The Kennedy Half-Century Read Online Free PDF Page A

customary. This did not sit well with some in the papal circle, but it was a reasonable precaution with the reelection campaign pending in 1964.

1963. President Kennedy took a gamble in pledging that Americans would beat the Russians and land on the moon by the end of the 1960s, but his space program inspired the nation—and achieved its goal. In his last week, on November 16, 1963, the president flew to Cape Canaveral, Florida (soon to be renamed Cape Kennedy), to be briefed concerning the plans to build the giant Saturn rocket that would eventually power the astronauts to the Moon.

1963. President Kennedy’s last speech, delivered outside the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth on the morning of November 22, 1963. Right to left behind JFK are Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Governor John Connally, who would be badly wounded in the presidential car. To Connally’s right is U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough (D-Texas), whose political feud with LBJ and Connally—and the need to calm it—was one of the motivations behind JFK’s Texas trip.

1963. This Western Union telegram, sent at 6:18 pm on November 21, 1963, sent President Kennedy’s congratulations to actor Danny Kaye for his work with UNICEF. It is one of the last written messages from JFK before he was assassinated the next day.

1963. Telegram to Danny Kaye (page 2).

1963. Lee Harvey Oswald had long been a troubled individual, perpetually dissatisfied with his lot in life but incapable of changing it. In this famous photo taken by his wife, Oswald posed with a revolver, rifle, and two left wing magazines on March 31, 1963. Over the years, some critics have charged that the photo was doctored, but a congressional committee validated its authenticity in the late 1970s.

1963. This person was photographed coming in and out of the Soviet Embassy at about the same time as Oswald’s September 1963 trip to Mexico City. Some claim he was an agent of the eventual assassins, sent to impersonate Oswald. Others say he was a KGB scientist named Yuriy Moskalev. He has never been conclusively identified.

1963. The Kennedys arrive in Dallas at Love Field, late in the morning on November 22, 1963. “You can see the president’s suntan from here,” said an on-air local TV newsman.

1963. Not everyone at Dallas’s Love Field was friendly to the Kennedys. Among those waiting for the presidential couple on November 22 were sign-carrying protestors, including one urging people to VOTE WHITE.

1963. The casual security in Dallas on November 22 is demonstrated by this photo of the presidential car, slowed to a crawl by traffic and crowds. President Kennedy waves to people riding in a sidelined bus on Main Street, just blocks from Dealey Plaza.

1963. This revealing, little-seen photograph shows the Kennedys and the Connallys riding in the presidential car through Dallas. President Kennedy is squeezed in the back seat; Governor Connally is sitting on the jump seat about a half foot lower and slightly to the left of JFK. This positioning is critical in understanding the eventual bullet trajectories.

1963. In another infrequently seen photograph, the president is a minute or less away from disaster. Kennedy adjusts his hair in the region of the head where the bullet will hit as his limousine turns right onto Houston Street. Looming in the background is the Texas School Book Depository. Note the open window on the sixth floor where boxes are visible. This is the sniper’s nest.

This is the famous Polaroid picture of JFK’s final moment, taken by Mary Moorman. President Kennedy has already been shot through the back and neck, and in an instant, the fatal bullet will strike his skull. This photo also captures the grassy knoll area. Some claim that behind the picket fence, shaded by trees, is a shooter called “Badge Man,” because, in blow-ups, the outline of a man with a badge can be discerned. On the right-hand side, standing on the concrete ledge, is Abraham Zapruder and his assistant.