MANILA, Philippines - Nov. 22, 1963 was a day that shook the world. The 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy (JFK), was assassinated. The American government’s conclusion that it was the work of a lone assassin has been highly disputed. Fifty years later, theories of conspiracy and cover-ups still circulate around the world.
Tonight at 8, GMA News TV airs a one-hour special titled The Day Kennedy Died (dubbed in Filipino) commemorating the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. Those who were there when it happened share in the special their first-hand account of the final hours immediately leading up to JFK’s untimely death.
Filmed on location in Dallas and Washington D.C., The Day Kennedy Died tells the story of that day in Dallas through the memories of the people who played a part in those extraordinary events and whose lives were touched forever by what happened, many speaking for the first time. The minute-by-minute story of the death of a president is told through rarely-seen film and photographs shot on that tragic day in November, 1963.
A Parkland doctor tells how he was in the trauma room when a priest gave the last rites to the president. He also recalls seeing First Lady Jackie Kennedy exchange rings with her husband and kiss his foot. Clint Hill, a member of the Secret Service at the time, tells about the fierce confrontation with hospital officials about releasing JFK’s body, and about his anguish over not being able to protect the president during the motorcade. The closest civilian eyewitnesses to JFK at the time of the fatal shot tell how they shielded their small children after the shots were fired.