The Ballad Of Orville Nix
An ordinary man ensnared in an extraordinary event.
"...the Warren Commission was not, in some respects, an accurate presentation of all the evidence available to the Commission or a true reflection of the scope of the Commission's work, particularly on the issue of possible conspiracy in the assassination.”
"The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy."
The Final Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. 1979
One can say that Orville Nix was one of those salt of earth people. Honest, hardworking, a family man and served his country in WWII. I can relate to this man because this is what my father and my uncles did; they survived the depression to survive a war. Then they returned home, got a job, got married and raised a family. The kind of people that made America great.
It’s rare for a president to come to town so when Orville Nix got the news that president Kennedy’s motorcade was arriving on November 22 and since he was an amateur photographer he made sure to be there for the event. Nix worked for the General Service Administration as an air conditioning repairman in the Dallas Secret Service building which made for a short walk to Dealey Plaza. So that morning he set off with his 8mm movie camera to hopefully get some video of the motorcade and instead was swept up in an historical event in American history.
The Film
Forever known as the Nix Film, Orville Nix took his place on the large grassy area on the west side of Elm street. Little did he know at the time that a man named Abraham Zapruder who ran a dress shop was filming on the opposite side of Elm. Zapruder’s film became the de facto standard record of the John F. Kennedy’s death.
The Nix film was largely ignored at first. He gave the reel to the FBI and they returned it shortly thereafter. He also handed over to the FBI his camera, only to be outraged to get it back trashed and disassembled. He complained and was given a brand new one. Nix would eventually sell his footage to UPI for $5,000 in 1963. There were regrets later because over the years the Zapruder family earned in the millions. (Officially $16 million but researcher Jones Harris told me once that he had contacted a family member and if I remember correctly, it was more like $26 million.)
Over time the Nix film would gather a better following and would verify Kennedy’s backward movement as seen in the Zapruder footage. Incredibly, the original film cannot be found, although copies do exist. Nix’s granddaughter Gayle has searched everywhere for it and describes her experiences in her book listed below. Orville felt there were some frames missing from the copies.
The Interview
In 1967 CBS News ran a series of programs on the Kennedy assassination. Par to the script, they came to the conclusion as practically all TV investigations did then and ever since—found Lee Oswald guilty of the crime as the lone gunman with no evidence of conspiracy in the death of John F. Kennedy.
One of the people asked to be interviewed was Orville Nix. He accepted. It would be the catalyst for him to never give another interview again.
Orville was interviewed by Eddie Baker, the local news anchor. Each time asked where the shots came from Orville would reply, “From the fence area, over there.” There would be multiple rounds of this with the director yelling “CUT” each time he answered. Finally, CBS new producer Bernard Birnbaum arrived with a smile, and asked Orville what the Warren Commission said. He replied, “Well, the School Book Depository Building.” Birnbaum said, “Good, what’s you need to say.” And so did Orville, to his regret.
Later, Bernard Birnbaum, would deny any of this manipulation happened to Nix. As he stated, "We never tried to put any words in anybody's mouth, absolutely not." He lied.
Because there is another witness to how this interview went down. Nix’s granddaughter Gayle who was 10 years old at the time. She was there and recalls exactly what your grandfather experienced at the hands of slick media sharks. She has authored a book Orville Nix: The Missing JFK Assassination Film account of what happened to her grandfather to set the record straight. She also notes seeing her grandfather mad as hell driving home. He knew he had been played. He made sure Gayle understood that he knew what he heard, and he heard shots coming from the fence on the knoll.
What CBS did here is completely unethical. However, this is what you do when you are broadcasting propaganda. When there were only three networks this type of deception was a piece of cake. The media has long been in the business of providing cover for the power structure of the government, as they are now. The press, meant to keep the power brokers in check, have joined them.
In this instance, CBS news is going to great lengths to support the Government’s case. Actually, they and other mainstream media do as well, for the Kennedy assassination from then till now. By why? What would be their interest in helping the government out? Was it because then president William Paley was a former OSS agent and entwined with the National Security State? (It’s a typical pattern of the assassination—it’s surrounded by intel operatives.) If the government’s case is so firm then why resort to this trickery? What is in this for CBS? Mostly likely to maintain the status quo they are allied with, which they still do to this day. It’s a leading cause of why we can’t trust them.
In Closing
There was a time when people trusted their government. To not do so was considered unpatriotic. Orville Nix was such a man. But after having entangled with the enemies of truth, he lost that trust never to regain it again. It hurts to discover the world doesn't work like you thought it did. Especially when you believe telling the truth is the gold standard of virtue. He did no more interviews. He turned down DA Jim Garrison’s invitation to give testimony in his trial of Clay Shaw.
Orville Nix was like many witnesses never called in by the Warren Commission to give his testimony. He was one of many witnesses from that tragic day who heard gunfire from the area of the fence and were never called to give testimony. The fix was in.
Endnotes
All image under CCL noncommercial use.
10.6.23
The Wikipedia is renown for being pro lone gunman in the JFK murder and regularly stomps out any reference to conspiracy or malfeasance in the media of the event. Wikipedia mentions the CBS interview but leaves out what I have stated above, as Gayle Nix Jackson does in her book, regarding the trickery of CBS editing their interview of Nix in 1967 to make it look as if he supported the shots coming from school book building. In fact, he did not as documented above.
Also, it was posted the Nix was convinced later that the kill shot was from the school book depository building. This is not true! He never did for the remained of his life (p.164). Read his granddaughter’s book listed below.
And do yourself a favor and take anything posted on Wikipedia with a grain of salt. Those who run it, have an agenda.
10.7.23
CBS new producer Bernard Birnbaum died at the age of 89 in 2009. He took his deceit to the grave.
Sources:
Orville Nix: The Missing JFK Assassination Film by Gayle Nix Jackson
Mark Lane interviewing Orville Nix. Says frames are missing. Says shots came from the fence.
Nix’s film:
HSCA Final Report
https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/contents.htm
Wikipedia