Re-visiting the RFK Assassination (1968)

[Stanislav]

I have been reviewing (and downloading/editing together for personal use) the footage of the CBS coverage of the assassination of Robert Kennedy (it is on this guy's YouTube page, in 7 parts). We have covered this ground, in part, in previous threads, but for the sake of newer users and seeking any additional input.....

The CBS footage is live coverage, from Kennedy's victory speech, through the shooting and beyond. Now, as RFK was shot just after Midnight PST, I am assuming that this coverage (based on the West Coast and utilizing many well-known CBS names, including Terry Drinkwater, Roger Mudd, and Mike Wallace) was being done primarily for the sake of PST affiliates (especially in California). But, were there any affiliates farther East carrying this live coverage in the middle of the night? It would be unusual for them to still be on as late as 3 a.m. EST, but that year RFK and the California primary were pretty big news.

I would imagine that even if many/most Eastern affiliates had signed off for the night, once word reached them about the shooting, some may well have signed back on early to broadcast the network feed. That is, assuming there would have been anyone awake at the switch. (I would guess that even for a station that regularly signed off for several hours per night, there may well have been an engineer still hanging around doing off-air maintenance work?)

Finally, were NBC and ABC also going live with the speech and the subsequent assassination news? Or just taping the speech for later use and not actually on-air? They were definitely at the Ambassador (the CBS footage at one point has a clear shot showing a camera with the NBC logo on it, and the first audible words indicating that Kennedy had been hit come in an off-mike conversation in which someone tells Drinkwater that "ABC is saying that Kennedy has been shot").

As an aside, it is very interesting to contrast this footage with modern-day TV news practices. As opposed to today's talky-talky style (in which silence is verboten), there are long sequences at the Ambassador, for some time after the shooting and later between whatever witness interviewees Drinkwater was able to corral, where nothing is heard except for the ambient audio (including many "doctor in the house" pleas from the podium, as well as repeated and largely ignored requests for the milling and rubbernecking crowds to clear the room). A modern-day reporter would feel compelled to carry on a running monologue about what was happening, or the studio anchors would have broken in to comment themselves. (In fact, the studio anchors do not even intrude on the coverage for a long time until Drinkwater formally throws it back to them.)

 

[radiorob2.0]

As an aside, it is very interesting to contrast this footage with modern-day TV news practices. As opposed to today's talky-talky style (in which silence is verboten), there are long sequences at the Ambassador, for some time after the shooting and later between whatever witness interviewees Drinkwater was able to corral, where nothing is heard except for the ambient audio (including many "doctor in the house" pleas from the podium, as well as repeated and largely ignored requests for the milling and rubbernecking crowds to clear the room). A modern-day reporter would feel compelled to carry on a running monologue about what was happening, or the studio anchors would have broken in to comment themselves. (In fact, the studio anchors do not even intrude on the coverage for a long time until Drinkwater formally throws it back to them.)

Today's news coverage has become comical with the excess armchair quarterbacking otherwise known as analysis. The mining accident from earlier this decade comes to mind. It had a happy ending but until then we had static shots of an empty podium and anchors suffering from diarrhea of the mouth trying to fill audio time. If you have nothing to say, then go back to regular programming. It took a step down after the good news was revealed. One reporter began rambling endlessly, making no sense from what appeared to be lack of sleep. If I were the director it would have ended quick. The reporter's ramble was only outdone by Geraldo Rivera and his pointless rambling from days without sleep.

Then there is the instant replay of the tragic event best parodied by SNL and the Buckwheat Buys The Farm skit. Unfortunately, the parody became reality twenty years later on 9/11. Have you had a chance to see the footage of the towers collapsing? No, then let's take a look.

The competition of news channels have diluted judgment and it has become a contest on who can cover it the longest and most repetitive.

 

[firepoint525]

This "dead air" might have been a problem if simulcasting over radio, but for television, there are images still available. (I remember a former pastor not wanting to do communion whenever our church services were broadcast over the air, because of all the long periods of silence associated with it.)

