A lot has happened in our country over the last half century, but not many things have happened that evoke the emotional memories quite like an event that occurred exactly 50 years ago today.

On November 22nd, 1963, then-President John F. Kennedy was gunned down while driving through the streets of Dallas, Texas on his way to a meeting with local business leaders, and our country was forever changed.

Guthrie Center Mayor Denny Kunkle was in junior high that fateful day, and he remembers sensing something was wrong when he saw many students in tears during passing time between classes.

“Nobody could figure out what had happened, we didn’t know at that point.  Then somebody said, one of the teachers said the President had been shot and killed… of course everybody was upset and in shock, didn’t know whether we were going to go to World War III because of all the disputes with Russia and all that so we didn’t know what was going on.  Initially, everybody was really scared, didn’t know how to act and didn’t know what to expect next.”

In the days that followed, Kunkle remembers he and his family being glued to the TV trying to figure out why and how President Kennedy had been killed.  Unfortunately for most of the country, those questions remained unanswered for a long time, and it left the U.S. in a prolonged state of sorrow.

“I think that (sorrow) lasted for several years actually, and even today if you watch your TV at all, there is usually four or five times a year something about President Kennedy so it’s never really gone away.  For the first several months or years right after the assassination, I think the country was pretty much on edge.”

To hear more of our conversation with Mayor Kunkle as we look back on JFK’s assassination 50 years ago, tune in to today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County during the 9am, noon and 5 o’clock hours.