The Assassination of John F.
Kennedy
By Aaron McGrath
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the
thirty fifth president of the United
States of America. He served as president
from 1961 up to1963. He was and Irish-American and the only Roman Catholic president
to be elected. Many major events occurred during his presidency including Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the
building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, some of the early events of the
Vietnam War, and the American Civil Rights Movement. JFK was assassinated on
November 22nd 1963 in Dallas,
Texas. An American icon gunned
down and an extraordinary life of America’s most controversial
President ended. A man called Lee Harvey Oswald, a US Marines officer was charged of the
crime. He murdered two days after the assassination. But this conclusion has
proved to be a very controversial one. Here is a detailed look into the events
of 22nd 1963.
John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts
son of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald. His mother Rose was daughter of
John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, a “prominent figure in Boston politics, serving as the city’s Mayor
and a member of congress”.
Kennedy attended Edward Devotion School in 1922 up to 3rd Grade;
Riverdale County School in the Bronx, Kennedy also spent a year in Canterbury
Connecticut, and finally The Choate School also in Connecticut where the future
president did very well “An IQ of 119 and strong scores on the English and
algebra parts of Jack’s entrance exams,”
He graduated here in 1935 with a very impressive degree. In the autumn of 1935
Kennedy, his parents and his sister Kathleen sailed to London. There he was enrolled in the London
School of Economics. Here he planned on studying political economy, soon after
an illness struck him and his father insisted that they returned to America.
After coming back he attended Princeton
University but
unfortunately had to leave again due to developing Jaundice. Later that year he
began attending Harvard
University. Kennedy was
very unfortunate when it came to illnesses although a lot were covered up as he
felt it as a sign of weakness “Kennedy and his family covered up the gravity of
his illnesses throughout his life and political career”
In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the
U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his health problems including
his bad back. Nevertheless, in September of that year, “Kennedy
was accepted due to the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence being a
former attaché to the Ambassador, his father.” JFK attended the Naval Reserve
Officers Training
School and Motor Torpedo Boat
Squadron Training
Center before being sent to Panama
and later the Pacific theater. In the Pacific theater JFK earned the rank of
lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat. During this time Kennedy earned
three major medals including the Purple Heart.
JFK Returned to Massachusetts after the
war, and was elected as a “Democrat to the US House of Representatives
(1947–53) and the US Senate (1953–61).”
JFK failed in his bid (1956) for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination;
in 1960 he became the youngest man, and first Catholic US President. This was
all ended prematurely on November 22nd 1963 in Dallas to the bullet of an assassin.
President Kennedy's visit to
Texas in November 1963 had been in plans almost a year before it actually
happened.Kennedy chose to visit
Dallas for various reasons: to help generate more presidential campaign funds
in advance of the November 1964 presidential election; to begin his campaign
for re-election; and, as the Kennedy had barely won Texas in the 1960
elections, to help solve the problems of several of the leading Texas
Democratic Party members who were fighting politically amongst themselves and
Kennedy personally enjoyed public appearances and always reportedly looked
forward to meeting the public. Also “Kennedy had been pressing Governor John
Connolly for months to arrange a dinner with rich Texan Donors”
It was planned that JFK would travel from Love Field airport in a limousine
through downtown Dallas
to give a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart.
The trip to Texas began when the President and Mrs.
Kennedy left from the White House by helicopter at 10:45 am on November 21,
1963 Andrews AFB. They took the Presidential plane, Air Force One, at 11 a.m.,
arriving at San Antonio
at 1:30 p.m. Here the president was greeted by Vice President Johnson and
Governor Connolly. Later that day he flew to Houston and drove through the town in the
same limousine he was assassinated in. Kennedy went to Rice University Stadium
and made a speech and attended “a dinner in honour of U.S. Representative
Albert Thomas.” On the
morning of the 22nd of November he addressed a crowd in a parking
lot. That day after clearance due to bad weather the president and his party
arrived at Love Air Field at 11.40am.
On his arrival, JFK was warmly
greeted by the people of Dallas.
When the motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza it turned right from Main Street to Houston Street and it later turned onto Elm Street passing
the Schoolbook Depository Building,
where the probable assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was situated at the time of the
assassination. When the Presidential
limousine passed the depository in Dealey
Plaza and continued down Elm Street, shots
were fired at it; most eyewitnesses recall three shots being fired. After the
first shot many people didn’t react as they though it may have been a back fire
from the car.
“As President Kennedy waved to the crowds on his
right, a shot entered his upper back, penetrated his neck, and exited his
throat.”
The president then fell forward and to the left where his wife Jackie held him
in concern. Texas Governor John Connally, sitting with his wife in front of the
Kennedys in the limousine, was also injured by an assassin’s bullet; the bullet
entered his back and exited his chest finally lodging itself in his right
wrist. The last and most damaging shot is the fatal one that took place in
front of the “John Neely Bryan north pergola concrete structure.”
A large hole was shot out of the president’s head splattering blood and tissue
around the surrounding area. Here they rushed to the nearest hospital, this
being Parkland Memorial
Hospital, North
Dallas.
Here, Kennedy was treated in Trauma Room I
although on arrival it was established he had no chance of survival due to the
head shot. At 1:00 p.m, after all heart activity had ceased and after a priest
administered the last rites, the President was pronounced dead. Doctors had
said there was no chance of saving his life. Governor Connally was also taken
to emergency surgery, where he has two operations.
Just after 2.00 p.m JFK’s body was
taken from Parkland in a bronze casket and
driven to Love Air Field and loaded on to Air Force where it was to be taken
back to Washington D.C for forensic examination. On Air Force I the
Vice-President Johnson who was also riding in the Dallas
motorcade became President of the United States due to Kennedy's
death and at 2:38 p.m. Mr. Johnson took an oath and was sworn in as the 36th
U.S President.
The autopsy of JFK was performed in the Bethesda Naval Hospital
at about 8pm – 11pm. The three pathologists agreed that the fatal wound for JFK
was the head shot which had "Entered Kennedy's head through a small hole in the
scalp in the rear of the president's head, on the right hand side'.... with a
final exit of this missile, or fragments of it, through a large lateral defect
in the right parietal region of the skull over the right ear." It was also
reported that a second missile entered Kennedy's upper back above the shoulder blade, passed through the
strap muscles at the base of his neck, bruising the upper tip of the right lung
without puncturing it, then exiting the front (anterior) neck"
JFK’s
funeral took place on the 25th of November. Representatives from up
to 90 countries attended his funeral. After his funeral he was taken by
Military Caisson to Arlington National Cemetery
where he was laid to rest, “Although some members of the family wished to bury
him in Brookline, Massachusetts,
JFK’s birthplace, Jackie insisted on Arlington
Cemetery”
There were many official investigations carried
out after the assassination of John. F Kennedy such as the investigations
carried out by the FBI and the Dallas Police. But the most famous and
controversial is known as the Warren Report. This was established by Lyndon B.
Johnson. This commission established that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman
involved in the assassination. These theories have been challenged frequently.
“Kennedy’s death shocked the country more than any
other event since the December 1941 attack of Pearl Harbor.”
Some people say that, the dark day of November 23rd is the day that America
lost its innocence.” However traumatic Lincoln’s assassination, the four years
of civil war bloodletting, which took 62’000 lives, somewhat muted the horror
of losing the nation’s leader”
People stared at the television for days in astonishment that their beloved
president was gunned down maliciously, the debate still rages on whether we’re
being told the full truth to JFK’s assassination and it won’t be until 2012
until we do find out. Depending on what story you believe this event proves the
American government isn’t as perfect as they make themselves out to be and the
question is still asked “Where were you when JFK was assassinated?”