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Zapruder Film

Zapruder Film

The Zapruder film is the 8mm home movie footage made by an assassination witness, Abraham Zapruder in Dallas, Texas, within Dealey Plaza while standing next to the grassy knoll during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The film has been used by the Warren Commission and all followup investigations of the assassination. The Zapruder frames used by the Commission consist of exhibits 889-899 plus exhibits 901 and 902 (totaling less than 1 second of the actual 26.6 second film), published in the commission supporting volume XVIII. Frames of the film have also been sporadically published in several magazines, and utilized in several movies. The Zapruder film footage has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for permanent preservation in the National Film Registry. Some persons claim that only altered versions of the Zapruder film have ever been published. They point to, allegedly, impossible movements by persons in the background and limousine, and irregular limousine signal-light flashing as evidence of film cuts. There are 59 witnesses that claim the limousine came to a near or complete stop during the shooting, but, the film does not show this, and shows the limousine slowing from 13 miles-per-hour to slightly less than 9 m.p.h. at Z-313 when President Kennedy is shot in the head. Others are convinced that the Secret Service copies made the evening of November 22 that are also stored in the United States National Archives are unaltered.[http://www.jfk-info.com/moot1.htm] United States National Archives Zapruder's film is probably the clearest and best-known movie of the assassination, and provided an elevated-above-the-President point of view. It is not the only film that captured the few seconds before President Kennedy was hit by the shots. There were at least seven others in Dealy Plaza with home-movie cameras— F. Mark Bell, Charles Bronson (not the actor), Robert J. Hughes, John Martin, Charles Mentesana, Patsy Paschall, Elsie Dorman, Tina Towner, Marie Muchmore, and Orville Nix, along with the unidentified "Babushka Lady". Nix's, Muchmore's, and Bronson's films include the fatal shot, and films of Bronson and Hughes show the 6th-floor window of the book depository. [http://www.jfk-info.com/photos1.htm]. The film advanced through the Director Series Model 414 PD movie camera camera via a spring-wound mechanism at an average tested speed of 18.3 frames-per-second. The entire Dealey Plaza exposed film frames lasts 26.6 seconds, with the presidential limousine assassination sequence lasting 19.3 seconds.

History

Three copies of the film were made on the evening of November 22 for investigative authorities. Within days, LIFE magazine purchased the original film and all rights to the film for $150,000, payable in six annual payments of $25,000. Zapruder donated the initial payment of $25,000 to Dallas Policeman J.D. Tippit's widow and children. After acquiring the film, LIFE Bureau Head Will Lang Jr. ordered the creation of large photo prints of the individual frames for a special article regarding the film and the Warren Commission report. At some stage during the photo processing, several film frames were accidentally damaged — though private copies were made for LIFE executives. A few frames of the film were printed over the years, but mostly the film was kept locked away from public scrutiny and was never publicly shown in motion by LIFE. In 1966 Dr. Josiah Thompson, while working for LIFE, tried to negotiate with LIFE the rights to print important individual frames in a book he wrote, Six Seconds in Dallas. LIFE refused to approve the use of any frames, even after Thompson offered to give away all profits from the book sales to LIFE. When Thompson's published book included very photo-like, very detailed charcoal drawings of important individual frames, LIFE filed a lawsuit against Thompson and his publishing company. Prior to the 1969 trial of New Orleans Clay Shaw for conspiracy in connection with the assassination, a copy of the film was obtained by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison for use during the trial. Copies of the film were allowed to be made, and were soon being further copied and shown throughout the United States, and the world. In March of 1975, during the late-night TV show Goodnight America (hosted by Geraldo Rivera) still-dedicated assassination researchers Robert Groden and Dick Gregory presented the first-ever, mass audience, public TV showing of the Zapruder film in motion. The public's response and outrage to that first public showing led immediately, and directly, to the forming of the Hart-Schweiker investigation, contributed to the Church Committee Investigation on Intelligence Activities by the United States, and led to the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation. In 1975 LIFE sold the film back to the Zapruder family for $1. The Zapruder family soon asked the U.S. government to store the film safely and help protect it from the sands of time. The U.S. government has stored the film in the National Archives. In 1998 the original film was purchased by the United States government under the doctrine of eminent domain, and Zapruder's heirs sued to increase the amount paid for the film to $16,000,000. The Zapruder family still retains all showing rights to the film. The Zapruder family at that time also donated one of the copies and LIFE photo prints to the Sixth Floor Museum in what used to be the Texas School Book Depository building.

External links


- [http://www.jfkfiles.com/jfk/html/intro Computer Reconstruction of JFK Assassination]
- [http://www.jfklancer.com/History-Z.html The History of the Zapruder Film]
- [http://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/?NF=1 Zapruder film footage, including individual frames]
- [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/neal.mccarthy/jfkvideos.htm JFK Assassination Video Resources] Category:1963 filmsCategory:JFK assassination Category:United States National Film Registry

8mm film

8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight millimeters wide. It exists in two main versions: regular or standard 8 mm (the subject of this article) and Super 8. There are also two other varieties of Super 8 which require different cameras but which produce a final film with the same dimensions. Super 8

Standard 8

The standard 8 mm film format was developed by the Eastman Kodak company during the Great Depression and released on the market in 1932 to create a home movie format less expensive than 16 mm. The film spools actually contain a 16 mm film with twice as many perforations along each edge than normal 16 mm film, which is only exposed along half of its width. When the film reaches its end in the takeup spool, the camera is opened and the spools in the camera are flipped and swapped (the design of the spool hole ensures that this happens properly) and the same film is exposed along the side of the film left unexposed on the first loading. During processing, the film is split down the middle, resulting in two lengths of 8 mm film, each with a single row of perforations along one edge, so fitting four times as many frames in the same amount of 16 mm film. Because the spool was reversed after filming on one side to allow filming on the other side the format was sometime called Double 8. The framesize of 8 mm is 4,8 x 3,5 mm and 1 m film contains 264 pictures. Normally Double8 is filmed at 16 frame/s. Common length film spools allowed to film about 3 to 4 min at 12, 15, 16 and 18 frames per second. Kodak ceased producing standard 8 mm film in the early 1990s. Black and white 8 mm film is still manufactured in the Czech Republic, and several companies buy bulk quantities of 16 mm film to make regular 8 mm by re-perforating the stock, cutting it into 25 foot (7.6 m) lengths, and collecting it into special standard 8 mm spools which they then sell. Re-perforation requires special equipment. Some specialists also produce super 8 mm film from exisiting 16 mm, or even 35 mm film stock.

Super 8

In 1965, Super-8 film was released and was quickly adopted by the amateur film-maker. It featured a better quality image, and was easier to use mainly due to a cartridge-loading system which did not require re-loading halfway through. Sometimes, the improvement was not as apparent, since the film gate in some cheap Super 8 cameras were plastic as was the pressure plate, which was built in to the cartridge, whereas the standard 8 cameras had a permanent metal film gate that better kept the image in focus. There was another version of Super-8 film, Single-8, produced by Fuji in Japan. It has the same final film dimensions, but the cassette is different. The Kodak system was by far the most popular.

External link


- [http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/filmhist/filmhist.html Film formats history]
- [http://members.aol.com/Super8mm/JohnSchwind2.html/ Film Source] Category:Movie film formats

Abraham Zapruder

Abraham Zapruder (May 15, 1905 - August 30, 1970), a manufacturer of women's clothing, filmed U.S. President John F. Kennedy's motorcade traveling through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas and unexpectedly recorded the entire John F. Kennedy assassination.

Background

Abraham Zapruder was born into a Russian-Jewish family in the city of Kovel in Ukraine (then under the Russian Empire). He received only four years of formal education in Russia. In 1920 during the turmoil of the Russian Civil War, he emigrated to the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York. In 1941, he moved to Dallas to work in the garment industry and co-founded a company called Nardis. In 1959, he founded his own company that produced two clothing brands, Chalet and Jennifer, Jr.'s. His offices were located in the Dal-Tex Building, just off Dealey Plaza. Zapruder was a supporter of the Democratic Party and a fan of President John F. Kennedy. When he learned that Kennedy's motorcade would pass through Dealey Plaza, he decided to film the procession with his Bell and Howell movie camera. His film captured the assassination of the President and has become one of the most studied pieces of film in history. Zapruder, realizing that he may have critical evidence, agreed to turn the footage over to Secret Service agent Forest Sorrels, but would only give him a copy. He retained the original footage for himself and began shopping it around to media outlets. Zapruder sold the original and the publishing rights to his film to Life magazine for $150,000. He donated $25,000 of the proceeds to the widow of slain Dallas police office J.D. Tippit. After his death, his heirs recovered the rights to the film. While waiting for the film to be processed, he appeared on Dallas television station WFAA where he gave a now famous interview about an hour and a half after the assassination. He later screened the footage for law enforcement officials and several journalists including Dan Rather, who was a young CBS reporter at the time. Zapruder later testified before the Warren Commission and at the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw. He died of cancer in 1970 in Dallas.

Zapruder as assassination witness

Zapruder filmed the assassination using a then top-of-the-line Model 414 PD 8mm Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series movie camera purchased in 1962 loaded with Kodak Kodachrome II safety film. This historic film footage is the "Zapruder film". Zapruder, who suffered from vertigo, had to be steadied by his secretary Marilyn Sitzman as he stood atop a pedestal that was part of a concrete pergola. After the assassination, Zapruder returned to his office where a reporter and secret service agent Forrest Sorrels turned up within an hour. Realizing the importance of the footage but still shocked by what he had seen, Zapruder agreed to turn the film over to Sorrels provided that it was only for the use of the Secret Service and others investigating the assassination, as he also wanted to sell the film. The group took the film to television station WFAA where Zapruder appeared on air less than two hours after the assassination. But WFAA had no capability to develop 8mm film and so it was taken to Eastman Kodak who agreed to process it immediately. Three copies were run off, with two going to the Secret Service and one to Zapruder. That night, Zapruder is said to have had a nightmare in which he was walking through Times Square and saw a booth advertising "See the President's head explode!" He determined that, while he wanted to make money from the film, he did not want the full horror of what was seen to be made public. On November 25, 1963, Zapruder sold the film to Life Magazine for $150,000, divided into six annual payments of $25,000. Zapruder donated his first $25,000 payment to the widow of murdered Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit. Part of the deal with Life was that Frame 313, showing the fatal shot, would not be shown.

Testimony

At 9:55 p.m. Dallas time on November 22, United States PRS Special Agent Maxwell D. Phillips sent a hand-written memo (Warren Commission Document, CD87) to U.S. Secret Service Chief James Rowley that accompanied one of the first generation copies said of Zapruder's origins of at least one shot, "According to Mr Zapruder the position of the assassin was behind Mr Zapruder." Behind Mr. Zapruder was the Dealey Plaza grassy knoll. However, in his testimony to the Warren Commission Zapruder was less certain: :Mr. LIEBELER. Did you form any opinion about the direction from which the shots came by the sound, or were you just upset by the thing you had seen? :Mr. ZAPRUDER. No, there was too much reverberation. There was an echo which gave me a sound all over. In other words that square is kind of--it had a sound all over.

External links

[http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/zapruder_shaw2.htm Zapruder's testimony during the Clay Shay trial] Zapruder, Abraham Zapruder, Abraham Zapruder, Abraham

Dealey Plaza

Dealey Plaza, (pronounced dee-lee) in the historic West End district of Downtown Dallas, Texas, United States, is famous as the location of the John F. Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963.

History

Dealey Plaza is a public park completed in 1939 on the west edge of downtown Dallas where three streets converge (Main Street, Elm Street, and Commerce Street) to pass under a railroad bridge known locally as the triple underpass. The plaza is named for George Bannerman Dealey 1859–1946), publisher of The Dallas Morning News and the man who had campaigned for the area's revitalization. Many believe the monuments outlining the plaza are there to honor President John F. Kennedy, but they actually honor previous prominent Dallas residents, and predate President Kennedy's visit by many years. The actual Dallas monument to Kennedy, in the form of a cenotaph, is located one block away.

Kennedy assassination

Dealey Plaza is bounded on the south, east, and north sides by 100'+ tall buildings. One of those buildings is the former Texas School Book Depository building, from where the Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, fired a rifle that killed the president. There is also a grassy knoll, from where the House Select Committee on Assassinations controversially concluded that a second gunman also fired at (but missed) President Kennedy. At the plaza's west perimeter is a triple overpass railroad bridge, under which the motorcade raced after the shots were fired. Today the plaza is typically filled with tourists visiting the assassination site and The Sixth Floor Museum that now occupies the top two floors of the seven story former Book Depository. Since 1989, some 5-million-plus people have visited the Museum. One source of information that includes the location of each witness alone on a picture of the site with the witness's key testimony is found here [http://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/] One of the better-scaled maps of Dealey Plaza showing witnesses' locations and observations, suspected assassins' locations, evidentiary artifacts, and other valuable information can be found [http://members.aol.com/droberdeau/JFK/DP.jpg here]. 1989 After the assassination, city leaders decreed that Dealey Plaza and the surrounding buildings would be maintained in their 1963 condition to preserve the area in honor of the fallen president. The United States government has declared Dealey Plaza a National Historic Landmark. Therefore, nothing of significance has been torn down or rebuilt in the immediate area. (A small plaque commemorating the assassination exists in the plaza.) Visitors to Dealey Plaza today will see street lights and street signs that were in use in 1963, though some have been moved to different locations and others removed entirely. Buildings immediately surrounding the plaza have not been changed since 1963, presenting a stark contrast to the ultra-modern Dallas skyline that rises around it. Over the last 40+ years, Elm Street has been resurfaced several times; street lane stripes have been relocated; sidewalk lamp posts have been moved and added; trees, bushes and hedges have grown; and some traffic sign locations have been changed, relocated or removed. In late 2003, the city of Dallas approved construction project plans to restore Dealey Plaza to its exact appearance on November 22, 1963. As of early 2004, the funds to do so had been approved.