The problem with modern-day "news" (or what passes for "news") is that the commentator tells you what you are going to see, then you see it, then the commentator tells you what you just saw, as if you couldn't figure it out for yourself! This is the "dumbing down" effect of "news" today. I remember seeing what seemed like hours devoted to Elizabeth Smart, when at the time there was simply nothing new to report! :

 

[cdsull502]

I was watching live TV at the time. All three networks were on live--at least in the Boston area where I was living at the time. I was 17 years old. The networks stayed live to broadcast RFK's victory speech. I happened to be watching NBC's coverage. After the speech was finished, I recall that Frank McGee had wrapped up the coverage, but continued to repeat the results. After a while, he said words to the effect that "you are probably wondering why we are still here and the reason is that we have been checking on a report that Senator Kennedy
has been shot at the Ambassador Hotel. We can now confirm that the report is true and we go now to our reporter on the scene."

Sometime later, I saw a videotape of ABC's initial coverage. They were preparing to leave the air and were running closing credits to conclude the program. Suddenly, Howard K. Smith broke into the crawl with the news.

 

[ixnay]

I was watching live TV at the time. All three networks were on live--at least in the Boston area where I was living at the time. I was 17 years old. The networks stayed live to broadcast RFK's victory speech. I happened to be watching NBC's coverage. After the speech was finished, I recall that Frank McGee had wrapped up the coverage, but continued to repeat the results. After a while, he said words to the effect that "you are probably wondering why we are still here and the reason is that we have been checking on a report that Senator Kennedy
has been shot at the Ambassador Hotel. We can now confirm that the report is true and we go now to our reporter on the scene."

Sometime later, I saw a videotape of ABC's initial coverage. They were preparing to leave the air and were running closing credits to conclude the program. Suddenly, Howard K. Smith broke into the crawl with the news.

Was Smith still on camera at the anchor desk, behind the credits, as they rolled, perhaps in a wide-angle shot? I almost imagine him having to make a Kent Brockman-like dash back behind the desk as soon as he got the news about the shooting (I'm exaggerating dramatically, but you get the idea). IOW I wonder how far off the set Smith was when he was told his night wasn't over.

Also, was Smith anchoring from LA or NY? Didn't he and Frank Reynolds replace Peter Jennings on ABC's weeknight newscast that year? (Jennings, of course, returned to weeknights a few years later.)

I imagine the incredible coordination demands between the networks' NY and LA/Burbank facilities and the crews at the hotel, and the split second decisions that had to be made, especially since the shooting happened as the networks' coverages were wrapping up.

ixnay

 

[cdsull502]

Smith was anchoring from New York. According to his memoir, the closing credits for the broadcast were running with a darkened studio, the camera focusing on Howard K. Smith. He got word of the shooting while still seated at the anchor desk and immediately broke into the credits with the news. He was not the anchor of the ABC Evening News at the time. Bob Young took over for Jennings in October of 1967. Young was replaced by Frank Reynolds in May of 1968. Smith joined the broadcast in May of 1969.

 

[Stanislav]

Sometime later, I saw a videotape of ABC's initial coverage. They were preparing to leave the air and were running closing credits to conclude the program. Suddenly, Howard K. Smith broke into the crawl with the news.

Smith was anchoring from New York. According to his memoir, the closing credits for the broadcast were running with a darkened studio, the camera focusing on Howard K. Smith. He got word of the shooting while still seated at the anchor desk and immediately broke into the credits with the news.

Sounds pretty dramatic -- if anyone actually has that, I'd love to see it turn up on YouTube. The CBS footage that is there now is the first I've seen ever of the live coverage. (Given as it happened in the middle of the night EST, and I was 10 at the time, I didn't learn of the shooting until the morning papers).

 

[Ultimajock]

...of potential interest, although I don't think it's part of any existing coverage, one of the people the Kennedy family invited to be on the train taking the Senator's body back to New York was Jack Paar; he wrote about the experience in his memoir P.S. Jack Paar: An Entertainment...

