♪ today, we pause to remember the moment that forever changed our nation, honoring president john f. kennedy on the 50th anniversary of his tragic assassination. it's friday, november 22nd.

his administration lasted only 1,000 days. cut short by a bullet in dallas. on this very day 50 years ago. john f. kennedy, here with first lady jackie kennedy by his side in an open car, smiling to the cheering crowds. and then the terrible shots ringing out, echoing through the city and right across the nation, if not around the world. this morning members of the kennedy family laid a wreath at the president's grave in arlington national cemetery, its flame always burning. across the potomac, president obama ordered that flags be lowered to half staff to mark this sol am day. just after 12:00 noon, bells will toll in the city of dallas. the start of a special ceremony on this 50th anniversary.

cnn's has mon on this. >> reporter: at 12:30, the moment that gunshots echoed three dealey plaza 50 years ago, bells will toll through dallas. >> and let the oppressed go free. >> reporter: historian, david mccullough will read packages from some of his speeches. >> ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country. >> reporter: 5,000 people were invited to attend the dealey plaza ceremony. but no one from the kennedy family will be here. the president's daughter, caroline cane di, just started working as the u.s. ambassador to japan. this anniversary is a chance for dallas to come to terms with the tragedy. >> what we were looking for is an opportunity to mark an occasion that is a moment that's important in american history and world history, but do it in

a way in which we can reflect on president kennedy's legacy. >> reporter: there will be no mention of lee harvey oswald who was buried in fort worth. fresh flowers have been left on his gravesite this week. and won't see the conspiracy theorists who skill preach on the grassy knoll. one of the shots fired struck the curve at his feet and debris flew up and cut his face, according to this man. >> do you feel slighted? >> no. i was the guest speaker at that time on the 40th anniversary. but none of us witnesses are even invited to the 50th. they don't want us. they've made that clear. >> reporter: another victim often forgotten from the tragic days is dallas police officer j.d. tip elt. his family will hold a vigil at

the exact spot where he shot oswald. a new moment will be unveiled inscribed with a passage from the speech he was supposed to give that afternoon. it reads, we in this country, in this generation are the watchmen on the walls of world freedom, we ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility. >> and you join us live from the city of dallas. you're just down the street from where i used to live. i used to drive by dealey plaza daily. it is sol am. what exactly are they doing right now and how is this going to play out today? >> reporter: well, this is anything unlike this city has seen before in the 50 years since the assassination took place here on elm street.

we're in dealey plaza. it's been coor donned off. there are 5,000 people invited to attend this ceremony. we'll hear from the mayor and david mcwelcome la will read from the speech that he was to give that day. and i think this really speaks as to how much the city has struggled over the last five decades coming to terms with the assassination happened here and how difficult that has been for so many people. it was a beautiful blue-skied day. thousands of people lined the streets of dallas to watch this motorcade. this was the tail end just a few feet where from where we're standing. this entire area has been coor donned off unlike anything this city has ever seen. >> so, they use to call that back in the day, they used to call that weather a kennedy day. because it seemed whenever the president traveled, it would be

sunny. as i recall, it started out as a rainy, miserable day, and it turned into that beautiful day. but everyone just remembers dallas because of that shooting it seems. and that's something, as you said, that city has been dealing with. so are they looking forward in the commemoration today? are they looking back? are they doing a mixture of both? >> reporter: well, what you're not going to hear talk about, the controversy, and the conspiracy theories. what this city wants to do is how do they honor this city? there was a lot of talk about how bill fieed kennedy was back in this city in 1963 back at this time. but a lot of people would point out then why did tens of thousands of people turn out to greet him that day. the images of him come off of air force one and being cheered and hugged. the number of people who turned

out to watch him was staggering. this was a city that was labeled the city of hate, the city that killed kennedy. in fact, there was an announcement in the paper welcoming him into town in very ugly termed and he said he was going to nut country. this was a difficult time for this city and they hope that this will put this behind them. >> reporter: and it is an experience that you never forget, one of the more remarkable museums in this country. thank you so much. and you don't want to miss cnn's coverage. tune in at 1:00 eastern. wall to wall coverage for you. it will all be live. and of course 50 years after the assassination, the 35 ooth president of the united states looms large. historians are divided over whether kennedy would have steered this country to a successful administration, had

he lived, or whether he wouldn't have. but today, he is the most popular president of the last half century according to a new cnn orc poll. look at those numbers. he's got an approval rating of 90%. second place goes to ronald ragen, followed by bill clinton, george w. bush and richard nixon rounding out the numbers as well. compare that to president obama with an approval rating now of 41%, with 56% disproving of how he is handling his job. apples and oranges, you may say. probably. because everything changes when you're no longer president. and that president, jfk, was something completely different. joining us now with his insights to jfk and president barack obama as well, the director of the university of virginia center for politics and an

author. and you are live withous in dallas. professor, thank you for being here today. could you just wax a little bit on the notion of a 90% approval rating. how much of that is the fond memory of what could have been as opposed to what really was? >> i think you're exactly right. look, the assassination, which occurred after just 1,036 days in office or jfk in essence elevated him to a status of a secular saint. his low points and personal problems were washed away by the blood of his assassination. your poll is exactly reflective of another survey that i had in the kennedy half century that also showed kennedy to be the most popular post world war ii

president. and what was striking, is that democrats and republicans alike have a very high opinion of kennedy because he had liberal and conservative sides. this is a very polarized era we live in today. and i think people pine for the kind of bipartisanship that really did exist at least in key moments in the 1960s. >> we often look back at things that were terrific. but professor, there were things going on in the white house that would have him kicked out in a, you know, a quick second. i mean, all sorts of things that the press looked the other way. why was that? why did so many presidents, and particularly jfk, get such a pass on those things back then? >> the rules were very different. it's hard for us to believe today, but there was really an unspoken and sometimes spoken agreement between politicians and the press that what went on in their private lives was not

to be reported on in public. it stuns us given the fact that we cover candidates not just microscopically but -- in terms of their -- but in the 1960s, that wasn't true at all. politicians in both parties, to put it bluntly, got away with a great deal. there were u.s. senators who fell down dead drunk in front of the press gallery and -- >> and never got a notice. >> in the senate. you're right. >> and i have to make this a quick question and answer. but why is it myerra and my mother's era and even kids in their 20s are almost equally fascinated by the kennedy lure and the legend? >> because he translates so well into the 21st century. he's hollywood handsome. he had a perfect family, at least on the surface. he was inspirational. and i don't think he's matched

by any other presidents. you can argue for ragen and argue for obama. but kennedy had a self-deprecating wit that set him apart. >> or lincoln as well. good to talk to you on this occasion. i couldn't have picked a better guest. thank you. i want to turn our attention to another story that we're following right now. a college campus outraged, sickened, in fact, after three students are charged with hate crimes allegedly after putting a bicycle lock around their black roommate's neck. the day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day. he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers, you can find it all on angie's list.

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in california, three white students have been temporarily taken out, sent away, from their university, san jose state, for allegedly harassing an african-american roommate. details of what they did were bad enough to be labelled a hate crime and also landed one of the students who was suspended in the county jail. the school administrator says he's absolutely stumped as to why no one spoke up sooner. >> stunning to me that it would be able to continue for a period of time without somebody saying this just isn't right. it just doesn't make sense. whether that's a student in the room, whether it's a student down the hall. >> i want to get straight out to cnn's dan simon in san jose who has been following this. when i heard of the details, i thought it couldn't be true. pictures of hitler, the "n" word

screwballed on the wall. confederate flags. how are they characterizing this and how much farther did this go, dan? >> reporter: it can only be described as an extreme form of taunting and raiseism. and we should point out that the alleged victim didn't go to the authorities. it was his parents who came to see him in his dorm room and saw this ugly stuff up on the walls and they alerted housing officials who thent alerted people. but this went on for two to three months. you mentioned some of it. all of this stuff on the walls, confederate symbols, pictures of hey dofl hitler. and verbal taunting. according to the police complaint, which is 24 pages, he was referred to as 3/5, which is a reference to the constitution's original formula

counting slaves for 3/5 of a person. and when he objected, they started calling him "fraction". >> i want to bring in our legal panel on this to find out just exactly what these young men might face. mark o'mara joins us live and joey jackson. mark, let me start with you. misdemeanor hate crime and battery. how serious is that? >> it is serious. a hate crime in california can enhance the sentence by one, two, or three years. the judge can say you're getting more of a sentence because it's a crime. and it has to be frommed a lot. as a criminal defense attorney, i'm not asking for more prosecution generally, but a crime like this, it has to send a signal that this is not going to be accepted. >> one of the things that i was looking for in all of these details was other than the

insults -- look, i think that's a light way of referring to these things. there was an incident where they put a lock around his necknd he tried to fight them off and actually was injured. does that change the game? >> it does in this respect. also there's battery charges and they relate to the offensive touches. as a result of subduing him, what they did, apparently, they held him down to put the bike lock around his neck and say, hey, we lost the key. to certainly that we have a physical touching and it's offensive, you get the hate crime in addition to the battery. >> and they'redown playing all of this saying that it wasn't harassment. but i think they'll have to do that in court. and we'll revisit this to find out that side of the story. don't go anywhere. thank you. scotland yard. we brought this to you yesterday as it was breaking.

we're trying to figure out what exactly happened with three women who were allegedly held captive for up to three decades, maybe longer. one investigator says that these women were held in invisible handcuffs. we'll take you live to london for more details, next. (knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas. high-five! arg! i did not see that coming. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling)

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we are learning more details this morning in a shocking case of alleged slavery in london. police in london say that they rescued three women who were living in, quote, invisible handcuffs and endured decades of

horrifying physical and psychological abuse. the couple arrested for allegedly keeping them captive for approximately 30 years have now been released on bail. which may be surprising in itself. we're live now in london. a lot of people have a lot of questions about what the circumstances were in that home. what are the charges that we're looking at for this couple? and by god, why are the police not releasing their names and yet releasing them, at least the court system is releasing them back in the public? >> reporter: well, ashleigh, i think it boils down to fact that the police aren't really sure at this stage what to charge them with. they were arrested with -- with suspicion of being involved in human trafficking and enforced servitude. but this doesn't fit under the category of slavely and doesn't

have anything to do with mum trafficking according to the police. that said they put the entire human trafficking team on the case. and what they're trying to unravel is three decade's worth of very disturbing emotional and psychological abuse that these women went through. and they're saying it doesn't fit any kind of case that we've ever seen before. what we're also trying to ascertain is what the relationship was between the three women who were held captive. was was a woman age 69, was was age 67, and one was a british woman age 30 years old. and we're hearing that that woman may have been born into captivity. which begs the question was she born of the couple who are the suspects and now released on bail. let's take a listen to what the police have to say. >> that really is what we're

investigating at the moment, the relationship between these people. when i say relationships, i'm both looking at the relationships as in biological and i'm also looking at relationships how they interacted. clearly, the allegations are that people were being controlled subject of coercion, violence. and as you're aware, this goes back at least three decades. so there's law enforcement for us to untangle. >> reporter: and a lot that we don't understand. a lot that police clearly don't understand either at this stage. >> that's absolutely perplexing that they can't at least get an assault charges given the allegation of regular beatings that went on in that house. keep on it for us. and let us no how it shakes out. george zimmerman just can't seem to stay out of a courtroom it seems.

