The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

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Few people knew what events the day held on November 22, 1963, but by mid-afternoon one of the most tragic events to ever plague not only the United States but the entire world. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy would go on to be one of the most infamous days in history; surrounded in scandals, controversy, and conspiracy.

There were three main reasons that the president was in Dallas, Texas. One of those reasons being his mission of reelection. Another reason was to raise more Democratic Party presidential campaign funds for the November 1964 presidential election. Finally to build up his relationships with fighting democratic parties within Texas where the Kennedy-Johnson ticket had barely won in 1960, and especially in Dallas where he had lost the vote (Historymania, Para 1). Air Force One came to a landing in Dallas Love Field at 11:39 on the morning of November 22, 1963; only a few minutes behind schedule. This did not detour the anxious citizens who wanted to see the president, some giving him gifts such as charcoal portraits, while others gathered with signs of protest over what they believed to be questionable doings in office. Regardless Kennedy continued toward his motorcade shaking the hands of the citizens of Dallas through and over a chain-link fence that separated him from the public (Bishop, 123,126).

At the same time President Kennedy was shaking hands with the public a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald was going about a peculiar series of events, which no one thought to be out of character for a man with his level of social detachment. Oswald wrote, “I was the son of insurance agent whose early death left a far mean streak of independence brought on by neglect.” It seemed as t...

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...and the World alike.

Works Cited

Bishop, Jim. The Day Kennedy Was Shot. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968. Print.

Cronkite, Walter, perf. Walter Cronkite. Rec. 23 Nov. 1963. 1963. MP3.

Hurt, Henry. Reasonable Doubt: an Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1986. Print.

McAdams, John. "The Kennedy Assassination." Kennedy Assassination Home Page Index. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy. Dir. Mark Obenhaus. Perf. Peter Jennings. Spring Media Inc., 2003. DVD.

"The Ultimate John F. Kennedy Assassination - American History Information Guide and Reference." The Ultimate American History Information Guide and Reference. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

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