Story Highlights
- historical event: More than a million people gathered in a procession that went from the White House to the cathedral, the same route that Kennedy, a practicing Catholic, took to Mass on Sundays with his wife.
On this day the funeral of assassinated U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy took place. A memorial service was held at the Catholic St. Matthew’s Cathedral, in Washington, D. C. (Kennedy was the only Catholic president of the U.S.). The funeral was attended by numerous foreign dignitaries, including French President Charles de Gaulle, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, the British prime minister and many other heads of states and governments. More than a million people gathered in Washington to walk in the funeral march of the late president. At the head of the procession walked the widow Jacqueline Kennedy and the president’s brothers. The procession went from the White House to the cathedral, the same path that Kennedy, a practicing Catholic, took when going to Mass on Sundays with his wife. Ave Maria by Franz Schubert was sung at Mass by her request, as at their wedding. The burial was conducted at the Arlington cemetery.
