'It's Going To Be a Hell of a Day': Declassified JFK Tapes Reveal President's Sense of Foreboding About Fateful Trip to Dallas
Newly released tapes recorded by President John F. Kennedy reveal his feeling of foreboding just before his assassination. Speaking to an aide three days before he was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, JFK eerily comments on what would become the day of his funeral ‘Monday?,’ he says. ‘Well that's a tough day.’ ‘It's a hell of a day, Mr. President,’ a staffer replies. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is releasing the last 45 hours of more than 260 hours of privately recorded meetings, conversations and phone calls. They include discussions about the conflict in Vietnam, Soviet relations and the race to space, plans for the 1964 Democratic Convention and re-election strategy. There are also tender moments with his children.
But some of the material captured on the cassettes is still deemed so sensitive to national security they have to remain classified. Kennedy kept the recordings a secret from his top aides. He made the last one two days before his death. Much of the material concerns the day-to-day schedules which make up White House life. The exchange about JFK's fateful trip to Texas comes as senior staffers try to organise his diary for the week. The President talks about expecting a briefing book by the Saturday before the trip and then moves on to a meeting with General Nasution of Indonesia ‘I will see him, when is here here? Monday?,' he says.
A staffer responds: 'Monday and Tuesday.' 'Well that’s a tough day,' the President remarks. 'It’s a hell of a day Mr President. He’ll be coming back here though, I understand on Friday because I offered to entertain at dinner.’ JFK: ‘I’m going to be up at the Cape on Friday – so I’ll see him Tuesday (November 26).' There is also a session with advisers on young voters, which could easily take place in a modern-day administration. ‘What is it we have to sell them?,’ the President asks before saying: ‘We hope we have to sell them prosperity, but for the average guy the prosperity is nil.' ‘He's not unprosperous, but he's not very prosperous. ... And the people who really are well off hate our guts.’ January 25, 2012 Copyright © 2012 Daily Mail
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