Members of the Kennedy family pay their respects at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy at his gravesite in ArlingtonThrough Jon Herskovitz and Marice Richter DALLAS (Reuters) – President John F. Kennedy was remembered with prayer, track and tears in Dallas on Friday, the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination, as the city held its first legit ceremony marking an experience seen as the darkest day in its historical past. "Our collective hearts were damaged," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings instructed a crowd of about 5,000 who got here to a frigid Dealey Plaza, where Kennedy was once slain whereas driving in a motorcade. Remembered fondly for his youthful power and glamorous spouse, Kennedy is still one in all Americans' favourite presidents for his handling of the Cuban missile challenge, his name to public service with packages such as the Peace Corps, and a promise – later fulfilled – to land an American on the moon earlier than the top of the Sixties. "A new era dawned and every other waned a half century ago when hope and hatred collided right right here in Dallas," Rawlings mentioned.