More Dallas rain might have saved President John F. Kennedy

Sixty-one years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, president John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The events of that day have been the focus of countless books, movies and stories.

While many of those events are still debated and have spawned numerous conspiracy theories and opinions, one thing that has remained constant is the weather that day. The weather has been the backdrop to every momentous occurrence in history. Sometimes it plays a major role in influencing the outcome of seismic events, as it did on D-Day during World War II, and other times, it simply provides the scenery in which circumstances unfold.

In his book, "Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Shaped History", AccuWeather Founder and Executive Chairman Dr. Joel N. Myers takes readers on a journey from the beginning of time to modern days, exploring how weather and climate impacted world events throughout history.

There are also a number of haunting what-ifs posed, including a chapter on how more rain may have saved President Kennedy's life, which is especially enthralling. Dr. Myers details a series of seemingly innocuous events in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, including a key exchange between his Secret Service team about the rain and whether or not they should put the top down on the car Kennedy would ride in during the motorcade.

US President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and others smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Minutes later, the President was assassinated as his car passed through Dealey Plaza. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

"Could the Plexiglass top have made the difference between life and death?" Dr. Myers speculates. "It is possible."

Dr. Myers writes, "Kennedy had arrived in Dallas to deliver a luncheon speech and was only meant to be in the city for a couple of hours. Had it continued to rain, the bubble top would have remained on the limousine. Because the skies were clear, it was removed."

Dr. Myers notes that contrary to popular belief, the bubble top was not bullet proof, it was created for inclement weather. Journalist Jim Lehrer, who was in Dallas covering the parade spoke to one of the Secret Service officers on duty: "He looks up at the sky-I will never forget this. He looks up at the sky and it's clear...and yells down to an agent with a two-way radio and he says 'check it downtown. What's it like downtown?' When the response came back that it was clear downtown, he ordered his fellow agents to 'Lose the bubble top.'"

Dr. Myers continues, "Lehrer, who later used this experience as the basis for a novel called Top Down researched the question. "'If it was up, Oswald might not have taken the shot,'" Lehrer speculated. "He might have thought it was bulletproof. Or the quarter-inch Plexiglass might have deflected the bullets. Or the glass could have shattered into shards and killed everybody"

Dr. Myers concludes that "The Warren Commission Report noted the lack of the bubble top as a factor but never ran any simulations to see if it would have made a difference. The Secret Service must have thought it was at least a major factor because the presidential limousine was immediately redesigned, giving it a permanent roof and other security features like armor plating, run-flat tires and an explosion-proof fuel tank."

Join AccuWeather founder & Executive Chairman Dr. Joel N. Myers on a journey from the beginning of time to the modern day to see how weather and climate changed the very course of human history.

You can purchase Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Shaped History from Barnes & Noble or on Amazon.com and wherever good books are sold.