Customer Reviews

ABC News Classics The Assasination of President Kennedy

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Thanks to ABC News, we now have an opportunity to see portions of the network's original live coverage during the afternoon of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. This of course, is the same footage offered on I-Tunes' "ABC NEWS - THE DAY IT HAPPENED" series for viewing on one's I-Pod. The coverage, taken from the videotapes of WABC-TV in New York, begins with a few seconds of the sitcom "Father Knows Best" when sudenly the ABC Bulletin slide appears with Ed Silverman reading wire copy as a voice-over. Later, as Ron Cochran begins his on-camera reporting, you can see staffers quickly assembling some kind of background set even as Cochran continues talking. We hear from Bob Clark on the phone from Parkland Hospital in Dallas, and also see live pictures from the Trade Mart (courtesy of CBS Affiliate KRLD-TV which was providing a pool feed.
ABC in fact, through its own affiliate WFAA-TV, had the first eyewitness descriptions of the assassination within minutes of the shooting. You also see the only television interview given at the time by Abraham Zapruder, whose film of the assassination would not be broadcast nationally for another twelve years. This, plus on the scene Dallas films shot by WFAA cameramen, make this a precious piece of history to own.
For those interested in the history of the 1960s, or of broadcasting in general, I highly recommend this DVD.

Long before the advent of the 24 hour news cycle and the endless barrage of talking heads and "breaking news", American television in the 1950's and the early 1960's was not usually a major source of news. The main news business was in newspapers in 1963 at the time of the Kennedy Assassination. But television became a major player in the unfolding tragedy of the "Four Days" that began Nov. 22, 1963.

This hour-long disc offers highlights of videotaped ABC News coverage on Friday, Nov. 22 (this disc only covers Friday) including interviews with eyewitnesses Abraham Zapruder and Bill Newman. It is possible to catch the mood and tone of the moment in viewing this material as the ABC network scrambles to provide full coverage.

CBS network coverage from Nov. 22, 1963 and NBC network coverage was also preserved on tape. The CBS coverage taped actually starts at 12:30 p.m. at the start of "As the World Turns" (aired live), several minutes before the first voice-over flash from Walter Cronkite. The CBS and NBC material is not commercially available. JFK: Breaking the News

ABC News should be commended for producing this DVD on one of the most tragic days in American history. It begins with a few seconds of a Father Knows Best episode and then a bulletin of the shooting of President Kennedy. For the next hour viewers will relive the terrible news of the death of the President to the arrival of the body and the brief statement by the new President Lyndon B. Johnson. During this DVD be sure and look for Jules Bergman who was one of the best correspondents that covered the space liftoffs. If you have seen the Apollo XIII movie you may have seen his reports on the crisis in space in 1970. The ABC News DVD is a five star production but only one thing...I really wish an extra hour was extended to cover more of this story.

I tried to use this video for a high school government class. The quality was poor, grainy. The video was all over the place, could not keep a student's atention.

I got this at Amazon and I'm really, really shocked at people complaining about the "tape" quality. How old are you? What do you think taped film was like in those days? I still remember rabbit ears and having to change the channel with a pair of pliers. There were no digital recordings on hard drives in those days. Films rolled when you went from one scene to another. Satellite feed was not as instantaneous as it is today. Sometimes during telecast it would lose tracking...this is how your grandparents watched television.

With today's technology, would it have been nice if some of the audio quality were cleaned up a bit? Yes. But even occaional poor audio quality is a lesson of the time period.

Watching the ABC Network coverage was fascinating, but even more fascinating was the coverage at WFAA in Dallas, where news of the assasination first broke. Especially notable is WFFA's Jay Watson interviewing Abraham Zapruder who recorded the now famous Zapruder film of Kennedy being fatally shot.

The Majority of the DVD has audio that is just fine...including a very shocked expression of either "Oh God" or "Oh no" in the background as Ron Cochran announced the death of President Kennedy. It's only two on the street interviews that are not very clear and difficult to understand. I would have no problem showing this to a classroom of kids and explaining to them what television was like in those days. If you have a problem with it, I would recommend the History Channel's JFK: 3 Shots that Changed America, also sold by Amazon. It has cleaned up audio and video and patches together the different network feeds from that point in history.

The DVD release of "ABC News Classics" turns its focus to coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy that aired on ABC in 1963. The DVD release of "ABC News Classics" is part of a series entitled 'ABC News - The Day It Happened'. I have watched the DVD twice and it is really good.

The DVD begins with an introduction by Charles Gibson who was the host of "Good Morning America and anchor of "World News Tonight". After the introduction, the actual footage begins with a few seconds of "Father Knows Best". ABC News breaks in to inform viewers about more details that are developing in Dallas concerning John F. Kennedy. After the bulletin ended, we move on to the special report itself featuring Ron Cochran who is keeping viewers up to date on the situation in Dallas. On this DVD, it features an interview with Abraham Zapruder who became famous (or infamous) for filming the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The interview was conducted by Jay Watson who was news director at WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas. The DVD ends with Lyndon B. Johnson delivering his first address since the tragedy in Dallas.

All in all, this DVD is a great way to see the news as it was happening in 1963.

i thought this was a very good fascinating dvd on president kennedys murder.i didn t give it a 5 star rating because i felt the dvd was to short. i felt there should have been another hour on the dvd. there isnt any footage of oswald on the dvd. there is plenty of oswald footage available. especialy the oswald midnight news conferance footage. which was taken from several directions. other than that a very good dvd.