November 22, 1963

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. It is believed that Lee Harvey Oswald perched on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building on Dealey Plaza and opened fire as the presidential motorcade passed by. Oswald, who had defected to the USSR and returned, remains a mysterious figure today. Dealey Plaza is mostly unchanged, and it is very easy to imagine being a bystander on that tragic day. After the shootings of Kennedy and Governor "Big John" Connally, the motorcade sped up Stemmons Freeway to Parkland Hospital, where the President was pronounced dead. Connally was seriously wounded but survived.

Theories abound as to the facts of the assassination. Many believe that at least two bullets were fired. One bullet hit the President, exited his body in the area of his neck, and then struck Gov. Connally. Another bullet fatally wounded the President. Oswald was apprehended later in the day after shooting and killing a Dallas police officer. Later, Oswald was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby, who received a death sentence for the murder. Ruby died of lung cancer before the sentence was carried out, ironically at Parkland Hospital, where Kennedy and Oswald died as well. (The famous "grassy knoll" is in the picture below. It is this section of Elm Street where the shootings occurred. The school book depository building is off to the right of the picture.)

After the assassination, Dallas was depicted in the media as the "city of hate." This image was augmented by some radical political demonstrations that had preceded November 22. Since then, the city has taken many steps to heal the wounds. By 1975, Dallas was named as an "All-America City." This was considered the defining moment of turning the corner after the murder of a President. Today, Dealey Plaza and the Grassy Knoll are among the main tourist attractions in the area, and are home to The Sixth Floor Museum in the former School Book Depository building.