Original WFAA-TV news footage of assassination eyewitness Abraham Zapruder
Object number1998.010.0005
Date11/22/1963
ClassificationsVideos
Producer
WFAA-TV
Creator
ABC
ObjectVideo, 2"
Credit LineWFAA-TV Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumMagnetic tape; Video, Quadruplex, 2"
Dimensions13 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (33.7 × 33.7 × 6.4 cm)
Duration: 67 Minutes
Duration: 67 Minutes
Terms
- Zapruder film
- Video
- Oath of office
- Arrest
- National response
- Firearms
- Police
- Mannlicher-Carcano
- Rifles
- Assassination
- Interviews
- Motorcade
- Broadcast journalism
- Zapruder, Abraham
- Oswald, Lee Harvey
- Johnson, Lyndon B.
- Kennedy, John F.
- Connally, John
- Walker, Bob
- Watson, Jay
- Reiland, Ron
- Morgan, Edward P.
- Texas School Book Depository
- Texas Theatre
- Parkland Hospital
- Secret Service
- Love Field
- ABC
- WFAA-TV
- Dallas
- New York
- Chicago
Collections
DescriptionOriginal black and white WFAA-TV news footage of interview with assassination eyewitnesses Abraham Zapruder speaking with Jay Watson in the WFAA Dallas studio. The interview was recorded approximately two hours after the assassination on November 22, 1963; recorded on 2" videotape.
Abraham Zapruder sits beside Watson in the WFAA studio. Zapruder filmed what became known as the definitive view of the death of President Kennedy, for it is the only known movie showing the entire assassination sequence. During this interview, Zapruder describes what he saw and heard in Dealey Plaza as the motorcade went by and as he continued to film.
The WFAA-TV Kennedy assassination tapes were donated to the Museum in 1998. This tape is labeled "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-5"; it is one of 31 similar tapes included in the donation. This particular tape, in addition to the interview with Abraham Zapruder, includes news coverage and footage of the public reactions to the President's assassination and coverage of Oswald's arrest as well as the swearing in of President Johnson aboard Air Force One.
The video attached to this record is an excerpt. The entire video is available in our Reading Room to on-site researchers or by submitting a Rights & Reproductions Request Form.
Curatorial CommentaryThis short interview with Abraham Zapruder, broadcast nationwide on ABC on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963, is today considered the most famous and oft-seen interview ever recorded with the late Mr. Zapruder, who gave relatively few interviews about the assassination prior to his death in 1970 at the age of 65. A full transcript of the interview between WFAA-TV program director Jay Watson and Abraham Zapruder can be read here: https://www.jfk.org/the-collections/abraham-zapruder-film/zapruder-interview-transcript/. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
