Introducing
Forensic
Science
I
n November 1963, President John F. Kennedy decided to visit Dallas, Texas,
for a variety of political reasons. When he announced his decision, the Se-
cret Service had some concerns about security, since UN Ambassador Adlai
Stevenson had been jeered, jostled, struck by a protest sign, and spat upon in a
visit to Dallas the previous month. To prevent a similar incident, Dallas police
prepared the most stringent security precautions in the city’s history.
Kennedy would travel from the Love Field airport in a motorcade through
downtown Dallas to give a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart in suburban Dal-
las. The car in which he was traveling was an open-top limousine, which would
allow crowds to see Kennedy as he traveled. (No presidential car with a bul-
letproof top was yet in service in 1963.) Riding with Kennedy in the limousine
were his wife, Texas governor John Connally Sr., Connally’s wife, and two Secret
Service agents.
Chapter
