US marks 50th anniversary of John F Kennedy murder JFK conspiracy theories persist Visitors to Dealey Plaza, the site where US President John F. Kennedy was killed, call into question the official account of his murder on the eve of the 50th anniversary of his assassination. PT2M3S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2y0tl 620 349 November 23, 2013 - 6:35AM With flags fluttering at half-staff, the US has paused to mourn President John F Kennedy and a generation's shattered dreams, cut down 50 years ago by an assassin's bullet. The young leader's brutal death, a dark turning point even in an era gripped by the Cold War nuclear stand-off and bloodshed in the jungles of Vietnam, shocked a global audience of millions. Five decades on the wound is still raw, with many still obsessed by the conspiracy theories surrounding his death, and others gripped by regret for the America they imagine might have been. President John F. Kennedy rides through Dallas moments before Kennedy was assassinated, November 22, 1963. Across the nation on Friday, at ceremonies large and small, many took comfort in reflecting upon the words of a charismatic man whose soaring rhetoric and call to service continues to inspire. "Today, we honour his memory and celebrate his enduring imprint on American history," President Barack Obama declared. Church bells rang out in Dallas as thousands of mourners observed a moment of silence marking the moment shots rang out from the Texas School Book Depository overlooking Dealey Plaza. President John F. Kennedy Photo: Cecil Stoughton Across the Atlantic too, Kennedy was remembered. A wreath-laying ceremony was planned in the Berlin neighbourhood where Kennedy gave his famed Cold War-era "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech to a rapturous crowd. At Kennedy's tomb in Arlington Cemetery outside Washington, two kilted pipers from the Black Watch of the British army repeated a tribute their regiment had performed at his funeral 50 years ago. In a proclamation ordering flags be lowered at government buildings and even private homes, Obama recalled Kennedy's leadership in the Cuban missile crisis, his speech in Berlin and his drive to advance the rights of African Americans and women. "Today and in the decades to come, let us carry his legacy forward," Obama wrote on Thursday. Let us face today's tests by beckoning the spirit he embodied - that fearless, resilient, uniquely American character that has always driven our nation to defy the odds, write our own destiny, and make the world anew. In Arlington, a steady stream of mourners visited Kennedy's grave, including his last remaining sibling Jean Kennedy Smith. Kennedy's voice still echoes through history to so many Americans. "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," he urged Americans at his inaugural address on January 20, 1961. Cut down in his first term at the age of 46 as he was driven through Dallas, Texas in an open-top limousine on November 22, 1963, Kennedy's unfulfilled promise has become a symbol of the lost nobility of politics. Despite the many scandals that have since become attached to his name, he is seen as a president who enlisted the nation in lofty goals - like putting a man on the Moon - "not because they are easy, but because they are hard." The anniversary has sparked a prolonged period of national and media reflection on the unfinished tenure of the nation's 35th president, his tragedy-stricken family and the evocative period in the early 1960s when his political star illuminated the world.