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Reaction to the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Around the world, there was a stunned reaction to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States, on November 22 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
The first hour after the shooting, before his death was announced, was a time of great confusion. Taking place during the Cold War, it was at first unclear whether the shooting might be part of a larger attack upon the U.S., and whether Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been riding two cars behind in the motorcade, was safe.
The news shocked the world. Men and women wept openly. People gathered in department stores to watch the television coverage, while others prayed. Traffic in some areas came to a halt as the news spread literally from car to car. Schools across the U.S. and Canada dismissed their students early. Anger against Texas and Texans was reported from some individuals. The event left a lasting impression on many Americans, with the question "Where were you when you heard Kennedy was killed?" becoming a common topic of discussion for decades to come.
In Moscow, when the Soviet news agency, Tass, flashed the news that the president had been assassinated, it said, "It has been officially announced that the United States President John F. Kennedy has died in a hospital after an attempt on his life was made by persons believed from among the extreme right-wing elements."
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Reaction from world leaders
Main article: Reaction to the assassination of John F. Kennedy by world leaders
After the assassination, many world leaders expressed shock and sorrow, some going on television and radio to address their countrymen.
Preparations for the funeral
Kennedy's body was flown back to Washington, D.C. and then to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy. At the same time, military authorities started planning the state funeral. According to the United States Army, officials at the Military District of Washington (MDW) planned the funeral, working with the president's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, and an aide to the president. Because Kennedy had no funeral plan in place, much of the planning rested with the MDW commanding general.
While waiting at Bethesda, Jacqueline Kennedy, her pink suit still stained with her husband's blood, ordered researchers to the Library of Congress to research details about the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, telling them, "Find out how Lincoln was buried."
After the autopsy, Kennedy's body was prepared for burial, then returned to the White House and placed in the East Room for 24 hours. Throughout the day, family, friends, and other government officials came to mourn. Outside, people stood in the rain.
Hastily organized memorial services for Kennedy were held throughout the world, allowing many to express their grief. Governments lowered flags to half-mast and declared days of mourning, and church bells tolled. A day of national mourning and sorrow was declared in the U.S. for Monday, November 25, the day of the funeral. Many other countries did the same. Throughout the United States, many states declared the day of the funeral a legal holiday.
Unofficial mourning
For approximately three days after November 22, all three major U.S. television networks remained fixed to news coverage. It was the longest uninterrupted news coverage of one event until the September 11 attacks. Most radio stations carried either news or funeral music in a show of respect. Some have pointed to the John F. Kennedy assassination as a coming of age for live television news coverage.
The new American Football League (AFL) postponed its games the following weekend. However, the NFL football games scheduled for that weekend did go ahead (untelevised). White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had attended college with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. The day after the assassination, Rozelle called Salinger and they agreed that the games go on because football, according to Rozelle, "was Kennedy's sport," and it was a "tradition in sports for all to perform in times of great personal tragedy." Rozelle later called that decision the biggest mistake he ever made.
Lying in state
On the Sunday after the assassination (November 24 1963), about 300,000 watched the horse-drawn caisson, which had borne the body of Franklin Roosevelt and the Unknown Soldier, carry Kennedy's flag-covered mahogany casket down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol rotunda to lie in state. The only sounds on Pennsylvania Avenue as the cortège made its way to the Capitol were the sounds of the muffled drums and the clacking of the horses' hoofs. The widow, holding her two children, one in each hand, led the public mourning for the country. In the rotunda, Mrs. Kennedy and daughter Caroline knelt beside the casket, which rested on the same catafalque that had supported Lincoln's. John Jr. was taken out so as not to disrupt the service. Mrs. Kennedy maintained her composure as her husband was taken to the Capitol to lie in state.
Throughout the day and night, an estimated 250,000 people, some waiting in near-freezing temperatures for as long as 10 hours in a line that stretched 40 blocks up to 10 persons wide, personally paid their respects as Kennedy's body lay in state.
At the same time, foreign dignitaries — including heads of state and government and members of royal families — started to converge on Washington to attend the funeral on Monday. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other State Department personnel went out to both of Washington's airports to greet the foreign dignitaries.
Funeral
During the lying-in-state, military authorities held meetings at the White House, at Arlington National Cemetery, and at Military District of Washington (MDW) headquarters on Monday's events. Unlike Sunday's procession, which was led only by the muffled drum corps, Monday's procession was to be expanded to include the military units. During the meetings, military authorities also agreed on what the president's widow requested. Among them were a couple of foreign military units — Black Watch bagpipers from the Royal Highlanders Regiment to take part in the procession, and an honor guard of 24 Irish cadets to perform at the grave site. Afterwards, the MDW published and distributed the final plans for Monday's events, which called for the funeral to begin at 10:30 EST (15:30 UTC).
A million people lined the route of the funeral procession, from the Capitol to the White House to St. Matthew's Cathedral, and then to Arlington National Cemetery. Millions more across America followed the funeral on television.
Kennedy's funeral began just before 11:00 EST (16:00 UTC), almost half an hour behind schedule, when the coffin was carried out of the rotunda and placed on the caisson, which then made its way to the White House and on to St. Matthew's Cathedral. When the procession reached the White House, the military units moved past it, but halted when the cortege stopped at the White House. The procession then resumed on foot from the White House to St. Matthew's Cathedral, led by his widow, holding her two children, and by Kennedy's two brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The rest of the Kennedy family, apart from the president's father, who was ill, waited at the cathedral.
As the procession made its way from the White House to the cathedral, the foreign dignitaries walked behind the caisson. Leading the procession of dignitaries were King Baudouin of the Belgians, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and French President Charles de Gaulle. The 220 foreign dignitaries who gathered included 19 heads of state and government, and members of royal families, from 92 countries, including the Soviet Union represented by First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan. It was the largest gathering of statesmen at a funeral since that of King Edward VII in London in 1910 or for that of any American president. During the procession from the White House to the cathedral, the Black Watch bagpipers took part, marching behind the other military units.
As the dignitaries marched, there was a heavy security presence. Under Secretary of State George W. Ball did not attend the services and instead manned the operations center at the State Department.
The widow, wearing a black veil, still holding her two children, John Jr., who celebrated his third birthday on the day of his father's funeral, on her left, and Caroline, on her right, led the way up the steps. NBC coverage was trasmitted by satellite to twenty-three countries, including the Soviet Union. The archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing said the requiem mass; he was a close friend of the Kennedys and had married John and Jacqueline Kennedy, had baptized their two children, had given the invocation at Kennedy's inauguration, and also had officiated the recent funeral of their infant son, Patrick. There was no eulogy (the first presidential funeral that saw a eulogy was that of Lyndon Johnson in 1973), but the auxiliary archbishop of Washington, the Most Reverend Philip Hannan, read passages from Kennedy's speeches, including his entire inaugural address.
After the service, the casket was taken by caisson to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. As the casket was taken out of the cathedral, Jackie Kennedy whispered to her son, asking him to salute. Everyone who attended the funeral also attended the burial service. At the end of the burial service, Kennedy's widow lit an eternal flame to burn over his grave. The service ended at 15:15 EST (20:15 UTC), and about 20 minutes later, at 15:34 EST (20:34 UTC), Kennedy was interred. His infant son (Patrick) and his stillborn child were later reinterred with him. Jackie Kennedy is also now buried with him.
After the service, the funerals of Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit and Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald were both held in Fort Worth.
See also
External links and references
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