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This article considers the detailed timeline of events before, during, and after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.
Contents
- Prelude
- November 21 Arrival in Forth Worth
- November 22 Fort Worth breakfast speech
- November 22 Arrival in Dallas
- Motorcade vehicles and personnel
- Presidential motorcade route
- 1230 pm CST Shots are fired
- Lee Harvey Oswald
- President Kennedy
- Locally in Dallas
- Other stations
- CBS Radio affiliates KNX WCCO and WCBS
- NBC radio affiliate WLW in Cincinnati
- NBC radio affiliate WTIC in Hartford
- WGN in Chicago
- WGBH FMBoston Symphony Orchestra Concert
- Nationally
- ABC
- CBS
- CBS Radio
- CBS TV
- NBC
- KLIF Radio Dallas
- Return to Washington
- Charges laid on Oswald
- Funeral
- Official investigations
- References
Prelude
A presidential visit to the state of Texas was first agreed upon by Lyndon B. Johnson, President John F. Kennedy's vice president, and Texas native, and by Governor John Connally while all three men were together in a meeting in El Paso on June 5, 1963. (In 1978 Connally testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that in the spring of 1962 "Vice President Johnson told me then that President Kennedy wanted to come to Texas, he wanted to come to Texas to raise some money, have some fund-raising affairs over the State.")
President Kennedy later decided to embark on the trip with three basic goals in mind: the president wanted to help raise more Democratic Party presidential campaign fund contributions; he wanted to begin his quest for reelection in November 1964; and, because the Kennedy-Johnson ticket had barely won Texas in 1960 (and had even lost in Dallas), President Kennedy wanted to help mend political fences among several leading Texas Democratic party members who appeared to be fighting politically amongst themselves.
President Kennedy's trip to Dallas was first announced to the public in September 1963. The exact motorcade route was finalized on November 18 and announced to the public a few days before November 22.
During the third week of October 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald started working a seasonal, full-time job at the Texas School Book Depository as a $1.25/hour manual laborer, filling customer orders for books. Oswald had secured the job after a referral by Ruth Paine, with whom Lee's wife, Marina Oswald, and the Oswald children were living, after a marriage separation. Ruth had also separated from her husband, Michael Paine, at about the same time.
On October 24, 1963, when on a visit to Dallas to mark U.N. Day, U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was jeered, jostled, hit by a sign, and spat upon. Dallas Police were fearful that similar demonstrations were going to happen to Kennedy when he visited Dallas. Several people, including Stevenson, warned JFK against coming to Dallas, but Kennedy refused their advice. Dallas Police, headed by chief Jesse Curry, did increase the level of security during Kennedy's visit, putting into effect the most stringent security precautions in the city's history. Curry even "deputized" citizens to take action for any suspicious acts that may be pointed towards the president.
November 21: Arrival in Forth Worth
On Thursday, November 21, 1963, at 11:07 p.m., Air Force One lands at Carswell Air Force base on the ouskirts of Fort Worth, Texas. When walking down the steps of Air Force One, the president and his wife are met by Raymond Buck, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
Also travelling on board Air Force Two are the vice president Lyndon B. Johnson, the Texas governor John Connally, and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Connally and Yarborough dislike each other so much that Yarborough is unwilling to travel in the same car as Johnson, who is an ally of Connally. The following day, the president tells him to ride with Johnson.
At 11:35 p.m., the First Couple arrives at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, after being cheered by thousands of well-wishers lined on the route towards the West Freeway, despite the late time and rainy weather.
November 22: Fort Worth breakfast speech
On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 8:45 a.m., the president is speaking before breakfast in a square across Eighth Street, accompanied by Congressman Jim Wright, Senator Yarborough, Governor Connally and Vice President Johnson. Kennedy is praising Fort Worth’s aviation industry.
At 9:10 a.m., JFK takes his place in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom for the scheduled speech, the First Lady arriving amid loud applause 15 minutes later.
After the speech, Roy Kellerman, the Secret Service agent in charge of the trip, is advised by Kenny O’Donnell that the presidential limousine should have its bubbletop off if it’s not raining in Dallas.
Later, press secretary Mac Kilduff shows the First Couple a disturbing advertisement seen in The Dallas Morning News, ironically and critically headlined ‘Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas’. JFK tells Jacqueline: ‘We’re heading into nut country today. […]’
November 22: Arrival in Dallas
On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 11:38 a.m. CST, Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline, and the rest of the presidential entourage arrived at Love Field in northwest Dallas aboard Air Force One after a very short flight from nearby Carswell Air Force Base, west of Fort Worth. The motorcade cars had been lined up in a certain order earlier that morning. The original schedule was for the president to proceed in a long motorcade from Love Field through downtown Dallas, and end at the Dallas Business and Trade Mart.
The motorcade was scheduled to enter Dealey Plaza at 12:10 p.m., followed by a 12:15 p.m. arrival at the Dallas Business and Trade Mart so President Kennedy could deliver a speech and share in a steak luncheon with Dallas government, business, religious, and civic leaders and their spouses. Invitations that were sent out specify a noon start time to the luncheon while SS agent Lawson told Chief Curry that after arriving at Love Field and leaving at 11:30 the 38- to 45-minute trip would get them to the Trade Mart on time. Air Force One touched down at 11:39 a.m. and the Presidential motorcade did not leave Love Field until approximately fifteen minutes later.
