Eastern Airlines metal sky stairs sign from Dallas Love Field

Object number2018.070.0001

Date11/22/1963

ClassificationsArtifacts

ObjectSign

Credit LineThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection

MediumMetal; Enamel

Dimensions27 5/8 × 114 × 1/8 in. (70.2 × 289.6 × 0.3 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionTwo-part metal enameled Eastern Airlines sign, used on rolling sky stairs for boarding and disembarking aircraft at Dallas Love Field. When facing the airplane, this sign was on the left side of the sky stairs while a mirrored sign appeared on the opposite side. This sign was on the sky stairs used for Air Force One on November 22, 1963 and appears in films and photographs showing the Kennedys disembarking at Love Field prior to the Dallas motorcade and, nearly three hours later, President Kennedy's casket being loaded aboard the aircraft, followed by Mrs. Kennedy (as seen in this image from the Museum installation, "Two Days in Texas.")

Curatorial Commentary

Object featured in special exhibition, Two Days in Texas, November 8, 2023 through September 8, 2024.

Curatorial Commentary

Few objects capture the sudden and tragic shift from joy to sorrow on November 22, 1963 better than this Eastern Airlines sky stairs sign. As captured by local television and in dozens of professional and amateur photographs and films, a radiant President and Mrs. Kennedy descended the sky stairs (with this sign prominently seen) from Air Force One at Dallas Love Field to thunderous cheers from nearly 4,000 people eagerly anticipating their arrival. Three hours later, White House photographer Cecil Stoughton captured, in stark contrast, a small handful of people gathered at the foot of the same sky stairs (with this sign visible) as President Kennedy's casket is loaded aboard Air Force One, followed closely by Mrs. Kennedy in clothing stained with her husband's blood. These snapshot images, when juxtaposed, lend this particular artifact a powerful significance that emphasizes how much world history changed in such a short span of time. - Stephen Fagin, Curator