No other crimes have been more analyzed or scrutinized than what happened here a half century ago. It's been picked apart for decades. But the, but the tragedy of this is that no one has ever taken the due diligence of time to really put these pieces together until now. It's perhaps the strongest evidence yet that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered Dallas. Policeman JD Tippet. The wallet puts him definitively at the scene of the crime. The wallet, a persistent mystery that right there is significant one that Ferris Rookstool, a former FBI analyst and noted JFK historian started studying two years ago to sit down. This is Ron Ryland. Uh We are, you can imagine the confusion that's going on in the city of Dallas today. The mysterious wallet first appeared on W FAA that afternoon. Let's roll the film and we'll narrate it as we go. A channel eight photographer showed it and presumed it was Officer Tippets. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is Oswald's wallet. If we move up, Rookstool set out to prove it. This is a frame grab from Ron Ryland's uh film footage. He compared the channel eight film to Oswald's wallet in the National Archives and then found a similar one to show us each has circular snaps, metal strips and perhaps the biggest similarity, a zipper over the cash compartment, different color and characteristics than tippets. You remember all those times that you see him take that out of that pocket this month for the first time his widow shared the policeman's wallet with us. Tippets is black has a different style snap, no metal bar like Oswald's and no zipper. A half hour east of Birmingham in Pell City, Alabama is the only man alive today who saw Oswald's wallet at Tippet's murder. As I walked up, not knowingly stepped in a puddle of blood, which was Tippet's blood. I thought, oh God, what have I done? Bob Barrett spent 27 years as an FBI agent where Oswald was and what he was looking at. Here's the box. He used to rest the gun on for the shot and was sent to investigate the tippe murder that day where he recognized a Dallas police captain thumbing through a billfold. He said, Bob, you know, all the CS in town, all the woods, et cetera. You ever heard of uh uh Lee Harvey Oswald? And I said, no, I never have. How about Alex Idell? I said, no, I never had heard of him either. Why would they be asking me questions about Oswald and Idell if it wasn't in that wallet? In fact, the first Dallas cop on the scene said he actually recovered the wallet and this is the only, um, written account, Sergeant Kenneth Croy, a reserve officer put it in writing on an eight by 10 for Rookstool first on the scene recovered Oswald's wallet there too. But officially Dallas police told a different story said they got it from Oswald himself after his arrest. Why Barrett and Rookstool police made that up because too many officers handled the crucial piece of evidence. They said they took the wallet out of his pocket in the car. That's so much hogwash Bob's in Alabama. Kenneth Croy is in Hamilton, Texas. They had no relationship with each other other than uh the fate of history. Put them at the scene of a crime. Brooks Tool says both men Tippets, Bill Fold and the W FAA film prove that Oswald's wallet was at the policeman's murder and more than shell casings and eyewitness recollections. It is the first hard evidence placing Oswald there that day significant and tying off a historical loose end and perfecting the record. 50 years later, Jason Whiteley Channel eight News 90 miles northwest of Chicago in a sheet metal building down a dead end road is a little known museum that will make any collector envious. Well, when people first come here, they see the outside of the building and they get a different impression than they see when they get to the inside. The name, historic auto attractions doesn't do this place justice she wore these Wayne lying has assembled the largest public collection of JFK memorabilia outside of the National Archives. We have about the most hard artifacts. You can not, writings, not papers, hard artifacts, artifacts like Lee Harvey Oswald's getaway car marathon taxi number 36 a 1962 checker cab that Oswald hailed to get back to his oak cliff rooming house. There's also a printing plate that Dallas morning news used to stamp out that historic headline and the Dallas police uniform that Nick mcdonald wore when he arrested Oswald. I want everybody to enjoy what this is because I'm trying to preserve history. Sing, paid $15,000 for Jack Ruby's size 11 floor shine Wing Tips which Ruby had on when he shot Oswald and next to them, another historic vehicle, the ambulance from o'neill funeral home in Dallas, the 1962 Ford that rushed Oswald to Parkland. My favorite piece of the Kennedy is of course, right behind me, the 56 Cadillac. It's so awesome, so big. That was the secret service car directly behind the president's limousine. We didn't expect though what would happen next? It's not for short guys right there. Hop in outside Lins, let us go over the railing and climb in that historic Cadillac. This door is heavy. Oswald's bullets went right over the top of this car. They did. I mean there sits our president and Jackie right ahead of us. I mean, it can't get no more realistic, can it? We're in the actual car we're there and we got the field and wining has picked up some odd items as well. Secret service man got a small piece of this cake and kept it all those years and then they decided to auction it off in New York City. And oh, that one intrigued me. It was the top of JFKS 45th birthday cake lensing paid $6500 for it. He purchased one of Jackie's veils from JF K's funeral and has Oswald's first tombstone. A £130 slab of granite. What kind of money do you think you put into the JFK collection? I'd just soon not say that people that I know, but that ain't a good thing to bring up, makes his money building race cars, but he put up his business as collateral that would line up, took out a $3 million loan and started shopping. Auctions. Lysing actually bought a lot of his JFK collection from a Florida man and then picked up other artifacts at auctions all across the country. 