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talks aimed at preventing iran from building a nuclear weapon. a short time ago, the state department announced that secretary of state john kerry will travel tonight to geneva, switzerland, a possible sign that an agreement may be near. we will go to geneva in a few moments. this afternoon, kerry also visited the grave of president john f. kennedy, joining people across the nation in marking the 50th anniversary of his assassination. the murder not only shook the country to its core, it also cast an enduring shadow over the city where it happened. but today, dallas took a major step toward coming to terms with its grim history. cnn is in dallas. how did the city mark this important day? >> reporter: well, it was fascinating. in the shadows of the school book depository, the sixth floor window above elm street, the final street where president john f. kennedy and jacqueline kennedy were driving on their way to give a speech here in dallas on november 22nd, 1963,

this is where the president's life ended. the city of dallas came together today, this afternoon, and on the very moment that his life ended, they paid tribute to his life and legacy and what president kennedy meant to this country. ♪ oh, beautiful for spacious skies ♪ >> reporter: it took 50 years but at last, an official ceremony on the very spot where president kennedy was assassinated, at the exact moment gunshots rang out across dealey plaza five decades ago. today, bells tolled as a crowd of 5,000 stood in somber reflection. >> we watched the nightmarish reality that in our front yard, our president had been taken from us. taken from his family, taken from the world. >> reporter: every year, millions of people visit the

grassy knoll to witness the site of the gruesome murder. city leaders wanted this anniversary to focus on the president's legacy instead. >> i hope that president kennedy would be pleased with our humble efforts towards fulfilling our country's highest calling, that of providing the opportunity for all citizens to exercise those inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. >> reporter: no one from president kennedy's family attended this ceremony, but organizers say they had the kennedy family's blessing. historian david mccullough paid tribute to president kennedy's speeches, reading the words that inspired a generation. >> we choose to go to the moon -- >> do the other things -- >> -- not because they are easy but because they are hard. >> reporter: a new monument was unveiled in dealey plaza, the last paragraph of the speech president john f. kennedy was supposed to give that day in

dallas, november 22nd, 1963. words left unspoken but chiselled in stone forever. you know, it is amazing, a friend of mine who i used to work with was at the trademark waiting for president kennedy to give that speech, and i remember a story he told me, that it was eerie to watch as he stood there and watched the motorcade race by on the interstate going 70, 80 miles per hour on its way to parkland hospital, kennedy's life ending in that limousine as they raced to the hospital, trying to save his life. so many people here in the city of dallas who will never forget that day. one person who was not mentioned at all today was officer j.d. tippett, the dallas police officer gunned down shortly after the assassination by lee harvey oswald. his family will have a candlelight vigil tonight in his honor just south of downtown dallas, where he was gunned down 50 years ago as well. wolf? >> we'll have a lot more later in "the situation room" on this

important day. ed, thanks very much. let's go to geneva right now. important talks involving iran's nuclear program. as we reported, secretary of state john kerry unexpectedly heading there tonight. the latest sign a deal with tehran may be imminent. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is in geneva. he has been following talks for us. what is the latest, jim? what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, new developments coming by the minute. western official telling me just a few moments ago that a deal with iran regarding its nuclear program could come as soon as tonight. they are negotiating here in geneva through the night, into the early morning hours. we know secretary kerry is going to arrive tomorrow morning. we also just got confirmation now that the british foreign secretary, william hague, as well as the french foreign minister, they are arriving, joining the russian foreign minister who arrived earlier today. just a few minutes ago i spoke to the deputy spokesperson for the state department and asked her with kerry coming, does that

mean he believes he can close that deal. here's what she had to say. >> secretary kerry arriving tomorrow morning. is he coming because he believes he can close this deal? >> keep in mind washington is eight hours away and the secretary had to make a decision, as i said, lady ashton right now as we speak is leading the negotiations but the secretary is on his way here to be here with his ministerial colleagues. if we do get an agreement in fact done. so he will be landing tomorrow morning and we will see where we are at that point. >> reporter: this is the development we have been watching for, wolf. when do all the foreign ministers come in as a sign that they're close to signing this, and now we have that moment. they are all coming in and they will be here by tomorrow morning, and even before possibly secretary kerry hits the ground here, they may have that deal done. >> if there's a deal, jim, i guess the iranians, they continue to enrich uranium for awhile during the six-month

interim agreement. they do allow greater transparency in terms of international inspection of their facilities, but the u.s. and other international powers take some steps to ease those very painful sanctions on the iranians right now. that's the gist of this deal, right? >> reporter: absolutely. we're talking about single digit billions of dollars, that's the figure that u.s. officials have been telling us in terms of sanctions relief. in effect, it's actually not sanctions relief. what they're looking to do is free up some frozen iranian assets overseas, allow iran access to it and one of the key issues here has been how do they get around this right to enrich because u.s. officials say they don't recognize any right to enrich, but the iranians want the ability to enrich going forward so the question has been how do they square that circle, how do they come to an agreement language that makes both sides happy. i also asked marie harf, the deputy spokesperson for the state department, that question. here's what she had to say on that.

