World to Remember JFK on 49th Anniversary of Assassination

Posted November 21st, 2012 at 8:40 pm (UTC-5)
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Thursday is the 49th anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy — a crime that brought the world to a standstill.

Admirers of the president will gather at the assassination site in Dallas, Texas to reflect and hold a moment of silence.

The city of Dallas will officially mark next year's 50th anniversary with the ringing of church bells, prayers, and historian David McCullough reading from President Kennedy's speeches.

Earlier this week, Dallas unveiled a memorial to police officer J.D. Tippet. Tippet was gunned down by Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald when he stopped the suspect for questioning on a Dallas street 45 minutes after the president was killed.

Congressional investigators say Oswald, a Marxist and former U.S. Marine who briefly lived in the Soviet Union, shot Kennedy from a building as the presidential motorcade drove through downtown Dallas. Texas Governor John Connolly, who was in the president's car, was seriously wounded but survived.

Oswald was shot dead two days later by a local nightclub owner in a crowd at Dallas police headquarters. His motives for killing the president remain a mystery.

Mr. Kennedy was president for fewer than three years. He was 46 years old.