JFK One Day in America

JFK's last moments in the words of the witnesses who saw the assassination
Story by Lydia Veljanovski  •
11/o4/23



It was a moment which sent shockwaves across the world. Sixty years ago this month, on November 22, 1963, US President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie were riding in an open-top limousine through Dallas, Texas.

The streets were lined with people eager to catch a glimpse of the glamorous couple. But as the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza, three bangs shattered the mood of jubilation.

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Lee Harvey Oswald had fired a gun from the sixth floor of his office, fatally wounding the President. This assassination — and the subsequent killing of Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby — has been endlessly investigated.

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Now, a three-part docuseries JFK: One Day in America premieres on Sunday. Weaving archive footage with key testimony from witnesses — some who have never spoken before — it examines that pivotal day.

Clint Hill, Secret Service
Secret Service agent assigned to Jackie Kennedy, who famously jumped onto the moving car and tried to help the First Lady after shots were fired.

I’m 91 now. There are a few of us left. I have this sense of guilt. I should have been able to do more than I did.

I wasn’t fast enough. I guess I wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet. Mrs Kennedy was screaming: “They’ve shot his head off. I love you, Jack.” Mrs Kennedy was in shock, with the President’s head in her lap.

JFK's car as Hill Clint climbs in. A gunshot can be seen on the windscreen
JFK's car as Hill Clint climbs in. A gunshot can be seen on the windscreen
© Sygma via Getty Images
When we got to Parkland Hospital, my boss yelled: “Clint, get a telephone, open up a line to the White House, let them know what’s going on.”

The operator said: “Mr Hill, I’m sorry, but Robert Kennedy wants to talk to you.” I said: “OK, fine. Mr Attorney General, can I help you?”

Related video: Secret Service Agent Clint Hill on Jackie Kennedy’s Final Moments With JFK (Newsweek)
The nurses wrapped him in white sheets.
Newsweek
Secret Service Agent Clint Hill on Jackie Kennedy’s Final Moments With JFK
He said: “Clint, what’s going on down there?” I said: “Both President Kennedy and the Governor have been shot.”

And he said: “Well, how bad is it?” so I just said: “Well, it’s as bad as it could get,” and with that, he just hung up.

Mrs Kennedy knew. As soon as he fell in her lap, she knew the President could not have survived.

It was shocking. It was terrible. But I couldn’t break down. I had to take care of my job. My job was to protect Mrs Kennedy as best I could.

We were in the process of having the body prepared so that we could take it back to Washington. The nurses put him in the casket. We took him out, they put him in the hearse, and I said to Mrs Kennedy: “We could ride in this car right back here.”

And she said: “No, Mr Hill, I’m gonna ride in there with Jack.” And so she crawls into the back of the hearse, so I crawl in there with her.

Former U.S. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, who was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of U.S. President Kennedy, talks to the media outside the JFK Tribute on November 22, 2013
Former U.S. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, who was assigned to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and was in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of U.S. President Kennedy, talks to the media outside the JFK Tribute on November 22, 2013
© Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Paul Landis, Secret Service
Secret Service agent Paul Landis, then 28 and on his first ever presidential motorcade.

It was like a dream come true for me. When I first joined the Secret Service, this is what I wanted to do. My code name was Debut.

Just because I was so young. We got to trauma room one. I kind of got pushed in with the crowd, right beside his shoes or feet. I couldn’t look at the President, I was feeling faint. I knew if I looked at him, I’d pass out.

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I heard a doctor say, “let me through, let me through”. And it was about that time somebody asked if anybody knew the President’s blood type.

And Mrs Kennedy stood up and said, “do you mean he’s alive?”, and it was just utter silence. I’m not sure how long we were in the trauma room.

Mrs. Kennedy was just sitting, staring out into space, and her face was expressionless. She was pale, and wasn’t moving. I figured she was in shock.

Jacqueline Kennedy opens the door to the ambulance carrying her husband, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on the day of his assassination. Robert Kennedy and Clint Hill are standing behind the First Lady. Hill is the secret security agent who jumped onto the back of the presidential limousine during the assassination
Jacqueline Kennedy opens the door to the ambulance carrying her husband, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, on the day of his assassination. Robert Kennedy and Clint Hill are standing behind the First Lady. Hill is the secret security agent who jumped onto the back of the presidential limousine during the assassination
© Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Sid Davis, Journalist
White House correspondent who went to the hospital and soon after witnessed Lyndon B. Johnson’s swearing-in as new US President on-board Air Force One

All I could think of was get to the hospital, get the story. I went to the second floor, and I saw a priest talking to some of my reporter friends, three or four reporter friends.

So I went over and tried to see what he was saying. His name was Father Oscar Huber. I’lI never forget what he said. He said, ‘I just gave him the last rites’.

On Air Force One, there were 28 people in the room. LBJ had his Secretary go back and talk to Mrs Kennedy and see if she would like to stand with us for the swearing in, and she sent word back, ‘Yes, I do. But I need time to compose myself’.

And we waited about 10 minutes, and she came forward. Then I could see the dress.

She had blood on her where she cradled the President’s head in her lap. Mrs. Johnson said, ‘Would you like to change your clothes?’ And she said, ‘No. Let them see what they have done’.

An ID belonging to Westinghouse Broadcasting Company White House correspondent Sid Davis is seen during a preview of an exhibit devoted to the assassinated US President John F. Kennedy at the Newseum April 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. The Newseum, a museum specializing in journalism, is opening the new exhibit about President John F. Kennedy to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination on November 22, 1963.
An ID belonging to Westinghouse Broadcasting Company White House correspondent Sid Davis is seen during a preview of an exhibit devoted to the assassinated US President John F. Kennedy at the Newseum April 11, 2013 in Washington, DC. The Newseum, a museum specializing in journalism, is opening the new exhibit about President John F. Kennedy to mark the 50th anniversary of his assassination on November 22, 1963.
© AFP via Getty Images
Buell Frazier, Oswald colleague
Lee Harvey Oswald’s co-worker at the Texas School Book Depository, and gave him a lift to work that fateful day.

Being a young 19-year-old boy from Dallas, I never had seen a presidential motorcade. I drove Lee Harvey Oswald to work because Lee did not own a car.

We listened to the radio. I noticed a package on the backseat. I said, “what’s in the package, Lee?” And he says, “curtain rods”.

And Lee gets out, gets the package, and he walked off. We always walked together, but not this morning. And it never dawned on me anything was different.”

After the shooting, I was terrified, knowing that somebody had shot the President. Cause of what had happened, two plain clothes detectives grab me.

They said, “We’re arresting you.” I said, “Arresting me?” I said, “I haven’t done anything.” The police said that I was involved. And that was false.

View of Site of Kennedy Assassination
View of Site of Kennedy Assassination
© Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Images
Read more: JFK's homecoming trip to Ireland in June 1963

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Bill Mercer, Reporter
Local reporter for KRLD and the first to inform Oswald he had been charged with the president’s murder.

It was a relief when they brought him in, to realise that he had been found. He was nondescript.

Just a little guy. This guy just didn’t have any appearance of anger or desperation or affray. He was just there.

That night, I was broadcasting when they decided that nobody could get their questions answered, so why not have a press conference with Oswald answering questions.

Can you imagine doing that today with a person who’s been arrested for murder?

The man has not confessed. It was a surreal situation. I’d never been to a press conference with a murder suspect. It was unprecedented.

Jack Ruby [who later shot Oswald dead] was up there that night. He worked the police and gave them tickets to his club, and he was always around ‘em.

I don’t think he had to show any credentials. He’s the police buddy.

Mugshot of Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 - 1963), alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, taken by the Dallas Police department, Dallas, Texas
Mugshot of Lee Harvey Oswald (1939 - 1963), alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, taken by the Dallas Police department, Dallas, Texas
© Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Bill and Gayle Newman
The closest living civilian witnesses to the shooting, in the crowd with their two sons, Billy and Clifton, then two and four.

I put the boys in their Sunday best clothes, and we both dressed up. We were excited. We said we were taking the children, but I think we were more interested in seeing the President and First Lady than the kids. They didn’t know who they were.

We were one lane width away from him when he was shot in the head. I think my maternal instinct kicked in . Never, when I got up that morning, did I think I would see something so horrific.

The Newman family, William Newman, his wife Gayle and children who were the closet civilian witnesses to the US President's 1963 assassination.
The Newman family, William Newman, his wife Gayle and children who were the closet civilian witnesses to the US President's 1963 assassination.
© Daily Mirror
Rusty Robbins, local cop

Everybody knew who Jack Ruby was, no question about it. He ran, some people call ‘em Burlesque joints, I call ‘em stripper clubs.

Jack was known to carry a pistol. Back then, if a businessman carried a personal protection, it was overlooked. And maybe one or two of ‘em saw Jack and said, “Well that’s Jack.”

When I saw that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald, I was shocked. I was sorry that he had messed up like that.

He committed a grave error; one you can’t eradicate. It’s gonna go down in history. Jack wanted to be somebody. Everybody loved the President, so now this is gonna make Jack a hero.

Dallas police took this mug shot of Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963 after his arrest for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
Dallas police took this mug shot of Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963 after his arrest for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
© Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images
JFK: One Day in America starts on November 5 on National Geographic.