3 to 400 items in all. I don't need money. I like these hard artifacts. I love these things because it's, it's this thing in life that I, I thrive for to have this stuff. It's like an addiction. Once you get started lensing seems more of a gearhead than a curator. This is an invitation but unlike most JFK collectors, he doesn't lock away his artifacts. Lensing wants people to take a look inside that sheet metal building in rural Illinois. Jason Whiteley channel eight news, the presidential one moment defines Dealy Plaza. Everybody just seemed to be enjoying and having a good summer time outing. But long before that Dealy Plaza defined Dallas, it was built on the site where dallas' founder settled. John Mely Brian built a home here, the city's first home in the 18 forties. So it is fitting that his land became the grand entrance to his city in the 1930 yet. It isn't Bryan Plaza. It's d do you think that people in Dallas know enough about the man himself? Well, not anymore. Unfortunately, George Bannerman Dely managed the Dallas Morning news from day one. His editorial influence led the city to adopt the master plan that would turn Dallas into what it is today. So for the Art Deco City Park, with the innovative triple underpass to bear his name. Made perfect sense. And then this is a bookstore, a Texas bookstore. Something that made no sense. 1963 a Dallas treasure was tarnished. Well, I know that he would be heartbroken if Dey would have been alive. He would have campaigned to restore Dallas's reputation. But shame led Dealy Plaza to fall into disrepair. Everyone just turned away from it. It was just too hard. There was even talk of tearing down the building where the fatal shots were fired. The city wanted to forget the school book depository was not leveled. It eventually became the Dallas County Administration building with the museum on the top floors full of facts. Some little known ones, Dealy Plaza was built in the mid and late 19 thirties. It was a works progress administration effort and one of the officials who oversaw the project was some young Texan whose name was Lyndon B Johnson. And today Daily Plaza is beginning to look like it is supposed to look. It's great historian Judith Segura led a campaign to raise more than a million and a half dollars for the restoration. I hope he's happy about what's happening now, giving our founding fathers and our unavoidable past something both deserve respect. Theresa Woo Channel eight news. This box has been sitting here for years. They are the little items in life. One's often discarded and his lads, those were the ones that he wore but still bring tears to Marie Tippett. Keep sakes reminders Lee Harvey Oswald was never charged with assassinating President Kennedy, but he was for killing Dallas policeman JD Tippett Marie's husband because this is a very emotional thing. This box has been sitting here for years inside are the only tangible items she still has of his extra buttons. She would sew on to his police uniform. The map book that JD Tippett used on patrol and even some of the old citations he wrote for things like loud mufflers. A small box of memories and Mementos that she shared with us. A half century after her husband's death, I needed to keep my first Children in his grandchildren. Then there are the personal items J D's wristwatch, which wound up still works. The tattered book he was using to study Spanish then watch what she pulls out next. You know, I kept all of them things. Show me that the toothbrush. Why'd you keep that? He burst his dish with it every day, JD Tippett's toothbrush. A simple everyday item somehow keeps his memory close to her interest in all the little things that we leave behind. 50 years after Oswald murdered Tippett, three Children, a broken heart and a small collection of keepsakes are the only reminders of Marie's 17 years of marriage, Jason Whiteley Channel Eight News and now speaking for Christ and against communism here is he wasn't from Dallas Cuba 90 miles from the shores of Florida, but popular right wing radio evangelist Billy James Hargis, close ties to retired general Edwin Walker who did live here left the very clear impression Dallas wasn't just conservative. It was far right. The capture of Cuba by the communist is the most unable Walker organized protests against integration at the University of Mississippi linked up with conservative oil baron HL hunt to make a failed run for Texas. Governor Dallas leaders loved him when someone fired a shot at Walker and Miss, he said he knew who did it indications that there is a threat to our individual rights and liberties. Investigators later linked Lee Harvey Oswald to the attempt on Walker's life. 50 years ago, the majority of citizens in Dallas were moderately conservative. William Holmes was then pastor at North Haven United Methodist church. He says neither Hargis nor Walker represented the typical Dallas resident. They were business oriented, family oriented church and synagogue oriented and adamantly disinclined to challenge anyone who held a more radically conservative point of view, but left unchallenged voices of Walker. Hargis and others only grew louder and their silence created a vacuum that was soon filled by a minority vocal group of extremists who vilified and demonized anyone who took a different point of view. Walker supporters in Dallas heckled favorite son Lyndon Johnson when he visited in 1960 they disrupted an appearance by Un Ambassador Adlai Stevenson just weeks before the assassination, yelled and the president of the United States, the shooting immediately stunned William and Nancy Holmes. Within hours, they started hearing from friends who was a teacher in the school, uh shared with me Children in her classroom. Uh che uh not all of them but some of the Children cheered. That story