PART ONE:
The following is a transcript of my father’s recollection
of the events of November 22, 1963 in downtown Dallas

Recorded 18 June 1997

Our daughter, Julie, was born on Monday, July 27, 1964. About 8 months before then, on Friday the 22nd of November, 1963, we were living (in North Dallas).

We awoke that morning with a great deal of joy to celebrate Joan’s (my wife’s) birthday. All of the (other five) kids went off to their various schools, with the exception of Jeff, (who was born on Tuesday, October 1, 1957). He was too young yet to go to school. I had taken the day off of work to be with Joan - to spend her birthday with her. We had nothing particular lined up. And - listening to the radio or television - we had been hearing that President Kennedy was over in Fort Worth for a breakfast and he was well received. Very great reception. It was kind of a relief because, not too long before, Adlai Stevenson had come to Fort Worth and run into some audience opposition. And, shortly before, there was a shooting in Highland Park at the home of one of the conservative leaders.

Going back to these times...Texas didn’t really have a Republican party, there was a Democratic party and within that party there were conservatives and liberals. Lyndon Johnson was the senator a long time and he had a broader base in Fort Worth than Dallas. Fort Worth was felt to be more liberal, and Dallas more conservative. He wasn’t particularly a favorite in Dallas; neither was Kennedy. And there had been - in the previous week or so - a great deal of media coverage and speculation about how it really wasn’t a wise idea for Kennedy to come to Dallas. But he persevered and decided he would.

That Friday morning it was cloudy - looked like rain. A little chilly. And as the morning progressed - I really hadn’t gotten Joan anything for her birthday - so we decided to go downtown and shop at Neiman Marcus or Sanger Harris for a birthday present. At this time, LBJ - Interstate 635 - didn’t exist; Stemmons existed in a rather primitive stage; and Harry Hines Boulevard was still kind of the major road if you were going to go downtown. We bundled up - got Joan in a long coat, Jeff in a jacket, me in a coat - and started off. We had the car radio on and there was a great deal of news commentary about how well Kennedy had been received in Fort Worth and everyone was kind of relieved and happy. And then they were picking it up that his plane was coming in to Dallas Love Field. As we were going down Harry Hines Boulevard in the area of Loop 12, which at that time was still the major east-west artery in Dallas, around the Bachman Lake area, we could see what we thought was his airplane coming in to Love Field. And the news commentators were then reporting the landing and that Kennedy got out and there was a crowd there and...very, very good reception and he broke away from his security guards and walked over to the fence and shook hands with several of the spectators. Love Field in those days was still a relatively small airport and people could get pretty close to the runways and the parking areas... Dallas/Fort Worth International wasn’t in existence; Love Field was it.

About that time the sun broke through. And...just the combination of birthday and going downtown to get a present and Kennedy being received so nicely...the sunshine...the weather...everything was kind of...in a great mood. So we continued downtown, got on Stemmons and came in under the triple underpass. As we got down there we could see that there were some people gathering on the streets for the parade... and they were saying that he was on his way from Love Field toward downtown. We parked right to the east side of the Old County Jail and Courthouse, about a block east and a wee bit south of the Texas School Book Depository...which we didn’t even know that’s what was in that building at that time. We parked there rather than going ahead and going shopping because we felt that there was a crowd on down by Neiman’s... and we said - heck let’s just go down here and see the President.

So, looking over toward Main Street, there were a lot of people lined up there...so we walked on down to the grassy area, just short of the triple underpass...and I don’t imagine at that time there were twenty people in that whole area. We had a ball and Jeff and I were tossing the ball back and forth and a few people came along...and we moved further west down the hill. Right across from a little people station or something there on the north side of Elm. And, sure enough, you could then start hearing some noise to our east and directly, the cars came down Main. They turned to their right going north toward the School Book Depository to Elm and then turned west, or to their left, at Elm and came down that northern street which we were on the south side of... on out to Stemmons - going to where they had a luncheon scheduled for him.

The first people that came by us were a couple of motorcycle policemen with their lights and everything going. The next car was a City of Dallas car that had the Chief of Police and, whether it was the Mayor or whomever, I don’t remember... but we recognized the Chief of Police and, uh, you could just see... like, he was taking his hat off and - literally, not figuratively - just wiping the sweat off his head and breathing a sigh of relief that... that rather than all the anticipation of the trouble that may have occurred, that President Kennedy was received with a tumultous, happy crowd, and everything was just peaches and cream. You could just see the Chief of Police, just breathing a sigh of relief and - probably for the first time in three weeks - had a smile on his face.

About that time, the Presidential car was turning the corner right there at the School Book Depository, and almost came to a stop as it turned the corner... and about that time there were two explosions. They sounded like fireworks and - to my memory - there were some kind of feathers or confetti or something, uh, stirred around the car. The limousine driver and the guy in the front seat almost - momentarily - stopped the car and he turned his head and everything was alright, so he turned back and proceeded to come on down toward us.

The car was moving very slowly. Then there was another explosion - seemed to me like it was maybe 200 feet from the corner. And it didn’t register, exactly. But the car kept coming and picking up a little speed. Then, we were right there at the car - maybe 25 feet from it. Connally appeared to be bending over - in retrospect, he’d probably been hit. Nell was looking at him. At just about that time, another explosion and, you could just see Kennedy’s head - his forehead - literally explode.

Whatever hit him, I would feel, hit from the back...for his blood and brain matter went forward. His body went forward, and...his body went forward and to his left. And he was sitting on Jackie’s right. As it went forward and to the left, there was a lot of gore and he kind of fell over onto Jackie and she jumped up. Almost got her knees or feet on the seat rather than on the floor; about that same instant the driver turned his head around and saw that Kennedy was a mess.

At this same time, there was a relatively short Secret Service fellow kind of trotting along at the left rear of the car - there was another at the right rear. But the fellow at the left rear reacted quickly, and came up to the rear of the car and jumped on the bumper. At about the same time, Jackie was up on the seat and the driver turned around and he gave the foot pedal the gas. And the car just suddenly lurched forward. This movement threw Jackie almost out of the rear end. The Secret Service guy, who was now up on the left rear of the car, contained her and held her down and the car took off with she and he both in it - he’s holding on and she got back in the seat somehow...

Directly behind them, I believe, was a vehicle with Vice President Johnson and some more Secret Service guys...and that vehicle stopped and some people in suits got out of that. Behind that was a vehicle - I imagine it was full of reporters and newspaper people. I don’t recall it stopping or any of them getting out. Everything speeded up, all the vehicles moved out quickly. The exception was one motorcycle guy that was behind the limousine that Kennedy was in and in front of the other one. And as the limousine rushed forward, he did a sudden braking and turning and the bike fell down. He didn’t fall, but almost fell... unflapped his gun, came right by us - within five or six feet, into the grassy area looking around with his gun in his hand. Up until that time, we hadn’t seen anyone with a gun. And to put the thing in perspective, when Jackie started to fall out of the car and the car accelerated, they were directly in front of us and, I don’t imagine, over eight or ten feet away.

As the policeman got off the motorcycle and dashed out with a gun in his hand, then the other motorcycle came up on the other side. I got Joan and Jeff and said, "Get down on the ground. Lay down flat on the ground". They did.

part two