Chilling photos from JFK’s assassination as 62nd anniversary of attack that changed history is marked

Sixty-two years ago today, President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot as he watched a motorcade of thousands of his supporters pass through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.

It’s an event so deeply etched in the collective American psyche that even people born decades after November 22, 1963, have a vivid understanding of what happened that day.

Kennedy’s death brought a brutal end to the tenure of the youngest person elected to the world’s most powerful office; It was a tragedy that retraumatized a nation that had not dealt with a presidential assassination since the assassination of William McKinley in 1901.

After two attempts on Donald Trump’s life last year (including a bullet that grazed his ear during a campaign rally), Americans were once again reminded that presidents are vulnerable to attack, even if they have Secret Service protection.

The effects of the Kennedy assassination reverberated long after the day it occurred. From then on, people were much more willing to entertain conspiracy theories due to widespread skepticism about the ‘single bullet theory’ and inconsistencies regarding Kennedy’s autopsy.

It is also a fact that Only 29 percent of Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted aloneAccording to a 2023 Gallup poll. Sixty-five percent believe there is a conspiracy.

What made Kennedy’s murder different from the murders of McKinley, James A. Garfield, and Abraham Lincoln was the availability of high-resolution photographs that captured the moments before, during, and after the two bullets hit.

Photos taken by reporters and bystanders show a surprising unity that day. Exuberant crowds saluted the 35th president in a split second, and then panicked crowds rushed to the ground as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy cradled her husband’s dismembered head.

There were about 200,000 people who came out that day to see Kennedy pass. It was a Friday

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was seated to her husband’s left in the limousine

Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, were seated in the middle row of a dark blue, modified 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible. There were two Secret Service agents in the front row

Kennedy’s head fell to the ground after he was shot. Jackie Kennedy is seen trying to help him

A news crew tries to record the assassination as a couple and their toddler fall to the ground as gunshots are heard

View from the sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, where Lee Harvey Oswald is believed to have assassinated Kennedy

Kennedy was in Texas with his wife and Vice President Lyndon B Johnson on the day he was assassinated and to shore up support among Democrats in the state ahead of the 1964 election.

On November 21, he visited San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth. The next morning, he took a short flight to Dallas and landed at Love Field.

Kennedy greeted his supporters and left the airport at 11:55 in his open-top limousine.

His wife of 10 years, the First Lady, was sitting on his left. Sitting in front of him, in the second row, were Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie. Directly in front of the vehicle were two Secret Service agents.

A dark blue, modified 1961 Lincoln Continental Convertible was headed to the Dallas Mercantile Market, where Kennedy was scheduled to give a speech focusing on America’s strongest position ever on the world stage.

Around 12:30 p.m., the motorcade turned onto Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was shot twice in quick succession. One of the bullets also hit Governor Connally.

Just before he was shot, Nellie Connally, referring to the people cheering for Kennedy, said to him: ‘Mr. President, you can’t say there aren’t some people in Dallas who love you.’

Three shots were fired in total, according to the Warren Commission. The first bullet missed, the second hit Kennedy near the base of his neck and exited the front of his neck.

The third bullet entered the back of his head from the right and exited on the same side, causing the massive wound that ultimately killed him.

Secret Service Agent Clint Hill is seen jumping into the presidential limousine to protect the president and the first lady. He later stated that Jackie Kennedy reached for the pieces of her husband’s skull that were in the trunk.

Another family is seen falling to the ground after shots were fired in Dealey Plaza

The limousine containing Kennedy and Governor Connally, who were both shot, quickly set off towards Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The shirt worn by John F. Kennedy on the day he was assassinated was seen to be covered in blood.

A man stands on the corner of 125th Street in Harlem reading the latest edition of the New York Post, which broke the news of Kennedy’s death

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by Dallas police officers about 45 minutes after shooting Kennedy. He also killed Dallas Police Officer JD Tippit, who recognized him.

A Dallas police officer holds the rifle used to kill Kennedy

Secret Service Agent Clint Hill was on the steps of the car directly behind Kennedy’s limousine and was seen jumping on top of the car to protect the president after the first shots were fired.

Hill later testified before Congress that he heard the next gunshot before it reached the president. He also recalled Jackie Kennedy climbing into the trunk to reach a piece of the president’s skull that flew away.

Jackie Kennedy later said she had no memory of it. Governor Connally and his wife said they remembered his words: ‘They killed my husband. ‘I have his brain in my hand.’

The president’s car immediately darted out of Dealey Plaza and rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Kennedy arrived at the emergency room at 12:38 p.m., eight minutes after he was shot.

27-year-old Dr. who remained in the hospital. Kenneth Salyer said: CBS News When Kennedy arrived there in 2013, he was still breathing.

‘Kind of painful, labored, near-last breaths. But he was still breathing,’ Salyer said.

Doctors tried to save him, but those present said there was nothing that could be done to keep him alive due to the damage to his head.

Oswald was carried into the ambulance on November 24, 1963. He was shot by Jack Ruby just two days after Kennedy’s assassination.

Funeral ceremony held in front of the Capitol on November 25, 1963, three days after Kennedy’s assassination

Kennedy’s wife and daughters, Jacqueline and Caroline Kennedy, kneel at his coffin

Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m., and by 2 p.m., Jackie Kennedy was escorting his body to Air Force One.

Oswald was arrested approximately 45 minutes after Kennedy was shot. The 24-year-old former Marine killed Dallas Police Officer JD Tippit, who stopped him on the street because he resembled the suspect description.

Two days later, on November 24, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby while being taken to the county jail by police officers.

Kennedy’s official funeral was held on November 25. More than 250,000 people passed by his American flag-draped casket as he lay in the Capitol Rotunda.