There are numerous myths and legends that surround the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald would wind up taking JFK’s life that day, but his legacy would continue to live on in the hearts and minds of Americans for generations to come.
1. Taxpayers Paid for Oswald
In 1959, Lee Harvey Oswald had moved to the Soviet Union. He even sought Soviet citizenship because he supported Marxism. To prove his point, he married a Russian woman and together they had a child in 1962. When citizenship wouldn’t be granted, the US State Department stepped in to help. They loaned over $400 to Oswald just so he could come back to the United States with his family.
2. An Infamous Vehicle
The Lincoln Continental that carried the First Family through Dallas on that fateful day was examined for evidence after the assassination. It was then cleaned, repaired, and eventually returned to service. It continued to serve the White House and carry Presidents up until mid-way through Jimmy Carter’s term as President. The vehicle now sits on display at the Henry Ford Museum.
3. Oswald Worked at the Depository
Lee Harvey Oswald actually worked at The Texas Book Depository Company. The organization helped to provide textbooks to schools in Oklahoma and Texas. This allowed Oswald to know the layout of the building and plan the assassination. According to multiple reports, Oswald would fire three shots at JFK. He would then hide the rifle, purchase a soda, and walk out of the building.
4. LBJ Believed in a Conspiracy
Although Oswald was deemed to be acting alone, Lyndon B. Johnson didn’t really ever believe that. Walter Cronkite interviewed LBJ in 1969 regarding the assassination and his comments were very frank. He told Cronkite that he could never really rule out the idea that a foreign power wasn’t involved in the JFK assassination. His comments would be removed from the broadcast, however, and not discovered by the general public until after his death.
5. JFK Wasn’t the Only One
About 45 minutes after the JFK assassination, a Dallas police officer named JD Tippit was killed. Oswald was arrested in a movie theater about 45 minutes after the incident and 5 independent investigations into Tippit’s shooting concluded that Oswald had pulled the trigger. Oswald denied killing Tippit. It was for Tippet’s murder, however, that Oswald was arrested – not the assassination of JFK.
6. Not a Cop
One of the stories that gets told about the JFK assassination is how Jack Ruby killed Oswald before he could stand trial for either murder. Ruby is often described as a police officer in these stories, but he was actually a nightclub owner. Ruby was found guilty of killing Oswald and was given the death sentence. Upon appeal, Ruby got a new trial, but would die from a pulmonary embolism before the date of the trial could be set. Ruby did, however, shoot Oswald in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters.
7. A Condolence
Tippit’s widow reached out to Jackie Kennedy via telegram just two days after the incidents involving Oswald. She sent a simple note that said her losses during the great tragedy both women had experienced helped her to sympathize with Jackie more deeply.
8. A Change of Opinion
The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted on his own. In 1979, a US House Committee inquiry came to a different opinion. They concluded that JFK was likely assassinated because of a foreign conspiracy and that a second gunman also fired at the President while he sat in the Lincoln Continental. Although specific governments were excluded from this finding, along with the CIA, this finding would set off years of additional conspiracy theories regarding the actual events which would occur in Dallas on that fateful day.
9. It Wasn’t a Federal Crime
The United States had see the assassination of at least three Presidents before JFK: Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. Warren Harding also died in office in 1923 from what was originally thought to be a heart attack or a series of undetected cardiac events, but some feel that he could have been poisoned by his wife as well. Despite these deaths in office, however, assassination of a President wasn’t actually a Federal crime. It wouldn’t become one until 1965.
10. Four Days of Coverage
Just 10 minutes after the JFK assassination, CBS News interrupted broadcasting to report on the incident. The three major networks would then join together to create an unprecedented 4 days of news coverage regarding what had happened. It would be the longest running reporting of a single news event on television until the attack at the World Trade Center in 2001. No regularly scheduled programming was aired whatsoever during that period of time.
11. A Historical First
One of the most iconic images of the aftermath of the JFK assassination is LBJ being sworn into office aboard Air Force One with Jackie Kennedy standing on his life, her pink Chanel suit still stained with her husband’s blood. What is notable about this event is that it marks the only time a woman administered the oath of office to an incoming President. Her name was Sarah Hughes and she served as a Federal judge. It is said that Hughes was weeping uncontrollably as she performed her duties.
It would also be the first and so far only assassination to occur with Secret Service protection, though an attempt was made on Ronald Reagan’s life in 1981.
12. The eBay Auction
The owner of the building that held The Texas Book Depository Company actually took out the window where he believed Oswald had shot Kennedy. What did he do with the window? He had it framed and hung it up as artwork in his home. The owner’s son believes that the wrong window was removed and then pried out the one he thought was the correct window. As with any great American story, both of the windows found their way over to eBay and were auctioned off.
13. 99 Minutes
After the JFK assassination and Kennedy’s death, there were 99 minutes between his final breath and the installation of LBJ as the next President of the United States. This is one of the longest documented times in US history when there was no serving President in office.
14. 2103
Jackie’s suit is still being held in the National Archives. It still hasn’t been cleaned. According to family wishes, the earliest that the general public will be able to see the suit is in the year 2103.
The remaining 3% of the government’s JFK investigation files that are still classified will be available to the general public in 2017 unless actions are taken to keep them private. The JFK assassination has its theories, conspiracies, and grassy knolls that have kept people talking for more than 50 years and even with these facts, that is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.
