John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was killed while riding in a presidential car through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the car with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and Connally’s wife, Nellie, when he was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, from the Texas School Book Depository. The car quickly went to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Kennedy died about 30 minutes after the shooting. Connally was also injured but later recovered. Two hours and eight minutes after the shooting, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was quickly sworn in as president on Air Force One at Dallas Love Field.
After the assassination, Oswald returned home to get a gun. He then shot and killed a Dallas police officer, J. D. Tippit. About 70 minutes after Kennedy and Connally were shot, Oswald was arrested by the Dallas Police Department and charged with killing Kennedy and Tippit. Two days later, Oswald was being moved through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters when he was shot by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. Oswald was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died shortly after. Ruby was found guilty of killing Oswald, but the decision was overturned on appeal. Ruby died in prison in 1967 while waiting for a new trial.
After a 10-month investigation, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald killed Kennedy and found no evidence that Oswald or Ruby was part of a conspiracy. In 1967, a trial was held in New Orleans to charge businessman Clay Shaw with Kennedy’s murder. Shaw was found not guilty. Later federal investigations, such as the Rockefeller Commission and Church Committee, agreed with the Warren Commission’s findings. In 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that Kennedy was likely killed as part of a conspiracy. The HSCA did not name any conspirators but said there was a high chance two people fired at the president. This conclusion was based on a police recording, which was later proven to be incorrect.
Kennedy’s assassination remains a topic of much debate and has led to many theories about what happened. Polls show that most Americans believe a conspiracy was involved. The assassination had a major impact and was the first of four major assassinations in the United States during the 1960s. It occurred two years before the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965 and five years before the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968. Kennedy was the fourth U.S. president to be killed and the most recent to die while in office.
Background
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, who was then a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, was chosen as the 35th president of the United States. His running mate was Lyndon B. Johnson, who became vice president. During Kennedy’s time in office, the Cold War was at its most intense. Much of his foreign policy focused on opposing the Soviet Union and communism. As president, he approved actions to remove Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba. These actions led to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, where he did not send American soldiers directly. The next year, Kennedy helped reduce tensions during the Cuban Missile Crisis, an event considered the closest the world came to a nuclear war.
In 1963, Kennedy planned to visit Texas to help reduce disagreements within the state’s Democratic Party between Senator Ralph Yarborough and Governor John Connally. The trip was agreed upon by Kennedy, Johnson, and Connally during a meeting in El Paso in June. The motorcade route was decided on November 18 and announced shortly after. Kennedy also used the trip as a way to begin his campaign for re-election in 1964.
Lee Harvey Oswald, born in 1939, was a former U.S. Marine who served in Japan and the Philippines. He began believing in communism after reading Karl Marx at age 14. After accidentally shooting his elbow with a handgun and fighting an officer, he was punished twice in a military court and demoted. In September 1959, he left the military after claiming his mother was disabled. At 19, Oswald traveled on a ship from New Orleans to France and then to Finland, where he received a visa from the Soviet Union.
Oswald moved to the Soviet Union and worked at a factory in Minsk, Belarus, in 1960. In 1961, he married Marina Prusakova, and they had a child. In 1962, he returned to the United States with help from the U.S. embassy. He settled in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where he spent time with Russian immigrants, including George de Mohrenschildt, who worked for the CIA. In March 1963, a bullet nearly hit General Edwin Walker at his home in Dallas. Witnesses saw two men nearby. The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald was responsible for this attempt based on Marina’s testimony, a note Oswald left, and evidence from a bullet.
In April 1963, Oswald returned to New Orleans, where he started a group supporting Fidel Castro called the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. He was the only member. While handing out pro-Castro materials, he was arrested after fighting with anti-Castro Cuban exiles. In late September 1963, he traveled to Mexico City, where the Warren Commission said he visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies. On October 3, he returned to Dallas and began working at the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza. During the week, he lived separately from Marina at a Dallas boarding house. On the morning of the assassination, he carried a long package (which he told coworkers contained curtain rods) into the building. The Warren Commission later determined that the package held Oswald’s disassembled rifle.
