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{{Short description|American photojournalist who captured JFK assassination}}
] of ]. Kennedy is seen through the windshield with his hands near his throat, and with ]'s gloved hand on his left arm; behind the limousine is the Texas School Book Depository.]]
<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination; data MUST be specific to Altgens. See talk page and archives. -->
'''James William "Ike" Altgens'''<ref name="name1">{{cite web | title=rootsweb.com | work=Vital Records &ndash; Dallas County, TX &ndash; Deaths 1995 | url=http://searches.rootsweb.com/usgenweb/archives/tx/dallas/vitals/deaths/1995/dalld95a.txt | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref><ref name="name2">{{cite web | title=chron.com | work=Photographer of JFK, wife found dead | url=http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/95/12/15/altgens.html | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref> (], ] &ndash; ], ]) was a ] and ] for the ]. Based in ], in 1963, Altgens took arguably the most famous photograph of the in-progress ] of ] ]&mdash;a snapshot that led to a continuing argument among researchers over whether accused assassin ] is visible in ] as the shots were fired.
{{featured article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ike Altgens
| image = Altgens1970s.jpg
| image_size = 220
| alt = Ike Altgens, c. 1970 (photo courtesy the Altgens estate)
| caption = Ike Altgens, {{circa|1970}}
| birth_name = James William Altgens
| birth_date = {{birth date|1919|4|28}}<!-- see Trask 1994, p. 307 -->
| birth_place = ], Texas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|12|12|1919|4|28}}
| death_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S.
| occupation = {{hlist|]|]}}
| employer = ]
| years_active = 1938–1979<!-- see ref "APArchive" -->
| spouse = {{marriage|Clara B. Halliburton|1944|1995|end=their deaths}}
| known_for = photographer/reporter/witness, ]
}}
'''James William''' "'''Ike'''" '''Altgens''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑː|l|t|.|g|ən|z}};{{sfn|''Journalists Remember''|1993|loc=1:52:48}}<!-- per moderator Hugh Aynesworth --> April 28, 1919{{snds}}December 12, 1995)<!-- birth in infobox; see § Death for death citation --> was an American ], ], and ] for the ] (AP) based in ], Texas, who became known for his photographic work during the ] (JFK). Altgens was 19 when he began his AP career, which was interrupted by military service during ]. When his service time ended, Altgens returned to Dallas and got married. He soon went back to work for the local AP bureau and eventually earned a position as a senior editor.


Altgens was on assignment for the AP when he captured two historic images on November 22, 1963.{{sfn|Trask|1994|pp=318–9|postscript=. There were seven total photographs of the motorcade by Altgens, who later told author Richard B. Trask that he was not sure of the number and did not want to take credit for anything that was not his work. By this time, the negatives had been examined at the AP New York bureau by ], who found that Altgens' film "is of the same type (Tri-X), is numbered sequentially, is chronological, and taken from the same vantage points at which Altgens is known to have been located."}} The second, showing ] ] toward the rear of the ] and ] agent ] on its bumper, was reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Within days, Altgens' preceding photograph became controversial<!-- see ref "most", and Journalists Remember 1993, 1:52:58 --> after people began to question whether accused assassin ] was visible in the main doorway of the ] as the gunshots were fired at JFK.<ref>Official investigations concluded he was not; see § ].</ref><!-- see ref "APDec2" -->
Altgens spent more than 40 years with the AP, then did advertising work until he retired altogether. Both Altgens and his wife were in their seventies when they died in 1995, at about the same time, in their Dallas home.


Altgens appeared briefly as a film actor and model during his 40-year career with the AP, which ended in 1979. He spent his later years working in display advertising, and answering letters and other requests made by assassination researchers. Altgens and his wife Clara died in 1995 at about the same time in their Dallas home. Both had suffered from long illnesses, and police said ] by a malfunctioning furnace also may have contributed to their deaths.
==Early life==
]
Dallas native Ike Altgens was orphaned at a very young age and was raised by an aunt. In 1938, shortly after his graduation from ], he was hired by the Associated Press. The 19-year-old began his career by doing odd jobs and writing the occasional sports story; by 1940, he had demonstrated an aptitude for photography and was assigned to work in the wirephoto office.


==Early life and career==
His career was interrupted when he served in the ] during ]; still, he managed to moonlight as a ] ]. Following his return to Dallas, he married Clara B. Halliburton in July 1944, and returned to work with the AP the following year. He also attended night classes at ], earning a ] in speech with a minor in journalism.
Ike Altgens was born James William Altgens on April 28, 1919, in ], Texas, to Willie May Altgens ({{nee}} Pitchford), a housewife, and J. H. Altgens, a machinist.<ref>Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Birth. No. 15971. Filed May 2, 1919.</ref><ref>Registration Card. Serial No. 3262. Order No. 4506. September 12, 1918. Child and father were each listed as "Altgen". His World War I draft registration card identified him as John Henry Altgen.</ref> He had a younger sister, Mary.<ref>Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Birth. No. 39640. Filed July 25, 1921.</ref> Altgens was orphaned as a child and raised by a widowed aunt.<ref>Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Death. No. 16279. Filed April 4, 1932. Altgens' mother, then Willie May Gilbert, died in Dallas at age 30 of ] when her son was 12. Death data for his father could not be located as of October 20, 2016.</ref> He was hired by the Associated Press (AP) in 1938 when he was 19, shortly after his graduation from ]. Altgens began his career handling various assignments and writing some sports articles. He showed a talent for photography and was assigned in 1940 to work in the wirephoto office.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=307}}<!-- cites graf except death data -->


Altgens' career was interrupted by service in the ] during ]; he moonlighted as a radio ] during this time. Following his return to Dallas from military service, he married Clara Halliburton in July 1944. Altgens went back to work for the AP in 1945 and was assigned to its news bureau. He also attended night classes at ], earning a ] degree in speech with a minor in journalism.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=307}}<!-- cites graf -->
By 1959, Altgens had enjoyed some success as an ] and ] in ] and print ]. He portrayed the ] ] in the low-budget film ''Beyond the Time Barrier'', uttering its final line of ]: "That's a lot to think about!"<ref name="TDiD">{{cite book | author=Trask, Richard B. | title=That Day in Dallas: Three Photographers Capture on Film the Day President Kennedy Died | year=1998 | publisher=Yeoman Press | id=ISBN 0963859536}}</ref>


Starting in 1959, Altgens made occasional appearances as an actor and model in motion pictures, television and print advertising. Credited as James Altgens,<ref name=BtTB1>{{cite AV media|last=Pierce|first=Arthur C.|author-link=Arthur C. Pierce|title=]|publisher=]|year=1960|at=1:10:26–1:13:03}}</ref><!-- YouTube (U2V8Tqg9tIA) --> he played Secretary Lloyd Patterson in the low-budget ] ] '']'' (1960);{{sfn|Trask|1998|p=58}}<!-- cites previous sentence and fragment except film credit -->{{sfn|Pierce|1960|loc=at 0:39}} his role included the film's final line of dialogue.{{sfn|Pierce|1960|loc=at 1:13:44.|ps=&nbsp;"Gentlemen, we have got a lot to think about."}} Altgens' acting career also included a role as a witness in '']'' (1963),<ref name=AFI>{{cite book|title=American Film Institute Catalog: Feature Films 1961–1970|volume=1 |issue=Part 2|author=The American Film Institute|author-link=American Film Institute|year=1976|publisher=]|page=13|edition=hardcover|isbn=0-520-20970-2}}</ref> and as a witness (not as himself) in '']'' (1964).{{sfn|Trask|1998|p=75}}
==Motorcade==
Altgens had been employed by the AP for nearly 26 years when he was assigned on ], ], to photograph the ] that would take President Kennedy from ] to the ], where Kennedy was scheduled to deliver an address. Working that day as the photo editor, Altgens asked instead to go to the railroad overcrossing known to locals as the "triple overpass" or "triple underpass" (where Elm, Main and Commerce Streets converge) to take pictures. Since that was not originally his assignment, Altgens took his personal camera, a 35mm ] single-lens-reflex camera with a 105mm telephoto lens, rather than the motor-driven camera usually used for news events. "This meant that what I took, I had to make sure it was good&mdash;I didn't have time for second chances."<ref name="TDiD" />


Altgens photographed President Kennedy for the AP in 1961 at Perrin Air Force Base. Kennedy and his predecessor ] were traveling to ], in November to attend the funeral of ], three-time ]. Earlier that day, Altgens was the only photojournalist to climb to the 29th floor of the ] in Dallas to cover the rescue of a young girl from an elevator fire.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=308}}<!-- cites graf -->
Altgens later told investigators for the ] that he was denied access to the overcrossing by uniformed officers; he took up a position in Dealey Plaza instead.<ref name="WCE1407">{{cite web | title=aarclibrary.org | work=Warren Commission Exhibit No. 1407 | url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/pdf/WH22_CE_1407.pdf | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref> Though he took seven snapshots altogether, Altgens described to Commissioners only the photographs that were published; of those three, the first came as the Presidential ] turned from Main Street onto Houston Street. Afterwards, he ran across the grass from the southeast to the northwest, toward the south curb along Elm Street, and stopped across from the Plaza's north colonnade. As he snapped his first photograph from that position, he heard a "burst of noise he thought was firecrackers."


