Tom Vandergriff Oral History

Object number1992.009.0002

Date06/03/1992

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Tom Vandergriff

Oral history interviewer Wes Wise

Oral history interviewer Bob Porter

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumHi-8 videotape

Dimensions32 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Judge Tom Vandergriff. A one-time Tarrant County judge and a former U.S. congressman, Vandergriff was the mayor of Arlington, Texas, in 1963 and attended the Fort Worth breakfast for President Kennedy. Prior to the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, Marguerite, was briefly employed in his home to help the Vandergriffs after the birth of their fourth child. Interview conducted at Mr. Vandergriff's office on June 3, 1992 by Wes Wise with Bob Porter. The interview is thirty-two minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Mr. Vandergriff passed away on December 30, 2010. Several obituraries remarked upon his accomplishments as mayor of Arlington such as bringing the General Motors Assembly Plant and the Texas Rangers baseball team to the city, as well as his involvement in the creation of the Six Flags Over Texas theme park and Arlington Memorial Hospital. His incidental yet unique connection to the Kennedy story was rarely mentioned. - Stephen Fagin, Curator