This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God's.
Note: The President spoke at 6:10 p.m. at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., near Washington, upon his arrival from Dallas, Tex.
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded to the Presidency on November 22, 1963, on the death of President Kennedy in Dallas on the same day.
Vice President Johnson, a member of President Kennedy's party on a speaking tour of several Texas cities, was riding in the third car of a motorcade traveling through downtown Dallas when, at approximately 12:30 p.m., c.s.t. President Kennedy was struck by bullets from an assassin's gun. The motorcade proceeded to Parkland Hospital in Dallas where President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. Shortly afterwards Mr. Johnson left the hospital for the Dallas airport, en route to Washington, D.C.
He was sworn in as President at 2:38 p.m. in the cabin of the Presidential plane, Air Force One, at Love Field, Dallas. The oath of office was administered by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes of the Northern District of Texas. Present at the swearing in were Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and several members of the White House staff. After the ceremony the plane, bearing the body of President Kennedy and with President and Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Kennedy, and the White House staff members aboard, left immediately for Washington.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks Upon Arrival at Andrews Air Force Base Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238784
