From the archives: How Wilmington reacted to the JFK assassination

From the StarNews archives:

Friday, Nov. 22, 1963: On Nov. 22, the afternoon paper, The Wilmington News, was mostly published before the events in Dallas. There was an update on the president's arrival in Fort Worth and the giant crowds that were on hand. At some point, the presses were stopped, and the afternoon edition was updated with one story on the assassination and one photograph.

Saturday, Nov. 23: The front page, of course, was dominated by the assassination of President Kennedy. Here is some of the content that appeared in the Morning Star of Nov. 23:

The other news

Interestingly, there was an upcoming vote on a bond issue that would allow Wilmington to annex 10,000 people into the city. A small Q&A on the vote, which would be the day after JFK's funeral, was the only non-Kennedy story on the front page.

Along the Cape Fear

A regular front-page column called "Along the Cape Fear" usually contained musings on something going on the city, often bright, sometimes humorous. On this day, sports editor Rip Collins wrote the column about JFK: "...Sitting there with a cup of coffee and watching the confusion that swirled around following his death at the hands of a maniac, you felt a sadness and a blind anger. The anger you feel when the sick and the stupidly vicious reach out and invade your life. The man dying in the Dallas hospital is an extension of you. The shots that were fired at him were fired at you, too. ...You want to weep but you don't know whether it's for John Kennedy or, because today, with all the veneer of civilization we have acquired, men still have to resort to senseless, brutal violence to seek a solution to a problem."

(Rip Collins became managing editor of the StarNews. A fine writer, he was an Army veteran of World War II and ended his career as a staffer for U.S. Rep. Charlie Rose. He died in 1980 at age 58.)

Local reaction

The Star had reactions from local political leaders as well as local clergy.

"This is one of the major tragedies of our nation," asserted Dr. B. Frank Hall, pastor of Pearsall Memorial Presbyterian Church. "The sickness of hate and violence in our country is a dangerous thing."

The superintendent of New Hanover County Schools, Dr. William Wagoner, said, "I'm a little shook up right now. I feel like a little piece of the country died."

State Rep. Robert Calder said it was an "extraordinary tragedy.

"It points up one problem to me. Making personal issues out of political things instead of looking at the overall picture and disagreeing with someone may have something to do with bringing on tragedies like this," Calder said.

The headline over one story read "Kennedy's Assassination Staggers Area Residents." Another read "Tragic News Brings Hush" and reported how the news quietly spread along the streets and sidewalks and in the shops and offices of downtown Wilmington.

A photo taken in the afternoon of Nov. 22 showed the downtown streets virtually empty on a usually busy Friday, a payday afternoon. People downtown were seen gathering around radios and TVs in shops. A photo also showed the American flag flying at half-mast on the Battleship North Carolina.

The following days

Sunday, Nov. 24: Sunday's news was mostly about the criminal case against Lee Harvey Oswald as well as the funeral arrangements. There also were announcements from stores noting they would be closed on Monday, the day of the funeral. Churches across the region announced services for Monday and were planning to toll their bells. Schools were to remain open but special observances were being planned.

Monday, Nov. 25: Star readers awoke Monday to the large bold headline "Oswald is Slain in Texas." Once again Star reporters hit the streets seeking reaction from local residents, many who had seen Oswald's slaying live on television. The most frequent reaction was amazement that the Dallas Police Department had not protected Oswald better. The other national news focused on the mourners, including the Kennedy family, who paid their respects at the Capitol rotunda, where the president's body lay in state. News also quickly turned to President Johnson as he dealt with volatile issues such as the escalating war in Vietnam. Sports Editor Rip Collins wrote a nice column about how important sports was to the president.

Tuesday, Nov. 26: In odd juxtaposition, the Star's main headline read "America Buries 35th President" along with the iconic photos we remember today, such as John Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's casket, and at the very top of the page a large banner urging Wilmington residents to go to the polls to vote in the bond referendum. A small story noted the burial of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Wednesday, Nov. 27: For the first time since the previous Friday, the lead story in the paper was not about JFK, but, instead, the landslide passage of the bond issue that paved the way for a large annexation move by the city. This is the annexation that took in new areas south of Shipyard Boulevard as well as to the east. The national news focused on LBJ as well as a trip by Mrs. Kennedy and the children to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. In sports, Naval Academy quarterback Roger Staubach was pictured as the latest winner of the Heisman Trophy.

News in the remaining days of December would focus on LBJ establishing his presidency and the throngs of mourners who daily filed by President Kennedy's grave in Arlington National Cemetery.

America was slowly getting back to normal after one of the most dramatic and traumatic weeks in its modern history. The nation and its people, of course, would be changed for years to come.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: JFK assassination: How Wilmington, NC responded