Mayo - The Assassination of JFK

12.25pm Friday 22nd November: The Presidential limousine on Main Street, Dallas.

At 2515 Fifth Street, Irving, Texas, 31-year-old Ruth Paine is walking into her garage. The light is already on, which is unusual. She reckons that Lee Harvey Oswald must have left it on when he was working in there earlier that evening.

Ruth is mildly irritated at his carelessness. But it cant dampen her excitement, as tomorrow the president is coming to Dallas.

Twenty-two minutes behind schedule, the wheels of Air Force One strike the tarmac at Carswell Air Force base on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas. On board is the 46-year-old President John F Kennedy and Jackie, his 34-year-old wife. He is the youngest elected leader in American history.

JFK is in Texas because he needs to win friends in the South his support for civil rights has dented his popularity and an election is just a year away. Texas in particular needs wooing; in 1960 he beat the Republican candidate Richard Nixon here by only 46,000 votes. But Kennedy likes a challenge, and he likes even more to be away from the political intrigue of Washington, to meet the people and win them over.

Jackie has never campaigned before and hadnt planned to be on this trip. In August, their baby son Patrick died, just a few days old; she had been expecting to be at the White House, nursing him. Many people have advised JFK not to make this trip. Dallas District Judge Sarah T Hughes told the presidents aides that the journey was inadvisable. Senator J William Fulbright told JFK in October, Dallas is a dangerous place. I wouldnt go there and dont you go!

The president and his wife are walking down the steps of Air Force One, and being met by the president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Raymond Buck. He shouts a greeting over the noise of the engines.

Also travelling with JFK and now leaving Air Force Two are three Democratic Texan heavyweights the vice president Lyndon B. Johnson, the states governor John Connally, and Senator Ralph Yarborough. Connally and Yarborough are also up for re-election in 1964 and each hopes the other will lose. They dislike each others politics and aim to make capital out of this trip. Its got to the point where Yarborough refuses to travel in the same car as Johnson, as hes an ally of Connally.

Kennedy is sick of this damaging rift and has a plan to heal it, but the vice president is concerned that hell only make the situation worse. Johnson, a farmers son who left school at 15, has a very different background from the wealthy Boston upbringing of Kennedy, but they are both masterful political tacticians.

Connally, Yarborough and Johnson smile and wave to the waiting press.

The Kennedys are bring driven to their Fort Worth hotel in a white convertible, borrowed by the Chamber of Commerce from the golf professional Ben Hogan. The presidents staff hadnt expected crowds to be out on the streets at this time of night, especially as its raining, but the route to their hotel via the West Freeway is lined with thousands of well-wishers.

Thirty miles away, in Ruth Paines Irving home, Lee Harvey Oswalds Russian wife Marina is getting into bed beside him. Hes lying on his stomach with his eyes closed. Earlier theyd argued hed tried desperately to persuade her to leave the Paines house where shes lodging and move back with him to Dallas, but Marina had refused. Marina was irritated because hed turned up unexpectedly, knowing full well the agreement is he should ask Ruths permission first.

Marina appreciates Ruths friendship. When Marina was pregnant, Ruth had donated blood twice at Parkland Hospital to ensure that Marina qualified for free maternity care. Ruth speaks Russian, and they both have two children and both have troubled marriages. Michael Paine moved out of the house a few months ago; Lee Harvey Oswald sometimes beats Marina.