Way back in 1960, a young senator from Massachusetts was campaigning for the presidency of the United States.
And on a fall day, he brought his message to Texarkana.
It was Sept. 13 when John F. Kennedy waved from a Pontiac Bonneville convertible as he rode in the Four States Fair and Rodeo Parade along the downtown streets before stopping to make a speech at the federal courthouse and post office building that still strides the state line between Arkansas and Texas.
There are still many residents who remember that day. They lined the streets and looked out of office windows all along the route, hoping to catch a glimpse of the charismatic Kennedy. A vast crowd-some estimates put it at nearly 100,000 from all around the area- jammed State Line in front of the post office to hear him speak.
So much hope and promise from that young candidate for the nation's highest office. He won the election but sadly was felled by an assassin's bullet just three years later.
Monday will mark the 100th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's birth. His time in the White House was comparatively brief, but his legacy lives on.
We imagine it's hard for many younger folks to understand what the nation was like back then. There were problems-many of them to be sure. There were conflicts. There was injustice. But we had a lot more faith in our leaders. We had a lot more respect for the offices they held. We looked up to them. More often than not, we thought they were trying to do the right thing as they saw it.
Yes, there were divisions. And, yes, sometimes the political battles could get nasty. It wasn't some mythical golden age that so many would like to remember and believe.
But it wasn't like the deep and too often bitter political division of today. It was-at least in the sense of unity-a better time, a more innocent time, if you will.
That really started to change after JFK's assassination.
There is a monument to President Kennedy at our post office. It's inscribed with words he spoke at his inaugural address-and words he would have spoken Nov. 22, 1963, in Austin if he had left Dallas alive that day.
You might want to check it out sometime. And remember the candidate who thrilled Texarkana and the president who inspired the world.