Missing JFK Evidence: The Air Force One Tape

A key audio document from the day of the assassination seems to have been edited

Air Force One on the evening of November 22, 1963 (Mary Ferrell Foundation)

[This piece first ran on JFK Facts in 2013.]

When audio engineer Ed Primeau learned in 2011 about a previously unknown recording of radio communications to and from Air Force One on Nov. 22, 1963, he volunteered his own time and expertise to enhance the tape for public consumption.

Nov. 22, 1963, was the day the President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in broad daylight on a Dallas street. After the ambush, the Secret Service hustled new President Lyndon Johnson and First Lady Jackie Kennedy back to Washington on Air Force One accompanying a coffin with the president’s body.

"I thought this could really be exciting," Primeau said in a phone interview. "I've always been fascinated by history and the JFK conspiracy questions."

Primeau, known nationally for his work analyzing recordings heard in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, worked with JFK researcher Bill Kelly at no charge to enhance the tape.

The result is an important, if incomplete, historical document, largely ignored by mainstream news organizations in the decade since its discovery. The tapes illuminate a pivotal moment in America as the far-flung branches of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies responded to the news that the liberal president had been shot dead in right-wing Dallas.