On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated using a 6.5×52mm Carcano Model 38 long-barrelled rifle.
In March 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, using the alias "A. Hidell", purchased by mail order the infantry carbine (described by the Warren Commission as a "Mannlicher–Carcano") with a telescopic sight.[1] He also purchased a revolver from a different company, by the same method. The Hidell alias was determined from multiple sources to be Oswald.[2] Oswald fired the rifle from the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, Texas, mortally wounding Kennedy as his presidential motorcade drove by on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time.[3] Photographs of Oswald holding the rifle, a palmprint found upon examination of the rifle, and detective work tracing its sale, all eventually led to Oswald.[4] Marina Oswald later testified she was told by Lee that the rifle was also used before in an attempt to assassinate retired U.S. Army General Edwin Walker in Dallas.
- ^ "Chapter 4: The Assassin". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 118–119. Archived from the original on 2017-08-31.
- ^ Warren Commission Report, pp. 567–571.
- ^ "Chapter 1: Summary and Conclusions". Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. pp. 18–19. Archived from the original on 2017-08-31.
- ^ Warren Commission Report, pp. 122–123.