Feb. 25, 1964 - Governor John Connally of Texas (pictured pointing to the spot where a bullet hit his wrist on Nov. 22) spoke today at a luncheon meeting of the Salesman’s Association of the Paper Industry at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The 1,900 members and guests gave him a warm welcome.
At a news conference afterward, Mr. Connally deplored what he saw as a widely held attitude that the people of Dallas were in some way responsible for the assassination there of President Kennedy last Nov. 22. “The people of Dallas do not feel guilty,” he said. “They have a feeling perhaps of frustration, a hurt feeling,” he said. “They cannot understand why a community like Dallas has been indicted in the public mind because of the action of one person.”
He said he thought that Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who shot and killed the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, could get a fair trial in Dallas. Mr. Ruby’s lawyers have been seeking a change of venue.
Mr. Connally brushed aside reports that there had been any rupture between him and President Johnson, with whom he has long been closely associated. He said he planned to stop off in Washington Thursday on his way home to see the President. Mr. Connally is a candidate in the Democratic primary May 2 to succeed himself. Mr. Connally concludes the formal phase of his New York visit tomorrow at noon when he dedicates the privately financed Texas Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. He said that, except for the fact that he had not regained his strength, he was “feeling fine.”
