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 QUIETLY, COUNTRY television played in reporting the traciedy.and its aftermath as it is a ref telling of the event. Retrospective segments have ap- MOURNS KENNEDY peared on virtually all the morning and evening news broadcasts each day. In addition, more than 15 hours of pro- gramming were devoted to the assassi- Flowers Laid in Dallas and at nation last week and an equal amount- this week. The story has been ap- Grave — Family Attends proached from numerous angles: from profiles of the slain President to inves- a Mass in New York tigations into conspiracy theories to de- pictions of what life in 1963 was like. The amount of coverage suggests By CRAIG WOLFF how strongly television executives be- 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 More than 400 people gathered at surprising interest in him, and anniver- Dealey Plaza in Dallas. where the 35th saries allow us to define and take President was mortally wounded on stack," Mr. Halberstam added. Nov. 22, 1963. Some stood, others sat, on Replaying History the grassy knoll just off Elm Street where the President's motorcade was One of the more novel approaches to passing that day. At 12:30 P.M., about commemoration coverage was con- the hour of the shooting, 20 people held ceived by cable television's Arts and hands on the pavement, and traffic Entertainment network. At 1:56 P.M. moved slowly around two bouquets Eastern standard time, yesterday, the that had been placed in the center of actual time when NBC interrupted its the street near the spot where the programming 25 years ago with news 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 One bouquet bore a sign that read Arts and Entertainment network is "We still miss you — Nov. 22." The jointly owned by NBC, ABC and the other bore the message: "After 25 Hearst Company. Years, We Still Love You John." In another slant, at 10 P.M. last night, ' In New York City, Kennedy's widow, NBC News scheduled a special nar- rated by its anchorman, Tom Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, their chil- Brokaw, dren, John and Caroline, and other entitled, "JFK: That Day in Novem-, family members attended a private ber," in which a wide range of people Mass at St. Thomas More Roman talked about the country in 1963. "The, Catholic Church. The family, which has program was trying to tell people what said it would prefer for people to com- the world was doing that day," said memorate Kennedy's birthday, May Paul Greenberg, the executive pro- 29, rather than the day of his assassina- ducer. "A lot of people remembered tion, made no public appearances. what they were doing but not many Senator Edward Kennedy, was in people remember what the rest of the Runnymede, England, where he laid a country was like." white rose at the foot of a British me- A CBS News documentary, "Four morial to his brother. Days in November," appeared Thurs- At Arlington National Cemetery in day night and condensed into two hours the 56 hours of news coverage from • Virginia, Ethel Kennedy, dressed in black, arrived at her brother-in-law's Dallas and Washington that followed grave at 8 A.M., and knelt silently at the tragedy from the assassination to the burial. the eternal flame before moving to the grave of her husband, Robert F. Ken- Kennedy's News Conferences 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 anni- versary 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 televi- sion 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, NOVEMBER

WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, Thr Nvw 'emit Tirnr.siAllchael Gelssinrr

25 Years After His Assassination, IONAL IONAL The Nation Honors President Kennedy Among the members of John F. Kennedy's family who NAT visited his grave at Arlington National Cemetery yester- day 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.