American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Approx. 6 in. wide ticker tape cut into sections of varying lengths, detailing the events in Dallas, Texas, from about noon until just after 3 pm (CST) on 22 November 1963. (Cut into sections, i.e. no longer a single tape. Very few "time stamps," other than for the Kennedy events. A few sections scuffed where it apparently wore while rolled up. Otherwise in good condition.) Apparently only block capital letters were available, and the only punctuation is a dash (-). These have been retained, but only titles and other "regular" capitals are retained. Some spelling is corrected in brackets.
 
The pieces were out of order, but the story is fairly apparent. The news begins with Kennedy's arrival at  Love Field just after 12:30 Eastern (11:30 Central) time. He gave a small speech there, the content of which is in the tape. (And many of his remarks should sound familiar. We are still dealing with many of the same issues today, 50 years later.)
 
Then came the news. And the usual confusion as sketchy information and lack of information ensues. Somewhat surprisingly, other than speculation about the firearm used, there isn't as much misinformation as one might anticipate. The reporting is fairly straightforward. Periodically the news services give a longer summary of events which is a recap of earlier reports.
 
Included in these transcriptions are a couple of other reports from the wire, such as the closing of the New York Stock Exchange upon hearing the news. But for the most part, there are still pages and pages of Dow Jones numbers, forecasted stock prices, numbers of shares issued, commodities prices, etc. that are not included. The financial world still continued, although a few suspended trading temporarily that day.

The report is as follows:
 
Kennedy
     Dallas – UPI – President Kennedy Arrived at Dallas Love Field by Plane at 12: 38 pm EST.

Kennedy Warns Ignorance in Foreign Policy Handicaps Nation-s Security
     Dallas – AP- President Kennedy Lashed out at Sen Barry Goldwater R-ARIZ and other Republicans who he said – Confuse rhetoric with reality -
     Visiting an area where supporters are booming Goldwater-s chances for the 1964 Republican nomination Kennedy in his prepared speech said that ignorance and misinformation – if allowed to prevail in foreign policy handicaps this country-s security-
     Kennedy did not specifically mention Goldwater by name – but there was not doubt he was talking about the Republican senator when he said-
     - In a world of complex and continuing problem in a world full of frustrations and irritations America-s leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason – or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem-

Kennedy
     Dallas – DJ – Kennedy aimed not only at Goldwater but at other Republicans and some Democrats as well – he also paid his respects to the John Birch Society members without naming them
     -There will always be dissident voices heard in the land Expressing opposition without alternatives  Finding fault but never favor  Perceiving gloom on every side and Seeking influence without responsibility-  He said
     Kennedy said these voices were preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality and that they –apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons   That vituperation is a good as a victory   And that peace is a sign of weakness-

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Kennedy also took a swipe at Sen Harry F Byrd  D-VA and others who have criticized his economic and financial policies-
     -At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy-  he said  - They see that debt as the greatest single threat to our security – At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employe[e]s  serving every thousand citizens they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants more than the actual hordes of opposing armies-
     -We cannot expect that every one to use the phrase of a decade ago will –talk sense to the American people - -but we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense – and the notion that this nation is headed for defeat through deficit or that strength is but a matter of slogans is nothing but just plaine [sic] nonsense-
Then the news:

President Kennedy Shot
     Dallas –AP- President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas – Mrs Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr Kennedy – She cried Oh no- The motorcade spedb [sic] on
     AP photographer James W. Altgens said he saw blood on the president-s head
     Altgens said he saw no one with a gun
     AP reporter Jack Bell asked Kenneth O-Donnell Presidential Assistant if Kennedy was dead – O-Donnell gave no answer
     Kennedy was reported taken to Par[k]land Hospital near the Dallas Trade Mart where he was to have made a speech
     Bell said Kennedy was transferred to an ambulance
     He lay on a seat of the car
     Bell reported three shots were fired as the motorcade entered the triple underpass which leads to the Stemmons Freeway route to Parkland Hospital
     Pandemonium broke loose around the scene
     The Secret Service waved the motorcade on at top speed to the hospital
     Even at high speed it took nearly five minutes to get the car to the ambulance entrance of the hospital

    Gov John B Connally of Texas also was cut-down by bullets
     The President was slumped over in the backseat of the car face down – Connal[l]y lay on the floor of the rear seat
     It was impossible to tell at once where Kennedy was hit but bullet wounds in Connally-s chest were plainly visible in…