November 22
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On the evening of November 21, Air Force One landed in Fort Worth, Texas at 11:07 pm. The President and First Lady arrived at the Hotel Texas in downtown Fort Worth at 11:35 pm. The next morning, November 22, President Kennedy and the First Lady got into a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible limousine to go to a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart. Other people in this vehicle — the second in the motorcade — were Secret Service Agent Bill Greer, who was driving; Special Agent Roy Kellerman in the front passenger seat; and Governor Connally and his wife Nellie, who sat just forward of the Kennedys. Four Dallas police motorcycle officers rode with the Kennedy limousine. Vice President Johnson, his wife Lady Bird, and Senator Yarborough rode in another convertible.
The motorcade's 10-mile (16 km) route through Dallas was planned to give President Kennedy the chance to see as many people as possible. The route passed through a suburban section of Dallas, then through Main Street in downtown Dallas, before turning right on Houston Street. After one block, the motorcade turned left onto Elm Street, passed through Dealey Plaza, and traveled a short part of the Stemmons Freeway to the Trade Mart. The planned route had been reported in newspapers several days before. Although there were worries about hostile protestors — Kennedy's UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been spat on in Dallas a month earlier — Kennedy was greeted warmly by the crowds.
Kennedy's limousine entered Dealey Plaza at 12:30 pm CST. Nellie Connally turned and said to Kennedy, who was sitting behind her, "Mr. President, they can't make you believe now that there are not some in Dallas who love and appreciate you, can they?" Kennedy answered, "No, they sure can't." These were his last words.
From Houston Street, the limousine made the planned left turn onto Elm Street, passing the Texas School Book Depository. As it continued down Elm Street, multiple shots were fired: about 80% of the witnesses said they heard three shots. The Warren Commission concluded that three shots were fired and noted that most witnesses said the second and third shots were close together. Shortly after Kennedy began waving, some witnesses heard the first gunshot, but few in the crowd or motorcade reacted, many thinking the sound was a firecracker or backfire.
Within one second of each other, Governor Connally and Mrs. Kennedy turned abruptly from their left to their right. Connally, an experienced hunter, immediately recognized the sound as that of a rifle and turned his head and torso rightward, noting nothing unusual behind him. He testified that he could not see Kennedy, so he started to turn forward again (turning from his right to his left), and that when his head was facing about 20 degrees left of center, he was struck in his upper right back by a shot he did not hear, then shouted, "My God. They're going to kill us all!"
According to the Warren Commission and the HSCA, Kennedy was waving to the crowds on his right when a shot entered his upper back and exited his throat just beneath his larynx. He raised his elbows and clenched his fists in front of his face and neck, then leaned forward and leftward. Mrs. Kennedy, facing him, put her arms around him. Although a serious wound, it likely would have been survivable.
According to the Warren Commission's single-bullet theory — called the "magic bullet theory" by some people — Governor Connally was injured by the same bullet that exited Kennedy's neck. The bullet created an oval-shaped entry wound near Connally's shoulder, struck and destroyed several inches of his right fifth rib, and exited his chest just below his right nipple, puncturing and collapsing his lung. That same bullet then entered his arm just above his right wrist and shattered his right radius bone. The bullet exited just below the wrist at the inner side of his right palm and finally lodged in his left thigh.
As the limousine passed the grassy knoll, Kennedy was struck a second time by a fatal shot to the head. The Warren Commission did not determine whether this was the second or third bullet fired, and concluded — as did the HSCA — that the second shot to strike Kennedy entered the rear of his head. It then passed in fragments through his skull, creating a large, "roughly ovular" hole on the rear, right side of his head, and spraying blood and fragments. His brain and blood spatter landed as far as the following Secret Service car and the motorcycle officers.
Secret Service agent Clint Hill was riding on the running board of the car immediately behind Kennedy's limousine. Hill testified to the Warren Commission that he heard one shot, jumped onto the street, and ran forward to board the limousine and protect Kennedy. Hill stated that he heard the fatal headshot as he reached the Lincoln, "approximately five seconds" after the first shot that he heard. After the headshot, Mrs. Kennedy began climbing onto the limousine's trunk, but she later had no recollection of doing so. Hill believed she may have been reaching for a piece of Kennedy's skull. He jumped onto the limousine's bumper, and he clung to the car as it exited Dealey Plaza and sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital. After Mrs. Kennedy crawled back into her seat, both Governor and Mrs. Connally heard her repeatedly saying: "They have killed my husband. I have his brains in my hand."