==Assassination of President Kennedy==
Just as he was preparing for the second snapshot along Elm Street, Altgens heard a blast that he recognized as gunfire and saw the President had been struck in the head. "I had pre-focused, had my hand on the trigger, but when JFK's head exploded, sending substance in my direction, I virtually became paralyzed," Altgens later told author Richard B. Trask. "This was such a shock to me that I never did press the trigger on the camera.
<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination; data MUST be specific to Altgens. See talk page and archives. -->
{{See also|Assassination of John F. Kennedy}}


===In Dealey Plaza===
]
On November 22, 1963, Altgens was scheduled to work in the AP offices in Dallas as the wirephoto editor. He instead asked to go to the "triple overpass" (the railroad bridge under which Elm, Main and Commerce Streets converge at the west end of ]) to photograph the ] that was to take President Kennedy from ] to his scheduled appearance at the ].{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. }} Altgens was not assigned to work in the field that day, so he took his personal ] as opposed to the motor-driven equipment normally used for news events.{{sfn|Trask|1994|pp=308–9|postscript=. Altgens' personal camera was a 35&nbsp;mm Nikkorex-F single-lens reflex model, serial #371734, that he had purchased via the AP in January 1963 from Medo Photo Supply Corp. On November 22 he used a 105&nbsp;mm telephoto lens and Eastman Kodak Tri-X pan film. Altgens explained to Trask that using a manual camera required particular care in creating good pictures.}}
"o have a President shot to death right in front of you," Altgens continued, "and keep your cool and do what you're supposed to do&mdash;I'm not real sure that the most seasoned photographers would be able to do it." Still, he said, "there is no excuse for this. I should have made the picture that I was set up to make. And I didn't do it."<ref name="TDiD" />
]. The Elm Street doorway to the ] is seen behind the limousine. This area soon became the focus of private research and official investigations. See § ].]]
Altgens tried to find a good ] on the bridge, but uniformed police said it was private property and turned him away, and he moved to a location within the plaza.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. }} He began photographing the motorcade on Main Street as the vehicles approached Houston Street, and got a close-up of the ] as it turned right onto Houston.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. }} He then picked up his equipment bag and ran on the grass toward the south curb along Elm Street, stopping across from the Plaza's north ]. Altgens heard a loud noise at about the same time as his first photograph from that spot (simultaneous to ] frame 255),{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt. Vol. V p. }} but he did not recall having any reaction since he thought the noise came from a firecracker.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. }}
] and ] are seen in the foreground.]]
As Altgens set up for a second photograph along Elm Street, he heard a sound that he recognized as gunfire, and saw that the President had been struck in the head. Altgens later wrote that his camera was focused and ready, "but when JFK's head exploded, sending substance in my direction, I virtually became paralyzed.&nbsp;... Yet, many news people say I should have taken the picture anyway&nbsp;... I should have made the picture that I was set up to make.<!-- professionals often use "make" rather than "take"; see § Witness to history and pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/filmmore/pt.html (Ansel Adams) --> And I didn't do it."{{sfn|Trask|1994|pp=315–6}}<!-- cites graf -->


Seconds later, Altgens had recovered long enough to take his final picture of the limousine&mdash;showing ] on the vehicle's trunk as ] agent Clint Hill was climbing on behind her&mdash;as the driver had begun to speed away toward ]. Hill later told the Warren Commission that the First Lady appeared to be "reaching for something coming off the right rear bumper" of the limousine&mdash;described later as pieces of the President's head&mdash;though Mrs. Kennedy's testimony suggested that she saw Altgens' photograph (or the corresponding still picture made from the ]) showing "me climbing out the back. But I don't remember that at all."<ref name="trunk">{{cite web | title=mcadams.posc.mu.edu | work=List of Witnesses - Warren Commission Testimony | url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/m_j_russ/comp1.htm | accessdate=14 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref> Altgens recovered,{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=315.|ps=&nbsp;"The sight was unbelievable, and I was surprised I recovered fast enough to make the picture of the Secret Service man aiding Mrs. Kennedy."}} and his next photograph showed the ] with her hand on the vehicle's trunk lid and ] agent ] standing on the bumper behind her as the driver had begun to accelerate.{{sfn|Trask|1994|pp=316}}{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. II pp. 138–40|postscript=. Under questioning for the Warren Commission, Hill—who was assigned to Mrs. Kennedy—testified that she "was, it appeared to me, reaching for something coming off the right rear bumper of the car". Asked if there was "anything back there that observed, that might have been reaching for", Hill said that he "thought I saw something come off the back, too, but I cannot say that there was."}}{{sfn|Hill & McCubbin|2013|p=27|postscript=. For his book ''Five Days in November'', Hill recalled thinking, "Oh God. She's reaching for some material that's come out of the president's head."}} This photograph was quickly reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=318}} Mrs. Kennedy testified the following June that she was aware of the image, but had no memory of her actions.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Vol. V p. .|ps=&nbsp;"You know, then, there were pictures later on of me climbing out the back. But I don't remember that at all."}} Hill later wrote that this picture would forever identify him as the Secret Service agent on the back of the limousine.{{sfn|Hill & McCubbin|2013|p=xi.|ps=&nbsp;"From that point on, I would forever be known as the Secret Service agent who jumped on the back of the car."}}


Altgens testified that he followed officers and spectators up the so-called "]" on the north side of Elm Street. "I wanted to come over and get a picture of the guy&mdash;if they had such a person in custody."<ref name="TDiD" /> When they came back without a suspect, Altgens then ran to a telephone to report the shooting, and hurried back to the AP offices in the Dallas News Building on Houston Street to file his report and develop the film.<ref name="Cleartime">{{cite web | title=ap.org | work=AP Cleartime Online: "A" Obits | url=http://www.ap.org/cleartime/a.html | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref> His first phone call, from the AP wirephoto office to the news office, led to the first bulletin sent to the world: After the gunshots ended, Altgens saw several armed men running up the grassy slope between Elm Street and the railroad tracks; he crossed the street toward the activity to see if he could get a picture of anyone being arrested.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. .|ps=&nbsp;"There was utter confusion at the time I crossed the street. The Secret Service men, uniformed policemen with drawn guns that went racing up this little incline ..."}} When they came back without a suspect, Altgens hurried back to the AP wirephoto office in the '']'' building on Houston Street to file his report and have the film developed.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=317}} He telephoned the news office, leading to one of the first news bulletins of the shooting:{{sfn|Pett|1963|p=14}}


:<span style="font-family: courier new; font-size: 14px;">'''Dallas, Nov. 22 (AP)&mdash; President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas. Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy. She cried, 'Oh, no!' The motorcade sped on.'''</span><ref name="TDiD" /> {{quote frame|Dallas, Nov. 22 (AP)–President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas.{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy.{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}She cried, "Oh, no!"{{nbsp}}{{nbsp}}The motorcade sped on.}}


===After the assassination===
==Controversy==
====Additional assignments====
]
Once his pictures had been distributed via the wirephoto network, Altgens was sent to ] along with a second photographer. Both stayed at Parkland until Kennedy's body was taken to ], still at Love Field.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=318}}
Of the three Altgens photos published by the Associated Press, the first snapped along Elm Street would receive the most scrutiny: taken from the front and to the left of the Presidential limousine, Kennedy could be seen with his arms ] and his hands near his throat, apparently reacting to a shot fired by an assassin (presumed to be Lee Harvey Oswald). Secret Service agents in the car immediately behind the limousine reacted differently to the sound; at least three are looking towards the President, one towards the "grassy knoll", and two at the ] to their right-rear.


