Timeline of The JFK Assassination

November 22, 1963

07:00:00 AM –

JD Tippit begins Tour of Duty at Southwest substation at 4020 West Illinois Ave

Tippit squad car

Tippit squad car

07:17:00 AM –

Linnie Mae Randle (Paine neighbor) sees Lee Harvey Oswald carrying a long paper bag

07:23:00 AM –

Oswald and Frazier leave for the Texas School Book Depository, TSBD

07:50:00 AM –

At the TSBD, Oswald enters with the long paper package

08:00:00 AM –

JFK gives breakfast speech to the Ft Worth Chamber of Congress.

Speeches John F. KennedySpeeches John F. Kennedy eBook

09:00:00 AM –

Two eyewitnesses place Tippit at Austin’s Barbecue (exact time unknown)

09:45:00 AM –

Oswald is seen looking out toward the motorcade route by Junior Jarman

10:30:00 AM –

JD Tippit Tea with Patrolman Bill Anglin at the Rebel Drive-In, 3172 South Loop 12

10:40:00 AM –

JD Tippit called to Annarbor and Corrigan Ave.

10:45:00 AM –

JD Tippit back in car from Annarbor and Corrigan Ave.

11:10:00 AM –

John F. Kennedy leaves Carswell AFB onboard Air Force One to fly to Love Field in Dallas

11:37:00 AM –

John and Jackie Kennedy arrive at Dallas Love Field from Fort Worth. He and the first lady, Jackie, are accompanied by Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird. They have come to Dallas as part of a scheduled two-day Texas tour in preparation for the 1964 presidential campaign. An estimated 200,000 Dallas residents greet the president’s motorcade as it passes through downtown on the way to a sold-out luncheon for 2,600 at the Dallas Trade Mart.

11:45:00 AM –

Oswald is left on sixth floor of the TSBD as fellow workmates leave to go to Lunch break. He yells, “Guys, How about an elevator?” And then adding “Send one of the elevators back up”

11:50:00 AM –

JD Tippit finishes his lunch at his home, 238 Glencairn

11:55:00 AM –

The Kennedy motorcade leaves Love Field (25 minutes late)

11:55:00 AM –

Oswald assembles the rifle and creates the “Sniper’s Roost”(presumed)

12:00:00 PM –

Jack Ruby is seen sitting in an office at the Dallas Morning News by newspaper employee Wanda Walker

12:15:00 PM –

Kennedy is scheduled arrival at the Dallas Business and Trade Mart so President Kennedy could deliver a speech and share in a steak luncheon with Dallas government, business, religious, and civic leaders and their spouses. Invitations that were sent out specify a 12pm start time to the luncheon

12:18:00 PM –

Howard Brennan arrives near the TSBD to watch the motorcade and shortly after sees a man in the sixth floor window

12:20:00 PM –

Bonnie Ray Williams, left the 6th floor after finishing his lunch and using the elevator joined co workers on the 5th floor to watch the motorcade

12:30:00 PM –

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates President John F. Kennedy


JFK Motorcade

JFK Motorcade

12:30:40 PM –

Police Radio. Bill Decker orders officers to the “Railroad track area just North of Elm.”

12:31:30 PM –

Oswald is confronted in the lunchroom by Patrolman Marrion Baker. The superintendent of the building, Roy Truly, vouches for Oswald, and he is released

12:33:00 PM –

Oswald leaves the TSBD by the front door (presumed)

12:37:00 PM –

Dallas Police Sergeant Harkness reports he has a witness who had pinpointed the 6th floor window. (Howard Brennan)

12:38:00 PM –

JFK arrives at Parkland Hospital

12:39:00 PM –

Gary Delaune made the first announcement “This KLIF Bulletin from Dallas: Three shots reportedly were fired at the motorcade of President Kennedy today near the downtown section. KLIF News is checking out the report, we will have further reports, stay tuned.”

12:40:00 PM –

Oswald boards a bus to make his escape

12:40:00 PM –

Walter Cronkite announces “Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting. More details just arrived. These details about the same as previously: President Kennedy shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy, she called “Oh, no!”; the motorcade sped on. United Press says that the wounds for President Kennedy perhaps could be fatal. Repeating, a bulletin from CBS News, President Kennedy has been shot by a would-be assassin in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned to CBS News for further details.”

Television frame grab of American broadcast journalist and anchorman Walter Cronkite as he removes his glasses and prepares to announce the death of President John F. Kennedy, November 11, 1963. (Photo by CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images)

Walter Cronkite

12:44:00 PM –

Oswald leaves the bus when it becomes bogged down in traffic

12:45:00 PM –

Description put out about suspect on Dallas police radio. “The wanted person in this is a slender white male about thirty, five feet ten, one sixty five, carrying what looked to be a 30.30 or some type of Winchester”

12:45:00 PM –

Police Dispatcher asks Tippit’s location, he responds, “I’m about Keist and Bonnie View,”
Officer Tippit told by H/Q dispatcher to “go to central Oakcliff area”

12:48:00 PM –

Police Radio in reference to the location of the assassin. “He is thought to be in the Texas School Book Depository here on the North West corner of Elm and Houston.”

12:48:00 PM –

Oswald hails a cab and asks to be taken to 500 North Beckley

12:49:00 PM –

Capt Talbert giving orders on Police radio. “Have that cut off on the back side will you? Make sure nobody leaves there”. (Referring to the Texas School Book Depository)

12:51:00 PM –

Dallas Police Homicide Chief William Fritz calls in to the dispatchers office from his post at the Trade Mart to ask if JFK will still be going to the site. He is told, “It’s very doubtful.”

12:55:00 PM –

Oswald exits the cab in the 700 block of Beckley

01:00:00 PM –

Parkland hospital. Darrell Tomlinson discovers the stretcher bullet 399 which rolls out from under a mat when stretcher bumps the wall

01:00:00 PM –

Tippit makes hurried phone call at The Top Ten Record Shop, 338 West Jefferson, near the corner of Bishop Ave

01:00:00 PM –

President Kennedy is pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital

01:00:00 PM –

Oswald arrives on foot at his rooming house, where he retrieves his pistol

01:03:00 PM –

Oswald leaves the rooming house

01:12:00 PM –

Witness reports lead police to search the Texas School Book Depository. Police find a barricade of boxes, three spent bullet cartridges and a paper bag in the southeast corner window area on the sixth floor

01:15:00 PM –

Tippit shot to death near corner of East Tenth Street and Patton Avenue

01:16:00 PM –

Police told “Officer Tippit has been shot.” by civilian Domingo Benavides using Tippit’s police car radio

01:22:00 PM –

Jean Hill in live television report states she heard shots from the Knoll

01:22:00 PM –

Rifle found on sixth floor of Book Depository, first identified as 7.5 German Mauser. Really if is Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano a very similar bolt-action rifle

01:22:00 PM –

Police radio call goes out describing Tippit’s killer as about 30, 5ft 8in black hair and slender

01:25:00 PM –

Capt Fritz is given Oswalds name and address and description by Roy Truly, then later returns to police HQ. When he arrives Oswald is already there

01:33:00 PM –

Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff – ” President John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 CST today, here in Dallas. He died of a gunshot wound to the brain. I have no other details regarding the assassination of the president.”

01:35:00 PM –

Police Radio. The TSBD is mentioned, “It’s secure now.”

01:36:00 PM –

Police Radio from scene of Tippit’s murder, “I got an eyeball witness to the getaway man – that suspect in this shooting. He is a white male … apparently armed with a .32, dark finish automatic pistol…”

01:40:00 PM –

Oswald enters the Texas Theater

01:45:00 PM –

Police Radio “Have information, a suspect just went into Texas theatre on West Jefferson”

01:55:00 PM –

Police arrest Oswald at Texas theater as suspect in shooting Tippit

Lee Harvey Oswald in Hand Cuffs

Lee Harvey Oswald in Hand Cuffs

02:00:00 PM –

Bullet 399 handed to SS Agent Richard Johnson at Parkland Hospital by Chief of Parkland Hospital security O.P. Wright

