Trail of Destruction, Pt. 5: The Air Force One Tapes

The recording of presidential jet communications on November 22 is heavily edited

[Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment in the JFK Facts series, “Trail of Destruction.” New installments will appear every Wednesday.]

Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as president on Air Force One, 2:38 p.m., Nov. 22, 1963. President Kennedy’s widow, Jacqueline, is on his left.

The original recording of communications to and from the presidential jet, Air Force One, on Nov. 22, 1963, is one of the U.S. government’s most fundamental JFK assassination related records. It captures conversations between generals, cabinet secretaries, pilots, and official spokesmen in the midst of the national crisis of that day. It has never been made public in its entirety.