Timeline of the John F. Kennedy assassination Houston Street and slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository head-on. According to witnesses, the shooting occurred shortly after the limousine made the sharp left-hand turn from Houston onto Elm Street. Most of the witnesses recalled that the first shot was fired after the president had started waving with his right hand. Several onlookers recalled hearing three shots, with the second and third shots bunched distinctly much closer together than the first and second shots. Witnesses estimate that from three to eight shots were fired. The Zapruder film shows the President re-emerging in the footage after being temporarily hidden from
Presidency of John F. Kennedy Presidency of John F. Kennedy The presidency of John F. Kennedy began on January 20, 1961, when Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States, and ended on November 22, 1963, upon his assassination, a span of days. A Democrat, he took office following the 1960 presidential election, in which he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon. He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Kennedy's time in office was marked by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and Cuba. In Cuba, a failed attempt was made in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow