Five decades after it served as the backdrop for a nation's grief and disbelief, Dallas' Dealey Plaza took center stage once again Friday as Americans commemorated the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
"A new era dawned and another waned a half century ago when hope and hatred collided right here in Dallas," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said in his remarks commemorating Kennedy's death.
Rawlings then read the final words of the speech Kennedy was to deliver that day. That was followed by a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m., the time Kennedy was shot a few feet from where Rawlings spoke.
Bells tolled, and after a brief pause, cadets from the Naval Academy sang "America the Beautiful." Historian David McCullough read excerpts from famous Kennedy speeches.
Some 5,000 invited guests were expected to attend the commemorative events, which was bookended by bagpipers -- a JFK favorite -- playing under a spitting gray sky.
The tightly choreographed and secured event was the culmination of a series of commemorations Friday, including wreath-laying events in Kennedy's home town of Boston and at his Arlington National Cemetery gravesite.
In Washington, where flags flew at half-staff over the Capitol and White House, Kennedy's last living sibling,Jean Kennedy Smith, participated in the Arlington wreath-laying. Earlier, Attorney General Eric Holder visited the gravesite.
And in the House of Representatives, where Kennedy served from 1947 to 1953, the Rev. John Robert Skeldon of Fort Worth, Texas, reminded lawmakers in his opening prayers that "in commemorating such a one whose life and presidency were cut short, we do so not to sow in tears, as the psalmist says, but rather to reap with shouts of joy."
"Help us, Lord God, to make the late President's inaugural vision our own so that together as fellow Americans we may 'ask not what our country can do for us, but rather what we can do for our country,'" Skeldon prayed, invoking Kennedy's famous words.
The Dallas event was designed to be a delicate balancing act of honoring Kennedy's memory without sensationalizing his murder, and to help the city throw off its reputation as "the city that killed Kennedy."
It opened with a video from an organizer speaking of that goal, and continued in Rawlings remarks, which keyed off Kennedy's call for the United States to embrace and conquer a "New Frontier" of challenges
The mayor spoke of a Dallas that took up the mantle of Kennedy's challenge of American betterment and transformed itself with a "sense of industry born of tragedy" into a city that he hopes would make the president proud.
"He and our city will forever be linked, in tragedy, yes," Rawlings said. "But out of that tragedy, an opportunity was granted to us: the chance to learn how to face the future when it's the darkest and most uncertain, how to hold high the torch even when the flame flickers and threatens to go out."
A new JFK monument also was unveiled, in the infamous section of land known as the "grassy knoll." The inscription on the monument is the final paragraph of the speech JFK intended to deliver at the Dallas Trade Mart on November 22, 1963:
"We in this country, in this generation, are --- by destiny rather than choice --- the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of "peace on earth, good will toward men." That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago, "except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
Other Dallas events
Conspiracy theorists, who have typically gathered on the plaza on each anniversary of Kennedy's assassination, were barred from the plaza.
Instead, The Dallas Morning News reported, the group planned to hold an event at the nearby JFK memorial, and then move to Dealey Plaza after the main event was over. Demonstrators gathered at Dealey Plaza on Thursday, and many chanted: "No more lies. No more lies."
The remarkable Sixth Floor Museum, which chronicles the Kennedy assassination, was set to open from 3 to 8 p.m. CT. Parkland Hospital, where Kennedy died, planned a brief morning ceremony, where the flag will be lowered to half-staff.
Also in Dallas on Friday, a candlelight vigil for J.D. Tippit was set for 6 p.m. at the site where the 39-year-old Dallas police officer was shot.
"I think the remembrance of him calls attention to all of the officers killed in the line of duty. We should remember those who have given their lives for our city," Marie Tippit, who had been married to the officer for 17 years, told the Los Angeles Times this week. She told the paper she will also attend the ceremony at Dealey Plaza.
Finally, the Texas Theatre, where Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended by police, was to screen part of the movie "War Is Hell," the film that was showing when Oswald slipped into the audience without paying.
Commemorations elsewhere
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston asked visitors to gather to watch a video musical tribute to the President that includes James Taylor. A moment of silence was held at 2 p.m. ET, the time when a doctor approximated Kennedy died.
