47th anniversary of Kennedy assassination
Today, exactly 47 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the museum that has chronicled that fateful day finds itself in a delicate balancing act.
On the one hand, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza wants to keep jogging the emotions of those old enough to recall the tragedy. On the other, it needs to find ways to explain the killing (using updated technology) to those who were yet to be born.
“We’re at a pivotal moment right now,” – said Nicola Longford, the museum’s executive director. “We’re changing from memory to history.”
The memories belong to recent visitors like Joe Decristofaro, 64, of Spring, Texas, who heard about the assassination as a high school student.
“It’s something that’s still very vivid to me,” – he said. “Walking through the museum made it all come back.”
- John F. Kennedy.
Forty-seven years ago Monday, late American president John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in his motorcade in downtown Dallas, Texas.
Kennedy, who is the youngest man elected U.S. president, was killed by gunshots on November 22, 1963 as he rode in an open-top car, he was 46 years old.
His wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, was by his side when the bullets struck.
Kennedy was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital, and vice president Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president the same day.
The assassination remains an iconic historical moment, remembered vividly by many Americans alive at the time.
Investigators have concluded Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots. He was arrested shortly after the shooting, but never faced trial. Two days after the assassination, Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald as he was being led through a police garage.
Despite the enduring popularity of conspiracy theories about President John F. Kennedy’s death on November 22, 1963. It’s a mainstream consensus that these theories have always been essentially the work of cranks, popularized by a national appetite for mystery and entertainment. In recent years, this consensus has been reinforced by Vincent Bugliosi’s massive, critically acclaimed book, Reclaiming History, along with Tom Hanks’s related HBO special.
But for all the crazy ideas out there, there remain sober and careful alternative views of the assassination. These theories may or may not ultimately be right, but they represent the continuation of serious discussion of the subject. As the debate continues past the 47th anniversary of President Kennedy’s death, let’s take stock of five common myths about the state of the debate itself.
- The belief that secret plotters killed Kennedy was first made popular by Oliver Stone’s 1992 movie, JFK.
- All serious historians believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy, alone and unaided.
- No one high-up in the U.S. government ever thought there was a conspiracy behind JFK’s murder.
- Former Los Angeles County prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi refuted all JFK conspiracy theories in Reclaiming History.
- All the CIA’s records related to the Kennedy assassination have been made public.