>> without getting into the specifics of the negotiations, because as you know, we don't do that, we have been very clear that no country has quote, the right to enrich. the president has also made clear that we do believe the iranian people should have access to a peaceful nuclear program. so right now, all of those issues are being discussed. what that might look like is part of the negotiation. but we have also been very clear that the goal of the first step agreement is to halt the progress of iran's nuclear program and indeed, roll it back in some key areas. that's what we're focused on now. the discussions are ongoing and i'm sure they will go well into the evening here tonight, hopefully to continue making progress. >> reporter: when you think about where we were just a couple months ago, where no deal like this was even on the horizon and now it looks like it might come together tonight, just two months after another deal on syria's chemical weapons made here in these same negotiating halls in geneva, pretty remarkable diplomatic developments in such a short period of time. >> absolutely right. we'll see what happens over the next few hours. i know you'll be on the scene

for us, jim sciutto in geneva, thank you. now to a cnn exclusive. did the obama administration scrap a key part of obama care out of fear it would expose some of the high prices of at least some health insurance plans and scare off potential customers? our senior white house correspondent brianna keilar has been digging into this story for us. it's pretty shocking, if you see what's going on. but tell our viewers what you've learned. >> reporter: this is a feature called anonymous shopping, something president obama really sold to the american public, the idea that you could go online and comparison shop for a health plan much the way you would for a plane ticket, anonymously without entering any personal information. but sources tell cnn exclusively that just days before the launch of the health care website, administration officials including a deputy director of communications inside hhs apparently decided to scrap it, even though it would have been ready to go on launch day. this is what the designers of

the obama care website envisioned, a shopping destination that would function like some of the top e-commerce sites online. >> you can compare insurance plans side by side the same way you would shop for a plane ticket on kayak or tv on amazon. >> reporter: a hallmark of those sites, the ability to window shop before you register for an account or provide detailed personal information. cnn has learned one of the best online design firms in the world with a team that included one of the lead designers of online shoe store zappos.com spent hours developing a window shopping tool for the health care website. federal health care officials endorse the $3 million model but it never made it on their site. >> in this case, it failed so miserably that we could not let people use it. >> reporter: henry chow, a top government i.t. official, told congress the reason the anonymous shopping feature was never added was that it was critically flawed. >> we allowed people to go through that, they would have

gotten erroneous information and that would have been much worse than not having it at all. >> reporter: but almost two weeks before launch day, a document obtained by cnn shows federal i.t. officials determined the window shopping tool tested successfully and that any remaining defects will not degrade consumer experience. a source close to the project tells cnn there were only minor problems with the shopping tool, all fixable by launch day, yet one day after the successful test, chow shelves anonymous shopper for what appears to be a different reason. in this internal e-mail obtained exclusively by cnn, chow wrote that mary wallace, who is the deputy director of communications for his agency, quote asked me and i said anonymous shopper really isn't needed and thus should be removed, and we agreed. that move puzzles experts. >> absolutely, this is something people expect when they visit any website, to not disclose any personal information until they are at a point where they want to make a commitment to buy.

>> reporter: republican critics are now accusing the administration of nixing the window shopping tool because it would have shown americans the full unsubsidized price of insurance plans, causing sticker shock and possibly deterring some from signing up. >> clearly was a political decision to make people see what they were getting for free before they could see what it was going to cost. >> reporter: chow's agency says it believes the documentation of the successful test was a mistake and today, the white house is standing by chow's testimony. >> you believe that it failed miserably? >> again, it had multiple defects. we stand by his testimony. >> reporter: after complaints that there wasn't a good way to shop before you sign up for an account, obama care officials launched a much more basic version of shopping function on october 10th but it doesn't tell you a lot of important things like anonymous shopper can. for instance, if a plan covers your prescription medications or

if your doctor is in network. this right here is actually the design guide that was created for the federal government and also for states, something that actually a lot of states have already implemented at this point. >> i always wondered why they didn't have that anonymous shopper feature on the website so people could just go check without giving their social security number or date of birth or other personal information, check out to see what potentially it might cost. but you are seeing some differences in sign-ups in various states. >> yeah, that's right. for instance, california, which is using the anonymous shopper function, the very one from this guide right here, they're having a lot of luck with sign-ups. they have been seeing about 10,000 sign-ups per day. that's quite a lot. you can't draw the connection here necessarily between a really good shopping function like anonymous shopper and enrollment numbers but what experts will tell you is that one, the shopping experience is much better for someone going on the site and also, it would have

alleviated some of that traffic jam that we saw with health care.gov that caused so many problems, although they are doing a little better on that site now but they don't have the full shopping experience. >> all of us, we go to the sites, we want to see what it's going to cost us before we give them our credit card number. that only makes sense. >> would you shop for shoes if you had to put your credit card number in first? >> no. i don't shop for shoes online. i do buy airline tickets online. i wouldn't buy the ticket unless i knew what it cost up front. then i would give my number. thanks very much. good work. still ahead, air force one on the day of the kennedy assassination, we have details of the pivotal but little-known role it played. and president obama speaking out about his security. we will take a closer look at how the killing in dallas 50 years ago changed the way the president is protected.