Dallas/Fort Worth's television stations were given separate assignments. As Bob Walker of WFAA-TV 8 (ABC) was providing live coverage of the President's arrival at Love Field, KRLD-TV 4 (CBS) with Eddie Barker was set up at the Trade Mart for Kennedy's luncheon speech. KTVT Channel 11 (Independent), had originated live coverage of the President's breakfast speech in Fort Worth earlier that day. On hand to report the arrival on radio was Joe Long of KLIF 1190.
Motorcade vehicles and personnel
The following lists the order of the vehicles in the Nov. 22, 1963 Dallas Presidential motorcade, along with their occupants:
Presidential motorcade route
The route scheduled to be driven was as follows: left turn from the south end of Love Field to West Mockingbird Lane, right on Lemmon Ave., right at the "Y" on Turtle Creek Blvd, straight on Cedar Springs Rd, left on North Harwood St, right on Main St, right on Houston St, sharp left on Elm St, through Triple Underpass, right turn up ramp to North Stemmons Freeway, to Dallas Trade Mart at 2100 North Stemmons (This same exact route cannot be driven today; there is a "No right turn" sign on the corner of Main and Houston as well as highway progressions in other areas)
The presidential motorcade began its route without incident, stopping twice so President Kennedy could shake hands with some Catholic nuns, then some school children.
At 12:29 p.m. CST, the presidential limousine entered Dealey Plaza after a 90-degree right turn from Main Street onto Houston Street. Over two dozen known and unknown amateur and professional still and motion-picture photographers captured the last living images of President Kennedy.
Just before 12:30 p.m. CST, President Kennedy was riding on Houston Street and slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository head-on.
12:30 p.m. (CST): Shots are fired
According to witnesses, the shooting began shortly after the limousine made the sharp left-hand turn from Houston onto Elm Street. Most of these witnesses recalled the first shot happened after the president had started waving with his right hand. Most of these witnesses recalled hearing three shots, with the second and third shots bunched distinctly much closer together than the first and second shots. As seen in the Zapruder film, when the president first emerges from being temporarily hidden from Zapruder's camera behind the Stemmons Freeway sign at Zapruder film frame 224 to 225 his mouth has already widely opened in an anguished expression to his already having been impacted with a bullet and his hands clench into fists. He then quickly raised his fists dramatically in front of his face and throat as he turned leftwards towards his wife. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill testified that he heard one shot, then jumped off the running board of the Secret Service follow-up car directly behind Kennedy (Hill was filmed jumping off his follow-up car at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 308; about a quarter of a second before the president's head exploded at frame 313). Hill then rapidly ran towards the Presidential limo and then a shot hit Kennedy in the head, opening up the right side of his head. As the limousine began speeding up, Mrs. Kennedy was heard to scream and she climbed out of the back seat onto the rear of the limo. At the same time, Hill managed to climb aboard and hang onto the suddenly accelerating limo, and Mrs. Kennedy returned to the back seat. Hill then shielded her and the President. Both of the Connallys stated they heard Mrs. Kennedy say, "I have his brains in my hand!" The limo driver and police motorcycles turned on their sirens and raced at high speeds to Parkland Hospital, passing their intended destination of the Dallas Trade Mart along the way, and arriving at about 12:38 p.m. (CST).
During the shots Governor Connally was also struck, and his wife pulled him closer to her. He suffered several severe wounds that he survived; a bullet entry wound in his upper right back located just behind his right armpit; four inches of his right, fifth chest rib was pulverised; a two-and-a-half inch sized chest exit wound; his right arm's wrist bone was fractured into seven pieces; and he had a bullet entry wound in his left inner thigh. Although there is controversy about exactly when he was wounded, analysts from both the Warren Commission (1964) and House Select Committee on Assassinations (1979) believed that his wounds had been inflicted nearly simultaneously with President Kennedy's in their theories that the two men were struck by a single bullet. The Commission theorized both men were hit nearly simultaneously between Zapruder film frames 210 to 225, while the Committee theorized it happened at frame 190.
During the shots a witness, James Tague, was also injured when he received a minor facial wound. The Main Street south curb he had been standing 23.5 feet away from was struck by a bullet or bullet fragment that had no copper sheath, and a fragment of the concrete curb or a bullet fragment struck Tague on his right cheek. At Zapruder frame 313 Tague's head top was located 271 feet away from and 16.4 feet below President Kennedy's head top and the limousine's front windshield and its pushed nearly vertically straight-upwards sun visors were in between the president and the impacted curb point. The bullet or bullet fragment that struck the concrete curb was never found.
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was encountered by an armed Dallas policeman, Marrion Baker, in the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building's second floor lunchroom 74 to 90 seconds (according to a Warren Commission time recreation) after the last shot. Baker was assigned to serve as a motorcycle escort for the motorcade, riding just behind the camera cars. He testified that the first shot he could hear was fired after he turned from Main St. onto Houston St. and had traveled approximately 60 to 80 feet along Houston as he approached the Houston and Elm streets intersection. Baker stated that he recognized the first shot he could hear as the report of a high-powered rifle and that he thought the shots had originated from the building "either right in front of me [the Depository] or the one across to the right of it" [the Dallas Textile Building (DalTex)]. He said he also noticed pigeons take flight up from the roof of the Depository Building and start flying around. Baker then quickly drove to the corner of Houston and Elm St., parked his motorcycle, then looked westward into the aftermath of persons screaming, running and laying on the ground, then he listened to a radio broadcast by Chief Curry saying, "Get some men up on that railroad track", then he ran to the entrance of the Texas Schoolbook Depository, entered the building, and, led by building superintendent Roy Truly, made his way to the far northwest corner of the first floor. Once they reached there they started yelling for someone to send an elevator down from a higher floor. When there was no response he and Truly began climbing the stairs with Truly in the lead.
