Friday marks the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and for many, questions about that fateful day in Dallas still loom.
By Charles W. Kim, Managing Editor
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and for many, questions about that fateful day in Dallas still loom.
Mr. Kennedy was shot as his motorcade wound its way through the streets of that Texas city at about 12:30 p.m. CST
He was rushed to Parkland Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. CST.
Later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald in a city movie theater for allegedly shooting a Dallas police officer.
He was later tied to the assassination through a rifle left in the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository in Daeley Plaza.
Before he could be tried for the alleged crimes, however, he was shot to death in the basement of police headquarters by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby on Nov. 24 as Mr. Oswald was being transported to the city’s jail.
Packet Media Group asked readers to share their memories of that day.
”I was a senior at Princeton High School that year, and still remember hearing the announcement in the gymnasium,” Princeton resident Faith Bahadurian said. “I don’t know why we weren’t called into the auditorium instead, or maybe it was during my own gym class. I just remember sitting on the floor, and staring down at the grain of the wood trying hard not to cry. My mother and I, neither of us churchgoers at that point, went to St. Paul’s that evening for a special service. We so needed comfort. It was a terrible time; it was as if our whole world suddenly felt very fragile.”
Metuchen resident Maggie Klorman had a similar memory.
”I was in fourth grade in St. Mary’s Grammar School in Perth Amboy. We were just getting ready to start our Friday afternoon spelling test. I remember Sister Mary John Bosco coming into our classroom and telling us President Kennedy had been shot, then a little while later she came back and was crying,” she said. “She told us he was dead. Then the whole school went across the street to our church and we prayed.”
President Lyndon Baines Johnson convened a commission to investigate the assassination headed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren.
The commission concluded that Mr. Oswald killed President Kennedy and had acted alone.
Since those watershed events, however, many people have questioned the commission’s findings and suspect there is more to the case.
In an unscientific online survey by Packet Media Group this week, 32 percent of the 76 people responding believe accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald killed Mr. Kennedy and acted alone.
Another 30 percent believe a conspiracy led to the killing.
Sixteen percent believe the CIA was responsible, followed by the mob, Cuban Communists, LBJ, the military, and others.

