"Forward with Considerable Violence..."

Over the years, longtime CBS News anchorman Dan Rather has repeatedly asserted that he and CBS have maintained objective views of the JFK assassination, although each of their independent "investigations" have reached the same lone-nut conclusion. I think the anchorman's interest in the assassination is itself of interest, since his actions on the day of the event have been an ongoing controversy.

At issue is Rather's description of the Zapruder film on national television during that long and terrible weekend in 1963. The crux of the matter is that, while most of Rather's description of the film was accurate, he innaccurately described Kennedy's head movement at the moment of the fatal shot.

In any objective viewing of the Zapruder film, the President's head plainly moves backward and to the left. But Dan Rather, one of just a few privileged to see the Z-film at that early date, stated that Kennedy's head "went forward with considerable violence." In fact, he described it that way not once, but at least twice.

In his best-selling 1977 autobiography The Camera Never Blinks, Rather indignantly defended his controversial reportáge. "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."

Fair enough. For a long time that seemed like a reasonable position, in spite of the egregious error in describing the head-snap --- which was just one of the journalistic sins Rather committed that weekend. (Another was his inexplicable decision to immediately flee Dealey Plaza --- in effect, to run away from the biggest story of the century.)

But a review of the transcript of Rather's on-air description of the Zapruder film raises the question of his veracity once again. As the transcript makes plain, Rather's description is remarkably detailed for just one first-time viewing. He describes Governor Connally's unbuttoned coat, for example, and seems to have taken in enough information to state that "if you had dropped a plumb line from the [sixth floor TSBD] window to the sidewalk to the President's car [its distance from the TSBD] was around 35 yards". To me, that makes his errant description of the single most critical detail seem all the more glaring.

As disturbing as Rather's incorrect description of the head-snap is his repeated assertion that there was a lone gunman, and that the shots came from the Texas School Book Depository. The official version of the assassination was by then already taking shape, and being swallowed whole by the media. But nothing in the Zapruder film, as we know today, shows there was a single gunman.

Dan On the Box, 1963

As Rather tells the story, he viewed the film in the office of Abraham Zapruder's lawyer, then dashed several blocks (the exact number is in dispute) to a broadcast facility.

Hughes Rudd: Dick, ah, Dan Rather just came into the studio, ah and we've just been discussing this statement just made by Texas Attorney General Wagoner Carr about a full and complete investigation that is going to be carried out and so on ... what do you have that's new, anything?

Dan Rather: Well I'm not sure that this is the proper context in which to put it ... but as you may know Hughes I, I ... have just returned from seeing a ... a movie ... which clearly shows in some great detail the exact moments preceding, the exact moments of, the President's assassination which clears up some of the points that had been rather vague up until this time. Now may not be the time or the place to discuss that, perhaps Dick uh ...

Richard Hotelett: No I think it is ... uh, Dan ... I think it fits right into the context of what we've been saying.

Dan Rather: Well let me tell you then, give you a word picture of the motion picture that we have just seen. The President's automobile which was proceeded by only one other car containing Secret Service Agents ... the President's open black Lincoln automobile ... made a turn, a left turn off of Houston Street in Dallas onto Elm Street, this was right on the fringe area of the downtown area. This left turn was made right below the window from which the shot was fired ... as the car made the turn completed the turn went below the window from which this shot was fired ... went on past the building keep in mind the window was on the sixth floor ... it got about 35 yards from the base of the building that is if you had dropped a plumb line from the window to the sidewalk to the President's car was around 35 yards from that spot ... President Kennedy had just put his right hand up to the side of his right eye, it appeared that he was perhaps brushing back his hair or rubbing his eyebrow. Mrs. Kennedy was not looking in his direction. In front of them in the jump seat of the Lincoln ... were Governor and Mrs. Connally. The Governor as was the President was on the side of the car of the building in which the assassin was located. Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Connally were on the opposite side, two Secret Service men on the front seat. At almost the instant the President put his hand up to his eyebrow ... on the right side of his face, with Mrs. Kennedy looking away ... the President lurched forward just a bit, uh, it was obvious he had been hit in the movie but you had to be looking very closely in order to see it. Mrs. Kennedy did not appear to be aware that he was hit but Governor Connally in the seat just in front of the President ... seemly heard the shot ... or sensed that something was wrong ... Governor Connally whose coat button was open turned in such a way to extend his right hand out towards the President and the Governor seemed to have a look on his face that might say, "What is it? What happened?! and as he turned he exposed his entire shirt front and chest because his coat was unbuttoned ... at that moment a shot very clearly hit the part of the Governor. He was wounded once with a chest shot, this we now know ... uh the Governor fell back in his seat ... Mrs. Connally immediately fell over the Governor, uh, I say fell, she threw herself over the Governor ... and at that instant the second shot the third shot total but the second shot hit President Kennedy and there was no doubt there, his head ... went forward with considerable violence ... Mrs.. Kennedy stood up immediately her mouth wide open ... the President slumped over against Mrs. Kennedy almost toppling her over as she was standing ... Mrs. Kennedy then threw herself out of the back seat of the car onto the trunk of the car almost on all fours stretched out over the trunk of the car ... there was a Secret Service man standing on the back bumper ... it would appear that Mrs. Kennedy was either trying to get herself out of what she knew instinctively was danger or perhaps was trying to grab the Secret Service man and pull him into the back seat of the car for help at any rate Mrs. Kennedy was prone, uh face down on the back of the car on the trunk ... the Secret Service man leaned over put his hands on her shoulders and shoved her back into the car he seemed to be in danger of perhaps rolling or falling off the back. A Secret Service man in the front seat of the car uh was already on the telephone perhaps he had been on the phone all along it was not clear and the car sped away.

