Seconds in Dealey Plaza · decades of inquiry · no settled consensus
Kennedy's murder, Oswald's arrest, and Jack Ruby's killing of the accused assassin created a compressed sequence whose physical evidence and official interpretations remain intensely debated.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas as his motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza; Texas Governor John Connally was seriously wounded. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested later that day after the shooting of Officer J. D. Tippit, then was himself shot and killed by Jack Ruby on November 24 before any trial could occur. The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Oswald acted alone and that Ruby acted alone, while later inquiries reexamined but did not overturn the core official finding. Kennedy's death, Johnson's rapid succession aboard Air Force One, and the enduring dispute over the evidence made the case one of the most scrutinized crimes in modern American history.
The motorcade
Dallas, moments before the shooting
Recent developments
Recent reporting and official developments, labeled by source and verification status.
May 18, 2026 · National Archives
The National Archives' classification-policy blog reviewed the transfer, declassification, digitization, and public availability of assassination records, clarifying the status of the collection after the recent large-scale releases.
View official release →The scale
Key figures are drawn from the published case record.
The central sequence
The core chronology moves from Dealey Plaza to the Depository, Oak Cliff, the Texas Theatre, and Jack Ruby's killing of Oswald two days later.
See all 9 mapped locations →Nov 22, 1963
After arriving at Love Field, Kennedy’s motorcade drove through downtown Dallas; shots were fired in Dealey Plaza at 12:30 p.m. CST and the president was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
Nov 22, 1963
Police and investigators found cartridge cases, a rifle, and related evidence on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
Nov 22, 1963
Roughly 45 minutes after the Dealey Plaza shooting, Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit was shot and killed in Oak Cliff.
Nov 22, 1963
Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald inside the Texas Theatre after a struggle with officers.
Nov 24, 1963
During Oswald’s basement transfer at Dallas police headquarters, Jack Ruby stepped from the crowd and shot him on live television.
Sep 24, 1964
The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.
Why debate endures
Investigators recovered cartridge cases and a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, making the Depository the central physical anchor of the official case against Oswald.
The Warren Commission formally concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing President Kennedy and that Jack Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979 that Kennedy was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, even while agreeing that Oswald fired shots from the Depository.
Later scientific reviews rejected the reliability of the dictabelt acoustic evidence that had helped HSCA infer a probable conspiracy.
Jack Ruby killed the accused assassin before a trial could test the evidence in open court, deepening public suspicion for decades.
Compare the major theories →Where certainty changes
Open each layer to see what the archive treats as core, contested, or unresolved.
Go deeper
This overview is the map. The case tabs hold the underlying events, people, media, locations, and source material.