Today is November 22nd; 56 years ago President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Did you know that three years prior he visited Champaign-Urbana? It was mere days before the 1960 election. He landed at Willard Airport along with Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Senator Paul Douglas, Democratic Candidate for Governor Otto Kerner, and Lieutenant Governor Candidate Samuel Shapiro, then traveled through town in his motorcade (sitting on the back of a convertible which of course seems crazy and a bit foreboding knowing what his eventual fate was), then gave speech on the Quad.
T.J. Blakeman, president of the Champaign County Historical Museum, did a great blog post about the visit a handful of years ago. You can check it out here.
Photos from Champaign County Archives, Urbana Free Library
