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George Reid film(s)

George Reid film(s)

Object number1996.014.0004
Date1963 - 1967
ClassificationsFilms
Photographer
ObjectFilm, 8mm
Credit LineGeorge Reid Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
DimensionsGauge: 8mm; Camera Speed: 16 fps
Collections
  • "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963"
  • Home Movies
  • Dallas Motorcade
  • All Online Objects
  • Dallas Love Field
DescriptionTwo 8mm color home movie reels taken by George Reid, a long-time Kennedy supporter. These are among several filmed by Reid from 1963 to 1967. On November 22, 1963, Reid arrived at Dallas Love Field two hours early and filmed some of the preparations for, and later the arrival of, the Kennedys. His scenes include students with their high school and Texas state flags, a Belgian exchange student waiting to show her brother's sketches to the Kennedys, and Secret Service agents guarding the Kennedy limousine. Reid filmed the presidential arrival and the Kennedys in the crowd until he ran out of film; by the time he reloaded, the motorcade had departed. His last scene that day showed his neighborhood post office. Some other later scenes included in this excerpt show crowds, television news crews and police in Dealey Plaza as well as the Dallas Criminal Courts Building. Later films, not included here, show people and events in Dealey Plaza over the next four years including CBS News filming re-creation scenes in 1967 for a Kennedy assassination program.
Curatorial Commentary
The man wearing the trench coat in the bottom center of the frame at 01:23 is 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. He appears several times throughout this film.

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 man on the stairs wearing holding the long camera lens at 01:23 is Bob Jackson, a staff photographer at the Dallas Times Herald in 1963. He covered the presidential party’s arrival at Dallas Love Field and, while riding in a motorcade press car, spotted a rifle in a sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. He was also at Parkland Memorial Hospital and Dallas police headquarters that day. On Sunday, November 24, 1963, Jackson captured an iconic photograph of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of Dallas police headquarters. His image won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in News Photography. Jackson later covered the 1964 Jack Ruby trial in Dallas. In 2025, Jackson donated to The Sixth Floor Museum more than 20,000 images from his Dallas photojournalism in the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Jackson appears several times throughout this film.

As a longtime friend of the Museum, he recorded several oral history interviews and programs. His interview from March 2025 may be viewed on the Museum’s online collection database here: Bob Jackson Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

Other objects related to Bob Jackson, including several of his photographs, may be found here: Thesaurus – Vocabularies – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

This object is featured in the Museum's special exhibit, "On Assignment: Dallas Times Herald 1963," which opened on April 29, 2026.
Reid was a Kennedy campaign volunteer during the 1960 presidential election.  He recorded an oral history with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on April 24, 1996. George Reid passed away on March 15, 1999. - Stephen Fagin, Curator