November 22, 1963, was an emotional day for America. The 35th president, John F. Kennedy, became a public target.
The President and his wife, Jackie Kennedy, arrived at Love Field. Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys’ car, an open-top convertible, as they drove through through Dallas, Texas, down the motorcade route. The car turned off Main Street around 12:30 p.m. Soon after, gunfire filled the plaza.
“President down!”
Bullets struck the president’s neck and head, and he slumped over toward Jackie.
The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital, which was just a few minutes away. But, little could be done for the president. A Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1 p.m. Kennedy was pronounced dead.
The president’s body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, Lyndon B. Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.
Less than an hour earlier, police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently hired employee at the Texas School Book Depository. He was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the fatal shooting, shortly afterward, of J. D. Tippit, a patrolman, on a Dallas street. On Nov. 24, two days after the death of the president, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to the county jail. Viewers across America watching the live television coverage suddenly saw a man aim a pistol and fire at point blank range. The assailant was identified as Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner.
Oswald succumbed to his injuries, and his murder opened the door to speculation on why the president was killed, and if anyone else was involved.
Oswald shot only three rounds, which hit Kennedy in the back and neck and shattered his driver’s rib and wrist. One theory claims that only one bullet did all this damage, though it’s physically improbable.
Another theory is that the CIA was behind the assassination. Most conspiracy theorists believe that there was more than one shooter involved. Shortly after the shooting, three clean-shaven, well-dressed hobos were arrested for trying to hop a train. Because of their appearances, some believed that they were undercover CIA agents.
There are also many theories that Oswald was paid to kill the president. Everyone from the aliens to the CIA has been accused of hiring him. One visually supported claim is that a man with a black umbrella, seen in footage from the sunny, balmy day of the assassination, was behind it.
A more mundane theory is that JFK’s bodyguard accidentally shot him when he was startled by Oswald’s gunfire.
Then, why was Oswald murdered? Ruby claimed to have shot him subconsciously in his grief-stricken state, but many theorists believe he was shot to prevent any more of a secret plot from leaking. The last-known key to the conspiracy disappeared when Ruby died of lung cancer in 1967.
The world may never be certain how or why JFK died.