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THE PANEL’S 2-1 decision roughly split the difference between the family’s view, that the film is worth $30 million, and the federal government’s opinion that its value was no more than $1 million.
Both sides agreed to arbitration last year, after Congress declared the Zapruder film government property and directed the National Archives to take possession, to preserve it for historians and investigators.
FINAL DECISION
The panel was chosen to decide how much the family should be compensated for the government’s seizure of the film. Its decision is final.
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‘Before I had a chance to organize my mind, I heard a second shot and then I saw his head opened up and the blood and everything came out and I started.’
— ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER
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Zapruder’s heirs called the decision “fair and reasonable.” The Justice Department said the panel’s action “ensures that this evidence of one of the most tragic events in American history will be protected for scholarly and research use.”
The 8mm-color film, just 26 seconds long, shows Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. As hard as it may be to believe now — in an era when home video cameras are practically everywhere — it is the only motion picture record of the actual shooting.
Applying federal rules which require compensation to be based on what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, the panel relied on the testimony of professional appraisers, some of whom said the film could bring as much as $40 million if it were sold at auction.
“Special value attaches to historical items deemed to be ‘Kennedy memorabilia,’” the panel’s decision said. “Items associated with President Kennedy and his family have been increasing in value, apparently based upon the emotional significance” of his presidency, the panel said.
‘ONE OF A KIND’
Panel members, declaring the film to be “one of a kind,” rejected the argument of Justice Department lawyers, who said the film should be judged as a modern historic document, worth no more than several hundred thousand dollars.
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Tuesday’s decision, compensating the family for the government’s decision to take possession of the film, does not address the separate issue of rights to use the film’s images. That copyright is still controlled by the family and any commercial user of the film must pay the family a licensing fee. But that arrangement may soon change.
“We are actively pursuing arrangements for transferring the ownership of the copyright to a public institution which could continue our policies of proper caretaking on a permanent basis,” the family said Tuesday.
Zapruder himself told the story of how he happened to aim his Bell & Howell home movie camera at history. In 1964, he told investigators that he was standing on a concrete bank along the motorcade route.
‘BLOOD AND EVERYTHING’
As he filmed, he saw Kennedy lead over and grab his chest. “Before I had a chance to organize my mind, I heard a second shot and then I saw his head opened up and the blood and everything.”
He said he was still photographing until Kennedy’s car went under an underpass. “I don’t even know how I did it. I was walking back toward my office and screaming, ‘They killed him! They killed him! They killed him!’” he said.
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