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The Day Kennedy Was Shot: An Hour-by-Hour Account of What Really Happened on November 22, 1963

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Over the past 40 years, no event in American history has been so scrutinized or conjectured about than the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Millions of words have been written about that tragic day in Dallas: Some point the finger of blame solely at Lee Harvey Oswald, while others weave a confusing web of conspiracy theories that accuse the Mafia, French criminals, Fidel Castro, anti-Castro Cuban exiles and/or militarists in the government who wanted to expand America's role in Vietnam.

One of the best books on the Kennedy assassination is the late Jim Bishop's gripping The Day Kennedy Was Shot, a detailed hour-by-hour account of the events of November 22, 1963, starting with the President's 7:00 AM wake-up at Fort Worth's Hotel Texas and ends 20 hours later in Washington, DC. Bishop follows all the major players -- JFK, Jackie, Lyndon B. Johnson, Oswald, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby -- and eyewitnesses -- Helen Ganss, an elderly Ft. Worth widow who had been allowed to stay at the Hotel Texas even when the other guests were moved out by the Secret Service; Linnie Mae Randall, an Irving, Texas housewife who, while washing the dishes in her kitchen, she "saw Lee Harvey Oswald, bare head down, coming up Fifth Street with a long package in his hand. He held the fat part under his arm; the tapered end was pointing at the sidewalk. The rain didn't seem to bother him. He walked steadily, up Fifth, across the corner lot, toward Mrs. Randall's garage. She kept watching him, a dark, pretty woman with shoulder-length black hair. By rote, she set the dishes upright in the drain."

John F. Kennedy had less than six hours left to live, of course, but while turning the pages of Bishop's 1968 book one feels the tension building up with each seemingly mundane detail (such as Mrs. Randall's dishes). The reader knows that once the President's party leaves the Hotel Texas for Carswell Air Force Base to board Air Force One for that short hop to Love Field, his fate is sealed.

Bishop, working from various sources despite Mrs. Kennedy's attempts to block publication of his book, describes every minute detail of those tragic 20 hours -- from the rainy weather over Texas to the bloodstained pink dress that Jackie Kennedy wore throughout that horrible day -- in crisp and clear prose.

Jim Bishop is an outstanding writer and his format using hours of the day (i.e., 7:00 am, 8:00 am, etc.) took you to where everyone was at that time--Lee, JFK, the FBI Agent responsibile for Oswald, Jackie, the football, Ruby, etc,. His research was in-depth and made you never question its validity. I lived in Dallas when this event took place, but was too young to know what was happening. Jim Bishop took back to Dallas on that day and gave me more than I ever expected to receive from the book. This book will make you feel like a history buff. His excellent writing ability led me to purchase another of his books--"The Day Lincoln was Shot"--This one is "Ditto".

This is a compelling book for assassination buffs such as myself, full of rich detail. I have lived in Fort Worth and Dallas, where Kennedy spent his last day, and the torrent of detail that spills out of this narrative animates the sites which I have visited so many times. There is this terrible mounting suspense as the main characters chitchat because you know what is going to happen. When Jack turns to Jackie and tells her to take her sunglasses off as they cross Turtle Creek in Dallas, a spot I've driven across many times, you fairly want to jump up and shout, "SCREW THE GLASSES! STOP THE CAR AND GET OUT! THERE'S A MAN WITH A RIFLE AROUND THE CORNER WHO IS GOING TO KILL YOU!" But they keep on going and there is no stopping them from driving on or you from reading through to the bitter end.

What separates Bishop's account of the day from Manchester's account of the day is the Kennedy family's support of Manchester and their lack of support of Bishop. Consequently, Bishop is more apt to relate events that would be buffed out of any account edited by the Kennedys. You get much more of a raw look at the events. For example, Kennedy viciously chews out an Air Force general because the weather forecast was wrong, leading Jackie to dress too warmly in her pink wool outfit. The Kennedys would have edited out this petty bullying.

Bishop also has a good feel for Oswald's mother, Marquerite, and Jack Ruby, both of whom were flaky to the point of insanity. Bishop could have delved a little deeper into Marquerite, a thoroughly annoying character. Once you understand Marquerite, you see where the madness began with Lee Harvey. Bishop also gives good insight into Jack Ruby, a major flake, by simply following him around as he weasels his way into the local action at fires, radio stations, and police stations with packages of sandwiches.

My only criticism is that Bishop did not pay as careful attention to getting the details correct as I would have liked. For example, he calls a KC-135 aircraft that flew a fragment of Kennedy's skull from Fort Worth to DC a "K-135." He says that the gun that Jack Ruby used to shoot Oswald was chrome plated. I've seen it on display in Dallas. It has a dull black finish like most handguns.

However, even with those types of errors, this is the second best book on JFK's assassination, right behind Gerald Posner's account. I could not put it down. It pulled me along until I finished and then I wished it had gone on further.

"THE DAY KENNEDY WAS SHOT" was written by Jim Bishop and provides some fascinating insights into the last day of President John F. Kennedy's life.

My copy of Mr. Bishop's ultra-detailed book is a 1983 hardcover edition, 713 pages in length. The book is divided into four major sections, chronicling the events of November 22, 1963, in practically minute-by-minute fashion (beginning at 7:00 AM CST). The four sections are labelled: "The Morning Hours", "The Afternoon Hours", "The Evening Hours", and "The Midnight Hours".

Many bits and pieces of little-known trivia concerning JFK's last day can be accessed through this compelling volume. Such as: Mr. Kennedy's last breakfast consisted of the following fare .... Two eggs (boiled for precisely five minutes), toast (with marmalade on the side), orange juice, and a large pot of coffee.

Throughout the book, Mr. Bishop supports the Single-Bullet Theory (SBT) and advocates the idea that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin on November 22nd, which is a point-of-view that I agree with wholeheartedly. There are, however, a few portions of the book that I disagree with and fail to understand (especially from a "Lone Assassin" standpoint). Such as:

I find Mr. Bishop's account of the first (missed) rifle shot somewhat curious, given what we can see JFK doing after this shot via the Zapruder Film. Bishop has the first shot missing the car's occupants, striking the concrete of Elm Street to the right rear of the Presidential limousine; this bullet causes "dust" and "concrete chips" to fly up off the street (noticed by at least one witness in Dealey Plaza -- Mrs. Donald S. Baker). Bishop's book claims (on Page 172) that Mrs. Baker "saw the spray and pulled back". Mrs. Baker's Warren Commission testimony does confirm this.

However, this first missed shot, according to Bishop's book, is also what causes President Kennedy to stop waving as the President (supposedly) actually FEELS (per Bishop's text) the effects of this missed shot, being peppered (similar to bystander James Tague on this very SAME shot) in the face with debris. This "peppering" in the face causes JFK to raise his arms up to his face in an automatic protective motion.

Mr. Bishop does not "line up", or correspond, his version of events with the Zapruder film frames (which is unfortunate here), so we can only guess as to exactly WHEN on the Z-Film this first (missed) shot occurs via Bishop's narrative.

But this version by Mr. Bishop (although very close to what I believe occurred) is probably incorrect in a few respects. One of which is the fact that (on the Z-Film) we can easily see that the President continues to wave after such a "Jim Bishop first shot which peppered JFK in the face" had to have occurred.

JFK is still waving and smiling to the crowd on his right as late as Z188 (or so), which is just two seconds away from what is the "SBT Frame" (Z224) -- obviously not enough time for Oswald to shoot twice with his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.

Then there's Mr. Bishop's more detailed account on Page 173 of what happened --- "The President of the United States, feeling the tiny grains hit his face, began to lift both hands upward in fright. He, perhaps better than anyone in the Plaza, understood the import: he had felt the sandy grains on his skin and he had heard the sound he feared."

If JFK had FELT "concrete spray" on his face well BEFORE Z188 (which he would have HAD to in an "Oswald is the Lone Assassin" scenario), I have a problem with seeing him still smiling and still waving as late as the Z180s.

It's quite difficult to reconcile this account of the first shot in another way too. That being -- how could a missed shot that chipped concrete in the street to the REAR of the President's car send shards/fragments of concrete up and into a location to where JFK's face would be hit by them? Seems to me, in this scenario, Mr. Kennedy would have been struck on the back of his head/body, and not his "face". (Of course, in reality, the "JFK felt the concrete" account is all pure conjecture and just a wild guess on Mr. Bishop's part; and to add in these obviously-speculative remarks in his book -- when such a thing cannot possibly be proven, even remotely so -- is a bit too MUCH speculation regarding the matter, IMHO.)

