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Two best friends who host a podcast called Illiquips History discuss their recent experiences. One of them attended a sound bath and had a strange and intense experience, while the other went fishing with her husband for the first time in 13 years. They then transition to discussing JFK and his assassination, sharing some of his famous quotes and facts about his life. The episode ends with a teaser for the next part of the JFK assassination discussion. Welcome to Illiquips History! We're two best friends who really kind of don't know what we're doing. Do things. In history. We just do things. In history. We time travel back in time and we just do stuff. Well, with all the times you've made that noise, I think we should have a time machine by now, right? Which noise? The rewind noise? The who? Who? Yeah, the time travel noise. Well, this is Morgan. Hi, Morgan. And I'm Emily. I always forget to introduce us. New listeners are probably like, who are these bitches? Who are these gals? Oh my gosh. So how are you? I'm good. I had an interesting weekend. I can't wait to tell you about it. So just really quick. So the first neat, interesting, weird thing that I did this weekend is I did a sound bath. And I didn't even know what that was, but it's really what we did was we just hung out in a dark room. And this lady played like these instruments and they're specially designed apparently to target like the water in your body. Oh, and they like harmonize with it. And I was like, okay, maybe I'll just like meditate for 30 minutes, like chill, maybe take a nap. No, I went to fucking outer space. I'm not even kidding. Like I saw stars. I saw fractals. I was like depersonalized from my body. I felt like I was in a sensory deprivation tank. But also my head weighed like 10,000 pounds. Like it was so so weird. And when I finally came back, when the session ended, I felt super strange afterwards. I was like, I didn't feel right. I felt like, you know, like when you wake up from a nap in the middle of the day, and you're like, what year is it? Yeah, I felt like that. But it didn't go away. Are you sure you didn't just take drugs? I if I maybe I don't remember. I was at a conference for for my job. So unless someone slipped into the donuts they were serving then. Yeah. So I like we're all packing up. I'm trying to like shake it off. I'm helping move tables back. And I'm like, I cannot shake the feeling that I just feel so weird. It's really even hard to explain. But like I never came back down from outer space. So I went to the lady and I was like, Hey, I still feel really weird. I feel like I'm not myself. Help. And she's like, Okay, I got just the thing. And so she takes out these tuning forks and like barely like taps them to get them to vibrate and like waves them around my head. And I just like ball my eyes out. Like, I feel my whole body like relax. And I started feeling more centered. And I just cried. And I was like, I'm sorry. She's like, No, you're just releasing old energy. It's fine. She did that for about five minutes. And I felt a lot better. But I don't think I realized I wasn't 100% back to normal. Because like that, that afternoon and that evening, like, and I had a really bad morning, which I told Emily about, which I'm not going to share on the podcast, just knows a really bad morning. I cried a lot on Saturday, and I come home and I literally cannot reregulate myself. My heart pounds for hours. And Kyle gave me some ashwagandha and some magnesium. And I was finally able to go to sleep. And I woke up and I felt great the next day. I was like, Wow, I feel like energized and happy and like I'm ready to go. And I like Sunday was fine. I went to an Edgar Allen Poe speakeasy with some friends and it was really cool. And yeah, fun. So the jury's still out on sound bath. A lot of people liked it. I may just need like a longer experience. So it's like she even said, like, usually they're not 30 minutes are usually like 75 to 90 minutes for a session. So she's like, I'll try it with you. Yeah, it's very interesting. And I definitely got like really cool vibes from it. It was just like the after part. I was like, I still feel weird. Well, I had a I had a meditation kind of kind of vibe. Oh, you did? I went fishing. Oh, which is my happy place. Normally I go with my dad and we like get up there before the sun rises. And that's like my moment of like watching the sunrise over the mountains over the Hawassee River and all that. And it's like, awesome. And we sit on the riverbank and eat donuts. I didn't have drugs on them, did they? No, no drug doughnuts like Morgan takes. But I went on a it was we were trout fishing. And I caught a bass. That was it. Nice. I got the wrong fish. And I put it back. Because I didn't need a bass. You want a trout? Damn it. I want a trout. I was like, is this a brown trout? Dad's like, no. And I'm like, I thought it looked funny. Sorry, I'm not good at identifying fish. I'm just there for the experience. I'm not really that good. I look professional. But I have the waders and everything. Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm just vibing out there. But it was the first time in 13 years. This is sad that Nick and I have ever gone fishing together like that. Oh, really? Yeah, we've always gone at different times. I normally went with dad or he'd go with his dad. But then like, after we had kids, someone had to be home with the kids. Right. So this is the first time we actually went together. Oh, I know. That's nice. I know. So we should we should get into Yeah, I guess enough. I know are not scared of this episode. I guess enough happiness for one day. Yeah, get into this heavy. We're trying to cut it off. Because this one's gonna be a rough one today. Yeah. So I did recently for the eclipse when you guys when we're recording this, it's only like a week after the eclipse. So I have recently been to Texas. On the way there. I completely forgot that JFK was assassinated in Dallas. So when we got there, we were like, what do we want to do? We were looking at things and we ended up going to the memorial and the grassy knoll and the street he was shot, Dealey Plaza, all of that stuff. I didn't get to go through the museum that is now on the sixth floor of it's now an administrative building, but it was the old school book depository. I didn't get to go in there. I'd like to go back and do that. But we'll have to save that trip for another time. So I decided to go ahead since it's fresh on my mind. Let's let's tackle this JFK assassination. And this is going to be a two parter. I'm going to throw it out there right now. Because it's a lot. So to start us off instead of skip, because we felt like that was going to be in poor taste. We are going to listen to some of his most famous quotes and lines for just a minute. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. But why some say the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why 35 years ago? Why the Atlantic? Why does life play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other thing, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility. I welcome it. And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Okay, so those were some beautiful words. Do you know what I never really thought about? He is from Boston. And I do not think I have heard enough actual, I have read the things he said. I have never actually heard his voice that much. He has the sickest accent. It is so sick. Very thick Bostonian accent. He puts like the R at the end when there is an A. It was like California. I love it. One of our teachers in high school, when he was talking about, he was a history teacher and we were getting into modern history. He always called Cuba, Cuber because that is how JFK always said it when we were talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis and everything. He did. I love it. So do you want to hear the coolest fact about your best friend? One I do not already know. Yeah. JFK and I share a birthday. What? Yeah, May 29th baby. Did you purposely not tell me because you wanted to reveal that? Because you said his birthday is in May. Yeah. Okay. So, but he was born in 1917 in Brookline, Massachusetts. And he was the second oldest of eight children. And he came from two Irish family descendants that both ended up in Brooklyn. They both came from, his mother and father both came from very wealthy families. So he was the first U.S. president to be born in the 20th century. Cool. He had a lot of firsts. And like I said, both sides of his family came from wealthy families. His maternal grandfather had been the mayor of Boston. And then Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, had made his fortune in the stock market, entertainment, and other varying businesses. And he managed to get his money out of the stock market before the crash of 1929. So they did not lose their money in the Great Depression. That's very fortunate. Very fortunate. Not a lot of people were able to do that. And through the Great Depression, Jack, but he went by Jack as well, and his eight siblings, or I guess seven siblings, they just lived their childhood. Very privileged, elite private school, sailboats, servants, summer homes, the whole nine. And JFK actually admitted that his only experience of the Great Depression was what he read in books while attending Harvard. Wow. So he didn't even know what was going on. No, he was, I mean, he was a child in 1929. He was 12 years old. Yeah, so he, I mean, in his, you know, sheltered as in like, sheltered by wealth, right? He was just living life. And his younger siblings would know even less about it. That not crazy. That really is crazy. Like, it's the worst economic depression in the last 200 years. And he had no idea. Yeah, and he lived through it. He was just like, yeah, yeah. But it wasn't all easy sailing for John. During his childhood, he was chronically ill. And he, a lot of those went undiagnosed. So they don't even know exactly what it was. But he spent a lot of his time recuperating. And if I had to guess, no one really said this, but if I had to guess, it's probably how he became so like, eloquent with his words. Because like, what else do you do other than like, read in the 30s when you're bed bound? Right. It's not like you can hit up the switch. Yeah. And in 1938, on the eve of the Second World War, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, to the key post of ambassador to the United Kingdom. And his father ended up being very unsympathetic of the British preparedness policies for the war. And then later on that year, John got a million dollars from his family. Just because? In 1938, I guess so. Okay. And he was 20? 21? 21. Yeah. Well, damn. Yeah. How much is a million dollars in 1938? Oh, God. 2 million. 1 million. 1 million dollars. That's the equivalent of 22,151,205 dollars. Holy shit. Motherfuck. That's so much money. Just, just see, given 22 million dollars casually. Cash. To a 21 year old. Oh, God. That money would not exist anymore if given to me at 22, at 21 years old. I'd have the nicest house. I'd have no student loans, which that'd be about like half. Yeah, seriously. A house, a car. I'd buy my mom a house. Yeah. Probably buy my sister's houses. Like, we'd have like a modest house on the river. Nick would have that airplane. And Nick would have the boat that he wants. And then the rest, probably savings account for college funds and stuff. Yeah. Maybe a small summer home, like a cabin. Yeah. A small one. Yeah. Yeah. One on the river, one on the mountain. Yeah. Yeah. A little one. So, while in England with his father, he wrote an essay for Harvard University on England's lack of readiness for the Second World War. And this is called Why England Slept. And it was published, well received by critics, and became a bestseller. Wow. At 21 years old. Wow. Yeah. So, on to his military service. So, right after he graduated Harvard, the U.S. entered World War II. And initially, he was rejected from the military because of his history with illnesses and him being a sickly kid. But his dad intervened. And also, I think they were getting kind of desperate at some point. Well, I don't know. He got in kind of early. So, it was probably more like his dad intervened. Money does talk. So, he ended up being admitted and sent to the South Pacific, commanding a small torpedo boat known as a PT. And him and his crew participated in a campaign that freed thousands of islands from Japanese control. Oh, wow. Yeah. And in 1943, the sailors were sleeping without posting a watch, which was in violation of naval regulations. And a Japanese destroyer rammed the boat. Oh, shit. Yeah. Him and only 10 others survived. Oh, my God. Including one sailor. They had to, like, strap a life jacket to and drag him in the water because he was so badly burned. They ended up having to swim three miles to a tiny island. Holy shit. And then they hid from the enemy on that island for days until Kennedy was able to call for help. Damn. Oh, my God. Can you, like, how different would our world be if he hadn't survived that explosion? Oh, my God. There's so many things in his story that, had this not happened, how that not happened, the entire United States would be a different place. Like, little things in his life that, I'll get to it. I'll get to it. So, this is actually one of them. He was widely credited with the rescue of his crew. And Kennedy ended up receiving the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Valor and a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained. Oh, wow. So, when he returned home, the Navy actually inquired about the sinking. They were, like, bruh, what happened? Your scout, your watchman should have been able to see that coming. And although the board found evidence of poor seamanship, probably that lack of watchmen, the Navy needed heroes more than it needed scapegoats at the time, is what they said. And they were actively fighting World War II. Yes. Yeah. The last thing they needed was someone as high, and I'm not giving him an excuse. I'm just saying what happened. The last thing they needed was somebody, a Kennedy, who is probably a well-known name everywhere, you know, make a mistake like this in a time as dire. And I'm sure his name didn't hurt. Oh, it didn't hurt at all. And Kennedy was actually cast as the hero and went on to build public morale and went on speaking tours. So, this actually, I think, kind of propelled