Original subtitles

♪ ♪

[Reporter] It--it--it appears as though something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Something, I repeat, has happened in the motorcade route.

♪ ♪

[Witness] Yeah, I'm a time traveler.

I go back to that day...

...many times.

The thing is, that morning, when I left to go to work

on November the 22nd, 1963,

that young boy

has never come home.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Sid Davis] All I could think of was get to the hospital,

get the story.

♪ ♪

I went to the second floor,

and I saw a priest talking to some of my reporter friends,

three or four reporter friends.

So, I went over and tried to see what he was saying.

His name was Father Oscar Huber.

I'll never forget what he said.

♪ ♪

He said, "I just gave him the last rites."

♪ ♪

All hell broke loose,

and we were told we couldn't stay there.

[whistle blowing]

♪ ♪

We were told that we had to go upstairs,

there's a press room being established upstairs.

♪ ♪

And Malcolm Kilduff, an assistant press secretary,

got up at the microphone, tears streaking his cheek.

[Malcolm Kilduff] President John F. Kennedy

died at approximately one o'clock today,

here in Dallas.

He died of a gunshot wound in the brain.

♪ ♪

Of a bullet right through the head.

I have no other details

regarding the assassination of the president.

♪ ♪

[Ed Hogan] This is Ed Hogan of WFAA Television

in Dallas, Texas.

We are standing on the grounds of Parkland Hospital,

where President Kennedy has died,

as most of you have already, already know.

What is your name, please?

[Mrs. Quincy Adams] Mrs. Quincy Adams.

[Hogan] Mrs. Quincy, are you from Dallas?

[Adams] Yes.

[Hogan] How does this affect you?

[Adams] Well, it's just a complete shock,

and I think it just means doom for our country.

[Hogan] Well, it's a terrible thing,

and it's shaken up and shocked everybody.

[Adams] Well, it has,

and I think Dallas will never get over this.

[Hogan] Thank you very much.

[Interviewee] I think it's awful that it had to happen here,

or anywhere in the United States.

I thought we were less barbaric.

And the main thing in America, like we hear so often,

so many people hate each other.

And I think that's what did it.

I hope that nothing like that'll ever happen again.

♪ ♪

[Clint Hill] It was shocking, it was terrible, it was emotional.

But I couldn't break down.

I had to get back up and take care of my job.

♪ ♪

My job was to protect Mrs. Kennedy as best I could.

♪ ♪

I was too concerned with how we were gonna get him

from the hospital to the airplane.

Were we gonna be able to get him back to DC?

There was no time for grief or anything

except continue to do the best job you could.

And that's what I tried to do.

♪ ♪

It's a horrible situation.

♪ ♪

We didn't protect the president of the United States

like we were supposed to.

[Commentator] We do not have information

here at the hospital, because of the chaotic situation

and the shock of this whole tragic incident,

on whether the assassin has been apprehended.

We understand that the shot that took the president's life

came from a building downtown

known as the State Book Depository building,

and the Secret Service men were seen gathered around there.

[siren]

[Reporter] The search now centers at the area

of Elm and Houston

near the old Texas School Book Depository building,

and there is a possibility that the would-be assassin

is still inside that building.

♪ ♪

[Rusty Robbins] When Dallas heard

that the president had been killed here, all thoughts were,

who could have done this and why,

and who's behind it?

We were in the middle of it.

We were handling it.

♪ ♪

[Commentator] Officers are now surrounding

and searching the building, Book Depository store

on the corner of Elm and Field at 12:40.

[Robbins] When most people are running away,

that's when police officers are running in.

♪ ♪

[Man on radio] For your information

about this bookstore company down here,

we found empty rifle hulls,

and looked like it may have been there for some time.

♪ ♪

[Robbins] Dallas Police had found a rifle,

and we were in the middle of the biggest manhunt

the country had ever seen.

[siren]

♪ ♪

[Buell Frazier] Well, it was very chaotic.

People were very confused and very scared.

♪ ♪

I was terrified,

knowing that somebody had shot the president.

♪ ♪

I was standing on the top step of the entrance

into the Texas School Book Depository.

♪ ♪

I was standing there talking to two people,

and they were trying to figure out what happened themselves.

♪ ♪

And I looked to my left, and there comes Lee Oswald

walking down beside the building.

Very normal. No hurry.

And he went across Houston Street.

Somebody said something to me,

and I looked to see who was speaking to me,

and I turned back, and I lost him in the crowd.

♪ ♪

That's the last time I saw Lee.

♪ ♪

[Robbins] We were all listening to the events that transpired

over the police radio.

There was a little box we called a squawk box,

so we could hear everything that was going on.

[Police radio] We're still out here on Pine.

You'll have to pull in the downtown area.

[Police radio] Yeah, 21.

[radio static]

♪ ♪

[Robbins] That's when I heard not a policeman but a citizen

come on the radio on channel one.

[Citizen] We've had a shooting out here.

It's a police officer. Somebody shot him.

What's this?

404 10th Street.

It's in a police car.

Number 10.

[Robbins] And I said, "That's car 10. That's Tippit."

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Officer JD Tippit, 38 years of age,

was killed today.

[Robbins] We heard JD Tippit had approached a man.

The man that matched the description of the guy

they thought had killed the president.

But when Tippit approached him, he was shot point blank.

♪ ♪

[Commentator] JD Tippit died in the line of duty.

[Robbins] JD Tippit was a good guy.

And for someone to be killed in such a manner

is heartbreaking.

I'm sure a lot of people, lot of officers felt the same way.

Hard to find a better officer.

He was salt of the earth.

Just a great guy.

[siren]

[Reporter] The entire area is being combed more thoroughly

than ever involved in any manhunt or search

in the history of Dallas, the state,

and perhaps the nation.

[Robbins] So many things were happening, one after the other.

Dallas was really on edge.

No one could believe a policeman had been shot

less than an hour after the president had been shot.

[Reporter] The entire area has been blocked off.

No one allowed in or out,

as the search for this would-be presidential assassin

continues in Downtown Dallas.

♪ ♪

[John Brewer] It's hard to explain that day.

30 minutes after they had pronounced

President Kennedy had been fatally wounded,

all of a sudden I hear a report that a policeman,

Officer Tippit, had been shot.

I didn't connect those two,

but, you know, it's like, "What's going on here?"

[Brewer] All of a sudden,

this young man walks into my shoe store.

He looked scared.

He'd obviously been running.

Well, I stepped outside

and watched him walk toward the Texas Theatre.

I said, "Something is wrong with this."

I walked up to the cashier and said, "Call the police."

♪ ♪

[Brewer] There were police all over the alley.

A couple of 'em grabbed me, wanted to know what I was doing,

I said, "Well, there's a suspicious character.

He's still here."

They said, "Point him out."

I said, "That's him right there."

♪ ♪

Cops got their licks in.

And at this time, I'm no more than 10 feet away or so,

watching this.

He looked me in the eye and said,

"I'm not resisting arrest."

And I don't know if he was trying to tell everybody else,

but he was talking to me.

[Reporter] The Dallas Police Department

arrested a 24-year-old man, Lee H. Oswald,

in connection with the slaying

of a Dallas policeman, JD Tippit,

shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated.

♪ ♪

[Hill] We were in the process of having the body prepared

so that we could take it back to Washington.

♪ ♪

The nurses wrapped him in white sheets,

put him in the casket.

We took him out, they put him in the back of the hearse,

and I turned to Mrs. Kennedy, I said, "Oh, Mrs. Kennedy,

we could ride in this car right back here."

And she said, "No, no, no.

Mr. Hill, I'm gonna ride in there with, with Jack."

And so she crawls into the back of the hearse,

so I crawl in there with her.

