In Memory of President John F. Kennedy

November 22, 2013 marks the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There are several events in Houston to commemorate this date (see below).

The anniversary has special significance to Houston’s Hispanic community. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy were in Houston on the day before his death, attending an event with (LULAC). Texas Governor John Connally and San Antonio Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez also were present, as were Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird. It was the first time an American president had addressed a Latino organization. Many consider the event to be the moment when Latino politics was born.

EVENTS

Authors Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis – “Dallas 1963”
Moderated by author Claudia Kolker
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 | 6 PM
Houston Public Library Julia Ideson Building – Auditorium
550 McKinney, 77002, 832-393-1662

In the early 1960s, Dallas was brewing with political passions, a city crammed with larger-than-life characters dead-set against the Kennedy presidency. “Dallas 1963,” is an explosive, chilling account of the city that would become infamous for the assassination of a president. Breathtakingly paced, “Dallas 1963” presents a clear, cinematic, and revelatory look at the shocking tragedy that transformed America. Countless authors have attempted to explain the assassination, but no one has ever bothered to explain Dallas—until now.

With spellbinding storytelling, Minutaglio and Davis lead us through intimate glimpses of the Kennedy family and the machinations of the Kennedy White House, to the obsessed men in Dallas who concocted the climate of hatred that led many to blame the city for the president’s death. Here at long last is an accurate understanding of what happened in the weeks and months leading to John F. Kennedy’s assassination. DALLAS 1963 is not only a fresh look at a momentous national tragedy but a sobering reminder of how radical, polarizing ideologies can poison a city-and a nation.

“President John F. Kennedy, LULAC and the Mexican American Vote”
Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at Noon
Hilton University of Houston, Flamingo room
4800 Calhoun Rd, 77004, 832-531-6300

The University of Houston Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) is hosting a symposium, “President John F. Kennedy, LULAC and the Mexican American Vote,” at noon, Wednesday, Nov. 20 at Hilton University of Houston, Flamingo room.  The event is free and open to the public.

The symposium features discussions from national scholars:

• Ignacio Garcia, professor of Western and Latino History, Brigham Young University, “John F. Kennedy & the Viva Kennedy Clubs”
• Cynthia Orozco, professor of History and Humanities, Eastern New Mexico University, “Houston LULAC, Jacqueline Kennedy, Carmen Cortez, Belen Robles and the National Presidency of LULAC”
• Michael Olivas, William B. Bates Distinguished Professor in Law, University of Houston Law Center, “A Primer on Latino Civil Rights Litigation in Texas, Post WWII”

“All For One and One For All”
Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 7 PM
Rice Lofts
909 Texas Ave, Houston, TX 77002

LULAC Council #60 will commemorate Kennedy’s visit to Houston with a reception to be held on the same day and location as the one 50 years ago. To buy reception tickets, visit http://www.jfklulac.com/buy-reception-tickets.html.

Author Kaaran Thomas – “Trip in the Dark: It Began with the Kennedy Assassination”
Saturday, November 23, 2013 | 2 PM
Houston Public Library Central Library – Program Place
500 McKinney, 77002, 832-393-1313

Conspiracy theories swirl almost fifty years after the assassination. Trip in the Dark asks a different question… if there had been a conspiracy, what would have happened next? And where is the evidence?  The thriller follows the murky trail of a set of incriminating tape recordings of Lyndon Johnson and his conspirators (the Texas oil cartel) from the President’s Oval Office to Richard Nixon, who discovers them during his Watergate cover-up, to Texas Governor Jake McCarty, the surviving victim of Oswald’s assassination attempt. McCarty, embittered by his wounds and enraged by Johnson’s failure to tell him of the plot, uses the tapes to extort money and favors from the conspirators.

McCarty’s plans are disrupted by another great disaster—the crash of the oil market and the Texas recession of the 1980’s. Facing financial ruin, McCarty must entrust the tapes to his naïve, ambitious protégé-bankruptcy lawyer Tom Nielsen. Now, Tom must embark on his own trip in the dark threatened by criminals who want the tapes and haunted by his lost innocence.

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NOTES:

• Recommended Reading: JFK’s last night recalled as key event for Latinos by Russell Contreras
• The JFK Resources in the Houston Public Library’s Houston Metropolitan Research Center

Sandra Fernandez

Sandra Fernandez is a professional communicator, tech enthusiast, book lover, and blogger. You can find her main blog at SandraSays.com and more of her writing at HispanicHouston.com.