At 12:31 Dallas time, several gunshots hit the US president in the heart and in the head — in front of running cameras. His wife, Jackie Kennedy, was with him at the time, as was his host, the governor of Texas, John Connally, with his wife Nellie. Connally, too, was seriously wounded. It is still not known how many shots were fired or in what order they were fired.

It was a sunny Friday morning when the US president and the first lady arrived at the airport in Dallas. It was the second day of Kennedy's election trail in the conservative state of Texas. JFK himself suggested opening the top of the limousine for the motorcade through the city.

An hour after his arrival, the 35th president of the United States was hit by gunshots on Dealey Plaza. When he arrived at the Parkland Memorial Hospital, his heart was still beating, but the bullet that had pierced his head made any attempt to save him impossible. Kennedy died at the age of 46.

When Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on board Air Force One, Jackie Kennedy was right next to him. Kennedy's coffin was also on board at the time, since his body was returned to Washington for a post-mortem. Four days later, Johnson appointed a commission to examine the assassination. The results released by the Warren Commission have remained disputed, however.

The shots fired at the president had apparently come from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. The gun belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald, who was originally arrested as a suspect in the murder of a policeman an hour and a half after the assassination. Only in the course of Oswald's interrogation did police begin suspecting him of JFK's murder as well. Oswald denied both murders.

On November 24, a camera crew from a national TV station was filming Oswald's transfer to another prison when night club owner Jack Ruby appeared in front of the suspected assassin and took him down with a single gunshot. Millions of people witnessed the murder on screen. Oswald, too, was brought to the Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he then died.

When the president was buried on November 25 at Arlington National Cemetery, millions of people lined the roads to accompany JFK on his final journey. The memorial service became an international media event.

After JFK's death, Jackie mourned her husband, while a nation mourned a politician who had inspired so many. After the memorial service in St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, Kennedy's two brothers and his veiled widow accompanied the president's coffin to his final resting place. Five years later, Robert Kennedy was also the victim of an assassination.

Germany, too, was shaken by John F. Kennedy's death. Especially in West Berlin, JFK had become an idol after his legendary declaration of "Ich bin ein Berliner" during a speech in August 1963, in which he expressed his solidarity with the divided city. After JFK's death, thousands of people expressed their sorrow by writing in condolence books or by laying flowers or wreaths at the Berlin Wall.

The peak of Cold War hostilities came during Kennedy's term as Democratic president from 1961-63. Those years witnessed the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam war. A young, charismatic president, for many "Jack" — as JFK was often known — embodied a new age for the United States. His assassination was a terrible blow to US consciousness.

The son of rich parents, JFK enjoyed a privileged youth. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, was stationed abroad, including in London. JFK went to private schools, and studied at the renowned Harvard University. This photo shows him in 1943 as an officer of the US Navy in Panama.

After his military service, John F. Kennedy became active in the Democratic Party, sat in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, and in 1960 ran for president. He was sworn in on January 20, 1961, and at 43 was the second-youngest person in the office. In his inauguration speech he told his compatriots: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

From the German point of view, the most important day of the John F. Kennedy era was June 26, 1963. This was the day of his famous speech in front of the town hall in the West Berlin district of Schöneberg, where he pronounced the legendary sentence, "Ich bin ein Berliner" - I am a Berliner – expressing his solidarity with the people of the then-divided city.

Kennedy quickly won the hearts of many American citizens with his youthful charm. However, his time in office was also characterized by crises and conflicts - in particular the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, directed against the Communist Castro regime in Cuba. In 1962 the world came very close to nuclear war. Kennedy is also credited with averting the crisis.

John F. Kennedy's wife Jackie brought elegance and glamor with her to the White House. Her time as the president's wife lasted only a couple of years, but her highly fashionable style was adopted by a whole generation. To this day Jacqueline Kennedy is known as the American "Queen of Hearts," and had a great influence on subsequent first ladies.

