Dallas - Sixth Floor Museum

Dallas Skyline

July 10, 2013

We drove into downtown Dallas and went to the Sixth Floor Museum, which is dedicated to telling the story of the Kennedy assassination. The museum does an excellent job of relating the timeline and circumstances of the events of November 22, 1963.

My children will always remember where they were and how they felt on September 11, 2001.  And my generation will always remember where they were on the day that JFK was shot. I was home from school, recovering from an illness, and my mother had taken me along with her to the hairdresser in Towson, MD. I was only 8, but I remember everyone at the hair salon was crying.

The Sixth Floor Museum is located in the old book depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald lay in wait for the motorcade from his sniper's perch. The museum does an amazing job of presenting, in excruciating detail, a minute by minute account of what happened and where. One particularly chilling exhibit recreates the exact scene at the corner window where Oswald fired those three shots. You can look out the window and see his exact view. There's even an X painted on the street outside in the exact spot where the president was killed. Eyewitness photos, the famous Zapruder film, and audio clips lend amazing depth to the exhibits. No photos were allowed in the museum, so I can't show any of the exhibits, but I got a few shots of the outside.

The spot where JFK was shot

Top right window: where the shots were fired

The grassy knoll

The book depository building on the left

 Oswald, of course, was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner, while he was being transported by police. The museum confronts the various conspiracy theories head on. Was the squirrely Oswald killed to prevent him from identifying his co-conspirators? Was there a second gunman on the nearby grassy knoll? Was Oswald working for Castro whom Kennedy had twice tried to kill? Was he working for the mob, which had been targeted by Attorney General Bobby Kennedy? Were the Russians behind it? Was he assassinated by his own FBI or CIA?

I've never put much stock in any of the conspiracy theories. But, I confess, that I came away from the museum with some doubts about the lone gunman theory. After looking at all the evidence, it really does seem more likely than not that Oswald wasn't acting alone.

After the museum, we walked about 12 blocks to the Nieman Marcus department store. I remember that my Mom and a friend of hers used to make a yearly trip to a place called "The Greenhouse" which was a combination spa, retreat, and fat farm. The Greenhouse was founded by one of the original owners of Nieman Marcus as a way of attracting well-heeled ladies to Dallas to shop at his flagship store. Mom always raved about her visits to the original Nieman Marcus here in Dallas. I'm not sure what I expected, but I found an expensive department store that wasn't much different from Saks, except for some unusual art exhibits here and there throughout the store. I dragged Rick into the fancy lunch room, Zodiac, where we had an elegant, expensive, and delicious lunch. Little touches like a "free" demitasse of consomme and popovers with strawberry butter added to the experience.

My lunch at Nieman Marcus' Zodiac restaurant

Strange sculptures at Nieman Marcus