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It’s Been Forty Years Since That Horrible Day in Dallas
A Long, Cold Forty Years
Where Were You? What Were Your Immediate Thoughts?
by Johnny Gunn
It matters not one’s political philosophy, virtually every American alive at the time can remember to the second where he was, what she was doing, what thoughts were screaming through the brain. It was November 22, 1963, Dallas, Texas, and the President of the United States was killed by an assassin’s bullet. Just 40 years ago, a microscopic amount of time, geologically speaking, eons in memory. John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, himself a young, attractive, and very active 46-years-old, was in Texas to give speeches.
Lee Harvey Oswald, an extreme leftist, is held as the assassin, and he was gunned down, less than 48 hours later, in the holding cell area of the Dallas Police Station by tavern owner Jack Ruby. The world watched in horror as Ruby simply walked up to Oswald, pulled a pistol, and shot him dead. Oswald was just 24-years-old. Riding in the open limousine with the president was his vivacious wife Jackie, and Texas Governor John Connally, also wounded in the attack.
Since that terrible day, conspiracy theories have built themselves into urban legends, using other conspiracy theories as proof of fact, and youngsters can’t tell the difference. Lyndon Johnson, one minute the jovial Vice President, a Texas native, the next, the 36th President, formed the Warren Commission by Executive Order Number 11130 on November 29, 1963, and that commission gave its final report to the world on September 24, 1964.
Since then, everyone from Johnson himself to Intergalactic travelers have been accused of killing the president. At The Nevada Observer, we’re not in the business of foisting off conspiracy theories nor promulgating the political festering that accompanies such theories. Our purpose with this article is to discuss what it meant to Nevadans at the time, what it might mean today, and how, if at all, it might have changed the lives of those who make the Silver State their home.
Remembrances
We asked Reno Mayor Bob Cashell if he could remember where he was, what he was doing, and what went through his mind when he first heard the news that President John F. Kennedy had been murdered.
"This was one of the most shattering moments in our nation's history and a tragedy that I will always remember.
"I was in Houston, Texas driving a fuel tanker-truck for the Humboldt Oil and Refining Company when I heard the news of President Kennedy's assassination. My first reaction was shock and disbelief. I just couldn't believe that it had happened.
"I was en route to deliver fuel for a new gas station opening in Houston, and when I arrived, news of the assassination was the only topic. It was a very somber atmosphere throughout Houston, and again, everyone expressed disbelief that this had happened.
"I don't think there was much work done the rest of the day in most businesses, and for the next three days I stayed glued to the television. It took about a week before things got back to a semi-normal condition."
During the recent Nevada Day activities in Carson City, we asked several people the same questions and got almost identical answers.
A gentleman proudly wearing his VFW cap:
“I was young, still in high school, and I was devastated, couldn’t think of anything at all except his poor wife and those darling children, now without a father.”
A woman with an American flag in one hand and a baby in the other:
“This is my grand daughter. I can’t imagine anything that hurt me more than to see those horrible pictures over and over. My husband cried for weeks and he’s a republican.”
Hal Swift, a member of the Cowboy Poets Hall of Fame and Sparks resident replied this way:
“I was in the newsroom at Radio KJAY, Sacramento, when the teletype bell began ringing nonstop--a bulletin was coming in. "The President has been shot," it said.
I took a tape recorder and walked the streets where, it seemed, everyone was crying. Without exception, reaction was shock and disbelief.
A truck driver, tears in his eyes, choked out, "The sons-a-bitches! They finally got 'im!"
They did, indeed.”
Age doesn’t seem to have any part in one’s remembrance of the event. Our publisher, David Thompson was still in school:
“On November 22, 1963, I was an eleventh-grade student in a small-town high school in Georgia. I remember being in class when our principal broadcast over the school public announcement system the news that President Kennedy had been shot. I was stunned.
“I remembered watching the Democratic National Convention on television in 1960, when Kennedy and Johnson were nominated to run. I saw him in the Nixon-Kennedy debates, during the election of 1960, at his stirring speech when he was sworn into office, during the Bay of Pigs, the troubles in the Congo (mod. Zaire), the Berlin crisis, the Laotian crisis, the integration of the University of Mississippi, and the Cuban missile crisis. I recall having to hide under our school desks during air raid drills, as the sirens wailed their anxious alarm. President Kennedy's snap-crackle-and-pop charisma, his inspirational speeches, and his ever-present sense of humor kept me mesmerized through his term in office.
“When the new government officially announced the President's death, our school principal held a brief assembly and sent the students home for the remainder of the day. It was a Friday, and everyone was left alone with their thoughts. I remember sitting numbly in front of the television, watching the President's funeral in Washington, D.C., hearing the beat of the monotonous drums, and watching the riderless horse in the funeral procession, with its pair of empty boots reversed in the stirrups. I remember seeing Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin, on live television in the basement of the Dallas police station. I remember thinking to myself that this was the most unbelievable thing I had ever seen in my life. I still feel the same way about it.”
