Wednesday marks the 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an event that changed the world and plunged the country into collective shock, disbelief and mourning.

On Nov. 22, 1963, the nation was riveted by the news that Kennedy's motorcade was attacked with rifle shots as it approached Dealey Plaza. The president died about an hour later at a Dallas hospital, as the manhunt for Lee Harvey Oswald came to an end inside a Dallas movie theater.

An estimated 300 million people around the world watched the rites of mourning, including nearly 95% of all Americans. It was the first shared spectacle of the television age. According to reporting by the Los Angelas Times, the moment marked the dawn of a new era in media as the three television networks — NBC, CBS and ABC — stayed on the air for four days to provide live, continuous coverage of a national crisis for the first time.

Horrific photos of Jackie Kennedy’s blood stained pink dress, a little 2-year-old boy’s goodbye salute to his father, and the rider-less white horse were seared into the memories of those who lived through the tumultuous 1960s.

 

The traumatic event and its aftermath were in full display for everyone to watch at the same time.

“The only thing on television anywhere in the country was the Kennedy assassination,” said former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, the Times reported.

One day after Kennedy was killed, the newly sworn-in Lyndon Johnson issued his first presidential proclamation, declaring Nov. 25, 1963, the day of President Kennedy’s funeral, a national day of mourning. Across the country, schools, businesses, and government offices closed in observance of Kennedy’s death.  Archived articles show that hundreds of events nationally and locally were canceled in respect of the president.

“I earnestly recommend the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay their homage of love and reverence to the memory of a great and good man,” Johnson said in the publicly broadcasted statement.

President Kennedy’s funeral and procession to Arlington National Cemetery was attended by dignitaries from 92 countries and a million people lined the streets, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.