It has been 50-years since American President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while on a presidential progress in Dallas, Texas. (1) On Nov. 22, 1963 Kennedy and his wife Jackie arrived in Dallas they climbed into an open topped Lincoln Continental with the Governor of Texas and his wife. The presidential motorcade made its way toward Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. (2) While they were driving the wife of the Texas Governor turned to Kennedy and said, "No one can say Dallas doesn't love and respect you, Mr. President."
Kennedy is said to have replied, "You sure can't." The first lady of Texas made the remark after taking notice of the large crowds that came out to see President Kennedy and his wife. (3) At 12:30pm three shots are heard coming from the sixth floor of a textbook depository. The first shot is deflected by an oak tree and wounds a bystander. The second bullet struck president Kennedy in the neck but did not kill him. The third bullet hit the President in the head. Kennedy was rushed to hospital and a priest was called upon to administer the last rights.
John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected to Presidential office in the United States. (4) Rev Oscar Huber was called upon by the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy to attend her husband's spiritual needs. Huber, who died in 1975, was a pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Dallas. After arriving at the hospital Huber was escorted by police to a room where the president lay on a table covered with a sheet. In a transcript Huber described his task of preparing the president's soul for Heaven.
"I was escorted by a policeman to an emergency room where I found the fatally wounded president," Huber's description of the day reads. " He was covered with a sheet that I removed from over his forehead before administering conditionally the Last Rights of the Catholic Church. These rights are administered conditionally when a priest has no way of knowing the person's mind or whether the soul has left the body." Huber described his task and explained how he administered the last rights. He then went on to say how struck he was by the level of composure Mrs. Kennedy expressed.
"During this most trying ordeal, the perfect composure maintained by Mrs. Kennedy was beyond comprehension," Huber said. "I will never forget the blank stare in her eyes and the signs of agony on her face. I extended my heartfelt sympathy and that of my parishioners to her. In a low tone of voice she thanked me graciously and asked me to pray for the president. I assured her that I would do so." (5) At one in the afternoon legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite let the nation and the world know that the President of the United States had died.
From the moment Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger that killed the president there has been conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory claiming that the President was killed under more sinister terms than a single crazed gunman. It has been suggested that Kennedy's VP and successor Lyndon B Johnson had the president killed. The Cubans have also been blamed for killing Kennedy as well as the secret service. There are also theories suggesting more than one shooter took the president's life. Whatever the truth about Nov. 22, 1963 the nation was changed irrevocably.
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