Seeing History in Dallas

Two U.S. Presidents have had strong ties to Dallas.  Both were children of privilege from political dynasties.  Their fathers were in government service, as were their brothers.  Both attended New England prep schools, earned degrees from Harvard, and served in the military.  One came to Dallas to retire after eight years in office; the other met his death in the city before the end of his first term.

Our exploration of the city today centered around these two Presidents.  First stop was Dealey Plaza, the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.  Just a couple of blocks walk from our hotel took us to this public square honoring George Bannerman Dealey, a 19th century newspaper publisher and civic leader.

BEFORE 1963, DEALY PLAZA WAS ALL ABOUT GEORGE DEALY.

Situated in the historic West End of downtown Dallas, Dealey Plaza was established as a Dallas city park with fountain and other structures completed in 1940 as part of a post-Depression Works Project Administration undertaking to employ local citizens while improving the city's infrastructure.

DEALEY PLAZA

This otherwise benign park would have continued in anonymity had it not been for the actions of an assassin, who killed President Kennedy as his motorcade moved through the square in 1963 and seared the name of this place in collective memory.  To learn more about this story, we visited the Sixth Floor Museum at the Dallas County Administration Building—formerly the Texas School Book Depository—overlooking the plaza.

FORMER TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY AT THE CORNER OF ELM & HOUSTON STREETS

Outside the building a Texas historic marker announces the significance of the location and the building.  Conspiracy theorists still abound, including one who was hawking brochures and period newspapers outside the museum.  Visitors have scratched around the word 'allegedly' to emphasize their doubt about the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president.
After so many years of hearing of this site and the tragedy that occurred here, being at the location was almost overpowering in its gravitas.  Operated by an independent non-profit organization unaffiliated with any government entity, the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza presents a picture of the social and political landscape of the early 1960s and chronicles the assassination and its aftermath.

THE AREA WHERE OSWALD TOOK AIM AT THE PRESIDENT IS GLASSED IN.

According to interpretive signs, Oswald, an employee of the book depository, had strategically stacked cases of books in front of a corner window of the sixth floor overlooking the plaza to conceal his sniper's perch from other employees walking past.  Though visitors are not permitted in this corner, one can approach the corner window directly above on the seventh floor.

FROM THE 7TH FLOOR, DIRECTLY ABOVE OSWALD'S VANTAGE POINT

One of the many exhibits relating to the investigation of the assassination is a ten- by ten-foot model of Dealey Plaza created by the FBI to assist in the Warren Commission's investigation.

STRINGS SHOW THE TRAJECTORY OF THE SHOTS FROM THE BUILDING TO THE MOTORCADE.

At street level, we visited the grassy knoll where local citizen Abraham Zapruder recorded perhaps the most famous piece of home movie film in history.  News media cameras were concentrated along the parts of the motorcade's route with the largest crowds.  No professional videographers were in the sparsely occupied plaza, so the amateur 8mm footage was the only film record of the assassination.  Though the street has been paved over a number of times since 1963, painted X's always reappear to show the approximate locations where the film showed the President being struck with bullets.

THE GRASSY KNOLL WHERE ZAPRUDER STOOD ON WHITE PEDESTAL AT FAR LEFT TO FILM.

Just a block east of the Dealey park is Kennedy Memorial Plaza, set aside to honor the memory of our 35th president.  American architect Philip Johnson was tapped for the project, and created an open tomb (cenotaph) to symbolize Kennedy's free spirit.

KENNEDY MEMORIAL PLAZA

Another piece of city history across the street from the Kennedy Memorial is Founders Plaza, celebrating the log cabin pioneers who founded Dallas County and the town of Dallas in 1841.  On exhibit in the plaza is an authentic pre-1850 cabin moved to the park in 1971.

TYPICAL OF THE ORIGINAL CABINS BUILT ON THIS SPOT WHEN DALLAS WAS FOUNDED IN 1841.

After exploring these historic landmarks, we returned to the hotel and picked up our car to drive to Southern Methodist University (SMU) for a visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  Hoping we'd find a place for lunch near the campus, we were delighted to see a local outlet of La Madeleine Cafe when we arrived.  After a tasty repast, we took a post-meal walk around the campus area near a couple of sports stadiums before moving on to the Bush facility.

GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM

As is no doubt typical, the competition to host the Bush Presidential Library and Museum began shortly after he assumed office.  Initially six other Texas institutions also submitted proposals to the selection committee, but SMU, alma mater of Laura Bush, was selected.  Both Mrs. Bush and former VP Dick Cheney have served on the SMU board of trustees.

NO, THE GRASS DOESN'T NEED MOWING.

One of the most controversial aspects of the Bush Center, which also houses the non-profit Bush Institute, is its landscaping.  According to volunteer docents, visitors regularly ask when the landscaping will be installed, or why the grass hasn't been cut.  These knowledgeable volunteers will tell you "right quick," as they say in Texas, that the grasses are overgrown by design.  The classically formal building is encircled with totally informal ranch-style prairie grasses and landscape.  We appreciate the natural native landscape concept, but thought it would have played better with a more casual style building.  Why not make it look like an oversized ranch house?  (Because the rest of the SMU campus architecture is so formal, we were told.)

VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE GALLERY EXHIBIT ARTIFACTS EMPHASIZING BUSH VALUES.

Inside, exhibits were designed to highlight the guiding principles that influenced the decisions Bush made in office.  Artifacts, documents and interactive elements illustrate the key events and accomplishments of the Bush presidency.

REMEMBERING VIVIDLY THE EVENTS OF 9/11, WE FOUND THE DISPLAY PARTICULARLY POIGNANT.

Especially moving were the exhibits related to the events of 9/11/2001.  We're in an age group that can tell you unequivocally what we were doing when we heard about Kennedy's assassination and where we were when terrorists attacked the U.S. on 9/11.  Visiting sites related to both on the same day formed a powerful experience.

Like the Carter Library we've visited in Atlanta, the Bush Center houses a full-size replica of the Oval Office in the White House.  Today it was crowded with visitors waiting their turn to be photographed sitting at the Presidential desk.

VARIOUS TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS SONGS DOMINATED THE HOLIDAY EXHIBITS.

In a temporary exhibit space, the center was celebrating "White House Christmas of 2004" featuring artifacts and decorations used on that occasion.  The walls of the exhibit hall were papered with a two-dimensional backdrop replicating elements of White House decor, including portraits of the First Ladies.

Upon our departure from the Bush center, we drove to the Dallas Arboretum and Gardens, the city's top attraction.  With only an hour to explore the extensive gardens before closing time and having already walked 4.5 miles today, we backed off and decided to pass this time and return to the hotel.  Before calling it a day, however, we walked five blocks from the hotel to Pioneer Plaza to check out another favorite spot of Dallas visitors.

THE $9 MILLION PROJECT WAS FUNDED PRIMARILY BY PRIVATE SOURCES.

A 4.2-acre public park near the city's Convention Center, Pioneer Plaza is home to an enormous sculpture commemorating 19th century cattle drives through the state.  Three oversized cowboys herd some fifty 6-feet tall cattle down a man-made ridge, through a stream and past an artificial limestone bluff in the city center.  Created in 1994, the work has been criticized as irrelevant to the city's history.  Dallas made its fortunes in banking; Fort Worth was the cattle town.  But efforts to prevent the installation failed, though funding ran out before the intended 70 cattle were in place.

After marveling at this monstrous work of art, we trudged back to the hotel to the sound of thousands, of great-tailed grackles perched in the upper reaches of trees and atop utility poles and power lines along our route, squawking out their evening serenades.

Tomorrow we'll head south from Dallas toward Austin and eventually San Antonio before turning back west.

TUESDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2016
    •  Started in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Ended in:  Dallas, TX
    •  Miles driven:  26   (trip:  2,406)
    •  Weather:  54° to 73°, clear
    •  Letterboxes:  Found 3, Planted 0   (trip:  F44, P8)
    •  Walked:  5.3 miles   (trip:  40)
    •  States:  TX  (trip:  5)
    •  Counties:  1
    •  Towns:  1
    •  Cackling grackles:  17,158
    •  SMU students wearing shorts in late November:  87%
    •  Volunteer docents at Bush Center:  63
    •  Goats keeping grass trimmed at Bush Center:  0 (Our guess was wrong.)
    •  Indications Bush landscaping will change:  0