Wanted for Treason Flyer
Object number1999.023.0017
DateNovember 1963
ClassificationsDocuments
Creator
Robert A. Surrey
ObjectDocument
Credit LineJoe M. Dealey, Jr. Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
Description"Wanted for Treason" flyer created by Robert Surrey, an associate of Major General Edwin Walker. This original flyer was one of about 5,000 distributed in downtown Dallas a day or two prior to the Kennedy assassination. These handbills were placed on car windshields and tucked inside the racks of the two Dallas daily newspapers by anti-Kennedy propagandists.
Curatorial CommentaryA prominent conservative and Dallas celebrity at the time of the Kennedy assassination, Major General Edwin A. Walker (1909-93) came under investigation while stationed in Germany in 1961 for distributing right-wing propaganda to his troops. After a reprimand from the U.S. Army, Walker resigned in protest and was later arrested and briefly jailed when he protested the enrollment of African American student James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. Drawn to the pro-conservative climate of Dallas, Walker bought a home on Turtle Creek Boulevard where he frequently flew the American flag upside down—a distress signal that the nation was in danger from a potential Communist takeover. A longtime member of the John Birch Society, Walker unsuccessfully ran for governor of Texas in 1962. - Stephen Fagin, Curator
