alternatehistory.com
AN ARREST, A FUNERAL, & THE BEGINNING OF A RECOVERY
Police in Dallas made a startling announcement. On a tip received from Dallas resident, a Ms. Ruth Paine, two suspects named Lee Harvey Oswald and Wesley B. Frazier were taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department. Both men were employees at the Texas School Book Depository where the alleged shots came from and where the assassination attempt occurred the day before. Oswald is a former U.S. Marine who in 1959 defected to the U.S.S.R. but returned to the United States. It is not believed that the Soviets are directly involved as Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko has been more than compliant and cooperative as has Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States. Dobrynin has referred to Oswald specifically as a "nezhelatel'nyy chelovek" or loosely translated, "an undesirable person." Even more little is known about Frazier except he lives with his sister and works at the Texas School Book Depository since September 1963. It was on his reference that Oswald was hired there. Roy Truly, both of the gentlemen's supervisor stated Oswald was rather "manly" and "did a good day's work" and was an above-average employee. Truly seemed less approving of Frazier who he said was soft spoken and "his work is not as satisfactory and spends too much time loitering with Oswald." It's known that the two men live either together or next door to each other.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, accompanied by her two daughters, and escorted by half a dozen members of the Texas Congressional delegation flew back with the Vice President's body on the evening of the 22nd. It had been decided by the White House to give the Vice President a state funeral. The President if able would travel as soon as possible to Washington, D.C. and meanwhile, there became a bit of scrambling within Texas. There was a suggestion made already that there may be a bill sponsored in the United States Congress to change the U.S. Constitution to allow the President to appoint a successor to the Vice Presidency. With the President wounded seriously and the next two individuals in line to the Presidency of elderly age and precarious health, it seemed the sensible thing to do.
The next evening under heavy guard, President Kennedy arrived back in Washington, D.C. at Andrews AFB. Escorted by the First Lady and met by his brothers, the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy as well as Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The flag draped bier bearing the body of the deceased Vice President was under the dome of the U.S. Capitol. It was determined that there would be a formal lying in state held at the United States Capitol, then on Monday, November 25th would be transferred to National City Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Washington, D.C. for a church service. After that, the deceased Vice President and his family would be flown to the Johnson Ranch where he would be buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery. Meanwhile, Governor Connally, severely wounded stated he would ask his oldest son Mark to attend the funeral. Originally, his wife, Nellie said she would remain with the Governor but he refused, encouraging and finally begging her to promise, she would fly to his former political ally and mentor's funeral to represent the family and as the Governor said, "The Family of Texans."
The day of the funeral, the Capitol Rotunda was crowded with members of Congress, the Supreme Court, Hill staffers, politicos, and the Kennedy family. Two old rivals, former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower both arrived together in the same limousine with their families. Mrs. Johnson had a dignified but pained look upon her face. She looked lonely and yet at peace somehow. Senators Hubert H. Humphrey and Ted Kennedy huddled and conversed in hushed tones. Meanwhile Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and First Lady Kennedy accompanied by her daughter Caroline looked shocked. Some, familiar with the Attorney General's thoughts, were thinking it was the outpouring of love shown for Johnson. For those who knew the First Lady well they think she realized how close her husband and herself even came to being in that very casket. From the U.S. Capitol the body was taken by horse-drawn caisson
Right before the service began, the biggest surprise came, when President Kennedy, in a wheelchair, arrived to bid a final goodbye to the man who had helped him win the White House. Also arriving at the funeral were men who had sought to try to displace Johnson including former Vice President Richard M. Nixon, Massachusetts Governor and Nixon's former running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and others. But the arrival of the wounded Commander in Chief coming to say goodbye to his lieutenant was the most poignant moment at that point.
As everyone settled down, the Reverend Billy Graham, the world renowned evangelist and close spiritual advisor to many including Johnson, stood up in the pulpit. Graham readily acknowledged the Vice President’s rough, blustery, calculating, bullying side, but he also saw a warm and tender Lyndon Johnson, who, like himself, was genuinely concerned for his country. Graham conceded that the Vice President's aims were more for a personal than political reason. Graham reminisced, " “it was a …very deep conviction that he had, that he wanted to do something for the underprivileged and the people that were oppressed in our society, especially black people. I used to think it was sort of a political thing, [but] I visited the ranch a number of times and he always had that compassion. He would fill his car up with little black children and take them for rides and stop at the store and buy them candy and pick them up in his arms!” It was when Graham delved into the Vice President's spiritual walk that a side of him rarely seen was revealed. Graham surmised it was Johnson’s memory of a mother who had hoped he would be a preacher, to follow in the steps of her own grandfather, also burdened the president’s complex soul. “He wanted to live up to his mother’s goals,” observed Graham, whose own upbringing had taught him something of what that could mean. “I think he had a conflict within himself about religion. He wanted to go all the way in his commitment to Christ. He knew what it meant to be ‘saved’ or ‘lost,’ using our terminology, and he knew what it was to be ‘born again.’ And yet he somehow felt that he never quite had that experience. I think he tried to make up for it by having many of the outward forms of religion, in the sense of going to church almost fanatically, even while he was president. Sometimes he’d go to church three times on a Sunday.” Graham recalled that “a number of times I had prayer with him in his bedroom, or in the Senate Majority's office, and later the Vice President's office, usually early in the morning. He would get out of bed or up from his desk and get on his knees while I prayed. I never had very many people do that.” Afterwards the military honor guard that had escorted him all day escorted him down the steps and into a waiting hearse. A motorcade of black limousines whisked the Johnsons away to Andrews AFB, while the Kennedys returned to the White House in a black limousine. Air Force Jet 26000 which previously had carried the Vice President arrived in San Antonio, Texas and then whisked them by smaller Air Force jets to the Johnson family ranch for burial.
Lady Bird Johnson grimly accepted flag from her husband's coffin and said quietly, "You're home now, Lyndon. Maybe now you will rest."
Meanwhile, the Kennedys had boarded Air Force One and flown to Massachusetts after the funeral, the family compound at Hyannis Port.
The country is soon assured to see the President recuperating slowly, but cheerfully in typical Kennedyesque way, on board his yacht and the most endearing image after those horrifying days was a President cradling his daughter in his arms, looking ahead to the future.
Police in Dallas made a startling announcement. On a tip received from Dallas resident, a Ms. Ruth Paine, two suspects named Lee Harvey Oswald and Wesley B. Frazier were taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department. Both men were employees at the Texas School Book Depository where the alleged shots came from and where the assassination attempt occurred the day before. Oswald is a former U.S. Marine who in 1959 defected to the U.S.S.R. but returned to the United States. It is not believed that the Soviets are directly involved as Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko has been more than compliant and cooperative as has Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States. Dobrynin has referred to Oswald specifically as a "nezhelatel'nyy chelovek" or loosely translated, "an undesirable person." Even more little is known about Frazier except he lives with his sister and works at the Texas School Book Depository since September 1963. It was on his reference that Oswald was hired there. Roy Truly, both of the gentlemen's supervisor stated Oswald was rather "manly" and "did a good day's work" and was an above-average employee. Truly seemed less approving of Frazier who he said was soft spoken and "his work is not as satisfactory and spends too much time loitering with Oswald." It's known that the two men live either together or next door to each other.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, accompanied by her two daughters, and escorted by half a dozen members of the Texas Congressional delegation flew back with the Vice President's body on the evening of the 22nd. It had been decided by the White House to give the Vice President a state funeral. The President if able would travel as soon as possible to Washington, D.C. and meanwhile, there became a bit of scrambling within Texas. There was a suggestion made already that there may be a bill sponsored in the United States Congress to change the U.S. Constitution to allow the President to appoint a successor to the Vice Presidency. With the President wounded seriously and the next two individuals in line to the Presidency of elderly age and precarious health, it seemed the sensible thing to do.
The next evening under heavy guard, President Kennedy arrived back in Washington, D.C. at Andrews AFB. Escorted by the First Lady and met by his brothers, the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy as well as Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. The flag draped bier bearing the body of the deceased Vice President was under the dome of the U.S. Capitol. It was determined that there would be a formal lying in state held at the United States Capitol, then on Monday, November 25th would be transferred to National City Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Washington, D.C. for a church service. After that, the deceased Vice President and his family would be flown to the Johnson Ranch where he would be buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery. Meanwhile, Governor Connally, severely wounded stated he would ask his oldest son Mark to attend the funeral. Originally, his wife, Nellie said she would remain with the Governor but he refused, encouraging and finally begging her to promise, she would fly to his former political ally and mentor's funeral to represent the family and as the Governor said, "The Family of Texans."
