This unedited interview footage, taped by Dallas-based director Jim Ruddy for “Entertainment Tonight”, features Dallas County Judge Lee F. Jackson discussing the filming of Oliver Stone’s JFK in Dallas and his opposition to scenes being shot inside the Texas School Book Depository Building. The 6th floor of the building is where Lee Harvey Oswald perched when he allegedly shot President John F. Kennedy. Judge Jackson led the efforts for the county to purchase the Texas School Book Depository Building and campaigned to build the 6th Floor Museum. He is dogmatic in his opinions of how to protect the decency of the building and is doing so by not allowing Stone to film inside the building. Jackson claims, “it’s not good to hang a ‘for rent’ sign over the sniper’s perch.” Lee F. Jackson remains an active community leader, currently serving as Chancellor of the University of North Texas System.
Lee F. Jackson, Austin born and Dallas raised, began his career as an assistant to the Dallas City Manager and worked in the City Manager’s Office for ten years. Jackson then won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1977 as a Republican. In the Texas House, Daniels was the Chair of the Business and Commerce Committee and also served on the Public Education Committee, where his interest in higher education blossomed.
Upon leaving the Legislature in 1987, Jackson was elected as a Dallas County Judge, where he remained until his resignation in 2002. During his tenure as judge, Jackson helped establish the Sixth Floor Museum in the Texas School Book Depository, an exhibit commemorating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
After Judge Jackson’s resignation in 2002, he was appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry as the Chancellor of the University of North Texas System. At the University of North Texas, Chancellor Jackson oversees initiatives and policy direction for the three UNT campuses including UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth and UNT Dallas. He has also been active in the international community as a university representative by creating the UNT System Delegation to Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security in 2007, presenting an honorary Doctorate to the King of Thailand in 2004, and as a United States Consultant to Romania, among other activities.
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