The Torch is Passed: The Associated Press Story of the Death of a President

by Keith Fuller (Editor), Saul Pett, Sid Moody

A written and pictoral chronicle of the four days from Friday, November 22, 1963 through Monday, November 25, 1963 memorializing the death of beloved president John F. Kennedy. Over 80 black and white photos included.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Presidents

100 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[David Czuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic pictorial of the events of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas and the funeral in Washington, with details about the assassin, brought to the public as witnessed by the Associated Press. Studious readers will note that despite the somber and plodding tone of this volume as a memorial to the fallen president, it occasionally descends to morbidity - as it must in describing the awful news - as also it attempts to rise beyond rhetoric to a neutral, common-man theme still clearly biased by the political slant on balance from dreary communism toward patriotic democracy during the ongoing Cold War. Not a thorough, but close, treatment of the events of that week, readers should temper what they find here with the facts brought forth from the Warren Commission. Many will scoff at this suggestion due to our times of rearward-focused conspiracy theories. Historians will note, however, the accuracy of this chronology. As we muse on the import of JFK's legacy and failings, this book cannot help but remind us of the uselessness of violence and the emptiness of positional power to resolve the world's problems.

[Mary Popoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking, absolutely breathtaking. The way humanity is infused into history, that seems like a given but so much of history is just a retelling a facts and, for brevity’s sake most likely, leaves out the feelings. But isn’t history just humanity and isn’t humanity just a collection of feelings. I wish there were more historical writings like this, the movies take it to far into fiction and the books are dry outlines. This however is the perfect merging of the two, the facts of the day as well as the raw emotion all alongside stunning photographs. Like i said, breathtaking.

[Talea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can one say, really? The photographs tell the story and the words are just guidelines to the events. The tragedy is there in the eyes, captured, for those that lived it.

[Duncan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Associated Press, in 1964, echoed the story of the Warren Commission that Oswald was the lone assassin of President Kennedy. Great photography and some wonderful historical information (for what was known in 1964).