John F. Kennedy 1960-1963

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John F. Kennedy 1960-1963
Who Killed JFK?
22nd November, 1963
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John Kennedy wins Presidency by a
close shave, Nov.1960.
Kennedy became the youngest president in
US history, at the age of 43, when he defeated
Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential
elections.
He was the first Roman Catholic to be
President and was the first to be born in the
20th century.
The 1960 election was the
closest in US history. Kennedy won by
less than a 1/2 per cent of the total vote.
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Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask
what you can do for your country. Let the word go
forth from this time and place, to friend and foe
alike, that the torch has been passed to a new
generation of Americans.
Kennedys inaugeral speech, 22 January
1961.
Key Events in Kennedys presidency 1961-1963.
Concerns at Home
Kennedy brothers war on organised crime
Black Civil Rights
Camelot the charm offensive
Kennedys domestic programmes did not advance
very far due to increasing problems abroad.
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Key Events in Kennedy's presidency 1961-1963.
Foreign Policy Problems Facing Kennedy
Cold War Rivalries with Russia
Vietnam?
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
The Soviet Union
Cuba
Bay of Pigs Fiasco 1961
The Berlin Wall 1961
US assisted invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles
fails disastrously
Fidel Castro
East Germany
The Space Race
Was Kennedy soft on Communism?
Nikita Khrushchev
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By the middle of 1963 Kennedy was considering his
chances of winning a second term as President. He
began preparing for the 1964 presidential
election campaign. Kennedy faced a difficult
task. Many felt that his foreign policy had been
less than successful.
Kennedy's Campaign for the 1964 Presidential
Election.
The South was vital to Kennedys chances of
electoral success. But Kennedy was distrusted by
many southern whites, partly because of his
sympathy towards the black civil rights movement
and also because of his failure to eliminate the
communist Fidel Castro in Cuba. Also, Kennedy was
a northern catholic.
Kennedy saw Texas as the key to his success in
the South and he decided to visit the state in
November. This was partly to be a charm crusade
but Kennedy was also hoping to heal a damaging
split which had occurred within the Texan
Democratic Party , between the left-wing led by
Senator Ralph Yarborough and the right, led by
the State Governor, John Connally.
Texas
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The Texas Visit,
November 1963
Fort Worth
Dallas
Kennedys Texas visit started first at Fort
Worth. Then, on the morning of the 22 November,
Kennedy took the short flight from Fort Worth to
Love Airfield, Dallas.
President Kennedy speaking to a crowd at Fort
Worth in the early morning of 22 November. Behind
him L R are Senator Ralph Yarborough,
Governor John Connally and Vice-President Lyndon
Johnson.
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The Events of 22 November
12.00 am Arrival at Love Field airport. President
Kennedy and the First Lady are in the rear seat.
Governor Connally and his wife are in the jump
seat.
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The Events
The Presidential limousine travelling through the
streets of Dallas on the way to a gathering at
the Wallmart Center.
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12.28 Kennedys car turns into Dealey Plaza
The Events
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The Events
12.30 The limousine enters Elm Street and
shots are heard. President Kennedy is struck in
the throat and, then, the head.
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1.00 pm The stricken Kennedy is taken to the
nearby Parklands Hospital where at 1.00 pm the
President is declared dead.
The Events
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The Events
2.00 pm One hour later Lyndon Johnson, on board
Airforce One, is sworn in as the 36th president
of America.
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The Events
Afternoon That afternoon police arrest Lee
Harvey Oswald for murdering police officer
Tippets. Later, he is declared a suspect in the
murder of the president.
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Saturday, 23 November, 1963 The next morning
the Dallas Police announced that the case had
been solved Oswald acting alone, had shot
President Kennedy from a sixth floor window of
the Texas School Book Depository Building, where
a rifle and three cartidges were found.
The Events
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The Events
Oswald, however, maintained he was innocent. Im
just a patsy, he said. The assassination of
President Kennedy provoked speculation Was
Oswald indeed a lone assassin? Was he involved in
a conspiracy to kill the president? Was he a
hired killer acting for someone else? Was he
innocent?
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Sunday, 24 November, 1963 On Sunday morning,
while millions watched on TV, Oswald was murdered
in the basement of a Dallas jail by Jack Ruby,
the owner of a Dallas strip-tease joint called
the Carousel . Rumours spread rapidly, and a
shocked nation demanded answers.
The Events
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The Warren Commission
Friday, 29November, 1963 - Lyndon Johnson
calls into being the Warren Commission charged
with investigating the assassination of John
Kennedy. Its findings are published on 24
September, 1964.
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24 September, 1964 After ten months of secret
hearings, Chief Justice Earl Warren presented the
Commissions report to President Johnson. The
Commission found that Oswald, acting alone, had
assassinated President Kennedy. Mainstream media
hailed it as the most massive, detailed and
convincing piece of detective work ever
undertaken, unmatched in the annals of fact
finding.
The Warren Commission
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The Warren Commission
24 November, 1964
The US government releases 26 volumes of
testimony and exhibits which contained the
evidence on which the Warren Report was
purportedly based. The New York Times reported
that the 26 volumes overwhelmingly supported the
conclusions of the Warren Commissions Report
that the assassination was no conspiracy but the
work of one unhappy man, Lee Harvey Oswald.
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The Findings of the Warren Commission
1. There were three shots fired and which struck
Kennedy.
2. The shots came from the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book

depository building.
3. One shot fired passed through Kennedy and
struck Governor


Connally.
4. The shots were fired by a lone gunman, Lee
Harvey Oswald.
5. The killing of Kennedy was due purely to a
lone-nut assassin.
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Your Task is to test the judgments made by the
Warren Commission
1. How many shots were fired ? - A
review of the medical evidence.

1. A Lone Gunman ? - A study of the
   Zapruder film, and other evidence.

3. The Patsy ? - Was
Lee Harvey Oswald framed ?
4. The Patriot ? - The
role of Jack Ruby.
5. Who else might want Kennedy killed ?
- Conspiracy Theories.
You will be divided into small groups to assess
evidence which either supports or questions the
findings of the Warren Commission. You will make
presentations putting forward your conclusions.