Back in the summer when I was in America my father and I were going through his collection of old newspapers and clippings and other things. One of my favorites was a clipping he had from the old New York Journal American from November 22, 1963 - the day President Kennedy was killed.
The Journal American was an afternoon paper and the copy my father has was an extra brought out following the assassination. The front page is exactly as you might expect.
However, this paper was - as it shouts at the top - an Extra. The first two pages or so were all about the assassination, but inside the paper was as it was supposed to be on that afternoon. Included inside was an article that was written and published about an event that hadn't taken place yet, yet the report was as if it had taken place: a full report from the Associated Press on the President's speech to the Dallas Citizen's Council, the Dallas Assembly and the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest.
In the article it says President Kennedy "lashed out" at Senator Barry Goldwater, although he never mentioned him by name. The President also "took a jibe at Sen. Harry F. Byrd of Virginia," who I'd never heard of before I read his name in this article..
There is nothing earth-shattering in the article, other than it exists at all. Given all that happened on that afternoon and over the weekend I wonder if the Journal American ever regretted the hasty Extra or if the AP regretted writing the news before it happened.
President Kennedy was killed 46 years ago today.
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