There was a strong world reaction to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the President of the United States on 22 November 1963. In New York, the news spread by radio, television, and word of mouth, and some wept openly. So many phone calls were placed in the New York phone exchange that operators were eventually forced to refuse calls. People clustered in department stores (to catch TV coverage) and others prayed. Auto traffic in some areas came to a halt as the news of Kennedy's death spread from car to car. An unguided fury against 'Texas and Texans' was reported from some individuals. In Washington D.C., at 1:43 PM (16:43 UTC and 13 minutes after the assassination) the telephone system became overloaded and was sporadic for 59 minutes.
Preparations for the funeral
After the assassination in Dallas, Texas, Kennedy's body was flown back to Washington, D.C. and then on to Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy. Jacqueline Kennedy, her suit still stained with her husband's blood, started to plan the funeral while waiting at Bethesda. When doing so, she ordered researchers to the Library of Congress to research details about the funeral of Abraham Lincoln, telling them, "Find out how Lincoln was buried."
After the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Kennedy's body was prepared for burial, then returned to the White House and placed in the East Room for 24 hours. Throughout the day, family, friends, and government officials came to the East Room to mourn. Despite the rain throughout the entire day in Washington, crowds of people gathered outside the White House to show their respect. Like with the attacks on New York and Washington, many people refused to believe what had happened.
Hastily organized memorial services for President Kennedy were held throughout the world, allowing many to express their grief. Some governments adjourned out of respect and lowered flags to half-mast. Church bells also tolled. A day of national mourning and sorrow was declared in the United States for Monday, November 25, the day of the funeral, later known as the "day of drums."
Unofficial mourning
For approximately three days after November 22, all three major U.S. television networks remained fixed to news coverage. It was the longest uninterrupted news coverage of one event until the September 11 attacks. Most radio stations carried either news or classical music in a show of respect. Some have pointed to the John F. Kennedy assassination as a coming of age for live television news coverage. Many people in the USA and around the world interrupted their lives to watch the TV coverage.
Most sporting events in the U.S. were cancelled on November 22 and the following weekend. However, the NFL American football games scheduled for that weekend did go ahead (untelevised). White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had attended college together with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, and Salinger persuaded Rozelle to let the games go on because Kennedy had loved the game so much. Rozelle later called that the biggest mistake he ever made. (In comparison, after the 9/11 attacks, Paul Tagliabue ordered all NFL games cancelled, because the events were so deadly and Americans understood the fact that never ever again, could their safety be taken for granted.)
Lying in state
On the Sunday after the assassination (24 November 1963), the "years of lightning" became a "day of drums." Down Pennsylvania Avenue, about 300,000 watched the horse-drawn caisson, which had borne the body of Franklin Roosevelt and the Unknown Soldier, carry the president's flag-covered mahogany casket to the Capitol rotunda to lie in state. The only sounds on Pennsylvania Avenue as the cortege made its way to the Capitol were the sounds of the muffled drums and the clacking of the horses' hoofs. The widow, holding her two children, one in each hand, led the public mourning for the country. In the rotunda, Mrs. Kennedy and daughter Caroline knelt beside the casket, which rested on the same catafalque that rested Lincoln's. John Jr. was taken out so as not to disrupt the service. Throughout the proceedings, Mrs. Kennedy showed stoic dignity and it captured the heart of the nation as her husband was taken to the Capitol to lie in state. Her tears never fell at all during the proceedings.
Throughout the day and night, an estimated 250,000 people, some waiting in near-freezing temperatures for as long as 10 hours in a line that stretched 40 blocks up to 10 persons wide, personally paid their respects and expressed their grief as President Kennedy's body lay in state.
Funeral
Monday, November 25 was to become known as the "Day of Drums," because it was the day of the funeral.
The "day of drums" began just before 11:00 EST (16:00 UTC) in the morning, when the coffin was carried out of the rotunda and placed on the caisson, which then made its way to the White House and then onto St. Matthew's Cathedral. As the procession, led by the widow, holding her two children, and the president's brothers, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and the rest of the president's family (except for his ill father) made its way from the White House to the cathedral, the foreign dignitaries walked behind the caisson. The 220 foreign dignitaries who gathered included 19 heads of state and government and members of royal families, and were from 92 countries including the Soviet Union (but not Cuba, nor China, nor Albania). This was the largest gathering of statesmen at a funeral since that of King Edward VII in London in 1910. Leading the dignitaries were Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and French President Charles de Gaulle. The gathering of statesmen at the funeral was, and remains, the largest gathering of world statesmen at a funeral for any American president.
At the steps of the cathedral, the widow, still holding her two children, one in each hand, Caroline on her left, and John Jr., whose third birthday came on the day of his father's funeral, on her right, led the procession up the steps. The funeral, televised worldwide, at St. Matthew's Cathedral was officiated by the archbishop of Boston Richard Cardinal Cushing, a very close and dear friend of the Kennedy's. At the start of the service, silence fell for five minutes. Then, Cardinal Cushing, who married John and Jacqueline Kennedy, baptized their two children, presided over the president's inauguration, and the funeral of their son, Patrick, (who died two days following his premature birth three months earlier), intoned the requiem mass. There was no eulogy, but the auxiliary archbishop of Washington, the Most Reverend Philip Hannan, read passages from the president's speeches.
Mourning for President Kennedy encompassed the world throughout the day. At the same time the funeral took place, people continued to attend memorial services, still finding it difficult to believe that the president was dead, the victim of an assassin's bullet in Dallas. Parliaments in many countries adjourned in respect.
After the service, the casket was taken by caisson to Arlington National Cemetery for burial. As the casket was taken out of the cathedral, the widow whispered to her son, asking him to salute. Everyone who attended the funeral also attended the burial service. At the end of the burial service, the widow lit an eternal flame to burn over the president's grave. The service ended at 15:15 EST (20:15 UTC), and about 20 minutes later, at 15:34 EST (20:34 UTC), the "Day of Drums" came to an end when the mahogany casket containing the president's remains was lowered into the earth.