I found Gary, jumped in his car, and told him to speed to the International Inn. He let me off so I could position myself and waited for me a few blocks away so we could move on from there.
The room was packed with labor union officials and local government leaders. I took a couple of quick shots and got word that he wouldn’t be there very long. Once Marcelo Maseda, Alcalde of Ybor City, gave JFK a box of cigars and other souvenirs of Tampa’s Latin Quarter, I zoomed out to the car and headed for downtown Tampa.
The Tampa Tribune had all of their photographers on location that day so they assigned me as a stringer to handle the motorcade as it made its way through downtown Tampa. Once the president left the International Inn, he was to head east on Grand Central, which became Lafayette Street at the University of Tampa, and on to Franklin Street where his limo would go north. His ultimate destination was Ft. Homer Hesterly Armory.
I positioned myself at Twiggs and Franklin Streets. I didn’t know what to expect and frankly I never considered his car would be moving so quickly. I waited less than ten minutes when I heard distant sirens getting closer and coming fast. I fitted my 35mm camera with a 200mm telephoto lens so I could get one shot of the motorcade at a distance and have time to change lenses for one more shot when it got right up to me.
Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought. The president’s car was moving fast, real fast, much faster than normal traffic ever did on Franklin Street. I was shocked and unprepared. Somehow in my mind I thought maybe the president would stop his car and pose for a shot or two. Yeah, I was sort of dreaming.