Zapruder testimony article HERE
The Presidential car, an open-top, 1961 Lincoln Continental, reached theTexas School Book Depository. The Presidential car was 65 feet away from the book depository when Oswald fired.
JFK and Jackie in the presidential car in the motorcade in Dallas shortly before the assassination. Public domain.
During the 6 to 24 seconds that Oswald fired into the limousine, the motorcade slowed from 13 miles per hour to 9 miles per hour.
A businessman, Abraham Zapruder, had his 8-mm Bell & Howell movie camera that day. Zapruder had asked his secretary to retrieve the camera from his office.
He took pictures; his film is famous, the world over.
In 1964, Zapruder testified before the President's Council.
Zapruder heard the first shot; Kennedy grabbed his chest.
He saw Kennedy lean toward Jackie and Zapruder thought to himself, "Oh, no, he got me," referring to what Kennedy must have been thinking at that time.
Secret Service agent Clint Hill was in the car directly behind Kennedy's car.
After the first shot, Hill jumped from the car in which he was riding and began running to Kennedy's car.
Just as Hill grabbed the handrail of Kennedy's car near the trunk, the second bullet struck Kennedy's head.
The car sped up, and Hill momentarily lost his footing, but quickly regained it and climbed into Kennedy's car.
As Hill climbed aboard, he saw Jackie climb into the front flat panel--the back seat-- where Kennedy sat, now slumped over.
Hill climbed to where Jackie was, and guided her back to the front seat. Hill then placed himself on top of Kennedy, shielding the President and Jackie with his own body.
The car sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
After the second shot, Zapruder beagn screaming,"They killed him, they killed him."
Through his camera, Zapruder was focused on the Presidential car and its inhabitants. He could clearly see what few others could – a bird's eye view of the Kennedy assassination.
Many in the crowd later stated they thought they'd heard a firecracker explode or a car backfire.
Then-Texas Governor John Connally rode one seat in front of Kennedy. One of Oswald's bullets struck Connally, critically injuring him.
A view of Elm Street along the motorcade route, taken from the 6th floor of the Book Depository, Dallas. Public Domain.
Mrs. Connally pulled her husband onto her lap, which helped close his front chest wound, saving his life.
At the hospital, emergency room doctors declared Kennedy to be moribund, with no chance of survival.
A polaroid taken by a specatator, Barbara Moorman, one sixth of a second after JFK was shot. Public domain.
Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. Central Time.
Kennedy was the 35th President, the fourth to be assassinated and the eighth to die in office.
Dr. Robert Nelson McClelland treated Kennedy at Parkland. McClelland approved a drawing that showed the large exit wound in the back of Kennedy's head.
At 1 p.m., a priest was called to administer the rite of Extreme Unction.
At 2 p.m., Kennedy's body was removed from the hospital and taken to Air Force One. This was done without examination by a coroner and was against Texas state law.
The assassination was under Texas state jurisdiction because, at that time, the assassination of the U.S. President was a state offense, not a federal offense.
While still on the ground aboard Air Force One, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President, before the plane left Love Field.
LBJ being sworn in aboard Air Force One. Jackie is wearing a blodstained pink skirt suit. Public domain.
Around the world, people openly wept. Many also prayed.
Throngs congregated in department stores, where many watched TVs.
Students in schools throughout the U.S. and Canada were sent home.
All regularly scheduled TV programming was canceled. The soap, "As the World Turns" was cut-off in the middle of its episode.
The non-stop TV news coverage that followed during the first three days after Kennedy's assassination was the longest non-stop news coverage of its day, and remained the longest non-stop TV news coverage of any event until 9/11.
Radio stations also cancelled regularly scheduled programming; they aired news coverage or funeral music, or went off the air completely.
Many sports events were cancelled that weekend.
NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle defended his decision to play NFL games that weekend, stating "It is traditional to perform during times of great personal tragedy; he [Kennedy] thrived on competition."
Monday, November 25, 1963, the day of the funeral, was declared a day of national mourning.
Memorial services were held worldwide.
Foreign dignitaries from more than 90 countries attended the funeral.
Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetary.
Source: Wikipedia, JFK Assassination
***
Everybody alive at that time remembers where they were when JFK was shot. I was 12, bringing home my pet mice for lunch. My mother was on the phone with her sister, who spilled the news. We watched TV, I didn't eat. I returned to school after lunch and watched TV and cried. We sat in front of the TV the entire weekend, while the world wept. My personal world sustained its first cataclysmic shock: What if nothing is ever the same? I thought. Nothing ever was.
Where were you?
* * *
The Sixties is a continuing series I posted originally in 2006 on Gather. These articles have been revised since original posting.
It discusses certain events that were in the news during the 1960s, in chronological order.
* * *
Writing is a form of Activism.
You can join my group, The Renewed Activist.
