From left to right, you have President John F. Kennedy, then VP and future president Lyndon Johnson, and retired presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman all sitting in a church pew.
Any guesses to where this photo was taken?
If your guess was somewhere near Washington, then you’re wrong. And if you guessed somewhere overseas, you’re still wrong.
This photo was taken at First Baptist Church in the tiny North Texas town of Bonham at Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn’s funeral.
Read more about this photo and event in this Dallas Morning News article that I somehow missed when it came out in November 2010.
My dad was born in Bonham and lived there until he was 12. His brother lived there until he died 12 years ago and we spent a lot of time when I was growing up. I've visited the Rayburn Library and Museum and the Rayburn House several times. It's pretty fascinating stuff.
Very interesting story; I'm surprised I didn't see it when it was first published, I'm normally good at picking out these sort of historical items.