The "grassy knoll"

The "grassy knoll" of Dealey Plaza is a small, sloping hill inside the plaza that became infamous following the John F. Kennedy assassination. The knoll was above President Kennedy and to his right (west and north) during the assassination on November 22, 1963. The north grassy knoll is bounded by the former Texas School Book Depository building along the Elm Street abutment side street to the northeast, Elm Street and a sidewalk to the south, a parking lot to the north and east, and a railroad bridge atop the triple underpass convergence of Commerce, Main, and Elm streets to the west. Located near the north grassy knoll on November 22, 1963, were several witnesses; three large traffic signposts; four sidewalk lamp posts; the John Neely Bryan north pergola cement structure, including its two enclosed shelters; a tool shed; one 3.3' high cement wall connected to each of the pergola shelters; ten tall, wide, low-hanging live oak trees; a 5' tall, wooden, cornered, stockade fenceline approximately 176' long; six street curb sewers openings, their sewer manholes, and their interconnecting large pipes; and numerous 2' to 6' tall bushes, trees, and hedges. 1963 Some assassination theories have concluded that a shot or shots came from the north grassy knoll during the assassination. The House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation from 1975 to 1979 concluded that an unknown assassin fired the third of four shots fired at President Kennedy from behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll and that "there was a probable conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy." This conclusion was based on a single piece of evidence: a Dictabelt recording of a stuck radio microphone on a police motorcycle that captured sounds thought to be the gunshots of the assassination. After the committee finished its work, crosstalk from another radio channel of transmissions known to have been made a minute after the assassination was found on the Dictabelt, proving that the sounds on the recording could not be the gunshots of the assassination. Because of persistent debate, answered and unanswered questions, and conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination and the possible related role of the grassy knoll, the term "grassy knoll" has come to also be a modern slang expression indicating suspicion, conspiracy, or a cover-up.

External links


- [http://www.texastwisted.com/attr/jfk/03/ Texas Twisted: JFK Assassination Tour with color photos of Dealey Plaza]
- [http://www.earthcam.com/jfk/ Dealey Plaza Cam - a view from the sixth floor window]
- [http://www.forensic-science-society.org.uk/Thomas.pdf Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, March 2001]
- [http://pages.prodigy.net/whiskey99/hearnoevil.htm Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, November 2001]
- [http://pages.prodigy.net/whiskey99/emendations.htm Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, September 2002]
- [http://www.geocities.com/whiskey99a/dbt2002.html Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, November 2002]
- [http://pages.prodigy.net/whiskey99/courttv.htm Dr. Thomas study of the grassy knoll shot, December 2003; Court-tv rebuttal]
- [http://www.boston.quik.com/amarsh/headshot.txt Evidence of a Head Shot From The Grassy Knoll]
- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/gk_name.htm The Man Who Named the Grassy Knoll] - by Gary Mack of [http://www.jfk.org/ Sixth Floor Museum] Category:Dallas, Texas Category:JFK assassination

References


- (pp. 238-242, unraveling of acoustic evidence in JFK conspiracy finding)

John F. Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC). Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding in a presidential motorcade within Dealey Plaza. He was the fourth U.S. President to be assassinated, and the eighth to die while in office. An official investigation by the Warren Commission was conducted over a 10-month period and published its report in September 1964, concluding that the assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza. A later official investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) was conducted from 1976 to 1979, and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald probably acted with at least one other person. The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation, and has spawned a number of Kennedy assassination theories.

Background to the Texas trip

Kennedy had chosen to visit Dallas on November 20 for three main reasons: to help raise more Democratic Party presidential campaign fund contributions in advance of the November 1964 presidential election; to begin his quest for re-election; and, as the Kennedy-Johnson ticket had barely won Texas (and had lost Dallas) in 1960, to mend political fences among several leading Texas Democratic Party members who appeared to be fighting politically amongst themselves. There were concerns about security because of recent events: on October 24, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson had been jeered, jostled, struck by a protest sign, and spat upon during a visit to Dallas. To prevent a recurrence, Dallas police Sgt. Davis had prepared the most stringent security precautions in the city's history. The danger from a concealed sniper on the Dallas trip was of concern to those who had considered the problem. President Kennedy himself had mentioned it the morning he was assassinated, as had the Secret Service agents when they were fixing the motorcade route. It was planned that Kennedy would travel from Love Field airport in a motorcade through downtown Dallas (including Dealey Plaza) to give a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart in suburban Dallas. The car in which he was traveling was a 1961 Lincoln Continental, open-top, modified limousine. Riding with Kennedy in the limousine were: his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy; Texas Governor John B. Connally, Sr, and his wife, Nellie; Secret Service agent and White House Detail Team #3 Assistant in Charge, Roy Kellerman; and Secret Service agent and limousine driver Bill Greer. No presidential car with a bulletproof top was yet in service in 1963 (plans for such a top were presented in October 1963; FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover already had three bulletproofed cars.) In a November 22 Dallas newspaper there appeared a black-bordered, full-page advertisement paid for by Kennedy critics who were associated with the ultraconservative John Birch Society. Throughout Dallas, and especially along the motorcade route, several groups critical of Kennedy expressed their views and handed out flyers. A smattering of handmade protest signs were held aloft by motorcade viewers, but there were no major disturbances.

The assassination

The presidential motorcade traveled nearly its entire route without incident, stopping twice so Kennedy could shake hands with some Catholic nuns, then some school children. Shortly before the limousine turned onto Main Street a man ran towards the limousine, but was thrust to the ground by a Secret Service agent and hustled away. Just before 12:30 PM CST (18:30 UTC), Kennedy slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository head-on, then the limousine slowly turned the 120-degrees directly in front of the depository, now only 65 feet (20 m) away. When the limousine had passed the depository Kennedy was shot at for an estimated 6 to 9 seconds. During the shooting the limousine is calculated to have slowed from over 13 mph (20 km/h) to only 9 mph (15 km/h). The shooting took place in front of Abraham Zapruder who was filming the president. His testimony expresses the disbelief, and then the shock, of witnessing the assassination of a president:
Mr. Zapruder: I heard the first shot and I saw the President lean over and grab himself like this (holding his left chest area).
Examiner: Grab himself on the front of his chest?
Mr. Zapruder: Right---something like that. In other words, he was sitting like this and waving and then after the shot he just went like that.
Examiner: He was sitting upright in the car and you heard the shot and you saw the President slump over?
Mr. Zapruder: Leaning--leaning toward the side of Jacqueline. For a moment I thought it was, you know, like you say, "Oh, he got me," when you hear a shot--you've heard these expressions and then I saw---I don't believe the President is going to make jokes like this, but before I had a chance to organize my mind, I heard a second shot and then I saw his head opened up and the blood and everything came out and I started--I can hardly talk about it [ the witness crying].
Mr. Zapruder: [T]hen I started yelling, "They killed him, they killed him."
See Warren Commission testimony of Zapruder. Governor Connally was also seriously wounded by a bullet and screamed, "No, no, no. They are going to kill us all!" At the end of the shooting, the president's body bounced off the back of the rear seat and slumped lifelessly leftward towards his wife. Mrs. Kennedy cried out to her bodyguard, Clint Hill, "My God, they have shot his head off." Clint Hill was riding in the car that was immediately behind the presidential limousine. As soon as the shooting began, Hill jumped out and began running to overtake the moving car in front of him with the plan to climb on from the rear bumper and crawl over the trunk to the back seat where the stricken President and frightened First Lady were located. Just as Hill was grabbing the small handrail by the trunk that was used by the bodyguards to climb onto a small back platform, he heard another gunshot and saw a portion of the president’s head blown away. The driver then sped up causing the car to slip away from Hill, who was in the midst of trying to leap on to it. He somehow succeeded in regaining his footing and jumped on to the back of the quickly accelerating car. As he got on, he saw Mrs. Kennedy, apparently in shock, crawling onto the flat trunk of the moving limousine and retrieving parts of her husband’s head that had been blown out. Agent Hill crawled to her and guided the frantic Mrs. Kennedy back into her seat and placed his body above the President and Mrs. Kennedy. An agent in the front seat of the car gave orders, over the car’s two-way radio, to the lead of the procession "To the nearest hospital, quick." Hill was shouting as loud as he could "To the hospital, to the hospital." As the car moved at high speed to the hospital, Hill maintained his position shielding the couple with his body, and was looking down at the mortally wounded president. Agent Hill later testified:
The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car.
Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
The limousine then exited Dealey Plaza and sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital that was only minutes away. There was hardly any reaction in the crowd to the first shot, many later saying they thought they had heard a firecracker or a car's exhaust backfire.

