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 President Kennedy addresses the United Nations General Assembly and offers the Soviet Union a joint expedition to the Moon. The proposal is controversial with many members of Congress and raises fresh questions about how much money should be appropriated to the NASA budget. September 21, 1963: Rep. Albert Thomas (D-Tex), a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and Chairman of its Subcommittee of Independent Offices that was currently reviewing the Kennedy Administration's record $5.3 billion 1964 NASA budget proposal, sends a letter to the President asking for clarification of his U.N. speech regarding a joint Soviet-US moon landing. He