On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, Adelaide Snyder, a member of the team that founded FAU, mailed a letter to President John F. Kennedy, asking him to be the keynote speaker at the dedication of Florida's newest university.
To get the full enormity of Adelaide Snyder's task, it is necessary to erase all present-day visual impressions of FAU. In 1964, FAU had been carved out of a corner of a World War II airfield among the bean fields along Glades Road. There was no Interstate 95. There were snakes. Every day, Snyder dr
Later that day, as Adelaide Snyder stood waiting to meet Johnson, she was weeping into a handkerchief, tears of pride, exhaustion and relief that she had pulled off the ceremony. As they were introduced, LBJ gave Snyder a smooch, his standard greeting for women.