Moments of silence were also planned at various other locations around the nation.
And online, a handful of Twitter accounts focused on recreating Kennedy's movements that fateful day, culminating in breaking accounts of the aftermath of the shooting.
据美国媒体报道，11月22日是美国前总统约翰•肯尼迪遇刺50周年纪念日，当年的案发地得克萨斯州达拉斯的迪利广场举办了隆重的纪念活动。
***达拉斯的希望和怨恨
“半个世纪前，希望和怨恨在达拉斯交织，新时代到来，旧时代消逝。”达拉斯市市长迈克•罗林斯在纪念活动上说。他接着站在离肯尼迪遭枪击地点几英尺处宣读了肯尼迪遇刺当天原定演讲中最后的话，随后，在肯尼迪遇刺时刻中午12:30，达拉斯教堂钟声响起，全体默哀。
短暂停留后，美国海军学院学院合唱了《美丽的阿美利加》，历史学家戴维•麦卡洛宣读了肯尼迪演讲摘录。约有5000名宾客通过抽签出席这场纪念活动。
美国各地22日开展了一系列纪念活动，有人在肯尼迪家乡波士顿和阿灵顿国家公墓敬献花圈，精心组织的仪式将纪念活动推向高潮。
在华盛顿，奥巴马下令国会山和白宫降半旗纪念肯尼迪。声名显赫的最后一位在世“肯尼迪九姐妹”琼•肯尼迪•史密斯在肯尼迪墓前敬献了花圈。早前，美国总检察长埃里克•霍尔德也来到阿灵顿公墓缅怀肯尼迪。
达拉斯纪念活动有意着重致敬肯尼迪，没有突出他被谋杀一事，希望达拉斯能摆脱“刺杀肯尼迪之城”的恶名。
罗林斯说，达拉斯接过了肯尼迪的衣钵，“以一种悲剧的形式，他（肯尼迪总统）将永远和我们的城市连在一起，但是，在悲剧之外，我们也得到了机会来学习在最黑暗和最不确定的情况下如何面对未来，以及哪怕在火焰即将熄灭时我们如何高擎火炬。”
此外，一座新的肯尼迪纪念碑也已揭幕，碑上的铭文是1963年11月22日肯尼迪生前原计划演讲的最后一段。
***多地自发纪念
有阴谋论团体通常每年都会聚集在广场纪念肯尼迪遇刺，今年被拒之门外。《达拉斯晨报》报道说，该团体打算在肯尼迪纪念碑举行纪念活动，等主要纪念活动结束后再转移到迪利广场。21日，就有示威者聚集在迪利广场并高呼“别再撒谎”。
记载着肯尼迪遇刺事件的“六楼博物馆”将在当地下午3点到8点开放。肯尼迪死前所在的帕克兰医院也举行了简短的早晨纪念仪式，并降半旗默哀。
当年39岁的达拉斯警察J.D.蒂皮特(J.D. Tippit)在肯尼迪总统遇刺后也被刺客枪杀。22日下午6点，整座城市为他举行烛光晚会。他的遗孀玛丽•蒂皮特说：“我们必须记住那些为我们的城市安全而牺牲的人。”
***奥巴马称赞肯尼迪
美国总统奥巴马22日表示不会担忧自己的人身安全。他说：“这不需要我来考虑，主要是因为我们有特勤局，他们每天都在完成杰出的工作。”
肯尼迪遇刺后，美国特勤局吸取了多方面的教训，加强了对美国总统的保护。
奥巴马还谈到了肯尼迪三年总统任期对美国产生的深远影响。“我想，这是难以置信的遗产，他充满了理想主义，并勇于以此重塑美国，这在美国历史上空前绝后。我不知道是否还有人像肯尼迪那样对一代人产生过同样的影响，鼓舞了如此多人。”
奥巴马说，肯尼迪让一代人从伤痕累累的二战中迈进崭新的未来，这种影响是持久的。“我认为是他的年轻、魅力、勇气、二战经历、口才以及时代造就了这一切。他的确以某种方式打动了美国人，而且让今天的人依然有共鸣。”