I was a Freshman, one of several hundred students gathered in the intersection of State and South University Streets. (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008.) We were awaiting the expected arrival of Senator Kennedy around 8:00 pm. The crowd continued to grow larger throughout the evening and was very enthusiastic about seeing and listening to the youthful presidential candidate. Periodically, announcements were made from the Union Steps that Kennedy’s arrival was delayed, in each instance providing a revised arrival time. Eventually, women’s hours were extended (this was a long time ago) in order to allow all gathered students to witness Senator Kennedy.
Finally, he arrived and greeted the students. He voiced his pleasure that so many students were interested in politics, saying that he, too had been a college student…that he had gone to the Michigan of the East, to Harvard. This clever play on words drew resounding cheers and applause from the students. It was an impressive happening for a first semester Freshman from outstate Michigan.

I was there! (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008) I had arrived at U-M in late August to take up my faculy position in the
Speech Department, Theatre. I took a break from the Frieze Building Costume shop where I was working 24/7. I really did not have the time, but it was important. I had heard JFK was at the Union, so dashed over. Good legs in those days. What a thrill to stand there and see and hear him.

On a sadder note I was also on State Street, in a restaurant, when the news came of Kennedy being shot. What a tragic end to a brilliant presidency.

I was there that night JFK spoke at the Union 47 years ago (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008), a naive, apolitical teenager. Nixon also came through town that fall, and gave a stock speech at the train station. Nixon spoke for nearly an hour, and said what he thought people wanted to hear. I remember none of it other than even in my naive state, I knew he was pandering. In contrast, JFK spoke off the cuff, tailored his speech to the situation, and said more in 3 minutes than Nixon said in the hour. It was the beginning of my lifelong interest in politics.

I was a freshman living in Mary Markley and my sister Sara, a high school junior (later a UM graduate), was visiting. There was a huge crowd waiting around the Union steps for John F. Kennedy’s visit (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008), so an old friend, Marv Brown, who worked in the Union, got us into the back and up to the second floor, where we sat with our legs dangling out the window. Every hour until JFK finally came, there would be an announcement from the dorms that the 11:00 curfew was extended, so we wouldn’t get in trouble for coming in late.
When JFK spoke, we heard him clearly, but all we could see was the back of his head. (Besides students in all the windows, there were students who’d climbed the flagpole for a better look.) After Nov 22, 1963, I often thought of sitting in that window and seeing the back of JFK’s head; no SWAT team, no snipers, no guards, no nothing. Definitely a simpler age.

October 14, 1960, was an especially exciting night for a freshman in only her second month of the Michigan college experience. It was memorable not only because it was a chance to see and hear the charismatic Democratic candidate in person (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008), but also because the female students in the audience were participating in a rare event. Coeds at the time had an 11 p.m. weeknight curfew (see The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007), but that night we had “special dispensation” from Dean of Women Deborah Bacon to stay out to hear JFK when he arrived.

If the picture that accompanied the article in Michigan Today were extended to the right, I would be seen with a friend sitting on the first floor windowsill of the Union–a spot we had occupied since early in the evening. We even tried to do some homework, but it was hard to concentrate on a textbook with all of the anticipation and activity whirling around us.
We were also present when Nixon made a whistle stop at the Ann Arbor depot, and I can find myself in a large photo of that event which subsequently appeared in Life magazine.

Three years later President Kennedy was announced as U-M’s commencement speaker for May, 1964. Sadly he was not destined to make that speech. Presidentially speaking, the Class of 1964 heard JFK’s Peace Corps challenge on the Union steps as freshmen in 1960 and LBJ’s announcement of his administration’s Great Society program at their graduation in Michigan Stadium.

You have asked to hear from those who were present on the night (early morning) when JFK came to the steps of the Michigan Union and briefly addressed the large assemblage of students and others there (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008). I was among that crowd and had waited, first on the sidewalk across from the Union, then in the street closer to the steps, and finally on the sidewalk up which Kennedy and his bodyguards went toward the front door of the Union. It was an electrifying time, especially when Kennedy stepped from his limousine and into the crowd. Suddenly our arms were pressed tightly against our sides as we surged toward the Senator. I reached out and actually touched him in the back before I was swept away with others.
The article which prompted this response mentioned that Kennedy said he had “come to Ann Arbor to go to bed.” Well, yes, he did say that, but whoever recounted that forgot to add the other words he said in conjunction with those. He said, “…and I wish you could all go with me.” I remember that very clearly, and it was those additional words that generated the thunderous roar from the crowd assembled there. What a night to remember!

In 1938 to 1940 I was an usher at Michigan Stadium with the Boy Scouts. After a game with OHIO I helped another guy carry Tom off the field. It was NOT a full house.
After combat as P-38 Pilot in MTO I came back to finish degrees at U-M, and being a Sigma Chi I was a part of the Sigs who sang “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” at the funeral
service for Fielding Yost.
Prime Time Years for me!

I made a scrapbook of my four years in Ann Arbor. I have meal tickets, football programs, newspaper articles, programs from Springs Weekend and Michigras events, photos of floats for homecoming, picture postcards, special event souvenirs and just about everything that happened during those years. I even sent to the JFK library the photo of him at the Union for the peace corps speech (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008). It was taken with my camera. I even have the thank you letter from Bobby Kennedy. So much happened during those four years. I will never forget them.

I saw the story on Kennedy and the Peace Corps speech (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008) and remembered that I fell off my bike trying to get back to my dorm so I wouldn’t get “late minutes.” I bruised my elbow quite badly and went to UM hospital the next day. The young doctor there said I should avoid crowds for a while and suggested I give him my ticket for that week’s football game instead!