Upon stepping out onto the second floor a movement caught Baker's attention towards the lunch room vestibule that was across from the stairs. Baker drew his weapon, went to the outer lunch room vestibule and confronted Oswald, but Baker released Oswald when Oswald was identified as an employee by Mr. Truly. According to Baker, Oswald did not appear to be nervous or out of breath. Truly said that Oswald appeared "startled" when Baker aimed his gun at him. According to the Warren Commission, Oswald was next seen by a Depository secretary as he crossed through the second floor business office carrying a soda bottle. He left the Texas School Book Depository at an estimated 12:33 p.m. through its front door.
The Warren Commission theorized that Oswald had traveled from the sixth floor easternmost window, and hid an 8-pound, Italian-made 1940 Carcano, 6.5 millimeter rifle equipped with a four-power scope along the way. The rifle was reportedly discovered near the sixth floor northwest corner by a Dallas police detective at 1:22 p.m., having been placed down between stacks of boxes, balanced upright on the lowest edges of its barrel and wooden stock. After being discovered, the rifle was photographed before being touched and was filmed while it was being inspected by the police crime lab supervisor.
Estimates of when the Depository Building was sealed off by police range from 12:33 to 12:50 p.m. The Dealey Plaza immediate area streets and blocks were never sealed-off, and nine minutes after the assassination, photographs show that vehicles were still driving unhampered down Elm Street, through the crime scene kill zone.
After leaving the Depository, Oswald walked seven blocks before boarding a bus. When the bus got stuck in traffic, he got off, walked to a nearby bus station, entered a taxi, took it several blocks past his rooming house, and then walked back to the rooming house. He arrived at his rooming house (1026 North Beckley Ave.) at around 1:00 p.m. According to his housekeeper Earlene Roberts, he left three or four minutes later. She last saw him standing and waiting at a bus stop outside the rooming house.
At 1:15 p.m, Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit was shot dead near the intersection of 10th St. and Patton Ave. This was 0.86 mile from Oswald's rooming house. Thirteen people witnessed the man shooting Tippit or fleeing the immediate scene. By that evening, five of the witnesses had identified Oswald in police lineups, and a sixth identified him the following day. Four others subsequently identified Oswald from a photograph.
After the Tippit murder, Oswald was witnessed traveling on foot toward the Texas Theatre on West Jefferson Blvd. About 1:35 p.m. Johnny Calvin Brewer, who worked as a manager at Hardy's Shoe Store in the same block as the Texas Theatre on Jefferson Blvd. saw Oswald turning his face away from the street and duck into the entranceway of the shoe store as Dallas squad cars drove up the street with sirens on. When Oswald left the store, Brewer followed Oswald and watched him go into the Texas Theater movie house without paying while ticket attendant Julie Postal was distracted. Brewer notified Postal, who in turn informed the Dallas Police at 1:40 p.m.
Almost two dozen policemen, sheriffs, and detectives in several patrol cars arrived at Texas Theatre because they believed Tippit's killer was inside. When an arrest attempt was made at 1:50 p.m. inside the theater, Oswald resisted arrest and, according to the police, attempted to shoot a patrolman after yelling once, "Well, it's all over now!" then punching a patrolman.
President Kennedy
At Parkland Hospital, a Catholic priest was summoned to perform the last rites for President Kennedy. Dr. Malcolm Perry, assistant professor of surgery at UT Southwestern and a vascular surgeon on the Parkland staff, was the first to treat Kennedy and he performed a tracheotomy, followed by a cardiopulmonary resuscitation performed with another surgeon. Other doctors and surgeons who gathered worked frantically to save the president's life, but his wounds were too severe.
At 1:00 p.m. CST, after all the activity had ceased, and after the priest administered the last rites, President Kennedy was pronounced dead. Personnel at Parkland Hospital Trauma Room #1, who treated the President, observed that the president's condition was "moribund", meaning he had no chance of survival upon arrival at the hospital. "We never had any hope of saving his life," Dr. Perry said. "I am absolutely sure he never knew what hit him," said Dr. Tom Shires, Parkland's chief of surgery. The Very Reverend Oscar L. Huber, the priest who administered the last rites to the president, told The New York Times that the president was already dead upon the priest's arrival at the hospital and had to draw back a sheet covering the President's face so that the last rites could be given. Governor Connally, meanwhile, was soon taken to emergency surgery where he underwent two operations that day.
