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Four Days That Shocked the World

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This material is from an LP long out-of-print and is called the following in the liner notes: "The actual voices and events of November 22-25, 1963". It is, indeed. Nicely remastered, this collection of the sounds of the time in chronological order (from the Fort Worth Breakfast Speech to Taps at Arlington)is a riveting overview that avoids sensationalism and silly statements of interpretation (like the recent book with the meaningless sub-title "Four Days that Changed America").

This was Four Days that Shocked the World, as this record states and the actual sounds and unfolding of events as heard through crackling on-the-scene reporting are more dramatic than any enthusiastic fantasy connected to the assassination.
Narration is sparse and the stark news coverage carries the entire story: The mobile radio unit at-the-scene contains the sounds of the desperately speeding motorcade immediately after the shooting; the exclusive audio coverage of Ike Pappas, WNEW News, the last person to speak to the accused assassin, is included, provided at length; the muffled drums; the Jet Plane Fly-by and the 21-Gun salute are all here.
This is a truly fascinating collection of authentic audio history.

The sudden and tragic assassination of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963, was a vicious blow to the heart of America, and to much of the world as well. As you would expect from such a big news story, there was massive media coverage of the events in Dallas and Washington. For four solid days (November 22nd to November 25th, 1963), TV, radio, and the print media were saturated with news surrounding JFK's murder, as well as assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest and subsequent death at the hands of nightclub owner Jack Ruby, President Kennedy's funeral, and many related side stories about JFK, new President Lyndon Johnson, and other topics.

This 49-minute Audio CD, which was originally produced and released in 1993, provides many of the major radio highlights of that sad four-day weekend, culled from more than 85 hours of original audio material. Reid Collins of "WNEW Radio News" serves as narrator for this program.

You get a true sense of what it was like to be in Dallas just after the shots were fired at the President's motorcade in Dealey Plaza. Many "on-the-scene" and "on-the-spot" audio news clips are included from pertinent locations in Dallas and Washington as the dark weekend progresses. It's quite literally history in the making.

Many of these November 1963 audio reports are fairly rare, including one particularly interesting and ironic clip that takes place in the basement of the Dallas Police Department on Sunday morning, November 24th at 11:21 AM -- that being the riveting radio account of Lee Harvey Oswald's killing as reported by WNEW's Ike Pappas. After Oswald is shot dead by Jack Ruby, Pappas continues with radio coverage from the jail basement and quickly interviews a few eyewitnesses to the shooting. It's almost immediately revealed (practically before Oswald has cleared the basement's driveway via ambulance) that Jack Ruby was, in fact, the man who plugged Oswald. And, by coincidence, on-the-spot reporter Pappas just happened to have a business card of Ruby's in his pocket at the time Ruby shot his prey. It's an amazing (and very rarely heard) audio clip. Pappas exclaimed excitedly on the air: "He (Ruby) runs the Carousel Club?! ... He handed me that card the other day!"

Also included on this Compact Disc is the rare Joe Meek JFK tribute record, "The Kennedy March", which is the last of 10 tracks on this disc. Meek released this single in early December 1963, just weeks after JFK was killed. And, according to the liner notes here, it is being re-issued for the very first time on this CD.

The liner notes included in this CD package are quite extensive and collectible in nature. There are some lengthy 1993 text notes by Stephen Fellows, a detailed listing of what can be heard on the disc, and a good-looking Kennedy 5-cent postage stamp reproduction, with simulated Dallas postmark, stamped at the exact moment of JFK's shooting at 12:30 PM, Nov. 22, 1963 (which serves as the front cover of the CD).

In addition, on the opposite side of the liner notes' insert page can be found a unique newspaper front-page reproduction (re-print) from "The New York Herald Tribune" (dated November 23-24, 1963; "European Edition"). This newspaper re-print is rather interesting reading, with every page-one article, not surprisingly, focusing on the murder of the President.

Audio quality is very, very good on this CD. Considering the age of these 1963 recordings, you couldn't ask for better quality sound here. Very little old-time radio "crackle" can be heard at all on these audio clips. Everybody sounds clear as a bell.

Here's a Track List for this Compact Disc:

1.) President Kennedy's breakfast speech in Fort Worth. (Length of track = 1:43)

2.) JFK's arrival at Love Field. (4:55)

3.) Mobile radio reports just moments after the shots are fired. -- "Something has happened in the motorcade route!" This track includes an interview with eyewitness Charles Brehm. (8:48)

4.) President Kennedy's death is officially announced. (1:07)

5.) Interview with ambulance driver; Comments by UPI's Merriman Smith; Swearing-in of new President Lyndon Johnson; LBJ's short speech at Andrews AFB. (4:40)

6.) Police account of Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest; Comments by Oswald himself ("I didn't shoot anybody, no sir!"). (3:24)

7.) Ike Pappas of WNEW-New York reports on shooting of Oswald in Dallas Police basement; crystal-clear account of Pappas' question to Oswald ("Do you have anything to say in your defense?"), followed an instant later by a gunshot and a very audible groan from Oswald as he falls dead on the basement floor. This "Ike Pappas perspective" is a rare audio clip that's not featured on very many programs covering the JFK Assassination. Fascinating stuff here. .... "Holy mackerel, Oswald has been shot! There's mass confusion...!" (6:34)

8.) President Kennedy's casket taken from White House to Capitol Rotunda on November 24; Excerpts of eulogies by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Senator Mike Mansfield. (6:54)

9.) Coverage of JFK's State Funeral on Monday, November 25th, 1963. (8:02)

10.) "The Kennedy March", by British record producer Joe Meek. (2:33)

Total Run Time: 49:09.

NOTE: The Amazon Track Listing shows 37 different tracks for this product. There are, indeed, 37 unique topics covered on the CD, but there aren't that many individual track (or chapter) breaks. There are only 10 total tracks. All of the material shown on this Amazon page is included on the CD however (just not broken into unique tracks/chapters). A similar 37-item breakdown of contents is also printed in the disc's liner notes.

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For a concise audio-only account of the events surrounding JFK's death, you need look no further than this CD of "THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY -- FOUR DAYS THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD: NOV. 22-25, 1963".

Four Days That Shocked The World is an incredible collection of original news broadcasts from those dark days in November of 1963. Many of the clips are provided by Dallas-Fort Worth radio stations that were on the air at the time, along with material from WNEW Radio in New York and ABC Radio. Reid Collins' narrative is straight forward and consise. The only flaw is the supposed KBOX Report "at the moment the motorcade is fired upon". The KBOX material is actually a recreation recorded AFTER November 22nd by the reporters who were there. The simulation was done because the original KBOX tapes were thought lost and unavailable for use. Everything on the CD is authentic. In all, an excellent collection for history buffs and anyone interested in how the saddest weekend in American history was covered on radio.