115-639: The Babushka Lady is an unidentified woman present during the 1963 assassination of US President John F. Kennedy who might have photographed or filmed the events that occurred in Dallas ’ Dealey Plaza at the time President John F. Kennedy was shot. Her nickname arose from the US Army headscarf she wore, which was similar to scarves worn by elderly Russian women . бабушка – babushka – literally means "grandmother" or "old woman" in Russian . The Babushka Lady
230-530: A 16 mm film copy of the Zapruder film's original version. Pleased with the results, they asked for a 35 mm internegative to be made. Mo Weitzman made several internegatives in 1968, giving the best to Life and retaining the test copies. Weitzman set up his own optical house and motion-picture postproduction facility later that year. Hired in 1969, employee and assassination buff Robert Groden used one of Weitzman's copies and an optical printer to make versions of
345-636: A U.S. senator from Massachusetts , was elected the 35th president of the United States with Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice presidential running mate. Kennedy's tenure saw the height of the Cold War , and much of his foreign policy was dedicated to countering the Soviet Union and communism . As president, he authorized operations to overthrow Fidel Castro 's communist government in Cuba , which culminated in
460-489: A pulmonary embolism , secondary to cancer. Like Oswald and Kennedy, Ruby was declared dead at Parkland Hospital. My god, I saw the whole thing. I saw the man's brains come out of his head. — Abraham Zapruder Standing on the pergola wall some 65 feet (20 m) from the road, tailor Abraham Zapruder recorded Kennedy's killing on 26 seconds of silent 8 mm film — known as the Zapruder film . Frame 313 captures
575-598: A royalties suit between Time Inc. and Zapruder's heirs that arose from the ABC showing, Time Inc. sold the film's initial rendition and its copyright back to the Zapruder family for the token sum of $ 1. Time Inc. wanted to donate the film to the U.S. government. The Zapruder family originally refused to consent. In 1978, the family transferred the film to the National Archives and Records Administration for appropriate preservation and safe-keeping, while still retaining ownership of
690-537: A child. In 1962, he returned to the United States with a repatriation loan from the U.S. Embassy. He settled in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where he socialized with Russian émigrés—notably George de Mohrenschildt . In March 1963, a bullet narrowly missed General Edwin Walker at his Dallas residence; a witness observed two conspicuous men. Relying on Marina's testimony, a note left by Oswald, and ballistic evidence,
805-504: A friend and was not even sure the manufacturer's name was on it. Beverly Oliver's claims were the basis for a scene in Oliver Stone 's 1991 film JFK , in which a character named "Beverly" meets Jim Garrison in a Dallas nightclub. Played by Lolita Davidovich , she is depicted in the director's cut as wearing a headscarf at Dealey Plaza and speaking of having given the film she shot to two men claiming to be FBI agents. In March 1979,
920-453: A gun barrel emerge from a sixth floor Depository window. Bonnie Ray Williams, who was on the fifth floor of the Depository, stated that the rifle's report was so loud and near that ceiling plaster fell onto his head. When searching the sixth floor of the Depository, two deputies found an Italian Carcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle. Oswald had purchased the used rifle the previous March under
1035-473: A jacket and revolver. At 1:12 p.m., police officer J. D. Tippit spotted Oswald walking in the residential neighborhood of Oak Cliff and called him to his patrol car. After an exchange of words, Tippit exited his vehicle; Oswald then shot Tippit three times in the chest. As Tippit lay on the ground, Oswald fired a final shot into Tippit's right temple . Oswald then calmly walked away before running as witnesses emerged. As Dallas police officers conducted
1150-495: A large, "roughly ovular " [ sic ] hole on the rear, right side of the head, and spraying blood and fragments. His brain and blood spatter landed as far as the following Secret Service car and the motorcycle officers. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill was riding on the running board of the car immediately behind Kennedy's limousine. Hill testified to the Warren Commission that he heard one shot, jumped onto
1265-477: A panoramic movie. Each object that appears during the film has its starting position equal to where it appears first in its frames. The objects' positions are updated during visibility in the Zapruder frames, and they stay motionless once each object moves out of those frames. The Orville Nix film had the same technology applied to it. The Nix and Zapruder films were then combined into a direct simultaneous comparison movie. Between November 1963 and January 1964,
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#17328441811081380-410: A police inspector to report seeing a shooter—a white man in khaki clothing—in the same window. Police broadcast Brennan's description of the man at 12:45 p.m. Brennan testified that, after the second shot, "This man ... was aiming for his last shot ... and maybe paused for another second as though to assure himself that he had hit his mark." Witness James R. Worrell Jr. also reported seeing
1495-487: A press conference after midnight on November 23, and, early in the investigation, made many leaks to the media. Their conduct angered Johnson, who instructed the FBI to tell them to "stop talking about the assassination". Dallas Police, after the FBI expressed concerns that someone might try to kill Oswald, assured federal authorities that they would provide him adequate protection. The FBI immediately launched an investigation into
1610-476: A profound impact and was the first of four major assassinations during the 1960s in the United States , coming two years before the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and five years before the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy's brother Robert in 1968. Kennedy was the fourth U.S. president to be assassinated and is the most recent to have died in office . In 1960, John F. Kennedy, then
1725-506: A roll call of Depository employees, Oswald's supervisor Roy Truly realized that Oswald was absent and notified the police. Based on a false identification of Oswald, Dallas police raided a library in Oak Cliff before realizing their mistake. At 1:36 p.m., the police were called after a conspicuous Oswald, tired from running, was seen sneaking into the Texas Theatre without paying. With
1840-581: A sign in Times Square , New York City, with the phrase "See the President's head explode!", Zapruder insisted that frame 313 be excluded from publication. The November 29, 1963 issue of Life published about 30 frames of the Zapruder film in black and white. Frames were also published in color in the December 6, 1963 special "John F. Kennedy Memorial Edition", and in issues dated October 2, 1964 (a special article on
1955-445: A statement saying that four frames of the original (frames 208–211) were accidentally destroyed, and the adjacent frames damaged, by a Life photo lab technician on November 23, 1963. Life released those missing frames from the first-generation copy it had received from the film's original version. The Zapruder frames outside the section used in the commission's exhibits, frames 155–157 and 341, were also damaged and were spliced out of
2070-405: A total of 26.6 seconds, exposing 486 frames of standard 8 mm Kodachrome II safety film , running at an average of 18.3 frames/second. After Secret Service agent Forrest Sorrels promised Zapruder that the film would only be used for an official investigation, the two men sought to develop the footage as soon as possible. As television station WFAA 's equipment was incompatible with
2185-529: A woman named Beverly Oliver told conspiracy researcher Gary Shaw at a church revival meeting in Joshua, Texas , that she was the Babushka Lady. Oliver stated that she filmed the assassination with a Super 8 film Yashica and that she turned the undeveloped film over to two men who identified themselves to her as FBI agents. According to Oliver, she obtained no receipt from the men, who told her that they would return
2300-461: Is a silent 8mm color motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder with a Bell & Howell home-movie camera, as United States President John F. Kennedy 's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas , Texas, on November 22, 1963. Unexpectedly, it captured the President's assassination . Although it is not the only film of the shooting, the Zapruder film has been described as being
2415-666: Is authentic. In 1994, the Zapruder film footage was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for permanent preservation in the National Film Registry . Some critics have stated that the violence and shock of this home movie led to a new way of representing violence in 1970s American cinema , both in mainstream films, and particularly in indie and underground horror movies . The film has been featured in films and other media, such as
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#17328441811082530-597: Is on the sidewalk in front of the Dallas County Building – visible in an image as being on JFK's right. She would have crossed Houston Street and onto Dealey Plaza in order to be visible in the Dealey Plaza images. This may imply that the images show two different women of similar appearance. It is plausible that once the motorcade passed by she was able to cross the street to catch a second motorcade drive past on Dealey Plaza where she would be on JFK's left. In 1970,
2645-536: Is unique, its value was difficult to ascertain. Eventually, following arbitration with the Zapruder heirs, the government purchased the film in 1999 for $ 16 million. At that time, the family retained copyright to the film. In December 1999, the Zapruder family donated the film's copyright to the Sixth Floor Museum , in the Texas School Book Depository building at Dealey Plaza , along with one of
2760-504: The Dallas Times Herald photographed the shooting which was titled, Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald for which he was awarded the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography . Drifting in and out of consciousness, Oswald was taken by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital; he was treated by the same surgeons who had tried to save Kennedy. The bullet had entered his lower left chest but had not exited; major heart blood vessels such as
2875-451: The FBI examined a copy of the Zapruder film, noting that the camera recorded at an average of 18.3 frames per second. It is not clear from the film itself as to when the first and second shots occurred. It is apparent that by frame 225 the President is reacting to his throat wound. However, no wound or blood is seen on either President Kennedy or Governor Connally prior to frame 313. The view that
2990-512: The National Archives . Conspiracy theorists often claim that the brain may have shown that the headshot entered from the front. Alternatively, the HSCA concluded that an assistant to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , the president's brother, likely removed the footlocker holding the brain and other materials at his direction, and he "either destroyed these materials or otherwise rendered them inaccessible" to prevent "misuse" of said material or to hide
3105-543: The Warren Commission attributed this assassination attempt to Oswald. In April 1963, Oswald returned to his birthplace, New Orleans, and established an independent chapter of the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee , of which he was the sole member. While passing out pro-Castro literature alongside unknown compatriots, Oswald was arrested after scuffling with anti-Castro Cuban exiles . In late September 1963, Oswald traveled to Mexico City , where, according to
3220-501: The Zapruder film . According to Mack, the executive said the woman explained to federal investigators already at the film processing office that she ran from Main Street across the grass to Elm Street where she stopped and snapped a photo with some people in the foreground of the presidential limousine and the Texas School Book Depository . Mack said that he was told by the Kodak executive that
3335-434: The aorta and inferior vena cava were severed, and the spleen, kidney, and liver were hit. Despite surgical intervention and defibrillation , Oswald died at 1:07 p.m. Arrested immediately after the shooting, Ruby testified to the Warren Commission that he had been distraught by Kennedy's death and that killing Oswald would spare "Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial". He also stated he shot Oswald on
