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

The controversial Confederate battle flag seen in this photograph may have been brought to Dallas Love Field as a show of school spirit rather than or in addition to a commentary on President Kennedy's support of the Civil Rights Movement. In other photographs, the unidentified young man holding the battle flag can be seen wearing a cardigan with a capital "C," with two crossed swords at the bottom of the letter. This may indicate that this student was attending South Garland High School in Dallas County at the time. Like many other southern schools at the time, South Garland had a Confederate-themed mascot, the Colonel, and crossed swords remain (as of 2021) an emblem of the school. Other area schools had similar Confederate themes at the time. Until 1972, Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas used the Confederate battle flag seen here as a school emblem, with the Rebel serving as their school mascot. From 1951 to 1971, Arlington State College in Tarrant County, west of Dallas, was also home to the Rebels, with the Confederate battle flag flown on campus and Dixie accepted as the school's unofficial fight song. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Bob Walker, station manager at WFAA-TV from 1961 to 1964, can be seen in the dark coat in the top center of this photograph. His most famous remark that morning -- "There's Mrs. Kennedy--and the crowd yells--and the President of the United States. And I can see his suntan all the way from here!" -- is often used in documentaries that feature the Love Field arrival. Walker would play a key role as an on-camera news anchor in the hours and days following the Kennedy assassination, sometimes seen with telephones held up to both of his ears at the same time in order to immediately convey the latest breaking news. A few years after the assassination, Walker joined ABC Radio in New York City where he worked until his retirement in 1994. Walker died at the age of 77 in October 2009. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

I am always amused to see Love Field photographs that show the spectators who brought cleverly altered 1960 campaign posters to the airport that day. Look closely at the bottom right in this photo, and you'll see one example. The word "For" has been ripped from the poster in two spots to alter the message from "Kennedy for President, Johnson for Vice President" to just "Kennedy, President" and "Johnson, Vice President." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator