Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

DALLAS BEFORE THE VISIT

The President’s announced intention to visit Texas in the fall of 1963 generated extensive coverage in the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times-Herald beginning September 13. Local sentiment was mixed: while some editorials and letters were critical, Dallas officials publicly urged citizens to serve as “congenial hosts.” Concern sharpened after Adlai Stevenson was jeered and jostled by demonstrators on October 24, prompting Mayor Earle Cabell to call on Dallas to redeem itself. Police Chief Curry arranged for additional off-duty officers, and on November 18 the City Council adopted an ordinance against interference with lawful assemblies. The Dallas Chamber of Commerce president and a local Republican leader also publicly appealed for a dignified welcome. Against this backdrop, hostile elements surfaced just before the visit, including an anonymous “Wanted for Treason” handbill distributed on November 21 and a black-bordered “Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas” advertisement placed by the American Factfinding Committee in the Morning News on the morning of the President’s arrival.

VISITS TO OTHER TEXAS CITIES

President and Mrs. Kennedy departed the White House by helicopter on the morning of November 21, 1963, and flew by Air Force One to San Antonio, where they were joined by Vice President Johnson and Governor Connally for a motorcade and the dedication of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks AFB. The party then flew to Houston for a motorcade, a speech at Rice University Stadium before a large enthusiastic crowd, and a dinner honoring Representative Albert Thomas. Staff member David F. Powers remarked that an extra 100,000 people appeared to have come to see Mrs. Kennedy. The party flew on to Fort Worth that evening, staying overnight at the Texas Hotel. On the morning of November 22, the President addressed a crowd from an open parking lot. Before leaving Fort Worth, Kennedy discussed with O’Donnell the risks of public appearances, observing that a determined assassin with a high building and a telescopic rifle could not be defended against.

ARRIVAL AT LOVE FIELD

Following morning rain in Dallas, clearing skies greeted Air Force One when it touched down at Love Field at 11:40 a.m. on November 22. Vice President Johnson’s Air Force Two had arrived about five minutes earlier. Governor and Mrs. Connally and Senator Ralph Yarborough had accompanied the President from Fort Worth. After a reception committee welcome, President and Mrs. Kennedy walked along a chain-link fence greeting the large crowd of spectators behind it, with Secret Service agents forming a cordon and Dallas police and plainclothesmen positioned along and within the crowd. About ten minutes after arrival, the Kennedys proceeded to the Presidential automobile to begin the motorcade.

ORGANIZATION OF THE MOTORCADE

The Dallas motorcade followed standard Secret Service procedures for permitting public viewing while providing protection. Its vehicle order began with Dallas police motorcycles, a pilot car staffed by Dallas police about a quarter mile ahead, and additional motorcycles for crowd control. The lead “rolling command car,” an unmarked Dallas police car driven by Chief Curry and carrying Secret Service Agents Sorrels and Lawson and Sheriff Decker, ran four to five car lengths ahead of the President’s limousine. The Presidential limousine was a 1961 Lincoln convertible with a clear plastic bubble-top that was neither bulletproof nor bullet resistant; on Kellerman’s instructions, following O’Donnell’s standing order, the top was removed because of the clear weather. The President rode on the right of the rear seat with Mrs. Kennedy on his left, Governor and Mrs. Connally on the jump seats, Special Agent Greer driving, and Kellerman in the front passenger seat. Flanking motorcycles followed, then the Presidential followup car—a 1955 Cadillac convertible carrying eight armed Secret Service agents plus presidential assistants Powers and O’Donnell—whose agents were charged with scanning crowds, buildings, windows, roofs, and overpasses for trouble and moving to the President’s sides if the motorcade slowed or stopped. The Vice-Presidential car and its followup car followed two to three car lengths behind, with Senator Yarborough riding with the Johnsons, and the rear of the motorcade consisted of cars for other dignitaries, telephone and Western Union vehicles, press and staff buses, an ambulance car, and a police car with motorcycles. A base station in Dallas linked the lead car, Presidential car, followup car, communications car, Trade Mart, Love Field, and the Presidential and Vice-Presidential airplanes by radio.