him a little bit to get his name out if he's going on speaking tours and stuff. Yeah. But this is another one of those things, like, if he hadn't, had they said, you know what, that was poor seamanship, you're dishonorably discharged, or had they hurt my shoulder, negative on his name, had he been able to become president to begin with. Right. So, unfortunately, the Kennedy family did not go unscathed. Like I said, he was the second oldest. And Joseph Jr. was Jack's older brother. He was a pilot and was killed in a bombing mission in Europe. Oh, man. So, now, Jack is the oldest son. And Joseph had been the one and Joseph had been the one that his father was kind of, I hate to use the word grooming, but like raising to become the president of the United States one day. Well, now that Joseph has passed, that is now falling on to John. So, another one of those things, had Jack or had Joseph not died, would John have even aspired to become the president? It might have been Joseph. Yeah. Unfortunately, his brother did die. So, now it's his responsibility in the family, according to his father, to be in politics. So, after being discharged from the Navy, I'm assuming it was honorably discharged. I mean, if he had the medals and stuff. John worked briefly as a reporter for the Hearst newspapers. I didn't know that. Okay. And then in 1946, at 29 years old, Kennedy won the election for U.S. Congress representing the working class Boston district. Okay. That's so young. Okay. Like this man that literally was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and didn't even know the Great Depression was going on is now representing the labor, like working class. But he went to Harvard. Okay. But he was young and good looking and spoke well. Okay. Yeah, he served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, earning the reputation as somewhat of a conservative Democrat. Okay. And he was reelected in 1948 and again in 1950. And in 1952, he ran for U.S. Senate and defeated the Republican incumbent from another Massachusetts family with a long political history, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. So, now I feel like we're having the battle of the Boston family. So, this is about the time, 1952, that he met Ms. Jacqueline Beauviere? Beauviere? How do you say her last name? I have no idea. This is when he met Jackie. Okay. I've only ever known her as Jackie or Jackie Kennedy. Yeah. And at a dinner party in 1952, and as he later put it, he, quote, leaned across the asparagus and asked for a date. Romantic. So romantic. They were married a year later. Oh, I would like to say at this point, he's 12 years older than her. Oh, wow. I see. I didn't know that either. He was 36 years old when they got married and he was 24 or she was 24. He was 36. Did I say that right? So, they were married September 12th of 1953 at the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Newport, Rhode Island. And when did they meet? 1952. 1952. So, yeah, about a year. Okay. Year of courtship. Yeah. And more than 800 guests, including many noble individuals, attended. Damn. They would go on to have four kids. Unfortunately, she did end up having one miscarriage, which is not included in those four. Two died in infancy. So, she had a miscarriage in 1955. In 1956, she had a baby girl named Arabella, but she was stillborn. I know. So much heartache. In 1957, Caroline was born. She is still alive today and is the U.S. ambassador to Japan. And in 1960, they had John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. Unfortunately, John ended up passing away in 1999. Him and his wife died in a plane crash. Oh, man. That he was piloting. So, it was just him and his wife. And in 1963, which we will get into this child's birth, Patrick was born, but he died within a few days due to complications. Oh, my goodness gracious. Yeah. So, out of the four of the ones that made it to term, only one is still alive today. Wow. Yeah. So, throughout all of this, his health was still an issue. He ended up contracting malaria in the South Pacific. And he had Addison's disease, which is the adrenal. Do you know what that is? Because it sounded familiar. I ended up looking it up. So, I'll tell you all what it is. Yeah, I've heard of it. And I kind of know what it is. Yeah. So, it's the adrenal glands make too little cortisol and often too little of another hormone called aldosterone. And the symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic website, are extreme fatigue, weight loss, and loss of appetite, areas of darkened skin, low blood pressure, fainting, salt craving, low blood pressure, also called hypoglycemia, nausea, diarrhea, or vomiting, abdominal pain, muscle and joint pain, irritability, depression, body hair loss, or sexual issues in some people. And he basically relied on painkillers, steroids, and stuff to manage the symptoms. Yeah, it's a rough one. Yeah, he had constant back pain. And a lot of times it prevented him from lifting his own small kids. His kids were only like three and almost six at the time when he passed. So, he had small children. But it was really interesting. And I say all that to say because Kennedy's public image was one of youth and health and vigor. And we talked about that in the Watergate episode, that he was like, he portrayed himself as like this young, strong individual. And that's what got him elected, really, in his wit. And I honestly, I love listening to him talk, I could listen to him talk all the time. So, and, but he wasn't, he might have had a lot of downtime as far as like, you know, ailments, but probably something that carried over from his childhood. He didn't just sit there. During the downtime of the back surgery, he wrote Profiles in Courage. And it was a book about eight American senators who had taken an unpopular but admiral moral stand in their time of service. And the book ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. Wow. But also due to his poor health, he had one of the worst attendance records in Congress history. Oh, goodness. Yeah. So, his real achievements in the Senate were kind of few, far between. But almost immediately after election, he began his, his vision for the higher office. So, in 1956, he ran for vice president. He ran for vice president in 1956. But he narrowly lost the bid to Estes Kefauver. I don't know how to say that. He was a senator from Tennessee. And it's a bummer, right? Yeah. Because you lost. But it ended up being a blessing. Because the Republican incumbents, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon beat Stevenson and the his, I'm just going to call him Estes. Okay. Because I don't know how to say his last name. Ended up beating them that fall. And then neither of those Democrats would ever be a real contender for these offices again. So, it's like he narrowly missed that almost like demerit on his, you know, on his track record. So, he remained untarnished. And it got him a lot of exposure. So, in 1956, he became a very serious contender for the 1960 nomination. He then went on to become reelected into the Senate in 1958. And Kennedy became a member of its influential Foreign Relations Committee, which he used as a platform to attack Eisenhower's diplomatic and military