New to PJ Media:
Going through a box of keepsakes from family and friends recently, I found two letters. (The story you are about to read is true; names have been changed to protect the innocent.) On the morning of November 22, 1963, a young married professional from Dallas wrote to his parents. After talking about some recently purchased furniture, he nonchalantly added:
In about three hours the President and his group will pass our office. It’s raining and the city is outside with street cleaners washing it down and people out in the rain collecting paper. It’s really funny. Laura has a doctor’s appointment this morning and then she comes over here and we go to lunch. Aaron will join us for lunch. Laura wants to go to the Trade Mart for lunch so she can see Jackie. I don’t know how much we’ll get to see, but I guess we’ll go over it.
If it had continued to rain, the 35th President of the United States would not have traveled in an open car. But the skies cleared and the show went on as planned.
This young man followed with another letter on November 23, 1963:
Dear Mom and Dad,
I am sure that both you and us and the rest of the country find it hard to believe what happened yesterday.
Laura and I had gone to the Marriott Motel across from the Trade Mart for a sandwich before going to the Trade Mart to listen to Kennedy. We had just paid the bill and were leaving when we saw the two presidential limousines drive past the Trade Mart. This was the route they were to take and he was to enter through the side door of the Trade Mart. I told Laura that they were certainly going pretty fast. We couldn’t really tell what had happened or if something was wrong.
We entered the Trade Mart and most of the people were seated for the banquet. A friend of mine came up to me and told me that the president had been shot. As most people would have thought, we took it as a joke. We started saying he was serious and then someone came up with a radio. The people in the banquet area had not yet heard the news and were still playing music. A policeman had informed us that we would not be able to leave until the president left. I told Laura at that point that it was time to get out before it was announced to the crowd. We got out and headed to the car.
There is more. Read the rest here.