JFK50 Ft. Worth: Hotel Texas
Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback, enthusiasm, and even a very humbling award from the City of Dallas for our JFK50 GeoTrail begun in November 2013, to commemorate President Kennedy’s last day in Dallas, we are back with a Bonus Cache. We thought we’d add one more for our Fort Worth friends in a spot that needs such a cache. You don’t need to find any of the other caches in the series to find this one, just come and enjoy and learn a little history! To complete the GeoTrail download the Passport here.
Once again, thanks for all your positive feedback and encouragement!
Your buddies,
Friends of the GeoTrail
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On November 21st, 1963, President Kennedy, his wife, Jackie, and their entourage visited San Antonio and Houston to large and exuberant crowds. To the publicly silent dismay of many Texas politicians, including some of those in his entourage, Kennedy made the Texas trip to try and bridge the divide between two very different factions of the Democratic Party to try and get some political support from Texas. Texas’ electoral votes were especially critical to Kennedy who won the 1960 Presidential Election by the slimmest margin in history. While there was a lot of backroom bickering amongst Texas politicians, out in front, Kennedy was clearly in charge.
While Kennedy officially made the trip to start his re-election campaign and raise funds needed to get started, many Democrats wanted to keep him away so that they themselves could benefit from those donors instead. While many Texas Democrats publicly decried Kennedy as soft on communism; here to raise oil taxes; and furthering a new social agenda that they didn’t want or understand; privately they knew the Kennedy charm offensive, with the help of his wife, would prove to be a very charismatic and persuasive opposition.
After a long day of campaigning and traveling, the Kennedys arrived from Houston to Carswell Air Force Base at 11:45pm on Thursday, November, 21, 1963. They were greeted by many well-wishers and then whisked to the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth. Fort Worth had been preparing for their arrival for quite some time. Direct phone lines had been installed in the hotel to the White House and to Moscow. Another new bank of phones was installed for the press.
Suite #850 had been selected by an advance Secret Service team for the Kennedys because it had just one entrance, which was thought to be the safest configuration to protect the President. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, were given the Will Rogers suite on the 13th floor, a nicer suite, but one deemed less secure because it had two separate entrances.
Not only was suite 850 selected for the Kennedys, but the Fort Worth art community worked together and curated an art exhibit in their suite. Prominent paintings and a Picasso sculpture were loaned for the occasion by local museums and patrons alike. (Author’s note: While this was very kind of them, I wonder if part of it was a joke on the Kennedys. It is well-known that several, if not all, of these donors were not at all Kennedy supporters. I’m no art expert, but I do consider myself one who appreciates many styles of art, including pieces that I don’t understand very well. But with a simple internet search, you can see exactly the pieces that were on display that day. Let’s just say that I have never seen such a collection that would look better in my attic!)
Friday morning at 8:50am, a morning that would be President Kennedy’s last, he strode out the front door of Hotel Texas into a cold and foreboding drizzle to address a crowd that was dressed for the occasion and numbered about twice those he would soon greet inside in the ballroom. After a brief introduction by LBJ, Kennedy took to the podium and declared, “there are no faint hearts in Fort Worth!” as the Hotel Texas’ newly prepared sign for the visit shone over his head, declaring “Welcome to Ft. Worth where the West Begins.” The crowd loved him! He apologized that Jackie was not ready yet, then got up close and personal as he shook hands with members of the crowd as the Secret Service certainly cringed. (Author’s note: this was the first domestic campaign trip where Jackie had ever accompanied the President. While it may have taken her a little longer to get herself together, as the President joked, she also just buried their infant son, Patrick, only 3 months ago. Patrick likely died of SIDS, though that wasn’t a known medical phenomenon or diagnosis in 1963.)
President Kennedy strides out of Hotel Texas to deliver an impromptu parking lot speech to the good citizens of Texas.
People of all walks of life came out into the cold rain for a chance to meet the President.
Jackie makes her appearance and apparently LBJ approves.
After his parking lot meet and greet with the residents of Fort Worth, Kennedy went inside and took his seat at the ballroom dais in preparation for his morning’s Chamber of Commerce speech. Just a little late, Jackie arrived in her now famous pink wool suit and pillbox hat, and sat at his side. During introductions, Kennedy was given a pair of fine Justin boots and a Peters Brother western hat which he refused to model for the many cameras chomping at the bit, but said if the crowd wanted to see him wear it, they should come to Washington: a veiled promise to wear it when they win the White House again with Texas’ help.
The President got up and spoke at the Chamber of Commerce meeting that ran until 10:30am, at which time he and Jackie retired to their room for a brief rest. At 11am, the Fort Worth motorcade began on their way back to Carswell Air Force Base to Air Force One for the brief 13-minute flight to Dallas’ Love Field. With fans lining the Fort Worth motorcade route and school children waving banners, they headed out north on Main Street, then west on Belknap, north on Jacksboro Highway, and west again along River Oaks Boulevard. From there, it was on to Dallas, a story that can be continued with the other caches in this series.
Several different hotel companies have owned and managed the hotel since 1963. Today, the hotel is run by Hilton. It has been reconfigured and renovated several times since 1963. The parking lot where Kennedy gave his outdoors speech is no longer a parking lot. Hotel patrons cannot stay in the famous suite #850, but they can stay in the JFK suite, room #1530, which features a large dining room that is inspired by Jackie’s White House interior design with many Kennedy artifacts and mementos.
The dining room in the JFK Suite, room #1530.
The Puzzle
The purpose of the puzzle is to learn a little history of this area, and allow a fun and secure cache placement. We hope you learn something and enjoy the mini tour!
The location of the final cache is:
N32 AB.CDE
W97 VW.XYZ - 3
There are 3 stops you must make to fill in the blanks in the 5 statements below; then a short walk to the final cache location. You can visit them in any order you choose. All these locations are marked as waypoints and all are pretty close together. They are also on flat city terrain, making it handicap accessible.
- The General's grave is marked by a monument BZ feet tall.
- The General passed away in 18AE.
- D,000 people were in attendance for JFK's scheduled morning speech (indoors speech).
- The quote, "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger" comes from one of the most famous speeches given in the history of the United States. It was given in the year VW6Y.
- According to the plaque, JFK's second book won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in the year C95X.