Local history: ‘May God help us.’ President Kennedy’s assassination jolted Akron in 1963
The anguish is raw. The pain of their words is palpable.
Sixty years ago, Summit County residents expressed shock and horror after learning that an assassin had killed President John F. Kennedy during a trip to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
In the days that followed, the Beacon Journal published the unvarnished reactions of grief-stricken leaders and citizens. Here are some of those comments from that tragic time.
Mayor mourns for JFK
Akron Mayor Edward O. Erickson: “A great president is dead. I share the grief of every citizen at his tragic assassination. I have ordered city flags at half-staff indefinitely as an outward sign of our mourning and I call upon every citizen of Akron to join my prayers for Mrs. Kennedy and her family and for our nation in its great loss.
“The man who sees the issues of his time in absolute terms has an easy life. The man in a position of responsible leadership who understands the conflicting currents and feelings of his time must agonize over decision after decision, confident that the best decision will be the one which pleases not one of the outspoken people who see our times in absolute terms.
“President Kennedy was such a man and, as such, a great president.”
‘God, it’s awful’
U.S. Rep. William Ayres: “Our prayers go out to Mrs. Kennedy and to all Americans, in fact, to the world.
“It is a shame that an American president with convictions should be shot by someone who must have been mentally unbalanced.
“No one can know what repercussions this will have around the world.
“God, it’s awful, just awful.”
UA answers challenge
University of Akron President Norman Auburn: “President John F. Kennedy demonstrated all through his lifetime the challenge he expressed in his inaugural address: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.’
“From the tragedy of this day, we in higher education must rededicate our efforts to fulfill the objectives for which he gave his life. All members of the University of Akron family mourn his passing and ask almighty God to sustain his loved ones in their deep sorrow.”
NAACP leader sees martyr
Akron NAACP leader Eldridge T. Sharpp: “I wonder if President Kennedy isn’t a martyr to real democracy.
“This was a cowardly, dastardly act. President Kennedy was a young, vibrant, liberal president.
“He was one of the best friends American Negroes ever had. He gave leadership which other men avoided.”
Military official speaks up
Ohio Adjutant General Erwin C. Hostetler: “We all will have to hold our ground. It’s just a terrific shock to all. We’ll have to pray that everything will be organized and continue as he wished it.
“We’ll have to watch the reaction of the other powers. I think we’re strong enough that things will continue.”
Tears fill St. Mary class
St. Mary High School student Maureen Ostroski: “Mother Thaddea told us while we were in class. We all went to our next class, but all we did was sit around and listen to the public address system.
“Our whole room just sat there and cried when we heard he died.”
Shopper learns grim news
Cuyahoga Falls resident Dolores Rohaley: “It just makes me sick. I was Christmas shopping in Polsky’s at the time and some women were crying. I stopped and one of them told me.
“I just couldn’t shop anymore. I felt sick.”
A shock like Pearl Harbor
Cuyahoga Falls resident Louis Squarcette: “A truly great man is dead. A nation mourns his passing.
“I am one of his mourners. To me, he was a man of great courage and a true believer in the rights of man.
“His life was short but he leaves behind the fruits of his work for us, the living, to harvest.
“I know well the feeling I experienced upon hearing that President Kennedy had been struck down by an assassin’s bullet. Once before I had this same feeling of shock and disbelief that left me in a state of near tears, anger and compassion.
“It was on Dec. 7, 1941, when I walked out of a theater to learn my country was in danger and that my fellow Americans were being killed at Pearl Harbor.
“Our country has lost a man who had all the signs of greatness.”
New gun laws urged
Highland Square resident H.F. Levinson: “The assassination of our greatly loved president should bring sharp scrutiny to bear in the scandal of our gun legislation. It is an outrage against public decency that weapons of death can be freely bought by any person, no matter how irresponsible or dangerous to society he may be.
“Gun laws need immediate revision so that a person must show to the satisfaction of society that he is a responsible person before he is allowed to possess a weapon whose consequences are so deadly.
“If we make a person show cause why he should drive an automobile, we should at least make him show cause why he should own a weapon of death.
“Stricter gun laws would have helped to prevent the assassination of the president.”
Hope for greater good
Monsignor John A. Gallagher of St. Paul Church: “It is not for us to presume to ask why God has allowed him to be cut down ruthlessly.
“Almighty God wouldn’t have permitted thus unless a greater good will come from it.
“If the death of President Kennedy is the spark that ignites a religious upheaval in this country … then this tragedy may well become one of our greatest blessings.
“Let us pray that all of us will be touched at this death and resolve to live as good, conscientious citizens.”
Grade school pupils react
Case Elementary pupil Mary Beth Bond: “We knew him as a friend, and we will not forget.”
Case Elementary pupil Andrew Dimit: “His life teaches me and all boys and girls to love and protect our country, and to cherish freedom.”
Appalling loss to world
Akron Superintendent Martin Essex: “The death of John F. Kennedy is an appalling loss to the world, to our country, and to each of us. …
“All of us have higher reason to rededicate ourselves prayerfully to the service of our country. … He will live endlessly in our hearts and memories.”
Fear for the children
South Akron resident Mary Pat Dzatko: “He was more than a president. We gave him our big problems.
“Suddenly we are faced with our major problems. Our fear is for our children, our country. May he rest in peace. May God help us.”
‘My heart grieves’
Springfield Township resident Nancy M. Shilts: “The president of our United States is dead.
“He served his country well. Yet someone hated him enough to kill. Why?
“I knew him not as a personal friend and yet my eyes are filled with tears. My heart grieves. The prayers of the nation go with his family in this tragedy.
“Did not our president give his life for our country, for our freedoms? A nation weeps.”
Bind us closer together
Green resident Betty Doyle: “That which is done cannot be undone.
“Now let our tears bind us closer together as Americans.”
Difficulty finding words
Highland Square resident James Skeese: “The president is dead. The effect of this atrocious crime is so stunning that one has the greatest difficulty in expressing deep-felt emotions …
“If it is true that all of us die in and through every man’s death, how much more must we die in the death of our beloved president.”
A death not in vain
Attorney Claude Fiocca: “Many of us were not so fortunate as to meet John Kennedy, but there was an indescribable spirit of comradeship with him that was an integral part of us all. If such a spirit continued throughout this country and throughout the year, we wouldn’t have internal crisis, like the racial matter, and we would be unified against any foreign threat.
“If the spirit of this nation were manifest now as it was in the election of 1960, the death of this magnificent patriot will not have been in vain, but will serve as a catalyst for the achievement of a peace and tranquility which all free people desire.
“We all salute this wonderful president or ours, and pray for the repose of his soul.”
Immortal in ages to come
Kenmore resident Mary Dresser: “President Kennedy has become immortal in ages yet to come. His grace and wisdom show with the hope of freedom. God rest his free and noble spirit.
“He died for justice for all humanity.”
Kennedy ideals will continue
Cuyahoga Falls resident Barbara Gunter: “God is omniscient. Surely he knows why our president is dead.
“I am only a young, inexperienced girl. I cannot understand why the man we loved has been taken from us.
“President Kennedy’s ideals will always live in the minds and hearts of those who loved him.”
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Local history: President Kennedy’s assassination jolted Akron in 1963
