Encore: Presidential Assassinations | Three Shots in Dallas | 4
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Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's the morning of November 21st, 1963. You're a Secret Service agent assigned to the team for President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie. You're sitting at your small desk in the corner of the cramped White House map room, which serves as an office space for you and your fellow agents. Spread across your desk are plans for the President's two-day trip to Texas—

As you scan the packed schedule, you add another cigarette butt to your already overflowing ashtray. The buzzer startles you, indicating the president, codenamed Lancer, is moving through the White House. And moments later, he exits the elevator and waves a quick hello. You rise and nod as he whisks past. Your fellow Secret Service agent, Floyd Boring, steps into the office and drops his briefcase. You ready for this trip? A dozen stops in four cities over 36 hours? It's gonna be fun.

But you know, I'm not sure about these motorcades. What about them? I think we should keep the hardtop on. Well, Lancer told me earlier this week the election's a year away, but the campaign starts now. So he wants them to see him and Jackie up close. Well, yeah, of course, I get it. But it seems risky. He's not even letting us put agents on the jump steps. The jump steps are welded to the limo's back bumper, a place for Secret Service agents to stand on in a slow-moving motorcade. But according to the plan you've been given, they're not to be used.

Boring nods and sighs. Yeah, I know, I know. I mean, the whole point is to be visible and accessible to the public, but that makes him visible and accessible to the public, you know? Yeah, yeah. I think we should be following procedure. I mean, the schedule's tight. We can't make mistakes. You know how it is. Lancer calls the shots. Yeah, well, he doesn't control the weather.

So I'm hoping the forecast for rain holds up. At least that way we could use the plexiglass bubble top. Well, we can hope for that. But if there is no rain, the plan is the plan. The hard top and the bubble stay off. You stub out your last cigarette, pick up your things, and slip your .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver into a hip holster. You believe you and your fellow agents are the best security force in the world, trained to handle any situation.

But as you head outside to board the president's helicopter, you can't shake a nagging feeling that in this situation, politics and appearances is trumping caution. If you love iPhone, you'll love Apple Card. It comes with the privacy and security you expect from Apple. Plus, you earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase, which can automatically earn interest when you open a high-yield savings account through Apple Card.

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From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history. Your story. The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, remains one of the most traumatic, controversial, and unresolved moments in American history.

Kennedy took office as the youngest president ever elected, inspiring hopes of a new era of domestic progress and global peace. But his death plunged the nation into despair.

His vice president, Lyndon Johnson, stepped unsteadily into a role he'd long craved, leading the country through its collective grief and advancing Kennedy's ambitious agenda. But he also oversaw the escalation of the Vietnam War, which would be his undoing. And later, as Johnson prepared to step aside, he cleared the way for the rise of another member of the Kennedy clan, one whose career would also be cut tragically short.

Six decades later, questions about Kennedy's assassination still linger. Unresolved conspiracy theories, speculation over what might have been, and the mystery around the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald. On the morning of November 21, 1963, President Kennedy seemed relaxed and eager, walking the aisles of Air Force One during the three-and-a-half-hour flight from Washington, D.C. to San Antonio. He chatted with aides and agents and checked in frequently on his wife, Jackie.

Kennedy and his advisers all had high expectations for his trip to Texas. He had narrowly won the state in 1960, and he viewed his two-day tour as a way to court more voters and launch his crucial first step toward re-election. With that in mind, he brought along his vice president, Texas native Lyndon Johnson.

In their public personas, Kennedy and Johnson could hardly be less alike. Johnson was brash and famously foul-mouthed, while the even-tempered Kennedy could seem patrician and aloof. But behind the scenes, they had a cordial working relationship.

