Customer Reviews

From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the last surviving member of the motorcar of two couples in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated forty years ago, the wife of former Texas Governor John Connally provides us with her experiences of that ill-fated event. Mrs. Connally supports the belief of three shots being fired from behind. The first hit President Kennedy in the throat, the second hitting her husband behind the right shoulder, and the third shattering the skull of President Kennedy. She states that her husband sitting in the front seat had time to move from side to side after Kennedy had been hit in the throat. She states, "Even magic bullets don't hang in the air that long." Following this shot, Mrs. Connally states, her husband was hit behind the right shoulder, and then the President was hit in the head. She states her husband heard the first and third shots, the second one he did not. She has been told you do not hear a bullet that hits you, and John heard the first and third shots. She also describes her apprehension while her husband was in the emergency room, and wondering if he was getting the proper care (he was), or was everyone attending to the stricken president. John Connally researched every report prepared on the subject, and in 1983 he still held to the belief of Oswald's guilt stating, "Nobody in America can keep a secret that big for that long." In addition to Mrs. Connally, each of her three children provide their remembrances of this infamous day. The book concludes with the speeches President Kennedy was to deliver at the Dallas Trade Mart at noon, and his speech in Austin that evening. Forests have been felled with versions of this American tragedy, but it is special to hear it from one as close to the situation as she was. Thank you, Mrs. Connally, for sharing your experiences with us.

History doesn't get much better than this. Here's a book written with passion and pathos from notes that Ms. Connally wrote shortly after the assasination of President Kennedy.

Connally has taken an event burned into the consciousness of the world and breathed new life into it. She puts us in the seat next to the President and First Lady and takes for a most moving ride.

This is a MUST HAVE book for anyone who cares about the past and the Kennedy legacy.

As a Texan who remembers that November day, and as one who was delighted to have John Connally as our Governor, I looked forward to reading this book when it came out. Nellie Connally remains a Texas treasure in her eighties, dignified and still just plain pretty. She proves, in this book, that she can be articulate as well.

After watching an entire week of History Channel telecasts that refute the lame Warren Commission report, it is unfortunate that at this late date we will never know the complete truth behind the Kennedy tragedy. However, no matter which side of the fence on which a reader rests, this slim volume will remain a great resource. I found it particularly interesting not for her recollection of the murder, but for her account of the treatment of her husband after the event.

A book for all who are interested in that day.

My husband and I had the opportunity yesterday to get our copy of "From Love Field" signed by Mrs. Nellie Connally. What a treat! She is so elegant and eloquent, and gracious to all of her fans. She spoke personably with every single person in line and made everyone feel like they were of interest to her. I started reading her book as soon as I got in the car, and read straight through til I finished it. It is a wonderful book, exactly what you would expect from someone who lived through that horrible day. I got exactly what I expected to get from reading it, and even more. I especially appreciated the speeches that President Kennedy wasn't able to give being reproduced in the book. This is a book I will always cherish, along with meeting this great Texan, Mrs. Nellie Connally.

Nellie Connally is the ultimate authority on this earth=shaking tragic event. She was there! And she tells her story beautifully and with touching honesty.

Nellie Connally's story of the fateful day in Dallas when John Kennedy was assassinated and her own husband, John Connally, was very seriously wounded, is a first-person account, simply written and gripping. Especially interesting to readers like me, those of us who were never swept up by the Camelot myth, is her finely tuned, rather ambiguous depiction of Jacqueline Kennedy. While she writes respectfully of Mrs. Kennedy, there are unmistakeable undertones of Connally's feelings that Jackie was rather aloof and off-putting, and not entirely considerate of other people.
Connally's own hearty connectedness, her ease in her role of loving wife and devoted mother as well as First Lady of Texas, comes through strongly. Here is a woman whom readers will
warm to as they read her account of that November afternoon. Connally put her memories into writing when they were still disturbingly fresh, then stowed the papers away in a drawer to save for her descendants. Thirty years later she came across them again, and this eyewitness story was made available to all of us, as our nation still remains fascinated with the Dallas tragedy. Recommended.

Its obvious from reading the Publisher's Weekly review above, the reviewer is a conspiracy buff, doesn't believe the Warren Commission report, and only wants the tabloid-type writing that is so plentiful on the JFK assassination.

Would you want to read Mary Lincoln's account of what happened in the theatre box when President Lincoln was assassinated? Would you want to read what any eyewitness to the shooting that night had to say? If you want a first hand account of what a beautiful day November 22, 1963, started out to be, and how horribly wrong it went, you will want this book.

Nellie Connally, wife of Texas Governor John Connally, was sitting directly in front of Jackie Kennedy in THAT car on THAT day, November 22, 1963. She turned in time to see President Kennedy's hands fly up to his throat, saw the shocked look in his eyes, saw him slump in the seat. Mrs. Connally then made a snap decision that she later learned saved her husband's life.

Also, Publisher's Weekly states that her description of her family's security needs afterwards and her accepting of the Warren Commission's findings "are not of broad interest." I wonder if the Publisher's Weekly reviewer saw any of the programs this past week where every one of these shows came to the conclusion Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone? This was after painstaking analysis of forensic evidence, and looking into every crackpot theory imaginable. I also found it very interesting to read about the fears and nightmares Mrs. Connally and her husband endured after that tragic day. I can't believe anyone would consider that of no interest to the public.

I want to thank Nellie Connally for writing this book, and not only sharing this story with her grandchildren, but with all of us. Mrs. Connally is truly a "steel magnolia." She has made a great contribution to the telling of the history of the 20th century, and that tragic day in November.

Of the many volumes on the subject, I find this book to be the best. Told with charm and grace, Nellie Connally relates the events of November 22, 1963 as only an occupant of that ill-fated Presidential Lincoln could. Devoid of conjecture or theories, we are simply presented with the facts. The Connally's viewpoint from the jumpseats is sobering. Pivotal moments, from Mrs. Connally's last words to President Kennedy to Governor Connally' near fatal wounds to Oswald's emergency room visit after the Jack Ruby shooting are covered in a comfortable format; making one feel that Mrs. Connally is relating the events to you personally. Thank-You, Mrs. Connally.

The former First Lady of Texas takes an infamous blot on our history, an event that quite literally changed the world for generations to come, and put it in completely human terms. This is what happened to her and her family. This is how she remembers it. What's more, it's how she experienced it -- from both the front seat of the Lincoln Continental and the corridors of Parkland Hospital. This makes it an invaluable historical record, and a moving account written by a woman who had been fired upon in an open car and held her bleeding husband in her arms. Perhaps it is "slight." I would not have wanted her to embellish or alter her memories of those tragic days just to accommodate readers who measure a book's worth by the number of pages. I did not consider the photographs, the reproduction of her notes nor President Kennedy's undelivered speeches "filler." They lent texture and veracity to her story. And I do not see how anyone can say there is nothing "new" here. She is the only one of those three surviving passengers who discussed what happened at this length with the public. That in and of itself is "new." I appreciate this lady's gallantry and her generosity in contributing her family's history to our country's history. And I was also moved by her son John's recollections of the funeral. It was poignant to read a man nearing 60 recalling the awe, pagentry and pain he experienced while still a teen.

I found it quite interesting reading about Mrs. Connally's thoughts about her trip with the Kennedy's in Texas, and being in the limo on that fateful day. I also found interesting the pictures that were included in the book, some of which I have not seen before.

The one thing that I wish about the book is that is was longer, and like one review I read, it does repeat at times, but I also found it interesting how her notes that she wrote were photocopied and included in the book.

One review noted that there were some errors in the book, (and what book other than a fiction book does not contain errors), however I took this book as a reconstruction of Mrs. Connally's impressions of the assassination of President Kennedy and the injury to her husband in the days after it happened. Not surprising, there probably was some confusion, and in fact to this day, there is still confusion concerning what happened in Dallas that day.

I found it very easy to place myself in the limo with her, and follow what she saw and felt.

Even though it is a shorter book, it is well worth reading.