Although President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. CST, the official announcement would not come until more than half an hour later. After receiving word of the president's death, acting White House press secretary Malcolm Kilduff entered the room where Vice President Johnson, who was constitutionally now the President, and his wife were sitting. Kilduff approached them and said to Johnson, "Mr. President, I have to announce the death of President Kennedy. Is it OK with you that the announcement be made now?" The new president ordered that the announcement be made only after he left the hospital. When asking that the announcement be delayed, Johnson told Kilduff: "I think I had better get out of here.. .before you announce it. We don't know whether this is a worldwide conspiracy, whether they are after me as well as they were after President Kennedy, or whether they are after Speaker (John W.) McCormack, or Senator (Carl) Hayden. We just don't know."
At 1:33 p.m. CST, Malcolm Kilduff entered a nurses' classroom at the hospital filled with press reporters and made the official announcement:
A few minutes after 2:00 p.m. CST, President Kennedy's body was removed from Parkland Hospital and driven straight to Air Force One. The removal occurred subsequent to a ten- to fifteen-minute angry confrontation between Kennedy's special assistant Ken O'Donnell (backed by weapons-drawn and/or aimed Secret Service agents) with Parkland Hospital doctors and Medical Examiner Dr. Earl Rose, along with a justice of the peace. The removal of President Kennedy's body may have been illegal, as it was done before a forensic examination could be performed by the Dallas coroner, which was against Texas state laws. The assassination of the president was, at that time, listed on the books as a state-level crime and not a federal one, and as such legally occurred under Texas jurisdiction. To this date, however, no official legal body has ruled on this matter.
Locally in Dallas
From Dallas, local listeners of top-rated Top 40 music station KLIF-1190 were listening to The Rex Jones Show when they received the first bulletin at approximately 12:38 p.m. CST. A "bulletin alert" sounder faded in during the song "I Have A Boyfriend" by The Chiffons. The song was stopped and newscaster Gary Delaune made the first announcement over the bulletin signal:
KLIF's competitor Top 40 station, KBOX, has been widely cited as the only station to report the shooting as it happened, but the "aircheck" of this moment widely circulated in the decades since - in which newsman Sam Pate breathlessly reports, "It appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route..." - is in fact a recreation. Although authentic airchecks of KBOX's coverage from later in the day do exist and have been posted online, they do not include the moment when the station first broke the news.
Down the dial, Dallas' CBS Radio affiliate KRLD concluded the coverage of the presidential party's arrival at Love Field and switched to reporter Bob Huffaker who was standing at the corner of Main and Akard Streets in the downtown area, just 1/2 mile east of Dealey Plaza where the shooting occurred. After the president's car passed him, Huffaker continued reporting for several more minutes and was said to have been on the air as the shooting took place (although shots cannot be heard in the audio coverage). Shortly after returning to regular programming with the nationally syndicated religious program Back To The Bible, the first reports of the shooting came through CBS Radio. Huffaker was not aware of the developments until he arrived back at the KRLD studio after wrapping up his coverage; he quickly drove out to Parkland Hospital to report the scene outside the hospital's emergency entrance.
NBC Radio affiliate WBAP played instrumental music, with interruptions for local bulletins, until NBC Radio's continuous coverage began.
Dallas' ABC television affiliate WFAA was airing a local lifestyle program, The Julie Benell Show, at the time. At 12:45 p.m. CST, the station abruptly cut from the prerecorded program to news director Jay Watson in the studio, who had been at Dealey Plaza and ran back to the station following the incident:
Watson then began anchoring continuous coverage of the tragedy with Jerry Haynes, better known as WFAA-TV children's TV show host "Mr. Peppermint," followed shortly by an interview with witnesses Bill and Gayle Newman.
Other stations
In addition to the local Dallas radio and television coverage, recordings exist of coverage by various other radio stations nationwide. Four such stations are WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut; WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio; WCCO in Minneapolis – St. Paul, Minnesota; and KNX in Los Angeles, California.
CBS Radio affiliates KNX, WCCO, and WCBS
KNX and WCCO both had local bulletins interrupting programming prior to the first CBS Radio network bulletin. Both stations momentarily returned to their scheduled programs after those bulletins; on KNX, it was the West Coast network feed of that morning's Arthur Godfrey Time program, while WCCO switched back to its agribusiness news hour in the middle of a commercial for a St. Paul stockyard and slaughterhouse.
When the news broke, WCBS in New York was in the middle of an interview with a local family court judge on the topic of juvenile delinquency. After the local bulletin announced by newsman Joseph Dembo, the interview resumed, with both interviewer and interviewee briefly acknowledging the shocking news, until the first CBS Radio "Net Alert" bulletin interrupted.
NBC radio affiliate WLW in Cincinnati
One of the longest recordings exists from Cincinnati's WLW, then affiliated with NBC's radio news division and aired the five-minute national newscasts the station provided every half-hour. The 1:30 EST newscast, apparently a tape delay of the 1:00 P.M. network newscast (so as not to interrupt the simulcast of WLWT's midday program The 50/50 Club featuring Ruth Lyons), was anchored by Martin Agronsky; as Kennedy was to have been delivering his speech at the Trade Mart at precisely that time, Agronsky described the speech in the past tense, as if it had already been delivered. Following the update, WLW began its regular Tunepike program, with disc jockey Fred Bernard playing mainly Broadway musical songs. At approximately 1:37 p.m., the planned playing of the original cast album to the 1956 musical Li'l Abner was momentarily delayed by Bernard:
After the flash was read and recapped, Bernard tried to return to the music. However, the overture to Li'l Abner was interrupted several times. After the first interruption, two staff members in WLW's news office were overheard conversing...
