Dave Powers Unpublished 9-Page Eyewitness Assassination

Dave Powers extraordinary and unpublished 9-page eyewitness account: of the events that unfolded on Nov. 22, 1963, starting at 7:15 A.M. in Fort Worth, Texas, and ending Sat. Nov. 23, 1963 at 4:22 A.M. in the morning. Dave Powers was one of John Kennedy's best friends who rode in the Secret Service car right behind President Kennedy's limousine on Nov. 22, 1963 and helped remove President Kennedy’s body from the limousine and onto a stretcher at Parkland Hospital. There have been many accounts of that tragic day in Dallas but none were written by anyone more qualified than Dave Powers as he was not only watching this tragedy unfold but was unfortunately a participant in the events. Provenance: Dave Powers Estate. The clarity and detail of this document is of the utmost historical significance.
Lot also includes President Kennedy Mourning Poster and original 22' UPI Teletype wire service roll 11/22/63. Many early notices were not true as competing news services were lax in confirming information before printing.
Includes a certificate of authenticity from McInnis Auctions which held the Dave Powers Estate sale which covers this Lot as well as Lots 58 and 60. Note on the bottom, far right, a note from Dan Meador curator for the Powers Estate sale, that before this lot came up for auction an announcement was made that "The JFK Museum and Library in Boston, Ma. had expressed interest in having this lot at their museum," emphasizing the historical significance of these artifacts.
HIGHLIGHTS OF DAVE POWERS ACCOUNT OF THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION:
Page 1- Ft. Worth, Texas - 7:15 A.M.- I was awakened by the noise from the street. I looked out the window - the morning was gray and rainy. Several hundred people were already standing in the rain in the parking lot across from the Texas Hotel waiting to see their President. We had flown into Ft.Worth the evening before from Houston, Texas.

8:00 A.M. I went to the President's suite. The President shaved, showered and dressed. He then selected a blue-gray two button suit, a white shirt with a blue-gray stripe and a drak(sic) blue tie with small squares.
Page 2-
8:45 A.M. The President smiled, " Mrs. Kennedy is busy organizing herself," he explained, " it takes her a little longer, you know, but then she looks so much better than we do,"
9:15 A.M.-The President was in a joking mood; he recalled that on a State Visit to France (June 1, 1961) he introduced himself as " the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I'm getting somewhat that same sensation as I travel around Texas." The crowd roared as the President looked at Jackie adoringly.
Powers records for posterity probably the last example of the great wit and charm of JFK.
Page 3-
10:15 A.M. entry continued at bottom of the page: "The President talked about the full page, black border paid ad in the Dallas Morning News. He told Ken O'Donnell and me 'it was not a very difficult job to shoot the President.'"
11:37 A.M.- I was standing in the back of the jet when President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy were waiting for the ramp to be placed by the door. I said; " You two look like Mr. and Mrs. America! "They smiled and I added, "Please don't both of you wave at the same person at the same time as it might be too much for them- work different sides of the street."
Page 4- Dallas, Texas - 11:52 A.M. - "I rode in the follow-up car directly behind the President."
12:30 P.M.-" I replied ' it is now 12:30'... As the motorcade slowly passed by the Dallas School Book Depository, I heard the first shot-an ominous frightening sound...'"
Page 5-
12:30 P.M. "The President now clutched his throat....." Ken, I think the President has been shot".... we both saw and heard the shot that hit him in the back of the head with a sickening thud...Ken O'Donnell and I
blessed ourselves."
12:35 P.M.- "Jackie held him in her arms. She did not want to let the President out of her arms… His eyes were open, the pupils dilated, there was some chest movement."
Page 6- 12:35 P.M.- "I lifted my President... His face was expressionless.... there was no sign of fear or pain... his eyes were open. I looked at him and remember saying 'Oh, My God, Mr. President, what have they done!!'...Her beautiful pink suit was covered with blood and her gloves were caked with blood."
12:40 P.M. - "I called out to John Ready of the Secret Service to send for a priest."
Page 7-
1:00 P.M- "The President was pronounced dead by Dr. William Kemp Clark."

1:05 P.M. "Mrs. Kennedy still covered with blood kissed the President goodbye. She then took the ring from her finger and placed it on the President's finger"...
1:30 P.M. "A hospital official appeared in the corridor outside the emergency room and said the President's body could not be moved...Ken O'Donnell said: " Let's go.... we're getting out of here now!"
Page 8-
2:20 P.M.-"I helped carry the bronze casket containing the body of President Kennedy aboard Air Force One."

2:38 P.M. "Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th. President of the United States. (Just 98 minutes after President Kennedy died.)...27 persons,...witnessed the swearing in."
2:47 P.M.-" Mrs. Kennedy still stained with blood where she had held the President in his dying moments, refused to be separated from him and she remained with the casket in the rear compartment throughout the entire flight."... I sat with her along with Ken O'Donnell, Larry O'Brien, and
Brig. General Godfrey McHugh"...

"Jackie seemed to remember all the things which pleased her husband: Luigi Vena, who sang at their wedding. The Irish Cadets, The Black Watch, The Green Berets. She wanted the rituals simple-she wanted the East Room the way it was for President Lincoln."
Page 9
6:05 P.M. "Ken, Larry and I rode behind them to Bethesda, and stayed with them all night long."
9:00 P.M.- "George Thomas (the President's Valet) brought over several suits and ties. I chose a blue suit, white shirt, and blue tie for the President."
1:00 A.M.-Saturday, November 23, 1963 "Between 1:00 A.M. and 2:00 A.M., Ken, Larry and I picked out a solid mahogany casket.... I never dreamed I would be picking out a casket for the greatest man I ever met and the best friend I ever had. Two days earlier after our swim he weighed 172 1/2 and
looked like a champion."
4:22 A.M.-"President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's body came home to the White House. Jackie asked Ken and me to stay and sleep at the White House.......I wanted to go home and cry where no one could see me."
Mrs. Kennedy's great courage....
From the moment President Kennedy fell into her arms in Dallas she stayed with him. She was by his side when he died. She spent the night at Bethesda with him. She accompanied his casket back to the White House in the misty dawn, she attended Mass with her children in the East Room Saturday and Sunday. She went to the Capitol with his body and back again at 9 P.M. with Bobby.
Bobby had talked to me at Bethesda Naval Hospital and again early that morning at the White House about an open or closed casket. I told Bobby I had been attending wakes with President Kennedy since 1946 and he often told me "he did not want a lot of people staring at him in a casket trying to decide if he looked better or worse, or if he was sleeping, etc."

Format: Teletype