Others wounded

Texas Governor John Bowden Connally, Sr., riding in the same limousine in a seat in front of the president, was also critically injured but survived. Doctors later stated that after the Governor was shot, Mrs. Connally pulled the governor onto her lap, and the resulting posture helped close his front chest wound (which was causing air to be sucked directly into a collapsed lung). The action helped save his life. James Tague, a spectator and witness to the assassination, also received a minor wound to his right cheek while standing 270 feet (82 meters) in front of where Kennedy was hit.

Kennedy in the emergency room

Upon Kennedy's arrival at the Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room Number 1, treating staff members observed that his condition was "moribund", meaning that he had no chance of survival. This terminal condition arose out of the extensive gunshot damage done to the president's brain rather than by the other gunshot wounds suffered by the president to his back and throat. In the emergency room, the President had been placed on his back. His face was not damaged, but some brain tissue was present near the head indicating brain damage. When the doctors arrived they quickly cut into the president's throat and inserted a small tube for breathing (a tracheotomy). But then, Dr. Jenkins, one of the five treating doctors in the emergency room, lifted Kennedy's upper half of the body, looked at the back of Kennedy's head and announced:
"Boys you better come up here and take a look at this brain before you do anything as heroic as opening the chest and massaging the heart directly."
Dr. Peters did look and observed:
"There was obviously quite a bit of brain missing."
Dr. McClellend provided this description:
"You could actually look down into the skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had been blasted out."
"We never had any hope of saving his life", one doctor said. Roy Kellerman, a Secret Service Agent, who was in the car with the president, later testified a gunshot removed a section of the president's skull in the back right-hand side of the head measuring about five inches in diameter. See drawing by Dr. McClellend [http://www.jfklancer.com/pub/md/mcc_draw.gif] The priests who administered the last rites to Kennedy told The New York Times that the President was already dead by the time he arrived at the hospital, and he had to draw back a sheet covering the President's face to administer the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. It was not until 1:00 PM CST (19:00 UTC), after all heart activity had ceased and after a Roman Catholic priest administered the last rites, the president was pronounced dead. Kennedy's death was officially announced some time later, at 1:38 PM CST (19:38 UTC).

Federal agents seize Kennedy's body

Once the president was officially pronounced dead, his murder investigation came within the jurisdiction of Texas state criminal law. The law of Texas required the Dallas County coroner to perform a forensic examination of the president. At the time no specific federal law prohibited killing a president. This set the stage for a conflict between federal and state agents. After Kennedy was pronounced dead, a group of federal agents seized the body and attempted to remove it from the hospital. A stand off then occurred between state officials and cursing, gun-wielding Secret Service agents that lasted for ten to fifteen minutes. Finally, a few minutes after 2:00 PM CST (20:00 UTC), the federal agents gained full control over the body, placed it in a coffin, and removed it from Parkland Hospital. An ambulance, under federal control, then took the dead president's body back to Love Field and placed the coffin aboard Air Force One. Governor Connally, meanwhile, was soon taken to emergency surgery where he underwent two operations that day. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (who had been riding two cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade through Dallas and was not wounded) was first in line of succession to become President of the United States upon Kennedy's death. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One at 2:38 PM CST, just before it departed Love Field.

The autopsy

After Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside Washington DC, Kennedy's body was taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital at the bequest of Jacqueline Kennedy for an autopsy. The autopsy was conducted by three Navy physicians and witnessed by over thirty military officers. Many different versions of what was seen and what happened at the autopsy have been written. One military physician who participated in the autopsy destroyed his notes, and a drawing of Kennedy's head wound by another of the physicians is close to incomprehensible. [http://www.jfklancer.com/pub/md/MD001-2.JPG] Two FBI agents present at the autopsy have since revealed that Kennedy had a large wound on the back, right-hand side, of his head, another wound 5.5 inches (14 cm) below his suit jacket collar top just to the right of his spine, and a third wound centered in the front of his throat at the bottom edge of his Adam's apple. [http://www.jfklancer.com/pub/md/sibert2.gif] Several photos and x-rays were captured during the autopsy (several of which have disappeared from the official record). Graphic autopsy photos, along with the skull x-rays, and medical drawings prepared by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) when it took testimony from the Parkland Hospital medical witnesses, are available [http://www.jfklancer.com/MDsmall.html here] and [http://www.jfklancer.com/Backes.html here] The autopsy photographs of the President’s brain are apparently missing;, in 1998 what appear to be photographs of another person's brain were given to the ARRB. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/jfk/jfk1110.htm] This panel was created under federal law to gather and preserve the documents relating to the assassination. [http://www.accessreports.com/statutes/JFK.ACT.htm]

Reaction to the assassination

The first hour after the shooting, before Kennedy's death was announced, was a time of great confusion. As it took place during the Cold War, some people at first wondered if the shooting were not part of a larger attack upon the USA, and there was concern about Vice-President Johnson's safety. People began to huddle around radios and TVs for the latest bulletins. The news of Kennedy's death by assassination shocked the world. In cities around the world, people wept openly. People clustered in department stores to catch TV coverage, and others prayed. Motor traffic in some areas came to a halt as the news of Kennedy's death spread literally from car to car. Schools across the USA and Canada dismissed students early. A misguided fury against Texas and Texans was reported from some individuals. All three TV networks cancelled regular programs scheduled for the next three days in order to provide non-stop news coverage of the assassination. The television coverage of the assassination was the longest uninterrupted news coverage of one event until the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Memorial services for Kennedy were held worldwide. The US Government declared a day of national mourning and sorrow for the day of state funeral, Monday, November 25. Many other countries did the same.

Funeral

November 25 After the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Kennedy's body was prepared for burial and then brought back to the White House and placed in the East Room for 24 hours. The Sunday following the assassination, his flag-draped coffin was moved to the Capitol for public viewing. Throughout the day and night, hundreds of thousands lined up to view the guarded casket. Representatives from over 90 countries, including the Soviet Union, attended the funeral on November 25 (which was his son's third birthday). After the service, the casket was taken by caisson to Arlington National Cemetery for burial.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Arlington National Cemetery Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested eighty minutes after the assassination for killing Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit. He was charged with murders of Tippit and Kennedy late that evening. Oswald denied shooting the president and claimed he was a "patsy." Oswald's case never came to trial because two days later, while in police custody, he was shot and fatally wounded by Jack Ruby.

