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John F. Kennedy Assassination

Published June 22, 2026Updated August 15, 2026
Oct 16, 1959

Lee Harvey Oswald defects to the Soviet Union

After leaving the Marines, Oswald traveled to the Soviet Union and announced his intention to defect, a move that later became central to assessments of his politics, reliability, and possible foreign contacts.

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  1. Oswald arrived in Moscow in October 1959 and told U.S. officials he wanted to renounce his American citizenship.
  2. His Soviet period later became one of the most heavily scrutinized parts of his biography in both official and independent JFK investigations.
Jun 1, 1962

Oswald returns to the United States with Marina

Oswald returned from the Soviet Union in 1962 with his wife Marina, re-entering American life while carrying the personal history that would later shape both the official case and generations of conspiracy debate.

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  1. By mid-1962, Oswald was back in the United States after his stay in Minsk and began trying to establish a new domestic routine.
  2. His return did not quiet official interest in his background and later became a key part of the record surrounding his activities before Dallas.
Apr 10, 1963

Oswald attempts to shoot General Edwin Walker

Months before Kennedy’s death, Oswald fired at retired Major General Edwin Walker in Dallas, an earlier act of political violence that became important to the official portrait of Oswald as a lone attacker.

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  1. Walker survived when the bullet struck a window frame and fragmented rather than killing him.
  2. Investigators later treated the Walker shooting as a significant prior act that showed Oswald had both a rifle and a willingness to target public figures.
Sep 1, 1963

Oswald travels to Mexico City

In late September 1963, Oswald traveled to Mexico City and sought visas through the Cuban and Soviet diplomatic missions, a trip that became one of the most disputed and consequential parts of the pre-assassination record.

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  1. Oswald left New Orleans and traveled through Texas toward the Mexican border before reaching Mexico City.
  2. His contacts with Cuban and Soviet offices later fueled major lines of inquiry about motive, foreign connections, and intelligence awareness before the assassination.
Nov 21, 1963

Kennedy begins his Texas political trip

Kennedy and Vice President Johnson began a politically important Texas swing intended to strengthen Democratic unity before the 1964 campaign.

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  1. The presidential party visited San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth as Kennedy tried to steady intraparty tensions in Texas.
  2. The Dallas motorcade scheduled for the next day was designed as a public show of political confidence and popular support.
Nov 22, 1963

Motorcade enters Dealey Plaza and Kennedy is shot

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.

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  1. 11:37 a.m. CST
    Air Force One lands at Dallas Love Field, and Kennedy begins a public motorcade through the city.
  2. 12:30 p.m. CST
    Shots strike the limousine on Elm Street in Dealey Plaza, fatally wounding Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor John Connally.
  3. Seconds later
    Secret Service agent Clint Hill reaches the limousine as it speeds toward Parkland, while witnesses in the plaza struggle to understand what has happened.
  4. 1:00 p.m. CST
    Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital pronounce Kennedy dead.
Nov 22, 1963

Investigators recover evidence at the Depository

Police and investigators found cartridge cases, a rifle, and related evidence on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

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  1. 1:12 p.m. CST
    Investigators locate a sniper’s nest of boxes and three spent cartridge cases near the sixth-floor southeast corner window.
  2. About 1:22 p.m. CST
    A 6.5 mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle is discovered between boxes elsewhere on the floor.
  3. The building quickly becomes the focal point of the official case against Oswald.
Nov 22, 1963

Officer J. D. Tippit is killed in Oak Cliff

Roughly 45 minutes after the Dealey Plaza shooting, Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit was shot and killed in Oak Cliff.

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  1. About 1:15 p.m. CST
    Tippit stops a man on East 10th Street in Oak Cliff and is shot during the encounter.
  2. Witness descriptions and the police response help direct officers toward the nearby Texas Theatre.
Nov 22, 1963

Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested at the Texas Theatre

Police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald inside the Texas Theatre after a struggle with officers.

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  1. 1:50 p.m. CST
    Officers converge on the theater after reports of a suspicious man entering without buying a ticket.
  2. Oswald resists arrest and is taken into custody as the prime suspect in both the Tippit and Kennedy shootings.
Nov 22, 1963

Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in aboard Air Force One

Just hours after Kennedy’s death, Johnson took the oath of office aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field before returning to Washington.

