By John Judge In response to the previous post “Mayor Rawlings names committee to plan commemoration of JFK tragedy in Dallas” John Judge wrote the mayor of Dallas: The Coalition on Political Assassinations is a national network of serious researchers into the JFK assassination Our first president was Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, JD MD, who now directs the Cyril H Wecht Institute on Forensic Science and Law at Duquesne University. Other leading ballistics, forensic, medical experts, academics and former official investigators, authors and independent researchers present the best new evidence from scientific analysis, historical perspectives, and newly released documents. We were responsible for the passage and implementation of the JFK Assassination Records Act, which declassified a record 6.5 million pages that rewrote the history of the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy administration and the assassination itself. The new files verified the research and legal assertions of New Orleans D. A. Jim Garrison depicted in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK. A local Dallas representative of our organization should be appointed to this committee planning the events. Early critic and newspaper editor Penn Jones, Jr. from Midlothian, Texas began the tradition of an annual Moment of Silence on the…

Read more »

Rawlings names committee to plan commemoration of JFK tragedy in Dallas SCOTT K. PARKS The Dallas Morning News Staff Writer, 30 May 2012 A high-powered committee of Dallas philanthropists and community leaders has begun the sensitive job of planning events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Ruth Sharp Altshuler will serve as chairwoman of the committee, which was formed by Mayor Mike Rawlings. The 21-member group held its first meeting at Dallas City Hall on Tuesday. “We started by introducing ourselves, and many members shared where they were on Nov. 22, 1963, and what it meant to them,” Rawlings said. “There were several moments when there were a lot of tears in the room.” The committee’s formation means that Rawlings and longtime Dallas civic leaders have rejected the idea of letting the 50th anniversary come and go without official recognition or sanctioned events.

Read more »

By Jim Schutze , Dallas Observer Let’s be clear about this. Old, rich keep-a-lid-on-it Dallas is not going to rule next year’s 50th anniversary observations of the Kennedy killing in Dealey Plaza. No matter what it takes. The official City of Dallas JFK Assassination 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee, named in a story this morning in the official government newspaper, will be made up almost entirely of rich, fancy-pantsy, old people determined to keep a lid on it. The Morning News quotes Mayor Mike Rawlings: “The objective is to send the simple message to all that are outside the city, throughout the world, that the citizens of Dallas honor the life and legacy of JFK,” Rawlings said. “Tone is very important: serious, respectful, understated. We want it to be very classy. We want to ensure there is zero commercialization of this event.” Whose objective? What message? Who died and made you Elvis?

Read more »

by GLORIA CAMPOS WFAA, Channel 8, Updated Friday, May 11 See: http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Dealey-Plaza-to-undergo-long-needed-restoration-151215185.html DALLAS – Plans are underway to restore the historic Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas in time for the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The two-acre site, completed in 1941, has gone largely untouched for much of its more than 70 years. The plans include repairing structural damage, updating the fountains in the two reflecting pools and bringing some sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The restoration will be paid for with public and private funds. There is a fundraising effort underway, and the project is a little less than $1 million shy of the $4.3 million budget. Dealey Plaza was designed in 1939 by the Kansas City, Missouri, architectural firm of Hare and Hare and it stands on what’s believed the birthplace of Dallas. The owner of the Dallas Morning News, George Bannerman Dealey, donated the land and the city park in his name was dedicated in 1949, hailed as the “front door of Dallas.” But President Kennedy’s assassination made Dealey Plaza infamous and synonymous with the assassination. As a result, with the exception some sporadic cosmetic touch ups and…

Read more »

By Jim Schutze, published: March 22, 2012 Things have to fall into place a certain way. The right cards must be dealt. But the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination in Dallas on November 22, 2013, could become a hallmark event in a long tradition of popular street actions stretching back to the nation’s beginnings.From Occupy Wall Street to the 1968 Chicago Police Riot, from the Cleveland Eviction Riots of 1933 all the way back to the Stamp Act Riots of 1765: This country was born and bred on the street and in defiance. And it could happen here. I had a great chat last week with Kalle Lasn, editor of Adbusters, the international iconoclastic magazine credited with sparking Occupy Wall Street. He said he saw no reason why the JFK 50th here could not grow into an Occupy Dealey Plaza event to capture and galvanize world attention. He talked about how New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg unwittingly helped make Occupy a national movement by cracking down on it in New York. I suggested maybe Dallas is doing Bloomberg one better, by beginning to crack down on the JFK 50th a year and a half before the thing even happens.…

Read more »

by Robert McEnany, Dallas Morning News This fall, God willing, I will travel north to attend my high school class reunion in Connecticut. The big one. The 50th anniversary of our graduation. Our class was, and I suspect still is, an eclectic bunch. Born near the end of World War II, we were a generation on the cusp between our parents’ solid, conventional “G.I. Generation” values, and the self-absorbed and freer-spirited baby boom generation that followed. To the young adults of that era, John Kennedy was the antithesis of the dour, rigid, authoritarian politicians of our parents’ generation, an emblem of our highest personal aspirations and the embodiment of our bright national future. He was, even before it became a word, telegenic and young himself. He had wit. He had style. His campaign rhetoric, inaugural address and presidential presence convinced us that our nation could dream the biggest dreams, and that the youth of America would not be dismissed as outsiders in the process of achieving them. Then he was killed. 

Read more »

By SCOTT K. PARKS, Staff Writer, sparks@dallasnews.com The question hangs heavy in the air as if Dallas were still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. What should the city do to officially observe the 50th anniversary coming up in November 2013? “This is very important — unbelievably important — as to our place on the world stage,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said recently. “We can’t get out of our skis on this.” With the event still more than 20 months away, a community group led by the Sixth Floor Museum is working behind the scenes to plan the first official commemoration built around the date of the assassination. They’re calling it A Day of Remembrance: The Life and Legacy of JFK. 

Read more »