And: I also have a problem with Mr. Bishop's first-shot account (overall), in that he has this SAME shot that peppered the President in the face also rocketing across the Plaza and nicking James Tague as well. (In ADDITION, this same missile MUST have also done the damage to the street curb that we've seen in photos, which shows a "fresh" bullet mark on the curb by Tague.)

Could this SAME bullet have struck the street (to the RIGHT REAR of the limo, per Bishop's account), and still have ricocheted in the correct direction to strike Tague and leave the obvious "bullet" mark on the curb?

For such a well-researched and highly-detailed account of events, I find a few errors very odd and it's a bit hard to believe they sneaked through into the final finished edition of the book. .....

Such as: Misspelling (badly) Charles Brehm's name. Bishop has him represented as "Charles Brend" in his only reference to Brehm in the volume. And he also has another mistake re. Brehm -- claiming that Brehm was "holding his five-year-old boy up to see the President" as the motorcade passed Brehm's position. This, of course, is wrong as well. Brehm was clapping the whole time, and was not "holding up" his son at all. Bishop also says Brehm was "on the sidewalk", which is also incorrect. There was no sidewalk where Brehm was standing; only grass. Small trivial errors, but noticeable nonetheless.

And then there's also a minor error in the book pertaining to when Nellie Connally made her "You can't say Dallas doesn't love you" statement to President Kennedy just before the shooting. The book claims that this statement was made AFTER the Elm St. turn -- which is inaccurate. Nellie said this just after the Main-to-Houston Street turn (with photos even showing JFK leaning in towards Mrs. Connally on Houston St. to accept her words more clearly).

"The Day Kennedy Was Shot" is riveting reading, however. I enjoyed it greatly, except for a few minor mistakes. While reading Mr. Bishop's text, you get the feeling of going back in time, back to *before* that awful noon in Dealey Plaza, when the President was gunned down in the middle of the street. If only the reader of this book could somehow freeze the clock at 12:29 PM on November 22nd, and keep the horrible event of one minute later from occurring. But, sadly, the simple act of closing this book when you get to Page 177 (the head shot that killed the President) won't stop the assassination from taking place. Too bad such "magical" powers don't exist.

Jim Bishop's many years as a reporter stood him in good stead when he started this book which is a thorough piece of boilerplate journalism and a fine place to start navigating the Dallas maze. A skillful writer, Bishop is at his best detailing a 24-hour-period as a mosaic of events, each of which effects the outcome, which is unknown until it plays out. An unbiased reader of this book will be reminded of the power of many cliches along the lines of "the best laid plans of mice and men oft gang awry..." The book has two major flaws. The first is that Bishop was friendly with Kennedy and the horror of Kennedy's murder affected Bishop's judgment. In this sense it is reminiscent of Manchester's work. Both men had great trouble writing objectively and unemotionally about a friend's murder. The second problem is outlined in Bishop's opening to the work, which indicates a serious lack of cooperation extended toward him by Kennedy partisans. This, too, hurts the book. The book's biggest strengths are related to its attention to minute detail. He is particularly strong in showing how the nuts-and-bolts details of the day contributed mightily to Kennedy's death - and how those details work hard against a conspiracy. For example, planners of the trip regarded Dealey Plaza as essentially a freeway onramp. The planners fully expected small and hostile crowds rather than large and friendly ones. They expected a perfunctory motorcade and thought he would turn into Dealey Plaza at a much higher rate of speed than the fatal 10.5 MPH. Zooming toward freeway speed would have eliminated the risk of assassintation. Kennedy himself ordered the car to drive slowly because the crowds were far, far bigger and much friendlier than anyone expected - and he could not turn down an opportunity to politic. This is the kind of critically important detail conspirators could not have planned - but which is irrelevant to a disturbed sniper. Weather considerations, Jackie's indisposition, Oswald's lack of a car, all these details played roles in the events as they played out. It is unlikely this book will convince any skeptics, but someone with a truly open mind will come away with a clear understanding that a thousand-and-one independent factors each had to occur exactly as it did for the murder to take place. Personally, I feel that there were two many wild cards in play in Dallas for serious conspirators to choose it as a murder site. The quality of the writing varies from good to purple and there are mistakes and some sensationalism which mar the work. I would say that the book is a good look at what happened in Dallas and helps place some solid limits on the wilder conspiracy theories.

