Transcript
Edited by Max Holland, with David Shreve, Ashley Havard High, and Patricia Dunn
See the daily introduction for 1963-11-22 [from the Norton edition]
Approximately 35,000 feet above the ocean and 900 miles west of Honolulu, SAM 86972 received a garbled but alarming bulletin over the United Press International (UPI) teletype. At Dean Rusk’s instruction, Press Secretary Pierre Salinger called the White House Situation Room (WHSR) to confirm the news about shots being fired at the President’s motorcade in Dallas. Established in 1961, the Situation Room was the communications nerve center for the White House, especially when the President was not in residence. Navy Commander Oliver Hallett took the inquiry from Salinger, who could not remember any code names but his own. Hallett struggled to deliver the blood-curdling confirmation dispassionately, though misstatements and Hallett’s tone betrayed his own shock at the news.[note 1] Manchester, Death, pp. 193–94.
[Several unclear voices are heard in the background.]
Oh, LIBERTY? [Pause.] LIBERTY?
Roger. White House Situation Room, SAM [86972]. You got 86972. How [do you] read [me]? Over.
Don’t copy anything but a signal, Andy [Andrews].
[anxiously] White House . . . SAM 8-6-9-7-2. Do you read? Over. [Pause.] White House?
White House [is] on.
OK. Sergeant Wurtzer, I’m on.[note 2] Name spelled as heard; probably a radio communications specialist on duty.
Stand by.
White House, this is SAM 86972. How [do you] read [me]? Over.
[amid other voices] 86972. I read you loud and clear. Loud and clear.
Roger. Stand by one, please. We have another phone patch going on with CINCPAC, but we do have traffic for you so hold on one moment, please.
Roger, Roger, 86972.
[tone of anxiety] White House Situation Room, this is WAYSIDE. Do you read me? Over.
This is White House; this is White House. I read you loud and clear, WAYSIDE.
Can you give me latest information on President? Over.
Do you want the Situation Room; is that a Roger?
Repeat that transmission, please.
This is, ah, [unclear] this is CROWN, this is CROWN. Do you want the Situation Room?
I want the Situation Room; that’s affirmative.
Roger, Roger. Getting them now. Stand by, please. [Pause.]
WAYSIDE, WAYSIDE, this is CROWN. Situation is Room—Room is on. Go ahead.[note 3] The Presidential Recordings Program revised the following section of text in 2021 for inclusion in The LBJ Telephone Tapes, a project produced by the Miller Center in partnership with the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library to commemorate the library's 50th anniversary.
Situation Room, this is WAYSIDE. Do you read me? Over.
This is the Situation Room. I read you. Go ahead.
Give me all available information on President [John F. "Jack" Kennedy]. Over.
All available information on President follows: Connally—John—he and [draws deep breath] Governor [John B.] Connally of Texas have been hit in the car in which they were riding. We do not know how serious the situation is. We have no information. Mr. Bromley [K.] Smith is back here in the Situation Room now. We are getting our information over the tickers. Over.
That is affirmative, affirmative. Please keep us advised out here. This plane, on which [the] Secretary of State [and] other Cabinet ministers [were] headed for Japan, [is] turning around, returning to Honolulu [Hawaii] Will arrive there [in] approximately two hours. Over.[note 4] End of 2021 revisions.
This is—WAYSIDE, understand those departing Honolulu are turning around and will be back there in about two hours. Is that correct? Over.
That is affirmative, affirmative. We’ll send you—we’ll need all information to decide whether some of party should go directly to Dallas. Over.
Ah, this is the Situation Room. Say again your last, please.
We’ll need to be kept advised so [we] can determine whether some members of this party should go directly to Dallas. Over.
Ah, Roger. You wish information as to whether some members of that party should go to Dallas. I [unclear]—
That is affirmative, affirmative.[note 5] The Presidential Recordings Program revised the following section of text in 2021 for inclusion in The LBJ Telephone Tapes, a project produced by the Miller Center in partnership with the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library to commemorate the library's 50th anniversary.
Do you have anything else, WAYSIDE?
No. Any other information, get ahold of [us] as rapidly as possible.
All right. The Associated Press [AP] is coming out now with a bulletin to the effect that they believe the President was hit in the head. That just came in. Over.
The President was hit in the head. Over. [Leaves line.]
Roger. We will pass on any additional information we get from here to you.[note 6] End of 2021 revisions.
Ah, Roger. We’ll be standing by for your call.
All right. Where are you, WAYSIDE?
Ah, WAYSIDE is off the line. This is the radio operator, sir, and we are returning to Honolulu and should be back to Honolulu in about two hours. We’ll be in the air for about two hours into Honolulu, and you [can] contact us on the ground there then later.
I understand.[note 7] The Presidential Recordings Program revised the following section of text in 2021 for inclusion in The LBJ Telephone Tapes, a project produced by the Miller Center in partnership with the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library to commemorate the library's 50th anniversary. Ah, this is . . . Oh. Hold on the line there, WAYSIDE [sic]. We have some more information coming up.
He’ll be right back.
WAYSIDE, WAYSIDE, this is the Situation Room. I read from the AP bulletin: “Kennedy apparently shot in head. He fell face down in back seat of his car. Blood was on his head. Mrs. [Jacqueline B. “Jackie”] Kennedy cried, ‘Oh no,’ and tried to hold up his head. Connally remained half-seated, slumped to the left. There was blood on his face and forehead. The President and the Governor were rushed to Parkland Hospital near the Dallas Trade Mart where Kennedy was to have made a speech.” Over.
I read that. Over.
This is [the] Situation Room. I have nothing further for you now. I will contact you if we get more.
WAYSIDE is Roger and out.[note 8] End of 2021 revisions.
Cite as
“86972 (Pierre Salinger), the White House, and WHSR (Oliver Hallett) on 22 November 1963,” Sound Recording Tape 0-969-1, Presidential Recordings Digital Edition [The Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power, vol. 1, ed. Max Holland] (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2014–). URL: http://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/9010005
Originally published in
Lyndon B. Johnson: The Kennedy Assassination and the Transfer of Power, November 1963–January 1964, ed. Max Holland, vol. 1 of The Presidential Recordings (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2005).