Remembering John F. Kennedy

Kennedy in West Carrollton (Oct. 1960)

Fifty years ago today, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. It has been one of the defining moments of national tragedy in our nation’s history that is etched into people’s memories. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 or on the World Trade Centers in 2001, every American who was alive at the time remembers where they were when they heard and usually has a story to tell about it.

And so, today, we remember not only John F. Kennedy’s death, but also his life, a small portion of which he spent visiting the Miami Valley in happier times.

If you’d like, tell us your story about where you were when you heard President Kennedy had been shot. Or did you see Kennedy during one of his visits?

Many of the photos below are from Kennedy’s campaign visit to the Dayton area in October 1960.

These photos can be found in the Wright State University Special Collections & Archives:

• Dayton Daily News Archive, “Kennedy, John F.” (several folders).

You may also be interested in an entry we posted last year about “Kennedys in Dayton” (Oct. 18, 2012).