provided the theme to this sermon. Two days later, the city where many leaders and officials expressed anxiety and fear of incident. He repeated the sermon that week on national television in the name of God. What kind of city have we become before? Um The broadcast went off the air, the telephone started ringing and I kept score 464 letters telegrams, postcards from strangers and the famous one of them that was specially meaningful to the family came from Hugh Brannan who was Mr Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo. Most supported the Reverend Holmes message. But immediately after the broadcast, Dallas police told them not all and they said your house is under bomb threat and the station is under bomb threat for days. They lived under police protection. Reverend Holmes preaching armed detectives in the pew. Edwin Walker's tirades continued as the country grieved. Dallas was shunned fortune magazine called the city's powerful business community, an oligarchy that had not done enough to isolate extremists, a reputation that lingered. It's not the individual person of Dallas. It's something evil festering stinking in this community. It's not just that President Kennedy was killed here. So was his assassin on live television while in the hands of Dallas police a difficult time, but Dallas didn't kill John Kennedy. It just happened here and today the city still has its problems, still prides itself on being conservative but hard work. And 49 Novembers have helped erase much of that extremist image. The one remaining question is for how long do mckay channel eight news here comes Oswald down the hall again. You find that that's as fast as you people have been given, but I emphatically deny these charges. This is not just a photograph, it's evidence, it's really surreal to be standing in the exact spot where history was made a snapshot in time made March 31st 1963 here in Oswald's backyard at 214, Neely Street, former FBI analyst and JFK. Historian Ferris Rooks says Oswald's wife, Marina took the photo that day thinking her husband had gone crazy for wanting photos made like this. It's typical of a lot of killers. They want to have the last photographic documentation which is a self created illusion or a way of portraying the image that they want to maintain their legacy. Not only is this the same spot where Oswald was standing that day when he took this picture, this is the type of camera he used that day. It's called an Imperial Reflex. The day after Kennedy's assassination, police searched Oswald's belongings, they found copies of this photograph along with others and two negatives. The FBI considered this key evidence in the case, the backyard photograph is the single most incriminating piece of evidence there is in existence. The suspect is about starting with the rifle. It directly links him to the rifle in that was found in the book deposit store. Then the pistol, you can actually find the pistol on his, on his hip that he used and was actually on Officer JD Tippett in February 1967 Oswald's closest friend George Demos Shed discovered an original full frame signed print in items he had placed in storage and on the back, Oswald autographed the photo. It says to my friend George, you could do a handwriting analysis on the back of the photo and determine that's actually Oswald's which they did. And then the second thing is you had Marina Oswald uh writing a hot Jascha mi ha ha ha, which means Hunter after the fascist on the back of the photograph. So now you have multiple parties, not just a police officer saying, oh yeah, we found these, these photos. Are you holding the rifle? And what about the quality of the photo that plays a part too? Oswald worked for a photography plant in Dallas where investigators believe he printed this photo before his last day of work. Hence the date, April 5th, 1963 this was printed with a higher quality optics, the projection on the paper, it was printed full frame and it, it, it captured more detail in that particular photograph than any other than any other print that is in existence. That's how they know it's the original, the original signed photo was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee on assassinations in 1977 for 11 years. It sat in a vault in the National archives until its rifle owner, Jan De Mourns Shed wanted it back. Remember Oswald gave the photo to her late husband George and autographed it to him on the back. Jean wrote Rookstool a letter asking for his help. So rookstool forwarded the letter to the Clerk of the US House of Representatives. And within a week, the original photograph showed up in the mail because that was the first time I was going to actually hold in my hands. The original photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald signed on the back by Oswald that was given to her and her late husband George. It's, it's the equivalent of going to the National archives and them pulling out a national treasure, an image that will forever be synonymous with the JFK assassination. Jelly Slater channel eight news, step off the elevator on the eighth floor of Fort Worth's downtown Hilton. There's a picture of John F. Kennedy. You're in Jfks footsteps. Now, straight ahead, you see him leaving for Dallas to the left, the place where the first couple spent their last night. We think it was right here on the eighth floor and it was on the east side of hotel. This is where it all started. General manager, Dave Fulton thinks suite 850 was right there, but the suite itself disappeared in renovations years ago, leaving behind only standard room 808, which is not marked at all now and it's just a room now. That's correct. Isn't that kind of sad that that wasn't preserved. Life goes on. We didn't disturb the current guest with historic details back in 63. This was still the hotel Texas, which was already 42 years old. A news camera caught employees spiffing up suite 850 which was plain and not even the hotel's best by President Johnson got that