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with more freshness in a single sheet. 50 years after the kennedy assassination, dallas, texas still trying to come to terms with the role it played in the murder of a president. our chief national correspondent john king is in dallas right now. john, you're there in dealey plaza. today was really the most substantial, largest commemoration dallas has ever done over these past 50 years since the president was killed. i want you and our viewers to listen to the mayor of dallas. he was very reflective about the city's role in history. >> today, because of the hard work of many people, dallas is a different city.

i believe the new frontier did not end that day on our texas frontier. >> so john, how has this city evolved over these 50 years? what was the mayor referring to? >> reporter: well, wolf, the city was called the city of hate in those days after the tragedy right here on dealey plaza and there was very little reference to the violence, the assassination. most of the speeches, most of the tributes instead to the legacy of president kennedy. but president kennedy had been warned beforehand when he was here in texas for that political swing, dallas would be the worst stop, would be the most hostile and this city labeled the city of hate has spent years wrestling with that reputation. there had never before been an official ceremony on this site. every year the conspiracy theorists would come, tourists would come, but the city did decide on jfk 50, the 50th anniversary, to have that ceremony and again, very little time spent on the tragic events here. lee harvey oswald never mentioned, for example. instead, recitation of some of the president's most uplifting

speeches and a chance for this city to pay tribute to the president and to pay tribute to the other changes here. politically, economically, demographically, dallas is a very different place but this place, this place will forever be remembered in history as the monument to one of america's great tragedies. >> the president, the current president, spoke about president kennedy today in an interview he granted to abc news, saying he doesn't really worry about his own security in response to a question. he said this, he said we have a secret service that does an outstanding job every single day. tragedy reshaped the secret service in many ways but they do an outstanding job and it's thankfully not something i spend a lot of time worrying about. you and i both have covered presidents over the years and there's no doubt the secret service changed dramatically how it protects the president after the assassination. >> reporter: well, all americans in seeing the pictures, retracing the kennedy motorcade route in recent days, would see the convertible.

the president in an open car, despite security risks. that doesn't happen anymore. you know that. i'm standing here, i can see the texas school book depository right over there. lee harvey oswald from a sixth floor window fired the shots that killed the president. today when you travel with the president, even in the closed motorcade, even with the bulletproof motorcade, the heavily reinforced limousines, you would have secret service and other police authorities on the rooftops around here. that was not in place that day. so substantial security changes made in the wake of the kennedy assassination. then additional changes made of course, after 9/11, because of the other worries about dirty bombs and the like like that. so it is constantly evolving but the biggest page changer in secret service operations, presidential security, was certainly that tragic event in dallas 50 years ago. >> i want to show our viewers our new cnn poll, how the late president john f. kennedy rates among modern presidents, at least. we asked for approval numbers. 90% approve of the way john f. kennedy operated as president,

78% for reagan, 74% for bill clinton, 67%, gerald ford, george h.w. bush, 62%. jimmy carter, 60%. lbj, 55%. george w. bush, 42%. nixon, 31%. kennedy tops that list by far. >> reporter: tops that list by far, even though if you go back to the days in october 1963, his poll numbers were beginning to decline some because he had asked the congress to pass the civil rights act and that was very unpopular, especially in the south. but even then, he had a 57% job approval rating. now that 90% number is stratospheric. most smart political people will tell you why, number one, he was young, handsome, aspirational and inspirational and because his presidency was snuffed out at just the 1,000 day mark. so many people look back and ask what might have been. yes, we went to the moon, yes, call to serve, but we yes, yoh don't know what would have happened with vietnam, we don't know what would have happened with the civil rights and other

pieces of what became johnson's great society. because of that, you don't have as much of a legislative record but you do have a chance to look at the person, the man, the mood of the moment, and people put such high hopes in him and that's why his numbers are so high 50 years later. >> yesterday in our cnn poll, we reported president obama's job approval number right now, president obama at 41%. john king in dealey plaza in dallas, thank you. it's arguably the world's most important plane, air force one played a pivotal and historic role when president kennedy was assassinated in dallas 50 years ago today. here's cnn's martin savidge. >> reporter: the peaceful transition of power for the mightiest nation on earth took place not in the white house or even in washington, but on a plane. window shades drawn for fear of snipers, the air conditioning off to save fuel. the scratchy audio captured on a dictation machine.

>> to serve, protect and defend. >> reporter: built the year before, president kennedy's air force one was the first presidential jet. jackie kennedy hired the designer that came up with its paint scheme, still used today. that day in dallas, as the first couple set off into the adoring crowd, the crew monitored their progress on the plane's radios. it wasn't long before they knew something was terribly wrong. the president had been shot. >> we have reports quoting that the president is dead. >> reporter: in an instant, air force one transformed into a command center and as far as anyone knew was the only safe place for a possibly still targeted vice president.

