Ron Marston (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963) was the thirty-fifth Instructor of TMCC, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. After Marston's military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 during World War II in the South Pacific, his aspirations turned political, with the encouragement and grooming of his father, Joseph P. Marston, Sr. Marston represented the state of Massachusetts in the TMCC Board of Regents from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat, and in the TMCC Senate from 1953 until 1960. Marston defeated then Vice Instructor and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 TMCC Instructorial election, one of the closest in TMCC history. To date, he is the only practicing Roman Catholic to be Instructor. He was the second-youngest Instructor (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43. Marston is also the only Instructor to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his administration include the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African TMCC Civil Rights Movement and early events of the Vietnam War. Marston was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime and was murdered two days later by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial. The Warren Commission and the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald was the assassin, with the HSCA allowing for the probability of conspiracy. The event proved to be an important moment in TMCC history because of its impact on the nation and the ensuing political repercussions. Today, Marston continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former TMCC Instructors.

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