In 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon, award-winning presidential historian David Pietrusza crafted a revealing, electrifying portrait of the first modern-day presidential campaign, the epic battle between Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. It was the first campaign to utilize the power of television, the first in which all fifty states would participate and …

Photographs and artifacts tell unique and sometimes surprising stories. This new temporary exhibit highlighted the Museum’s favorite—and most interesting—objects and images from the 1960 campaign, including materials from Senator Kennedy’s visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in September 1960.

Cuba, often at center stage in international affairs, is again the focus of global attention. After Fidel Castro stepped down after nearly fifty years as Cuba's leader, his brother, Raúl Castro, embarked upon a series of reforms that are gradually but fundamentally changing the country. The 2014 announcement to normalize Cuba-U.S. relations after over five …

Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Kennedy both supported their husbands as they campaigned for president but did so in very different ways. Mrs. Nixon accompanied her husband everywhere, and he referred to her in almost every speech. Mrs. Kennedy hated campaigning and avoided it when possible – aided in part by her pregnancy. This exploration of …

There is much more to the story of the 1960 campaign than the Museum was able to tell in its A Time for Greatness exhibit. The curatorial staff led an informal question-and-answer session that explored many of the topics touched on in the exhibit as well as new areas of discussion raised by the audience. …

On August 2, 1943, Lt. John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat PT-109 was sunk in the Pacific Theater. Kennedy, clenching a life jacket strap between his teeth to tow one injured crewmember, swam for four hours to lead survivors to a nearby island. This dramatic tale of World War II heroism framed Senator Kennedy’s political …

In the final days of the 1960 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were accosted by demonstrators while visiting Dallas. This incident gained national media attention at the time, and it would return immediately after the assassination in 1963 as a powerful example of the city’s volatile political atmosphere. Through …

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prizes, this program, which was presented by The Sixth Floor Museum and 29 Pieces, provided a platform to launch a powerful community dialogue on the toll of violence and war. The panel included five Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers and one winner of the International Women’s Media Foundation …

Photographs and artifacts tell unique and sometimes surprising stories. Join our collections staff inside our new temporary exhibit as we highlight our favorite—and most interesting—objects and images from the 1960 campaign, including materials from Senator Kennedy’s visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in September 1960.

Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Kennedy both supported their husbands as they campaigned for president but did so in very different ways. Mrs. Nixon accompanied her husband everywhere, and he referred to her in almost every speech. Mrs. Kennedy hated campaigning and avoided it when possible – aided in part by her pregnancy. This exploration of …

On August 2, 1943, Lt. John F. Kennedy’s motor torpedo boat PT-109 was sunk in the Pacific Theater. Kennedy, clenching a life jacket strap between his teeth to tow one injured crewmember, swam for four hours to lead survivors to a nearby island. This dramatic tale of World War II heroism framed Senator Kennedy’s political …

There is much more to the story of the 1960 campaign than the Museum was able to tell in its A Time for Greatness exhibit. The curatorial staff led an informal question-and-answer session that explored many of the topics touched on in the exhibit as well as new areas of discussion raised by the audience.

Abraham Zapruder’s home movie capturing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza includes perhaps the most iconic 26 seconds of film in history—the first major instance of citizen journalism. On the anniversary of President Kennedy’s death, Abraham Zapruder’s granddaughter, Alexandra Zapruder, discussed her new book, Twenty-Six Seconds: A …

This teacher workshop, held on the opening day of the Museum’s new exhibit, Amending America: The Bill of Rights, featured special guest presenters Jenny Sweeney from National Archives Fort Worth and Sharon Brannon from the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. This professional development opportunity provided educators of grades 5-12 with new ways to …

In celebration of the 28th anniversary of The Sixth Floor Museum on Presidents Day, this special program featured constitutional law expert Professor Lackland H. Bloom, Jr. of Southern Methodist University. Dr. Bloom examined the creation of the Bill of Rights with special emphasis on the First Amendment in conjunction with the temporary exhibition Amending America: …

Evidence from a recent crime + New technology applied to a cold case = Two crimes to solve! Do you have what it takes to be a Crime Scene Investigator? Study the crime scenes and analyze clues left behind using UV fluorescence as well as burn pattern, blood spatter and glass breakage analyses to crack …

Renowned forensic pathologist, consultant and author Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, who has spent more than 50 years researching President Kennedy’s assassination, presented a multimedia lecture on key areas of the Warren Commission’s 1964 investigation, including President Kennedy’s autopsy and the controversial single bullet theory.   As a distinguished elder statesman of the assassination research community and …

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy, this program featured a conversation between the president’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith, noted historian Douglas Brinkley and acclaimed journalist Rena Pederson. Kennedy Smith and Brinkley are co-authors of  JFK: A Vision For America, a compilation of President Kennedy’s greatest speeches with commentary …

This workshop included primary source activities and guest speakers to put into context the struggle for equal rights from 1776 through today and looking onward. Teachers broaden their own content knowledge and develop primary source-based lesson plans that demonstrate the significance and relevance of historic civil rights milestones.  Speakers: Julie L. Hershenberg, J.D., M.A., M.P.T., …

Armed with newly released documents from the original prosecution file, Judge Brandon Birmingham and criminal defense attorney/former Dallas County assistant district attorney Toby Shook told the story of the “trial of the century” that played out just months later in a Dallas courtroom. View this program on YouTube.

