JFK

January, 1961:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation.

Now, this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new

in the American experience.

The total influence,

economic, political, even spiritual,

is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the federal government.

We must guard against the acquisition

of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought

by the military-industrial complex.

We must never let the weight of this combination

endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

November, 1960:

Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts

wins one of the narrowest election victories in American history

over the Vice President Richard Nixon by a little more than 100,000 votes.

Alongside his beautiful and elegant wife, Jacqueline Bouvier,

Kennedy is the symbol of the new freedom of the 1960s,

signifying change and upheaval to the American public.

"That all men are created equal."

Every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted

to the cause of freedom around the world.

Today, the proudest boast is:

"Ich bin ein Berliner!"

He inherits a secret war against the communist Castro dictatorship in Cuba,

a war run by the CIA and angry Cuban exiles.

Castro is a successful revolutionary

frightening to American business interests in Latin America.

This war culminates in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion

in April, 1961,

when Kennedy refuses to provide air cover for the exiled Cuban brigade.

Kennedy, taking public responsibility for the failure,

privately claims the CIA lied to him

and tried to manipulate him into ordering an all-out American invasion of Cuba.

In October, 1962,

the world comes to the brink of nuclear war

when Kennedy quarantines Cuba

after announcing the presence of offensive Soviet nuclear missiles

90 miles off American shores.

Soviet ships with more missiles sail towards the island,

but at the last moment, they turn back.

The world breathes with relief.

In Washington, rumors abound that JFK has cut a secret deal

with Russian Premier Khrushchev

not to invade Cuba in return for a Russian withdrawal of missiles.

Suspicions abound that Kennedy is soft on Communism.

Kennedy also finds himself embroiled in Laos and Vietnam.

We've got our difficulties there, quite obviously.

Unless a greater effort is made by the government

to win popular support, I don't think the war can be won out there.

In the final analysis, it's their war. They're the ones who have to win it or lose it.

Early that fateful summer,

Kennedy speaks of his new vision at the American University in Washington.

What kind of peace do I mean,

and what kind of peace do we seek?

Not a Pax Americana

enforced on the world by American weapons of war.

We must re-examine our own attitudes towards the Soviet Union.

Our most basic, common link

is that we all inhabit

this small planet;

We all breathe the same air;

We all cherish our children's futures;

And we are all mortal.

You fucking assholes!

Don't leave me here!

They're going into Dallas

Friday.

They're going to kill

Kennedy.

Call somebody

and stop them.

These are serious fucking guys!

She's high as a kite on something, been that way since they brought her in.

Help!

Please!

Here is a bulletin from CBS News.

In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired

at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.

The first reports say that President Kennedy

has been seriously wounded by this shooting.

What's wrong, Lou?

Boss, the President's been shot...

in Dallas five minutes ago.

Oh, no!

How bad?

There's no word yet but they think it's in the head.

Come on.

Napoleon's has a TV set.

Apparently, three bullets were found. Governor Connally also appeared to have been hit.

The President was rushed by Secret Service to Parkland Memorial Hospital, four miles from Dealey Plaza.

We are told a bullet entered the base of the throat and came out of the back side,

but there is no confirmation.

Blood transfusions are being given. A priest has administered the last rites.

Plenty of arrests have been made here today.

Well, there's still a chance, damn it.

Come on, Jack, pull through.

From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official:

President Kennedy died

at 1:00 p. M. Central Standard Time,

2:00 Eastern Standard Time,

some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Johnson has left the hospital.

Presumably he will bee taking the oath of office shortly

and become the 36th President of the United States.

He did so much for this country, for colored people. Why?

He's dirty!

Good-bye, you sorry bastard! Die!

Hey, shut the fuck up!

- Mind your own business. - God, I'm ashamed to be an American today.

The President of the United States is dead.

I have just talked to Father Oscar Hubert of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

He and another priest tell me that

the pair of men have just administered the last rights to President Kennedy.

Shortly after 12:30

as the President's motorcade neared the freeway entrance

near the park on the west side of downtown Dallas

those terrible shots rang out.

The President is dead.

The bullets were coming up over our heads

from that fence up on the knoll.

I seen his face when it hit. He just...

His ear blew off and he turns this real white,

and kind of flopped over on his stomach

and, uh...

with his foot sticking out.

He w... Excuse me.

None of us thought it could happen in America or any place else. And yet...

All this blubbering over that no-count son of a bitch!

They're bawling like they knew the man. Makes me want to puke.

For God's sake, Chief, the President was shot.

A bullshit President!

I don't see anybody crying for all those thousands of Cubans

that bastard condemned to death and torture at Bay of Pigs.

All these goddamn peace treaties!

I heard shots from over there.

- Well, I heard some shots from right over there. - How many shots?

That's what happens when you let the niggers vote.

They get together with the Jews and the Catholics,

and elect an Irish bleeding heart.

Well, Chief, now maybe you had too much to drink.

Bullshit!

Here's to the New Frontier:

Camelot in smithereens.

I'll drink to that.

A flash bulletin: Dallas Police have just announced that

they have a suspect in the killing of a Dallas Police officer, a J.D. Tippit,

who was shot at 1:15 in Oak Cliff. That's a suburb of Dallas.

Police are saying there could be a tie-in here to the murder of the President.

The suspect, identified as a Lee Harvey Oswald,

was arrested by more than a dozen police officers

after a short scuffle at the Texas Movie Theater in Oak Cliff.

Officer Tippit was killed apparently

by a revolver which was found on Oswald.

There is apparently...

They ought to just shoot the bastard!

Give him a medal for shooting Kennedy!

No, sir, I didn't.

I don't know what I am charged with,

but I emphatically deny these charges.

Well, the kid must have gone nuts, right?

I said, Oswald must have flipped,

- right? - Yeah.

Just went ahead and did this crazy thing before anybody could stop it, right?

I think I'll get out of here. I've got to get home, Chief.

The hell are you talking about?

Who'd have ever thought

that goofy Oswald kid would pull a stunt like an assassination?

Just goes to show you can never can know about some people. Am I right, Jack?

- Yeah. - Am I right, Jack?

Well, bless my soul.

Yeah, all these years, I thought you were on my team.

Sometimes I don't know... Are you kidding?

I couldn't be more serious, Jack.

Those little red eyes of yours have me wondering about your loyalty.

Look at that, Martin.

Who's been going through my files?

You've been looking through my files, haven't you, you little weasel!

You're starting to get paranoid. You really are!

You were going through all my files.

You're a goddamn spy!

Why the hell would I want to look through your files, Chief?

I've seen enough here this summer already to write a book.

I always lock my files!

You were the only one here today.

What do you mean, you bastard?

What do you mean, you're going to "write a book"?

What? No, I mean... Well, you know what I mean.

I've seen a lot of strange things here,

strange people.

You didn't see a goddamn thing!

You didn't see a goddamn thing! You hear me, you little weasel?

You didn't see a goddamn thing!

Full name is Lee Harvey Oswald.

O-s-w-a-l-d.

- Did you shoot the President? - I didn't shoot anybody, no, sir.

They have taken me in because of the fact I have lived in the Soviet Union.

I'm just a patsy!

God, he sure looks like a creep.

I protested at that time I was not allowed legal representation