This was immediately followed by a bulletin from the WLW newsroom, which was their first official bulletin and was read as follows:
WLW also interrupted to air an NBC network "Hotline" bulletin; after the Li'l Abner overture ended, Bernard played instrumental music by Percy Faith for some time before switching to NBC's nationwide radio coverage of the incident, adding relevant information where necessary.
NBC radio affiliate WTIC in Hartford
WTIC did not interrupt its local call-in listener question-and-answer program Mikeline until nearly 1:55 p.m. EST when guest host and WTIC-TV, Channel 3, evening news anchor Bob Ellsworth was handed his first bulletin. From that point forward, he and Mikeline co-host Floyd Richards took turns reading the latest information from the wire services until the 2:00 p.m. EST NBC Radio network newscast which was anchored from Washington, D.C. by Peter Hackes with White House correspondent Robert MacNeil reporting by phone from Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. WTIC staff announcer Dick Bertel took the air from when the NBC newscast concluded at 2:05 p.m. EST until shortly before 2:11 p.m. EST when NBC News first offered continuous coverage to WTIC, WLW, and its other radio affiliates nationwide, anchored mainly by Edwin Newman from New York.
WGN in Chicago
The only record of JFK assassination coverage currently available from a Chicago radio station comes from a non-network station, WGN. Host Orion Samuelson was on the air with Country Fair, a program of agricultural news, when the first bulletins were received. After reading the bulletins, Samuelson resumed the regularly scheduled program, periodically interrupting with further bulletins, until a union record-turner arrived and Samuelson was able to end his program, at which time the station began playing somber easy-listening instrumental music as staff and listeners awaited further bulletins. Samuelson recalled years later that he had initially thought fellow staffers were playing a joke on him with the initial bulletins about the shooting, until he realized it was real.
WGBH-FM/Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert
The Boston Symphony Orchestra was performing a concert at Boston's Symphony Hall when conductor Erich Leinsdorf announced the tragic news to the audience and a last-minute program change replacing a suite from Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Golden Cockerel" with the Marcia funebre from Ludwig van Beethoven's Eroica Symphony:
A recording of the announcement exists due to the concert being simulcast over non-commercial public radio station WGBH-FM.
Nationally
The first national news bulletin of the shooting came over the ABC Radio Network at 12:36 p.m. CST/1:36 p.m. EST. The most complete recording of the initial ABC bulletins came from WRUL, a New York-based station transmitting to Latin America and Europe on shortwave, which was featuring a program of MOR album music when the shooting took place. At the time, Doris Day's recording of "Hooray for Hollywood" was playing when newscaster Don Gardiner broke in with the developments:
Four minutes following ABC's radio bulletin, CBS was the first to break the news over television at 12:40 p.m. CST/1:40 p.m. EST. The network interrupted its live broadcast of As the World Turns with a "CBS News Bulletin" bumper slide and Walter Cronkite filed an audio-only report over it as no camera was available at the time:
Cronkite remained at the CBS anchor desk the entire time and later filed two additional audio-only bulletins to interrupt programming, the last of which interrupted a dog food commercial and pre-empted the remaining running time of As The World Turns.
At that time, the ABC and NBC television networks weren't on the air in the Eastern and Central Time Zones. Various programs were being broadcast through their affiliate stations. From their main headquarters in New York, WABC-TV's first bulletin came from Ed Silverman at 1:42 p.m. EST, also interrupting a rerun of Father Knows Best in the Mountain Time Zone on the ABC-TV network; ABC-TV was not feeding programming to its affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone at that hour. Three minutes later, Don Pardo broke into WNBC-TV's local rerun of Bachelor Father with the news, saying (reading AP bulletin) 'PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS SHOT TODAY JUST AS HIS MOTORCADE LEFT DOWNTOWN DALLAS. MRS. KENNEDY JUMPED UP AND GRABBED MR. KENNEDY. SHE CRIED 'OH NO!' THE MOTORCADE SPED ON.' (Videotape of the NBC bulletins have been assumed "lost" as they did not start recording coverage until minutes later. However, audio engineer Phil Gries rolled tape on a set of audio recordings on a 1/4" reel to reel audiotape recorder. These have been donated to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. However, NBC, in its book on the coverage of the assassination, mentioned the bulletins.) At 1:53 p.m. (EST), NBC broke into programming with a NBC Network bumper slide and Chet Huntley, Bill Ryan, and Frank McGee informing the viewers what was going on as it happened. However, NBC's camera was not ready and the coverage was limited to audio-only reports as CBS' coverage had been to that point. Other than for two audio-only bulletins (one following the initial report), ABC did not break into its stations' programming at all, instead waiting until the network was to return to broadcasting at 2:00 p.m. Eastern to begin its coverage.
At 1:57 p.m. EST, while Ryan was speaking, NBC began broadcasting the report as their camera was ready and working. Three minutes later, at 2:00 EST, CBS' camera was finally ready and Cronkite appeared on the air after a brief station break, with ABC beginning its coverage at the same time. Radio coverage was reported by Don Gardiner (ABC), Alan Jackson (CBS), and (after a top-of-the-hour newscast) by Peter Hackes and Edwin Newman (NBC).
ABC
Providing the reports for ABC Television were Don Goddard, Ron Cochran, and Ed Silverman in New York, Edward P. Morgan in Washington, Bob Clark (who as noted above had been riding in the motorcade when Kennedy was shot) from Parkland Hospital, and Bill Lord from the Dallas County sheriff's office. As with the other networks, ABC interspersed with their Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV 8 for up-to-date information. Reporting from WFAA were Bob Walker (who had been at Love Field for live coverage of the President's arrival) and Jay Watson (who had remained on the air locally from the time he broke into local programming upon his return from Dealey Plaza). They were later joined by Bob Clark upon his arrival from the hospital.
ABC's initial coverage of the incident was very disorganized. Cochran, ABC's primary news anchor, was on his lunch break when word of the assassination attempt first broke and the network had to call him back to the studio. Silverman was the voice accompanying ABC's first bulletin, broadcast during a rerun episode of Father Knows Best that was airing on a majority of the network's affiliates in the Mountain Time Zone at the time; the surviving videotape of ABC's initial bulletins appears to have been recorded by then-affiliate KTVK in Phoenix, as it contains the interruption of Father Knows Best. The first on-camera report was given by Goddard in the network's news studio, which was too far away from the teletype machines. Goddard then moved to the newsroom and was joined by the returning Cochran, and the technical crew began constructing an impromptu news set around them (ABC did not have studio space ready for such an occasion; NBC had a flash studio in its newsroom and CBS' reports came directly from their own newsroom as they had since they launched an evening newscast earlier in 1963). Cochran and Goddard were forced to stand and awkwardly hold microphones and headsets so they could report the information.
In addition to the disorganization in New York, ABC was not able to switch to Dallas to speak to its correspondents. Only one feed was available to them at first, which came from the Dallas Trade Mart and CBS affiliate KRLD reporter Eddie Barker. CBS had earlier aired snippets of Barker's report, but had cut it off to return to its own reporting of the incident before Barker finished; ABC aired the remainder of the report until the end. The reason that ABC was able to air the CBS affiliate's coverage was due to a pool arrangement the three major Dallas stations agreed to for the President's visit. WBAP was responsible for covering the President's visit to Fort Worth and his departure and landing at Love Field, WFAA was assigned to cover the parade through downtown Dallas, and KRLD was set up at the Dallas Trade Mart for the address the President was to give.
At 2:25 p.m. EST, while attempting to switch to Bob Clark in Dallas, ABC Radio reported that Parkland Hospital said President Kennedy was dead, and then stressed that it was unconfirmed. Upon reporting the news, anchor Don Gardiner said this to his audience:
ABC Radio then stopped coverage to broadcast orchestral music.
At 2:33 p.m. EST, Cochran reported on ABC Television that the two priests who were called into the hospital to administer the last rites to the President said that he had died from his wounds. Although this was an unconfirmed report, ABC prematurely placed a photo of the President with the words "JOHN F. KENNEDY -- 1917–1963" on the screen.
Five minutes later, this photo was again prematurely placed when Cochran received an erroneous report that the President had died at 1:35 p.m. CST when, in fact, he had died at 1:00 p.m. CST. A few minutes following that, Cochran received further information regarding the President's condition and relayed the following to the ABC viewing audience:
On ABC Radio, Gardiner reported the news, but did not say whether or not it was official. ABC then switched to Pete Clapper on Capitol Hill for an interview with the Senate's press liaison. Moments later, the interview was interrupted by Gardiner's report of the President's death:
ABC Radio then returned to orchestral music.
CBS
From the time the CBS affiliates joined Walter Cronkite in the news room at around 2:00 p.m. EST to approximately 2:38 p.m. EST, the coverage alternated from the CBS Newsroom to KRLD-TV's Eddie Barker at the Dallas Trade Mart where President Kennedy was to give his luncheon address. In the 15 to 20 minutes before Kilduff's official announcement, rumors of the President's death were broadcast on radio and TV. At approximately 2:11 p.m. EST, CBS News correspondent Dan Rather telephoned one of the two priests who performed last rites on Kennedy to confirm that he had indeed been shot. "Yes, he's been shot and he is dead," the priest told Rather. Almost simultaneously at the Trade Mart, a doctor went up to Barker and whispered, "Eddie, he is dead... I called the emergency room and he is DOA." Moments later, as the news cameras panned throughout the Trade Mart crowds, Barker gave this report:
Several minutes later, when CBS switched back to KRLD and the Trade Mart for another report, Barker repeated the claim of the President's death, adding "the source would normally be a good one." During this report, as Barker was speaking of security precautions for the President's visit, a Trade Mart employee was shown removing the Presidential seal from the podium where President Kennedy was to speak.
CBS Radio
Meanwhile, Rather proceeded to telephone CBS News officials in New York, telling executive Mort Dank, "I think he's dead." Despite the unofficial nature of Rather’s report, CBS Radio newsroom supervisor Robert Skedgell wrote "JFK DEAD" on a slip of paper and handed it to CBS Radio news anchor Alan Jackson. At 2:22 p.m. EST, eleven minutes before Kilduff's official announcement, Jackson made the following announcement:
After the announcement, CBS Radio, apparently trying to play "The Star Spangled Banner", inadvertently aired a brief excerpt of an LP Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings played at the wrong speed of 78 RPM. After a few seconds of silence, Jackson repeated the news:
This was followed by an excerpt from the first movement to Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. After the music Jackson again repeated the news:
After Jackson's announcement, his co-anchor Dallas Townsend added:
Townsend's comment was followed by "The Star Spangled Banner".
