The Texas Schoolbook Depository Building
The Reconstructed “Sniper’s Nest” Window on the Sixth Floor
We’re in Dallas for a conference this weekend, and I had a little free time Saturday so I got to do something I have wanted to do since high school. I visited Dealey Plaza where President Kennedy was shot Nov. 22, 1963. They have converted the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building–from where it’s believed (I have to say, believed by some) Lee Harvey Oswald fired at the President–into a museum about the fateful event. I did quite a bit of studying about the assassination in high school, and I was shocked at how much of what is presented in the museum I already knew.
That said, I was struck by one thing. Everything looked smaller than I have always imagined it in my mind. The Depository is just seven stories tall. It’s a very small, compact portion fo the downtown area. In all the videos I have watched about the Kennedy Assassination, it always seemed like a long ways from the point where President Kennedy received the fatal head wound to the underpass under which the motorcade raced to Parkland Hospital. In reality, it is a very short distance. I gained a lot of perspective by being there.
Standing on the sixth floor, looking down toward Houston Street as it approaches the Depository then the hairpin turn onto Elm Street was very surreal. I have seen a lot of the videos of the re-enactments from those windows, but there is no substitute for the real thing. And as I looked down there, I came to a conclusion. I have never been sure that it was possible for Oswald to make the shots from the Depository. Having now been there, I have to say that it is possible. There’s no doubt in my mind that it was possible for it to have happened. That is not to say I have reached the conclusion that Oswald did it, or that he did it alone because I am still not sure what I think about that.
Another eerie thing about being there is that they have reconstructed the “sniper’s nest” window. As I looked at it through the protective glass (it’s hermetically sealed for your protection), it really hit me that this was the place. This was the actual place where all those events unfolded. Definitely a spine-tingling moment.
Another notable realization was, although I knew that Oswald hid the rifle between stacks of books, I didn’t realize how far away from the sniper’s nest it was. Oswald ran to the complete opposite corner of the sixth floor and hid the rifle in the books there before he descended the back stairs. It’s not a major thing, it was just something I hadn’t realized before.
And the last thing of note is that even without going to the museum, there is history all around there. The grassy knoll is still there. And, if you ever drive down Elm Street in downtown Dallas, look for Xs on the roadway. They indicate the location of the presidential limousine on the street as each shot struck the President. Chilling to drive down the street with that knowledge.
It’s a great museum, and I highly recommend the audio-guided tour if you’re ever in Dallas. You can read more about the museum at www.jfk.org.
2 comments
Comment by Twatch on September 24, 2006 at 12:15 PM
The most significant unanswered question for me is; why did Jack Ruby assassinate Oswald? He was either a hit man or a zealous American patriot. There is not much in his background that would suggest the latter.
Comment by Tyson on September 24, 2006 at 10:16 PM
Strangely enough that is exactly what Jeane and I were discussing in the car on the way home from Dallas. That one event, to me, is the only real hint I have that it may have been bigger than just Oswald acting alone.
As a strip club owner, it’s very likely that there was the ole mafia connection, and you’re right that he doesn’t seem the normal patriotic American type. There have always been the reports that he was allowed such access to the area where Oswald was to be walked to the car because he was a regular at the police station. My question is what is a strip club owner doing hanging out at the police station all the time?
I think everyone remembes the picture of Oswald as he was shot by Ruby. The stand-out in that picture, other than the murder, is the officer on Oswald’s right side wearing the light suit and light Resistol hat. The officer has loaned that hat and his pair of handcuffs to the museum and they are on display. The display said that Oswald was handcuffed in front with another officer’s handcuffs, and he was then handcuffed from his right wrist to the officer in the light hat’s left wrist. If you look at the photo you can see the light hatted officer’s left hand holding the waistband of Oswald’s jeans, and you can barely see the handcuff chain joining the two men’s wrists.
In the most usual picture of the incident, it doen’t look to me as Oswald’s hands are cuffed together, since there is such a distance between his right hand (cuffed to the officer) and his left hand (clutching his chest). I guess it they could be cuffed, though. See for yourself: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/rubyshot.jpg
In this photo of just a brief moment before, the way he is carrying his hands would seem to indicate that they were cuffed together and to the officer. http://www.msu.edu/~daggy/cop/images/00000311.gif
One other thing I forgot to mention that was kind of cool was that they had an old AP teletype machine and an original printout of the wire feed for the time of the incident. Most notable is that it kept instructing things like “All of you stay off.” “Stay off!” They kept it clear so that any news on Kennedy would go right through. Interestingly, the museum reports that when the nation held a moment of silence as part of the Kennedy memorial, it was the only time the AP wire ever went silent.