JFK in Tampa: A Tampa congressman’s look back on the late president’s visit 4 days before assassination
TAMPA, Fla. - It was the first time a sitting president ever visited Tampa, and riding next to President John F. Kennedy in his limo was Tampa Congressman Sam Gibbons – who was thrilled.
"Here I was a freshman member of congress, and here I am riding in a car with the President of the United States," said Gibbons.
FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers sat down with the late congressman in 2011, a little more than a year before he died. He greeted JFK when he arrived at MacDill Air Force Base on November 18, 1963 – four days before he was assassinated in Dallas.
From MacDill, they went to Al Lopez Field, where they first discovered how special President Kennedy’s visit to Tampa would be.
"He addressed a large crowd of Tampa folks and people came from all over this area just to hear him speak," Gibbons told FOX 13.
There were security concerns, but the same open limo the world would later see tragically in Dallas was seen by people lining the streets in Tampa.
"We motored from there down Grand Central, now called Kennedy Boulevard," said Gibbons. "And there were huge crowds along the way, and he was so impressed with them. It really made him feel good."
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It lifted Kennedy's spirits and his hopes for re-election in 1964. The visit to Tampa would be one of his last triumphs before the tragedy that no one alive at the time could forget.
Gibbons had gone back to his office in Washington by then.
"And some fella came running out of his office and said the president's been killed. I said ‘president who?’ And he said ‘President Kennedy,’" Gibbons sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before softly saying, "My God."
The sadness of Dallas quickly overshadowed the hope and happiness in Tampa. Gibbons mourned for his country and his friend, the president.
"My children had played with the Kennedy children, and it was a terribly emotional experience," he said. "One, honestly, I’ll never forget."
If only, instead of Dallas, the visit to Tampa could be what we remember with the happiness and hope that Sam Gibbons felt riding through his hometown with the president.