CBS TV
While CBS Radio had taken this to be confirmation of the president's death, there was a debate going on between CBS television network officials as to whether or not to report this development, as Rather's report was not a truly official confirmation. At 2:27 p.m. EST, they decided to give Rather's report to Cronkite, who relayed this to the nation:
Approximately five minutes later, one of the newsroom staff members rushed to Cronkite's desk with another bulletin. As Cronkite read the bulletin, he had to re-read it as he stumbled over his words.
Although Cronkite continued to stress that there was no official confirmation, the tone of Cronkite's words seemed to indicate that it would only be a matter of time before the official word came. Three minutes later, he received the same report that ABC's Ron Cochran chose to relay as official word. Cronkite did not do the same, reporting it instead in this context:
Cronkite continued as before while still awaiting word of the official confirmation of the President's death, which at this time had been relayed by Kilduff at the hospital two minutes prior but had not made the press wires yet. After speaking about what Kennedy had done earlier that day in Fort Worth, Cronkite noted that the plane from Fort Worth flew the President to his "rendezvous with death, apparently, in Dallas", although the official bulletin still had not arrived yet.
Immediately after that, at 2:38 p.m. EST, Cronkite remarked on fearful concerns of demonstrations in Dallas similar to the attack of U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson in Dallas the previous month. At that moment, a CBS News employee seen in the background pulled off a sheet from the AP News ticker. He quickly relayed it (off-camera) to Cronkite, who put on his glasses, took a few seconds to read the sheet, and made the announcement:
After reading the flash, Cronkite took off his glasses so he could consult the studio clock, which established the lapse in time since Kennedy had died. He paused briefly and replaced his eyeglasses, visibly moved for a moment. Cronkite continued:
There was a sense of irony to CBS' coverage of the assassination. On September 2, 1963, Kennedy gave an interview with Cronkite, helping CBS inaugurate network television's first half hour evening newscast.
It should perhaps be noted that CBS did not include any further coverage from Dallas or Washington as the other networks had until after the announcement of Kennedy's death. As coverage continued following the announcement Charles Collingwood relieved Cronkite in New York while Neil Strawser reported from CBS' Washington bureau and Dan Rather and Eddie Barker provided reports from KRLD in Dallas.
NBC
At NBC-TV, Chet Huntley, Bill Ryan, and Frank McGee anchored from the network's emergency "flash" studio (code name 5HN) in New York, with reports from David Brinkley in Washington, Charles Murphy and Tom Whelan from NBC affiliate WBAP-TV (now KXAS-TV) in Fort Worth, Texas, and Robert MacNeil, who had been in the motorcade, at Parkland Hospital. Edwin Newman reported from NBC Radio with periodic simulcast with NBC-TV. NBC Radio's coverage was simulcast in Canada by CBC Radio. Also, the United States' international shortwave broadcaster, Voice of America, relayed portions of NBC's coverage (including the simulcast with the television coverage) as part of its English-language coverage of the tragic news. (A short aircheck of VOA exists in which the announcers on duty attempt to make sense of the conflicting reports about Kennedy's condition, and then the station briefly simulcasts NBC before heading into Polish language programming at 1:00 p.m. Central Time.)
Throughout the first 35 minutes, there were technical difficulties with the Fort Worth TV relay as well as with the phone link MacNeil was using to report from the hospital. When the coverage began, McGee was waiting for MacNeil to call in with information. While Ryan and Huntley were recounting the information, McGee got MacNeil on the line and told him to recount chronologically what happened. However, NBC was using a studio that wasn't equipped to patch calls through to the air and thus only McGee could hear MacNeil. While the studio crew worked on a solution, McGee improvised and told MacNeil to relay the information in fragments, which he would then repeat for the audience. While they were talking, Huntley was handed a speaker from off camera and took the receiver from McGee so he could attach it to the earpiece, this enabling MacNeil to be heard. However, by that time there was no further information to report; MacNeil had a medical student from Parkland hold the phone line for him so that he could return to the emergency ward for the latest developments.
At approximately 2:35 p.m. EST, Huntley alluded to the last time a president had died in office:
He was unable to complete his thought, however. The flash regarding the priests who administered the Last Rites to the President had reached the desk while Huntley was speaking and Ryan interrupted him to relay this:
As this was going on, McGee received a report from Parkland Hospital. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, Vice President Johnson had been advised to begin heading back to Washington to assume executive duties in case he needed to be sworn in. Johnson decided to wait until he received word of Kennedy's condition, which he did at approximately 1:20 PM CST. McGee reported to Ryan that a motorcade carrying the Johnsons had just left Parkland Hospital, which Ryan took to be confirmation of the President's death as the priests had reported.
On NBC Radio and CBC Radio, Newman reported the same flash:
At that point, both radio networks rejoined NBC-TV. A moment later, Ryan tossed coverage back to WBAP where Charles Murphy reported that although no official statement had been released by the President's staff, the Dallas police had been notified of Kennedy's death and radioed the word to every officer on duty.
