JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1775
PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S REMAINS ARRIVE AT THE WHITE HOUSEWashington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago this morning, November 23, 1963, the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, returned to the White House for the last time.
The flag-draped coffin, borne by an honor guard representing the major branches of the military, was placed in the East Room where President Abraham Lincoln's coffin rested almost a century before.
Following First Lady's Jacqueline Kennedy's request, the East Room was decorated in black crepe and her husband's coffin was put on the same catafalque used for President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
At 10 o'clock Washington time, a private mass was held for the President's family and close friends at the White House. JFK's remains were scheduled to lie in state at the White House all through the day and night and transferred by caisson to the United States Capitol on Sunday morning, November 24 to lie in state in the Rotunda.
The day of burial was set for Monday, November 25 which President Lyndon B. Johnson declared to be a day of national mourning.
Source: www.fiftiesweb.com
JFK's Flag-Draped Casket
The White House
Photo by Cecil Stoughton
November 23, 1963
WORLD MOURNS DEATH OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Millions of people around the world, including Pope Paul VI, mourned the death of President John F. Kennedy fifty-two years ago today, November 23, 1963.
Here in the Nation's capital, hundreds of people gathered outside the gates of the White House while in Moscow, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev paid a personal visit to honor President Kennedy at the American embassy.
In a telegram to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Khrushchev said...
"John F. Kennedy's death is a serious blow to all people who cherish the cause of peace and Soviet-American cooperation."
In London, Sir Winston Churchill issued a statement that said JFK's assassination had... "taken from us a great statesman and a wise and valiant man."
