PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATED IN DALLAS, TEXAS GOVERNOR CONNALLY WOUNDED
Dallas, Texas (JFKASSASSINATION) On November 22, 1963, The Evening Star reports "two priests stepped out of Parkland Hospital's emergency ward today and said President (John F.) Kennedy died of his bullet wounds...at 1 p.m. (C.S.T.)"
The youngest elected POTUS, now 46, and Texas governor John B. Connally were shot as they rode in an open car through the streets of downtown Dallas. Eyewitnesses reported they heard three shots after the motorcade turned onto Elm Street heading toward a triple underpass.
The President and Governor were taken immediately via the expressway to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Mr. Kennedy suffered a fatal wound to the head while Mr. Connally, shot through the chest, was taken from ER to "the general operating room."
The Star reports Mal Couch, a television cameraman, said "three rifle shots were fired from the fifth floor balcony of the Texas Book Depository**."
In a prayer on the floor of the United States Senate, Chaplain Frederick Brown Harris** said...
"Our Father, this tragic news has stunned our hearts. In this dark hour of history, God save the State, Amen."
JFK+50 COMMENT
I was 15 years old on this day sitting in my 5th period World Geography class at Young High School here in Knoxville, TN when our principal announced that the President had been shot. He put the radio coverage on the school intercom and when the announcement of JFK's death came, the principal asked faculty & students to stand at attention as the school band played "Taps" & our U.S. flag outside was lowered to half-staff. It remains one of the saddest days of my life.
In
my opinion, our country has never been the same. As Clint Hill, the
secret service agent who came closest to saving the President's life,
said in the recent National Geographic series "JFK: One Day In
America," our Nation "lost its innocence" on November 22, 1963.
*Texas School Book Depository, located at 411 Elm Street at the corner of Houston & Elm Streets in Dallas, Texas, is a 7 story brick structure built in 1895. The building, which served as a storehouse for schoolbooks in 1963, did not & does not have balconies & the shots were later determined to have come from the sixth floor.
**Frederick
Brown Harris (1883-1970) was born in Worcester, England & came to
the U.S. as a boy. FBH was raised in New Jersey &studied at
Dickinson College & Drew Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a
Methodist minister in 1909 & served as chaplain of the U.S. Senate
for 24 years.
SOURCES
"Kennedy Killed, Connally Wounded," The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Final Edition), Knoxville, Tennessee, November 22, 1963.
"President Is Killed By Sniper In Texas," The Evening Star (Final Edition), Washington, D.C., November 22, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
