My son, a recent graduate from New Rochelle High School, was in Dallas a few days ago visiting family. Given his strong interest in history, his uncle agreed to take him into downtown Dallas to walk around Dealy Plaza where President Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald (and various and sundry characters if you believe Oliver Stone). They visited the sniper’s nest that Oswald set up on the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository and then wandered over to see the infamous “grassy knoll”.
There they encountered a small film crew recording an interview with an older gentleman in front of the grassy knoll. The man turned out to be Robert H. Jackson. In 1964, Jackson was a young news photographer working for the Dallas Times-Herald when he was assigned to photograph the President’s trip to Dallas. Jackson was riding in the media car of President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade through Dealey Plaza and snapped a shot of the 6th floor window of the Texas School Book Depository just seconds after Oswald’s final shot. Oswald, however, had already fled.
Jackson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his photograph of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby (above).
After they were done filming, Jackson agreed to pose for a photograph with my son and his uncle (also originally from New Rochelle).
On the 7th floor of the Texas Book Depository is an exhibit of Jackson’s photographs.