JFK Days that Shook the World

He represented the hopes of a new generation of Americans,

but the whole world was shocked when an assassin's bullet

claimed the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Based on eyewitness accounts, this is a dramatisation of events

on a day that shook the world.

It is the 22nd of November, 1963.

In central Asia, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova

is the first woman to be launched into space.

In England, the hunt is still on for the perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery,

In Washington DC, Martin Luther King addresses the Million Man March in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

And in Dallas, preparations are underway for a presidential visit.

Dallas, Texas. Thursday, November 22nd 1963.

It's a mild morning but there are ominous grey clouds in the distance

threatening an overcast day with the chance of rain.

In the Oak Cliff suburb of Dallas, the Newmans are looking forward to Thanksgiving celebrations.

But today they've made plans for a family day out.

RADIO PLAYS What's the matter, not ready yet?

It's 7am, and the Newmans are having breakfast. Bill and Gail Newman were high school sweethearts

and now, aged 22, they have a young family,

Four-year-old Billy Newman loves cartoons - Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd are his favourites.

Two-year-old Clayton doesn't care what's on TV. He's too excited to eat breakfast either.

Billy! Come and eat! No, I'm watching TV.

Gail Newman is having her usual breakfast, a bottle of Dr Pepper.

What was that Indian... Her husband, Bill, has taken the day off

but he's still thinking about work.

He recently took an electrician's exam and is waiting for the result.

OPERA MUSIC PLAYS

Across town, Dr Malcolm Perry is also having his breakfast.

The 34-year-old surgeon has a routine day ahead, lecturing and doing his patient rounds,

at Parkland Memorial Hospital in central Dallas.

Perry trained as a doctor and served in the US Air Force, before returning to Texas five years ago,

to work as a surgeon at Parkland Hospital.

The President of the United States. APPLAUSE

Meanwhile, 30 miles away in Fort Worth, Texas, John F Kennedy, 35th President of the United States,

is addressing a breakfast conference.

Three years ago, I said that I'd introduce myself in Paris by saying that I was the man

who'd accompanied Mrs Kennedy to Paris. It's the same sensation here!

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Nobody wonders what Lyndon and I wear. LAUGHTER

John Kennedy married fashion icon, 34-year-old Jacqueline Bouvier, ten years ago.

They now have two young children - Caroline, aged five, and John John, aged two.

Jackie Kennedy is looking forward to celebrating the children's birthdays next week,

well away from the hassle of this political trip.

CLOCK TICKS

20,000 feet up in the Texas skies, Air Force One, the President's plane, is making the short flight,

from Fort Worth to Love Field, Dallas.

On board with John and Jackie Kennedy, 35-year-old Malcolm Kilduff is anxious.

His boss is away in Japan, so as Assistant Press Secretary to JFK, it is his responsibility

to organise the President's tour of Texas.

'The forces of the Republican party were starting to pick up in '63, prior to running against Kennedy

'in '64, so there were a few negative signs.'

Last month, America's United Nations ambassador, Adlai Stevenson,

was physically attacked during a visit to Dallas.

The political climate remains tense.

Kilduff is daydreaming about his plans to set up his own PR agency,

well away from the stress and strain of the political world.

The Newman family set off to see the President arrive at Love Field.

Come on, Bill! Comin', honey.

Yesterday, Bill bought a new roll of film for his 8mm cine camera.

But in the excitement, he leaves the camera.

As Air Force One comes into land at Love Field,

Malcolm Kilduff is steeling himself for the worst.

Texas is a traditional Republican stronghold.

Kennedy's progressive approach to domestic issues like civil rights is unsettling the Republican hardcore.

What's more, his international ambition to act as peacemaker to the world has angered right-wingers,

who believe America is too heavily influenced by the United Nations.

Kilduff anticipates a hostile reception but so far, so good.

As the President and First Lady descend from the aircraft,

the Newman children find it hard to see anything through the mass of people.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest and the first Catholic President of the United States.

Over the past three years, he has overseen the strongest economic upturn in American history,

and has energised the country.

Ask not...

what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

AMERICAN NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS

Malcolm Kilduff steps into the press car, three cars behind the President's Lincoln,

part of a motorcade that will travel the five miles through the city to the Dallas Trade Mart.

Kilduff has helped plan the route.

This morning, the President ordered the removal of the protective bubble on his car,

in order to be closer and more visible to the crowds.

The journey will take approximately 35 minutes through downtown Dallas.

John F Kennedy is nearing the end of a tough tour of Texas -

San Antonio, Houston, Forth Worth, Dallas and finally Austin.

Texas is a difficult state,

very rightwing, very Republican, very vocal.

But the President is a political fighter well-used to facing down his critics.

A few weeks from today, you have to make your decision of what you want this country to be.

What you want Illinois to be.

How ready you are to move to this country forward, that is the question which separates Mr Nixon and myself.

JFK narrowly beat Republican vice-president Richard Nixon

to the presidency in 1960.

To all Americans, I say that...

the next four years are going to be difficult and challenging for us all.

Despite his popularity, he does not have total support across the USA.

In April 1961, Kennedy unsuccessfully tried to oust the socialist liberator of Cuba,

Fidel Castro.

Last year, the Soviet Union sent an arsenal of nuclear weapons to Cuba.

Kennedy ordered a blockade, and forced the USSR to back down.

The President's foreign policy is dividing supporters within America.

If we increase pressure, here and here...

Noon in Dallas. Assistant Professor of Surgery, Malcolm Perry,

delivers his last lecture at the Southwestern Medical School. Perry's keen to finish on time.

He has a lunch appointment with a friend over at Parkland Hospital.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Kilduff is following the President.

Lemmon Avenue, Turtle Creek Boulevard, Cedarsprings Row,

right to Main, round Dealey Plaza, and on to Stemmons Freeway North.

Kilduff knows the route well, and so he should, since he helped plan it.

The crowds are out in force, press interest in the Kennedy family is as intense in Dallas

as it is across America.

A thousand days into his presidency, JFK is a celebrity.

Camelot, as the White House is now nicknamed, enjoys a constant influx of glamorous intellectuals.

After the old-world flavour of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, JFK is the herald of a new age.

Let the word go forth, from this time and place,

to friend and foe alike,

that the torch has been passed

to a new generation of Americans...

The Newmans arrive at Dealey Plaza, only five minutes from JFK's destination, the Dallas Trade Mart.

They find a prime position near the corner of Houston and Elm Street,

on a grass bank near the road.

The crowd has thinned out on the Plaza.

Bill Newman is reminded that he's left his own camera at home.

Shocking that they died before the record.

Never got to see them grow.

Malcolm Perry is having lunch with Dr Jones before his afternoon surgical rounds begin at 1.00.

The Dallas Trade Mart is awaiting the arrival of the President.

As part of his speech in an hour's time,

he plans to talk about international strength and security, reassuring his audience that the United States

is a peaceful nation.

But rightwing Republicans have already made JFK uncomfortable in Texas.

Even a front page welcome in today's newspaper is actually a list of challenges to the young president.

The Kennedy motorcade moves through central Dallas, Main Street,

on to Dealey Plaza, towards Houston Street. The crowds on the main part of the route are surprisingly large,

and enthusiastic and the weather has stayed bright.

The motorcade begins to drive around the Plaza's north corner,

by the old school book depository.

The President is relieved at the positive reaction to his visit.

At the motorcade turns into Elm Street, Billy Newman glimpses the President.

Misreading the sign behind him,

Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff asks "What the hell's a book whispository?"

GUNSHOTS

GUNSHOT

Three shots had been fired.

After the first, Bill and Gail think someone is letting off firecrackers.

GUNSHOT

Billy Newman sees a spurt of blood across the car. GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

The third and final shot brings a spray of blood from the President's head.

Billy is pulled to the ground beneath his father who is terrified of further random shooting.

"Some son of a bitch just shot the President", he screams, pounding the ground with his fists.

Billy hears Jackie shout "Oh no!" as the crowd panics and her husband slumps into her lap.

Immediately, an agent jumps on to the Kennedy car to protect the President and First Lady.

Special Agent William Greer driving the Kennedy car accelerates.

Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff is uncertain what's happened, or where the motorcade is heading.

Nearby, a 24-year-old man, called Lee Harvey Oswald

is seen running away from the book depository.

In Dealey Plaza, there is chaos and confusion.

People rush towards the Newman family. Some even take pictures,

wondering why they have hit the ground or if they've been caught in the crossfire.

Kilduff is confused.

'The motorcade pulled off fast but that wasn't unusual because in any emergency,

'we knew the conditioned reflex was to get out if there was trouble.

There is no communication with the press car, only 25 metres behind the President's car,

as they speed through the streets.

In the Parkland's cafe,

Dr Perry hears a pager message for the head of emergency services, Dr Tom Shires.

Perry knows his boss is away so he responds to the call.

Journalists begin filing stories as soon as they realise the firecrackers were gunshots.

But still they have no idea what's really happened.

There's nothing in those bulletins that will indicate

that anyone had the slightest idea the President had been shot until after we got to Parkland Hospital.

Immediately pursued by TV journalists following the shooting,

the Newman family are quickly taken to the sheriff's office to make a witness statement.

They are shocked and very scared.

Dr Perry discovers the patient is the President. Talk to me!

He rushes into Trauma Room 1 where JFK has been taken - case number 24740.

I did not detect a heartbeat and I was told no blood pressure was obtainable.

The President's clothing is removed as part of emergency procedure.

The trauma team notice an amateur bandage around his thigh.

They have no idea to this day what it was for.

PHONE RINGS In an area the size of Dallas I can't get at least 12 phones?

Now operating on autopilot, Malcolm Kilduff is phoning Southern Bell,

ordering more lines for the press and government agents.

Southern Bell are quickly onto the case.

Kennedy's body is making what doctors call ineffective spasmodic respiratory efforts.

He is trying to breathe. Dr Perry makes a quick diagnosis.

I noted the presence of lacerated brain tissue.

In the neck, below the Adam's apple, was a small circular wound from which blood was exuding slowly.

Perry tries to ease the President's breathing.

He performs an emergency tracheotomy by inserting a tube through the neck wound.

Meanwhile, the neurosurgeons prepare to take readings of electrical activity in the brain.

Kilduff waits for news in the corridor.

He already fears the worst.

There's a five-inch hole in the back of Kennedy's skull.

From his vantage point at the President's head,

Dr McLellan sees that half of his brain has been destroyed.

Fearing a coup d'etat, the security services decide it's too dangerous to allow Vice President Johnson

to remain so close. He's moved from Parkland Hospital.

Dr Malcolm Perry already fears it is a hopeless situation.

The President's eyes were dim and dilated and he was unresponsive.

We were breathing for him.

I'd begun external cardiac massage.

We had been unable to detect a heartbeat, blood pressure or pulse.

Kilduff has set up an emergency press office in a classroom, to cope with growing media interest.

News of the shooting is starting to hit the airwaves.

RADIO: Here is a bulletin from CBS News.

In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade.

The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded.

Stay tuned to CBS News for more details.

As quickly as possible, I need you down there to find witnesses...

Kilduff realises Kennedy's spattered Lincoln is now vulnerable to prying eyes,

and immediately orders agents to replace the bubble fixture previously removed from the car.

At some point before one o'clock,

the Lincoln is also cleaned of all forensic material -

apparently on orders from the FBI.

At 12.58, Dr Perry leaves Trauma Room 1 to wash up.

There is nothing more he can do.

Perry remembers he has left his jacket behind,

and slips back into the trauma room to retrieve it.

1pm - 30 minutes after the shooting,

John F Kennedy is pronounced dead.

He is the youngest president ever elected,

and the youngest to die,

exactly 100 years to the week since the Battle of Gettysburg - Abraham Lincoln's finest moment.

PIANO MUSIC

THREE GUNSHOTS

Only Dr McClelland remains as Father Oscar Huber arrives

to administer the last rites to America's first Catholic president.

If thou livest... His first words are,

"If thou livest," in accordance with strict Catholic protocol,

he's only able to grant conditional salvation to a dead man.

Soul, body...

RADIO: News just in - White House Secretary Malcolm Kilduff was asked whether the President was dead,

and he said, "I have no word now."

In the temporary press centre at Parkland Hospital, Kilduff has been asked to wait

until Vice President Johnson is back on board Air Force One,

before he formally announces the President's death.

Jackie Kennedy enters the trauma room.

Her husband has been dead for just over ten minutes.

The last remaining doctor watches as she removes her wedding ring, and places it by her husband's.

Three months ago, Jackie gave birth to their fourth child, Patrick.

The boy died after only three days.

The trauma now brings nothing but silence.

The Vice President boards Air Force One,

and Malcolm Kilduff is finally allowed to make the most important press statement of his life.

President John F Kennedy died at approximately 1pm Central Standard Time here in Dallas.

He died from a gunshot wound to the brain.

I have no further details at this time.

The American public are stunned by the announcement.

No one is left unaffected by the shock news.

From Dallas, Texas - the flash, apparently official -

President Kennedy died at 1pm Central Standard Time,

two o'clock Eastern Standard Time,

some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas,

but we do not know to where he has proceeded.

Former teacher and Texas senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson

had served under Kennedy as Vice President for almost three years.

Now, in tragic circumstances, the 55-year-old will succeed JFK.

Ten miles away, 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested

following the shooting of a police officer.

He's charged with the murder of President Kennedy.

As Malcolm Kilduff reaches Air Force One,

the Vice President phones the attorney general and is instructed to take the oath of office.

He reluctantly calls the only local judge available - Sarah Hughes.

Johnson vetoed her appointment to the Federal Bench

but now must ask her to swear him in as President.

Johnson personally phones three lawyers in Dallas.

No-one has the text of the presidential oath to hand.

There are also no sound and motion cameras to record the moment.

One of Kilduff's press agents finds a dictaphone with a recording belt.

A professional stills camera is also brought in.

These machines will record one of the key events in American history.

Finally, the Attorney-General dictates the words of the ceremony over the telephone from Washington.

Kennedy's body is loaded onto Air Force One as Judge Hughes arrives.

Minutes later, Johnson begins the ceremony that makes him president.

Malcolm Kilduff, lying at Johnson's feet, operates the dictaphone.

Still, silent and in shock,

Jackie Kennedy acts as witness to the event.

'I solemnly declare...' 'I solemnly declare...'

'That I will faithfully execute...' 'That I will faithfully execute...'

'The office of President of the United States...'

'The office of President of the United States...'

'And will to the best of my ability...'

With the new President Johnson on board,

Air Force One takes off from Love Field, Dallas.

Two hours later, the plane lands at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington

where President Kennedy took off for Texas yesterday morning.

The casket is removed from the plane and Jackie rides with it into Washington.

She is still wearing the pink bloodsoaked dress and stockings, caked in her husband's blood.

At 6.15pm, President Lyndon Johnson addresses the world for the first time.

This is a sad time for all people.

We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed.

For me, it is a deep personal tragedy.

I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs Kennedy and her family bear.

I will do my best...

that is all I can do.

On Monday next week, John Kennedy Junior will mark his third birthday

and on Wednesday, his sister Caroline will be six.

Deeply shaken by their experiences of the day,

the Newman brothers will sleep on the floor of their parents' room for days afterwards.

The family will never return to Dealey Plaza.

Dr Malcolm Perry moves to Washington DC as professor of surgery.

He returned to Southwestern Medical School in 1996.

Two years after President Kennedy's death,

Malcolm Kilduff left the White House to set up his own news agency.

He later edited a local newspaper and died in March 2003.

Two days after Kennedy's death, the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald,

is himself gunned down in a Dallas City jail.

He dies the day before JFK's funeral.

'If a beach-head of co-operation

'may push back the jungle of suspicion,

'let both sides join in creating a new endeavour

'where the strong are just and the weak secure.

'and the peace preserved.'

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days,

nor in the life of this administration,

nor even, perhaps, in our lifetime on this planet, but let us begin.

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Subtitles by BBC Broadcast, 2003

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