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Image of law enforcement checking press credentials at Carswell Air Force Base
Image of law enforcement checking press credentials at Carswell Air Force Base

Image of law enforcement checking press credentials at Carswell Air Force Base

Object number2014.087.0003.0003
Date11/21/1963
ClassificationsPhotographs
Photographer Gene Gordon
ObjectNegative (b&w)
Credit LineGene Gordon Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumFilm
Dimensions15/16 × 1 7/16 in. (2.4 × 3.7 cm)
Collections
DescriptionOriginal 35mm black and white negative image taken by Fort Worth Press chief photographer Gene Gordon at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, November 21, 1963. The image is of 5 men standing and likely discussing press credentials. Two men are wearing dark suits; the man whose badge is being pointed at might be reporter John Ohendahlski of the Fort Worth Press. Two men are sheriff's deputies, and are wearing uniforms and cowboy hats. A man in the background is wearing glasses and a military uniform. The negative is on Kodak Tri-X Pan Film. This image is number 14 on the negative strip (2014.087.0003).
Curatorial Commentary
The Kennedys arrived at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth a little after 11PM on Thursday, November 21, 1963, having already visited San Antonio and Houston earlier that day. Gene Gordon, chief photographer at the Fort Worth Press, arrived early--by his estimation between 9PM and 10PM--to cover the presidential party. Since Carswell was not usually open to civilian visitors, this was a special occasion as an estimated 5,500 people gathered to welcome President and Mrs. Kennedy in near darkness. As Air Force One approached Fort Worth, the president likely noticed more than sixty buildings downtown were illuminated by amber lights. That lit skyline is visible in a few of Gene Gordon's photos taken at Carswell. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

When photographer Gene Gordon reviewed his images during a Museum oral history on June 23, 2015, he indicated that the man who is receiving or having his press credentials checked in this photo might be Gordon's Fort Worth Press colleague, John Ohendahlski.

 John Lee Ohensalski (1928-2008) was a reporter and city editor at the Fort Worth Press for twelve years, where he met and married his wife, Latryl Layton, a Fort Worth Press editor and columnist. The Ohensalskis attended the Chamber of Commerce breakfast for President Kennedy at the Hotel Texas the morning after this photograph was taken. Ohensalski left the Fort Worth Press for a position at Texas Christian University in 1966. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Gene Henderson Gordon (1929 - 2023) got his first job as a professional photographer at the age of 19 in 1948 at the Fort Worth Press, a Scripps-Howard newspaper launched in 1921. Less than five years later, Gordon was promoted to chief photographer, a position that he still held at the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Gordon covered the Kennedys' arrival at Carswell Air Force Base on the night on November 21st and, a few hours later, President Kennedy's parking lot speech at the Hotel Texas and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the hotel's ballroom. Following the assassination, he covered the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth on November 25th. Gene Gordon remained at the Fort Worth Press until the paper ceased publication in 1975, after which he became a staff photographer, later chief photographer, at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He retired in 1997 after half a century as a professional photographer in Fort Worth.

We were honored to record oral history interviews with Gene in 2003 and 2015. He also participated in two programs at The Sixth Floor Museum, including this Living History educational program in 2017: Living History with Gene Gordon (youtube.com). The Museum acquired his collection of Kennedy-related negatives and prints in 2014 and 2016. Gene Gordon passed away on March 16, 2023. - Stephen Fagin, Curator