Who Killed JFK?

NY Daily News ^ | 11.13.2003 | Stephen Battaglio

[NYC GOP Chick]

Who killed JFK?

40 years later, it's still TV's biggest murder mystery

By STEPHEN BATTAGLIO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

John F. Kennedy

JFK and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, arriving at Love Field, Dallas, on Nov. 22, 1963, met well-wishers.

Fateful moment: Texas Gov. John Connally in front of President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy

View from an ABC computer simulation of the assassination.

Bearer of bad news: A grim-faced Walter Cronkite told Americans their President had been shot and killed.

Forget about "CSI" and "Law & Order." TV is rolling out a series of prime-time specials next week about the most compelling murder mystery of our time.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, ABC, Court TV and Fox News Channel will air new investigations into whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

The networks will use modern forensic science techniques to examine what really happened in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, when shots rang out and hit Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally as they traveled in a motorcade with their wives.

All of the shows will focus on the controversial "single bullet theory," which says that one shot from the rifle of Oswald could have passed through Kennedy and caused multiple wounds to Connally.

Skepticism about this theory — which had been ridiculed in everything from the Oliver Stone movie "JFK" to an episode of "Seinfeld" — has long been the main source of speculation that Oswald did not act alone.

Adding to the mystery are the mistakes made in Kennedy's autopsy and careless handling of evidence.

The Fox show points out, for instance, how Connally's wife sent the suit he was wearing on the day of the assassination to the dry cleaners, making it useless in later investigations.

To deal with the lingering doubts, the networks have brought in their own experts to look at the 40-year-old murder.

ABC hired Dale Myers, a computer animator and assassination authority, for a digital model of the murder scene based on the Zapruder film, the home movie that is the only visual documentation of the shooting.

The network had it analyzed by forensics experts who also investigated the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Fox and Court TV used similar re-creations.

"It's not just a computer animation based on a guess," said ABC News executive producer Tom Yellin. "It's a very precisely drawn piece of work that has the power of evidence that you can use in court."

Based on exhaustive looks at the trajectories of the bullets that hit Kennedy and Connally, Oswald's status as the lone gunman appears to be safe, according to the findings.

The programs also have acoustic experts examining the police audiotape that produced theories about a fourth shot, fired from the infamous grassy knoll, in addition to the three that came from the Texas School Book Depository, where police found a weapon with Oswald's prints.

"Somebody may have fired from the grassy knoll who missed," said Ed Hersh, senior vice president for Court TV. "But there is no evidence to prove that."

ABC's special investigates the conspiracy theories as well.

Anchor Peter Jennings' team has interviewed 70 people, ranging from the rabbi of Oswald's killer, Jack Ruby, to the KGB agent who watched Oswald during his stay in the Soviet Union.

Was the Mafia involved? Fidel Castro? The CIA?

Jennings, who was in Dallas as a young Canadian TV reporter that weekend, promises that every scenario raised over the years will be addressed.

"Unless you are an absolutely unre-quited conspiracist, our program will answer all of the conspiracy theories," he said.

But no one believes the anniversary will close the book on that tragic weekend.

"It's hard to recognize that a guy like Oswald, whose life is filled with failure, shot him," said ABC's Yellin. "It's too insubstantial a reason for this to happen."

Viewers will also be able to immerse themselves in hours of Kennedy programming on CNN, PBS, Bravo, MSNBC and the History Channel.

Among the sights: the now-eerie scenes of crowds cheering the Kennedys as they arrived in Dallas, the live footage of Ruby killing Oswald, tiny John-John saluting his father's horse-drawn casket and more.

When MSNBC's Chris Matthews sat down with more than two dozen public figures, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Jay Leno, for his special, "JFK: The Day That Changed America," he found that every one of them could offer personal recollections of that day.

"It's the first time that everyone sat at their television set and watched a real-life, real-time tragedy play out," says Tamara Haddad, executive producer of Matthews' special.

"It's not just that JFK was killed. It's that his murderer was killed right on TV, followed by a dramatic and heart-wrenching funeral with a young widow and young children.

"You sat there and watched because you didn't know what was going to happen next."

The men the story made

A President died, but TV news stars were born on Nov. 22, 1963.

