[Enclosure.]
* * * * *
[Statement of the President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, concerning the
events of November 22, 1963]
Friday morning, November 22, began with a reception in the Longhorn
Room of the Hotel Texas, Fort Worth. President and Mrs. Kennedy and
Mrs. Johnson and I had spent the night in that hotel. Then, President
Kennedy and I went to a parking lot across from the hotel where a
speaker's stand had been set up and we addressed a crowd that was
gathered there. We then returned to the hotel and had breakfast.
After that, at about 10:30 a.m., we motored to the Fort Worth airfield.
Mrs. Johnson and I then went aboard _Air Force II_ for the trip to
Dallas.
We arrived at Love Field in Dallas, as I remember, just shortly after
11:30 a.m.
Agents Youngblood and Johns and two other agents were with us.
We disembarked from the plane promptly after it came to a stop at Love
Field. We were met by a committee of local officials and citizens.
After greeting them, Mrs. Johnson and I, together with the special
agents, walked over to the area where President and Mrs. Kennedy would
disembark. We were followed by the reception committee.
President Kennedy's plane arrived about 5 or 10 minutes after _Air
Force II_. The President and Mrs. Kennedy disembarked and they greeted
us and the people in the reception committee.
Then the President and Mrs. Kennedy walked along the fence, shaking
hands with people in the crowd that had assembled. Mrs. Johnson and I
followed along the fence, greeting people and shaking hands. This took
5 or 10 minutes, as I recall.
Mrs. Johnson, Senator Ralph Yarborough, and I then entered the car
which had been provided for us in the motorcade. It was a Lincoln
Continental convertible. I think that our car was the fourth in the
motorcade. We were the second car behind the President's automobile.
The driver of the car in which Mrs. Johnson and I were riding was
Hurchel Jacks, who is a member of the Texas State Highway Patrol. Agent
Youngblood was sitting next to him in the front seat.
I was sitting behind Agent Youngblood; Mrs. Johnson was next to me;
and Senator Yarborough was on the left of the rear seat--that is, just
behind the driver.
At first, as we left Love Field and proceeded through the
less-populated areas, the crowds were thin. I recall, however, that
Mrs. Johnson and I and Senator Yarborough commented upon the good
spirit and obvious good wishes of the crowd. As we drove closer to
town, the crowds became quite large.
We made several stops as a result of stops by the automobiles ahead of
us. I did not get out of the car, but on occasion a few people broke
from the crowd and ran over, and I shook hands with several people on
these occasions.
The motorcade proceeded down Main Street and then turned right on
Houston. It then turned into Elm, which is a block, I believe, beyond
the intersection of Main and Houston. The crowd on Elm Street was
smaller.
As the motorcade proceeded down Elm Street to the point where the
assassination occurred, it was traveling at a speed which I should
estimate at 12 or 15 miles and hour.
After we had proceeded a short way down Elm Street, I heard a sharp
report. The crowd at this point had become somewhat spotty.
The Vice-Presidential car was then about three car lengths behind
President Kennedy's car, with the Presidential followup car intervening.
I was startled by the sharp report or explosion, but I had no time to
speculate as to its origin because Agent Youngblood turned in a flash,
immediately after the first explosion, hitting me on the shoulder, and
shouted to all of us in the back seat to get down. I was pushed down by
Agent Youngblood. Almost in the same moment in which he hit or pushed
me, he vaulted over the back seat and sat on me. I was bent over under
the weight of Agent Youngblood's body, toward Mrs. Johnson and Senator
Yarborough.
I remember attempting to turn my head to make sure that Mrs. Johnson
had bent down. Both she and Senator Yarborough had crouched down at
Agent Youngblood's command.
At some time in this sequence of events, I heard other explosions. It
was impossible for me to tell the direction from which the explosions
came.
I felt the automobile sharply accelerate, and in a moment or so Agent
Youngblood released me. I ascertained that Mrs. Johnson and Senator
Yarborough were all right. I heard Agent Youngblood speaking over his
radio transmitter. I asked him what had happened. He said that he was
not sure but that he had learned that the motorcade was going to the
hospital.
I did not see anything that was going on in and around the President's
automobile.
When we arrived at the hospital; Agent Youngblood told me to get out of
the car, go into the building, not to stop, and to stay close to him
and the other agents. When the car came to a stop, a cordon of agents
formed around me, and we walked rapidly into the hospital and then we
went into a room there.
Because of the method which Agent Youngblood directed for leaving the
car and entering the hospital, I did not see the Presidential car or
any of the persons in it.
In the hospital room to which Mrs. Johnson and I were taken, the shades
were drawn--I think by Agent Youngblood. In addition to him, two or
three other agents were there.
As I remember, we got our first specific report from Emory Roberts, one
of the agents from the White House detail. He told us that President
Kennedy had been very badly injured and that his condition was quite
poor. He said that he thought we should make plans to get back to
Washington immediately.
