Last week, Laughing Place was invited to visit Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas for a two-day media event promoting the new National Geographic docuseries JFK: One Day In America, which will arrive on Disney+ and Hulu on November 5th.
The first day of the trip was spent at the Hilton Fort Worth, which was formerly known as the Hotel Texas, and is most famously known as the building where United States President John F. Kennedy spent his final night. Outside the hotel stands a memorial JFK statue, marking the spot of his last-ever speech to the public before he headed to Dallas on that fateful day 60 years ago. I was thrilled to be able to peer down on the statue from my room, and I found it tremendously informative and inspirational to read about JFK’s speech that morning.
Our welcome dinner that evening was held at the Grace Fort Worth restaurant, just down the block from the Hilton. There, we met our fellow journalists and influencers who would be joining us on this trip and heard from the producers of JFK: One Day In America about their intentions with this new National Geographic documentary. We also met and interacted with Peggy Simpson, a reporter with the Associated Press in the 60s, who saw JFK’s motorcade that day and witnessed first-hand Jack Ruby’s slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald two days later. As someone who grew up fascinated by the events surrounding the JFK assassination, it was truly an honor to be in her presence (photo with Peggy from the following day at Dealey Plaza). After dinner, I went by the JFK statue again to see what it looked like lit up at nighttime.
The next morning after a quick breakfast, we were given a tour of the 14th-floor presidential suite at the Hilton, though when it was known as the Hotel Texas JFK actually stayed on the 8th floor for better fire department access. Still, it was neat to see how the rooms would have been set up during that period.
Our tour group followed that up with a visit to the place where Lee Harvey Oswald spent his final night as a free man– the Ruth Paine house in Irving, Texas. This is also where Oswald stored the rifle that was used in the assassination in the garage. It was quite an interesting contrast to see the places where JFK and his infamous assassin slept that night, and it was nice to see that the city of Irving had purchased the building and restored it to its 1960s decor. There were also holographic reenactments in each room telling visitors about Ruth Paine and the Oswald family’s history together.
From there, we headed to the west end of downtown Dallas, and paid tribute to the JFK memorial there. This is along the route the presidential motorcade took on November 22nd, 1963.
Next we walked around the corner, led by an excellent local tour guide, to Dealey Plaza, site of the horrific events of that early afternoon. The statue in the plaza predates the Kennedy assassination and in fact depicts George Dealey, a Texas businessman and publisher of The Dallas Morning News. Our guide walked us up to the former Texas School Book Depository, which now houses the 6th Floor Museum and is where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched during the assassination.
In the embedded Twitter (X) video below, I captured our guide walking us through the events of the assassination, right down to the path of each individual shot and where they would have struck the president.
We then shuffled over to the spot across from the “Grassy Knoll,” where amateur filmmaker Abraham Zapruder stood as he filmed one of the most famous pieces of footage in history. The Grassy Knoll is also the source of many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination, as some have claimed that a second shooter could have stood behind the fence here. Our tour guide helped us better understand the phenomenon known as the “Magic Bullet” theory with a demonstration.
We left that famous site and headed over to another one– the former Dallas Police Department building, which now serves as a law school. This part of the tour felt especially unique, as the building is not open to the public. Despite that, there is a section of the lower level that has been turned into a museum of sorts, which follows Lee Harvey Oswald’s final steps as he was brought into the station, interrogated, and kept in a cell. This is, of course, the site of the above-mentioned killing of Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, and I was astounded to learn that Ruby was put into the same cell that Oswald had just vacated. While I had made a pilgrimage to Dealey Plaza once before (a couple decades ago), I’ve always wanted to see this location as well, so this part of the trip was extremely memorable to me.
Our lunch that afternoon was held at Campisi’s Italian restaurant, which was evidently a regular hangout of Jack Ruby’s.
After lunch, it was time to head over to the 6th Floor Museum, which again I had visited back in 2004, but it was great to see it again, especially considering we were given a private tour by the curator Stephen Fagin. The displays here are so well-assembled, walking guests through the political climate of Dallas in the early 1960s and the attitude surrounding JFK in the area prior to the assassination. Visitors can also see the window spot that Lee Harvey Oswald used as a perch to shoot the president, and a rifle of the same model he used– though the actual one is housed in the National Archives. One of my other favorite exhibits is the scale model of Dealey Plaza built by the FBI during their investigation of the events.
Our final stop on the tour that day was at the Texas Theatre, notably the location where Oswald was arrested after the assassination. I got a kick out of the Halloween decorations in the box office, and National Geographic had a step-and-repeat photo op for JFK: One Day In America set up in the lobby. And once again, it sent chills up my spine to sit in the seat that Oswald occupied in the movie theater’s auditorium prior to his arrest.
The premiere screening of JFK: One Day In America’s first episode (of three) was held in the same building, though in the upstairs auditorium that once served as the Texas Theatre’s balcony. After the screening, a representative from the 6th Floor Museum moderated a Q&A session with the documentary’s producers alongside Peggy Simpson. You can watch that discussion in the embedded YouTube video below.
Watch "JFK: One Day In America" Q&A at premiere of National Geographic docuseries in Dallas, Texas:
As someone who was obsessed with the JFK assassination throughout his teenage years (in the wake of the Oliver Stone movie JFK and the Quantum Leap and The X-Files episodes surrounding the event), this trip to Texas was something of a dream come true for me. I absolutely loved getting to revisit Dealey Plaza, but I liked seeing the other surrounding locations for the very first time even more. I also quite enjoyed JFK: One Day In America, and you can read my review of the full docuseries right here at LaughingPlace.com.
All three episodes of JFK: One Day In America will premiere on National Geographic this Sunday, November 5th and will be released to stream the following day via both Hulu and Disney+.