Reputations Made, Reputations Lost
Walter Cronkite celebrated his 87th birthday on November 4, of this year, and on that fateful day 40 years ago, his reputation as a newsman was anchored in cement. Cronkite had parachuted into battle as a combat correspondent for United Press International during the battle for Arnhem, The Netherlands, during WWII, was well known and respected as a journalist well before November 22, 1963, but through his calm reporting during those long hours and days following the murder, Cronkite became Uncle Walter to a grieving nation and is accepted today as the most respected newsman in the country.
Earl Warren was Governor of California, then appointed Chief Justice of the nation’s Supreme Court, and was called on to conduct the Warren Commission to investigate the President’s assassination. Regardless of how you feel about that investigation, regardless of whether you subscribe to any of the conspiracy theories surrounding the investigation, Earl Warren’s reputation was ruined, and he would never regain the respect a member of the nation’s Supreme Court should expect.
And Now?
During the turbulent weeks and months following the loss of President Kennedy, time after time, it was brought up how much like Abraham Lincoln’s death it was like. Lincoln facing all the devastation and rebuilding of the nation following the Civil War, Kennedy facing the monstrous problems of the Cold War, Europe separated by an iron curtain, Cuba just months before, bristling with nuclear tipped missiles, and an ever increasing war building in what was then called French Indochina.
The nation came together, the constitution prevailed, democracy survived, and today, despite all the differences, despite all the conspiracy theories, America thrives as the world’s finest tribute to free thinking people. The constitution is a living document, the first ten amendments have not been altered by small minds, and discussions between philosophies exist. This can’t be said in much of the world today. We lost part of a flame, but the torch remained, and democracy, freedoms unknown in so many places, flourish.
There will probably never come another time when so many Americans will be brought together as they were on November 22, 1963, by that shocking instance of murder, murder of the President of the United States.
The Buzz Around the Silver State,
Briefly
Our Correspondents
Elko County
Residents of Carlin, Nevada met in a local house of prostitution recently to
discuss problems facing well users. Complaints have been coming in of wells not
recharging and most have been blaming Newmont Mine for the problem. Newmont
denies they are responsible.
Meanwhile, the city of Carlin is saying they want to extend the city water lines to some of the outlying neighbors. Many say that would help with the problem.
Great Basin College in Elko has bragging rights on enrollment and graduate rates according to recent published accounts. The graduate rate for the community college is among the highest in the west.
Lander County
This is a letter The Nevada Observer received following our last edition. We
commented about the apparent lack of dedication by members of the Nevada
Legislature as it pertained to regulating the state budget. The letter writer
teaches in the Lander County School District.
Editor, The Observer,
Really enjoyed the comments about the Legis-LATE -ture. It
seems like every session the ending date creeps up on them without their
knowledge As one deeply involved in education I saw first-hand what that
dumb-ass behavior did to school districts all over the state. In our own rural
village of Battle Mountain a number of people lost their jobs, and several
others transferred to other districts because LCSD (ed. note: Lander County
School District) didn't know what the budget would be. Unbelievable. If it
weren't tragic it would be laughable.
Use what you need. We go through this every legislative session -not to the extreme it was taken this year that's true. They wait until the last minute and then try to decide how much $ Education is going to get and where it will come from. As a matter of fact they kind of act like students - waiting until the last minute to do their work because they were goofing off when they should have been working.
Another insight into a related topic. The Legis-LATE-ture gave money for a 2% raise to teachers. However, teachers don't automatically get that raise in all counties. That is up to the discretion of each district. Here in good old LCSD we have to go through negotiations to get the money the Legis-LATE-ture has already earmarked for us. And we are still in negotiations. The District doesn't want to give any of it to us.
White Pine County
Consternation continues over the closing of the J.C. Penney store in Ely. White
Pine County is one of the most economically distressed counties in the state,
and the closing of the store, based according to Penney’s representatives purely
on economics proves the point.
There is considerable talk among business people in the eastern Nevada community of opening their own “community store,” along the lines of a department store, but operated almost as a cooperative.
Carson City County
A major economic disaster has been averted, at least at this writing, by way of
agreements between the owners of the closed and being remodeled Ormsby House
Hotel/Casino. After spending large sums of money to begin the remodel, they
announced they were going to tear the building down because of impossible
working agreements forced on them by Carson City.
After long negotiation, it appears as though those agreements have been modified, and the city has pledged to work with the Ormsby House owners.
It would have been a big loss to the city if they had not made adjustments to the way they treat those attempting to restore and rebuild the county’s economy.
The bypass section of Highway 395 continues, through Carson City and from Reno where the freeway ends at the Mt. Rose Highway. Major work will continue for several more years.
Washoe County
The closing of yet another hotel casino has thrown several hundred more people
onto unemployment roles. The Sundowner Casino Hotel was scheduled to close on or
about December 1, but management closed the property on November 9.
A contract is being let for a plaza to built on the site of the Mapes Hotel which was demolished by a former mayor and his city council. Current Mayor Bob Cashell says he hopes this action will help heal some of the open and festering wounds.
Storey County
Years of litigation is in store for those who won the bids on the recently e-bay
auctioned Mustang Ranch properties. One whore house bought the buildings,
another whore house bought the name. At least that’s what they think. Storey
County was the first county in the state to legalize and thus be able to tax
houses of prostitution. Joe Conforte and his wife Sally owned the Mustang Ranch
and promoted it world wide. Promotion rights to the name, within the context of
prostitution would be considerable.
