Portrait of a President

I was a reporter on the Clovis News-Journal in Clovis, N.M. on Nov. 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas.

The Friday had dawned bright and sunny, typical weather for southeastern New Mexico. My editor and friend Dave Molina had made plans to drive to Albuquerque and play some blackjack based on the strategy from a book, 'Beat The Dealer,' written by Prof. Edward O. Thorp. We couldn't wait to get the paper published and head north to Sandia Casino.

The first indication we had of this monumental event in American politics came when a series of repeated bells rang from our teletype machine. We had never heard that many bells before because this was the biggest story United Press International and the Associated Press had reported in many years.

Ding...ding...ding...ding...ding...

Carolyn Smith, our society editor, knew something was wrong. She dashed over to the teletype machine and ripped out the copy.

She clutched the paper in her hand and turned to us, wide-eyed.

'The President has been shot,' she said.

Dave and I were stunned. He hurried to Carolyn's side, read the few paragraphs, and turned to a new hire, Richard Leggitt, who had worked for a television station in Dallas.

'Dick, are you familiar with the Book Depository Building?", he said.

'I know it like the back of my hand. It's in the downtown section of Dallas.'

'Write a color piece on it. Put in all the pertinent details so our readers can feel the area.'

I was already on the phone trying to reach the Dallas Police Department. After half a dozen attempts, I got through to a harried desk sergeant. He confirmed to me that Kennedy had been shot and said he had just received a report that a Dallas police officer had been shot in a theater, possibly by the same man who shot the President.

I took notes furiously and got enough information from him to write a page one story about the death of the police officer named Tippett.

Molina came over to my desk.

'I don't have a good photo of Kennedy to run on page one,' he said. 'Any ideas?'

''How about the Post Office? They have an official portrait of the President. We can use that.'

Dave nodded. 'The Postmaster is a good guy. Head over there and get it. I'll call him and tell him you're coming.'

The post office was just three blocks away and I made it there and back in 10 minutes. We filled page one with stories about the assassination and put the paper to bed. As the presses started turning, I turned to Molina and said, 'I need a cup of coffee.'

Dave, Richard and I walked to a nearby cafe. It was filled with people and the owner had installed a television set across the counter to keep his customers informed about the shooting.

I ordered a cup of coffee. A man in his 60s who looked like a rancher was standing behind me. He said, 'Serves him right. Somebody should have shot that S.O.B. a long time ago.'

I rose from my seat and started to go after him. Molina pulled me back down.

'Don't bother,' he said loud enough for the crowd to hear. 'He isn't worth it.' The man slunk from the cafe.

After work, we drove to Albuquerque. I won $600 playing blackjack and Molina kept the cocktail waitress busy drinking Coors beer. We didn't talk much. The ordeal of covering the murder of President Kennedy had taken a lot out of us.

A couple of weeks ago I traveled through Dallas on Greyhound and had a two-hour layover in the city. The Greyhound Bus Terminal is just a couple of blocks away from the Book Depository Building which now contains the 6th Story Museum. Stephen Fagin is the curator of the museum. When one of the employees discovered I had covered the Kennedy assassination, she asked if Fagin could interview me by telephone. I agreed to the interview.

He called me last week and we had a very pleasant time talking on the phone. He asked a lot of questions and said the interview would become a permanent part of the museum. I thanked him for his time. He also promised to send me a small check as well as a transcript of the interview.

'Any final thoughts?,' he said before we hung up.

'Only that I never voted for John F. Kennedy, but he was our President. You did a good interview. You would have made a good journalist.'