 

[Ultimajock]

...on another note, the man in horn-rimmed glasses interviewing Senator Kennedy at the podium (Kennedy's response is "We'll just have to fight for it") right after the speech is Andrew West, the KRKD-Mutual/Los Angeles reporter whose memorable reaction to seeing Senator Kennedy lying on that kitchen floor ("Take a hold of his thumb and break it if you have to!") was incorporated into Tom Clay's million-selling record of "What the World Needs Now" in 1971. I point that out here because for years Ron Jacobs, then programmer of KHJ and a man who previously fired West from three different jobs in Honolulu and California, falsely accused West in public (including on reelradio.com) of faking the tape and then peddling it to Mutual for an additional fee. I haven't seen any such claims from Jacobs in recent years, but they were online for so long that some may still be under the false impression that West had indeed faked it...

 

[pqgeorge]

...on another note, the man in horn-rimmed glasses interviewing Senator Kennedy at the podium (Kennedy's response is "We'll just have to fight for it") right after the speech is Andrew West, the KRKD-Mutual/Los Angeles reporter whose memorable reaction to seeing Senator Kennedy lying on that kitchen floor ("Take a hold of his thumb and break it if you have to!") was incorporated into Tom Clay's million-selling record of "What the World Needs Now" in 1971. I point that out here because for years Ron Jacobs, then programmer of KHJ and a man who previously fired West from three different jobs in Honolulu and California, falsely accused West in public (including on reelradio.com) of faking the tape and then peddling it to Mutual for an additional fee. I haven't seen any such claims from Jacobs in recent years, but they were online for so long that some may still be under the false impression that West had indeed faked it...

A couple years ago, I spoke to a reporter who was doing some research of the RFK Assassination (in preparation for the 40th anniversary of RFK's death). That reporter had spoken to Ron Jacobs over the past few years. Apparently, Jacobs realized that he was wrong in making such false statements about Andy West regarding the recording and knows now that this recording was the real McCoy and is a matter of public record. On the following night, about 20 hours after the shooting, Andy West was a guest of The Joey Bishop Show and presented the audio tape, unedited from beginning to end. I know....., at the age of 8, I saw that broadcast live as it was fed to the entire ABC network. Recently, I listened to the audio portion of the Bishop show again and remembered exactly what I saw nearly 40 years ago. I stayed up through the night on the 5th into the 6th of June. Around 4:30 AM (Eastern), Kennedy spokesman Frank Mankiewicz came out of the hospital where Kennedy had been treated to announce that Senator Kennedy had just died and that he was 42 years old. Those memories of watching the shooting scene live, The Joey Bishop Show and the long solemn train ride to Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday will haunt me for the rest of my life. I'll never forget 1968.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I know this is part of the board is about television, but the mention of the Andrew West recording is certainly of interest. I have a recording of it on reel-to-reel taken from a year-end radio program in late 1968. Just moments before the shooting, West was interviewing Kennedy, then turns off his recorder with a remote switch on the microphone. As he is at the scene just afterward, West flips the switch so the recorder begins recording again to provide the startling commentary on what is happening. On the full tape, you can hear the "wow" or stop-start in the recording. I feel that West's description of that horrible scene is rivaled only in radio history by Herb Morrison's coverage of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 - which was also being recorded for use later on and not aired live.

 

[bpatrick]

Since the shooting happened after 3 AM (ET),
I didn't hear about it until I turned on the CBS
Morning News with Joseph Benti. What I remember
most was the funeral procession by train (and that
the ABC affiliate in Norfolk completely pre-empted it).

I realize you are comparing a radio announcer with
Herb Morrison; I read the entry and don't misunderstand
it. But I'd have to say that television's equivalent of
Morrison's description of the Hindenburg disaster was
Tom Pettit's account of Lee Harvey Oswald's shooting,
live on NBC: "He's been SHOT! LEE HARVEY OSWALD
HAS BEEN SHOT!"

 

[T-K]

As an aside, it is very interesting to contrast this footage with modern-day TV news practices. As opposed to today's talky-talky style (in which silence is verboten), there are long sequences at the Ambassador, for some time after the shooting and later between whatever witness interviewees Drinkwater was able to corral, where nothing is heard except for the ambient audio (including many "doctor in the house" pleas from the podium, as well as repeated and largely ignored requests for the milling and rubbernecking crowds to clear the room). A modern-day reporter would feel compelled to carry on a running monologue about what was happening, or the studio anchors would have broken in to comment themselves. (In fact, the studio anchors do not even intrude on the coverage for a long time until Drinkwater formally throws it back to them.)