3450-503: The ARRB as "Beverly Oliver Massegee", Oliver stated that she was 17 years old at the time of the assassination. She told the Board that she was filming with an "experimental" 8 mm movie camera approximately 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 m) from Kennedy when he was shot and that the film was confiscated by a man who identified himself as an FBI agent. According to Oliver, she handed over the camera because
3565-614: The Babushka Lady film, a color photograph by Norman Similas, and the original negative of the Betzner photograph." On November 18, 1994, assassination researcher Gary Mack testified before the Assassination Records Review Board that he had recently been told by an executive in Kodak 's Dallas office that a woman in her early 30s with brunette hair brought in film purported to be of the assassination scene while they were processing
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3680-596: The First Lady boarded a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible limousine to travel to a luncheon at the Dallas Trade Mart . Other occupants of this vehicle—the second in the motorcade—were Secret Service Agent Bill Greer , who drove; Special Agent Roy Kellerman in the front passenger seat; and Governor Connally and his wife Nellie, who sat just forward of the Kennedys. Four Dallas police motorcycle officers accompanied
3795-508: The Kennedy limousine. Vice President Johnson, his wife Lady Bird , and Senator Yarborough rode in another convertible. The motorcade's meandering 10-mile (16 km) route through Dallas was designed to give Kennedy maximum exposure to crowds by passing through a suburban section of Dallas, and Main Street in Downtown Dallas , before turning right on Houston Street. After another block,
3910-648: The Oliver Stone film JFK . A closeup from the portion of the film showing the fatal shot to Kennedy's head is also shown in the Clint Eastwood film In the Line of Fire . Abraham Zapruder is sometimes presented as a forefather of all citizen journalists . In " Murder Most Foul ", a musical meditation on Kennedy's assassination and its effect on American counterculture , Bob Dylan sings "Zapruder's film I've seen that before / seen it 33 times maybe more". The video
4025-625: The Photographic Evidence Panel of the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations indicated that they were unable to locate any film attributed to the Babushka Lady. According to their report: "Initially, Robert Groden , a photographic consultant to the committee advised the panel as to pertinent photographic issues and related materials. Committee investigators located many of the suggested films and photographs, however, some items were never located, i.e.
4140-663: The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection at the National Archives. The Zapruder film was automatically designated an "assassination record" and therefore became the official property of the United States government. On April 24, 1997, the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), which the JFK Act created, announced a "Statement of Policy and Intent with Regard to the Zapruder Film". The ARRB re-affirmed that
4255-518: The Time Inc. copyright of the Zapruder film was not violated by invoking the doctrine of fair use . The court held that "there is a public interest in having the fullest information available on the murder of President Kennedy, saying that Thompson "did serious work on the subject and has a theory entitled to public consideration" and that "the copying by defendants was fair and reasonable." In 1967, Life hired New Jersey film lab Manhattan Effects to make
4370-410: The Warren Commission and the HSCA, Kennedy was waving to the crowds on his right when a shot entered his upper back and exited his throat just beneath his larynx . He raised his elbows and clenched his fists in front of his face and neck, then leaned forward and leftward. Mrs. Kennedy, facing him, put her arms around him. Although a serious wound, it likely would have been survivable. According to
4485-537: The Warren Commission's single-bullet theory —derided as the "magic bullet theory" by conspiracy theorists—Governor Connally was injured by the same bullet that exited Kennedy's neck. The bullet created an oval-shaped entry wound near Connally's shoulder, struck and destroyed several inches of his right fifth rib, and exited his chest just below his right nipple, puncturing and collapsing his lung . That same bullet then entered his arm just above his right wrist and shattered his right radius bone . The bullet exited just below
4600-643: The Warren Commission, he visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies. On October 3, Oswald returned to Dallas and found work at the Texas School Book Depository on Dealey Plaza . During the workweek he lived separately from Marina at a Dallas rooming house . On the morning of the assassination, he carried a long package (which he told coworkers contained curtain rods) into the Depository; the Warren Commission concluded that this package contained Oswald's disassembled rifle. On November 22, Air Force One arrived at Dallas Love Field at 11:40 a.m. President Kennedy and
4715-458: The Zapruder film captured the shooting from beginning to end was challenged by Max Holland , author of The Kennedy Assassination Tapes , and professional photographer Johann Rush in a joint editorial piece published by The New York Times on November 22, 2007. Holland and Rush have pointed out that Zapruder temporarily stopped filming at around frame 132, when only police motorcycles were visible. When he continued filming, frame 133 already shows
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4830-442: The Zapruder film in black and white. Frames 208–211 were missing, a splice was visible in frames 207 and 212, frames 314 and 315 were switched around, and frame 284 was a repeat of 283. In response to an inquiry, then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wrote in 1965 that frames 314 and 315 had been swapped due to a printing error, and that that error did not exist in the original Warren Commission exhibits. In early 1967, Life released
4945-539: The Zapruder film was an "assassination record" within the JFK Act's meaning and directed it to be transferred on August 1, 1998, from its present-day location in NARA's film collection to the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection maintained by NARA. As required by the US federal law for such a seizure under eminent domain , payment to Zapruder's heirs was attempted. Because the film
5060-512: The Zapruder film was on the late-night television show Underground News with Chuck Collins, originating on WSNS-TV, Ch 44, Chicago in 1970. It was given to director Howie Samuelsohn by Penn Jones and later aired in syndication to Philadelphia, Detroit, Kansas City, and St. Louis. On March 6, 1975, on the ABC late-night television show Good Night America , hosted by Geraldo Rivera , assassination researchers Robert Groden and Dick Gregory presented
5175-436: The Zapruder film with close-ups and minimize the shakiness of Zapruder's camera. Before the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw , a businessman from New Orleans , for conspiracy in connection with the assassination, a copy of the film made several generations from the original was subpoenaed from Time Inc. in 1967 by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison for use at Shaw's grand jury hearing. Garrison unsuccessfully subpoenaed
5290-484: The alias "A. Hidell" and had it delivered to his Dallas P.O. box . The FBI found Oswald's partial palm print on the barrel, and fibers on the rifle were consistent with those of Oswald's shirt. A bullet found on Governor Connally's hospital gurney and two fragments found in the limousine were ballistically matched to the Carcano. Oswald left the Depository and traveled by bus to his boarding house, where he retrieved
5405-402: The assassination, but at farther distances than Zapruder. Of the three, only Nix — who filmed the assassination from the opposite side of Elm Street from Zapruder, capturing the grassy knoll — actually recorded the fatal shot. In 1966, Nix claimed that, after he gave the film to the FBI, the duplicate that they returned had frames "missing" or "ruined". Although lower-quality duplicates exist,
5520-467: The assassination, relying on a federal statute that forbade assaulting a federal officer. Within 24 hours of the killing, FBI Director Hoover sent President Johnson a preliminary report finding that Oswald was the sole culprit. After Ruby killed Oswald, Johnson decided that the Texan authorities were incompetent and instructed the FBI to conduct a complete investigation. Zapruder film The Zapruder film
5635-499: The assassination; researchers have nicknamed her the Babushka Lady due to the shawl around her head. In 1978, Gordon Arnold came forward and claimed that he had filmed the assassination from the grassy knoll and that a police officer had confiscated his film. Arnold is not visible in any photographs taken of the area, which Vincent Bugliosi —author of Reclaiming History —called "conclusive photographic proof that Arnold's story
5750-651: The autopsy was "like sending a seven-year-old boy who has taken three lessons on the violin over to the New York Philharmonic and expecting him to perform a Tchaikovsky symphony". Following the autopsy, Kennedy lay in repose in the East Room of the White House for 24 hours. President Johnson issued Presidential Proclamation 3561 , declaring November 25 to be a national day of mourning , and that only essential emergency workers be at their posts. The coffin
5865-446: The commission's viewing, and made color 35mm slide enlargements from the relevant frames of the original film for the FBI. From those slides, the FBI made a series of black-and-white prints, which were given to the commission for its use. In October 1964, the U.S. Government Printing Office released 26 volumes of testimony and evidence compiled by the Warren Commission. Volume 18 of the commission's hearings reproduced 158 frames from
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#17328441811085980-686: The complete film are available on the Internet. One of the first-generation Secret Service copies was loaned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C., which made a second-generation copy. After studies of that copy were made in January 1964, the Warren Commission judged the quality to be inadequate, and requested the original film. Life brought the original to Washington in February for
6095-495: The complete film at $ 16 million (equivalent to $ 27.5 million in 2022). Zapruder was one of at least 32 people in Dealey Plaza known to have made film or still photographs at or around the time of the shooting. Most notably among the photographers, Mary Moorman took several photos of Kennedy with her Polaroid , including one of Kennedy less than one-sixth of a second after the headshot. In addition to Zapruder, Charles Bronson, Marie Muchmore , and Orville Nix filmed
6210-411: The consequences. According to Hewitt, he realized his mistake after ending their telephone conversation and immediately called Rather back to countermand the order, disappointing the reporter. In a 2015 interview on Opie with Jim Norton , Rather stated that the story was a myth. Frame 313 of the film captures the fatal shot to the President's head. After claiming to have a nightmare in which he saw
6325-446: The earlier of the two versions handled by the NPIC. Brugioni recalled seeing a "white cloud" of brain matter, three or four feet (91 or 122 cm) above Kennedy's head, and said that this "spray" lasted for more than one frame of the film. The version of the Zapruder film available to the public depicts the fatal head shot on only one frame of the film, frame 313. Brugioni was certain that
6440-407: The exact moment at which Kennedy's head explodes. Life magazine published frame enlargements from the Zapruder film shortly after the assassination. The footage itself was first publicly shown at the 1969 trial of Clay Shaw , and on television in 1975 by Geraldo Rivera . In 1999, an arbitration panel ordered the federal government to pay $ 615,384 per second of film to Zapruder's heirs, valuing
6555-430: The extent of the president's chronic illnesses and consequent medication. Some autopsy X-rays and photographs have also been lost. Most historians regard the autopsy as the "most botched" segment of the government's investigation. The HSCA forensic pathology panel concluded that the autopsy had "extensive failings", including failure to take sufficient photographs, failure to determine the exact exit or entry point of