policies. So, he was claiming that the United States was on the wrong side of the missile gap with the Soviet Union. And we're going to see that he was a big voice for we need to stop the Soviet Union, which it was a really big issue at the time. And needed to be dealt with. But he went full on anti-Soviet Union. And Kennedy continued to press these themes as he began, you know, really vying for that 1960s presidential election. So, the presidential election in 1960. This was his first ballot entry for him that he was actually running for president. And he was running against former Vice President Richard Nixon. And millions watched this televised debate against Nixon. And didn't you say that it was like the first televised debate there was? I think it's he had so many firsts. So, he was the first president born in the 20th century. First televised debate. Mm hmm. And you said that he did better on the TV ratings, right? Yes. So, because Nixon that day was recovering from like the flu or something. So, he was super sick, super sweaty. He just looked like a wreck. And then JFK was, you know, he looked very healthy. You know, he's a lot younger, not a lot younger, a bit younger than Nixon. So, according to TV viewers, he performed a lot better in the debate. Whereas radio listeners thought Nixon did a lot better in the debate. Wow. And this is another one of those moments where it's like, he was very sick. And he just played it off really well. Maybe he was having like a good day that day. Yeah. So, he did win by a narrow margin for the popular vote. And Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic president. Yes, I didn't know that one too, actually. He was also the youngest president ever elected. Yes, because wasn't he like 47? He was in his 40s. But and he was just over like the age limit, I feel like because you have to be at least 45 to run for president. He was 43. Oh, really? Are you sure it's not 42? It might be 42. I know that would have been it's your 40s. You have to be in your 40s to run for president. Well, he was he was 43 years old when he was elected. And I think he's still the youngest. So, I guess you don't have to be that old to be vice president. Because he was running for vice president. I have no idea what the age limits are for vice president. I learned that maybe 20 years ago. I don't remember. I'm calling back to middle school social studies. Yeah, the class I didn't pay attention to near enough. So, in his inaugural address, he famously stated, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. And I'm sure you heard that in our, you know, beginning, I don't want to say skit, our beginning or opening. Yeah. And his campaign pledged to get America moving again. His economic programs really were the longest sustained expansion since World War Two. And he took very vigorous actions for equal rights. So, he was a huge, what's the word I'm looking for? Not spokesperson, but advocate, advocate, yes, for the civil rights movement and legislation. And he wished that America would resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. And I can applaud that. Absolutely. And he also wanted us to get to the moon, which I'm really excited about. I love space, you guys. Morgan likes the moon. I do. I love outer space. I wanted to be an astronaut, but I'm not good at math. Space makes me want to die. I am terrified. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to know what's out there. It's probably not good. I don't know. I don't. It's like the thought of being stranded in the open ocean makes me want to vomit. So, that's kind of the same vibe, but worse, because no one will find you. Great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, he aligned, he, Lord Hammerson, he allied for, with the Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress. And he brought the American idealism to the aid of other developing countries. So, he was really spreading the, you know, American ideals, the wealth of our knowledge of our nation to other countries who needed it. And shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a ban for Cuban exiles and already armed and trained to invade their homeland. And the attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro was a failure, unfortunately. And after that, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. And then Kennedy was like, you can't do that, and reinforced the Berlin garrison and increased the nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. And in Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed the pressure in Central Europe. So, the Russians then sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. History. There's a lot of hand motions going on that y'all didn't see. Yes. And it was discovered by air reconnaissance in October of 1962. So, Kennedy imposed a quarantine of all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. So, he's like, nah, they're not going now. So, then the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. And the American response to the Cuban crisis eventually persuaded Moscow of the, you know, fertility of nuclear blackmail. And then the mutually assured destruction. Yes. Yeah. Wasn't that a fun time in our history? So, both sides had vital interest in stopping the nuclear ship. And then, and slowing down the arms race. So, this all led to the Test Ban Treaty of 1963. So, the months after the Cuban crisis showed progress towards this goal of like, we're going to stop doing all this shit. He was quoted saying, a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion. So, that was a way too brief explanation of his presidency. Yes, very, very. Where he stood. Very anti-communist, pro-civil, civil rights. He was a man of all people. So, why are we going to Texas now? It's 1963. He is looking to get reelected. So, why are we starting So, why are we starting out in Texas? And America truly was divided at this point in time. Most, a lot of it was civil rights. And then the Cold War is at its height still. And people in the South were getting real mad about civil rights. And I hate that. It was just a thing. And also there, because of the Cold War, there were a lot of communist sympathizers sprinkled throughout. Yes. And Kennedy lost, or no, Kennedy won Texas in 1960, but only by two percent. Yeah, it was a very close race. So, he was like, I want to get ahead of the state. I want to really show the Texans that I am for them, that I am with them, that we can do this. And even if we don't have the same views, I am still like, I'm here to support you. And Jackie wasn't normally one to participate in the political side. She just wanted to be, you know, mom, wife, do other things, but she didn't want to be really in the politics side. So, she thought it would help if she attended this one event to help get him elected because everybody loved Jackie. They were basically like a celebrity couple. She was the youngest First Lady to ever be elected, to be elected. You know what I mean? Yeah. She's a fashion icon. Yes. Still is to this day. Well, I mean, yes. And her family came from, she was rich too. She was a well-off, she came from a well-off family too. So, she had her own secret service agents and I love them so much. In one of the