The JFK assassination | 72 Hours that changed America

Video Statistics and Information

Video

Captions Word Cloud

Captions

[Music] Friday November 22nd 1963 my generations vocabulary changed that day new words new phrases were added and now a half a century later they're still there their roots born right here in downtown Dallas Texas Dealey Plaza the Texas School Book Depository the sixth floor window the grassy knoll the triple underpass adoring crowds had met President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Texas that late fall day a liberal in conservative country looking for re-election votes his beautiful wife she and the perfect pink outfit that would forever be remembered not like this but instead just an hour later splattered with her husband's blood as for the young president just 46 the first US leader to be born in the 20th century not even three years in office he would never grow older than this image forever frozen on this Dallas day my name is Pierre spawn and this is where I was spending on November 22nd 1963 the car came very slowly and then it made the turn right behind me I was absolutely enthralled the President and mrs. Kennedy looked like the first couple of ought to and then as I turned that first loud explosive sound and so it began in 72 hours that would change America [Music] [Music] President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time two o'clock Eastern Standard Time some 38 minutes ago as their prime suspect police seize 24-year old Lee H Oswald no I have not been charged with that in fact nobody has said that's me yet here comes the ambulance Oswald will be removed now here comes Oslo he's he is action and unconscious just couldn't believe it when I heard it's we're in school all of a sudden you just told the president was dead [Music] down this Avenue of sadness they bring president john f kennedy martyred hero Ryan state none of the Great Dome of the Capitol [Music] [Music] I was 15 back then and like so many others I was glued to the television set all weekend it was one of the seminal moments of my childhood and ever since I've wondered what really happened and why does it haunt us still millions of people come to Dallas every year really this trip was brought so that we could get to know Jackie because we loved Jackie tens of thousands come for just one reason it's part of our history kind of a sad moment in history but but need to see it I mean you can kind of see him here and feel like it must have felt like you know we're not makers of this history we were keepers and our keepers of the system they visit the Texas schoolbook depository where Lee Harvey Oswald worked we're in the sixth floor window he aimed his rifle and fired three shots at the 35th President of the United States my name is jean boone and i'm the deputy sheriff that found the rifle that oswald used in the assassination of president john f kennedy when i found the rifle our first thing I did was look at my watch and it was 1:22 p.m. and I said here's the rifle and there was no question in my mind but what with what I have observed already in the snipers map that this was the rifle that was used in the assassination the 6th floor is a museum now to assassination day it's all here everything you might want to see about what happened even the dishes that the president would have used if he'd made it to lunch on that day but the star attraction is the sniper's nest it's all sealed off now but it's set up inside behind that glass exactly the way it was on November 22nd the window it's closed it's one window they don't want to see open again they did let us see the same view from the same window one floor up and here's what strikes anyone who comes here for the first time it was not a long shot less than a hundred yards not a challenge for Oswald who'd been a Marine sharpshooter scoring 96% from twice the distance for those who believe Oswald acted alone it's the clincher that's what the official government investigation the Warren Commission decided and while conspiracies abound and Dealey Plaza is full of people who spout the possibilities no one has officially concluded anything different even though a plaque on this very building still encourages us to doubt and doubt they do you might notice there's two x's in the street and the first X up the street here is what President Kennedy was shot I'm Marshall Evans I've been studying the assassination for forty five years I live here in Dallas I knew a lot of the witnesses that have passed away and I know some of the remaining witnesses still it is imperative the American public know the details of what really happened on that X in the street we lost our heart and soul in America America changed it's imperative that the American public wake up there are lots of theories it was Castro the Mafia the Soviets the CIA you name it it's not a cut dry case War Commission there have been books and movies hundreds of them so many that few Americans even to this day believed the official record three shots one gunman that's it that's all I think conspiracy theories will always be realist because of denial the refusal to accept that someone so inconsequential as a Lee Oswald could accomplish something so world shaking as killing someone like President Kennedy well folks I want to welcome you to Big D fun tours this is our JFK trolley tour and my name is Scott this sounded bizarre to me what people really climb on a decorated trolley to travel around Dallas to see where all the assassination day moments took place is well taken any folks it looks like 1963 still a lot of these places haven't changed in 50 years you bet you folks starting right here all the way down 50 thousand people and every single window in downtown as a base looking out of it those presidents they didn't come to Texas the trolley stops everywhere in the story all in under 90 minutes right here is where the president's motorcade picks up speed rises President Kennedy at Parkland of Kennedy's lifeless body with his wife draped over it was brought to a medical team that desperately tried to bring a dead president back to life my name is Phyllis hall I was a nurse here at Parkland Hospital and happened to be in the mergency room on November 22nd 1963 there was a lot of chaos going on outside with the different agents security agencies because each agency wanted to be the one to stay there with the president where was missing she stayed in the room the whole time and she stood through the park and she had her and on his left foot and the supervisor at one time came in and asked her if she would like to have a seat out the hallway and the only words I heard her say were no unfortunately I was probably 15 to 20 feet away from the president it happened see this picture if you've ever studied November 22nd you've almost certainly seen it appears to be seconds after the shots were fired a young couple on the ground shielding their kids and I didn't know what was going on I just grabbed the boy and fellow he hopes there wasn't a maniac around they are the Newman's they still live in Dallas in their 70s now and they love to talk about that day but get out your wallet if you want to hear their story it's 500 bucks up car but here's a guy who remembers it all and doesn't charge a penny my name is Hugh Ainsworth November 22nd of 1963 I was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and when the president rolled by this corner was standing right there in that intersection humaines Werth assignment that day watching the crowds near the Book Depository went history suddenly unfolded right in front of it we didn't know where they were coming from who was shooting I went either work or anything it was quite scary he heard the shots he chased the story and he still does what do you think it is that fascinates people still about what happened here 50 years ago well really what the whole conspiracy thing and how it arose you could see it happening nobody was ready for this kind of a thing to happen this was magnitude and and one of the reasons was the terrible pressure on Dallas particularly because we had this bunch of far-right nuts here they were me there was a big big amount of them but the mood was not pretty here Kennedy and his family had been the Camelot presidency all seemed possible they were young and so many of us in the boomer generation were energized by the excitement around them the race for space the promise of the moon the idea of the Peace Corps traveling the world to help others initiatives across orders and infected millions [Music] even Ottawa fell for the charm geography Advaita sneeze history has made us friends those nature has so joined together let no man put asunder let by someone who didn't seem out of place standing next to movie stars sports stars world stars there was a sense of adventure with him a sense of moving forward and doing things that hadn't been done before the moment perhaps the staredown of Khrushchev on the Cuban Missile Crisis now he obviously must have thought he could do it in secret and that the United States would accept it but not everything was perfect the Bay of Pigs had been a disaster and as for Vietnam Kennedy saw no problem with us and Golf Club my opinion brush to withdraw from that effort would mean a collapse not only of South Vietnam but Southeast Asia so we're going to stay there but overall it was a generation inspired our time we thought had come and then suddenly so sudden it seemed all gone Hugh Wayne's Worth has become a historian of sorts not only into the assassination but into his City Dallas change in fifty reason almost immediately was forced to because the whole world could have dumped Alice in a home now City Dallas Willie struggled at the JFK assassination corporate America turned their back on Dallas Dallas got a nickname called the city of hate [Music] [Applause] inauguration speech in American history now you know what was like to be here in Dallas these days unfolding here November thank you guys so much so Dallas has changed and we've changed but many of us are still haunted by what happened here 50 years ago why I've got some thoughts on that when we come back I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation the energy the faith the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it and the glow from that fire can truly light the world [Music] so a half a century on why are so many of us still caught up with what happened here in Dallas at that X in the middle of the road well I guess we all have our own reasons here are mine I still wonder what would have happened if Oswald had missed if Kennedy had lived what would our world have been like then what Kennedy is being reelected in 1964 would have allowed Vietnam to become the killer of 58,000 American kids in a war they couldn't win a war that inspired a generation to rise up in protest some of it violently [Music] some of it peaceful some of it artistic all of it eventually successful but where would that generational energy have been directed and what might have been accomplished if there had been no Fiat native would Martin Luther King would've been assassinated what American cities of burden approaches I've run for the presidency because I want the Democratic Party in the United States of America and for hope Jeff Argonne that's a guy would Bobby Kim the Venus Oh sweetie there is nothing wrong with America my friend did a good election Walter let's have one with Richard Nixon have been elected in 1968 well I'm not a crumb would Watergate of Hamilton and then there's the other side of the equation [Music] a part of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunity could Kennedy ever have passed the civil rights bill like LBJ did could a Kennedy Jack or Bobby ever have made the opening to China that Nixon did the list could go on of course limited only by one's imagination to some no it's a silly game to play Oswald didn't miss Kennedy did die and that's the end of the story maybe but for me I'll keep wondering [Music] you

Info

Channel: CBC News: The National

Views: 400,384

Rating: 4.5392671 out of 5

Keywords: John F Kennedy, JFK, Jackie Kennedy, Jackie O, Lee Harvey Oswald, Kennedy assasination, Peter Mansbridge, Dallas, Texas, Dealey Plaza, grassy knoll

Id: msw-SCSQm3Q

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 19min 15sec (1155 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 19 2013

Reddit Comments