Original subtitles

January, 1961.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and arms industry is new...

...in the American experience.

The total influence...

...economic, political, even spiritual...

...is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every government office.

We must guard against the acquisition...

...of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought...

...by the military-industrial complex.

We must never let the weight of this combination...

...endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

November, 1960.

Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts...

...wins one of the narrowest election victories in American history...

...over Vice President Richard Nixon by a little more than 100,000 votes.

Alongside his beautiful and elegant wife, Jacqueline Bouvier...

...Kennedy is the symbol of the new freedom of the 1960s...

...signifying change and upheaval to the American public.

"All men are created equal. "

Every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted...

...to the cause of freedom around the world.

Today, the proudest boast is:

"Ich bin ein Berliner! "

He inherits a secret war against the Communist Castro dictatorship in Cuba...

...a war run by the CIA and angry Cuban exiles.

Castro is a successful revolutionary...

...frightening to American business interests in Latin America.

This war culminates in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion...

...in April, 1961...

...when Kennedy refuses to provide air cover for the exiled Cuban brigade.

Kennedy takes public responsibility for the failure.

He privately claims the CIA lied to him...

...and tried to manipulate him into ordering an American invasion of Cuba.

In October, 1962...

...the world comes to the brink of nuclear war...

...when Kennedy quarantines Cuba...

...after announcing the presence of offensive Soviet nuclear missiles...

...90 miles off American shores.

Soviet ships with more missiles sail towards Cuba...

...but at the last moment they turn back.

The world breathes with relief.

In Washington, rumors abound that JFK has cut a secret deal...

...with Russian Premier Khrushchev...

...not to invade Cuba in return for a Russian withdrawal of missiles.

Suspicions abound that Kennedy is soft on communism.

Kennedy also finds himself embroiled in Laos and Vietnam.

We've got our difficulties there.

Unless a greater effort is made by the government...

...to win popular support, I don't think the war can be won there.

It's their war. They're the ones who have to win it or lose it.

Early that fateful summer...

...Kennedy speaks of his new vision at the American University.

What kind of peace do I mean?

What kind of peace do we seek?

Not a Pax Americana...

...enforced on the world by American weapons of war.

We must re-examine our own attitudes towards the Soviet Union.

Our most basic, common link...

...is that we all inhabit...

...this small planet.

We all breathe the same air.

We all cherish our children's futures.

And we are all mortal.

You fucking assholes!

Don't leave me here!

They've gone to Dallas.

Friday.

They're going to kill...

...Kennedy.

Call somebody.

Stop them.

These are serious fucking guys.

She's been high on something since they brought her in.

Help!

Please!

Here is a bulletin from CBS News.

In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired...

...at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.

The first reports say that President Kennedy...

...has been seriously wounded by the shooting.

What's wrong?

The President's been shot.

In Dallas. Five minutes ago.

Oh, no!

How bad?

No word. They think it's in the head.

Napoleon's has a TV set.

Three bullets were found. Gov. Connally also appeared to have been hit.

The President was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, four miles away.

We are told the bullet entered the base of the throat and came out the back...

...but there is no confirmation.

Blood transfusions are being given. A priest has administered the last rites.

There's still a chance.

Pull through, Jack.

From Dallas...

...the flash, apparently official:

President Kennedy died...

...at 1:00 p. m. Central Standard Time...

...2:00 Eastern Standard Time...

...some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Johnson has left the hospital.

Presumably he will take the oath of office shortly...

...and become the 36th President of the United States.

He did so much for this country, for colored people. Why?

Good-bye, you sorry bastard! Die!

Shut the fuck up!

I'm ashamed to be an American today.

The President of the United States is dead.

I just talked to Father Oscar Hubert of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

He told me...

...President Kennedy has been given the last rites.

Shortly after 12:30...

...near the park in downtown Dallas...

...the shots rang out.

The President is dead.

The bullets came up over our heads...

...from that fence up on the knoll.

I seen his face when it hit.

His ear blew off and he turned real white.

He flopped over on his stomach...

...with his foot sticking out.

None of us thought it could happen in America or any place else.

All this blubbering over that no-count son of a bitch!

They're bawling like they knew the man. Makes me want to puke.

For God's sake, the President was shot.

A bullshit President!

Nobody's crying for the thousands of Cubans...

...that bastard condemned to death and torture at Bay of Pigs.

Goddamn peace treaties!

I heard shots from over there.

- I heard shots from over there. - How many?

That's what happens when you let the niggers vote.

They get together with the Jews and the Catholics...

...and elect an Irish bleeding heart.

Chief, maybe you had too much to drink.

Bullshit!

