On November 22, 1963, while visiting Dallas, President Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet.

The weather was bright and clear, and the President wanted to wave to the crowds as his motorcade moved from the airport through the city.

Then gunshots tore through the midday air. Within minutes President Kennedy was dead, and the Texas governor, John Connally, was wounded. Businesses and schools closed so that grief-stricken Americans could watch the unfolding events.

Lee Harvey Oswald was almost immediately arrested for the murder. Oswald was an avowed communist who spent three years living in the Soviet Union. He allegedly shot the President from a window in the Texas School Book Depository. Two days later, while Oswald was being transferred between prison facilities, Jack Ruby stepped out of the crowd and fired a bullet into Oswald at point blank range, killing him. Oswald's murder was captured on live television.

Oswald's death left many unanswered questions. "Did Oswald actually assassinate Kennedy?" "Did he act alone?"

A committee headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren studied the events surrounding the assassination and declared that Oswald was Kennedy's killer — and that he acted alone.

Critics of the Warren Commission cited problems in the findings. Questions surrounded the ability of any sharpshooter to fire the number of bullets Oswald supposedly fired, from such a great distance, with any degree of accuracy. Witnesses testified that shots were fired from another direction at the President — the infamous grassy knoll — suggesting the presence of a second shooter.

No conclusive evidence has ever been presented to disprove the findings of the Warren Commission, and the questions remain.

Source: Kennedy Assassination
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