JFK'S VISIT TO SAN DIEGO (JUNE 6, 1963)
Rare videotape footage of President Kennedy's trip to San Diego, California, on Thursday, June 6, 1963, including Air Force One's arrival at Lindbergh Field and the President's motorcade through the streets of San Diego.
Also included here are portions of JFK's speech at San Diego State College and video footage from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, where the President speaks again and is given a 21-gun salute.
A personal note --- This San Diego video is one of my all-time favorite JFK videos. It emits the same "live" and "as it is happening" qualities that can also be found in my videos of President Kennedy's appearances in Texas on the day he was assassinated (November 22, 1963).
This San Diego video features the same airplane (SAM 26000) that flew JFK to his death in Dallas, plus the same limousine and the same pomp and circumstance that surrounded Kennedy's visit to Texas in November of '63.
And how can anyone not jump a little bit when hearing gunfire (the Marines Corps' 21-gun salute) just as the President steps off of a helicopter in this San Diego video? It's almost impossible not to think of Dallas and November 22nd at that moment.
And take note of the similarity between the San Diego and Dallas motorcades. The same basic configuration of the cars and police motorcycles is readily apparent in the clips presented in this San Diego parade, with no Secret Service agents riding the bumper of Kennedy's car and no military aide sitting in the front seat between the Secret Service men--exactly the same as in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22nd.
This is, in my opinion, truly a classic video. My thanks go out to the people who rescued this videotape footage from the dustbins of history (source listed below). It is a program I am certain to revisit many times in the coming years.
SOURCE: San Diego State University Library
http://library.sdsu.edu/scua/raising-...
STILL PHOTOS FROM THIS VIDEO:
http://Kennedy-Photos.blogspot.com/20...