Post by clavigerPost by bigdogPost by clavigerIt was the most obvious place for an easy shot on the entire route
and in the very heart of Dallas. The Sheriff department was one
block away with Deputies just standing around watching the
motorcade turn the corner. Just asking for one Deputy to
amble on down the plaza and stand in front of the fence
if nothing else so a drunk doesn't show up and take a
shot with his .22 cal bolt action rifle.
I would dispute that. About ten years ago I drove the route from Love
Field to DP as best as current traffic patterns would allow. There were
any number of possible ambush sites along the route every bit as inviting
as in DP. There's no way anyone could anticipate where a shooting was
going to take place and no reason to believe one location deserved special
attention over all the others.
What the SSA try to avoid when planning a parade route is sharp turns
causing the Limousine to slow down.
I've seen this repeated so many times that I suspect it is more factoid
than fact. I've never seen any documentation to support that this is SS
policy. It wouldn't even make sense since the purpose of the motorcade was
for the President to be seen and the motorcade moved quite slowly through
downtown.
Post by clavigerDo you remember how many 90º
turns like that on your drive from Love Field? There were two 90º turns
in Dealey Plaza and the second was even worse where the Limousine
went too wide and almost hit the curb, as one witnesses described it.
What the SSA didn't like was the heavy Limousine was slow to recover
and get back up to speed. For that reason the passengers were more
vulnerable in Dealey Plaza than any other part of the parade route.
How are you going to plan a motorcade and avoid 90 degree turns. Almost
all turns in a city are going to be 90 degrees. It was a 90 degree turn
from Harwood onto Main St. No, I don't remember how many 90 degree turns
there were other than that is was almost all of them. The 110 degree turn
onto Elm St. wouldn't be an issue either. You don't have to slow down any
more for a 110 degree turn than you do for a 90 degree turn. You are just
going to turn longer than you would for a 90 degree turn.
Post by clavigerThe question is did LHO take his first shot as the Limousine was trying
to regain Parade speed?
Probably since the parade was almost over and the crowds along Elm St. was
quite sparse so that would be when I would expect them to speed up to
where they would enter the Stemmons Freeway.
Post by clavigerYou have done a good job analyzing why that
shot was an awkward angle. After that shot the Limousine was up to
normal speed of about 12 mph going down Elm Street when two more
shots were fired. One could argue the slow wide acute angle turn from
Houston St actually saved the President and the other two shots on the
part of the street going downhill is where the damage was done.
Looking at it from Oswald's vantage point, tracking the target and keeping
the crosshairs positioned while that turn was being made would be
problematic since the limo wouldn't be traveling in a straight line. If
the shot was fired at about Z151 as I believe, The limo would have just
straightened out about a second earlier. It seems to have straightened by
the time Zapruder resumed filming at Z133. It is speculation as to why he
missed with that shot but I have identified some of the problems he would
encounter that made that the hardest of the three shots. Again, looking at
it from Oswald's perspective, he had to take a shot then or wait until the
limo cleared the tree. If I had to make that decision, I would think a low
percentage shot is better than no shot. As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once
observed, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take".
Post by clavigerThe Limousine safely negotiated the two 90º turns considered the most
dangerous part on the parade route with no injury to passengers from a
gunshot. What happened next would have been the same even had the
the Limousine come straight down Elm St all the way with no turns. You
have asked the question had the Motorcade gone straight down Main St
to avoid the two sharp turns in Dealey Plaza how much difference would
it make? That is a good question.
That is true about the danger being the same had the limo come all the way
down Elm St. from Harwood but I don't see how those two turns would have
been any more dangerous than other turns the limo had to make. Main St.
was the logical place to come through downtown. There is a reason it is
called Main St. It wouldn't make sense to me to stay on Main St. out of
downtown. That parade was essentially over at that point and from there it
was a matter of taking the quickest route to the Trade Mart. Staying on
Main St. to Industrial Parkway made no sense since that would take longer
than going up Stemmons. There would have been no reason to avoid Elm St.
or Dealey Plaza. Nobody had a crystal ball telling them the danger that
lurked at Houston and Elm.
Post by clavigerAfter giving that some thought you're correct from distance perspective
not all that much. The angles would be different and the motorcade can
pass by at somewhat higher speed 15-20 mph, but still in a danger zone
of the rifle used in the ambush. That angle would have put the First Lady
more at risk.
