Image of the crowd gathered at Love Field to welcome President Kennedy to Dallas

Object number1994.003.0003.0001

Date11/22/1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Photographer Tom C. Dillard

ObjectNegative (b&w)

Credit LineTom C. Dillard Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumFilm

Dimensions15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.6 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionOriginal black and white 35mm negative by Dallas Morning News chief photographer Tom Dillard. The image shows the crowd at Love Field waiting on the arrival of the Kennedys for the motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963. The crowd is behind a chain-link fence, and many people hold signs welcoming President Kennedy to Dallas. A local WFAA-TV news van is visible in the background.

Curatorial Commentary

A number of similar handmade signs were freely distributed to spectators at Dallas Love Field on the morning of November 22, 1963. Although the wording on the roughly handwritten signs differed, all referenced "Grassroots Democrats," with some also indicating an affiliation with nearby Southern Methodist University. Slogans on these signs included: "All the Way with JFK," "Welcome Jack," and "We Love Jackie." At the bottom of this photograph, notice a number of unused signs stacked and scattered on the concrete. The only surviving example of these handmade Love Field signs is in the Museum's Collection, 2018.021.0002.

WFAA-TV cameraman Malcom Couch can be seen in this photo (far left middle) adjusting the lens of his 16mm camera. Couch would shortly join photographer Tom Dillard in Camera Car #3 in the Dallas motorcade. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator