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Typed notes from Love Field by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer
Typed notes from Love Field by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer

Typed notes from Love Field by Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer

Object number1996.003.0006
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsDocuments
Creator
Author
ObjectDocument
Credit LineJohn Schoellkopf Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm)
Collections
  • "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963"
  • All Online Objects
DescriptionNotes from Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer, typed by editor John Schoellkopf on November 22, 1963. Lehrer called the newspaper from his assigned position at Dallas Love Field to provide notes from the President's arrival in Dallas. The notes are typed on tan copy paper, describing the weather and various signs and flags seen on the tarmac. The full text reads: "leher for stanxxx it was cloudy, but rains topped at about 10 a.m., at 1050 a.m. the sun came out, but it went back behind clouds... xxxxxxx one sign, homemade "Nixon go home." --- clouds broke just before 11 a.m. shining downtown....clouds breaking up....field wet two kids carrying big white banner "Let's Barry King John" Buck Branson, 4716 Nashwood Lane, 16 Roland Dickey, 16, 9900 Preston "We're not representing anybody, just ourselves." Contingent from Carrollton High School xConfederate and Texas Flag....good size under it xx he has American flag..... xxxxx Climbed up on light standard.... feet on chain link fence flags prominent above crowd. kids with smaller american flags...sign welcoming"
Curatorial Commentary
Jim Lehrer, an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist best known for the long-running PBS NewsHour program and for moderating presidential debates (1988-2012), was a reporter at the Dallas Times Herald in 1963. Assigned to Dallas Love Field on November 22, 1963, he witnessed the Secret Service remove the bubbletop from the presidential limousine shortly before the Dallas motorcade. Following the assassination, he covered the scene at Dallas police headquarters.

Mr. Lehrer recorded an oral history interview with the Museum in November 2013, which may be accessed in the Museum’s online collections database here: Jim Lehrer Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

More objects related to Jim Lehrer may be found here: Thesaurus – Vocabularies – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

The Museum's John Schoellkopf Collection includes a number of typed notes and draft stories from November 22, 1963, as well as newspaper proofs, a pencil mock-up of the intended front page and other Dallas Times Herald documents related to the weekend of the Kennedy assassination. John L. Schoellkopf (1938-2018) had a remarkable career at the Dallas Times Herald, starting out as an intern while attending Southern Methodist University in 1957. By the time he left journalism in 1970 for a career in business, farming and politics, he had risen to become the Dallas Times Herald vice president of administration. At the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, he was the paper's assistant city editor. Schoellkopf later ran for Dallas mayor and served on the board of a number of organizations including the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Theater Center and the Texas State Historical Association. Schoellkopf recorded an oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on June 11, 1996. - Stephen Fagin, Curator 
This object is featured in the Museum's special exhibit, "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963," which opened on April 29, 2026.