A turning point in history: The assassination of President John Fitgerald Kennedy

In addition to the horror of the two World Wars, there were other major turning points in the history of the 20th century. One of these was the assassination in Dallas on 22 November 1963 of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one of the most promising American presidents of the century. The fateful nature of the event is marked not only by the huge changes in world politics that followed (the escalation of the Vietnam War, the new phase of the Cold War, etc.), but also by the ongoing 62-year debate since the event, which lacks consensus even concerning the most fundamental questions: for example, did one or more assassins shoot the President? Was there a wider (world) political motive for the assassination, or was it just the private act of a single deranged assassin? etc. The presentation will attempt to summarise the events of the time and their consequences, also offering a taste of the current state of the site (Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas), which the speaker visited last October.