John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. A ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963–1964, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) of 1976–1979, and other government investigations concluded that the President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was murdered by Jack Ruby, an American nightclub owner from Dallas, before he could stand trial.
Ruby was convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald was arrested for the assassination of JFK. He successfully appealed the conviction and death sentence. As a date for his new trial was being set, he became ill and died of lung cancer on January 3, 1967. Conspiracy theorists claim that Ruby was involved with major figures in organised crime and killed Oswald as part of an overall plot surrounding the assassination of Kennedy. Others have disputed this, arguing that his connection with gangsters was minimal at best and that he was not the sort to be entrusted with such an act within a high-level conspiracy.
Initially these finding were met with support and belief amongst the American public however polls conducted from 1966 on show as many as 80% of Americans have held beliefs contrary to these findings. This is helped in part by the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) findings that both the original FBI investigation, and the Warren Commission Report to be seriously flawed. The HSCA also concluded that there were at least four shots fired, that there was a "high probability" that two gunmen fired at the President, and that it was probable that a conspiracy existed. In return however many other studies including one by the National Academy of Sciences, have called into question the accuracy of the evidence used by the HSCA to support its finding of four shots. This has led to many conspiracy theories developing and it's one of these events that no-one will ever know the truth about.
We went to the site of the assassination and were able to look around with the help of maps and markers to recreate the scene in our minds. It was a bit surreal to stand there and see everyone following the route that the car took and looking up at the window from the exact point where JFK was shot. Not too far from the scene there is a small square that hosts a monument to the late JFK.
A couple of the other things to do in Dallas is take a tram up to the West Village which is a cool trendy place full of shops and a nice cafe culture. As well as this we came across Pioneer Plaza Cattle Drive. This is a 4.2-acre plot with 70 six-foot-high steers and 3 trail riders herding them up a ridge and past a man-made limestone cliff a block from City Hall. It is quite impressive and according to the guy in the tourist info, each bronze statue cost $1m!
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