Bystander James Tague received a minor wound to the cheek — either from a bullet or concrete curb fragments — while standing by the triple underpass. Nine months later, the FBI removed the curb, and spectrographic analysis revealed metallic residue consistent with the lead core in Oswald's ammunition. Tague testified before the Warren Commission and initially stated that he was wounded by either the second or third shot of the three shots that he remembered hearing. When the commission counsel pressed him to be more specific, Tague testified that he was wounded by the second shot.
As the motorcade left Dealey Plaza, some witnesses sought cover, and others joined police officers to run up the grassy knoll in search of a shooter. No shooter was found behind the knoll's picket fence. Among the 178 witnesses who testified to the Warren Commission, 78 were unsure of the shots' origin, 49 believed they came from the depository, and 21 thought they came from the grassy knoll. No witness ever reported seeing anyone — with or without a gun — immediately behind the knoll's picket fence at the time of the shooting.
Lee Bowers was in a two-story railroad switch tower 120 yards (110 m) behind the grassy knoll's picket fence; he was watching the motorcade and had an unobstructed view of the only route by which a shooter could flee the grassy knoll; he saw no one leaving the scene. Bowers testified to the Warren Commission that "one or two" men were between him and the fence during the assassination: one was a familiar parking lot attendant, and the other wore a uniform like a county courthouse custodian. He testified seeing "some commotion" on the grassy knoll at the time of the assassination: "something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason which I could not identify."
At 12:36 pm, teenager Amos Euins approached Dallas police sergeant D.V. Harkness to report having seen a "colored man … leaning out of the window [with] a rifle" on the sixth floor of the depository during the assassination; in response, Harkness radioed that he was sealing off the depository. Witness Howard Brennan then approached a police inspector to report seeing a shooter — a white man in khaki clothing — in the same window. Police broadcast Brennan's description of the man at 12:45 pm. Brennan testified that, after the second shot, "This man … was aiming for his last shot … and maybe paused for another second as though to assure himself that he had …
Immediate aftermath
President Kennedy's autopsy is a well-known example of a poorly conducted autopsy. The autopsy took place at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland on the night of November 22. Jacqueline Kennedy chose a naval hospital because President Kennedy had served in the navy during World War II. Three doctors performed the autopsy: naval commanders James Humes and J. Thornton Boswell, with help from ballistics expert Pierre A. Finck. Humes led the procedure. Because of pressure from the Kennedy family and White House staff to speed up the process, the doctors did a quick and incomplete autopsy. Kennedy's personal physician, Rear Admiral George Burkley, signed a death certificate on November 23, stating the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the skull.
Three years later, Kennedy's brain—removed and preserved for later study—was found missing when the Kennedy family moved materials to the National Archives. Some people believe the brain might have shown the bullet entered from the front. The HSCA concluded that an assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the president's brother, likely removed the footlocker holding the brain and other materials. The assistant may have destroyed or hidden the items to prevent misuse or to hide information about the president's health. Some autopsy X-rays and photographs are also missing.
Most historians believe the autopsy was the most poorly done part of the government's investigation. The HSCA forensic panel found the autopsy had many problems, including not taking enough photographs, failing to determine the bullet's entry or exit points, not examining the back and neck, and not measuring the angles of gunshot wounds. The panel also said the doctors were not properly trained for a forensic autopsy. One panel member, Milton Helpern, compared selecting Humes—someone with only one class in forensic pathology—to sending a young child with little violin training to perform a complex symphony.
After the autopsy, Kennedy's body rested in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours. President Johnson declared November 25 a national day of mourning, allowing only essential workers to be on duty. The coffin was then taken on a horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol, where it lay in state for 18 hours. Hundreds of thousands of people lined up to view the casket, with about 250,000 passing through the Capitol rotunda. In the Soviet Union, news of the assassination caused shock, and church bells rang in Kennedy's memory.