02:00:00 PM –

Oswald arrives at Dallas Police headquarters

02:04:00 PM –

John F. Kennedy’s body leaves Parkland Hospital and is taken to Love Field to be carried to Washington, D.C. on board Air Force One

02:18:00 PM –

JFK’s casket placed aboard Air Force One at Love Field Airport

02:25:00 PM –

Oswald interrogation in Office of Captian Will Fritz

02:27:00 PM –

Cronkite announces “We just have a report from our correspondent Dan Rather in Dallas that he has confirmed that President Kennedy is dead. There is still no official confirmation of this. However, it’s a report from our correspondent, Dan Rather, in Dallas, Texas.”

02:30:00 PM –

J. Edgar Hoover calls Robert Kennedy to inform him that the killer was an ex-marine who defected to the Soviet Union and was also known to be a pro-communist nut

J Edgar Hoover

J Edgar Hoover

02:38:00 PM –

Johnson sworn in as president aboard Air Force One, with Jackie Kennedy at his side

02:38:00 PM –

Cronkite announces “From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official: [reading AP flash] President Kennedy died at 1:00 PM Central Standard Time, 2:00 Eastern Standard Time, some thirty-eight minutes ago.”
“Vice President Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. Presumably, he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the thirty-sixth President of the United States.”

Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office November 1963

Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office November 1963

02:47:00 PM –

Air Force One airborne

03:01:00 PM –

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover wrote a memo to his assistant directors in which he stated, “I called the Attorney General at his home and told him I thought we had the man who killed the President down in Dallas, at the present time”

03:30:00 PM –

Police officers arrive at the residence of Michael and Ruth Paine

Ruth Hyde Paine

Ruth Hyde Paine

03:54:00 PM –

NBC Newsman Bill Ryan announces on national television that “Lee Oswald seems to be prime suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.”

04:00:00 PM –

Situation room of the White House communications center informs Lyndon Johnson that the assassination is the act of one lone individual and that no conspiracy exists

04:05:00 PM –

Oswald taken to first Lineup for Helen Markham, witness to Tippit murder. (While waiting outside the lineup room, Oswald is searched, and five bullet cartridges are found in his pockets.)

04:20:00 PM –

Oswald is returned upstairs for further questioning in Captain Fritz’ office

05:00:00 PM –

Air Force One arrives Andrews Air Force base Washington D.C., total flight time 2hrs 15min

05:30:00 PM –

Secrete Service Agent Richard Johnson hands bullet 399 to SS Chief Rowley at Executive building in Washington D.C.

06:20:00 PM –

Oswald taken to second lineup, and yells to reporter’s in hallway, “I didn’t shoot anyone.”

06:30:00 PM –

Lineup for Witnesses Cecil J. McWatters, Sam Guinyard, and Ted Callaway

06:35:00 PM –

Oswald is returned upstairs for questioning

07:10:00 PM –

Oswald is formally arraigned for the murder of Tippit

07:15:00 PM –

First incision at Kennedy autopsy

07:50:00 PM –

Secrete Service Chief Rowley sends bullet 399 to FBI laboratory

07:50:00 PM –

Oswald taken to third lineup for Witness J.D. Davies

07:55:00 PM –

Oswald yells at reporters in hallway “I’m Just A Patsy!


I'm Just a Patsy! Lee Harvey Oswald In His Own Words


I’m Just a Patsy! Lee Harvey Oswald In His Own Words


07:56:00 PM –

Third interrogation of Oswald in Captain Fritz’s Office

08:55:00 PM –

Oswald’s Fingerprints, Identification, Paraffin tests – All in Fritz’s Office

Oswald Talks to Reporters

Oswald Talks to Reporters

11:00:00 PM –

Oswald “Talked to” by FBI Agent M. Clements and Police Officer John Adamcik

11:20:00 PM –

Oswald is taken to press conference. Oswald is asked if he is a member of The Free Cuba Committee, Jack Ruby standing up the back. Oswald is asked by a reporter “Did you kill President Kennedy?” Oswald replies, “No I have not been charged with that. In fact nobody has said that to me yet. The first thing I heard about that is when the newspaper reporters asked me that question.” Oswald is told by a reporter, “That you have been charged” (with the murder of Kennedy.) Oswald looks stupid as he is lead away.

11:26:00 PM –

Oswald is charged with the murder of JFK

Saving Jackie K




November 23, 1963

01:35:00 AM –

Oswald officially told that he has been charged with J.F.K.’s murder

03:00:00 AM –

FBI Special Agent Vince Drain transports the gun and all other evidence to Washington D.C.

04:30:00 AM –

The motorcade bearing JFK is met at the White House gate by a Marine honor guard, which escorted it to the North Portico, where it was borne to the East Room

10:00:00 AM –

Oswald phones Ruth Paine and asks to speak to Marina Oswald. Ruth tells him she is not here

Marina Lee Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald

Marina Lee Oswald and Lee Harvey Oswald

10:30:00 AM –

A private Mass was said in the East Room for the Kennedys

10:30:00 AM –

Interrogation of Oswald, Capt Fritz’s office

11:35:00 AM –

Oswald is returned to his cell

12:05:00 PM –

Oswald appears before the media in the basement

12:20:00 PM –

Oswald is returned to his cell

12:35:00 PM –

Oswald is taken to Fritz’ office for questioning

01:10:00 PM –

Oswald visited by Mother, Margurite, and Wife Marina

01:30:00 PM –

Oswald is formally arraigned for the murder of JFK

01:40:00 PM –

Oswald tries unsuccessfully to contact Attorney John Abt.

02:15:00 PM –

Oswald appears in another lineup for Witness William Scoggins and William Whaley

02:45:00 PM –

Fingernail scrapings and hair samples are obtained from Oswald with his permission

03:30:00 PM –

Robert Oswald visits Lee for 10 Minutes. Lee tells Robert, “Don’t believe all the so called evidence.”

03:40:00 PM –

Lee Oswald calls Ruth Paine and asks her. “Would you please call John Abt (Lawyer) in New York for me after 6:00 pm.”

04:45:00 PM –

President Johnson issues Proclamation 3561, declaring November 25, the day of the funeral service, to be a national day of mourning

05:30:00 PM –

Oswald speaks to H. Louis Nichols, President of the Dallas Bar Association, for five minutes

06:00:00 PM –

Oswald is taken again for questioning

06:00:00 PM –

Interrogation in Capt Fritz’s Office, Oswald is shown the backyard photo of him with gun. “That picture is not my mine. The picture has been made by superimposing my face. The other part of the picture is not me at all, I have never seen this picture before. I understand photography real well, and that in time, I will be able to show you that this is not my picture and that it was made by someone else.”

07:15:00 PM –

Oswald is returned to his cell

November 24, 1963

09:30:00 AM –

Oswald is signed out of jail in anticipation of a transfer to the county facility

09:30:00 AM –

Lee Harvey Oswald is interrogation in Capt Fritz’s Office

10:00:00 AM –

Jack Ruby received a phone call from Little Lynn wanting money

10:15:00 AM –

Jack Ruby took his dog Sheba and left apartment

10:45:00 AM –

Jack Ruby drove down Main Street so he could see wreaths at the spot where President Kennedy was assassinated

11:10:00 AM –

Dallas Police prepare for Oswald’s transfer to County Jail

11:15:00 AM –

The Oswald transfer party leaves Fritz’ office after a final round of questions

11:15:00 AM –

Inspector Thomas J. Kelly Secret Service, has final conversation with Oswald

11:17:00 AM –

Jack Ruby wires money order at Western Union Office – some 350 feet from Dallas police department

11:17:00 AM –

Doyle, Western Union clerk: Stamped this time on the telegram Ruby sent to Little Lynn for $25. Ruby probably arrived a few minutes prior to this time. Address of office: 2034 Main Street. Ruby left immediately

11:21:00 AM –

Oswald is shot by Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas city jail.

Jack Ruby Mugshot

Jack Ruby Mugshot

01:07:00 PM –

Oswald is pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital

Saving Jackie K Novel by LDC Fitzgerald

“Saving Jackie K” Novel by LDC Fitzgerald.