Altgens returned to Dealey Plaza to photograph the assassination site for diagramming purposes, then was sent to ] to retrieve the work of another AP photographer who had pictures of accused assassin ] in custody. This was the only time he saw the suspect, and Altgens thought Oswald showed signs of having been thoroughly ].{{sfn|Trask|1994|loc=p. 318.&nbsp;|ps=" To Altgens, the accused looked exhausted, 'like they had put him through the interrogation ringer.'"}}
The photograph shows several people standing in the main doorway to the Depository; one man bore a striking resemblance to Oswald. This should have been impossible because, according to official investigations, he was on the sixth floor, firing bullets at Kennedy from a ] rifle. (Oswald claimed he was in the building's second-floor lunchroom, where he was spotted moments later by a Dallas Police officer.)


====The man resembling Lee Harvey Oswald====<!-- see ref "APDec2"; note and Altgens6.jpg photo caption link here -->
A second Depository employee, Billy Lovelady, was identified by the Commission as the man in the doorway. That claim was bolstered several years later when photographs taken by an assassination researcher of Lovelady&mdash;wearing what appeared to be the same shirt seen in Dealey Plaza&mdash;closely matched the image in the Altgens photograph.<ref name="Lovelady1">{{cite web | title=mcadams.posc.mu.edu | work=Was Oswald in the Doorway of the Depository at the time of the JFK Assassination? | url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/oswald_doorway.htm | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref> Oswald, however, wore a similar shirt when he was brought in to the Dallas Police Department.<ref name="Lovelady2">{{cite web | title=jfklancer.com | work=The Myth of Oswald at the Texas School Book Depository Doorway | url=http://www.jfklancer.com/photos/lovelady/index.html | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref>
<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination. LHO's whereabouts/movements are germane ONLY as they pertain directly to Altgens' photograph. -->
]
Ten days after Kennedy was assassinated, the Associated Press in Dallas reported that the first photograph Altgens made along Elm Street had captured the attention of people who noticed that one of the men standing in the main doorway to the book depository appeared to resemble accused killer Lee Harvey Oswald. Those observers raised the question of whether Oswald could have killed Kennedy, saying he would not have been able to get to the doorway from the sixth floor of the building.<ref>"If the man in the picture actually had been Oswald it would seem to prove that he was not the Kennedy assassin because he would not have had time to reach the street entrance."</ref><!-- see ref APDec2 --> The report quoted depository superintendent Roy Truly, who said the man in the image was not Oswald but a different employee, Billy Nolan Lovelady.<ref>"At first glance it does look like Oswald," Truly is quoted, "but after looking it over I knew it wasn't. They don't even look alike." The report also says Truly showed the photograph to Lovelady, who identified himself.</ref> The ] (FBI) told the AP they had already investigated the photograph and also identified Lovelady.<ref name=APDec2>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|via=''Cumberland Evening Times'', p. 2|location=]|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/maryland/cumberland/cumberland-evening-times/1963/12-03/page-2|title=Pictured Man Is Not Killer|date=December 3, 1963|access-date=December 28, 2014}}</ref><!-- cites graf including Truly -->

<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination. LHO's whereabouts/movements are germane ONLY as they pertain directly to Altgens' photograph. -->
On May 24, 1964, six months after the shooting, the '']'' reported that Altgens—the man responsible for "probably the most controversial photograph of the decade",<ref name=most>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|via='']'', p. 2|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19640524&id=ALwqAAAAIBAJ&pg=7412,5690918|title='Most Controversial Photo of Decade' Is Published|location=]|date=May 24, 1964|access-date=December 28, 2014|archive-date=January 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112144130/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19640524&id=ALwqAAAAIBAJ&pg=7412,5690918|url-status=live}}</ref> and one of the few people standing near the presidential limousine when Kennedy was shot—had not been questioned either by the FBI or by the ].{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=CE 1408 – Bonafede, Dom. "The Picture With a Life of Its Own". Vol. XXII p. }} A newspaper column printed in '']'' the following day made the same observation. FBI investigators interviewed Altgens eight days later, on June 2, 1964;{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=CE 1407 – FBI report dated June 5, 1964, of interview of James W. Attgens, who took photographs showing Billy Nolan&nbsp;... Vol. XXII p. }}<!-- cites previous 2 sentences -->{{sfn|Sneed|1998|p=52|postscript=. Altgens told author Larry A. Sneed that he had asked his bureau chief whether he should contact the FBI. He was told, "If they want information, we're available, but we don't go volunteering."}} he testified before the Warren Commission on July 22.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. }} By this time, Altgens was aware of the individual who resembled Oswald; Lovelady had been interviewed for the ''Herald Tribune'' article,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. XXII, pp. |postscript={{nbsp}}(reprinted as part of Warren Commission Exhibit No. 1408). Lovelady recalled a visit from two FBI agents the night after the assassination. When he identified himself in Altgens' photo, Lovelady said one agent "had a big smile on his face because it wasn't Oswald. They said they had a big discussion down at the FBI and one guy said it just had to be Oswald."}} and Altgens testified that he too had been contacted. He said there was nothing to share because he had not taken part in any assignments involving depository employees.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens, Vol. VII pp. }}

<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination. LHO's whereabouts/movements are germane ONLY as they pertain directly to Altgens' photograph. -->
Commission representatives interviewed several depository workers in an effort to determine the identity of the man in Altgens' photograph; hearings included testimony from five people who said Lovelady was there, and from three others (including Lovelady) who directly identified him in the picture.{{efn|Those who saw Lovelady at the doorway: Buell Wesley Frazier,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. II p. }} James Jarman,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. III p. }} Harold Norman,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. III p. }} Sarah Stanton,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. XXII p. }} and William Shelley.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. XXII p. }} Those who identified him in Altgens' photograph: Danny Garcia Arce,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. VI p. }} Lovelady,{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. VI p. }} and Virginia Baker (Rackley).{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. VII p. }} Shelley, Lovelady's supervisor, also signed a statement given to a man who identified himself as FBI Special Agent Alfred D. Neeley.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=CE 1381 – Signed statements obtained from all persons known to have been in the Texas School Book Depository Building on&nbsp;... Vol. XXII pp. }}}} Ultimately, the commission decided Oswald was not in the doorway.<ref name=WCR149>{{cite book|author=The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission)|author-link=Warren Commission|title=The Report of The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-WARRENCOMMISSIONREPORT/pdf/GPO-WARRENCOMMISSIONREPORT.pdf|publisher=]|year=1964|page=149|ref={{SfnRef|WCR|1964}}}}</ref>{{efn|Notes from his Dallas police interview placed Oswald on the first floor eating lunch at "about that time (Altgens made the picture)".{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=Vol. XXIV p. }}}}

<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination. LHO's whereabouts/movements are germane ONLY as they pertain directly to Altgens' photograph. -->
In 1978, the ] studied several still and motion images, including an enhanced version of the Altgens photograph, in the scope of its investigation. The committee also concluded that Lovelady was the man pictured in the depository doorway.{{sfn|HSCA|1978|loc=Appendix Vol. VI: Photographic Evidence; Ch. IV:B:3:g: pp. 286–93}}

<!-- EDITORS: this is NOT an article on the JFK assassination. LHO's whereabouts/movements are germane ONLY as they pertain directly to Altgens' photograph. -->
The official conclusions were still being debated by academics and ] more than 50 years after the assassination.<ref name=argued>{{cite web|last=Knuth|first=Magen (adjunct instructor, ])|url=http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/oswald_doorway.htm|title=Was Lee Oswald standing in the Depository doorway?|website=Kennedy Assassination Home Page|access-date=December 24, 2014|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513083723/https://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/oswald_doorway.htm|url-status=live}}{{indent|3}}{{cite web|url=http://www.oswald-innocent.com/|title=Senior Members of the Oswald Innocence Campaign|website=Oswald Innocence Campaign|access-date=November 12, 2016|others=Academics listed as senior members who have argued the doorway issue include David Wrone, Gerald McKnight, Jerry Kroth and David G. Caban. Self-published source.}}<!-- cites "academics" -->{{indent|3}}{{cite news|last=Hayden|first=Tyler|url=http://www.independent.com/news/2013/nov/20/oswald-innocence-campaign-descends-santa-barbara/|title=Oswald Innocence Campaign Descends on Santa Barbara|newspaper=]|date=November 20, 2013|access-date=December 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223065927/http://www.independent.com/news/2013/nov/20/oswald-innocence-campaign-descends-santa-barbara/|archive-date=December 23, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- cites "conspiracy theorists" --> One such theorist, Texas author ],<ref>{{cite news|last=Tweedie|first=Neil|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9628028/The-assassination-of-President-John-F-Kennedy-the-finger-points-to-the-KGB.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024104559/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9628028/The-assassination-of-President-John-F-Kennedy-the-finger-points-to-the-KGB.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 24, 2012|title=The assassination of President John F Kennedy: the finger points to the KGB (book review)|work=]|location=]|date=October 24, 2012|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref> wrote that most researchers were ready to accept Lovelady as the man in Altgens' photograph. He later wrote that others were resisting any such acceptance.{{sfn|Marrs|2013|loc=e-book (no page numbers)}}

====Witness to history====
Altgens was featured in two AP dispatches issued on November 22, 1963. He initially reported hearing two shots, but thought someone had been setting off fireworks.<ref name=dispatch1>{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19631122&id=h2VPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6545,4078058|title=Kennedy Dead: Is Shot In Dallas|newspaper=]|location=]|date=November 22, 1963|access-date=December 27, 2014|archive-date=January 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112144144/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19631122&id=h2VPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6545,4078058|url-status=live}}</ref> For a November 25 story, Altgens wrote that he did not know the origin of the gunshots until later, but he believed they came from the other side of Elm Street, opposite the presidential limousine from where he was standing.<ref name=dispatch2>{{cite news|last=Altgens|first=James|title=Photographer Near Car Saw It All|date=November 25, 1963|publisher=Associated Press|newspaper=]|page=23|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/jp/japan/tokyo/pacific-stars-and-stripes/1963/11-25/page-22|access-date=December 29, 2014|quote=At first I thought the shots came from the opposite side of the street.&nbsp;... I did not know until later where the shots came from. I was on the opposite side of the President's car from the gunman. He might have hit me." Altgens said he was told by the AP's ] photo editor that he might have been shot had the bullet gone "just a bit to the left.}}</ref><!-- p. 22 per newspaper archive; p. 23 per reproduction --><!-- see Sneed 1998 p. 52 re photo editor -->

In 1964, Altgens testified for the Warren Commission and was asked about the gunfire and whether he knew its source. He said he had not been keeping track of the number of gunshots fired in Dealey Plaza because he believed them to be fireworks, but he was certain of at least two.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens. Vol. VII p. .|ps=&nbsp;"I could vouch for number one, and I can vouch for the last shot, but I cannot tell you how many shots were in between."}} Altgens believed Kennedy's wounds suggested a final shot that came from the vicinity of the book depository building, but he could not say with any certainty.{{sfn|WCH|1964|loc=James W. Altgens. Vol. VII p. 518.|ps=&nbsp;"There was flesh particles that flew out of the side of his head in my direction&nbsp;... Also, the fact that his head was covered with blood, the hairline included, on the left side—all the way down, with no blood on his forehead or face—suggested to me, too, that the shot came from the opposite side, meaning in the direction of this depository building, but at no time did I know for certain where the shot came from."}}

When CBS television interviewed him in 1967, Altgens said it was obvious to him that the head shot came from behind Kennedy's limousine "because it caused him to bolt forward, dislodging him from this depression in the seat cushion".{{sfn|Sneed|1998|p=55|postscript=. "The explanation given which looks like a forward impact I think is really unexplainable. I don't know whether it's a body reaction or what it was because, from my vantage point, it was very clear he moved forward and didn't move backward."}} He added that the commotion in "the knoll area" after the shooting struck him as odd, since he believed the assassin would have needed to move very quickly to get there.<ref name=cbs>{{cite web|url=http://www.mocavo.com/Congressional-Record-Volume-113-9/880339/991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304102549/http://www.mocavo.com/Congressional-Record-Volume-113-9/880339/991|title=CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report|publisher=]|via=]—House, p. 24057|date=August 24, 1967|archive-date=March 4, 2016|access-date=November 1, 2016|quote=And, thinking that they had the assassin cornered up in this knoll area—and it seemed rather strange, as I say, because knowing that the shot came from behind, this fellow had to really move in order to get over into the ] area.}}</ref><!-- cites graf except note -->

====Trial of Clay Shaw====
] ] subpoenaed Altgens to appear in ], Louisiana for the 1969 ] on charges of conspiring to kill Kennedy. A check for ]300 was sent to cover the airfare, but Altgens did not want to go; he thought Garrison was acting in his own self-interest.<!-- see next ref -->

Altgens and former Texas Governor ] met by chance in Houston a short time later.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=321|postscript=. Connally had been seated in the limousine in front of Kennedy and was wounded during the gunfire in Dealey Plaza.}}<!-- also cites Garrison --> Connally told Altgens that he also had been called to testify and received airfare, but he decided to cash the check and spend the money. Connally pressed Altgens to spend his as well.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=322}} Altgens later learned that they were not required to attend.{{sfn|Sneed|1998|p=58}}


==Later life== ==Later life==
In 1979, after 40 years with the AP, Altgens retired rather than accept a transfer to a different bureau. He stayed in Dallas and took a job with the ] working on displays and exhibits. Altgens also spent time answering requests by assassination researchers,{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=322}}<!-- cites previous 2 sentences and fragment --> and his reminiscences were included in several publications and discussions:
Altgens ] from the AP in 1979 after more than 40 years, rather than accept a transfer to a different bureau. He spent his later years working on display advertising for the ], and was often contacted for interviews by assassination researchers who found him "polite and affable".<ref name="TDiD" /> (Following his death, researcher Brad Parker wrote, "not only did history lose another witness, but many of us lost a valued friend."<ref name="Parker">{{cite web | title=acorn.net | work=Remembering James Altgens | url=http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_issues/08th_Issue/update.html | accessdate=2 May | accessyear=2006}}</ref>) Through all the telephone calls and letters, no one ever convinced him that the Warren Commission's conclusion&mdash;that Oswald, acting alone, killed Kennedy&mdash;could be wrong. "Until those people come up with solid evidence to support their claims," he told Trask, "I see no value in wasting my time with them." Still, he conceded, "there will always be some controversy about details surrounding the site and shooting of the President."<ref name="TDiD" />


'''''Pictures of the Pain'' and ''That Day In Dallas'''''
]'s 1991 film '']'' rekindled that controversy by reenacting the assassination, in Dealey Plaza, using actors as the victims and witnesses. Altgens was portrayed by Dallas-area actor John Depew.<ref name="DMNObit">{{cite book | author=Simnacher, Joe | title=Assassination photographer Ike Altgens, wife found dead | year=1995 | publisher=Dallas Morning News | id= }}</ref>