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criminal charges have been dropped against two young florida girls who were accused of taunting a 12-year-old classmate so much so that that classmate ended up killing herself. one of the accused girls, 13-year-old kaitlyn roman is now speaking publicly about all of this. she says she feels bad about the death of rebecca said wick who was once her best friend. but as she spoke this morning, she says she wanted to turn this tragedy into something positive. >> i want to start a campaign. i want to help other kids stop bullying. i want to do lots of things. >> tell them about omega man. >> and i want to see if i can work with omega man, the anti-bullying guy. >> as somebody who you

understand the problem. you may have not have been the problem, but now you understand it by living through all of this. what do you want to tell other kids? in they're listening and their saying, i don't know what happened there, i can say what i want? what do you say to them? >> i want to tell them you can bully and not even know you're doing it. you need to look at yourself and say, wait, am i doing something wrong here? >> cnn's legal analyst danny cevallos and mark o'mara are here. danny, let me begin with you. her attorney says that that young woman has been trauma tiesed twice. number one, by the death of her best friend and by all of the attention to be made out to be the bad guy. how do you get charged if there's zero evidence against you? >> they're trying to use the criminal justice system to achieve something it was never

designed to do. it's not designed to take juveniles and give them records. the sheriff's words said it himself. he said something to the effect that these charges allowed her to get counseling. that's not the purpose of the criminal justice system. we're taking an event that's very sad, somebody killing themselves, which is an independent intervening event, and we're saying we're looking around to punish somebody and we're using criminal justice that it was never designed to do. >> i agree with you on all you have that. but i think was the sheriff thinking that in going into the charges or is he explaining of the dropping of them? there's a big difference. >> i think when he looked at this case, he said the only law that probably applies is stalking. and that's when you intentionally harass somebody else with negative intent. and there's no question that the 14-year-old, when you look at her texts, there's no question that that was harassment in my opinion. i don't think the charges should

have been dropped against her. but may be there's another statute that needs to be considered for that type of behavior. >> there have been all sorts of claims about going after the sheriff for this. it is so difficult to go after the government. in this particular case do you see any outlet where by he might have an opening? >> it is so exceedingly difficulty to bring a case tore malicious prosecution against the government. now, jose buy yez may think there's a case there. and who knows. as long as he had some good faith basis for the charges, for the most part it's good to be the king. the government is usually immune. >> i know you have a birthday coming this weekend. happy birthday in advance. and mark, i don't want you to leave right away. because we have a little bit of news obviously breaking. and i know you sort of hang your head and think, not again, this is becoming my albatross.

but george zimmerman is back in the news. his wife shellie sent the divorce papers to the courthouse. she also spoke publicly with one very famous katie couric. >> i found out that he was lying about a lot of things. and he became like a pacing lion. very unpredictable. i -- every single day it was like adrenalin going through my body constantly not knowing what it was going to be like from day to day. >> so obviously one of the big things after all of these things have transpired since the criminal case involving the death of trayvon martin is the critics will say, i told you so. this is vin di indication. your reaction? >> those who want to hate george

zimmerman are going to hate him. but i think her testimony just then was testament to what george has gone through. there's no question about what happened that night was traumatic to george zimmerman. not only the fact that he had to kill somebody, when cops kill people, we give them treatment, we give them counseling. we watch them. when mr. zimmerman had to kill somebody and the jury said it was justified, now he's in hiding for a year and a half, the most hated man in american. you take a 28-year-old who entered into this situation with no intent whatsoever and do that to him for a year and a half. i'm not explaining domestic violence occurrences if that happened. but the reality is he has had an enormous amount of trauma over the past 18 months. and maybe this in what he's doing is some of the fallout. >> and it should be noted you're not his attorney and not

speaking on behalf of him. but knows him a heck of a lot better than i do. i've said it before, you are a tremendous attorney. you are very good at what you do. and that was a very -- look, fascinating case to watch. so here is something else we're working on. your mother probably told you to be aware of your surroundings at all-ti all-times. maybe not more than now. watch what happens here. knocked out for fun? and in some cases, some people are dead because of it. going to warn you about this and let you know what's going on right across the country, next. no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber.

