This year marks the 60th anniversary of the former president’s killing at Dealey Plaza. Conspiracy theories about the day abound, but most everyone can agree that on Nov. 22, 1963, Kennedy was fatally shot as his motorcade drove through Dallas.
If you’ve been downtown recently, you may have noticed some bold commemorative banners hanging from street lights. On one side are photos from that fateful 1963 motorcade, including snaps of JFK and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. But it's the other side of the banner that's making waves, albeit unintended ones.
White text on a dark background screams in all capital letters: “JFK WAS HERE.”
Yep. He sure was.
It makes sense that we’d see memorial markers ahead of such a significant anniversary, of course. But some users on X (formerly Twitter) have noted the wording is a bit unfortunate.
“These ‘JFK was here’ signs all over downtown Dallas………… well yes!” someone captioned a picture of one of the banners, later adding in a comment: “And then what happened.”
These “JFK was here” signs all over downtown Dallas………… well yes! pic.twitter.com/k1YHASLapH
— mimi-rose howard (@sydneyjanexo) October 2, 2023
A different X user posted a photo of a sign that seems to show the back of the first lady’s head as she rode in the rear of the open-air presidential limo, likely minutes before her husband was slain while sitting beside her.
“Something about this idea is a little weird,” the person wrote.
Another social media user further remarked on the morbid nature of the campaign.
“These ads in downtown Dallas are cracking me up. ‘Yeah JFK got lit up here,’” the person said in the post.
The signs also display the URL “jfk.org/60,” which takes you to a page on The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza’s website. The museum explains that it’s “planning a compelling series of programs and events” and a “special exhibition” to honor Kennedy’s life, legacy and the anniversary of his assassination.
So what is it about the signs, exactly, that’s rubbing folks the wrong way?Something about this idea is a little weird. pic.twitter.com/JltPx9SMaM
— Gabe Sanchez (@blackswansaloon) October 5, 2023
Dallas has long wrestled with how to cope with Kennedy’s assassination, said Michael Phillips, a historian at Texas A&M Commerce.
“I think what happens when we think about the significance of Kennedy in terms of Dallas, it's hard to come up with an accurate, convincing lesson — and certainly to make it a slogan is difficult,” said Phillips, author of White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001.
Don’t get us wrong: Creating a succinct slogan to observe the anniversary of such a gruesome occurrence was probably tough. But certain alternative phrases likely wouldn’t have been as controversial.
“The emptiness and the meaninglessness of this slogan is a reflection that, even 60 years later, Dallas hasn't come to terms with the meaning of that event.” – Dr. Michael Phillips
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The signs could have argued, “The world changed here,” Phillips said — though experts may diverge on the extent to which Kennedy’s assassination shaped future national and international events. Or the banners could have just displayed the date of death: “Nov. 22, 1963.”
Looking at pictures of the Kennedy family during that era elicits emotional reactions even today, Phillips said.
There’s 3-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his late dad’s casket. There’s a shell-shocked Jackie in her blood-splattered pink suit. There’s Kennedy’s relative youth and attractiveness: a U.S. president snuffed out during what was arguably his prime.
As to why some Dallasites have delivered less-than-positive reviews of the banners’ slogan, Phillips has a theory: “It's emotionally dead.”
Based on the reactions gleaned from social media, the “JFK was here” message reads murky at best and flippant at worst. We reached out to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza for help understanding the meaning.These ads in downtown Dallas are cracking me up. “Yeah JFK got lit up here.” pic.twitter.com/mJKczw8y4U
— Miami Vice Apologist (extraction 3 #1 fan account) (@ViceApologist) October 9, 2023
Chief Philanthropy Officer Kim Bryan didn’t answer our question concerning the social media blowback but did emphasize that the museum had hoped to spread awareness of the site’s historic significance.
“The banners are placed along President Kennedy’s motorcade route and use historic images from the Museum’s collections,” she wrote to the Observer in part. “Each of the banner images is placed as close as possible to the location where the images were taken, nearly 60 years ago.”
Ohhh, OK — that makes sense. Too bad the signs couldn’t squeeze in that 40-word explanation, or convey that message more clearly and less lightheartedly, accidental or not.
Meanwhile, certain past leaders have tried to distance Dallas from the assassination.
Phillips noted that former Mayor R.L. Thornton, for instance, didn’t want the city to host a Kennedy memorial. Thornton reportedly would have rather forgotten that the terrible incident happened here.
Traces of that sentiment have lingered in the years since.
Nearly a decade ago, The Dallas Morning News ran an article excoriating Dallas for struggling to devise a decent way to pay Kennedy tribute. It had been half a century, after all. Architecture critic Mark Lamster wrote that the installation of a plaque at Dealey Plaza betrayed the city’s ambivalence.
“It’s been 50 years, and Dallas still hasn’t figured out an appropriate way to memorialize John F. Kennedy, even as the tragedy of his murder has served as the impetus for the city’s reinvention,” Lamster began in the story’s lead.
The way Phillips sees it, today’s banners further mirror Dallas’ complicated relationship with Kennedy’s killing: “The emptiness and the meaninglessness of this slogan is a reflection that, even 60 years later, Dallas hasn't come to terms with the meaning of that event.”
