Dealey Plaza memorial planned for 50th anniversary of JFK assassination

Ricardo Medrano, noted below, used to stand with us during our annual Moment of Silence, held at the Grassy Knoll on November 22 at 12:30 pm since 1964. This article does not make clear whether the Mayor’s event will still preclude our commemoration this year in order to silence discussion of the assassination of President Kennedy at the moment when the national and international press attention will be present along with thousands of visitors to Dallas who want to be in Dealey Plaza on the 50th anniversary. We are petitioning the Mayor to open the area to the public and to honor First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly for our event.

Dealey Plaza memorial planned for 50th anniversary of JFK assassination
By DAVID FLICK
Staff Writer
Dallas Morning News
Updated: 22 May 2013 10:24 PM
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20130522-dealey-plaza-memorial-planned-for-50th-anniversary-of-jfk-assassination.ece

(Note: When Ricardo Medrano was on the City Council, he proposed a statue of JFK for Dealey Plaza. This was rejected.)

A message that President John F. Kennedy intended to deliver to the people of Dallas will be immortalized this year, in time for the 50th anniversary of his death.

Leaders of the city’s official commemoration of that event have been planning a large memorial plaque in Dealey Plaza that will quote the final paragraph of a speech Kennedy was to give at the Trade Mart on Nov. 22, 1963.

He was on his way to deliver that speech when he was assassinated by a sniper as the presidential motorcade passed through the plaza.

Plans call for his words to be written in 2-inch-high letters on a
plaque 3½ feet wide by 15 feet long that will be placed in the ground on the grassy knoll on the north side of the plaza.

“We didn’t think a monument of a man on horseback or something that looked like a tombstone would be appropriate,” said Ruth Altshuler, chairwoman of the 50th Committee. “But we got a copy of the speech and thought it was very moving and ought to be remembered.”

The proposal, presented a few weeks ago to a subcommittee of the City Landmark Commission, goes to the full commission next month. If approved by the city, it will go before the Texas Historical Commission for final approval.

The state commission acts on behalf of the National Park Service, which in 1993 designated Dealey Plaza a National Historic District. That designation carries strict rules to protect the immediate environment of the plaza, ensuring that it will look as it did 50 years ago.

The proposal to keep the memorial only slightly raised off the ground is expected to allay concerns. Willis Winters, Dallas Park and Recreation director, said the state commission has informally approved the plans.

“It won’t be a monument. It’s not something that will be standing up,” Winters said.

Much about the memorial remains undecided. Planners rejected using
granite, which looked too much like a tombstone.

One proposal calls for the plaque to be molded out of steel; another calls for the letters to be inlaid in concrete. Because of those uncertainties, there is no final estimate on the cost, which will be funded by private donations, Altshuler said.

Like the memorial itself, its completion will be low-key. There are no plans for a formal unveiling.

“The feeling was that a ceremony would attract large crowds and it would take away from the dignity of what we’re trying to do,” Altshuler said.

Instead, the plaque will be recognized as part of Mayor Mike Rawlings’ speech at the 50th-anniversary ceremonies in November.

The original Kennedy speech is perhaps best known for the line, “We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.”

Committee members felt the eloquence of Kennedy’s words was the best way to honor his memory.

“The words themselves were so uplifting, we thought it was right to place them in a place that had brought so much grieving,” said Deedie Rose, the 50th Committee member tasked with developing the memorial.

Altshuler said that after the 50th-anniversary commemoration, it’s
unlikely that there will be more physical representations of the
assassination on the plaza.

“It’s the last thing we’re ever likely to add out there,” she said. “Unless it would be for the 100th.”

FINAL LINES

The final paragraph of the speech President John F. Kennedy was to
deliver in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963:

We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility — that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint — and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” That must always be our goal — and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

SOURCE: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum