Polaroid photo

Mary Ann Moorman Krahmer took the Polaroid photo just after President John F. Kennedy was struck by the first bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.

known as citizen journalism – could fetch $50,000 to $75,000.

She tried to auction off the photo this summer through Sotheby's in New York. But the Kennedy family intervened. The family has a long-standing relationship with the auction house. Officials at Sotheby's termed the photo "too sensitive to auction."Wes Cowan, owner of Cowan's Auctions, feels differently."How do you edit American history?" he asked rhetorically. "This photograph has to be one of the most iconic photos of one of the most investigated moments of the 20th century."Why sell the photo now?"I'm 81-plus," Moorman told The Cincinnati Enquirer. A youthful chuckle bubbled through the phone as she spoke from her home in Gainesville, Texas."I don't need the picture any longer," she added. "I have the memories."Does she ever.Her recall is as clear as the skies over Dallas were that sunny Friday afternoon 50 years ago.At 12:30 p.m. Nov. 22, 1963, in the heart of that Texas city, Lee Harvey Oswald's three rifle shots cut down the 46-year-old president. For many, Kennedy's assassination dashed America's innocence, plans for a new frontier and hopes for a progressive society.That day, a 31-year-old plumber's wife, Mary Ann Moorman, and her bowling team buddy Jean Hill drove downtown to see the president and his fashion-plate wife, Jackie. Truth be told, they wanted to see her more than him.They wondered: "What does she look like? How is she dressed?"Moorman will never forget the color of her suit."It was pink," she said with a Texas-style emphasis on the color, "bright pink."Seconds after Mary Ann and Jean caught their first glimpse of the first lady, her pink suit was splattered with her husband's blood.Before tragedy struck, the day dawned with clouds, misty rain and a disappointed grade-school boy."My boy, Ricky, was 11," Moorman recalled. "He wanted to come with us. But he had school that day. I didn't want him marked absent."So she made a promise. "I told him I would take a picture, which I did."But before she could bring her photo home to show her son, the snapshot would appear on TV screens from coast to coast.The two housewives arrived in downtown Dallas two hours before the president's motorcade started its slow crawl through the crowded streets. They parked Moorman's Thunderbird behind the city's old red-stone courthouse, a block from where they planned to wait for the president's motorcade, on a grassy oval of Dealey Plaza. Those days, everyone knew the route of the president's motorcade. It was in the newspapers.The morning mist forced both women to wear raincoats. Jean's was red. Mary Ann's was blue. They kept them on all day, even after the rain stopped and the sun appeared.The women and their raincoats are clearly visible in another famous piece of amateur photography associated with the assassination, the 26.6-second film by Abraham Zapruder. He stood across the street from Moorman on what has become known as the grassy knoll, the site where conspiracy theorists swear a second shooter took aim at the president.In Zapruder's footage, two women in raincoats, one on the left in red, one on the right in blue, stand in the center of the frame. Holding a Polaroid – an instant camera with self-developing film that printed photos in seconds – is the woman in blue: Mary Ann Moorman.Before taking their places, the women went to a downtown department store. Moorman's camera needed film. She bought a pack with eight exposures. After walking back to Moorman's T-bird, they tested the Polaroid.Jean took a picture of Mary Ann. Then Mary Ann returned the favor. The camera worked. Off they went to Dealey Plaza. They passed crowds of bystanders. People stood 12 deep on the sidewalk across from the Texas School Book Depository. But the nearby plaza, close to the end of the motorcade's route, was all but deserted.With nothing to do, "we just waited."Someone else was also waiting: Lee Harvey Oswald.Armed with an Italian-made Carcano rifle, he crouched in the sniper's nest he had built out of cardboard boxes by a sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository. From his viewpoint, he had a clear shot at the president as his convertible limousine approached Dealey Plaza.An advance team of motorcycle policemen reached the plaza before the motorcade. Moorman spotted Glen McBride, a Dallas cop she knew from high school. She stepped into the street to take his picture. Then she returned to the grass. A second motorcycle policeman approached. She knew him from "directing traffic at my church on Sundays." So she took his picture, too. Four photos down. Four to go.The motorcade appeared at the bend in the road. The bowling buddies saw Jackie's bright pink suit.As the president's limo approached, Jean Hill called out: "Mr. President! Look this way!"Moorman raised the camera to her face. She took her fifth and final photo of the day. She would never take another picture with that Polaroid.As she carefully squeezed the shutter, she heard "a pow! A pause. Then two shots, 'pow! pow!' in rapid succession."Moorman's camera caught the first shot that struck the president."We were so close to the car, 10 to 12 feet away," she said, "I heard Jackie yell: 'My God! He's been shot!' "Then the second bullet hit. At first Moorman thought she just saw "his hair raising." Then she realized "that was not just his hair. That was part of his head."Panic ensued. The sparse crowd scattered. The motorcade sped away. Moorman stood her ground. A newspaper reporter approached. He wanted to see her photo. That began a 50-year tug of war, with Moorman trying to hold onto her snapshot and others trying to wrest it from her.The reporter escorted Moorman to the pressroom in the courthouse where the photo was copied and shown on TV within two hours. Government officials started questioning her. She kept asking for her photograph.Six hours after Kennedy's death, Moorman – photo in hand – was finally allowed to leave the courthouse and return to her suburban Dallas home. Six hours later, "we had a knock on the door." Government agents wanted her photo.Weeks later, the photo returned. This time, the image sported "a big thumbprint on it."In 1977, the House Select Committee on Assassinations subpoenaed the photograph. Moorman had to hire an attorney to get it back.After that, she put "the photo away for 20 years. I never looked at it. Never really thought about it. That was in my past."The years flew by. She married Gary Krahmer in 1980. (She had divorced her first husband, Donald Moorman, in 1973.) Jean Hill died in 2000. Son Ricky died in 2003."I put the photo in a safe deposit box," she said. She moved to Gainesville and made new friends. "Never told anyone about the photo or who I was or where I was on Nov. 22, 1963."Now, she has decided to part with her Polaroid.Moorman knows her photo is a relic from a simpler time. It comes from an era when security cameras and cellphones did not capture every event from every angle. A multitude of cameras recorded a modern tragedy, the Boston Marathon bombing. On Dealey Plaza in 1963, the death of a president was clearly captured only by Zapruder's movie camera and Moorman's Polaroid. That's it.Looking back, she knows the assassination took place "a long time ago." But to her, "it's just as vivid as if it happened yesterday."That happens when you go from the here and now and step into history.About the auctionFor more information about the auction of the Mary Ann Moorman Polaroid photo of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, visit www.cowanauctions.com or call 513-871-1670. The photo goes on view noon to 5 p.m. Nov. 14 and 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Nov. 15, at Cowan's Auctions, 6270 Este Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio.
The auction starts at 10 a.m. Nov. 15. Along with the Moorman Polaroid of the Kennedy assassination, the auction also offers her Nov. 22, 1963, photo of Glen McBride, a Dallas motorcycle policeman in the presidential motorcade, and the original tape recording of communications from Air Force One to Andrews Air Force Base just after Kennedy's assassination.

 Снимок убийства 35-го президента США Джона Кеннеди будет выставлен на торги в Цинциннати. Об этом со ссылкой на слова самой владелицы фотографии, 81-летней Мэри Энн Мурмэн Крамер (Mary Ann Moorman Krahmer), сообщает The Cincinnati Enquirer.Аукцион состоится 15 ноября, за неделю до 50 годовщины убийства Кеннеди. Его организацией занимается компания Cowan’s Auctions. По оценкам экспертов, снимок может быть продан за 50—75 тысяч долларов.

Ранее Крамер уже пыталась продать снимок через Sotheby’s. Однако семья Кеннеди убедила аукционный дом не выставлять его на торги, сославшись на щепетильность этого события.
Снимок был сделан на фотоаппарат Polaroid через долю секунды после того, как Кеннеди был ранен первым выстрелом. Крамер была одной из встречавших 35-го президента США в Далласе. При этом женщина рассказывала, что больше, чем Кеннеди, она хотела увидеть его супругу Жаклин. Момент убийства Кеннеди засняли и другие очевидцы: всего известно около 30 фотографов-любителей.
Убийство Джона Кеннеди произошло 22 ноября 1963 года в Далласе, штат Техас, в тот момент, когда он ехал в открытом автомобиле. В президента несколько раз выстрелили из винтовки, и он был смертельно ранен. Согласно данным расследования, убийцей Кеннеди был одиночка Ли Харви Освальд. Однако до суда он не дожил: его застрелили во время перевода из полицейского управления в окружную тюрьму 24 ноября. Само убийство Кеннеди считается одним из самых загадочных в американской истории из-за большого количества конспирологических теорий, объясняющих это событие.
  
Аукцион состоится 15 ноября, за неделю до 50 годовщины убийства Кеннеди. Его организацией занимается компания Cowan’s Auctions. По оценкам экспертов, снимок может быть продан за 50—75 тысяч долларов.
Ранее Крамер уже пыталась продать снимок через Sotheby’s. Однако семья Кеннеди убедила аукционный дом не выставлять его на торги, сославшись на щепетильность этого события.
Снимок был сделан на фотоаппарат Polaroid через долю секунды после того, как Кеннеди был ранен первым выстрелом. Крамер была одной из встречавших 35-го президента США в Далласе. При этом женщина рассказывала, что больше, чем Кеннеди, она хотела увидеть его супругу Жаклин. Момент убийства Кеннеди засняли и другие очевидцы: всего известно около 30 фотографов-любителей.
Убийство Джона Кеннеди произошло 22 ноября 1963 года в Далласе, штат Техас, в тот момент, когда он ехал в открытом автомобиле. В президента несколько раз выстрелили из винтовки, и он был смертельно ранен. Согласно данным расследования, убийцей Кеннеди был одиночка Ли Харви Освальд. Однако до суда он не дожил: его застрелили во время перевода из полицейского управления в окружную тюрьму 24 ноября. Само убийство Кеннеди считается одним из самых загадочных в американской истории из-за большого количества конспирологических теорий, объясняющих это событие.
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