November 22, 1963

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas; Lyndon B. Johnson succeeds him

The clear weather in Dallas meant the limousine's removable plastic bubble top was left off.

12:30 p.m., 22 November 1963

Kennedy's open limousine entered Dealey Plaza at about 12:30 p.m. CST on 22 November 1963, on the 10-mile motorcade route from Love Field. As it passed the Texas School Book Depository on Elm Street, bullets struck Kennedy in the neck and then the rear of the head, and wounded Texas governor John Connally in the back.

The limousine rushed both men to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. Connally underwent surgery and survived.

An arrest and an oath, the same afternoon

Police found three cartridge cases near a sixth-floor Depository window and a bolt-action rifle elsewhere on that floor. Lee Harvey Oswald, a Depository employee, was arrested at the Texas Theatre shortly before 2:00 p.m.

At 2:38 p.m., federal judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the presidential oath to Lyndon B. Johnson aboard Air Force One at Love Field, in a crowded compartment with Kennedy's coffin aboard the same aircraft. The plane then carried Kennedy's body, Jacqueline Kennedy and the new president toward Washington.

Charges filed, and what was never settled

Oswald was formally arraigned that evening for the murder of Dallas patrolman J. D. Tippit. The complaint accusing him of murdering Kennedy was signed at 11:26 p.m., with arraignment following after midnight; he was never convicted of either killing, because Jack Ruby killed him before trial.

The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald fired the shots and acted alone. The House Select Committee's later probable-conspiracy finding depended on acoustic evidence that subsequent expert analysis rejected.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 3 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date and principal timeline are firmly documented. Responsibility remains culturally contested, but the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald fired the shots and acted alone. The House Select Committee’s later probable-conspiracy finding depended on acoustic evidence subsequently rejected by later expert analysis.