Texas Wants to Know: The day ‘America lost its innocence'

AP

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas 60 years ago Wednesday. All month, Texas Wants to Know is exploring the long-term impacts of the shooting on the city, why it inspired so many conspiracy theories, and how it’s perceived by younger generations.

Before he became the host of Face the Nation or moderated presidential debates, Bob Schieffer was a police reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And an unlikely phone call to the newsroom on Nov. 22, 1963, would have a profound impact on his career.

“This woman’s voice comes on and said, ‘Is there anybody there that can give me a ride to Dallas?’ And I said, ‘Well, lady, you know, we don’t run a taxi here. And besides, the president’s been shot,'” Schieffer recalled. “And then I hear her voice saying, ‘Yes, I think my son is the one they’ve arrested.'”

Schieffer and the paper’s automobile editor Bill Foster, ended up driving Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother, Marguerite Oswald, from Fort Worth to Dallas that day.

“It was one of the darkest days in American history,” Schieffer said. “And it’ll always be with us, but it’s a part of our history. And the important thing is that we keep an accurate history. That’s the best thing that we can give to the next generation.”

Not only was it a dark day, but the Fort Worth native said it was also a day that marked a sea change in the United States.

“Lee Harvey Oswald was not a right-wing nut. He was a left-wing loser. I mean, he was somebody who had never accomplished anything in his entire life, and yet with a mail-order rifle, he had managed to kill the president of the United States,” Schieffer said. “And I always thought of it. You know, I still think of it as kind of the day that America lost its innocence.”

Hear the rest of Schieffer’s story that day in this week’s episode of Texas Wants to Know. Find it in the Audacy app or wherever you listen to podcasts.