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Dallas, Texas. November 29, 1963.

To President Kennedy, popularity was the breath of life—and now he was breathing of it deeply. Texas was supposed to be a hostile political land, but for 23 hours he had been acclaimed there. Conservative Dallas was supposed to be downright dangerous, but he had just come from a warm airport welcome and along much of his motorcade route in the downtown district he had basked in waves of applause from crowds lined ten and twelve deep. What was about to happen must have been the farthest thing from his mind.

It was 12:30 p.m. C.S.T., and in a split second a thousand things happened. The President’s body slumped to the left; his right leg shot up over the car door. A woman close by at the curb saw it. “My God!” she screamed. “He’s shot!” Blood gushed from the President’s head as it came to rest in Jackie’s lap. “Jack!” she cried. “Oh, no! No!”

Although at the time of his death domestic and international problems still bristled about him, what John Kennedy wanted more than anything else was to be re-elected next year. That desire did not spring from an unnatural greed for power, or even from his driving competitive spirit, but from his feeling that if he could be returned to the White House with a fresh and stronger mandate he would be better able to achieve solutions to the problems that beset his nation.

This story is part of the TIME Classic Coverage Collection from Time Inc. This is a reproduction of a story that appeared in the November 29, 1963 issue of TIME magazine.

Time Inc. is one of the world’s most influential media companies – home to 90 iconic brands like People, Sports Illustrated, Time, InStyle, Real Simple, Food & Wine, and Fortune. The Spotlight Stories in this collection aim to provide you with a quick read on a single subject, highlighting our readers’ most popular stories and featuring great reporting from our Time Inc. journalists.