On the evening of November 21st 2013 I stood on
the rooftop of a building in the Dallas West End and watched my city prepare
for an event. I have worked many events
and watched the set up especially on this cold 30 Degree night with the wind
chilling while I sip on my Starbucks and puff on my Excalibur cigar.
This event is not a joyous event, if anything it is an
attempt at redemption. The event in question is the 50th anniversary
of the Assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Despite the fact that I briefly resided in Austin, the truth
is Dallas will always be my home. It is the city that I love. Dallas however
became to be known as the City of Hate after the events in 1963, Half a century
ago.
The Kennedy Assassination is a subject that has always
intrigued me since I was a child and my family moved to the area with all of
our visiting relatives wanting to see two places one was Southfork Ranch and
the other was Dealey Plaza where “Kennedy was Shot”.
I honestly at that age didn’t know who Kennedy was; all that
I knew was that he was President. Then my father showed me the Zapruder film
when I was 5 years old and I guess you can say that my interest was piqued.
I was also here when JFK was filmed in Las Colinas while was in Middle School and I even used the Oval
Office set for a video in College when I was interning for Muller
Entertainment.
Not to mention when I was in High School and my Freshman
History teacher spoke of the events of that fateful day from a firsthand
account of his whereabouts on that day watching the president’s motorcade so
that he and his fellow High School friends could skip school to “Go See Jackie”.
I also began my own unofficial JFK Assassination tour in
Dallas when I had my video clients coming to Dallas from out of town or having
people coming to town for conventions they began to ask me to take them to
Dealey Plaza where I would take them on the tour showing them the 6th
floor Museum as well as The Grassy Knoll, The JFK Memorial and in some cases taking them to the
Texas Theatre where Oswald was arrested and ending up at Campisi’s where Jack
Ruby dined before killing Oswald.
A few months ago a my friends and I were watching an episode
of the Twilight Zone titled "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" and in
the end of the episode many places around the world are places that the sun won’t
rise and these are all places of Hate and one of the first places mentioned was
"a street in Dallas, Texas" and this script was in fact Searling’s
personal reaction to the Assassination of Kennedy.
Now the truth is that the reason that Dallas was called “The
City of Hate” is because of the events leading up to the assassination of the
President of the United States.
Now I am not here to talk about Conspiracies and Theories
about who was behind it because that is not my place. If you want to talk about
that particular subject I recommend Jesse Ventura because he is by far the most
entertaining.
Now many of you remember Walter Cronkite being the man that
broke the news to the nation however down her in Dallas the news was broken by none
other than WFAA’s Jay Watson who also interviewed witnesses including Abraham
Zapruder himself while they were trying to develop the infamous 8mm film that
will bear his name.
If you want to look at the facts I have some other
recommendations This past year there was a great book published in 2013 titled Dallas 1963.
Written by Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis, Dallas 1963
is an interesting 50 year trip back in time to show the events leading up to
the Assassination and telling the story of not just Dallas but many of it’s
elected officials and city leaders and their conflicting views with the rest of
the nation regarding Civil Rights and other conflicts in the country at the
time.
The book also covers incidents such as Lyndon Johnson and
his wife Lady Bird’s encounter with the “Mink Coat Mob” that accosted them at
the Baker Hotel during a visit to Dallas as well as Adlai Stevenson being
attacked by protesters while speaking at an event.
It is events like these that added to Dallas being branded “The City of Hate” which is also the
title of a Documentary film released this past year by Quin Mathews also
covering the events in the City of Dallas leading up to the Assassination as
well as the events afterward and the toll that it gave the city.
While not being able to cover the events with as much detail
as Dallas 1963 City of Hate focuses on the City’s leaders and explains the
local politics at the time and how they were changed after the Assassination
with the essential changing of the guard and the new direction of the city.
There were other films released during this time that I will
recommend such as Capturing Oswald.
Produced by Kate Greindling, the granddaughter of Det. Jim
Leavelle who was the Officer handcuffed to Oswald when he was killed tells the
story of the Dallas police and the fact that they apprehended Oswald in less
than an hour after the Assassination and would have had him instantly after
however Oswald was cleared by the owner of the Texas School Book Depository as
an employee.
Narrated by George Clooney The PBS Documentary JFK: One PM Central Standard Time tells
the story of the national broadcasting of the Assassination to the nation by
Walter Cronkite and the effects of the Assassination and the media.
Now one of the bigger films to be released around this time
to help mark the 50th Anniversary is Parkland.
Produced by Tom Hanks Bill Paxton, and directed by Peter
Landesman Parkland tells the story of the immediate Aftermath of the
Assassination on the main players taking their place in history and time.
Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti) , Secret Service Agent
Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob Thorton, and Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr (James
Badge Dale) are the individuals that the film primarily follows.
Beginning with the minutes before and during the
assassination and the chaos that followed with the primary narrative of the
film taking place in real time following the various characters from the
doctors trying to save the life of the leader of the free world and the conflict
with the Dallas medical examiners and the Secret Secret Service due to where
the body remains for the investigation.
The film shows the assassination with the camera remaining
on Zapruder’s camera and his reaction and his quick confrontation with Agent
Sorrels who must see the footage and the efforts to get the film developed
along with the multiple screenings of the film for both the secret service and
the other authorities and the many offers that Zapruder received for the film.
Lastly the film follows Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr the
brother of Lee Harvey Oswald and the aftermath that he and his family suffered
after the assassination all the way to Oswald’s funeral where his brother had
to ask reporters to act as pallbearers and had to bury his brother alone.
There is a wide variety of great actors in the film in a
support capacity Collin Hanks plays Dr. Malcolm O. Perry one of the Doctors at
Parkland Hospital alongside Zac Efron as Dr. Charles James Carrico who has to
be pulled away from Kennedy’s body so that the doctors can pronounce him dead,
Jackie Earle Haley has
the small role of Father Oscar Huber who is called in to perform the last
rights on the president.
The film also features Ron Livingston in the role as James
P. Hosty the FBI agent who realized after the fact that he had been
investigating Oswald before the assassination and even had been threatened by
him and chose not to act against him.
And finally the film features Superman himself Tom Welling
as Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman who after the assassination remains with
the president’s body.
This film may be as historically accurate as a film can get.
I am sure that they did take a few creative liberties as many Hollywood
productions do. Also I wasn’t there where all of these events happened All I
know is what I read in the history books and seen on the films and this film is
pretty close to the truth.
I like the fact that the film does not focus on Conspiracy theories
as so many of the films do. It just shows the facts and the events.
I am now hoping that Dallas can finally move on from the
events in 1963…and as I type these sentences I am sitting on that familiar
street in the Plaza named after the founder of the Dallas Morning News watching
people take pictures of the area and look for the X in the road that is no
longer there.
pretty nice blog, following :)
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