Presidential DFW

Few corners of Texas carry as much presidential weight as the land north of Dallas. This driving loop threads together the footprints of three men who reached the White House — and one shattering afternoon that changed the country. It begins in downtown Dallas at Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and at the Sixth Floor Museum that now tells that story. From there it traces Lyndon B. Johnson's path — the airport spot where he took the oath of office hours later, and, far to the north, the modest site where his mother Rebekah Baines was born into a Collin County family of lawyers and teachers. It also visits the George W. Bush Presidential Library on the SMU campus. An optional far-north anchor reaches Denison, birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Plan for a full day; the distances are real.