Enter the access code provided by your teacher to begin.
JFK
November 22, 1963
At 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Within hours, a suspect was arrested. Within days, that suspect was dead. Within months, a presidential commission declared the case closed.
In this simulation, you are a United States Secret Service agent assigned to the investigation. You will walk through the evidence, make decisions about which leads to pursue, and testify before the Warren Commission.
The people in this story were real. The evidence is real. The questions are still being asked.
Current location
Investigated
Preliminary Incident Report
United States Secret Service — White House Detail
CLASSIFICATION: PRIORITY — EYES ONLY
Following the events in Dealey Plaza, all agents present are required to file an immediate preliminary incident report documenting their observations. Complete this form to the best of your ability. Accuracy is critical — this document will become part of the official investigation record.
Note: This is an educational simulation. However, Secret Service agents were required to file written reports of their observations. Many of these actual reports became key evidence reviewed by the Warren Commission.
I certify that the information provided in this report is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and recollection. I understand that this document will be entered into the official investigation record and may be reviewed by the investigating commission.
CBS News Bulletin
November 22, 1963 — 2:38 p.m. EST
Walter Cronkite interrupts CBS programming to announce the death of President Kennedy. This is the broadcast that told America its president was gone.
Key Evidence Summary
Select evidence items examined during the investigation
The Rifle — Commission Exhibit 139
A 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano bolt-action rifle, serial number C2766, purchased by mail order from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago. The order form was in the name "A. Hidell," an alias used by Oswald. The rifle was shipped to a P.O. Box rented by Oswald. A palm print matching Oswald's was found on the barrel.
The "Single Bullet" — Commission Exhibit 399
A nearly intact 6.5mm bullet found on a stretcher at Parkland Hospital. The Warren Commission concluded this single bullet caused the non-fatal wounds to both President Kennedy and Governor Connally. Its relatively undamaged condition, despite allegedly causing seven wounds, became one of the most debated pieces of evidence.
The Backyard Photographs
Photographs taken by Marina Oswald in March 1963, showing Oswald in his backyard holding the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, wearing a holstered pistol, and holding two socialist newspapers. Oswald claimed the photographs were faked. Multiple forensic analyses have concluded they are authentic.
The Zapruder Film
Abraham Zapruder, a Dallas dressmaker, filmed the motorcade with his 8mm Bell & Howell camera from a concrete pedestal in Dealey Plaza. His 26.6-second film captured the assassination in graphic detail and became the most important visual evidence of the event. Frame 313 shows the fatal head shot.