1963 - An invitation, souvenir brochure, and broadside program for President Kenndy's "Texas Welcome Dinner" in Austin on 22 November 1963 that never occurred as he had been assassinated earlier in the day

Three items related to the culmination of John F. Kennedy's campaign tour through Texas at a "Welcome Dinner" in Austin that had been organized by the State Democratic Executive Committee.

A 7" x 9¾" invitation to the event which was to be held "on Friday evening the twenty-second of November / One thousand nine hundred and sixty-three / at half after seven o'clock / at the Municipal auditorium / in the City of Austin" In nice shape; original mailing fold. Minor tape scuffs on reverse.

An 8 x 11" glossy souvenir brochure, "Texas Welcome / Texas welcomes the President / of the United States / and the Vice President of the United States." Complete. It contains short bios of John & Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon & Lady Bird Johnson, Texas Governor John Connoly, and Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough. It also includes a welcome letter from Connoly, a program of events, a list of the Texas Congressional Delegation, the Bill of Rights, and several pages of advertisements. In nice shape.

An 8½ x 14" cardstock broadside, titled "Texas Welcome Dinner" that features images of Kennedy, Johnson, and Connoly as well as the seals of the President, the Vice-President, and the State of Texas. The program of events is delineated on the broadside. In nice shape.

This dinner never took place. The President was shot in the head at Dealy Plaza in Dallas by former Marine and Communist sympathizer, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was hiding in the Texas School Book Depository as Kennedy's motorcade passed by. Kennedy was rushed to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Texas Governor John Connolly, who was riding with the President, was wounded but survived.

Oswald later murdered a Dallas policeman before he was captured. Vice President Lyndon Johnson assumed the Presidency later that day while returning to Washington onboard Air Force One. Oswald was murdered two days later on live television by Jack Ruby while being escorted through the Dallas Police Station. Ruby was a wanna-be-bigshot owner of a nightclub whose loose ties to Sam Giancana's Chicago Outfit were investigated by the CIA, FBI, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Warren Commission. Ruby's initial conviction was overturned as it contained inadmissible testimony, and he died of a pulmonary embolism while awaiting retrial in 1967.

Although invitations occasionally appear at auction, it is unusual to find a set of the three most important mementos from the dinner: the invitation, the glossy brochure, and the program broadside.