Jean Hill Oral History

Object number1989.128.0003

DateFebruary 1989

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Jean Hill

Oral history interviewer Bob Hays

ObjectOral history

Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPlastic, Magnetic tape

Dimensions4 1/4 × 2 3/4 × 3/4 in. (10.8 × 7 × 1.9 cm)
Duration: 48 Minutes

Terms

Collections

DescriptionAudio oral history interview with Jean Hill, an eyewitness to the assassination who was standing next to her friend Mary Moorman in Dealey Plaza on Friday, November 22, 1963. Seen in films and photographs wearing a red raincoat, she believed that shots were fired from the grassy knoll. Hill's controversial account was among those prominently featured in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, JFK. Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum in February 1989 by Bob Hays. The interview is forty-eight minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

Within the assassination research community, Hill was already recognized as a prominent and significant eyewitness prior to the release of JFK in 1991. However, the popularity of Oliver Stone's film, in which she was portrayed by actress Ellen McElduff, afforded Hill a moment of mainstream celebrity as she was called upon to give numerous media interviews about the assassination. According to those who knew her, Jean Hill very much enjoyed her time in the spotlight. With journalist Bill Sloan, she co-authored a bestselling book in 1992, JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness, which was briefly optioned as a television movie. In the final years of her life, Hill was known to distribute business cards that identified herself as "The Lady in Red." She passed away on November 7, 2000.

Several individuals in the Museum's Oral History Project have shared memories of Jean Hill, including longtime friend and fellow schoolteacher Billie Cox, co-author Bill Sloan, and Sloan's wife and fellow schoolteacher Lana Henderson Sloan. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator