In the fall of 1963, President John F. Kennedy was touring around the U.S. as he was planning to run for re-election in 1964, only to be disrupted by a major historical event. It was just two weeks after Kennedy’s first meeting with his advisers about running for re-election and Kennedy understood the importance of winning over Texas. A good impression on the state could be vital to his campaign. Although Texas was not the last state on his itinerary to visit, it brought his election plans to an abrupt close.

Nov. 22, 1963. From the backseat of a Lincoln Continental, the president and the first lady waved at the crowds of excited people clustered around the Dealey Plaza in Dallas, making their appearance in the afternoon sunshine that followed a rainy morning. Smiles and waves suddenly turned grim around 12:30 p.m. as gunfire suddenly rang out into the crowd. As Kennedy was struck in the head and the neck, his driver floored the vehicle past the Texas Schoolbook Depository to the nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital.

At 1 p.m. on Nov. 22, 1963 the 35th President of the U.S. was pronounced legally dead. A couple of short hours later, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the role of the President.

Former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in Dallas shortly after the shooting, originally indicted on charges of the murder of a police officer on the scene of the president’s assassination about 45 minutes after it occurred. Shortly after, Oswald was accused of murdering President Kennedy. As Oswald was being escorted from the city jail to the county jail two days later, he was shot and killed by a local nightclub owner who thought himself to be avenging Kennedy’s death.

Without the key element to the case, the FBI and forensic experts were left to fend for themselves as they searched for the answers to the investigation. In 1964, the Warren Commission brought an end to the case as a conclusion was finalized. The FBI, Secret Service and the Dallas Police Department stated that Oswald was a lone gunman, firing three shots at the president from the Texas Schoolbook Depository building.

Oswald claim to have been framed, although experts on the investigation allege otherwise. However, the theory that there were multiple gunmen still remains popular along with various conspiracy theories about the event itself. Another popular theory involves the mafia, executing Kennedy in attempt to snuff out Kennedy’s efforts to end organized crime. Regardless of what the Warren Commission has officially decided upon, nobody knows the truth about what actually happened regarding Kennedy’s assassination.