Recordings of the assassination

No radio or television stations broadcast the assassination live, because the area through which the motorcade was traveling was not considered important enough for a live broadcast. Most media crews were not even with the motorcade but instead were waiting, at the Trade Mart , in anticipation for Kennedy's arrival. Those members of the media that were with the motorcade were riding at the rear of the procession. However, Kennedy's last seconds of life traveling through Dealey Plaza were recorded on silent 8 mm film for the 26.6 seconds before, during, and immediately following the assassination. This famous film footage was taken by garment manufacturer and amateur cameraman Abraham Zapruder, in what became known as the Zapruder Film. The 486 frames of this film have been used in many studies, but the film has not been able to settle disputes concerning whether or not Oswald was the sole assassin. Zapruder was not the only one that either took photographs of or filmed at least part of the assassination. Those bystanders that recorded, at least part of the assassination include Robert Hughes, Orville Nix, Charles Bronson, Elsie Dorman, Tina and Jim Towner, Philip Willis and Mary Moorman. An unknown woman, nicknamed by researchers as the Babushka Lady might have been filming the presidential motorcade during the assassination because she was seen apparently doing so on film and photographs taken by the others. Her identity is still unknown. For several minutes around the time of the assassination, a Dallas police motorcycle man's radio microphone was stuck in the 'transmit' position and was recorded back at the police radio dispatcher's room on a Dictabelt. A Dallas radio station KBOX-AM did recreate the sounds of the shooting on a Long playing record and it released the record album with excerpts of news coverage of that day, but it was not an original recording of the shooting.

Official investigations

Dallas Police

After arresting Oswald and collecting physical evidence at the crime scenes, at 10:30 PM CST 22 November (04:30 UTC 23 November) Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry was ordered by, in his words, "people in Washington" to send all of the physical evidence found, but not Oswald, to FBI headquarters.

FBI investigation

On November 24, 1963, just hours after Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered, FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, said that he wanted "something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin." [http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1d.html] Then, the FBI completed its investigation on December 9, 1963, less than three weeks after the assassination. The FBI report was issued and given to the Warren Commission while the FBI was still the primary investigating authority for the commission. The FBI stated that only three bullets were fired during the assassination. This contrasts with the conclusion of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), which concluded that four shots had been fired during the assassination of the president. The Warren Commission agreed with the FBI investigation that only three shots were fired, but disagreed with the FBI report on which shots hit Kennedy and which hit Governor Connally. The FBI report claimed that the first shot hit President Kennedy, the second shot hit Governor Connally, and the third shot hit Kennedy in the head, killing him. The Warren Commission concluded that one of the three shots missed, one of the shots hit Kennedy and then struck Connally, and a third shot struck Kennedy in the head, killing him. The FBI report was consistent with the later Warren Commission Report stating that Lee Harvey Oswald fired all three shots.

The destruction of evidence

The FBI's role in the murder investigation has come under criticism for destroying evidence. Shortly before the assassination, an FBI agent named James Hosty talked to Oswald's wife on how to get in touch with him. When Oswald heard about the visit he went to the FBI office in Dallas, to see Hosty. When Oswald was told that Hosty was not in, Oswald left him a message in an envelope. The contents of the envelope have remained a mystery, because soon after Oswald was murdered Hosty was called into the office of his superior, Gordon Shanklin and ordered to destroy Oswald's letter, which he did. The FBI then discovered that Hosty's name and phone number appeared in Oswald's address book. Instead of turning Oswald's address book over to the Warren Commission, the FBI provided a typewritten transcription of the document in which Hosty's name and phone number were deleted (without reporting they had done so). Hosty then misled the Warren Commission about his contacts with Oswald when he testified, and this information only became public much later. [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKhosty.htm]

The Warren Commission

The first official investigation of the assassination was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 29 1963, a week after the assassination. The commission was headed by Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States and became universally (but unofficially) known as the Warren Commission. In late September 1964, after a 10 month investigation, the Warren Commission Report was published. The Commission reported that it could not find any persuasive evidence of a domestic or foreign conspiracy involving any other person(s), group(s), or country(ies), and that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The theory that Oswald acted alone is also informally called the Lone Gunman Theory. The commission also concluded that only three shots were fired during the assassination, and that Lee Harvey Oswald fired all three of these shots from the Texas School Book Depository building behind the motorcade. The commission's determination was that:
- one shot likely missed the motorcade (it could not determine which of the three),
- the first shot to hit anyone struck Kennedy in the upper back, exited near the front of his neck and likely continued on to cause all of Governor Connally's numerous injuries, and
- the last shot to hit anyone struck Kennedy in the head, fatally wounding him. It noted that three empty shells were found in the sixth floor in the book depository, and a rifle identified as the one used in the shooting - Oswald's Italian military surplus 6.5x52 mm Model 91/38 Carcano - was found hidden nearby along with three spent cartridge cases. The Commission offered as a likely explanation that the same bullet that wounded Kennedy also caused all of Governor Connally's wounds. This theory has become known as the "Single Bullet Theory" or the "magic bullet theory" as it is commonly referred to by its critics and detractors. The Commission also criticized weaknesses in security, which has resulted in greatly increased security whenever the President travels. The supporting documents for the Warren Commission Report are not all due to be released until 2017. The commission's findings have not gained general acceptance from the general public in the USA, and many theories exist that conflict with its findings. Most polls show that (1) most people do not agree with the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and (2) no single alternative suspect or theory is accepted either.

The House Select Committee on Assassinations

An official investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), conducted from 1976 to 1979, concluded :that the scientific acoustical evidence established a high probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence did not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President, but it did negate some specific conspiracy allegations. Their conclusion was that four shots had been fired during the assassination and that President Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The HSCA concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the first, second, and fourth bullets, and that (based on the acoustic evidence) there was a high probability that an unnamed second assassin fired the third bullet (but missed) from President Kennedy's right front from a location concealed behind the Grassy Knoll picket fence, nine feet (approximately 3 meters) to the west of the picket fence east corner (exactly where an image is seen in the Moorman #5 Polaroid photo captured at Zf-315 to 316, but not seen seconds later). The HSCA's test firings within Dealey Plaza in 1978 also acoustically matched this same Grassy Knoll fence location nine feet (3m) to the west of the picket fence east corner where several witnesses claimed to observe small puffs of gunpowder smoke.

Summary of other evidence

Witnesses

On November 22, and in the months and years following the assassination, many witnesses in Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination have come forward or have been identified, and have stated their observations about what happened during the crucial seconds of the attack. Many witnesses were known to investigators, but some were never called by the investigators to describe what they observed. Many witnesses who were photographed at the scene (including several photographers and film-makers) are still unknown and have chosen to not come forward and/or have died. In many respects, the details of the events described by the identified witnesses match, but there are also conflicting details between information described by the witnesses. Some witnesses have also described details that no other witness has yet described. Among the important witness considerations were:
- The reactions to the gunshots of all limousine occupants relative to each other and relative to what each limousine occupant testified they saw, heard, and felt during the assassination.
- How many muzzle blasts a witness remembered hearing.
- The origin of the muzzle blasts a witness remembered hearing.
- The identities of two armed men and at least one other man seen on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
- The identities of other potential witnesses, photographers, filmers and/or other located assassins and/or co-conspirators. One researcher has identified 216 witness to the assassination; and shows on a map where they were located; and describes what they saw and heard regarding the gunshots. [http://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/]

Shot sequencing and origins

There was a clear consensus among the witnesses as to the number of shots: over 90% thought there were three or fewer shots. However, at least some of the eyewitness statements appear to have been influenced by the investigators. [http://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/artScience.htm ] One of the eyewitnesses standing closest to the president [http://www.history-matters.com/analysis/witness/]was Mrs. Jeane Hill, a local schoolteacher. She testified, in secret, to the Warren Commission:
I talked with this man, a Secret Service man, and I said, "Am I a kook or what's wrong with me?" I said, "They keep saying three shots---three shots," and I said, "I know I heard more. I heard from four to six shots anyway." He said, "Mrs. Hill, we were standing at the window and we heard more shots also, but we have three wounds and we have three bullets, three shots is all that we are willing to say right now."'
Mrs. Hill also testified that she saw a man running from the grassy knoll area, where she believed the shots originated:
'"I was told not to say--was to not mention the man running," and [an attorney hired by Oswald's mother] said, "And why?" And I said, "Well, it was an FBI or Secret Service that told me not to, but they came in to me just right after I was taken-I was in there in the pressroom . . . [a newsman] Featherstone that told me [not to]. He said, "You know you were wrong about seeing a man running." He said, "You didn't." Mr. Featherstone had told me that, and I said, "But I did," and he said, "No; don't say that any more on the air.'"
More witnesses thought the final two shots were bunched together than thought the shots were evenly spaced, or that the first two were bunched. Of the witnesses who gave some testimony as to the source of the shots, 35 thought the shots came from the direction of the Grassy Knoll, 56 thought the shots came from the direction of the School Book Depository, eight thought the shots came from an entirely different location (including two who thought the shots came from inside the limo). Only five witnesses thought the shots came from two different locations. As the wound to the back, right side, of his skull opened up, Kennedy's right shoulder twisted forward and slightly upward, then his torso appears to move quickly backwards and to his left side, until he bounced off the rear seat vertical cushion and slumped lifelessly leftward towards his wife as shown in the Zapruder film. Some theorize this is not inconsistent with a bullet fired from the rear. One theory was by Dr. Luis Alvarez, in the mid-1960s. During experiments with rifle fire at melons and at human skulls filled with simulated brain material some pieces of a skull would go backwards if it exploded and melons were shown to roll backward if hit at the bottom and given back spin toward the shooter. However, the Rockefeller Commission asked a veterinarian, Alfred G. Olivier, who had extensive experience shooting goats for ballistic tests, about a "jet effect" theory involving any of the thousands of animals he had tested in his line of work. He said that he never seen such a "jet effect" recoil any animal towards the shooter. He said that skulls struck by a bullet invariably went in the direction of the bullet--not backward. Besides the theory of a "jet effect," at least two other theories are offered by those who contend that Kennedy was shot in the head from behind to explain the violent movement of the president's body towards the shooter as if blasted from the front: (1) A neuro-muscular spasm theory, and (2)a theory of compression of the skull against the chest (and brace that Kennedy wore), which caused his head and upper body to rebound backwards after compression. There is no experimental basis establishing that any of these three theories account for the president's body's movement backward shown in the Zapruder film. [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dealey.htm#jeteffect]

Assassination theories

An official investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), conducted from 1976 to 1979, concluded that President Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. This conclusion of a conspiracy contrasts with the earlier conclusion by the Warren Commission that the president was assassinated by a lone gunman. Many not only dispute the conclusion that Oswald was the lone assassin (claiming that there was a conspiracy), but also claim that Oswald was not involved at all. Shortly after his arrest, Oswald insisted he was a "patsy." Oswald never admitted any participation in the assassination, and was murdered two days after being taken into police custody. Investigations, scientific testing, and re-creations of the circumstances of Kennedy's death have not, in the American public's view, settled the question of who plotted to kill him. A 2003 ABC TV News poll showed that only 32 % (plus or minus 3 %) of Americans who expressed a view believe that Oswald acted alone in the Kennedy assassination [http://abcnews.go.com/images/pdf/937a1JFKAssassination.pdf]; a Discovery Channel poll revealed that only 21% believe Oswald acted alone. [http://poll.discovery.com/servlet/viewsflash?jfk=6&cmd=tally&pollid=jfk&results=data%2Fdsc%2Fpackage%2Fjfk.results.html&submit.x=51&submit.y=6]; a History Channel poll gave a figure of 17%. [http://www.historychannel.com/jfk/jfk_poll_results.jsp]. These same polls also show that there is no agreement on who else may have been involved. Over the years, scores of Kennedy assassination theories have emerged as to who was involved in killing JFK. Suspects range from an organized crime/CIA cabal, to the military-industrial complex opposed to his decommitment from Vietnam, the oil industry, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and Israeli soldiers because of his vow that Israel would "never have Atomic Weapons as long as I'm president." Frank Sinatra, a friend of Peter Lawford (brother in law to President Kennedy) supposedly requested union leaders, among them Jimmy Hoffa, to assist in "voter turnout" in the 1960 Presidential election. Hoffa, angry at being called to testify by Attorney General Robert Kennedy about union pension funds being invested in mob owned gambling casinos, felt double crossed by the Kennedy family and called for a mafia "hit" on the President. This is a theory, but not very well documented. Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected Kennedy assassin, had links to the mafia. Robert Kennedy accepted the findings of the Warren Commission, and declined to have the assassination further investigated. More recently, Senator Edward Kennedy has expressed his lack of interest in further investigation.

Similarities to other Presidential deaths in office

Every United States president elected or reelected in 20-year intervals beginning with 1840 (beginning with William Henry Harrison) had died in office (Harrison 1840, Lincoln 1860, Garfield 1880, McKinley 1900, Harding 1920, Roosevelt 1940). John F. Kennedy's assassination continued this pattern. It ultimately broke with Ronald Reagan who, elected in 1980, survived being shot in a March 1981 assassination attempt. This pattern of Presidential deaths has been referred to as Tecumseh's curse or the "zero factor". Only one of eight presidents to die while still in office did not follow this pattern: Zachary Taylor. After JFK's assassination, numerous similarities between Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were noted. See Lincoln-Kennedy coincidences for a discussion of these similarities and the probabilities involved.

Film portrayals

Kennedy's life and the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding his death have been the topic for many films, including Mark Lane's 1966 Rush to Judgment, Executive Action (movie) in 1973, ABC TV's 1983 mini series Kennedy, Nigel Turner's 1988, 1991, 1995, and 2003's continuing documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, Oliver Stone's 1991 JFK, and the 1993 JFK: Reckless Youth (which looked at Kennedy's early years).

