Researching what surrounded the assassination

1. Dealey Plaza and George Bannerman Dealey

Dealey Plaza was completed in 1940 as part of a Works Progress Administration project. Elm, Main, and Commerce Streets converge there before passing beneath the “Triple Underpass.” The area is sometimes called the “birthplace of Dallas” because John Neely Bryan established his early settlement nearby.

The plaza was named for George Bannerman Dealey, the longtime publisher of The Dallas Morning News. Dealey promoted city planning and campaigned for improvements to the western entrance of downtown Dallas.

The Texas State Historical Association confirms that Dealey was deeply involved in Freemasonry. He was:

• A Thirty-third-degree Scottish Rite Mason
• A Knight Templar
• A Shriner
• A member of the Red Cross of Constantine

These are documented associations, not speculation. However, Dealey’s Masonic membership does not by itself demonstrate that Freemasonry had a role in Kennedy’s assassination. Texas State Historical Association biography of George Dealey

2. Other Masonic connections around Dealey Plaza

The location had a fraternal history long before 1963. Historical descriptions identify the area as the site of Dallas’s first home, courthouse, post office, store, and fraternal lodge.

Dealey Plaza also contains a monument to John Neely Bryan, the founder of Dallas. Bryan belonged to Tannehill Lodge No. 52, one of the early Masonic lodges in Dallas. Thus, two important individuals commemorated at the plaza—George Dealey and John Neely Bryan—had Masonic connections.

This supports the conclusion that Dealey Plaza has genuine Masonic associations in its civic history. It does not establish that the plaza was selected for the motorcade because of those associations.

3. Who owned the Texas School Book Depository?

The building at 411 Elm Street was constructed in 1901. At the time of Kennedy’s assassination, it was owned by Dallas oilman and businessman Colonel David Harold “D. Harold” Byrd.

The building and the textbook business were separate:

• D. Harold Byrd owned the property.
• The Texas School Book Depository Company leased and occupied most of it.
• The company stored and distributed school textbooks.
• Lee Harvey Oswald began working there in October 1963.

Byrd was more than a landlord. He was a prominent oilman, aviation advocate, cofounder of the Civil Air Patrol, and an important figure in the Texas business and defense community. He also served on the board of Ling-Temco-Vought, a major defense contractor. Texas State Historical Association biography of D. Harold Byrd

4. Which president was Byrd close to?

The president most frequently connected with D. Harold Byrd was Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Photographs in the LBJ Library collection show Byrd with Vice President Johnson. Correspondence and biographical accounts also document a friendly political relationship. Johnson reportedly expressed appreciation for Byrd’s friendship.

That relationship deserves examination, but several distinctions are essential:

• A Byrd–Johnson friendship is supported by historical evidence.
• Byrd’s ownership of the Depository is documented.
• Byrd’s defense-industry interests are documented.
• None of those facts, standing alone, proves that Byrd or Johnson participated in the assassination.

Another interesting fact is that Byrd was reportedly away on an Antarctic expedition when Kennedy was killed. He later removed the sixth-floor window assembly associated with the alleged sniper’s position.

5. The “Umbrella Man”

A man standing near the Stemmons Freeway sign opened and raised a dark umbrella as Kennedy’s limousine approached. Because it was a sunny day and because his movements appeared close in time to the gunfire, researchers wondered whether the umbrella was:

• A visual signal to shooters
• A protest symbol
• A device capable of firing a dart or projectile
• Merely an unusual coincidence

In 1978, Louie Steven Witt appeared before the House Select Committee on Assassinations and identified himself as the man with the umbrella.

Witt testified that he used it to heckle Kennedy. The umbrella supposedly referred to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was associated with an umbrella and the appeasement of Nazi Germany. Witt connected this protest to Joseph Kennedy Sr.’s support for accommodation with Germany while serving as ambassador to Britain.

Witt produced an umbrella that he said was the same one. The committee examined it and found no weapon mechanism. His appearance and testimony are contained in the HSCA hearings collection.

Nevertheless, several questions remain:

• Witt waited approximately fifteen years before publicly identifying himself.
• The symbolism was obscure to most observers.
• The umbrella was raised at a highly consequential moment.
• Witt’s identity rested considerably upon his own testimony.
• Definitively proving that he was the person in the films is difficult.

Therefore, “Louie Steven Witt was Umbrella Man” should be described as Witt’s identification and the explanation accepted by the HSCA—not as an independently established certainty beyond all possible dispute.

6. Where did Witt work?

Witt testified that he worked for the Rio Grande National Life Insurance Company. Its headquarters occupied the Rio Grande National Life Building at approximately 251 North Field Street in downtown Dallas, only several blocks from Dealey Plaza.

The building:

• Was approximately nineteen stories tall
• Opened around 1949
• Served primarily as the headquarters of Rio Grande National Life
• Contained additional offices
• Was demolished in 1971
• Occupied approximately the location where Renaissance Tower was later constructed

The University of Texas at Arlington preserves an archival photograph and description of the Rio Grande National Life Insurance Building.

7. Who were the building’s other tenants?

This is where researchers must proceed carefully. Online articles frequently claim that the building contained offices connected with:

• U.S. military intelligence
• The Secret Service
• Other federal agencies
• Private investigators and insurance organizations

I could not verify a complete 1963 tenant roster from a reliable digitized primary source. Some accounts appear to confuse the Rio Grande building at 251 North Field with the federal office building at 1114 Commerce Street. The latter unquestionably housed federal offices and later became known as the Earle Cabell Federal Building.

One government tenant that can be documented at 251 North Field is the regional office of the U.S. General Accounting Office, listed there in a 1970 Federal Register entry. That proves federal occupancy by 1970—but not necessarily on November 22, 1963. 1970 Federal Register reference through GovInfo

Accordingly, the presently supportable tenant findings are:

How to establish the complete tenant list

The best primary sources would be:

1. The 1963 and 1964 Polk’s Dallas City Directories.
2. The directories’ “street guide,” beginning with 251 North Field Street.
3. The building-office section under Rio Grande National Life Building.
4. The alphabetical entries for every business listed at that address.
5. Dallas building permits, telephone directories, tax files, and elevator-directory photographs.
6. Federal telephone directories for Dallas in 1963.

The Dallas History and Archives Division of the Dallas Public Library and the University of Texas at Arlington Special Collections are the most promising repositories. A genuine directory scan is necessary before publishing a definitive list of every tenant.

Overall assessment

The wider setting contains several authentic and noteworthy relationships:

• Dealey Plaza was named for a documented Thirty-third-degree Scottish Rite Mason.
• Early Dallas founder John Neely Bryan was also associated with Freemasonry.
• The Depository was owned by D. Harold Byrd, a politically connected oilman and defense-industry figure.
• Byrd had a documented relationship with Lyndon Johnson.
• “Umbrella Man” Louie Steven Witt worked for an insurance company in a nearby downtown office building.
• Claims about Secret Service or military-intelligence tenants in Witt’s building remain insufficiently documented.

These connections are legitimate research leads. Their existence warrants careful investigation, but they should not be presented as proof of coordination unless documentary evidence establishes how the people and institutions actually interacted.