November 22, 1963 is a day that is one of the most influential days in Dallas’ human rights history. It was the day that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was tragically assassinated while riding in an open air motorcade in downtown Dallas. Not only did this event shock the nation and plunge us into a deep sense of grief, it also revealed how people’s hostility towards others with differing beliefs can unfortunately erupt into violence. This assassination underscored the fragile nature of human rights issues at the time such as freedom of expression, political participation, and the right to life.

      At this time in history, Dallas had become a center of political tension & division. The city was home to a small vocal group of extremes who were contributing to political tensions and strongly opposed President Kennedy’s progressive policies.[1] Local activists and media outlets often fueled resentment towards the federal government, creating a lot of hostility.  A full-page anti-Kennedy newspaper ad that ran the morning of Kennedy’s visit which addressed a series of critical questions to the President.[2] Posters with Kennedy’s photo and the words “Wanted for Treason” were plastered around Dallas.[3] This hostile environment would soon erupt into one of the nation’s darkest moments.

      Following the assassination, Dallas was quickly dubbed the “City of Hate” and faced intense national criticism as the city that killed the president.[4] Many Americans blamed the city’s hostile political environment for creating the conditions that allowed such violence to occur. Two days after the assassination, at an away game with the Cleveland Browns, the crowd booed the Dallas Cowboys.[5] Civic and religious leaders in Dallas began efforts to change this reputation, while residents struggled with collective guilt and grief following the tragedy. In order to rebuild public trust, community organizations promoted dialogue, tolerance, and civic education. Initially the City of Dallas did not know how to respond to the assassination and the Texas School Book Depository building was seen as a “manifestation of evil.” In the 1970s there were efforts to tear down the building.[6] The city was unable to ignore for long the millions of visitors who visited Dealey Plaza each year, finally opening the Sixth Floor Museum in the Texas School Book Depository building in 1989.[7] This made the city confront its divisions and begin a long process of self-reflection to transform such deep pain into a renewed commitment to understanding and compassion.

      Looking at this assassination from a broad human rights perspective highlights the dangers of political intolerance and the violation of the most fundamental human right – the right to life. The assassination raises questions about how societies can protect freedom of speech while preventing hatred and extremism from turning violent. In the years following the assassination, Dallas leaders promoted civic dialogue grounded in respect, empathy, & nonviolence. The assassination became a lesson in how unchecked hostility can erode the values of democracy and human dignity. Upholding the rights to expression, safety and peaceful dissent requires not only laws, but also a shared moral commitment to tolerance and understanding.

      My grandmother and I visited the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. The museum stands as a space of remembrance and reflection, transforming the site of tragedy into one of education and dialogue. Through a rotating schedule of exhibits on democracy, tolerance, and nonviolence, the museum “place[s] the events of November 22, 1963 into dialogue with social and political issues that continue to reverberate in the culture today.”[8] Dallas’s journey from the “City of Hate” to a city striving for understanding shows its ongoing effort to confront intolerance and promote human rights. Remembering the past is a critical part of ensuring that compassion, justice, and respect for human dignity guides the city’s future.

ENDNOTES

[1] “November 22, 1963: Death of the President,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president

[2] Warren Commission Report. Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, United States Government Printing Office (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1964), 293-5.

[3] Joe Garofoli, “Angry words of ’63 Dallas now part of mainstream,” SFGate, Nov 19, 2013. https://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/angry-words-of-63-dallas-now-part-of-mainstream-4992245.php ; Secret Service Report Re Wanted for Treason Leaflets May 18, 1964. To Mr. J. Lee Rankin, General Counsel President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, File No. Co-2-34.030. https://ia800200.us.archive.org/19/items/JFKAssassinationSecretService/Secret%20Service%20Report%20Re%20Wanted%20for%20Treason%20Leaflets%20May%2018%2C%201964.pdf

[4] Dallas was “a city of hate, the only American city in which the president could have been shot” (this from our own Judge Sarah Hughes, who administered the oath of office to Lyndon Johnson aboard Air Force One). Lawrence Wright, “Why Do They Date Us So Much?” Texas Monthly, November 1983, https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/why-do-they-hate-us-so-much/  ; Nicole Sully. “Urban Planning After JFK: Re-planning the ‘City of Hate’.” In Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand: 37, What If? What Next? Speculations on History’s Futures, edited by Kate Hislop and Hannah Lewi, 296-303. Perth: SAHANZ, 202 ; Chris Blake and Bri Flores, “Texas Wants to Know: How Dallas responded to the Kennedy assassination,” NBCDFW.com December 2, 2023, https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-wants-to-know-how-dallas-responded-to-the-kennedy-assassination/3402088/

[5] Mark Stanley, Review of Assassination and Commemoration: JFK, Dallas, and the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, by Stephen Fagin. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 118 no. 1, (2014): 105. Project MUSE

[6] Stephen Fagin in “How Dallas responded to the Kennedy assassination,” Nov 20, 2023, Listen Notes. https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/texas-wants-to-know/how-dallas-responded-to-the-MzcO3EwWIC9/

[7] Tim Cloward, “Conspiracy-A-Go-Go: Dallas at the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Assassination,” Southwest Review, 90, no 4 (2013): 413.

[8] “About the Museum,” The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, https://www.jfk.org/wp-content/uploads/TSFM_About-the-Museum_PressKit-2024_FINAL.pdf