On Monday, while visiting the Kennedy Centre in Washington, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration would release the long-awaited JFK files, promising full transparency by making 80,000 unredacted pages public.
“You got a lot of reading. I don’t believe we are going to redact anything…it’s going to be very interesting…approximately 80,000 pages,” he said.
What Happened On November 22, 1963?
The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated while he was riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. It was a beautiful day; the sun shone brightly over Dallas as President Kennedy embarked on a campaign tour to bolster support ahead of the 1964 presidential election.
Crowds lined the route, eager to see the charismatic leader and his stunning wife, Jacqueline Kennedy.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, were also part of the same motorcade, just two cars behind the President’s car.
As the motorcade approached Dealey Plaza at around 12:30 pm. Suddenly, gunshots could be heard, and there was chaos on the streets. President Kennedy, seated in an open-top limousine, was struck by two bullets: one in the upper back and the other in the head.
Texas Governor John Connally, who was riding in the same car, was also seriously wounded.
JFK Rushed To Parkland HospitalÂ
He was rushed to the Parkland Hospital where, at 1 PM, the then President was pronounced dead.
Lee Harvey Oswald Arrested
Within hours, law enforcement had a suspect: Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old former Marine. Witnesses reported seeing Oswald on the sixth floor of the building shortly before the shots were fired, and a rifle was found at the scene.
Two days later, as Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to the county jail, he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner, with television cameras catching the murder live.
Ruby stood trial and was sentenced to death after he was found guilty. On appeal, Ruby’s conviction and death sentence were overturned. He was granted a new trial, but he fell ill and died of cancer in January 1967.
Transcript of Lady Bird Johnson’s Audio Diary From November 22, 1963
So detailed were Mrs. Johnson’s observations that this typed transcript of her tape-recorded account served as her official statement to the Warren Commission, the body created to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
Some of the handwritten notes are in Mrs. Johnson’s hand; others are in the hand of Abe Fortas, a prominent Washington, DC, attorney and close friend of the Johnsons who often advised them.
