The Rev. Williams A. Holmes was at the Dallas Trade Mart, awaiting Kennedy's arrival at a sold-out luncheon for 2,600, when he heard the news. "I was shocked and very upset, as was everyone who had been at that luncheon," says Holmes, now 74 and living in Silver Spring, Md. He set aside his already prepared sermon for that Sunday and began work on a special one. The title: "One Thing Worse Than This." In the sermon and a nationally televised interview, Holmes maintained that while Dallas did not pull the trigger, the "spirit of assassination" had flourished in the politically conservative city. Even worse than the assassination, he said, would be Dallas taking no responsibility for the death. His suggestion that Dallas somehow contributed to the assassination drew a flood of angry threats from citizens. Police put him, his wife and two young sons under police guard for several days. Holmes went on to serve as minister of Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington, the denomination's national church. He retired in 1998 after 24 years as senior pastor. After the assassination, his anxiety level always rose when he contemplated addressing a national or international issue from the pulpit, he says. "At the same time, I realized that such feelings, while intense, couldn't rob me of my freedom to stand over and against them," he says.