Transcripts For CNNW The Sixties 20200216

Ill remember november 22nd as long as i live. There has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. They are combing the floors of the Texas Book Depository building to find assassin. Did you shoot the president . Im just a patsy. Oswald has been fired at point blank range, fired into his stomach. Police are working on the assumption that oswalds murder was to shut him up. Elements of the Central Intelligence agency killed john kennedy. A story that has been suppressed. Witnesses have been killed. We have a right to know who killed our president and why he died. In dallas, preparations were already underway for Extraordinary Police protection when the president should arrive. Do you anticipate any trouble on the president s arrival . Because of what has happened here previously we would be foolish, i think, not to anticipate some trouble. I dont really i dont anticipate any violence. Here comes air force number one, the president s plane now touching down. There is mrs. Kennedy, and the crowd yells. And the president of the united states. Looking at how things actually went, it wasnt just a trip to dallas, it was a political trip preparing for the 1964 elections. And here comes the president now. In fact hes not in his limousine. He has departed the limousine and he is reaching across the fence, shaking hands. Those days, everybody could get a lot closer to the president. I was standing behind mrs. Kennedy and saw a hand reach through the chain link fence and break off one of the red roses. Thousands of children now swarming, trying to get over the fence. The Dallas Police trying to keep them back. This is great for the people and makes the egg shells even thinner for the secret service, whose job it was to guard the man. The trip had gone terrifically well in texas. Pretty hard to write a script for it going any better. Thousands will be on hand for that motorcade now, which will be in downtown dallas. A number of my classmates were gone, they were at the parade. My father had been invited to have lunch with kennedy at the trade center. There was a mood, a climate of excitement. The speech of president kennedy at the dallas trade mart will be broadcast by radio. Stay tuned for the dallas speech at the trade mart. On 570 radio. Find me a boss man one that will treat me right work hard in the daytime rest easy at night big boss man wont you hear me when i call yeah big boss man wont you hear me when i call well you aint so big you just tall and thats all this bulletin just into the news terminal. In dallas, three shots were fired at the motorcade of president kennedy today in downtown dallas. Police radios are carrying that the president has been hit. Parkland hospital has been advised to stand by for a severe gunshot wound. This is walter cronkite, in our newsroom. And there has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. Just turn the mic on. I cant hear you, johnny. What do you want . You want me to move back a little bit. Is it all right now . Is this all right . Ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce to you the chief cameraman. And assistant news director. This is bert shipp, bert, we have brought the people pretty much up to date. Would you tell them exactly what you know as of this point . Well, i was standing at the trade mart, waiting for his arrival there. All of a sudden we saw them approaching, they didnt slow down, as a matter of fact, they were going 70, 80 miles an hour past us. And then i jumped into a police car and went to parkland. These two men come in and one of them had a large machine gun and was hollering for the stretchers and cots and everything. And they brought the governor in first. What happened next . Then the president came in behind him and they took both of them back albert thomas, democrat of texas is standing outside the corridor of the emergency room said hes been told the president was still alive but in very critical condition. Two priests who were with president kennedy say he is dead. Of bullet wounds. This is the latest information we have from dallas. I will repeat with the greatest regret. Two priests who were with president kennedy say he has died of bullet wounds. The assistant press secretary was filling in for the regular press secretary an he had to draw himself up to give the most fateful announcement that any press secretary would have to give. All the cameras were rolling and i remember he put his finger os the desk like this and pressed very hard to stop his fingers trembling. John f. Kennedy died approximately 1 00 Central Standard time today here in dallas. He died of a gunshot wound in the brain. I have no other details regarding the assassination of the president. Do you have a box of video tapes, film reels, or photos, that are degrading . Legacybox professionally converts them to dvds, thumb drive, or the cloud. Legacybox is simple and safe, with over half a million satisfied customers. Visit legacybox. Com today, and get 40 off. I just cant believe it. I feel like someone in my own family has died. I just cant believe it. Maam . I cant like a daze, you dont know what is going on. Why . Why did it happen . Who would have done such a thing is the question. In the first minutes and hours, chaos and confusion was radiating out from the scene itself. It was very pervasive. The secret Service Agents thought the gunfire came from an automatic weapon fired possibly from a grassy knoll. I saw some police run up the i thought theyre chasing a gunman. I ran with them. I got to the top, looked around. A policeman went over the fence so i went over the fence too. There was nothing there. A television newsman said he looked up just after the shot was fired and saw a rifle being withdrawn from a fifth or sixth floor window. It was originally thought that the shots came from in here. And now it is believed the shots came from this building here. The Police Officers are running back to the Texas School Book depository building. They are going to continue searching in that building for the wouldbe assassin of the president. In the federal downtown building, they are combing the area in an effort to find the suspected assassin. In the building on the sixth floor we found an area near an area that had been partially blocked off by boxes of books and also the three spent shells that had apparently been fired from a rifle. Crime lab lieutenant jayce day just came out of that building with a british. 303 rifle. It was a 7. 65 mauser. A highpowered army or japanese rifle. A. 3030 rifle. Much of the first things you hear are going to be wrong and to some degree you were constantly trying to separate out what seemed to be a fact. In dallas, a Dallas Policeman just a short while ago was shot and killed while chasing a suspect. J. D. Tippit was shot three times in the chest in the oak cliff section of dallas. Then the manager of a shoe store saw the suspect walk into the texas theater. Someone has been arrested in one of the downtown theaters. They dont know if it was the man who shot the policeman or the person who actually shot president kennedy. This is a picture of him. He probably does not look exactly like this now after he has been questioned. Thats lee oswald. The president was shot. And a Police Officer is shot. And someone named Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested. Oswald may be a suspect in the assassination. Who is he . Lee oswald of dallas, a former marine who spent some time in russia who at one time had applied for soviet citizenship. The description that we had of the suspect in oak cliff was similar to the description we had and the man we were looking for as the assassin. But at that time we had not been able to connect the two in any way. Now, apparently a great deal of confusion. Mr. Oswald is put through the door. I dont know if you saw him, oswald lives at 1026 north meckley. He is an employee of a bookbinding firm in the building which the police and sect servicemen believe the president was shot today. Mrs. Kennedy accompanied the body in an ambulance from the hospital to the airport where it will be flown back to washington. Lyndon johnson ordered that body be brought immediately to air force one. So there was a little tug of war. They almost shook the crucifix off the top of the coffin as they were trying to get that coffin out of the hospital. Vice president johnson is expected to be sworn in as president aboard an airliner before flying back to the nations capital. Johnson wanted to show the American People that the government was functioning without interruption. And also perhaps he wanted to show that his predecessors family bore him no ill will for the assassination. Lyndon johnson is flying back to washington to take the reins of government, at which time president johnson will have to take into his hands the reins of the most powerful nation in the world. Is there any doubt in your mind chief that oswald is the man that killed the president . I think this is the man that killed the president , yes, sir. Is there any evidence any one else may have been linked with oswald to this shooting . At this time we dont believe so. I dont know what this is all about. Did you kill the president . No, sir, i didnt. How did you get the black eye . Sir . Did you shoot the president . I work in that building. Were you in that building at the time . Naturally if i work in that building, yes, sir. Back up, man. Did you shoot the president . Im just a patsy. This is room 317, Homicide Bureau here at the Dallas Police station. 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. 6. 