On this day in history, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald, according to most history books.
Most have seen footage of the president as he rode in an open-top car down Elm Street toward Stemmons Freeway in Dallas 59 years ago today.
First Lady Jacqueline sat beside her husband in the back seat while Texas Governor John B. Connally and his wife Nellie rode in the seat in front of them.
At about 12:30 p.m., when the presidential motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository, shots were fired that killed the 35th president of the United States.
The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy, 55, was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting. Governor Connally was also wounded in the assault but recovered following surgery.
About 70 minutes after the shooting, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by the Dallas police department and charged with the murders of both President Kennedy and J.D. Tippit — a Dallas police officer whom Oswald allegedly shot and killed in Oak Cliff merely 45 minutes after he assassinated the president.
On the morning of November 24, as Oswald was being moved through the Dallas police headquarters’ basement, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed him with cameras rolling and many witnesses present.
Ruby was convicted of Oswald’s murder in March 1964, but the conviction was overturned in an appeal. He died from cancer in prison in 1967, awaiting his trial.
Following a 10-month investigation, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in his assassination of Kennedy, and Ruby acted alone in his murder of Oswald.
Visitors can learn more about this historical event by visiting the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, located on the sixth floor of the former Texas School Book Depository (now the Dallas County administration building). On the tour, guests stand near the exact location from which Oswald allegedly fired upon the president.
The museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, explores not only Kennedy’s assassination but his life and legacy as well.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, an upcoming auction in Dallas will sell an array of artifacts related to Kennedy and his assassination, including the president’s rocking chair and Jack Ruby’s wallet.