Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the differences may be, so are the similarities. These are some of the top stories from this week in 1963. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library's periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas.
It was reported witnesses heard three shots. Two hit Kennedy, one in the head and one in the neck. The third shot struck Texas Gov. John Connally, who was riding in the car with Kennedy.
Within an hour, police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald following the killing of a Dallas policeman. Oswald was later charged with assassinating Kennedy.
Mayor Haydon Burns declared a period of mourning in the city. He sent a telegram to Lyndon B. Johnson expressing the shock and grief of the people of Jacksonville and reaffirming the faith of the American people in democracy.
"Every citizen of Jacksonville, and I am sure every citizen of these great United States, are shocked and grieved at the dastardly act of two people today in the shooting of the President." Burns said.
Within minutes of learning of Kennedy's death, Burns ordered flags on all city building set at half-mast. He also declared City Hall would be closed for the period of the memorial services on the date set for Kennedy's funeral.
City Commissioner Louis Ritter, who was a friend of Kennedy's and managed the Northeast Florida Kennedy presidential campaign effort in 1960, also expressed grief.
"Certainly this day will mark one of the darkest hours of our nation and the world. I feel that President Kennedy exemplified and gave the leadership so necessary today in handling the many domestic and world problems. His aims and goals were for a durable and noble peace and for a healthy and prosperous nation as well as to bring democracy to other nations throughout the world so that all men, women and children could live free," said Ritter.
Local churches joined with others across the nation to schedule memorial services for Kennedy.
The Rev. Joe Martin, president of the Jacksonville Ministerial Alliance and pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church, said the alliance would be distributing a special bulletin urging special prayers for Kennedy's family and for the Johnson family. Johnson, who was vice president, was sworn in as president shortly after Kennedy was pronounced dead in Dallas.
"We all deplore very much this terrible act – the assassination. We offer our sympathies to his family and pray for guidance of our leaders and our nation in this time of great loss," Martin said.
"I think I speak the mind of most of our church people in saying how deeply we deplore this tragedy," said Homer G. Lindsay Sr., president of the Florida Baptist Convention and pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville.
Burns postponed his planned official announcement to enter the Florida governor's race, scheduled Nov. 23 at a ball to be sponsored by the Burns Blitzer organization.
Harry Nearing, chairman of the Burns Blitzers, said the event would be rescheduled for Dec. 6 and the reservations made by close to 10,000 people for the event would be honored at that time.
• Records revealed Oswald was a Jacksonville resident for a short period of time from March 8-May 15, 1957.
While serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, Oswald was stationed at the Marine Air Detachment Training Center in Jacksonville.
• Duval County Republicans officially welcomed state Rep. Tom Slade to their ranks and urged other conservative members of the Democratic Party to follow suit.
Slade had renounced his affiliation with the Democratic Party the week before and reregistered as a Republican. He said he was "out of time" with the national Democratic Party and felt that better government could be achieved in Duval County under a two-party system.
The Duval County Republican executive committee adopted a resolution welcoming "the courageous act on the part of Rep. Tom Slade as being in the best traditions of this country" and commending him for "making this sacrifice for his belief in conservative government."
• A long-range urban redevelopment plan envisioning tall apartment and office buildings for a section of the Southside east of the Main Street Bridge was outlined by the Jacksonville-Duval County Area Planning Board.
The plan was developed as a result of interest in the preservation of the Treaty Oak along Alvarez Street between Main and Flagler streets.
Through control of zoning regulations in the area, nearby property between the expressway north to the St. Johns River and flanked roughly by Main Street and Hendricks Avenue would be developed into high-rise apartment buildings, smaller multiunit dwellings, high-rise office buildings and other business places, including a shopping center.
• A Norwegian seaman was arrested on several charges after he went berserk aboard his ship docked in Jacksonville.
Enrique Prego, 28, was placed in the city jail on charges of committing mayhem, aggravated assault, attempted suicide, drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
Police said the incident occurred about 3 a.m. aboard the SS Sygna at the Atlantic Coast Line docks along Talleyrand Avenue.
Officers said Prego, without provocation, kicked one of his shipmates and then attempted to bite off another's left eyelid. Prego then cut his own arm in five places with a jagged piece of glass.
All three men were given emergency treatment at Duval Medical Center before Prego was taken to jail.
• Rayonier Inc. directors held their first meeting in Jacksonville and made a firsthand study of where their chemical cellulose products got their start: the forest.
After a routine business session at the Barnett National Bank, the 12-member board journeyed to the company's St. Johns Forest near St. Augustine to observe a demonstration in forest-management practices.
It was noted that for some of the men, it was their first look at pine seedlings being planted and timber being cut and loaded into trucks.
Headquartered in New York, Rayonier was the world's largest producer of chemical cellulose, which was used as a raw material in making products such as cellophane and rayon.
• The chairman of the School Bootstrap Committee said high school would be the end of the educational road for thousands of Duval County students if the public schools lost accreditation.
"Without revaluation, we are postponing doing anything about our school system for more than two years. I think that undoubtedly our schools will lose their accreditation. And of course, if we lose accreditation, it means that no one can go on to higher education anywhere, anyplace, any time," said Harry Kincaid, chairman of the committee.
He said graduates of unaccredited schools could only attend unaccredited colleges.
Asked if students who graduated from unaccredited high schools might be allowed to take a college entrance examination, Kincaid said that likely would be futile.
"Let's face it. If he comes from a school with that standard, I doubt that he is going to do sufficiently well on a college board examination to overcome the stigma of having come from an unaccredited school," he said.
• A program to encourage local farmers to produce more veal to meet market demands was introduced by the Paxon High School chapter of the Future Farmers of America to the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Agricultural Committee.
"This is a pilot project which we hope will be both profitable and educational for the boys and for farmers in this section," said George Busby, Paxon vocational agricultural teacher.
Fifteen calves would be raised at the school's FFA Center by chapter members. In addition, five other members would raise calves at their rural homes.