Collection of correspondence between Reverend Huber and Time magazine Bureau Chief Hugh Sidey. Archive consists of four TLSs signed “Rev. Oscar L. Huber, C. M.,” a signed two page article entitled “President Kennedy’s Final Hours,” and two unsigned letters from Sidey. All the correspondence takes place from March 1, 1967, up to May 15, 1969. A photocopied three page letter from 1967 begins the collection, with Huber writing to attorney Tony Duty recollecting Kennedy’s final hours. In part: “One of my assistants, who had finished his lunch previously and was watching TV, came to the refectory and announced that the President had been shot…Within a short time we were on our way to the hospital. Shortly after we left the rectory, a telephone call came from someone at Parkland Hospital saying Mrs. Kennedy was requesting a priest to administer to the spiritual needs of the President. Within ten or fifteen minutes we were at the hospital…I was escorted by a policeman to an emergency room where I found the fatally wounded President lying on a portable table. He was covered with a sheet that I removed from over his forehead before administering conditionally the Last Rites of the Catholic Church.”
A letter from Huber dated February 11, 1969, takes issues with remarks attributed to Huber after leaving the hospital: “Mr. Sidey I did not tell you, or any other reporter or any group of reporters the President was dead…I assure you if you did ask me that question I DID NOT tell you the President was dead. I am enclosing an article, Last Moments With President Kennedy, in which I have tried to clarify a few of the inaccuracies of both Mr. Manchester and Mr. Bishop in the books they have written. I simply cannot understand how these men could make such erroneous statements after visiting me and receiving a correct verbal account of what took place on that fatal day.” A signed copy of that article is included, which is Huber’s recollection of his time at Parkland Hospital after Kennedy was shot. Huber writes, in part: “I paused momentarily and, in a low voice, extended my sympathy to her. Then I removed, to the tip of his nose, the sheet that covered the President's head and immediately began administering the Last Rites of the Catholic Church, using the short form since he was apparently dead. The short form is always used when the person receiving the Last Rites is apparently dead.”
Another two page signed statement, entitled “President Kennedy’s Final Hours,” reads, in part: “During these ceremonies, Mrs. Kennedy was standing beside the President. She and others in the emergency room answered the prayers with which they were familiar. Mrs. Kennedy bent over and seemed to kiss the President…During this most trying ordeal, the perfect composure maintained by Mrs. Kennedy was beyond comprehension. I will never forget the blank stare in her eyes and the signs of agony on her face. I extended my heartfelt sympathy and that of my parishioners to her. In a low tone of voice she thanked me graciously and asked me to pray for the President.”
Remainder of the letters concern recollections reported by Sidey, with Huber, taking exception to several points, including being quoted as saying Kennedy had died, with Sidey maintaining his side of the story, with both eventually reaching an agreement and putting the dispute behind them. In very good to fine condition, with uniform toning to pages, expected folds, and staple holes to top left corners. A unique, insightful, and rare first-hand account of the tragic events of November 22, 1963. RRAuction COA.