Their first two and a half years in office had been a roller coaster of highs and lows. Kennedy had presided over the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, then narrowly avoided a nuclear showdown with Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He committed America to reaching the moon by 1970 and witnessed the thrilling success of the early space flights. He created the Peace Corps, gave a historic speech in West Berlin, and signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Kennedy was also hounded by foes claiming he was soft on communism, too cautious on civil rights, and too weak in dealing with the escalating conflict in Vietnam. Rumors swirled about extramarital affairs and undisclosed problems with his health.

But such rumors were the least of Kennedy's concerns. By the fall of 1963, Republicans in Congress had managed to block or stall most of his efforts, putting his legislative agenda at risk. And Kennedy's pursuit of civil rights legislation had cost him support in the South. He'd need those votes in 64 if he wanted to hold on to the White House. He especially needed the biggest Southern state, Texas.

On his two-day whirlwind tour of the Lone Star State, Kennedy faced a schedule packed with speeches, lunches, and parades. All the while, he wanted Jackie by his side. The public loved his beautiful and stylish wife, and he hoped her presence would help win over Texas voters.

Jackie hated campaigning, but had agreed to come along. They'd recently lost their second son, Patrick, who had died two days after his premature birth in August. Jackie sank into a period of mourning from which she'd just begun to emerge. JFK hoped the barnstorming tour might lift her spirits.

So at midday on November 21, 1963, the first couple landed in San Antonio and were greeted by Texas Governor John Connolly and his wife Nellie. The governor and his wife paraded through downtown with the Kennedys in the president's limousine, while Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, followed a few cars behind.

Local schools had declared a holiday, and packs of children lined the motorcade route along Broadway, cheering and waving flags. Hordes of ecstatic fans chanted, Jackie, Jackie, and yay JFK. Shrieking crowds surged forward as if the Beatles had come to town. Despite having his detractors in Congress, the charismatic young president and his glamorous wife were wildly popular among the general public.

Equally large and raucous crowds greeted them at stops later that day in Houston and Fort Worth.

But not every Texan was happy to see the president. Many of the state's voters opposed JFK's pro-civil rights ambitions and his hopes to scale back America's role in Vietnam, where a bloody conflict between the communist North and the pro-Western South had been dragging on for years. Recently, Kennedy had announced plans to withdraw 1,000 U.S. troops. And even after South Vietnam's president, Ngo Dinh Diem, was assassinated in a coup, Kennedy stuck to his plan to bring Americans home.

In his Fort Worth hotel room the morning of November 22nd, Kennedy opened the Dallas Morning News to see a full-page advertisement calling him soft on communism and listing other complaints about his policies. Kennedy turned to Jackie and said, We're heading into nut country today.

After the short flight from Fort Worth to Dallas' Love Field Airport, the first couple climbed into the rear seats of the presidential limo, a midnight blue Lincoln Continental, codenamed the SS-100X. It had rained earlier, but the skies had cleared and the Secret Service agents honored the president's request not to cover the limo with either its hard top roof or a clear plexiglass bubble. Kennedy would be riding through Dallas in the open, in the full view of the voters, just as he had hoped.

Governor Connolly and his wife again joined the Kennedys, riding in front of the first couple and just behind two members of the Secret Service, driver Bill Greer and agent Roy Kellerman, who sat in the front passenger seat.

The limo would be preceded by a lead car and followed by a lengthy motorcade that included Secret Service cars, the Vice President's car, police motorcycles, buses, and media cars. The President was due to arrive by 12.30 p.m. at the Trademark, where more than 2,000 supporters waited at a luncheon in his honor. His speech there would be the final public event of his two-day Texas tour.

Just before noon Central Time, the motorcade began its slow 10-mile crawl through Dallas. More than 100,000 people lined the streets, begging for a handshake or a photo. Nervous Secret Service agents scanned the packed crowds. More than two dozen Secret Service agents were on hand that day, backed by 500 local officers, all nervously scanning the packed crowds.

Meanwhile, the motorcade continued down Main Street, where crowds occasionally surged into the road. Agent Clint Hill, who was stationed on the running board of the follow-up car, ran and jumped onto the back of the limo four times, worried that someone in the crowd might try to grab Jackie. Finally, the motorcade reached Dealey Plaza, where the crowds began to thin out.