♪ ♪

So, there we were in the back of that hearse,

Mrs. Kennedy and me.

It was a little bit crowded.

♪ ♪

We went and drove to Love Field,

where Air Force One was situated.

♪ ♪

And then we had to offload the casket.

♪ ♪

[Paul Landis] I went to the front,

sat in the second row, against the window,

and I broke down completely.

Roy Kellerman, at one point,

he came and he shook-- shook me by the shoulders,

and he said, you know, "Come on, Paul. You gotta witness this."

And I said, "I don't need to witness anything.

I've seen all I... I need to see."

But he said, "It's a historic moment.

They're swearing in Vice President Johnson."

♪ ♪

[Davis] I remember coming into the room.

There were 28 people in the room that I counted.

And LBJ, as he usually did, would assemble with people.

He had his secretary go back and talk to Mrs. Kennedy

and see if she would like to stand with us

for the swearing in,

and she sent word back, "Yes, I do.

But I need some time to compose myself."

And we waited about four or five or 10 minutes,

and she came forward.

And I could see the damage it had done.

Then I could see the dress.

She had blood on her

where she cradled the president's head in her lap.

Blood was congealing on her stockings and on her shoes.

I would say she was in shock.

She knew what was going on,

but her eyes were wide,

unsmiling, serious.

Mrs. Johnson said, "Would you like to change your clothes

to something else?"

And she said, "No. Let them see what they have done."

♪ ♪

[Judge] I do solemnly swear...

[Lyndon Johnson] I solemnly swear...

[Judge] ...that I will faithfully execute...

[Johnson] ...that I will faithfully execute...

[Judge] ...the office of President of the United States...

[Johnson] ...the office of President of the United States...

[Judge] ...and will, to the best of my ability...

[Johnson] ...and will, to the best of my ability...

-...preserve... -...preserve...

-...protect... -...protect...

-...defend... -...defend...

[Judge] ...the Constitution of the United States...

[Johnson] ...the Constitution of the United States...

[Judge] ...so help me God.

[Johnson] ...so help me God.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Who do you think would do something like this?

[Interviewee] I don't know. I can't imagine in a way.

[Interviewee] I don't think anybody in their right mind.

I think this is a terrible thing for our country,

not only for our country, but for the entire world.

[Interviewee] First reaction, sir, is that I hope

these Southerners, these radicals,

are satisfied they got their pound of flesh

in killing a man as good as that.

[Reporter] Are you certain that it is right-wing radicals

or people who oppose the president so desperately

that they would do something like this?

[Interviewee] It could be no one else.

Someone who'd do this was-- must be mentally deranged.

[Interviewee] I disagree with this man

about it being a right-wing radical. I...

It could be a communist, I think probably something like that.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Here is the suspect.

Will you roll it, please? The suspect.

♪ ♪

[Dan Rather] 24-year-old Lee Oswald,

a sponsor of ultra-leftist causes,

an active member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee,

a avowed admirer of Cuba's Fidel Castro and Russia.

He once lived in Russia.

He was arrested less than two hours

after the president was shot,

less than one hour after a Dallas policeman was shot

and killed in the downtown area.

[Lee Harvey Oswald] Alright, these people have given me

a hearing without legal representation or anything.

[Reporter] Did you shoot the president?

[Oswald] I didn't shoot anybody. No, sir.

[Reporter] We just heard Oswald,

who said he did not shoot anybody.

[Crowd member] You don't have to push. Knock it off.

Knock it off!

♪ ♪

[Crowd member] That guy's got the biggest elbows

of anybody I've ever seen.

[Crowd member] He hit me in the head with his camera.

♪ ♪

[Crowd member] Let me get out of here for a while,

I gotta breathe.

[Davis] It was mayhem at the police station.

[Crowd member] Did you hear him say anything?

[Reporter] Yeah. I knew he was talking,

I was hoping you were in there.

