Fifty years ago, push-button telephones made their debut, President John F. Kennedy delivered his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech and the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary topped the charts with a song penned by Bob Dylan called “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

News headlines were dominated by the Civil Rights Movement, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address during the March on Washington that August and the Nov. 22 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. The year also brought a new nonfiction book written by Betty Friedan called The Feminine Mystique, sparking a new push for women’s rights.

Looking back, 1963 seems to represent the end of one era and the beginning of another. It reverberated even at TCU, changing the students and campus forever.

Color Lines

In March of 1963, the TCU Skiff reported that a group of 30 students protested area movie theaters’ segregation policies by picketing outside the theaters, including the Worth Theatre while an all-white audience inside watched To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Skiff reported: “Several times during the evening, cars pulled up, their drivers and passengers yelling things at the sign-carrier.

“ ‘You plannin’ on marrying one?’ a driver called. By around 10 p.m. the protestors had broken up.”

Back on campus, students were calling on the administration to open all TCU academic programs to African-Americans. At that time, they were allowed to enroll in the evening college, School of Nursing and Brite Divinity School.

In December, the Skiff reported that the Student Congress overwhelmingly approved a measure urging administrators to integrate all campus programs.

“We call upon the Board of Trustees of the University to remove any racial restriction from admission requirements to any part of our academic program and that this be done by the end of the academic year if possible.”

They were heard, and in 1964, the campus was fully integrated.

Battle of the sexes

The Fort Worth police and fire department came to campus in March in response to a disturbance that had more than 150 male students in what was described as a “near riot.”

It wasn’t a fire or protest — it was a panty raid. The Skiff story titled “Coeds Entice Panty Raiders” reported:

“A near-riot took place in the quadrangle when swarms of male students were cheered onward by the cries of ‘Let’s have a panty raid’ from the coeds. The action began about 10:30 p.m. and continued until almost 3 a.m.

“Women, inside the dormitories, were flashing their lights, yelling at the men, telling them to ‘come on inside,’ and to ‘come get your panties.’

“Meanwhile the police had stationed patrolmen all over the quadrangle area. Some of them had trained German Shepherds with them,” the Skiff reported.

Male students responded by throwing firecrackers and red smoke flares at the police. The ruckus had by that time also attracted television news crews.

Jewell Wallace, then dean of men, offered this observation:

“It’s the girls who’re the ones causing all the trouble,” Wallace told the Skiff. “They are the ones getting the boys into difficulty.

“We’ll have an Easter holiday pretty soon and the boys will have a good chance to let steam off them,” Wallace added.

JFK’s visit turns to tragedy

It was Homecoming week and the campus was consumed with float-building and the impending arrival of President Kennedy and his glamorous wife Jackie, who were coming to Fort Worth for a breakfast at the Texas Hotel.

“The President made a special trip to the Hotel parking lot to speak to the gathered crowd,” the Horned Frog reported. “He was exactly what everyone expected … youthful, handsome, and impressive.”

Kennedy and his entourage then made their way to Dallas and the fateful motorcade through downtown. Around 12:29 p.m., he was shot while traveling in an uncovered limousine through Dealey Plaza.  Word of the shooting and his death quickly spread across campus as students, faculty and staff gathered around televisions and radios.

“A professor who was walking through the Student Center stopped short when he heard the news,” the Skiff reported. “He stood, motionless, listening to the anguished voice of the commentator, then sat down at a table. Outside, an ambulance siren broke the stillness, its loud blare chilling, a funereal echo of the frightful chain of events in Dallas.”

The Horned Frog reported that all campus events and Homecoming festivities were called off except for the float competition.

“Shocked students returned to the task of float-building. Enthusiasm was forgotten. The floats had to be finished because the judging took place that afternoon. All over, activities were called off.

“The nation was in complete mourning. For the entire weekend, Americans sat by their televisions to watch the incredible happenings. A vital lesson was learned by the world … a thing like this could happen in the Twentieth Century.”

Share your recollection:
Do you have campus memories from 1963? Email them to tcumagazine@tcu.edu.