Dallas remembers JFK under heavy skies

In contrast to the sunny skies that warmed Dallas the day President John F. Kennedy was shot some 50 years ago, a chill drizzle fell on the crowds gathered to remember him Friday in Dealey Plaza. The heavy skies reflected the somber mood of the thousands of people gathered for the first official memorial in the Texas town that has long sought to shed its reputation as the "City of Hate." Carol Wilson, 68, was among the throngs of supporters who filled the streets of Dallas to welcome the dashing young president and his glamorous wife in her pink suit. "We loved them," Wilson said as she described how she felt as Kennedy drove by in an open-top limousine on November 22, 1963. Her joy was short lived. After the motorcade rolled on Lee Harvey Oswald pointed a rifle out of a sixth floor window of the Texas Book Depository and shot the nation's 35th president. "I couldn't believe it when I heard. It was shocking," she told AFP as she waited for the memorial in Dallas, a southern city that distrusted the northern president's Catholic faith and liberal politics. "I hope people realize we're not responsible. I wish I could go back in time and change it," she said. Ellen Byrd, 68, was among the crowd that fateful day but didn't know the president had been shot until she got back to her college dorm. "I felt so sad," remembered Byrd, now a university trustee, lamenting the shock that befell Jackie Kennedy as her husband was shot beside her. "I thought she was so beautiful when I saw her." The young leader's brutal televised death, a dark turning point even in an era gripped by the Cold War nuclear stand-off and bloodshed in the jungles of Vietnam, shocked a global audience of millions. Cut down in his first term at the age of 46, Kennedy's unfulfilled promise has become a symbol of the lost nobility of politics and his soaring rhetoric and call to service continues to inspire. Canadian businessman Ross Doughty, 63, flew down from Toronto to attend the memorial. He applied for a ticket eight months ago and considers himself lucky to have received one of the 5,000 distributed by lottery. "I wanted to come for historical reasons. I wanted to pay tribute to him," he told AFP. "It impacted everyone, not just the US." The assassination shaped the youth of Dallas resident Michael Moore, who was just five years old at the time. Moore comes to Dealey Plaza every year to mark the day and said he's been unable to accept the official conclusion that Oswald -- a troubled Marine Corps veteran turned Soviet defector -- acted alone. But that doesn't mean he's a fan of the conspiracy theorists who make regular pilgrimages to Dealey Plaza. "It's more dignified this year," said Moore, who arrived at 6:45 am, five hours before the ceremony was set to begin. "They've done a good job keeping the kooks out." Roy Whidley, 67, said he hoped the memorial will allow Dallas -- and the nation -- to finally fully heal. "I feel both joyful and sad," he said as a bitter wind blew through the plaza. "He was slain right here on this street. That is sad. The city took a lot of heat for that. But I'm glad we can celebrate his great legacy. "The city took a lot of heat for his death. I hope this brings some closure and the rest of world can forgive us."