The United States Secret Service has grown and evolved since its creation in 1865. Originally tasked with suppressing and investigating counterfeit money, the Secret Service took on the responsibility of protecting the president after the assassination of President William McKinley in 1901. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, had an equally dramatic effect on the way the Secret Service provided protection. Listen to learn more about the lapses in security that lead to the assassination and the changes implemented since.
Story Length: 4:46
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AIR DATE: 11/07/2013
November 25, 2013
7:47
Decades of Americans are able to remember where they were at the moment they heard President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Fifty years later in this radio story we relive the events of that fateful day through the memories of two reporters who were there. Hugh Aynesworth was a local reporter for The Dallas Morning News and Sid Davis was a White House correspondent traveling with the president's press corps. Put yourselves in their shoes as they take you through how they learned about and covered the assassination.
Read MoreNovember 23, 2013
9:21
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 shocked the nation, but the setting of his assassination was less surprising. Dallas, Texas was the center of the anti-Kennedy movement in the United States. Powerful business men, elected officials and Baptist preachers had all joined together to call for the overthrow of President Kennedy for treason. They had whipped up an atmosphere of hate and hysteria in the large southern city. It was into this atmosphere that President Kennedy rode in an open motorcade and was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald from an abandoned building along the route. Listen to learn more about the setting of the assassination.
Read MoreNovember 20, 2013
9:56
President John F. Kennedy remains one of most popular presidents among African-Americans. He helped Dr. Martin Luther King get out of jail and stood for civil rights policies. Tragically, he was not able to personally complete the bill for equal rights, though his successor did. Listen to this story about how JFK struggled to stand up for civil rights despite an important party of opposing opinions and escalating violent acts.
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