The Zapruder film is a silent 8mm color motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder with a Bell & Howell home-movie camera, as United States President John F. Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Unexpectedly, it ended up capturing the President's assassination.
Even though it is not the only film of the shooting, the Zapruder film has been described as being the most complete one, giving a relatively clear view from a somewhat elevated position on the side from which the president's fatal head wound is visible. It was an important part of the Warren Commission hearings and all subsequent investigations of the assassination, and it is one of the most studied pieces of film in history. Of greatest notoriety is the film's capture of the fatal shot to President Kennedy's head when his presidential limousine was almost exactly in front of, and slightly below, Zapruder's position.
In 1994, the footage was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
1975Mar, 6
For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
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Events on 1975
- 26Jun
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. - 15Aug
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup. - 15Aug
Yasukuni Shrine
Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II. - 27Aug
Dili
The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group. - 1Oct
Ellice Islands
The Seychelles gain internal self-government. The Ellice Islands split from Gilbert Islands and take the name Tuvalu.