In a special program marking the 55th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis, former White House correspondent Sid Davis shared his memories of being in the Oval Office in October 1962 when President Kennedy demanded the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. Davis was also in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and …

The JFK Records Collection Act of 1992 required the National Archives and Records Administration to release all withheld government files pertaining to President Kennedy’s assassination by October 26, 2017. Best-selling authors Dr. Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and Philip Shenon, former New York Times reporter, discussed the ramifications and revelations of the …

As a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. in 1963, Major William F. Lee participated in the Death Watch rotations – sentry duty by the U.S. Armed Forces around the president’s casket – in the East Room of the White House and in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Lee silently observed both private …

In conjunction with the Nasher Sculpture Center’s Nasher Prize, this program looked at the ways in which artists work with documents, found and archived materials, and research to create sculptural work that considers particularly potent historic moments and issues, as well as the current political climate. Panelists included Chilean-born, New York-based artist, architect and filmmaker …

Presented with the Dallas Theater Center, this program focused on The Great Society, the second part of Robert Schenkkan’s 2016 play All the Way. While facing a “war on poverty” at home, the increasingly unpopular Vietnam war and powerful political enemies, Lyndon B. Johnson fought to pass civil rights legislation and some of America’s most important social programs. …

The opening program of the Museum’s temporary exhibit Rebel Spirits: Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. included a preview of the exhibit and a conversation with photojournalist/exhibit curator Lawrence Schiller and David Margolick, author of the book The Promise and the Dream, which helped inspire the Rebel Spirits exhibit. Both the book and the exhibit explore the unique …

Ellen Meacham, author of Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi, discussed the lasting impact of Robert F. Kennedy’s visit to the Mississippi Delta in 1967, where Kennedy was stunned by the level of poverty and hunger he witnessed. Through the press coverage that followed him, the nation gained new understanding that children were starving within …

A Ripple of Hope is a powerful documentary produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Dr. Donald Boggs that explores the passion for justice and personal courage that linked Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. in life as well as death. This film traces the events of April 4, 1968, when major cities across the United …

As the intense subjects of discussion and debate that continue today, two crucial government investigations into the death of President John F. Kennedy reflect the evolution of the memory and mood of the nation, from a desire for closure in the immediate aftermath of the assassination to heightened cynicism and mistrust of the government more …

The Sixth Floor Museum paid tribute to both the Museum’s thirtieth anniversary and the fifty-fifth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. These special milestones were marked by a newly commissioned work “The Sixth Floor” written by award-winning Texas composer Jesus Martinez and performed by the Julius Quartet. Arranged in three movements, “Sniper’s …

Successful American leaders have always understood, respected -- and sometimes feared -- the power of the media in shaping and shifting public opinions and perceptions. For more than a hundred years, magazine publishers and politicians have had a symbiotic relationship. From Lincoln to Kennedy and beyond, an American president’s appearance on a magazine cover has …

Bobbie Wygant joined Texas' first television station, WBAP-TV, in 1948, two weeks before it went on the air. During her remarkable and trailblazing career, spanning seventy years in broadcasting, Wygant interviewed thousands of notable entertainers and celebrities from Bette Davis to Charley Pride to Bradley Cooper. In 1960, she became the first woman in the southwest …

Born and raised in the South during a time when racial segregation was the norm, former New York Times journalist John N. Herbers witnessed and covered landmark civil rights uprisings that rocked the country, the world and his own conscience. A leading civil rights journalist for more than a decade, Herbers wrote from behind the front lines, …

Thrust overnight into the center of an international tragedy, Ruth Paine still ponders a different outcome if she’d known Lee Harvey Oswald had stashed a rifle in her garage. For the first time ever, Ruth shared her story at the Museum, joining Curator Stephen Fagin in conversation as she reflected on her friendship with Marina …

While many over the years have pondered Oswald’s motive, clinical psychologist Dr. Gene Riddle took a different tack - analyzing how Oswald became a person capable of assassinating a president. Over the course of six years, Dr. Riddle conducted an in-depth study of Lee Harvey Oswald as part of a book-length project for the Professional …

Join us for the world premiere of “Three Hours in Dallas,” an original musical composition scored to accompany an all-new compilation of historic motorcade film footage. Written by award-winning composer Jesus Martinez and performed by a percussion ensemble from Arlington’s Sam Houston High School, this unique immersive experience exemplifies President Kennedy’s affinity for the arts. …

An award-winning broadcast journalist, Bill Mercer is a Dallas Press Club Living Legend and a member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. As a broadcaster with CBS affiliate KRLD Radio and Television in Dallas in 1963, Mercer covered the breaking news of the Kennedy assassination, reporting live from Dallas police headquarters. At a midnight …

To commemorate Presidents Day 2020 at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Curator of Collections Lindsey Richardson presented a gallery talk and artifact showcase exploring the evolution of Jackie Kennedy’s image in popular culture over a sixty-year period, from 1960 to 2020.

To commemorate Presidents Day 2020 at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Curator Stephen Fagin presented a gallery talk and artifact showcase exploring the evolution of President John F. Kennedy’s image in popular culture over a sixty-year period, from 1960 to 2020. Watch the program here.