It was a Friday. Friday, November 22, 1963.
Honestly, that simple date doesn't even begin to cover the weight of what happened in Dallas. For a lot of people, that specific Friday feels like the exact moment the 20th century lost its innocence. You've probably seen the grainy Zapruder film or the photos of Jackie Kennedy in her pink suit, but the granular details of that day—the timeline, the weather, the weird coincidences—tell a much more human story than the history books usually do.
What Day Was JFK Killed? Breaking Down the Timeline
The sun was actually shining in Dallas that morning. It had rained earlier, but by the time Air Force One touched down at Love Field at 11:38 a.m., the clouds had cleared. Because the weather turned nice, the "bubble top" on the presidential limousine was left off. If it had stayed cloudy, the President might have been behind plexiglass.
Basically, a bit of Texas sunshine changed the course of history.
The motorcade kicked off around 11:55 a.m. It was a 10-mile route meant to give the crowds a good look at the President and the First Lady. They were headed for a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart. Everything seemed great. Nellie Connally, the wife of Texas Governor John Connally, even turned to JFK and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you."
Then they turned onto Elm Street.
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12:30 p.m. CST: The Shots in Dealey Plaza
The moment the clock hit 12:30 p.m., the world fractured. As the limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository, three shots rang out. Most witnesses thought they were backfires from a motorcycle or maybe firecrackers.
It wasn't.
Lee Harvey Oswald, a 26-year-old former Marine who had once defected to the Soviet Union, was perched on the sixth floor. He was using a 6.5mm Carcano M91/38 rifle.
The first shot missed. The second hit Kennedy in the upper back and exited through his throat, then went on to wound Governor Connally. This is the "Single Bullet Theory" that people still argue about today. The third shot was the fatal one.
The motorcade didn't stop. It roared toward Parkland Memorial Hospital at 80 miles per hour. Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who famously jumped onto the back of the car, was trying to shield the Kennedys with his own body. It was too late.
The Chaos After the Shooting
While the doctors at Parkland were fighting a losing battle, Dallas was turning into a madhouse. Police were swarming Dealey Plaza.
At 1:00 p.m., John F. Kennedy was officially pronounced dead. He was only 46.
Think about that. The youngest man ever elected to the presidency was gone in a flash of gunfire on a random Friday afternoon.
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Meanwhile, Lee Harvey Oswald had already slipped out of the Book Depository. He went back to his rooming house, grabbed a revolver, and headed back out. Around 1:15 p.m., he was confronted by Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. Oswald shot and killed Tippit in broad daylight in front of several witnesses.
The manhunt ended at the Texas Theatre. Oswald had ducked in without buying a ticket. The shoe store manager next door, Johnny Brewer, noticed him acting "funny" and followed him. Police swarmed the theater, and after a brief scuffle, Oswald was in handcuffs by 1:50 p.m.
The Swearing-In on Air Force One
Back at Love Field, things were incredibly tense. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was moved to Air Force One for security. There was a real fear that the assassination might be part of a larger Soviet attack.
At 2:38 p.m., Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath of office to LBJ. He stood in the cramped cabin of the plane, flanked by Lady Bird Johnson and a shell-shocked Jackie Kennedy, who was still wearing her blood-stained clothes.
"I want them to see what they have done," she reportedly said.
Why the Day JFK Was Killed Still Haunts Us
If you ask someone who was alive then, they don't just tell you the date. They tell you where they were. My grandmother was in a grocery store. My dad was in a third-grade classroom. It was the first "television event" that the entire world watched in real-time.
There is a huge amount of skepticism that still surrounds this day.
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- The Warren Commission (1964): They concluded Oswald acted entirely alone. One man. Three shots.
- The HSCA (1979): The House Select Committee on Assassinations actually concluded there was a "high probability" of a conspiracy involving a second gunman, based on acoustic evidence that has been debated ever since.
- The Records: Thousands of documents were sealed for decades. Even in 2026, we are still seeing drips and drabs of declassified info.
People often get confused about when Oswald died, too. He didn't even make it to trial. On Sunday, November 24—just two days later—a nightclub owner named Jack Ruby walked into the basement of the Dallas Police HQ and shot Oswald on live national television.
It’s the kind of thing that would seem "too much" for a movie script.
Moving Forward: How to Engage with This History
If you're looking to really understand the gravity of what happened on that Friday, you sort of have to look past the "whodunnit" of the conspiracy theories and look at the actual impact.
- Visit the Sixth Floor Museum: If you're ever in Dallas, go to Dealey Plaza. Standing at that window in the Texas School Book Depository is chilling. It makes the distance of the shots feel much more real.
- Read the Warren Report (and the Critiques): Don't just take a YouTuber's word for it. Look at the ballistics and the witness testimonies yourself.
- Watch the News Coverage: You can find the original CBS News bulletins with Walter Cronkite on YouTube. Seeing the moment he takes off his glasses to announce the death is a masterclass in raw, human reporting.
- Explore the Cultural Shift: Look at how American politics changed after 1963. The skepticism toward the government basically started on that street corner in Dallas.
What day was JFK killed? It was a Friday in November. But for the American psyche, it was the day the lights went out for a long, long time. We're still trying to find the switch.
To truly grasp the era, your best next step is to watch the Zapruder Film alongside the House Select Committee's 1979 findings to see why the "grassy knoll" theory refuses to die.