Timeline (all times are Central Standard Time):
November 22, 1963: In the morning, President Kennedy delivers a speech at the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
11:37 am – Air Force One arrives at Dallas’ Love Field with President and Mrs. Kennedy and Governor and Mrs. John B. Connally Jr. of Texas aboard. Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and his wife arrive aboard a separate plane. It is a campaign trip for the coming 1964 election campaign, although not officially designated as such.
During the 10-mile tour of Dallas the President and Mrs. Kennedy and the Governor and Mrs. Connally ride in an open convertible limousine. The motorcade is on the way to the Trade Mart where the president is to speak at a sold-out luncheon.
12:30 pm – As the President’s limousine passes the Texas School Book Depository, shots are fired from a 6th floor window.
President Kennedy and Governor Connally are both wounded and rushed to Parkland Hospital.
Wire services report three shots were fired as the motorcade passed under the Stemmons Freeway. Two bullets hit the president and one hit the governor.
Emergency efforts by Drs. Malcolm Perry, Kemp Clark and others are unsuccessful at reviving the president. Governor Connally’s injuries are critical but not fatal. From one bullet he sustains three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken wrist. The bullet finally lodged in his left thigh.
12:36 pm – The ABC radio network broadcasts the first nationwide news bulletin reporting that shots have been fired at the Kennedy motorcade.
12:40 pm – The CBS television network broadcasts the first nationwide TV news bulletin also reporting on the shooting.
1:00 pm – 46-year-old John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, is declared dead, becoming the 4th U.S. president killed in office.
1:07 pm – News of the shooting causes the New York Stock Exchange to halt trading after an $11 million flood of sell orders.
1:15 pm – Lee Harvey Oswald kills Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit approximately 45 minutes after the assassination.
1:37 pm – The Associated Press reports President Kennedy died at 1:00 PM CST. (2:00 PM EST). Minutes before the president’s death was officially announced Roman Catholic priests Oscar L. Huber and James Thompson administer the last rites to the president at the hospital.
2:00 pm – A bronze casket carrying the president’s body, accompanied by Mrs. Kennedy and the Johnsons, leaves Parkland Hospital to board Air Force One.
2:15 pm – Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, is arrested in the back of a movie theater where he fled after shooting Patrolman Tippit.
2:39 pm – Lyndon Johnson is sworn-in on the runway of Love Field aboard Air Force One. Federal judge Sarah T. Hughes, of the Northern District of Texas, administers the oath of office. Witnesses include Jacqueline Kennedy and Johnson’s wife, Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson.
6:00 pm EST – Air Force One arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The coffin bearing the president’s body is taken by ambulance to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy. The flag-draped coffin is taken to the East Room of the White House early the next morning following the autopsy.
7:15 pm – Oswald is arraigned for the murder of Officer Tippit.
November 22-25, 1963 – Major television and radio networks devote continuous news coverage to ongoing events associated with the president’s assassination, canceling all entertainment and all commercials. Many theaters, stores, businesses, including the stock exchanges and government offices are closed through November 25th.
November 23, 1963 1:30 am – Oswald is arraigned for the murder of the president.
November 23, 1963 – President Johnson designates November 25th as a day of national mourning.
November 24, 1963 – As Oswald is being transferred from the Dallas city jail to the county jail, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills him. The shooting is, inadvertently, shown live on TV. Jack Ruby is immediately arrested.
November 24-25, 1963 – President Kennedy’s flag-draped casket lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
November 25, 1963 – President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors and representatives from more than 90 countries in attendance.
November 26, 1963 – Jack Ruby is indicted in Dallas for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. He is later convicted, has the conviction overturned on appeal and dies of cancer in 1967 awaiting a new trial.
November 29, 1963 – President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. Commonly called the Warren Commission, its purpose is to investigate the assassination of the president.
September 24, 1964 – The Warren Report is released with the following conclusions, “The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the sixth floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository.” And “The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.”
