Remarks Upon Arrival at Andrews Air Force
Base.
November 22, 1963
THIS is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a
loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know
that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear.
I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help - and God's.
NOTE: The President spoke at 6:10 p.m. at Andrews Air
Force Base, Md., near Washington, upon his arrival from Dallas, Tex.
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded
to the Presidency on November 22, 1963, on the death of President Kennedy
in Dallas on the same day.
Vice President Johnson, a member
of President Kennedy's party on a speaking tour of several Texas cities,
was riding in the third car of a motorcade traveling through downtown Dallas
when, at approximately 12:30 P.M., c.s.t., President Kennedy was struck
by bullets from an assassin's gun. The motorcade proceeded to Parkland
Hospital in Dallas where President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m.
Shortly afterwards Mr. Johnson left the hospital for the Dallas airport,
en route to Washington, D.C.
He was sworn in as President
at 2:38 p.m. in the cabin of the Presidential plane, Air Force One, at
Love Field, Dallas. The oath of office was administered by Federal Judge
Sarah T. Hughes of the Northern District of Texas. Present at the swearing
in were Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and several members of the White House
staff. After the ceremony the plane, bearing the body of President Kennedy
and with President and Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and the White House
staff members aboard, left immediately for Washington.