Zapruder Film: JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories Due To Bootlegs, Geraldo Rivera

The Abraham Zapruder film of the JFK assassination is still one of the most defining moments caught on video. And one of the most argued over, as well, making it the mother of all conspiracy theories.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a JFK assassination conspiracy theory in the Smoking Gun movie claims there was a second shooter… and that he was a secret service agent.

But a journalist named Dick Stolley, who worked to get the Abraham Zapruder film out to the world, believes JFK assassination conspiracy theories are all bunk:

“I think there was a single shooter, and I do not think there was any conspiracy before or after. The Zapruder film is the best evidence for the single-shooter theory that I hold.’ I was surprised at the time that Life was able to buy the film. Zapruder told me he talked to law enforcement people and that they told him it was his film and he could do with it whatever he wished. At this point, they hadn’t seen the film. They wanted a copy of it, but it was his to do whatever he wanted.”

Abraham Zapruder was a Russian immigrant who’d built a local business. At the urging of his assistant, Mr. Zapruder went back to his home to retrieve his home movie camera in order to film President John F. Kennedy coming through town in the motorcade. He had no idea these 26 seconds of film would cause nightmares for years to come.

After the JFK assassination, the Zapruder film was taken to a TV station, and not the police, because Abraham thought the 8MM film could be processed there. It was then that Dick Stolley made an arrangement to meet Zapruder:

“The first time I ever saw the film was with two Secret Service agents. My first thought was one of these guys was going to turn to Mr. Zapruder and say, ‘We’ve got to confiscate that film as critical evidence of what happened.’ But they thanked him politely and left.”

Time/Life Magazine ended up offering $150,000 for the Zapruder film, but they only used individual stills to publish in their magazine. In 1969, a district attorney tried to prove a man named Clay Shaw was involved in JFK assassination conspiracy theory, but then a bootleg copy of the JFK film was made by film technician Robert Groden.

So in 1975, Geraldo Rivera managed to get the Zapruder film broadcast for the first time on live TV and that’s when the JFK assassination theories started going full steam ahead:

“My response mimicked the response of the millions of Americans that night. It was, ‘Oh my God, of course there’s more than one gunman. Of course there was a conspiracy to kill the president.'”

Time officials threatened to sue, but so many people were outraged that it had been suppressed for over a decade, and the lawsuit never saw the light of day. Eventually, Time even sold the rights to Zapruder film back to the family for a mere $1 and the original is now in a vault in the National Archives outside Washington, D.C.

Do you think the Abraham Zapruder film proves or disproves all the JFK assassination conspiracy theories?