This edited article about assassination originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 852 published on 13 May 1978.
Surrounded by a police escort, the presidential car turned into the crowd-lined streets in Dallas, Texas, USA. Travelling at a slow speed so that people could see its occupants, it made its way downhill towards a concrete overpass.
Somewhere, from a vantage point overlooking the route, an assassin took aim with a gun and fired. The bullet struck John Fitzgerald Kennedy, president of the USA.
At the age of 46, he was the most powerful man in the world. Abroad, he was regarded with caution and respect – especially by the Russians. At home, he was idolised by those who believed in the establishment of a free, democratic life.
On a sunny day in November, 1963, Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were visiting Dallas. With them in the presidential car were the governor of Texas and his wife, John and Nellie Connally.
Crowds lining the route were cheering loudly when Mrs. Connally leaned across to Kennedy and said, “Well, Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.”
At that moment, a shot rang out. Kennedy put his hand to his neck and slumped forward.
The occupants of the presidential car were barely aware of what had happened before another shot hit Kennedy in the head.
Horror-stricken, Mrs. Kennedy cradled her husband in her lap.
Kennedy was rushed to a nearby hospital, but nothing could be done to save him.
An intensive police hunt began for the killer and an hour after the assassination, the police arrested their suspect – Lee Harvey Oswald. But was Oswald the killer? Was he a foreign agent or did he act alone? Even while the world was speculating, one man was quietly planning that Oswald should be silenced – forever! Who was this man and what was his plan?
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