Suzie and I were in Dallas last week for an HCCA meeting. The day we arrived it was cold and rainy but we were starving and did not want to stay in the hotel. We asked the concierge for something lite, like sandwiches or salads. She recommended the 'Foundry Grill' which was only a five minute walk from the hotel. We took the tunnel from the lower level of the Hyatt under the train tracks and came back up to street level in the Union Station. We stepped out onto Houston Street and headed north a block to the restaurant which was just across the street. As we looked north down the street at the mix of architecture, Suzie recognized the Texas School Book Depository, the building from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot that killed John F. Kennedy. I did not even realize where we were or the significance of the location. One block further north and we would be on the corner of Main and Houston and walking the very path that the Kennedy motorcade took that morning.
Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:30 in the afternoon.
John F. Kennedy was in Dallas to speak to the Dallas Citizens Council at the Dallas Trade Mart. Kennedy was set on gaining Texas's support for the 1964 election. His approval rating in Texas had slipped from 76% in 1962 to 50% in 1963 and he wanted to reclaim the support of the state.
As his motorcade made the right turn from Main Street on to Houston and then the first left on to Elm Street they were directly in front of the Dallas School Book Depository. The plan was to continue down Elm and under the railroad tracks to the freeway (the same tracks we had just come under from the hotel). As they passed between the DSBD on his right and Dealey Plaza on his left the shots were fired and President Kennedy was killed.
John F. Kennedy was in Dallas to speak to the Dallas Citizens Council at the Dallas Trade Mart. Kennedy was set on gaining Texas's support for the 1964 election. His approval rating in Texas had slipped from 76% in 1962 to 50% in 1963 and he wanted to reclaim the support of the state.
As his motorcade made the right turn from Main Street on to Houston and then the first left on to Elm Street they were directly in front of the Dallas School Book Depository. The plan was to continue down Elm and under the railroad tracks to the freeway (the same tracks we had just come under from the hotel). As they passed between the DSBD on his right and Dealey Plaza on his left the shots were fired and President Kennedy was killed.
I was only four years old when Kennedy was assassinated so I don't have any recollection of the actual day and after visiting the site I realized how little I knew. Some of what I have learned came from our waiter at the Foundry, some from the souvenir newspaper (historical journal) I bought from the veterans and some from the internet. There is so much information and so much 'conspiracy theory' involved in the death of President Kennedy that after all this time it is hard to sort out what is real and what is speculation. I do know that one moment in time and the course of history
was changed and visiting a site like this in person gives you a chance to ponder
and to contemplate what might have been...
was changed and visiting a site like this in person gives you a chance to ponder
and to contemplate what might have been...
I took this picture from the top of the Reunion Tower at the Hyatt Regency on April 20th. The small square red building in the top left is the seven story Texas School Book Depository.
I am pointing at the sixth floor window where Lee Harvey Oswald was hiding waiting for the motorcade to approach. The veterans selling papers took this picture for me. They said it was a "must have shot" for tourists visiting Dealey Plaza....
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any prices, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. -JFK
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any prices, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. -JFK
By the way, at the Foundry I had a grilled salmon and bacon sandwich with the BEST french fries I have had in ages. Nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Great food!
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