Here's to the New Frontier.

Camelot in smithereens.

I'll drink to that.

Dallas police have just announced...

...they have a suspect in the killing of Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit...

...who was shot at 1:15 in Oak Cliff, a Dallas suburb.

Police say there could be a tie-in to the President's murder.

The suspect, identified as a Lee Harvey Oswald...

...was arrested by more than a dozen policemen...

...after a short scuffle at a movie theater in Oak Cliff.

Officer Tippit was killed...

...by a revolver which was found on Oswald.

Shoot the bastard!

Give him a medal for shooting Kennedy!

I don't know what I am charged with...

...but I emphatically deny these charges.

The kid must've gone nuts, right?

I said, Oswald must've flipped.

Right?

Just did this crazy thing before anybody could stop him.

I'm going. I've got to get home, Chief.

What are you talking about?

Who'd have ever thought...

...that goofy Oswald kid would pull a stunt like an assassination?

Goes to show you can never know about some people. Am I right, Jack?

Am I right, Jack?

Well, bless my soul.

All these years, I thought you were on my team.

Are you kidding?

I couldn't be more serious, Jack.

Your little red eyes have me wondering about your loyalty.

Look at that, Martin.

Who's been going through my files?

You've been looking through my files, you little weasel!

You're starting to get paranoid. Really!

You went through all my files!

You're a goddamn spy!

Why would I want to look through your files?

I've seen enough here this summer to write a book.

I always lock my files!

You're the only one here today.

What do you mean, you bastard?

You're going to write a book?

You know what I mean.

I've seen a lot of strange things here.

Strange people.

You didn't see a goddamn thing!

Not a goddamn thing!

The full name is Lee Harvey Oswald.

- Did you shoot the President? - I didn't shoot anybody.

They have taken me in because I have lived in the Soviet Union.

I'm just a patsy!

He sure looks like a creep.

I protested at that time I was not allowed legal representation...

...during that very short and sweet hearing.

I really don't know...

...what this situation is about.

Nobody has told me anything except that I am accused...

...of murdering a policeman.

I know nothing more than that.

I do request someone to come forward...

...to give me legal assistance.

Were you ever in the Free Cuba movement or whatever it's called?

It's the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

Why were you in Russia? What happened to your eye?

He seems pretty cool for a man under pressure.

A policeman hit me.

He gives me the willies.

Come on, sugarplums, it's past your bedtimes.

Mattie, honey, get a hold of yourself.

A fine man.

After a stint in the Marines...

...he became fascinated by communism. He is said to be a dedicated Marxist...

...and a fanatical supporter of Fidel Castro and ultra left-wing causes.

He spent last summer in New Orleans and was arrested...

...in a brawl with anti-Castro Cuban exiles.

Lou? Sorry to disturb you this late.

Matter of routine. Get on this Oswald connection in New Orleans.

Check out his record. Find any friends or associates from last summer.

Let's meet with the investigators day after tomorrow.

On Sunday?

Sunday. 11:00.

Thanks, Lou.

I would say that he is the killer...

...beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.

I thought a motorcycle had backfired. I looked to my left.

A second shot hit him in the face.

The rifle, a cheap World War ll, Italian-made Mannlicher-Carcano...

...was ordered from a Chicago mailing house...

...and shipped to Oswald's alias, A. Hidell...

...at a post office box in March of 1963.

This same rifle was used to assassinate the President.

That ties it up.

Another nut. Jesus Christ, anybody can get a rifle in Texas!

As far as Oswald's associates, one name keeps popping up: David Ferrie.

Oswald was seen with him several times last summer.

I know David. Strange character.

He's been in trouble before. He was a hot-shot pilot for Eastern Airlines.

Got canned after an alleged homosexual incident.

These photos were found yesterday among Oswald's possessions...

...in the garage where Marina Oswald and her children are living.

Somebody mentioned Ferrie on that Texas trip. Find that out.

He no shoot anyone.

He good man. Good husband.

So it seems David Ferrie drove off on Friday afternoon for Texas.

A source said he might have been a getaway pilot for Oswald.

Hold your horses.

What kind of source?

The anonymous kind, Chief.

I remember Ferrie speaking at a meeting of some veterans' group...

...ranting against Castro. Extreme stuff.

They're bringing him out. Numa, turn it up.

Here he comes!

Anything to say in your defense?

Oswald!

He shot him!

He shot him on TV!

There's a man with a gun!

Seventy cops there. What were they doing?

No trial now. Somebody just saved the Dallas DA a pile of work.

Let's get David Ferrie in here anyway.

It's wrong. This is crazy!

Yesterday, in the midst of sorrow, the business of government went on.

The President met with Henry Cabot Lodge, our Ambassador to Vietnam...

...and members of his Cabinet.

The major subject was Vietnam...

...a crisis that does not pause for bereavement.

From this meeting...

...came affirmations that the US would continue aiding...

...the new government of Vietnam in its war against the Communist insurgents.

David Ferrie.

Come on in.

Thanks for coming.

Remember me? We met on Carondelet Street after your election.

I remember. You make quite an impression.

I've heard you're a first-rate pilot.

Legend has it you can get in and out of the smallest field.

I'm a pilot myself. Flew grasshoppers for the field artillery in the war.

Make yourself comfortable.

Mind if I smoke?

How could I?

As you know, President Kennedy was assassinated on Friday.

A man named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested as a suspect...

...then murdered yesterday by a man named Jack Ruby.

We've had reports that Oswald spent the summer here...

...and that you knew Oswald.

I've never met anyone named Oswald. Anyone who told you that has to be crazy.

He served in your Civil Air Patrol unit when he was a teenager.

If he did, I don't remember him.

Lots of boys in and out.

Surely you've seen this. Perhaps you knew him under another name?

I never saw him before in my life.

Then we must have gotten mistaken information.

Thanks for straightening it out.

There's one other matter.

We heard you went to Texas shortly after the assassination on Friday.

True. I drove to Houston.

What was so appealing about Houston?

I hadn't been ice-skating lately. Some young friends and I...

...decided to go skating.

Why the urge to ice-skate in Texas...

...during one of the worst thunderstorms in recent memory?

Spur-of-the-moment thing.

Storm wasn't that bad.

Where did you drive?

We went to Houston.

Saturday we drove to Galveston, and stayed there.

And Sunday?

In the morning, we went goose hunting.

Did you bag any?

The boys got a couple.

Boys said they didn't get any.

They're right.

There were thousands of geese everywhere.

But you couldn't approach them. They're wise.

Your friends said you had no weapons.

Isn't it difficult to hunt geese without a shotgun?

I remember now. I'm sorry.

I got confused.

We got near the geese, then realized we had forgotten our shotguns.

Stupid, right?

So, of course, we didn't get any geese.

Thank you for your time.

Sorry this must end inconveniently...

...but I must detain you for questioning by the FBl.

Why? What's wrong?

Your story is not believable.

Really?

What part?

This afternoon the FBI released David W. Ferrie...

...of New Orleans.

After extensive questioning and a background check...

...the Bureau found no evidence that Mr. Ferrie knew Lee Harvey Oswald...

...or had any connection with the assassination.

The agent in charge would like to make clear...

...that Ferrie was brought in for questioning...

...by the District Attorney of Orleans Parish.

I thought we were on the same side.

Why are they saying that?

Pretty fast, the way they let him go.

They must know something we don't.

So let's get on with our lives.

We have many homegrown crimes to prosecute.

The President has announced...

...the creation of a commission to probe the events in Dallas.

It will be headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren...

...and is expected to head off several Congressional and Texas inquiries.

On the panel are Allen Dulles, ex-chief of the CIA...

...Representative Gerald Ford, banker John McCloy...

Fucking out of control. All these hippies running around on drugs.

You can't tell a boy from a girl anymore.

I saw a girl the other day. Pregnant. You could see her whole belly.

You know what she had painted on it? "Love Child. "

It's a mess down there, Jim.

We've bitten off more Vietnam than we can chew.

It figures with that polecat Lyndon in the White House.

I sometimes think things have gone downhill since Kennedy died.

Don't get me started on that.

Those Warren Commission fellows were picking gnat shit out of pepper.

Nobody's going to tell me that kid shot like he did from that bookstore.

But the FBI test-fired the rifle to see if it could be done.

Three experts and not one of them could do it.

They say that Oswald got off three shots with world-class precision...

...from a manual bolt-action rifle in less than six seconds.

According to his Marine buddies, he got Maggie's drawers.

That means he wasn't any good.

Average man would be lucky to shoot twice.

And the first would be the best.

Here the third shot's perfect.

And they got that bullet zigzagging all over the place...

...hitting Kennedy and Connally seven times.

One pristine bullet? That dog don't hunt.

Something's always bothered me about that from day one.

Think other men were involved?

If I was investigating the case, I'd round up 100 of the world's best riflemen...

...and find out which ones were in Dallas that day.

You been duck hunting. Oswald's an old-fashioned decoy.

What did he say? "I'm just a patsy! " Believe it.

Dinner's just about ready.

Got a surprise for you tonight. Tried something new.

- What? - Dinner.

