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The 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated while riding in an open-top convertible through Dallas, Texas.
On November 22, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, normally not present during political events, joined her husband alongside Texas Governor John Connally and his spouse for a 10-mile motorcade in downtown Dallas.
As they traveled in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys greeted the enthusiastic crowds lining the parade route. At 12:30 p.m., as their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building, Lee Harvey Oswald reportedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, mortally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. President Kennedy was declared dead 30 minutes later at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, at the age of 46.
Three cars behind the President in the motorcade, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the oath of office aboard Air Force One while it was on the runway of Dallas Love Field airport, with approximately 30 witnesses present, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still dressed in clothes stained with her husband’s blood. Just seven minutes later, the presidential aircraft departed for Washington.
The following day, November 23, President Johnson made his first proclamation, declaring November 25 a national day of mourning for the deceased president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands gathered on the streets of Washington to witness a horse-drawn caisson carry Kennedy’s body from the Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession subsequently proceeded to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders from 99 nations assembled for the state funeral. Full military honors were accorded as Kennedy was interred on a slope below Arlington House, where his widow lit an eternal flame to forever signify the grave.
Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1956. He was discharged in 1959 and left for the Soviet Union just nine days later, attempting unsuccessfully to obtain citizenship. He worked in Minsk, marrying a Soviet woman, and in 1962, he and his wife, along with their infant daughter, were permitted to return to the United States. In early 1963, he purchased a .38 revolver and a rifle with a telescopic sight via mail order. On April 10, he allegedly attempted to shoot former U.S. Army general Edwin Walker, known for his far-right views, in Dallas but missed.
Later that month, Oswald traveled to New Orleans, where he established a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro group. In September 1963, he traveled to Mexico City, where investigators believe he tried to obtain a visa to either go to Cuba or return to the USSR. By October, he had returned to Dallas and secured employment at the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Less than an hour after President Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who had questioned him near his rooming house in Dallas. Thirty minutes later, he was arrested in a movie theater by police who were acting on reports of a suspect. He faced formal arraignment on November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit.
On November 24, as Oswald was being taken to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on route to a more secure county jail, a crowd of law enforcement and press gathered with live television cameras. As Oswald entered the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the gathering and shot him fatally with a concealed .38 revolver. Ruby was swiftly detained and claimed that his actions were motivated by anger over Kennedy’s assassination. Some
“`He was referred to as a hero, yet he faced first-degree murder charges.
Operating strip joints and dance halls in Dallas, Jack Ruby—whose real name was Jacob Rubenstein—had minor ties to organized crime. He plays a significant role in theories regarding the Kennedy assassination, with many believing he murdered Oswald to prevent him from disclosing a broader conspiracy.
During his trial, Ruby refuted the claims against him, asserting that overwhelming grief from Kennedy’s assassination resulted in “psychomotor epilepsy,” leading him to shoot Oswald without conscious awareness. The jury convicted Ruby of “murder with malice” and sentenced him to death.
In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, citing the improper admission of testimony and the belief that Ruby could not receive a fair trial in Dallas at that time. While awaiting a new trial scheduled for Wichita Falls, Ruby passed away from lung cancer in a Dallas hospital in January 1967.
The Warren Commission’s 1964 report concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were part of any larger conspiracy, whether domestic or international, to assassinate President Kennedy. However, despite the report’s seemingly conclusive findings, it did not put an end to conspiracy theories surrounding the event. In 1978, the House Select Committee on Assassinations released a preliminary report suggesting that Kennedy was “probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy” that might have included multiple shooters and organized crime.
Similar to the findings of the Warren Commission, the committee’s conclusions remain a subject of significant dispute.
