Kennedy was killed on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, while he rode in an open motorcade. A number of shots rang out from near the Texas School Book Depository building. Two bullets struck the president, hitting him in the neck and head. Rushed to a local hospital, he was pronounced dead almost immediately.

The accused assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald, a communist sympathizer who worked at the book depository. Two days later, Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, shot Oswald, as police were transporting him to a local jail. Ruby was convicted and sentenced to death. He gained a new trial, but died in prison of lung cancer awaiting the new trial date.