Wednesday marks the 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event that changed the world and plunged the country into collective shock, disbelief and mourning.
On Nov. 22, 1963, the nation was riveted by the news that Kennedy's motorcade was attacked with rifle shots as it approached Dealey Plaza. The president died about an hour later at a Dallas hospital, as the manhunt for Lee Harvey Oswald came to an end inside a Dallas movie theater.
An estimated 300 million people around the world watched the rites of mourning, including nearly 95% of all Americans. It was the first shared spectacle of the television age. According to reporting by the Los Angelas Times, the moment marked the dawn of a new era in media as the three television networks — NBC, CBS and ABC — stayed on the air for four days to provide live, continuous coverage of a national crisis for the first time.
Horrific photos of Jackie Kennedy’s blood stained pink dress, a little 2-year-old boy’s goodbye salute to his father, and the rider-less white horse were seared into the memories of those who lived through the tumultuous 1960s.
Members of the Kennedy family at the funeral of assassinated president John F. Kennedy at Washington DC. From left: Senator Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, (aged 6), Jackie Kennedy (1929 - 1994), Attorney General Robert Kennedy and John Kennedy (1960 - 1999) (aged 3).
The traumatic event and its aftermath were in full display for everyone to watch at the same time.
“The only thing on television anywhere in the country was the Kennedy assassination,” said former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, the Times reported.
The faces of employees and clients on the floor of J.C. Bradford & Co. reflect their disbelief at the news that President John F. Kennedy has been shot on Nov. 22, 1963. The scene was repeated in many business firms and offices throughout Nashville and Tennessee, as commercial and social activities came to a halt.
Several hundred Nashville residents, grief-stricken at the assassination of the man they revered as their greatest champion, stood in pelting rain on the steps of the state Capitol on Nov. 22, 1963, and silently prayed for late President John F. Kennedy and his family.
Grave-looking passers-by, including Americans living in France, listen on transistor radios to the latest news about the assassination of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on November 23, 1963 outside the US Embassy in Paris. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas, during an electoral tour.
Lyndon B Johnson takes the oath of office as President of the United States, after the assassination of President John F Kennedy November 22, 1963.
One day after Kennedy was killed, the newly sworn-in Lyndon Johnson issued his first presidential proclamation, declaring Nov. 25, 1963, the day of President Kennedy’s funeral, a national day of mourning. Across the country, schools, businesses, and government offices closed in observance of Kennedy’s death. Archived articles show that hundreds of events nationally and locally were canceled in respect of the president.
“I earnestly recommend the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay their homage of love and reverence to the memory of a great and good man,” Johnson said in the publicly broadcasted statement.
President Kennedy’s funeral and procession to Arlington National Cemetery was attended by dignitaries from 92 countries and a million people lined the streets, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Mourners pray at the Holy Name Catholic Church over an empty casket drapes with the flag in respect to President John F. Kennedy after his death in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
A crowd of 2,500 listen in sadness as Tennesseans paid tribute to the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy at the War Memorial Auditorium on Nov. 24,1963. Men, women and children crowded to hear Justice Weldon White, Gov. Frank Clement and ministers of four faiths.
US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (C) and her children, Caroline Kennedy and John F. Kennedy, Jr. (R), exit the US Capitol Building where US slain President John Fitzgerald Kennedy lies in state on November 24, 1963 in Washington DC, accompanied by Kennedy family members Robert Kennedy (2nd L), Patricia Kennedy Lawford (L) and Jean Kennedy Smith (3rd L).
Mourners pay their respects at the gravesite of President John F. Kennedy in Arlington Cemetary.
Funeral procession of President John F. Kennedy from the White House to the United States Capitol.
State Funeral of President Kennedy: Requiem Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
In this Nov. 25, 1963 file photo members of the Kennedy family attend U.S. President John F. Kennedy's burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., including JFK's mother, Rose Kennedy, center left with veil; his brother U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, center right; and the president's widowed wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, far right.
German President Heinrich Luebke (L), French President General Charles de Gaulle (C), Germany's Chancellor Ludwig Erhard (3rd L), French Premier Maurice Couve de Murville (4th L), President of the Philippines, Diosdado Macapagal (R) and officials and foreign dignitaries pay their last respects in front of the coffin of late US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on November 25, 1963 in Arlington cemetery, during his state funeral, as honor guard pallbearers lift the casket flag.
State Funeral of President Kennedy: Requiem Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
State Funeral of President Kennedy: Requiem Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
State Funeral of President Kennedy: Departure from the White House and Procession to the United States Capitol
State funeral of President John F. Kennedy's procession to St. Matthew's Cathedral.