Kennedy's funeral took place on November 25 at St. Matthew's Cathedral. Cardinal Richard Cushing led the Requiem Mass. About 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries, attended. No formal eulogy was given, but excerpts from Kennedy's speeches were read. After the service, Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. An eternal flame was lit at his burial site in 1967.
On November 24, at 11:21 a.m., Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby while being transferred from Dallas Police headquarters. The shooting was broadcast live on television. A photo of the event by Robert H. Jackson won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.
Oswald was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was treated by the same surgeons who had tried to save Kennedy. A bullet had entered his lower left chest but did not exit. Major blood vessels, including the aorta and inferior vena cava, were damaged, as were his spleen, kidney, and liver. Despite surgery and medical efforts, Oswald died at 1:07 p.m.
Ruby was arrested immediately after the shooting. He told the Warren Commission he acted out of grief for Kennedy's death and to protect Jacqueline Kennedy from a trial. He claimed he shot Oswald on impulse. Initially, Ruby wanted to represent himself in court, but his lawyer argued Ruby had epilepsy and was not responsible. Ruby was convicted but the decision was overturned on appeal. While waiting for a retrial in 1967, Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism caused by cancer. Like Oswald and Kennedy, Ruby was declared dead at Parkland Hospital.
Films and photographs of the assassination
A witness described the event in detail. He saw the man's head injured severely during the incident.
Standing on a wall near the road, about 65 feet (20 meters) away, tailor Abraham Zapruder recorded the assassination on 26 seconds of silent 8 mm film, known as the Zapruder film. Frame 313 shows the exact moment when Kennedy's head was severely injured. Life magazine published enlarged images of this frame shortly after the assassination. The footage was first shown publicly during the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw and later on television in 1975 by Geraldo Rivera. In 1999, a legal panel ordered the federal government to pay $615,384 for each second of film to Zapruder's heirs, valuing the complete film at $16 million (equivalent to $31.7 million in 2026).
Zapruder was one of at least 32 people in Dealey Plaza who filmed or took still photographs of the event. Mary Moorman, for example, took several photos of Kennedy with her Polaroid camera, including one less than one-sixth of a second after the injury to his head.
Other individuals, including Charles Bronson, Marie Muchmore, and Orville Nix, also filmed the assassination from farther distances. Of these, only Nix, who filmed from the opposite side of Elm Street, captured the fatal shot. Nix filmed from the grassy knoll. In 1966, he reported that the FBI returned a duplicate of his film with missing or damaged frames. The original film has been missing since 1978, though lower-quality copies remain. In 2007, previously unknown footage from George Jefferies was released. This film, recorded a few blocks before the shooting, showed Kennedy’s suit jacket, which helped explain differences between the location of the bullet hole in his back and the jacket.
Some films and photographs show an unidentified woman who appeared to be filming the event. Researchers have nicknamed her the Babushka Lady because of the shawl around her head. In 1978, Gordon Arnold claimed he filmed the assassination from the grassy knoll, but a police officer took his film. Arnold is not visible in any photographs of the area, which Vincent Bugliosi, author of Reclaiming History, described as "conclusive photographic proof" that Arnold’s story was not true.
Official investigations
At the Dallas Police headquarters, officers questioned Oswald about the shootings of Kennedy and Tippit. These interviews happened over about 12 hours, starting at 2:30 p.m. on November 22 and ending at 11 a.m. on November 24. During the interviews, Oswald denied being involved and made statements that were later found to be false.
Captain J. W. Fritz of the Homicide and Robbery Bureau conducted most of the questioning and took only basic notes. Later, Fritz wrote a report based on his notes. There were no recordings or written transcripts of the interviews. Representatives from other law enforcement groups, including the FBI and Secret Service, were also present and sometimes helped with the questioning. Some FBI agents wrote reports about the interrogation as it happened.
On the evening of November 22, Dallas Police performed paraffin tests on Oswald’s hands and right cheek to see if he had recently fired a weapon. The tests showed that his hands had signs of gunpowder but his cheek did not. These tests were not reliable, and the Warren Commission did not use their results.