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welcome back. have some headlines for you. the fcc is considering allowing you to talk on your cell phone while in your in a plane. the rule is going to apply only above 10,000 feet, not during takeoff or landing. and if proofed, individual airlines could decide whether or not to allow those cell phone conversations to proceed. senate republicans say their democratic colleagues will ryu the day when they saw the change for the filibuster. they pushed through the rule allowing a simple majority to overcome the filibuster on some presidential appointments. sipcally, it required 60 votes. not anymore. got a update on the shocking

killing of the teacher in massachusetts last month. tlfts a court hearing this morning and a previously sealed affidavit was released publicly. and boy, were there revelations in there about the crime and suspect. the 14-year-old boy, philip chism, has been indicted on charges of murder and aggravated rape and armed robbery. he'll be arraigned on december the 4th. >> there is a new ending for a rape case that stained the state of alabama and the entire nation. they've pardoned three men who rape convictions more than 8 years ago were never overturned. the three were among nieb for examples known as the scottboro boys. they were accused of raining two white women in the 1930s. it might seem like a prank.

but the knockout game is real and it's dangerous. it's down right deadly. and it's being played in a lot of parts of this country right now. and some of the victims who have within attacked, are dead today. if you're wondering what this game is, our pamela brown has the answers. >> oh, my god. is that a game? >> what the [ bleep ]. >> that looks like real people. that wasn't like -- >> no. >> reporter: it may be hard to believe, but this is happening. watch as this unsuspecting woman in london walks down the street and gets punched by what appears to be a complete stranger. the violent stunt is known as the knockout game or the one hitter quitter. >> it's not a game. because the person was probably really nirngd. >> reporter: one of the latest victims, a 78 yr8d grandmother. she was walking home when a young man ran up and sucker

punched her. >> she's terrified. she will not leave the front of her building. >> reporter: other incidents have been reported in at least five states and washington, d.c. at least four victims have died including this man in st. louis and a homeless man in new jersey. a congresswoman in washington, d.c. says she may haveless been a victim. >> got hit from behind and landed on my front. after i hit the ground, there's a period of time where i don't really remember what happened. >> reporter: she says her purse was stolen but in many cases nothing is taken. >> they're doing this to get a thrill to prove their manhood or womanhood. a part of pier pressure. >> reporter: a spoke person for the nypd says it's looking into the possibility that the cases are hate crimes. >> now that we're aware there's a gang going on out there, we need to be especially vigilant.

this is very dangerous. >> just astounding to see that. just ahead, jackie kennedy's famous pink suit. and that remarkable pillbox hat that she wore on the day that her husband died. it was one of her husband's favorites. worn 50 years ago today. have you ever wondered what happened to it? or if you'll ever be able to see it? we've got that back story coming up next. and then don't forget to set your dvr for "the assassination of president kennedy." it's a film by tom hanks and you can see is it only right here on cnn tonight at 10:00. [ female announcer ] ladies and gentlemen i'm here to say a few words about the power of baking stuff with nestle toll house morsels. you can heal a broken heart with a bundt cake. make a monday mornin' feel like a friday afternoon

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her exquisite fashion and taste. one of her favorite things was her pink suit. the one that she was wearing that day in dallas when president kennedy was assassinated. she was wearing it hours later too, covered in blood. when lyndon johnson was storen in at the next president. randi kaye has more on why it, this pink suit, remains etched in the memories of so many people. >> reporter: in the words of president john f. kennedy, she looked smashing in it, which may be why the president asked jacqui kennedy to wear her now famous watermelon pink suit to dallas on november 22nd, 1963. >> the usual welcoming committee presents mrs. kennedy with a bouquet of red roses. >> it look like coco chanel but her suit was a knockoff made in america. she had worn it at least six times before that fateful day. here she is in 1962, awaiting the an rival of the prime minister of algeria, that's john

junior in her arms. in dallas on november 22nd at this fort worth chamber of commerce breakfast, the president even joked about his wife's fashion sense. >> nobody wonders what lyndon and i wear. >> later that day, president kennedy would be dead. and the first lady's stunning pink suit stained forever with her husband's blood, would begin a long and mysterious journey. when aides suggested she change her clothes after the shooting, she refused. phillip sheenen wrote a book about the kennedy assassination. >> her remark and i think she made it more than once is, no, i'm going to leave these clothes on. i want them to see what they have done. >> hours later, mrs. kennedy continued to wear the suit during the emergency swearing in of lyndon johnson as president. >> that whole scene is obviously just 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. >> mrs. kennedy was still in her suit when she arrived later that evening at andrews air force base in maryland 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 won't have to look at it. then some time in 1964, the blood-stained suit arrived here at the national archives building in the nation's capital. it came in a blox along with a handwritten note from the jacqui kennedy's mother on her personal stationary. it read simply "jackie's suit and bag, worn november 22nd, 1963." all this time the pink suit has been forbidden from public view and will likely stay that way for a very long time. in 2003 after her mother's death, caroline kennedy gave the suit to the people of the united