Unreleased documents

Just before the 1964 presidential election, President Johnson ordered the Warren Commission documentations to be sealed against public availability for 75 years (until 2039). However, in 1992 Congress enacted the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. The Act requires all documents related to the assassination that have not been destroyed to be released to the public by 2017. Until 2017, tens of thousands of pages of documents will remain classified and sealed, away from the public's availability and research, including:
- 3+% of all Warren Commission documents
- 21+% of the House Select Committee on Assassinations documents
- An undeterminable percentage of CIA, FBI, Secret Service, National Security Agency, State Department, US Marine Corps, Naval Investigative Service, Defense Investigative Service, and many other US government documents. Additionally, several key pieces of evidence and documentation are known to have been cleaned or destroyed, or are missing from the original chain of evidence (e.g., limousine cleaned out at hospital, Connally's suit dry-cleaned, Oswald's Marine Corps service record file destroyed, President Kennedy's brain not accounted for, Connally's Stetson hat and shirt sleeve gold cufflink missing, forensic autopsy photos missing, etc.) The On May 19, 2044, the 50th anniversary of the death of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, if her last child has died, the Kennedy library will release to the public a 500-page transcript of an oral history about John F. Kennedy given by Mrs. Kennedy before her death in 1994.

See also


- Kennedy assassination theories
- Detailed timeline of the assassination of John F. Kennedy
- Reaction to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
- State funeral of John F. Kennedy
- Warren Commission
- Zapruder film
- "Single Bullet Theory"
- Jim Garrison
- JFK (movie)
- Robert F. Kennedy assassination
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Coincidence theory
- Kennedy Curse

External links


- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm JFK/The Kennedy Assassination Home Page]
- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/headwnd.htm Testimony regarding head-wound]
- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/faq.txt JFK assassination FAQ]
- [http://www.jfk-online.com/ JFK Assassination Resources Online]
- [http://www.jfk-assassination.com John F. Kennedy Assassination Homepage]
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/oswald/ Frontline: Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?]
- [http://www.archives.gov/research_room/jfk/ JFK Collection at the National Archives]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKindex.htm Assassination of President Kennedy Encyclopaedia]
- [http://ciajfk.com/timeline.html JFK Assassination Timeline and Research]
- [http://www.jfkmurderphotos.bravehost.com/ Photographs of the assassination]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22/newsid_2451000/2451143.stm BBC article on Kennedy's assassination]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/25/newsid_3211000/3211440.stm BBC article on Kennedy's funeral]
- [http://release.theplatform.com/content.smil?pid=KADAUgatDNG8pqmrC2G8P1oqha7xp8_G&UserName=Unknown Universal International News: "President Assassinated"]
- [http://release.theplatform.com/content.smil?pid=lZ2W6bl5Ev8WI8oWphUSUEFEXew2Aunc&UserName=Unknown Universal International News: "Assassin Killed"]
- [http://release.theplatform.com/content.smil?pid=djlVhW-TqAJkltaeiQP4u3kei7GS0LC8&UserName=Unknown Universal International News: "The World Mourns"]
- [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kennedyjf/kennedyjf.htm Museum.tv archives]
- [http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/unsolvedhistory/dealeyplaza/dealeyplaza.html Discovery Channel Unsolved History Dealey Plaza]
- [http://www.celebritymorgue.com/jfk/ JFK: Bullet Trajectory and Autopsy]
- [http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-01/strange-world.html article: Facts and Fiction in the Kennedy Assassination]
- [http://www.history-matters.com History Matters]
- [http://www.maryferrell.org Mary Ferrell Foundation]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=411+Elm+Street,+Dallas+TX&spn=0.008411,0.011952&t=k&hl=en Google Map showing the location of assassination] Category:1963 Category:Assassinations
- ja:ケネディ大統領暗殺事件

November 22

November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 39 days remaining.

Events


- 498 - After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.
- 1718 - Off the coast of Virginia, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") is killed in battle with a boarding party led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
- 1830 - Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate Gen465eral John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Sherman from Georgia.
- 1880 - Vaudeville actress Lillian Ruell makes her debut at Tony Pastor's Theatre in New York City.
- 1917 - In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up (on November 26 it was replaced with the National Hockey League).
- 1922 - Egyptology: Howard Carter, assisted by Lord Carnarvon, opens the tomb of Tutankhamun.
- 1935 - The China Clipper takes off from Alameda, California in an attempt to deliver the first airmail cargo across the[Pacific Ocean]] (the airplane later reached its destination, Manila, and delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail).
- 1942 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad - General Friedrich von Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th army is surrounded.
- 1943 - World War II: War in the Pacific - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan (see Cairo Conference)
- 1943 - Lebanon gains independence from France.
- 1963 - John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded. Later the same day, US Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.
- 1967 - UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted by the UN Security Council, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement.
- 1968 - The Beatles release the double-album The Beatles, commonly known as The White Album.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war.
- 1974 - The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
- 1975 - Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.
- 1977 - British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
- 1986 - Boxing: Mike Tyson knocks out Trevor Berbick in the second round, becoming the youngest world heavyweight champion at the age of 20 years and 4 months.
- 1988 - In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
- 1989 - In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President Rene Moawad, killing him.
- 1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigns as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 2002 - In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
- 2003 - In Tbilisi, Georgia, opponents of President Eduard Shevardnadze seize the parliament building and demand the president's resignation.
- 2003 - The Heritage Classic, the first outdoor hockey game in the history of the National Hockey League, is played in Edmonton, Alberta
- 2003 - England defeat Australia to win England's first rugby union world cup.
- 2004 - The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
- 2005 - The Xbox 360 releases in North America. First of the "new next-gen" consoles.
- 2005 - Ted Koppel retires after hosting Nightline for over 26 years.
- 2005 - Angela Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany

Births


- 1428 - Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, English politician (d. 1471)
- 1515 - Marie of Guise, Queen of James V of Scotland and regent of Scotland (d. 1560)
- 1564 - Henry Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham, English conspirator (d. 1610)
- 1602 - Elisabeth of France, Queen of Philip IV of Spain (d. 1644)
- 1635 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (d. 1672)
- 1643 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French explorer (d. 1687)
- 1710 - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German composer (d. 1784)
- 1721 - Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres, Swiss-born cartographer and Canadian statesman (d. 1824)
- 1722 - Hryhori Skovoroda, Ukrainian poet, philosopher and composer (d. 1794)
- 1767 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolian patriot (d. 1810)
- 1808 - Thomas Cook, British travel entrepreneur (d. 1892)
- 1819 - George Eliot, British novelist (d. 1880)
- 1849 - Christian Rohlfs, German artist (d. 1938)
- 1852 - Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
- 1856 - Heber J. Grant, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1945)
- 1868 - John Nance Garner, U.S. Vice President (d. 1967)
- 1869 - André Gide, French writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
- 1877 - Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (d. 1919)
- 1890 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France (d. 1970)
- 1893 - Harley J. Earl, automobile designer (d. 1969)
- 1897 - Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (d. 1989)
- 1899 - Hoagy Carmichael, American composer (d. 1981)
- 1899 - Wiley Post, American pilot (d. 1935)
- 1901 - Joaquin Rodrigo, Spanish composer (d. 1999)
- 1904 - Louis Eugène Félix Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- 1913 - Benjamin Britten, British composer (d. 1976)
- 1917 - Andrew Fielding Huxley, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1918 - Claiborne Pell, U.S. Senator
- 1921 - Rodney Dangerfield, American comedian and actor (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Arthur Hiller, Canadian film director
- 1923 - Gunther Schuller, American composer and conductor
- 1924 - Geraldine Page, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1932 - Robert Vaughn, American actor
- 1940 - Terry Gilliam, American/British comedian and director
- 1941 - Tom Conti, British actor
- 1943 - Billie Jean King, American tennis player
- 1950 - Lyman Bostock, baseball player (d. 1978)
- 1950 - Steve Van Zandt, American musician
- 1950 - Tina Weymouth, American musician (Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club)
- 1958 - Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress
- 1961 - Mariel Hemingway, American actress
- 1961 - Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer
- 1962 - Victor Pelevin, Russian writer
- 1967 - Boris Becker, German tennis player
- 1967 - Bart Veldkamp, Dutch-born speed skater
- 1974 - David Pelletier, Canadian figure skater
- 1976 - Ville Valo Finnish singer (HIM)
- 1982 - Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Nigerian footballer
- 1984 - Scarlett Johansson, American actress

