Anchoring MSNBC's live coverage of the murder of five police officers in Dallas, Brian Williams on Thursday night repeatedly connected the tragic killings to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Referencing JFK’s murder from 53 years ago, Williams lectured, “[Dallas] has struggled mightily since 1963 to be associated with something other than gun violence, something other than the murder of our former President, John F. Kennedy.”

At 12:35am Williams reminded viewers about the city: “Some of this is playing out right near where President Kennedy was murdered.”

Talking to Sarah Mervosh of the Dallas Morning News at 1:50am on Friday, he announced that this was their busiest night “certainly since the most violent day in the lives of most Americans in November of 1963.”

(The “most violent day in the lives” of Americans was probably September 11, 2001.)

At 3:13am, Williams indicated he would not let this comparison go:

WILLIAMS: I've been saying all night for those of us who are, as they say, a certain age, Dallas, Texas, entered our psyche at least, if you're not from there, because of what happened in November of 1963. It has since then spent decades getting beyond that, becoming a large prosperous metroplex.

T. Becket Adams of The Washington Examiner noted the response Williams got on Twitter.

Transcripts of some of the JFK references can be found below: