/internal/media/dispatcher/11066/fullTyped draft of article about Love Field by Dallas Times Herald reporter11/22/196312 x 8 3/8 in. (30.5 x 21.3 cm)PaperJohn Schoellkopf Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza1996.003.00170A one-page carbon copy draft of a newspaper article typed in black on tan copy paper, written by reporter Jim Lehrer for the Dallas Times Herald on November 22, 1963. The article narrates scenes from Love Field before the President's arrival. The text includes a note about the weather and a description of the Presidential limousine, indicating that the plexiglass bubble top would not be used.
The full text reads:
"The xxx sun broke through the gloomy clouds over Dallas shortly before xxxx 11 a.m. and officials immediately decided the President and his wife would ride through Dallas to the Trade Mark xxxx in the xxxxxxxxxx open.
The special Presidential car--a dark blue Lincoln Continental with yellow District of Columbia license tags-- was brought to the ramp at 11 a.m., after officials decided not to put the special protective /plexiglass bubble top on the auto.
(more)"Documents7351221.285200000030.480000000012354DocumentA one-page carbon copy draft of a newspaper article typed in black on tan copy paper, written by reporter Jim Lehrer for the Dallas Times Herald on November 22, 1963. The article narrates scenes from Love Field before the President's arrival. The text includes a note about the weather and a description of the presidential limousine, indicating that the plexiglass bubble top would not be used.
The full text reads:
"The xxx sun broke through the gloomy clouds over Dallas shortly before xxxx 11 a.m. and officials immediately decided the President and his wife would ride through Dallas to the Trade Mark xxxx in the xxxxxxxxxx open.
The special Presidential car--a dark blue Lincoln Continental with yellow District of Columbia license tags-- was brought to the ramp at 11 a.m., after officials decided not to put the special protective /plexiglass bubble top on the auto.
(more)"NewspapersReporterLimousineBubble-topMotorcadeLehrer, JimSchoellkopf, JohnDallas Times HeraldLove FieldDallasThis object is featured in the Museum's special exhibit, "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963," which opened on April 29, 2026.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 In this draft story, reporter Jim Lehrer makes reference to the plexiglass bubbletop sometimes used for the presidential limousine in inclement weather. Contrary to popular belief at the time, the bubbletop was not bullet proof or even bullet resistant. Nevertheless, some have argued over the years that use of the bubbletop in Dallas on November 22, 1963 could have changed history. For example, the bubbletop may have briefly obscured a gunman's line of fire, slightly deflected a bullet or convinced a would-be assassin to stand down if he incorrectly assumed that the top was bulletproof. As a result of this speculation, Jim Lehrer's questioning of the Secret Service about the potential use of the bubbletop at Dallas Love Field haunted him for the rest of his life.
As he explained in his 2013 oral history with the Museum, Lehrer asked an agent about the bubbletop, which prompted that agent to radio downtown Dallas to see if it was still raining. Upon learning that the skies over downtown had cleared, the agent determined not to use the bubbletop. Later that night, at Dallas police headquarters in the aftermath of the assassination, Lehrer encountered the same Secret Service agent. According to Lehrer, the agent said, "Jim, if I just hadn't taken off the bubbletop." Lehrer then thought to himself, "Oh my God, if I just hadn't of asked the question." Fifty years after the assassination, the story of the presidential bubbletop inspired Jim Lehrer's 2013 novel, Top Down. In the book, a young Dallas journalist modeled after Lehrer details the post-traumatic stress suffered by a fictional Secret Service agent who ordered the bubbletop be removed from the limousine that morning. Partnering with the distraught agent's daughter some five years after the shooting, the reporter in the novel helps to stage a ballistics reenactment to determine whether the bubbletop would have impacted the assassination. - Stephen Fagin, Curator 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