The Man Who Shot Kennedy (As Kennedy Was Being Shot)

There is a lot of coverage on JFK this month because of the milestone anniversary. I have had a fascination with this day because it also happens to be the day I was born, so I have felt a connection to this event most of my life. Relatives and friends have always reminded me that they knew exactly what they were doing on November 22, 1963.

 50 years ago a dressmaker filmed a twenty-six second "home-movie" that would make him a part of history. He would become the producer of a film valued at more money, per frame, than any film ever made. Home movie making was a hobby Abraham Zapruder enjoyed. to be able to record the activities of his small grandchildren, yet it would enable him to document what would become the most lasting image the world would have of one of the single most horrible and tragic moments in history. It would change how TV news would be reported. This blog is a brief look at Abraham Zapruder and the events of his day on November 22, 1963 and the historic Zapruder Film that almost never was.

Bell and Howell Model 414 PD

 Abraham Zapruder was born in Ukraine and migrated to New York, where as a boy he learned to cut patterns for clothing. In 1949, he turned that talent into a clothing business in Dallas called Jennifer Juniors and ran that business from a building across the street from the Texas schoolbook depository in downtown Dallas. Zapruder  purchased a Bell and Howell Zoomatic Director Series, 8MM Camera, Model 414 PD to be able to record the activities of his young grandchildren. This camera was one of the best quality "home-movie" cameras of the time.

Zapruder, an admirer of President Kennedy, considered bringing the camera to work with him on the morning of November 22 in order to get some footage of the presidential motorcade as it was scheduled to drive through Dallas that afternoon. That morning was gloomy and overcast, so he decided it wouldn't be worth the effort to bring the camera with him. As the day went on, the weather started to improve. His secretary, Lillian Rogers, urged "Mr. Z" as he was known to his employees, to return home for the camera, a fourteen mile round-trip he eventually decided to make.


At first, Zapruder thought he could get a good view of the president from near his office, but as he returned with the camera crowds had already started to gather. He set out with his receptionist, Marilyn Sitzman to find a better vantage point in Dealey Plaza and after trying a few places, he settled on a narrow piece of concrete near the overpass. The concrete was slightly elevated which allowed him a good view of the approaching motorcade, a view that would make him a witness to history.



The entire film only lasted a fraction over twenty-six seconds. The Bell and Howell Zoomatic, loaded with 8MM Kodachrome film took pictures at a rate of 18.3 frames per second and Zapruder had the camera fully wound as he anticipated the arrival of the president. The first 132 frames or seven seconds shows the lead motorcycles in the escort headed down Elm Street. Realizing that the president's limousine was not immediately behind the motorcycles, Zapruder stopped filming to conserve film. He would start filming again with the president's vehicle already turned onto Elm Street and would leave the camera running to capture another 354 frames and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Frame 313 captures the most graphic and fatal shot.

In 1963, newspaper and radio were the main and most respected sources for news and journalism. The TV equipment of the day was not very small or transportable and there were no TV cameras covering the event that day in Dallas. When the shots were fired at the president, news reporters and others with cameras were there on site. Out of instinct, some ducked and ran for cover.  Others were so shocked by the events transpiring in front of them that they stood watching motionless, neglecting to press the shutter of their own cameras. Other images were taken in Dealey Plaza that day, but none was as complete or taken from a better vantage point. Zapruder later testified  to the Warren Commission that he did not realize what was taking place in front of his own eyes until he witnessed the fatal and graphic shot that ended Kennedy's life.

Zapruder met with with Dallas Secret Service and not realizing the significance of the film, they left with only a promise for Zapruder to supply a copy at a later time. Zapruder's next stop was WFAA the local TV station. Their lab was only equipped to process 16MM newsreel film and because of that, missed out on the biggest exclusive in TV news history, but as he was an eyewitness, they agreed to interview Zapruder on the air just 90 minutes after the assassination. WFAA contacted a local branch of the Eastman Kodak company where an employee named Phil Chamberlain processed the film. One copy was sent to Secret Service Chief James Rowley in Washington D.C. and from that copy, some duplicates were made. The original film was returned to Zapruder.

The next morning Zapruder was approached by Life Magazine, where after viewing the film offered  $50, 000 for the printing rights with an agreement to not exploit the graphic nature of the images. Because of the magazine's reputation, Zapruder felt that Life would honor this promise - and they did. After viewing the film himself, Life publisher C.D. Jackson renegotiated motion picture rights for the film for six installments of $25, 000 - a total payment of $150, 000, or about a half-million in today's money. That agreement was made on the day of President Kennedy's funeral. Zapruder feared being labeled a profiteer at such a sensitive time, so his initial payment of $25, 000 was donated to the family of J.D. Tippit, the Dallas policeman killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

It would be years before the public would see the Zapruder film. Life magazine honored Zapruder's exploitation requests. They never sold the broadcast rights to the film. The first time it was seen by the public was in 1969 when subpoenaed for the Clay Shaw trial. It was shown on national TV on March 6, 1975 on Geraldo Rivera's "Good Night America" show.

Abraham Zapruder died from stomach cancer in 1970.

The rights and the original film were sold back to Zapruder's heirs in 1978 for the price of one dollar. They formed a company to manage rights and usage of the film and sold a portion of the film to Oliver Stone for use in the motion picture JFK for a reported $85, 000. This prompted congress to pass the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, allowing the government to seize all records of the assassination. There was a deal struck between the government and the Zapruder heirs resulting in a $16 million payment to the family. This works out to about $615, 384 per second or $33, 652 per frame of film. Today, the original film is stored at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland in a cold storage vault at 25 degrees Fahrenheit and 30 percent relative humidity for optimum preservation.

"We would like to live as we once lived, but history will nor permit it."   - John F. Kennedy   

The Zapruder film is the most studied and analyzed film ever. It is the most complete piece of forensic evidence of the Kennedy assassination. It is a graphic film of a man being murdered. It never helped to solve the crime. Frame 313 contains the image that troubled Zapruder the most. It is the image he wanted to keep from the public for many reasons, including respect for the Kennedy family. At that moment, in that frame, we are faced with the stark realization that even the most powerful man in the world is still a vulnerable target for a killer. We realize that even with such complete visual evidence, we can still doubt what we see with our own eyes.

Abraham Zapruder

Because of the time, technology and circumstance, there will never be an equivalent of another Zapruder film. To cover a live event in 1963, networks needed days of advanced planning to set up large equipment and satellites were not available to instantaneously transfer images. TV news coverage changed with the Kennedy assassination. Network executives knew that the events in Dealey plaza required providing images to their viewers. The standard practice at the time was simply having a newsman (there were no newswomen in 1963) read a script on camera.

Since Zapruder, history has been brought into our living rooms on a daily basis. We have seen images of war. We have seen the Space Shuttle explode right in front of our eyes. We have watched airplanes crash into the World Trade Center towers, and we watched as those towers fell. Now, when we hear of a news event the images are instantly available at our fingertips on our cellular devices, and can be used, as in Boston, to provide the needed information to solve a crime.

 It has been said that history never looks like history when you are living through it. Abraham Zapruder set out  on November 22, 1963 as a guy with a camera, and a hobby. He returned as an historic figure. Without his film we would all have a different image of what happened on that day. Abraham Zapruder spent the majority of his life running a clothing business, yet all of his work and all of his years are eclipsed by his twenty-six second movie, that without some urging from a co-worker, would have never been made.