We all know John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 , and we ’ve all seen the Zapruder Film . But what you might not know is that the film did n’t air on U.S. web television until 1975 , when a youthful Geraldo Rivera debuted the footage on ABC’sGood Night America .
Here ’s a clip :
And here ’s a bit of background on what happened to the motion-picture show , which Ethan Trex earlier wrotelast yr :
The next month Time Inc. , who ’d buy the right from Abraham Zapruder in 1963 to publish inLIFE , betray the copyright and the original film back to the Zapruder kinsfolk for $ 1 . ( Zapruder had died of stomach Crab in 1970 . ) Zapruder ’s family really capitalise on the film after reacquiring the copyright . His Logos rent the film out for one - time viewings , and although estimates of the exact fee depart , Oliver Stone allegedly pay at least $ 40,000 to utilize the footage in his cinema JFK .
But a 1997 conclusion by the Assassination Records Review Board took the original copy out of the Zapruder family ’s hands . As an of import artifact of the assassination , the film itself became a permanent part of the National Archives ’ Kennedy Collection . ( accord to aNew York Timesstory that ran when the film changed hands , it had become so tenuous after age of viewings and copy that the original could no longer be projected for fear of damaging it . ) The National Archives had already had forcible possession of the film for nearly 20 year ; the kinfolk had given it to the Archives in 1978 for safekeeping .
The Justice Department actually had the project of acquire the photographic film and compensating the Zapruder family line for its loss , and that ’s where things get interesting . The government offered $ 1 million . The Zapruder phratry countered that since it was a one - of - a - variety token , it should be valued more like a Van Gogh painting . Their counteroffer : $ 30 million . After a couple of years of huckster , a federal arbitration panel awarded the Zapruders a $ 16 million defrayment for the film in 1999 .
That fee only paid for the forcible copy of the film , though . The Zapruder phratry maintained ownership of the right of first publication . Not for long , though . On December 30 , 1999 , the family donated the copyright , along with its compendium of films and photograph , to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza .
