Josiah Thompson was headed for a dull career as a college philosophy professor when he took an interest in the assassination of JFK.
Read moreTag Archive for Zapruder Film
Bob Dylans’ ‘Murder Most Foul’
From America’s greatest living poet, a low-key rumination on the meaning of November 22, 1963.
Dylan joins Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Charles DeGaulle, Fidel Castro and a majority of Americans in believing JFK was killed by political enemies.
Or you can listen to the warbling of Chris Matthews.
Dylan illuminates two things brilliantly, I think:
Comparing the Zapruder and Nix films
Cranor’s question: Where is the Zapruder frame equivalent to this Nix frame?
I’ve always been skeptical of the theory Abraham Zapruder’s home movie of JFK’s assassination has been altered. Doug Horne’s groundbreaking interview with CIA photo analyst Dino Brugioni convinced me it was possible the film was altered en route to Washington on the weekend of November 22-24, 1963, but I did not find proof it had been altered.
In this interesting piece for WhoWhatWhy Millicent Cranor addresses the obvious issues: if the Z-film was altered, other photography at the crime scene should contain images not found on the Z-film. Her findings surprised me. Read more
RIP Dick Gregory, the man who brought the Zapruder film to national TV
The late comedian provided one immense service his country. In 1975, Dick Gregory, along with Robert Groden, enabled the American people to see the assassination of President Kennedy for the first time. The broadcast prompted the U.S. Congress to reopen the investigation of the assassination.
When was the Zapruder film first shown to the American people?
In the Age of Viral Video, it is hard to believe but it is true: Abraham Zapruder’s home movie of JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963 was not shown to the American people for twelve years after it was first taken.
Alexandra Zapruder on NPR
Her comment made me wonder what she (and Robert Sigal) think her grandfather’s film shows:
In contrast to the findings of the Warren Report, there are many people who look at the film and believe that it shows evidence that the president was shot from the front.
Source: No Stranger To Conspiracy Theories, Alexandra Zapruder On How They Take Hold : NPR
JFK activist Robert Groden talks about the authenticity of the Zapruder film
Robert Groden, the JFK whistleblower who brought Abraham Zapruder’s home movie of JFK’s assassination to a national audience for the first time, spoke this week with Jeff Schechtman of WhoWhatWhy.
Groden injected some common sense into a some foolish side issue in JFK discussions. Like Alexandra Zapruder, author of a recent book on her grandfather’s film, Groden emphasizes what matters is the evidence on the film, not speculation about its handling.
“We’ve gotten to the point now where defenders of the Warren Commission and attackers on both sides are saying the Zapruder film was fake. No, it wasn’t fake,” Groden said.
On JFK, Joyce Carol Oates blames the victim
In an essay for The Washington Post, prolific novelist Joyce Carol Oates opines that the real problem in the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy was not the government’s implausible and mendacious account of the crime but the confused and outraged response of the American majority that could not–and does not–believe it.
RFK: CIA director said two people involved in JFK shooting
“I asked him [RFK], perhaps tactlessly, about Oswald. He said that there could be no serious doubt that he was guilty, but there was still argument whether he did it by himself or as part of a larger plot, whether organized by Castro or by gangsters. He said that the FBI thought he had done it by himself, but that McCone thought there were two people involved in the shooting.”
— Arthur Schlesinger writing about a conversation with Robert Kennedy on Dec. 5, 1963, quoted in Schlesinger’s Journals: 1952-2000, p. 214.
Unfortunately, Dana Milbank has gone ‘full Grassy Knoll’
Dana Milbank, pundit
This morning I was swimming in the warm liberal bath that is the daily Washington Post. I was thoroughly enjoying Dana Milbank’s take down of Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity. Milbank was demolishing Hannity’s foolish claim that fellow gasbag Glenn Beck could “go to jail” for criticizing former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. (One of the few pleasures of the 2016 presidential campaign is watching these jackasses bicker among themselves.)
Milbank quoted Beck’s unusually astute interpretation of the 1rst Amendment.
“That’s my point,” Beck replied, adding: “Donald Trump has people chanting, ‘Put them in jail, put them in jail,’ about the press. When is someone’s opinion on a public figure something that is jail-worthy and not First Amendment protected?”
“Such a question,” Milbank went on, “might have troubled Hannity during those occasions when he fancied himself a journalist over the years. Instead, he has gone full Grassy Knoll, in a manner reminiscent of Beck…”
Comment of the week
Bill Simpich – February 20, 2015
That’s the Al Bogard story – the entire saga of the Lincoln-Mercury dealership near Dealey Plaza is one of the best double Oswald stories, a “great impersonation” if there ever was one. His story is well corroborated.
Jack Lawrence worked there too – Read more
Top CIA photoanalyst talks about the Zapruder film
From Shane O’Sullivan, director of the excellent documentary, Killing Oswald,
Dec 6 1963: Life magazine addresses JFK “rumors” with bad reporting
The national media, much less diverse and fragmented in 1963 than today, joined the campaign to assuage doubts and dispel “rumors” about JFK’s assassination. Pollsters were already finding that a majority of Americans suspected conspiracy. Life Magazine’s Dec. 6 issue was devoted primarily to photo coverage of the Kennedy funeral, but also included a piece by Paul Mandel entitled “End to Nagging Rumors: The Six Critical Seconds.”
The article began with a quote from Dallas DA Henry Wade: “I would say without any doubt that he is the killer”, and referred to Oswald as “the assassin.”
Life Magazine had earlier purchased rights to Abraham Zapruder’s famous home movie of the murder in Dealey Plaza, and in a November 29 issue had shown frames from that film in black-and-white. Now the Mandel article tried to reconcile the film with Oswald’s guilt.
Read more
Director Alex Cox screens the Zapruder film
Alex Cox, the creative cinematic mind who gave us “Repo Man” and “Sid and Nancy,” offers his reflections on the saddest, shortest movie ever, the Zapruder film. He relies on Doug Horne’s original research. (H/T Tad) Read more
Max Holland reinterprets the Zapruder film
“What more can possibly said about the Zapruder film?” asks historian Max Holland in this May 7 talk at the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas. His answer: the first gunshot was fired before Abraham Zapruder began filming. He argues that the shooting took place over 11 seconds, meaning Lee Oswald had plenty of time to fire the fatal shot.
