Sixty years after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, some of the last surviving witnesses are speaking out for the first time in a documentary about what they experienced on Nov. 22, 1963.
JFK: One Day In America — the second installment of National Geographic’s Emmy Award-winning One Day In America historical docuseries franchise — premieres Nov. 5, to mark the 60th anniversary of Kennedy's traumatizing death.
The three-part limited series will encompass “a comprehensive account of that tragic moment in American history and the ripples that followed,” according to a press release.
“The landmark docuseries weaves archival footage, some colorized for the first time, with key testimony from the last surviving witnesses to create an immersive, minute-by-minute examination of that pivotal day that forever changed history," per the release.
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Such archival footage is provided by official collaborator The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas — where Kennedy was struck by two bullets while riding in a motorcade through a parade downtown.
“Thinking back, I’ll never forget those shots — ‘Pow. Pow. Pow,’” one male witness opens a trailer for the series.
“I saw a father take his little boy and put his body on top of the boy,” says another male witness. Similarly, a female witness shared how “my maternal instinct kicked in” at the time of the assassination.
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Clint Hill, the U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to first lady Jackie Kennedy, mournfully recounted, “I jumped to the rear bumper. Mrs. Kennedy was screaming, ‘I love Jack.’ I wasn’t fast enough.’”
“Mrs. Kennedy came forward and I can see blood on her dress, where she cradled the President's head in her lap and she said, ‘Let them see what they have done,’” recalled a journalist at the time.
“The paranoia in the atmosphere that was gripping Dallas — ‘Who was this guy?’” a female witness said of convicted shooter Lee Harvey Oswald, whose video-recorded assassination will also be featured, along with police radio recordings and live news broadcasts during that time.
The trailer ends on the haunting words of a witness’s testimony: “On November 22, 1963, the United States lost its innocence.”
JFK: One Day In America — from Emmy Award-Winning 72 Films’ David Glover and Academy Award-Winning executive producers Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin — premieres Nov. 5 at 8/7c on National Geographic and will be available to stream Nov. 6 on Disney+ and Hulu.