5 made in italy in 1940. In the wake of the kennedy assassination, the Dallas Police on the one hand were committing all of their resources to try and solve a crime. Move in the doorway, get him in the doorway. On the other hand they were ill equipped to handle this tsunami of reporters. Well, i was questioned by a judge. However, i protested at that time i was not allowed legal representation. In bringing oswald out, they were of course doing something that you would never see happen today, but they were trying to cooperate with the press, with the understanding that there would not be questions shouted to him. Did you kill the president . No, i have 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. You have been charged. Sir . You have been charged . Nobody said what . Okay. What did you do in russia . Oswald. How did you hurt your eye . A policeman hit me. At 1 35 this morning, a complaint was read. It charged that quote, Lee Harvey Oswald did voluntarily and with malice aforethought kill john f. Kennedy by shooting him with a gun, end quote. Following the reading of the complaint, oswald said, thats ridiculous. Hi were glad you came in, whats on your mind . Can you help keep these guys protected online . Easy, connect to the xfi gateway. What about internet speeds that keep up with my gaming . Lets hook you up with the Fastest Internet from xfinity. What about wireless data options for the family . Of course, you can customize and save. Can you save me from this conversation . That we cant do, but come in and see what we can do. Were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. Ask. Shop. Discover. At your local xfinity store today. Chief, can you tell us in summary, what directly links oswald to the killing of the president . Well, the fact that he was on the floor where the shots were fired from immediately before the shots were fired. The fact he was seen carrying a package to the building, the fact that when was he carrying that package . Yesterday morning. During 12 hours of interrogation, the Dallas Police department over the weekend, he told one provable lie after another. Did you buy that rifle . Thats the facts you people have been given but i emphatically deny these charges. Within a day or so thereafter when they discovered what a complete nut this guy was, they were satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that oswald had acted alone. Theres only one thing i can tell you without going into the evidence that this case is cinched, that this man killed the president. There is no question in my mind about it. We plan to transfer this man, not tonight. The van will be here by no later than 10 00 in the morning. Why, it will that will be early enough for him. Chief, do you have any concern for the safety of your prisoner in due of the high feeling among the people of dallas over the assassination of the president . No, but cautions will be taken, of course. But i dont they the people will try to take the prisoner away from us. Were standing by. And for that report is bill lord at the city jail. Bill, whats the situation . Im presently in the basement of the dallas Municipal Building and its like an armed camp. Police officials are frankly worried. They dont want anything to happen to oswald. Let me have it. I want it. Being led out by captain fritz. There is lee. Hes been shot. Hes been shot. Lee oswald has been shot. There is a man with a gun. Its absolute panic. Absolute panic here in the basement of the Dallas Police headquarters. Detectives have their guns drawn. There is no question about it. Oswald has been shot at point blank range fired into his stomach. Hes shot. He is shot. Oswald it is oswald. Is that the man that shot the man or do you know . Thats the man that shot the man. Immediately after the shooting, our only witnesses that we could talk to were other reporters. Where did he go pierre . He was here. They just put the gun there. I saw the flash on the black sweater. Right in the belly . Did you see the gun to his stomach . I saw right here. He was in a group of men right here. Masquerading as one of us or what . I thought it was one of the detective. You know, he had a hat. The situation is now that Lee Harold Oswald has been shot. The man who saw the shot fired said it was fired by a man wearing a black hat, a brown coat, a man that everyone down here thought was a secret service agent. We can hear sirens outside and an ambulance apparently is more moving down now into the basement. Here comes the ambulance. And oswald will be removed now. The ambulance is being pulled up in front of us here. Here comes oswald, hes he is ashen and unconscious at this time, now being moved in. He is not moving. Hes in the ambulance now. Attendants, police are quickly climbing in. The ambulance is leaving Dallas Police headquarters. Where will he be taken . Im assuming parkland hospital. Parkland hospital. The irony of ironies, the place where john f. Kennedy died. Dallas city hall is normally a public building, but today it was really under armed guard. We is this a confirmed report as to who did the shooting . As far as i know. Vic robertson from city hall reports that jack ruby, the owner of the carousel, which is a bar in dallas, did the shooting. My statement will be very brief. Oswald expired at 1 07 p. M. He died . He died at 1 07 p. M. We have arrested the man. The man will be charged with murder. Who is he . The man the suspects name is Jack Rubenstein, i believe. He goes by the name of jack ruby. And here at associated press, a still picture of the moment, the split second as the shot was fired. This is the man Dallas Police have identified as Jack Rubenstein and this of course is Lee Harvey Oswald. You see the gun in the hand of ruby and just about to be fired. I know my own feelings were and i think they were widely shared by many, if not most americans. This cant be coincidental. The assassin is assassinated in the police station. What in the hell is going on . Just learned from city hall from an authoritative source, that police are working on the assumption that there indeed is a connection between jack ruby and lee oswald. And that in some manner of speaking, oswalds murder was to shut him up. Word also in just now from dallas that homicide chief captain will fritz has now said that the case of president kennedys assassination is now closed with the death of oswald. It may not, however, be the opinion of the u. S. Secret service or the federal bureau of investigation. 