At the west end of Main Street, the motorcade turned right onto Houston Street, slowing to about 10 miles an hour. At 12.29 p.m., Nellie Connolly turned back to the Kennedys and said, Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you. Kennedy smiled and replied, no, you certainly can't.

From Houston Street, the motorcade turned slowly left onto Elm Street. And there, on the right, loomed the brick Texas School Book Depository building, whose windows looked down on the final stretch of the president's well-publicized route. Inside, on the sixth floor, waited a 24-year-old man named Lee Harvey Oswald. ♪

Oswald was a former Marine who had been court-martialed twice, then demoted and discharged in 1959. He had become disillusioned with his country and enamored with communism and the Soviet Union. He even defected to Russia, but returned to the U.S. in 1962 with a Russian wife and infant daughter. Oswald and his family settled outside Dallas, where he bounced from job to job.

Colleagues found him rude and lazy. In May of 1963, he moved to New Orleans, where he was later arrested for handing out pro-Fidel Castro leaflets. In September, he traveled to Mexico City to meet with pro-communist activists there. He also visited the Cuban and Soviet consulates seeking a visa to visit Cuba, which drew the attention of both the FBI and the CIA.

But he returned to Dallas in early October and got hired at the Texas School Book Depository, working as a clerk for $1.25 an hour. On November 22nd, Oswald arrived to work a bit early, carrying a large rectangular cardboard package. He told a colleague it was curtain rods, but in fact inside was a World War II-era Italian rifle, a bolt-action Carcano mounted with a scope, which he'd purchased via mail order from a Chicago sporting goods shop.

Just past noon, a co-worker saw Oswald eating lunch on the sixth floor of the building. And down below, the president's motorcade was arriving.

Imagine it's November 22nd, 1963. You're President Kennedy's driver, and you're nearing the end of a 10-mile parade route through downtown Dallas. Beside you sits another Secret Service agent, Roy Kellerman. As you approach Dealey Plaza, you share your relief that you're about to put the streets of Dallas behind you. Well, we're almost done, and I'm happy to get us out of here.

A few more miles to the trademark, but it looks good. Turning right onto Houston Street, you slow the limo to a crawl, mindful of the President's bad back. You glance into the rearview mirror to check the position of the Secret Service follow-up car only a few feet behind you. You and that car's driver have been doing motorcades together for years, all over the world.

You're attuned to each other's movements like you're attached by a rope. You start to make another slow turn, arcing left onto Elm Street, and you sense Kellerman start to relax. "Alright, this is the home stretch." "Yeah, we should be at the trademark in four or five minutes. Freeway's just beyond that overpass." Kellerman snaps his head to the right, toward the direction of the loud, sharp pop. Instinctively, you slow down, looking for the source of the sound. "What the hell was that?"

Still moving slowly, you glance back and see Governor Connolly falling sideways. You can't see the president, but Kellerman can. And he's shouting, "Get out of here! We've been hit! Nearest hospital!" Oh, God. Let's go, let's go!

Just as you're about to stop on the accelerator, you see Agent Clint Hill sprinting from the follow-up car and lunging onto the back of the limo. "Get out of here!" He punched the gas as Kellerman barks into his radio. "This is X-100. We're hit. Get us to a hospital immediately." Police motorcade pulls beside you, and you gesture wildly, pointing ahead. "Hospital! Hospital fast!"

As you accelerate, Kellerman's looking at his watch, marking the time. 12.30. The president. How's the president? Kellerman doesn't answer, but his face is ashen. And behind you, you can hear the First Lady sobbing. You race beneath the overpass toward Parkland Hospital, mind reeling. You wonder if your decision to slow down, even just briefly, might haunt you.

Now you're just praying that the 35th President of the United States, the man you were supposed to protect, makes it through this alive.

After the shooting, hundreds of eyewitness accounts would provide crucial but often conflicting details. Despite the intense media coverage of Kennedy's Dallas visit, only one camera captured the moment the president was hit. It was an 8mm home movie camera in the hands of a Ukrainian-born dressmaker named Abraham Zapruder. Zapruder's 486 frames of film footage revealed the full horror of what transpired.

Although the exact number of shots fired would be disputed, most witnesses said it was three. The first shot sounded like a firecracker or a backfire. It missed. But the second shot struck Kennedy in the back. The bullet exited the front of his throat and then hit Governor John Connolly in the back, passing through his chest, wrist, and thigh. Upon being hit, Kennedy grabbed his throat and jolted to his left toward Jackie. Then came the third shot.

Agent Clint Hill, who had already started sprinting from the follow-up car to the limo's rear jump step, saw it strike the president's head. Hill briefly lost his footing, but managed to pull himself back up as driver Bill Greer accelerated. Jackie then climbed onto the trunk, reaching in terror for something that Hill would later describe as some material that had come out of the president's head.

Hill grabbed Jackie's arm and pushed her back into the seat, sprawling himself across the trunk in a belated attempt to protect the president. But Kennedy's body was already slumping limply into his wife's lap. As she sobbed, he's dead. They've killed him.

Driver Bill Greer sped to Parkland Hospital, a little more than three miles away. Emergency room doctors worked furiously to save Kennedy, but their efforts were in vain. Just before 1 p.m., a Catholic priest administered last rites. Jackie sat outside the ER, her pink dress covered with gore.

Agent Roy Kellerman called the White House and then handed the phone to Clint Hill. The operator cut in to tell Hill that the president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was on the line. "'How bad is it?' Bobby asked, and Hill told him, "'It's as bad as it can get.'"

TV news began to interrupt daytime programming with urgent updates on the attack. On CBS, a bulletin cut into an episode of the soap opera As the World Turns. Audiences watched as an emotional Walter Cronkite removed his thick glasses and confirmed the worst. From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.

As the horrific news swept the nation, police officers and Secret Service agents in Dallas launched a frantic manhunt. Whoever had killed the president was still at large, and the authorities were determined to find the person or persons responsible before they could escape or possibly kill again.

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Moments after President Kennedy was shot, police officers and Secret Service agents fanned out, hunting for the killer or killers. Some witnesses said they saw the gunshots come from the Texas School Book Depository building. Dallas police officer Marion Baker entered the building, his pistol drawn. In the second-floor lunchroom, he stopped Lee Harvey Oswald and asked him what he was doing there. But the building superintendent vouched for Oswald as an employee, and Baker let him go.

Oswald left the book depository and returned to his nearby rooming house. Minutes later, he left again on foot. Shortly after 1 p.m., he was spotted by another Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippett. By now, an eyewitness had described Oswald to police as a possible suspect, and Tippett pulled alongside Oswald and got out of his patrol car to question him. But before he could, Oswald whipped out a revolver and shot Tippett four times, killing him. Then Oswald fled on foot.

Twenty minutes later, Oswald was seen sneaking into a nearby movie theater. At 2 p.m. Central Standard Time, with the film War is Hell playing on the screen, police turned up the house lights and found Oswald hiding in the 10th row. After a brief scuffle, he was arrested.

During questioning, Oswald was smug and uncooperative. Initially, he was charged only with Tippett's murder. But later that night, after police found Oswald's rifle at the book depository, he was formally charged with murdering the President of the United States.

For Kennedy's inner circle, the frantic hours after his death were a nightmare of chaos and grief. But key decisions had to be made, and fast. Lyndon Johnson would become the 36th president, tasked with taking control of a shaken and grieving nation. But the Secret Service feared that Kennedy's murder might be part of a broader conspiracy and that Johnson's life was also at risk. So immediately after the shooting, they urged Johnson to get to Love Field and fly back to Washington.

