Standing Next to History panelist Jim Martin was a reporter on Nov. 22, 1963
BY ROB HEDELT / THE FREE LANCE-STAR
WHEN Jack McNairy rode his motorcycle into the crowded city of Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, it quickly became clear to the 18-year-old high school student that going all the way into downtown wasn’t going to work. There were just too many people. His mother may have gone there that morning to catch a glimpse of John and Jackie Kennedy, but young McNairy quickly changed gears and decided to park just off the Stemmons Freeway not far from Dealey Plaza to catch a peek. When he saw the presidential motorcade come flying by moments later, seemingly doing 60 with an agent holding on in the back with a gun in his hand, the young man’s initial reaction was, “How rude. They aren’t waving or anything.”The reality of that day, when the country’s young president was shot and killed 50 years ago this month, would become real to McNairy all too quickly. MORE
Germanna history Asst. Prof. Stuart Smith explained why JFK was in Dallas.
When shots rang out in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, Jack McNairy was there.
The 18-year-old high school student watched as President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade sped away from Dealey Plaza. An official flashed a badge and asked McNairy to give him a ride to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Once there, McNairy stared in disbelief into the president’s blood-splattered limo moments before the Secret Service ordered it cleaned and sent it back to Washington.
Germanna Community College history instructor Dan Carter will moderate a Tuesday discussion with McNairy and Jim Martin, who was a young newspaperman covering President Kennedy’s assassination from a Washington perspective. GCC Asst. Prof. Stuart Smith will explain the political climate that led to the president making his fateful trip to Dallas. A discussion with the audience will follow. The event, which is open to public, free of charge, will be held at Sealy Auditorium in the Workforce Building at Germanna’s Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m
McNairy says what he saw in the limo indicated the shots that hit the president came from behind--possibly from the School Book Depository Building--where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched, and not from the grassy knoll on the Northwest side of the plaza, as some conspiracy theorists have speculated.. McNairy played a key part in the Discovery Channel's 2008 investigative program, "Inside the Target Car."
An interactive video feed in room 114 at Germanna’s Locust Grove Campus and room 118 at GCC's Daniel Technology Center will allow student and area residents in those locations to watch and hear the event live and ask the panelists questions.
GERMANNA TO HOST EYEWITNESS FOR NOV. 5 DISCUSSION IN OBSERVANCE OF THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATION
When shots rang out at Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963, Jack McNairy was a Dallas high-school student who watched as President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade sped away.A Secret Service agent asked the 18-year-old McNairy to give him a ride to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Once there, McNairy stared in disbelief into the president’s blood-splattered limo moments before the Secret Service ordered it cleaned and sent it back to Washington. McNairy interviews played a key part in the Discovery Channel's 2008 investigative program, "Inside theTarget Car." What McNairy saw seems to support the Lee Harvey Oswald as lone gunman theory reinforced by Larry Sabato in his new book "The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy."
Jim Martin was a young newspaperman covering President Kennedy’s assassination from a Washington perspective.
Germanna Community College history instructor Dan Carter will moderate a discussion with McNairy and Martin and GCC Asst. Prof. Stuart Smith will explain the political climate that led to the president making his fateful trip to Dallas. A discussion with the audience will follow.
The event, which is open to public, free of charge, will be held at Sealy Auditorium in the Workforce Building at Germanna’s Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2013.
An interactive video feed in room 114 at Germanna’s Locust Grove Campus and room 118 at GCC's Daniel Technology Center will allow student and area residents in those locations to watch and hear the event live and ask the panelists questions.
To
observe the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s
assassination, Germanna Community College will host "Standing Next to History," a panel discussion
featuring an eyewitness who was at Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting and
at Parkland Memorial Hospital moments after the presidential limousine arrived
there.
The event will be held in Sealy Auditorium at Germanna’s Fredericksburg Area Campus in Spotsylvania from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, 2013. Admission is free and it’s open to the public.
When
shots rang out at Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963, Jack McNairy was a Dallas
high-school student who watched as President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade sped
away.A Secret Service agent who had been left behind asked the
16-year-old McNairy to give him a ride Parkland Memorial Hospital. Once there,
McNairy stared in disbelief into the president’s blood-splattered limo before
the Secret Service ordered it cleaned and sent it back to Washington.
McNairy, who will be part of Germanna's "Standing Next to History" panel discussion,
was interviewed for the Discovery Channel’s 2008 “Inside the Target Car,” which,
it said in a press release at the time, employed “cutting-edge forensics and
Zapruder film archives to definitively prove that the fatal bullet was fired
from the Texas School Book Depository.”
Another
member of the panel will be Jim Martin, who was a young newspaperman covering
President Kennedy’s assassination from a Washington perspective.
Germanna
history instructor Dan Carter will moderate the discussion with McNairy and
Martin and GCC Assistant Professor of History Stuart H. Smith III will explain
the political climate that led to the president making his fateful trip to
Dallas. Audience questions will follow.
McNairy's Discovery Channel interview begins at the 8 minute mark in the video below.
