Penn Magazine November 2017

Failed to tell what the film showed.
Rather selected a spot which required
that he catch the film from a truck
which would be traeling at least forty
to fifty milers per hour. He does pause
to tell that the press cars were placed
well back in the motorcade and that
this has subsequently been changed,
after the assassination in Dallas, so the
press buses are now close to the President.
He neglects to say the vehicles
in the Dallas motorcade were jumbled,
somehow, from their pre-planned
and pre-numbered assignments.
If Rather picked a puzzling location
to catch film, he chose an even
stranger route back to the Times
Herald building for which he says
he headed “at a full run.” Then, “I
topped the railroad grading a few
yards away and paused long enough to
shade my eyes and look for the camera
truck. It was nowhere in sight.”
The railroad dump is twenty-five feet
high and there were then five sets of
railroad tracks over that underpass. It
seems likely the camera truck could
have passed under Rather who was
getting up on the tracks. But perhaps
that strange detour was not really
to search for the camera truck.
We feel Rather’s eyewitness information
dictated that he run to the railroad
yards, even from the opposite side from
Dealey Plaza where all the people were
located. The railroad tracks behind the
picket fence are where people and police
ran immediately after the shots
were fired. Some people were honest
enough to say they found men in the
railroad track area who had guns, and
that some of the questionable characters
flashed Secret Service credentials.
The Secret Service has always insisted
they had no men in the railroad area.
So Dan Rather waited to catch film
just out of the kill area, saw the President’s
car rush past him, and ran where
eyewitnesses told the Warren Commission
the gunmen were located.
These witnesses were untrained, without
notebooks. They simply told
what they saw. Rather, the professional,
interviewed no one, did not
take out his notebook, gave no testimony
to the Warren Commission.
He says: “Perhaps I should have
stopped and taken out my notebook,
grabbing people and asking
questions. But I needed only
five seconds to make up my
mind to hustle back to the station.
I ran every step.” Bravo.
But the biggest distortion is
what he said he saw when he was
one of the few persons in the world
privileged to see the Abraham
Zapruder film that Saturday morning,
November 23. In his narration
of the film as part of CBS nationwide
television coverage, Rather
said the President’ head “went forward
with considerable violence.”
This narration confirmed the
so-called “Oswald position” for
the nation, but he said nothing
about the violent backward motion
of the President’s head which
would have strongly suggested
a second gunman at that early
date. Rather does take care to tell
us again that he took no notes.
Actually the President’s head
went forward for about three inches
and the was slammed to the left rear
-- NOT consistent with a shot being
fired from the “Oswald position”
from behind President Kennedy.
His book says this about the incident:
“At the risk of sounded
too defensive, I challenge anyone
to watch for the first time a twenty-two
second film of devastating
impact, run several blocks,
then describe what they had seen
in its entirety, without notes. Perhaps
someone can do it better
than I did that day. I only know
that I did it as well and as honestly
as I could under the conditions.
LIFE paid a tremendous
price
with the stated
purpose of withholding
the film
from the people.
This done by a
group to whom the
people had granted
the RIGHT of freedom
of the press
so the people could
be informed.
November 2017/Penn Magazine/15