I asked about Governor Connally and was told that he, too, had been
shot, but that his wound was not serious. I was told that Mrs. Kennedy
and Mrs. Connally were uninjured and that no one else had been hurt.
Mrs. Johnson and I asked if we could see Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs.
Connally. Agent Youngblood told me that I could not leave the room, and
I followed his direction.
Mrs. Johnson was allowed to leave for this purpose.
At some time during these events, Kenneth O'Donnell, Congressman Jack
Brooks, Congressman Homer Thornberry, and Cliff Carter came into the
room.
It was Ken O'Donnell who, at about 1:20 p.m., told us that the
President had died. I think his precise words were, "He's gone."
O'Donnell said that we should return to Washington and that we should
take the President's plane for this purpose.
I found it hard to believe that this had happened. The whole thing
seemed unreal--unbelievable. A few hours earlier, I had breakfast with
John Kennedy; he was alive, strong, vigorous. I could not believe now
that he was dead. I was shocked and sickened.
When Mr. O'Donnell told us to get on the plane and go back to
Washington, I asked about Mrs. Kennedy. O'Donnell told me that Mrs.
Kennedy would not leave the hospital without the President's body, and
urged again that we go ahead and and take _Air Force I_ and return to
Washington.
I did not want to go and leave Mrs. Kennedy in this situation. I said
so, but I agreed that we would board the airplane and wait until Mrs.
Kennedy and the President's body were brought aboard the plane.
It is, of course, difficult to convey an accurate impression of the
period of time that we were in the hospital room. We were all stunned.
I suppose we were in a state of shock and there was no time for the
shock to wear off sufficiently so that the magnitude of our personal
loss of this great man and good friend could express itself in words or
in surface feelings.
I suppose, actually, that the only outlet for the grief that shock had
submerged was our sharp, painful, and bitter concern and solicitude for
Mrs. Kennedy.
Despite my awareness of the reasons for Mr. O'Donnell's insistence--in
which I think he was joined by one or more of the Secret Service
agents--that we board the airplane, leave Dallas, and go to Washington
without delay, I was determined that we would not return until Mrs.
Kennedy was ready, and that we would carry the President's body back
with us if she wanted.
We left the room and were ushered by a cordon of agents to cars which
were awaiting us. At Agent Youngblood's insistence, I entered one car
and Mrs. Johnson another. Agent Youngblood and I were sitting in the
back seat and Congressman Thornberry was in the front seat.
As we started away from the hospital, Congressman Albert Thomas came up
to the car. He saw Congressman Thornberry--I don't think he saw me--and
he asked the Congressman to wait for him. At my direction, the car
stopped and picked him up and he sat in the front seat with Congressman
Thornberry. I am sure this didn't take as much as minute. Congressman
Thornberry then climbed over and got into the back seat with us.
When we got to the airport, we proceeded to drive to the ramp leading
into the plane, and we entered the plane.
We were ushered into the private quarters of the President's plane. It
didn't seem right for John Kennedy not to be there. I told someone that
we preferred for Mrs. Kennedy to use these quarters.
Shortly after we boarded the plane, I called Robert Kennedy, the
President's brother and the Attorney General. I knew how grief-stricken
he was, and I wanted to say something that would comfort him. Despite
his shock, he discussed the practical problems at hand--problems of
special urgency because we did not at that time have any information as
to the motivation of the assassination or its possible implications.
The Attorney General said that he would like to look into the matter of
whether the oath of office as President should be administered to me
immediately or after we returned to Washington, and that he would call
back.
I thereafter talked with McGeorge Bundy and Walter Jenkins, both of
whom urged that the return to Washington should not be delayed. I told
them I was waiting for Mrs. Kennedy and for the President's body to be
placed on the plane, and would not return prior to that time.
As I remember, our conversation was interrupted to allow the Attorney
General to come back on the line. He said that the oath should be
administered to me immediately, before taking off for Washington,
and that it should be administered by a judicial officer of the
United States. Shortly thereafter, the Deputy Attorney General, Mr.
Katzenbach, dictated the form of oath to one of the secretaries aboard
the plane.
I thought of Sarah Hughes, an old friend who is judge of the U.S.
district court in Dallas. We telephoned Judge Hughes' office. She was
not there, but she returned the call in a few minutes and said she
would be at the airplane in 10 minutes. I asked that arrangements be
made to permit her to have access to the airplane.
A few minutes later Mrs. Kennedy and the President's coffin arrived.
Mrs. Johnson and I spoke to her. We tried to comfort her, but our words
seemed inadequate. She went into the private quarters of the plane. I
estimate that Mrs. Kennedy and the coffin arrived about a half hour
after we entered the plane--just after 2 o'clock.
About a half hour later, I asked someone to find out if Mrs. Kennedy
would stand with us during the administration of the oath. Mrs. Johnson
went back to be with her. Mrs. Kennedy came and stood with us during
the moments that the oath was being administered.