Friday, November 22, 1963 was just another day at the office. Actually, for those at Life Magazine’s Los Angeles bureau, Friday was usually slow. The layout for next week’s issue was already finished, set to hit newsstands on Monday with Roger Staubach, star quarterback of the U.S. Naval Academy, gracing the cover.

 

Then, BANG..! Shots ring out in Dallas! Once news of President Kennedy's assassination hits the wires, everything changes, including Life’s upcoming issue. STOP THE PRESSES! Roger Staubach was suddenly yesterday’s news. The story - the only story - was Kennedy!

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L.A. Bureau chief Dick Stolley and a small team of reporters and photographers (which included Tommy Thompson, Allan Grant and Don Cravens) were ordered to fly to Dallas immediately. It was now a race against the clock and a battle against every other media outlet in the country. Everyone knew what the story was but had no idea who or what they were looking for. 

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They soon discovered they were following two leads; family members of the accused assassins Lee Harvey Oswald and a local, Dallas business man name Abraham Zapruder who just happened to film the assassination with his 8mm home movie camera. Past their deadline, with the clock ticking and the competition clamoring at their heels - somehow, someway, Stolley and his team from Life got to both of them first before anyone else. 

 

They went to Dallas to uncover who murdered America’s president. What they found shocked the world. And in many ways, changed the art of reporting forever. 

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In a modern world where fake news and half-truths become fact, Killing Roger is a stark reminder of a time when getting a news story right, meant everything!