Zapruder Film

Re “Film of JFK Assassination Brings Family $16 Million,” Aug. 4: Did the government purchase the original or the edited version we’ve all seen many times in various media documenting the most famous assassination of our time?

The edited version of the shooting is the key piece of evidence that supports the Warren Commission’s “single bullet theory.” The uncut version would demonstrate, as many believe, that shots came from various locations in Dealey Plaza besides the book depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched on the sixth floor. One of those locations might have been the infamous grassy knoll. More than one gunman would imply that the assassination was orchestrated by a group instead an individual, thus opening up a whole can of worms as to who would want to kill President Kennedy.

In retrospect, maybe $16 million was a bargain, even for a fake. Because if it “proves” the Warren Commission’s findings, then it shows that our government didn’t lie to us about the assassination. After all, our government wouldn’t lie to us, would it?

ROBERT L. MACFARLANE

Newport Beach