The route was printed in Tuesday's paper. Three days later, everything changed.

The timeline of November 22, 1963, reveals how public the entire event was meant to be. The Dallas newspapers published Kennedy's motorcade route on November 19, three full days before his arrival.

Anyone reading the Dallas Times Herald or The Dallas Morning News knew exactly where the President would be and when.

An estimated 200,000 people lined the roughly 10-mile route that Friday morning. The crowds were massive, enthusiastic, waving as the presidential limousine made its way through downtown Dallas toward the Trade Mart.

The Day Everything Changed

As the motorcade entered Dealey Plaza at 12:30 p.m., Nellie Connally turned to Kennedy with a comment about the warm reception. The President's last words were a response to her observation: "No, they sure can't."

Seconds later, shots rang out.

The timeline from that moment moved with devastating speed. Kennedy was struck, Governor Connally was wounded, and the limousine driver accelerated toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. The President arrived at the hospital still alive but critically injured. Thirty minutes after arrival, doctors pronounced Kennedy dead. The 46-year-old president had served less than three years in office.

The investigation began immediately. Dallas law enforcement officials initiated a search of the Texas School Book Depository, the building overlooking Dealey Plaza. Within 45 minutes, officers discovered three spent cartridge shells in a "sniper's perch" on the sixth floor's southeast corner. The physical evidence appeared quickly. The suspect did not.

Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit was killed on a residential street. Witnesses reported a man fleeing the scene. Police responded to reports of a suspicious person entering the Texas Theatre, a movie theater several blocks away. Officers arrested Lee Harvey Oswald inside the theater at approximately 1:50 p.m.

While Oswald sat in custody, Lyndon Baines Johnson prepared to take the presidential oath aboard Air Force One. Judge Sarah T. Hughes administered the oath in the aircraft's cramped cabin at 2:38 p.m. The historic swearing-in marked two firsts: the first time a woman administered the presidential oath of office, and the only time the ceremony occurred on an airplane. Jacqueline Kennedy stood beside Johnson, still wearing clothes stained with her husband's blood.

A Dallas dressmaker named Abraham Zapruder stood in Dealey Plaza that afternoon with his home movie camera. His 26.6-second film became the only known recording to capture the entire assassination. After screening the footage for Secret Service agents, Zapruder sold the rights to Life magazine for $150,000 plus royalties. He made one condition: the film should not be exploited. That footage has been analyzed frame by frame for over 60 years. It remains the most studied piece of amateur film in history.

What the Evidence Reveals

The documented sequence of November 22 shows how rapidly events unfolded. From the published route three days prior to Johnson's oath of office, every major event occurred within a compressed timeframe that left little room for processing.

The investigation moved quickly because evidence appeared quickly. Three cartridge shells within 45 minutes. A suspect arrested within 80 minutes. A new president sworn in within 128 minutes.

The public nature of Kennedy's visit makes the violence more jarring in retrospect. The route was published. The crowds were massive. The reception was warm. And then, in Dealey Plaza, everything fractured.

The detail about the published route encapsulates something essential about the day. This was meant to be a public event, a moment of connection between a president and a city that had been politically hostile to him.

Instead, it became the most scrutinized crime scene in American history.

The facts remain clear even as debates continue. The timeline is documented. The evidence was collected. The witnesses gave statements. What happened on November 22, 1963, unfolded in front of 200,000 people and one home movie camera.

The route was published three days early. Everyone knew where Kennedy would be. And that makes what followed all the more devastating to examine, even 60 years later.