Soukup shares memory of JFK

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His meeting in Chicago with then-President John F. Kennedy was among many thrills in a busy lifetime for Goose Lake resident Bob Soukup Sr.

“They were bringing the President back from McCormick Place, where he was helping Senator Yates get re-elected,” noted Soukup, who was a Chicago fireman and one of about 160 security guards for Kennedy’s visit to the Windy City.

“The Chicago Tribune took a picture of us on the steps,” he said. “I was just inches away from the President.”

The 46th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination was observed Sunday. The Nov. 22, 1963, incident took place just over a year after Soukup’s meeting with the President in October 1962.

Kennedy was in Chicago at the time, stumping for the election of Illinois Democratic Representative  Sidney R. Yates to the U.S. Senate. Despite the President’s help, however, Yates proved unsuccessful in his bid against Republican incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois.

“There were about 160 of us firemen who were band members, and we were acting as security guards for President Kennedy, keeping people away,” Soukup recalled.

“He was just getting out of his car when the picture was taken. We kept people away so they wouldn’t get to him.”

Soukup said he spoke to the President.

“Oh yes. He shook our hands. He said to me, ‘You’re doing a very good job.’

“’Thank you,’ I said. ‘It was our pleasure.’”

Soukup recalls doing similar security guard duty for then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower during one of his visits to Chicago in the 1950s.

“Sometimes we even chauffeured the big limousines, picking up these dignitaries at O’Hare Airport and taking them to downtown Chicago and the hotels,” he said.

“This was always during rush hour, with sirens and such, and you’d have to tell everybody to get off to the side. I used to think, ‘Why didn’t they take a helicopter?’”

Their arrival was more fun this way, though, Soukup agreed.

“They loved it,” he said of the visitors. “I did, too. I enjoyed it.”

One of 16 children, all of whom grew to adulthood, Soukup, then 9, left grade school to help the family earn a living after his father died.

He joined the Chicago Fire Department after a stint in the Navy from 1944 to 1946. He speaks of being stationed in the Marshall Island for 8 months at the time the United States tested atomic bombs by dropping them on two test ships with animals aboard.

“You could see that thing go way up in the air, smoke and everything - a big cloud, really big,” said Soukup. “The cloud disappeared in about a half hour - floated away. I wasn’t scared.”

There’s one thing about Soukup, who was awarded his grade and high school diplomas while in the Navy.

“I was never scared of anything,” he said.

Including U.S. presidents.
 

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