Mr. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was tragically assassinated while traveling in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. At 12:30 p.m. CST, as the motorcade was passing by the Texas School Book Depository, gunshots rang out. President Kennedy was struck by bullets, one hitting him in the upper back and exiting through his throat, and the other, the fatal shot, hitting him in the head.
The president was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States at 2:38 p.m. CST aboard Air Force One before it departed from Dallas.
The assassination shocked the nation and the world. The Warren Commission was established by President Johnson to investigate the assassination. It concluded in 1964 that the assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone. Oswald was captured about 90 minutes after the assassination, but he was never brought to trial as he was killed two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while being transferred from the city jail to the county jail.
Despite the Warren Commission’s findings, various theories about the assassination have persisted, including suggestions of conspiracy involving different groups such as the Mafia, the Soviet Union, or the CIA. The event remains a topic of speculation and debate, with numerous books, films, and scholarly studies dedicated to understanding what happened on that fateful day in Dallas.