THE FAMILY OF
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Parents: JFK's father was Joseph Patrick Kennedy. JFK's
mother was Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald.
Siblings: JFK's brothers and sisters
were altogether a crowd of nine children. JFK was the second child.
There were four sons (Joseph P. Jr., John F., Robert R. Edward M.)
and five daughters (Rosemary, Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia, Jean).
And one more word about JFK's mother.
Rose Kennedy was one of the sturdiest people on the planet. Not only
did she survive childbirth nine times (and subsequent rearing of the
lot), she also made it to age 104.
ROSE KENNEDY
1890 - 1995 JFK Presidential Library
THE ASSASSINATION
ATTEMPTS ON JOHN F. KENNEDY
December 11, 1960, Palm Beach, Florida - The book Just 2 Seconds (Gavin de
Becker et al.) notes,
President-elect John F. Kennedy was
staying at his father's home in Florida, following his election
victory. he emerged from the house to go to Mass, accompanied by
his wife, daughter, and several nieces and nephews.
Across the street, and elderly
mental patient named Richard Pavlick sat in his car and
watched Kennedy prepare to leave. On the seat next to Pavlick
were seven sticks of dynamite wired to a knife switch. He
planned to ram Kennedy's car and throw the switch, killing
himself in the process.
Seeing the children, he decided to
kill Kennedy another day and left. Police were tipped off to
Pavlick by a postmaster who had received alarming letters from
him.
Four days after the aborted attempt
at Kennedy's home, Pavlick was arrested without incident. They
found with him the sticks of dynamite, and a letter, written in
the past tense, explaining why he had killed Kennedy.
THE ASSASSINATION OF
JOHN F. KENNEDY
On Friday, November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, TX, while on
his way to a political meeting in an open limousine, riding slowly
in a motorcade. With him was his wife Jacqueline Kennedy.
At 12:30 PM, the car passed the Texas
School Book Depository, where 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald had been
working since October, and three rounds from a Mannlicher-Carcano
6.5mm rifle were fired at Kennedy. The shots came from a window on
the sixth floor.
The first round missed.
The second round struck Kennedy in the
back, passed through him, then struck Texas Governor John B.
Connally in the back, passed through his chest, through his
wrist, coming to rest in his thigh.
The third round was the fatal one and
struck Kennedy in the head. Kennedy died on the scene. He was brought
to Parkland Memorial Hospital where he was declared dead shortly
after arrival. (Connally survived)
The book Just 2 Seconds (Gavin de
Becker et al.) further explains,
Oswald reportedly fled the Book
Depository and later allegedly murdered a policeman before being
arrested. The shots fired from the Texas School Book Depository
covered a distance of 263 feet, the farthest distance from which
anyone has harmed a U.S. President. Controversy has continued
for four decades about the number of shots fired, the origin of
shots, and the number of assailants.
CONSPIRACY OR
NOT?
In 1964, the Warren Commission, so called because it was led
by Chief Justice Earl Warren,
investigated the events but found no evidence of any conspiracy to
assassinate President Kennedy.
In 1979, the House of Representatives
Assassinations Committee investigated the findings of the Warren
Commission and, among other things, found a connection between
Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby (the guy who shot and killed
Lee Harvey Oswald) and crime boss Meyer Lansky. It further
stated that Oswald was definitely Kennedy's assassin but that there
might have been a second gunman, who had missed his target.
According to popular rumor CIA agents
could have been behind the killing as response to Kennedy's
decisions regarding the
Bay of Pigs Invasion.
Another well-liked theory makes crime
bosses responsible for the slaying as response to Attorney General
Bobby Kennedy's shakeup of the underworld.
WHO TOOK OVER? Vice President Johnson took the presidential oath at 2:38 PM,
on November 22, 1963.
