Jack W. Daniel Oral History

Dallas native Jack Wiley Daniel (1927-2015) worked in sales and services at his father’s fire equipment company in 1963; among his customers was local nightclub operator Jack Ruby. On the day of the assassination, Daniel took his three sons—Danny, David and Randy—downtown for a chance to see President Kennedy’s motorcade. After briefly considering a position in Dealey Plaza near Abraham Zapruder’s location, Daniel picked a location west of the Triple Underpass where a small group of bystanders had gathered. Daniel wanted to be away from the crowds so that the president could wave directly at his children, and he planned to capture the moment with his Argus home movie camera. Daniel stood several feet back from his waving children so they would appear with the president in his 8mm color home movie.

Daniels captured ten seconds of film immediately after the assassination as the presidential limousine sped beneath the Triple Underpass and approached his position while Daniel’s three children vigorously waved at the accelerating vehicle. The limousine is seen overtaking the lead vehicle driven by Dallas police chief Jesse Curry while other cars and a police motorcycle follow close behind. The brief, frantic scene can be confusing to watch, primarily due to Daniels holding the camera against his chest rather than looking through the viewfinder. As the limousine approached, Daniel unfortunately turned his camera too quickly, panning left to right before the limousine passed his position in a blur of motion. During the last few seconds, the camera tilted towards the ground. In a 1997 oral history, Daniel recalled, "Normally… you would take a camera and pan as a moving subject goes in front of you. Of course, I didn’t pan when the car zipped in front. And I missed that opportunity, where if I had had the thing up to my eye, I probably would’ve gotten some pictures down inside the car." Nevertheless, Daniel’s film remains the only known home movie taken from the other side of the Triple Underpass as the limousine rushed onto Stemmons Freeway.

One or two days following the assassination (likely Sunday, November 24), Daniel returned to Dealey Plaza with his Argus camera. He shot just under three minutes of 8mm film showing flowers and memorial tributes left by mourners and the exterior of the Texas School Book Depository. Daniels also revisited his location at the time of the shooting, briefly filming from the same vantage point looking towards Dealey Plaza and then from a greater distance, showing his location in relation to the Depository building.

Despite Jack Daniel casually mentioning his home movie to a friend with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, it remained virtually unknown until the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation in late 1978. By one account, one of Daniel’s sons contacted the House Select Committee about the film. According to Daniel’s oral history, he was first approached by researcher (and later Museum curator) Gary Mack, who had likely learned of the film because Daniel often shared his story with friends and occasionally screened the film at his home. Regardless of how the initial contact was made, Daniel supplied the House Select Committee with a copy of his film, which – as part of their ongoing investigation into controversial acoustics evidence – was used in an attempt to identify which Dallas police motorcycle may have had an open microphone in Dealey Plaza. One frame from the Daniels film was included in the exhibit volumes of the House Select Committee’s Report.

In 1996, Daniel contributed to a new camera display at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, loaning his Argus home movie camera. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator