President Kennedy’s visits to southern Colorado remembered on 60th anniversary of assassination
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Before President John F. Kennedy died after being assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, he made two memorable stops in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
In August 1962, Kennedy came to Pueblo to sign the Fryingpan-Arkansas project that brought more water to Pueblo and Colorado's eastern plains.
"I don't think there is any more valuable lesson, for a president of a member of the House and Senate, than to fly as we have flown today, over some of the bleakest land in the United States, and then to come to a river," he told an enthusiastic crowd. "And to see what grows next to it. And come to this city and come to this town, and come to this platform and know how vitally important water is."
The following year -- sources say either May or June 1963 -- Kennedy attended graduation ceremonies at the Air Force Academy, and to visit the headquarters of NORAD, which was then housed in Ent Air Force Base, which is now the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
A photo from the archives of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum shows Kennedy standing and waving to spectators as his motorcade rolled down Nevada Avenue.
"It was a national tragedy," said museum director Matt Mayberry. "Newspaper ads were blank, stating that stores would be closed in honor of his death. It was a turning point for television news because people gathered around the television to watch hours of live coverage -- which was groundbreaking."
Mayberry displayed archives of newspaper headlines printed in editions of the then-Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph.
"There were probably church services in town," he said. "Many events were postponed or canceled. I was born a year a later. I don't have a personal connection to the assassination, but I know the date -- as many of us do."
