JFK: 50 Years, A Commemorative Collection

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 has inspired a cascade of books and TV documentaries about his presidency and the circumstances of his death. While this five-disc set (with a bonus audio CD) offers nothing new, it does provide a useful selection of archival footage, culled mostly from contemporary theatrical newsreels, TV broadcasts, and films produced by the United States Information Agency, with some home movies added to the mix. Many of Kennedy's most famous speeches are included here (at least in truncated form), including the campaign event to assuage Protestant concerns about his Catholicism, the Inaugural Address, the Berlin Wall speech, and others on civil rights, the space program, and the Cuban missile crisis. Although the order isn't chronological, the coverage is broad, starting with Kennedy's days in the House of Representatives and proceeding through the senatorial years, the 1960 presidential run, and the major events of his presidency, concluding with the assassination itself. The technical quality is, of course, variable (a 1952 Longines Chronoscope with then Representative Kennedy is afflicted by a wavy image and poorly synchronized sound, and the silent home movies are predictably primitive). But overall the footage, drawn largely from the holdings of the National Archives, is in reasonably good shape considering its age. Both a solid collection of source materials from the so-called Camelot years and a commemoration of a national tragedy, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)