Original subtitles

♪ ♪

[Newsreader] A web of evidence appears to be closing in

on Lee Harvey Oswald.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Witness] Thinking back, how different this could have been,

were it not for a guy like Lee Harvey Oswald.

I'll never forget those sounds.

It's having heard, pow, pow, pow!

Methodically this guy's pulling this trigger,

and he knows he's killing the president of the United States.

♪ ♪

[Newsreader] Air Force One, the big jet

on which President Kennedy made so many of his trips,

will be bringing him back to Washington the last time.

The plane, which is carrying the president's body

in a bronze casket, also has now-president Lyndon Johnson,

as well as Mrs. Kennedy.

♪ ♪

[Clint Hill] On that flight between Dallas and 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.

♪ ♪

Mrs. Kennedy was in shock.

She cried terribly.

Here she was, a brand new widow,

I mean, she-- alright, with two children.

And now that's all that was left of that family.

♪ ♪

Bobby Kennedy came running up the front steps of the aircraft,

ran all the way through the aircraft

to where Mrs. Kennedy and the casket was situated in the back.

And he was tearful.

It was shocking, it was emotional.

I couldn't break down.

♪ ♪

[Paul Landis] I just cried, I think, all the way home.

♪ ♪

I helped to unload the casket.

We were tired, we put in a long day.

A lot had gone on, and I hadn't handled a lot of it very well.

I know now I was in shock.

♪ ♪

[Newsreader] The First Lady was still wearing the pink wool suit

that she had when she rode beside Mr. Kennedy

in the parade.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] We have not yet seen President Johnson.

It's expected that he will make a public appearance

and a statement.

♪ ♪

[Newsreader] The president walked haggard and alone.

♪ ♪

[Lyndon Johnson] This is a sad time for all people.

I know that the world shares the sorrow

that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear.

I will do my best.

That is all I can do.

I ask for your help and God's.

♪ ♪

[Newsreader] The helicopter which will take him

to the Rose Garden of the White House

is in the picture now, as he embarks

on the last leg of the journey,

which will put him literally in the White House.

♪ ♪

[Hill] I called to find out where the children were.

They were at the White House.

If John or Caroline were to see or hear that helicopter coming,

they would assume it was their mother and father.

♪ ♪

They had not, at this point, been told

of what had happened in Dallas.

♪ ♪

[Sid Davis] I went back to Washington,

got back around midnight,

and went to the White House.

I was broadcasting on the arrival of the casket.

This is a earth-shattering type of experience.

Something that many people believe could not happen

in the 20th century.

This was the president of the United States.

In prime of life, youngest guy elected.

All of us were in a state of shock,

but the point is, I couldn't stop to think.

If I stopped to think of how bad this really was at the moment,

I wouldn't have gotten through my broadcast.

Mrs. Kennedy riding as close as she can with the president.

♪ ♪

I started wrapping up the broadcast,

and I did the closing and everything.

And I said he enjoyed Robert Frost,

and he used to close his campaign speeches,

at every stop he'd quote from Robert Frost.

And I had this Robert Frost poem in my pocket,

and I went and did it.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

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

"I have promises to keep

and many miles to go before I sleep."

And with that, this is Sid Davis,

[voice breaking] reporting from the White House.

♪ ♪

[Police Chief] We want to say this, that this investigation

has been carried on jointly by the FBI,

the Secret Service, the Rangers,

and the Dallas Police Department.

[Jesse Curry] He has not confessed,

he has made no statement.

Charges of murder have been accepted against him.

[Curry] We'll go get in a larger room here,

that's what we're talking about here.

[Reporter] What about the assembly room right around there?

[Bill Mercer] That night, I was broadcasting when they decided

that nobody could get their questions answered,

so why not have a press conference

with Oswald answering questions.

Can you imagine doing that today

with a person who's been arrested for murder?

Now this is the moment

that I'm sure the country's been waiting for.

Lee Oswald, 24, former Marine,

reported to have lived in Russia for three years.

And also reported to be a member of a pro-Castro party.

This is the situation now, here in Dallas.

[Mercer] The man has not confessed.

He has not confessed either the murder of Tippit,

or the murder of the president.

As I walked by the detective's office,

one of them came out and he said,

"Bill, I'm gonna tell you something you might use later,

that we are now filling out the charge papers,

that Oswald murdered the president."

♪ ♪

We're now in the basement of the Dallas Police Department.

It was a surreal situation.

I'd never been to a press conference

with a murder suspect.

It was unprecedented.

