Witnesses reveal what happened moments after JFK's assassination

This month it is the anniversary of a moment that shocked America and sent ripples around the - the assassination of President John F Kennedy.

The notorious event happened on November 22, 1963,and his wife were riding through , Texas, in an open-top limousine.

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.

had fired a gun from the sixth floor of his office, the President. This assassination – and the subsequent killing of Oswald by nightclub owner Jack Ruby – has been endlessly investigated and produced an equally endless amount of conspiracy theories.

READ MORE:

Now, a three-part docuseries JFK: One Day which is availiable of Disney+ weaves archive footage with key testimony from witnesses – some who have never spoken before – and it examines minute-by-minute 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 years old 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. When we got to Parkland Hospital, my boss yelled at me: “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?” 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 the phone.

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 get back up and 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 wrapped him in white sheets, put him in the casket. We took him out, they put him in the back of the hearse, and I said to Mrs Kennedy: “We could ride in this car right back here.” And she said: “No, no, 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.

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. 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. It seemed a lot longer than we actually were. Mrs Kennedy was just sitting, staring out into space, and her face was expressionless. She looked very regal sitting there. I figured she was in shock."

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 some time to compose myself’.

And we waited about four, five, or ten minutes, and she came forward. I could see the damage it had done. Then I could see the dress. She had blood on her where she cradled the President’s head in her lap. The blood was congealing on her stocking and on her shoes.

I won’t say she was in shock. She knew what was going on, but her eyes were wide, unsmiling, serious. Mrs. Johnson said, ‘Would you like to change your clothes to something else?’ And she said, ‘No. Let them see what they have done’.”

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. Lee wasn’t a big talker. 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. I was standing on the top step of the entrance into the Texas School Book Depository. And I looked to my left, and there comes Lee Oswald walking down beside the building. Very normal. No hurry.

"And he went across Houston Street. Somebody said something to me, I looked to see who was speaking to me, and I turned back, and I lost him in the crowd. That’s the last time I saw Lee. ‘Cause of what had happened, two plain clothes detectives grabs 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 totally false. It really was a shock that they’d want me to confess to something I didn’t know anything about.”

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 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.

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 in my mind, when I got up that morning, did I think that I would see something so horrific.” Everybody knew who Jack Ruby was. He ran, some people call them Burlesque joints, I call them 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 them 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. Everybody loved the President, so everybody hated the man who had killed the President. So now this is gonna make Jack a hero.

* JFK: One Day in America is availiable on Disney+

READ MORE: