Famed CBS TV Newsman Dan Rather Zapruder Film Gaffe Gave Birth to JFK Assassination ‘Lone Nutters’

by Dave O’Brien

He didn’t know it at the time, but when CBS newsman Dan Rather became one of the first people to see the Zapruder film of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, his live TV reporting of what he saw created controversy that endures decades later.

After Rather’s CBS news lost a bidding war to Life Magazine, which bought the Zapruder film on the night of the assassination for $150,000, the then little known Dallas CBS TV reporter went on national television and gave the first ever report of what the film showed.

In giving the very first account of what happened at the critical moment that a bullet struck President Kennedy’s head, this is what Rather told his horrified nationwide American audience:

“His head went FORWARD with
considerable violence!”

Rather not only said those misguiding words on national television, as he said them, he visually affirmed that description by moving the upper half of his body significantly forward to denote what he said happened to President Kennedy.

Not to give him too much credit, but what Rather reported to the American people soon became the official government version of how President Kennedy died on November 22, 1963, namely:

John F. Kennedy died from a gunshot to the back of his head fired by Lee Harvey Oswald from the 6th floor southeast corner window of the Texas School Book Depository Building, which was above and behind the President’s limousine.

There’s only one problem – That’s not what happened when the fatal shot impacted JFK’s skull. President Kennedy’s head was actually driven violently ‘backward!’

‘Backward’ is the complete opposite of what Dan Rather says he saw on the Zapruder film as a result of the fatal head shot striking JFK.

The sequence of still frames from the Zapruder film shown here demonstrate what actually happened:

 

Frame 312 is just 1/18th of a second before the fatal head shot. Note Mrs. Kennedy’s position in relation to her husband.

 

 

 

Frame 313 is the moment the fatal head shot struck President Kennedy. His natural, uncontrolled reaction in relation to this shot created controversy that endures to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frame 321 is a little less than 1/2 second after the head impact. Note how Mrs. Kennedy’s position has not changed, but President Kennedy is thrust ‘backward‘ against his car seat. Dan Rather of CBS News told a nationwide TV audience he saw JFK’s head move “forward with considerable violence.”

 

 

With the government’s essential finding that the kill shot came from above and behind the President, first planted in the minds of the American people by Dan Rather’s reporting of the Zapruder film, the Warren Report in 1964 went on to conclude:

A) One Assassin – Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. There was no conspiracy, foreign or domestic. Oswald was branded a ‘lone nut’ who was a misfit in society and sought a place in the history books.

B) A Second Lone Assassin – Oswald was himself assassinated before public trial by Jack Ruby, who also acted completely alone.

BIRTH OF THE ‘LONE NUTTERS’

Like any good issue of controversy, there is the ‘official version’ of events countered by one or more alternate theories purporting to be what ‘truly’ happened.

As it relates to the JFK assassination, due in part to Dan Rather’s early and mistaken interpretation of the Zapruder film, ‘lone nut’ believers (Lone Nutters) had their way in the court of public opinion until three events helped cause the emergence of JFK ‘conspiracy theorists.’

1. Our Right to Know – The work of pioneer JFK assassination researchers and critics such as Mark Lane, Penn Jones Jr., Mary Ferrell, Harold Weisberg, Edward Jay Epstein and Josiah Thompson were given a boost when the Freedom of Information Act was passed into law in 1967. Researchers could now petition the courts for the release of ‘classified files’ on the Kennedy assassination. Slowly, over time, documents and evidence were released that contravened the official findings of the Warren Report.

2. Watergate – The 1972 bungled burglary of the Democratic National Headquarters led to Richard Nixon’s resignation as POTUS. More tragically, the Watergate incident shamed America by demonstrating that the U.S. government, at its highest levels, could act criminally, disregard the public’s trust with blatant lies and then attempt to cover it all up.

3. Public Viewing of the Zapruder Film – On March 6, 1975, the Zapruder film was shown for the first time to the American people by Geraldo Rivera on ABC’s Good Night America.

While Watergate served to erode peoples’ trust in government, the first ever public viewing of the Zapruder film nearly 12 years after the event shocked Americans because it showed, in the eyes of many, the complete opposite of what Dan Rather and the Warren Commission reported as fact.

Millions of Americans watched in horror as President Kennedy’s head exploded in a pink hazy mist and propelled him ‘backward’ against his car seat as a result of the lethal head shot.

For 12 years, Dan Rather’s reported “forward with considerable violence” description of the President’s head swayed the public’s opinion that one assassin murdered the nation’s 46-year-old President.

But with you and I finally able to see on TV what Dan Rather saw soon after the assassination, our belief system was shocked into disbelief.

Not only did we see history occur completely opposite to what we were told by trusted reporters and our own government, for the second time in three years, we had to face the possibility that the U.S. government once again lied to us and tried to cover it up.

Once the Zapruder film was in the public domain, a new era of JFK assassination researchers emerged. Film expert Robert Groden, in concert with Penn Jones Jr., dissected the film for the American public to graphically show the ‘rearward’ result of the terrible kill shot.

Public perception of the JFK assassination would never be the same. Lone Nutters now had official opposition in vast numbers.

‘LONE NUTTERS’ VERSUS ‘CONSPIRACY THEORISTS’

We can’t be sure when the birth of JFK ‘conspiracy theorists’ occurred, but with the seed of mistrust in government now part of the human psyche thanks to Watergate, the first public viewing of the Zapruder film in 1975 may be the defining moment.