The indication is now that the suspect

is coming down the aisle, and into this identification room.

♪ ♪

There he is, a slight fellow

with some scratches and marks around his face.

[indistinct chatter]

[Mercer] I was down at the edge of the stage there.

And a reporter next to me said...

[Lee Harvey Oswald] No, I've not been charged with that.

In fact, nobody has said that to me yet.

The first thing I heard about it

was when the newspaper reporters in the hall

asked me that question.

[Mercer] And as he turned facing me,

I said, "Yes, you have, you have been charged

with the murder of the president."

He kind of moved his head back.

And, "What?"

And I said, "You have been charged

with the murder of the president."

[Oswald] Sir?

♪ ♪

[Mercer] That was Oswald.

Lee Oswald, who was charged with the murder

of the president of the United States.

He's being taken back upstairs.

♪ ♪

That was one of the rare times when we saw any real reaction.

I think I kind of burst his balloon,

of thinking he was getting away with something.

♪ ♪

Jack Ruby was up there that night.

♪ ♪

He worked the police and gave them tickets to his club,

and he was always around 'em.

I don't think he had to show any credentials.

He's the police buddy.

[Rusty Robbins] Everybody knew who Jack Ruby was,

no question about it.

He ran, some people call 'em burlesque joints,

I call 'em stripper clubs.

Jack was known to carry a pistol.

Back then, if a businessman carried a personal protection,

it was overlooked.

And maybe one or two of 'em saw Jack

and said, "Well, that's Jack."

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Chief, do you have any concern

for the safety of your prisoner,

in view of the high feeling among the people of Dallas

over the assassination of the president?

[Curry] No, but the precautions necessary,

precautions will be taken of course.

But I'm not--I don't think that the people will,

like, try to take the prisoner away from us.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] It is anticipated that he will be moved.

Police are worried, they are so worried

they've talked about the possibility of moving him

in an armored vehicle.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Mercer] Since 6:30 this morning,

people have been gathering across the street

from the White House, waiting to pay their last respects.

♪ ♪

[Mourner] The people of the United States

have identified themselves with the Kennedy family.

And I think the grief that we all feel,

at this event, this tragedy,

is much more real and much more personal.

I came here to express,

somehow to express my own sympathy

to Mrs. Kennedy and to all the family,

and to the whole United States, actually,

for the great loss that we have suffered.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] A lonely little boy

who observes his third birthday Monday

wandered through a big Washington house today,

complaining, "I don't have anyone to play with."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr.,

says his father was killed by a bad man.

But he doesn't understand why the slain president is not there

to walk the White House corridors with him,

or why he's not allowed to enter the presidential office

as was his wont and somewhat his consistent habit.

♪ ♪

[Hill] It had a tremendous impact on all three of 'em.

Now, John, you know, he was so young.

The agents would take him out to a playground, he'd play.

And one day a photographer from The Washington Post showed up.

And John turned to him and said,

"Why are you taking my picture? My daddy's dead!"

♪ ♪

He knew; he knew his daddy had died.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Just a little while from now,

the president's body and its flag-draped coffin

is to be taken from the White House,

down Pennsylvania Avenue, and escorted to Capitol Hill.

[Hill] Mrs. Kennedy had gone up to the second floor

with members of the family.

They decide to have a prayer service for the family

there in the East Room.

♪ ♪

She said, "Mr. Hill, I'd like to see the president."

I said, "Okay, give us a moment."

I went and opened the casket,

made sure that it was okay for her to look,

wasn't gonna be too shocking.

♪ ♪

They went up and stood there, crying.

♪ ♪

And then she turned to me and said,

"Mr. Hill, can you get me a scissors?"

I didn't see what happened,

but I could hear the clip, clip, clip, clip,

I knew that she was cutting a piece of his hair.

And so then she closed the casket.

♪ ♪

It's hard to describe her demeanor.

She could control herself pretty well

when she was in the public eye.

♪ ♪

But she was really suffering.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Henry Wade] Oh, I think this man had planned this murder

weeks or months ago

and has laid his plans carefully and carried them out.

[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.

[Peggy Simpson] Kennedy's death was a huge blow

to a lot of people.

I just couldn't believe that that could happen

in our country, let alone on my doorstep.

♪ ♪

My bureau chief called and said,

"You know, I want you to be in the jail

and show up at 10 o'clock,

because the cops are moving Oswald

from the city to the county courthouse."

[Reporter] Officers have checked every vehicle coming in,

and no one who is not a member of the press

and not able to show identification

can enter the basement.