one. Some historians think the secret service had safety concerns about the best rooms up eight floors up on this end. President Kennedy peeked out of his window, this window facing south and saw crowds swelling on the parking lot in cold rain. He dived in There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth. So he comes out and goes into the park right there and did his presentation. Hilton is the first owner to truly use the Kennedy connection as a draw. And these are all the pictures from this hotel on that particular day. The impromptu speech in the rain, the breakfast bash arranged by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. I don't know any city that's better represented where the president touted the city's strong ties to defense industry, products of Fort Worth and the men of Fort Worth provide us with a sense of security. The hotel has undergone so many changes almost 50 years ago. Even the manager isn't sure exactly where it all happened. Thank you. But every new staff member learns the history and goes through a penning ceremony. This is a moment in time. A place in history will play its part, a place that finally got AJ FK tribute just last year Plaza and the sixth floor Museum will forever be the focus. But many will want to spend the 50th anniversary and the last place President Kennedy slept in it rain in Fort Worth and reflect on the promise in the United States. We're going forward of the following morning in Fort Worth, Jim Douglas channel eight news. When the president waves goodbye, waits for his wife and back. They go to the car. It was a perfect convertible top down day in Dallas, clear blue sky and a warm sun as President Kennedy's car, big beautiful Lincoln made its way past adoring crowds lining the streets. So I would consider this a big crowd. It would be the president's final ride in this 1961 Lincoln Continental Street, Maine and Harwood, right? He's on Harwood Avenue now approaching Maine which left him so clearly exposed to a gunman's rage in Daley Plaza. President Kennedy and Governor John Colony have been cut down by assassin's bullets in downtown Dallas. The public's last glimpse of the sedan that day was a blurry one as it raced. The mortally wounded president to Parkland, the president, his limp body carried in the arms of his wife. Jacqueline has rushed to Parkland hospital. The car quietly returned to the White House after that where it was examined by investigators. Then according to government documents, it was cleaned to remove blood stains and debris. Crews were told to do whatever was necessary to place the car in operating condition to find out more about that we traveled to Detroit, the birthplace and the retirement home of the Kennedy limousine. I think it's amazing just to see that this is really the car that he was in now permanently parked at the Henry Ford Museum, allowing visitors to remember where JFK was, where they stood, one on each side, one on the back and where they were that day. I was in a, they just shut the job down the limo. Now looks a lot different license plates on here. On first glance, you might not think it is the car because of all the changes, it was reupholstered, repainted and much more. This was a new, new model for Lincoln when they introduced it in 61 explains Matt Anderson the whole trip from Love Field to Daley Plaza there, the Curator of Transportation at the Henry Ford, the first thing they did after the session was add a permanent roof with bulletproof glass. All he says armor plates were also inserted into the doors and that the tires were made flat proof. Many visitors wonder why nobody else used something that surprises a lot of people about the history of this presidential limousine is that it didn't end with the assassination of JFK. I didn't know that I was wonder about that. Seeing the pla the Kennedy limo actually went to serve President Johnson Nixon Ford and Carter. I've read that Johnson himself was particularly uneasy about riding this car for understandable reasons. Johnson himself had ordered the car to be painted black because he thought that blue would be too associated with Kennedy in the assassination. But even after all the drastic alterations over the years, people are still gravitating to it even 50 years later. And I think it will always have a resonance. This car is still taking people on a journey back to that terrible day in Dallas that started so perfectly. Jason Wheeler channel eight news at Dallas Love Field. Every time Air Force one touches down pride and patriotism take flight 50 years ago. Next big jet approach on November 22nd, 1963. Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Bob Walker speaking from Dallas. Love field. Excitement filled the air. Kennedy and the yells and the president of the United States history had arrived and they're going to come right on down and shake hands with everybody. But the trip that started with so much celebration, Kennedy and Governor John Cony have been cut down by assassin's bullets in downtown Dallas ended with a stunned nation and a new president on the east ramp two hours after John F. Kennedy's assassination in the cabin of Air Force one, Lyndon B Johnson was sworn in. This is probably as close as we can get where LBJ was sworn into office. Getting here took some digging. Then we can figure out basically and these photographs of the aircraft taken by a former FAA employee from outside. This tower guided the way in the background. Landmarks that still stand today, knowing the location from where the photograph was taken, we could get some fairly accurate measurements as to exactly where the aircraft was set at the time. These clues combined with the Jets floor plan and some math helped pinpoint the historic location. There's not many people in the public that are going to have access to the spot. So even from that standpoint, it's kind of special, but travelers can get a glimpse from this window on the second floor of the new terminal. An exhibit to highlight the swearing in areas in the works. It's set to include the airport's file on Kennedy's visit all around inside all the preparation notes for the visit and a calendar page from the airport director's secretary and she grabbed the first thing that she could grab to write on which happened to be her calendar, just looking at it just, just feel history unfolding field holding on to its history 50 years later, honoring the past while building its new future in Dallas Monica Diaz Channel Eight news, a half century has passed interest. Hasn't someone even left flowers larger than the marker. A single name on a simple stone, stark contrast to a complex time. There was a funeral of a very different sort today in nearby Fort Worth the same day, the nation buried a president, a family buried his killer. This was the dreary funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged murderer of President Kennedy A W FAA camera was there. This is only the third time I've been out here. Mike Cochran was too with, with hair and no beard carrying the casket. The six pallbearers you see, here are news. There were not enough relatives or friends on hand to serve as pall bearers. The Undertaker was desperate and tried to recruit reluctant reporters because of, of being with the associated press. The I was one of the first that they approached and and of course, I, I did not tell him just no, I told him hell no, but a competitor hoping it would help land. An interview said, yes, well, I wasn't totally stupid. So it only took me about a half second to change my mind. And then I told him, I said, oh, III, I too will be a pall bearer. So six reporters and the funeral home director carried Lee Harvey Oswald body from this chapel to this grave. Oswald's widow, Children, brother and mother were the only Mourners one step above a pauper's funeral. It cost $710 710 for the entire funeral, including the casket and the use of the chapel. And then of course, the uh the graveside service, the service lasted 20 minutes. It would be 18 years before Mike Cochran returned. Work started before dawn to dig up the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald. An author's theory that an impostor. Not Oswald had been buried, led to an exhumation in 1981. An autopsy immediately proved that theory wrong, but it brought Cochran back to the scene. The approaching 50th anniversary did too. I don't know that even as a reporter that I've got the words to kind of describe being right here. It's an eerie place made more odd by this. Buried beside Lee Harvey Oswald is someone named Ruby. Curiosity seekers are drawn here. The ground is worn, the flowers are fresh after the funeral, I went home to Fort Worth and sat down in front of the TV in the semi darkness beside my wife, 50 year old memories and we watched the TV. Reruns are two watching all that and I finally broke down and cried. Teresa Woodard channel eight news report from police. They are converging on an area. There's been a report that a policeman's been shot out there. This can't be happening. A Dallas policeman, 38 year old JJ D Tippett was shot to death. It's gotta be a nightmare in which it was the weapon that was used to kill the policeman, but it was real. It's part of the story often forgotten and untold, I don't think anybody gonna forget the history that happened here. No, right off the downtown area of Dallas. The story of officer JD Tippet, a Dallas police officer on patrol in Oak Cliff that November day here is a picture of the man who allegedly shot, shot while trying to stop Lee Harvey Oswald. I wasn't bitter that, that what good would that have done? It wouldn't have brought back. The father of three would never grow old with his wife, Marie or even meet his grandchildren on November 22nd, 1963 for decades, Marie Tippett sat patiently waiting to honor her husband. Tippett was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. All the while her pain never subsiding, I still miss him terribly. And I get by one day at a time with God's help. Nine years after that dreadful day, the old wood frame homes and apartments have given way to a renovated high school and a historical marker. Five decades in the making. This is an act of respect and remembrance, Michael Amman with the Oak Cliff Conservation League stepped up to honor Tippet his first call to the Dallas school district. You said this was a big pile of dirt. This is a big pile of dirt because they were excavating. But the district quickly redrew its plans including landscaping and benches on its property next to Adamson High School. This is an opportunity for the students to be a part of history. I just stop and reminisce think about all the good times and then usually have a cry because he's not there anymore. But J D's memory still sits close to her heart in a necklace, a replica of his badge. One touch of this keepsake, brings it all back. You didn't, if you seen them. Marie says her love story is far from over. She'll see old blue eyes on the other side. But for now she talks to him right here in a spot transformed through the years. Gave a terse order on November 22nd, 1963 cars in the motorcade to speed immediately to the nearest hospital. 