For sure, words such as lies, deception, conspiracy and cover-up became associated with the Warren Commission and its report.

While the 1960’s pioneer researchers mentioned above brought doubt to the Warren Report findings, the public airing of the 22-second Zapruder film changed everything.

A collective gasp could be heard across the country in 1975 upon seeing the gruesome result of the fatal head shot for the first time.

Then, when the shock of what we saw subsided, a new shock enveloped us.

You don’t have to be a scholar of physics like Sir Isaac Newton to realize that the President’s violent ‘backward’ head movement following the bullet’s impact is NOT consistent with a shot fired from behind Mr. Kennedy.

To put this to a harmless test, gently tap your forehead with the palm of your hand and take note of what happens to your head. Your head moves in the same direction of the incoming impact.

When we see JFK slammed ‘rearward’ against the backrest of his car seat, this is consistent with a shot striking him from the front and slightly to the right, which is where the infamous grassy knoll is situated.

The Warren Commission, operating under assurances from President Lyndon Johnson that a 75-year ban on thousands of classified documents would hide the truth until 2038, decided there was no grassy knoll sniper and that Lee Harvey Oswald was a ‘lone nut’ assassin who wanted a place in the history books.

Oddly, when Dan Rather published his memoir, it was titled The Camera Never Blinks.

In his own words in his memoir, Dan Rather reflects back on getting history wrong when he had the very first opportunity to report the truth as a CBS news reporter:

 

 

“At the risk of sounding too defensive,
I challenge anyone to watch for the first time
a twenty-two second film of devastating impact,
then describe what they had seen in its entirety, without notes.”

 

Unfortunately for historical truth, Dan Rather’s excuse is as flawed as his incorrect observations of Zapruder’s short film.

In fairness, today we can look at the Zapruder film at regular speed, slow speed, frame-by-frame and enlarged frames as often as we want and the film still engenders controversy.

Although we all look at the same film, ‘lone nutters’ see the film one way to fit their narrative and ‘conspiracy theorists’ see the film entirely differently to support their narrative.

So, can we blame Dan Rather for not seeing the obvious and setting history on a wrong course for more than a decade?

THE MISREPORTED ‘SINGLE SECOND’ OF TIME
THAT STILL DENIES HISTORY THE TRUTH!

The biggest mistake Dan Rather made on national TV was his attempt to provide play-by-play commentary for the entire 22 seconds of the Zapruder film. It’s not as easy as it sounds, given Rather’s limited one-time viewing of the shocking home movie.

Clearly, one of the most stunningly awful moments in recorded film history was the point of impact of the kill shot and the horrific result it caused.

Lost in the discussion of Rather’s description of JFK’s head moving violently forward is that by the time Rather gave his exclusive account on live TV of what happened to the President, he was already aware that:

A) Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested and formally declared and charged as the ‘lone’ assassin.

B) Oswald worked in the building where he allegedly fired the shots, which was above and behind JFK in Dealey Plaza.

Accordingly, we must wonder if:

• Skewed Viewing – Rather subconsciously saw what ‘must’ have happened to the President based on the information about Oswald instead of what actually happened.

• Rookie Mistake – The young TV reporter, for whatever reason, didn’t want to challenge the historical record as it was taking shape because he wasn’t experienced enough or confident enough or…

• Not His Fault – It was an honest mistake due to the pressure and time constraint he faced at the viewing of the film.

Over these past 55 years, Rather has offered little more than an excuse for his misrepresentation of the shot that killed President Kennedy (see his quote above).

He has consistently stopped short of admitting to being wrong, a similar strategy undertaken by almost all mainstream media that has refused to acknowledge that they unquestionably reported the Warren Report findings as fact in the aftermath of its release.

HISTORICAL WHAT IF

We can only imagine how history might be different if Rather, with the weight of CBS news behind him, had become the first reporter to question the illogical ‘backward’ movement of the President’s head when the shot is said to have come from ‘behind’ the victim.

Science simply does not support the instinctive, natural reaction of the President’s head and upper body to a bullet reportedly fired from above and behind.

It is hard to believe that the President, seen on film violently thrust ‘rearward’ upon impact of the head shot, did not befuddle Rather because of the physics involved.

Remarkably, not only did Rather miss this obvious defiance of physics at the moment of Kennedy’s death, he inexplicably reported the exact opposite of what happened.

Had Rather focused on that one critical second of time when a bullet tore into JFK’s skull, instead of the full 22 seconds of footage, he may have noticed (and accurately reported) the President’s reaction.

This is demonstrated every time I do a seminar for my book Through The ‘Oswald’ Window  and show the Zapruder film.

At the moment of impact to the President’s skull, the audience always emits a collective gasp of horror. When the film ends, I ask the audience where the fatal shot came from based on what they observed.

Without exception, the audience agrees that the kill shot came from the front, not from behind Mr. Kennedy even though, like Dan Rather, they viewed the disturbing film in its entirety.

Why couldn’t Dan Rather see what everyone else sees and make the same deduction that everyone else does?

If Rather had gotten it right on November 25, 1963, we have to wonder if the government could have proceeded with its assertion of Oswald as the lone shooter firing from above and behind.

If Dan Rather had seen the President’s true and instinctive reaction to the lethal head shot that drove him violently ‘backward’ against his car seat, he would not be known today as the father of the Oswald ‘Lone Nutters.’

Instead, Dan Rather would be heralded as the iconic journalist who forced the truth to prevail and foiled the U.S. government’s plan to suppress the conspiracy to assassinate the nation’s 35th President until the year 2038.