Photo of Dealey Plaza right after the assassination of President Kennedy

Object number1994.003.0115

Date11/22/1963

ClassificationsPhotographs

Photographer Richard Bothun

ObjectPhotograph (b&w)

Credit LineTom C. Dillard Collection, The Dallas Morning News/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper, Photo

Dimensions8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)

Collections

DescriptionBlack and white photographic print taken by amateur photographer Richard Bothun. Image shows Dealey Plaza right after the assassination of President Kennedy. The Newman family can be seen lying on the ground surrounded by photographers while on the left side of the image is police officer Bobby Hargis on a motorcycle riding down Elm Street.

Curatorial Commentary

Richard O. Bothun (1921-1981), a Minnesota native, was living in Dallas in 1963 and decided to photograph the Kennedy motorcade. This photograph was his fourth and final image taken on November 22, 1963, and it is the only one of his photos taken in Dealey Plaza after the assassination. His previous images showed the presidential limousine on Main and Houston Streets. This photograph, commonly known as Bothun #4, was taken about 90 seconds after the fatal shot. Dallas police motorcycle officer Bobby Hargis is seen on the left. (In an uncropped version of this photo, another motorcycle officer, likely Clyde Haygood, can be seen at far right.) Bill and Gayle Newman can be seen protecting their children on the north side of Elm Street. The cameramen surrounding the Newmans are, from left to right in this photo: AP photographer Jim Altgens, White House cinematographer Tom Atkins, NBC cameraman David Wiegman (on sidewalk) and CBS cameraman Tom Craven. Though not visible here, in an uncropped version of Bothun #4, the controversial "Umbrella Man" can be seen sitting on the north curb of Elm Street next to an unidentified eyewitness with a dark complexion.

This cropped version of Bothun #4 was first published in The Dallas Morning News on Saturday, November 23, 1963, after Bothun apparently took his self-developed photograph to the paper. (This print, among Tom Dillard's collection of prints and negatives, may be the one personally developed by Bothun on November 22, 1963.) The caption beneath this image read: "Suspense at scene of assassination. A mother and father shield their small children from bullets on Elm approaching the triple underpass Friday moments after President Kennedy and Governor John Connally was felled by rifle slugs near the Texas School Book Depository Building. Startled photographers race to the scene, as this photo by Richard O. Bothun vividly demonstrates, not knowing the President was fatally wounded." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator