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Tag Archives: President John F. Kennedy
Lincoln X-100 – The Kennedy Presidential Limousine
On the day he died, President John F. Kennedy was riding in a 1961 Lincoln Continental X-100. It was actually a 4-door convertible, and X-100 was its Secret Service code name. Ford Motor Company assembled the car at its Lincoln plant in Wixom, Michigan in January 1961. Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, Ohio customized the vehicle to function as a presidential parade limousine; literally cutting it in half, reinforcing it, extending it 3½ feet in length and making numerous other modifications. Ford Motor Company and Hess & Eisenhardt collaborated on engineering and styling. It debuted at the White House in June 1961. The car remained the property of the Ford Motor Company, which leased it to the Secret Service for $500 per year.
The car, as equipped at the Lincoln plant, would have retailed for $7,347. Custom built, it cost nearly $200,000, according to Randy Mason in The Saga of the ‘X-100’.
Special features on the limousine included:
- Removable steel and transparent plastic roof panels
- Hydraulic rear seat that could be raised 10½ ” to elevate the president
- Massive heating and air conditioning system with auxiliary blowers and 2 control panels
- Dark blue broadcloth lap robes with gray plush lining and hand-embroidered presidential seals in special door pockets
- Four retractable steps for Secret Service agents
- Two steps on rear bumper for additional agents
- Flashing red lights, siren
- Blue Mouton rug in rear
- Indicator lights when door was ajar or steps out
- Two flagstaffs, two spotlights
- Auxiliary jump seats for extra passengers
- Two radio telephones
- Interior floodlights
I have a replica of this car by Yat Ming, which is part of its “Presidential Limousines” collection. I know that may sound macabre, but the vehicle is an indelible, albeit tragic, part of our nation’s history.
Filed under Classics
In Remembrance – Officer J.D. Tippit, September 18, 1924 – November 22, 1963
While many dispute whether or not Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John F. Kennedy, there’s no doubt he shot and killed Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit on that same day near a movie theatre in the city’s Oak Cliff section. A Texas native, Tippit served in the U.S. Army’s Seventeenth Airborne Division during World War II. Tippit joined the Dallas police department in 1952 and had already been cited once for bravery for disarming a criminal.
A nation already traumatized by the assassination of its president donated money to Tippit’s widow, Marie, and their 3 children. Now, the city of Dallas has finally done the right thing for Tippit and his family by honoring the officer with a historical marker. During an official ceremony November 20, current Dallas Police Chief David Brown told those gathered that “there is no greater love than this – that a man would lay down his life for his fellow man.”
Filed under News
Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis
It was on October 22, 1962, that President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation that the U.S. government had photographic evidence of missiles on Cuba pointed towards South Florida. An American U-2 spy plane had flown over Cuba earlier that month and, utilizing state of the art technology, snapped several black and white pictures of the missiles. At the time, the U.S. was involved in the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union, and the Kennedy Administration believed the Soviets had installed the missiles on Cuba. He had already met several times with his advisors before addressing the nation. It led to a 13-day standoff between the two nations, after which the Soviets agreed to pull the missiles, and the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba. This is the complete 18-minute speech.
Filed under Classics
Chief Writing Wolf 