Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy Read Online Free PDF Page A

Car No. 679-X.
    Following this security car was a 1964 Lincoln four-door convertible
carrying Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, and Senator
Ralph Yarborough. The driver was Texas state trooper Hurchel Jacks and
Secret Service agent Rufus W. Youngblood rode to the right of him. Their
car was trailed by Johnson's Secret Service guards and the rest of the
motorcade, consisting of five cars for local dignitaries, three cars for press
photographers, one bus for White House staff, and two press buses.
    A pilot car, which preceded the motorcade by a quarter of a mile
checking for "motor vehicle accidents, fires and obstructions along the
route," contained Dallas deputy police chief G. L. Lumpkin, two Dallas
homicide detectives, and Lt. Col. George Whitmayer, commander of the
local Army Intelligence reserve unit.
    Oddly, while a press pool station wagon had been designated to follow
Kennedy's Secret Service follow-up car (it had the number 5 taped on its side), for some unexplained reason it was shoved farther back in the
motorcade. This prevented the media photographers from witnessing the
assassination or capturing it on film.

    Everyone in the presidential limousine appeared to be enjoying the
open-air ride and the cheering admiration of the crowd, although Mrs.
Kennedy was beginning to feel warm in her pink wool suit and pillbox hat.
As the motorcade cruised into the downtown area, apprehensions of the
Dallas visit seemed to dissipate as quickly as the morning's overcast.
    Bob Hollingsworth, veteran Washington correspondent for the Times
Herald, had accompanied the Washington press corps to Dallas. He noted:
    On into Harwood and then into Main the motorcade traveled and the
amazement over the size of the crowd turned to awe. For those of us
who had been with the President since he left the White House for
Texas Thursday morning, this was the largest, the most enthusiastic and
the best reception he had received in Texas.
    The awe of the news reporters was reflected in the silence that prevailed
within the long, dark-blue Lincoln Continental limousine of the President.
Few words were spoken by the car's occupants as they basked in the
tumultuous shouts and cheers of the dense crowd packed along Main
Street.
    Up ahead clear blue sky could be seen as the presidential car began
entering a small triangular-shaped plaza at the end of the long, dark corridor
of tall buildings.
    The motorcade broke into the open space of Dealey Plaza, named after
George Bannerman Dealey, a pioneer Dallas civic leader and founder of
the Dallas Morning News. The 3.07-acre plaza, the site of the first home in
Dallas as well as the first courthouse, post office, store, fraternal lodge and
hotel, has been called the "birthplace of Dallas." It was acquired by the
city for the construction of the Triple Underpass, which allows railroad
traffic to pass over Commerce, Main, and Elm streets. The property was
christened "Dealey Plaza" in 1935 and placed under the authority of the
city's Park Board in 1936 with the official opening of the underpass.
    Both incoming and outgoing traffic between downtown Dallas and the
major freeway systems to the west is channeled through Dealey Plaza. It is
bounded on the east by Houston Street. Facing onto Houston are the new
County Court House (still under construction that day), the historic old
County Court House, the Criminal Courts Building containing the county
jail and the Sheriff's Office, the Dallas County Records Building, and the
Dal-Tex office building. Just west of the Dal-Tex building, across Houston, is the red-brick building that in 1963 contained the Texas School
Book Depository and publishers' offices.
    Bisecting Dealey Plaza is Main Street, with Commerce Street branching off to the south and Elm Street curving in on the north. These three main arteries converge on the west side of the plaza at the railroad bridge
known as the Triple Underpass. Facing Houston