Kennedy (right) had a reputation as a womanizer. He was said to have had many affairs, and to have associated with call girls. Probably the best-known of his extra-marital liaisons was, allegedly, with Marilyn Monroe (center). A Hollywood icon and sex symbol at the time, she was said also to have been linked to JFK's brother Robert (left). She died in 1962 in circumstances that are still unclear.

This famous picture shows the president in 1962, applauding his children Caroline and John as they play in front of him. But the Kennedy clan was not always this happy. The family had to cope with a series of heavy blows. JFK's brother Robert was also assassinated. Other Kennedys died in serious accidents, drug overdoses, plane crashes, or through suicide. And JFK's death overshadows them all.

Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963. Kennedy and his wife were on the campaign trail, driving through the city in an open-topped car. Several shots were fired, and Kennedy was fatally wounded. A whole country was plunged into collective mourning. It was a brutal end to many people's dream of a young, good-looking American president whose aim was to make the world a better place.

Two days after the murder of John F. Kennedy, his alleged attacker, casual laborer Lee Harvey Oswald (center), was shot dead by nightclub owner Jack Ruby (right). Harvey was arrested just a few hours after the assassination. The precise circumstances of the attack are still unclear, and rumors and conspiracy theories about who might have been pulling the strings are still rife today.

Even years after Kennedy's burial on November 25, 1963, his era is still affecting our own. Every subsequent president has been measured against JFK. What would his presidency have been like if he hadn't been murdered after just 1,036 days in office? How would the world have been different? Perhaps the legend is based precisely on the fact that there can be no answers to these questions.

Hollywood has Richard Nixon to thank for many of its iconic presidential screen portrayals. Among the best was Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins, who played the 37th US president in Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic, "Nixon." The politician's life has been particularly fascinating to directors, who have often captured him as a villainous persona on the silver screen.

The very first US president, George Washington, was portrayed in the silent film era. But no president showed up on the silver screen as often as Abraham Lincoln. Here, Henry Fonda played the 16th president of the United States in the successful John Ford film "Young Mr. Lincoln," released in 1939.

Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as the president in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film, "Lincoln," was a triumph. Again - as with Hopkins' portrayal of Nixon nearly 20 years earlier - a Brit played an American president with a highly nuanced performance.

On film, US presidents are generally the subject of heroic dramas or sophisticated biopics. Playing the president as a source for laughter is rare. But as Theodore Roosevelt, actor Robin Williams (right, with Ben Stiller) proved the exception to that rule in the "Night at the Museum" series (2006, 2009, 2014).

It's been far more common to have US presidents appear in movies when Hollywood chooses to portray dramatic events and internal and external political crises. In 2001, Jon Voight played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film "Pearl Harbor," which dramatized the 1941 attack by the Japanese in Hawaii.

After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Harry S. Truman took on the job of the world's most powerful man. Fifty years later, actor Gary Sinise took on the role of the 33rd US president in the 1995 TV film "Truman." Next to major stars like Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis, many lesser known actors have also portrayed American presidents on screen.

Often, the actors playing the president were overshadowed by the film's main stars. Roger Donaldson's "Thirteen Days," released in 2000, is a prime example. In the dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as presidential adviser Kenny O'Donnell, superstar Kevin Costner (right) played the lead role. In a supporting role, Bruce Greenwood (center) played President John F. Kennedy.

No other president has offered actors as many possibilities as Richard Nixon. Even less familiar episodes from his political life have been committed to film. In 2008, Frank Langella played the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," which showed the legendary interview with journalist and TV host David Frost.

"Elvis & Nixon" traces the historic 1970 White House meeting between the US president and rock 'n' roll star Elvis Presley. In the 2016 film, Nixon is played by Kevin Spacey - an actor who brought a lot of presidential experience to the role.

Since 2013, Spacey has portrayed the fictional US President Francis Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards." Spacey is perhaps one of the best-known actors to play a fictional president in cinema and TV. But that remains a subject for another gallery - the list of fictional presidents is at least as long as the number of films featuring real US leaders.