Oswald and US 80

 

Note: I am not analyzing conspiracy theories in this blog.

51 years ago today while the United States was mourning the loss of President John F. Kennedy another killing took place. As Dallas detectives Jim Leavelle and L.C. Graves took the most wanted man in the nation, Lee Harvey Oswald, for custody in downtown Dallas, Jack Ruby speared his way past a New York City based reporter. He methodically picked up his .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver and fatally shot Kennedy's assassin. However, what transpired between the president and the assassin's death was part of an action filled adventure that took place along parts of old US 80 and the Bankhead Highway, which was the first all-weather transcontinental highway that ran from Washington D.C. to San Diego, CA.

The adventure began down Elm St, which was on US 80 at the time, when a sniper began firing towards a Navy blue Continental carrying Mr. and Mrs. John F .Kennedy, Governor John Connolly and his wife. As the motorcade began its descent on Elm where various road signs promoting the next intersection such as Siemmons Expressway and Fort Worth Turnpike stared at the driver, three shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository.

 

One missed while the other two connected the president's neck and head, which proved fatal.

 

According to the investigations, after the attack, Oswald hid and covered the rifle with boxes and descended using the rear stairwell. About ninety seconds after the shooting, in the second-floor lunchroom, Oswald encountered police officer Marrion Baker accompanied by Oswald's supervisor Roy Truly; Baker let Oswald pass after Truly identified him as an employee. According to Baker, Oswald did not appear to be nervous or out of breath. Truly said that Oswald appeared "startled" when Baker aimed his gun at him. Mrs. Robert Reid—clerical supervisor at the Depository, returning to her office within two minutes of the assassination—said that she saw Oswald who "was very calm" on the second floor with a Coca-Cola in his hands. As they walked past each other, Mrs. Reid allegedly said to Oswald, "The President has been shot" to which he mumbled something in response, but Reid did not understand him. Oswald is believed to have left the Depository through the front entrance just before police sealed it off. Oswald's supervisor, Roy Truly, later pointed out to officers that Oswald was the only employee that he was certain was missing.

At about 12:40 p.m., Oswald boarded a city bus and requested a transfer from the bus driver and got off two blocks later. Oswald took a taxicab to his rooming house, at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, arriving at about 1:00 p.m. He entered through the front door and, according to his housekeeper Earlene Roberts, immediately went to his room, "walking pretty fast". Roberts said that Oswald left "a very few minutes" later, zipping up a jacket he was not wearing when he had entered earlier. As Oswald left, Roberts looked out of the window of her house and last saw him standing at the northbound Beckley Avenue bus stop in front of her house

Located just off Jefferson St. and old US 80, Oswald encountered Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, at approximately 1:14 pm, 45 minutes after President Kennedy was shot, Officer Tippit stopped Oswald, who was on foot and fit the general description of the assassin that was being broadcast by the Dallas police radio. After being summoned by Tippit, Oswald came over to the passenger side of the patrol car where they spoke through an open window. Following a brief conversation, Tippit got out of his car and as he was walking toward the front of his patrol car, Oswald suddenly shot him three times at point blank range with a .38 caliber revolver. After Tippit fell, he was fatally shot in the head by Oswald. A citizen who witnessed the shooting used the police radio in Officer Tippit's patrol car to alert other officers of the shooting. In the meanwhile Oswald ran for his life. After a few blocks he reached the Texas Theatre where he hid.

 

During this chase two movies were playing, War is Hell and Cry of Battle. For a while Oswald was fixated on Baynes Barron and Michael Bell until the police first spotted him sitting in the third row from the rear and five seats in from the center aisle. However, by the time Officer McDonald reached him, Oswald had moved to the second seat off the aisle in that same row.

After being taken to custody Ruby found his way through a pack of reporters and killed Oswald. Oswald's final destination took him along modern day TX 180 or part of the Bankhead to his permanent home in Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth.

 

While Route 66 is etched in pop culture, other highways like US 80 have been largely ignored even though it played important roles in various pieces of American history. For instance, US 80 was a road that united the South (as it runs through out the Deep South, i.e. portions east of Dallas to Georgia was known as the Dixie Overland Highway). Furthermore, the Bankhead, which meets up with 80 in Texas and then helps connect the Lone Star State with the American Southwest, was an attempt to create a Southern version of the Lincoln Highway.

Nonetheless, while US 80 and the Bankhead Highway will remain important to those communities and road scholars who appreciate its contributions to automotive and local histories ,it will always be a part of one of the greatest American tragedies.