“Generosity Forces Gentle Abe Into Hiding,” Houston Chronicle. (Copyright Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved.)
Letter to Abraham Zapruder from secretary Nancy Tuckerman and envelope signed by Jacqueline Kennedy regarding William Manchester’s authorized account of President Kennedy’s assassination.
Cover of LIFE magazine issue dated October 2, 1964, showing frames from the Zapruder film in color. (Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives)
Subpoena issued to Abraham Zapruder to testify at the Clay Shaw trial in New Orleans on February 12, 1969.
Front page of the New Orleans States-Item on the day that Abraham Zapruder testified in the Clay Shaw trial in New Orleans. (Courtesy of: New Orleans States-Item / Advance Media)
Obituary of Abraham Zapruder, August 31, 1970.
FILM FRAMES
Frame 162: President Kennedy rests his arm on the open limousine and smiles at onlookers, his wife in her pink suit sitting to his left, just after the motorcade completes the turn from Houston to Elm and enters Dealey Plaza. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 225: The limousine emerges from behind the Stemmons Freeway sign, where it had been momentarily obscured, as President Kennedy suddenly begins to lift his arms up toward his throat. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 230: President Kennedy, reacting to the bullet that hit him in the upper back and exited through his throat, contracts his upper body, pulling his shoulders up and raising his elbows and hands toward his face. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 254: President Kennedy hunches slightly forward as he begins to lower his arms and Jackie Kennedy turns toward him. Governor Connally, also wounded, begins to fall toward his right. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 269: Jackie Kennedy leans toward the president and appears to take his hand as he continues to slump forward; she is looking at Governor Connally, who is turning to his right and falling back toward his wife, Nellie, obscured by the lamppost. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 304: Jackie Kennedy bends her head toward her wounded husband, appearing to embrace him, as Governor Connally falls backward into the lap of his wife, Nellie. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frames 330 and 335: Jackie Kennedy reacts in horror immediately after her husband suffers the mortal gunshot wound to his head and dies, collapsing into her lap. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frames 334 and 348: Jackie Kennedy rises from the rear seat, turning toward the back hood of the limousine while the lifeless body of the president falls into the seat. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill can be seen leaping on to the rear of the car. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frames 366, 371, 375, and 386: Jackie Kennedy climbs out of the backseat and on to the hood of the limousine while Agent Clint Hill jumps on the rear bumper in an attempt to stop her. Nellie Connally’s yellow roses can be seen strewn inside the car. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 398: Agent Clint Hill reaches for Jackie Kennedy’s arm and forces her back toward the seat of the car as the limousine picks up speed. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
Frame 445: The limousine rushes toward the Triple Underpass heading for Parkland Hospital. Jackie Kennedy’s pink hat is barely visible in the backseat as the American flag waves over the front headlight. (Zapruder Film © 1967 [Renewed 1995] The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am profoundly grateful to many people who supported and encouraged me throughout the many years it took to complete this book.
My friends and colleagues at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza were unfailingly helpful with research and guidance. I wish to thank Nicola Longford, Megan Bryant, Stephen Fagin, and especially the late Gary Mack, who not only answered innumerable questions and provided me with invaluable information, but was also one of my earliest and most enthusiastic cheerleaders.
The staff of Time Inc. opened the LIFE magazine archives and gave me unfettered access to the Zapruder film records, an act of trust that enabled me to fill in a previously unknown period in the film’s history. I wish to thank Ali Zelenko, Steve Koepp, and Bob Sullivan for welcoming me in and Time Inc. Chief Archivist Bill Hooper for opening up the files, answering a million questions, and accommodating every request with patience and care. Roy Rowan spoke with me by phone about his memories and clarified important details in the manuscript.
I wish especially to acknowledge Dick Stolley, whose friendship is one of the great gifts to have come from this work. He provided me with facts and insights about his dealings with my grandfather, reviewed my account for accuracy, and helped me in whatever way he could whenever I asked. Put simply, and in words my grandfather would surely have used, Dick is a mensch.
I so appreciate the help provided by Alexis Ferguson at the Dallas Jewish Historical Society in sharing an interview with my grandmother Lillian Zapruder, conducted by Miriam Creemer in 1991. I also wish to thank Stefana Breitwieser and Stacey Chandler of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, who located and provided me with the letter my father wrote to John F. Kennedy in 1962. They also made available a copy of his 1960 letter (which Gary Mack had previously found). I am grateful to have these letters for the book and for our family. Freddie Rios at Skadden Arps provided all the Zapruder film arbitration documents I needed and gave me an office in which to review them. She cheerfully answered questions, provided contacts, and helped in whatever way I needed, and I’m very grateful.
I wish to acknowledge the excellent work of Gloria Thiede, who meticulously and with much-appreciated speed transcribed a great many interviews for me. I also thank Jean Dotts from Bop and Awe on Etsy, who rescued several Jennifer Juniors dresses from my grandfather’s era and sold them to me for a song. I loved seeing these garments for myself and adding them to our family treasures.
My thanks go to Jamie Henderson, the grandson of Harry McCormick, who generously provided me with a letter from his grandfather written shortly after the assassination and other helpful materials.
I especially thank my grandmother’s longest-time friend Alice Feld, and my grandparents’ dear friend Ada Lynn, for allowing me to interview them about my grandparents. Some of those memories, stories, and anecdotes made their way into this book but, more than that, they remain precious contributions to our family’s personal history.
One of the best parts of writing this book was meeting film and cultural historians, journalists, writers, filmmakers, and others who have thought and written about the Zapruder film. I have enjoyed and benefited from these lengthy, wide-ranging, and provocative conversations, whether they took place in person, on the phone, or in written correspondence. My thanks go to Tom Doherty, Chip Lord, David Lubin, Bill Minutaglio, Errol Morris, George Packer, and Richard Woodward. I especially appreciated and enjoyed my ongoing e-mail dialogue with Doug Hall about The Eternal Frame and many other subjects. Art Simon immediately proved himself to be a kindred spirit and, even beyond his book (which was an essential source for me), his encouragement and insights have been a sustaining influence.
I hardly know how to thank Don DeLillo and his publicist, Kate Lloyd, for their kindness and generosity. In particular, I wish to thank Don for sharing his time and reflections about the film and its place in his work, and for his compassion and understanding about what it means to be a Zapruder. He also took me to lunch. It is not a day I will soon forget.
I wish to express my gratitude to ChaeRan Freeze, who generously provided me with historical insights about Jewish life in Imperial Russia. She translated texts, directed my reading, read and corrected my manuscrip
t pages, and answered all my questions in writing. Her vast knowledge deepened my understanding of my grandfather’s childhood in Russia and its effect on his later life.
I am so thankful to the small group of our family’s intimates who played key roles in the life of the film and allowed me to interview them, provided materials, and patted me on the back when my spirits flagged. It is with gratitude and love that I thank Anita Dove, Dana Freyer, Adam Hauser, Roger Pies, Jamie Silverberg, and Bob Trien for their constancy and contributions.
I remain especially grateful to my father Henry’s close friends who showed me so much love and support through the writing of this book. They took me to lunch to talk about their memories of my dad and the film, discussed the project with me, engaged on various ethical and historical questions, and sometimes simply stood in as surrogates when I was missing my own father. My love and thanks go to Bill Truettner, David Mathiasen, Bob Adler, Paul Isenman, David Fischer, and Rabbi Daniel Zemel.
I wish to express my particular gratitude to David Marwell for his unflagging guidance in helping me understand the ARRB and the taking of the Zapruder film. He answered every question forthrightly, made helpful suggestions to the manuscript, and engaged with me in some of the most difficult questions I faced. Beyond that, he is a true friend, for which I feel exceptionally lucky.
My heartfelt thanks go to a number of very busy, often high-profile people who spoke with me about the ARRB, the taking of the film, and the Zapruder film arbitration. They did not hesitate to share their thoughts and opinions, asking nothing in return, and gave me free rein to use the material as I wished. In some cases, they read my pages and offered corrections. In all cases, they made this a much better book. My thanks go to Bob Bennett, Rich Brusca, Walter Dellinger, Ken Feinberg, Judge John Tunheim, and Beth Gates Warren.
There are many people in various professions who have worked directly with the Zapruder film or studied it, gathering materials and writing books that were foundational to my understanding of its public life. I wish to acknowledge and thank those who helped me personally, including Joseph Barabe, Robert Groden, Clayton Ogilvie, Richard Trask, Howard Willens, and Roland Zavada. My special thanks go to Paul Hoch, who carefully read the parts of my manuscript dealing with the assassination and the subsequent investigations, and scrupulously corrected it, providing me with sources to consider and cite and saving me from many embarrassing mistakes. He did so with kindness and generosity and I will always remember that.
There is a special place in my heart for Max Holland, who is one of the most thorough, careful, and thoughtful thinkers I’ve ever met. He was exceptionally generous with his time and his impressive collection of research materials about the assassination. He clarified my thinking on many important issues, gently challenging me on my assumptions, and supported the writing of this book in every possible way.
I wrote this book at the Writers Room in DC, and I thank Charles and Alex Karelis for creating this place in which creative and intellectual work can flourish and a fellowship of writers can support each other.
I am so fortunate to have a community of writers who offer solidarity, advice, empathy, and sometimes just a willing ear for my complaints. At the Writers Room, my days were sustained by Liz Flock, Caitriona Palmer, Carolyn Parkhurst, Kimberly Stephens, and Judy Warner. Other writer-friends bolstered my spirits and pushed me on in big and small ways, including Matt Bai, Jim Baker, Michelle Brafman, Margaret Hutton-Griffin, Molly McCloskey, Donna Oetzel, and Mary Kay Zuravleff. I wish especially to thank Elizabeth Shreve, who has given me so much encouragement and advice, not only on substance but on tricky questions of publishing and media, and who has been a true friend since the moment I met her. Finally, I have especially treasured my little writers group, which includes Hanna Rosin, Margaret Talbot, and Florence Williams; they saw me through this work from the first to the last written word.
