[MUSIC] Welcome back. Before we continue our discussion of the Dictabelt, let's recap a couple of important points. As I noted in a previous lesson, the Dictabelt recordings are dramatic living history. A kind of black box for the crash that occurred on November 22nd, 1963. They give us new insights into a day that dramatically changed America. Collectively, the Dictabelts serve as a police soundtrack that can supplement, though not precisely match the silent films taken along the motorcade route. The Dictabelt is actually a collection of belts that recorded all police communications on two channels, from 9:44 am until 3:57 pm on November 22nd, 1963. Technically, the Dictabelt device was used only to record channel one. Channel two was recorded using a separate machine called a grey autograph. Channel one was used for the transmission of routine police radio messages. And channel two was an auxiliary channel, designated for use by Dallas police officers who were actually in the motorcade. Listening to the day's events is similar to what you would hear using a modern police scanner today. It includes comments by dozens of police personnel, and officers stationed at key locations around Dallas. In the morning there are standard police communications about a presidential visit. From the arrival of Airforce 1 at Love Field, to the difficulties of holding back enthusiastic crowds pressing to get a better view of the Kennedys. [MUSIC] >> Air Force One is coming to its final approach. >> Are we going to have any more men on Main Street than what we now have assigned? We've got some pretty large crowds down here, and very few officers. >> Occasionally, due to transmitting over the same lines, non police communications from telephone calls bleed over into the police channels. For example a man quarrels about a losing football team. We can hear the phone call of a man and woman as they alternate between romance and argument. And another where someone asks a friend for money, and the friend bags off. >> Just please get off of it will you? >> I ain't done nothing wrong. I've been with these people all day. >> Oh it's not right. >> He said he was going to take me out there. >> What difference does it make? >> There is a peculiar reference approximately 50 minutes prior to President Kennedy's assassination, when a patrolman calls in to the dispatcher and asks whether quote, Chicago Red is in town, unquote. [SOUND]. >> 43. >> 43. >> 43 it's downtown know whether or not Chicago Red's in town. >> There is no response to this odd question on the audio recording. Perhaps it is a benign question. Or, could it be something else? Could it be a reference to a Chicago Mafia figure, Paul Red Dwarfmen? Dwarfmen was an operative for Al Capone. And later became a friend and associate of Jimmy Hoffa. There is clear evidence that Jack Ruby had connections to Red Dwarfmen when Ruby lived in Chicago. Or, could this be a reference to High Red Larner? Another mobster who reported to Chicago mob boss, Sangio Ocana. And first came to the attention of law enforcement in the 1950s, when he was identified at senate racketeering hearings as a mob hire up. High Red Larner also had close, personal connections with Paul Red Dorfman. One of the officers who headed the Dallas police department's investigation of the Kennedy assassination, told us that there was also a third person named Chicago Red. And this person was a con-man with connections to an underground gambling racket that preyed on the poor and the ignorant. Did a policeman spot someone who resembled one of these three men, or was it someone else entirely? We found this part of the audio to be clear and easy to understand. Much more so than some other sections that we were able to transcribe. Yet the final report of the Warren commission includes no transcription of it and says, quote. There was considerable interference, and there did not appear to be any relative radio activity during this period of interference. Unquote. This is manifestly not true. Yet another reason to suspect the Warren Commission. Mysteriously, the line about Chicago Red also was not included in the Dallas dispatcher's transcript of the recording. Nor has it been mentioned in many other accounts about the Dictabelts. As I noted in an earlier lesson, many believe the mafia was connected to JFK's murder. And this number includes Robert Blakey. The very able staff director of the 1970s house reinvestigation of the assassination. Yet 50 years later, the Dictabelt still contains new mysteries, and raises many unanswered questions. As the motorcade approaches Dealey Plaza, suddenly the routine conversation ends and the police work turns chaotic. [MUSIC] >> Approaching downtown Dallas now. [MUSIC] >> Pretty good crowd there. [NOISE]. >> Big crowd, yes. [NOISE]. [MUSIC] Looks like the President's been hit. Have people stand by. >> 10-4. Parkland has been notified. [NOISE]. >> Sheriff Decker issues an order to investigate the area behind the grassy knoll. >> Have Station Five to move all men available out of my department back into the railroad yard there in an effort to try to