Kennedy John 1917 - 1963 Rare invitation to the Texas luncheon the "Trade Mart" for President Kennedy Nov 22, 1963 at 12 noon

Two page folded printed invitation to the luncheon on "Friday, the twenty-second of November". Located at "The Trade Mart", Dallas, Texas. Center fold, otherwise near fine. 7" x 9.5", folded to a 5" x 7". Stamp 1365 located on the verso. From the spectacular, unprecedented collection of Ronald Ellis Wade.

Original invitation to the famous luncheon that never was - One thousand days in office, and Kennedy was worried that the backlash from the Civil Rights issue would cost him the South. He would need Texas again, absolutely, and by more than the 46,000 vote margin he'd squeaked by with in '60. A trip was called for, to meet with rich Texas donors, and straighten out, if he could, the conservative-liberal split in the state's Democratic Party. The plan was to fly to Texas, make a half dozen appearances, one of which would include the luncheon at The Trade Mart. His undelivered speech intended to be presented at the luncheon is still available for reading and a copy of which is kept at the JKF Library.

Below is an account from one of the people who were present at the Trade Mart waiting for Kennedy's arrival:

On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, Jerrie Smith and her husband, Fred, were headed to the Dallas Trade Mart, where President John F. Kennedy would deliver a speech after a motorcade parade through downtown.

"We were so excited. We were young, and we loved Kennedy," Smith said. "We were going to follow him wherever he wanted to be followed. We were sitting right down front. Fabulous seats, because they were my father's."

Smith, then 27, would never see the president. He was assassinated on Elm Street minutes before the motorcade was due at the Trade Mart.

Smith's dad was the late Stanley Marcus, whose father and aunt founded Neiman Marcus in the early 20th century. He was in New York, unable to attend Kennedy's speech to the power elite of Dallas, of which he was a reigning member, despite being a staunch Democrat.

Because of Marcus, JFK's "Unspoken Speech" is forever enshrined in the DeGolyer Library at SMU, along with Marcus' entire collection of books and papers. Its title page bears the words, "Privately printed for Stanley Marcus, 1964." Smith said her father obtained a copy of the speech from his close friend, Lyndon B. Johnson, and had it published by Carl Hertzog, "the father of fine press printing" in Texas.

Horror and grief.

"Kennedy was late in coming, and later and later," said Jerrie Smith, now 77. "People were getting a little uneasy."

J. Erik Jonsson, president of the co-sponsoring Dallas Citizens Council and the city's future mayor, approached the podium, for the first time, at 1:01 p.m. Unbeknownst to him, the president had actually been shot at 12:30 p.m.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?" Jonsson said. "There has been a delay in the arrival of the motorcade. There has been a mishap. We do not know the extent of it or the exact nature. We believe from our report that we have just received that it is not serious. We hope you will keep your seats. As soon as we have something to tell you, believe me, we'll do it."

At 1:13 p.m., Jonsson rose to speak a second time. "I'm not sure that I can say what I have to say," he said. "I feel a little bit like the fellow on Pearl Harbor day. It is true that our president and Governor Connally in the motorcade have been shot."


"We do not know how seriously," Jonsson said. "Our reports are scant. They are difficult to get. We shall tell you as much as we know as soon as we know anything."

A rare and sobering piece of US history. The invitation states in full:

"The Dallas Citizens Council

The Dallas Assembly

The Science Research Center

Request the pleasure of

The company of

At a luncheon in the honor of

The President and Mrs. Kennedy

The Vice-President and Mrs. Johnson

The Governor and Mrs.Connally

Friday, the twenty-second of November

At twelve noon

The Trade Mart"

Below is an interesting interview from TheHill.com, about Ron Wade and his collection of Presidential memorabilia:

Step into Ronald Wade's office and it's easy to see why he's listed in "Guinness World Records 2015" for the largest collection of U.S. presidential memorabilia... it's really a replica of the Oval Office.


"Actually, they quit counting," Wade says of his immense collection of White House and presidential campaign items, "because I probably have closer to 20,000 or 30,000 items, if not closer to 100,000... that's with duplication." The official count from the folks behind the famed book puts Wade's collection in chief at 6,960 pieces as of last year.

The lifelong Republican has been racking up "practically anything that has to do with American politics" since he was 10 years old.

"My first memory in life is wearing an 'Like Ike' button, and I was probably 4 years old. So I've always been interested in politics," Wade, 64, tells ITK.

While much of the public might be disillusioned with warring politicians, Wade... who once served as a White House page for then-President Nixon... says talk of partisan bickering in Washington is overblown: "The friction between parties has been here as long as America has been here."