Tom Orr was just a kid when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. After witnessing Jack Ruby gun down Lee Harvey Oswald on television, Orr was surprised at how the assassination came to affect him.
Interview Highlights:
On the magnitude of Kennedy's assassination:
I think kids nowadays have seen so much stuff I don’t know if it really affects them, but back then, you know, you weren’t supposed to cry or get upset and you were supposed to be tough. But there was… nothing had ever happened, you know? It was the weirdest thing.
On dealing with strangers' perceptions of Dallas:
I went to an arts school – Rhode Island School of Design – and this is seven years later...I was at a party and some guy comes up and says “hey, you’re from Texas, right?” and I was like “yeah.” He goes “where” and I say “Dallas” and he said “Dallas?! Well you guys killed Kennedy.” And I went “are you kidding me, man?” I said, “no we didn’t.”