The day was sunny, mild and clearsomewhere in the mid-70s. It was perfect Florida weather and excellent for taking pictures. If it was slightly cool in the shade, the adrenalin of JFKs visit warmed the onlooker's body to a comfortable temperature. Despite the lack of any serious humidity, Kennedy, apparently a quick change artist, switched his suit three times during his five-hour visit. An aide carried extra clothes in a bag that remained undetected by the press and spectators. He made the changes of clothes in the helicopter on the way to Al Lopez Field, after his appearance at the International Inn and in an anteroom behind the speaker's platform at Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory.
Air Force One, the official plane of the chief executive, set down precisely on schedule at 11:24 that morning. Members of the local press were taken by bus to the tarmac and assumed their positions atop a flatbed truck loaned for the day by the Florida Steel Corporation. Things were fine until the national press corps stormed out of Air Force One to join us on the truck and more or less took over. I learned the game really fast and edged them off to the side like I owned the place.
Less than a minute later the man I had wanted to see in person for so long walked out the tail exit and down the stairs. Kennedy looked exactly as I had seen him many times on TV, in films, in magazines and in the newspaper. The leader of the free world was just as "bigger than life" in person as I had imagined him to be. He carried a hat in his right hand and hardly let go of it the entire trip. JFK was in Tampa without his admired first lady Jacqueline, who stayed in Washington to care for other business.
Photo: Tony Zappone
JFK arrives at MacDill A.F.B.