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If you were wondering exactly why AMC was running about 16 straight hours of Oliver Stone's "JFK" this weekend, in addition to all the History Channel documentaries on conspiracy theories* we were awash with over the course of the past few days, it was the 45th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination. So we wondered: With all of the amazing things that the internet has to offer, was there any footage of Chicago area news breaking the story to the city that Kennedy had been shot? The short answer: No. But delving a little deeper into the times, we were reminded that Kennedy wouldn't have ever been in Dallas as President if Mayor Daley's Machine didn't turn out the vote in Cook County to put him over the top in Illinois.
Rich Samuels' always interesting site (which we've mined for Flashbacks before) brings us an hour long piece about the night that Daley bought a half-hour on NBC before a national Kennedy speech from the Chicago Stadium, to literally parade the Cook County slate in front of an audience in advance of the Democratic candidate. [RealPlayer required]
As for the Chicago angle on news broadcasts to the nation on that fateful day - in between breaking news from the networks, the tone and the mood of the country was met by the orchestra at NBC's Studio A at the Merchandise Mart:
Studio A's last moments of network glory came in November, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Joseph Gallichio and the 38 members of the NBC-Chicago orchestra happened to be in studio A rehearsing for an imminent taping the "Artists' Showcase" program when word reached Chicago that the President had been shot. The musicians remained in place. Thereafter, whenever Chet and David ran out of things to say in New York, the network switched to Chicago---where Gallichio and the orchestra played somber selections.
*This writer's opinion: Oswald acted alone. And don't get me started about the Truthers.
"jfk" from joshuamellin.
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I'm not going to comment on the myriad of half-baked conspiracy theories out there, but I have two words for you: magic bullet. There's just no way that Oswald acted alone. Even our own government (see US House Select Committee on Assassinations ) disagreed with the Warren Commission's dubious report.
That said, nice post; it's always nice to find out Chicago's place in historic events.
Channel 11 has been broadcasting a one-hour documentary on the JFK assassination called "Breaking The News". It's composed of recollections from various reporters in Dallas and abroad who were covering the event, explaining how that day unfolded from the general perspective of the news media. It was interesting to see how information was shared & exchanged in the days before cell phones and laptops. Check it out.