6670-534: The failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, during which he declined to directly involve American troops. The following year, Kennedy deescalated the Cuban Missile Crisis , an incident widely regarded as the closest that humanity has come to nuclear holocaust . In 1963, Kennedy decided to travel to Texas to smooth over frictions in the state's Democratic Party between liberal U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough and conservative Governor John Connally . The visit
6785-528: The film War Is Hell still playing, Dallas policemen arrested Oswald after a brief struggle in which Oswald drew his fully loaded gun. He denied shooting anyone and claimed he was being made a " patsy " because he had lived in the Soviet Union. At 12:38 p.m., Kennedy arrived in the emergency room of Parkland Memorial Hospital . Although Kennedy was still breathing after the shooting, his personal physician, George Burkley , immediately saw that survival
6900-521: The film and its copyright. Director Oliver Stone paid over $ 85,000 to the Zapruder family for use of the Zapruder film in his motion picture JFK (1991). On October 26, 1992, then-U.S. President George H. W. Bush signed into law the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (the "JFK Act"), which sought to preserve for historical and governmental purposes all records related to President Kennedy's assassination. The Act created
7015-467: The film and the Warren Commission report), November 25, 1966, and November 24, 1967. Zapruder was one of at least 32 people in Dealey Plaza known to have made film or still photographs at or around the time of the shooting. The Zapruder film frames that were used by the Warren Commission were published in black and white as Commission Exhibit 885 in volume XVIII of the Hearings and Exhibits. Copies of
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#17328441811087130-483: The film to her within ten days. She did not follow up with an inquiry. She reiterated her claims in the 1988 documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy . According to Vincent Bugliosi , Oliver "has never proved to most people's satisfaction that she was in Dealey Plaza that day." Confronted with the fact that the Yashica Super-8 camera was not made until 1969, she stated that she received the "experimental" camera from
7245-597: The first-ever US network television showing of the Zapruder film. The public's response and outrage to that television showing quickly led to the forming of the Hart - Schweiker investigation, which contributed to the Church Committee Investigation on Intelligence Activities by the United States, and resulted in the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation. In April 1975, in settlement of
7360-441: The first-generation copies made on November 22, 1963, and other copies of the film and frame enlargements once held by Life magazine, which had since been returned. The film's relevant history is covered in a 2003 David R. Wrone book entitled The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination . Wrone is a history professor who tracks the chain of evidence for the film. Every frame of the Zapruder film has been put together into
7475-457: The format, Eastman Kodak 's Dallas film processing facility developed the film and Jamieson Film Company produced three copies. Zapruder gave two of the copies to Sorrels and they were sent to Washington . The original film was retained by Zapruder, in addition to one of the copies. On the morning of November 23, CBS lost the bidding for the footage to Life magazine's $ 150,000 offer ($ 1,490,000 in 2024). CBS News correspondent Dan Rather
7590-421: The grassy knoll. No witness ever reported seeing anyone—with or without a gun—immediately behind the knoll's picket fence at the time of the shooting. Lee Bowers was in a two-story railroad switch tower 120 yards (110 m) behind the grassy knoll's picket fence; he was watching the motorcade and had an unobstructed view of the only route by which a shooter could flee the grassy knoll; he saw no one leaving
7705-405: The head bullet, not dissecting the back and neck, and neglecting to determine the angles of gunshot injuries relative to body axis . The panel further concluded that the two doctors were not qualified to have conducted a forensic autopsy. Panel member Milton Helpern— Chief Medical Examiner for New York City —said that selecting Humes (who had only taken a single course on forensic pathology) to lead
7820-404: The interrogation. On the evening of November 22, Dallas Police performed paraffin tests on Oswald's hands and right cheek in an effort to establish whether or not he had recently fired a weapon. The results were positive for the hands and negative for the right cheek. Such tests were unreliable, and the Warren Commission did not rely on these results. The Dallas police forced Oswald to host
7935-413: The limousine's bumper, and he clung to the car as it exited Dealey Plaza and sped to Parkland Memorial Hospital . After Mrs. Kennedy crawled back into her seat, both Governor and Mrs. Connally heard her repeatedly saying: "They have killed my husband. I have his brains in my hand." Bystander James Tague received a minor wound to the cheek—either from bullet or concrete curb fragments—while standing by
8050-441: The man was an authority figure and because she feared being caught in possession of marijuana . Oliver's claims were addressed point by point and debunked by conspiracy theory researcher John McAdams. John F. Kennedy assassination On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy , the 35th president of the United States , was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas , Texas. Kennedy
8165-470: The memory of President Kennedy". Kennedy's funeral service was held on November 25, at St. Matthew's Cathedral , with the Requiem Mass led by Cardinal Richard Cushing . About 1,200 guests, including representatives from over 90 countries, attended. Although there was no formal eulogy, Auxiliary Bishop Philip M. Hannan read excerpts from Kennedy's speeches and writings. After the service, Kennedy
8280-440: The most complete, giving a relatively clear view from a somewhat elevated position on the side from which the president's fatal head wound is visible. It was an important piece of evidence before the Warren Commission hearings, and all subsequent investigations of the assassination. It is one of the most studied pieces of film in history, particularly footage of the final shot which helped spawn theories of whether Lee Harvey Oswald
