The date of November 22, 1963 lives in infamy in the hearts of all Americans who were around to see the assassination of our 35th President John F. Kennedy. He will live on in history as an effective leader who was restoring good faith in our goverment when his life was taken at the age of forty-six. He led the country through turbulent domestic issues in Cuba and Vietnam, Civil Rights reform, and founded the Peace Corps. He was also the first President to have previously won a Pulitzer Prize and remains the youngest man ever elected to office. It is difficult to predict what may have come to pass if he had lived through his entire term and went on to a second one.
Although I still have several more JFK sights to see on my Presidential site journey, I have twice visited the grave of Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
Saturday, March 29, 2008 - JFK Assassination Site - Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository located in downtown Dallas, Texas hold a very distinctive place in the minds and hearts of those who were cognizant of the days events of November 22, 1963. For me, I was only familiar with the site from the repeated viewings of home movies, newsreel footage, Oliver Stone’s JFK, and various documentaries that were filmed there.
When I visited the area for the first time with my friend Bob, I felt as if I had been there before having had seen it so many times before on television. It was eerie in a sense, much like walking on hallowed ground. Onlookers quietly stared at the various areas and snapped pictures. The Book Depository, the grassy knoll, the triple underpass, the pergola shelters and fence from where other shots were potentially fired. They were all there. Because the area is designated as a National Historic Landmark, little has been changed since 1963. There was a white X in the street marking the spot where Kennedy received the final, fatal gunshot to the head.
On the spot in the street where Kennedy took the fateful blow to the head
The triple underpass and grassy knoll
There were absolutely no photos allowed inside the former-Texas School Book Depository, no home to a sixth floor museum about the life and career of President Kennedy, along with a play-by-play of the assassination day’s events and videos of the traumatic footage, and the aftermath news announcements and the JFK funeral. Only the small corner where Oswald allegedly fired the shots and the area where his rifle was found was preserved in its original state, enclosed inside glass with stacks of schoolbook boxes reconstructing the crime scene. From the window, I could see the X in the street.
The seventh floor contained an area to view home movies that were shot in Dallas on that fateful day in their entirety (including footage of the various photographers’ families shot before the motorcade). Many of the cameras used that day were on display in the museum. The first floor contained the gift shop and information area. The rest of the building functions as public offices.
Pointing at the sixth floor window (furthest right) from where Oswald fired the shots
With the Memorial plaque outside the Texas School Book Depository
Nearby, just a block away was the JFK Memorial and Cenotaph (which I honestly think is rather ugly unfortunately) that was created by artist Philip Johnson and erected in 1970.
At the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial
The Kennedy cenotaph
Friday, April 4, 2008 - Parkland Hospital - Site of John F. Kennedy’s Death - After Kennedy’s shooting in Dealey Plaza, his limosuine immediately drove him to Parkland hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1:00pm in the trauma room. It was rather eerie to be surrounded by so many locations that had their named mentioned in the frantic news recordings taken on that fateful day - among them Industrial Boulevard, the triple underpass, and Parkland Hospital. It is odd to be scouting a busy, functioning hospital as a historic location, but that’s just what we did.
Bob and I parked in a garage and walked to the hospital to see if there were any markers indicating where President Kennedy had died. (Coincidentally, Oswald died in the trauma room in which Governor Connelly had been treated - and Jack Ruby also died in the same hospital four years later). It was hard to find anyone to direct us, one of them sending us to the McDonalds housed in building, which in fact was actually adorned with photos of the Kennedys taken during their visit to Dallas. The emergency room where Kennedy died has been remodeled but there are plaques up in the trauma area honoring the death of President Kennedy and the fact that Johnson assumed office while in the hospital.
While we did get photos of these plaques, apparently there are additional plaques in the area that was once the trauma room (now the X-Ray waiting area) showing the exact locations where President Kennedy died. I guess I’ll have to get back to Parkland one day!
With the plaques commemorating the place where Kennedy “ceased forever to breathe the air of freedom” and Johnson “became the 36th President in Parkland Memorial Hospital”
Summer 1998 / Saturday, August 11, 2007 - John F. Kennedy Grave - JFK’s grave at Arlington was the third grave that I visited twice (the others being Hayes’ and Nixon’s). The first visit was during a trip with Lisa and her Mom and sister to Washington D.C. when we took a trolley tour through the cemetery. Although we didn’t stop at the nearby William Howard Taft grave, we did get out to see the Kennedy gravesites.
JFK’s grave in 1998
Robert F. Kennedy’s grave (and my shadow) in 1998
In 2007, during my road trip with Bob, we walked the cemetery and were able to see both graves - and many others. Buried nearby is JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy (seen here). Next to JFK is his wife Jackie, their two-day old son Patrick, and stillborn daughter Arabella.
It was a bit frustrating to fight the crowds to see and get a photo of the President’s grave, but it was also gratifying to see the masses still turning out to pay their respect to our ‘fallen king’.
Me and John F. Kennedy
The grave of the First Lady
The Kennedy family and Eternal Flame
Continue to the next President…
Return to Saturday in Virginia…
Return to Saturday in Texas…
Return to Friday in Texas…
Huh. That’s pretty interesting. I’m not all that interested in gravesites. If you ever make it to Colorado, you MUST go to Buffalo Bill’s grave, though!
Amber
January 21st, 2008