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
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.
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.
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,
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