JFK's Assassination Remembered in Historic Photos, Videos on Anniversary

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas, on this day 59 years ago.

Images of that day still live vividly in the minds of many Americans while capturing the imagination of younger generations and spawning decades of conspiracy theories, exacerbated by the continued classification of U.S. government documents related to the killing.

Some of the documents became publicly available under the 1992 John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, which mandated the release of all materials 25 years later, by October 26, 2017.

However, former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have delayed the declassification of more than 14,000 files because of U.S. intelligence concerns about the names and personal details of still-living informants from the 1960s and 1970s. The White House has set a December 15 deadline for the release of still-classified records.

On the 59th anniversary of Kennedy's death, some followers of the controversy are demanding full declassification.

"Declassify every document arising from JFK assassination. Americans have the right to know Everything!" said Leo Terell, a Fox News contributor, in a tweet with 11,000 likes.

Many other users are circulating historic images and footage from the moments that rocked the nation, with the hashtag #JFKassassination and the phrase "President Kennedy" trending on Twitter.

Photos of Kennedy's motorcade, where he leaned out smiling from his open convertible beside the elegantly pink-clad Jackie Kennedy, were shared widely on Tuesday. Crowds of people had lined the streets to wave to the Kennedys.

At about 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over his wife, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

A stunned country was informed of the news by CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, often called the "the most trusted man in America" during the 1960s and 1970s. Footage of Cronkite's broadcast resurfaced again on Tuesday.

His announcement on live television came at 2:38 p.m. ET, some 38 minutes after Kennedy was pronounced dead. The veteran journalist was visibly overcome, removing his thick-rimmed glasses, clearing his throat and blinking rapidly.

Other images shared on the anniversary depicted commuters in a New York City railway carriage after the assassination. Every passenger was holding up a newspaper reporting the death of the president.

Another photo showed "Black Jack," the riderless horse at Kennedy's funeral. On the same day of his death, the president's casket was moved from the White House to the Capitol on a caisson drawn by six gray horses along with the riderless Black Jack. Jackie Kennedy had requested the procession be modeled on the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.