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Image of crowds at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth
Image of crowds at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth

Image of crowds at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth

Object number2014.087.0004.0001
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 a crowd of people, some carrying signs, with the skyline of Fort Worth in the background. Five signs can be seen: "Welcome to Texas Jack and Jackie"; "Goldwater in 1864"; "Welcome Mr. President"; "N.T.S.U. Young Democrats"; "JFK...." The image is somewhat blurry. The negative is on Kodak Tri-X Pan Film. This image is number 17 on the negative strip (2014.087.0004).
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
The skyline of downtown Fort Worth is clearly visible in this photograph because amber lights outlining more than sixty buildings were turned on in honor of President Kennedy's visit. The lights, usually reserved for the holidays, were originally the idea of the late Hubert Foster (1926-2017), a Fort Worth insurance agent. Disappointed in the city's typical downtown holiday decorations, worn out silver garlands and faded plastic candy canes, Foster in 1959 outlined his building, the Executive Plaza at 611 Throckmorton Street, in amber lights, inspired by similar lighting that he had seen in San Antonio. By Christmas 1960, twenty-four downtown buildings had installed the same lighting, 25-watt amber light bulbs positioned four feet apart. By the time the lights were turned on to greet President Kennedy, sixty-one (or sixty-two, by some accounts) buildings participated. While the Fort Worth skyline has changed over the years and the original amber bulbs have long since been upgraded, the city has maintained Foster's legacy of outlining the downtown skyline in lights each December. -- 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

The sign on the far left reads "Goldwater in 1864," referencing Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, who was on track to face John F. Kennedy in the 1964 election. The reverse side of the sign, visible in other photographers, reads "Kennedy in 1964," indicating the Kennedy supporter's belief that Senator Goldwater represented the past while President Kennedy embodied the future. Senator Goldwater did go on to win the Republican nomination for president in 1964, though he lost in a landslide victory to President Lyndon Johnson. The bottom of the sign reads "NTSU Young Democrats," which stands for North Texas State University, now the University of North Texas.

Interestingly, this same sign, or one identical to it, appears the following day in Dallas, more than fifty miles away. It can be seen along the Kennedy motorcade route on Lemmon Avenue, as captured in this photograph by Dallas Morning News chief photographer Tom Dillard: https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/11768. - Stephen Fagin, Curator