refueling off of a KC-97 Tanker (based at Keesler AFB, where LHO had radar trained); which required slowing down to 200 knots for 12 minutes !!

But, then again -- Bill Baggs, [ plus JM/WAVE's Hal Hendrix, Mary Louise Wilkerson, et al.] would have had to put my arrival time at the Miami news Bldg. at later than "1417 hrs" [2:17 PM MIA local time].

I must have really cut that one even more tighter than many of the others ??!!

Chairs,

GPH

____________________

[Thomas Graves]

I am very suspicious of Mark, who claims he cant remember what he was doing, isn't that Nixons alibi.

__________________________________________________

Darn! I just realized that I can't remember whether or not Nixon could remember what he was doing. (Or, for that matter, which non-existant "Chinese market" Howard Hunt went to in Washington D.C. ....)

Hmm, maybe I really am, finally, "losing it."

FWIW, Thomas

__________________________________________________

Edited December 30, 2005 by Thomas Graves

[Chris Cox]

How can one not remember where they were on that historic day-impossible.

I was six, living in New Jersey. My beloved first grade (a Negro woman- to give a little perspective on the time) teacher, Mrs. E, was called to the door of the room. She came back in tears and school let out somberly. Our temporary classroom (the baby boom built schools) was in a local church and a lot of bells rang that day. Cronkite did the honors on the news and we were glued to every word from the lousy black and white set that you had to hit or wiggle its "rabbit ears" to keep picture straight.

Days later I was in front of grandmother's TV when Oswald was killed. I thought he was "like" my father. Something about him, the Cuba/Soviet talk the weapon the secrecy made it spooky and relative to me somehow. With a child's intuition I knew this man was caught up in something familiar.

Years later after many files, study and travel on my topic found under heading "JFK assassination collection"-- I met a woman who lost her father in Bay of Pigs. She told me she stepped on a school bus 11/22/63 as a kid said something about the assassination to her. She told me she felt a satisfaction that JFK had died as others had died for him. A part of me concurs while I look for the sad truth of an apparent coups over a president who might have made the nuclear world safer.

No matter what you feel about presidents Blue or Red, they’re a rare breed of wealthy and powerful that will send some of us to fight their wars. JFK was martyred that day regardless of his failure or success. I wonder if that was anticipated.

[Mark Knight]

On November 22, 1963 I was a fourth grade student at Corydon Grade School in Indiana. During the after-lunch recess, we were on the asphalt-covered playground playing some basketball when friend and classmate Bobby N. came out of the building from taking a bathroom break and announced, "President Kennedy's been shot!" We all proceeded to call him a xxxx, but he insisted that, as he passed the office, the principal, Art Crowley ["MISTER" Crowley to us] was standing in front of the TV, crying. We dismissed Bobby as having an overactive imagination, until recess was over and we returned to our classroom. In the classroom our teacher, Mr. Shields, announced that what we'd heard was true, that the president had been shot. A short time later, the intercom speaker on the wall crackled to life, and Mr. Crowley made the announcement that I will never forget:

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE? THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD....I REPEAT, THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD..." his voice trailing off as if he really didn't know what else to say.

School was dismissed early, and as I rode the bus home, I was really scared. It seemed there were Civil Defense trucks and cars on every corner. At the time, no one knew whether a nuclear attack was imminent, but such a possiblilty was no longer just in the BACKS of people's minds.

As a Cub Scout, one of my projects was making a scrapbook of the editorial cartoons concerning JFK that were drawn by Hugh Haynie and published in the Louisville Courier-Journal. While at 9 years old I didn't understand all the political nuances involved, I could at least appreciate the surface humor. [i have no idea what ever became of that scrapbook.]

Once home, our TV was tuned to the chain-smoking Chet Huntley/David Brinkley NBC news program for the entire weekend. [i'd love to have some DVD's of the kinescopes that someone MUST have recorded of these programs!] While eating a late Sunday dinner of round steak, mashed potatoes, and some sort of green veggies, my family and I watched Jack Ruby execute LHO in vivid black-and-white. At this point, my dad said, "Looks like someone wanted to keep him from talking!" At that point, I believed in conspiracy.

Today, after all these years, I still do.

[Ron Ecker]

I watched Jack Ruby execute LHO in vivid black-and-white. At this point, my dad said, "Looks like someone wanted to keep him from talking!" At that point, I believed in conspiracy.

I was incredibly naive back then. I hesitate to say I was stupid because, after all, I was a college student. I too watched Ruby execute LHO live, but I don't recall the thought of conspiracy ever even occurring to me. The only thing that made sense in the United States of America was that it was a lone nut killing another lone nut, just like the government concluded.

I even voted for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. I still haven't lived that down (never will), and I haven't voted since then in a presidential election. Fool me once, shame on you . . .

[Tim Gratz]

Gerry has an iron-clad alibi!

[George Bollschweiler]

In view of the date.

People of a certain age say that you always remember what you were doing when the news came through from Dallas. I was eight years old, at home with my Mother and Brother watching Bonanza on a TV that was at least four feet across, with about six inches of screen. The first report simply said that the Pres had been shot at, shortly after the programme was interrupted again. (Never did get to find out how they saved the ponderoza that day.) I can remember my Mother crying at the awful news. My Father came home from work early, It seemed like the town came to a halt, I remember him saying to my mum, " Bertha, why would anybody shoot that man" The question echo's down the years. Please add your story.

Even if I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing I think my age of 1 year and 11 months is quite an iron-clad alibi and saves me of being any kind of suspect.

The thing I do remember is the assassination of Robert Kennedy because our neighbour came over to our house and she almost cried when she told my mom that again a Kennedy had been shot at and killed. At first I was confused by the neighbour’s crying and was scared that something had happened to us but when I realized it had nothing to do with our family I just kept on doing what I did and unfortunately I don’t remember that either.

