JFK Assassinated: On This Day, 1963

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. The Dow Jones News Service ticker tape shown here provides a testimony of the day’s harrowing events as they unfolded, and gives insight into the confusion and panic of the nation as they awaited news of the President’s fate. The reports begin with, "PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS SHOT TODAY JUST AS HIS MOTORCADE LEFT DOWNTOWN DALLAS —  MRS KENNEDY JUMPED UP AND GRABBED MR KENNEDY — SHE CRIED OH NO — THE MOTORCADE SPED ON." The ticker news tape continues to follow Kennedy to the hospital, and confirms reports of his death: "KENNEDY DIED OF A GUNSHOT WOUND IN THE BRAIN AT APPROXIMATELY 1 P M."

Before the Internet, ticker tapes like these were one of the fastest ways to dissemintate information among media outlets across the country, and by extension, the public. 

Below, Curator Beth Huffer shows the ticker tape that reported on the assassination: 

Read more excerpts here.