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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Re-living the Kennedy drama Critical Issues by Lionel Yodhasinghe The majority Americans believes a conspiracy killed former US President John F Kennedy. But after 41 years of the assassination, which created history in American politics, Dallas residents today do not bother who killed him or why he was killed. When I asked, "Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill John Kennedy, or did a conspiracy do it?" a Dallas resident said that there was no point talking about it, as JFK was dead and gone. "Investigations have failed to arrive at a conclusion and the motive of the killing is still not known. So why should we ordinary people bother about", he added. However, JFK's assassination is at the centre of controversy even today. Displayed investigation documents in the Sixth Floor Museum where President Kennedy's legacy is restored also fail to give even a clue. In addition to his business, a street vendor who sells anecdotes of newspaper clippings of America's most heart rending assassinations in front of the Sixth floor museum building beckons city visitors to follow him down the Elm street to show them the site where the tragedy took place. With his Spanish accent, he pointed a place in the middle of the road marked in red, which is the most visited historic site in North Texas. Dallas city police warns visitors not to gather at this site in the middle of the road that endangers their lives and blocks the traffic. The Sixth Floor Museum is located at Texas School Book Depository Building overlooking Dealey Plaza on the sixth floor where the sniper hid in the School Book Depository to fire the fatal shots on November 22, 1963. More than 45,000 visitors witness the museum annually. Kennedy well-wishers have donated some of the exhibits numbering over 23,000 items in connection with the life and death of President John F. Kennedy to the museum. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. Among them are cameras used by newspapers and other photographers, video cameras historic photographs, six documentary films, an audio tour and a range of artifacts and interpretive displays to document the life, times, death and legacy of President John F. Kennedy. A set of culinary awaited his lunch at the hotel arouses emotion and agony as he was unable to use them on that day. The 9,000 square-feet museum recreates the social and political context of the early l960s and chronicles the historic tragedy of November 22, 1963. The museum provides an experience that is both impressive and painful. It seems a shocking experience to the visitor and the gestures of many visitors to the museum are a good testimony towards public feelings for Kennedy as they are engrossed deeply in various exhibits on display. Some are replaying the films, which portray the arrival of President Kennedy to Dallas on the fateful day. They show how his supporters in Dallas and also how he arrived to his death-spot on the Elm Street amidst a rousing welcome. It is an extra-ordinary museum where a visitor feels a sense of reality, and experiences the trauma of the incident. However, Dallas, the city which once sent him to White House and then shot him to death is today endowed with the name of Kennedy as Sixth Floor Museum is at the top of any tourist's itinerary. Dallas is also popular for its oil, computer products, industrial and other commercial activities. The city is now a big business centre in North Texas and no visitor forgets to experience the Kennedy legacy at Sixth Floor Museum during his or her stay in Dallas or Big D. Next: Hmong community in Minnesota. |
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