{"id":5672,"date":"2016-11-21T09:09:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T17:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2016-11-21T07:33:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T15:33:25","slug":"that-day-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=5672","title":{"rendered":"That Day in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\"kennedy-in-car\"<\/a>I had the pleasure a couple of weeks ago of attending the wedding of Reid Hendrix<\/strong> in Dallas, Texas<\/strong>; Reid is the son of good friends and former \u2018hood residents, Cap & Sharon Hendrix<\/strong>, but no relation to Jimmy Hendrix.<\/strong> It is hard to mention the city of Dallas to people of my generation and not have them think of the Kennedy assassination<\/strong>. It was 53 years ago this week<\/strong> when we all not only remember the date of November 22, 1963<\/strong>, but we all know exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news \u2013 \u201cPresident Kennedy has been shot\u201d<\/strong>. Our generation saw Kennedy as a young, energetic, charismatic leader; who we were less concerned about his politics and policies than we were about the goings-on of Jack and Jackie<\/strong> in \u2018Camelot\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That day in Dallas was an historic day in many ways. To me\u00a0\u2018the 50s\u2019<\/em> <\/strong>started in 1954 when Bill Haley and the Comets<\/strong> released Rock Around the Clock <\/em><\/strong>and ended with the Kennedy assassination<\/strong>. The age of innocence was gone as it was less than three months later when the Beatles<\/strong> made their first appearance in the United States and the psychedelic 60’s were underway.<\/p>\n

\"book-depository\"<\/a>

6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Although I have traveled to Dallas many times on business, I have never visited the site of the Kennedy assassination, the Texas School Book Depository<\/strong>, or as my colleagues called it, the Book Suppository (Ouch!), maybe that\u2019s part of the reason it\u2019s been renamed the Six Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza<\/strong>. Regardless of the name, they\u2019ve done a great job of telling the complete, albeit controversial, story of the assassination and the strange series of events that followed. The self-guided tour through the museum exposes you to historic films, photographs, artifacts and interpretive displays that document the events surrounding the assassination. The museum presents the background of Lee Harvey Oswald<\/strong> and what might have been his motivation to shoot Kennedy, the story of Jack Ruby<\/strong>, who shot Oswald two days after Oswald shot Kennedy, and the Warren Commission\u2019s<\/strong> report that unconvincingly concluded that Oswald acted alone. \u00a0It is a conspiracy theorist’s paradise.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the tour for me was standing by the window on the 6th<\/sup> floor next to the site from where the gunshots came (one can not stand exactly where Oswald was as it is surrounded with Plexiglas). While standing there, one can see a video simulation of the Kennedy convertible turning the corner and coming right toward Oswald (presenting him with what seemed to be a much better target than the car later offered), then taking a left turn on Elm Street<\/strong> (Elm Street?!) where after Kennedy\u2019s convertible moved laterally away from Oswald\u2019s perch until it was about 100 yards away, at which time the shots were fired from the rear.<\/p>\n

\"grassyknoll\"<\/a>

\u00a0Me searching the ‘grassy knoll’<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

What about the \u2018second gunman behind the grassy knoll\u2019<\/strong> you say? As you can see by the photo, I examined it quite thoroughly and came away more confused than I was back in the 60s. There\u2019s a lot of stuff that just doesn\u2019t add up. To wit:<\/p>\n