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November 22, 1963 -

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. It remains one of the most notorious political assassinations in world history.

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Assassination of President Kennedy -

Kennedy was shot while riding in an open limousine with his wife, First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and Texas governor John Connally, during a tour of the state.

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Defining moment in world history -

The gunfire that echoed through Dealey Plaza on that fateful day has continued to reverberate across the ensuing decades. So, too, have the numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the tragic event.

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Why was Kennedy in Texas? -

President Kennedy was in Texas to drum up support for his New Frontier policies—the expansion of the country's defense and foreign aid programs. He was also hoping to lure voters away from his likely opponent in the 1964 presidential election, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

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The presidential route -

On November 22, the presidential motorcade, greeted by enthusiastic crowds, was following a predetermined route, and one that had been reported in newspapers several days in advance. 

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Dealey Plaza -

After traveling through downtown Dallas, the vehicles turned onto Elm Street to drive through Dealey Plaza, passing the Texas School Book Depository.

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Shots fired! -

As Kennedy's car continued down Elm Street, multiple shots were fired: many witnesses later recalled hearing three shots.

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The president is shot -

The shots were fired towards Kennedy, with the second and third striking the president. Governor Connally was also hit, but not fatally. The limousine picked up speed and dashed towards Parkland Memorial Hospital.

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Kennedy dies -

At approximately 12:38 pm on November 22, President John Kennedy was taken into Trauma Room 1 at Parkland Memorial Hospital. By 2 pm, his young widow was escorting his remains to Air Force One. Meanwhile, news of the assassination had spread quickly leaving the nation, and the world, in profound shock and disbelief.

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Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office -

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in to the office of the presidency aboard Air Force One hours after the assassination. Jackie Kennedy stood next to him, her clothes stained with her husband's blood.

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The funeral -

President John F. Kennedy's funeral took place on November 25, 1963. A horse-drawn caisson carried the casket down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

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Solemn procession -

There, Mrs. Kennedy and other mourners, including Robert and Ted Kennedy, joined the cortège as it made its way slowly towards St. Matthew's Cathedral, where a service was held.

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The questions begin -

As President Kennedy's remains were lowered into the ground, questions were already being raised surrounding the assassination, some of which still won't go away.

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Who killed JFK? -

Over six decades after the killing of Kennedy, many still believe that the man accused of his murder, Lee Harvey Oswald, wasn't acting alone. In fact, they're convinced others were involved.

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Lee Harvey Oswald -

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested shortly after the president was shot. But he was apprehended not as a suspect in Kennedy's assassination, but for shooting dead a Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippit.

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Oswald claims of being set up -

It was only after he'd been taken into custody that Oswald was charged with the assassination of Kennedy, but he denied responsibility for the killing, claiming that he was a "patsy," or a scapegoat.

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Site of the shooting -

Mourners, meanwhile, had gathered in Dealey Plaza, with all eyes scanning the Texas School Book Depository, the building where the shots appeared to have rang out from.

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Jack Ruby kills Oswald -

The investigation took a bizarre twist when nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald as he was being escorted out of the Dallas Police Headquarters building. Ruby was immediately arrested. He later gave conflicting reasons for his actions, at one point saying he killed Oswald to spare Mrs. Kennedy from having to return to Dallas for the assassination trial. But he also stated that he'd "reached the point of insanity" while grieving for the president and that he felt compelled to shoot Oswald without considering any reason for doing so. A lot of people, though, asked whether Ruby had gunned Oswald down as part of a wider cover-up.

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Warren Commission seeks the truth -

The Warren Commission, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 29, 1963, to investigate the assassination, quickly concluded that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald, probably in retaliation for Kennedy's murder. But it took much longer to build a case around Oswald.

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Findings published -

The commission's findings were published on September 24, 1964. The report concluded that the shots were fired from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository, and that Oswald was indeed the shooter. This photograph of the "sniper's nest" was taken approximately one hour after the assassination.

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Oswald was the gunman -

The Warren Commission substantiated this claim by releasing a photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald's palm print taken on November 22, 1963. The circled portion shows the print fragment that was on the cardboard box in the Texas School Book Depository, the site where the assassin's bullets were fired from.

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The evidence -

In addition, three empty shells were found at the window inside the building.

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Eyewitness account -

In his testimony to the commission, eyewitness Howard Leslie Brennan said he saw a man with a rifle at window A. Below at window B were people watching the motorcade. Brennen recreated his position on the day for this March 20, 1964, photograph.

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Sharpshooter -

Oswald was a former Marine, and a better-than-average marksman. Even so, skeptics doubted whether he could have run off three shots with such accuracy from 265 feet (81 m) within 5.6 seconds.

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Firing test -

In 1967, CBS tested the theory by conducting a firing test using 11 marksman. Many were able to hit the test target twice using a rifle similar to that used by Oswald under the time allocated, although they were all afforded multiple attempts.

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The Zapruder film -

But what really got conspiracy theorists' blood boiling was the infamous Zapruder film. The most complete footage of the assassination (and one of the most studied pieces of film in history), the color footage shows the precise moment the fatal head shot strikes Kennedy. It led many to believe that there was a second assassin present, such was the way the president appeared to lurch sideways as if the shot had come from the grassy knoll. This theory persists today.

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The "Badge Man" -

When challenged regarding this hypothesis, conspiracy theorists turn to what they believe is a figure purportedly hidden within the grassy knoll firing a weapon at the president. The muzzle flash obscures much of the detail, but the so-called Badge Man has been described as a person wearing a police uniform. The photograph seen here is a much enhanced detail from the picture published in this gallery as slide three.

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No motive -

The commission was never able to make any definitive determination of Oswald's motives, but did declare that there was "no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign." However, in 1979 the House Select Committee on Assassinations said it largely supported the Warren Commission—but said there was a "high probability that two gunmen fired at President Kennedy."

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New details -

In 2023, new details emerged about what was now a national obsession. Paul Landis, an 88-year-old former Secret Service agent who witnessed the president's death at close range, claimed that he retrieved a bullet from the car after Kennedy was shot and then left it on the former president's stretcher at the hospital.

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Another bullet -

Sharing his memories publicly in a book, 'The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After Sixty Years,' Landis writes that he placed the bullet on the president's gurney so the evidence would travel with the body.

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"Single bullet theory" questioned -

The Warren Commission had concluded that a single bullet traveled through Kennedy and hit  Connally and caused several injuries, thus explaining how one gunman carried out the attack and substantiating the "single bullet theory" or "magic bullet theory."

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Was evidence tampered with? -

However, a bullet was later found on Connally's hospital gurney, a fact the commission had relied on to reinforce its single bullet theory. The report ultimately concluded that the bullet had become dislodged as doctors raced to treat the stricken governor.

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The president's bullet -

Landis' version of events undermines the single bullet theory because he is certain that the bullet he had found in the car was the one that turned up on Connally's gurney. In fact, he believes it was embedded in the president's back and fallen out in the vehicle.

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Were there two gunmen? -

If Landis is right, the president and the governor may not have been struck by the same bullet, meaning there might have been another gunman involved. So, was the bullet from Kennedy's gurney deliberately placed on Connally's gurney? 

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More conspiracy -

Landis' account has its detractors, but it also adds more fuel to the conspiracists' fire and leaves another question hanging in the air.

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Questions still to be answered -

All JFK assassination-related records—around five million pages—are now held in the National Archives. Most of these records are open. However, 1% are withheld in full. More questions seeking answers, perhaps?

Sources: (Time) (BBC) (National Archives) (White House Historical Association) 

See also: History's most notorious assassinations

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