"The Day Kennedy Was Shot" is one of the most well written books I've read so far this year!! At first glance, this book is like looking at a script of the TV series "24", but sadly Jack Bauer wasn't there to help and the tragic events of November 22nd, 1963 were not fictional, but a tragic reality. How an authour, yet alone anyone, can piece together the events of a single day in such mintue detail is beyond me. The scenes he masterully recreates make the reader feel like they are there. This book was gripping and hard to put down! The only thing that this book lacks (while taking nothing away from the theme and I suspect, the intent of the book) is an exploration of possible conspiracy theories. (If you're looking for another "conspiracy" book, this one is NOT for you) But if you're looking for a complete account of that day's events. (The book's chapters are divided into hourly sagments running from 7AM-3AM CST) this is THE ONE! I would recomend this book as an ideal source to use if you're writing a report about that fateful day. I would defy anyone to match its exactness of detail!

Since Nov. 1963 thousands of books have been written about the events of the 22nd. Forty years later it's interesting to look back.

In preparation for a trip to Dallas, I read THE DAY KENNEDY WAS SHOT. As the owner of many, many books on JFK and the assassination and a real Kennedy buff, I had a lot to chose from. In fact, I had started Manchester's NOVEMBER 1963.

If you want a real feel for the time period and the chaos of that terrible day in Dallas, I would recommend Bishop. For those of us who loved John Kennedy, it's refreshing to read about JFK with out the comments about his womanizing. You see him as a loving family man with a totally devoted staff. In some respects I probably learned more details that I wanted to know. If you want to read about the autopsy and the embalming and all the minor details of the day, this should be your pick. YOu find that lots of people are shown to clay feet, especially Jackie.

Even if you are a conspiracy buff, it's interesting to see the roots of some of the theories that emerged over the next 40 years. For instance, I found the comments about the relationship between Jackie and Bobbie interesting because some years ago someone alleged that they had an affair after JFK's death.

The descriptions of the blacks in the tale are interesting. Comments are made like "a Negro man..." But this was 1963. I did however think that Bishop glorified JFK's civil rights record.

If you want to feel "The Way We Were" in 1963 and the real personal tradegy of the day read this book. JFK lost his life, but a nation lost its innocence. His staff and cabinet lost a friend and cause. It's excellent background for anyone interested in JFK and his tragic death.

I have no idea why this book is no longer in print. Jim Bishop wrote an earlier book about the day Lincoln was killed ("The Day Lincoln Was Shot") that is still in print (and it's great), but this one has apparently fallen out of favor. Strange.

So why a minute-by-minute examination of a single day, even a day as momentous as this one? That's not necessarily an easy question to answer; it is a kind of subset history genre, the close examination of Kennedy's death, or Lincoln's, or Christ's, or 9/11, etc. On first blush it might seem of value only to the researcher writing from a larger historical perspective, but in fact a work of history with this kind of focus can be far more interesting than any other approach to the subject. In the case of JFK, the incredible tension that builds naturally from a chronicle of the day he was killed makes for a more thrilling story than a novel on the same subject could ever hope to achieve.

The book follows not only Kennedy but all the players, Jackie, Oswald, his mother & his wife, LBJ, RFK, J.D. Tippett, and so on. At times these separate strands converge, but mostly they're followed separately and Bishop does a masterful job of keeping all the threads tight. It's hard to imagine the amount of research and organization that went into telling this story so cleanly, because it is certainly one of the most confusing, contradictory days in world history, but Bishop makes it look easy. He is a brilliant storyteller, and anyone will tell you that is what a great reporter has to be. It's not just the facts, ma'am, it's the narrative drive, and this one moves like a supercharged Hummer.

So why has it fallen out of print? And why has another book on the same topic, William Manchester's "Death of a President," also fallen out of print? I'm not much on conspiracy theories; there's nothing in either book that the "military-industrial complex" would find terribly distressing. Bishop does mention several eyewitnesses who saw or heard shots coming from the famous grassy knoll---as, incidentally, do the live news accounts of November 22---but by far most of the evidence Bishop (and Manchester) collects points squarely at Lee Harvey Oswald. I think this excellent book is out of print now because people just don't care who killed Kennedy anymore, and they certainly aren't interested in a blow-by-blow account of the assassination.

To say this is "too bad" would be an understatement of biblical proportions. Every day, every hour, we are losing our sense of wonder and curiosity about our country, and we are most particularly forgetting the lessons the Sixties taught us: don't trust the official story. They may be right (in this case, I think they actually are: I believe Oswald did act alone and the "coverup" all these years has been the CIA, FBI, Dallas police dept., etc. covering up how incompetent and ineffectual they were protecting Kennedy that day), but you should ALWAYS look into the story for yourself. Books like "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" (and Oliver Stone's masterwork film "JFK") help us do that, by marshalling all the available information into a powerful narrative thrust. If we forget, or more importantly if we simply cease to care, then the ones who want us to sleep our lives away have won before we're even out of the starting gate.

Read this book, not just because it is about one of the most important days in American history, and not just because it is a remarkably well-written thriller, but also because it is important, SO important, that we never forget this man and how he died and the lessons his death taught us.

John F Kennedy, the 35th. American President, served from January 20, 1961 until he was assassinated in Dallas-Texas on November 22, 1963.

During his short term in office important events took place and some of their effects, after forty-four years, are still living with us up to this day.
For instance, Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, Cuban Missile Crises and his confrontation with Nikita Khrushchev - American U2 Spy Plane.
The establishment of the Berlin Wall and USA subsequent estrangement with USSR.
The Space Race with the Soviets and his solemn promise to America to outpace USSR by pushing research and development of the Space Program.
The beginning of Vietnam crises.
The energetic inauguration of American Civil rights.

The book referred to all the above, but did not touch base with something equally important.
Israel.
The Negev Nuclear Research Centre located about ten kilometres to the south Dimona in Israel.

It has never been a secret that in 1958, the French helped Israel construct the centre.
{{{The year 1958 was filled with open unrest in the Middle East. a) Union between Egypt and Syria. b) Civil disturbances in the Lebanon c) Coup in Iraq - suspected as communists. d) The Marines landed in Lebanon, and e) The height of the Algerian Revolution and its adverse impact on the Franco-Egyptian relations}}}.

Nevertheless, officially the centre was built as nuclear reactor to help produce additional power for `desalination plant' to water the Negev desert.
The world concluded that the purpose of Dimona was not as announced. Israel constructed it to build nuclear weapons. The Arab world, estranged with Israel since day one, suspected the Israelis were applying a policy shrouded in ambiguity and equivocation.

Dimona began active work in the beginning of 1962 and was able to produce plutonium. Arab university professors gathered in Cairo and their forum reached the conclusion that enriched uranium was also produced.

USA intelligence was able to assess the purpose of Dimona since the beginning of 1960 and insisted that Israel should agree to comply with international standards of `inspection' (Israel never signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Pact that began late in 1960).
Indeed, Ben Gurion agreed to international inspection provided 1) Inspectors are USA citizens or under the sole supervision of the USA, and 2) that Israel would receive advance notice of the schedule of inspection.
Some suspected that since Israel was able to receive advance warning of the date of inspection, it was a lot easy to makeover, hide, evade, and cover, ahead of time, sensitive data at the site away from the scrutinizing eyes of the inspectors.
The inspectors informed USA administration of their qualms and complained that their work, in the absence of professional surprise check, would be rendered futile, useless and a waste of time. The inspectors didn't agree to any restrictions put to them by the Israelis concerning the `areas' or `the facilities' they intended to check.

Ben Gurion was adamant "there will be no surprise visits", and Kennedy was determined to `go by the book', `the inspectors should apply the guidelines to the letter and produce their appraisal, independently, as in any other place in the world. Exempting Israel would be taken as precedent'.
As expected, the charismatic young American president won over the old man of Israel. Dimona was put under the Inspectors Microscope.
But for how long??

When Lyndon B Johnson succeeded the assassinated President he did not pursue the same stringent approach as his predecessor.

Dimona was completed to the best of Israel's abilities...............

The book arrived in a very timely manner and was in excellent condition, especially for a book nearly half century old. The price was also surprisingly low. I would definitely buy from this vendor again.