May 18, 1963 | JFK at Vanderbilt University

May 18, 1963 - Nashville, Tennessee gave President Kennedy a warm Southern welcome today. Some 2,000 persons turned out at the Municipal Airport to watch the arrival of the President’s silver-and-white Air Force jet. About 150,000 more lined the 8-mile route from the airport to Vanderbilt University, where Mr. Kennedy spoke. The President, accompanied by Senator Estes Kefauver, was greeted at the airport by Gov. Frank Clement and Mayor Beverly Briley. Mr. Kennedy walked toward his open limousine but changed his mind and strode over to the fence to shake hands with people in the crowd. There were shrieks of delight from the girl students in the throng. The President then stepped into the limousine, which moved off in a 10-car motorcade. Among the crowds lining the roads were hundreds of children, many held aloft by their parents. As the motorcade came into the city, there were more crowds, and multiple high school bands blared various marches. The President smile and waved, and the people applauded. After his address at Vanderbilt, Mr. Kennedy pressed a switch that gave the signal to begin blasting at the Cordell Hull Dam. A second later, the sound of the explosion was relayed back to the stadium over loudspeakers. The President then shook hands with a group of disabled war veterans and left to attend a luncheon in his honor at the Governor’s mansion. An hour later, as Mr. Kennedy got into his car in front of the red brick mansion, Mrs. Clement said: “Come back and see us, now.” Mr. Kennedy was driven to the John Overton High School grounds, a half mile away, where four Army jet helicopters were waiting. At 1:45 p.m., the President took off in the lead helicopter for Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

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