Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

This is going to be a multi-part discussion of the book Twenty-Six Seconds, A Personal History of the Zapruder Film, by Alexandra Zapruder, the granddaughter of Abraham Zapruder. It was published in 2016. 

First, let me point out that it was surreal for me to read this book because the most important thing anyone can say about the Zapruder film is that it was highly altered. And she wrote practically nothing about that. She did say that there were four frames that went notoriously missing. But, she said it was no mystery, that LIFE magazine, who became the owner of the film, accidentally destroyed those frames. And, she pointed out that since there are 18.3 frames per second, it represented just a small fraction of a second that went missing. And actually, according to her, it was Abraham Zapruder, himself, who said that. 

And by the way, she doesn't have any memory of him because he died when she was very young. And it's the same for me concerning my paternal grandfather, Ralph Cinque. He died when I was two, and I don't have any memory of him. 

Alexandra Zapruder's background is in education. She has a Master's degree in it from Harvard. And she is on the staff of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington and has been since it was founded. 

But, when I talk about the alteration of the Zapuder film, I am not talking about 4 missing frames. I am talking about the complete revamping of the film.  Because, as she says herself throughout the book, the story of the Zapruder film is that everything happened behind the sign, the Stemmons Freeway sign, that JFK was fine- he was smiling and waving- until he reached that sign. And then, behind the sign, everything happened.  Everything, that is, except the fatal head shot. 

So, the story of the Zapruder film is that the sign was transforming, that JFK not only underwent horrific physical trauma behind that sign, but that he emerged a completely different person, in which his consciousness, his awareness, and his ability to react and respond were radically altered. It all happened behind the sign.

And I want to stress that, unfortunately, no one other than me, talks about the change in JFK's mental status, pre-sign and post-sign. He emerges from behind that sign not only physically traumatized but mentally impaired. WHY IS IT THAT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT HIS OBVIOUS MENTAL IMPAIRMENT? 

JFK passes behind that sign a man and emerges from it a child. Jackie is like his mother- not his wife. JFK is rendered childlike and helpless- to the extreme. He is a different person than he was before the sign. 

And, the fact is that it's not exactly true that he was smiling and waving  until he passed behind the sign. If you look closely, you can see in the Zapruder film that he stopped smiling and waving and put his hand over his face. Nobody talks about that- except me. And to put it mildly, it pisses me off. 

Nobody, but nobody, reported that he did that. And I don't believe he did. I think it was painted on, and believe me, they had photo artists who could do it. I have been told that by modern-day photo editors, who use Photoshop.  So, why did they do it? They did it because he was already shot, in the back, and the look on his face showed it. That's why they had to cover up his face with his hand.

So, the "story" of the Zapruder film is a lie. It is NOT true that JFK reached that sign intact. He was shot in the back high on the hill. It happened just a little past the Depository, right before the Croft photo was taken.

This photo, too, underwent massive alteration to hide the fact that Kennedy was shot. But, I won't go into that here. 

So, in the extant Zapruder film, the Stemmons freeway sign is like the magician's curtain, and everything that happens, happens behind that sign. Keep in mind that JFK was shot in the throat behind that sign. There can be no doubt about that. But, the shot to his back was a separate shot that occurred much higher on the hill. 

So, the purpose of the Zapruder film is to sell the Single Bullet Theory, and a tremendous amount of altering and excising was done to get to that. 

 

But, getting back to Ms. Zapruder's book, she claims that, from the beginning, Abraham Zapruder wanted to get the film into federal hands, either the Secret Service or the FBI, that his first instinct was NOT to sell it, but to give it to the government. And by the way, he was a very patriotic American who appreciated this country because he was an immigrant from Ukraine, where his family was persecuted for being Jewish in Tsarist Russia. And then, life in Soviet-dominated, Ukraine was no picnic either. It isn't talked about much in this country, but Stalin sought to and did starve Ukrainians in the 1930s in what is known as the Holodomor. The most widely accepted death toll is about 4 million, but some claim that it was 12 million. You know, Joe Stalin? Uncle Joe? Our buddy from World War 2? He did that. 

But, I digress. Many times, I have pointed out that all amateur images from the JFK assassination were confiscated by the government. Nobody just went home with their film. Supposedly, Babushka Lady did, you know I don't believe that either. BL was an insider, cloaked in her long coat and scarf to hide her identity- it was her disguise- and it was one of her pictures that was converted into the picture that we have always known as the Moorman photo. But again, I digress. 

But, in Zapruder's case, it was none other than Secret Service Agent Forest Sorrels that took Zapruder's film, and he's the one who got it developed at Kodak. I tell you, Forrest Sorrels was like the Forrest Gump of the JFK assassination because he always showed up at crucial times. He got to ride in the car that went ahead of the Presidential limo. He got to take the Zapruder film from Zapruder, and he was the first to interview Jack Ruby up on the 5th floor of the DPD. 

So, Sorrell got to Kodak, where it took an hour to develop it. So, what did they see? 

The first thing I have to discuss is the quality of the film. One of the first people to see it was Kodak staff supervisor Jack Harrison, and he said that the film was "needle sharp." Erwin Schwartz, who as Zapruder's business partner in the dress manufacturing business,  said that the images were "the clearest, most beautiful you ever saw." "That last shot, you see his head come off, I mean you could see it so clear."

Well, the images in Zapruder film are certainly not "needle sharp" but I believe that they were. But, we don't see JFK's head come off.

Here's 313.

That's not his head coming off. That's his head being shot. We're seeing a red thing over his head, and it doesn't make sense. Other people have been shot in the head, and you never see that effect. Show me one other photographic capture of a person being shot in the head that looks like that.

So, I don't buy the red splotch. Leastways, I have my doubts about it. But regardless, are we all agreed that we're not seeing his head come off? And note that this is not a "needle sharp" image or anything close to it. They deliberately blurred JFK assassination images.

So, in 314 the red splotch is smaller, but still we don't see his head coming off.

Let's jump next to 316.

Still no head coming off.

Let's jump to 320.

Finally 328.

The point is that we don't see Kennedy's head coming off in the Zapruder film, even though many people reported seeing it, including those who first saw the Zapruder film. 

After developing, exactly three duplicates of the film were made. None of the duplicates contained the visual information between the sprocket holes. After that, Abe and Erwin drove to the DPD with the original and 3 copies. Two copies went to the Secret Service; one staying with the Secret Service in Dallas and the other being put on a plane and sent to the Secret Service in Washington. The remaining copy went to the FBI. The original, as we'll discuss at length, wound up in the hands of LIFE magazine. Did Zapruder keep a copy for himself? No, he did not. And as you will find out, that was NOT going to be allowed. This ends Part 1. I'll continue soon.