Remembering the day Kennedy died

"History is the memory of a nation," said President John F. Kennedy.His words ring especially true in Dallas, Texas, the city where an assassin's bullet ended his life and altered the course of American history.Though more than 44 years have passed since his death on Nov. 22, 1963, thousands of visitors a year stop by Dealey Plaza where duct tape marks the spot on the street where he was gunned down. The Sixth Floor Museum, where his assassin perched, ranks as the most-visited attraction in Dallas and second-most-visited in the state after the Alamo.Those of us who lived through the events of that November weekend -- now less than half the U.S. population -- come here to relive it. Those not yet born, or too young to remember, come to learn about a pivotal moment in our history.Oswald's lairLess than six weeks before investigators conclude he killed Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald began work as an order clerk in the Texas School Book Depository building. Shortly after Kennedy was shot, witnesses in the plaza pointed to the building as the source of the gunfire. Minutes later, police found a barricade of boxes and spent bullet cartridges by the window in the southeast corner of the building's sixth floor. They recovered the murder weapon, a rifle, from a staircase across the room.Police spotted Oswald sitting alone in the second-floor lunchroom, drinking a Dr Pepper. He appeared calm, not even breaking a sweat. When the building manager told police Oswald worked there, they let him go.The assassination of a U.S. president became a blot on the psyche of Dallas. Out-of-towners who went to Dealey Plaza to see where Kennedy died received the cold shoulder. The Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau officially discouraged visits to JFK sights. Some residents wanted the Book Depository bulldozed; it was firebombed twice.Cooler heads prevailed, and Dallas County purchased the building in 1977 to protect it from commercial exploitation. The Sixth Floor Museum opened in 1989 and in 1993, 30 years after the assassination, Dealey Plaza became a National Historic Landmark. It now draws about 2 million visitors a year; more than 400,000 tour the museum."The Corner Window," an accurate re-creation of the setting where Oswald allegedly lay in wait for the president, has a chilling effect on many who view it, often in stunned silence. The exhibit is behind glass so you can't get the same view Oswald had, but move down the row of windows fronting the motorcade route and you'll clearly see the spot where bullets killed Kennedy and wounded Texas Gov. John Connally.The museum contains nearly 400 historic photographs, six documentary films and numerous artifacts and displays documenting not only the assassination, but the politics, social movements and even the fashions of the early 1960s. (The Kennedy family is not involved in the museum, which is run by a nonprofit organization.)Some of the videos show film clips of the assassination, edited because children often visit the museum. Thirteen cameras recovered from onlookers in Dealey Plaza that day are on display, along with a model of the plaza prepared by the FBI."The Crisis Hours" chronicles the events from the assassination through the state funeral, including footage burned into your memory if you were glued to the TV that weekend."The Investigation" lays out the four official investigations of the assassination: the initial local and FBI investigations, the Warren Commission and the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Assassination. "Who Did It?" deals with the many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination. Nearly 80 percent of Americans, the exhibit states, believe Kennedy's death resulted from a conspiracy.The Grassy KnollYou'll see the focus of those conspiracy theories a short walk from the museum.The Grassy Knoll rises on the north side of Elm Street and next to the parking lot of the former Book Depository building. Some witnesses to the assassination say they heard shots fired from the knoll, but police found no evidence after a search of the site. Discrepancies also exist as to how many shots were fired. Three? Four? Because the plaza forms a canyon as Elm Street dips into an underpass, some theorize the gunshots echoed.As they walk along Elm Street, some visitors jaywalk to stand in the center lane where an X in duct tape marks the spot where Kennedy's limo passed as the shots were fired. Each year on Nov. 22, flowers are strewn on the spot and tributes are placed on the parkway.Kennedy had come to Texas to heal political wounds and counter anti-Kennedy sentiment. The route of the motorcade had been published and an open car chosen because the president wanted his popular first lady to be seen. About 200,000 people watched the motorcade pass downtown Dallas, but by the time it reached Dealey Plaza, only 50 onlookers stood by.One of them, Abraham Zapruder, a Dallas dress designer, had been persuaded to come by the women working for him. They insisted he bring his new Bell Howell Super 8 movie camera he had been showing off in the office.Steven Foster, a local businessman who sits on the board of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau and is an expert on the assassination, tells Zapruder's story. A former journalist, Foster's research into the events surrounding Kennedy's death has been published in several books and articles. "I've met a lot of the eyewitnesses," he says, and interviewed Oswald's wife, trauma surgeons at the hospital where Kennedy was taken and many officials involved in the investigation.Foster says Zapruder hadn't brought his movie camera to the office that day, but his receptionist, Marilyn Sitzman, insisted he go home to get it. He begrudgingly agreed.Zapruder