12-06-2013, 12:53 AM
November 23, 1999 (Dallas Morning News):
For the last 36 years, former White House spokesman Malcolm Kilduff has heard practically every conspiracy theory about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. No matter how plausible they may sound, though, he doesn't buy any of them, he said. His reason is simple. "I was there," Mr. Kilduff said Monday. "They weren't." Mr. Kilduff, 72, was the acting White House press secretary on Nov. 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was mortally wounded as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Mr. Kilduff was riding two cars behind the president when the fatal shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository building. He now lives in Kentucky, but on Monday - the 36th anniversary of the assassination - he was back in town to join a panel discussion on the events surrounding the slaying. Earlier Monday, in an interview at The Sixth Floor Museum, Mr. Kilduff said he has long since gotten over the emotionalism of the time and many other circumstances surrounding the president's death. He wishes others could do the same, he said. "The biggest misconception out there is that it was a massive conspiracy ... to hide the facts," Mr. Kilduff said. "I think the simplicity of the assassination is what boggles the mind. "People just don't want to believe that you can assassinate the president of the United States that easily." When the shots were fired, Mr. Kilduff said, the car he was riding in was directly under the sixth-floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald had been. "I immediately turned and looked up," he said. "There is no doubt in my mind that's where all the shots came from." Mr. Kilduff admitted, though, that at the time of the shooting he didn't believe the president had been wounded. Only when the president's traveling party arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital and Mr. Kilduff "saw his condition" did he realize the seriousness of the situation. Even later, after being officially informed of Kennedy's death, "my mind still did not comprehend it." Mr. Kilduff was acting press secretary on the Texas trip because Kennedy's regular press secretary, Pierre Salinger, was flying to Japan. It was Mr. Kilduff who unwittingly informed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson that he was to become president when he went to speak to him in a Parkland room. "I didn't know what to call him," Mr. Kilduff said. "I sure as hell wasn't about to call him Lyndon. So when I said President Johnson,' Lady Bird let out a shriek. "Nobody had bothered to tell the poor man" that Kennedy was dead. He said Johnson was "as cool as a cucumber" and calmly asked what the next step was. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barefoot Sanders, who later became a federal judge, looked for U.S. District Judge Sarah Hughes to administer the presidential oath of office. That was ironic, Mr. Kilduff said, because Johnson had opposed her confirmation when he was a U.S. senator from Texas. With security still the top concern, Mr. Kilduff said, his announcement of Kennedy's death to the public was delayed about 30 minutes until the new president was safely on board the presidential jet. "I waited until I got the signal," Mr. Kilduff said. "Then when I got the call that Volunteer - that was Johnson's code name - was back aboard Angel - the code name for ... [the presidential jet] - I went ahead and made the announcement to the press." Mr. Kilduff stayed with the Johnson administration until 1965, when he went into public relations. He said he harbors no bitterness or ill feelings toward Dallas about the assassination, nor does he have nightmares about the tragedy. In fact, he said, he believes there has been "too much fuss" made about the events surrounding that day - and Kennedy's entire administration. "People can't let it go because he was young and had a beautiful wife," Mr. Kilduff said. "It's been over-romanticized a bit. Nobody was more of a realist than John Kennedy." Six floors below where Mr. Kilduff spoke, a mixed crowd of schoolchildren, tourists and interested locals milled around Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination.
For the last 36 years, former White House spokesman Malcolm Kilduff has heard practically every conspiracy theory about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. No matter how plausible they may sound, though, he doesn't buy any of them, he said. His reason is simple. "I was there," Mr. Kilduff said Monday. "They weren't." Mr. Kilduff, 72, was the acting White House press secretary on Nov. 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was mortally wounded as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Mr. Kilduff was riding two cars behind the president when the fatal shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository building. He now lives in Kentucky, but on Monday - the 36th anniversary of the assassination - he was back in town to join a panel discussion on the events surrounding the slaying. Earlier Monday, in an interview at The Sixth Floor Museum, Mr. Kilduff said he has long since gotten over the emotionalism of the time and many other circumstances surrounding the president's death. He wishes others could do the same, he said. "The biggest misconception out there is that it was a massive conspiracy ... to hide the facts," Mr. Kilduff said. "I think the simplicity of the assassination is what boggles the mind. "People just don't want to believe that you can assassinate the president of the United States that easily." When the shots were fired, Mr. Kilduff said, the car he was riding in was directly under the sixth-floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald had been. "I immediately turned and looked up," he said. "There is no doubt in my mind that's where all the shots came from." Mr. Kilduff admitted, though, that at the time of the shooting he didn't believe the president had been wounded. Only when the president's traveling party arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital and Mr. Kilduff "saw his condition" did he realize the seriousness of the situation. Even later, after being officially informed of Kennedy's death, "my mind still did not comprehend it." Mr. Kilduff was acting press secretary on the Texas trip because Kennedy's regular press secretary, Pierre Salinger, was flying to Japan. It was Mr. Kilduff who unwittingly informed Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson that he was to become president when he went to speak to him in a Parkland room. "I didn't know what to call him," Mr. Kilduff said. "I sure as hell wasn't about to call him Lyndon. So when I said President Johnson,' Lady Bird let out a shriek. "Nobody had bothered to tell the poor man" that Kennedy was dead. He said Johnson was "as cool as a cucumber" and calmly asked what the next step was. Assistant U.S. Attorney Barefoot Sanders, who later became a federal judge, looked for U.S. District Judge Sarah Hughes to administer the presidential oath of office. That was ironic, Mr. Kilduff said, because Johnson had opposed her confirmation when he was a U.S. senator from Texas. With security still the top concern, Mr. Kilduff said, his announcement of Kennedy's death to the public was delayed about 30 minutes until the new president was safely on board the presidential jet. "I waited until I got the signal," Mr. Kilduff said. "Then when I got the call that Volunteer - that was Johnson's code name - was back aboard Angel - the code name for ... [the presidential jet] - I went ahead and made the announcement to the press." Mr. Kilduff stayed with the Johnson administration until 1965, when he went into public relations. He said he harbors no bitterness or ill feelings toward Dallas about the assassination, nor does he have nightmares about the tragedy. In fact, he said, he believes there has been "too much fuss" made about the events surrounding that day - and Kennedy's entire administration. "People can't let it go because he was young and had a beautiful wife," Mr. Kilduff said. "It's been over-romanticized a bit. Nobody was more of a realist than John Kennedy." Six floors below where Mr. Kilduff spoke, a mixed crowd of schoolchildren, tourists and interested locals milled around Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination.