DALLAS- Chances are, if you are age 70 or older, you can remember where you were and what you were doing at 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963. Others who are much younger have read the stories and watched the television documentaries on this historic event.
The world changed that day with the assassination of a U.S. president in Dallas, Texas. President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in the streets of Dallas on that November day in 1963. Who or whom did it, remains a mystery that will likely never be solved. It remains unimaginable to most Americans that a crime of that magnitude could be committed in front of so many people, and in 2023, we still don’t know exactly how it happened and who all was responsible.
Kennedy was in Dallas on a political trip in advance of the 1964 election. As a democrat, President Kennedy had Texan Lyndon Johnson as his vice-president and was relying on his influence on the democratic ticket to help Kennedy win the Republican state of Texas. Shots rang out at the end of a parade from Dallas Love Field airport through downtown. Near the end of the parade route, President Kennedy and Texas governor John Connally were both struck by gunshots. Governor Connally survived, but President Kennedy was pronounced dead a short time later at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
The theories on what happened that day are well-documented and go in several directions, pointing the blame to multiple people and possible organizations. But, 60 years later, we still don’t know.
Our country lost a big part of its innocence with the murder of President Kennedy. Kennedy was the youngest person to serve as president and was the first Roman-Catholic to hold the office. Kennedy was a symbol of youth and the future to many Americans, and his violent death dealt a devastating blow to many.
The city of Dallas was also a victim and became known to many as simply, “the place where Kennedy was shot.” It has taken Dallas decades to recover from this dark image, and to some, the city may never completely rehabilitate its image nationwide.
Dallas will mark the 60th anniversary of the shooting with several memorial events this week. Interested readers can search the internet for multiple listings and more information on those events.
