Fifty years since JFK’s assassination

Posted by Richard Rawlinson

We’re approaching the 50^th anniversary of John F Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas, at 12.30pm on Friday, 22 November 1963. In the wake of a media deluge, here’s a video of the state funeral on Monday, 25 November.

Preparations were speedy. The president’s body was brought back to Washington and, after 24 hours in the White House, the coffin was taken to lie in state at the Capitol, viewed thoughout Sunday by thousands of mourners. Meanwhile, representatives of countries from all over the world flew in to DC for the Monday requiem mass at St Matthew’s Cathedral, after which the president was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

From Abide with Me to the Last Post, from John-John’s salute as his father’s coffin went by to Jackie Kennedy’s mourning veil, the funeral seems remarkably timeless and universal.