♪ ♪

Guards are stationed at points

all across the inside of the basement.

♪ ♪

[Simpson] When I arrived at the jail,

there were so many people who were gathering

and being angry at what had happened.

The atmosphere, the paranoia in the atmosphere

that was gripping Dallas at the time.

There was a feeling of outrage that this could have happened,

this could have happened here.

Who is this person anyway?

♪ ♪

I walked down the ramp into the, what was the driveway,

and, um, I positioned myself at the front row

of about 20 or 30 reporters

who were in front of, grouped around the opening

where Oswald would be brought out.

[Reporter] People still are wondering

exactly when Oswald will come down.

[Simpson] 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.

[indistinct chatter]

[Reporter] Alright, we got a little activity down there,

I don't know what it is.

♪ ♪

[Robbins] Oswald was going to be transferred to the county jail.

It was live news.

We were watching on my little 10-inch television,

watching the events as they unfolded for that day.

It felt like the whole of America was watching.

[Reporter] Security precautions have been tightened.

Armed guards are stationed throughout Dallas, City Hall,

and the Police Headquarters.

♪ ♪

[gunshot]

[bleep]

[Reporter] He's been shot. He's been shot.

Lee Oswald has been shot.

There's a man with a gun.

It's absolute panic.

Absolute panic here in the basement

of Dallas Police Headquarters.

[Simpson] I just knew that Oswald had been badly hurt,

and that the cops were in astonishment.

You could just see the horror on their faces.

♪ ♪

There was total chaos and total pandemonium.

Nobody was quite sure what on Earth was happening.

What was going through my mind was, "Get out of here."

♪ ♪

I didn't even think.

You know, you can't think in a moment like that.

You have to just act on automatic pilot.

And I walked around

and went straight into the police station.

[Reporter] Oswald is now taken back inside the police station.

[Simpson] There was just this horror, sense of horror.

[Reporter] The situation is now

that Lee Harold Oswald has been shot.

We can hear sirens outside,

and an ambulance apparently is moving down now

into the basement.

Here comes the ambulance.

And Oswald will be removed now.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] Captain, where will he be taken?

[Captain] I'm assuming Parkland Hospital.

[Reporter] Parkland Hospital, the irony of ironies.

The place where President John F. Kennedy died.

♪ ♪

[Simpson] A sense of total disbelief.

How could this be happening?

After two days earlier, the president being shot.

How--who was this guy?

You had to absorb the fact that somebody had been there

to kill Oswald, and they did.

[Reporter] Mass confusion.

The man accused of assassinating

the president of the United States

has just sustained a bullet wound injury.

Lee Harold Oswald is now in an ambulance

speeding on his way to Dallas Parkland Hospital.

♪ ♪

[Mercer] We were watching the news live.

We were, "Oh, my god, another one!

What else is gonna happen? Now who else is gonna get shot?"

It was just impossible to believe.

♪ ♪

[Simpson] I was on the phone with my bureau chief,

and I heard the cops say, "This is Jack Ruby."

And I said, "This is-- they say the cops know this guy,

they say it's Jack Ruby." And he said, "What?!"

You know, "I drink in his bar! How could that be?"

♪ ♪

He was a known person;

he wasn't somebody that they expected to do any harm.

♪ ♪

[Reporter] I understand that he was here

passing out cards yesterday to members of the press,

offering them to come by and get free drinks at his clubs.

[Witness] That's what I understand, yeah.

[Reporter] Well, how does he have access

to the police department, a nightclub owner in Dallas?

How does he--I saw him walking around downstairs.

How does he do this?

Does he have a lot of friends in the police department?

[Witness] Well, I would think so, I don't know.

[Robbins] When I saw that Jack Ruby had shot Oswald,

I was shocked.

I was sorry that he had messed up like that.

He committed a grave error, one you can't eradicate.

It's gonna go down in history.

Jack did what he did.

He wanted to be somebody.

Everybody loved the president,

so everybody hated the man who had killed the president.

So now this is gonna make Jack a hero.

[Spokesman] The chief of surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital

is coming into the room now to make a statement on Mr. Oswald.

[Chief of Surgery] Yeah, he--Mr. Oswald died

at 1:07 our time, in the operating room,

of the gunshot wound which he'd received.

♪ ♪

[Curry] My statement will be very brief.

Oswald expired at 1:07 p.m.

[Reporter] He died?

[Curry] He died at 1:07 p.m.

We have arrested the man.

The man will be charged with murder.

The suspect's name is Jack Ruby.

[Mercer] Actually, what Jack Ruby did

was prevent justice from being served when he killed Oswald.

Everybody had questions about why.

It was just like Oswald shooting the president.

Somebody had to be in charge of him.

Somebody had to know, why would he do this?

And the same thing happened with Ruby.

People said, "Oh, he's working for somebody."

Everybody suspected the mafia,

the communists, the usual suspects.

♪ ♪

The police said that Ruby's excuse for shooting Oswald

was that he just hated the man and loved the Kennedys

and wanted to get even for them; and he did.

♪ ♪

[Davis] The assassination was on a Friday,

and I had not slept for three days.

And Monday morning, I got up real early,

I wanted to go down to the funeral.

I got in my car, and I started down MacArthur Boulevard

to go down to the parade route.

♪ ♪

I saw a woman at the bus stop,

and I pulled over and I said, "Are you going to the funeral?"

She said, "Yes."

She got in the car in the front seat.

And we talked a little bit.

♪ ♪

She said, "I'm a Republican."

♪ ♪

"But I didn't know how much I admired him."

♪ ♪

I think that was repeated millions of times

across the country.

He was an endearing guy, you just couldn't help it.

Even if you didn't agree with him,

you couldn't help but like him.

♪ ♪

[John F. Kennedy] Let every nation know,

whether it wishes us well or ill,

that we shall pay any price,

bear any burden,

meet any hardship,

support any friend,

oppose any foe

to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

♪ ♪

[Hill] Mrs. Kennedy,

she was determined that

people were not going to forget her husband either.

♪ ♪

She wanted to walk behind the casket.

I had talked to her and said, "It really isn't advisable."

And she said, "Well, at least I'm gonna walk

from the White House to St. Matthew's."

♪ ♪

[Davis] Jackie put on a show.

That's what she wanted to do.

This is "I'm gonna give him the best send-off I can

and give him what he deserved."

♪ ♪

[Hill] The day of the funeral

was also the third birthday of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

♪ ♪

It was very emotional.

♪ ♪

[Father Huber] It was thought that the most appropriate

commemoration of this heartbreaking event

would be the expression

of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy's

ideals and his aspirations:

his inaugural address.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place

to friends and foe alike,

that the torch has been passed

to a new generation of Americans.

Born in this century, tempered by war,

disciplined by a hard and bitter peace,

proud of our ancient heritage

and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing

of those human rights

to which this nation has always been committed

and to which we are committed today at home

and around the world."

♪ ♪

[Hill] When the president's casket

was taken out of the church,

John noticed all the military saluted.

♪ ♪

Mrs. Kennedy bent over and said something.

And he turned, looked at his father's casket,

and he saluted.

♪ ♪

Everyone from generals on down were teary-eyed.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Landis] Going up to the cemetery,

in the distance...

very...

...a very distinct sound

of Air Force One.

♪ ♪

And Captain Swindal dipped the wings,

in like a final salute to the president.

I almost broke down really completely there.

I'm having a hard time now, as you can tell.

♪ ♪

[Jackie Kennedy] I want to take this opportunity

to express my appreciation

for the hundreds of thousands of messages,

nearly 800,000 in all,

which my children and I have received

over the past few weeks.

The knowledge of the affection in which my husband was held

by all of you has sustained me,

and the warmth of these tributes

is something I shall never forget.

All his bright light gone from the world.

All of you who have written to me

know how much we all loved him,

and that he returned that love in full measure.

Each and every message is to be treasured,

not only for my children, but so that future generations

who will know how much our country

and people in every nation thought of him.

May I thank you again on behalf of my children

and of the president's family.

Thank you.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Davis] Taking this man, who was a gentle,

brilliant president.

He endeared himself to the country.

John Kennedy was an upstanding protector

of civil rights of the American people.

Calling on Americans to change.

So, I've seen that it's happened.

We have legislation now that proves it.

I think we're not perfect,

and we're not anywhere near successful yet,

but I think we're a better country today

than we were when I came to Washington,

because Kennedy was president.

And that's pretty good.

♪ ♪

[Landis] I wouldn't even tell people

that I was in the Secret Service.

♪ ♪

The pain has gone.

There is no longer any pain talking about it.

I can get emotional,

but that's a nice feeling.

♪ ♪

[Hill] They gave me a medal.

Yeah, that was very nice of them,

I appreciate it very much.

But I wanted to do better than I did.

I had always felt that, you know, I have this sense of guilt

that I should have been able to do more than I did.

The one thing that I'd be willing to do or give

is my life for his, if I could change it that day.

♪ ♪