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We were so relieved to learn there are treatments for td. Learn more at talkabouttd. Com. Our nation is bereaved. The whole world is poorer because of his loss but we can all be better americans because John Fitzgerald kennedy has passed our way. Because he has been our chosen leader at a time in history when his character, his vision and his quiet courage have enabled him to chart a course for us, a safe course for us through the shoals of treacherous seas that encompass the world. And now that he is relieved of the almost superhuman burden, may he rest in peace. My fellow americans, all i have, i would have given gladly not to be standing here today. Johnson knows he has to show the country that the ship of state is sailing on under the new captain. But at the same time, he cant appear to be too anxious to assume power and he has to keep the kennedy people on board with him. So that speech means everything. No words are Strong Enough to express our determination to continue the forward thrust of america that he began. [ applause ] investigations into all the facts of these last four days may not be limited to the state of texas or the fbi. Some congressmen already have suggested a congressional investigation. Johnson realizes something has to be done. He realizes that he has to appoint a body that the public will respect to look into this. The Warren Commission appointed friday night will investigate and make a report on the murder. As yet it has said nothing about how it will proceed or when. Lets see. The time of day was about well were not very far, two hours from it. The lawyers from the commission took 395 depositions. And there were 94 witnesses that appeared before the commission. Can you say if you still think it was one man . I think wed better not get into that area, you know. The report will cover all of that in great detail. It is now 15 seconds after 6 30 p. M. Eastern daylight time, sunday, september the 27th. As of this moment, the report of the president s commission is public record. For the next half hour, we will search it for answers. First must come the answers to the two great overriding questions. Who killed john f. Kennedy . The commission answered unequivocally Lee Harvey Oswald. Was oswald acting alone or was he a member of a conspiracy . The commission answers he acted alone. The media had all concluded that this was the most exhaustive investigation, case closed. Oswald did it alone. The commission concludes that three shots were fired. All of them from this sixth floor window in the Texas School Book depository. The reaction to the report initially was very positive, but that didnt last very long. This book is the number one best seller on the nonfiction list in the country rush to judgment by mark lane. Its gained a vast number of readers in the recent groundswell of skepticism about the findings of the warren report. You are part of the media which prevented the American People from finding out what happened. You are alarming the American People i say the American Public should be alarmed. The public had been kept in the dark for so long about this, but had an undying thirst, which could only be quenched by getting facts. We have a right to know who killed our president and why he died. And we cant get that from reading the warren report. At the start, lane was almost alone. Now hes just one among a growing band of doubters. Their books and articles are on the newsstands, theyre in the supermarkets. Now according to a recent poll, only one in three americans remains convinced that the warren report has the whole story. Because of the conspiracy theories, who have put this case under a highpowered microscope, splitting hairs and then proceeding to split the split hairs. The kennedy case is now the most complex murder case by far in world history. Nothing even remotely comes close. The warren report said that Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president from his window in the Texas School Book depository. Three years after kennedys assassination, the major question is still a simple one. Did the Warren Commission, with all that time and all these resources, get its answers right . Tonight, well go over those arguments one by one, area by area. As the assassination was taking place, a dallas businessman called Abraham Zapruder stood behind that low concrete wall looking down at elm street. As the president was coming down from houston street and making his turn, it was about halfway