The assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the appointment of a new University president headlined The Minnesota Daily’s fourth- and fifth-ever extra editions in the 1960s.
Word of the assassination of Kennedy spread rapidly across the country, rippling into the University, leaving students and faculty members stunned.
The Daily published the Kennedy extra late Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, the day Kennedy was assassinated. The one page release told briefly of the events leading up to the murder, and the announcement of the death of a president.
A yet unidentified Lee Harvey Oswald, described only as a white, 30-year-old man, 165 pounds and slender build, was the only suspect in the shootings, according to the extra.
The extra and the papers of the week following the tragedy also collected reactions from students who received word of the incident from televisions in Coffman Memorial Union and the public address system.
Students gathered around televisions in the union, standing on chairs and tables to see the report. Postings of news report bulletins drew crowds of students.
The Daily reported that the reaction was one of stunned silence. The sound of radios could be heard throughout the union and dorms all over campus.
“I’ve never seen so many people shocked at one time,” one student told the Daily.
Whatever the reaction, the affect hit nearly every student. Letters and opinions flooded the editorial pages of the days following.
“We all feel sickened because we knew him well as a person and admired him highly as another profile of courage,” one student wrote.
A Big Ten football match-up between the Gophers and Wisconsin on the Saturday after the assassination was rescheduled for Thanksgiving morning.
Although several other campus events were cancelled, a Northrop Auditorium concert continued with hiked up security. It was targeted with a bomb threat just hours after the decision to hold the event was made despite the death of the president.

Presidential Extra
The Daily published its fifth extra on July 3, 1967 for the appointment of the University’s 10th president, Malcolm C. Moos.
Moos, the first Minnesotan to hold the position, succeeded O. Meredith Wilson who held the position for seven years. Moos earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in political science at the University.
The eight-page extra chronicled the history of the University and its presidents.
Moos, author of 10 books, held several government positions prior to his appointment to the University including consultant to presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
The extra also took a look back at Wilson’s tenure, labeling him “a rare man” who tried to please everyone.
Wilson joined the ranks of previous presidents by being immortalized in the naming of the new social science and humanities library on the West Bank even before he resigned from the post.