17: Texas School Book Depositary

17/5/17

DSC_8007I’ve always had a macabre fascination with the assassination of JFK and today I got to see the Grassy Knoll, Dealey plaza and the Book Depository for myself. There have been so many tv shows and movies made about the assassination that as soon as we walked up to the area I could immediately tell where all of the “sites” were. Seriously, the roadway + surrounds have not changed one bit since the assassination in 64.

DSC_8010The picket fence is still in location (apparently replaced a few times), the rail yards are still right behind (today much of it is a parking lot for the tourists who come to see the assassination site), the trees are still shading the grassy knoll and the big white curved walls are still in place.. Two crosses are painted on the roadway to show you were the first and the fatal shot occurred.. Quite eerie (with the exception of the hordes of tourists all snapping photos of the iconic location)

The Texas School Book Depository has changed since 64. The outside of the building is still exactly the same but the inside has changed. The sixth and seventh floors have been converted into a JFK museum and the lower levels are offices. No more school text books stored within!

The Sixth Floor Museum is worth the visit. You enter via elevator with audio tour in hand and walk from exhibit to exhibit whilst the audio talks you thru it. It covers JFKs history from growing up in Massachusetts through to the events post the assassination (including the Warren Commission + subsequent senate inquiries). Based on the number of tourists wandering the museum the interest in JFK’s assassination has not declined in the intervening 50+ years.

DSC_8016The highlight of the tour is the re-enacted book scene. Part of the museum near the 6th floor window is filled with boxes, exactly as the police found the scene post assassination. You can see where the boxes are arranged to allow for the gun to be laid for siting. Could Lee Harvey Oswald have shot JFK as per the Warren Commission findings?!

My view, after seeing the location of the boxes and looking out of the adjacent window… A shooter located in the book depositary would have had a good view.. Could he have gotten off three shots in VERY quick succession with the bolt action rifle (a replica was on view)? I’m clearly no expert (I haven’t even shot any sort of air rifle before!)  but it feels improbable.  How likely is the magic bullet theory? Umm.. I’ve always thought this felt highly unlikely..  And Jack Ruby.. What the?!?

DSC_8015My verdict, after touring the museum + years of fascination—I still sit in the “I have no idea” camp… I do think LHO was involved in some way and probably did fire a shot or two or three from the book depository and maybe even hit JFK.. I also think others probably fired shots from elsewhere (or even from another window in the book depository) but was he a lone gun man on the 6th floor… probably not.

We found some Vietnamese for lunch in downtown Dallas.. So good to have fresh yummy lunch—no stodginess!!! Dallas itself was fairly underwhelming. The guide book had said it was a fairly new city and can be very quiet… I’d tend to agree. I know people are working but it was lunchtime when we were walking around and it certainly wasn’t like Nth Sydney at 1pm where there are people everywhere…

Post lunch we had the big decision… do we drive over to Fort Worth and do the Kimball Museum or go shopping. We decided to go shopping. I know, I know, we only have one chance in this town and we’ve chosen something we can do at home over the Kimball (the Kimball is an art gallery with some pretty well known works of art from many of the masters). For once, I wasn’t loudly advocating the art gallery—surprising huh?—To be honest, its hot, we’re all tired and I couldn’t do a whole afternoon of wandering around an art gallery (after driving 40mins to get to Fort Worth). Especially as I know it is more my cup of tea than M+Ds.. I prefer to do art galleries where I can wander at my own pace and not feel like I’m holding someone up (I take forever in art galleries). So I’m leaving the Kimball for my next visit to Dallas.. I’m confident at some point in my life I’ll do a fly into Dallas/ FW so I can do the detour then to see the Kimball (after all, the art isn’t going to go anywhere—assuming the museum doesn’t burn down…..)

From a shopping perspective we all got some bargains (although prices have definitely gone up since we were last in the US) and came away laden down with shopping bags… Now time to find somewhere to put all the purchases in the suitcases…….. Tomorrow off to Houston + the Gulf.

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