‘Live’ coverage of the assassination of JFK

Have you ever wondered how coverage of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy would have looked if Twitter existed in 1963? The Canadian Press did too.

Throughout the day on November 22, 2013 The Canadian Press will be chronicling November 22, 1963 by tweeting the day's historical events in real-time using the hashtag #JFK50.

See a collection of those tweets below.

A look at Canada in 1963

A look back at some of the Canadian headlines, trends and hits from pop culture in the months, weeks and days leading up to the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963:

Canada has a freshly elected prime minister in Lester Pearson, who defeated the incumbent, John Diefenbaker, in an April vote. Pearson campaigned on creating a new Canadian flag, reforming health care, and creating what would become the Canada Pension Plan.

___

Poet Leonard Cohen, then 29, releases his first novel, "The Favourite Game," to mixed reviews from critics, who are quick to call it a veiled autobiography. "In Canada, people really can't accept the fact that anything good comes out of their neighbour's house, this is a particular Canadian failing," Cohen says in an interview with the CBC. "The attitude of the reviewers is a kind of head-patting review, like, 'This is very good, this is his first novel.'"

Canadians remember JFK assassination

TORONTO - It was just another Friday in 1963 with all the time in the world for Canadians to struggle through school classes, go for a walk or even skip work to shake off a winter bug.

But when a man fired gunshots south of the border and ended a president's life, Canadians were quick to join their American neighbours in mourning.

Men and women across the country still recall the precise moment at which they heard that U.S. President John F. Kennedy had been struck by an assassin's bullet.

Times, places events and emotions remain as vivid today as they did when they unfolded 50 years ago, they said.

Japan admiringly remembers Kennedy 50 years later

TOKYO - Japanese fans of President John F. Kennedy took photos with his portrait, folded paper cranes and watched his inaugural ceremony on a monitor Friday to express admiration on the 50th anniversary of his assassination.

"If he had lived longer, things might have been different," said Teruo Nasu, 70, a retired printer, reaching up to point to an excerpt from his speech lining the walls at a commemorative event in Tokyo.

"I wish I could show that to a Japanese prime minister. His idea of taking up challenges is still needed."

The event, drawing a small but steady trickle of people to a corner of a shopping mall, was organized by travel company Toptour, which is planning a tour of special Kennedy spots — Boston, Washington D.C. and Dallas, according to spokesman Hajime Kitta.

Shots heard around the world

For those old enough to remember it, Winnipeggers know exactly where they were when they learned U.S. president John F. Kennedy had been assassinated 50 years ago today.

In the pre-Twitter, pre-Facebook, pre-Internet and pre-24/7 news cycle that was the reality on Nov. 22, 1963, the news from Dallas, Texas, while moving slower than today, did get to people in just a few hours -- through rushed special editions of newspapers, radio reports and live television news.

It was literally the shots heard around the world, and they still echo five decades later.

Winnipeg Free Press articles at the time point to the emotion of the day and the days after.

Anniversary of JFK death brings sadness, solemnity

DALLAS - It was the same time, 12:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22. It was the same place, downtown Dallas.

But 50 years later, the thousands of people who filled Dealey Plaza weren't there to cheer but to remember in quiet sadness the young, handsome president with whom Dallas will always be "linked in tragedy."

The solemn ceremony presided over by Mayor Mike Rawlings was the first time the city had organized an official Kennedy anniversary event, issuing 5,000 free tickets and erecting a stage with video screens.

Sombre remembrances extended from Dallas to the shores of Cape Cod, with moments of silence, speeches by historians and, above all, simple reverence for a time and a leader long gone.

Solemn events to mark JFK's assassination

DALLAS - Loose gatherings of the curious and conspiracy-minded at Dallas' Dealey Plaza have marked past anniversaries of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, featuring everything from makeshift memorials to marching drummers to discussions about who else might have been in on the killing.

But in the place where the president's motorcade passed through and shots rang out on Nov. 22, 1963, a solemn ceremony on the 50th anniversary of his death designed to avoid such distractions will include brief remarks by the mayor and the tolling of church bells.

It's an approach that will be mirrored Friday in Boston, where the JFK Library and Museum will open a small exhibit of never-before-displayed items from Kennedy's state funeral and host a musical tribute that will be closed to the public, and in Washington, where President Barack Obama will meet privately at the White House with leaders and volunteers from the Kennedy-established Peace Corps program.

"It's 50 years later and it's also a moment to look forward to the future," said Thomas Putnam, executive director of the library, which usually doesn't observe the anniversary. "We want our tone to be respectful and we want it to have a certain reverence, but we also want it to be hopeful and end on this notion of what JFK stood for."

Canadian-born MacNeil covered JFK in Dallas

When the shots rang out in Dallas, Robert MacNeil didn't think of staying safely on board the press bus _ he bolted out the door, sprinted up a grassy knoll and plunged into the heart of one of the twentieth century's defining moments.

The Canadian-born reporter was just a few months into a stint covering the White House for NBC in November 1963, and the assignment to accompany U.S. President John F. Kennedy to Texas had been passed up by a more senior colleague who opted to cover a convention in Hawaii instead.

When the events of that trip turned deadly, MacNeil was on hand to hear witness accounts and keep the country briefed on medical updates. He may even have exchanged a few words with the president's assassin.

But the newsman, who became a household name by cohosting the popular MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service, said he pulled off one of his toughest journalistic assignments by breaking the rules.

Obama lionizes JFK ahead of anniversary

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama laid a wreath at John F. Kennedy's gravesite as a nation remembers the terrible day in Dallas a half-century ago Friday when he was assassinated. Obama also recognized a group of distinguished Americans -- including Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey -- with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an award created by Kennedy.

Obama was joined at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday by Clinton, and each president held hands with Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, as they climbed a flight of stairs to the burial site on a steep hillside overlooking the nation's capital.

First lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped their husbands place a large wreath of white flowers in front of the roped-off gravesite of America's 35th president, which is marked by an ever-burning flame.

Both couples placed their hands over their hearts as taps sounded near a U.S. flag at half-staff before greeting Kennedy relatives, including some who arrived in Obama's motorcade, before Friday's 50th anniversary of the assassination.

Ex-AP writer recalls serving as Oswald pallbearer

FORT WORTH, Texas - On a gloomy November afternoon, I helped carry the inexpensive wooden casket of Lee Harvey Oswald to a grave on a slight rise dotted with dying grass.

With no mourners around to serve as pallbearers, it was a task that fell to me and a few other reporters covering the funeral of John F. Kennedy's assassin. Fifty years later, I remain a reluctant and minor footnote in American history.

It was a story that began with a tip: Oswald would be buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth, where he had spent part of his childhood, just one day after nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed him during a jail transfer on Nov. 24, 1963, itself just two days after Kennedy's death.

As the Fort Worth correspondent for The Associated Press, I drew the assignment.

JFK's pollster describes his Canadian mission

WASHINGTON - There's not the slightest trace of regret in the voice of John F. Kennedy's old pollster as he describes his clandestine involvement in Canadian politics 50 years ago.

In fact, Lou Harris speaks of it as one of his crowning achievements.

"One of the highlights of my life was helping (Lester) Pearson defeat (John) Diefenbaker," Harris told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.

"I made a lifelong friend in Mike," he said, referring to Pearson by his nickname.

Video slideshow: JFK Portrayals

A wide range of actors have played President John F. Kennedy in the movies and on TV, starting even before his assassination 50 years ago. Our video slideshow reviews some memorable portrayals.