Dan Rather's first three televised descriptions of the first version of the Zapruder film, 25/11/63

[Paul Rigby]

I confess I find mysterious the purpose of the second of Rather's known televised descriptions. Just why did his handler(s) feel it necessary to broadcast a second version so quickly a mere eight minutes or so - after the first? What motivated this disconcertingly swift and unexplained second go?

I am puzzled because description A (1607hrs, EST) contains an egregious error which is not merely uncorrected, but compounded by the addition of another, in description B (1621hrs, EST):

A3: "The automobile, the black Lincoln convertible, with the top down..."

Is not merely repeated in the second description, but supplemented by another:

B2: "The motion picture shows the limousine carrying, in the front seat, two secret service men; in the middle, or jump seat, Governor and Mrs. Connally; and, in the rear seat, President and Mrs. Kennedy; a single secret service man standing on the back bumper; the top of the black Lincoln convertible down."

B4: "After the left turn was completed, the automobile, with only one car in front of it - a secret service car immediately in front..."

Both "errors" A3/B2 and B4 were, it should be noted, corrected (by omission) in description C, which occurred after Altgens 6 had been shown on CBS.