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John F. Kennedy , 35th president of the United States , was assassinated on Nov. 22 , 1963 , in Dallas . The official probe found that Lee Harvey Oswald , act alone , shot Kennedy from a storage warehouse windowpane overlooking the President of the United States ’s motorcade route . Nevertheless , conspiracy theorists have muse over the yr that the full story has not been told . Some believe that classify text file keep back by the National Archives may identify the " genuine " killer of the president .
In 2017,the National Archives release 2,800 document previously deduct from the populace . However , no new information was unveiled , although President DonaldTrump keep back about 300 documentsfor further revue . This was done at the request of several intelligence representation that seek to debar compromising home security , law enforcement or intelligence - gathering method acting , agree to The New York Times . The remaining papers are to be released in tardy April .
John F. Kennedy sits next to his wife, Jacqueline, in a limousine in Dallas shortly before his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.
Here is a review of the facts about Kennedy ’s last daylight and the aftermath .
Campaign trip
In September 1963 , Kennedy began trip to various states to bolster his rivulet for a 2nd term . He visited Massachusetts and Pennsylvania in October , and Florida and Texas were next on the itinerary , agree to theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum .
On Nov. 21 , the President of the United States and the first lady , Jacqueline Kennedy , boarded Air Force One for Texas . The plan was to confab for two day and to travel to five cities in the Lone Star State . The President of the United States ’s first halt was San Antonio . Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson , Texas Gov. John B. Connally and Texas Sen. Ralph W. Yarborough accompanied Kennedy to Brooks Air Force Base for the dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center . Next , Kennedy arrived in Houston to talk to a Latin American citizen ' organization and at a testimonial dinner for Rep. Albert Thomas .
From Houston , Kennedy traveled northward to Fort Worth , Texas . On the morning of Nov. 22 , Kennedy spoke to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce at breakfast . " We are still the keystone in the archway of freedom , " he tell apart those in attendance . " We will bear on to do … our duty , and the people of Texas will be in the lead . "
The incriminating photo of accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald and others claimed it was a fake, but forensic analysis has upheld its authenticity.
The assassination
After breakfast , the presidential party wing to Dallas . The trip took just 13 minutes , and Air Force One arrive at Love Field airdrome at 11:37 a.m. After getting off the plane , Kennedy and his married woman shake hands with the crowd that await them .
Then , the presidential couple joined Connally and his wife , Nellie , in an unresolved convertible . The car was a custom - made , reinforced parade limo built in Wixom , Michigan , in January 1961 by the Ford Motor Company . The Secret Service leased the elevator car for $ 500 per year , according tothe Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation . The Secret Service chip in the automobile the code name of X-100 .
X-100 and the relief of the advance left the airport and traveled 10 miles ( 16 kilometers ) through business district Dallas . The destination was intend to be the Trade Mart , where the president was scheduled to talk . He never made it that far .
Along the itinerary , gang line the street to get a glimpse of the Kennedys . allot to amap of the motorcade routefrom the Dallas Municipal Archives , the motorcade turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza to Houston Street . The X-100 had travel only 7.7 international nautical mile ( 12 klick ) from the airport when it surpass the Texas School Book Depository on Elm Street at 12:30 p.m. At this moment , someone shot at the automobile .
Connally was slay in the dresser with one bullet , which broke rib , puncture a lung , broke one wrist and ended its journey in one of Connally ’s leg .
The chairperson was snap once in the neck and once in the head . He then sink over toward Mrs. Kennedy . The president and Connally were rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital just 3.4 miles ( 5.5 km ) away . At 12:36 p.m. , the ABC radio electronic connection disseminate that the president had been shot , and at 12:40 p.m. , the CBS television connection broadcast the first nationwide television receiver news bulletin about the shot , according to CNN .
A Catholic non-Christian priest administered last rites for the president , and at 1 p.m. , Kennedy was pronounce dead at the age of 46 . Soon after , his body was taken back to Air Force One at Love Field in a bronze casket , go with by his married woman and the vice prexy .
The manhunt
At 1:15 p.m. , approximately 45 minutes after the blackwash , Oswald , a late hired employee at the Texas School Book Depository , killed Dallas Police flatfoot J.D. Tippit . Not long after , at around 2:15 p.m. , police officers arrested Oswald in the back of a movie theater and held him for the assassination of Kennedy and the fatal shot of Tippit , according to the JFK library .
