Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan
Any conversation with Acacemy Award-winning director Oliver Stone is bound to be controversial; his discussion at The Newseum‘s Annenberg Theater on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was no exception.
Oliver Stone
It’s been 22 years since his controversial movie “JFK” was released, and to this day he remains certain that President Kennedy was killed by more than a lone gunman and that his death was all about politics.
“Look at the people who have power in Washington who work on the fringes,” he said. “Look for the hundreds of sharpshooters in the world and see who was in Dallas that day.”
Peter Kuznick, co-writer with Stone on the Showtime series “The Untold History of The United States,” and associate professor of history at American University, joined Stone for the program along with moderator Shelby Coffey, the Newseum’s vice chairman, “The series and a companion book of the same name, takes a look back at our country’s history through recently declassified material,” according to the event description.
Shelby Coffey, Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick
The November 1st event is part of The Newseum’s observance of the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination where exhibits will run through January.
Recently, The Newseum hosted the world premiere of Killing Kennedy airing on The National Geographic Channel Sunday, November 10th at 8 PM/7 PM Central.
Hollywood on the Potomac on the Red Carpet at Killing Kennedy:
“Stone, who grew up in a conservative Republican family, was a senior in a Pennsylvania boarding school the day Kennedy was assassinated. He said he always accepted the official story about the president’s death.
That changed in 1989 after he “followed all the details” and also read “On the Trail of Assassins,” a book by former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, which disputed the Warren Commission’s findings and claimed the government, particularly the CIA, was responsible for the assassination. Stone’s “JFK” was largely based on Garrison’s book. Garrison was portrayed in the movie by actor Kevin Costner.
Stone said Kennedy was possibly viewed a threat because he “represented a sea change in our foreign policy, and was moving toward détente in the Cold War with [former Soviet premier Nikita] Khrushchev.”
Stone believes the 3-hour, 9-minute movie, which will be newly released on Blu-ray Nov. 12, has stood the test of time.” except from Sharon Shahid, online managing editor at The Newseum.
Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick
“The facts held up,” he said. “The sequence of bullets held up. The autopsy was pretty accurate. The Parkland scene was pretty accurate.”
“Stone said that first lady Jacqueline Kennedy “made a mistake” by allowing Kennedy’s body to be autopsied at the Bethesda Medical Center outside Washington, instead of at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where the president was rushed immediately after the shooting. Discrepancies between the autopsy and the initial findings in Dallas remain a disputed topic among conspiracy theorists.” Sharon Shahid
“The [Abraham] Zapruder film is the best evidence we have of Kennedy’s assassination,” Stone said. “It was an appalling crime scene that was badly handled from the beginning.”