Starting in 1984,{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=322, fn. 3|postscript=. As printed on the back cover of the book's jacket, Altgens called ''Pictures'' a "powerful display of words and pictures graphically illustrating one of the most tragic moments in the history of the United States. Actual photographs, eyewitness reports, and the author's standard of thoroughness qualify this book as a 'must read' chronicle of the real event taking place that fateful day."}} Altgens shared personal details and recollections in letters and telephone conversations for the book '']'' (1994). His story would be expanded and highlighted for the 1998 follow-up ''That Day In Dallas''.<!-- cited as Trask 1998 --> In his correspondence, Altgens said he expected that some controversy over the details of the assassination would always exist, but those researchers who tried to sway him from the Warren Commission's conclusion (that Oswald, acting alone, killed Kennedy) had failed to do so.{{sfn|Trask|1994|p=307–22|postscript=. In his correspondence in 1984, Altgens wrote, "there will always be some controversy about details surrounding the site and shooting of the President." In 1991 he added, "Until those people come up with solid evidence to support their claims, I see no value in wasting my time with them."}}<!-- Trask 1994 p. 307–322 cites graf and notes -->
By 1995, both Altgens and his wife were in declining health; their nephew, Dallas ] Ron Grant, told the '']'' that his Aunt Clara "had been very ill for some time with heart trouble and many other problems. Both of them had had the flu for some time."<ref name="name2" /> On ], Ike and Clara Altgens were found dead in separate rooms in their home in Dallas. In addition to their failing health, police believed ] ] from a faulty ] played a role in their deaths.<ref name="furnace">{{cite web | title=topics.nytimes.com | work=Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis news | url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/jacqueline_kennedy_onassis/index.html?s=oldest&offset=80&inline=nyt-per | accessdate=7 April | accessyear=2006}}</ref>

'''''Reporters Remember 11-22-63'''''

In November 1993, Altgens took part in ''Reporters Remember 11-22-63'', a panel discussion at Southern Methodist University in Dallas including journalists who shared their experiences from 30 years before. Moderator ] introduced Altgens and reminded attendees of the controversy over the man in his picture who resembled Oswald.{{sfn|''Journalists Remember''|1993|loc=1:52:58.|ps=&nbsp;"James 'Ike' Altgens, well-known photographer for the AP, shot a very memorable picture that day, among others I'm sure, but it became very controversial because as I recall, and I do recall, it showed a man that looked like Oswald in the door of the depository building."}}

Altgens described what he saw following the fatal shot to JFK. "There was no blood on the right-hand side of his face; there was no blood on the front of his face. But there was a tremendous amount of blood on the left-hand side and at the back of the head." This suggested to Altgens that the gunshots came from the rear, because he should have seen some evidence otherwise.{{sfn|''Journalists Remember''|1993|loc=1:56:29–1:56:56}}<!-- cites previous 4 sentences --> He also remembered seeing Jackie Kennedy on the trunk of the limousine, and thinking that she was frightened by the events and was trying to get away.{{sfn|''Journalists Remember''|1993|loc=1:55:30.|ps=&nbsp;In response to someone's request for his thoughts, "I said, 'The woman was scared out of her mind and she was looking for a way to escape.'"}}

'''''No More Silence'''''

Altgens shared a story about Billy Lovelady in Larry Sneed's 1998 oral history compendium ''No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy''. Lovelady had contacted Altgens and asked him to deliver a copy of the first photograph along Elm Street. Altgens was met instead by Lovelady's wife, who said her husband would never agree to be interviewed. The couple had moved several times, but they were still being harassed by people who wanted the shirt Lovelady was wearing when Kennedy was shot.{{sfn|Sneed|1998|p=47}}<!-- cites graf -->{{efn|Skeptics of the official conclusions wanted the shirt to compare it with Altgens' photograph.{{sfn|Marrs|2013|loc=e-book (no page numbers)}} When Lovelady died in January 1979 at age 41, his attorney told ] that Lovelady's resemblance to Oswald led to his client being "hounded out of Dallas" by conspiracy theorists, and that 15 years of strain might have contributed to his death.<ref>{{cite news|title=He Looked Like Kennedy's Assassin, and It Hounded Him Until His Death|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19790119&id=hU5SAAAAIBAJ&pg=5111,2430604|newspaper=]|date=January 19, 1979|page=B15|agency=]|via=]|access-date=July 16, 2016|archive-date=January 12, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112144646/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19790119&id=hU5SAAAAIBAJ&pg=5111,2430604|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Altgens also said he had told FBI agents that he might have had better pictures for investigators if he had been allowed to stay on the overpass. "By being up there, I would have been able to show the sniper."{{sfn|Sneed|1998|p=53}}<!-- cites graf -->

==Death==
On December 12, 1995, Ike and Clara Altgens were found dead in separate rooms in their home in Dallas. A '']'' article quoted a nephew, Dallas attorney Ron Grant, as saying his aunt Clara had been very ill with heart trouble and other health problems, and both of them had long suffered from the ].<ref name=nephew>{{cite news|newspaper=]|title= Photographer of JFK, wife found dead|url=http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/95/12/15/altgens.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991106025745/http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/95/12/15/altgens.html|archive-date=November 6, 1999}}</ref><!-- phrasing intentional; Grant told User:ATS by telephone (omitted per OR) that he did not recall mentioning this to reporters --> ] from a faulty ] may also have played a role in their deaths.<ref name=cmp>{{cite news|last=Pace|first=Eric|newspaper=]|title=James Altgens, photographer at Kennedy assassination, dies at 76|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/17/us/james-altgens-photographer-at-kennedy-assassination-dies-at-76.html|access-date=March 7, 2014|date=December 17, 1995|archive-date=March 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318140531/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/17/us/james-altgens-photographer-at-kennedy-assassination-dies-at-76.html|url-status=live}}</ref><!-- no final report located as of November 2016; Dallas County restricts certificates to family --> Altgens was survived by three nephews, and his wife by two sisters.<ref name=APArchive>{{cite web|publisher=Associated Press|work=AP News Archive|title=James Altgens|url=https://apnews.com/9da2c02354cca1a09dbbec3097ebe96b|date=December 15, 1995|access-date=December 18, 2014|archive-date=December 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218133707/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1995/James-Altgens/id-9da2c02354cca1a09dbbec3097ebe96b|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
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==Notes==
{{notelist}}


==References== ==References==

===Footnotes=== ===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}
<div class="references-small"><references /></div>

===Bibliography===
'''Publications'''
*{{cite book|first1=Clint|last1=Hill|first2=Lisa|last2=McCubbin|author-link1=Clint Hill (Secret Service)|year=2013|title=Five Days in November|publisher=]|edition=hardcover|isbn=978-1-4767-3149-0|ref={{SfnRef|Hill & McCubbin|2013}}}} Cited as Hill & McCubbin 2013.
*{{cite book|title=Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy|edition=e-book|last=Marrs|first=Jim|author-link=Jim Marrs|publisher=Carroll & Graf|year=2013|isbn=978-0-465-05087-1}} Cited as Marrs 2013.
*{{cite book|editor-last1=Pett|editor-first1=Saul|editor-last2=Moody|editor-first2=Sid|editor-last3= Mulligan|editor-first3=Hugh|title=The Torch Is Passed: The Associated Press Story of the Death of a President, John F. Kennedy|edition=hardcover|year=1963|publisher=Associated Press|isbn=978-0-86101-568-9|display-editors=etal|ref={{SfnRef|Pett|1963}}}} Cited as Pett 1963.
*{{cite book|author=The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission)|author-link=Warren Commission|title=Warren Commission Hearings and Exhibits|url=http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1006|date=1964|publisher=]|via=] Foundation|ref={{SfnRef|WCH|1964}}}} Cited as WCH 1964.
*{{cite book|last=Sneed|first=Larry A.|year=1998|chapter=James W. Altgens: Eyewitness|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uT-47ysB5MC&pg=PA41|title=No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uT-47ysB5MC|location=Denton, Texas|publisher=University of North Texas Press|pages=41–59|isbn=978-1-57441-148-5}} Cited as Sneed 1998.
*{{cite book|title=]: Photography and the Assassination of President Kennedy|last=Trask|first=Richard B.|year=1994|publisher=Yeoman Press|edition=hardcover|isbn=0-9638595-0-1}} Cited as Trask 1994.
*{{cite book|title=That Day in Dallas: Three Photographers Capture On Film the Day President Kennedy Died|url=https://archive.org/details/thatdayindallast0000tras|url-access=registration|last=Trask|first=Richard B.|year=1998|publisher=Yeoman Press|edition=paperback|isbn=0-9638595-2-8}} Cited as Trask 1998.
*{{cite book|author=United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations|author-link=United States House Select Committee on Assassinations|title=House Select Committee Hearings and Appendices|url=http://www.history-matters.com/archive/contents/hsca/contents_hsca_vols.htm|date=1978|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|via=History Matters|ref={{SfnRef|HSCA|1978}}}} Cited as HSCA 1978.

