 Describe how that picture took place. What happened is that was it when they I was on the air broadcasting the president's death when the White House travel office person grabbed me by the car my suit caller from behind and said I had to go with him And I said I'm on the air. I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving damn it. I'm on the air. Well, we need a pool I said we'll get pure points this term. I mean we're arguing over the biggest story in a century And I'm not wanting to go to cover. It's crazy Yeah, I couldn't believe when I look back and thought of my fighting over but I did go and we picked up Merriman Smith and Chuck Roberts of Newsweek and Went down through the hospital and they had a unmarked police car waiting for us And they said we're going out the Air Force one We took off and we were doing 60 to 70 miles an hour through Dallas over Curbs Driveways lawns no matter how this police officer could get through backyards trying to get to Air Force one before it took off back to Washington Got to the airport and Mrs. Kennedy had just arrived with the casket And they were putting the casket onto the aircraft and they had to carry it up the incline of the rear stairs This was a 707 big airplane and majestic airplane because Mrs. Kennedy and Jack Kennedy had helped design the colors the colors You see on Air Force one today and the lettering were designed by Mrs. Kennedy and Jack Kennedy It was a brand new airplane that came to his administration. So they had a piece of it in this history as well They had to knock four handles off the casket because it kept the handles were sticking out They couldn't get it into the airplane So the Secret Service got an axe somewhere and they knocked off the handles and were able to manage to get the thing in there I went around the side of the airplane with the Merriman Smith and Chuck Roberts and climbed in from another side of the aircraft coming from the front end of the plane Went back to the midships and I saw Mrs. Johnson I saw President Johnson in there with a group of people and President Johnson was talking to Marie Famer and Secretary. I Talked to Marie for a little bit and they said they were trying to assemble and get a judge from downtown To come out and do the swearing in Mrs. Kennedy was in the rear with the casket at Marie told me when the president arrived on on the aircraft Which was maybe 15 minutes no more than that than Mrs. Kennedy's arrival The first thing he did was he asked for a hot cup of vegetable soup and he said to Marie I've lived a year since this morning and Then he told her and I overheard him tell her that I would like you to go Ask Mrs. Kennedy if she will stand with us at the swearing in and Marie went back and talked to Mrs. Kennedy or sent a message back and the message came back. Yes I will I'll come but I want a few minutes to come compose myself and so we waited by this time the room was Stifling hot probably 120 degrees have been sitting in under a hot sun and only one engine had been running to keep the electronics going and It was probably a few minutes before Mrs. Kennedy appeared in in the doorway And that's when the sobbing this the quiet sobbing by the young Kennedy staff You have to understand these were young people in their 20s and 30s who had made the long march to the campaign and made him president And they got to the Bay of Pigs and and the Cuban Missile crisis and he was their hero and now he was gone And this the sadness of this scene was evident on the faces of these young women with the mascaras streaking their cheeks as As they were waiting for Mrs. Kennedy and once she came into the room The crime became almost unbearable among everyone. They the sobbing was just Unbelievable and was Mrs. Kennedy crying. This is no was Jackie Kennedy crying No, she was not she was standing in the doorway and we could see her President Johnson left his place in the middle of the room walked over to her took her by both hands and He walked backward Sort of backward and took her and placed her to his left in the center of the room and he pulled Mrs. Johnson over to his right and He asked for a glass of ice water and Marie brought him some ice water and then he took looked at the judge and he said proceed now As a pool reporter, it's my responsibility to write everything. I saw I'm just a rinky-dink reporter who covered the police station in Ohio And now I'm covering one of the biggest stories in the world and I have to tell you that I was Worry that I wouldn't get everything I had to get it was this it was such an important story But I examined her pretty carefully. I saw blood on her legs It had congealed on both legs I saw blood and speckles of brain matter on her on her skirt and on her blouse. I Notice that she was unblinking She was in grief, but she had her wits about her. She knew was exactly what was going on She understood everything was going on. I don't think she would have come forward had she not known what was going on I think in the annals of history, this was one of the most courageous things I've ever seen between the president and a another first lady where she I believe having to Suffering the probably the worst thing that could happen to a married couple losing your husband in a murderous situation Leaving the casket to come up front To attend the ceremony took a lot of courage And I think Mrs. Kennedy felt it was important for her to be in that room at the same time I thought that gesture by president Johnson Asking her to come forward if she she said if she would like to stand with us because he knew the circumstances. I think that the The opportunities for greatness were there in that in that setting for the so brief a time the compassion shown by president Johnson I've never I've never seen it since he he invited all the members of Kennedy staff on the airplane That wanted to to come into the compartment. They jam the compartment as close as they could he asked people to get closer together So that more of the Kennedy people could could attend the thing In his behavior, I never saw anybody who was more resolved than what he had to do He had he had his wits totally about him He went over as soon as the oath was finished. He kissed Mrs. Johnson. Then he kissed Mrs. Kennedy on the cheek Then he went over to president Kennedy's secretary Evelyn Lincoln He shook her hand and held her tightly and said he was sorry that this had happened And then he fended off almost any effort on the part of anyone to come up and congratulate him Which was another sign of I think his greatness and he did not want this to turn into a celebration And if the somber mood that existed from the Benny was there at the end my friend Chuck Roberts one of the other poolers who was standing near me but went over to president Johnson and He shook his hand he looked up at the president's he was president six three or six four And he looked up the president he told me later He said I looked up at him and now he's different and he said I didn't know what to say So I said Godspeed mr. President And I thought I wish I could have said something like that is it was so appropriate for him to have said that and Then president Johnson's first order was let's get airborne that they knew they had to move that airplane Out of Dallas and get back to Washington