Quietly, Country Mourns Kennedy

TV Retells the Story By N. R. KLEINFIELD Special to The Sew York Tames Over the last two weeks television has marked the 25th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy in an wave of programming that is as much a reminder of how large a role television played in reporting the QUIETLY, COUNTRY traciedy.and its aftermath as it is a ref telling of the event. Retrospective segments have appeared on virtually all the morning and MOURNS KENNEDY evening news broadcasts each day. In addition, more than 15 hours of programming were devoted to the assassination last week and an equal amount- Flowers Laid in Dallas and at this week. The story has been ap- proached from numerous angles: from Grave — Family Attends profiles of the slain President to inves- tigations into conspiracy theories to de- a Mass in New York pictions of what life in 1963 was like. The amount of coverage suggests how strongly television executives be- By CRAIG WOLFF lieve the event still grips the American. In Dallas where he was struck down, population. "He was the first television in Virginia where he is buried, in New - President and the assassination York City and in Europe, relatives and marked television's almost mandatory friends, as well as those who knew John presence in American households," F. Kennedy only from afar, memorial- said David Halberstam, who wrote, ized the former President on the 25th "The Best and The Brightest" about anniversary of his assassination. They the origins and failure of American did It not with speeches but with policy in Vietnam in the Kennedy and flowers and prayer and a quiet kind of Johnson Administrations. reflection. "1 think there continues to be a quite surprising interest in him, and anniver- More than 400 people gathered at saries allow us to define and take Dealey Plaza in Dallas. where the 35th stack," Mr. Halberstam added. President was mortally wounded on Nov. 22, 1963. Some stood, others sat, on Replaying History the grassy knoll just off Elm Street One of the more novel approaches to where the President's motorcade was commemoration coverage was con- passing that day. At 12:30 P.M., about ceived by cable television's Arts and the hour of the shooting, 20 people held Entertainment network. At 1:56 P.M. hands on the pavement, and traffic Eastern standard time, yesterday, the moved slowly around two bouquets actual time when NBC interrupted its that had been placed in the center of programming 25 years ago with news the street near the spot where the of the assassination in Dallas, the net- President was shot, work replayed the first six hours of 'We Still Love You' NBC's coverage of the tragedy. The Arts and Entertainment network is One bouquet bore a sign that read jointly owned by NBC, ABC and the "We still miss you — Nov. 22." The Hearst Company. other bore the message: "After 25 In another slant, at 10 P.M. last night, ' Years, We Still Love You John." NBC News scheduled a special nar- In New York City, Kennedy's widow, rated by its anchorman, Tom Brokaw, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, their chil- entitled, "JFK: That Day in Novem-, dren, John and Caroline, and other ber," in which a wide range of people family members attended a private talked about the country in 1963. "The, Mass at St. Thomas More Roman program was trying to tell people what Catholic Church. The family, which has the world was doing that day," said said it would prefer for people to com- Paul Greenberg, the executive pro- memorate Kennedy's birthday, May ducer. "A lot of people remembered 29, rather than the day of his assassina- what they were doing but not many tion, made no public appearances. people remember what the rest of the Senator Edward Kennedy, was in country was like." Runnymede, England, where he laid a A CBS News documentary, "Four white rose at the foot of a British me- Days in November," appeared Thurs- morial to his brother. day night and condensed into two hours At Arlington National Cemetery in the 56 hours of news coverage from • Virginia, Ethel Kennedy, dressed in Dallas and Washington that followed black, arrived at her brother-in-law's the tragedy from the assassination to grave at 8 A.M., and knelt silently at the burial. the eternal flame before moving to the Kennedy's News Conferences grave of her husband, Robert F. Ken- nedy, who was slain in 196S. On Monday night Channel 13 pre- Later in the day, the President's sis- sented, "Thank You, Mr. President," ter, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, appeared an hour excerpts from President Ken- at the site, as did Evelyn Lincoln, Ken- nedy's press conferences as a means of 3 nedy's personal secretary. providing a brief history of his 33 months in office. A considerable amount of the anniversary coverage was devoted to re- newed examinations of the theories be- hind the assassination. For instance, Channel 11 last night began the first of a two-part show, On Trial: Lee Har- vey Oswald." It is an update of a Brit- ish production that was presented on Showtime in 1986. Geraldo Rivera re- places Edwin Newman as the narrator. r The coverage may have put television itself in some context. As Mr. Hal- berstam observed, "In a year in which television has been appalling, the coverage has been a reminder of how good televison could be." 988 1 NOVEMBER 23, WEDNESDAY, Thr Nvw 'emit Tirnr.siAllchael Gelssinrr 25 Years After His Assassination, IONAL The Nation Honors President Kennedy Among the members of John F. Kennedy's family who NAT visited his grave at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday were his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was accompanied by her husband, Sargent Shriver, and Ken- TIMES nedy's personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was in Runny- mede, England, laid a white rose at the foot of a British monument to his brother. YORK In New York City, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her son, John, and daughter, Caroline, and other family members attended a private Mass at St. Thomas More NEW Roman Catholic Church. .

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