Writer Dan Helpingstine will appear at the Davenport, Iowa Barnes and Noble at 320 West Kimberly Road on October 17 from 1-3pm to sign his historical book on the John Kennedy assassination. The book is entitled Dallas Forever Changed - The Legacy of November 1963. The book has been released by Pelican Publishing.
Unlike other works on the assassination, Dallas Forever Changed does advance any theories on who assassinated President Kennedy. Instead the book deals with the historical after effects of the crime.
For over 50 years, Dallas endured a tragic legacy that left it labeled as the "City of Hate." Immediately after the assassination, community leaders looked to find a candidate to oppose the local Congressman Bruce Alger because it was thought that Alger contributed to the city having a violent political image. He was defeated in 1964 and never held political office again. The city also did other things in an attempt to distance itself from the assassination.
However, the city could not help but embrace the legacy of the assassination. Visitors were often allowed to visit the Texas Theatre, the place where Lee Oswald was arrested. Tours of key assassination sites are offered by private guides. On one visit to Dallas, the author was shown a red business card by a taxi driver. In the middle of the card had the title, "The Lady in Red." Jean Hill stood within 30 feet of the motorcade when the president was shot. She can be easily identified because she wore a red coat.
The official version has Lee Oswald shooting from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. That sixth floor now houses The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Many city leaders decided one way to deal with history is take ownership of it in a way. The Sixth Floor Museum has artifacts and films of November 22, 1963 and also documents political and social events at that time.
The ongoing controversies regarding President Kennedy's assassination will never fully allow Dallas to divorce itself from the event. The struggles of Dallas symbolize how the country as a whole has had a difficult time coping with a tragic occurrence that changed history.

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