When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963

The story they tell is riveting, insightful, and filled with new detail about that awful weekend that changed America. — Bob Schieffer, chief Washington correspondent, CBS News, author of This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV and Overload ― CBS News

‘The President has been shot!’ It has been more than forty years, and everyone old enough remembers what he was doing the day Kennedy died. And then Oswald. But few were close enough to see the whole terrible story unfold. This book brings us a version few have ever seen. Bill Mercer, Bob Huffaker, Wes Wise, and George Phenix lived this story minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Now they take us live and in living color back to those blood-dimmed days in Dallas. A stunning set of recollections.
— James Ward Lee, TCU Press

As each of the authors gives his account of the segment of the Kennedy assassination he was most involved with—the race to get the injured president to the hospital, Oswald’s flight and capture, Ruby’s shooting of Oswald and Ruby’s trial—he opens a window into the earlier era of broadcast history. The integrity and dedication of these four veteran journalists is impressive, as is their ability to make a 40-year-old event come alive again.
― Publishers Weekly

TV reporters Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer, George Phenix and Wes Wise combine to recall the assassination of President Kennedy in When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963. These four describe what it was like when reporters did everything, including process and edit, in time for the next newscast.

— Judy Alter ― The Dallas Morning News

Their account of reporting events surrounding Kennedy’s death goes beyond the mere retelling, reflecting on issues such as ethics and duty in the presentation of news. A fast-paced recounting of what they witnessed, accompanied by 43 evocative black-and-white photos. Thought provoking.
— Ari Sigal ― Catawba Valley Community College Library

The account of reporting the events surrounding Kennedy’s death goes beyond mere storytelling, reflecting on issues such as ethics and duty in the presentation of news. A fast-paced recounting of what they witnessed.
― The Muskogee Phoenix and Times Democrat

Noteworthy.
— Si Dunn, ― The Dallas Morning News

[A] riveting account not only of the assassination but of TV’s transformation into America’s most dominant news source.

― Sacramento Bee

Well-documented and credible. A story that needed to be told.
― Longview News-Journal

Huffaker . . . as the main writer of the book, his accounts of that day, and the events following, are both dramatic and detailed.
— Rachel Stallard ― Longview News-Journal

. . . one of the more engaging books I’ve come across in some time. . . . Had these four chosen different professions during their younger days, we would all be the poorer for it. This is a first-class account of a tragic historical moment that still has an impact on our nation.

— Ken Judkins ― Little Elm Journal Star

This work brings immediacy and intensity to events that shook the nation.
— Sterlin Holmsely ― San Antonio Express-News

Theirs is a compelling first person account that is being praised for its depth, authority, and readability.
― Big Bend Sentinel

Their account of reporting the events surrounding Kennedy’s death goes beyond mere retelling, reflecting on issues such as ethics and duty in the presentation of news.
— Liberty Journal ― Liberty Journal, RTNDA Communicator

The reporters . . . have truthfully written about what it was like to be there and witness history at the end of a microphone and live on camera.
― Today Midlothian

[A] fast-paced recounting of what they witnessed. . . . It concludes with two thought-provoking chapters about the business of news and its uncertain future.
― Library Journal

[T]hese four local journalists were changing the face of news minute by minute.
― George Mason University Broadside

Bill Mercer, voice of the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and the Southwest Conference, was a professor at The University of North Texas. He wrote Play-by-Play: Tales from a Sportscasting Insider and a history of the Navy LCI, aboard which he served in the WW II Pacific. Mercer is honored in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, the Dallas Press Club Living Legends of North Texas Journalism, and baseball’s All-Pro Hall of Fame.

George Phenix, filmed Oswald’s murder, the Parkland and Love Field scenes, and the Ruby murder trial. He founded and published Texas Weekly, the state’s top legislative newsletter. Phenix also published several weekly newspapers and served as aide to Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Congressman Jake Pickle. He writes the popular Blog of Ages at www.blogofages.net.

Wes Wise, accosted by Jack Ruby the day after JFK’s assassination, before Ruby shot Oswald, was a witness in Ruby’s trial. A pioneer of play-by-play, Wise wrote for Sports Illustrated, Time, and Life. He served as Dallas mayor and president of the Texas Municipal League and is honored in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and the Dallas Press Club Living Legends of North Texas Journalism. As Dallas mayor, he saved the Texas School Book Depository and other historical buildings from demolition, and he led the city in reclaiming its national reputation.