President Kennedy Is Shot in Dallas

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy traveled to Dallas, Texas, as part of an effort to ease political divisions among state Democrats and prepare for his upcoming reelection campaign. While riding in an open convertible limousine alongside his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, Kennedy was struck by gunfire at 12:30 pm as the motorcade passed Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was struck in the neck and head, while Governor Connally was seriously injured by gunfire. The vehicle sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where doctors attempted resuscitation, but the president was pronounced dead at 1:00 pm. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the presidential oath of office roughly two hours later aboard Air Force One before returning to Washington.

Earlier in his term, Kennedy had steered the nation through major Cold War flashpoints, most notably de-escalating the dangerous Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. His sudden death in Texas cut short an administration heavily focused on international tensions and domestic civil rights initiatives. In the immediate confusion in Dallas, law enforcement officers acted quickly after witnesses reported seeing a rifle pointed from a window on the sixth floor of the nearby Texas School Book Depository. A search of the building uncovered a Carcano bolt-action rifle, purchased earlier under an assumed name by depository employee Lee Harvey Oswald.