Sixty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a woman is sharing her story of slipping into the Capitol rotunda to get an up-close look at his casket before the public.
Mary Cameron was a 21-year-old secretary at the Pentagon when Kennedy was assassinated.
She and her roommates were among the hundreds of thousands of people who went to see Kennedy’s casket as it made its way to the Capitol.
“Somber, quiet,” she described it. “That day of the processional you could hear a pin drop.”
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. >Sign up here.
They also wanted to go to the Capitol rotunda where Kennedy's body was lying in state, and she and one of her roommates got in by accident. They entered through what she recalls as a basement entrance away from the crowds.
“We realized we were probably in the wrong place and probably shouldn’t be where we were, but we continued to walk,” Cameron said.
They got on an elevator and got very close to a former president.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
“All of a sudden, we heard this booming voice ask everybody to move to the side, move to the side, and it was Herbert Hoover coming down the corridor,” Cameron said.
She and her roommate thought they were going to get in trouble, but it never happened. When someone started asking for tickets, a staffer vouched for them.
“He did say he was Sen. (Clair) Engle’s aide from California and that this individual would have to take his word for it that the two young women next to him were with him,” Cameron said.
Viewing the casket among dignitaries ahead of the general public was an honor and unforgettable moment in her life.
“It was extremely humbling and very emotional,” she said. “My mother was an Irish Catholic, so Kennedy was very prominent in our home.”
The Capitol area was mobbed with people waiting to get in. Some, including Cameron’s other roommates, didn’t make it that far.
“They got home at the wee hours of the morning and never, ever got into the rotunda,” she said.
Cameron said she regrets not writing down her story and having it published.
News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.
