I was in my early teens when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was in school; it was early in the day as I lived in San Francisco. It was a tremendous, life-formin
g event.
On Saturdays I went to my corner paper stand where I sold the early editions of the two Sunday newspapers — the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle. There was also an afternoon paper, the News Call-Bulletin. I remember the newspapers selling quite briskly. Even the News Call-Bulletin. Sadly, it was a very profitable day as I made money on each paper sold.
It was also very powerful to see residents asking for the paper, hunger for the paper. I think this was the moment when I realized how powerful journalism was. One thing I saved from that time was a magazine credited by United Press International that chronicled the events from the assassination to the burial. The magazine showed the power of the newspaper front page. Today it is also a reminder of how many newspapers we have lost, mostly afternoon dailies.
Thanks to a friend, I will also included some other JFK items.
- The United Press International published a collection of front pages from the four days following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- A German picture magazine that covered the assassination
- Life Magazine’s international edition from December 1963
- A Dell comic book about the life of JFK