John F. Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 PM Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC). Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding in a presidential motorcade within Dealey Plaza. He was the fourth U.S. President to be assassinated, and the eighth to die while in office.

Kennedy declared dead

Staff at Parkland Hospital's Trauma Room 1 who treated Kennedy observed that his condition was "moribund", meaning that he had no chance of survival upon arrival at the hospital. At 1:00 PM CST (19:00 UTC), after all heart activity had ceased and after a Roman Catholic priest administered the last rites, the president was pronounced dead. "We never had any hope of saving his life", one doctor said. The priest who administered the last rites to Kennedy told The New York Times that the President was already dead by the time the priest arrived at the hospital, and he had to draw back a sheet covering the President's face to administer the sacrament of Extreme Unction. Kennedy's death was officially announced some time later, at 1:38 PM CST (19:38 UTC). Governor Connally, meanwhile, was soon taken to emergency surgery where he underwent two operations that day.

Related Topics:
UTC - Priest - The New York Times - Extreme Unction

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A few minutes after 2:00 PM CST (20:00 UTC), and after a ten to fifteen minute confrontation with cursing and gun-wielding Secret Service agents, Kennedy's body was placed in a coffin, taken by ambulance from Parkland Hospital to Love Field and loaded aboard Air Force One. The body was removed before undergoing a forensic examination by the Dallas County coroner, which was against Texas state law (the murder was a state crime, and occurred under Texas legal jurisdiction.) At that time, it was not legally a federal offense to kill the President.

Related Topics:
UTC - Air Force One

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Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (who had been riding two cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade through Dallas and was not injured) was first in line of succession to become President of the United States upon Kennedy's death. Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One at 2:38 PM CST, just before it departed Love Field.

Related Topics:
Lyndon B. Johnson - President of the United States - Love Field

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The autopsy

After Air Force One landed at Andrews Air Force Base, just outside Washington DC, Kennedy's body was taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy.

Related Topics:
Air Force One - Andrews Air Force Base - Washington DC - Bethesda - Autopsy

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The autopsy was conducted by three Navy physicians and witnessed by over thirty military officers. Two retired FBI agents who were present at the autopsy have since revealed that Kennedy had a large wound on the right side of his head, another wound 5.5 inches (14 cm) below his suit jacket collar top just to the right of his spine, and a third wound centered in the front of his throat at the bottom edge of his adam's apple. (The Warren Commission report contains this same information.)

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Several photos and x-rays were captured during the autopsy (several of which have disappeared from the official record).

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The autopsy photos are graphic. If you wish to view them, along with the skull x-rays, and medical drawings prepared by the Assassination Records and Review Board when it took testimonies from the Parkland Hospital medical witnesses, they are available here and here

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