The events that unfolded the week of November 22, 23, 24, 1963 were devastating. The nation was in turmoil, outrage and mourning. Theories about conspiracy abounded, and rumors ran amok regarding the assassination of the President of the United States.
The headlines of every newspaper in the nation, in the largest font they had, screamed that the president had been assassinated. Television networks cancelled programing in order to keep Americans informed about what was happening. Back then, things didn't move at the speed of light, and everyone was glued to their glowing TV screens
anxious to hear the very latest news.
I remember a young man was arrested, for shooting and killing a Texas policeman. His name was Lee Harvey Oswald. Little did the police know, what an intricate roll this man would play in the act that changed the course of America's history.
Lee Harvey Oswald, was a loner, troubled, and an unstable man. Small of stature with no physical attributes to make him stand out in a crowd, he worked in a building called the Texas Book Depository Building in downtown Dallas. It was just another work day.
Except, it wasn't.
The President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and his beautiful wife were also in Dallas that day. Two men, unknown to each other, would forever be linked together in history, when shots ring out from the Book Depository, a president would die, and Lee Harvey Oswald would go on a strange, short, odyssey. He takes a bus, a cab, shoots a police officer, takes in a movie, is arrested, pleads innocence to murder and denies he has shot the president.
This was a national nightmare.
It has been captured for posterity. There were a lot of still pictures snapped that weekend, and there are a few that will forever stand out in my memory. One is that of Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson being sworn into the office of the presidency aboard Air Force One. There, standing beside him, still in her blood stained suit was widow, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy. He is somber. She appears in shock. I'm sure she was.
But, of all those pictures, there is only one that stands out above the rest.
It was Sunday morning, and like the rest of America, I arose and turned on my television wondering what might have transpired over-night. The scene was the basement of the Dallas Police Station, the broadcasters were reporting that the man who had been accused of assassinating President Kennedy was about to be forwarded to the county jail. Aside from the television reporters, their crews, and newspaper reporters there were others milling about.
It seemed to take forever for Oswald and the police to exit the building. When they did everything seemed to be normal. Suddenly, out of the crowd, a gentleman in a suit, wearing a hat, moved forward.
A shot rang out.
In an instant, in front of millions of television viewers, the man who had been accused of murdering the president, had himself been murdered. I was one of those eyewitness viewers. I will never forget the look on Lee Harvey Oswald's face when he realized he had been shot. It is as indelible in my memory today as it was the day I saw it happen. Today I'm going to share that picture with you.
The headlines of every newspaper in the nation, in the largest font they had, screamed that the president had been assassinated. Television networks cancelled programing in order to keep Americans informed about what was happening. Back then, things didn't move at the speed of light, and everyone was glued to their glowing TV screens
anxious to hear the very latest news.
I remember a young man was arrested, for shooting and killing a Texas policeman. His name was Lee Harvey Oswald. Little did the police know, what an intricate roll this man would play in the act that changed the course of America's history.
Lee Harvey Oswald, was a loner, troubled, and an unstable man. Small of stature with no physical attributes to make him stand out in a crowd, he worked in a building called the Texas Book Depository Building in downtown Dallas. It was just another work day.
Except, it wasn't.
The President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and his beautiful wife were also in Dallas that day. Two men, unknown to each other, would forever be linked together in history, when shots ring out from the Book Depository, a president would die, and Lee Harvey Oswald would go on a strange, short, odyssey. He takes a bus, a cab, shoots a police officer, takes in a movie, is arrested, pleads innocence to murder and denies he has shot the president.
This was a national nightmare.
It has been captured for posterity. There were a lot of still pictures snapped that weekend, and there are a few that will forever stand out in my memory. One is that of Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson being sworn into the office of the presidency aboard Air Force One. There, standing beside him, still in her blood stained suit was widow, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy. He is somber. She appears in shock. I'm sure she was.
But, of all those pictures, there is only one that stands out above the rest.
It was Sunday morning, and like the rest of America, I arose and turned on my television wondering what might have transpired over-night. The scene was the basement of the Dallas Police Station, the broadcasters were reporting that the man who had been accused of assassinating President Kennedy was about to be forwarded to the county jail. Aside from the television reporters, their crews, and newspaper reporters there were others milling about.
It seemed to take forever for Oswald and the police to exit the building. When they did everything seemed to be normal. Suddenly, out of the crowd, a gentleman in a suit, wearing a hat, moved forward.
A shot rang out.
In an instant, in front of millions of television viewers, the man who had been accused of murdering the president, had himself been murdered. I was one of those eyewitness viewers. I will never forget the look on Lee Harvey Oswald's face when he realized he had been shot. It is as indelible in my memory today as it was the day I saw it happen. Today I'm going to share that picture with you.
In that split second, had justice been served? America thought not. Troubling questions remained.
In order to put an end to this national tragedy, our new president, Lyndon Johnson, on November 29, 1963, established The Warren Commission to investigate the assassination. The commission printed its findings in the Warren Report, a 366 page volume, that was released to the public September 27, 1964. (I have a copy.) It concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and there was no conspiracy, and that America, was supposed to put an end to the mystery and any questions we had. Still, today, fifty years later, questions linger, there are occasional whispers, and theories abound.
Perhaps the truth about this event is still out there somewhere, and in the future, after all the players have gone to their great beyond we will have the clear and final picture of President Kennedy's assassination.
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