As Murphy was filing his report, McGee got back in touch with Robert MacNeil, who had been away from the phone for over thirty minutes. MacNeil had just returned from a press conference called by Acting Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff where the President's death was confirmed and McGee began relaying MacNeil's information in fragments as he did with the previous reports. Partway through the report, the audio link started working and MacNeil's voice was now able to be broadcast. McGee was unaware of this, as he simply carried on as he had been:
After MacNeil finished giving all the relevant information available, he left the phone to obtain further information. McGee, wiping a tear from his eye, stood by and kept the phone line open for MacNeil's next update.
KLIF Radio, Dallas
From local radio station KLIF, Gary Delaune relayed the bulletins as received with reports from Joe Long from KLIF News Mobile Unit #4. Long, who had reported the President's arrival at Love Field earlier, later joined Delaune in the studio; Roy Nichols took over the #4 mobile unit and headed for Parkland Hospital. After a report from the Trade Mart, radio broadcaster and KLIF founder Gordon McLendon returned to the radio station to relieve Delaune. The reporters continuously stressed, as a strict radio station rule of McLendon's, whether the information received is from official or unofficial sources, especially concerning reports of the President's death. At approximately 1:38 p.m. CST, KLIF's Teletype sounded ten bells (indicating an incoming bulletin of utmost importance) and Long was given the official flash:
Gordon McLendon: "The President is clearly, gravely, critically, and perhaps fatally wounded. There are strong indications that he may already have expired, although that is not official, we repeat, not official. But, the extent of the injuries to Governor Connally is, uh, a closely shrouded secret at the moment..."
Joe Long: "President Kennedy is dead, Gordon. This is official word."
KLIF's continuous coverage would eventually be aired over an ad-hoc radio network of its own, as the station's coverage was fed to KLIF's sister stations in Houston, Louisville, and other cities and reportedly aired (with or without permission) on dozens, possibly hundreds, of others.
Following the official announcement of President Kennedy's death, all three commercial networks suspended their regular programming and commercials for the first time in the short history of television and ran coverage on a non-stop basis for four days. The assassination of President Kennedy was the longest uninterrupted news event in the history of American television until just before 9:00 a.m. EDT, September 11, 2001, when the networks were on the air for 72 hours straight covering the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Return to Washington
Once back at Air Force One, and only after Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy’s body had also returned to the plane, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in by Sarah T. Hughes as the thirty-sixth President of the United States of America at 2:38 p.m. CST. One of President Kennedy's aides stayed with his coffin during the swearing-in of Johnson.
At about 6:00 p.m. EST, Air Force One arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C. The television networks made the switch to the AFB just as the plane touched down. Reporting the arrival for the TV networks were Richard Bate (ABC), Charles Von Fremd (CBS), and Bob Abernethy & Nancy Dickerson (NBC).
After President Kennedy's brother, Robert Kennedy, boarded the plane, Kennedy's casket was removed from the rear entrance and loaded into a light gray US Navy ambulance for its transport to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy and mortician's preparations. When Jackie Kennedy stepped off the plane with her brother-in-law, her pink suit and legs were still stained with her husband's blood. All that long afternoon and into the early morning hours of the next day, the widow objected to leaving her husband's body, except for the swearing in of Johnson. She also refused to change out of her blood-stained suit; Lady Bird Johnson, in her audio diary, quoted Mrs. Kennedy as saying "I want them to see what they have done to Jack."
Shortly after the ambulance with the casket and Mrs. Kennedy departed, President Johnson and the First Lady exited Air Force One. They were led to a podium clustered with microphones where Lyndon Johnson made his first official statement as president of the United States:
President Johnson himself ordered the arrival to be televised live. While en route to Washington from Dallas, he and Kilduff told the other assistant press secretary, Andrew Hatcher, that he was going to make his statement and that he wanted the arrival to be televised live. As the new president boarded his helicopter, he said that Mrs. Kennedy was in his heart and remarked about the presidency, and recounted, "Then the door of the helicopter slammed shut behind me and thus ended a tragic chapter in American history."
Charges laid on Oswald
At 7:05 p.m. CST Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with "murder with malice" in the killing of police officer J.D. Tippit.
At 11:26 p.m. CST Oswald was charged with the murder of President Kennedy in the furtherance of a Communist conspiracy. (The reference to a Communist conspiracy was soon dropped from the language of the murder charge, reportedly on orders from someone in the White House.)
On November 24, 1963, at 11:21 a.m. CST, before live television cameras, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and mortally wounded in the basement of Dallas Police headquarters by a local nightclub owner with mafia ties, Jack Ruby. Unconscious, Oswald was put into an ambulance and rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where doctors tried to save the life of John F. Kennedy two days earlier. Oswald died at 1:07 pm.
Funeral
The state funeral took place in Washington, DC during the three days that followed the assassination.
The body of President Kennedy was brought back to Washington, D.C. and placed in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours. On the Sunday after the assassination, his coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket. Representatives from over 90 countries attended the state funeral on Monday, November 25. After the Requiem Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral, the late President was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Official investigations
The Warren Commission's 888-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later, saying one shot wounded President Kennedy and Governor Connally, and a subsequent shot hit Kennedy in the head, killing him. The Commission also concluded a third shot was fired, but made no conclusion as to whether it was the first, second or third shot fired. The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald fired all three shots.