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Josiah Thompson Oral History

Josiah Thompson Oral History

Object number1998.019.0016
Date11/21/1998
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Josiah Thompson
Oral history interviewer Bob Porter
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumHi-8 videotape
Dimensions70 Minutes
DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Josiah Thompson. A prominent assassination researcher, Mr. Thompson was a consultant with LIFE Magazine and wrote the 1967 book, Six Seconds in Dallas. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on November 21, 1998 by Director of Communications Bob Porter. The interview is one hour and ten minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary

In addition to this 1998 oral history, Mr. Thompson participated in a videotaped interview on June 15, 2011.  He was also part of a videotaped panel discussion with other researchers on November 19, 2007.  Recorded at the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff, this panel discussion followed the southwest premiere of filmmaker Robert Stone's PBS documentary Oswald's Ghost.

Out of print since the late 1970s, Thompson's book Six Seconds in Dallas is considered a significant yet often hard-to-find publication among Kennedy assassination researchers.  Online auction houses and rare book websites have made finding copies of the 1967 hardcover and 1976 paperback editions easier and less expensive, but in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was not uncommon to find rare hardcover editions of Six Seconds in Dallas selling for $100 to $300. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

Josiah Thompson, known to his close friends as Tink (a nickname he chooses not to explain), is still a private investigator and a follower of the continuing Kennedy assassination story.  We have been friends since the mid-80s and I treasure his knowledge and clear-thinking about the controversial aspects of President Kennedy's death and the subsequent investigations and conclusions. - Gary Mack, Curator
The 1967 out-of-print edition of Six Seconds in Dallas is available in the Museum's Reading Room. - Mrs. Krishna Shenoy, Librarian/Archivist