Quentin McGown was seven-and-a-half years old when he had an experience that stands out as one of the most memorable of his lifetime. On Nov. 22, 1963, Quentin accompanied his grandfather, also named Quentin McGown, to the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth to see President John F. Kennedy in person.
“He got me out of school and took me to the breakfast because he felt that it was important for me to see the president,” McGown recalled
The president’s words were lost on young Quentin, a second-grader at Fort Worth Country Day School, but he has always remembered the excitement of that day as well as the magnificent performance by the Texas Boys Choir.
Quentin wasn’t the only child in the crowd but he recalls being the only one from his class to be there.
Sixty years later, McGown, an attorney, local historian and Tarrant County judge, is grateful for his grandfather’s foresight in taking him to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast, not knowing that this would be the last speech Kennedy would deliver.
A few hours after the presidential motorcade rolled out of downtown Fort Worth to Carswell Air Force Base, where the president and his entourage would take a 15-minute flight to Dallas, Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in downtown Dallas.
As the country marks the 60th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, the number of people who attended that fateful breakfast is dwindling.
Kennedy started that day on an upbeat note. He greeted cheering crowds waiting in the rain outside Hotel Texas and gave heartfelt, impromptu remarks, outlining his vision for the future of the country and the importance of a strong defense, emphasizing Fort Worth’s vital role in aircraft production.
He also apologized for his wife Jackie’s absence, remarking that it took her a little longer to get ready.
“He said nobody really cared what he was wearing,” recalled Roger Summers, a reporter who covered the event for the evening edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Summers, who worked as a reporter for the newspaper for more than 40 years – he had a Star-Telegram paper route before that – also recalled the enthusiasm and excitement of the large crowd gathered outside to see the president.
After his brief appearance outdoors, the president went inside the hotel, where local business and civic leaders had paid $2.50 for a ticket to hear him speak and see the First Lady. Kennedy was presented with a Shady Oaks hat as a gift from the Chamber of Commerce but he declined to put it on despite pleas from the audience.
He vowed to wear it when he returned to the White House.
Kennedy’s visit to Fort Worth and Dallas was part of a Texas tour, which was planned to try to reunite a Democratic Party that had fractured into conservative and liberal factions.
By the time Kennedy arrived in Fort Worth, he had already visited Houston and San Antonio, where cheering crowds lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the youngest man ever elected U.S. president and his glamorous wife.
Yet, despite the excitement, Kennedy’s politics didn’t resonate as well in Texas as other locations.
“He was an East Coast liberal and a Catholic,” recalled Roy Eaton, who was working at radio station KXOL in Fort Worth during Kennedy’s visit.
Anti-Kennedy sentiment was particularly strong in Dallas, where about a month earlier United Nations ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been heckled as he delivered a speech in downtown Dallas and was hit on the head with a protest sign as he left the auditorium.
Meanwhile, Dallas oilman H.L. Hunt used his vast wealth to spread his anti-Kennedy message over radio airwaves and incited others, including W.A. Criswell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, to stoke conspiratorial fears of a Catholic insurrection due to Kennedy’s election.
Anti-Kennedy “Wanted” fliers with Kennedy’s image arranged as a criminal mug shot circulated on the streets, and a full-page ad questioning the president’s decision-making on several important domestic and foreign issues appeared in The Dallas Morning News under the headline “Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas.”
But when Air Force One touched down at Carswell on Nov. 21, throngs of supporters gathered at the base to greet him.
John Fletcher, then 12 years old, was among the crowd gathered at the Fort Worth air base to watch Air Force One arrive. His father, Earle Fletcher, general manager of KXOL, took Fletcher and his brother to witness history.
“We didn’t have special passes so we were in the crowd,” recalled Fletcher, CEO and founder of Fletcher Consulting Public Relations in Arlington.
Fletcher and his brother carried homemade signs glued to Popsicle sticks. The signs sported the words “Hooray for JFK” in blue glitter.
Although the crowd made it difficult for the youngsters to see the president, Fletcher said, “it was special for us to be there and see Air Force One with the presidential seal. It was magnificent.”
Animosity toward JFK in Dallas was a concern for Secret Service agents, who worried about his safety staying overnight in the luxurious Will Rogers suite on the top floor of Hotel Texas, now known as Hilton Fort Worth.
A 2013 article published in a special edition of the Fort Worth Business Press covering the 50th anniversary of the assassination quoted businessman and author Don Woodard, who passed away this past September: “The Secret Service was worried that someone might take a shot at him from one of the buildings close by.”