-- Were plainly visible indicating the gunfire might possibly have come from an automatic weapon
     It was difficult to determine immediately whether the First Lady and Mrs Connally were injured
     Vice President Johnson was in a car behind the President-s
     There was no immediate sign that he was hurt – in fact there was no evidence at all at what might have happened to Johnson since only the President-s car and its Secret Service follow-up car went to the Hospital
     At 1 50 P M Eastern Standard Time Acting White[house] Secretary Malcolm Kilduff was asked whether the President was dead
     - I have no word now-  Kilduff replied

Kennedy Shot
     Dallas –AP-  Rep Albert Thomas D-TEX said he was informed President Kennedy and Gov John Connally of Texas were both still alive after having been shot in an assassination attempt
     Thomas  standing outside the corridor of the Emergency Room in which both Kennedy and Connally were under treatment  said he had been told that the President was still alive but was –in very critical-  condition

Kennedy Shot
     Dallas  -AP- When the President was taken into the Emergency Room a call was sent out immediately for some of the top surgical specialists in Dallas
     A call was also sent for a Roman Catholic priest
     Congressman Jim Wright of Fort Worth said both Kennedy and Connally were seriously wounded but were alive

{N Y –DJ- The Board of Governors of the New York Stock Exchange has ordered the market closed for the rest of the day}

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP-  President Kennedy was given blood transfusion at Parkland Hospital in an effort to save his life

Kennedy
     Dallas  -AP- Hospital Officials said they had given the President a transfusion of –B- Positive blood from the bank and were calling for fresh blood of that type to have it ready if additional transfusions were needed
     At 1 10 PM –CST- Mrs Lyndon Johnson was escorted by Secret Service agents into the Emergency Room where the President lay

{American Exch Closes}

Kennedy
     Dallas –UPI-  An assistant to Gov  Connally said he talked to the Governor in the hospital operating room – He said the Governor was shot just below the shoulder blade in the back
     He asked Connally how it happened and the Governor said
     -I don’t know  I guess from the back – They got the President too-

Lyndon Johnson Not Hurt
     Dallas Tex –AP- Mrs Lyndon Johnson said after a visit to the Emergency Operating Room today the Vice President –Is fine-
     She was taken back into another first floor room where Johnson originally had gone
     Asked if her husband also had been wounded she shook her head negatively
     Secret Service men pushed reporters away and permitted no more questions

FBI Presses Investigation of Assassination Attempt
     Washn  -AP-Director J Edgar Hoover of the FBI telephoned the Dallas FBI office and ordered an all-out investigation of the attempt today on the lives of President Kennedy and Gov John Connally of Texas

Kennedy
     Dallas  -AP- There still was no immediate word on the extent of the wounds suffered by the 46-year-old Chief Executive and the Governor
     A Father Huber of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas administered the Last Sacrament of the Church to the President shortly before 1 P M –CST-

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Lt Erich Kaminski of the Secret Service Bureau said the assassin-s weapon appears to have been a –high-powered Army of Japanese rifle of about 25 caliber- - The rifle had a scope on it   he said
     The entire building where the sniper was located was evacuated – People were working in the building at the time of the shooting [D]allas police inspector J H Sawyer said –Police found the remains of fried chicken and paper on the fifth floor – Apparently the person had been there quite awhile-
     After Kennedy was shot  the President-s Secret Service driver raced away from the scene heading for the nearest hospital and trying to get the Presidential party out of range of further gunfire
     The transparent plastic roof of the vehicle had been removed for the motorcade
     Secret Service agents riding with the President and in a second convertible following close behind immediately drew pistols and automatic weapons – but they were unable to get a shot at the gunman

Kennedy
   Dallas –AP-  The Secret Service said the President remained in the Emergency Room and the Governor was moved to the General Operating Room of Parkland Hospital

Kennedy
     Dallas  - UPI- Mrs Kennedy apparently was safe – Mrs Connally also was safe  It appeared – both women were stunned
     Kennedy according to a member of his staff was still alive at 12 55 PM –CST-
     Two Roman Catholic Pri[e]sts were summoned to the Emergency Room where the President lay
     Malcolm Kilduff Acting White House Press Secretary  said that the two priests had been –Asked for-

{Cocoa Exchange / NY –DJ- The New York cocoa exchange has suspended trading for the rest of the day}

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Police Immediately spread a dragnet around the city searching for the would-be assassin

Priests say Kennedy Dead
      Dallas –AP- Two priests who were with Kennedy say he is dead of bullet wounds