'''Multimedia'''
*{{cite AV media|format=video|title=Journalists Remember JFK Assassination|url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?52504-1/journalists-remember-jfk-assassination|publisher=C-SPAN|type=television broadcast of ''Reporters Remember 11-22-63''|date=November 20, 1993|access-date=March 18, 2014|ref={{SfnRef|''Journalists Remember''|1993}}}} Cited as ''Journalists Remember'' 1993.
*{{cite AV media|format=video|publisher=]|type=investigative biography|work=]|title=Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/oswald/|access-date=November 18, 2016|ref={{SfnRef|Frontline|1993}}|date=November 16, 1993}} Cited as ''Frontline'' 1993.


==Further reading== ==Further reading==
*{{cite book|chapter=Testimony of James W. Altgens|chapter-url=http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?absPageId=18125|title=Warren Commission Hearings (WCH)|volume=VII|pages=515–25|url=http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1006|author=The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission)|author-link=Warren Commission|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|year=1964}}
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* (Trask, Richard B., 1998, Yeoman Press)


==See also== ==External links==
* (Associated Press—includes images of Altgens' original AP bulletin with handwritten notes)
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* ('']''—includes images by and of Altgens, and a 2013 snapshot of his initial AP bulletin)
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{{#related:Clint Grant}}


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Latest revision as of 01:15, 29 April 2024

American photojournalist who captured JFK assassination

Ike Altgens
Ike Altgens, c. 1970 (photo courtesy the Altgens estate)Ike Altgens, c. 1970
BornJames William Altgens
(1919-04-28)April 28, 1919
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
DiedDecember 12, 1995(1995-12-12) (aged 76)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupations
Years active1938–1979
EmployerAssociated Press
Known forphotographer/reporter/witness, assassination of John F. Kennedy
Spouse Clara B. Halliburton ​ ​(m. 1944; their deaths 1995)

James William "Ike" Altgens (/ˈɑːlt.ɡənz/; April 28, 1919 – December 12, 1995) was an American photojournalist, photo editor, and field reporter for the Associated Press (AP) based in Dallas, Texas, who became known for his photographic work during the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy (JFK). Altgens was 19 when he began his AP career, which was interrupted by military service during World War II. When his service time ended, Altgens returned to Dallas and got married. He soon went back to work for the local AP bureau and eventually earned a position as a senior editor.

Altgens was on assignment for the AP when he captured two historic images on November 22, 1963. The second, showing First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy toward the rear of the presidential limousine and Secret Service agent Clint Hill on its bumper, was reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Within days, Altgens' preceding photograph became controversial after people began to question whether accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was visible in the main doorway of the Texas School Book Depository as the gunshots were fired at JFK.

Altgens appeared briefly as a film actor and model during his 40-year career with the AP, which ended in 1979. He spent his later years working in display advertising, and answering letters and other requests made by assassination researchers. Altgens and his wife Clara died in 1995 at about the same time in their Dallas home. Both had suffered from long illnesses, and police said poisoning by a malfunctioning furnace also may have contributed to their deaths.

Early life and career

Ike Altgens was born James William Altgens on April 28, 1919, in Dallas, Texas, to Willie May Altgens (née Pitchford), a housewife, and J. H. Altgens, a machinist. He had a younger sister, Mary. Altgens was orphaned as a child and raised by a widowed aunt. He was hired by the Associated Press (AP) in 1938 when he was 19, shortly after his graduation from North Dallas High School. Altgens began his career handling various assignments and writing some sports articles. He showed a talent for photography and was assigned in 1940 to work in the wirephoto office.

Altgens' career was interrupted by service in the United States Coast Guard during World War II; he moonlighted as a radio broadcaster during this time. Following his return to Dallas from military service, he married Clara Halliburton in July 1944. Altgens went back to work for the AP in 1945 and was assigned to its news bureau. He also attended night classes at Southern Methodist University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in speech with a minor in journalism.

Starting in 1959, Altgens made occasional appearances as an actor and model in motion pictures, television and print advertising. Credited as James Altgens, he played Secretary Lloyd Patterson in the low-budget science fiction thriller Beyond the Time Barrier (1960); his role included the film's final line of dialogue. Altgens' acting career also included a role as a witness in Free, White and 21 (1963), and as a witness (not as himself) in The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1964).

Altgens photographed President Kennedy for the AP in 1961 at Perrin Air Force Base. Kennedy and his predecessor Dwight D. Eisenhower were traveling to Bonham, Texas, in November to attend the funeral of Sam Rayburn, three-time Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Earlier that day, Altgens was the only photojournalist to climb to the 29th floor of the Mercantile National Bank Building in Dallas to cover the rescue of a young girl from an elevator fire.

Assassination of President Kennedy

See also: Assassination of John F. Kennedy

In Dealey Plaza

On November 22, 1963, Altgens was scheduled to work in the AP offices in Dallas as the wirephoto editor. He instead asked to go to the "triple overpass" (the railroad bridge under which Elm, Main and Commerce Streets converge at the west end of Dealey Plaza) to photograph the motorcade that was to take President Kennedy from Love Field to his scheduled appearance at the Dallas Trade Mart. Altgens was not assigned to work in the field that day, so he took his personal single-lens reflex camera as opposed to the motor-driven equipment normally used for news events.

The Altgens photograph that became controversial over the man seen in the depository doorway; see blowup below
Altgens' sixth photograph of the motorcade, and his first during the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The Elm Street doorway to the Texas School Book Depository is seen behind the limousine. This area soon became the focus of private research and official investigations. See § The man resembling Lee Harvey Oswald.

Altgens tried to find a good camera angle on the bridge, but uniformed police said it was private property and turned him away, and he moved to a location within the plaza. He began photographing the motorcade on Main Street as the vehicles approached Houston Street, and got a close-up of the presidential limousine as it turned right onto Houston. He then picked up his equipment bag and ran on the grass toward the south curb along Elm Street, stopping across from the Plaza's north colonnade. Altgens heard a loud noise at about the same time as his first photograph from that spot (simultaneous to Zapruder film frame 255), but he did not recall having any reaction since he thought the noise came from a firecracker.

Altgens' seventh photo, reproduced by newspapers around the world
Altgens' seventh photograph, reproduced by newspapers around the world, shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Secret Service agent Clint Hill and Jacqueline Kennedy are seen in the foreground.

As Altgens set up for a second photograph along Elm Street, he heard a sound that he recognized as gunfire, and saw that the President had been struck in the head. Altgens later wrote that his camera was focused and ready, "but when JFK's head exploded, sending substance in my direction, I virtually became paralyzed. ... Yet, many news people say I should have taken the picture anyway ... I should have made the picture that I was set up to make. And I didn't do it."

Altgens recovered, and his next photograph showed the First Lady with her hand on the vehicle's trunk lid and Secret Service agent Clint Hill standing on the bumper behind her as the driver had begun to accelerate. This photograph was quickly reproduced on the front pages of newspapers around the world. Mrs. Kennedy testified the following June that she was aware of the image, but had no memory of her actions. Hill later wrote that this picture would forever identify him as the Secret Service agent on the back of the limousine.

After the gunshots ended, Altgens saw several armed men running up the grassy slope between Elm Street and the railroad tracks; he crossed the street toward the activity to see if he could get a picture of anyone being arrested. When they came back without a suspect, Altgens hurried back to the AP wirephoto office in the Dallas Morning News building on Houston Street to file his report and have the film developed. He telephoned the news office, leading to one of the first news bulletins of the shooting:

Dallas, Nov. 22 (AP)–President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left downtown Dallas.  Mrs. Kennedy jumped up and grabbed Mr. Kennedy.  She cried, "Oh, no!"  The motorcade sped on.

After the assassination

Additional assignments

Once his pictures had been distributed via the wirephoto network, Altgens was sent to Parkland Memorial Hospital along with a second photographer. Both stayed at Parkland until Kennedy's body was taken to Air Force One, still at Love Field.