But before Johnson could leave the hospital, there was a dispute over Kennedy's body. The Dallas medical examiner argued that an autopsy must be performed before the body could be released. After a heated argument, Johnson and other federal officials overruled him. So the president's body was loaded into a casket, driven to Love Field, and carried awkwardly up the portable stairway onto Air Force One.

Before they took off, Johnson phoned Bobby Kennedy in Washington. Bobby was not only the president's brother, but also the attorney general, and Johnson wanted his legal advice on taking the presidential oath.

Johnson and Bobby did not like each other and had nursed grudges for years. Later, each would dispute the other's recollection of the phone call. But ultimately, Johnson insisted on taking the presidential oath before leaving Dallas. While waiting for a federal judge to arrive, Johnson asked Jackie to stand beside him as he was sworn in. He wanted a photograph of the grim scene.

With her husband's body only 20 feet away, Jackie stood beside his successor, and Johnson placed his left hand on Kennedy's prayer book. Johnson recited the 37-word oath as the White House photographer captured the moment. Jackie's pink dress was still stained with her husband's blood. She had declined to change clothes and would wear the dress until the next afternoon, telling Lady Bird Johnson, let them see what they've done to Jack.

That night, back in Washington, Johnson began assembling staff and planning his first steps, aware that the nation needed assurance and leadership. He met with advisors into the early morning of November 23rd. Lying in bed, surrounded by his aides, he ticked off a list of things he intended to accomplish. Among them were two stalled pieces of legislation, Kennedy's tax cut bill and a civil rights bill.

Johnson dismissed his shaken staff at 3 a.m., and he would later describe his chaotic first days in office as a bunch of cattle caught in the swamp. But the chaos hadn't ended. On November 24th, Lee Harvey Oswald was being led by detectives through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters to be transferred to the county jail. Suddenly, while TV cameras rolled, a mob-connected nightclub owner named Jack Ruby stepped forward with a pistol. He fired twice, fatally wounding Oswald.

Kennedy's assassin was pronounced dead later that afternoon at Parkland Hospital, the same hospital Kennedy had been brought to just 48 hours earlier. But as his killer lay dying, Kennedy's body lay in state at the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. The next day, November 25th, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It was the third birthday of Kennedy's son, John Jr., who solemnly saluted the casket.

Two days later, President Johnson gave his first speech to the nation. In a somber televised address before a joint session of Congress, he declared, All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. The greatest leader of our time has been struck down by the foulest deed of our time.

Over the next few months, as bewildered Americans grappled with the sudden loss of their charismatic young president, his successor used the nation's grief to prod Congress into action. Twelve weeks after the assassination, Johnson got Kennedy's stalled tax cut passed. He then turned his attention to a bigger piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act. Imagine it's late January of 1964.

You're a Georgia senator, and you've been invited to the White House for a Sunday breakfast with the president. He wants to discuss his proposed Civil Rights Act. The president greets you with an embrace. You've known each other for decades. Back in '52, you recommended him to be Senate Majority Leader. You're both fellow Democrats, Southerners, and friends.

But lately, you've drifted apart. While you remain a staunch segregationist, President Johnson has become a vocal champion of equal rights. And now he's trying to pass the most comprehensive civil rights bill in history. The House has already approved it. Now it's headed to the Senate, where you intend to oppose it until your last breath. The president guides you into the West Hall and gestures to a couch by tall windows overlooking the Rose Garden.

You sit, and the staff brings coffee and pastries. And as usual, Johnson gets right to the point. Now look, without you, I wouldn't have been vice president, which means I wouldn't be president. We both know that. Everything I am, I owe to you. You're my friend, and I love you. Johnson is sitting across from you in a wingback chair, leaning forward. You're on the couch, facing him. Your knees practically touch. And that's why I wanted to tell you face to face, don't get in my way on the civil rights bill. If you do, I'm going to run you down.