As chief of staff to former U.S. Sen. Bill Blakely of Texas, Woodard was present at a number of important Kennedy-era events, including the 1960 Democratic National Convention, where he served as a delegate, Kennedy’s inauguration, and the president’s funeral.
Because of the safety concerns, the Kennedys were hosted in an eighth-floor suite of rooms rather than the Will Rogers suite, Woodard said. Since the suite had bare walls, the late Ruth Carter Stevenson, then president of the board of trustees of the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, adorned the walls with paintings by Picasso and other world-renowned artists for the Kennedys to enjoy.
Sheila Johnson, Stevenson’s daughter, was 16 years old and was attending boarding school in California when the Kennedys visited Fort Worth.
“My mother told me that she took the paintings off the museum walls, put them in her car and drove them over to the Hotel Texas,” Johnson said. “Can you imagine that happening now with priceless paintings?”
Johnson said her mother was unable to attend the event at the hotel because she was home caring for Sheila’s sister, Karen, who was ill with chicken pox.
“The president and Mrs. Kennedy were so taken with the art that he called her from the hotel to thank her for her kindness,” Johnson said. “That was the last phone call he made to anyone.”
Kennedy and his entourage left Fort Worth without incident, allowing everyone involved with hosting arrangements to breathe a sigh of relief.
But it would not be long before news of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas would disrupt the buoyant feeling that had settled over Fort Worth.
Roger Summers had finished filing his story and returned to his duties as Tarrant County courthouse reporter when he learned that Kennedy has been killed.
“I jumped in my car and drove to Dallas,” he said. “I stayed there until Sunday. I came home, went to church and then found out from TV that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald. So I went back to Dallas.
“This was by far the biggest story I ever worked on,” Summers said.
In the newsroom at KXOL, Eaton and other staffers worked tirelessly to pull together the most up-to-date bulletins from staff reporting and wire service dispatches to broadcast to listeners.
Eaton said his first thought was that Kennedy was killed by right-wing extremists, who opposed the president’s politics.
“How wrong I was,” said Eaton, who went on to buy and run the Wise County Messenger.
The tragedy fueled countless news stories and journalists’ memoirs but it was a young Fort Worth reporter working a night shift and not tapped for assassination coverage who ended up with the most memorable role.
Bob Schieffer started his journalism career at KXOL, working alongside fellow Texas Christian University alums from the class of 1959, Eaton and Bruce Neal.
By 1963, Schieffer had been hired by the Star-Telegram.
“Bob was working the night police shift from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and was home asleep when Kennedy was shot,” Summers said.
When he learned of the shooting, Schieffer raced to the newsroom to lend a hand. Assigned to help answer phones, he took a call from a woman who asked if there was anyone at the newspaper who could give her a ride to Dallas.
“Lady, we’re not running a taxi service,” Schieffer told her. “And, besides, the president has been shot.”
“Yes,” the woman said. “I heard on the radio that my son is the one they arrested.”
Schieffer wasted no time arranging for a ride in the Cadillac the newspaper’s automotive editor had been test-driving that week and for the editor to pick up Marguerite Oswald at her Fort Worth home and drive all of them to Dallas.
Schieffer sat with the accused assassin’s mother in the back seat and interviewed her along the way. He had hoped to interview her son but that plan was quashed when an FBI agent discovered he was a reporter.
Nevertheless, Schieffer’s interview with Marguerite Oswald made national news. He continued to cover the assassination story and, of course, went on to become a renowned reporter and anchor at CBS.
Although Fort Worth marked the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s fateful visit to Fort Worth with a commemorative event, there were no special events planned to commemorate this year’s anniversary.
But tour buses and visitors to downtown continually stop by the JFK Tribute in General Worth Square at 916 Main Street, according to Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc.
The JFK Tribute was created through a public-private partnership between Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives Inc. and Shirlee and Taylor Gandy, who raised $2 million to finish the project that was more than a decade in the making. It was dedicated on Nov. 8, 2012.
The centerpiece of the tribute is an eight-foot bronze statue of Kennedy by the late sculptor Lawrence Ludtke. Photos, quotes from JFK’s most notable speeches, and a guided audio tour are also part of the display.
For those like McGown, who were fortunate to witness JFK’s visit to Fort Worth, the moment will never be forgotten.
“Everyone was happy to be there and see the president even if he didn’t put on the hat,” McGown said.
