Chester and Arlene Mzyk film

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Chester and Arlene Mzyk film

8mm color home movie taken by Chester Mzyk in San Antonio, Texas on November 21, 1963. The film shows the Kennedy motorcade arriving at Brooks Air Force Base and President Kennedy dedicating the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.

Object Details
Object title:

Chester and Arlene Mzyk film

Date:

11/21/1963

Medium:

Film

Credit line:

Chester and Arlene Mzyk Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2009.017.0001

Curatorial Note:

Object featured in special exhibition, Two Days in Texas, November 8, 2023 through September 8, 2024.

Of all the cities on the two-day trip to Texas in November 1963, the first stop - San Antonio - was the shortest. From arrival to departure, the Kennedys were only in San Antonio a total of approximately two and a half hours. The presidential party arrived at San Antonio International Airport at 1:30PM and then proceeded fifteen miles by motorcade through downtown San Antonio to Brooks Air Force Base, where President Kennedy dedicated the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. He and Mrs. Kennedy also took time at Brooks to briefly interact with student journalists from the San Antonio ISD. They then departed Brooks for nearby Kelly Air Force Base where Air Force One waited to take the Kennedys to Houston that afternoon. Interestingly, the visit to San Antonio was initially scheduled to be after Dallas on Friday, November 22. Trip planning documents at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston outline a different proposed itinerary (dated November 7, 1963) in which the Kennedys began their trip to Texas in the late afternoon of November 21 with a 4:00PM arrival in Houston and an overnight stay in Houston's Rice Hotel. Friday, November 22, would have then started with an early morning flight to Fort Worth for a Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Rice Hotel, followed by a Dallas motorcade and luncheon at Fair Park (where the annual State Fair of Texas is hosted). From Dallas, the Kennedys would have then traveled to San Antonio on the afternoon of November 22 for the dedicated of the aerospace medicine school at Brooks before heading to Austin for a fundraising dinner. As initially planned, the Kennedys would have returned to Washington, D.C. on the night of November 22 rather than spend the weekend at the Johnson Ranch. This early itinerary continued to evolve throughout November until the trip details were finalized. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Chester and Arlene Mzyk film

8mm color home movie taken by Chester Mzyk in San Antonio, Texas on November 21, 1963. The film shows the Kennedy motorcade arriving at Brooks Air Force Base and President Kennedy dedicating the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine.

Object Details
Object title:

Chester and Arlene Mzyk film

Date:

11/21/1963

Terms:

Films

San Antonio

Home movie

Trip to Texas

Kennedy, John F.

Kennedy, Jacqueline

Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce

Medium:

Film

Credit line:

Chester and Arlene Mzyk Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

2009.017.0001

Curatorial Note:

Object featured in special exhibition, Two Days in Texas, November 8, 2023 through September 8, 2024.

Of all the cities on the two-day trip to Texas in November 1963, the first stop - San Antonio - was the shortest. From arrival to departure, the Kennedys were only in San Antonio a total of approximately two and a half hours. The presidential party arrived at San Antonio International Airport at 1:30PM and then proceeded fifteen miles by motorcade through downtown San Antonio to Brooks Air Force Base, where President Kennedy dedicated the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. He and Mrs. Kennedy also took time at Brooks to briefly interact with student journalists from the San Antonio ISD. They then departed Brooks for nearby Kelly Air Force Base where Air Force One waited to take the Kennedys to Houston that afternoon. Interestingly, the visit to San Antonio was initially scheduled to be after Dallas on Friday, November 22. Trip planning documents at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston outline a different proposed itinerary (dated November 7, 1963) in which the Kennedys began their trip to Texas in the late afternoon of November 21 with a 4:00PM arrival in Houston and an overnight stay in Houston's Rice Hotel. Friday, November 22, would have then started with an early morning flight to Fort Worth for a Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Rice Hotel, followed by a Dallas motorcade and luncheon at Fair Park (where the annual State Fair of Texas is hosted). From Dallas, the Kennedys would have then traveled to San Antonio on the afternoon of November 22 for the dedicated of the aerospace medicine school at Brooks before heading to Austin for a fundraising dinner. As initially planned, the Kennedys would have returned to Washington, D.C. on the night of November 22 rather than spend the weekend at the Johnson Ranch. This early itinerary continued to evolve throughout November until the trip details were finalized. - Stephen Fagin, Curator