>> do you have any passengers on board? >> roger, 20 plus. >> reporter: but to the frustration of many, lyndon johnson, code named volunteer, refused to take off until he took the oath of office. meanwhile, determined the president's body should not travel in the baggage compartment, the crew struggled to make space in the plane. historian jeff underwood recalls what had to be done. >> they pulled these four seats out, then they took a saw and cut off the bulkhead right across here. the line is still there. >> reporter: the president's casket was rushed up the plane's stairs while people pressed into the sweltering space to bear witness. >> photographers crammed up on the little couch that's right

here in the corner, pushed themselves up into the corner. >> reporter: jackie kennedy insisted on being present. the photographer careful to frame the shot so not to show the blood of her husband on her clothes. finally, it was time to go. >> can you tell me in regard to one and two? >> the body is on board. >> reporter: with that, air force one took off, signaling its departure in long-standing secret service code that on this terrible day, seemed so fitting. angel is airborne. martin savidge, cnn. >> these are live pictures coming in from arlington national cemetery, the eternal flame at president kennedy's grave site. at the top of the hour, a "situation room" special report.

jfk 50 years later. we go in depth. tweet us your thoughts. use the hash tag sitroom. we're also following breaking news. a nuclear agreement with iran possibly, possibly as early as tonight. our experts are standing by. we'll have the very latest. plus, a controversial proposal that could make this announcement a thing of the past. >> cell phones if you have an on and off switch, turn it off now. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing.

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we're following the breaking news, word that a deal to contain iran's nuclear program could, could be reached as soon as tonight. the secretary of state john kerry rushing from washington to geneva, switzerland right now, along with counterparts from europe, with an agreement apparently, apparently very, very close. let's talk about that and more. joining us, our chief political analyst gloria borger, our cnn political commentator and former bush speech writer, david frum and our cnn senior political analyst, ron brownstein. if kerry does this, potentially it's a huge breakthrough.

the questions, people are beginning to compare his tenure as secretary of state with hillary clinton's. >> right. timing contributes to success. look, this is, if in fact we do have an agreement, it is a reminder that not everything we do is counterproductive or ineffective. this is a product of years of sanctions, of tightening pressure on iran that produced political change and helped produce political change inside the country which is now producing dramatic change. but john kerry is in a different position than hillary clinton, who is looking at a potential presidential campaign. this is presumably the last big position of his public career and this gives him freedom to take more risks. mpl >> he ran for president in 2004. it didn't work out for him. he's very active as secretary of state. >> he is a secretary of state with huge ambition. he's at the end of his career, not the beginning of his career, and he can have huge ambition because the geopolitical situation has changed in iran dramatically.

but his relationship with the president is what fascinates me because he played mitt romney when during the debates, you'll recall, he and the president are very different kinds of characters. i would argue the president pulled the rug out from under him on syria by changing his mind about what he was going to do. but i think they have grown to speak each other's language, understand each other, and that kerry's ambitions are something now i think the president shares. >> caution, we don't know there's a deal and we don't know there's a satisfactory deal. just before handing out all the prizes, let's remember the round of sanctions that produced this deal, if there is one and if it's good, were strenuously opposed by this administration. they are called the kirk-menendez sanctions, and they cut off iran from the international payment system. that was opposed because -- >> the president vetoed that legislation. >> no, he didn't, because it was

folded into the defense authorization bill. you would have had to shut down the entire armed forces of the united states. >> you don't think this is a good deal? >> i don't know what's in it. i don't know what's in it. i'm prepared to be pleased. >> sounds like we're talking about the deal to have a deal. we're talking about some kind of short term six-month freeze -- >> interim deal. >> that would provide time to negotiate a final deal. >> there will no doubt be republican opposition because of course, how do you verify any deal, what do you do with sanctions in the meantime, do you let up on the sanctions. >> the administration has been relaxed, as eli lake reported in the daily beast, the administration has been quietly relaxing sanctions for some time to come in pursuit of the deal. the key thing we are going to decide when -- on our side, if we are releasing certain amounts of cash to the iranians, that's one thing. they are very desperate for cash. they have maybe $20 billion of reserves left which is nothing for a country that size. this deal may put as much as $7 billion back into their hands. but the red line for the united

states must be no release in the sanctions application unless there is a permanent end to that program. >> let's move on for a moment. we don't have a lot of time. 24 hours after the nuclear -- a different nuclear option here in washington, there are some republicans out there saying you know what, the democrats did this, they believe they have a good shot of having the majority in the senate after the elections in 2014, maybe they will win the white house, and they will do payback to the democrats on all sorts of issues with a 51 simple majority, whether on abortion rights, whether on gay marriage, whether on a whole host of issues, they think it will be payback when they become the majority. >> in the long run, i think both parties are going to be happier this was done than it was not done. the reality is we are in a quasi-parliamentary system with the highest levels of party line voting we have ever seen in congress since the founding. in that world, the idea of requiring a super majority for the president to appoint his

nominees is folly . the level of filibuster had reached kind of an unsustainable level, especially when you're filibustering not only the individuals but the concept of appointing anyone to the job. something had to give. if it wasn't yesterday it would happen some day. >> the stakes for control of the senate are so high, the intensity of that turnout's going to be so important because republicans can say this was an abuse of power as long as you're going to have it, put us in power. we can use it. >> this is not a win for republicans versus democrats. this is a win for presidents against congress. everyone wants to see a strong executive. i certainly do. a president should be able to staff an administration with that president's people. >> democrats used to be the party of congress. now they are becoming the party of the executive branch. >> guys, thanks very much. when we come back, you may soon be allowed to use your cell phone midflight. do you want to use it? you want to hear some guy talking while you're flying? we have details on the growing backlash against the new proposal, coming up.

