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Charles Barnette Oral History

Object number2003.001.0043
Date11/04/2003
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Charles D. Barnette
Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumDigital-8 videotape
DimensionsDuration: 53 Minutes
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Charles Barnette. An attorney, car enthusiast and longtime Kennedy collector, Barnette refurbished a 1962 Lincoln convertible to resemble the presidential limousine, including replica flag stands and license plates. The vehicle was used in a Discovery Channel documentary filmed in Dealey Plaza in 2003. Interview conducted at Mr. Barnette's office in Texarkana on November 4, 2003 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-three minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
Charles Decker Barnette passed away on June 13, 2011 at the age of 62. As discussed in this oral history, Mr. Barnette's vehicle was used during the production of a Discovery Channel documentary shot in September 2003. That documentary, an episode of the Unsolved History series entitled "JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet," premiered in November 2004. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

The late Charles Barnette made several donations to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza over the years. In 1996, he donated his essay on the history of the Kennedy limousine. In 2002, he donated nine Associated Press photographic prints of the Kennedys and Lyndon Johnson. Following this oral history, in 2007 Barnette donated six 35mm color slides of a Kennedy motorcade in Honolulu on June 10, 1963, as well as two photographic prints of President Kennedy aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk supercarrier on June 6, 1963. - Stephen Fagin, Curator