JFK Assassination Photographer Mary Moorman Gives First Interview in 48 Years

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is one of the most notorious events in American history, and chances are (if you were alive) you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing at that precise moment. Yet no one’s story of the JFK assassination has been as highly sought after as that of photographer Mary Moorman.

Moorman was just 31 years old when she snapped a photograph (above) of President Kennedy a fraction of a second after he was shot in the head while riding in the back of a limousine in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Yet in the 48 years since that fateful day, Moorman has never told her story. Until now.

Moorman, now 78, will break her silence today (May 24) at the Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Wheat Ridge, Colo., during a live interview on iAntique.com at 5 pm PST. She will present her exclusive story during an hour-long interview in which she will discuss, among other things, her famous photo and her long-debated position across the street from the infamous grassy knoll.

“The popular view is that Mary was standing on the grass,” interviewer Gary Stover says. “While there are photos that might indicate she was on the grass at one point, her exact location when she snapped the photograph has long been a matter of debate. We believe Mary plans to set the record straight with this interview.”

Among the controversies and conspiracy theories generated by Moorman’s photograph: are those figures in the background unidentified witnesses, or merely just shadows? Did Moorman’s image capture a key moment that might fill a mysterious gap in the Zapruder film, perhaps the most famous account of the assassination?

Yet perhaps the biggest questions have nothing to do with the photo at all, and everything to do with Moorman’s own memory of the event — why did the Warren Commission, the task force assigned with investigating Kennedy’s assassination, decline to interview her? And why has she waited nearly half a century to tell her story?

Watch Moorman’s interview here and let us know what you think.