JFK

                                   JFK

FADE IN:

Credits run in counterpoint through a 7 to 10 minute sequence of
documentary images setting the tone of John F. Kennedy's Presidency and
the atmosphere of those tense times, 1960 through 1963.  An omniscient
narrator's voice marches us through in old time Pathe' newsreel fashion.

                                   VOICE
              January, 1961 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's
              Farewell Address to the Nation -

EISENHOWER ADDRESS

                                   EISENHOWER
              The conjunction of an immense military
              establishment and a large arms industry is new
              in the American experience.  The total influence
              - economic, political, even spiritual - is felt
              in every city, every statehouse, every office of
              the Federal Government ... In the councils of
              government we must guard against the acquisition
              of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
              unsought, by the military industrial complex. 
              The potential for the disastrous rise of
              misplaced power exists and will persist ... We
              must never let the weight of this combination
              endanger our liberties or democratic processes. 
              We should take nothing for granted ...

ELECTION IMAGERY

School kids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  WPA films of farmers
harvesting the Texas plains.  Rain, thunderheads, a dusty car coming
from far away on a road moving towards Dallas.  Cowboys round up the
cattle.  Young marrieds in a church.  Hillsides of tract homes going up. 
The American breadbasket, the West.  Over this we hear Eisenhower's
address.  As we move into the election campaign of 1960, we see the TV
debates, Nixon vs. Kennedy, Mayor Daley, Kennedy victorious ...

Against this is juxtaposed other forces: segregation, J. Edgar Hoover,
military advisors, Castro, Marilyn Monroe, Lumumba ... three frames of
the Zapruder film counter-cut ... ending with the Kennedy inauguration
and the irony of Earl Warren administering the oath as he will Kennedy's
eulogy.

                                   VOICE 2
              November, 1960 - Senator John F. Kennedy of
              Massachusetts wins one of the narrowest election
              victories in American history over the Vice-
              President Richard Nixon by a little more than
              100,000 votes.  Rumors abound that he stole the
              election in Illinois through the Democratic
              political machine of Mayor Daley ...
                     (inauguration shots)
              At his inauguration, at a time when American
              males all wore hats, he let his hair blow free
              in the wind.  Alongside his beautiful and
              elegant wife of French origin, Jacqueline
              Bouvier, J.F.K. is the symbol of the new freedom
              of the 1960's, signifying change and upheaval to
              the American public, scaring many and hated
              passionately by some.  To win the election and
              to appease their fears, Kennedy at first takes a
              tough Cold War stance.

BAY OF PIGS IMAGERY

The beach, the bombardment, the rounding up of prisoners, Kennedy's
public apology, Allen Dulles standing next to J.F.K., both uncomfortable
with the small talk ...

                                   VOICE 3
              He inherits a secret war against the Communist
              Castro dictatorship in Cuba, a war run by the
              CIA and angry Cuban exiles out of bases in the
              Southern United States, Panama, Nicaragua and
              Guatemala.  Castro is a successful revolutionary
              frightening to American business interests in
              Latin America - companies like Cabot's United
              Fruit, Continental Can, and Rockefeller's
              Standard Oil.  This war culminates in the
              disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961,
              when Kennedy refuses to provide air cover for
              the exile brigade.  Of the 1600 men who invade,
              114 are killed, 1200 are captured.  The Cuban
              exiles and the CIA are furious at Kennedy's
              irresolution ... Kennedy, taking public
              responsibility for the failure, privately claims
              the CIA lied to him and tried to manipulate him
              into ordering an all-out American invasion of
              Cuba.  He vows to splinter the CIA into a
              thousand pieces and fires Director Allen Dulles,
              Deputies Charles Cabell and Richard Bissell, the
              top leadership of the Agency.

SECRET WAR IMAGERY

Cuban rallies, footage of training camps, espionage activities, boats,
cases of weapons, Robert Kennedy ... John Roselli, Sam Giancana, Santos
Trafficante, Richard Helms (the new CIA chief), Bill Harvey, Head of
ZR/RIFLE, Howard Hunt ...

