Assassination of John F. Kennedy President Kennedy as his motorcade continued down Elm Street. About 80% of the witnesses recalled hearing three shots. A minority of the witnesses recognized the first gunshot they heard as weapon fire, but there was hardly any reaction to the first shot from a majority of the people in the crowd or those riding in the motorcade. Many bystanders later said that they heard what they first thought to either be a firecracker or the backfire of one of the vehicles shortly after the President had begun waving. Although some close witnesses recalled seeing the limousine slow down, nearly stop,
Timeline of the John F. Kennedy assassination sworn in as the United States' 36th President. 1:40 p.m. CST: Johnson telephones Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to express his condolences and ask where he should take the oath of office of the President of the United States. 1:50 p.m. CST: Johnson telephones his friend Irving Goldberg, an attorney. The two decide to ask Sarah T. Hughes to administer the oath. 1:51 p.m. CST: Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested at the Texas Theater in Dallas. 2:10 p.m. CST: Abraham Zapruder arrives at WFAA-TV in Dallas and is interviewed about his film of the assassination. 2:13 p.m. CST: Police find