The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Granddaughter of man who filmed President Kennedy’s assassination to speak at event
Alexandra Zapruder, granddaughter of the Dallas businessman who filmed President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, is coming to Lake County to give a talk.
The program, being put on by the James A. Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor will be held at 7 p.m., Oct. 11, in the Dr. Wayne L. Rodehorst Performing Arts Center, located on the first floor of the D-Building of Lakeland Community College’s main campus at 7700 Clocktower Drive in Kirtland. The program is being held there due to high public interest and the limited space available at the Garfield site, according to a press release.
Immediately after the shooting of President Kennedy, several media outlets offered to purchase the film from Abraham Zapruder. After viewing it and realizing just how graphic it was, Zapruder sold it to LIFE magazine with the stipulation that it be treated “with dignity and good taste,” the release stated.
Alexandra Zapruder will speak about her grandfather and the history of the Zapruder film in American life and in her family. She will detail the Zapruder film’s journey from her grandfather’s camera to its home in the National Archives and the struggle for access, ownership, and control that dominated much of its history.
She also will share her thoughts about the film being available for anyone to see on outlets like YouTube, the use of the film in the 1991 Oliver Stone-directed movie “JFK,” and other topics.
The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Copies of her book “Twenty-Six Seconds: A Personal History of the Zapruder Film” will be available for purchase through Eastern National, the cooperating association that runs the bookstore at James A. Garfield National Historic Site. She will sign books following the presentation.
“We are so excited to have Alexandra Zapruder coming to northeast Ohio,” Todd Arrington, site manager of James A. Garfield National Historic Site, said in the release. “No one living remembers President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, and no photos or films of it exist. But there are many people out there that vividly and painfully recall President Kennedy’s murder, and the Zapruder film is a critical part of that history.”