and the district of columbia, guess what, it is now the owner here in the nation's capital of a strip club. you will find out what's going on. ♪

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growing backlash against the new proposal that would allow you to why your cell phone midflight. let's go to reagan national airport here in washington. brian todd has the latest details. there's a huge debate unfolding right now. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. there is backlash from some passengers who say they need a break from these in flight but others say they just can't do without the connectivity. we can already connect from almost everywhere, and cell phone calls from cruising altitude may be next. the federal communications commission chairman says the ban on cell phone use on passenger flights is outdated and restrictive, and he's proposing allowing cell phone use above 10,000 feet.

the fcc says technology's advanced enough so that cell phone transmissions from the air would no longer interfere with cell towers on the ground, but it's the response from the flying public that's all the buzz. >> it would be a big disruption. people wouldn't respect the ones around them. it could get pretty loud and out of control. >> you might want to talk the entire flight in a loud voice about every single problem you have in your family, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? so i'm afraid it won't work. >> reporter: that potential tension between passengers is also a safety hazard, according to the flight attendants union which is against the idea. they say it's also a security risk. >> we have concerns about the ability for those who might wish to do harm to be able to coordinate during a flight or amongst flights. >> reporter: some passengers say the ability to communicate trumps all. >> there is lots of work that i do that i need to be in touch with people, and the hour and a half that i spend flying between atlanta and d.c., i lose that time. >> reporter: but at a time when we all face more crowded flights, delays, added charges for bags and meals, be ready to

pay more for calls from the air. a consumer advocate says airlines and wireless carriers will pass the costs of installing this capability to you. >> you are either going to have to sign up for extra service or you are going to have to pay serious roaming charges, you know, probably in excess of $2 per minute, for every phone call you make. >> in the air. >> in the air. >> reporter: or maybe more. one executive from a middle eastern airline told us he knew of one wireless company that charged $12 a minute for cell service, noting of course you can already use cell phones on airplanes in europe, asia and elsewhere. now, as for the u.s., if the fcc lifts this ban, it says it's going to be up to the individual airlines to decide whether they want to offer voice cell service to passengers. >> a debate will continue. brian, thank you. when we come back, the new message from the virginia state senator creigh deeds just days after his stabbing and his son's

death. ahead at the top of the hour, a "situation room" special report. jfk 50 years later. tweet us your thoughts. ♪ [ male announcer ] this december, experience the gift of true artistry and some of the best offers of the year at the lexus december to remember sales event. this is the pursuit of perfection. i got this.

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here's a look at some of the other top stories we're monitoring in "the situation room" right now. the virginia state senator creigh deeds has been released from the hospital three days now since being stabbed more than ten times in the head and neck by his son, who later committed suicide. deeds tweeted this just a short while ago. i am alive, so must live. some wounds won't heal. your prayers and your friendship are important to me. stocks rose further into record territory friday as expectations that the federal reserve would keep buying bonds for the foreseeable future, offset concerns the market is

overheating. the d.c. government is now the owner of a strip club. the district's office of tax and revenue announced it seized the upscale stadium club here in washington to satisfy more than $100,000 in debts owed by the club's owner. no word yet on what will happen to the strip club now. the death toll from this month's monster typhoon has surged to more than 5200 people, a significant jump from recent counts, according to the philippines news agency. more than 23,000 people are now on record as being injured with more than 1500 still missing. more than 23,000 people are now on record as being injured. more thachb 1500 still missing. the host of tv's "survivor" says he's been moved by the disaster in the philippines. that's in this "impact your world". >> i've spend over the last two

years eight months in the philippines. while we didn't shoot in that particular area, it's such a sense of community. it's an island community. they don't have much to begin with. it was not uncommon through villages with people in a tin shack, wood on the side, maybe a fire burning inside and a clotheline. you wouldn't know anything was not. buzz when you combine it with this disaster, you have a major catastrophy. rebuilding that will be enormous. "survivor" has been always been connected to the communities we go to. we even have our own internal stuff we're doing with the doctors we've worked with there, who are on the ground, and we're helping support them. you can't help but feel simultaneously helpless, and on the other hand, grateful that you're safe, because this could hit us. it could hit anybody.

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there is no better symbol than the pinch suit worn by jackie kennedy. here's cnn's randi kaye. >> reporter: in the words of the president, she looked smashing in it, which is maybe why the president asked her to wear her famous watermelon piven suit to dallas on november 22nd, 1963.

