It has been half a century, and so many lifetimes ago. Yet the images from November 1963 remain haunting, blurred into our national consciousness. Fifty years later, CBS News relives that drama -- in the moment -- as it unfolded before a world in shock.
Bob Schieffer | CBS News: When the President came to Texas, I was a young newspaper reporter covering the crime beat for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. With JFK and his elegant wife Jackie heading our way, for us it was the biggest story of the year. Little could we know history was about to be made. Time stopped cold, in that dark moment, on a Dallas street. The horror of the assassin's shots shattered dreams, and echoed through the decades, coloring our politics, and lives. It was also a watershed moment for American television news, led by CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite. With the death of a president came the birth of live coverage. America shared a national tragedy, as it happened.
Because of television we thought we knew JFK and his family more intimately than any of his predecesors, the man friends simply called, "Jack."
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[h=3]The Kennedy Years: The photos of Jacques Lowe[/h]
Schieffer: Sure he was playing the media. ... But the fact is he was just so good at it... that it worked. ... And who could blame him?
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[h=3]"Person to Person" classic: JFK and Jacqueline[/h]
Walter Cronkite (1993): Kennedy -- seemed to be -- leading us into a new era of - of -- youthful exuberance ... over the fun of life, the fun a country could have being itself, being important in the world. We were dancing on clouds.
Schieffer: It was just the difference in night and day. He was the Technicolor President and we had sort of seen the presidency in black and white up until that point. ...Suddenly we had this young handsome president and this gorgeous wife and these beautiful children ... and he is the first president that we came to really know, and we came to know his family and that was because of television.
Schieffer: In those days presidents didn't travel very much and it was a major event. ... They decided to come to Texas because they thought they could raise money there. ... The people were so excited.
Schieffer: The relationship between Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy was very complex. They were partners. Were they ever friends?
Robert Caro | Author and historian: Not really.
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[h=3]Historian Robert Caro: JFK knew how to use television[/h]
Schieffer: They decided to fly from Fort Worth to Dallas, which is literally...only 30 miles. They flew over. Air Force One lands at Love Field.
Bob Huffaker | Former KRLD radio reporter: Well the day began gray and cold... there was a misting rain falling and the temperature was cold. Suddenly at mid-morning the skies opened up and it was a beautiful ... blue ... spring-like day.
Caro: We see it, the great plane is gleaming silver in the background, everything is bright under a bright Texas sun, and you hear the television announcer "There she is..."
Schieffer: They decided because the skies had cleared to take the bubble-top off the presidential limousine.
Caro: Then they turn off Main Street into this open grassy area, Dealey Plaza, and there's a sharp cracking sound. ...John Connally, I remember saying to me, "I was a hunter. I knew the moment I heard it, it was the crack of a hunting rifle."
Caro: So the three cars -- the cars with President Kennedy, the Secret Service car and Johnson's car squeal up the ramp to an expressway ... and then off the expressway and into the emergency bay at Parkland Hospital.
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[h=3]Reporter Bob Huffaker remembers the day the "news went live"[/h]
Cronkite (1993): Looking right at it when the bells rang, five bells for a bulletin ... Shots rang out while the president's motorcade drove through the streets of Dallas ... And with that I turned around and shouted: "Let's get on the air, lets get on the air!" Well in those days we didn't keep a camera hot.
Socolow: And he couldn't get on the air on television. You never saw Cronkite. You saw a card on the screen.
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Bob Schieffer | CBS News: When the President came to Texas, I was a young newspaper reporter covering the crime beat for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. With JFK and his elegant wife Jackie heading our way, for us it was the biggest story of the year. Little could we know history was about to be made. Time stopped cold, in that dark moment, on a Dallas street. The horror of the assassin's shots shattered dreams, and echoed through the decades, coloring our politics, and lives. It was also a watershed moment for American television news, led by CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite. With the death of a president came the birth of live coverage. America shared a national tragedy, as it happened.
Because of television we thought we knew JFK and his family more intimately than any of his predecesors, the man friends simply called, "Jack."
[h=3]The Kennedy Years: The photos of Jacques Lowe[/h]
Voice of John F. Kennedy: I was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1917. I have eight brothers and sisters and they...I'm the second oldest, And it was a great pleasure growing up in a large family. I think it makes a tremendous difference.
Voice of Rose Kennedy: His father would go out and watch the sailboats...and then he'd say, "Why are your sails flapping while the other one was straight? And the other one won the race and you didn't.... If you're gonna race, why do it right and come in a winner. Second place is no good.
Sandy Socolow | Walter Cronkite's producer: John F. Kennedy ... was brought up in an ultra-rich way. Very well educated. ... Very good-looking. Very personable. ... He was extraordinarily self confident.Voice of Rose Kennedy: His father would go out and watch the sailboats...and then he'd say, "Why are your sails flapping while the other one was straight? And the other one won the race and you didn't.... If you're gonna race, why do it right and come in a winner. Second place is no good.
