"IS THAT A FIRECRACKER"

A TRAGIC DAY IN DALLAS

Dallas, Texas (JFKASSASSINATION) On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was hit by rifle fire during a motorcade through Dallas.  There were 17 cars and one press bus in line, with the President and Mrs. Kennedy and Texas Governor John B. Connally and Mrs. Connally riding in the presidential car.

Just after the turn onto Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, witnesses heard a noise.   Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry, driving the lead car in front of the President, recalled someone saying, "Is that a firecracker?"   

The first noise was followed by what most witnesses believed to be two more.  The President sustained wounds in the throat, back and head.  Governor Connally was also severely wounded.  Secret Service agent Clint Hill, riding on the follow-up vehicle, made a valiant but failed attempt to reach the President after he saw him slump to the left.  

JFK was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where the medical staff did everything humanly possible to save him.   The President was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. local time.  John F. Kennedy was the 4th POTUS to be assassinated.  Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President.

With President Kennedy's remains on board, Air Force One returned to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington where the body was taken to Bethesda for autopsy.

SOURCE

"LBJ and the Kennedy Killing," by James T. Tague, Trine Day LLC, Walterville, OR, 2013. 

JFKASSASSINATION NOTE

James Tague writes in Chapter 3 of his book that "there were 3 to 4 seconds between the 1st & 2nd shots and the time between the 2nd & 3rd shot...was one right after the other indicating 1 to 1 1/2 seconds..."

He indicates that his view is supported by other eyewitnesses..."the 2 Secret Service agents (in JFK's car)" and Ken O'Donnell & Dave Powers "riding in the car behind the President's car." 

The Knoxville News-Sentinel

November 22, 1963

Final Edition

JESSE CURRY

FORMER DALLAS POLICE CHIEF JESSE CURRY DIED 34 YEARS AGO TODAY

Dallas, Texas (JFK+50) Arguably one of the most famous police chiefs in American history, Jesse Curry of the Dallas Police Department died 34 years ago today, June 22, 1980.

Curry, who was 66 years old at the time of his death, was born in Hamilton, Texas and lived in Dallas since he was just a few months old.

Jesse Curry, who was a graduate of the FBI National Academy in 1951,  was police chief in Dallas from 1960 to 1966.

He became famous when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during his watch in Dallas on November 22, 1963. 

Television coverage of the events at Dallas Police Headquarters, including the killing of the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, brought the image and voice of Jesse Curry into homes around the nation and around the world.

In an article written by Andrea Gallo and published last year by Dallas News, Jesse Curry's daughter, Cathey Mandrell-Tresp, still possesses the remnants of two of Jacqueline Kennedy's red roses which were clipped from the bunch left in JFK's car at Parkland Hospital by her father.

Ms. Mandrell-Tresp, who was 9 years old at the time, said that she admired the First Lady and keeps the roses pressed between the pages of a book.  Cathey plans to pass the roses down to her daughter.

Chief Curry was haunted by the events of November 22, 1963.  His daughter said that he often woke up in the middle of the night reliving the events of those "Four Dark Days."

At the time of the assassination, Curry was riding in the lead car of the motorcade  with secret service agents and Dallas County Sheriff Bill Decker.

Immediately after the shots were fired, Chief Curry ordered officers to search the area which came to be known as the Grassy Knoll.

At the time Lee Harvey Oswald was shot in the basement of Dallas Police HQ on November 24, 1963, Chief Curry was in his office taking a telephone call from Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell.

SOURCE

"For 50 years, ex-Dallas police chief's daughter has kept a pair of Jacqueline Kennedy's roses,"by Andrea Gallo, August 25, 2013, www.dallasnews.com/

JFK ASSASSINATION NOTE:

In 1969, Jesse Curry told Dallas Morning News...

"We don't have any proof that Oswald fired the rifle and never did.  Nobody's yet been able to put him in that building with a gun in his hands."