The murder of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 22, 1963, forever changed America. I was 16 years old when it happened, and still haven¡¯t fully come to terms with it. The indelible sense of loss and still-unanswered questions ¡ª How it could have been allowed to happen? Who was behind it? ¡ª drew me to Dallas nearly half a century later.
The trees in Dealey Plaza, where the killing took place, have grown taller, but the landmarks that appeared in the news broadcasts 50 years ago are immediately recognizable: the former Texas School Book Depository at 411 Elm St., which now houses a museum; the small sloping hill called the grassy knoll, with a stockade fence along its top; the triple underpass; and the concrete abutment midway down the slope, from which businessman Abraham Zapruder recorded ¡°the saddest and most expensive 26 seconds of amateur film ever made.¡±
Contemporary additions can be seen as well. In the center lane of Elm Street, two white letter X¡¯s have been painted, about 30 meters apart, to mark the approximate spots where JFK was struck by a sniper¡¯s bullets.
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