At 2:38 p.m. , just an hour and 38 minute of arc after Kennedy was say dead , Vice President Johnson took the swearing of government agency inside Air Force One . After the flying back to Washington , Kennedy ’s torso was take to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy . The next morning , the body was transported to the East Wing of the White House .
On Sunday aurora , Nov. 24 , Oswald was being transferred from police force headquarters to the county slammer . The event was beam on live television across the country . Suddenly , a human beings mention Jack Ruby , a local nightclub owner , fired a pistol at Oswald at point in time - vacuous reach . Just 2 hours later , Oswald was pronounce dead at Parkland Hospital , the same infirmary where the president had died .
Nov. 24 was also the day of Kennedy ’s procession in Washington , D.C. His signal flag - cloak jewel casket , pull up by six gray horses and accompanied by one riderless fateful horse , travel from the White House to the Capitol Rotunda , where he lay in state for 21 hours ; around 250,000 people paid their respect .
Kennedy was laid to eternal sleep on Monday , Nov. 25 , 1963 , in Arlington National Cemetery during a funeral attended by heads of United States Department of State and representatives from more than 100 country . An eternal flame was lit beside the grave . President Johnson declared Nov. 25 a internal day of mourning .
On Nov. 26 , Ruby was indicted in Dallas for the murder of Oswald and was later convicted . His sentence was override on solicitation , but Ruby died of cancer in 1967 before he get a novel trial .
The investigation
Just a week after the character assassination , on Nov. 29 , Johnson lead off a commission to evaluate the character assassination of Kennedy and the killing of Oswald . The president named Chief Justice Earl Warren as chairman of the President ’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy , which became well known as the Warren Commission .
The commission ’s job was to collect data and account back to Johnson . TheWarren Commission Report , which can be read at the National Archives site , resolve that " the shots which killed President Kennedy and offend Governor Connally were fired from the sixth - floor window at the southeast turning point of the Texas School Book Depository . " It also said , " The shots which killed President Kennedy and injure Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald . "
Conspiracy theories
Many idealogue do n’t buy the " sole - gunman possibility . " Instead , they suspect that Oswald , a former U.S. Marine , did n’t play alone — that he had ties to the Mafia or to Cuba or to the Soviets or to the CIA . None of the claims have ever been proven . [ Related : Incriminating Photo of Lee Harvey Oswald Not Faked ]
There have been allegations that the Warren Commission did n’t get the full cooperation of federal agencies during its investigating . In light of those allegations , the U.S. House of Representatives create the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1976 to reopen the investigation . The committee found " a gamy probability that two gunslinger raise " at the chairman . That title was based on a Dallas police wireless - contagion tape on which some said that four or more shots could be hear being fired in Dealey Plaza , according to the JFK library .
acoustical expert found this to be assumed after analyse the tape recording of the shooting .
Document release
In 1992 , with the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act , Congress ordered all blackwash - related fabric to be housed together under supervising of theNational Archives and Records Administrationand grade that the stuff be released to the public 25 old age later .
In 2017,the National Archives released 2,800 document . The collection includes 5 million written matter of exposure , records , video , sound recordings and artifacts . It take up approximately 2,000 cubic feet ( 5.7 three-dimensional beat ) . Before this going , 88 per centum of the file had already been available to the public since the 1990s , according tothe National Archives .
Trump keep back around 300 files classified , though . Hesaid that they could be a concern for U.S. national security .
The newfangled document , greatly bruit to hold secrets about the " literal " sea wolf of the president , contained very little young information , to the disappointment of conspiracy theorists .
" at last , people have always share these theories because they are interesting — truthfulness and accuracy are less of import and often incidental , " said Ken Drinkwater , older reader and researcher in cognitive and parapsychology at Manchester Metropolitan University in England , and Neil Dagnall , reader in applied cognitive psychological science at the same university . [ JFK Assassination Files Due for Release : Why Conspiracy Theorists Are Excited ]
Researchers have reported that this " hoarded wealth treasure trove " consists ofraw Indian file and handwritten notesand is " a mess , " fit in to Larry J. Sabato , the founding father and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia , who publish about the document for The New York Times . Assembling the puzzle pieces into something useful or credible will take a lot of time , he write .
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