Lawrence Schiller Oral History

Object number2018.001.0058

Date06/04/2018

ClassificationsOral Histories

Oral history interview subject Lawrence Schiller

Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin

ObjectOral history

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

MediumBorn digital (.m2ts file)

Dimensions38 Minutes

Collections

DescriptionVideotaped oral history interview with Lawrence Schiller. An acclaimed photojournalist, author and Emmy award-winning producer/director, Schiller covered the Kennedy assassination for The Saturday Evening Post in 1963 and later recorded Jack Ruby’s last interview. He covered Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign and was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, when Kennedy was shot. In 1977, Schiller served as associate producer of the television movie, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. Years later he collaborated with author Norman Mailer on the book, Oswald’s Tale: An American Mystery (1995). Interview conducted at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX on June 4, 2018, by Curator Stephen Fagin. The interview is 38 minutes long.

Curatorial Commentary

From covering the Kennedy assassination aftermath in Dallas for The Saturday Evening Post to serving as associate producer of the TV movie, The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, to working with Norman Mailer on Oswald's Tale, Lawrence Schiller has a number of diverse connections to the assassination and the broader story of the 1960s. For this reason, the Museum has more than four and a half hours of Schiller on videotape sharing stories and memories as part of the ongoing Oral History Project.

This particular interview focused on Schiller's coverage of Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968, his work with author David Margolick on the book, The Promise and the Dream (2018) and the making of the Rebel Spirits photographic exhibit (which Schiller curated). Rebel Spirits opened at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on June 5, 2018 (closing date September 3, 2018). - Stephen Fagin, Curator