JFK's Final Days: November 22, 1963
As well all know, November 22, 1963 was the last day of President John F. Kennedy's life. On that day, fifty years ago today, he died in Dallas, Texas, the victim of an assassin's bullet.
That morning he woke up in Forth Worth, and a crowd had already gathered in the parking lot where Kennedy would be speaking that day. He checked out the headlines of some of the daily newspapers, which included "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy on Visit" (Dallas Morning News) and "Yarborough Snubs LBJ" further down the page. An article in the Chicago Sun-Times suggested that Jacqueline Kennedy might turn out to be the one who tipped the political balance in her husband's favor.
A crowd of 5000 gathered for the early morning rally and Kennedy used a flatbed truck as a platform for his speech to the crowd. He joked about his wife's absence, telling the crowd, "Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but of course, she looks better than we do when she does it." In his speech he promoted the defense industry and promised the crowd "a defense system second to none." He also spoke about the space race and told the crowd that the United States would not accept second place.
His next stop was to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the Hotel Texas ballroom. Author Thurston Clarke writes in his recent book entitled JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President at pages 338-9:
As Jackie walked into the ballroom, the businessmen and their wives leaped to their feet. Some stood on chairs, cheering and filling the room with deafening whistles. Kennedy said, "Two years ago I introduced myself as the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I am getting that same sensation as I travel around Texas." The head of the Chamber of Commerce gave Jackie a pair of boots, and presented him with a ten-gallon hat. "We couldn't let you leave without providing you with some protection against the rain," he said. Someone shouted, "Put it on!" He smiled, waived it in the air, and said "I'll put it on in the White House on Monday. If you come up, you'll have a chance to see it there."
Clarke writes that, after the breakfast, Jacqueline Kennedy said to her husband, "Oh Jack, campaigning is so easy when you're president. I'll go anywhere with you this year." When he replied "How about California in the next two weeks?" she replied, "I'll be there."
That morning a right-wing group called the American Fact-Finding Committee placed a full page ad in the Dallas Morning News, with the headline "Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas" and posing 12 accusatory questions to the President that tended to suggest that he was being too friendly to Moscow. When Kennedy saw the ad, he told Jackie "Oh you know we're heading into nut country today."
Even though Fort Worth was only a 30 minute drive from Dallas, Kennedy elected to fly because of the photo op available when he got off the plane at Love Field in Dallas. On the flight he strong-armed Governor Connally into inviting Senator Yarborough to the head table of a reception in Austin. Kennedy was met by several thousand people at the airport. The weather seemed to improve as grey skies gave way to sunshine in Dallas. Jacqueline Kennedy was first off of the plane, likely because he had realized what a political asset she was in Texas. Before getting into their limousine, the Kennedys shook hands with some of the people in the crowd. There were some protesters in the crowd with angry placards.
The limousine set off on its way to a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak to a crowd of businesmen. Because he was heading to the Trade Mart, the motorcade would make a sharp right turn off of Main Street, on to Houston, and would then take the next left turn on to Elm Street where it would drive past the Texas School Book Depository building. Kennedy's limousine was the second car in the motorcade, behind a white Ford containing Jesse Curry (the Dallas Chief of Police) and Sheriff Bill Decker. Kennedy's car, a Lincoln Continental, had two secret service agents in the front seat - the driver Bill Greer, and Roy Kellerman in the front passenger seat. Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie were seated on jump seats behind the two agents, and the President and first lady were sitting in the back seat. The car had running boards that secret service agents sometimes stood on, but Kennedy had told them not to do so on this occasion so that the crowd could have a look at their President.
Clarke describes Kennedy's last moments of life as follows, at pages 345-6:
His route took him along Main Street and through the heart of downtown Dallas. The Secret Service did not check the upper floors of buildings unless they had received specific threats, so people stood on rooftops and hung out open windows, cheering and throwing confetti. Spectators were ten to fifteen thick on the sidewalks. In places they had spilled into the street, slowing the motorcade to a crawl, and prompting Greer to keep far to the left in order to leave the greatest possible distance between the crowd and the right hand side of the limousine, where the president was sitting.
When Main Street flowed into Dealey Plaza, the crowds thinned and his limousine slowed to make two turns, first the ninety-degree right onto Houston Street, then a block later the even sharper left onto Elm Street past the seven story School Book Depository. From here Elm headed down a gentle incline to the Stemmons Freeway and a triple underpass. Jackie, who was perspiring into her pink wool suit, saw it and thought, "How pleasant that cool tunnel will be." Nellie Connally turned around from her jump seat and said to Kennedy, "You sure can't say that Dallas doesn't love you." Their eyes met, his smile widened, and he said, "no you can't."
The photographer Cecil Stoughton was riding seven cars back. He heard some loud bangs and imagined a cowboy in a ten-gallon hat standing on a rooftop, firing his six-shooter into the air to welcome the president to Dallas.
Kennedy was waving as the first bullet entered his upper back and exited his throat. It missed his vital organs and was a survivable wound. His hands flew up to his throat and his expression went blank. Nellie Connally remembered his eyes being "full of surprise," and Agent Kellerman thought he said, "My God, I'm hit!" His back brace kept him upright, an immovable target. Another bullet smashed into the rear of his head and Jackie cried out, "They've killed my husband! I've have his brains in my hand."