8395-685: The motorcade was to turn left onto Elm Street, pass through Dealey Plaza, and travel a short segment of the Stemmons Freeway to the Trade Mart. The planned route had been reported in newspapers several days in advance. Despite concerns about hostile protestors—Kennedy's UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson had been spat on in Dallas a month earlier—Kennedy was greeted warmly by enthusiastic crowds. Kennedy's limousine entered Dealey Plaza at 12:30 p.m. CST. Nellie Connally turned and commented to Kennedy, who
8510-404: The murders of Kennedy and Tippit. Two days later, at 11:21 a.m. on November 24, 1963, as live television cameras covered Oswald's being moved through the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters , he was fatally shot by Dallas nightclub operator Jack Ruby . Like Kennedy, Oswald was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he soon died. Ruby was convicted of Oswald's murder, though the decision
8625-435: The night of November 22. Jacqueline Kennedy had selected a naval hospital as the postmortem site as President Kennedy had been a naval officer during World War II . The autopsy was conducted by three physicians: naval commanders James Humes and J. Thornton Boswell, with assistance from ballistics wound expert Pierre A. Finck; Humes led the procedure. Under pressure from the Kennedy family and White House staffers to expedite
8740-402: The original film has been missing since 1978. Previously unknown footage filmed by George Jefferies was released in 2007. Recorded a few blocks before the shooting, the film captures Kennedy's bunched suit jacket, explaining the discrepancies between the location of the bullet hole in Kennedy's back and his jacket . Some films and photographs captured an unidentified woman apparently filming
8855-430: The original film in 1968. The courtroom showings of Garrison's copy in 1969 were the first time it had been shown in public as a film. Garrison allowed copies of the film to be made and these low quality copies began circulating among assassination researchers and were known to many journalists as well. Zapruder's film was aired as part of a Los Angeles area television newscast on February 14, 1969. The first broadcast of
8970-430: The original rendition of the film, but are present in the first-generation copies. In 1966, assassination researcher Josiah Thompson , while working for Life , was brought in to examine a first-generation copy of the film and a set of color 35mm slides made from the original. He tried negotiating with Life for the rights to print important individual frames in his book Six Seconds in Dallas . Life refused to approve
9085-412: The personnel from the two teams normally worked together on a daily basis. When Horne showed his findings and evidence to Brugioni, the latter re-examined a copy of the extant Zapruder film, provided by Horne. Brugioni then stated the Zapruder film in the National Archives today, and available to the public, specifically frame 313, is an altered version of the film he saw and worked with on November 23–24,
9200-483: The photo was extremely blurry and "virtually useless" and indicated that the woman likely went home without anyone recording her identity. After suggesting that the woman in the story may have been the Babushka Lady, Mack then told the Board: "I do not believe that Beverly Oliver is the Babushka Lady, or, let me rephrase that, she certainly could be but the rest of the story is a fabrication." Also appearing that same day before
9315-479: The presidential motorcade in view. Holland and Rush suggest that the pause could have had great significance for the interpretation of the assassination. One of the sources of controversy with the Warren Report is its difficulty in satisfactorily accounting for the sequencing of the assassination. A specific mystery concerns what happened to the one shot that missed, and how Lee Harvey Oswald came to miss at what
9430-431: The procedure, the physicians conducted a "rushed" and incomplete autopsy. Kennedy's personal physician, Rear Admiral George Burkley, signed a death certificate on November 23 and recorded that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the skull. Three years after the autopsy, Kennedy's brain—which had been removed and preserved for later analysis—was found to be missing when the Kennedy family transferred material to
9545-478: The questioning and kept only rudimentary notes. Days later, Fritz wrote a report of the interrogation from notes he made afterwards. There were no stenographic or tape recordings. Representatives of other law enforcement agencies were also present, including the FBI and the Secret Service, and occasionally participated in the questioning. Several of the FBI agents who were present wrote contemporaneous reports of
9660-440: The scene. Bowers testified to the Warren Commission that "one or two" men were between him and the fence during the assassination: one was a familiar parking lot attendant and the other wore a uniform like a county courthouse custodian. He testified seeing "some commotion" on the grassy knoll at the time of the assassination: "something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which
9775-402: The set of briefing boards available to the public in the National Archives is not the set that he and his team produced on November 23–24, 1963. The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza denies that the Zapruder film has been altered, or that any of the frames are missing from the film. Kodak engineer Ronald Zavada ran experiments with the film Abraham Zapruder used and concluded that the film
9890-434: The shooting had already taken place and most of her surrounding witnesses took cover, she can be seen still standing with the camera at her face. After the shooting, she crossed Elm Street and joined the crowd that went up the grassy knoll . She is last seen in photographs walking east on Elm Street. Neither she, nor the film she may have taken, have ever been positively identified. Her first appearance on film chronologically
10005-428: The sound as that of a rifle and turned his head and torso rightward, noting nothing unusual behind him. He testified that he could not see Kennedy, so he started to turn forward again (turning from his right to his left), and that when his head was facing about 20 degrees left of center, he was struck in his upper right back by a shot he did not hear, then shouted, "My God. They're going to kill us all!" According to
