/internal/media/dispatcher/44452/fullImage of crowds waiting for Kennedy at Meacham Field in Fort Worth09/13/19602 3/16 × 2 3/16 in. (5.6 × 5.6 cm)FilmThe Dallas Morning News Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Donated by The Dallas Morning News in the interest of preserving history2014.080.0079.00020One original 120 film black and white negative taken by The Dallas Morning News staff photographer Clint Grant. The image shows a crowd of people holding Kennedy-Johnson campaign signs standing behind a chain-length fence at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas on September 13, 1960. A camera is set up on a tripod in the left side of the image. There are a couple of signs reading "KENNEDY for President", and another "BAPTIST for KENNEDY."
This negative is on Kodak Safety Film. This image is labeled "2" on the film.
This item was originally stored in a negative sleeve in the "The Dallas Morning News JFK Assassination Negatives and Contact Sheets Vol. 1" binder (2014.080.0001). This item was in the section of the binder labeled "JFK in Dallas, 9-14-60".
The negative sleeve has a typed adhesive label in the upper left corner. The label reads: "JFK 9".
The table of contents (2014.080.0002) listing for JFK 9 describes it as: "JFK 9: More views of JFK's visit to Dallas as Presidential nominee, 9-14-1960 (ten, 120-size negs.)"Photographs654445.55626111255.556261112544499Negative (b&w)0E-10Original 120 mm black and white negative taken by The Dallas Morning News staff photographer Clint Grant. The image shows a crowd of people holding Kennedy-Johnson campaign signs while standing behind a chain-link fence at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 13, 1960. A camera is set up on a tripod in the left side of the image. There are a couple of signs reading "KENNEDY for President" and another with the words "BAPTIST for KENNEDY."CrowdsPhotographsPresidential campaignPhotographer1960 presidential electionFort WorthKennedy, John F.Grant, ClintThe Dallas Morning NewsMeacham FieldFort WorthThe day before his 1960 Dallas/Fort Worth visit, Senator Kennedy made a major address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas (the same hotel he would again visit on November 21, 1963, the day before the assassination). In his televised address on September 12, 1960, Kennedy directly confronted the "religious issue": pointed accusations that he would allow his Catholic faith to influence the execution of his responsibilities as president. His bold confrontation of this question made this one of the most important speeches of the 1960 campaign.
The "Baptist for Kennedy" sign in this photograph certainly references the "religious issue" of the 1960 campaign and likely signifies support for his televised speech from Houston the day before. It is, however, somewhat interesting that the sign uses the singular "Baptist" rather than the plural "Baptists." - Stephen Fagin, Associate Curator