JFK Assassination

JFK Assassination

It was a normal day in Dallas, Texas with President John F. Kennedy, his wife, the First Lady of Texas, and her husband, John Connally, the governor of Texas were riding through Dealy Plaza in a Presidential limousine. Mrs. Connally, turned around to the President and said, “Mr. President, you can’t say that Dallas doesn’t love you.” The President agreed and the limousine continued on its way. The limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository, and suddenly three gunshots were heard. President Kennedy slumped over as the bullet went through his neck and his throat and then pierced the governor’s back. The last shot hit President Kennedy in the right side of his head, which probably was the shot that resulted in the President’s death when the limousine was passing in front of a field of grass.

                The suspect who was arrested was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was arrested about an hour and a half after the assassination when he shot and killed a police officer who saw him walking outside a neighborhood in Oak Cliff. He was later caught by another police officer who he also tried to shoot in a movie theater. He was charged for murdering both President Kennedy and the police officer, although he denied the crimes. Oswald was never tried in court because he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, an owner of a nightclub in Dallas, while being moved into a van to be relocated from the Dallas Police Headquarters to the Dallas County Jail.

                On the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, a bolt-action rifle was found. This rifle was proven to be the weapon that the assassin used. The rifle had been bought by Oswald eight months earlier under a false name. On the gun part of a print of Oswald’s palm was found on the barrel along with some fibers from the shirt that Oswald was wearing when he was arrested.

                Later that day, about thirty minutes after the shooting, President Kennedy was announced dead by Parkland Hospital. The doctors said that he had no chance of survival when he reached the hospital. Governor Connally did survive. Shortly afterwards, Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice-president, who was riding two cars behind the president was sworn into office. November 22, 1963 will forever be remembered as a sad day, but a day that is filled with history and mystery.