Bill Lacy Oral History
Object number2013.001.0154
Date01/24/2013
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject
Bill Lacy
Oral history interviewer
Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.wav file)
DimensionsDuration: 35 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionAudio oral history interview with Bill Lacy. An engineer doing survey work at Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1963, Lacy observed the Kennedy motorcade. Several of his conservative coworkers clapped when they learned of the assassination.
Interview conducted by telephone on January 24, 2013 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is thirty-five minutes long.
Curatorial CommentaryBill Lacy's memory of his co-workers clapping upon learning of the assassination was not an isolated experience, nor was it limited to Dallas. A number of oral histories share similar anecdotes, including Dan Spigel, who remembers some Mississippi co-workers cheering news of President Kennedy's death. Among the 1960s schoolchildren who remember classmates cheering or clapping at word of the assassination are Daphne Cagle, Alice McCurdy, John Savage, Debra Fagin and high school teacher Joanna Shields. After hearing about this reaction among students in a Dallas elementary school, Methodist minister William A. Holmes preached a controversial sermon on Sunday, November 24, that attracted worldwide criticism of Dallas. The story behind Rev. Holmes's sermon may be found here: An Evening with Rev. William A. Holmes (youtube.com). - Stephen Fagin, Curator
