Leslie Peschke Oral History

Leslie's son, Eric Peschke (b. 1982), became fascinated with the Kennedy assassination in the early 1990s. At the same time, after his uncle gave him vintage LEGO building sets from Germany, according to Eric, he "just kind of fell in love with constructing models." Between ages eight and eleven, Eric began constructing a model of Dealey Plaza, using historic photographs as a guide. From there, he eventually added downtown Dallas and ultimately the entire Kennedy parade route. The model, constructed and stored for decades in the basement of his childhood home, was enhanced over the years as Eric tracked down specific building blocks to make the model as authentic as possible.

Although I first met Eric in 2005, I finally had the opportunity to meet his mother, Leslie, and see his LEGO model in person during a research visit to Indiana in 2018. Out of the many trips I have taken as part of my work here at the Museum, this visit to Crown Point, Indiana, by way of Chicago, remains perhaps my very favorite. Traveling there just after Thanksgiving, my colleagues and I found ourselves surrounded in a surreal winter wonderland, enhanced by the seemingly endless snow, colorful holiday decorations filling every corner of Leslie's home and even a nearby candy factory completely decked out for the holidays. For a Texas boy, it was perhaps as close to the North Pole as I will ever get. As impressive as these surroundings were, however, it was the amazing model that proved to be the highlight of that trip. I'll never forget walking down the steps into Leslie's basement and seeing the entirety of downtown Dallas depicted in brightly colored LEGO blocks. It immediately put all of my meager childhood models, which admittedly did include at least one Kennedy limousine, to shame. While his mother stood by, beaming with pride, Eric and I literally spent hours going through every inch of the model. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. As a longtime historian and enthusiast of popular culture representations of President Kennedy and the assassination, it was an amazing moment to see Eric Peschke's multi-decade building project. Sitting in that basement, it was very easy to imagine an inspired young boy, not too unlike myself, blending historical curiosity with childhood creativity to respond in his own unique way to the Kennedy assassination. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator