November 22, 1963: The Day in Dallas, Hour by Hour

It was raining in Fort Worth that Friday morning. A crowd had gathered in front of the Texas Hotel anyway, and President John F. Kennedy came out to speak to them.

"There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth," he said, "and I appreciate your being here this morning."

He ended with a line about the country's strength, and about the weather: "I know one place where they are, here in this rain, in Fort Worth, in Texas, in the United States. We are going forward."

If you were old enough, you probably remember where you were when you heard. Fewer of us know the day itself as the record lays it out. What follows comes from the Warren Commission Report, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, and the other archives that hold the films, photographs, and papers from those hours. Times are Central unless noted.

Morning: Fort Worth

The rally was the second event of the day. Kennedy had spoken first at a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast inside the same hotel. He told the room, "The balance of power is still on the side of freedom."

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Texas Governor John Connally, and Senator Ralph Yarborough stood with him outside. White House photographer Cecil Stoughton took pictures.

The plan for the rest of the day was simple. Fly to Dallas. Ride in a motorcade through downtown to the Trade Mart for a luncheon speech. Go on to Austin.

11:40 a.m.: Love Field

Air Force One landed at Dallas Love Field at 11:40 a.m. The President and Jacqueline Kennedy came down the steps, with Governor Connally and his wife, Nellie. Mrs. Kennedy greeted the crowd.

The Secret Service had removed the bubbletop from the presidential limousine. Dallas Times Herald reporter Jim Lehrer wrote in his notes that he watched it happen.

The motorcade left Love Field shortly after 11:50. In the open car, the Kennedys sat in back. The Connallys sat in front of them. Agent William Greer drove, with Agent Roy Kellerman beside him. Eight more agents rode in the follow-up car, and the Vice President's car came after that.

12:30 p.m.: Dealey Plaza

The route ran down Main Street, turned right on Houston Street, then left on Elm Street toward the Stemmons Freeway and the Trade Mart.

The clock on top of the Texas School Book Depository read 12:30 p.m., the time the President was due at the Trade Mart. According to the Warren Commission, a Secret Service agent had just radioed ahead that he would arrive in five minutes.

Then shots were fired. Kennedy was struck. Governor Connally was wounded.

In the front seat, Kellerman told Greer, "Let's get out of here; we are hit," and radioed for the car to go to a hospital. The limousine covered the four miles to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

1:00 p.m.: Parkland

A team of doctors worked on the President. At 1:00 p.m., after his heart stopped and the last rites were given, John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead.

At about 1:30, assistant press secretary Malcolm Kilduff announced the death to reporters at the hospital.

Oak Cliff

At about 1:15 p.m., in the Oak Cliff neighborhood, Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippit was shot and killed near East 10th Street and Patton Avenue. Tippit had been on the force more than 11 years. A bystander, Domingo Benavides, used the radio in Tippit's squad car to report it.

Around 1:50, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald inside the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. They had him at police headquarters by about 2 p.m. That evening police filed a complaint charging Oswald with Tippit's murder, and at 11:26 p.m. a second one for the President's.

2:38 p.m.: Air Force One

Johnson had left Parkland under guard and gone back to Love Field. Mrs. Kennedy came with her husband's body.

At 2:38 p.m., in the crowded center cabin of Air Force One, Federal District Judge Sarah T. Hughes gave Lyndon Johnson the oath of office. Cecil Stoughton, who had photographed the rally that morning, took the picture. Jacqueline Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson are both in the photograph.

The plane left for Washington right afterward. It landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at 5:58 p.m. Eastern time. The President's body was taken to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.

The speech he did not give

Kennedy's remarks for the Trade Mart luncheon were never delivered. The JFK Library keeps the text. In one passage, Kennedy planned to call Americans of his generation "the watchmen on the walls of world freedom."

What came after

On November 25, after a state funeral in Washington, Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. An Eternal Flame was lit at the grave that day.

On November 29, the Warren Commission was created to investigate. Its report came out in 1964. A House committee examined the case again and reported in 1979. Both reports can be read in full at the National Archives.