WHERE WERE YOU? Anyone who was living on that day in
November of 1963 remembers where they were 50 years
ago when hearing the news about President John F.
Kennedy being shot in Dallas. I was 21 at the time
and in downtown Fort Worth on that day. Early in
the morning I walked down to the Hotel Texas where
JFK was giving his speech. It was raining but cleared
off later for their motorcade drive up Main Street.
Standing on the sidewalk, I waved as the limo of the
Presidential party drove by headed on their way to
Dallas. Later I learned that JFK had been shot. Sites
in the Dallas area shown below are related to the
assassination. Photos below taken by the Webmaster.
JFK Memorial Plaza is located one block east of Dealey Plaza in
downtown Dallas. It was designed by Philip Johnson as a cenotaph,
or "open tomb" and dedicated in 1970.
Dealey Plaza on Elm St. at the west end of downtown Dallas is
the site where JFK was shot in 1963. The park was built in 1940
as a WPA project and named after George Dealey, a civic leader.
Former Texas School Book Depository building on Elm St. is where
shots were fired at JFK from a sixth-floor window. It is now a
museum.
Dallas Parkland Hospital is where JFK was taken after being shot.
He was pronounced dead in Trauma Room One. Texas Governor John
Connally was treated here for his wounds on that day. Two days
later Lee Harvey Oswald was taken here after being shot by Jack
Ruby and died in Trauma Room Two. In 1967, Ruby died here of
lung cancer.
Dallas Love Field Airport where the body of JFK was taken to be
flown back to Washington, DC on Air Force One. LBJ was sworn
in as the 36th President of the U.S. aboard the plane before
the flight took off. The plane is now at a museum in Dayton,
Ohio.
Oswald's apartment building on Elsbeth St. in Oak Cliff was
demolished in 2013. This was the first place in Oak Cliff
where Oswald lived after coming back from Russia, where he
had married Marina Prusakova.
Oswald's apartment complex on Neely St. in Oak Cliff was
the second place they lived and where the infamous "Back-
yard Photos" were taken of Oswald holding his guns.
Oswald's boarding house on Beckley in Oak Cliff where 24 year
old Oswald lived at the time of the assassination. After
JFK was shot, Oswald came back here to get his pistol.
Ruth Paine's house in Irving is where Oswald's wife Marina
was staying at the time of the assassination. Oswald would
spend the weekend here but surprised them when he came on a
Thursday, the day before the assassination. His rifle was
stored in the garage. A co-worker who lived in the area gave
Oswald a ride to work the next morning. The house is now a
museum operated by the city.
Oak Cliff site on 10th St. where Oswald shot and killed
Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit only 45 minutes after the
assassination of JFK. Tippit's patrol partner was assigned
to be at Love Field that day. Oswald then walked to the
Texas Theater a few blocks away.
Texas Theater on Jefferson Ave. in Oak Cliff where Oswald was
apprehended by Dallas police. He was noticed entering the
theater without paying. The theater was showing two movies
that day "War Is Hell" and "Cry of Battle."
Old Dallas City Hall on Harwood St. where Jack Ruby fatally
shot Oswald while he was in police custody on Nov. 24, 1963.
The shooting was in the parking garage of the old city jail
basement while he was being transferred to another location.
Ruby used a .38-caliber Colt Cobra. A new city hall was
built in 1978.
The former Carousel nightclub owned by Jack Ruby was located
above a deli on Commerce St. across from the Adolphus Hotel.
The site has been been replaced by an office building & park.
Jack Ruby's apartment on Ewing Ave. in Oak Cliff where he
lived at the time of the assassination. It is located a few
blocks from the Texas Theater.
Apparel company owned by Abraham Zapruder was located in
this building across from Dealey Plaza and called "Jennifer
Juniors Inc." Abraham filmed the motorcade and assassination
with his Bell & Howell 8mm-film camera. He died of cancer in
1970.
Dallas Post Office were Oswald picked up a surplus rifle
that he had ordered from a Chicago firm for $21. It was a
6.5mm Italian M91/38 carbine which was manufactured for
only one year. The National Archives now has the rife
stored and a replica is at the Sixth Floor Museum.
Former home of Major Gen. Edwin Walker in Highland Park on
Turtle Creek Blvd. Oswald attempted to assassinate Walker
in April of 1963 but the window frame deflected the bullet.
