Our Fantastic Falcon Voyage: Who shot JR?

DALLAS!

Wait-- wrong Dallas. We are not concerned with the early 80's prime time soap opera starring Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy. The real question is who shot JFK?

The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of President Kennedy and the wounding of Texas Governor John Connally, and that Jack Ruby also acted alone in the murder of Oswald. The Commission's findings have since proven controversial and been both challenged and supported by later studies.

The Ramsey Clark Panel determined that President Kennedy was struck by two bullets fired from above and behind him, one of which traversed the base of the neck on the right side without striking bone and the other of which entered the skull from behind and destroyed its upper right side.^[126]

The Rockefeller Commission's work dealt with the head snap as seen in the Zapruder film (first shown to the general public in 1975), and the possible presence of E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis in Dallas during the Kennedy assassination. The commission concluded that neither Hunt nor Sturgis were in Dallas at the time of the assassination.

The Church Committee concluded that the investigation on the assassination by FBI and CIA were fundamentally deficient and the facts which have greatly affected the investigation had not been forwarded to the Warren Commission by the agencies. It also found that the FBI, the agency with primary responsibility on the matter, was ordered by Director Hoover and pressured by unnamed higher government officials to conclude its investigation quickly. The report hinted that there was a possibility that senior officials in both agencies made conscious decisions not to disclose potentially important information.

The United States House Select Committee on Assassinations investigated until 1978, and in 1979 issued its final report, concluding that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The Committee concluded that previous investigations properly investigated Oswald's responsibility but did not adequately investigate the possibility of a conspiracy, and that the Warren Commission presented its conclusions too definitively. The Committee also found that the FBI and CIA were deficient in sharing information. Furthermore the Secret Service did not properly analyze information it possessed prior to the assassination and was inadequately prepared to protect the President.

Who do you think shot JFK?

We arrived in Dallas early Sunday afternoon and drove around downtown a little bit.

We parked and headed for the Sixth Floor Museum at the Texas Book Depository, made famous for allegedly being the perch from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK as his motorcade drove past Dealey Plaza. This is the original sign that hung outside the depository.

This was the view from the seventh floor. The "x" marks the spot where President Kennedy was shot.

You can see two X's below, the first shot went through Kennedy's neck/upper thoracic area, and the second shot was the fatal head shot.

Sniper's Corner

This is the spot Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the shots that killed President Kennedy as his motorcade drove past Dealey Plaza. The corner has been reconstructed to look the same as the day Oswald stood there. Many of the original boxes were taken into evidence by law enforcement. These boxes are replicas.

This is a replica of the rifle Oswald used.

Dealey Plaza

JFK Memorial

Our mail did not arrive as planned on Monday so we visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library. The building is very impressive. The cost to build this $250 million LEED certified (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building is staggering and the most expensive presidential library to date, even with inflation accounted for. The 80 terabytes of information presented via e-mails, photographs, and other artifacts sounds unbelievable. Yet, the library is disappointing as far as presidential libraries are concerned. We did not find the exhibits interesting, and I left the library unimpressed with G.W's legacy. If you enjoy amateur portraits of world leaders, the presidents paintings do have their own entire half floor for your viewing pleasure.

We really enjoyed the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin. Perhaps it is one of the better libraries, perhaps it's because we knew very little about LBJ's presidency, or perhaps enough time has passed over his presidency for history to reveal the impact his presidency had on our country and the legacy he left behind. Regardless, we did not think the $13 per person price tag plus $7 for parking was worth it... Especially considering LBJ was $3 per person with free parking.

Here are some pictures of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.