documentaries that I watched, both of them were still alive and they were both interviewed. And we've got Clint Hill, who knew her the best, I guess, had been with her the longest and his code name was Dazzle. I love it. I loved it. I have no idea what this man looks like, but I'm imagining like this absolute unit, like six, eight, bald, like wearing sunglasses. He's like, it's me, Agent Dazzle. He wasn't bald, but everything else. I mean, he even like, he's probably in his 90s now and he, I couldn't fight him. I don't think. He could take me out in a minute. Okay. And then there's Paul Landis and his code name was Day-Bew because he was so young. Oh, that's cute. Little babe. And so, we got a lot of viewpoints from their perspective, which I really liked because then we get a lot more of Jackie's story, which I don't feel like is told enough. So, on November the 21st of 1963, of course, they arrived in San Antonio International Airport and everyone wanted to see Jackie when they landed. They were like movie star couple vibe. They like walk out. Everyone's like, oh my God. And they had parades everywhere they went. They were going from San Antonio to Fort Worth and they were going to stay the night in Fort Worth in a hotel. So, every town that they kind of stopped in, there was like, you know, everyone was saying hi. And they had a large crowd outside of the hotel when they got there around 11 p.m. So, it's like late and no sign of animosity. Everyone was still in a good mood. They ended up staying at Hotel Texas in suite 850, which is in downtown Fort Worth. So, they go to bed and it's JFK's final night. Yeah, this is when it's going to start getting real sad. Yeah, probably. I mean, you all probably knew this going into it, but trigger warning for really intense assassination. Yeah. So, November 22nd, 1963, I am going to go in timestamps. Seems to be the easiest way to kind of give you an idea. So, at 7.23 in the morning, Lee Harvey Oswald goes to work at the Texas School Book Depository. I am going to call it the depository because that's too many words, in Dallas. And a guy named Buell Wesley Frazier drove him to work. They were co-workers. They did this all the time. Buell would drive him to work all the time. He was 19. And as Buell was driving, he looked behind him in the back seat and saw that there was a couple foot long package. And Buell was like, hey, Lee, what's that? And Lee just said, oh, it was it was just like some curtain rods or curtains or something like that. Very indescript. Buell had no reason to suspect anything. So, apparently, Lee wasn't much of a talker, spoke mostly about his child. And he did have a newborn at the time as well. So, I'm sure spoke about his kids. When you said he was 19, did you mean Lee Harvey Oswald? No, Buell. I'm sorry. Buell was 19. Okay. How old was Lee Harvey Oswald? He was only 24. Wow. When he died. Yes. So, well, he was 24 at the time. I probably gave away a big chunk of something. But if you don't know it by now, it's been over 60 years. I don't know what to tell you. Spoiler alert. He dies. He dies. Yeah. Okay. So, there's a package in the back seat. Curtain rods. Apparently, they park. They normally walk in together. But Lee grabbed his package and just kind of took off without him. Still not really too far out of the norm. Yeah. Probably shouldn't. Okay. That was good. Yeah. Buell was probably like, I probably didn't want to talk today. Yeah. Cool. So, at 845, the President speaks before breakfast. And I thought it was really cool that before 845, so probably around the time Lee Harvey Oswald was getting into work, JFK was a big proponent on wanting to be one with the people. Yeah. And there were people just crowded outside of the hotel room. He just walked out there and started talking to them. Okay. And like shaking hands and stuff. And I thought that was really admirable. Probably Secret Service had a cow with him. But I feel like things before this date were a lot more lax than they are post this date. Because the thought of any President just riding around in a parade in like an open car, it would not happen. No, no, they all presidents are behind like bulletproof glass in their vehicles and security is very intense. Yeah. That's probably why I pretty sure this is even though there's been assassination attempts. This is the last one. Last successful. Yeah, I think so. So, at 845, the President speaks at a breakfast gathering. There were like 2000 people or something like that. Yeah. And so, at 845, he shows up for this breakfast. There's like 2000 people and everybody is so excited to see Jackie. But Jackie's not there. So, he walks in alone. And everyone's like, oh, man. They're like, yeah. Where's Jackie though? And apparently, Jackie didn't want to go to the breakfast. But his Secret Service called up to her Secret Service and was like, you need to bring Miss Kennedy down, please. And she's like, I don't want to go. And they're like, no, you need to come down here, please. And so, she ended up going. She got a standing ovation. Just walking in? Just walking in. That's amazing. And we're going to backtrack just a hair. The Secret Service said that this day, this morning was the happiest that he had ever seen her. Okay. Because she got the standing ovation. Like it had been a long time since because months before this event. And this is where I feel so bad for Jackie. Months before this is when they lost their son, Patrick. Oh, yeah. So, she was only a couple months postpartum. They had just lost another baby. And apparently, their marriage had never been better. That they, before they were very professional. So, they wouldn't show any like public affection and stuff like that. After losing the baby, they would actually hold hands and hug and show, you know, public displays of affection. And that they, you know, were really holding on to each other because of this event. Yeah. Tragic tragedy that happened. And so, she was, everyone was in a really good mood. And it was really funny. JFK, this is stark differences in how people handle different things. In our bonus episode with Princess Diana, when she became more popular than her husband, he panicked and got mad. And like, like was so awful to her and like, and they're like, try to go out of sight to embarrass her. And yeah, was jealous of the attention. Absolutely horrible to her. JFK, on the other hand, gets up on stage and is like, I once said that when we went to Paris, that I was just the guy with Jackie. And this is kind of how I feel right now. No one wants to ask me who I'm wearing. So cute. He's like, I'm just accompanying her. Yeah. You know, he's the president of the United States. That's really, he's like, I'm the president, but really, I'm Jackie's husband. I'm the first lady's husband. Yeah. So during this meeting, JFK was gifted a cowboy hat. And he had great things to say about Fort Worth. I was I did listen to the entire speech. It was only like 15 minutes long. But it was really good. So it was during this time that the presidential advisor, Kennedy, sorry, Parker just scared me. He whipped me with his tail. And I didn't know he was here. Kenny O'Donnell informed Roy Kellerman, who was the Secret Service agent in charge of this trip, that the