Image of President and Jackie Kennedy greeting the crowd at Love Field

The young man on the far right who is standing above the crowd and holding the light pole is Wes Stewart, a sophomore at Jesuit High School in 1963. A few weeks prior to President Kennedy's visit, Stewart broke a thumb during a fight at school, which is why his right hand appears in a cast in some photographs. Stewart arrived two hours prior to the landing of Air Force One and, not wanting to miss his opportunity to see the president up close, he climbed on top of the chain link fence and steadied himself by holding the light pole with his left hand. In a 2017 oral history, he explained that just as the Kennedys got to his position, somebody tried to pull him down from his position, nearly causing him to fall and preventing him from shaking hands or having any encounter with the president or first lady. Nevertheless, Stewart appears in several photographs and news footage that day, clearly visible because of his position above the crowd. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator