On this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy (JFK), our 35th president, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while driving through Dallas, Texas in an open top vehicle.

Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, killed a policeman who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas. Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by police responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on November 23 for the murders of President Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit.

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at the Dallas Love Field airport. The swearing in was witnessed by about 30 people, including Jacqueline (Jackie) Kennedy, who was still wearing the clothes stained with her husband’s blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.

On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. A crowd of police and press with live television cameras rolling gathered to witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby (a nightclub owner) emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot from a concealed .38 revolver, killing Oswald. Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed that rage at Kennedy’s murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree murder.