23 patients were already in the emergency room at Parkland Hospital. When President John F Kennedy was wheeled into trauma room, one, there was no air conditioning and the room was crowded with doctors security and the president's wife. As we looked at the president, I never saw any evidence of life. I didn't see him breathe. Doctor Ronald Jones was chief resident at the time, but I don't think I gave any CPR no longer works at Parkland. That's at the hospital now, isn't it? In fact, no one at the hospital 50 years ago is employed there today. This used to be the emergency department in 1963. From a room, one has been a radiology waiting room since 1969. Nothing, not even a tile left, only a bronze plate with a date. No explanation marks the spot where President Kennedy was pronounced dead. What is this? This is the official seal during Kennedy's presidency. A memorial display in the administrative hall is the only other of park's infamous connection to JFK history. We need to get approval from the White House for how we were going to set it up the portraits. We were going to use the plaques that we were going to put in place. The emergency room now treats nearly 200,000 patients annually. And the trauma bay numbers start with 27. There is no longer a number one. Is there anything left in trauma rooms that's similar to a trauma room of 1963? The bed, that's about it. We have more monitors, we have more and higher quality equipment than probably what was back. The mortal remains of the president leaving Parkland hospital. But Doctor Brent Reichler says based on his injuries, not even the best technology available today could have saved Kennedy just in case since 63 Parkland reserves a trauma room. Each time a sitting president visits big D with a new billion dollar hospital rising across the street comes the potential the old place will be torn down. The bronze plate will vanish. And Parkland s link to the Kennedy legacy will become only fading memories and pictures. Janet ST James channel eight news. There's Mrs Kennedy and the crowd yells and the president of the United States governor and Mrs Connolly Governor Conley on your left is up to the fence now, shaking hands with people, the women five lives forever connected through tragedy waving as you can see just moments after the Kennedys bask in the glow of adoring crowds, darkness enveloped Jacqueline Kennedy as she sat alone outside a hospital operating room, Lady Bird Johnson described it in her diaries, put my arms around her and said something. I'm sure it was quite banal like God help us all. After consoling Mrs Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson rushed to comfort her old friend, Nelly Conley, first Lady of Texas. I hugged her tight and we both cried and I said it's going to be all right. 2500 people are gathered at the tables rather excitedly awaiting the arrival of President Kennedy waiting at the trademark friends, Jan Sanders and Federal Judge Sarah T Hughes. Word spread quickly from those listening to the chaos unfold on the radio. That's what they were hearing on the transistor radio. They were tracking. When was he gonna walk in the door here? And um then of course, it began to change, that news report began to change something has happened. It would be Judge Hughes that would deliver the oath of office to Lyndon Johnson, Jackie Kennedy and Ladybird Johnson Hughes later recorded her thoughts for the University of North Texas. I must not keep my mind on Kennedy. I must think about the future because the country has to go on. Hughes is the only woman in us history to administer an oath to a United States president, a Dallas policeman, 38 year old JJ D Tippett was while that happened. Another woman learned the news that she too, would be forever changed. A total shock, total shock. You just, it's just such a shocking thing. You just like this can't be happening. It's got to be a nightmare in which it was, but it was real. The weapon that was used to kill the policeman. Marie Tippett was home with her son when she learned her husband, Officer JD Tippet had been shot and killed, pulling her into a national tragedy that shaped her life as she mourned the death of her husband, the nation mourned the death of a president. This happens in foreign countries. This doesn't happen here. It certainly doesn't happen in Dallas. Even though there was this hateful environment. There was a hateful environment, Jan Sanders, wife of then us attorney barefoot Sanders and Judge Hughes own admiration for the president led them to create the John F Kennedy memorial book fund. Hoping to enlighten Dallas school Children about the presidency. The intersection of 10th and Patton streets has changed. Marie Tippett has her own remembrance, a letter and picture from a fellow widow, Jacqueline Kennedy that she had lit a flame for Jack and it would burn forever. And she would consider that it was burning for my husband too. And I just felt that was such a wonderful thing for Bob that she had, that she was gonna see it burn for my husband too, to take time out in her own grief, to reach out to you. And like you said you were in the same place. We shared the same bond. A bond only two widows could share on the same dark day in Dallas on a busy ramp at Love Field's new terminal. Nothing more than an orange square marks the spot where history happened. This is the spot, the exact spot Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. We're obligated to commemorate this in some fashion. 50 years after Jfks assassination, it was a challenge to pinpoint but the city used this snapshot from that day identified current landmarks and did some math to establish Air force one's position and the state room where LBJ took the oath. This is the actual um replica of where the president was sworn in. JFK. Historian Ferris Rookstool is making sure that moment is not forgotten. This is the actual spot at Love field where our constitution was preserved. He personally paid for a £43 bronze plaque to be embedded into the concrete. If you stop and think just an 18 by 24 inches, this gives the beginning and the end of a presidency and someone's life. This spot right here marks only the fourth time in American history that the oath of office was given outside of the nation's capital. And it is the first time it was given west of the Mississippi River. The closest the public can get is a window in the new terminal. A 28 2nd presidential inauguration. Soon to be forever remembered on that busy ramp at Love Field. Jason Whiteley Channel eight News. But uh the associated press quotes two priests who were with the president stating that he died from the bullet wounds. Moments after shots were fired and chaos erupted on the streets of Dallas. Life for two teenage Texas girls changed forever. The news shattered idyllic college life for 19 year old Linda Bird Johnson at the University of Texas. She came over and told me that they had had on the radio that the president had been shot. Johnson and her younger sister, Lucy shared their memories about that dark day in Dallas during a series of rarely seen lectures at the University of Texas spanning five years, we literally fell on our knees and started praying. 