50 Details About Kennedy’s Assassination on the 50th Anniversary

President John F. Kennedy

November 22, 1963

It was 50 years ago today, November 22 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Although Kennedy’s legacy was short, the man inspired hope in a new generation that eventually brought about long sought after changes in this country. Kennedy urged U.S. citizens to take up the challenge when he said “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Here are 50 details you may not know about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The President, First Lady & Governor Connally

1) In 1963, it was still not a federal crime to
assassinate a president.

2) The Presidential Limo had been flown into Dallas for the occasion.

3) The presidential motorcade route was decided on November 18 and released to the public shortly after.

4) November 22^nd, 1963 was a sunny Friday in Dallas.

5) Over a quarter of a million people lined the parade route that day.

6) Kennedy was in Dallas less than an hour before being shot. His plane landed at Love Field at 11:37 a.m. He was shot at 12:30 p.m.

7) Kennedy took a bullet to the upper back and one to the head. Texas Governor John B. Connally Jr. received one bullet to the body.

8) The bullet that hit Connally had already passed through the president’s body.

9) Mrs. Kennedy had just turned toward the president when he was shot: she saw his face as he was hit.

10) Both men were rushed to Parkland Hospital in the presidential limo.

At Parkland Hospital after the President's Arrival

11) Mrs. Kennedy realized just how severely her husband had been wounded. She tried to hold his skull together until they arrived at the hospital.

12) She gave doctors part of Kennedy’s brain-matter that she had been holding in her cupped hands and remained in the operating room with her husband.

13) The President never revived after being shot.

14) John F. Kennedy was the first president to have the last rites administered by a Catholic priest.

15) President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central time. He was 46 years old: the youngest man ever elected to be President

Walter Cronkite Announcing the Death of JFK

16) ABC Radio released the first UPI bulletin at 12:36 p.m. stating “THREE SHOTS WERE FIRED AT PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S MOTORCADE TODAY IN DOWNTOWN DALLAS, TEXAS.”

17) At 12:40 p.m. Walter Cronkite of CBS Television News broke into the popular soap opera As the World Turns with a bulletin stating, “President Kennedy has been seriously wounded…”

18) Dan Rather of CBS News was the first to send the report that Kennedy was dead. CBS Radio went with it – before official word had been given.

19) CBS, ABC and NBC covered the assassination for four days – from 10 minutes after the gunshots were fired until the body had been laid to rest at Arlington Cemetery.

20) This was the longest uninterrupted television coverage of a news event until the attacks in 2001 on September 11th.

21) From this weekend forward, America would turn to television for their news.

Mrs. Kennedy Leaving Parkland Hosptial

19) Lyndon Johnson, acting as president, told White House officials not to release the news of Kennedy’s death until after he had left the hospital, saying he feared a conspiracy.

20) Kennedy’s body was removed from Parkland Hospital before the Dallas coroner could conduct the forensic exam required by Texas law.

21) Mrs. Kennedy refused to change out of her pink Chanel suit, which was covered in the president’s blood.

22) Most Americans did not immediately know the color of her suit because television broadcasts were in black and white at that time.

23) The blood-soaked Chanel suit is preserved at the National Achieves and will not be displayed until at least 2103, and then only at the discretion of the Kennedy family.

24) At 2 p.m. Mrs. Kennedy was taken back to Air Force One with her husband’s body, which had been placed in a bronze casket.

Lyndon Johnson Being Sworn In As President

25) Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president at 2:39 p.m. aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway of Love Field in Dallas.

26) The only woman to administer the oath of office to a president was Federal Judge Sarah Hughes aboard Air Force One.

27) Johnson became president 99 minutes after Kennedy died.

28) Besides the new president, the new first lady and the former first lady, Air Force One was also carrying the slain president’s body back to Washington.

The President's Body Going to the Capitol

29) Upon arrival, the president’s body was taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy.

30) The embalming and cosmetic restoration was also done at Bethesda.

31) The President’s body was then placed in the East Room for 24 hours as he lay in repose.

32) Two Catholic priests stayed with the body during this time at the request of Mrs. Kennedy.

31) On Sunday, the flag-draped coffin was taken on a horse-drawn caisson to the U.S. Capitol to lie in state.

32) Over 250,000 people passed through the Capitol to show their respects.

33) Hundreds of thousands lined the streets in mourning.

Texas School Book Depository

34) The gunfire that killed Kennedy reportedly came from the Texas School Book Depository on the sixth floor.

35) Lee Harvey Oswald had begun working at the Book Depository one month before.

36) Oswald was arrested at 2:00 p.m. in a movie theatre.

37) He was not arrested for killing the President. He was arrested for killing police officer J.D. Tippit.

Ruby Shooting Oswald

38) As Oswald was being transferred from the Dallas City Jail to the Dallas County Jail, he was shot and killed by nightclub owner, Jack Ruby.

39) This was the first homicide broadcast live on television.

40) Lee Harvey Oswald died at 1:07 p.m. at Parkland Hospital – exactly two days and seven minutes after President John F. Kennedy, the man he had killed.

41) Conspiracy theories quickly developed. Today almost 60% of Americans still believe the president’s murder was part of a plot or cover-up.

42) Jack Ruby was convicted of “murder with malice” for killing Oswald and sentenced to death. His conviction was overturned. He was awaiting a new trial when he died of lung cancer in 1967.

First Page of the Warren Commission's Report

43) The House Select Committee on Assassinations later concluded that President Kennedy had not been given satisfactory protection while in Dallas.

44) The Secret Service agents had not followed correct procedure to protect the President from a sniper.

45) In 1963, the Warren Commission released an 888-page final report on its investigation into the assassination of the president.

Mrs. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy After Lighting the Eternal Flame

46) Businesses around the country, along with the U.S. Stock Exchange, closed their doors immediately after the President’s death and did not reopen until November 26^th.

47) President Johnson declared Sunday, November 25^th a day of national mourning.

48) On November 25^th President Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

49) Mrs. Kennedy requested that an eternal flame be placed on the President’s grave.

50) President Kennedy is the most recent president to have been killed in office. In all, four U.S. presidents have been assassinated while in office: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

~ Joy

For an amazing Then and Now series of photo montages on the event and locations, visit the UK’s Daily Mail online @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2509799/JFK-brought-life-photo-trickery.html

The History of the U.S. National Cemetery System

President Lincoln

Arlington National Cemetery

The National Cemetery System was developed as a way to provide a respectable and honored burial location for Civil War soldiers killed defending the Union.  In the Act of July 17, 1862, Congress authorized President Abraham Lincoln "to purchase cemetery grounds ... to be used as a national cemetery for soldiers who shall have died in the service of the country."  This was the first U.S. legislation to set in motion the concept of a national cemetery.

Civil War Graves

Burying the Dead

Before the national cemeteries were developed, soldiers were buried where they fell, at military posts, or the body was sent back to the family for a private burial.  A headboard was usually placed at the grave with the soldier’s name and information either painted or written on in chalk.  Since the wooden markers could not withstand the elements, the boards deteriorated rapidly and burial sites were lost.

Gettysburg National Cemetery

Civil War Battlefields

In July of 1862, the Army’s Quartermaster Department was assigned the task of establishing and maintaining the national cemeteries. After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the program began in earnest – to search for, locate, recover, and identify the remains of all Union soldiers, before re-interment in a national cemetery.  By June 1866, over 1 million dollars had been spent re-interring the war dead.  The Quartermaster General estimated that over $2.6 million would be the ''total cost of national cemeteries, and collection, transfer and re-interment of remains of loyal soldiers.'' The average cost of re-interment for each body was $9.75.

National Cemetery Act

The first National Cemetery Act was passed on February 22, 1867.  It provided funding in the amount of $750-thousand for the construction of national cemeteries, including the purchase of land, fencing and head stones.  The act also set some rules into place regarding conduct in a national cemetery stating, “Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any monument, gravestone . . . or shrub within the limits of any said national cemetery” would be arrested and found guilty of a misdemeanor.

Headstones with Shield Design

U.S. Colored Troops

The headstone design was subject to several years ofdebates.  Many materials were suggested for use, including cast iron.  Final approval and the appropriation of 1-million dollars was given by Congress, in March 1873 for the erection of a marble or granite headstone, measuring 12 inches high by 10 inches wide by 4 inches thick, with a slightly rounded top.  Name, rank or affiliation was placed in a federal shield carved into the stone.  Headstones for the regular Army soldiers were marked as “USA.”  Stones for the U.S. Colored Troops were marked as “USCT.”  Stones for ‘contrabands’ and civilians were not allowed.

Unknown

Marble or granite headstones for those whose remains were unidentified measured 6 inches high by 6 inches wide and 30 inches deep.  They were marked only with a number and/or by the words “Unknown U.S. Soldier.” Forty-two percent of the bodies and remains recovered were never identified.

Gen. Meigs

It took eight years for the interment of nearly almost 300,000 Union remains into designated national cemetery grounds.  Of those, over one hundred thousand were not identifiable. In 1870, General Montgomery Meigs declared the reburial project to be completed with a total of seventy-three national cemeteries created.  However, more would need to be started in the West where fallen soldiers had been abandoned at their frontier posts.

During the 1870’s several amendments were added to the National Cemetery Act of 1867 to allow the burial of Union veterans in national cemeteries.  In 1872, an amendment was passed to allow “all soldiers and sailors honorably discharged from the service of the United States who may die in a destitute condition, shall be allowed burial in the national cemeteries of the United States.”

Mexico's U.S. National Cemetery

Danville, KY National Cemetery

As a result of the amendments, many national cemeteries were located throughout the country – not just at the site of Civil War battles.   National cemeteries were set up in New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Mexico City, Mexico for those slain in the Mexican War.

Fredrick Olmsted

Landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmsted was called in to offer his opinion on the appearance of the national cemeteries.  Olmsted advised, “The main object should be to establish permanent dignity and tranquility ... sacredness being expressed in the enclosing wall and in the perfect tranquility of the trees within.”   

Oak Hill Cemetery - Evansville, IN

As a result, trees and shrubs were added to the national cemeteries, flowers were planted, and stone, brick or iron fences enclosed the grounds.  Many times cannons and other artillery were added as cemetery monuments.

Tomb of the Unknown

Arlington National Cemetery

In June of 1881, General Meigs issued a recommendation that “Arlington Cemetery, … be declared and constituted by law the official national cemetery of the government, and that its space, not needed for the interment of soldiers, be used for the burial of officers of the United States legislative, judicial, civil, and military, who may die at the seat of government or whose friends may desire their interment in a public national cemetery.”

Confederate Monument

Unknown Confederate Soldier

In 1906, over forty years after the war, legislation passed that allowed the re-interment of Confederate soldiers in national cemeteries.

Cave Hill National Cemetery

There are now 146 national cemeteries located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico which bear the title of National Cemetery.  Many are on or near Civil War battlefields, or troop concentration points such as military hospitals and campsites. 

The original fourteen national cemeteries, created in 1862 are –

Alexandria National Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia

Annapolis National Cemetery, Annapolis, Maryland

Antietam National Cemetery, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois

Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Danville National Cemetery, Danville, Kentucky

Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas

Fort Scott National Cemetery, Fort Scott, Kansas

Keokuk National Cemetery, Keokuk, Iowa

Loudon Park National Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland

Mill Springs National Cemetery, Nancy, Kentucky

New Albany National Cemetery, New Albany, Indiana

Philadelphia National Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Soldier’s Home National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Since 1862, more than 3-million burials have occurred in national cemeteries.  The purpose of the National Cemetery System remains the same as it did 151 years ago; to provide a proper burial service, headstone, and interment in hallowed ground for veterans, those on active duty, reservists and National Guard members who have, or continue to, serve and defend our country.

~ Joy

Jack the Ripper - 125 Years Later - A Look Back at the Final Murder

Whitechapel

Lord Mayor's Day

It had been a chilly night in Whitechapel but the day promised to be fair and full of fun. After all, it was November 9^th the day of the annual Lord Mayor’s celebrations. But the day would not bode well for some.

Thomas Bowyer

Window to Kelly's Room

Just before 11 a.m., Thomas Bowyer knocked on the door of 13 Miller’s Court, the flat where Mary Jane Kelly lived. He had been sent to pick up the rent money she was six weeks behind on. When there was no answer, Bowyer peered in a window - and discovered Kelly’s mutilated corpse lying on her bed. She would be the final victim of England’s notorious Jack the Ripper.

Mine Explosion

Limerick, Ireland

Mary Jane Kelly or Marie Jeanette, as she was sometimes called, was born in Limerick, Ireland in the early 1860s of well-to-do people, or so she said. Nothing is really known of her family or upbringing. She married a coal miner named Davies around 1879 but he died in a mine explosion a couple of years later.

Joseph Barnett

Kelly claimed to have lived with family until she began working as a prostitute in the early 1880s. She told of being taken to France to live as a courtesan but said she did not like the country and returned to England. She lived with several men in the East End before moving in with Joseph Barnett in 1887.

Billingsgate Fish Market

Barnett worked at Billingsgate Fish Market for a time, but when he lost his job, Kelly began to turn tricks again. After an argument about another prostitute staying with them, Barnett moved out of the room they shared in Miller’s Court on October 30^th, just ten days before her body would be discovered there.

Mary Jane Kelly

Mary Jane was a quiet woman when she was sober. She could sometimes be heard singing Irish ballads, but when she was drunk she could become quarrelsome, even violent. 

George Hutchinson

On the night of November 8^th, Kelly was seen taking a man into her room around midnight. Then about 2 a.m. local laborer George Hutchinson met her coming down the street. She asked him for a loan of sixpence. He refused, telling her that he was broke. Hutchinson watched as she approached another man, one he described as being of “Jewish appearance.”  He followed them to Kelly’s room and stood watch until almost 3:00 a.m.

Kelly and a Stranger

Three days after Kelly’s murder, Hutchinson provided police with a very detailed description of the man he had seen her with – down to the color of his eyelashes – although it had been a dark winter night.

Abberline

The police were divided on whether Hutchinson could be the Ripper. Inspector Fredrick Abberline questioned him and felt he was telling the truth.

Anderson

Assistant Commissioner Robert Anderson believed that Hutchinson knew too much about what had happened and considered him a suspect. Many believed Hutchinson had made up his story and description just to get attention, and possibly be paid for his story by the press.

Two women living in the house reported hearing a faint cry of “Murder” around 4 a.m., but being that they were in Whitechapel, neither investigated it.

13 Miller's Court

Police finally broke into her room at 1:30 p.m. and discovered the true extent of the mutilations. The abdominal cavity had been emptied, the breasts sliced off, and the face hacked up beyond recognition. Blood was everywhere. The remains of a fire that had melted solder on a pot still smoldered in the fireplace.

Mary Jane Kelly

Mary Jane’s body was taken to a mortuary in Shoreditch where Dr. Thomas Bond and Dr. George Bagster Phillips examined it. The time of death was said to have occurred between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m. Phillips said that the mutilations took about two hours to perform. 

Barnett identified her by recognizing “the ear and the eyes.”

Shoreditch Town Hall

An inquest was held on November 12 at Shoreditch Town Hall and lasted one day. 

Dr. Bond

Phillips stated that she was killed by a slash to the throat and was cut up afterwards. According to Dr. Bond the murder was not committed by someone with any medical skills, “In each case the mutilation was inflicted by a person who had no scientific nor anatomical knowledge. In my opinion he does not even possess the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse slaughterer or a person accustomed to cut up dead animals.”

Mary Jane Kelly was buried on November 19, 1888 at St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in public grave number 66, row 66, plot 10. Joseph Barnett and her landlord John McCarthy attended the funeral. In the 1950s, Mary Jane Kelly’s grave was reclaimed. A plain marker was put in the vicinity of the grave in the 1990s.

Suspects

This ended the murder spree of Jack the Ripper. It has been 125 years since that terrible autumn of 1888. Although many suspects have been identified,  no one has ever been undeniably determined to be Jack the Ripper, Britain’s most notorious serial killer.

~ Joy