Is the 6th floor museum losing its touch?

[Gerry Down]

The museums latest Youtube video has a woman showing how to make a childs rocket out of a drink bottle.

[Joe Elliott]

Is the 6th floor museum losing its touch?

Yes. I don’t think this would have happened if Gary Mack was still there.

[Charles Collins]

The museums latest Youtube video has a woman showing how to make a childs rocket out of a drink bottle.

The museum is fulfilling its role as an educational asset (as most good museums do). This video is a part of that effort (which I applaud). A little over a year ago, while in Washington DC, we tried to visit the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (which I had last seen as a child in the sixties). It was pouring down rain (all day long) but there was a line of people trying to get in that extended further than we could see, even after walking the length of that huge building.

I don’t know that this particular video would capture the attention of the average youngster for 30-minutes. But for the ones that are interested in learning about these things, it is quite informative. Telling about the space race and related items. JFK was a proponent of the space race. The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral Florida is named after him. So this subject is relevant.

I used to be interested in the solid fuel model rockets as a kid. And I built several and launched them. I do remember a smaller version of the baking soda/vinegar rockets being sold as a toy (probably in the late fifties). Airplanes and rockets continue to fascinate me into my late sixties. So poo pooing the video might make you feel superior in some perverted way. But it just might be the beginnings of a lifelong interest for some youngsters....

[Charles Collins]

I believe the Museum just mundanely presents the official findings. Not a place to explore the sort of irresponsible ill-formulated conspiracy-think that would pollute young minds forever. In the Midwest and South, they get that at an evangelical church.

The best I can tell they try to stay neutral and don’t stay strictly on one side or the other.

The only time I visited the museum was brief. Robert Groden was stationed out front of the building  looking rather discouraged. But dealing with the folks there via the net and watching quite a few videos and the way they handle questions, etc leads me to believe that they don’t take one side or the other.

[Andrew Mason]

The best I can tell they try to stay neutral and don’t stay strictly on one side or the other.

The only time I visited the museum was brief. Robert Gordon was stationed out front of the building  looking rather discouraged. But dealing with the folks there via the net and watching quite a few videos and the way they handle questions, etc leads me to believe that they don’t take one side or the other.

I would have to agree with Jerry on this one.  The museum has to present the evidence not speculation.  I am not saying they should say that the Warren Commission is unassailable but they should point out that it took into account a great deal of evidence that has withstood the test of time.

The conclusion that Oswald shot JFK and that he acted alone is evidence based.  Conspiracies aren't.  The entire record does not contain a scintilla of evidence of a conspiracy.  There is abundant evidence that Oswald was involved and no evidence that anyone helped him or plotted with him.  While the possibility of a conspiracy cannot be absolutely excluded, the evidence demonstrates that it would be highly unlikely that Oswald would have been selected as the person to carry it out.

What the museum can and should do, however, is recognize that there is some controversy over the Warren Commission conclusions and to show the variety of all the mutually exclusive conspiracy theories that have cropped up over the years. If nothing else, it would make the museum entertaining.  What the museum must not do is suggest that these theories have any evidentiary basis - unless they actually present the evidence. I think trying to do that would be a huge waste of museum funds.

[Charles Collins]

I would have to agree with Jerry on this one.  The museum has to present the evidence not speculation.  I am not saying they should say that the Warren Commission is unassailable but they should point out that it took into account a great deal of evidence that has withstood the test of time.

The conclusion that Oswald shot JFK and that he acted alone is evidence based.  Conspiracies aren't.  The entire record does not contain a scintilla of evidence of a conspiracy.  There is abundant evidence that Oswald was involved and no evidence that anyone helped him or plotted with him.  While the possibility of a conspiracy cannot be absolutely excluded, the evidence demonstrates that it would be highly unlikely that Oswald would have been selected as the person to carry it out.

What the museum can and should do, however, is recognize that there is some controversy over the Warren Commission conclusions and to show the variety of all the mutually exclusive conspiracy theories that have cropped up over the years. If nothing else, it would make the museum entertaining.  What the museum must not do is suggest that these theories have any evidentiary basis - unless they actually present the evidence. I think trying to do that would be a huge waste of museum funds.

Well said. Being neutral (not taking one side or another) lets them do essentially all those things.

[Charles Collins]

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (from their website):

Mission Statement

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza chronicles the assassination and legacy of President John F. Kennedy, interprets the Dealey Plaza National Historic Landmark District and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza; and presents contemporary culture within the context of presidential history.

Vision Statement

To be an impartial, multigenerational destination and forum for exploring the memory and effects of the events surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy, through sharing his legacy and its impact on an ever-changing global society.

[Richard Smith]

Why do they need to stay neutral?  There is no real debate that Oswald was the assassin.  All the evidence points in that direction.  A museum presents facts not crazy, baseless theories.  Does Ford's Theatre need to remain "neutral" about John Wilkes Booth's involvement in the Lincoln assassination?  That is absurd.