1963
2009
THE ASSASSINATI O N OF A P RESI D E NT
right: President John F. Kennedy and his wife in Dallas on the day of his assassination. Rain fell lightly on the pavement outside the Texas Hotel as president John F Kennedy emerged from a night stay to give a speech. Kennedy addressed the audience on current issues under a cloudy sky the morning of Friday, November 22, 1963. After Kennedy and his wife left the hotel, they boarded a flight to Dallas. A limousine and thousands of Americans patiently awaited their arrival, excited for the opportunity to see the president and unaware that they would be some of the last to see him alive. Governor John Connally and his wife joined President Kennedy and the First Lady on the 10-mile
Kennedy’s Inauguration Speech
journey to the Dallas Trade Mart. As the sun rose in the afternoon sky, the top of the convertible was lowered to give the Texans a look at their President in a procession through downtown Dallas. It was just before 12:30 p.m. when the President’s limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository. Shots were fired from a sixth-floor window, two striking President Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy sat in the back, her husband slumped over in her lap, next to the crimson bouquet of flowers that had been handed to her upon her arrival to
Kennedy meeting with Nikita Khrushchev in, 1961.
Dallas. Without hesitation, the limousine was off the nearest hospital. The staff of Parkland Memorial Hospital was faced with an impossible task. Two bullets pierced John F Kennedy, exiting through this throat and head. Before Kennedy reached the hospital, just minutes away from the crime scene, it was too late. November 25, 1963 was the next and last time Americans would assemble to see President John F. Kennedy. His casket was on display for the public, before it was lowered into Arlington National Cemetery,
The first family in 1960
Kennedy campaigns in Dallas, political climate turns hostile After a successful two and a half years in the White House, President John F. Kennedy was gearing up for a re-
Democratic Party together and generating positive publicity for the president.
election campaign in the fall of 1963. Traveling became an essential part of laying the foundations for a potential re-
No more than a month earlier, United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was brutally attacked in Dallas
election. President Kennedy had spent the months leading up to his assassination traveling across the nation, at one point
after making a speech. President Kennedy was aware of the hostile political environment in Texas, but no one could
hitting nine different states in less than a week. By the end of November he and the First Lady were about to embark on a two day trip to Texas which would include
have predicted the tragedy that occurred.
five cities.
Antonio, greeted by Texas Governor John B. Connally. Making a few appearances here and then in Houston, the President
Due to conflict among the
On the morning of November 21, the president and his wife arrived in San
Democratic Party leaders in Texas, President Kennedy realized the importance of uniting these leaders if he
was greeted by cheerful crowds of supporters. The night was spent in the Texas Hotel, and President Kennedy
wanted to win the state in the Electoral College. The trip was a strategically planned venture with
spoke to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast in the morning. The President left Fort Worth aboard Air
the intentions of bringing the
President Kennedy speaks at a rally in Fort Worth on the day of his assassination.
KENNEDY S PEAKS I N HO U STO N T H E DAY BE F O R E H IS DEATH
C ROWDS G ATHER TO SE E T H E PR E S IDE NT
Force One for his last flight alive.
KENNEDYS BOAR D AI R F O RC E O NE
PR ES IDENT IAL MOTO R C ADE IN DAL L AS
Spotlight on the Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald was born on October 18, 1939 in New Orleans. His father died two months before his birth and he was raised by his mother, Marguerite Frances Claverie and his stepfather Edwin Adolph Ekdahl. Oswald spent three weeks in a juvenile reformatory when he was 14 after he hit his mother and threatened his brother’s wife with a knife. Oswald was diagnosed with having a personality with passive-aggressive tendencies and a schizoid features. Despite his Marxist ideology, Oswald enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 17. He left the Marines in 1959 at age 19 and moved to the Soviet Union. It appeared that he wanted to change his citizenship from the United States to the Soviet Union but this wish was never granted. While living in the Soviet Union, Oswald met Marina Prusakova and the two were married in 1961. The couple and their young child returned to the United States in 1962. Oswald moved around from Dallas to New Orleans to Mexico. He returned to Dallas on October 3, 1963. On November 21, Oswald asked a co-worker, for a ride to Irving, saying he had to pick up some curtain rods. The next morning, he returned to Dallas with Frazier, carrying a long paper bag with him. The next day, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. The 1964 Warren Commission reported that the shots that killed Kennedy came from the gun that Oswald fired from the sixth floor window of the book depository warehouse that the president’s motorcade passed. Oswald defended his innocence publicly but was portrayed as guilty by the media and was believed to guilty by the public. On November 24, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed on national television by Jack Ruby who, when accused, said that he had been distraught by the Kennedy assassination.