I get the impression that, since it was such a late hour, the network had originally been planning on Drinkwater signing off the special report with a quick wrap ("And there you have it...") from behind the podium at the Ambassador. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody was actually on the set in New York when all hell broke loose -- that would explain the lack of an anchor to pick up the coverage when Drinkwater was off trying to get more eyewitnesses.

Had Cronkite been anchoring earlier in the evening? If he had left for home thinking Los Angeles would handle the rest of the broadcast, it would be reasonable to think no one would be available in New York until Joseph Benti came in to prepare for the CBS Morning News.

 

[Stanislav]

I realize you are comparing a radio announcer with
Herb Morrison; I read the entry and don't misunderstand
it. But I'd have to say that television's equivalent of
Morrison's description of the Hindenburg disaster was
Tom Pettit's account of Lee Harvey Oswald's shooting,
live on NBC: "He's been SHOT! LEE HARVEY OSWALD
HAS BEEN SHOT!"

Doing much better than KRLD/CBS' Eddie Barker, who throughout the aftermath of the shooting kept referring to the assassinated (alleged) assassin as "Lee Harold Oswald." :

 

[Stanislav]

I get the impression that, since it was such a late hour, the network had originally been planning on Drinkwater signing off the special report with a quick wrap ("And there you have it...") from behind the podium at the Ambassador. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody was actually on the set in New York when all hell broke loose -- that would explain the lack of an anchor to pick up the coverage when Drinkwater was off trying to get more eyewitnesses.

Had Cronkite been anchoring earlier in the evening? If he had left for home thinking Los Angeles would handle the rest of the broadcast, it would be reasonable to think no one would be available in New York until Joseph Benti came in to prepare for the CBS Morning News.

Benti was anchoring the studio coverage, at least post-shooting (the footage on YouTube). Mike Wallace was also there, and they mention speaking with Roger Mudd, whom the context seems to indicate was in California, as was Terry Drinkwater (the latter on scene at the Ambassador). It was on a special set, not the normal Morning News set. (Unless they had just cosmetically redressed it for the primary coverage.)

I don't know if Benti was on earlier or not; I assume he was as I doubt he normally got out of bed that early. (Even for an 8 a.m. newscast, I seriously doubt he was already dressed and in studio at 3 a.m.) Might be that a sub was scheduled to handle the next day's Morning News considering Benti's late night, but when the shooting went down, Benti just stayed where he was.

 

[Stanislav]

I get the impression that, since it was such a late hour, the network had originally been planning on Drinkwater signing off the special report with a quick wrap ("And there you have it...") from behind the podium at the Ambassador. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody was actually on the set in New York when all hell broke loose -- that would explain the lack of an anchor to pick up the coverage when Drinkwater was off trying to get more eyewitnesses.

Re-reading your post, I start to wonder -- is it possible Drinkwater didn't even know for a time that they were still on the air? It did take a few minutes for Kennedy to work his way into the kitchen where he would meet his fate, and several minutes more before most of the crowd (including Drinkwater) started to learn what had happened (they obviously may have noted some sort of commotion, but as the crowd was so noisy and the room so large, perhaps the gunshots were not apparent to most). Perhaps, as you suggest, given the lateness of the hour, the plan was for New York to say a quick sayonara, with the on-camera talent bolting out the door to their well-deserved beds. Drinkwater may have been assigned to just stick around and grab a few quickie interviews while the location cameras grabbed some "ambiance" footage for later insertion into newscasts. If he didn't know that they were still running live, that might account for his long period of silence; then after New York hastily reassembled, the director might have then advised Drinkwater that his feed was still hot.

 

[Ultimajock]

I realize you are comparing a radio announcer with
Herb Morrison; I read the entry and don't misunderstand
it. But I'd have to say that television's equivalent of
Morrison's description of the Hindenburg disaster was
Tom Pettit's account of Lee Harvey Oswald's shooting,
live on NBC: "He's been SHOT! LEE HARVEY OSWALD
HAS BEEN SHOT!"

Doing much better than KRLD/CBS' Eddie Barker, who throughout the aftermath of the shooting kept referring to the assassinated (alleged) assassin as "Lee Harold Oswald." :

...or the guy on ABC (Howard K. Smith, perhaps? Ron Cochran? I've only heard the audio) who kept calling him "Leroy Oswald"...

