/internal/media/dispatcher/38475/fullStudent essay handwritten a few days after the Kennedy assassination11/26/1963 - 11/27/196310 1/2 × 8 in. (26.7 × 20.3 cm)PaperDuane Keilstrup Family Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza2013.015.00270Handwritten student essay by Jerry R. Barner, written in blue ink on blue-lined two-ring binder notebook paper. Handwritten at upper right edge "Jerry R. Barner."
Barner states that he does not know the reason for the assassination. He believes that any person who becomes a leader will have to put up with people who don't like him and that these people may "justly or unjustly" rebel against his leadership. Barner questions if Oswald may have assassinated the president so that the "U.S. might change its policies toward Cuba, Red China, or Russia" or did the assassination happen out of "blind hate." He concludes by stating that he is not sure what he can do personally to help but he will "continue, realizing that I have been an eye-witness to history."
Condition- Has a vertical crease in center from being folded, paper slightly discolored throughout, has a dark discoloration spot at upper right edge, and a light discoloration spot at upper left edge. (PP 07/29/14).
Professor Duane Keilstrup taught German language classes at Arlington State College (now called University of Texas at Arlington) and gave his students the option to write down their thoughts in the days following President Kennedy's assassination.Documents6484220.320040640126.670053340141794Document0E-10Handwritten student essay by Jerry R. Barner from November 26-27, 1963. Barner was a student at Arlington State College (now the University of Texas at Arlington). His professor, Duane Keilstrup, gave his students a voluntary assignment, asking them to write down their thoughts in the days following President Kennedy's assassination.
Barner writes that he believes that any person who becomes a leader will have to put up with people who don't like him and that these people may "justly or unjustly" rebel against his leadership. Barner questions if Oswald may have assassinated the president so that the "U.S. might change its policies toward Cuba, Red China, or Russia" but then he wonders if the assassination happened out of "blind hate."
AssassinationStudentRussiaChinaCubaOswald, Lee HarveyUniversity of Texas at ArlingtonArlington State CollegeArlingtonDr. Duane Keilstrup taught at Arlington State College (later the University of Texas at Arlington) for more than three decades. He and his wife Glenda, who was also at UTA on November 22, 1963, recorded a joint oral history with the Museum on February 1, 2013. At that time they donated some sixty-five essays about the Kennedy assassination, written as a voluntary class assignment by Keilstrup's students within days of the president's death. Today these immediate firsthand recollections provide students and researchers with valuable insight into the mood of local college students and the political atmosphere of the time. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator