Today in 1963, the funeral of the assassinated President, John F Kennedy, took place in Washington.  An estimated 800,000 Americans lined the streets to watch the coffin's procession from the Capitol, where the president's body had lain in state since the day before.  The crowd stood in silence, punctuated only by the sound of weeping, as the funeral procession made its way towards St Matthew's Cathedral in central Washington.  The president was buried in Arlington Cemetery to a 21-gun salute and three musket volleys.

The short but momentous era of America's youngest elected president was over: John F Kennedy had been assassinated on 22 November in Dallas, Texas.  The man accused of his murder, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby, on the day before the president's funeral. The circumstances around the president's death remain controversial to this day.