determine if what and when happened down there, and hold everything secure until Homicide and other investigators should get there. [MUSIC] >> There is discussion about supposed victims remaining in Delle plaza. The possible shooting of a Secret Service Agent, which didn't happen. And an early description of a suspect. >> There's a possibility that six or seven more people may have been shot. >> Officers report the contradictory claims of witnesses about the sources of the gunshots. Some said the shots originated at the Grassy Knoll. Others said they originated at the Dallas Courts Building. And still others pointed to the Book Depository. >> On the fifth floor of this bookstore company down here, we found empty rifle hulls and looked like the man had been there for some time. Like a 30-30 or some type of Winchester. >> It was a rifle? >> A rifle, yes. [SOUND]. >> The Dictabelt captures the chilling moments of absolute panic as President Kennedy was taken to Parkland hospital for a futile attempt at resuscitation. One Dallas police officer, as he arrives at Parkland and views the extent of President Kennedy's wounds, calls in a report to the police dispatcher. >> I believe the President's head was practically blown off. [MUSIC] >> That officer immediately regretted this comment, and declined to repeat it when asked. Noting, it's not for me to say. I can't say. In a sad moment, officers at the Trade Mart, asked what they can tell the hundreds of people assembled for a speech, that President Kennedy would never deliver. The dispatcher asks- >> Can you obtain from one if the President is going to appear at the Trade Mart? [MUSIC] >> The terse answer from Dallas police chief, Jesse Curry. >> I don't know, but I, I feel sure, reasonably sure that he will not. We request information as to extent of injuries to the President, [SOUND] and also if the governor was hit. The governor was hit but we do not have any information as to extent of injury. [MUSIC] >> There're also Dictabelt references to a series of post assassination events. From the shooting of officer JD Tippit, to the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald, to the police transporting a Vice President Linda Johnson, first lady Jackie Kennedy and JFK's body back to Air Force One. Notify One that we have an officer involved in a shooting at Tenth and Patton. We don't know the extent of it yet. [MUSIC] The officer involved in the shooting, which was Officer JD Tippit, we believe, was pronounced DOA at Methodist. 1:28. [MUSIC] >> Attention all squads, the suspect from Elm and Houston is reported to be an unknown white male, about 30, slender build, five feet ten inches tall, 165 pounds, armed with what is thought to be a 30-30 rifle. No further description at this time or information. [MUSIC] >> Any report or information on the president and the governor? >> Yeah, I understand the president's dead and the governor, I don't know about him. >> We have information that a suspect just went in the Texas Theatre on West Jefferson. >> 10-4. >> Supposed to be hiding in the balcony. >> We have information now that Judge Sarah Hughes is leaving Parkland en route to Love Field to swear President Johnson in. [MUSIC] Both Air Force One and Two are gone now. The only thing we have left here is the news plane. [MUSIC] >> We don't need anything else out here. We don't need an ambulance or anything. It's just a matter of cleaning up now. [MUSIC] >> At the end of an historically ghastly day, there is also a bizarre, jarring reintroduction of everyday life. As the police dispatcher tells an officer to pick up some hamburger buns and deliver them to the Deluxe Diner. >> Well, Freddie do you know where the Holsum Bakery is down there on [INAUDIBLE]. >> 10-4. >> Go down there to Holsum Bakery and pick up eight packages of hamburger buns. They're called [INAUDIBLE], and bring them over to the Deluxe Diner, number three up there in the 1900 block of Commerce. And tell them down at the bakery, charge them to the Deluxe Diner and have the 5:30 delivery man bring the ticket with him, and the manager over there at the diner will pay him for them when he comes around at 5:30. Bring him on up there. >> All right. >> Yet no out of place note of normality can expunge the earth shattering words of November 22nd. From tiny sound impressions made on crude recording devices on that long ago day. The shock and the horror come to life again. And one cannot help but to be mesmerized. It was a day like no other. One that set in motion the events of the next half century, and perhaps beyond. Though it isn't necessary for this class, if you would like to access the Dictabelt recordings in their entirety, along with the transcripts that make it easier for you to follow along, I invite you to get our mobile app, entitled The Kennedy Half Century. It's available through our website, for both Apple and Android devices. The Dictabelt is not the time tunnel to ultimate truth about the source of the Dealey Plaza shots as it was once heralded to be. But the recording is invaluable nonetheless. For more information, please visit TheKennedyHalfCentury.com.
