Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
Back
Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
Original 35mm black and white negative image taken by Fort Worth Press chief photographer Gene Gordon at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, November 21, 1963. The image shows Jacqueline Kennedy, holding flowers, who appears to be posing for a photograph. President John F. Kennedy, Senator Ralph Yarborough, Congressman Jim Wright, Nellie Connally and Governor John Connally are standing together behind Mrs. Kennedy. The presidential party arrived on Air Force One, in the background, and was greeted by with a receiving line. Along the left edge of the image are two men wearing dark suits: the man wearing a bow tie and holding a hat is Congressman Albert Richard Thomas; the man standing behind him is Bill Stinson. Photographers and camera-men are in the foreground; the man wearing the light colored hat at bottom center may be Floyd Bright from WBAP. The negative is on Kodak Tri-X Pan Film. This image is number 33 on the negative strip (2014.087.0013).
Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
11/21/1963
Film
15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.7 cm)
Gene Gordon Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2014.087.0013.0001
The Kennedys arrived at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth a little after 11PM on Thursday, November 21, 1963, having already visited San Antonio and Houston earlier that day. Gene Gordon, chief photographer at the Fort Worth Press, arrived early--by his estimation between 9PM and 10PM--to cover the presidential party. Since Carswell was not usually open to civilian visitors, this was a special occasion as an estimated 5,500 people gathered to welcome President and Mrs. Kennedy in near darkness. As Air Force One approached Fort Worth, the president likely noticed more than sixty buildings downtown were illuminated by amber lights. That lit skyline is visible in a few of Gene Gordon's photos taken at Carswell. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Gene Henderson Gordon (1929 - 2023) got his first job as a professional photographer at the age of 19 in 1948 at the Fort Worth Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper launched in 1921. Less than five years later, Gordon was promoted to chief photographer, a position that he still held at the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Gordon covered the Kennedys' arrival at Carswell Air Force Base on the night on November 21st and, a few hours later, President Kennedy's parking lot speech at the Hotel Texas and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the hotel's ballroom. Following the assassination, he covered the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth on November 25th. Gene Gordon remained at the Fort Worth Press until the paper ceased publication in 1975, after which he became a staff photographer, later chief photographer, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He retired in 1997 after half a century as a professional photographer in Fort Worth. We were honored to record oral history interviews with Gene in 2003 and 2015. He also participated in two programs at The Sixth Floor Museum, including this Living History educational program in 2017: Living History with Gene Gordon (youtube.com). The Museum acquired his collection of Kennedy-related negatives and prints in 2014 and 2016. Gene Gordon passed away on March 16, 2023. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's bouquet was given to her upon her arrival at Carswell Air Force Base by Katherine Buck, wife of Raymond Buck, then president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. The Museum recorded an oral history with Raymond and Katherine Buck's daughter, the late Kaye Buck McDermott, in 2011: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/33019. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
Original 35mm black and white negative image taken by Fort Worth Press chief photographer Gene Gordon at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, November 21, 1963. The image shows Jacqueline Kennedy, holding flowers, who appears to be posing for a photograph. President John F. Kennedy, Senator Ralph Yarborough, Congressman Jim Wright, Nellie Connally and Governor John Connally are standing together behind Mrs. Kennedy. The presidential party arrived on Air Force One, in the background, and was greeted by with a receiving line. Along the left edge of the image are two men wearing dark suits: the man wearing a bow tie and holding a hat is Congressman Albert Richard Thomas; the man standing behind him is Bill Stinson. Photographers and camera-men are in the foreground; the man wearing the light colored hat at bottom center may be Floyd Bright from WBAP. The negative is on Kodak Tri-X Pan Film. This image is number 33 on the negative strip (2014.087.0013).
Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
11/21/1963
Photographs
Air Force One
Photographer
Newspapers
Kennedy, Jacqueline
Connally, John
Gordon, Gene
Stinson, William O.
Thomas, Albert
Yarborough, Ralph
Wright, Jim
Connally, Nellie
Fort Worth Press
Carswell Air Force Base
Fort Worth
Film
15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.7 cm)
Gene Gordon Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
2014.087.0013.0001
The Kennedys arrived at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth a little after 11PM on Thursday, November 21, 1963, having already visited San Antonio and Houston earlier that day. Gene Gordon, chief photographer at the Fort Worth Press, arrived early--by his estimation between 9PM and 10PM--to cover the presidential party. Since Carswell was not usually open to civilian visitors, this was a special occasion as an estimated 5,500 people gathered to welcome President and Mrs. Kennedy in near darkness. As Air Force One approached Fort Worth, the president likely noticed more than sixty buildings downtown were illuminated by amber lights. That lit skyline is visible in a few of Gene Gordon's photos taken at Carswell. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Gene Henderson Gordon (1929 - 2023) got his first job as a professional photographer at the age of 19 in 1948 at the Fort Worth Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper launched in 1921. Less than five years later, Gordon was promoted to chief photographer, a position that he still held at the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Gordon covered the Kennedys' arrival at Carswell Air Force Base on the night on November 21st and, a few hours later, President Kennedy's parking lot speech at the Hotel Texas and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the hotel's ballroom. Following the assassination, he covered the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth on November 25th. Gene Gordon remained at the Fort Worth Press until the paper ceased publication in 1975, after which he became a staff photographer, later chief photographer, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He retired in 1997 after half a century as a professional photographer in Fort Worth. We were honored to record oral history interviews with Gene in 2003 and 2015. He also participated in two programs at The Sixth Floor Museum, including this Living History educational program in 2017: Living History with Gene Gordon (youtube.com). The Museum acquired his collection of Kennedy-related negatives and prints in 2014 and 2016. Gene Gordon passed away on March 16, 2023. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's bouquet was given to her upon her arrival at Carswell Air Force Base by Katherine Buck, wife of Raymond Buck, then president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. The Museum recorded an oral history with Raymond and Katherine Buck's daughter, the late Kaye Buck McDermott, in 2011: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/33019. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
Related objects
Image of Kennedys arriving at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
11/21/1963
Image of official party disembarking Air Force One at Carswell Air Force Base
11/21/1963
Image of Air Force One at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
11/21/1963
Image of Air Force Two at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
11/21/1963