down there, i heard a shot. And i heard another shot or two. I couldnt say whether it was one or two. And i saw his head practically open up, all blood and everything. Where did the shots come from . If the shots did not all come from the book depository window, then there was most likely some form of conspiracy. I think that the massive head wound where the president s head was literally blown apart came from a quartering angle on the grassy knoll, it struck and his head doesnt go directly back this way but it goes back and over this way, which would be consistent with the shot from that direction and newtons law of motion. Unless the laws of physics were not working that day, the reaction of the president tells us where that shot came from. Some critics say by the very fact that in the picture, you can clearly see the explosion of the bullet on the front side of the president , that that certainly indicates the bullet came from the front. Well, i dont believe any physicist has ever said that. Quite contrary, it does indicate that the bullet was coming from behind. Its a minor explosion where pieces of material go generally in the direction of the bullet. If you look at the individual frames of the zapruder film, at 312, frame 312, the president s heads okay. At frame 313, 1 18th of a second later, the president is struck in the head. And what direction is the president s head pushed . Not backwards, but slightly forward. Indicating a shot from the rear where Lee Harvey Oswald was. I would hesitate really to say that it is absolutely 100 impossible. But it is highly improbable. Could a single bullet have wounded both president kennedy and governor connally . The single bullet theory has perhaps become the most controversial aspect of the report. If the warren report couldnt prove there was one shooter, men, it meant there were two shooters and there was a conspiracy. The conspiracy theorists claim that the second shot was a magic bullet. They argue that a bullet would have had to make a right turn then a left turn in midair. The reality is that connally was not seated directly in front of kennedy. If you figure out the alignment of where the men sat, and if you look down as i did it is perfectly plain, i submit to you, that the bullet that exited from president kennedys throat, which it did not, or someone else in the automobile. To believe that it didnt hit governor connally, that would be a real magic bullet, one that disappeared in thin air. Are you a christian author with a book that youre ready to share with the world . Get published now, call for your free publisher kit today i believe that jack ruby was a paid killer to close the mouth of my son, Lee Harvey Oswald. Because ruby knew people in criminal activities, there was a lot of investigation about a potential conspiracy. Ruby would have been one of the most unlikely and worst hit men that the mob could ever get. On november the 24th, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald is supposed to have been transferred at 10 00. At 10 00, the evidence is undisputed that jack ruby was at home asleep. The receipt shows that ruby was sending a money order to one of his strippers from a Western Union office across from the courthouse at 11 17 a. M. We know that at 11 20, three minutes later, a block away, jack ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald. The evidence showed that he was down there anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds. 5 to 15 seconds. If this is a hired assassin who is supposed to have some advanced information, he is the worlds best timer. Jack ruby was a police and media groupie. Ruby thought he was our friend. Rubys act was that of a vigilante. He wanted nothing more to be known people to flock to his nightclub to shake the hand of the man who killed the man who killed the president. You believe that Lee Harvey Oswald did not shoot president kennedy . I do not want to get involved in the speculations as to individuals, but i will say that theres no question about the fact that there was a plot and there were a number of individuals involved. In 1967, he announced ive solved the case. Ive found the real assassin. We will make arrests based on that, and we will make charges based on that, and we will obtain convictions based on that. Now, you wouldnt have paid much attention to this, except he was District Attorney of new orleans. Arrested this evening in the District Attorneys office was clay shaw, age 54, of 1313 darby street, from new orleans, louisiana. Mr. Shaw will be charged with participation in a conspiracy to murder john f. Kennedy. Clay shaw was a very respected business man in new orleans. He had been a distinguished soldier during world war ii. He was also a homosexual and closeted, and i think that played a part. And then they realized the truth that there isnt anything there. Garrison started bribing witnesses, intimidating witnesses. He said i could be made to serve this whole nineyear sentence. Or i could be cut loose right away. Hypnotizing witnesses. We decided to give him objectifying to make sure he was telling the truth. Leon. Leon, does leon have a last name . Oswald. Would