The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After (2010)

The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After explains the immediate aftermath of one of the most key moments in history—the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Let’s explore the key players and their actions during those critical hours:

1. The First Lady (Jackie Kennedy):
   • On the morning of November 22nd, 1963, Jackie Kennedy was in Dallas to support her husband’s re-election campaign.
   • By that evening, she found herself planning his funeral.
   • The documentary examines how Jackie survived that fateful day and the immense weight she carried as the First Lady during this tragedy.
2. The Vice President (Lyndon Johnson):
   • Lyndon Johnson, previously sidelined by the Kennedy administration, suddenly became the most powerful man in the world.
   • The film explores how he navigated a political tightrope to step into the Oval Office following JFK’s assassination.
3. The Attorney General (Robert Kennedy):
   • Robert Kennedy, hard at work investigating the mafia, received the devastating news of his brother’s shooting.
   • He jumped into action to protect JFK’s secrets, all while grappling with the haunting question: Was the assassination somehow his fault?
4. The Assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald):
   • Lee Harvey Oswald, who had defected to the Soviet Union seeking a fresh start, found himself working a minimum wage job in Dallas.
   • As fate would have it, the Presidential motorcade passed right outside his window.
   • The documentary goes into Oswald’s troubled life and his role in this tragic event.
5. The Detective (J.W. Fritz):
   • J.W. Fritz, Texas’s celebrated lawman, had only hours to extract a confession from Lee Oswald.
   • The world waited impatiently for answers, and everything hung in the balance.
   • But then, things took an unexpected turn.

This film pieces together the 24-hour period after the shots were fired, revealing startling new information about JFK’s death and the traumatic transfer of power to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. It’s an exploration of history’s turning points, seen through the eyes of those who lived it.