Captain’s Log
The Sixth
Floor Museum is intense! You can see the actual spot where Lee Harvey Oswald
set up his rifle behind stacked boxes at the corner window on the 6th
floor of the Texas School Book Depository. That location is surrounded by
Plexiglas.
The view from the other windows above Elm Street and Dealey Plaza
have touch screens in front of them showing an animated version of the path of
the President’s motorcade as it passed below the windows. It’s easy to see what
a clear shot Oswald had.
The museum
provides devices with headsets, so you can control the audio tour and choose to
hear extra information or not. You can stop listening and view video or read
the various signs displayed on the divider walls throughout the exhibit space.
I stopped to watch and listen to the TV coverage when reporters first realized
the President’s limo was speeding forward under the overpass. It’s tragic
reporting, but excellent coverage as the situation becomes clearer. I also
watched the President’s funeral as it was shown on television.
It’s
impossible not to feel the grief expressed by the crowds and by Mrs. Kennedy
and the children. Toward the end of the audio tour, I really didn’t want to
hear any more as I felt just as conflicted about what happened in retrospect as
I had when the details surfaced during the two investigations into the
assassination. At that point I quit listening and wandered up to the Seventh
Floor where photos were allowed, but where there wasn’t really anything worth a
photograph.
When we left
the museum, we walked down to the infamous grassy knoll and wandered around
Dealey Plaza reading the various signs about that day. We stood in the very
place where Abraham Zapruder stood
shooting the 8mm film that would become critical to the investigations that
followed.
In the middle of the street there are two white X’s marking the
positions of the two bullets that struck the President. It was surreal seeing
those marks. I’m glad we
took the time to see this historic site, but it has made me sad all over again.
If you get time, read Mrs. Kennedy and Me written by Clint Hill, her
personal Secret Service agent. The book lets you see into the very personal
lives of the family and especially that of Jackie Kennedy. It’s worth the read.
First Officer’s Entry:
I hate
feeling like I’m getting ripped. Pressed
pennies are 51 cents, two quarters and a penny.
But not here! Nope. Here they are four quarters and a penny. That’s a rip.
And I have NEVER paid $4.50 for a single scoop ice cream cone. That’s a rip.
And the Senior Rate for entrance to the museum was $14.00. That’s a rip.
And the $7.00 for parking, well I guess that’s the new normal as that's
what we paid at the Cowgirl Museum. But
it’s still a rip.
And another
“new normal” seems to be the “no photos” policies of museums. Both the Cowgirl Museum and the Sixth Floor
Museum do not allow photographs. And the
SFM even had GUARDS standing around to make sure you don’t snap a
shot of the sniper’s nest Oswald built for himself.
Other than
all that I guess I liked the SFM. I
guess. I dunno. I still have a real bad feeling about the
place.
After the
museum we walked over to the “Grassy Knoll.”
If there was a second shooter it would have been a tough shot as he
(she?) would have been shooting at a moving target that was trans-versing at a
90 degree angle. At least Oswald’s
target was moving away from him in a reasonably straight line.
Oh well, it
was fun watching the idiots running out in the street to get their pictures
taken by the “X” that marks the spot. I
swear the Dallas drivers peel away from the stop light at the top of the slope
just so they can scare the hell out of the idiots. Seems to be the Dallas City sport. Good on them.
End Log
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