Grief rolled across the nation like a gigantic shock wave.
First there was stunned disbelief, then hatred and anger at the sniper who shot and killed President Kennedy. And then anguish and tears and prayer.
Not since the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has such spontaneous grief and outrage gripped a nation. Women wept in the streets and men cursed in helpless anger.
Business came to a standstill as people clustered around radio sets to hear again and again what they could not believe at first. Still they asked, "Is it true? Is it true?"
The tolling of church bells confirmed their fears.
It was the lunch hour in most of the nation and diners too shattered to eat left their half-finished meals. Shoppers in department stores wandered about misty-eyed and many stores closed.
In New York Mrs. Mary McGrath, an elderly cleaning woman, stopped passersby outside St. Agnes Church and told them, "Jesus, Mary, Mother of God, President Kennedy was shot." When informed he was dead she fell to her knees and wept.
It was a grief stricken city and thousands flocked to St. Patrick's Cathedral as its bells tolled for the president. Stenographers hurriedly tying kerchiefs on their heads sobbed as they ran to the cathedral.
A sign for the Thanksgiving collection said "with vigah give to the Thanksgiving Day drive." A few feet away the prayerful lighted candles and a bishop recited the rosary, the common denominator used by truck drivers and popes, longshoremen and diplomats.
It was the same throughout the nation. Tears, shock, disbelief.
In Santa Fe, N.M., workmen making repairs in St. Francis Cathedral left their scaffold and knelt before the altar to pray when they heard the news.
Theaters, movie houses, schools, business houses closed in almost every city. The Metropolitan Opera canceled a performance of Gotterdammerung, the Twilight of the Gods.
Cars stopped on highways because people could not listen to the news and drive at the same time.
Most state governors ordered a 30-day period of mourning and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York ordered a 17-gun salute fired in Albany from 8 a.m. until sundown, a shot every half hour. Albany Mayor Erastus Corning left his office near collapse, tears running down his face.
More than half of the nation's college football games and the entire weekend slate of the American Football League were cancelled - such classics as Yale-Harvard, Duke-North Carolina.
North Carolina State's chancellor refused to cancel the Friday night game between N.C. State and Wake Forest and said Kennedy would have wanted it to go on. State won 42-0.
In Columbia, S.C., a radio station (WCOS) was flooded with calls demanding cancellation of the 61st annual Clemson-South Carolina game. "What have we to cheer about?" a South Carolina cheerleader asked.
In Philadelphia an audience of 2,000 was listening to the Philadelphia Orchestra in the Academy of Music when someone offstage beckoned to conductor Eugene Ormandy.
The maestro left and Henry Peltier, the orchestra manager, came on stage to announce that Kennedy had been assassinated. Cries of anguish rose from the audience and it filed silently out.
In Minneapolis T. Eugene Thompson was on trial for his life for the murder-for-hire death of his wife. The trial was recessed and a woman spectator fell to her knees in tears. She put her hand over here eyes but the tears pushed through and rolled down her wrists.
It was raining in Nashville, Tenn., where crowds huddled near radio and television sets for the latest word. The corridors of the state capitol were abandoned. Outside on the steps 200 Negroes stood silently for a minute of silent prayer and sang the national anthem in the rain.
In California, in Ohio, in Maine, there were cries of "Oh, my God, is he dead? Is he dead?" and angry comments by one man who said, "You don't want to hear what I have to say - I'd like to run wild down there (Texas) with a gun. All they've done is to make him another Lincoln."
In New York Frank Roberts, a Mohawk Indian steelworker, said, "I could cry...I think this is lousy. I'm all shook up."
The nation's leaders expressed their grief in sorrowful statements. Harry S Truman called Kennedy's death "a tragedy." Dwight D. Eisenhower, his eyes red, called it a "despicable act." Herbert Hoover said he was "shocked and grieved."
In Philadelphia Mayor James H.J. Tate recalled Kennedy's visit three weeks ago and said "he talked of looking forward to coming here for the Army-Navy game" Nov. 30.
In Salt Lake City President David O. McKay of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said "our hearts are filled with sorrow." A group of teen-agers listening to a transistor radio in downtown Salt Lake wept as they listened.
In Columbus, Ohio, supermarkets were open late on Friday as usual but the crowds were silent and unsmiling. The Columbus chapter of CORE staged a mass silent service near the statehouse Friday night.