When Kennedy first proposed the bill in the fall, you held it hostage in the Senate. And after Kennedy's death, you warned Johnson not to pursue it further. You try to warn him again now. You may very well run me down, Mr. President. But if you do, you'll not only lose the next election, you'll lose the South forever. But the President is unmoved. He reaches towards you, resting a large hand on your shoulder. It's not menacing, but surprisingly affectionate. You may be right.

But if that's the price I gotta pay, then I will gladly pay it. But you know we've got the support to filibuster this thing. I'll keep it stalled until the election. You'll get blamed for failing to push it through, and you won't have the votes to stop us. Well, I wouldn't be so sure. Even the Republicans are coming around to my side on this. We've talked long enough in this country about civil rights, and I think it's time we backed up that talk. I mean, what the hell is the presidency for if not for things like this? Well, if it's a fight you want, Mr. President, you're gonna get one.

I just hope you know what you're doing. I'm doing what I think is right, and I'm trying to make you see it's right for you, too. I don't think it is, Mr. President. You realize that you're not going to convince your old friend to back down, not an inch. And you're not about to change your views on keeping the laws of the segregated South intact. There is no middle ground, so it's going to be a fight to the end.

As the Civil Rights Act made its way through Congress, President Johnson tried to enlist the support of his longtime friend and former mentor, Georgia Senator Richard Russell. Russell refused, though, and warned that other Southern Democrats would also oppose the bill, which, if passed, would overturn many of the segregationist Jim Crow laws still alive across the South.

But Johnson knew that in the wake of Kennedy's death, momentum was on his side. He recognized that he had a rare opportunity to leverage a national tragedy and push through a major legislative accomplishment. Even Martin Luther King saw the possibilities, telling friends that Johnson might just be able to go where John Kennedy couldn't.

Accordingly, Johnson threw himself with zeal into getting the bill passed. He was a master of legislative maneuvering, using a combination of charm and bullying to deftly outplay Richard Russell and other opponents. Bobby Kennedy helped with some strong-arm negotiating, too, and one by one, legislators came around. Finally, Johnson outlasted a 54-day filibuster, the longest in U.S. history, and secured the votes he needed.

On June 2nd, 1964, six months after Kennedy's murder, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. In the East Room of the White House, a crowd of congressmen and civil rights leaders gathered for the signing. A somber Bobby Kennedy sat in the front row. Johnson praised our late and beloved president before using 75 ceremonial pens to sign the landmark legislation. He then handed the souvenir pens to Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy, and others.

With the Civil Rights Act passed, Johnson began looking ahead to the upcoming election of 1964. He was determined to prove to Richard Russell and others that supporting a progressive agenda wouldn't cost him votes. As JFK's successor, Johnson had guided the nation through tragedy. He was now ready to shed the Kennedy aura and become a leader in his own right. And that was one reason why he chose not to make Bobby Kennedy his running mate, despite Kennedy's interest in the job.

The other reason was that the two men still loathed each other. Their animosity dated back to 1960, when Bobby tried to prevent his brother from selecting Johnson as his running mate. Now Johnson was returning the favor and snubbing Bobby. In response to the slight, Bobby decided to leave his position as Attorney General and make a run for the U.S. Senate.

Johnson was happy to be rid of Bobby, but he couldn't yet put JFK's influence behind him. In August, at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, Johnson mentioned Kennedy six times in his speech. He promised not to rest until we have written into the law of the land all the suggestions that made up the John Fitzgerald Kennedy program. On the last day of the convention, while Johnson was backstage taking a nap, Bobby Kennedy took the podium to introduce a tribute film to his fallen brother.

He received a 22-minute ovation that brought him and others to tears. Like Johnson, Bobby had been in JFK's shadow for years. But at that moment, in the spotlight, his own star began to shine. And soon, his rising popularity would make him the new face of the Democratic Party and embolden him to challenge Johnson in his own run for the presidency.

