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

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.