                                   VOICE 4
              The CIA, however, continues it's secret war on
              Castro with dozens of sabotage and assassination
              attempts under it's ZR/RIFLE and MONGOOSE
              programs - The Agency collaborates with
              organized crime elements such as John Roselli,
              Sam Giancana, and Santos Trafficante of Tampa,
              whose casino operations in Cuba, worth more than
              a hundred million dollars a year in income,
              Castro has shut down.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

Khrushchev, Kennedy, Castro on television, meetings with Cabinet,
Russian vessels in Caribbean, U.S. nuclear bases on alert, civilians
going to underground safe areas ... the Russian ship turning around, the
country smiling ...

                                   VOICE 5
              In October 1962, the world comes to the brink of
              nuclear war when Kennedy quarantines Cuba after
              announcing the presence of offensive Soviet
              nuclear missiles 90 miles off American shores. 
              The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA call for
              an invasion.  Kennedy refuses.  Soviet ships
              with more missiles sail towards the island, but
              at the last moment turn back.  The world
              breathes with relief but backstage in
              Washington, rumors abound that J.F.K. has cut a
              secret deal with Russian Premier Khrushchev not
              to invade Cuba in return for a Russian
              withdrawal of missiles.  Suspicions abound that
              Kennedy is "soft on Communism."

NUCLEAR TEST BAN IMAGERY

Closing down Cuban Camps, McNamara speaking, Khrushchev and Kennedy, the
"hot line" telephone system inaugurated, Kennedy with Jackie and
children sailing off Cape Cod ... Vietnam introduction, early shots,
Green Berets, counterinsurgency programs, De Lansdale, leading up to the
Test Ban signings ... then J.F.K. at American University, June 10, 1963.

                                   VOICE 6
              In the ensuing months, Kennedy clamps down on
              Cuban exile activities, closing training camps,
              restricting covert operations, prohibiting
              shipment of weapons out of the country.  The
              covert arm of the CIA nevertheless continues its
              plan to assassinate Castro ... In March '63,
              Kennedy announces drastic cuts in the defence
              budget.  In November 1963, he orders the
              withdrawal by Christmas of the first 1000 troops
              of the 16,000 stationed in Vietnam.  He tells
              several of his intimates that he will withdraw
              all Vietnam troops after the '64 election,
              saying to the Assistant Secretary of State,
              Roger Hilsman, "The Bay of Pigs has taught me
              one, not to trust generals or the CIA, and two,
              that if the American people do not want to use
              American troops to remove a Communist regime 90
              miles from our coast, how can I ask them to use
              troops to remove a Communist regime 9.000 miles
              away?" ... Finally, in August 1963, over the
              objections of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the
              United States, Great Britain and the Soviet
              Union sign a treaty banning nuclear bomb tests
              in the atmosphere, underwater and in space ...
              Early that fateful summer, Kennedy speaks of his
              new vision at American University in Washington.

                                   JFK
              What kind of peace do we seek?  Not a pax
              Americana enforced on the world by American
              weapons of war ... we must re-examine our own
              attitudes towards the Soviet Union ... If we
              cannot now end our differences at least we can
              help make the world safe for diversity.  For, in
              the final analysis, our most basic link is that
              we all inhabit this small planet.  We all
              breathe the same air.  We all cherish our
              children's future.  And we are all mortal ...

CONCLUDING KENNEDY IMAGERY

Diplomats at the United Nations ... Adlai Stevenson, Castro ... Martin
Luther King and the March on Washington (a snatch of his "I Have a
Dream" speech) ... Bobby Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa going at it ... U.S.
Steel Chairman's remarks in the steel face-off, men going to courtrooms
with briefcases, ... Teddy Kennedy, Rose, Joe, the Kennedy family, all
teeth and good looks ... and of course John campaigning, always
campaigning, shaking hands, smiling, that supremely warm smile and sense
of grace and ability to convey to crowds their oneness with him ...
forever ... culminating in the more specific Texas shots ... with Jackie
in San Antonio, and Houston ... then at Fort Worth ... then at Love
Field moving through the clouds toward the Dallas/Forth Worth plain
which suddenly breaks into view as we descend ...