>> reporter: the usual welcoming committee presents the fehr lady with red roses. >> it looked eye chanel, but it was actually a knockoff, made in america. she had worn it at least six times before that fateful day. here she is in 1962, eight waiting the arrival of the prime minister of algeria. in dallas, on november 22nd at this ft. worth chamber of commerce breakfast, the president even joked about his wife's fashion sense. >> nobody wonder what linden and i wear. . >> reporter: later that day, the president would be dead and the first lady's stunning piven suit stained forever with her husband's blood would beagain a long and mysterious journey. when aides suggested she change her clothes after the shooting, she refused. philip sheenen wrote a book about the assassination. >> her remark, and i think she made it more than once is, no,

i'm going to leave these clothes on. i want them to see what they have down. >> reporter: hours later mrs. kennedy continued to wear the suit during the emergency wearing-in. >> that whole scene is obvious lip surreal. she arrives in the cabin in air force one in these clothes covered with the president's blood and expected to stand there and witness the swearing-in of her husband's successor. >> reporter: she was still in her suit when they arrived later that evening at andrews air force base, where she received her husband's body. the president's brother at her side in the middle of the night. once at the white house, her personal maid put the suit in a bag, so mrs. kennedy wouldn't have to look at it. then sometime in 1964, the blood-stained suit arrived here at the national archives building in the nation's capital. it came in a box along with a handwritten noty jackie's kennedy's mother on her personal

stationary, it red simply jac e jackie's seed and bag, worn november 22nd, 1964. all this time id been forbidding from public view, and will likely stay that way for a very long time. in 2003. caroline kennedy gave the suit to the people of the united states, with the understanding it wouldn't be put on public display for 100 years until 2103. even then the kennedy family must be consulted before any attempt is made to display the suit. all in an evident to atroy sensationalizing that horrible act. >> reporter: it's believed that only a happenedful of people, looping with the sue also hiding from view, the plus blouse mrs. kennedy wore, her stockings, plus shoes and blue purse. what they don't have is the first laid counter's pink

pillbox hat. the hat is a mystery. initially it goes to the secret service, and the secret service turns it over to mrs. kennedy's private secretary, and then it disappears. it has not been seen since firms the air could have is it's stored in an acid-free container where the air is changed every 20 minute or so so properly maintain the woollen cloth. it's kept at a temperature of 65 to 68, which is best to the fabric. the suit's story, a perfect ending for a first lady who craved privacy after so much pain. randi kaye, cnn, los angeles. happening now, a "the situation room" special report. jfk 50 years later. americans are remembering where they were and what we lost on this day a half century ago. stand by for new tribute, and new insights into his life, hi

death and his president sell. we'll go live to dallas to an unprecedented ceremony marking the assassination. the city now coming to grips with the dark place in history. the imaginist and the myths of camelot. we'll discuss the civet such of jfk's presidency and the question -- what if he had lived? i'm wolf blitzer you're in "the situation room." y you. new evident of his enduring legacy. jfk's last surviving sibling, 5-year-old jean kennedy smith placed a wreath on his grave today, another reith laid in his home state of mike galanos by the governor. over at the white house, president obama ordered flags to

fly at half-staff. in dallas, a moment of silence at the time and place where that fatal bullet hit. cnn's john king is joining us live from dallas. john, set the scene for us. what was this day like? >> reporter: wolf, very sober, very low-key, trying to turn a page from this. trying to turn the page from an event that the mayor acknowledged stained the reputation for many, many years. no representatives of the federal government or the congress or obama administration, none from the kennedy family, either. this is a city of dallas event as it tried to mart the 50th an verse are i with the first-ever subo public ceremony, the moment when the assassin's -- first a moment of silence, then the bells tolls. the mayor gave a speech. the historic read from some of

kennedy's most uplift, and the navy choir glee club on hand with a low-key ceremony. now on the grossy nol, where so many tourists comes, there is a plaque with a paragraph from the speech the president of the united states was to be giving at the very moment he was pronounced dead here. >> a very moving ceremony. john, thank you. the headlines focus on the death of a president. over the last 50 years, we've learned about the frantic minutes and hours immediately after the shooting. watch this. >> a gentleman just broke in our studio that i am meeting for the 23irs time. may i have use you are name please, sir? >> abraham zaputa. would you tell us your story,

please, sir? >> i got out about a half hour earlier to get a good spot to shoot some pictures. on the grass there on commerce street. and i waved, and then -- he was waving back, and he was -- the shot rang on the and he slumpeded down. >> all of a sudden the next one popped. governor conley grabbed his stomach and laid over to the side. the other one, country of reached up and it looked like it grabbed his ear and blood started gushing out. >> no, i didn't see any person fire the weapon. >> you only heard it? >> i looked up and saw a man running up the hill. >> if it's a conspiracy, not only the president was hit, the governor was hit, who knows if the next shot would have for

lyndon johnson. johnen's car pulls into the emergency bay at parkland. four agencies reach in, they grab johnsing, pull him out start to run him down a corridor, looking for a safe place. >> mr. johnson, his whereabouts are being kept secret for security reasons. if anyone knows where mr. johnson it is, it is not us at this moment. >> there was a signal moment in our cultural history, suddenly it occurred is the right thing to do is turn on the television. >> reports kin to come in in a confused and fragment tear action. >> the president is at parkland in an evident to save his life. >> it was odd, because there were no commercials. it was just a continuous experience. umpltsds two priests have entered the emergency room, where he rests after the assassination attempt, which now is about a half hour ago.