above: Lee Harvey Oswald’s mug shot taken after being arrested and charged with the murder of President John F. Kennedy below: photograph of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by enraged citizen Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963
The Kennedy assassination and the media coverage that shaped the industry forever
After word of the assassination was spread, news stations began breaking into normal programming with the devastating story. Soon, all three major networks began ignoring their scheduled programming and commercials and began airing a marathon of the assassination coverage. This succeeded only after the funeral of President Kennedy on November 25. Walter Cronkite was the first anchorman to interrupt with the news.
During an airing of “As the World Turns,” Cronkite broke in with an audio announcement: “In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.” At 2:37 PM, Cronkite came back on the air to officially report that the president was dead. This moment in history warrants itself and its reputation as one of the most moving passages in television
Walker Cronkite covers the Kennedy assassination in a broadcast that changed the industry forever.
Ray Johnson has spent many years teaching as a communications professor at Elon University. He has taught classes such as Digital Media Convergence, The Development of the Cinema, and The Art of Film and Video Editing along with many others. However, one of his most popular classes that has students fighting for spots every year is The Kennedy Assassination in Film. Johnson finds the assassination fascinating and he shares that the impact it had on society has changed how media works today. When asked about how the assassination affected the way media works today as well as the impact of the event itself on American society, Johnson is so passionate, he claims he could write a book on each subject. “The JFK assassination helped create a climate in which the media no longer automatically trusted the word of government agencies,” said Johnson. This point will be revisited later in history when President Nixon undergoes the Watergate scandal. “It also created a press that is much more likely to deal with the personal lives of politicians and other famous people. A positive effect is it helped create a government that is much more open and transparent to the people of the US,” explained Johnson. Examples of this theory in today’s media would be the creation of complete entertainment networks and extreme coverage of events dealing with politician’s personal lives such as the Clinton/Lewinski scandal. Ray Johnson’s expertise in the area of the Kennedy assassination has led him to have one of the most popular winter term classes at Elon. Furthermore, he shares his knowledge of the major impact the
assassination has had on our world today including the way we view the media and government. This understanding is essential in appreciating the way our history has been shaped.
Media’s Impact on Kennedy’s Presidency and Kennedy’s Impact on the Media The Impact of the ‘Great Debates’
John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon appear in first televised presidential debate in 1960.
In the first televised debates in American history, Democrat nominee John F. Kennedy and Republic Richard Nixon faced off. The tanned and charismatic Kennedy easily won the visual battle compared to the sickly and ailing Nixon. While the debate crowned no “winner” officially, television viewers agreed in overwhelming numbers that Kennedy had won the debate. These debates not only put Kennedy on track to win the election, but they changed the way the media covered politics
John F. Kennedy, Jr. salutes his father’s coffin at his funeral. This image is one never forgotten by those who watched the funeral
forever. The debates also changed how and why politicians were liked and elected with looks and charisma taking a larger role.
Kennedy’s Assassination
WIth the changes made by television stations to cover the assassination of President Kennedy, media was changed forever. The need to 24/7 news and live updates was apparent and viewers began to demand the breaking news capabilities.
President John F. Kennedy’s widow Jackie and his brother Robert “Bobby” Kennedy leave the church after the president’s funeral
THI S M AG AZ INE CRE ATE D B Y: Jillian Watts
Rachel Bertone
Anna Hulett
Amy McLeod
Bibliography Doherty, Thomas, “Assassination and Funeral of President John F. Kennedy,” The Museum of Broadcast Communications, http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kennedyjf/kennedyjf.htm (May 7, 2009). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. November 22, 1963:Death of the President. [cited May 7, 2009]. Available from http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Death+of+the+Presiden t Spartacus Educational. Lee Harvey Oswald. [cited May 8, 2009]. Available from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKoswald.htm Wicker, Tom “Governor Connally Shot, Mrs. Kennedy Safe”. New York Times. Nov. 23, 1963 Pg. 1 http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20031122_KENNEDY/11.23.1963.page Photo Credits from other than above sources: http://www.nndb.com/people/648/000030558/oswald-mugshot-MSHT.jpg http://www.yale.edu/terc/democracy/may1text/images/Assasination.gif