By M. Wheelock (2016)
This picture was taken by Cecil Stoughton on November 22, 1963, two hours after President Kennedy was assassinated. This picture captures Vice President Johnson being sworn into office as the 36th president of the United States. There are many interesting aspects I find about this picture. For one, it was taken aboard the Air Force One. This aspect is very important to the picture and the history because it shows how fast the country was forced to adjust after President Kennedy was killed and it gives a special perspective to the picture, a confined sense. You can also see the different emotions on the passengers’ faces. None of them are happy ones. They look sad, confused, and angry. The looks on Jacqueline Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson are especially important. Jacqueline had just seen her husband’s brains blown out and now she’s forced to sit through the swearing in of the next president within a matter of hours. Johnson is not happy either. He was prepared to be president, but he was not expecting his predecessor to be assassinated and he would have preferred to be elected, not president by default. This picture perfectly captures the reaction to Kennedy’s assassination by portraying a few people who represent the grief stricken country.