Schieffer: Sure he was playing the media. ... But the fact is he was just so good at it... that it worked. ... And who could blame him?
1960 Kennedy-Nixon presidential debate rehearsal:Kennedy: It's a pleasure to be here tonight to participate in this program which opens up a series of discussions... is that about the right tone of voice.
Richard Nixon: Think I better shave.
Richard Nixon: Think I better shave.
Walter Cronkite on the air 1960: And the popular vote ... 84 percent of the precincts counted now ... give Kennedy just a little margin over 50 percent of the vote... Nixon almost 50 percent of the vote. One of the closest elections in our nation's history has been record in this year of 1960.
[h=3]"Person to Person" classic: JFK and Jacqueline[/h]
Walter Cronkite (1993): Kennedy -- seemed to be -- leading us into a new era of - of -- youthful exuberance ... over the fun of life, the fun a country could have being itself, being important in the world. We were dancing on clouds.
Schieffer: It was just the difference in night and day. He was the Technicolor President and we had sort of seen the presidency in black and white up until that point. ...Suddenly we had this young handsome president and this gorgeous wife and these beautiful children ... and he is the first president that we came to really know, and we came to know his family and that was because of television.
Schieffer: In those days presidents didn't travel very much and it was a major event. ... They decided to come to Texas because they thought they could raise money there. ... The people were so excited.
Schieffer: The relationship between Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy was very complex. They were partners. Were they ever friends?
Robert Caro | Author and historian: Not really.
[h=3]Historian Robert Caro: JFK knew how to use television[/h]
Schieffer: They decided to fly from Fort Worth to Dallas, which is literally...only 30 miles. They flew over. Air Force One lands at Love Field.
Bob Huffaker | Former KRLD radio reporter: Well the day began gray and cold... there was a misting rain falling and the temperature was cold. Suddenly at mid-morning the skies opened up and it was a beautiful ... blue ... spring-like day.
Caro: We see it, the great plane is gleaming silver in the background, everything is bright under a bright Texas sun, and you hear the television announcer "There she is..."
Reporter: ...and there's Mrs. Kennedy, the first lady stepping from the plane. Wearing a bright pink suit with a dark fur collar and a matching pink hat, and the president wearing a dark suit.
Caro: They hand Jackie at the bottom of the stairs this bouquet of roses.
Reporter: She does makes a very striking picture as she clutches the huge bouquet of bright red roses...
Caro: He takes Jackie and they walk along the fence. And someone said there was no brighter moment in the Kennedy presidency then that moment at Love Field in Dallas.
Schieffer: They decided because the skies had cleared to take the bubble-top off the presidential limousine.
Reporter: And the president will be riding in the open ... that car was flown in here last night from Washington ...
Huffaker: The crowd cheered as the President and his beautiful wife came past us.
Reporter: And now the ticker tape and uh ... other confetti and such is beginning to flow from the windows and the crowd at our point is surging forward. There is a big cheer going up...
Schieffer: As they turned to go into the main downtown area, Nelly Connally, who was John Connally's wife ... Governor Connally's wife, turned to the president and said, "Well Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you."
Reporter: ... and here is the President of the United States ... and what a crowd... what a tremendous welcome he is getting now.
Huffaker: The crowd just surged out from their points on the sidewalk and filled the street from curb to curb.
Caro: Then they turn off Main Street into this open grassy area, Dealey Plaza, and there's a sharp cracking sound. ...John Connally, I remember saying to me, "I was a hunter. I knew the moment I heard it, it was the crack of a hunting rifle."
Abraham Zapruder film: I was down on this freeway early ... and even the freeway was jammed pack with spectators waiting their chance to see the president as he made his way toward the trade mart ... it appears as though something has happened in the motorcade route ... something I repeat has happened in the motorcade route.
Schieffer: Well, it was just pandemonium. It was just a terrible moment.
Caro: So the three cars -- the cars with President Kennedy, the Secret Service car and Johnson's car squeal up the ramp to an expressway ... and then off the expressway and into the emergency bay at Parkland Hospital.
There has been a shooting ... Parkland Hospital has been advised to stand by for a severe gunshot wound.
[h=3]Reporter Bob Huffaker remembers the day the "news went live"[/h]
Cronkite (1993): Looking right at it when the bells rang, five bells for a bulletin ... Shots rang out while the president's motorcade drove through the streets of Dallas ... And with that I turned around and shouted: "Let's get on the air, lets get on the air!" Well in those days we didn't keep a camera hot.
Socolow: And he couldn't get on the air on television. You never saw Cronkite. You saw a card on the screen.
Cronkite on the air: Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.
Huffaker: This was the day that the news went live on television.
Cronkite on the air: The first reports say the President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.
Schieffer: People were crying. People were just walking around with a blank look on their face. "What does this mean? What's happened?"
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