The moment Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder filmed President John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, etched a stark frame in American history. As the president and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy smiled and waved to the crowd, Zapruder unknowingly turned his camera lens onto a pivotal moment.
Zapruder's footage not only captured the assassination but also became a cornerstone of historical and legal analyses.
Abraham Zapruder, positioned at a strategic location along the president's parade route in Dallas, had intended merely to film a jubilant occasion. Instead, his camera recorded the harrowing moments of Kennedy's assassination as the presidential motorcade passed by.
As the footage rolled, it captured the initial moments of cheer followed by the chaos of the gunshots. Zapruder, deeply shaken by the event, would later recount the immediate impact it had on him.
The film vividly depicts President Kennedy initially reacting to a first shot by leaning toward Jacqueline. A subsequent, fatal shot then visibly impacts the president, a moment Zapruder described in chilling detail during his interview with radio journalist Marvin Scott in 1966.
Three years after the assassination, Zapruder shared his traumatic experience with Scott. The interview, a rich artifact of historical sentiment, took place four years before Zapruder's passing.
"Jacqueline and the president are waving," recounted Zapruder. "As he came in line with my camera, I heard a shot. I saw the president lean over to Jacqueline. Then the second shot came. And then I realized I saw his head open up, and I started yelling, 'They killed him. They killed him.' And I continued shooting until he went under the underpass."
His words not only documented the realism of his footage but also encapsulated the shock and sudden grief that gripped him and the nation.
For years, the Zapruder film was held closely by "Life" magazine, which had secured its rights shortly after the assassination. While still images from the film were published, it was not until April 1975 that the American public would see the film in motion. Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera aired the film during his ABC show, "Good Night, America," accepting personal legal responsibility for its one-time airing.
"I ultimately had to sign a document with ABC, my network, wherein I accepted personal responsibility for the onetime-only airing of the Zapruder film. And we put it on, and it launched an industry," Rivera explained about the decision to air the footage, acknowledging its profound impact.
Rivera’s broadcast not only unveiled the graphic reality of the assassination to a wider audience but also sparked further public discourse and conspiracy theories surrounding the events of that day in Dallas.
In his 1966 interview, Zapruder also touched upon the controversy of a potential second shooter, a speculation fueled by countless conspiracy theories. He expressed skepticism, noting, "I would have heard shots coming from the location, which was about 30 feet behind me."
This statement from Zapruder provided a unique perspective, given his proximity to the event, and added an important voice to the ongoing debates about the assassination’s circumstances.
Years later, the significance of Zapruder's film and his account continue to serve as crucial elements in understanding the complexity of Kennedy's assassination. His observations have been invaluable in piecing together the sequence of events that unfolded that tragic day.
Understanding the historical significance of his interview, radio journalist Marvin Scott donated the original tape of his 1966 interview with Zapruder to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. This gesture ensured that Zapruder's verbal account will preserve the personal and emotional context of the footage for future generations.
"It’s left in my mind like a wound that heals up, but yet there’s a pain left," Zapruder shared with Scott, metaphorically describing the lasting emotional scar the filming of the assassination had imprinted on him.
Abraham Zapruder, inadvertently caught in the whirlwind of a national tragedy, managed to provide one of the few unfiltered lenses into one of the most unforgettable days in American history. His film and its subsequent voyages through American consciousness underscore not only the personal impact of JFK’s assassination but also the broader societal reverberations felt for decades.