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Connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Inside to outside. Repairs to renovations. Get started on the Angie app or visit Angie.com today. You can do this when you Angie that. Just a week after JFK's death, President Lyndon Johnson had created a seven-member commission to investigate the assassination and appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to lead it.

Ten months later, in September 1964, the Warren Commission published their findings in a 26-volume report. After considering mountains of evidence and eyewitness accounts, the commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy. But the report quickly triggered a backlash from those who refused to believe what became known as the lone gunman theory.

Even though Oswald was a sharpshooter in the Marines, conspiracy theorists insisted that he couldn't possibly have hit a small, moving target twice in five seconds with a bolt-action rifle, especially from a perch six floors above Dealey Plaza. They argued that the distance of the fatal shot, nearly 100 yards, was too far, even for a trained sniper. Some speculated that another gunman must have been involved. Others blamed a rogue faction of the FBI or CIA,

and still others thought that the Cubans must somehow be involved, or the Russians, or the mob. The final moments of John F. Kennedy's life would continue to be among the most scrutinized seconds in U.S. history, and they would haunt members of the Secret Service, who would replay the events over and over, wondering what they could have done differently that might have saved the president's life.

Lyndon Johnson ended his first year in office with a landslide victory in the 1964 election. He won by one of the widest margins in American history, and the Democrats took an unprecedented two-thirds majority in the House and Senate. Among those Democratic senators was a new face, Robert Kennedy, who easily won his race in New York, too.

The strong majorities in both chambers of Congress allowed Johnson to pursue more of his ambitious domestic agenda, which he called the Great Society. Even as he aimed to step out from JFK's shadow, he continued to pursue laws that had been among Kennedy's key goals—

He racked up legislative wins with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended a discriminatory quota system that prioritized immigration from European countries. He signed that act into law beneath the Statue of Liberty, with JFK's brothers Ted and Bobby by his side.

At the same time, Johnson also approved the steady increase of troops and fighting in Vietnam. Under pressure from his military advisors, Johnson secretly expanded bombing campaigns and troop deployments. By 1968, he had allowed the U.S. to get pulled ever deeper into the quagmire Kennedy had tried to avoid. Bobby Kennedy felt Johnson was leading the country astray, especially in Vietnam. But he was hesitant to directly challenge the man who had succeeded his brother.

Then, in early 1968, North Vietnam launched a surprise assault on South Vietnamese cities, including an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. This so-called Tet Offensive turned public opinion against Johnson, who was growing desperate to find a way out of the seemingly endless war. Johnson would soon announce a halt to the bombing campaign, but not before agreeing to send in even more troops. Bobby Kennedy had had enough.

He felt the nation needed a new leader, and he was ready to volunteer for the job. Imagine it's early March 1968. You're walking up the front steps of Hickory Hill, the large century-old brick home of Bobby and Ethel Kennedy in McLean, Virginia. Bobby is an old friend. You were roommates at Harvard, and you went on to serve his brother in the White House. Now, Bobby is considering his own run for president, and he's called you here to discuss it. Ethel greets you at the door and leads you back to our rear dining room.

There you find Bobby seated at a large wooden table, surrounded by other advisors. His sleeves are rolled up above his hairy forearms, and a mop of unruly hair covers one eye. He looks up at you and smiles. Hey, come on in. You know everyone here, of course. You nod to the other men seated around the table. Like you, some of them worked for Jack, and a couple of them, like you, were there that day in Dallas. Well, you know why we're here. You saw what happened in New Hampshire.

This man in the White House is vulnerable. You think it's time to announce? Athol thinks I should run, so maybe. So do most of the guys in the room, but I want to know what you think. That's why you're here. In the Kennedy's inner circle, you're known as the blunt one, a decorated World War II pilot and former POW who always tells it like it is. Today is no different. Well, it's too soon.

You haven't even finished your first Senate term. Why not build for the future and run in 72? My future is not the issue. The issue is whether the country can survive four more years of Lyndon Johnson and his war in Southeast Asia. Look, I know you're passionate about ending the war, but that's not a reason to run. I don't think you're ready. Well, Ethel thinks I need to be where the action is, not on the sidelines. And I agree with her. It's my duty. I have an obligation. And despite your misgivings, I'm wondering, will you be there for me?

"'Well, I'm not advocating it. But if you announce at 12 noon, I'm all in by 12.01.'" Bobby smiles, and you can tell he's made his decision. "'You remain wary of your longtime friend getting pushed by other people to make this leap, or running for the wrong reasons. You want him to proceed with caution, but you also know that caution isn't really in Robert F. Kennedy's vocabulary.'"

On March 12, 1968, Democratic candidate Eugene McCarthy won a surprising 42% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary, behind Johnson's 50%. The next day, Bobby Kennedy called a political consultant named Ken O'Donnell to seek his advice on entering the race. O'Donnell urged the younger Kennedy to hold off, but Bobby ignored his counsel.

Four days later, on March 16th, Kennedy declared his candidacy. He acknowledged the difficulty in challenging an incumbent president, especially one from his own party, but stated his belief that the country was on a perilous course, declaring, these are not ordinary times, and this is not an ordinary election.

And indeed, it was not an ordinary election. On March 31st, President Johnson announced that he would not seek re-election. Growing anti-war protests across the country had cost him his credibility. There was no guarantee he'd survive the upcoming Democratic primaries. And he reasoned that it was better to step aside rather than risk defeat. This paved the way for Bobby Kennedy to become the frontrunner. He seemed destined to become the next Kennedy in the White House.

And that seemed especially true after the events of April 4th. That day, Bobby was in Indianapolis for a campaign stop when he received word that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Against the advice of police, Kennedy stood in the back of a flatbed truck in a largely black neighborhood and broke the news of King's death. He then gave his most memorable speech, sharing with the crowd his empathy, telling them, "'I had a member of my own family killed.'"

Quoting the ancient Greeks, he made a plea to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. But two months later, just hours after winning the California primary, Bobby Kennedy was himself shot three times at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. His assassin, a Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan, was immediately arrested. Kennedy died the next day, less than five years after his brother's assassination. Once more, the nation reeled.

Despite his tragically shortened term, John F. Kennedy remains one of America's most revered presidents. And his legacy will forever be linked with Lyndon B. Johnson, who carried forward much of his progressive agenda. Together, America's 35th and 36th presidents presided over the passage of legislation that created Medicare and the Peace Corps, ended segregation, expanded voting rights, and put the first man on the moon.

But admirers of JFK and of his brother Robert still mourn what might have been were it not for those assassins' bullets. On the next episode, in 1981, Ronald Reagan very nearly became the fifth president to be killed in office. Instead, he would not only survive, but go on to become the most popular president in a generation and use that popularity to transform American politics.

If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

If you'd like to learn more about John F. Kennedy's assassination, we recommend Five Days in November by Clint Hill and Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Molly Bach. Sound design by Derek Behrens. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written by Neil Thompson. Edited by Doreen Marina. Produced by Alita Rosansky.

Our managing producer is Matt Gant. Our senior managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. Executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman and Marsha Louis for Wondery. This is the emergency broadcast system. A ballistic missile threat has been detected inbound to your area. Your phone buzzes and you look down to find this alert. What do you do next? Maybe you're at the grocery store. Or maybe you're with your secret lover. Or maybe you're robbing a bank.

Based on the real-life false alarm that terrified Hawaii in 2018, Incoming, a brand-new fiction podcast exclusively on Wondery+, follows the journey of a variety of characters as they confront the unimaginable. The missiles are coming. What am I supposed to do? Featuring incredible performances from Tracy Letts, Mary Lou Henner, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Paul Edelstein, and many, many more, Incoming is a hilariously thrilling podcast that will leave you wondering, how would you spend your last few minutes on Earth?

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