you say these methods were illegal . I would very say illegal and unethical. He had everyone and their grandmother involved in the assassination. At one time, it was oil millionaires. Then it was the minutemen. Then it was a homosexual killing. Yes, sir. Do you feel that homosexuality or the coercion of homosexuality was a factor in the planning or the assassination of john f. Kennedy . No comment. At one point, he had 16 assassins in dealey plaza. With that many assassins, i dont know how kennedy made it to the autopsy table. Garrison announced he had discovered a code. Garrison said jack rubys unlisted telephone number appears in address books belonging to shaw and oswald. You take p and o and use a telephone dial, p gives you 7, o gives you 6. He just changed the digits around, added digits, added letters. Who is suppressing all of this information on whose order . Ill tell you who is suppressing it. The federal government is suppressing it. Who in the federal government . The administration. The administration of your government is suppressing it because they know that the Central Intelligence agency on whose order . On the order of the president of the united states. Clay shaw came to court in good spirits today with his longawaited trial under way, the trial went on for six weeks. Its important to note that not one witness produced by garrison survived crossexamination. In a unanimous verdict by a 12man jury, shaw was found not guilty of charges that he conspired to kill the late president john kennedy. Clay, we have our first question. Why did you do it . [ laughter ] i would sum it up by saying that any society which allows a man like jack kennedy to have the top of his head torn off and then protects the assassins and obstructs any inquiry and attempt to find the truth is not a great society. sensei when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. But now quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. And now im back on top. With koala kai. vo save over 40 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. Oh no, here comes gthe neighbor probably to brag about how amazing his Xfinity Customer Service is. Im mike, im so busy. Good thing xfinity has twohour appointment windows. They have night and weekend appointments too. Hes here. Bill . Karolyn . Nope no, just a couple of rocks. Download the my account app to manage your appointments making todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Ill pass. Information concerning the death of your president. As a reporter, the greatest story for us had been to find out somebody other and we tried hard to do that, but at every turn of the kennedy assassination things pointed to not only the shooter, but the only shooter. Had these dreams and delusions of an act that would lift him from his obscurity. Oswald used to attend a Small Discussion Group and he began to rail against his right wing general. General walker was about as right wing as you got in the 60s and oswald saw walker as an american adolph hitler. He then ordered a rifle with a sniper scope and he planned very meticulously his assassination of general walker. And then he went on the night of the 10th of april. Shot at general walker. He was very disappointed to find out that he missed by less than an inch. Shows his ability to plan and who his target was and that oswald was capable of violence. That was the ozeta stone that if you understood the walker shooting, you understood that lee was a rifle and he could go off any time. The conspiracy notion was a share in congruty of the affair. All that power and madgety wiped out in a second by one little character. It doesnt satisfy our sense of narrative or justice that a small person of no distinction can be of such historical consquenshs to kill the president of the united states. What would be more comfortable believing that a shot was fired by a second aassassin that materialized out of thin air and leaving behind no trace of himself, his rifle, his bullet or any other sign of existence. There are two group of people. One group that looks at circumstance and says, yes, thats the way the world work. Another group of people who for whom that is quite unsettling. They dont want to believe that something so random could have occurred. Can you believe that you can step off a curb some day and be killed by an oncoming car. Nobody believes in that kind of possibility, but it happens. Its life that fortuitous that uncertain . For them, oddly, the notion of the conspiracy is more comforting than the absence of it. If theres a conspiracy, at least there is a plan. Theyve lost so much faith in government that they actually think that the government is an accessory after the fact for the president s murder. Cant get too much worse than that. The assassination changed the trajectory of the 60s. America was a different place on the day before john f. Kennedy was killed. If you look at america as a whole in the 20th century you look at the 60s and you really say that day was the dividing point. I guess in his last two or three emotional experiences he doesnt forget because theyre burned into his brain and no matter what happens to