Eyewitnesses in Dallas recall the 'sound you don't forget'
- 10 years ago
DISPLAY (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, arrived in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 to spring-like weather and crowds of cheering spectators that lined the street waiting for their first glimpse of the 35th president. Journalists who reported on the presidential visit describe the festive scene that belied the grim turn of events barely an hour into the Kennedys' visit.
"I was absolutely captivated by Jackie, who was the nearest, she was on the left side of me, the president to the other side - and I thought - that's what a first couple ought to look like," said Pierce Allman, then a program director with WFAA radio, who was the reporter from Dealey Plaza to report the assassination.
"They were just absolutely splendid and I was carried away and hollered out something like 'welcome to Dallas, Mr. President' and they turned the corner and boom, that first shot, that's a sound you don't forget," Allman recalls.
The cars
President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, arrived in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 to spring-like weather and crowds of cheering spectators that lined the street waiting for their first glimpse of the 35th president. Journalists who reported on the presidential visit describe the festive scene that belied the grim turn of events barely an hour into the Kennedys' visit.
"I was absolutely captivated by Jackie, who was the nearest, she was on the left side of me, the president to the other side - and I thought - that's what a first couple ought to look like," said Pierce Allman, then a program director with WFAA radio, who was the reporter from Dealey Plaza to report the assassination.
"They were just absolutely splendid and I was carried away and hollered out something like 'welcome to Dallas, Mr. President' and they turned the corner and boom, that first shot, that's a sound you don't forget," Allman recalls.
The cars