Join my group, The Sixties.
You can join Tom Brokaw's group,Boom!
Previous articles in The Sixties series:
The Sixties: Critical Mass - March on Washington - August 28, 1963 - video link to "Dream" speech (15)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - June 12, 1963 - Medgar Evers, Civil Rights Activist, Slain (14)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - Governor Wallace Violates Federal Desegregation Law at University of Alabama - June 1963 (13)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - The Children's Crusade: The March in Birmingham, May 1963 (12)
The Sixties: Cuba After Castro, A Sidebar (10)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - The Cuban Missile Crisis - 14 Days in October, 1962 (9)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - Sentencing of the Bay of Pigs Invaders (8)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - The Cuban Trade Embargo - No More Cuban Cigars (7)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings, November 14, 1961 - 16,000 Advisors Sent to Vietnam (6)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - The Bay of Pigs Invasion (4)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - JFK Elected President (3)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - Martin Luther King is Jailed (2)
The Sixties: Early Stirrings - Lunch Counters (1)
The Sixties: Rosa Parks and her effect on Ruby Bridges - (prequel)
Previous Boom! articles:
My review of Tom Brokaw's book:
Boom! Voices of The Sixties: Personal reflections on the 60s and Today
Other Boom! articles:
Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 Kathryn Esplin-Oleski
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Comments: 50
Oh, I had not thought about brother Ted in all of this...Today, Ted was dx with a malignant brain tumor, a glioma.
What took place two days later certainly heightened the feeling of tension. On national television everyone witnessed Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, a truly shocking sight to be caught on camera that was re-broadcast a number of times. I remember that I had gone out with my mother and brother to religious school that morning and had just come home when it happened; that shows how long ago that was for me.
Yes, things were never the same after all that.
Ruby was very shocking. Oswald, well, you know, he married a Russian gal.
This is a wonderful piece, Kathryn, and certainly quite moving and a good reminder of what is really at stake when a great man runs for the presidency, whether he wins or not. With Ted Kennedy's recent tumor diagnosis, many of us are gratefully thinking about the Kennedy family and their enormous contribution and sacrifice for this country.
As for the conspiracy theories, we may never know. I just finished reading a pair of books, "Cigar City Mafia" and "The Silent Don." and both books, if not confirming, at least embraced the theory that JFK's death was a mob hit orchestrated by Santo Trafficante Jr. and the Marcello family in New Orleans. Lots of circumstantial evidence, so we may never know.
It was a sad time for the entire country.
Bob, interesting.
Sharon, wow...
Beth, a lot of people were crying...and yes, it was like 9/11...in that it galvanized people.
Thank you, Kathryn, I was moved by this and instantly transported back, as if I was reading Jim Bishop´s book for the first time, THe Day Kennedy Was Shot. This was timely. Your writing often is.
The facts of the assassination are chilling; the detail that is available IS chilling.
Interesting, very, very interesting that you were watching Bobby just before coming online.
I remember that you were in California to see your friend Victor...brain cancer, so very difficult to win.
I will have to read Bishop's book.
That day is emblazoned in all of us.
Only on two occasions since have I felt so ill as I felt on November 22: The first instance was 9/11 and the second was Katrina. One is filled with such a sense of apprehension that the world has come to an end and you can see evidence of that on TV, right before your very eyes.
I know I'll never forget it.
Then we watched Jack Ruby murder Oswald right in our living rooms.
I hadn't thought of it in 9/11 terms, but it was that same feeling. That a citizen of the USA would pick up a gun and shoot our president was just too far out. I didn't think about him dying when they announced he'd been shot. It was too inconceivable that he would die.
Embrace the broken, dark places - Shadow Soul/Machine Dreams
Did you know that the movie, Dr. Strangelove, was scheduled to be released that night? After the events of the day, it was decided to wait a while to release the movie.
Teresa: Thank you for sharing.
This brought back that day very clearly. I was 7 years old and we had just gotten home from school. Mom, Dad, my sister and I were all helping put plastic on the windows of our house to keep us warmer during the winter. I remember that every thing.....EVERY THING just stopped and it seemed that the whole world was crying. It was as though we had all lost a family member and as you put so well; nothing was ever the same after that! Thanks for posting this.
But, I do remember them showing the footage on the famous Hollywood true story, biography of JFK.
Been to the Grassy Knoll, creepily serene
Layla, even though you were in Montreal at the time, you were around when all this happened. The seminal event of the second half of the 20th century.
blaine, yes, so do we all.
This was definitely an interesting article,I love reading stuff about history.
the president of our small school? "Not him, the President of the United States."
We both returned to the dorm living room, which was packed so as many as possible could
watch the television, cry, and pray, all in silence, unbelief and shock. Our adult beginnings
changed in that instant; and nothing will ever be the same.