 

[cdsull502]

It was Bob Huffaker of KRLD-TV that kept referring to Oswald as "Lee
Henry Oswald" during CBS coverage of the shooting in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters. Huffaker was doing his description to video tape as CBS did not carry the transfer live. Except for the name gaffe, his reporting of the shooting was very good, particularly when you remember that his original assignment was merely to hold the microphone for ambient audio while CBS reporter Nelson Benton was to describe the transfer from a remote van parked outside the building. When the shot was fired, that plan went out the window. As a local reporter, Huffaker knew most of the Dallas policemen on the scene and was able to get accurate information on the air quickly. Mr. Huffaker later left TV news and became an English professor. There is an excellent book called "When The News Went Live - Dallas 1963" that tells the story of KRLD's coverage of the assassination.

 

[pqgeorge]

I get the impression that, since it was such a late hour, the network had originally been planning on Drinkwater signing off the special report with a quick wrap ("And there you have it...") from behind the podium at the Ambassador. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody was actually on the set in New York when all hell broke loose -- that would explain the lack of an anchor to pick up the coverage when Drinkwater was off trying to get more eyewitnesses.

Re-reading your post, I start to wonder -- is it possible Drinkwater didn't even know for a time that they were still on the air? It did take a few minutes for Kennedy to work his way into the kitchen where he would meet his fate, and several minutes more before most of the crowd (including Drinkwater) started to learn what had happened (they obviously may have noted some sort of commotion, but as the crowd was so noisy and the room so large, perhaps the gunshots were not apparent to most). Perhaps, as you suggest, given the lateness of the hour, the plan was for New York to say a quick sayonara, with the on-camera talent bolting out the door to their well-deserved beds. Drinkwater may have been assigned to just stick around and grab a few quickie interviews while the location cameras grabbed some "ambiance" footage for later insertion into newscasts. If he didn't know that they were still running live, that might account for his long period of silence; then after New York hastily reassembled, the director might have then advised Drinkwater that his feed was still hot.

In watching the YouTube copy of the dry CBS feed of the events unfolding at the Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles) once after Bobby Kennedy left the stage, a few moments later (if you listen carefully to it) you just might hear some of the shots over sound of the crowd. I thought I heard more than 8 shots (which sounded more like firecrackers). But quickly the crowd went into shock upon hearing what just happened. Check out the audio once Senator Kennedy left the stage and went into the pantry. Tell me if you hear the same thing.

 

[davalvideo]

I own the complete CBS coverage from June 5, 1968 (purchased at great cost from the CBS News Archives many years ago). It begins with RFK's victory speech at the Ambassador and concludes about nine hours later, when CBS signed off for a few hours because there was no fresh information. After the shooting, Terry Drinkwater was the only network correpsondent who didn;t make an attempt to actuallt enter the kitchen pantry and see for himself, what was going on. Both Charles Quinn of NBC and Bob Clark of ABC did go in and were able to ghive their respective audiences an eyewitness view of what they saw. Drinkwater just sort of wandered around aimeless for a few minutes (on-camera) and asked anybody he could to tell hiom what was going on. He definitely dropped the ball on that one. CBS's Roger Mudd was in the kitchen and later filed a phone report where he desribed what he saw. It has become sort of legend over the years that you could hear the shots over the open mikes...which simply isn't true. All the mikes picked up were the sounds of balloons popping after the speech and the abient noise around the podium. For several hours after the shooting, ABC's Howard K. Smith replayed the ABC B&W videotape of the shooting aftermath in the ballroom and claimed he could hear a number of shots, although some were more than a minute apart from the previous shots, which didn't happen. As for the shooting itself, no film cameras were shooting at the exact moment that the shots were fired, but CBS's Jim Wilson did get close-up pictures of RFK as he lay on the floor. NBC cameraman Jim Watt was farther away and his footage was not nearly as clear, nor close-up. His camera was also connected to a mike held by reporter Pierce Anderton, who described the scene on film. ABC had no film from the kitchen abnd had to rely on still photos and their tape from the ballroom.