Richard Hotelett: The car never stopped did it!

Dan Rather: Thc car never stoppcd, it never paused.

Hughes Rudd: How long did all this take, Dan? In a matter of seconds.

Dan Rather: Well, the complete scene that I just described to you covers exactly 20 seconds that is from the time the car made the turn until the car disappeared onto an underpass.

Richard Hotelett: Is it clear, is it that the President was hit twice ?

Dan Rather: It was very clear that the President was hit twice. He was hit, Governor Connally was hit and the Gov ... uh the President was hit again.

Hughes Rudd: How long a time did the actual three shots take from the first shot until the final shot, Dan?

Dan Rather: Not more than five seconds and I ... am inclined to think slightly less than that perhaps.

Hughes Rudd: There [sic] must have been very grim pictures to watch, especially today.

Richard Hotelett: What was the source of these pictures, Dan?

Dan Rather: An amateur photographer, had an 8 millimeter color uh camera he had positioned himself up off the side walk on an old street lamp base, he was above the heads of the crowd and was facing the automobile.

Richard Hotelett: Of course he was focused on the automobile so there's no indication of where the shots came from.

Dan Rather: No, he was focused on the automobile with his back or side to the window from which the shots came. Only the automobile was shown in the film.

Rather later described the Zapruder film on television. "Uncle" Walter Cronkite was anchoring for CBS News.

Walter Cronkite: Correspondent Dan Rather was permitted today to see some films of the actual assassination and here is his report from Dallas.

Dan Rather: The films we saw were taken by an amateur photographer, who had a particularly good vantage point, just past the building from which the fatal shot was fired. The films show President Kennedy's open, black limousine, making a left turn, off Houston Street on to Elm Street on the fringe of downtown Dallas, a left turn made just below the window in which the assassin was waiting. About 35 yards past the very base of the building, just below the window, President Kennedy could be seen to, to put his right hand, up to the side of his head to, either brush back his hair or cover up his eyebrow. President Kennedy was sitting on the same side of the car, as the building from which the shot came. Mrs. Kennedy was by his side. In the jump seat in front of him, Mrs. Connally, and Governor Connally, Governor Connally on the same side of the car as the president. And in the front seat, two Secret Service men. Just as the president put that right hand up to the side of his head, he, you could see him, lurch forward. The first shot had hit him. Mrs. Kennedy was looking in another direction, apparently didn't see, or sense the first shot, or didn't hear it. But Governor Connally, in the seat in front, appeared to have heard it, or at least sensed that something was wrong. The Governor's coat was open. He, he reached back in this fashion, back as if to, to offer aid or ask the president something. At that moment, a shot clearly hit the governor, in the front, and he fell back in his seat. Mrs. Connally immediately threw herself over him in a protective position. In the next instant, with this time Mrs. Kennedy apparently looking on, a second shot, the third total shot, hit the president's head. He, his head can be seen to move violently forward. And, Mrs. Kennedy stood up immediately, the president leaned over her way. It appeared that he might have brushed her legs. Mrs. Kennedy then, literally went to the top of the trunk, of the Lincoln car, p-put practically her whole body on the trunk. It, it appeared she might have been on all fours, there, reaching out for the Secret Service man, the lone Secret Service man who was riding on the bumper of the car, the back bumper on Mrs. Kennedy's side. Uh, the Secret Service man leaned forward and put his hands on Mrs. Kennedy's shoulder to, push her back into the car. She was in some danger, it appeared, of rolling off or falling off. And when we described this before, there was some question about what we meant by Mrs. Kennedy being on the trunk of the car. Only she knows, but it appeared that she was trying desperately to, to get the Secret Service man's attention perhaps to help pull him into the car. The car never stopped, it never paused. In the front seat, a Secret Service man was, was on the telephone. The car picked up speed, and disappeared beneath an underpass. This is Dan Rather in Dallas.

Dan Never Blinks, 1977

Walter Cronkite: The White House tonight announced a full investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy under orders from President Johnson. All Federal agencies have been advised to cooperate with the FBI.

There isn't enough information here to draw any conclusions, and I don't mean to suggest complicity between Rather and the assassination conspirators. But there's a rotten fish floating somewhere in this tank.

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