Wednesday will mark 60 years since the fateful day in Dallas in 1963 when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Despite having one of the shortest tenures of any U.S president, the youthful Kennedy - along with his wife Jacqueline - forever changed the office of the U.S. presidency.
The Kennedy administration challenged post-war America to rise to the challenge of new opportunities and innovations. At his inauguration in January 1961, Kennedy declared: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."
Kennedy followed that months later, in a speech before a joint session of Congress, by setting the goal of landing a man on the moon within a decade.
It was the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and Kennedy used all of the tools at his disposal to emphasize the power and persuasion of the U.S. in diplomatic trips around the world. He joked that he was the "man who accompanied Jackie Kennedy" to Paris and inspired the crowds in West Berlin with the phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
Kennedy also guided the country through the threat of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis in the autumn of 1962.
However, it was Kennedy's shocking death that forever stamped his life and legacy onto the world's memory.
In November 1963, the 46-year-old Kennedy arrived in Texas for a two-day, five-city trip to help raise campaign funds for his re-election the following year and to increase political support for his ticket with Vice President Lyndon Johnson, a native Texan.
After starting his second day in Texas at nearby Ft. Worth, Kennedy and his wife flew to Dallas, where they met the vice president and Texas Governor John Connally and their spouses. Shortly before noon, the presidential motorcade, with Kennedy and Connally in the second vehicle, left the airfield to drive through the downtown area of the city to the Dallas Business and Trade Mart for a speech and luncheon.
The cars moved along streets lined with cheering crowds and at around 12:30 p.m. local time turned from Main Street onto Elm Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza. Moments later, shots rang out and both President Kennedy and Governor Connally were struck by bullets.
Kennedy was hit in the neck and head, while Connally suffered a wound to the chest. The limousine sped away under escort to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital where little could be done for the mortally-wounded U.S. president. A Catholic priest was summoned to give him the last rites. Governor Connally, though seriously wounded, would recover from his injuries after emergency surgery.
As live radio reports described the scene, the infant television news programs of the major networks ABC, CBS and NBC cut into their programming to bring the tragic news to the American people.
Kennedy's body was returned to Air Force One, where before takeoff, Vice President Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States.
After returning to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, President Johnson tried to console the country that Friday evening.
On Sunday, November 24, in a solemn procession, Kennedy's casket was taken by horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol building where it lay in state at the Rotunda. An estimated 250,000 people filed past to pay their respects. The official funeral was held on Monday, November 25, as heads of state and dignitaries from more than 100 countries attended the formal ceremony at St. Matthew's Cathedral.
One of the more emotional moments forever captured on film and pictures was JFK's youngest child, 3-year-old John F. Kennedy, Jr. - known as "John John" - saluting his father's casket as it went past the family.
Back in Dallas, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently-hired employee of the Texas Book Depository and a former U.S. Marine. On Sunday, November 24, when police were transferring Oswald from police headquarters to county jail, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot him at point-blank range on live television, and Oswald died two hours later.
President Johnson appointed the Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy to be chaired by Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, to investigate the assassination and the subsequent killing of the alleged assassin. The 889-page final report was delivered to Johnson in September of 1964.
The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone when he fired the three rifle shots that killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally. It also concluded that Ruby acted alone when he shot Oswald two days later. Despite abundant conspiracy theories and studies that challenge these results, the findings, though controversial, remain the official government position on President Kennedy's death.