Dallas Police forced Oswald to hold a press conference after midnight on November 23. They also shared information with the media early in the investigation. This angered President Johnson, who told the FBI to stop talking about the assassination. After the FBI warned that someone might try to harm Oswald, Dallas Police promised to protect him.
The FBI started an investigation into the assassination using a law that made it illegal to attack a federal officer. Within 24 hours of the killing, FBI Director Hoover sent President Johnson a report saying Oswald was the only person involved. After Ruby killed Oswald, Johnson believed Texas authorities were not doing their job and ordered the FBI to investigate fully.
On December 9, 1963, the Warren Commission received the FBI’s report. The report said three bullets were fired: the first hit Kennedy in the back, the second hit Connally, and the third hit Kennedy in the head, killing him. The FBI continued to help the Warren Commission with its work. A total of 169 FBI agents worked on the case, interviewing over 25,000 people and writing more than 2,300 reports.
Some people question how thorough the FBI’s investigation was. One person praised the FBI’s work, while another noted that the FBI did not fully investigate connections between Oswald, Ruby, and groups related to Cuba. The FBI also seemed determined to prove Oswald acted alone within 24 hours of the assassination.
On November 29, President Johnson created the Warren Commission by executive order and chose Chief Justice Earl Warren to lead it. The commission’s final report, which had 888 pages, was given to Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later. It concluded that Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and wounding Connally, and that Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald. The report did not explain Oswald’s motive but noted his interest in Marxism, dislike of authority, violent tendencies, and desire to be important in history.
When commission staff studied the Zapruder film, they found that the FBI’s theory about how the bullets worked was not possible. The timing of Kennedy and Connally’s reactions was too quick to match two bullets from Oswald. This led to the discovery that a single bullet caused both non-fatal wounds, known as the “single-bullet theory.” In 1964, an FBI agent recreated the bullet’s path in Dealey Plaza and found it matched the injuries.
Three members of the Warren Commission believed the theory was unlikely, but their concerns were not included in the final report. Some people called the theory the “magic bullet theory” because the bullet was not broken. A Secret Service agent later said he found the bullet near Kennedy’s seat and placed it on his stretcher. He believed the bullet came from a shallow wound in Kennedy’s back.
The Warren Commission published 27 volumes of its report and created hundreds of thousands of pages of documents. Some people say the commission’s work was the most detailed in history. Others believe the report is not trusted by the public. A CIA historian later said the CIA director at the time may have hidden information from the commission.
In 1967, a New Orleans district attorney arrested a businessman named Clay Shaw for allegedly conspiring to kill Kennedy with Oswald and others. Shaw was a well-known local figure who helped restore the French Quarter. He and another man, David Ferrie, were part of the gay community in New Orleans. Ferrie died shortly after the investigation began. The district attorney claimed the CIA was involved in the assassination. During Shaw’s trial in 1969, the Zapruder film was shown, and the jury was told that Kennedy’s head moved backward after the fatal shot, suggesting a shooter on the Grassy Knoll.
The jury found Shaw not guilty. Some jurors later said they believed a conspiracy existed but did not have enough evidence to convict him. Others denied speaking to someone who claimed the jury believed in a conspiracy. The trial was criticized as unfair and biased. It remains the only trial related to the assassination. In 1979, a former CIA director said Shaw had been in contact with the CIA.
Conspiracy theories
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is often called "the mother of all conspiracies." For many years, polls have shown that most Americans believe a conspiracy was involved. Between 1,000 and 2,000 books—mostly supporting conspiracy theories—have been written about the event. In different theories, Lee Harvey Oswald’s role changes, sometimes being a co-conspirator and other times being seen as innocent. Common suspects in conspiracy theories include the FBI, the CIA, the U.S. military, the Mafia, the military-industrial complex, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Fidel Castro, the KGB, or combinations of these groups. Vincent Bugliosi estimated that 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people have been accused in various theories about the assassination.
