National Geographic's award-winning documentary franchise "One Day in America" will return with a new series on the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, the first-ever Irish American Catholic President of the United States.
"JFK: One Day in America" chronicles in real-time not only the day JFK was assassinated but also the days surrounding it, including November 22, when he arrived in Dallas; November 24, when Oswald was shot; and JFK’s funeral on November 25.
The limited series premieres Sunday, November 5 at 8/7c on National Geographic with three back-to-back episodes and streams on Disney+ and Hulu on Monday, November 6.
National Geographic says the "JFK: One Day in America" is made in official collaboration with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.
The new features newly colorized footage and testimony from those on the ground in Dallas that day, some of whom are sharing their stories for the first time in a documentary.
The newly colorized footage featured in the three-part series includes that of Lee Harvey Oswald when he is in police custody and when he is shot while being transferred to the county jail.
Tom McDonald, EVP of Global Factual and Unscripted Content, National Geographic, noted that viewers will have "a unique chance to hear from some of the last surviving witnesses of the momentous events of November 22, 1963."
He added: “Many of these witnesses are now in their 80s and 90s, so this may be the final chance to capture their accounts and hear their testimony."
Contributors sharing their emotional testimony for the first time in a documentary include Peggy Simpson, the only female Associated Press reporter working in Texas in 1963 and an eyewitness to Oswald’s shooting; Rusty Robbins, a Dallas police officer who knew Jack Ruby, the man who murdered Oswald; and Bill Mercer, a local reporter for KRLD who was the first to inform suspect Oswald that he had been charged with the president’s murder.
For the series to serve as a comprehensive oral history, National Geographic says it also interviewed Clint Hill, a United States Secret Service agent assigned to Jackie Kennedy, who famously jumped onto the moving car and tried to help the First Lady after shots were fired; Secret Service agent Paul Landis, who was on his first-ever presidential motorcade during the incident; White House correspondent Sid Davis, who was in the room at Lyndon B. Johnson’s swearing-in on-board Air Force One shortly after the assassination; Buell Frazier, who drove Oswald to work that morning at the Texas School Book Depository; Dallas shoe store worker John Brewer, who helped law enforcement find Lee Harvey Oswald; Ruth Paine, a friend of Oswald’s wife, Marina, who lived with her at the time of the assassination; and the closest living civilian witnesses to the shooting, Gayle and Bill Newman.
Throughout the three episodes, viewers will also hear police radio recordings from on the ground on November 22, 1963, as law enforcement searched for the shooter. This includes dispatch recordings from the moment Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit was shot to the search around the Texas Theater when Oswald was soon arrested.
Additionally, live news broadcasts are featured over the course of each episode, echoing the fear, confusion, and sadness that quickly swept the country in the wake of former President Kennedy and Officer Tippit’s deaths.
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