The Sixth Floor Museum
What is this museum – “The Sixth Floor Museum”? Only those who have been there can answer this question, because the name is too vague. The founders of the museum, probably, didn’t think too much, giving such name to the museum devoted to one of the most tragic and mysterious events of the United States in the middle of the XX century – assassination of the 35th President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest and the least served in that post. John Fitzgerald Kennedy became head of state at the age of 43 (he was born May 29, 1917), was inaugurated on January 20, 1961, and died on November 22, 1963. Surely many people know where the tragedy took place. It was Dallas, the second largest city in the state of Texas. It’s a three-and-a-half hour drive from Houston to Dallas, on beautiful Federal Highway 45.
“The 6th Floor Museum” is located on the seventh floor of the former Texas School Book Depository building, at the intersection of Houston and Elm streets. In addition to the museum, the building now houses the offices of the Dallas County Administration. On the approach to the museum, on Elm Street, there are many self-guides offering to tell and show where and how things happened, and they also sell various informational publications, copies of newspaper clippings of the time. The entrance to the museum is on the left side of the building (if you stand facing it). In the lobby, as with any museum, a small store with souvenirs and booklets and a ticket office. A ticket for adult visitors without a guide costs $18, cheaper for senior citizens – $14. Everything is very modest, the usual warehouse entrance, it looks like nothing has been remodeled here since the tragedy. An elevator, similar to a freight elevator, which accommodates about a dozen visitors, takes us up to the 7th floor. It is from here, from the outermost windows, that the fatal shots were fired from a rifle with telescopic sights at the President.
The museum tells in great detail not only about John F. Kennedy’s last moments, but also about his life, his family, his political career, his campaign for the presidency, and his short but fruitful tenure as president of the United States. Some visitors tour the exhibit with a tour guide, but we prefer to read and see everything ourselves, taking our time. In addition to the different photo booths, there are several big TV screens in the museum, and there are repeated short clips of documentary footage (the stories are different on all the screens). Here is John F. Kennedy speaking at a campaign rally, here he is with his family, then, having become President, he enters the White House, meets with Nikita Khrushchev, and so on.
Recently, documentary footage from a 90-second film of Kennedy’s last seconds of life, shot with an camcorder 45 years ago. The 82-year-old George Jefferies used to keep it in his apartment, but now he’s given it to the museum. The corner section of the warehouse on the seventh floor, with two windows overlooking Elm Street, has glass walls, boxes of books, a wax figure of a murderer figure and a sniper rifle.
From the windows next to the partition you can clearly see the street and a cross on the asphalt, painted in white paint – the place where the President’s car was when the shots were fired.
To visit «The Museum of the Sixth Floor» you can use our black car service. We provide comfortable rides around Dallas and other cities in Texas.