presidential limousine should not be equipped with its bubble top. So I'm assuming that's it. It's cover, you know, it's cover. If the weather is clear in Dallas, because it had been raining that morning, and he didn't want any barrier between him and the people. So Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff showed the Kennedys a negative advertisement published in the Dallas Morning News with the headline, Welcome, Mr. Kennedy to Dallas. There's a lot to unpack here. So it was a negative advertisement that said welcome, but it said Mr. Kennedy, instead of the president, like Mr. President Kennedy. Yeah. So then JFK apparently said to Jackie, quote, we're headed into nut country today. Oh, man. Yeah. And I'm sure that was like a private offhand, like, yeah, yeah, not not of the whole of Dallas. But absolutely. It's just like, thinking of what happens. That's, you know, so foreshadowing. Yeah. And Dallas at the time, and I don't know, like, how well known or but it was mentioned in one of the documentaries that Dallas was referred to as the city of hate at the time. Oh, wow. Yeah. So there were lots of like Confederate flags flying. And I mean, radicals from both sides, both parties, and but he didn't know. Sorry. He, he was someone that was advocating for the civil rights movement. And yeah, yeah. Yeah. So when you're seeing Confederate flags, you kind of know. Yeah, what they're Yeah. So they did know about a group in Dallas that didn't like JFK that no one really knew how far they would go. I mean, you wouldn't imagine, at least at this point in history, that they would just kill a president. Right? You know, that hadn't happened since Lincoln. I think attempts have been made. Yeah. Right. I think someone attempted to kill Andrew Jackson. Or maybe Andrew Johnson. And maybe like one other president up to this point besides Lincoln. But yeah, there had been some sense. So four sitting presidents have been killed. With Abraham Lincoln was the first in 1865. James A. Garfield in 1881. William McKinley in 1901. There was a lot of bloody years there for a while. And then JFK in 1963. But I mean, it's been six over 60 years since the last 6062. And additionally, two presidents had been injured in attempted assassination. So Fiora Roosevelt in 1912, and Ronald Reagan in 1981. So not to save that source, but yeah. So it had been a while. And okay, so that that was at 910, when all that took place. So at 1040, the Kennedy's motorcade departs the Hotel Texas for Carswell Air Force Base. And at 1120, Air Force One departs from Carswell to Dallas, Texas. So they flew from Fort Worth to Dallas, and it was an 18 minute flight. Oh my god. Yeah. So probably just trying to keep up with like time constraints and stuff. Maybe. But at 1138 am, Air Force One arrives at Love Field Airport in Dallas. And what's really cool is, again, another one of those moments where he just gets out of the plane and just starts talking to people that are at the fence line shaking hands. Jackie goes up too, which she typically doesn't do. But she followed him over there and was in good spirit. So at 1144, that's when they go and start talking to everybody. There was a huge crowd. And in one of the documentaries, there was a couple, Gayle and Bill Newman, they were eyewitnesses to all of this. And this is really cool. They were at the airport when they landed. And then they kind of got swarmed by the crowd, because of course, and they were like, they had their two small kids, their boys with them. And they were like, let's go ahead and go to the parade route route. So we can see, get kind of get ahead of the crowd. Yeah, the viewing point. And so they went ahead, they watched them land, they, you know, looked at them, said hi, and then went on. They ended up going to Dealey Plaza. So they were in the grassy knoll area. Oh, God. Yeah. So at 1155 am, the motorcade depart Love Field, and it is to take a 10 mile trip through downtown. So I do have, I have pictures of them and their family. Yeah. If you scroll down, I do have like a little map. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not the full 10 miles, of course, but it's the important bit. So as they're driving through, this is the Secret Service's worst nightmare, nightmare, because there are people hanging out of windows on roofs lining the streets, literally standing on anything they could to see the president. He is in an open car. There's a motorcade. And there's six people in the presidential limo. And so it's the drivers, and I'm sure a Secret Service agent in the front. It's the mayor, which I'll get to his name in a second. I've kind of forgot it off the top of my head. The mayor of Dallas and his wife, and then it's President Kennedy and Jackie in the very back. I think there was a guard sitting behind them, right? Not the entire time. Okay. Yep. Yep. I'll get to that. Okay. But you're right. He did jump onto the back. So at 11.55, they depart. And at 12.29, the motorcade turns right, which is westbound, onto Houston Street. And you can see that now in the map. Yes. Entering Dealey Plaza, approaching, going towards the Texas School Book Depository. I'm not sure why they, why Harvey wouldn't have taken the shot there. It would have been straight on. I don't know. Maybe he wasn't ready. Maybe. At 12.30, the motorcade takes that sharp 135 degree turn onto Elm Street. And if you're looking at the map, I'll post it. You can see that it kind of, the road's like a V. And everything feels so much closer in person than you can ever like actually grasp. It's, I thought everything was way farther away than it was. If you look at the picture, the first shot was only 240 feet. Isn't that wild? That is wild. So the eyewitnesses recall the first shot was fired after the president started waving his right hand. And the onlookers recall hearing three shots. So the Zebruder film is the one we all see. He was standing, you see where it says grassy knoll? Kind of in the area that the word knoll is. There's like a pylon kind of closer to the pergola. Okay. And he was standing on that. Who? The recorder, Zebruder. Okay. Zach Ruder. And so that's our vantage point when we're looking at that video. So I'm going to read this straight from the source because they said it probably the best that I, it made sense to me. So it shows the president reemerging after being temporarily hidden from view by the Stimmons freeway sign at film frames 215 to 223. And you can tell that his mouth was already like open wide in a anguished expression by frame 225. So he had already been shot once or twice depending on which source you look at. So this one says he had already been impacted by a bullet that struck him in the throat and then another mid back. And Connelly was the mayor. Sorry, that was his name. So he then raises his fist in front of his face and his throat as he turns left to look at Jackie. And Connelly was also hit at that time. So it is thought that the bullet that went through his throat was the one that hit Connelly as well. Okay. And this is when the Secret Service agent Clint Hill or Dazzle, he had heard the first shot, jumped off of the car that he was riding in, and then jumped onto the back of the presidential car to get to Jackie. But by the time