President John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, had lived to see the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but only a short time later, November 22, 1963, was gunned down while visiting Dallas, Texas. His alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was caught and later shot by another man, Jack Ruby, while in police custody. My father, John Imbriano remembers that day.
Matt Betts
It was during the end of the week. At this time I was only seven years old and I was in the second grade. It was toward the end of the day when an announcement came over the loud speaker, "President Kennedy has been shot." The whole class was in a state of shock. I remember all the teachers crying and comforting one another. I was scared because I thought that President Kennedy got shot in Massachusetts. I did not know that President Kennedy was away on business, so when I looked out the window from school I pictured the gunman running through the school yard.
We all got dismissed from school a little early that day and since I was within walking distance to my house, I walked home. When I walked through the door my mother was on the phone crying. She was on the phone with one of my neighbors. It was just a sad time for everyone. The whole world was in a state of shock. It was all over the news that the President was officially dead.
That weekend, pretty much the whole country shut down until they buried him. They buried him in the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. I kept thinking about his kids. They were a little younger than me, but I couldn't imagine coming home and not finding my father home and having him shot like that. I remember the funeral procession and I didn't understand why the horse, his horse, was being lead with no rider on it and his boots were turned backwards in the stirrups indicating a dead soldier. It didn't really make sense to me. I guess I was too young to understand.
With my mother and all the neighbors crying, the whole world was crying for that matter. It was probably the saddest day I've ever been associated with even up to now. It was as if the whole world had stopped. He was so highly regarded, not only in the United States, but also in Europe. He was so loved, not only because he was a great guy, but he was young and had a great attitude. He had a good family and that's why I idolized him.
That night watching the news, I remember they were talking about it and the guy Lee Harvey Oswald who shot Kennedy was shown being shot right on TV. The guy who shot him was Jack Ruby. He was arrested right there. At this point I thought the whole world was going crazy.
John Imbriano
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