Charleen Svingen
The 1960s was a time of turmoil for the United States. One of the most defining moments of that decade was on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. On that day, the nation went into a state of mourning. As the news spread quickly throughout the country, people all over the United States tended to react in a similar fashion. The reactions of the students at Concordia College are no exception. In an interview with a Concordia graduate, she describes the emotions and reactions surrounding this event in history. Throughout this essay, the reactions will be compared to those of the rest of the country to see how Concordia compared with the rest of the nation.
Many considered the Kennedy assassination a tragic and almost personal event. People went into mourning, as they considered what their country had just lost. A 1964 article reported on a study that was conducted immediately after the assassination to assess the public’s feelings of the incident while the emotions were still fresh in many people’s minds. (1) One of the many things this survey discovered was how quickly people across the country heard of this event. Of its responders, 99.8 percent of people had heard of the assassination in less than five hours of it taking place. (2) This was the same situation for the students at Concordia College. In an interview with 1964 graduate, Charleen Larson-Svingen, she described when she first heard about the assassination: “I remember I was in the biology lab…I can’t remember if they told us in the lab but they must have because we got out on the campus and it was a really a gray day, just before Thanksgiving. And the place was solemn, as you can well understand, just incredibly solemn, and…we didn’t quite know what to do, but we all went to our next class, and I remember Dr. Falk…said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’m so sad to announce that John F. Kennedy has been shot and killed, and we will not have class today’”. (3) This sort of announcement was not uncommon, as the survey also found that about half of respondents heard through someone personally, and the other half through a radio or television. (4) The rate at which the information spread was one of the most unique parts of this event. With the new popularity of television, many people could hear of major events such as this immediately. As everyone found out the news at once, it made the nationwide feeling of mourning stronger, because everyone was having the same reaction at the same time.
The accessibility to the information on this event was also a large part of what made this event so memorable. Almost every aspect of this event was televised, and people quickly became obsessed with their television sets to watch as much as they could. Charleen recalled, “People left early for the Thanksgiving break. Everybody was at home glued to their television sets to watch this horrible event that had just taken place”. (5) This reaction was similar to the rest of the country’s. As described in the article by Sheatsley and Feldman, “The intensive coverage that radio and TV gave to the events following the assassination was unprecedented, and it is doubtful if the American public was ever before so saturated with details of a single event”. (6) With everyone having access to the news and what was happening in real time, people were able to react quickly and share with others their opinions and emotions related to the events. It also allowed people to become nearly obsessed with the event, and become engulfed in the issues and funeral.
Overall, this interview suggests that the reactions at Concordia were similar to those all over the country. With everyone hearing of the news quickly and being able to access it at any time they wanted to through television and media, the nation was able to go into a sense of communal, national mourning. This event was so dramatic and emotional for everyone in the country that no matter if a person was in New York City or Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the same sense of grief and heartache was felt. This large event that was felt similarly by all those who were there for it was the major defining moment for the 1960s, and will always be a critical moment across the entire United States.
Essay by Emily Swenson
1. Paul B. Sheatsley and Jacob J. Feldman, “The Assassination of President Kennedy: A Preliminary Report on Public Reactions and Behavior,” The Public Opinion Quarterly 28 (Summer 1964): 190.
2. Sheatsley and Feldman, “The Assassination of President Kennedy”: 192.
3. Charleen Larson-Svingen, interview by Jon Farve, October 11, 2014.
4. Sheatsley and Feldman, “The Assassination of President Kennedy”: 193.
5. Charleen Larson-Svingen, interview by Jon Farve, October 11, 2014.
6. Sheatsley and Feldman, “The Assassination of President Kennedy”: 197.