John F Kennedy Memorial and Assassination Site

John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States.  He was elected president in 1961 and was assassinated on November 22, 1963 as his motorcade drove past Dealey Plaza on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas.  He was shot twice.  One bullet went through his back and throat and a second bullet hit him fatally in the head.  There are countless theories about how the assassination took place.

Before leaving Dallas, we stopped at the John F. Kennedy memorial and assassination site.  President Kennedy was assassinated before Johnnie and I were born.  However, this is a very well known historical event and we've both heard stories from people who were alive when it happened so it was certainly a remarkable place to visit.

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza

Engraved at the memorial:  "The joy and excitement of John Fitzgerald Kennedy's life belonged to all men.  So did the pain and sorrow of his death.  When he died on November 22, 1963, shock and agony touched human conscience throughout the world.  In Dallas, Texas, there was a special sorrow.  The young President died in Dallas.  The death bullets were fired 200 yards west of this site.  This memorial, designed by Philip Johnson, was erected by the people of Dallas.  Thousands of citizens contributed support, money and effort.  It is not a memorial to the pain and sorrow of death, but stands as a permanent tribute to the joy and excitement of one man's life.  John Fitzgerald Kennedy's life."

A view of Elm street assassination site and the "grassy knoll"

photo source

photo source

Looking down Elm Street toward the assassination site

There are two X's on the road marking where the president was when he was shot.

It is believed that Lee Harvey Oswald is the man who shot the president.  He was perched in a corner window on the sixth floor of the the Book Depository Building.  Some researchers believe that there was a second shooter located on the "grassy knoll" in the Dealey Plaza.

The Sixth Floor Museum and a gift shop are located in the Book Depository Building.  There was a long line for the museum and we had a long drive ahead of us so we didn't go up to it.  We did, however, walk through the gift shop which can be entered from the rear of the building.  There are souvenirs such as books, t-shirts, and replicas of the newspapers that announced President Kennedy's death.

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"We must find time to stop and thank the people

who make a difference in our lives."

~John F. Kennedy