A history of pop culture representations of the JFK assassination (and the Zapruder film)

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
Sherlock Homes

Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the day President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas: 22 November 1963. To mark this somber occasion, check out the seven pop culture artifacts mentioned in this report via The Conversation as well as this excellent essay on “The Endless Assassination of John F. Kennedy” by Sean O’Neal, a writer for Texas Monthly. (This Wikipedia page and this report on “The Secrets of the JFK Assassination Archive” by Scott Sayare, a freelance journalist writing for New York Magazine, are also worth reading.)

In addition, check out the short video below, which surveys the history of the Zapruder film, perhaps the single-most important — and lucrative — piece of evidence regarding this endless enigma, one that was withheld from the public for years and that the greedy heirs of Abraham Zapruder eventually sold to the government for $16 million (greedy because they wanted even more money!). For a more detailed history of this infamous film clip, I recommend this excellent essay by my colleague and friend Brian Frye as well as David Wrone’s book “The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK’s Assassination“, and for an apology of the Zapruder family’s abject greed, see Chapters 13 & 14 of “Twenty-Six Seconds: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film” by Alexandra Zapruder, who is the granddaughter of Abraham Zapruder.

(Bonus confession: For my part, the JFK case has fascinated me since I was in middle school, when I first learned about the Warren Commission’s shoddy investigation and likely cover-up of what really happened that fateful day.)