"I think it's kind of like at the rodeo — you can't win the bronco-riding unless the horse bucks," said Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and host of "Face the Nation."

"One thing a reporter needs is a good story."

Schieffer was a police reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when a woman called the news desk asking for a ride to Dallas. He told her she wasn't calling a taxi service.

Then the woman said she was Lee Harvey Oswald's mother. Schieffer picked her up himself and scored an exclusive interview.

He joined CBS four years later.

Others whose careers took off after covering the tragedy:

• Dan Rather, the New Orleans bureau chief for CBS, covered JFK's Dallas visit. He went on to succeed "CBS Evening News" anchor Walter Cronkite, who had tearfully informed the nation that Kennedy was dead.

• Robert MacNeil was an NBC correspondent covering the President. He became founding anchor of "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour" for PBS.

• Jim Lehrer, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News in 1963, is now lead anchor of the "NewsHour."

• Ike Pappas was a WNEW radio reporter who witnessed Jack Ruby shooting Oswald. He joined CBS News, where he was a high-profile correspondent for 25 years.

• Peter Jennings was in a Toronto airport when he heard the news. He hopped on a plane to Dallas, against the wishes of his bosses at a Canadian TV station. Two years later, he joined ABC, where he has anchored "World News Tonight" for the last 20 years.

  Stephen Battaglio

  Profiles in coverage: TV's week of JFK

• "President Kennedy Has Been Shot" Sunday, 8 p.m., CNN. Journalists reflect on how they covered the assassination.

• "A Presidency Revealed" Sunday, 8 p.m., History Channel. A three-hour documentary that analyzes Kennedy's thousand days in office with new interviews of many participants.

• "JFK: Case Not Closed" Sunday, 9 p.m., Fox News Channel. This investigation, with Greta Van Susteren, is not for the squeamish — it shows gruesome autopsy photos of Kennedy.

• "JFK: The Day That Changed America" Monday,9 p.m., MSNBC. Chris Matthews interviews figures from business, entertainment, sports and politics about where they were when they heard the news.

• "The JFK Assassination: Investigation Reopened" Wednesday, 9 p.m., Court TV. The network's popular "Forensic Files" series uses state-of-the-art crime-solving techniques to support the single-bullet theory.

• "JFK: Breaking the News" Wednesday, 10 p.m., Ch. 13. Using little-seen footage from Dallas TV stations, Jane Pauley narrates this look at how coverage of the assassination changed the way Americans got their news.

• "Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination — Beyond Conspiracy" Nov. 20, 9 p.m., Ch. 7. ABC News promises an exhaustive examination of the assassination and the many conspiracy theories.

• "The Kennedy Tapes Revealed" Nov. 21, 8 p.m., Bravo. For the first time, viewers will hear audiotapes of Robert F. Kennedy reflecting on his brother's administration made in the years after the assassination.

• "Unrivaled Access: The JFK Films by Robert Drew" Nov. 22, 8:30 a.m., History Channel. Four classic documentaries from Drew, a pioneer in cinéma vérité, that include behind-the-scenes looks at the Kennedy White House and "Faces of November," which captured reactions to JFK's funeral.
  

[veronica]

Dear God. Here come the conspiracy freaks. If Oswald was "just a patsy," OJ was too.

[Explorer89]

When MSNBC's Chris Matthews sat down with more than two dozen public figures, including Sen. Hillary Clinton,.... he found that every one of them could offer personal recollections of that day.

Errr, so what? I bet my parents have personal recollections of that day as well. Just like I have personal recollections of 9/11. I am so sick of that woman.

[billorites]

I was rehearsing for our 3rd grade Thanksgiving pageant when the story broke.I was dressed up as William Bradford and had just said, "Greetings to you, Squanto. Greetings to you, Samoset."

Then the teacher hustled us back to homeroom where the principal spoke for about half an hour over the intercom.

I remember listening to him while staring at the Pilgrim buckles my mother had made for my shoes.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

What did we do ? What sin did we commit to deserve the Clintons ?

[freekitty]

They just won't quit. Of course, it will be their viewpoint.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I know a guy who was a radio reporter for a St. Louis radio station when Kennedy was killed. He was hanging around the back of the jail looking for stories from the jailers when suddenly, up come the guards with Oswald. He claims he didn't have the first clue that Oswald would be coming out that door, and was forever mystified as to how Ruby happened to be so lucky as to be there.

[hchutch]

Gerald Posner did a great book on the shooting, Case Closed.

[Doctor Stochastic]

"It's hard to recognize that a guy like Oswald, whose life is filled with failure, shot him," said ABC's Yellin. "It's too insubstantial a reason for this to happen."

Did Yellin expect someone of the stature of Charles Guiteau? Or Squeaky Fromme? Or Gavrilo Princip? Or Leon Czolgosz?

More Information

[veronica]

Ruby was a notorious "cop/crime junkie." He hung around the police station and was well-known to all the cops. He had access. There are people like that.

[veronica]

Gerald Posner did a great book on the shooting, Case Closed.

Yup. A superb book.

[Richard Kimball]

"It's not just a computer animation based on a guess," said ABC News executive producer Tom Yellin. "It's a very precisely drawn piece of work that has the power of evidence that you can use in court."

Considering what happened in Galveston recently, I wouldn't call this a ringing endorsement.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Thats true - some people just love hanging around courthouses.

[veronica]

WhoWas Jack Ruby? (Texas Monthly)

"Cops and newspapermen, that's who Ruby wanted in his place. Dallas cops drank there regularly, and none of them ever paid for a drink."

[Redwood71]

It never fails to amaze me that someone wants to get some TV air time so they bring something like this back into the public eye. If it isn't this, it's the Titanic, or the Haulocost, or Vietnam, or the depression, or any other difficult time in our history so they can re-hash it and find out they don't know what they have and won't tell all the evidense they can. It is almost impossible for Oswald to have done what he supposedly did, and it is impossible for him to have accomplished the head shot that actually killed Kennedy. And the funny thing is, the evidense is so overwhelming, and out in the public, that the people can't see the forest for the trees. Conspiricy, naw. Just an assasination. It was done to mob kingpins, and it was done to JFK. What's the surprise?

[Jhensy]

Peter Jennings was in a Toronto airport when he heard the news. He hopped on a plane to Dallas, against the wishes of his bosses at a Canadian TV station. Two years later, he joined ABC...

BIG SH*T.

[veronica]

WHY is it impossible?

Oswald bought the gun. There are pictures of him with the gun. He brought it to work that day, (the guy he rode to work with saw it, wrapped in a blanket.) He worked in the building. He was seen coming out of the building after the murder.

Oswald took off his wedding ring and left it at home that day too btw.

It would have been an airtight case if it had gone to trial.

[MHT]

I'm reading Posner's new one "Why America Slept" and it's putting me to sleep.

[N. Theknow]

What did we do ? What sin did we commit to deserve the Clintons ?

The same one that gave us the Kennedys.

I personally would like to go back in time to eliminate Oswald and Sirhan so they could not kill either of the Kennedys, elevate them to saint-hood and condemn us to a never-ending onslaught of how wonderful are all things Kennedy.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Sainthood. Isn't that what Jimmah Cartah is running for now ?

[Little Ray]

Jacky killed him. He shouldn't have been playing around on her. What a babe!

[xp38]

The Kennedy assassination and the conspiracy theories long ago entered the realm of leftist mythology. A perfect example was the Oliver Stone movie. Every rehash keeps the eternal flame burning for the dims. I noted that in time the Florida recount fiasco from the 2000 election would become myth for them as well.

[Hildy]

It's still the biggest mystery because people don't want to believe that ONE person alone can change the course of history.

[jgoode]

Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK by himself PERIOD!

[exile]

It's obvious that his brother Ted killed him for hoggin' all the babes and booze.

[Consort]

JFK obviously committed suicide.

[aristeides]

Blood, Money & Power: How L. B. J. Killed J. F. K.. By the father of the White House Press Secretary.

[HIDEK6]

Yeah!

And who killed Chandra?

[jmc813]

I agree that there is overwhelming evidence against Oswald, but I really don't think that folks who believe that there were others involved as well as Oswald warrant the term "conspiracy freaks".

[DooDahhhh]

The sin is the stupidity of the domorats for getting suckered in by these freaks.