>> what are your feeling right now, ma'am? >> absolutely shocked, stunned. we have the same birthday. i'm just crazy about him. >> who would want to shoot the president? what did he do? he'sing doing so much for the count country. >> a flach from dallas. two priests say the president is dead. >> this is the latest information we have from dallas. i will repeat with the greatest regret, two priests who are with president kennedy say he has died of bullet wounds. >> malcolm kill did you have, the assistant press secretary was filling in for the regular press secretary. then he had to draw himself up to give the most fateful announcement that a press

secretary might have ever had to give. >> all the cameras were rolling. i remember he put his fingers like this on the desk and pressed very hard to stop his hands trembling. >> john f. kennedy died at approximately 1:00 central standard time today here in dallas. he died of a gunshot wound in the brain. i have no other details regarding the assassination of the president. >> the people standing here are stunned just as all of us are, beyond belief, but the president of the inns is dead. >> all over the world, people

will remember all their lives what they were doing which they first heard that president kennedy had been killed. >> the crowds are standing around in sighants and sore rouse and the rain. >> and if you do notice, you don't care. >> i just can't believe it. i feel like someone in my own family has died. i just can't believe it. >> it's like a daze. you don't know what's going on. why? why did it happen? who would have done such a thing, is the question. i think automatic weapon, fired possibly from a grassy nol. >> i saw some police run up. i thought they're chasing a

gunman. i ran with them. >> the report is the attempt -- we now hear it was a man and a woman. >> i got to the top, looked around, a policeman went over the fence, so i went over the fence too. there was nothing there. the television newsman said he looked up just as the shot was fired and saw a rifle being withdrawn from a fifth or sixth floor window. >> it was originally thought the shots came from within here. now it's believed the shots came from this building here. >> i see police officers running back toward the depository building. they are going to continue searching in that building for the would-be asassant. >> dallas is in a virtual state of siege. they have combing the floors in an effort to find the suspected asassant. >> the building on the sixth floor, he found an area that's been patchily blocked off.

a and. >> finally lieutenant j.c. diehl came out of the building with a british 303. >> a 60 fa mouzer. >> a high-powered japanese rifle. >> a 30-30 rifle. >> much of the first things you hear are going to be wrong. to some degree you are constantly trying to separate out what seemed to be a fact. >> in dallas, a glass policeman just a short while ago was shot and killed while chasing a suspect. >> j.d.tippit, a good experienced police officer was shot three times in the chest. then the manager of a shoes store saw the suspect walk into the texas theater. >> someone has been arrested in one of the downtown theaters. they don't know if it was the

man who shot the policeman or the person who actually shot president kennedy. >> police jumped this man and start to do drag him out of the theater, hustled him out to the crowd. as the crowd started to broke, and trying to run with him, they thought, and the officers hustled him into the car and ran away just as fast as they could. >> as we mentioned a short while ago, a number of arrests have been made in dallas in the wake of president condition did i's death. we have scenes of one of those arrests in the union town area just after a dallas policeman was shot. >> be able toly was -- >> approach him, as he approached him, in his face. and as he reached the pistol, two or three other officers. >> what did he say after he was

arrested? >> he said, this is it, it's all over with now. still ahead, the jfk conspiracy theories live on. we're talking about the lingering suspicions, or even the u.s. government may have been involved. hihihihihihihihihihing, helicopters buzzing, and truck engine humming. sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping

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sfx: oil gushing out of pipe. sfx: birds chirping. jfk in particular, i think, captured the idealism, the ability to imagine and remake america to meet its ideals in a way that we haven't seen before or since. that was president obama on jfk's legacy, as the nation marks 50 years since his assassination. and joining us now, robert

dowlich, his important book "camelot's court, inside the kennedy white house." thanks for coming in. >> my pleasure. we have a new cnn poll that we conducted. we asked people today if they believed in the conspiratorial theories about the assassination of president kennedy, who was involved. it's amazing 33% believe the cia his had a role, 30% the mafia, 22% the soviet union. 21% lyndon johnson, 20% the cuban government. are you surprised that a third of the american people, according to this poll, believe the cia was involved? >> wolf, this is the way it's been for 50 years. you know, people can't let go of the idea that someone as inconsequential ats on add could have done in swuben someone like the president. they have to believe there was a larger conspiracy here, but it's ner been proven. >> what do you believe?

you studied it. >> i studied it. oswald i think was the only killer. in the warn commission they hid some of the missteps of the fbi and cia. how could they have not known who he was, what he was doing that he ordered this mail-order rifle? they were covering up for their errors. >> so some of the mistake from the warren commission, a few of the march torrie theories, you don't buy them? >> i don't buy them, you but the point is there's also a kind of paranoid style in our history. the original house wrote brilliantly xw this. people have an affinity, because it makes life more understandable. they just can't accept that someone like kennedy, who was so powerful, so influential, young, attractive, how could this happen? >> had he lived, finished out the first term, maybe reelected, how would the world have been different? >> i think it would have been

different. first of all, he would have run against barry goldwater, as successful a campaign as lyndon johnson did. the majorities into the house and senate. he would have passed four imagine initiatives, tax cut, fed aid, and civil rights bill, as lbj did. >> what about vietnam? >> first, i would have said we would have been detent with him sooner than nixon. his whole impulse with that great speech in june of '63 was about thinking anew, afresh about our relations with the soviets. on vietnam, he was tremendously skeptical about putting in ground troops. george ball, the undersecretary of state said you put 2, 3 hundred thousands in the troops of the jungles, he said you'll never hear from them again, and he said you're crazy as hell. meaning he was skeptical.