Conspiracy theories often suggest that multiple shooters fired at the president, with one shot coming from the grassy knoll and hitting Kennedy in the head. People present at Dealey Plaza, such as the three tramps, the umbrella man, and the Badge Man, have been the subject of much discussion. Some theories claim that the official autopsy and investigations were flawed or involved in hiding the truth. Witnesses, like Gary Underhill, have died under unexplained or suspicious circumstances.
Notable figures have supported conspiracy theories. L. Fletcher Prouty, a former military official, believed parts of the U.S. military and intelligence groups were involved. Governor John Connally disagreed with the idea that a single bullet caused all the injuries. President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly doubted the findings of the Warren Commission before his death. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated his father, Robert F. Kennedy, believed the Warren Report was poorly made and that a conspiracy involving Cuban exiles and the CIA may have killed President Kennedy. Communist leaders, including Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev, thought right-wing Americans were responsible. Former CIA director R. James Woolsey claimed Oswald acted as part of a Soviet conspiracy.
Legacy
On November 27—five days after President Kennedy was killed—President Johnson gave a speech to Congress called "Let Us Continue." This speech was similar to an inaugural address. President Johnson encouraged Congress to continue working on President Kennedy's goals, especially those related to civil rights. This effort led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Confusion about how President Johnson became president after Kennedy's death led to the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment, adopted in 1967, clarified that the vice president becomes president if the president dies.
On November 29, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11129, which changed the name of Florida's Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy. The name Cape Canaveral had been used since at least 1530. NASA's Launch Operations Center on the cape was also renamed the Kennedy Space Center. The federal government honored President Kennedy in other ways, such as replacing the Benjamin Franklin half-dollar with the Kennedy half-dollar. Washington, D.C.'s National Culture Center was renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. New York City's airport was also renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Kennedy's assassination led to major changes in the Secret Service. Open-top limousines were no longer used, and the number of Secret Service agents was increased. Special teams, such as counter-sniper units, were created. The Secret Service's budget grew from $5.5 million in 1963 (about $57.8 million in 2025) to over $1.6 billion by 2013.
John F. Kennedy's assassination was the first of four major assassinations in the 1960s. It happened two years before Malcolm X was killed in 1965 and five years before the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Many people saw Kennedy as a heroic figure. Scholars usually describe Kennedy as a good but not great president, but public opinion polls show he is still considered the most popular president after World War II.
Kennedy's assassination had a lasting impact worldwide. Like the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the September 11 attacks, people often ask, "Where were you when you heard about President Kennedy's assassination?" Journalist Dan Rather said the event will be discussed for many years, much like the ancient story of the Iliad.
The assassination has been shown in many films, including Oliver Stone's JFK and Dalton Trumbo's Executive Action (1973), which was the first film to depict the assassination. The Zapruder film, which shows the assassination, has influenced realistic filmmaking and inspired more graphic depictions of violence in movies. Books such as Don DeLillo's Libra and James Ellroy's American Tabloid explore the assassination. Music, including Igor Stravinsky's Elegy for J.F.K. and Phil Ochs's song "Crucifixion," also reflects the event.
In 1993, the National Park Service declared Dealey Plaza and nearby areas a National Historic Landmark District. The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, which is part of the Dealey Plaza site, receives over 325,000 visitors each year.
The Boeing 707 that was Air Force One during the assassination is displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Kennedy's limousine is at the Henry Ford Museum. The Lincoln Catafalque, on which Kennedy's coffin rested in the Capitol, is shown at the Capitol Visitor Center. Items such as Jacqueline Kennedy's pink suit, autopsy X-rays, and Kennedy's bloodstained clothing are in the National Archives, with access controlled by the Kennedy family. Other items in the Archives include Parkland Hospital trauma room equipment, Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle, diary, and revolver, bullet fragments, and the limousine's windshield. The Texas State Archives preserve clothing with bullet holes from Governor Connally. The gun used by Jack Ruby to kill Oswald was sold in 1991 for $220,000 (about $520,000 in 2025).
At Robert F. Kennedy's request, some items were destroyed. The casket used to transport Kennedy's body from Dallas to Washington was thrown into the sea because "its public display would be extremely offensive and contrary to public policy."