I remember that day almost like it was yesterday. One of the defining moments of history. The President was assassinated.

I was in my American History class when the announcement was made that the President had been shot and killed. All that weekend we were glued to the television set, and on Sunday JFK’s shooter was himself assassinated on live television.

There will always be arguments about what really happened, and numerous conspiracy theories. The important thing is that JFK was killed, and the nation was never the same again.

(Information from various sources)

The state funeral of U.S. President John F. Kennedy took place in Washington, D.C., and Virginia from November 23 to November 25, 1963, following his assassination in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. After his body was flown back to Washington and taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy, it was prepared for burial and placed in a new mahogany casket. President Kennedy’s body lay in repose in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours, beginning on November 23, where it was guarded by an honor guard including troops from the 3rd Infantry and the Army’s Special Forces. Jacqueline Kennedy, still wearing the blood-stained suit from Dallas, requested that the casket remain closed during the viewing, a decision influenced by the severe head wound sustained during the assassination.

On November 24, his flag-draped coffin was carried on a horse-drawn caisson from the White House to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to lie in state, where over 250,000 people viewed the casket during an 18-hour public viewing. The procession included a riderless horse, Black Jack, with boots reversed in the stirrups, symbolizing a warrior who would never ride again. The funeral service was held on November 25 at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, led by Cardinal Richard Cushing, with approximately 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries, attending. The Kennedy family, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy, led the procession from the White House to the cathedral.

After the service, the caisson carried the coffin to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where President Kennedy was buried on a slope leading up to the Robert E. Lee Mansion, directly in line with the Lincoln Memorial. The burial site was chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy, making Kennedy the only president to be buried at Arlington alongside William Howard Taft. The funeral procession was accompanied by military units, including a silent drill by the Irish Defence Forces, a unique honor as it was the only state funeral in U.S. history to feature a foreign military unit. The event was broadcast live on television, bringing the nation’s grief into homes across America.