That was fifty years ago today, on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.
That morning he woke up in Forth Worth, and a crowd had already gathered in the parking lot where Kennedy would be speaking that day. He checked out the headlines of some of the daily newspapers, which included "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy on Visit" (Dallas Morning News) and "Yarborough Snubs LBJ" further down the page. An article in the Chicago Sun-Times suggested that Jacqueline Kennedy might turn out to be the one who tipped the political balance in her husband's favor.
A crowd of 5000 gathered for the early morning rally and Kennedy used a flatbed truck as a platform for his speech to the crowd. He joked about his wife's absence, telling the crowd, "Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but of course, she looks better than we do when she does it." In his speech he promoted the defense industry and promised the crowd "a defense system second to none." He also spoke about the space race and told the crowd that the United States would not accept second place.
His next stop was to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in the Hotel Texas ballroom. Author Thurston Clarke writes in his recent book entitled JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President at pages 338-9:
As Jackie walked into the ballroom, the businessmen and their wives leaped to their feet. Some stood on chairs, cheering and filling the room with deafening whistles. Kennedy said, "Two years ago I introduced myself as the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I am getting that same sensation as I travel around Texas." The head of the Chamber of Commerce gave Jackie a pair of boots, and presented him with a ten-gallon hat. "We couldn't let you leave without providing you with some protection against the rain," he said. Someone shouted, "Put it on!" He smiled, waived it in the air, and said "I'll put it on in the White House on Monday. If you come up, you'll have a chance to see it there."
Clarke writes that, after the breakfast, Jacqueline Kennedy said to her husband, "Oh Jack, campaigning is so easy when you're president. I'll go anywhere with you this year." When he replied "How about California in the next two weeks?" she replied, "I'll be there."
That morning a right-wing group called the American Fact-Finding Committee placed a full page ad in the Dallas Morning News, with the headline "Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas" and posing 12 accusatory questions to the President that tended to suggest that he was being too friendly to Moscow. When Kennedy saw the ad, he told Jackie "Oh you know we're heading into nut country today."
Even though Fort Worth was only a 30 minute drive from Dallas, Kennedy elected to fly because of the photo op available when he got off the plane at Love Field in Dallas. On the flight he strong-armed Governor Connally into inviting Senator Yarborough to the head table of a reception in Austin. Kennedy was met by several thousand people at the airport. The weather seemed to improve as grey skies gave way to sunshine in Dallas. Jacqueline Kennedy was first off of the plane, likely because he had realized what a political asset she was in Texas. Before getting into their limousine, the Kennedys shook hands with some of the people in the crowd. There were some protesters in the crowd with angry placards.
The limousine set off on its way to a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak to a crowd of businesmen. Because he was heading to the Trade Mart, the motorcade would make a sharp right turn off of Main Street, on to Houston, and would then take the next left turn on to Elm Street where it would drive past the Texas School Book Depository building. Kennedy's limousine was the second car in the motorcade, behind a white Ford containing Jesse Curry (the Dallas Chief of Police) and Sheriff Bill Decker. Kennedy's car, a Lincoln Continental, had two secret service agents in the front seat - the driver Bill Greer, and Roy Kellerman in the front passenger seat. Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie were seated on jump seats behind the two agents, and the President and first lady were sitting in the back seat. The car had running boards that secret service agents sometimes stood on, but Kennedy had told them not to do so on this occasion so that the crowd could have a look at their President.
Clarke describes Kennedy's last moments of life as follows, at pages 345-6:
His route took him along Main Street and through the heart of downtown Dallas. The Secret Service did not check the upper floors of buildings unless they had received specific threats, so people stood on rooftops and hung out open windows, cheering and throwing confetti. Spectators were ten to fifteen thick on the sidewalks. In places they had spilled into the street, slowing the motorcade to a crawl, and prompting Greer to keep far to the left in order to leave the greatest possible distance between the crowd and the right hand side of the limousine, where the president was sitting.
When Main Street flowed into Dealey Plaza, the crowds thinned and his limousine slowed to make two turns, first the ninety-degree right onto Houston Street, then a block later the even sharper left onto Elm Street past the seven story School Book Depository. From here Elm headed down a gentle incline to the Stemmons Freeway and a triple underpass. Jackie, who was perspiring into her pink wool suit, saw it and thought, "How pleasant that cool tunnel will be." Nellie Connally turned around from her jump seat and said to Kennedy, "You sure can't say that Dallas doesn't love you." Their eyes met, his smile widened, and he said, "no you can't."
The photographer Cecil Stoughton was riding seven cars back. He heard some loud bangs and imagined a cowboy in a ten-gallon hat standing on a rooftop, firing his six-shooter into the air to welcome the president to Dallas.
Kennedy was waving as the first bullet entered his upper back and exited his throat. It missed his vital organs and was a survivable wound. His hands flew up to his throat and his expression went blank. Nellie Connally remembered his eyes being "full of surprise," and Agent Kellerman thought he said, "My God, I'm hit!" His back brace kept him upright, an immovable target. Another bullet smashed into the rear of his head and Jackie cried out, "They've killed my husband! I've have his brains in my hand."
That was fifty years ago today, on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.