Original WFAA-TV news footage of assassination eyewitness Abraham Zapruder

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Original black and white WFAA-TV news footage of interview with assassination eyewitnesses Abraham Zapruder speaking with Jay Watson in the WFAA Dallas studio. The interview was recorded approximately two hours after the assassination on November 22, 1963; recorded on 2" videotape.Abraham Zapruder sits beside Watson in the WFAA studio. Zapruder filmed what became known as the definitive view of the death of President Kennedy, for it is the only known movie showing the entire assassination sequence. During this interview, Zapruder describes what he saw and heard in Dealey Plaza as the motorcade went by and as he continued to film.The WFAA-TV Kennedy assassination tapes were donated to the Museum in 1998. This tape is labeled "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-5"; it is one of 31 similar tapes included in the donation. This particular tape, in addition to the interview with Abraham Zapruder, includes news coverage and footage of the public reactions to the President's assassination and coverage of Oswald's arrest as well as the swearing in of President Johnson aboard Air Force One.

Object Details

Object title:

Original WFAA-TV news footage of assassination eyewitness Abraham Zapruder

Date:

11/22/1963

Medium:

Magnetic tape; Video, Quadruplex, 2"

Dimensions:

13 1/4 × 13 1/4 × 2 1/2 in. (33.7 × 33.7 × 6.4 cm)Duration: 67 Minutes

Credit line:

WFAA-TV Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Object number:

1998.010.0005

Curatorial Note:

This short interview with Abraham Zapruder, broadcast nationwide on ABC on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963, is today considered the most famous and oft-seen interview ever recorded with the late Mr. Zapruder, who gave relatively few interviews about the assassination prior to his death in 1970 at the age of 65. A full transcript of the interview between WFAA-TV program director Jay Watson and Abraham Zapruder can be read here: https://www.jfk.org/the-collections/abraham-zapruder-film/zapruder-interview-transcript/. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator

Additional assets:

WFAA-TV tape: "Pres. Kennedy Master PK-5" and original box

(Videos)