Question

questions 15-21
\for me, it was a dramatic day\ by pierre salinger
1 for me, it was a dramatic day. i had left the white house on nov. 19 to accompany six members of jfks cabinet to an economic conference in tokyo. president kennedy had asked me to join the trip to organize his visit to tokyo, planned for february 1964. this would have been the first visit by an american president to japan since the end of world war ii.
2 we stopped in honolulu for three days for an important meeting on the vietnam crisis. early in the morning of nov. 22, the white house plane headed for tokyo. i was in the back reading the economic papers when suddenly somebody came and told me the six cabinet secretaries had to see me. they were in the office in the front of the plane. when i walked in, it was grim. they handed me a wire bulletin saying kennedy had been shot.
3 the plane turned around and headed back to honolulu, and i was instructed to take over the communications system and find out what had happened. when i connected with the white house, there was total confusion. for many minutes nothing was coming through clearly. about a half-hour after the plane had turned around, i heard in my ear: \wayside. stand by.\ wayside was my code name. about every 30 seconds for the next five minutes, i heard the same thing. then suddenly came a new message. \wayside. lancer is dead.\ lancer was the code name for president kennedy.
4 i was destroyed. i so admired and liked jfk. i had a feeling that not only was he lost but that my life was lost.
5 when we reached washington, a car took me to the white house. jfks body had just arrived in the east room and there was a short prayer service. jackie kennedy came up to me after the prayer and said i had had a terrible day and should sleep in the white house.

1. the author presents the events in sequential order. what quote illustrates when salinger finally believes that the president was dead? (12)

a \they handed me a wire bulletin saying kennedy has been shot.\
b \it was over. it was now clear to me that kennedy was dead.\
c \wayside. lancer is dead. lancer was the code name for president kennedy.\
d \when i connected with the white house, there was total confusion.\

Explanation:

The question asks for the quote showing when Salinger finally believes the President is dead.

• Option A is the initial bulletin of the shooting, not confirmation of death.
• Option C explains code names but not the moment of believing death.
• Option D describes confusion before confirmation.
• Option B directly states the moment Salinger accepts the President is dead.

Answer:

B. "It was over. It was now clear to me that Kennedy was dead."