Archive of nine items related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, consisting mostly of typed letters received by elementary school teacher Roy Hensel, who initiated a correspondence with many members of Kennedy’s administration to learn of their responses to the president’s assassination. The items include:
A TLS from Douglas Dillon, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, dated January 8, 1990, in part: “In answer to your letter the news of President Kennedy’s assassination reached me in an Air Force plane half way between Honolulu and Tokyo…As the plane’s wing dipped to reverse course, a feeling of unutterable sadness gripped me. I had lost all at once a new found and treasured friend and a great inspiring leader. His loss created an irreplaceable void. Although I continued in the government for another 16 months to fill out the four years I had agreed to serve, the spirit was gone, never to return.”
A TLS from Orville L. Freeman, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, dated February 7, 1991, in part: “Mrs. Freeman and I and five other members of the President’s cabinet their wives and some of the President’s staff were en route to Japan four hours out of Hawaii for a meeting with the Japanese cabinet when we received news that the President had been shot. Needless to say, it was a great shock…. About an hour after we got the first word, we regained communications. Dean Rusk announced over the plane’s loudspeaker, ‘the President is dead. God bless our Country.’ Needless to say, all of us were overwhelmed…I was much better acquainted with the then Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, than any others aboard the plane. On the long trip home, almost everyone came individually to ask me questions about the new President and what kind of President he would make. I told them I thought he would be a great President and he was.”
An ALS from L. C. Graves, the Dallas Police detective who wrestled the gun from Jack Ruby, with which Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald, dated February 15, 1991, in part: “Just a note to let you know I have not forgotten you…If it’s not too late after I have time to dig out my stuff I will definitely write you an account of the assn. for your students.”
A TLS from Jean Hill, a teacher and an eyewitness to the assassination of President Kennedy, dated February 12, 1995, in part: “Thank you so much for your interest in me and my book. The search for the truth must go on if we are to regain faith in our government.” Includes her ‘The Lady in Red’ business card.
A TLS from Montana Senator Mike Mansfield, who served as the Senate Majority Leader from 1961 to 1977, dated January 3, 1992, in part: “I found out about President Kennedy’s death from the press. I did inform his brother, Senator Edward Kennedy, and my reaction was one of shock and sadness. I do not recall what I said to Senator Kennedy. As far as ‘how well’ I knew President Kennedy, I can only say that I knew him very well, that I served with him in the House of Representatives, that we were seatmates in the Senate and that I became Majority Leader only because he asked me to assume that responsibility.” Includes the mailing envelope.
A glossy 8 x 10 photo of Officer M. Nick McDonald, who captured Lee Harvey Oswald, in uniform and holding Oswald’s pistol, signed in blue felt tip, “Officer M. ‘Nick’ McDonald, -Captor of Oswald-, 11-22-63.”
An AQS in pencil from Robert S. McNamara, the U.S. Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, written at the close of a letter addressed to him by Hensel on January 8, 1991. The quote: “Men do make a difference—Jack Kennedy did. Had he lived the events of the past quarter century would have looked differently.”
A TLS from Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts who succeeded Kennedy, addressed to Travis Alan, February 4, 1992, in part: “I was in my Boston office when my secretary, Cathy O’Brien, came running in screaming and crying, ‘They shot the president, they shot the president. He’s dead!’ Immediately, I reached for the telephone to call Bob Healy at the Boston Globe. The receptionist recognized my voice and said, ‘It’s true, it’s true; the president’s dead!’…I happened to be speaking with President Kennedy just prior to his trip to Dallas. In our conversation he mentioned that he would be bringing our boys home from Vietnam. Of course, he did not return from Dallas. However, that conversation caused me to re-think my position on the Vietnam War and shortly thereafter I became one of the very first Democrats to break with President Johnson on the war in Vietnam.” Includes the original mailing envelope.
A TLS from Dean Rusk, the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, addressed to Todd Mueller, August 26, 1993, in part: “On November 22, 1963, six members of President Kennedy’s Cabinet and other high official of his Administration were on a plane on our way to Tokyo for a joint Japan-U.S. Cabinet meeting which President Kennedy and the Japanese Prime Minister had set in motion…. Before we landed in Hawaii, we got the further news that President Kennedy was dead. I got on the loud speaker and shared both items of information with other occupants of the plane…After we received the news of President Kennedy’s death, we took about twenty minutes of private thought as each of us reflected on that terrible tragedy. I have never tried to describe my feelings about that awful event because words are simply inadequate to the task.” In overall fine condition.