16 year old Lucy Baines Johnson was in Spanish class at the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington and a young woman in my class came running in said the president's been shot, the president's been shot. She soon learned that the man she called uncle Johnny. Governor John Conley had been shot too. She heard not a word about her parents. A secret service agent came and ushered her out of class and into a new life. The best of times and the worst of times took place in the next five years. But my life was changed forever. One of the first things we heard often when we woke up was, hey, hey LBJ. I mean boys, did you count today that terrible war as Lucy calls, it became the president's burden. The taunts especially hurtful because the sisters had husbands serving in Vietnam. But there were many proud and happy moments like the president signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law. We believe that all men are created equal. What a privilege. What a privilege to be an eyewitness to so many historical moments. The sisters came to view life in the White House as a prison, a fish bowl where their every action was scrutinized. But with time, the pain ebbed and pride flowed. It was clear, they had witnessed tremendous social and political change, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. And I look at this picture and I haven't done anything to contribute to history. And yet my father has made me feel I too served and played a role. The vast majority of Americans remembered as the day that an American president was assassinated. President. Only a few also remembered as the day that television news grew up. One of them, the young Channel eight news reporter seen carrying the camera there in the background. He had just returned from Parkland Hospital where he witnessed a horrific moment in American history. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, you'll excuse the fact that I'm out of breath. But, but Bert's ship was about to become a part of it as w FAA began pioneering live nonstop reporting of a major event. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you the chief cameraman and assistant news director of W FA television. This is bet we have brought the people pretty much up to date. Uh Would you tell them exactly what, you know, as of this point, Jay, I was at the ship was to cover Kennedy's scheduled speech at the trademark when the presidential motorcade sped past him, something was very wrong. He left his car and hitched a ride with a cop to Parkland hospital and look at these faces on these people. They would look like zombies, you know, from, from the the movie that you see, see that sometimes his faces were just gone and, and they were crying and he says just minutes later, he was approached by a trusted source with shocking news. Sheriff Decker came out of one and I said, Sheriff, I said, what did it look like? He said he cannot live in the condition he's in this. What told me ship knew that seconds mattered. Having left his car back at the trademark. He commandeered a ride back to the station with a surprised stranger. I jump into, I said, I need to go to the studios and he said, I'm not going that way. And I said, yeah, you are, this is ship within seconds of his arrival. A breathless Burt Ship was on the air live. Well, Jay, I was standing at the uh Trademark waiting his arrival there. All of a sudden they, uh we saw them approaching, they didn't slow down. A matter of fact, they were going 7080 miles an hour past us. I, everybody was unknowingly, uh didn't know what happened there at the Trademark. And then, uh I jumped in a police car and went to Parkland when I got there. I found that, uh that nobody knew too much about where he was hit, but they knew that the president was shot in the head at that moment, even though ship was certain the president was dead, it was not official and he could not report it and he doesn't regret it. What he does regret, he says is not destroying that live recording. You just got on the air and started talking. I just got on the air. I uh I was embarrassed when I looked at it later on and Connolly's doctor will come out in about 15 minutes minutes later in between live interviews. Ship played a key role in the preservation of history. Abraham Zapruder had walked into channel eight with a camera in his hand. He had filmed the assassination and wanted ship to develop it. He convinced Zapruder channel eight was not equipped to do that. A lot of film. And he said, well, what are we gonna do with it? And I said, hang on just a second ship. Directed Zapruder to a Kodak lab. Where his processed film became legendary. 100 ft of film. How long does that last? Legendary A word also used to describe the man who spent the next 40 years helping to make W FAA TV, the industry standard bearer of quality journalism. One thing, a brand of news forged in a tempest of tragedy. On the day, a young reporter and his craft came of age ship Channel eight News, November 22nd, 1963 is best remembered as the day a president died less well remembered as the day a new presidency began on a crowded air force. One on the tarmac of love field. Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office became the 36th president of the United States and changed the course of history. Five days later, he was speaking to a joint session of Congress. All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. Did history change because John, we sat down with two pre eminent presidential historian Douglas Brinkley on the left and Michael Beschloss on the right SMU is now the world epicenter of presidential history when they visited SMU central account of the four days around the assassination. The topic, what would have happened had Kennedy lived once Lyndon Johnson was sworn in, he had the martyr syndrome of the dead. President was able to push through a lot of new frontier. Um me measures, legislation dealing with civil rights, dealing with the environment before he died. Nearly all of Kennedy's legislative priorities were bogged down in Congress Johnson rammed them through. Starting with Kennedy's watered down Civil Rights Act of 64. Then Johnson came back with his own much stronger Voting Rights Act of 65. That Kennedy was not the legislative genius that Lyndon Johnson was. We have already waited 100 years and more and the time for waiting is gone. That same year, Johnson championed his sweeping big government war on poverty, the creation of Medicare, Medicaid and a trove of government programs that still exist like head start. Would Kennedy have done that? Kennedy was a little bit more cautious, especially given Capitol Hill, he might not have done all that. The other great unknown had Kennedy lived was the quagmire that became the Vietnam War and the deep ways it changed our history. John Kennedy would have behaved differently on Vietnam for instance, than LBJ did. And I think you can make a pretty good argument that in certain ways he would have many historians believe Kennedy was growing skeptical of military engagement and would have been reluctant to put American soldiers on the ground in Vietnam. Imagine the sixties without Vietnam. The problem is, it's what if we don't know really what John F. Kennedy would have done, but we do know Johnson led America deep into Vietnam through deceptions that caused Americans to lose confidence in the presidency. The blowback consume Johnson's political career and many believe led to the election of Richard Nixon. And finally, Watergate Americans had a tendency to not only assume that what the president was saying was truthful, but also they had an uh a tendency to accept the official version of events. You know, if the government said this is how something that seems confusing happened. Most Americans tended to believe that Kennedy says, is the last President Americans truly trusted all things that changed that day when power passed between two very different men. David Schechter channel eight news on the ground floor of Parkland Hospital inside the radiology waiting room is the only evidence of what happened here. 50 years ago, I started work at Parkland Hospital in 1972 as a biomedical engineering technician. That's about the time Parkland was preparing to expand and demolish trauma room. One where doctors treated countless patients including President Kennedy a decade earlier. OK. Essentially, it, it was an emergency operating room. Don Pyatt took the only known pictures of the room that just happened to be the time that they opened the door to take the picture. Eight images where history happened historically significant to me. It is to us too. So we went to the National Archives in College Park Maryland, which holds some of the most extraordinary artifacts of JF K's assassination, the rifle that Oswald used to assassinate the president Abraham Zapruder's eight millimeter camera that captured it plus Jf K's bloody shirt and his Christian Dior necktie both cut off at Parkland along with an interesting chain of private letters about that historic hospital room. In 1971 Dallas County asked the Smithsonian if it wanted to preserve trauma room one, but the JFK library suggested the government get everything to keep the material out of the hands of sensationalists. Then in 1973 the director of the library told the archives again, if any reporters get on to the story, they should be told that neither the Kennedy family nor the JFK library are involved. A year later, the government paid Parkland $1000 then demolished trauma room. One, the door switches, outlets, lights, cabinets and ceramic wall tile were all removed intact and moved to the Fort Worth Federal Archives and Records Center when they came in with pick axes and hammers and they chopped the room up in little pieces and put them in these barrels and packed all the equipment up and left with them in 1988. Though the director of the Fort Worth Archives wrote apparently the Kennedy and Johnson libraries do not want any part of the Parkland objects. I really do not believe. He said that the material has the historical value to warrant its retention. Not to mention. Pet said that no one really knew what was even boxed up. He said, we don't have any idea what's in those, those crates, we looked in it there, there's shards of tow and uh glass bottles and hospital stuff. The National Archives here in Maryland says the contents of Parklands trauma room one are different but they are not federal records, meaning they're off limits to the public perhaps forever. The government said the only reason it purchased these old medical items is to keep them from becoming souvenirs. An eight inch vault door in Fort Worth is where trauma room one sat in crates for more than three decades. I believe that most of this was originally set into motion by the Kennedy family. Paris RSO is a former FBI analyst and among the few to actually see the items, all it is is a room with used equipment. There's nothing ghoulish about it. It's a disarticulated former hospital treatment facility. Six years ago, the archives moved and sent the Parkland crates to underground storage in Kansas City. This is just remnants of it. Dust and debris are all that remain now on the floor in Fort Worth. This was the state of the art tile that they used to have. The aging hospital equipment is essentially a state secret now locked away without clear explanation. The lock on the leaving pet's pictures and a small plaque as the only reminders of Parklands efforts to save the President, Jason Whiteley channel eight News.
