It’s been 58 years since JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. That is 58 years since Jackie Kennedy boarded Air Force One and stood next to Lyndon B Johnson in her blood-stained pink Chanel suit, as he was sworn in as the new President of the United States… 58 years since the world reacted and mourned for the loss of the 35th President of the United States.
12:21 pm November 22, 1963: President Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B Johnson and their wives enter Dealey Plaza during their motorcade.
12:30 pm: President Kennedy and Governor Connally were shot.
12:31 pm The presidential car races to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
12:36 pm: The President arrives at Parkland Memorial Hospital.
1 pm: Doctors at Parkland Hospital declare President Kennedy Dead.
1:33 pm: Radio and television begin to announce the death of the President.
2:08 pm: President Kennedy’s body is accompanied by his wife, Jackie Kennedy to Love Field to board Air Force One.
2:38 pm: Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the new President of the United States aboard Air Force One.
President John F. Kennedy changed the world in his life and in his death. With the news of Kennedy’s death reaching the rest of the country, everything came to a halt. It was said that Times Square slowed to as near to a halt as it ever comes while in Washington all congressional meetings stopped. However, it was not just the United States that was mourning.
Britain flew their flags at half-mast, and on the day of Kennedy’s funeral Big Ben, tolled every minute for an hour (which is normally only done for Royals) while thousands of Brits flooded to the American Embassy in London. In Moscow, despite tensions between Premier Krushchev and President Kennedy, Premier Krushchev sent his prayers. Buddhists in Tokyo prayed before images of the President, and nearly everyone else in the world sat glued to their television waiting to hear more about what had happened to President Kennedy.
Many countries took this time to honour JFK by naming buildings, mountains, and street squares after him. Prime Minister Lester B Pearson of Canada renamed a Yukon mountain top, Mount Kennedy. Countries such as Iran and Israel named streets and planned memorials in the name of the President. Even the northernmost town of Denmark named a street after President Kennedy, stating that even if they are only a small dot on the map, the President meant just as much to them.
To the world, it was not just the loss of a leader but the loss of someone who could have made a great change. This loss was not only felt in 1963, but it remains a major loss to the world 58 years later.