Smells good. Do you know Oswald...

...was interrogated for 12 hours after the assassination...

...with no lawyer present, and nobody recorded a word of it.

I can't believe it. An experienced police captain and a crowd of FBI agents...

...had to know that with no record, what Oswald said is inadmissible in court.

Let's talk at the table. It's getting cold.

What are you doing here?

Daddy said it's okay if I'm quiet.

Sure it is.

If I handled a minor felon that way, it'd be all over the papers.

This is the alleged murderer of the President.

Again and again credible testimony's ignored.

Leads are not followed up, conclusions are selective, no index.

It's the sloppiest investigation I've ever seen.

Dozens of witnesses heard the shots...

...coming from the grassy knoll in front of Kennedy...

...not the Book Depository behind him.

But it's broken down and spread around. You read it, but the point is lost.

I never believed it.

I'll do the dishes. You take Eb up.

Elizabeth, your bedtime too!

That was three years ago. We've tried to put it out of our minds.

You keep digging it up.

You're the DA of New Orleans.

Isn't the Kennedy assassination a bit out of your domain?

All those important people studied it.

I can't believe a man as intelligent as Earl Warren read those volumes.

Maybe you're right.

You got an hour to solve the case while I get the kids in bed.

Then you're mine. Mr. Kennedy will have to wait until morning.

Look, Dad. Look what I drew.

That's something. What is it?

It's a rhino in a cage.

- Can I stay up another hour? - I don't think so, Son.

Pickle and Snapper, my two...

...dancing partners.

Good night, doodlebugs.

One hour, you hear?

Some Saturday-night date you are.

Mama warned me this would happen if I married such a serious man as you.

When I come up, I'll show you how Saturday night got invented.

I sealed off the area and held off the trains till they could be examined.

There were some transients taken on at least one train.

Mr. Bowers, you already talked to us about this matter. Is that correct?

Yes.

Is there anything else you told us...

...that I haven't asked you about, that you can think of?

Nothing that I can recall.

Witness is excused.

A long freight was in there...

...and we pulled some people off and took them to the station.

Do you mean some transients?

Tramps and hobos.

Were they questioned?

They were questioned at the station.

Ask the question.

Let's go back to that Amos Euins matter.

Traffic had been cut off into the area since 10:00.

But three cars came in during this time...

...from around noon till the time of the shooting.

They circled the parking lot and left.

Like they was checking the area.

One of the drivers...

...was holding something up to his mouth.

The last car came in about seven to ten minutes before the shooting.

It was a white Chevrolet four-door Impala.

Muddy up to the windows.

Towards the underpass, I saw two men...

...standing behind a picket fence...

...looking up towards Main and Houston, as the caravan came down.

One of them was middle-aged...

...heavyset.

The other man was younger.

Two other men were on the east end of the parking lot.

They both had uniforms.

At the time of the shooting...

...there seemed to be some commotion.

I'm just unable to describe...

...a flash of light or smoke or something...

...which caused me to feel that something out of the ordinary...

...had occurred on the embankment.

Goddamn.

No!

- You all right? - Honey, it's incredible.

What?

The whole thing.

A Lt. Colonel testifies that...

...Oswald had a Russian language exam as part of his Marine training...

...only a few months before he defects to the Soviet Union.

A Russian exam.

It's 4:30 in the morning! I have five kids who'll wake up in an hour.

In all my years in the military, I never knew a single man who had a Russian test.

Oswald was a radar operator.

He'd have about as much use for Russian as a cat has for pajamas.

These books have gotten to your mind!

- Stop reading. - He makes it sound like nothing.

Oswald did badly on his test.

He got only two more Russian words right than wrong.

That's like me saying, Touchdown is not very intelligent...

...because I beat him three games out of five when we played chess.

Are you going to stay up all night, every night? For what?

To be the only man who's read all 26 volumes of the Warren Report?

Do I have to spell it out for you?

Lee Oswald was no ordinary soldier.

He was in military intelligence, that's why he was trained in Russian.

It was no accident he was in Russia.

- Go back to sleep. - I've been sleeping for three years!

'Morning boys. Ready for a walking tour?

7:30 Sunday morning? Not exactly fresh blood we're sniffing.

Old stains, but just as telling.

531 Lafayette Street.

Remember whose office this was in '63?

Sure. Guy Banister.

Ex-FBI man. Died a couple of years ago.

He headed the Chicago office. When he retired he became a private eye here.

I used to have lunch with him. John Birch Society, Minutemen.

To the right of Attila the Hun.

Recruited students to infiltrate radical organizations on campus.

Headed the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean.

All out of this office.

I want to show you something.

Take a look here.