JFK remembered
News | Published on December 2, 2025 at 12:05pm EST | Author: henningmaster
0By Tom Hintgen
Otter Tail County Correspondent
President John F. Kennedy was only 46 when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963. Just two months before his tragic passing, 62 years ago, he spoke at the University of North Dakota (UND) in Grand Forks.
Several college students who were raised in Otter Tail County attended UND in 1963. Many of them were thrilled to personally see and hear an esteemed current president speak at UND on Sept. 25, 1963.
For young people, President Kennedy made them feel happier about themselves and the United States of America, more capable and made us feel we could accomplish our goals. It was JFK who set the goal of landing a man on the moon in the late 1960s.
Before his passing, JFK regularly associated himself with his audiences. He may have been their president, but he didn’t hold himself above them while speaking. JFK used the word “us” to create a connection between himself and his audience. Here is one example.
“Let us never negotiate out of fear, but never let us fear to negotiate.”
Fergus Falls High school students, in 1964, led the petition to name a new park in honor of Kennedy on the west side of town. Later, FFHS students selected the name Kennedy from a list of presidential names for the remodeled facility that became Kennedy Secondary School in Fergus Falls in 2010-11, housing Fergus Falls High School and Fergus Falls Middle School students.
Colburn Hvidston III, a newspaper photographer, remembers JFK’s 1963 presidential visit to Grand Forks. This was his greatest publication deadline challenge during a half century of making photo images for newspapers.
Hvidston, starting his career at the Grand Forks Herald, worked when photo production was a lengthy process compared to today’s digital age. He ended his photography career at the Fargo Forum, always recalling taking photos of JFK in Grand Forks.
JFK is remembered for this famous quote from his inaugural address in January 1961, “Ask not, what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”