[Davis] And it was the first time

we did news live on a location.

[Bill Mercer] The rumor,

if you did not happen to see the gentleman,

the rumor has been rapid around the police department

that there is a very good case that this is the man

who they believe was involved in the assassination.

This was the biggest news story that any one of us ever covered.

♪ ♪

It was a relief when they brought him in,

to realize that he had been found.

And, okay, we've got, maybe they've got this guy.

Maybe he's not gonna get away.

♪ ♪

He was nondescript, I guess you'd call it.

Just a little guy.

But maybe we've seen too many movies of what... [chuckles]

...these killers look like, but this guy

just didn't have any appearance

of anger or desperation or affray.

He was just there.

♪ ♪

None of us at that time could figure out the motive; nobody.

I don't think the police could figure out a motive.

And I have no idea what, uh, what they knew,

except maybe his background, living in Russia.

♪ ♪

You have to remember that in this time,

the Soviet Union was seen as a huge threat to America.

I mean, the fact that Oswald lived in Russia,

worked in Russia and the Soviet Union,

and was even married to a Russian woman,

was seen as a huge red flag.

[John F. Kennedy] As Americans, we find communism

profoundly repugnant

as a negation of personal freedom and dignity.

[Reader] Now we know that Mr. Oswald was Russian-trained,

that it wasn't a fascist or a Nazi that murdered Kennedy;

it was a communist.

[Interviewee] A lot of guys think all the people

should have just grabbed him and just mutilated him

and just broke him into pieces.

This is a terrible thing

what he did to the country, to the people.

♪ ♪

[Mercer] Here is District Attorney Wade.

Mr. Wade, I'll walk along here with you, sir.

What have you learned so far about the suspect, sir?

[Henry Wade] There's really nothing new on it.

He was in the building, though, today.

[Mercer] He was in the building today.

Thank you, Mr. Wade.

[Crowd member] Hey, can you hold up just a second?

[Mercer] Thank you, Mr. Wade.

That was District Attorney Henry Wade,

who, uh, you just heard the statement.

And as he said, murder charges have been filed against him

for the death of Officer Tippit,

who was shot while he stopped the suspect driving his car

on East Jefferson.

And as you did hear, it was reported

that the man was in the building at the time of the shooting

of the president of the United States.

We had a good relationship with the Dallas Police,

and they cooperated with us when we asked them to.

So, they told us that he worked in the Texas Book Depository.

♪ ♪

When the police came in to do the roll call,

they found that Lee Harvey Oswald

was unaccounted for.

♪ ♪

That was the only clue that they had that he might be the guy.

♪ ♪

[Frazier] I've asked myself many times,

"How'd you get involved? How'd you get wrapped up in this?"

My involvement was very innocent.

I was just trying to do a good neighborly deed.

♪ ♪

That day, I drove Lee Harvey Oswald

over to where we were employed at Texas School Book Depository.

I paid a big price for that, yes.

♪ ♪

Because of what had happened,

two plainclothes detectives grabs me.

I said, "Who are you? What are you doing?"

And they said, "We're arresting you."

I said, "Arresting me?" I said, "I haven't done anything."

♪ ♪

[Crowd member] This the guy?

♪ ♪

[Frazier] I was on one end of the building,

and Lee was on the other,

and they were doing to Lee

the same thing they were doing to me.

"Well, how long have you known him?

What days he ride home with you?"

I told 'em that we worked together.

We're both employees there at Texas School Book Depository.

That, yes, I drove Lee to work.

And back on that day,

I saw a package about roughly around two feet.

It just looked like a normal package; nothing special.

And I didn't look at it. I just glanced at it.

♪ ♪

I remember the police said that I was involved,

and I knew all about the assassination of John Kennedy.

And that was totally false.

It really was a shock that they'd want me to confess

to something I didn't know anything about.

♪ ♪

And that's a frightening thing when you realize

someone is trying to convict you of a crime

that you had nothing to do with.

But I realized that I was really fighting for my life.

♪ ♪

[Mercer] As you see, they are bringing the weapon

allegedly used in the assassination

of President John F. Kennedy this afternoon at 12:30

here in Dallas.

[Man] It appears there's no name on it.

6.5, apparently made in Italy in 1940.

♪ ♪

[Ruth Paine] It hurts to go back to that time,

to remember the days and to remember the feelings,

the disappointment, and the pain.

I felt angry that I had unwillingly

been helpful in some way.

♪ ♪

Well, at that time, I had arranged for Marina Oswald

to come and stay at my house.

She and Lee were separated, and so it was myself and my two kids

and Marina and her daughter and her just-born baby.

♪ ♪

[Walter Cronkite] And in through a rear door...

[Paine] I was sat with Marina, watching the TV,

when we heard that an officer had been shot.

[Cronkite] ...but Officer JD Tippit was shot dead.

[Paine] And then something like six policemen arrived.

And one turns around to me and said, "Are you a communist?"

[laughs] And I just... "No."

But as one, one policeman was coming in,

he said, "Did Oswald have a gun? A rifle?"

And I said, "No," and translated to Marina, who said that he did.

♪ ♪

And she led them into the garage,

pointed to a blanket roll.

She thought it was there.

And the policeman picked it up,

the blanket roll folded over his arm;

it was clearly empty.

♪ ♪

And it was at that moment,

I thought, "It could have been Lee."

I didn't know he had a gun.

♪ ♪

I didn't see him as dangerous.

You know?

I had him in my house with my little kids.

So, I didn't see that coming at all.

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

[Mercer] This is the wife and the brother

of the family coming out now.

If you'll shoot right down the hall here,

the wife and the family are coming down.

The wife of Oswald is carrying a child,

as they move down the hall.

♪ ♪

When Oswald's wife, Marina, came to the police station,

she was holding Rachel, their newborn baby.

And she looked like she had to face something

she probably didn't like.

[Crowd member] It's his wife and kid.

[Mercer] Did she know anything? Did she know he had a gun?

Yeah, she knew that, but she didn't--

evidently, I don't think she knew that he was gonna

kill the president or kill somebody.

She just was a wife trying to keep her little family together,

living apart from her husband.

♪ ♪

[Paine] At that time, I was not too happy

with Lee's attitude towards Marina.

He didn't really want her to learn English,

which, that's crazy, you know,

because she had to cope with being in the United States.

He was disappointed in his marriage, I think.

They had argued.

But he cared a lot, also.

I saw him quite caring for his children and caring for Marina.

♪ ♪

And he was angry with his mother, angry with his life.

His mother had put her three kids in an orphanage.

And I think he felt nobody appreciated his worth.

He wanted to make a name for himself.

He wanted to be somebody.

And, uh...

he saw that this was possible.

♪ ♪

[Mercer] Here comes the man again.

[Crowd member] Here we go again.

[Mercer] The suspect is again coming down the hall,

being flanked by policemen.

Let me get over here, out of the way.

♪ ♪

[Crowd member] Back up, man!

[Reporter] Did you shoot the president?

♪ ♪

[Davis] The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

and miles to go before I sleep, before I sleep.

[Reporter] And you will conduct the trial?

[Wade] Yes, sir, I plan to.

[Reporter] And you will ask capital verdict?

[Wade] We'll ask the death penalty.

[Witness] I think everything was unusual

about this whole weekend.

You know, it was just an unprecedented set of events

that you just kept following as they kept unfolding.

[Mercer] Jack Ruby was up there that night.

He just hated Oswald, loved the Kennedys,

and wanted to get even.

Chief, do you have any concern for the safety of your prisoner?

[Police Chief] No, I don't think that the people

will try to take the prisoner away from us.

[gunshot]

[Reporter] He's been shot.

There's a man with a gun.

It's absolute panic.