SPECIAL
Daily hansan
61st Year, No. 51a
SPECIAL
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Saturday Nov. 23, 1963
Convocation Planned; No Classes on Monday
Day of National Mourning Proclaimed by New President
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — The humble and the mighty joined a grieving widow and family today in mourning the death of martyred John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who presumably will be given a hero's burial Monday in Arlington National Cemetery.
In one of his first official acts as President, Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Monday as a national day of mourning for his "great and good" predecessor, and urged the American people to assemble in churches for prayer.
It was understood that arrangements were underway for an Arlington burial following a Pontifical Requiem Mass at noon. Only one other President, William Howard Taft, is buried in Arlington, shrine of the nation's heroes.
The new chief executive also invited "the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this day of mourning and rededication."
All federal offices will be closed. Johnson earnestly urged the American people to assemble in the nation's churches, "there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay their homage of
'Oswald Case Cinched'
DALLAS — (UPI) — Homicide Chief Capt. Will Fritz said today the assassination case against Lee Harvey Oswald "is einched."
"This man killed President Kennedy," he said flatly.
Fritz, one of the most respected police officers in Texas, said:
"Without going into the evidence, I can tell you this. This case is cinched. This man killed President Kennedy.
"We are convinced without any doubt he did the killing. There were no accomplices."
love and reverence to the memory o a great and good man."
AS LEADERS of the free world converged on the Capital to pay homage, President Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, accompanied by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, filed slowly past the bier of the slain chief executive.
Preceding them into the black draped East Room of the White House here the body lay were Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy and members of the immediate family. Following the new President were members of the House and Senate and hundreds of Washington officials.
The casket was closed and according to White House officials, will remain so throughout all services.
At 10:30 a.m., with only the tamily and close friends present, a Mass was said in the East Room by the Rev. John J. Cavanaugh, former President of the University of Notre Dame and a long time friend of the Kennedys.
ASC Drafts Letter To Kennedy Family
By Fred Frailev
The All Student Council sent letters to Mrs. John Kennedy and Sen. Frank Carlson of Kansas today, expressing the grief felt by KU students over the death of the President.
In a special meeting this morning, the ASC voted unanimously on a motion by Bill Brier, Overland Park junior, to send the letters. They were being drafted this afternoon.
THE ASC ALSO VOTED to express its confidence in President Lyndon Johnson, and to "inform him of the University's wholehearted support."
The ASC also approved, by a 15-14 motion, a resolution asking the University to reschedule the Kansas-Missouri football game to Dec. 7 instead of Nov. 30. The motion was introduced by Cordell Meeks, Kansas City senior.
Conferences between presidents of the two universities, between governors of the two states and with Big Eight officials last night resulted in postponement of the game until next Saturday.
Meeks said, however, that little consideration had been given to the convenience of students, since the game is now rescheduled for the Saturday after Thanksgiving, while KU students are on vacation.
REUBEN McCORNACK, Abilene senior and student body president, said after the special meeting that the death of President Kennedy was a "tragic and insane event."
"It's hard to comprehend how things like this can happen when the United States and the entire world are reaching high levels of achievement." McCornack said. "It reminds us all at this university that there are fallacies and that our responsibility now and in the future to build a world in which this will not happen again."
Ali Hassen, India sophomore and ASC International Club represent-
tative, told the council of the sorrow felt by foreign students.
"When I heard the news yesterday, I was with a group of foreign students," Hassen said. "We just sat there for hours, scarcely able to say a word."
This Mass was attended by Mrs. Kennedy and her children, Caroline and John, who were told Friday night that an assassin's bullets had snuffed out the life of their father.
HASSEN SAID foreign students at KU did not consider President Kennedy only a United States leader.
"In my opinion, he was one of our greatest politicians, one of our greatest statesmen and one of the greatest of men," he said. "We are equally sharing your burden. May God help us all."
TOMORROW THE body will be taken to the Rotunda of the Capitol where it will lie in state for some 21 hours for public viewing. Thousands were expected to file past. But some chose not to wait to pay respects.
At 1 p.m., EST, tomorrow, to the muffled cadence of a corps of drummers, the body in its heavy mahogany casket will be borne from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by seven horses.
There it will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until 11 a.m., EST, Monday. It will then be moved to St. Matthews Cathedral several miles away for the Pontifical Requiem Mass that will be celebrated by Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston.
In honor of the late President John F. Kennedy, a memorial service will be held at 2:30 Monday in Hoch Auditorium and classes for the day are dismissed.
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe, after conferring with administration advisors, made the following announcement at 2 p.m. today:
"In light of the national day of mourning declared by President Johnson, the University of Kansas will suspend classes Monday, Nov. 25. A convocation in memory of President Kennedy will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday in Hoch Auditorium. Classes will be held on Tuesday."
President Johnson's proclamation was announced about noon today.
University of Kansas CONVOCATION
in memory of the President of the United States JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
2:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 25, 1963
OPENING SENTENCES Dean of the Kansas School of Religion The Rev. William J. Moore
INVOCATION (audience standing) Chaplain to the Roman Catholic Students at the University of Kansas, Father Brendan Downey, O.S.B.
HYMN (audience standing)
THE NAVY HYMN (John B. Dykes)
CHAIRMAN OF THE ALL STUDENT COUNCIL John Stuckey
THE UNIVERSITY CHAMBER CHOIR
Clayton F. Krehbiel, director
Agnus Dei (Morley)
Ave verum (Mozart)
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS W. Clarke Wescoe
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM (audience standing)
Students Take News in Grim Disbelief
A silent and grim-faced crowd of students and faculty stood watching the television set in the lounge of the Kansas Union.
It was 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, 1963.
The President of the United States was dead, although the stark news had not been announced.
Students surrounding the television erased their necks to get a better view of the set. Other students, clutching books and umbrellas, hurried into the Union.
THE ROOM WAS unnaturally quiet, despite the large crowd. New-comers whispered questions; they were answered with nods of the heads. The TV commentator's voice was the only noticeable sound.
On Jayhawk Boulevard students and faculty members formed knots on the sidewalk, listening to transistor radios.
At 1:35 the commentators broke into their descriptions of the shooting—"The two Catholic priests who administered the last rites to the President report that the President is dead."
A girl covered her face with her hands.
"IT ISN'T TRUE—it isn't—it isn't," whispered another.
People glanced dully at their friends and shook their heads.
A PROFESSOR walked before his class and quoted briefly from the inauguration address of Thomas Jefferson. He started to say something else, but his voice broke, "It is treason to kill the President of the United States," he choked, and hurried from the classroom.
The crowd of students gathered outside the Daily Kansan office reading news dispatches started drifting away, and the crowd in the union dispersed a little.
THE BIG NEWS had come. Now the watchers were waiting for news of the assassin, news of the swearing in of Lyndon Baines Johnson as President, news of the United States.
But many simply walked out into the rain that was falling on Mt. Oread that Friday, Nov. 22, 1963 when the President was murdered.