Dallas to mark 50 years since JFK's assassination

President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ride near Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, the day he was assassinated. / AP Photo

DALLAS The city of Dallas will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy next year with a ceremony featuring the tolling of church bells, a moment of silence and readings by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough from the president's speeches.

"I think what we want to do is focus on the life and legacy and leadership of President Kennedy," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Tuesday. "The tone is going to be serious, simple, respectful, and it's going to be about his life."

The commemoration Nov. 22, 2013, will take place in Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy's motorcade through downtown Dallas was passing as shots rang out. The ceremony will begin at 12:25 p.m. with the tolling of church bells across the city, followed by a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m., the time of the shooting.

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The Warren Commission that investigated the president's death concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald fired at Kennedy's motorcade from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and acted alone.

Rawlings convened a committee of more than two dozen Dallas civic leaders to decide how to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination. He said the committee decided the commemoration should be a tribute to Kennedy's life. He added that students throughout the city will be learning about Kennedy and talking about ways they can fulfill his charge to think about what they can do for their country.

The ceremony, expected to last about 45 minutes, also will feature a performance by the U.S. Naval Academy Men's Glee Club in honor of Kennedy, who was a U.S. Navy veteran. Religious leaders will offer prayers and a benediction, and there will be a military flyover.

"This is an important day in a lot of people's lives — this is true for people throughout the world," Rawlings said.

McCullough has written acclaimed biographies of Presidents Harry S. Truman and John Adams. He's won two Pulitzer Prizes as well as many other awards.

The memorial will be free and open to the public.

Earlier Tuesday, Dallas police and school district officials dedicated a historical marker to the police officer shot by Oswald 45 minutes after Kennedy was killed. J.D. Tippit was patrolling the Oak Cliff neighborhood just southwest of downtown when he spotted Oswald walking down a street.

Oswald would go on to shoot Tippit four times.

A passer-by used the officer's police radio to call in the shooting. Oswald was arrested just before 2 p.m. that day in the nearby Texas Theatre.

Two days later, nightclub owner Jack Ruby killed Oswald.

Tippit's widow, Marie, helped unveil the marker, which was placed near where her husband was killed. The land was part of a residential area in 1963 but is now part of the Adamson High School campus.

"He died just a few steps away from here, doing his job enforcing the law, never knowing his sacrifice would lead to the capture of a presidential assassin," Marie Tippit said.

[bendrady]

You guys obviously missed the History Channel re-enactment of the Kennedy assassination. They had a rifle with a laser aiming from the 6th floor window onto a 1961 Lincoln Presidential limousine with jump seats identical to JFK's car. Two men with the same height and weight of JFK and Connally sat in the seats. The laser rifle pointed at the exact spot the second shot hit Kennedy's shoulder. Then, the Kennedy double moved to the side and the laser pointed to the exact spot the bullet hit Connally's back. After so many years of conspiracy theorists getting the geometry all wrong, the History Channel proved the single bullet theory with a precise re-enactment in Dealy Plaza. Kennedy reacted instantly to that bullet since its high velocity traumatized his spinal cord. For the rest of your life, you can go on believing this conspiracy nonsense, but the facts prove otherwise.

[James-At-WhitesWillWin]

Wow, there's "The Other Half Of JFK" on James Laffrey's wordpress site. Info from the great Revilo P. Oliver and others on Executive Order 11110, the real political situation for JFK and his re-election chances. Search for it.

[anonyq]

Why, in 2012, would CBS cite the totally debunked Warren Commission fairy tale as the truth? And, regarding "Oswald would go on to shoot Tippit four times": the press nowadays uses "alleged" even in the most flagrant cases where someone is obviously guilty, but here they accuse Oswald of murder as if it is established fact when he was never tried or convicted and could not have been since the statements of the witnesses that weren't coerced exonerate him from the murder of Tippit, not to mention the ballistic evidence. Here's a novel concept: how about honoring President Kennedy with the truth, for a change? Or at least stop repeating established lies.

[James-At-WhitesWillWin]

Well said. We only have to look at who owns/controls the big media to know why they endlessly repeat the established lies. A different source of misleading "half-truths" is some "independent" sites. The "WhitesWillWin" site totally exposes that in a new article called "The Other Half Of JFK." For example, JFK's "secret societies" speech, and his quote about Adolf Hitler.

[MSISTEPMINSTREL]

KENNEDY FOUND OUT ABOUT "HIS ALBATROSS SHADOW GOVERNMENT AND THE DRUG LAUNDERING AND THE TEXAS OILMEN CARTEL"--A WEE BIT TO LATE---TEXAS DID NOT LIKE KENNEDY'S LEFTIST IDEALISM, TRUE-BUT THE M.I.C. WANTED THE SOUTHEAST ASIA DOMINION AT ALL COSTS-AND THE PHOENIX TEAMS OF ASSASSINS WERE EMPLOYED AT THE BEHEST OF BANKERS AND ROGUE C.I.A. ELEMENTS-THAT ULTIMATELY BECAME NIXON CRONIES AND ASSETS--!

[barbaram99]

It is 49 years since that day this year and 2013 it will be 50 years. I was 9 years old when President JFK was killed. They will mark the day..A lot has changed in 50 years..