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  1. The presidential party regroups at Love Field after Kennedy’s death at Parkland.
  2. 2:38 p.m. CST
    Federal judge Sarah T. Hughes administers the oath to Johnson aboard Air Force One.
Nov 24, 1963

Jack Ruby fatally shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

During Oswald’s basement transfer at Dallas police headquarters, Jack Ruby stepped from the crowd and shot him on live television.

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  1. 11:21 a.m. CST
    Ruby emerges from a crowd of reporters and police and shoots Oswald in the abdomen in the basement corridor.
  2. Oswald is taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he later dies, foreclosing any criminal trial for Kennedy’s murder.
Nov 24, 1963

Kennedy lies in state at the U.S. Capitol

After ceremonies in Washington, Kennedy’s casket was placed in the Capitol Rotunda for public mourning.

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  1. A formal procession brings Kennedy’s casket to the Capitol as national mourning intensifies.
  2. Hundreds of thousands of mourners file past the casket during the lying in state on November 24 and 25.
Nov 25, 1963

State funeral and burial at Arlington

A state funeral in Washington concluded with Kennedy’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery and the lighting of the eternal flame.

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  1. World leaders and dignitaries join the funeral procession and requiem ceremonies in Washington.
  2. Kennedy is buried at Arlington, where Jacqueline Kennedy lights the eternal flame.
Nov 29, 1963

Warren Commission is established

President Johnson created the Warren Commission to produce a single federal account of the assassination and Oswald’s death.

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  1. The commission is chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren and draws on FBI, Secret Service, and other federal investigations.
  2. Its creation reflects both the scale of public shock and concern over competing theories about what happened in Dallas.
Sep 24, 1964

Warren Commission issues its report

The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.

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  1. The report and 26 supporting volumes become the core official record of the assassination.
  2. Its lone-gunman conclusion remains the official federal finding, even as public debate continues.
Jan 2, 1979

HSCA issues its final report

The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald fired the shots that struck Kennedy but said the president was probably killed as the result of a conspiracy, relying in part on later-disputed acoustic evidence.

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  1. The committee reexamines ballistics, medical evidence, and witness testimony with new forensic tools and a broader mandate.
  2. Its conspiracy finding keeps the case central to later public debate, especially after the acoustics evidence is challenged.
Jan 1, 1980

Later scientific reviews reject the HSCA acoustic theory

Government-backed scientific reviews in the early 1980s rejected the reliability of the dictabelt acoustic evidence cited by HSCA.

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  1. Subsequent analyses conclude the supposed impulse pattern did not reliably prove a second gunman in Dealey Plaza.
  2. The Justice Department later states that no persuasive evidence of conspiracy had been established.
Feb 1, 1989

The Sixth Floor Museum opens

The Sixth Floor Museum opened in the former Depository building to interpret the events of November 22, 1963, and their aftermath.

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  1. The museum anchors public memory at the site most closely associated with the official account of the assassination.
Nov 22, 1993

Dealey Plaza is designated a National Historic Landmark District

On the 30th anniversary of the assassination, Dealey Plaza and its surrounding built environment were formally recognized as a historic landmark district.

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  1. The designation preserves the urban landscape most directly connected to the assassination and its investigation.
Oct 26, 2017

National Archives begins major modern record releases

Pursuant to the JFK Records Act, the National Archives released thousands of assassination-related documents, beginning a new round of public access to long-withheld files.

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  1. Thousands of documents are opened in October 2017, with additional batches following as agencies review remaining redactions.
Dec 15, 2021

Additional JFK records are released

The National Archives released another large tranche of assassination records, many concerning Oswald and related intelligence reporting.

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  1. The release reflects the continuing, incremental unwinding of older secrecy around assassination files.
Jun 30, 2023

Further JFK assassination records are opened

The National Archives announced another release from the JFK Assassination Records Collection as processing of withheld material continued.

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  1. The release forms part of the long tail of public disclosure under the JFK Records Act.