Sep 22, 2008 - 04:05:17 CDT
GRAND FORKS (AP) - They remember the reddish-brown hair, and freckled face and a smile that gave them goose bumps.They remember the crowd, an organic thing as big and boisterous as any homecoming assembly they'd seen, with the people roused by a helicopter landing on campus, the sudden sounding of ruffles and flourishes, and a band's spirited playing of "Hail to the Chief."
As part of its 125th anniversary celebration, the University of North Dakota has a three-day conference starting Thursday that is dedicated to the life and times of President John F. Kennedy, who visited the campus Sept. 25, 1963, just two months before he was assassinated in Dallas.
He was young, just 46, and he seemed even younger compared with presidents before him. He spoke with charm and optimism, and he appealed to young people and their better instincts.
"He encouraged us to not just use our degrees for economic advantage but to remember we also had an obligation to society as a whole," said Denny Netland, of Plymouth, Minn., who was a senior at UND in 1963. "This message stuck with me throughout my life, and I have always been an active volunteer."
Jackie Jeffrey of Grand Forks remembers walking with her mother along the railroad tracks, from their house south of downtown to the campus, hoping at least for a glimpse of the president.
"It was pretty crowded, and we couldn't get in," she said, "so we stood out there behind a wooden fence. When the president finished talking, he came out and walked along the fence. I remember thinking he was very cute, good-looking."
To this day, 45 years later, Jeffrey's mother insists she doesn't remember Kennedy shaking her hand that bright September day.
But Jeffrey remembers. She was 12 then, she notes, and keenly aware.
"He shook my mother's hand - and not mine," she said, her voice still tinged with despair. "I'll never forget that."
Netland said he also was struck by Kennedy's "youthful looks, charisma and captivating smile," and by his message. "His can-do attitude, epitomized by his goal of putting a man on the moon in the 1960s, resonated with us students."
The president also stoked Netland's interest in politics - but nudged him toward the GOP.
"I think his emphasis on what we can do for the country rather than what the country can do for us eventually turned me into a Republican," he said.
Tom Dickson, a Bismarck attorney, was a grade-schooler in Gilby when his class came to Grand Forks to see JFK. He stayed with Kennedy's party, eventually serving as state Democratic-NPL Party chairman, and he attended the recent Democratic National Convention in Denver. A highlight, he said, was seeing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., recovering from brain surgery.
"You just knew that if he had a pulse, he'd be there," Dickson said.
Hearing "Teddy" brought back the memories of seeing JFK.
"They bused us in from Gilby and lined us up on the curb, really close," he said. "It was a glorious fall day, the air crisp and bright. There must have been grade school kids from all over the valley there, and we were all cheering.
"President Kennedy was sitting up in the convertible, and he was having a great time. He was a politician and he loved kids and he loved the adoration. We were thinking, 'Gee, he looks young.' He didn't look like Eisenhower.
"It's great to see the president when you're a kid. You hear the names Washington and Lincoln, and you see the carvings at Mount Rushmore, but here's an actual person - and he's the president of the United States."
Dean Anderson was 26, Lindley Johnson 24, when they took a break from work at a construction site on campus to watch as Kennedy arrived. They both live in Argyle, Minn.
"When he came out after his speech, I was close to him - maybe 3 feet," Anderson said. "He came walking along the fence. There was one woman ahead of me, and she shook hands with him.
"He looked really good. He looked just like he looked on TV."
Johnson said he stood about 15 feet away as Kennedy passed by, waving and shaking hands.
"I don't know if it changed my life, but I got to see a president," he said. "It was something bigger than life."
Timothy Harildstad remembers it being "a very big deal" when his family traveled from Minnewaukan to see Kennedy. His sister, Peggy, still has the stuffed animal - a donkey - she received as a memento of the trip.
The event left Harildstad with "a profound respect for the law," he said. Today, he is a judge in Columbus, Ohio.
Lawrence Hanson, living now in Bernalillo, N.M., was born and raised in Grand Forks and graduated from UND in August 1964.
"I was going to be 21 in October 1963," he said. "For me and for a lot of people my age, Kennedy was an inspiration. He was young, the first president born in the 20th century. Growing up, all we had known for presidents were these very old men, historical figures, and now here was this young guy.
"More than now, we felt a sense of isolation in North Dakota, and sort of an inferiority complex," he said. "The fact that Kennedy was coming to see us was a very big deal. It excited everybody, and I think it transcended political parties."
He sat in the field house with his mother, who worked on campus. "We had good seats," he said. "Kennedy came out, and the band played 'Hail to the Chief.' That was something!"
Most of the president's remarks that day were on conservation, and Hanson said he later read that it was not considered one of Kennedy's better speeches.
"But that didn't make a lot of difference," he said. "I was thrilled, elated, proud. There was a sense that life was good and everything was going to be fine. There was not the sense that anything adverse could befall us."
All that changed less than two months later.
Dickson remembers his teacher in Gilby breaking into tears on Nov. 22, 1963. Johnson, the Argyle carpenter, remembers an overwhelming sadness.
Hanson was on his way to Minneapolis by train on Nov. 22, 1963. "As I'm about to board, a young kid comes up to me and says, 'Did you hear the president was shot?' I would have thought it was a bad joke, but I could see it in his eyes. This was no joke."
Jackie Jeffrey was at St. Mary's School when one of her teachers, a tearful nun, told her what had happened in Dallas.
"He was the president, and I had seen him up close," Jeffrey said. "I walked home. Mom was there. 'Have you heard?' she asked me. I remember crying, and my mom hugging me. Later we watched the funeral on our black and white TV."
Hanson acknowledged that the American people have learned more about Kennedy since his death.
"We know that his personal conduct was not always exemplary," he said. "But despite all that, he had a vision for the country that was an exalted one. I believe that if he had lived, we would not have become so embroiled in Vietnam, which cost us 58,000 lives, including some good friends of mine.
"It's probably naive, but to me he was and is a shining star."
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