10120-465: The spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself, without considering any reason for doing so. Initially, Ruby wished to represent himself in his trial until his lawyer Melvin Belli dissuaded him: Belli argued that Ruby had an episode of psychomotor epilepsy and was thus not responsible. Ruby was convicted, but the decision was overturned on appeal . While awaiting retrial in 1967, Ruby died of
10235-472: The street, and ran forward to board the limousine and protect Kennedy. Hill stated that he heard the fatal headshot as he reached the Lincoln, "approximately five seconds" after the first shot that he heard. After the headshot, Mrs. Kennedy began climbing onto the limousine's trunk, but she later had no recollection of doing so. Hill believed she may have been reaching for a piece of Kennedy's skull. He jumped onto
10350-520: The time of Kennedy's assassination, the murder of a president was not under federal jurisdiction . Accordingly, Dallas County medical examiner Earl Rose insisted that Texas law required him to perform an autopsy. A heated exchange between Kennedy's aides and Dallas officials nearly erupted into a fistfight before the Texans yielded and allowed Kennedy's body to be transported to Air Force One. At 2:38 p.m., with Jacqueline Kennedy at his side, Johnson
10465-480: The triple underpass. Nine months later, the FBI removed the curb, and spectrographic analysis revealed metallic residue consistent with the lead core in Oswald's ammunition. Tague testified before the Warren Commission and initially stated that he was wounded by either the second or third shot of the three shots that he remembered hearing. When the commission counsel pressed him to be more specific, Tague testified that he
10580-431: The use of any of the frames, even after Thompson offered to give all profits from the book sales to Life. Following its publishing in 1967, Thompson's book featured some very detailed charcoal drawings of important individual frames, plus photo reproductions of the four missing ones. Time Inc. filed a lawsuit against Thompson and his publishing company for copyright infringement . A U.S. District Court ruled in 1968 that
10695-554: The witnesses recalled hearing three shots. The Warren Commission concluded that three shots were fired and noted that most witnesses recalled that the second and third shots were bunched together. Shortly after Kennedy began waving, some witnesses heard the first gunshot, but few in the crowd or motorcade reacted, many interpreting the sound as a firecracker or backfire . Within one second of each other, Governor Connally and Mrs. Kennedy turned abruptly from their left to their right. Connally—an experienced hunter—immediately recognized
10810-499: The wrist at the inner side of his right palm and finally lodged in his left thigh. As the limousine passed the grassy knoll , Kennedy was struck a second time, by a fatal shot to the head. The Warren Commission made no finding as to whether this was the second or third bullet fired, and concluded—as did the HSCA—that the second shot to strike Kennedy entered the rear of his head. It then passed in fragments through his skull, creating
10925-429: Was "a high probability that two gunmen fired at [the] President". The HSCA's conclusions were largely based on a police Dictabelt recording later debunked by the U.S. Justice Department . Kennedy's assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned many conspiracy theories and alternative scenarios; polls found that a vast majority of Americans believed there was a conspiracy. The assassination left
11040-468: Was acquitted. Subsequent federal investigations—such as the Rockefeller Commission and Church Committee —agreed with the Warren Commission's general findings. In its 1979 report, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that Kennedy was likely " assassinated as a result of a conspiracy ". The HSCA did not identify possible conspirators, but concluded that there
11155-502: Was administered the oath of office by federal judge Sarah Tilghman Hughes aboard Air Force One, shortly before departing for Washington with Kennedy's coffin. Where bungled autopsies are concerned, President Kennedy's is the exemplar. — Dr. Michael Baden , chairman of the forensic pathology panel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations President Kennedy's autopsy was performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland on
11270-489: Was assumed to be close range. Holland and Rush argue that the break in the Zapruder film might conceal a first shot earlier than analysts have hitherto assumed, and point out that in this case, a horizontal traffic mast would temporarily have obstructed Oswald's view of his target. In the authors' words, "The film, we realize, does not depict an assassination about to commence. It shows one that had already started." The evidence offered by Holland and Rush to support their theory
11385-472: Was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. An eternal flame was lit at his burial site in 1967. On Sunday, November 24, at 11:21 a.m., as Oswald was being escorted to a car in the basement of Dallas Police headquarters for the transfer from the city jail to the county jail, he was shot by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby . The shooting was broadcast live on television. Robert H. Jackson of
11500-581: Was challenged in a series of 2007–08 articles by computer animator Dale K. Myers and assassination researcher Todd W. Vaughan, who defended the prevailing belief that Zapruder's film captured the entire shooting sequence. The authenticity of the image in frame 313 was challenged by Douglas Horne, Senior Analyst for the Assassination Records Review Board and Dino Brugioni of the CIA 's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC). Brugioni
11615-443: Was considered the world's foremost imagery intelligence analyst until his death in 2015. Horne discovered the NPIC worked on two different versions of the Zapruder film on Saturday and Sunday nights immediately following the assassination, which had occurred on Friday. The work was done by separate teams that had been compartmentalized and ordered not to speak of their work, causing the teams not to know about each other, even though
