we ll even send you this free calculator. call: now. why wait? right around now, 50 years ago, president john f. kennedy was starting his final journey. in an open air limousine, driving through the streets of dallas. when you watch these images you think to yourself how different things are today. imagine a president in an open top limousine. that was the day 50 years ago that a beloved president was gunned down, but there are still many questions about who was behind it, at least among many americans still asking these questions. yeah, because take a look at that. a gallup poll recently showed 61% of americans, 61% still believe the assassination was a
fall afternoon in dallas. and there was a sense of excitement here. when you go back and you talk to people who were here, when you talk to people and you see the footage, the old black and white footage, it was a very exciting time for the president of the united states. a president that gave so much hope to americans. the youngest president, as we ve been saying, ever elected. he was a handsome guy. jackie ken key was beautiful. kennedy was beautiful. she was elegant, and there was just this fascination with them. the white house was alive with the two young kids running around, and, you know, really americans simply were gripped. whether you even agreed with his politics or not, democrat or republican, people were just absolutely enthralled with j, the k and his family. jfk and his family. so it was a real sense of excitement here 50 years ago when people were flocking to this very spot just to catch a glimpse of president kennedy and
and when you look at polls, 50 years later, jfk still looms large in the hearts and minds of many americans. look at this. today, he is the most popular president of the last half century. this is according to a new cnn opinion research opinion poll with a whopping 90% approval rating. let s take you now to dallas, to ed lavendera and john king, who are both standing by for me where that observance is now ending. john king, to you first, in watching all this today, the weather,iliti it s just nasty. look at the crowds, people in their ponchos. they wanted to be there. this is very personal for so many americans. when you look at the poll numbers, people still 50 years later have such a connection with this president. such a connection, brooke. in part because of what you mentioned at the top of the hour. he served just 1,000 days. we don t know how president kennedy would have chartered the course in vietnam. we don t know if he would have been successful in getting the civil rights
i think we were sufficiently overwhelmed with the facts and trying to determine what was going o. and where was oswalt. he was finally brought in and we saw him four times in that period and he brushed shoulders with me and other reporters as we jockeyed on the position of a narrow hallway as they brought them down in to the interrogation room. we were caught up in a copunnedium of events that we couldn t predict and he was shot. and you were at that scone as well. and you were on the phone in a hallway as oswalt came in and he was shot and tell us about your impregs for that moment. abc had a great affiliate and there was one remote unit, and that was really something. fa a in dallas have a good remote unit but our bosses in
aside, today is about remembering the 35th president of the united states and man who gave america hope and people turned out to pay homage to a man we loved so much. casy stegal. thank you so much. we are hearing firsthand accounts of what it was like that day in dealey plaza. and we ll bring in a man deal lord and shouting questions to lee harvey oswalt before he was shot. he was a young reporter in that day in dallas. good day to you. thank you very much. it is 1:04 in new york and we are about 26 minutes away from the moment. what were you doing precisely 50 years ago? i was at affiliate wfaa in dallas two brok blocks away from dealey plaza and examining the videotape of the president s