states with the understanding that it wouldn't be put on public display for 100 years until 2103 and even then the kennedy family must be consulted before they attempt is made to display the suit, all an effort to avoid sensationizing that horrible act. it's believed only a handful of people maybe only as few as two, have seen the suit since. along with the suit and also hidden from view in the new archives in maryland, the blue blouse mrs. kennedy wore in dallas, her stockings -- blue shoes and blue purse. what they don't have is the first lady's pink pill box hat. >> the hat is amy industry. the hat apparently goes to the secret service initially and they turn it over to mrs. kennedy's private secretary and then it disappears. it has not been seen since. >> the archive is making every effort to preserve the suit. it's stored in a windowless vault in an acid-free container where the air is changed every

20 minutes or so to properly maintain the woolen cloth. it is kept at a temperature of 65 to 68 degrees which is best for the fabric. the suit's story, a perfect ending for a first lady who craved private sit after so much pain. randi kaye, cnn, los angeles. [ male announcer ] when you have sinus pressure and pain,

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just minutes from now, bells will toll in dallas, marking the exact time when john f. kennedy was assassinated on this day 50 years ago. this morning, members of the kennedy family were present to lay a wreath at the president's gave site. that's in arlington, national cemetery. and if you look in the foreground, you will see that eternal flame. it is always you burning. and across the potomac, president obama ordered the flags to be lowered to half-staff at the white house, the capitol, government buildings all throughout to marking this particular solemn day. john king joins us live in dallas. i know you're going to do a lot of the spearheading of our national coverage. you're too young. no matter how old we are we all

stop and think and have a special thought and memory about what this means for america. give me a special rundown where you are and how it's going to play out. >> you just mentioned the conditiondy family. they made a decision not to participate in the ceremony here it, the remembrance of the horrible event that happened right here 50 years ago. the family is aware of the ceremony and decided not to participate in any way. as you noted at 12:30 local time when the president was shot right here in dealey plaza, there will be a tolling of the bells and a moment of silence, as well. it's a relatively low key ceremony. the mayor will speak about the city and where the city has come in 50 years and the historian david mccould you lou will read from some of president kennedy's speeches. you can see the podium where the vip guests will be gather anned behind me. 5,000 tickets issued for people to come into the ceremony. there are a lot of people outside the security perimeter asking questions looking around

and the like. the scene inside, relatively low key. there's one video monitor where they're playing clips of president kennedy and his travels. it's to be reminded of the very tight space here where the kennedy motorcade came through at 12:30 and turned into dealey plaza, the texas school book depository is over there. came almost to a complete stop. that is where 50 years ago today, the tragic assassination unfolded. at the end of the ceremony, a monument to jfk will be unveiled over on what is known as infamously as the grassy knoll, ashleigh. >> i can almost see my apartment from the spot where you are sitting right now. i lived there for 4 1/2 blocks away and i drove that route many, many times. john king, thank you for that. a reminder john king is going to be anchoring our special

coverage of the dallas memorial of john f. kennedy. stay tuned as the events begin right at the top of the hour. thanks so much for watching, everyone. everyone. and have a good weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com you're with cnn. welcome to "around the world." i'm hal lal gorani. >> i'm michael holmes. we welcome our viewers from all around the world, a very important day in u.s. history. we are in fact, approaching the moment that assassin's bullet took the life of president john f. kennedy and shattered the nation 50 years. >> so it's an event that is still seared in the collective copeousness of this country. one of the darkest days really in this country's history. and people gathering in dallas to honor the slain president. you're looking at live pictures of dealey plaza, the