Altgens returned to Dealey Plaza to photograph the assassination site for diagramming purposes, then was sent to Dallas City Hall to retrieve the work of another AP photographer who had pictures of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in custody. This was the only time he saw the suspect, and Altgens thought Oswald showed signs of having been thoroughly interrogated.

The man resembling Lee Harvey Oswald

Blowup of the man in the depository doorway
The man in the doorway of the Texas School Book Depository as seen in Altgens' sixth photograph. Official investigations identified him as depository employee Billy Lovelady.

Ten days after Kennedy was assassinated, the Associated Press in Dallas reported that the first photograph Altgens made along Elm Street had captured the attention of people who noticed that one of the men standing in the main doorway to the book depository appeared to resemble accused killer Lee Harvey Oswald. Those observers raised the question of whether Oswald could have killed Kennedy, saying he would not have been able to get to the doorway from the sixth floor of the building. The report quoted depository superintendent Roy Truly, who said the man in the image was not Oswald but a different employee, Billy Nolan Lovelady. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told the AP they had already investigated the photograph and also identified Lovelady.

On May 24, 1964, six months after the shooting, the New York Herald Tribune reported that Altgens—the man responsible for "probably the most controversial photograph of the decade", and one of the few people standing near the presidential limousine when Kennedy was shot—had not been questioned either by the FBI or by the Warren Commission. A newspaper column printed in Chicago's American the following day made the same observation. FBI investigators interviewed Altgens eight days later, on June 2, 1964; he testified before the Warren Commission on July 22. By this time, Altgens was aware of the individual who resembled Oswald; Lovelady had been interviewed for the Herald Tribune article, and Altgens testified that he too had been contacted. He said there was nothing to share because he had not taken part in any assignments involving depository employees.

Commission representatives interviewed several depository workers in an effort to determine the identity of the man in Altgens' photograph; hearings included testimony from five people who said Lovelady was there, and from three others (including Lovelady) who directly identified him in the picture. Ultimately, the commission decided Oswald was not in the doorway.

In 1978, the House Select Committee on Assassinations studied several still and motion images, including an enhanced version of the Altgens photograph, in the scope of its investigation. The committee also concluded that Lovelady was the man pictured in the depository doorway.

The official conclusions were still being debated by academics and conspiracy theorists more than 50 years after the assassination. One such theorist, Texas author Jim Marrs, wrote that most researchers were ready to accept Lovelady as the man in Altgens' photograph. He later wrote that others were resisting any such acceptance.

Witness to history

Altgens was featured in two AP dispatches issued on November 22, 1963. He initially reported hearing two shots, but thought someone had been setting off fireworks. For a November 25 story, Altgens wrote that he did not know the origin of the gunshots until later, but he believed they came from the other side of Elm Street, opposite the presidential limousine from where he was standing.

In 1964, Altgens testified for the Warren Commission and was asked about the gunfire and whether he knew its source. He said he had not been keeping track of the number of gunshots fired in Dealey Plaza because he believed them to be fireworks, but he was certain of at least two. Altgens believed Kennedy's wounds suggested a final shot that came from the vicinity of the book depository building, but he could not say with any certainty.

When CBS television interviewed him in 1967, Altgens said it was obvious to him that the head shot came from behind Kennedy's limousine "because it caused him to bolt forward, dislodging him from this depression in the seat cushion". He added that the commotion in "the knoll area" after the shooting struck him as odd, since he believed the assassin would have needed to move very quickly to get there.

Trial of Clay Shaw

District Attorney Jim Garrison subpoenaed Altgens to appear in New Orleans, Louisiana for the 1969 trial of businessman Clay Shaw on charges of conspiring to kill Kennedy. A check for US$300 was sent to cover the airfare, but Altgens did not want to go; he thought Garrison was acting in his own self-interest.

Altgens and former Texas Governor John Connally met by chance in Houston a short time later. Connally told Altgens that he also had been called to testify and received airfare, but he decided to cash the check and spend the money. Connally pressed Altgens to spend his as well. Altgens later learned that they were not required to attend.

Later life

In 1979, after 40 years with the AP, Altgens retired rather than accept a transfer to a different bureau. He stayed in Dallas and took a job with the Ford Motor Company working on displays and exhibits. Altgens also spent time answering requests by assassination researchers, and his reminiscences were included in several publications and discussions:

Pictures of the Pain and That Day In Dallas

Starting in 1984, Altgens shared personal details and recollections in letters and telephone conversations for the book Pictures of the Pain: Photography and the Assassination of President Kennedy (1994). His story would be expanded and highlighted for the 1998 follow-up That Day In Dallas. In his correspondence, Altgens said he expected that some controversy over the details of the assassination would always exist, but those researchers who tried to sway him from the Warren Commission's conclusion (that Oswald, acting alone, killed Kennedy) had failed to do so.

Reporters Remember 11-22-63

In November 1993, Altgens took part in Reporters Remember 11-22-63, a panel discussion at Southern Methodist University in Dallas including journalists who shared their experiences from 30 years before. Moderator Hugh Aynesworth introduced Altgens and reminded attendees of the controversy over the man in his picture who resembled Oswald.

Altgens described what he saw following the fatal shot to JFK. "There was no blood on the right-hand side of his face; there was no blood on the front of his face. But there was a tremendous amount of blood on the left-hand side and at the back of the head." This suggested to Altgens that the gunshots came from the rear, because he should have seen some evidence otherwise. He also remembered seeing Jackie Kennedy on the trunk of the limousine, and thinking that she was frightened by the events and was trying to get away.

No More Silence

Altgens shared a story about Billy Lovelady in Larry Sneed's 1998 oral history compendium No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy. Lovelady had contacted Altgens and asked him to deliver a copy of the first photograph along Elm Street. Altgens was met instead by Lovelady's wife, who said her husband would never agree to be interviewed. The couple had moved several times, but they were still being harassed by people who wanted the shirt Lovelady was wearing when Kennedy was shot.

Altgens also said he had told FBI agents that he might have had better pictures for investigators if he had been allowed to stay on the overpass. "By being up there, I would have been able to show the sniper."

Death

On December 12, 1995, Ike and Clara Altgens were found dead in separate rooms in their home in Dallas. A Houston Chronicle article quoted a nephew, Dallas attorney Ron Grant, as saying his aunt Clara had been very ill with heart trouble and other health problems, and both of them had long suffered from the flu. Carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty furnace may also have played a role in their deaths. Altgens was survived by three nephews, and his wife by two sisters.

See also

Notes

  1. Those who saw Lovelady at the doorway: Buell Wesley Frazier, James Jarman, Harold Norman, Sarah Stanton, and William Shelley. Those who identified him in Altgens' photograph: Danny Garcia Arce, Lovelady, and Virginia Baker (Rackley). Shelley, Lovelady's supervisor, also signed a statement given to a man who identified himself as FBI Special Agent Alfred D. Neeley.
  2. Notes from his Dallas police interview placed Oswald on the first floor eating lunch at "about that time (Altgens made the picture)".
  3. Skeptics of the official conclusions wanted the shirt to compare it with Altgens' photograph. When Lovelady died in January 1979 at age 41, his attorney told United Press International that Lovelady's resemblance to Oswald led to his client being "hounded out of Dallas" by conspiracy theorists, and that 15 years of strain might have contributed to his death.

