Dallas · 22 November 1963 · the events, places and people
Explore the final Dallas motorcade, Dealey Plaza, the shooting of President Kennedy, the immediate aftermath, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby and the investigations that followed. Use the illustrated route, concise event summaries and searchable 1,932-record chronology to move from the story of the day into the detailed historical record.
The story
On Friday 22 November 1963, President John F. Kennedy travelled through Dallas in an open presidential limousine as part of a political visit to Texas. The motorcade was heading toward a luncheon at the Trade Mart when it entered Dealey Plaza shortly after 12:30 p.m.
Shots struck President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally as the limousine travelled along Elm Street. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. The events that followed — the killing of police officer J. D. Tippit, the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and Oswald's shooting by Jack Ruby — became part of one of the most intensely examined episodes in modern American history.
This site combines an illustrated account of the places and events with a searchable chronology. Visitors can follow the motorcade route and key moments first, then explore the underlying records by year, person, event or place.
Historical context
This overview links the events in Dallas to the official investigations and evidence categories represented in the searchable archive.
President Kennedy's Texas trip placed the motorcade on a public route through central Dallas. The final turns from Main Street to Houston and Elm brought the limousine past the Texas School Book Depository and through Dealey Plaza toward the triple underpass.
Read article →Lee Harvey Oswald left the Depository after the shooting. Officer J. D. Tippit was killed in Oak Cliff later that afternoon, and police arrested Oswald at the Texas Theatre. Investigators then linked him to both killings.
Read article →Two days later Jack Ruby shot Oswald in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters. Oswald's death prevented the evidence from being tested in a normal criminal trial and ensured that later public understanding would depend heavily on investigative commissions and documentary records.
Read article →The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Oswald fired the shots that killed Kennedy and that it found no evidence establishing a conspiracy. Its reconstruction relied on witness testimony, firearms evidence, medical evidence, photographs and the chronology of Oswald's movements.
Read article →The Warren Commission concluded that one bullet passed through President Kennedy's neck and then struck Governor Connally, causing several wounds. Critics later popularised the “magic bullet” nickname for Commission Exhibit 399, making the single-bullet conclusion a continuing focus of historical debate.
Read article →The House Select Committee on Assassinations revisited the case in the 1970s. It agreed that Oswald fired at Kennedy but concluded that Kennedy was probably killed as a result of a conspiracy, a conclusion strongly influenced by acoustic evidence that later became disputed.
Read article →The assassination combines a dense evidential record with incomplete courtroom testing, intelligence secrecy, conflicting witness impressions and later document releases. Those factors explain why the event remains a major subject of historical and forensic research.
Read article →22 November 1963
Follow an expanded chronology from the morning in Fort Worth and arrival at Love Field through Dealey Plaza, Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Tippit shooting, Oswald's arrest, Lyndon Johnson's oath of office and Air Force One's return to Washington.
Dallas location guides
The detailed maps and route material now live on their dedicated crawlable pages, keeping this overview faster and easier to scan.
Follow the route from Love Field through downtown Dallas toward the Trade Mart, including the final approach to Dealey Plaza.
Open the motorcade route →Explore the assassination scene, Texas School Book Depository, Elm Street, grassy knoll and related location evidence.
Open the Dealey Plaza guide →Search the historical archive
Search the structured archive by year, person, event, place, country or keyword. The database is kept on its own page so this overview remains fast and easy to scan.
Explore the archive
The main index now provides the overview. Detailed timelines, evidence discussion, subject directories and research guidance each have their own permanent URL. The searchable database now has its own section immediately above.
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