Walker was hit by fragments but survived. He died of lung
cancer in 1993.
Grave of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Rose Hill Memorial Park in
Fort Worth. At his funeral, reporters had to step in to be
pallbearers. That same day the funerals were held for J.D.
Tippit and JFK. Later Oswald's body was exhumed to prove it
was him. No one is buried next to Oswald where the monument
reads "Nick Beef." Oswald's original tombstone went missing
on Nov. 22, 1967 but was later found under a house.
Hotel Texas exhibit of artwork (12 of 16) installed in the
President's suite at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth where
JFK and Jackie stayed the night before visiting Dallas.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
After the Warren Commission report, there was widespread
speculation about the assassination being a conspiracy.
MEMORIAL:
DON RAY ARCHER, 81, a police officer who helped wrestled
Jack Ruby to the ground after he shot Lee Harvey Oswald,
died in April of 2014 at Rockwall, TX. He was a retired
Dallas police lieutenant with 36 years service and died
of respiratory failure. At the time of his death, Archer’s
survivors include his wife, son, & daughter.
BENNY BOB BARRETT, 75, a former Dallas County Sheriff’s Department
deputy who guarded Jack Ruby while he was in jail and the hospital,
died Aug. 4, 2015. He was on duty the nigh Ruby died at Parkland
Hospital in 1967. He is survived by his wife, daughter, two sons,
two brothers, three sister, & two grandchildren.
KENT BIFFLE died in Aug. of 2015 and was a reporter who slipped into
the Texas School Book Depository building on Nov. 22, 1963 with
Dallas Police officers searching for the assassin of President JFK.
He was born in 1932.
DR. JAMES "RED" DUKE, JR, 86, died on Aug. 25, 2015 and was a trauma
surgeon who attended to Gov. John Connally on the day of President
JFK's assassination. He later became a health adviser on a nationally
syndicated television show. He was born in Ennis, TX and was an Army
veteran.
BOBBY HARGIS, 81, a former Dallas police officer whose motorcycle
flanked J.F. Kennedy’s limousine at the moment the president was
assassinated, died in April of 2014 in Cleburne, TX of congestive
heart failure. After the limousine sped off, Hargis stayed behind
searching around the Texas School Book Depository for anyone fleeing
the scene. Two years after the assassination, he was run over by a
car while on his patrol motorcycle and almost lost his leg. He
served 35 years with the Dallas Police Department. At the time of
his death, he was survived by his wife, two sons, & two daughters.
RAY HAWKINS, 83, Dallas police officer who handcuffed Lee Harvey
Oswald at the Texas Theater, died Nov. 16, 2015 of pneumonia. Ray
was born in Dallas and graduated from North Dallas High School. He
served in the Coast Guard and had a 29-year career as a patrolman.
In 1964, he married Jean Bailey who died in 2006. Their son, Mark
Hawkins, died in 2009. Ray is survived by daughter Karen Hawkins
Ayala.
THOMAS "LEM" JOHNS, 88, Secret Service agent who protected LBJ after
Pres. Kennedy's assassination, died in May of 2014 in Alabama. Agent
Lem Johns is in the LBJ swearing-in photo (BG at R) aboard Air Force
One. Lem was assigned to Johnson's security detail at the time of
the shooting and was riding in the motorcade when the shots were
fired. He served in WWII with the U.S. Naval Air Corps and attended
the University of Alabama & later graduated from Howard College,
now Samford University. At the time of his death, Lem was survived
by his wife of 67 years, son, three grandchildren, & five great-
grandchildren.
FERD KAUFMAN, 89, died Feb. 3, 2016 and was an Associated Press
photographer who was at Dallas police headquarter in 1963 as
authorities brought in Lee Harvey Oswald. Kaufman was born on
April 21, 1926 in Sapulpa, OK. He served in the U.S. Navy
during WWII. His wife, Ida Weir who he married in 1954,
survives along with a son & two daughters.
JAMES LEAVELLE, 99, died on Aug. 29, 2019 and was a Dallas Police
Department homicide detective who was escorting Lee Harvey Oswald
when he was shot by Jack Ruby. Leavelle was born and raised in
Red River County, TX. Following graduation from high school,
Leavelle joined the U.S. Navy in 1939 and was on board the
USS Whitney when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese
on Dec. 7, 1941. He married Taimi Snelma. Leavelle retired
from the police department in 1976.