LOUISIANA HIGHWAY - DAY (1963)

A moving car carrying two Cuban males disgorges a rumpled, screaming
woman, Rose Cheramie, a whore in her thirties, lying there bleeding in
the dirt.  The car drives off.

HOSPITAL - DAY (1963)

We see Rose, badly cut but quite lucid, trying to reason with a
policeman, Lt. Fruge, and a doctor - in a remote black-and-white
documentary.

                                   ROSE
              They're going up to Dallas ... to whack Kennedy. 
              Friday the 22nd, that's when they're going to do
              it.  In Dealey Plaza.  They're gonna whack him! 
              You gotta call somebody, these are serious
              fuckin' guys.

                                   DOCTOR
                     (to the police officer)
              Higher 'n a kite on something.  Been like this
              since she came in.

BACK TO DOCUMENTARY IMAGES'

We see the last close-ups of Kennedy shaking hands on the tarmac at Love
Field, smiling, into the motorcade ... the downtown streets of Dallas,
people packing the sidewalks clear back to the buildings, hanging out of
windows ten stories up, schoolgirls surging out into the street in front
of the car.  The President is wildly popular - except for the occasional
posters calling for his arrest for treason ...

                                   VOICE 7
              More rumors emerge of J.F.K.'s backdoor efforts
              outside usual State Department and CIA channels
              to establish dialogue with Fidel Castro through
              contacts at the United Nations in New York. 
              Kennedy is seeking change on all fronts.  Bitter
              battles are fought with Southern segregationists
              to get James Meredith into the University of
              Mississippi.  Three months after Kennedy submits
              a sweeping civil rights bill to Congress, Martin
              Luther King leads 250,000 in a march on
              Washington.  Robert Kennedy, as Attorney
              General, for the first time ever vigorously
              prosecutes the Mafia in American life, bringing
              and winning a record number of cases - 288
              convictions of organized crime figures including
              13 grand juries against Jimmy Hoffa and his
              Teamsters Union.  The President also takes on
              Big Business, forcing back steel prices, winning
              45 of 46 antitrust cases during 1963 and he
              wants to help everyday taxpayers by ending age-
              old business privileges like the oil depletion
              allowance and the fees paid to the Federal
              Reserve Bank for printing America's currency. 
              Revolutionary changes are foreseen after
              J.F.K.'s assumed re-election in 1964.  Foremost
              in the political consciousness of the country is
              the possibility of a Kennedy dynasty.  Robert
              Kennedy in '68, Teddy Kennedy in '76.  In
              November, 1963 John Kennedy travels to Texas,
              his popularity sagging to 59% largely due to his
              civil rights stand for which he is particularly
              hated in the South.  Texas is a crucial state
              for him to carry in '64.  With him is Vice-
              President, Lyndon Johnson and Texas Governor
              John Connally.  On November 21, they visit
              Houston and San Antonio.  On the morning of
              November 22, he speaks in Fort Worth, then flies
              15 minutes to Love Field in Dallas, where he
              takes a motorcade through downtown Dallas on his
              way to speak at 12:30 at the International Trade
              Mart.  Later, the motorcade takes him through
              Dealey Plaza at 12:30 ...

DEALEY PLAZA - THAT DAY (NOV. 22, 1963)

We see a massive overhead shot of the Plaza as it lay then.  Credits
conclude under shot - and we have the subtitle "November 22, 1963."

A young epileptic screams and suddenly collapses near the fountains in
front of the Texas School Depository.  He has a violent epileptic fit
that attracts surrounding attention.  Dallas policemen run over to him. 
We hear the siren of an ambulance roaring up.

TIMECUT TO ambulance loading the epileptic man and taking off.

                                   AMBULANCE VOICE
              We are en route to Parkland.

BACK TO a montage of the shooting.  We see Kennedy, in the last seconds,
waving, turning the corner at Houston from Main ... We see TV footage
and a piece of Zapruder film from before the shooting; fragmented images
...