November 22, 1963: Death of the President

Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. By the fall of 1963, President John F. At the end of September, the president traveled west, speaking in nine different states in less than a week. Campaigning in Texas A month later, the president addressed Democratic gatherings in Boston and Philadelphia. Mrs. President Kennedy was aware that a feud among party leaders in Texas could jeopardize his chances of carrying the state in 1964, and one of his aims for the trip was to bring Democrats together. The first stop was San Antonio. Morning in Fort Worth A light rain was falling on Friday morning, November 22, but a crowd of several thousand stood in the parking lot outside the Texas Hotel where the Kennedys had spent the night. The warmth of the audience response was palpable as the president reached out to shake hands amidst a sea of smiling faces.

Assassination of John F. Kennedy Although the Commission's conclusions were initially supported by a majority of the American public,[4] polls conducted between 1966 and 2003 found that as many as 80 percent of Americans have suspected that there was a plot or cover-up.[5][6] A 1998 CBS News poll showed that 76% of Americans believed the President had been killed as the result of a conspiracy.[7] A 2013 AP poll showed, that although the percentage had fallen, more than 59% of those polled still believed that more than one person was involved in the President's murder.[8][9] A Gallup Poll in mid-November 2013 showed 61% believed in a conspiracy and 30% thought Oswald did it alone.[10] In contrast to the conclusions of the Warren Commission, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded in 1978 that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The HSCA found the original FBI investigation and the Warren Commission Report to be seriously flawed. Route to Dealey Plaza[edit]

John F. Kennedy assassinated — History.com This Day in History — 11/22/1963 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. 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.

JFK / The Kennedy Assassination Home Page John F. Kennedy Assassination Flight - What Happened on the Flight from Dallas Published in the October 2013 80th Anniversary issue Colonel James Swindal, a handsome forty-six-year-old carpenter's son from Alabama and the pilot of Air Force One, sits in the communications shack behind his cockpit, pushing back a roast-beef sandwich. Two million dollars' worth of the latest technology buzzes around him, teletype machines and radios and three separate phone patches. He's half-listening to the radio, Charlie frequency, to the chatter of Secret Service agents narrating the progress of President John F. Behind Swindal, in the large passenger compartment, two secretaries type press releases; farther back, in the stateroom—with its two fixed tables, TV set, and six chairs upholstered in gold—all is quiet. Back in the communications shack, Swindal hears the first in a series of puzzling radio calls. The radio suddenly drops out. He runs up the ramp and onto the plane. A vague early bulletin hits the screen and then hangs in the air: President Kennedy has been shot.

The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1963 The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, 1963 Air Force One touched down at Dallas’s Love Field at about 11:30 on the morning of November 22, 1963. On board was President John F. The young president had been in office less than three years. His trip to Texas was a political one – an attempt to mollify a factious division within the Texas Democratic Party that might threaten his run for re-election the following year. The motorcade (led by Dallas police, interspersed with Secret Service cars and followed by press cars) slowly made its way through the streets of Dallas to the accompaniment of cheering crowds that filled the sidewalks. As spectators ran or fell to the ground in self-protection, the motorcade accelerated to top speed and raced to near-by Parkland Hospital. The president’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, fled the scene. Lady Bird Johnson made a tape recording of her recollections of the president’s assassination two or three days after the event.