OK, Folks, Make Up My Mind
Guv Predicts '05 Deficit
Nevada Taxation Hails Sales Increases
by Johnny Gunn
If you thought that $836 million tax increase from the 2003 legislative session was bad, you better grab hold of the biggest tree you can find or get blown away by predictions from Nevada’s lame duck Governor, Kenny Guinn. While Guinn is saying things like $187 million deficit for 2005, his own taxation department, led by tax master Perry Comeaux is hailing an August 2003 sales tax increase of 10.3 percent over the same month a year ago. The Fed is also saying the economy is past just beginning to rebound, it’s jumping up, and unemployment nationwide is also down while there has been an employment surge.
Clark County led the Nevada charge, up 12.5%, while Washoe County was up 6.9%. Not all the counties in the state showed increases. Seven of the state’s 17 counties showed decreases, five showed increases, and the rest held about even. All in all, the taxation division indicates that over $3 billion in taxable sales were recorded in August, and the state should receive about $62.5 million from that.
Automobile dealers led the way, and if you’ve bought fuel for your vehicle this year, you will understand that filling stations came in second. Clothing, furniture, furnishings, and building materials all showed healthy increases. The holiday buying season is just now beginning to surge, and fiscal faces in Carson City are smiling.
At the same time, on the national level, The Fed is saying the economy is strong and getting stronger.
There are members of the legislature who have vowed there will not be a tax increase coming from the 2005 session. Comeaux says there needs to be a five percent overall tax revenue growth in order to fill the expected needs in the 2005 biennium. Sales taxes have grown by an average of 10%, however gaming revenue has been down statewide by about three percent.
Adding to the positive figures is Nevada’s current unemployment rate, 5.2%, almost a full point under the nationwide rate. High employment and the recent federal tax rebate have contributed to the high sales figures in the state according to most economists.
Change in Plans: Touch Screens: Yes
New Statewide Voter Registration: Not Yet
by Johnny Gunn
As reported in the last edition of The Nevada Observer, there will be some big changes in Nevada’s voting procedures. But there will be a change in the order of those changes. Originally reported, the Secretary of State, Dean Heller, was to create a statewide voter registration system, however that has been put on hold until sometime in in 2005, possibly in time for the 2004 election.
Instead, the state plans to purchase $6 million to $8 million worth of touch screen voting machines. They will be installed in Washoe, and outlying counties to replace punch card ballots and optical scan systems. As we reported in the last issue, Clark County is already planning on a large purchase of Sequoia brand machines and Heller is hoping to be able to help them financially as well.
Some counties have already asked for quotes from Diebold Corporation, but Heller has indicated he wants all the counties to have exactly the same equipment, that there should be no discrepancies between systems. This would indicated, but Heller hasn’t come right out and said so, that the state would be purchasing the Sequoia brand equipment.
There have been allegations that the Diebold equipment may be accessible to fraud, but these charges have been refuted by the company.
It was anticipated that there would be charges of voter fraud, ballot manipulation and other scandal following the recent California elections, but none surfaced, either with punch card balloting or with touch screen operation.
By federal mandate, Nevada’s secretary of state is required to have state wide voter registration in place before the 2006 election, and Heller says that time line is safe. Many rural county clerks were afraid of attempting to do a complete voter registration system update at the state level and introduce touch screen voting at the same time, according to Heller.
the state has received some $5 million for upgrading the balloting systems and is expected to get another $5.7 million before the 2004 election.
New Reno
Christmas Light Show
Already? And it Ain’t Free
by Johnny Gunn
City of Reno Information Office: Reno will soon be home to a spectacular drive through holiday light display featuring more than 2 million lights! The Gift of Lights will be featured in Idlewild Park from Nov. 21 - Jan. 4.
Residents and visitors are invited to drive through a mile long path in Idlewild Park to see more than 100 exciting animated and twinkling holiday light displays, including the spectacular "Tunnel of Lights" with more than 250,000 lights. Scene after scene will come to life with a special holiday display. A radio channel will be dedicated to the event, featuring festive holiday music while attendees drive through the displays-sure to get everyone in the holiday spirit!
The Gift of Lights will be open Friday November 21, through Sunday January 4. Event hours are 5 p.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Sunday. Admission is $10 per vehicle and buses are $1 per passenger (minimum $10 charge). It is estimated that it will take approximately 20 minutes to drive through the display. The event will be open wind, snow or shine!
Monday, Nov. 24 is FREE Community Night. All cars will be admitted free as the Gift of Lights says "thank you" to the Reno community.
Youth from the Reno Enrichment Program (REP) will be selling hot chocolate for $1 each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. All proceeds will benefit the many activities and programs REP sponsors for teens 12-19 every weekday evening, including homework assistance, free dinner, computer access and special community projects. Attendees will receive a $2 discount by bringing a bag of non-perishable food items. All donations will benefit the Food for Families, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities.
For daily information about the Gift of Lights call the Gift
of Lights Information Hotline: 329-0474.