George

Edited December 1, 2005 by George Bollschweiler

[Dawn Meredith]

In view of the date.

Even if I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing I think my age of 1 year and 11 months is quite an iron-clad alibi and saves me of being any kind of suspect.

The thing I do remember is the assassination of Robert Kennedy because our neighbour came over to our house and she almost cried when she told my mom that again a Kennedy had been shot at and killed. At first I was confused by the neighbour’s crying and was scared that something had happened to us but when I realized it had nothing to do with our family I just kept on doing what I did and that unfortunately I don’t remember either.

George

My response to both these shootings was a study in opposites: with JFK I was young (14) and still quite innocnet, so when I heard the president had been shot I ran home, praying all the way. I suspected conspiracy from the start. So by the time Bobby was shot I did not even bother to pray. I knew he'd die, I knew there were be a "lone nut" framed, and I knew Bobby's death would be at the hands of his government.

Dawn

[Mark Stapleton]

I watched Jack Ruby execute LHO in vivid black-and-white. At this point, my dad said, "Looks like someone wanted to keep him from talking!" At that point, I believed in conspiracy.

I was incredibly naive back then. I hesitate to say I was stupid because, after all, I was a college student. I too watched Ruby execute LHO live, but I don't recall the thought of conspiracy ever even occurring to me. The only thing that made sense in the United States of America was that it was a lone nut killing another lone nut, just like the government concluded.

I even voted for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. I still haven't lived that down (never will), and I haven't voted since then in a presidential election. Fool me once, shame on you . . .

Ron,

So you first began to suspect LBJ sometime between '64 and '68? Or were you like many others, just protesting America's involvemnt in Vietnam by not voting?

I ask because it's unusual for someone not to vote for so long. Over here it's compulsory to vote, Or I should say, it's compulsory to get your name marked off from the electoral roll. Once in the privacy of the polling booth, you can write anything on the ballot paper, as many do. Failure to vote results in a nasty fine. One wag noted that compulsory voting was designed by our politicians to keep us from becoming fat and lazy. (A walk to the polling booth every couple of years might improve our fitness). They keep us fit--for free!

Edited December 1, 2005 by Mark Stapleton

[Ron Ecker]

Mark,

The U.S. hasn't had a legitimate federal government since 1963. Every president has been a crook and/or traitor (even that fine Christian Carter has his house-building hands soaked with blood, having conspired as president to suck the Russians into the bloody "Afghan trap," from which arose Al Qaeda and much of our present grief), with never a viable or decent alternative to vote for. For the last two decades the White House has been handed back and forth between two crime families, with all indications that this will continue as long as the deals prove satisfactory or the CIA gives its okay. To vote in such a corrupt system is to condone criminal government, to be an accessory to all that the ruthless powers that be who govern us have inflicted on the world and on their own citizens. So I let others vote, I've basically been reduced to a cynical observer.

As for compulsory voting, we will surely never see that in America. In a land of stolen elections or agreed-to anointings, the less voters the better, for it means less votes that have to be manipulated.

Ron

[Mark Stapleton]

Mark,

The U.S. hasn't had a legitimate federal government since 1963. Every president has been a crook and/or traitor (even that fine Christian Carter has his house-building hands soaked with blood, having conspired as president to suck the Russians into the bloody "Afghan trap," from which arose Al Qaeda and much of our present grief), with never a viable or decent alternative to vote for. For the last two decades the White House has been handed back and forth between two crime families, with all indications that this will continue as long as the deals prove satisfactory or the CIA gives its okay. To vote in such a corrupt system is to condone criminal government, to be an accessory to all that the ruthless powers that be who govern us have inflicted on the world and on their own citizens. So I let others vote, I've basically been reduced to a cynical observer.

As for compulsory voting, we will surely never see that in America. In a land of stolen elections or agreed-to anointings, the less voters the better, for it means less votes that have to be manipulated.

Ron

A sad state of affairs indeed.

[Dawn Meredith]

Mark,

The U.S. hasn't had a legitimate federal government since 1963. Every president has been a crook and/or traitor (even that fine Christian Carter has his house-building hands soaked with blood, having conspired as president to suck the Russians into the bloody "Afghan trap," from which arose Al Qaeda and much of our present grief), with never a viable or decent alternative to vote for. For the last two decades the White House has been handed back and forth between two crime families, with all indications that this will continue as long as the deals prove satisfactory or the CIA gives its okay. To vote in such a corrupt system is to condone criminal government, to be an accessory to all that the ruthless powers that be who govern us have inflicted on the world and on their own citizens. So I let others vote, I've basically been reduced to a cynical observer.

As for compulsory voting, we will surely never see that in America. In a land of stolen elections or agreed-to anointings, the less voters the better, for it means less votes that have to be manipulated.

Ron

Ron:

Interesting. One of my friends whom I have known since 64 was just here visiting for 10 days from Boston. She voted in 04 for the first time in her life. She is not at all political and after agreeing to view "Executive Action" with me on, 11/22, we talked about the issue of voting, and "why do ( I ) still care about who killed JFK after 42 years?". She informed me that she will not ever vote again, for the exact same reasoning you just listed above, and, upon learning the details of the assassination and how it realtes to today only augmented her reasons. As sad as it makes me feel I find myself in 100% agreement with you. (And Dianne).

With one exception: George McGovern, for whom I traveled the country and worked in his presidential bid in 72. I see now how naive I was, but at 22, with a total crook as our opposition, I honestly thought America would choose a good decent man over Tricky Dick. Man, was I wrong.

63 really was it. The coup was total and that IS the answer to Dianne's question: Not to care means they win: forever. We must at least attempt to attain justice.

Dawn