he had jumped off the running board of the follow-up car and onto their car, it was at that time that the equivalent frame of 308 that Kennedy had the fatal shot. And the fatal shot you can see on the map is that second square, shot three. And it was about a quarter of the second that he jumped on before the president's head exploded. Yeah. In frame 313. And I don't I can't say it any other way. It and yeah, we have talked about the video. I think when we were talking about Watergate, Emily, unfortunately, had to see it in middle school. I was fortunate enough to wait till high school. And I think most of the kids in my class have already seen it and I had somehow avoided it. But yeah, it's very graphic. It doesn't even look real, honestly. So I would not recommend you go out and find it if you have not seen it. View at your own risk, for sure, because it is haunting. It snuck up on me. That bastard video snuck up on me. I was watching a documentary and the next thing I know, I'm traumatized again. Yeah. I will say in the brief second that I watched it, I did not rewind it and watch it again. It is bizarre that when he is shot and next week's episode, we're going to dig into conspiracy theories. We're going to dig into kind of the more mechanics of it all and what happened after the assassination. But it's weird to think that someone is shot from behind and their head went back. Because it did. And I'm not a forensic person and I hate to talk about this, but the blood spray also went back. And that's why there's that conspiracy of the second shooter. Yes, that's exactly why there's this conspiracy. Now, the National Archives says one bullet hit the president near the base of the back of the neck and then exited from the front of the neck. That doesn't make sense. How did it go up if it's being shot down? I don't know. And then the other one entered the head from behind from the right side. It's also weird. So, okay, scroll down a little more and you'll see an old bullet path. This is apparently how one bullet entered through two people. Is that how bullets behave? I know they can do funky things when they're in bodies because they can like ricochet. Yes, like ribs and bones and stuff. So, I'm not a forensic pathologist or a doctor or anything. So, I don't really know anything about bullets. I know they can do funky things depending on like the type of bullet. I don't know. I've heard of really weird things happening is like crazy stories of people surviving gunshots because the bullet happened to travel a certain way and miss like their aorta by a centimeter or was stopped by a bra strap or you know, just like crazy things. Yes. And I, you know, I'm not either. And I'm not saying it is a conspiracy. I'm not saying that it's, you know, not possible, but it's just, it is weird. Weird. It is very weird. It doesn't make logical sense. No, and there have been studies that say that for Connelly to be hit like that, they've done like 3D reenactment. And this is recently in like the late 20 teens. So, they've done like 3D renderings and stuff like that. And Connelly would have had to have been like two feet to the left for that to have made sense in their studies. But I still don't feel like that that is a definitive, oh, there was a conspiracy because it's been reported there were three shots fired. Three shots fired. That just means he, you know, got hit a different way than like their reporting, which is not, you know, the worst. Okay. We're going to move on just a little bit before we get into part two next time. So, this was the saddest thing. Clint said he feels guilty. And he's like, I wasn't fast enough. We weren't as fast as a bullet. Of course not. You can't be. And Jackie was screaming, they shot his head off. I love you, Jack. And that's what had me crying in a coffee shop. And she like, again, just I haven't seen, I've only seen the video once, but I know like she was like, I don't want to get too graphic, but she was in the direct line of fire of when his head exploded. And I cannot even, like, get my brain into that kind of scenario at all. Yeah. Hill did manage to climb on top of the back of the car and shielded her and the president from any more gunshots, gunfire. And people were trying to escape danger. Women were taking off their shoes to run. People were laying on top of their children because they didn't know. Yeah. Is there like a mass shooter? You know? Yeah. And the Newman's who we talked about earlier, they actually have footage of them laying on top of their children. Oh, my God. I cannot imagine how scary that was. Yeah. So, everything is in chaos. And that was at twelve thirty on the dot, basically, when he was shot. At twelve thirty three, Oswald left the building through the front door, just walked out. So, he had been confronted by a patrolman, Marion Baker, and the depository superintendent, Roy Truly, in the second floor lunchroom. But Baker let Oswald pass after Truly identified Oswald as an employee. So, Oswald then was next seen by a secretary as he crossed through the second floor business office. And then, initially, Truly and the depository's vice president, Ocas Campbell, said that they had seen Oswald in the first floor storage room. When asked during the interrogations about his whereabouts, Oswald claimed that he, quote, went outside to watch pee parade, referring to the presidential motorcade, and was, quote, out with William Shelley in front. And he was at the front entrance of the first floor when he encountered a policeman. So, that's not adding up because they saw him on the second leap, like walking out of the building, but he says he was on the first. Yeah. Watching the parade. So, at twelve thirty four, this is really interesting. The United Press international reporter, Merriman Smith, reported from a press car with a radio telephone while traveling with the motorcade. So, all of this is happening. He's part of the press that's part of this motorcade, and he's reporting from a phone in the car, and he reported three shots were fired today at the president's motorcade in downtown Dallas. Smith stayed on the phone as an Associated Press reporter, Jack Bell, started punching him and yelling him to hand over the phone, I guess, to stop him reporting. Oh, wow. Smith would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his coverage of the assassination and his, you know, how well he did during that. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's as live as it gets. Yeah, for sure. Oh, my God. So, they're speeding off. The president's limousine is speeding off towards Parkland Memorial Hospital. And this is so sad. Jackie had him in her lap the whole way there. Oh, God. And Clint basically had to cover his body with a suit jacket just so she'd let go. Yeah. And tons of people got pushed into trauma room one. That's where he was. And one doctor yelled, does anyone know Mr. President's blood type? And Jackie was like, does that mean he's alive? And it was just silence. Just so Malcolm Perry, the assistant professor of surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and a vascular surgeon started treating Kennedy. They tried a tracheotomy, followed by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. And, of course, they were nothing was going to work. I mean, they reported that he was more abound, meaning that there was no chance of survival upon even getting to the hospital. Yeah. I'm sure they were trying because what else do you do? You have to at least try. But, yeah, I mean, especially if you've seen the footage, there's no way anyone could survive that kind of head trauma at all. And even if they did, I mean, you would be brain dead. Yeah. Completely. Yeah. You would be living, like breathing, alive. Yeah. But not like alive in the sense you'd just be like an organism. Yes. Like taking in oxygen. Like there's no function after that. Yeah. So it's estimated that between 1233 and 1250 is when the depository building was sealed off by the police. So there was enough time for Oswald to escape the building. And the streets in and around Dealey Plaza were actually not immediately closed. And photos were taken about nine minutes after the assassination showing that cars were driving down Elm Street in front of the depository. Are you serious? Yes. They probably had no idea or they were trying to escape or something was happening. And the police just didn't block it off in time. So at 1250, Kennedy's top military aide, General Godfrey McHugh, called Air Force One from Parkland Hospital to state they will be leaving soon for Andrews Air Force Base. And then at 1 p.m., President Kennedy was officially pronounced dead. Now, Parkland's chief of surgery, Tom Shires, is quoted saying, I am absolutely sure he never knew what hit him. So we can all have that tiny bit that he did not suffer at all in any of this. Except maybe when he was shot in the throat. Yeah. I was just thinking about that. But yeah. So Father Oscar Huber of Holy Trinity Catholic Church of Dallas administered the last rites to the president. And Connelly was taken to the emergency room. He underwent two operations and was fine. Okay. So then Kilduff said, went into where Johnson was, Lyndon B. Johnson, the vice president, and said, Mr. President, I have to announce the death of President Kennedy. Is it okay with you that the announcement be made now? And Johnson ordered that the announcement wait until after he left the hospital. And when inquired about that, he said, I think I had better get out of here before you announce it. We don't know whether this is a worldwide conspiracy, whether they are after me as well as they were after President Kennedy, or whether they are after Speaker McCormick or Senator Hayden. We just don't know. I think that was the right call. I understand that kind of like, make sure I'm out of the area because we have no idea what's going on here. I actually understand that mindset. Yes, me too. And also, during this time of confusion and panic, Oswald walked seven blocks before boarding a bus. When the bus got stuck in traffic, he exited the bus, walked to a nearby bus station and hired a taxi. He asked the driver to stop several blocks past his rooming house. And I say rooming house because him and his wife at the time were separated. So I guess he was either living in this house, I'm assuming it's like an apartment, or like a boarding house or something. Yeah. But she was living with a friend with their two children at the time. So probably an apartment. So the boarding house, the rooming house was 1026 North Beckley Avenue. He got dropped off past it. He walked to the boarding house, arrived there about 1pm. So we've got a president that's just been pronounced dead. And we have a shooter on the loose. To hear the rest of it, you'll have to come back next week. And I have to wait a week too. Yeah, because I'm not done. So I will say that it was at this point, theorized that like a single bullet was the cause of death. And they found that he was struck twice. And the neck one was the one that went through commonly. So just to recap, that's where we're at. Okay. Yeah. Sorry, that was sad. We didn't cry. So we didn't cry. So there's that. Yeah, it was very emotional for sure. But yes, did not cry. I'm just very upset that I ended up watching that video again. Yeah. Yeah, once once was enough. I'm very sorry for you. 15 years ago was Yeah, almost 20 years ago was plenty. I did actually ask one of my sister in law's drone, I was like, did you watch that as a kid? And she was like, yes, and she grew up in Florida. So it's just a overall, it's the United States conspiracy to go ahead and traumatize all kids at a young age. Yeah, desensitize them to Yeah, not a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's go and do our socials, I guess. I have no idea how to transition out of this. I don't either. Okay, so if you like this, I know it's not it's not a funny episode. But you know, like I said, in the social media post, not all history is fun, but still needs to be remembered. So if you like this, you can find us on Facebook, ill equipped history podcast group and page. Instagram at ill equipped history. TikTok at ill equipped history. If you need a little bit of cheering up, go go to our tech talk. It's very funny. Yes. Very funny. Gmail ill equipped history at gmail.com. Please send us your comments and or suggestions. And Patreon patreon.com slash ill equipped history where for $5 a month, you get access to bonus episodes. And I have one tiny, tiny announcement. We have new stickers coming in. So excited. Emily designed them and they look so good. I literally screamed when I saw them. I showed them to Drew and Drew said, I need one. They're coming your way. So if you want one, let us know. We'll send you one. And they're the best. They're going to be circles this time. So yeah, variety. And not to spoil the surprise, I'm sure you'll see it on our socials by the time this comes out, but they got a little goose on them because we're just goosing. We're just goosing through history. Okay. So if your wife becomes more popular than you just roll with it and support her. Yeah, be chill. Be chill. Be like JFK. Yeah. Well, well, maybe not be like JFK. Be as charismatic as JFK. There we go. Okay. Yeah. I know you didn't get into it, but he had a lot of alleged affairs. So yeah, well, when we went to Boston, but remember the one tour guide we had that kept pointing out the different apartments. The apartments that JFK had that he was just sleeping with people in. Yeah. Or like this was one of his mistress's apartments and this is another of his mistress's apartments. Like, yeah. Yeah. That's charisma for you, I guess. Yeah. Okay. So be charismatic, but not in like that kind of a way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So and hopefully all those happened before he was president. I have no idea. I don't either. Apparently Marilyn Monroe was one of them. Yeah. I did watch a short conspiracy theory, like video on that. And they were like, what if Jackie did it because she was mad he kept having affairs? That makes sense. Yeah. That was said with ultimate sarcasm, by the way, the most sarcasm. Yeah. Let me just traumatize myself. Yeah. Wanted to be covered with my husband's brains today. Yeah. It sounds like a good time. Honestly. Beautiful Friday. Let me hold my husband's half head in my lap on the ride to the hospital. Yeah, definitely is her idea. Yeah. All right. Okay. Bye. Okay. Bye.