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Bobby Hargis Oral History

Bobby Hargis Oral History

Object number2010.001.0112
Date09/24/2010
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Bobby Hargis
Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)
Dimensions53 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Bobby Hargis. A Dallas police motorcycle officer riding to the left rear of the Kennedy limousine, Hargis was splattered by blood and debris during the assassination. He parked his motorcycle and remained in Dealey Plaza in the aftermath. Interview conducted at Mr. Hargis's home on September 24, 2010 by Associate Curator Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-three minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
Hargis and his counterpart at the right rear of President Kennedy, Jim Chaney, both rode into a cloud of blood and brain matter after the shooting.  At the moment of the fatal shot to President Kennedy's head, his car was headed directly into the wind which, according to the U.S. Weather Bureau (as it was known at the time), was blowing at 15mph with gusts up to 20mph.  With the 7-8mph speed of the car, the velocity of the matter was about 25mph, more than enough for Hargis to say "I thought at first I might have been hit" (New York Sunday News, 11-24-63).  - Gary Mack, Curator

Mr. Hargis passed away on April 25, 2014. - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator