1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on this day in 1963 while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. Riding with First lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife for a 10-mile motorcade through downtown, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding the president and seriously injuring the governor. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46 years old. Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field airport, witnessed by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her husband’s blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.
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