Kennedy Dragnet
     Dallas –AP- Initial reports to police gave a sketchy description of a young man believed to have been the gunman
     They began a search for a white man about 30

Kennedy Dead
     Washn –AP- Government sources said today that President Kennedy is dead

Kennedy Dragnet
     Dallas –AP- The F B I began a search for a white man about 30 years of age of slender build and weighing about 165 pounds – He is believed to be the gunman
     Police believed he had fired on the Presidential part with a 30-30 rifle

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Kennedy died of a gunshot wound in the brain at approximately 1 P M -CST- according to an announcement by acting White House Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff
     -It was a simple matter of a bullet right through the head- said Dr George Burkley White House Medical Officer
     Sen Yarborough said he counted three rifle shots as the Presidential limousine left downtown Dallas through a triple underpass
     One witness said he saw a gun emerge from an upper story of a warehouse commanding an unobstructed view of the Presidential car

Johnson
     Dallas –UPI- Traveling behind a police escort with his wife Ladybird Johnson headed under heavy guard for seclusion somewhere in midtown Dallas
     Presumably Johnson and his staff will go right to work on plans for taking a formal oath of office to succeed the slain President

Senate Adjourns
     Washn –AP- The White House flag was lowered to half-staff within moments after the news arrived
     Telephone service in the nation-s capital collapsed temporarily – The sudden load of telephone calls swamped central stations and it was impossible to get a dial tone to make calls

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Kennedy 46 lived about an hour after a sniper cut him down as his limousine left downtown Dallas
     Automatically the mantle of the Presidency fell to Vice President Lyndon B Johnson who had been riding two cars behind the Chief Executive
     There was no immediate word on when Johnson would take the Oath of Office
     Gov  Connally of Texas was cut down by the same fusillade
     Connally and his wife had been riding with the President and Mrs Kennedy
     Johnson was whisked away by Secret Servicemen – his whereabout[s] were being kept secret
     The President was shot once in the head
     Connally was struck in the head and wrist
     Police found a foreign-make rifle – Sherriff-s officers were questioning a young man picked up at the scene

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP-  The New President Lyndon Johnson and his wife left the Hospital an hour after Kennedy died – Newsmen had no opportunity to question them

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP-  It was believed that Kennedy-s body would be moved shortly to Washington
     Traditionally funeral services for presidents who die in office are held in the Capital City
     Kilduff told newsmen that Gov Connally a Democrat was wounded in the right chest in the same ambush that felled the President
     Connally was taken into surgery for a two-hour emergency operation
     Kilduff said Johnson was not wounded
     Connally-s doctors said that while the governor –was not out of the woods his vital signs were good-
     The Doctors said Connally had a good pulse and that his respiration was satisfactory
      16 PM

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- Kennedy-s body was removed from Parkland Hospital at 2 05 P M –CST- in a cream colored ambulance with curtains tightly drawn
     Mrs Kennedy rode in a passenger seat in the ambulance - - a type of vehicle with two seats for passengers
     She and the body were escorted from the emergency entrance of Parkland by two motorcycle officers
     Mrs Kennedy walked out the back door of the Emergency entrance as the body was taken out
     Those who saw her enter the hospital an hour and a half earlier said she had not been hysterical
     White House aide Kilduff said the President-s body would be flown to Washington this afternoon

Kennedy
     Dallas –AP- The Dallas Sheriff-s Department said a rifle had been found in a staircase on the fifth floor of a building near the scene of the assassination – it was a 7 65 Mauser – the German-made army rifle had a telescopic sight with one shell left in the chamber
     Three spent shells were found nearby

Canada Pays Tribute to Kennedy
     Ottawa –DJ-  Prime Minister Pearson in the Canadian House of Commons expressed the sympathy of the Commons and all Canada on the –Heart-breaking tragedy- of the Presidents assassination
     He was joined by all leaders of opposition parties
     Mr Pearson paid high tribute to the U S President

Johnson Sworn In
     Dallas –UPI-  Mr Johnson became the 36th President of the U S at 2 39 PM Central Standard Time
     The plane marked Air Force 1 was still parked where it had landed to bring President Kennedy to Dallas this morning

Johnson Sworn In
     Dallas –AP-  Present at the swearing-in were Mrs Kennedy and Mrs Johnson  several staff members and several Congressman [sic]
     Johnson asked as many of the White House people as possible to crowd into the Executive Suite of the plane to witness the ceremony
     The Presidential plane took off immediate[ly] for Washington with Johnson  Mrs Johnson and  Mrs Kennedy and some White House aides aboard.