From The Kennedy
Presidency An Oral History of The Era
by Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober
[Note This book is an updated edition of “Let
Us Begin Anew:” An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency by the same
authors]
page 450
ROBERT MANNING
We took off from Honolulu in one of
the presidential aircraft and were several hundred miles west of there.
Several cabinet secretaries were with us, as was Pierre
Salinger. I had been in the press, so I knew by the sound that there was a
flash on the news ticker. I walked toward the communications area and the sergeant
had a piece of wire copy in his hand. He said, “The secretary [Rusk] will have
to see this.”....
It was a flash saying: “Dallas. President Kennedy shot.” Then a bulletin. “Perhaps
shot fatally.” We took it to Rusk and he asked me to bring the Cabinet
secretaries to his compartment. We immediately got on the phone with the White
House Situation Room. They confirmed that something had happened and that the
president had been rushed to the hospital. Rusk got on the public address
system and told everybody we had some bad unclear news: President Kennedy
had been wounded and we were going to turn back. Salinger got in touch
with the White House and used his code name. He said "This is
Wayside. What word do you have on Lancer?” At the other end the fellow
said "Lancer is dead. Rusk then went back on the PA system and said
"I am sorry to have to bring you this grievous news, but President Kennedy
has been killed. We now have a new president. May God bless our President and
the United
States of America.
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