Kennedy's Last Flight

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An unknown story set on board Air Force One - the plane carrying the body of President Kennedy from Dallas to Washington on November 22nd 1963, following his assassination.

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On the flight, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United states under the 25th Amendment, accompanied by his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, and Jackie Kennedy with blood still on her clothes. Both standing next to him. This was Jackie’s idea, so the nation would better accept the transition of power.

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Flight crew are split between their grief and loyalty to President Kennedy and their duty to the new President. A man they had considered to be largely a joke. 

 

Johnson is in constant radio communication with both Bobby Kennedy and J. Edgar Hover as both men fear this may be a prelude to a communist attack. Johnson also takes the time to break the news to Kennedy’s mother about her son’s death.

As the flight reaches its destination and Kennedy’s coffin is carried from the plane, Johnson is recorded by his secret service agents refusing to get off the plane until he finds his hat. The secret service agent explains that his hat was lost in Dallas after the motorcade sped away from the assassination.

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This is the only time he loses his cool. The reality of his new position dawns on him once he steps off the plane. He was always the butt of the jokes for the Kennedys, a man who would never become king, but now he is and he won’t get off the plane without his hat.

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Based on and dramatised from extracts of the official accounts and transcripts from the flight and focusing on Johnson, his wife Lady Bird and Jackie Kennedy, as JFKs coffin ominously holds centre stage. This is the first time this unknown story of President Kennedys Last Flight will be told live in a theatre.

 

Further details coming soon

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