[Redwood71]

If you check the investigation, Oswald was a lousy shot. His army records support that. He also was working with a weapon that was almost impossible to cock and fire at the speed needed to take the shots that were accomplished even by trained experts in later tests. The angle of the trees hanging over kept that from hapening as JFK was supposedly shot through a brief opening in tree branches. The impact of the bullet that actually killed him, and took the front right side of his scalp with it, caused his head to fly up and to the left. Oswald was behind him. The shot would have had to take a greater than 45 depree angle left turn in the air to have struck JFK at that angle. The round that hit Gov. Connelly after it passed through the JFK's left shoulder came from an angle based on the other side of the street at the B of A building. The shot that passed through JFK's throat, and created a natural "trec," came from the front as two bullet holes were in the windshield of the limo, glass inside, and it was wisked away post downloading JFK. (I knew the doctor that was on the trip) Those came from the overpass in front of the limo on the opposite side of JFK from Oswald's position.

Don't be fooled by all the TV manure. Oswald didn't do it and Ruby was sent in there to get him by the people that did so no evidense of them could be uncovered. This is all public record. Nothing new here. And if you think Oswald accomplished the headshot, watch the Magruder tapes in slow-mo, you can see the direction of the scull flying away from the direction I said the shot came from.

Additionally, how come he was in Dallas with an vastly undersized CIA force and depending on Texas law support for security in such few numbers? How come there was a huge communications blackout in D.C. shortly before the shots? How did LBJ, the V.P, beat JFK to the hospital as he was waiting for him in emergency and they passed him on the way to the exam room? (There are still pictures) How come the coffin he was in on the flight to D.C., after pronouncement, was changed in the air and the head that had been cut almost in two was one piece for the autopsy at Bethesda?

Seems like a lot of loose ends doesn't it? I don't know for sure who killed him, but there are four possibles in my mind. Each one had a desire to see him gone, and all three had the capacity to get it done. You guess.

[texasbluebell]

.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

And only one had the ability to cover it up for 40 years.

They've just about finished dotting all the tees and crossing all the eyes.

[jgoode]

Dallas Police Chief Curry announced to the Press on saturday that they would transfer Oswald @ 10:00 am the next day (Sunday). So your friend must not have been much of a reporter if "he didn't have the first clue that Oswald would be coming out that door"? And didn't he wonder why there were dozens of reporters, TV cameras, and policemen crowded in the basement garage?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

According to him (and I was still in diapers when all this happened), the bulk of the reportage was at the main door. He also admits that this was his first job, and that he didn't know what he was doing.

[aristeides]

I wonder who would have gone to the trouble of fabricating the Zapruder film? The Great Zapruder Film Hoax: Deceit and Deception in the Death of JFK.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Well, you seem to suggest LBJ.

I know Texas is a big state, but I don't think it's that big.

[oyez]

We were in high school assembly when the news broke. Our principal was speachless for the first I could remember. We all first thought the Russians had something to do with it and feared a nuclear attack.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

My French teacher, who hated Kennedy, couldn't stop crying.

[Redwood71]

No, actually, all four of the ones I considered could, but I've narrowed it down to two and maybe assistance from the other two by either of my guesses.

Red

[Uncle Hal]

I have always thought that JFK was killed by Oswald and Oswald alone. It is possible somebody else was envoled or put him up to it. But I believe no body else pulled any triggers. My wife thinks I am nuts and others were there and knew about it and may have pulled triggers as well. It is certain they will be debating this without resolution long after my grandchildren's grandchildren are gone.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

At first glance, I thought this was a picture of Teddy Kennedy's car being pulled out of the water!

[HarleyD]

I would rather see an investigational movie on who killed Marilyn Monroe. But that will never happen.

[1Old Pro]

I'm waiting for the TV special: WHO KILLED MARY JO? TED KENNEDY OF COURSE"

[Churchillspirit]

If you believe the case is closed, please read "Best Evidence".

[dfwgator]

"I'm a Patsy, yeah yeah yeah."

[Clemenza]

Does anyone outside of California REALLY GIVE A DAMN about the Laci Peterson case? Here in New York, spouses kill eachother all the time. I wish Greta would SHUT HER PIEHOLE and talk about something else!