WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-2"

At the time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the WFAA Communications Center Studios was located at the corner of Young and Record Streets in downtown Dallas, approximately two blocks north of Dealey Plaza. As a result of their proximity, WFAA-TV/Channel 8 was the first local television station to break into programming with news of the shooting on November 22, 1963. Program director Jay Watson, himself an eyewitness to the assassination, interrupted the Julie Bennell Show, a local lifestyle and fashion program, approximately fifteen minutes after shots were fired in Dealey Plaza. In another first, Watson was the first to interview assassination eyewitnesses on the air after collecting the stunned Newman family in the plaza and rushing them to WFAA studios. The coverage that followed represents one of the most substantial archives of Kennedy assassination broadcast news footage in existence.  

Amazingly, this historic news footage was nearly lost forever in the early 1980s. During that era, it was common for television stations to dispose of or recycle outdated broadcast tapes in order to save space and reduce costs. Prior to the age of widespread digital archiving, expensive videotapes were frequently erased and reused. Nearly twenty years after the assassination, a young WFAA-TV employee named John Sparks noticed all of the station's Kennedy tapes were boxed up and marked for disposal. Sparks, who had been part of the high school band that performed for President and Mrs. Kennedy in Fort Worth that fateful date, instantly recognized the historic significance of the material, and he singlehandedly rescued the tapes from destruction. The full WFAA-TV archive of Kennedy assassination news coverage was later donated to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in 1998. Hear the inside story about how John Sparks saved this historic broadcast news footage in this 2025 Living History conversation: Living History from Fort Worth, November 22, 1963. - Stephen Fagin, Curator   

In 1963, a major news event like a presidential visit generated a significant amount of local coverage by newspaper, radio and television outlets. Large locally-broadcast events during President Kennedy's trip to Texas, such as the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce breakfast and the arrival of the Kennedys at Dallas Love Field, were often managed by cooperative pool coverage among local TV stations. In those instances, one outlet--such as ABC affiliate WFAA-TV at Love Field and CBS affiliate KRLD-TV at the Dallas Trade Mart luncheon--set up cameras to capture a pool feed that would be distributed to other local television stations for broadcast. This allowed for immediate coverage of an evolving news story in a practical and efficient manner, considering the transportation and setup logistics for bulky equipment and mobile news cruisers. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

The Museum's Collection includes hundreds of photographs and several home movies documenting the Kennedys' arrival at Dallas Love Field on the morning of November 22,1963. The images and films show the President and First Lady descending from Air Force One, greeting the crowds and departing in the motorcade. A selection of this material may be viewed via the Museum's online collection database: Dallas Love Field – Collections – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

The Collection also includes oral histories from individuals at the airport that morning. A selection of these interviews may be accessed here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

More tapes from the Museum's WFAA-TV Collection (1998.010) can be viewed on the Museum's online collection database here: Results – Advanced Search Objects – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza - Riley Harris, Collections Cataloger

A brief moment on this WFAA-TV videotape, seen at the 17:22 mark, helped to fuel an assassination conspiracy theory. In this footage, a Secret Service agent jogging alongside the right rear of the presidential limousine turns and interacts with agents in the follow-up car. He shrugs his shoulders multiple times and stops jogging as the motorcade proceeds to the exit of Dallas Love Field. Some researchers have interpreted this as an agent expressing confusion or frustration because he was ordered to "stand down" and not protect the president in the Dallas motorcade, thus implicating the Secret Service in a plot to assassinate the president. According to Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who discusses this footage in his Museum oral history (Clint Hill Oral History – Works – The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza), the shrugging agent was Donald Lawton, whose assignment was to remain at Dallas Love Field and prepare for the president's departure following the Dallas Trade Mart luncheon. According to Hill, Lawton was simply engaging in a moment of light-hearted banter with his coworkers, telling the agents in the follow-up vehicle to "have a good trip. I'm going to lunch!" Nevertheless, following the assassination, this moment was among many from November 22 that was studied and debated by researchers, and it continues to be a videotape segment of particular interest. - Stephen Fagin, Curator