- Malcolm Kilduff
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Malcolm MacGregor "Mac" Kilduff, Jr. (September 26, 1927 – March 3, 2003) was a United States journalist, best known for making the public announcement of the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Mac Kilduff was Kennedy's Assistant White House Press Secretary, and the ranking Press Secretary on Kennedy's November 1963 trip to Dallas, Texas where Kennedy was assassinated.
Contents
Dallas Texas, November 22, 1963
President John F. Kennedy made a trip to Texas in November 1963, accompanied by his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, Johnson's wife Lady Bird Johnson, and others. Kilduff was acting press secretary for the trip because the main White House press secretary, Pierre Salinger, was traveling to Japan with Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other Cabinet officers.[1][2]
President Kennedy was shot in Dallas Texas at about 12:30 p.m. CST on November 22, 1963 while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza. He was rushed to Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital. The doctors at Parkland pronounced the President dead at about 1 pm CST.
Announcing death of JFK
It fell to Kilduff to bring the news from Kennedy's trauma room to Vice President Johnson waiting in another room in the hospital. Kilduff simply walked up to Johnson and addressed him as "Mr. President". Lady Bird Johnson let out a short scream as the news hit.[3]
Kilduff asked for Johnson's approval to announce Kennedy's death to the public.[1][3] Johnson ordered that the announcement of the President's death be made only after he left the hospital. Johnson told him: "I think I had better get out of here...before you announce it. We don't know whether this is a worldwide conspiracy, whether they are after me as well as well as they were after President Kennedy, or whether they are after Speaker (John W.) McCormack, or Senator (Carl) Hayden. We just don't know."[4] Johnson left the hospital and was driven back to Air Force One at Dallas Love Field.[3]
After Kilduff received confirmation that Johnson was back at Air Force One, Kilduff announced President Kennedy's death to the press assembled in the Nurse's Room at Parkland Hospital,[5] at 1:33 p.m. CST (19:33 UTC) saying:
President John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 CST today here in Dallas. He died of a gunshot wound to the brain. I have no other details regarding the assassination of the president.[3]
Malcolm Kilduff (bottom left) records Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office of President of the United States after the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Kilduff then followed Johnson back to Air Force One. While Johnson took the Oath of office of the President of the United States, Kilduff made the only audio recording of the event, by holding up a Dictabelt Dictaphone which had been on the President's desk, the only audio recording device Kilduff could locate aboard the plane.[6]
Later career
Kilduff continued to serve as Assistant Press Secretary for the Johnson administration until 1965, when he resigned to start a public relations agency.
He later worked as editor for The Beattyville Enterprise newspaper in Beattyville, Kentucky.
Kilduff died in retirement at a nursing home in Beattyville at age 75.
References
- Inline citations
- ^ a b Associated Press (December 24, 1963). "Johnson Feared a Plot in Dallas". New York Times: p. 6.
- ^ "Long Axiety Followed Rusk Plane Turnabout". The Washington Post: p. A8. November 24, 1963.
- ^ a b c d Johnson 1971, p. 11
- ^ Bell, Jack (1965). The Johnson Treatment: how Lyndon B. Johnson took over the presidency and made it his own. New York: Harper & Row.
- ^ "Biographical sketch of Malcolm MacGregor Kilduff, Jr.". Arlington National Cemetery. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mmkiluffjr.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ Johnson 1971, p. 15
- Bibliography
- Johnson, Lyndon (1971). The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency, 1963-1969. New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston. ISBN 0030844924.
External links
Categories:- 1927 births
- 2003 deaths
- People associated with the John F. Kennedy assassination
- White House Press Secretaries
- Kennedy Administration personnel
- People from Kentucky
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