In 1963, a Dallas maintenance man caught the assassination of John F. Kennedy on his camera.
A lawsuit filed by the heirs of Orville Nix, the maintenance man, alleges that the federal government has been concealing a crucial home movie for decades. The film, recorded by Nix using his personal camera, captured the moment President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The Nix family has been attempting to retrieve the original film from the government’s possession for years.
The potential significance of the original Nix film emerging today cannot be understated, according to Jefferson Morley, an author specializing in the CIA. Recent advancements in digital image processing technology could render the original film a valuable piece of evidence. Morley explained that there is a notable decline in quality between generations in analog films like Nix’s, making the original footage particularly important.
Unlike Abraham Zapruder’s well-known film, Nix’s clip was taken from the center of Dealey Plaza as the presidential limousine drove into an ambush on Elm Street in Dallas on November 22, 1963. This unique perspective provides the only known unobstructed view of the infamous “grassy knoll” at the time of the fatal shot—a location where some researchers speculate additional hidden snipers may have been positioned.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations analyzed Nix’s original film in 1978, employing photo experts to scrutinize its contents. Based partly on their analysis, the committee concluded that Kennedy “was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy” involving “two gunmen.” However, the limitations of the technology available at the time left the experts uncertain about whether Nix’s footage captured these alleged marksmen. Moreover, the complete original film disappeared without a trace, leaving only imperfect copies behind, including one shown in Oliver Stone’s film “JFK.”
Now, 45 years later, the Nix family is hopeful that computer-enhanced analysis of the original frames could finally unveil the truth. Their previous lawsuit, filed in 2015, was dismissed due to a jurisdictional matter, but they have returned to court with a 52-page filing in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington, DC. The lawsuit presents an extensive collection of documents meticulously tracing the convoluted path of the original film since Nix’s creation.
In 1963, Nix received $5,000 from the UPI press agency for a 25-year license, which included handing over his reel with the promise of its return in 1988. When Nix passed away in 1972, the rights to the film transferred to his wife and son. However, they were not informed when the House Special Committee on Assassinations subpoenaed the original film from UPI in 1978.
The lawsuit exposes the government’s alleged mishandling of this invaluable piece of American history, revealing a trail of scant documentation and lax security. Furthermore, it accuses officials at the National Archives and Records Administration of repeatedly lying to the family, denying ever having possessed the “out-of-camera original” film. However, the filing presents recently unearthed evidence indicating that the HSCA’s photo analysts did, in fact, deliver Nix’s original film to NARA in 1978, once their analysis was complete.
The Nix family is seeking $29.7 million in compensatory damages and the release of the film. However, time may be running out, as noted by prominent photo expert Kenneth Castleman. He said that the Nix film is nearing the end of its lifespan and emphasized the importance of modern image processing techniques being applied to the original footage. Castleman, who analyzed the Nix film in the early 1970s and conducted an extensive analysis of one element in the film known as the Dealey Plaza pergola, cautioned that the film should be digitized using modern equipment and subjected to advanced image processing. Castleman believes that working directly from the original film, if it is still in good condition, could unveil previously unseen data and details that were not visible in previous copies.
The fate of the Nix film remains uncertain, but its release could hold the key to unraveling the mysteries surrounding President Kennedy’s assassination.