Deaths


- 1318 - Mikhail Yaroslavich, Russian prince (b. 1271)
- 1594 - Martin Frobisher, English explorer
- 1617 - Ahmed I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1590)
- 1694 - John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1630)
- 1697 - Liberal Bruant, French architect
- 1710 - Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (b. 1637)
- 1718 - Blackbeard (Edward Teach), British pirate
- 1758 - Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, British politician (b. 1680)
- 1774 - Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, British general and statesman (b. 1725)
- 1783 - John Hanson, American Continental Congressman (b. 1715)
- 1794 - John Alsop, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
- 1875 - Henry Wilson, United States Vice President (b. 1812)
- 1900 - Arthur S. Sullivan, British composer (b. 1842)
- 1916 - Jack London, American writer (b. 1876)
- 1917 - Teoberto Maler, German-born explorer (b. 1842)
- 1943 - Lorenz Hart, American lyricist (b. 1895)
- 1955 - Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian (heart attack) (b. 1895)
- 1963 - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917)
- 1963 - C. S. Lewis, Irish author (b. 1898)
- 1963 - Aldous Huxley, British author (b. 1894)
- 1980 - Mae West, American actress and writer (b. 1893)
- 1981 - Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
- 1986 - Scatman Crothers, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1986 - William Bradford Huie, American writer (b. 1910)
- 1988 - Luis Barragán, Mexican architect (b. 1908)
- 1989 - Rene Moawad, President of Lebanon (b. 1925)
- 1993 - Anthony Burgess, British author (b. 1917)
- 1996 - Mark Lenard, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 - Michael Hutchence, Australian singer and songwriter (b. 1960)
- 2005 - Bruce Hobbs, American jockey (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. Saints - Feast of Saint Cecilia
- Also see November 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Lebanon - Independence Day (from France, 1943)
- United States - If a Thursday, Thanksgiving is celebrated; Family Day begins in 2005
- Astrology: usually the first day of sun sign Sagittarius

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/22 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 21 - November 23 - October 22 - December 22 -- listing of all days ko:11월 22일 ms:22 November ja:11月22日 simple:November 22 th:22 พฤศจิกายน

1963

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-February


- January 1 - CSIRO scientist Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler are found dead, believed to have been poisoned, in bushland near the Lane Cove River, Sydney. Known as the Bogle-Chandler case.
- January 11 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
- January 14 - George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama.
- January 22 - Elysée treaty between France and Germany
- January 28 - Black student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson College in South Carolina, the last US state to hold out against racial integration
- January 29 - Charles De Gaulle vetos United Kingdom's entry into the EEC
- February 8 - Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
- February 11 - CIA Domestic Operations Division is created.
- February 21 - An earthquake in Libya destroys the village of Barce - 500 dead
- February 27 - Juan Bosch takes office as the 41st president of the Dominican Republic.
- February 27 - Female suffrage in Iran

March-April

Iran
- March 1 - Yoko Ono's marriage to American Christian fundamentalist filmmaker Tony Cox is annulled
- March 4 - In Paris six people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.
- March 16 - Mount Agung erupts on Bali - 11,000 dead
- March 18 - Court decides poor must have lawyers (Gideon vs. Wainwright Supreme Court trial)
- March 21 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes; the last 27 prisoners are transferred elsewhere at the order of Attorney General Robert F Kennedy.
- March 27 - In Britain Dr Beeching issues report calling for huge cuts to the UK's rail network.
- April 7 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life
- April 10 - The US nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod with all hands - 129 dead
- April 15 - 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermarston to demonstrate against nuclear weapons
- April 16 - Martin Luther King composes "Letter from Birmingham Jail"
- April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the Quebec terrorist group, the Front de libération du Québec, bomb the Canadian Armed Forces recruitment center, killing night watchman, Wilfred V. O'Neill.
- April 22 - Lester B. Pearson becomes Canada's fourteenth prime minister.
- April 21 thru April 23 - First election of the Supreme Institution of the Bahá'í Faith, known as the Universal House of Justice whose Seat is at the Bahá'í World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

May-June


- May 1: The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola. Instead of sugar it is sweetened with saccharin and cyclamates. Later (after cyclamates were banned) TaB became a sugar-and-saccharin soft drink. Today it uses a blend of aspartame (NutraSweet) and saccharin.
- May 2 - Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a rocket with three stages with a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
- May 15 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb told Congress the program was complete)
- May 23 - Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union
- May 25 - The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- June 1 - Kenya gains autonomy.
- June 2 - Slavery declared illegal in Saudi Arabia
- June 5 - Profumo Affair - British Secretary of State for War John Profumo resigns in a sex scandal
- June 11 – Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly sets himself on fire in Saigon, Vietnam, to protest against Ngo Dinh Diem's policies
- June 11 - Prime Minister of Greece Constantine Karamanlis resigns in protest of king's visit to Britain
- June 12 - Byron de la Beckwith shoots civil rights leader Medgar Evers in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi.
- June 16 - Vostok 6: Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) becomes the first woman in space.
- June 17 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
- June 21 - Pope Paul VI is elected by College of Cardinals.
- June 30 - Ciaculli Massacre - mafia car bomb explodes in Ciaculli, Sicily, killing 7 police officers

July-August


- July 1 - ZIP Codes introduced in the USA
- July 5 - Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassies' level.
- July 5 - The Catholic Church accepts cremation as a funeral practice
- July 26 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
- July 26 - Syncom, the world's first geostationary (synchronous) satellite is orbited by NASA
- July 27 – Indonesian president-for-life Sukarno declares that he will crush Malaysia – official start of Indonesian Confrontation
- July 30 - Soviet newspaper Izvestia reports that Kim Philby has been given asylum in Moscow
- August 5 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- August 8 - The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire, England
- August 18 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi
- August 28 - Martin Luther King jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

September-October


- September 5 - Christine Keeler arrested for perjury. On December 6 she is sentenced to nine months in prison.
- September 6 - The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
- September 7 - The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
- September 10 - Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is indicted for murder. He goes on the run and, as of 2005, is still a fugitive.
- September 15 - American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing results in 4 de