1963 : John F. Kennedy assassinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is
assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top
convertible.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on
political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor
John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the
streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln
convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and
enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle
passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee
Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor,
fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor
Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas'
Parkland Hospital. He was 46.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President
Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the
United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office
aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field
airport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including
Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her
husband's blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off
for Washington.
The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first
proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourning
for the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands of
people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson
bear Kennedy's body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew's Catholic
Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued on
to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gathered
for the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors on
a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his
widow to forever mark the grave.
Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S.
Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and nine days later left
for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become a
citizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was
allowed to return to the United States with his wife and infant
daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with a
telescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly
shot at and missed former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, a figure
known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald went
to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee, a pro-Castro organization. In September 1963, he went to
Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to secure a
visa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned
to Dallas and took a job at the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman
who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas.
Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police
responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on
November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D.
Tippit.
On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas
police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd
of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered to
witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged
from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a
concealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed
that rage at Kennedy's murder was the motive for his action. Some
called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree
murder.
Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip joints
and dance halls in Dallas and had minor connections to organized
crime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination theories, and
many believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger
conspiracy. In his trial, Ruby denied the allegation and pleaded
innocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedy's murder had
caused him to suffer "psychomotor epilepsy" and shoot Oswald
unconsciously. The jury found Ruby guilty of "murder with malice" and
sentenced him to die.
In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision on
the grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby
could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In January
1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Ruby
died of lung cancer in a Dallas hospital.
The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither
Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or
international, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its seemingly
firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories
surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on
Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was
"probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have
involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's
findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to be
widely disputed.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1963 : John F. Kennedy assassinated
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=7089
1718 : Blackbeard killed off North Carolina
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5539
1988 : Stealth bomber unveiled
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5540
1990 : Margaret Thatcher resigns
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5541
#########################################
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is
assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top
convertible.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on
political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor
John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the
streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln
convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and
enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle
passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee
Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor,
fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor
Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas'
Parkland Hospital. He was 46.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President
Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the
United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office
aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field
airport. The swearing in was witnessed by some 30 people, including
Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her
husband's blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off
for Washington.
The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first
proclamation, declaring November 25 to be a day of national mourning
for the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands of
people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson
bear Kennedy's body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew's Catholic
Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then continued on
to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gathered
for the state funeral. Kennedy was buried with full military honors on
a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame was lit by his
widow to forever mark the grave.
Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S.
Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and nine days later left
for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become a
citizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was
allowed to return to the United States with his wife and infant
daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with a
telescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly
shot at and missed former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, a figure
known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald went
to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee, a pro-Castro organization. In September 1963, he went to
Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to secure a
visa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned
to Dallas and took a job at the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman
who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas.
Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police
responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on
November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D.
Tippit.
On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas
police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd
of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered to
witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged
from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a
concealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed
that rage at Kennedy's murder was the motive for his action. Some
called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree
murder.
Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip joints
and dance halls in Dallas and had minor connections to organized
crime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination theories, and
many believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger
conspiracy. In his trial, Ruby denied the allegation and pleaded
innocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedy's murder had
caused him to suffer "psychomotor epilepsy" and shoot Oswald
unconsciously. The jury found Ruby guilty of "murder with malice" and
sentenced him to die.
In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision on
the grounds of improper admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby
could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In January
1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Ruby
died of lung cancer in a Dallas hospital.
The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither
Oswald nor Ruby were part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or
international, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its seemingly
firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories
surrounding the event, and in 1978 the House Select Committee on
Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was
"probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" that may have
involved multiple shooters and organized crime. The committee's
findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to be
widely disputed.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1963 : John F. Kennedy assassinated
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=7089
1718 : Blackbeard killed off North Carolina
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5539
1988 : Stealth bomber unveiled
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5540
1990 : Margaret Thatcher resigns
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5541
#########################################
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