President John F.
Kennedy's Assassination
Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on
November 22, 1963
From Jennifer L. Goss,
Contributing Writer
On November 22, 1963, the
youth and idealism of America in
the 1960s faltered as its young
President, John F. Kennedy, was
assassinated by Lee Harvey
Oswald while riding in a
motorcade through Dealey Plaza
in Dallas, Texas. Two days later,
Oswald was shot and killed by
Jack Ruby during a prisoner
transfer.
After researching all the available
evidence about Kennedy’s
assassination, the Warren
Commission officially ruled in
1964 that Oswald acted alone; a
point still greatly contested by
conspiracy theorists worldwide.
Plans for the Texas Tour
John F. Kennedy was elected to
the presidency in 1960. A
member of an illustrious political
family from Massachusetts, the
World War II Naval veteran
Kennedy and his young wife,
Jacqueline (“Jackie”), charmed
their way into the hearts of
America. The couple and their
beautiful young children, three-
year-old Caroline and infant John
Jr., quickly became favorites of
every media outlet across the
United States.
Despite a somewhat turbulent
three years in office, by 1963
Kennedy was still popular and
thinking about running for a
second term. Although he had
not officially announced his
decision to run again, Kennedy
planned a tour that resembled
the beginnings of another
campaign.
Since Kennedy and his advisers
were aware that Texas was a
state where a win would provide
crucial electoral votes, plans were
made for Kennedy and Jackie to
visit the state that fall, with stops
planned for San Antonio,
Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas and
Austin. It would be Jackie’s first
major foray back into public life
after the loss of her infant son,
Patrick, in August.
Arrival in Texas
The Kennedy’s left Washington,
D.C. on November 21, 1963. Their
first stop that day was in San
Antonio, where they were met by
a welcoming committee led by
Vice President and Texan Lyndon
B. Johnson.
After attending the dedication of
a new aerospace medical center
at the Brooks Air Force Base, the
President and his wife continued
on to Houston where he
delivered an address to a Latin
American organization and
attended a dinner for
Congressman Albert Thomas.
That night, they stayed in Fort
Worth.
The Fateful Day in Dallas Begins
The following morning, after
addressing the Fort Worth
Chamber of Commerce, President
Kennedy and First Lady Jackie
Kennedy boarded a plane for a
brief flight to Dallas. Their stay in
Fort Worth was not without
incident; several of Kennedys'
Secret Service entourage were
spotted drinking in two
establishments during his stay
there. No immediate action was
taken against the offenders but
the issue would arise later in the
Warren Commission investigation
of Kennedy’s stay in Texas.
The Kennedy’s arrived in Dallas
just before noon on November
22 with approximately 30
members of the Secret Service
accompanying them. The plane
landed at Love Field, which
would later serve as the site of
Johnson’s swearing-in ceremony.
They were met there by a
convertible 1961 Lincoln
Continental limousine that was to
take them on a ten-mile parade
route within the city of Dallas,
ending at the Trade Mart, where
Kennedy was scheduled to
deliver a luncheon address. The
car was driven by Secret Service
agent William Greer. Texas
Governor John Connally and his
wife also accompanied the
Kennedys in the vehicle.
The Assassination
Thousands of people lined the
parade route hoping for a glance
at President Kennedy and his
beautiful wife. Just before 12:30
p.m., the presidential motorcade
turned right from Main Street
onto Houston Street and entered
Dealey Plaza. The presidential
limousine then turned left onto
Elm Street. After passing the
Texas School Book Depository,
which was situated at the corner
of Houston and Elm, shots
suddenly rang out.
One shot hit President Kennedy’s
throat and he reached up with
both hands toward the injury.
Then another shot struck
President Kennedy’s head,
blowing off a part of his skull.
Jackie Kennedy leapt from her
seat and started scrambling for
the back of the car. Governor
Connally was also struck in the
back and chest (he would survive
his wounds).
As the assassination scene was
unfolding, Secret Service agent
Clint Hill jumped from the car
following the presidential
limousine and ran up to the
Kennedys’ car. He then jumped
onto the back of the Lincoln
Continental in an attempt to
shield the Kennedys from the
would-be assassin. He arrived
too late.
Hill, however, was able to help
Jackie Kennedy. Hill pushed Jackie
back into her seat and stayed
with her the rest of the day.
Jackie then cradled Kennedy’s
head in her lap all the way to the
hospital.
Kennedy Is Dead
As the driver of the limousine
realized what had occurred, he
immediately left the parade route
and sped toward Parkland
Memorial Hospital. They arrived at
the hospital within five minutes
of the shooting; Kennedy was
placed on a stretcher and
wheeled into trauma room 1. It is
believed that Kennedy was still
alive when he arrived at the
hospital, but barely. Connally was
taken to trauma room 2.
Doctors made every attempt to
save Kennedy but it was quickly
determined that his wounds
were too severe. Catholic priest
Father Oscar L. Huber
administered last rites and then
chief neurologist Dr. William
Kemp Clark pronounced Kennedy
dead at 1 p.m.
An announcement was made at
1:30 p.m. that President Kennedy
had died from his wounds. The
entire nation came to a standstill.
Parishioners flocked to churches
where they prayed and school
children were sent home to
mourn with their families. Even
fifty years later, nearly every
American who was alive that day
can remember where they were
when they heard the
announcement that Kennedy was
dead.
The President’s body was
transported to Love Field via a
1964 Cadillac hearse supplied by
Dallas’ O’Neill funeral home. The
funeral home also supplied the
casket that was used to
transport Kennedy’s body. When
the casket arrived at the airport,
the President was loaded onto
Air Force One for transport back
to Washington, D.C.
Johnson’s Swearing In
At 2:30 p.m., just prior to Air
Force One leaving for
Washington, Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath
of office in the conference room
of the plane. Jackie Kennedy, still
wearing her blood-splattered
pink dress, stood at his side as
U.S. District Court Judge Sarah
Hughes administered the oath
( picture). During this ceremony,
Johnson officially became the
36th President of the United
States.
This inauguration would be
historical for many reasons,
including the fact that it was the
first time the oath of office was
administered by a woman and
the only time it occurred on an
airplane. It was also notable for
the fact that there was not a
Bible readily available for
Johnson to utilize during the
swearing in, so instead a Roman
Catholic missal was utilized.
(Kennedy had kept the missal on
Air Force One.)
Lee Harvey Oswald
Although the Dallas police closed
down the Texas School Book
Depository within minutes of the
shooting, a suspect was not
immediately located.
Approximately 45 minutes later,
at 1:15 p.m., a report was
received that a Dallas patrolman,
J.D. Tippit, had been shot. Police
were suspicious that the shooter
might be the same in both
incidents and quickly closed in
on the reported suspect who
had taken refuge in the Texas
Theater. At 1:50 p.m., police
surrounded Lee Harvey Oswald;
Oswald pulled a gun on them,
but the police successfully
arrested him.
Oswald was a former Marine
who was identified as having
ties to both communist Russia
and Cuba. At one point, Oswald
traveled to Russia with hopes of
establishing himself there;
however, the Russian
government believed him to be
unstable and sent him back. He
then attempted to go to Cuba but
failed to get a visa through the
Mexican government. In October
1963, he returned to Dallas and
procured a job at the Texas
School Book Depository through
a friend of his wife, Marina.
With his job at the book
depository, Oswald had access to
the eastern-most sixth floor
window where he is believed to
have created his sniper’s nest.
After shooting Kennedy, he hid
the Italian-made rifle that was
identified as the murder weapon
in a stack of boxes where it was
later discovered by police. He was
then seen in the depository’s
second-floor lunchroom
approximately a minute and a
half after the shooting. By the
time police sealed off the
building shortly after the
assassination, Oswald had
already exited the building.
Oswald was captured in the
theater, arrested, and charged
with the murders of President
John F. Kennedy and patrolman
J.D. Tippit.
Jack Ruby
On Sunday morning, November
24, 1963 (just two days after
JFK’s assassination), Oswald was
in the process of being moved
from the Dallas Police
Headquarters to the county jail.