11730-506: Was court-martialed twice and demoted. In September 1959, he received a dependency discharge after claiming his mother was disabled. A 19-year-old Oswald sailed on a freighter from New Orleans to France and then traveled to Finland, where he was issued a Soviet visa. Oswald defected to the Soviet Union, and in January 1960 he was sent to work at a factory in Minsk , Belarus. In 1961, he met and married Marina Prusakova , with whom he had
11845-544: Was fabricated". At the Dallas Police headquarters, officers interrogated Oswald about the shootings of Kennedy and Tippit; these intermittent interviews lasted for approximately 12 hours between 2:30 p.m. on November 22 and 11 a.m. on November 24. Throughout, Oswald denied any involvement and resorted to statements that were found to be false. Captain J. W. Fritz of the Homicide and Robbery Bureau did most of
11960-792: Was first agreed upon by Kennedy, Johnson, and Connally during a meeting in El Paso in June. The motorcade route was finalized on November 18 and announced soon thereafter. Kennedy also viewed the Texas trip as an informal launch of his 1964 reelection campaign . Lee Harvey Oswald (born 1939) was a former U.S. Marine who had served in Japan and the Philippines and had espoused communist beliefs since reading Karl Marx aged 14. After accidentally shooting his elbow with an unauthorized handgun and fighting an officer, Oswald
12075-479: Was hastily sworn in as president two hours and eight minutes later aboard Air Force One at Dallas Love Field . After the assassination, Oswald returned home to retrieve a pistol; he shot and killed lone Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit shortly afterwards. Around 70 minutes after Kennedy and Connally were shot, Oswald was apprehended by the Dallas Police Department and charged under Texas state law with
12190-940: Was impossible. After Parkland surgeons performed futile cardiac massage , Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m., 30 minutes after the shooting. CBS host Walter Cronkite broke the news on live television. The Secret Service was concerned about the possibility of a larger plot and urged Johnson to leave Dallas and return to the White House , but Johnson refused to do so without any proof of Kennedy's death. Johnson returned to Air Force One around 1:30 p.m., and shortly thereafter, he received telephone calls from advisors McGeorge Bundy and Walter Jenkins advising him to depart for Washington, D.C., immediately. He replied that he would not leave Dallas without Jacqueline Kennedy and that she would not leave without Kennedy's body. According to Esquire , Johnson did "not want to be remembered as an abandoner of beautiful widows". At
12305-442: Was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline , Texas governor John Connally , and Connally's wife Nellie , when he was fatally shot from the nearby Texas School Book Depository by Lee Harvey Oswald , a former U.S. Marine . The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital , where Kennedy was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting; Connally was also wounded in the attack but recovered. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson
12420-444: Was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason which I could not identify". At 12:36 p.m., teenager Amos Euins approached Dallas police Sergeant D.V. Harkness to report having seen a " colored man ... leaning out of the window [with] a rifle" on the sixth floor of the Depository during the assassination; in response, Harkness radioed that he was sealing off the Depository. Witness Howard Brennan then approached
12535-410: Was overturned on appeal, and Ruby died in prison in 1967 while awaiting a new trial. After a 10-month investigation, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald assassinated Kennedy, and that there was no evidence that either Oswald or Ruby was part of a conspiracy. In 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison brought the only trial for Kennedy's murder , against businessman Clay Shaw ; Shaw
12650-457: Was seen to be holding a camera by eyewitnesses and was also seen in film accounts of the assassination. She was observed standing on the grass between Elm and Main streets, standing amongst onlookers in front of the Dallas County Building, and is visible in the Zapruder film as well as in the films of Orville Nix , Marie Muchmore , and Mark Bell 44 minutes and 47 seconds into the Bell film: even though
12765-500: Was sitting behind her, "Mr. President, they can't make you believe now that there are not some in Dallas who love and appreciate you, can they?" Kennedy's reply – "No, they sure can't" – were his last words. From Houston Street, the limousine made the planned left turn onto Elm, passing the Texas School Book Depository. As it continued down Elm Street, multiple shots were fired: about 80% of
12880-399: Was the first to report on the footage on national television after seeing it. The inaccuracies in his description contributed to many conspiracy theories about the assassination. In his 2001 book Tell Me a Story , CBS producer Don Hewitt said that he told Rather to go to Zapruder's home to "sock him in the jaw", take the film, copy it, then return it and let the network's lawyers deal with
12995-579: Was the lone assassin. In 1994, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Abraham Zapruder stood on a concrete pedestal along Elm Street in Dealey Plaza holding a Model 414 PD Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Camera. He filmed from the time the presidential limousine turned onto Elm Street for
13110-542: Was then carried on a horse -drawn caisson to the Capitol to lie in state. Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined up to view the guarded casket, with a quarter million passing through the rotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state. Even in the Soviet Union—according to a memo by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover —news of the assassination "was greeted by great shock and consternation and church bells were tolled in
13225-417: Was wounded by the second shot. As the motorcade left Dealey Plaza, some witnesses sought cover, and others joined police officers to run up the grassy knoll in search of a shooter. No shooter was found behind the knoll's picket fence. Among the 178 witnesses who testified to the Warren Commission, 78 were unsure of the shots' origin, 49 believed they came from the Depository, and 21 thought they came from
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