The assassination of JFK was a terrifying moment in American history — but the tragedy of that somber day didn't end with the president's death.
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00:00The assassination of JFK was a terrifying moment in American history, but the tragedy
00:05of that somber day didn't end with the president's death.
00:08November 22, 1963, will go down as one of the most infamous days in American history.
00:13You know the story from here. John F. Kennedy is assassinated in his motorcade in Dallas,
00:17and shortly thereafter, Lee Harvey Oswald would himself be killed two days later while
00:22still in police custody.
00:23Did you kill the president?
00:24No, I have not been charged with that. In fact, nobody has said that to me yet.
00:29There were hundreds of witnesses to Kennedy's assassination.
00:31It was just right by us when it all happened, just right in front of us.
00:35Also forgotten in all of this is that millions witnessed Oswald being shot on live TV. We're
00:39going to set aside Oswald for now. Just leave a comment if you'd like us to dive into the
00:43Oswald stuff in a later video.
00:45Back to Kennedy. TV stations featured wall-to-wall coverage of the event for several days straight
00:50in what one media historian describes as the first time Americans united together around
00:54their TVs.
00:56The actions of Kennedy's wife also impressed the moment into the public's memory. Jackie
00:59decided to keep her bloodstained pink suit on, even after her husband had been declared
01:04dead, later telling Life magazine,
01:06"...let them see what they've done."
01:08She had on that pink, nubby suit, and there were these chocolate-looking stains all over
01:15the front.
01:16The JFK assassination remains commonly discussed, mainly for the numerous conspiracy theories
01:20associated with it. There is one group of individuals that aren't often spoken about
01:25the other people who were injured on November 22, 1963.
01:29Kennedy's trip to Texas was part of his build-up for the 1964 election season. He started off
01:33in San Antonio, then moved to Houston and Fort Worth, and then the following day, on
01:38the 22nd, took the 13-minute flight to Dallas. You know what happened from there.
01:42He died at approximately 1 o'clock Central Standard Time. He died of a gunshot wound
01:48in the brain.
01:49Kennedy wasn't the only person shot that day. Three total were also struck. Riding in the
01:54car with the president and the first lady were John Connally, the governor of Texas,
01:58and his wife.
01:59Connally was hit by at least one bullet and sustained injuries in the back, wrist, chest,
02:03and leg, but he went on to survive the shooting. Connally finished his term and went on to
02:07win two more re-elections. He also served as Nixon's Secretary of the Treasury, flipped
02:12parties to Republican, and ran for the 1980 presidential nomination. He dropped out after
02:16two primaries and died in 1993.
02:19There was some effort by assassination enthusiasts to retrieve bullet fragments from his body,
02:24however, the Connally family refused such requests. Other victims include a policeman
02:27named J.D. Tippett, who was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald shortly after the assassination. Tippett,
02:33who realized Oswald matched the description of a potential suspect, confronted him and
02:36was killed. Tippett's murder directly led to Oswald's capture and remains a focal point
02:41to conspiracy theorists as to how and why Oswald took the actions he did.
02:45There is one other person who is much less remembered from that fateful day. James Tagg,
02:49a car salesman, didn't know much about Kennedy's visit when he ran into a major traffic jam
02:53around midday near downtown Dallas. When he got out of his car to investigate the cause
02:57of the delay, he was struck in the face by something.
03:00Deputy Sheriff Buddy Walters said,
03:02"'You have blood on your cheek.' I reached up, and there was a couple drops of blood."
03:08That something turned out to be a piece of sidewalk that had splintered off the curb
03:11and had been launched into the air by a misdirected bullet. Tagg later shared his story in front
03:15of the Warren Commission, who were officially charged with investigating the assassination.
03:20His testimony cast doubt over their initial theory that only three shots were fired, all
03:24of which hit individuals in the presidential limousine. Tagg said he believed it was his
03:28testimony that inspired investigators to formulate their magic bullet theory.
03:31"'I didn't know I was changing history. I just knew it was probably important that there
03:36was a missed shot.'"
03:38Initially, Tagg was willing to believe the commission's story, but over time, he became
03:42more skeptical.
03:43"'So what really happened that day? Let's just for a moment speculate, shall we?''
03:47Before his death in 2014, Tagg became a JFK researcher who believed that Kennedy was killed
03:52by a hired assassin as part of a governmental conspiracy. He wrote multiple books about
03:56his theories, including the 2003 truth withheld, a survivor story, and 2013's LBJ and the Kennedy
04:03killing.