The day of the funeral, the Capitol Rotunda was crowded with members of Congress, the Supreme Court, Hill staffers, politicos, and the Kennedy family. Two old rivals, former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower both arrived together in the same limousine with their families. Mrs. Johnson had a dignified but pained look upon her face. She looked lonely and yet at peace somehow. Senators Hubert H. Humphrey and Ted Kennedy huddled and conversed in hushed tones. Meanwhile Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and First Lady Kennedy accompanied by her daughter Caroline looked shocked. Some, familiar with the Attorney General's thoughts, were thinking it was the outpouring of love shown for Johnson. For those who knew the First Lady well they think she realized how close her husband and herself even came to being in that very casket. From the U.S. Capitol the body was taken by horse-drawn caisson
Right before the service began, the biggest surprise came, when President Kennedy, in a wheelchair, arrived to bid a final goodbye to the man who had helped him win the White House. Also arriving at the funeral were men who had sought to try to displace Johnson including former Vice President Richard M. Nixon, Massachusetts Governor and Nixon's former running mate Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and others. But the arrival of the wounded Commander in Chief coming to say goodbye to his lieutenant was the most poignant moment at that point.
As everyone settled down, the Reverend Billy Graham, the world renowned evangelist and close spiritual advisor to many including Johnson, stood up in the pulpit. Graham readily acknowledged the Vice President’s rough, blustery, calculating, bullying side, but he also saw a warm and tender Lyndon Johnson, who, like himself, was genuinely concerned for his country. Graham conceded that the Vice President's aims were more for a personal than political reason. Graham reminisced, " “it was a …very deep conviction that he had, that he wanted to do something for the underprivileged and the people that were oppressed in our society, especially black people. I used to think it was sort of a political thing, [but] I visited the ranch a number of times and he always had that compassion. He would fill his car up with little black children and take them for rides and stop at the store and buy them candy and pick them up in his arms!” It was when Graham delved into the Vice President's spiritual walk that a side of him rarely seen was revealed. Graham surmised it was Johnson’s memory of a mother who had hoped he would be a preacher, to follow in the steps of her own grandfather, also burdened the president’s complex soul. “He wanted to live up to his mother’s goals,” observed Graham, whose own upbringing had taught him something of what that could mean. “I think he had a conflict within himself about religion. He wanted to go all the way in his commitment to Christ. He knew what it meant to be ‘saved’ or ‘lost,’ using our terminology, and he knew what it was to be ‘born again.’ And yet he somehow felt that he never quite had that experience. I think he tried to make up for it by having many of the outward forms of religion, in the sense of going to church almost fanatically, even while he was president. Sometimes he’d go to church three times on a Sunday.” Graham recalled that “a number of times I had prayer with him in his bedroom, or in the Senate Majority's office, and later the Vice President's office, usually early in the morning. He would get out of bed or up from his desk and get on his knees while I prayed. I never had very many people do that.” Afterwards the military honor guard that had escorted him all day escorted him down the steps and into a waiting hearse. A motorcade of black limousines whisked the Johnsons away to Andrews AFB, while the Kennedys returned to the White House in a black limousine. Air Force Jet 26000 which previously had carried the Vice President arrived in San Antonio, Texas and then whisked them by smaller Air Force jets to the Johnson family ranch for burial.
Lady Bird Johnson grimly accepted flag from her husband's coffin and said quietly, "You're home now, Lyndon. Maybe now you will rest."
Meanwhile, the Kennedys had boarded Air Force One and flown to Massachusetts after the funeral, the family compound at Hyannis Port.
The country is soon assured to see the President recuperating slowly, but cheerfully in typical Kennedyesque way, on board his yacht and the most endearing image after those horrifying days was a President cradling his daughter in his arms, looking ahead to the future.
- DCPritt
- Word Count: 1.4k