and his employees positioned themselves along the motorcade route with their backs to the Grassy Knoll. Sitzman suggested he climb atop a concrete pediment there to get a better view. When he confessed he had vertigo, she climbed atop the pediment behind him and held him around the waist.When the first shot was fired, people in the plaza ducked, but not Zapruder because Sitzman kept a firm hold on him. His movie camera continued to record the scene, showing what most investigators believe was the third and fatal gunshot.Zapruder's film, which he sold to Life magazine for $150,000, proved a key piece of evidence in the investigations of the assassination.Though Foster believes Kennedy died there in Dealey Plaza, he was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where doctors frantically tried to save him. "It was a no-win situation," says Foster. The Rev. Oscar Huber performed last rites and comforted the widow, who sat wringing her hands. She held something that the priest assumed was a rosary, says Foster, and when she gave it to him he put it into his pocket without looking at it. When he retrieved it later, he realized it was a 2#189;-inch piece of the president's skull.Oswald and RubyOswald didn't get away with murder, of course. After he was spotted in the lunchroom, he left the Book Depository building through the front door. A short time later he allegedly shot and killed patrolman J.D. Tippit and was arrested in the Texas Theater. Police had no trouble linking him to both murders. He left lots of evidence, says Foster, which begs the question: Did he want to get caught, and if so, why?Though several local and federal agencies interrogated Oswald, no audio or written record of the investigation exists, says Foster. Each agency assumed the other recorded it. Such lapses only fuel conspiracy theories.We will never know what Oswald would have testified to during a trial. Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner, shot and killed him on live TV two days after the assassination as Oswald was being transferred from the City Jail to the County Jail.The scene of Oswald's shooting, in the basement of the Dallas Police Courts Building at 106 S. Harwood St., isn't open to the public unless you can talk your way past a security guard. The basement looks the same as it did in 1963 and the cell that held Oswald is still there.Ruby was convicted of Oswald's murder. For security, he was kept in a lockup in the Dallas County Courts Building rather than the jail. His cell had a view of the motorcade route, Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository building. Ruby's conviction was overturned and he was awaiting a second trial when he died of cancer at the same hospital where Kennedy was pronounced dead.Fact and fictionThough Foster has led researchers and filmmakers on tours of Dealey Plaza and other sites associated with the assassination, he does not give public tours. No official tour exists, he says, "and if there was one, I wouldn't recommend you take it." Foster encourages visitors to stroll the plaza and Grassy Knoll on their own, tour the Sixth Floor Museum and form their own conclusions.Hawkers stand near the museum entrance and the Grassy Knoll selling pamphlets and photos from that November weekend. Some might offer to show you around. They do a disservice "by giving false information, bad information or, worse yet, just making stuff up," says Foster. He calls a Conspiracy Museum that operates out of a storefront "kooky."However, a memorial to President Kennedy is worth a look, Foster says. Designed by architect Philip Johnson, it was dedicated in 1970 just a few blocks from the spot where Kennedy died. The design represents emptiness and an unfinished life and takes the form of a cenotaph, an open tomb for someone buried elsewhere.Kennedy's body was brought back to Washington, D.C., and is buried nearby at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Lee Harvey Oswald is buried at Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas. As for Jack Ruby, his tomb can be found in Westlawn Cemetery in Chicago. If you goRemembering JFK in DallasGo: To re-examine one of the most significant events in modern U.S. historyNo: If you don't recall the Kennedy era and have no interest in historyNeed to know: Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, (800) 232-5527, www.visitDallas.comGetting there: American Airlines is headquartered near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and has frequent nonstops from Chicago. United also flies nonstop to DFW from O'Hare, and ATA and Southwest have nonstops from Midway. American, Southwest and Continental offer connecting service to Love Field, minutes from downtown Dallas. Amtrak has daily service from Chicago to downtown Dallas.Museum: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, 411 Elm St., is open daily except Christmas Day, (888) 485-4854, www.jfk.org. Admission costs $10 for adults, $9 for ages 6-18 and 65 and up. Audio tours in seven languages are available for an extra $3.50. Photography and use of cell phones are not permitted.Where to stay: Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion, (800) 233-1442, www.dallasregency.hyatt.com. The four-diamond, 1,122-room hotel has an 18-story atrium adjoining 50-story Reunion Tower and is walking distance from downtown Dallas and Dealey Plaza.Dining: Antares Restaurant (300 Reunion Blvd., (214) 712-7145) and the Dome Lounge revolve around Reunion Tower 50 stories above the street. Both have a view of Dealey Plaza. Antares serves new American cuisine with a Southwestern flair. 350512From windows of the Sixth Floor Museum, visitors have a view of the motorcade route.Kathy Rodeghier | Daily Herald 512495Dealey Plaza and former Texas School Book Depository.Kathy Rodeghier | Daily Herald