>> klein kennedy, his daughter, now the u.s. ambassador to japan, a lot of us remember the article she wrote endorsing barack obama to the presidency, writing this in the article entitled "a president like my father." i have never had a president in a inspired me the way people tell me my father inspired them, but for the first time i believe i have found the man who could be thatpresident, not just for me, but for a new generation of americans. you think about those words then, you look at president obama's job 3ru68 right now, only 41% approve of the job he's doing, 56% disapproved. you know, you say to yourself, what's going on. >> wolf, if kennedy had lived and had a second term, you think you and i would be sitting here talking about him today? he would have had -- his walls would have been seen, the liltations would have been more obvious.

frankly radios sterility had a second term. he never would have had a third term if not for world war ii, because the flaws came to the forefront. second terms are something of a curse. >> for almost all of these president. good point, robert dalle keismt, as usual. thanks for joining us on this special day. >> my pleasure. i remember being let out of school that early that day. i was a young boy when john f. kennedy. i remember going into the kitchen, seeing my mom, she was crying, because she had already heard that the president was dead. up next, nor personal memories of the president on this 50th anniversary of his death. farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you?

thanks. what?

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more jfk memories now. like so many americans, cnn's jeanne moos took the president's death personally. 1.

>> reporter: take your most iconic movement of the aftermath. was it john john's salute to his father's casket in was it jackie kennedy refusing to take off the blood-stained pink suit, a favorite focus of kennedy movies? >> we can bring you a change of clothes from the plane. >> no, i want them to see what they have done to jack. >> reporter: but my most persistent memory was something else. for me the early '60s were a 250i78 of transition, from long hair to short hair, said good-bye to my pigtails. my mom actually saved them. in my baby book in 19623, there was this notation, took kennedy's death serially. what cause the eye of this 9-year-old girl was a horse, of course. a riderless horse with empty boots reversed in the stirrups as if the rider was looking back over his past life. the horse was named blackjack,

and the 19-year-old holding him was andy carlson. >> my skinny also arm was trying to control all of that horse. >> reporter: plaquejack had a reputation of being a hot horse. he got this job, because he was too wild to ride. after leading him about 14 miles two days in a row following the casket. >> i was about beat near to death and worn out. >> reporter: i was so taken with blackjack. i wrote a poem about the riderless horse. don't worry, it disappeared over the years, so you won't be subjected to the poetic ramblings of a kid. >> at one point, it was pawing the pavement, and he struck the toe of my right shoe. i wanted to fall down and roll around on on the ground and cry, but couldn't do that. >> reporter: the riderless horse later asked for the salts, bridle, boots and saber.

blackjack was buried with military honors. he's been immortalized by a statue, a book, even on facebook, famous for champing at the bit. >> in the middle of this solemnity there's one fool horse having the time of his life. >> reporter: seems like justification would have liked that. jeanne moos, cnn, new york city. for more on the day, don't forget, wags "the assassination of jfk" later tonight, 10:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. remember to join us monday in "the situation room." follow us on twitter, thanks very much for watching. "crossfire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire", is the cure for washington gridlock outside of washington? >> we talk about the common-sense solution, when they

get to washington, are they a breath of fresh air, or out of their league? >> i'm a fan of governors. >> on the left brian shall waitser, on the right newt gingrich. mar kell, and scott walker, the republican governor of wisconsin. federal governors showing the way to reform washington and the country? tonight on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." eye brian which wiser on the left. >> i'm newt gingrich on the right. in the crossfire, the del gatsds fz delaware and wisconsin. >> we've seen the incompetent. i'm sitting with three people, governors. there's an immense amount washington can learn from the nation's governors. i'm glad to be glad to be here

with three of you. >> first a few house rules -- nobody calling anybody governor. it's just too confusing? scott? jack? brian and newt? >> three governors and a speaker. sounds like a movie. >> a bad movie. >> in the crossfire, delaware governor jack mar kell, and wisconsin governor scott walker. he's just published a new book unintimidated. brian, since i've been a governor, you ought to dive in first, because you sort of get what this is all about and why state capitals are so different. >> the unemployment rate in wisconsin is about 6.5%, about 50% higher than minnesota, iowa, north and south dakota and nebraska, your neighbors. we governors, we always brag we're going to create jobs and we're judged on how we create those jobs. people are watching. are you letting people down? >> no,