Susan Shreve gets her own paragraph. She was among the first to encourage the idea of writing this book and she did a great deal on its behalf, introducing me to people, spending hours discussing all aspects of it, and pushing me to face the personal element of this story even when I resisted it. She read the first draft of the book and offered deeply thoughtful comments and important improvements. Her brilliant mind and generous heart are all over these pages.
And then there’s Michael Downing. He started listening to me talk about this book before anyone else and, if the world were fair, he would be credited as its coauthor. He shaped and challenged my ideas, waited patiently while I stumbled over my own thoughts, untangled my confusions, rescued me when I was stuck, and read my pages and offered superb insights. Most of all, he made me laugh when I wanted to cry and remains the dearest and most steadfast of friends. Having Michael in my life is one of the very best things that has ever happened to me.
I am eternally grateful to my literary agent, Gail Hochman, who immediately grasped the potential of this book, threw her considerable passion behind it, and, most important, found it the best possible home. I also wish to thank Marianne Merola and Jody Kahn from Brandt and Hochman, who have supported and doubtless will continue to support this book well after its initial publication.
The team at Twelve has been nothing less than extraordinary. Jarrod Taylor designed the book, including the cover, endpapers, and photo inserts with sensitivity, creativity, and care. Crack publicists Paul Samuelson and Brian McLendon showed unflagging excitement for this book, even as they waited far too long to get to read it. They put their full effort toward making sure it would reach the largest possible audience, and I am deeply grateful. The production team was heroic: My great thanks go to Carolyn Kurek, Bob Castillo, and Giraud Lorber for their extraordinary patience and meticulous care in seeing the book through from its first incarnations to its final form. I wish also to thank Susan Gutentag and Mark Steven Long for proofreading it and Stephen Callahan for indexing it. My dear childhood friend Dierdre Baule, who works in finance at Hachette Book Group, could not have been a more enthusiastic, encouraging cheerleader. Finally, there should be a special place in Paradise for copyeditor Rick Ball, whose abilities stretch from correcting misplaced commas to catching major inconsistencies, faults of logic, incorrect quotations, and bad writing. He saved me from looking like an ass at least a dozen times over and I will never forget it.
Elizabeth Kulhanek helped in innumerable ways, serving as my liaison with the production team at Twelve, shepherding the manuscript through the process, answering my questions, and resolving every issue with patience, kindness, and good cheer.
I am most of all indebted to the great Deb Futter, who saw the potential of this book when it was still a half-formed proposal, snatched it up, and never looked back. She has shown nothing less than unbounded enthusiasm and excitement for the book, which is what every writer most wants and needs. Her editorial read of the manuscript was, of course, invaluable. But it is her faith in my work as a writer and in the meaning and value of this book in particular that made all the difference.
I wish to thank my friend Linda Fittante, who took extraordinary pains to capture my best side in my author photograph. She spent far more time and energy, and charged me far less, on this than any photographer of her caliber should. But that’s part of what makes her such a dear friend.
To my everlasting good fortune, my cousin Micah Hauser took on the role of researcher for me in the early stages of this work. He tracked down books and articles, created master lists of sources, compiled ideas for interviews, and spent hours talking with me about the substance of the work itself. He assembled my file cabinets when they arrived in boxes at my house and then filled them with the records he had gathered. He brightened my days with his huge smile, his wonderful energy, and his stellar insights. It was pure joy to work with him on this project.
I am immensely lucky to have a wide circle of friends in Washington and elsewhere who are smart, funny, warm, generous, and who always have my back. I could not possibly mention every one but I
trust they know who they are. I do, however, want to thank a small handful of close friends who were with me on a nearly daily basis over the years it took to write this book and whose enduring support went above and beyond. They include Ilana Drimmer, Dini Karasik, Carin Zelenko, and Lynne Englert.
Our au pair Anna Gebauer turned up, like Mary Poppins, when we needed her most. Just as I started dropping things, she caught and handled them, not only taking care of our children in every way, but walking and playing with our dog, cleaning the kitchen, learning to make meals, and putting up with the ups and downs that exist in every family. All of us love and appreciate Anna for everything she has brought to our lives, and to this I would add that I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to her for making it possible for me to finish this book.
Words begin to fail as I try to find a way to thank my family. I will just say that the love and trust we share is the single most important, sustaining element of my life. I want to mention my sister-in-law Shelley Stone, my cousins Alicia Seiger, Joanne Harpel, and Fran Sterling, and my aunt Randee Seiger, all of whom cheered me on in every way. I also want to thank my first cousins and their children who share this story with me for their support: Jeffrey and Nancy Hauser and their children Meir, Aviva, and Leah, who is married to Avrohom Eliezer; Adam and Rhonda Hauser and their children, Micah and Alana; David and Kim Hauser and their children, Melani and Reed; and my cousin Aaron, a writer in his own right, who has always expressed a deep understanding and faith in this book.
Twenty-Six Seconds Page 41