Tuesday marks 59 years since President Kennedy’s assassination

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Tuesday marked a dark anniversary in United States history and a date that most people alive at the time still remember vividly.

President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot 59-years ago - on November 22, 1963 - while riding in a motorcade driving through Dallas.

Kennedy was struck in the head and neck and was immediately taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The accused gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot and killed by nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, during a prison transfer two days after Kennedy’s assassination .

Several people came out to honor President Kennedy on Tuesday at the eternal flame in Springfield’s Forest Park. Local leaders paid their tributes and honoring his memory at the ceremony this afternoon on the 59th anniversary.

Congressman Richard Neal shared what what he remembers most about President Kennedy.

“I think it was a sense of idealism and I think his quest for the presidency was a story book, an analysis of opportunity in America. The odds of him being elected president, given the issues of the day, were certainly leaning against him and the victory that he had, the significance of which is there are tens of thousands of people in America who wanted to serve in government after Jack Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1960,” Neal explained.

The event is held each year to honor the president’s memory on the date of his assasination.

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