Nobody knew there would be a rifle at Houston and Elm. There could have
been a rifle anywhere along the parade route. The only way to avoid that
risk was not to have a motorcade which would have run counter to the
wishes of the White House. JFK liked motorcades and as David Power
observed, they had a motorcade everywhere they went. Presidents no longer
travel in convertibles for obvious reasons but I saw film footage of Nixon
and his wife poking their heads out of the sunroof of that same limo after
it had been converted. This was during one of his inaugural parades.
During the 1980 campaign, I stood about 15-20 feet from Carter's limo when
he climbed up out of the sunroof and sat on top while the limo crawled
along at a walking pace. Politics has a way of trumping security concerns
in those situations. I found this photo of that event. It is on North High
St. in front of the Nationwide Building in Columbus, OH. I'm not positive
but that might be me on the far left with my face partially hidden by the
cop's head. That is about where I was. On the other hand it might be Billy
Lovelady.
Loading Image...I noticed the date in the link is May 29 which I'm pretty sure is
incorrect. This happened during the general election campaign. At the same
time this was happening, Reagan was giving a speech on the Statehouse
grounds about 5-6 blocks to the south. May 29 was of course before either
primary was held although by that time both were the presumptive nominees
so I guess it is possible that was the date. My recollection was this was
around September but as the regulars on this board know I don't place a
lot of faith in decades old memories so maybe mine is a little fuzzy on
this point.
I just noticed in looking at this photo that this appears to be JFK's
Lincoln limo. I thought it had been retired by then but apparently I was
wrong.
Post by clavigerThe part I will never understand is all the negative publicity that preceded
this trip about City of Dallas being a dangerous environment for a parade
through the crowded downtown area in an open Limousine, why the SSA
did not seem all that worried about it. Some people advised against this
trip to Dallas based on a previous incident that got national press where
Adlai Stevenson was whacked on the head by a lady with a placard and
later someone took a rifle shot at a local politician.
I'm sure the SS was worried about it but it wasn't there call. This was a
political trip and as I observed earlier, politics trumps security.
Post by clavigerThat sobering incident should elevate the safety strategy by all those in
charge of planning this upcoming parade but I see no efforts of a higher
level of security, just business as usual. The sad part it would have been
so easy to spread more resources around Dealey Plaza.
Why would they. They had no advanced knowledge that would indicate Dealey
Plaza posed a greater threat than any other location. Even if they had, it
wouldn't have stopped Oswald.
Post by clavigerLocal authorities were put off by the attitude of SSA and FBI not taking
their advice, but some of that was due to instructions by the President
and his desire to not be surrounded by motorcycles. Instead of being
perturbed, there were a few simple things the local authorities can do
on their own from "an abundance of caution".
Four buildings overlooked Dealey Plaza. (1) The County Jail, then the
(2) County Records Building. Unlikely buildings, one is full of Deputies
and prisoners. The CRB claimed no open windows during the Parade.
The next 2 Buildings were problematic. (3) The Dal-Tex was a perfect
position for a shot down Elm St heading west. (4 ) The TSBD provided
multiple positions to fire at an oncoming parade vehicle and of course
a vehicle moving west toward the Triple Underpass.
Buildings (3) and (4) needed the most attention as a possible security
risk. Two DPD or DCSD officers positioned on the fire escape on the
east side of the TSBD, one high one low, could easily keep the Dal-Tex
under surveillance.
That leaves the front side and west side of the TSBD. Six floors six
DPD/DCSD would be a good idea out of an abundance of caution.
Four more security officers, one in front of the North Pergola and
one behind, and two more behind the Picket fence.
Only a dozen volunteers could have secured Dealey Plaza from a
sniper attack. There were 7 departments to request support: DPD,
DCSD, DPS, FBI, ATF, Federal Marshalls, and local US Military Intel.
Retired Peace Officers could volunteer, all licensed to carry permit.
Volunteer observers would be the VFW and Eagle Scouts. This could
have been a marvelous opportunity as a community effort and great
PR for the City of Dallas who went all out to protect the President of
the USA on his visit to Texas.
I'm sure if you looked along that parade route, there were lots of prime
locations for an ambush. None of them would stand out over the others
including Dealey Plaza and they had limited resources. They deployed their
troops as best they could for crowd control. The only way to avoid a
sniper was to avoid having a motorcade at all and that wasn't going to
happen.