America's first Catholic President: Looking back at Kennedy's assassination

(Vatican Radio) John F Kennedy, the first and only Catholic U.S. President, was assassinated in Dallas exactly 50 years ago, plunging a stunned nation into mourning.

Listen to the report by Susy Hodges:

Kennedy, or JFK as he was known, was born into a family descended from Irish immigrants and was elected to the presidency in 1960. Just three years later, on November 22, 1963, he was gunned down on a street in Dallas, Texas at the age of 46.

In Susy's report, we hear a clip of President Kennedy’s famous speech in front of the Berlin Wall plus an interview with Father Bryan Hehir, a Boston priest and professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of government who lectures on the role of religion in public life. Fr. Hehir shares with us his own reaction to the news of the President’s assassination and assesses Kennedy’s legacy.