ROBERT MCCLELLAND, 89, was a Parkland surgeon who tried to save
JFK in 1963 died on Sept. 10, 2019. He was a retired professor
emeritus of UT Southwestern's medical school. Robert is survived
by his wife, Connie; son Chris McClelland and daughter Julie
Barrett; six grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
JACQUELINE LEE (BOUVIER) KENNEDY ONASSIS (former U.S. First Lady &
wife of President John F. Kennedy) died of cancer in 1994. She
was born in 1929. She was sitting next to her husband in the
open-air limousine in 1963, when he was assassinated. Her last
surviving child is her daughter Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.
RIO SAM PIERCE, 92, a police lieutenant in 1963 drove a decoy police
car away from the spot where Lee Harvey Oswald was about to be
transferred from headquarters to the Dallas county jail, died
Dec. 23, 2015. The plan was to divert attention from an armored
car said to be transporting the accused assassin of President
John F. Kennedy. Pierce was born in Turkey and married Dorothy
Gorden. He served in the U.S. Marines during WWII.
JERRY GILBERT POLLARD, 81, was present when Oswald was arrested
in 1963 at the Texas Theater, died Aug. 26, 2016. He was born &
raised in Indianapolis but graduated from North Dallas High School
in Dallas. Jerry joined the Dallas Police Department in 1958 and
retired in 1985. Survivors are his wife, Linda; two sons Joe &
John; two daughters Kathrynne Cevallos & Tracy Morris; a sister
Jenny Jared; 10 grandchildren; & nine great-grandchildren.
HENRY MICHAEL RABUN, 76, was a sports journalist who helped
cover JFK slaying & died of kidney cancer on Aug. 15, 2017. He
was born in Houston & grew up in Fort Worth. Mike married Janet
Evans in 1963. He was also present when Lee Harvey Oswald was
gunned down at the Dallas police station. He was survived by his
wife & a daughter.
OFFICER J.D. TIPPIT, 39, was shot and killed while questioning the
assassin of President JFK at Tenth & Patton Streets on Nov. 22,
1963 in Dallas. Forty-five minutes after President Kennedy was
shot, Officer Tippit stopped the suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, who
was on foot and fit the general description of the assassin that
was being broadcast by the Dallas police radio. After being
summoned by Officer Tippit, Oswald came over to the passenger
side of the patrol car where they spoke through an open window.
After a brief conversation, Officer Tippit got out of his car
and as he was walking toward the front of his patrol car, Oswald
suddenly shot him three times at point blank range with a .38
caliber revolver. After Officer Tippit fell, he was shot in the
head by Oswald, which proved to be the fatal shot. Oswald was
apprehended hiding in the Texas movie theater after he was seen
by an alert citizen who witnessed the shooting of Officer Tippit.
In 1964, Officer Tippit was posthumously awarded the Medal of
Valor from the National Police Hall of Fame and also received
the Police Medal of Honor, the Police Cross, and the Citizen's
Traffic Commission Award of Heroism. Officer Tippit served with
the Dallas Police Department for 11 years. He was a WWII veteran
of the US Army and recipient of the Bronze Star. He is survived
by his wife, daughter, two sons, parents, four brothers, two
sisters, and his grandmother. He is buried in Laurel Land Memorial
Park in Dallas, TX. His wife, Marie Tippit, died March 2, 2021 at
the age of 92. They were married in 1946. Her oldest son Allan,
died in 2014 at the age of 64.
BOB WELCH, 80, was a TV news photographer in the aftermath of
Kennedy assassination, died Dec. 19, 2016. Welch was born in
Philadelphia and lived briefly in New Jersey before moving to
Dallas, where he attended North Dallas High School. Bob served
three years in the U.S. Marines during the Korean War. In addition
to his wife, Welch is survived by two daughters, Lori Harrison of
Coppell & Marci Jackson of Indianapolis; and eight grandchildren.
ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER, 65, died in 1970 and was was an American
clothing manufacturer who filmed the motorcade & assassination of
JFK. His film captured the fatal head shot that struck President
Kennedy. He had moved to Dallas in 1941 and became co-founder of
Jennifer Juniors, Inc.