At 11:21 a.m., as Oswald was
being led through the basement
of police headquarters for the
transfer, when Dallas nightclub
owner Jack Ruby shot and killed
him in front of live television
news cameras.
Ruby’s initial reasons for
shooting Oswald were because
he was distraught over
Kennedy’s death and he wanted
to spare Jackie Kennedy the
difficulty of enduring Oswald’s
trial.
Ruby was convicted of killing
Oswald in March 1964 and given
the death sentence; however, he
died of lung cancer in 1967
before an upcoming re-trial
could occur.
Kennedy’s Arrival in
Washington D.C.
After Air Force One landed at
Andrews Air Force Base just
outside of Washington D.C. on
the evening of November 22,
1963, Kennedy’s body was taken
via automobile to the Bethesda
Naval Hospital for an autopsy.
The autopsy found two wounds
to the head and one to the neck.
After the autopsy was completed,
Kennedy’s body, still at the
Bethesda Hospital, was prepared
for burial by a local funeral home,
which also replaced the original
casket that had been damaged
during transfer. Kennedy’s body
was then transported to the East
Room of the White House where
it remained until the following
day. At Jackie’s request,
Kennedy’s body was
accompanied by two Catholic
priests during this time. An
honor guard was also stationed
with the late President.
On Sunday afternoon, November
24, 1963, Kennedy’s flag-draped
casket was loaded onto a
caisson, or gun wagon, for
transfer to the Capitol rotunda.
The caisson was pulled by six
grey horses and had previously
been used to carry the body of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It
was followed by a riderless black
horse with reversed boots placed
into the stirrups to symbolize the
fallen President.
The Funeral
The first Democrat to lie in state
at the Capitol, Kennedy’s body
remained there for 21 hours.
Nearly 250,000 mourners came
to pay their final respects; some
waited up to ten hours in line to
do so, despite the cold
temperatures in Washington that
November. The viewing was
supposed to end at 9 p.m.;
however, a decision was made to
leave the Capitol open overnight
to accommodate the throngs of
people who arrived at the Capitol.
On Monday, November 25,
Kennedy’s coffin was taken from
the Capitol to St. Matthew’s
Cathedral, where dignitaries from
over 100 countries attended
Kennedy’s state funeral. Millions
of Americans stopped their daily
routines to watch the funeral on
television.
After the service concluded, the
coffin began its final procession
from the church to Arlington
Cemetery. Jackie had her two
little children with her and as
they exited the church, three-
year-old John Jr. stopped for a
moment and raised his hand to
his forehead in a childish salute.
It was one of the most heart-
wrenching images of the day.
Kennedy’s remains were then
buried at Arlington Cemetery,
after which Jackie and the
President’s brothers, Robert and
Edward, lit an eternal flame.
The Warren Commission
With Lee Harvey Oswald dead,
there remained many
unanswered questions about the
reasons for and the
circumstances surrounding John
F. Kennedy’s assassination. To
answer these questions,
President Lyndon Johnson issued
Executive Order No. 11130,
which established an
investigatory commission that
was officially called the
“President’s Commission on the
Assassination of President
Kennedy.” The commission was
led by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, Earl Warren; as a
result, it is commonly referred to
as the Warren Commission.
For the remainder of 1963 and
most of 1964, the Warren
Commission intensively
researched all that had been
discovered about JFK’s
assassination and Oswald’s
assassination. They carefully
examined every aspect of the
case, visited Dallas to examine
the scene, requested further
investigations if facts seemed
uncertain, and poured over the
transcripts of literally thousands
of interviews. Plus, the
Commission conducted a series
of hearings where they heard
testimony themselves.
After nearly a year of
investigating, the Commission
notified President Johnson of
their findings on September 24,
1964. The Commission issued
these findings in a report that
ran 888 pages.
The Warren Commission found:
The final report was highly
controversial and has been
questioned by conspiracy
theorists through the years. It
was briefly revisited by the House
Select Committee on
Assassinations in 1976, which
ultimately upheld the major
findings of the Warren
Commission.