In San Francisco a downtown steak house turned off its piped-in music and hooked up a radio broadcast to the amplifying system. Patrons sat motionless, stunned, letting the food grow cold.
In Reno, Nev., shows were closed but the casinos continued to run full blast. A sobbing woman in Las Vegas telephoned the UPI in New York to express her shock that the gambling never stopped - "it was as if someone had merely fired a shot into the air, as if a toy balloon might have popped."
In Indianapolis crowds were silent on the streets, grief etched on their faces. An angry man blurted out, "I hope I go to hell just so I can meet the man who did this thing. It's a dastardly thing. A dastardly thing!"
In Chicago Roosevelt University students thronged around a TV set in the student lounge discussing the possible motives for the shooting. When the death bulletin came only sobs broke the silence of the group.
And a Chicago janitor added, "When they get the man who did this, I hope they don't execute him. I'd rather they put him in prison and let the convicts have him. They'd know what to do."
In Washington crowds gathered across from the Executive Mansion and stared across the street at the flag at half staff, speaking only occasionally and then in hushed tones. The crowd was shocked, unbelieving and angry.
In the background a church bell tolled every 20 seconds.
In Dallas there was shock and anger and consternation and shame that the assassination would take place there. All business closed immediately and a big parade that was to have started the Christmas shopping season today was cancelled.
The Dallas Morning News said the city where Adlai Stevenson was spat upon Oct. 24 "bows its head in the incredible shock of such an incident."
In Kansas City, Mo., 7th graders in Milburn Junior High sat in stunned silence, their minds miles away. At Hunter College in New York City girls became hysterical and ran screaming through the hallways shouting "it's true, it's true."
In a Kansas City tavern a man walked in and complained about the falling stock market. The bartender said he felt like belting the guy but just told him to "get the hell out."
Alabama Gov. George Wallace who had clashed with Kennedy over the civil rights issue ordered the state into a 30-day period of mourning. In Mobile, the county Citizens Council cancelled a dinner tonight at which Ross Barnett was to have spoken.
Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus who also clashed with Kennedy over civil rights said, "This is a tragedy of the greatest magnitude. It is shocking beyond belief and seems incomprehensible. The president was a great American, the chosen leader of his people."
In Meridian, Miss., James Meredith, the Negro whose enrollment at the University of Mississippi touched off rioting, said Kennedy "was for the Negro as being full American citizens." He said the death was a "shocking thing."
In Atlanta, Ga., Negro leaders halted their civil rights demonstrations and called for a period of mourning. They called on Negro ministers to lead their congregations in a period of mourning "due to the loss of this great American."
Four hundred University of North Carolina students gathered near the spot where Kennedy delivered a talk in 1961 and bowed their heads below a flag at half staff while an Air Force Band bugler blew "Taps."
In South Bend, Ind., hundreds of students and faculty streamed into the University of Notre Dame chapel, some saying their prayers aloud, to offer what may have been the first high mass for the late president.
At Yale University Prof. Frederick C. Barghoorn, whose release from a Moscow prison was attributed in large part to Kennedy's intercession, called the assassination a "catastrophic, staggering event."
In Charleston, W.Va., where Kennedy participated in centennial Statehood Day ceremonies last June there was more shock and grief. The statehouse was closed and many schools sent their pupils home.
Southern Californians were devastated by the news and most reacted with stunned silence. Silent crowds stood outside shops listening to news broadcasts. People wept openly when realization finally came. Streets were jammed, particularly around newspaper buildings as people rushed to buy papers fresh off the press.
The Pacific Coast Stock Exchange suspended trading and the Olympic torch in the famed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was lighted in Kennedy's honor.
The 11th Naval District in San Diego ordered all ships at sea and in port to lower their flags to half mast.
Mexico closed off the border from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico to prevent any assassin from fleeing south. The action brought huge traffic jams - both pedestrian and car - and those who travel across the border regularly were stranded.
In McAllen, Tex., an elderly man identified as A.W. Plath was so shocked he died of an apparent heart attack. Authorities said he heard the news over a television station, murmured "oh, my God" and died.
In New York Democratic State Committee headquarters received so many requests for photographs of Kennedy a special desk was set up to accommodate them. Many said they wanted the pictures for use in floral memorial displays in homes and businesses.
Spokesmen for Roman Catholic, Jewish and Protestant clergy and communicants issued a joint statement asking prayers for Kennedy and for President Johnson.