References

Footnotes

  1. Journalists Remember 1993, 1:52:48.
  2. Trask 1994, pp. 318–9. There were seven total photographs of the motorcade by Altgens, who later told author Richard B. Trask that he was not sure of the number and did not want to take credit for anything that was not his work. By this time, the negatives had been examined at the AP New York bureau by Richard E. Sprague, who found that Altgens' film "is of the same type (Tri-X), is numbered sequentially, is chronological, and taken from the same vantage points at which Altgens is known to have been located."
  3. Official investigations concluded he was not; see § The man resembling Lee Harvey Oswald.
  4. Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Birth. No. 15971. Filed May 2, 1919.
  5. Registration Card. Serial No. 3262. Order No. 4506. September 12, 1918. Child and father were each listed as "Altgen". His World War I draft registration card identified him as John Henry Altgen.
  6. Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Birth. No. 39640. Filed July 25, 1921.
  7. Texas State Board of Health – Bureau of Vital Statistics. Standard Certificate of Death. No. 16279. Filed April 4, 1932. Altgens' mother, then Willie May Gilbert, died in Dallas at age 30 of pulmonary tuberculosis when her son was 12. Death data for his father could not be located as of October 20, 2016.
  8. ^ Trask 1994, p. 307.
  9. Pierce, Arthur C. (1960). Beyond the Time Barrier. American International Pictures.
  10. Trask 1998, p. 58.
  11. Pierce 1960, at 0:39.
  12. Pierce 1960, at 1:13:44. "Gentlemen, we have got a lot to think about."
  13. The American Film Institute (1976). American Film Institute Catalog: Feature Films 1961–1970. Vol. 1 (hardcover ed.). University of California Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-520-20970-2.
  14. Trask 1998, p. 75.
  15. Trask 1994, p. 308.
  16. ^ WCH 1964, James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. 516.
  17. Trask 1994, pp. 308–9. Altgens' personal camera was a 35 mm Nikkorex-F single-lens reflex model, serial #371734, that he had purchased via the AP in January 1963 from Medo Photo Supply Corp. On November 22 he used a 105 mm telephoto lens and Eastman Kodak Tri-X pan film. Altgens explained to Trask that using a manual camera required particular care in creating good pictures.
  18. ^ WCH 1964, James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. 517.
  19. WCH 1964, Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt. Vol. V p. 158.
  20. Trask 1994, pp. 315–6.
  21. Trask 1994, p. 315. "The sight was unbelievable, and I was surprised I recovered fast enough to make the picture of the Secret Service man aiding Mrs. Kennedy."
  22. Trask 1994, pp. 316.
  23. WCH 1964, Vol. II pp. 138–40. Under questioning for the Warren Commission, Hill—who was assigned to Mrs. Kennedy—testified that she "was, it appeared to me, reaching for something coming off the right rear bumper of the car". Asked if there was "anything back there that observed, that might have been reaching for", Hill said that he "thought I saw something come off the back, too, but I cannot say that there was."
  24. Hill & McCubbin 2013, p. 27. For his book Five Days in November, Hill recalled thinking, "Oh God. She's reaching for some material that's come out of the president's head."
  25. ^ Trask 1994, p. 318.
  26. WCH 1964, Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Vol. V p. 180. "You know, then, there were pictures later on of me climbing out the back. But I don't remember that at all."
  27. Hill & McCubbin 2013, p. xi. "From that point on, I would forever be known as the Secret Service agent who jumped on the back of the car."
  28. WCH 1964, James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. 519. "There was utter confusion at the time I crossed the street. The Secret Service men, uniformed policemen with drawn guns that went racing up this little incline ..."
  29. Trask 1994, p. 317.
  30. Pett 1963, p. 14.
  31. Trask 1994, p. 318. " To Altgens, the accused looked exhausted, 'like they had put him through the interrogation ringer.'"
  32. "If the man in the picture actually had been Oswald it would seem to prove that he was not the Kennedy assassin because he would not have had time to reach the street entrance."
  33. "At first glance it does look like Oswald," Truly is quoted, "but after looking it over I knew it wasn't. They don't even look alike." The report also says Truly showed the photograph to Lovelady, who identified himself.
  34. "Pictured Man Is Not Killer". Cumberland, Maryland. Associated Press. December 3, 1963. Retrieved December 28, 2014 – via Cumberland Evening Times, p. 2.
  35. "'Most Controversial Photo of Decade' Is Published". Sarasota, Florida. Associated Press. May 24, 1964. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved December 28, 2014 – via Sarasota Herald-Tribune, p. 2.
  36. WCH 1964, CE 1408 – Bonafede, Dom. "The Picture With a Life of Its Own". Vol. XXII p. 794.
  37. WCH 1964, CE 1407 – FBI report dated June 5, 1964, of interview of James W. Attgens, who took photographs showing Billy Nolan ... Vol. XXII p. 790.
  38. Sneed 1998, p. 52. Altgens told author Larry A. Sneed that he had asked his bureau chief whether he should contact the FBI. He was told, "If they want information, we're available, but we don't go volunteering."
  39. WCH 1964, James W. Altgens, Vol. VII p. 515–23.
  40. WCH 1964, Vol. XXII, pp. 793–4 (reprinted as part of Warren Commission Exhibit No. 1408). Lovelady recalled a visit from two FBI agents the night after the assassination. When he identified himself in Altgens' photo, Lovelady said one agent "had a big smile on his face because it wasn't Oswald. They said they had a big discussion down at the FBI and one guy said it just had to be Oswald."
  41. WCH 1964, James W. Altgens, Vol. VII pp. 522–3.
  42. WCH 1964, Vol. II p. 233.
  43. WCH 1964, Vol. III p. 202.
  44. WCH 1964, Vol. III p. 189.
  45. WCH 1964, Vol. XXII p. 675.
  46. WCH 1964, Vol. XXII p. 673.
  47. WCH 1964, Vol. VI p. 367.
  48. WCH 1964, Vol. VI p. 338.
  49. WCH 1964, Vol. VII p. 515.
  50. WCH 1964, CE 1381 – Signed statements obtained from all persons known to have been in the Texas School Book Depository Building on ... Vol. XXII pp. 84–5.
  51. The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission) (1964). The Report of The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (PDF). United States Government Printing Office. p. 149.
  52. WCH 1964, Vol. XXIV p. 265.
  53. HSCA 1978, Appendix Vol. VI: Photographic Evidence; Ch. IV:B:3:g: Comparison of Photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald and Billy Nolan Lovelady With That of a Motorcade Spectator pp. 286–93.
  54. Knuth, Magen (adjunct instructor, American University). "Was Lee Oswald standing in the Depository doorway?". Kennedy Assassination Home Page. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
       "Senior Members of the Oswald Innocence Campaign". Oswald Innocence Campaign. Academics listed as senior members who have argued the doorway issue include David Wrone, Gerald McKnight, Jerry Kroth and David G. Caban. Self-published source. Retrieved November 12, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
       Hayden, Tyler (November 20, 2013). "Oswald Innocence Campaign Descends on Santa Barbara". Santa Barbara Independent. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  55. Tweedie, Neil (October 24, 2012). "The assassination of President John F Kennedy: the finger points to the KGB (book review)". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  56. ^ Marrs 2013, e-book (no page numbers).
  57. "Kennedy Dead: Is Shot In Dallas". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. Associated Press. November 22, 1963. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  58. Altgens, James (November 25, 1963). "Photographer Near Car Saw It All". Pacific Stars and Stripes. Associated Press. p. 23. Retrieved December 29, 2014. At first I thought the shots came from the opposite side of the street. ... I did not know until later where the shots came from. I was on the opposite side of the President's car from the gunman. He might have hit me." Altgens said he was told by the AP's Los Angeles photo editor that he might have been shot had the bullet gone "just a bit to the left.
  59. WCH 1964, James W. Altgens. Vol. VII p. 518. "I could vouch for number one, and I can vouch for the last shot, but I cannot tell you how many shots were in between."
  60. WCH 1964, James W. Altgens. Vol. VII p. 518. "There was flesh particles that flew out of the side of his head in my direction ... Also, the fact that his head was covered with blood, the hairline included, on the left side—all the way down, with no blood on his forehead or face—suggested to me, too, that the shot came from the opposite side, meaning in the direction of this depository building, but at no time did I know for certain where the shot came from."
  61. Sneed 1998, p. 55. "The explanation given which looks like a forward impact I think is really unexplainable. I don't know whether it's a body reaction or what it was because, from my vantage point, it was very clear he moved forward and didn't move backward."
  62. "CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report". CBS News. August 24, 1967. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016 – via Congressional Record—House, p. 24057. And, thinking that they had the assassin cornered up in this knoll area—and it seemed rather strange, as I say, because knowing that the shot came from behind, this fellow had to really move in order to get over into the knoll area.
  63. Trask 1994, p. 321. Connally had been seated in the limousine in front of Kennedy and was wounded during the gunfire in Dealey Plaza.
  64. ^ Trask 1994, p. 322.
  65. Sneed 1998, p. 58.
  66. Trask 1994, p. 322, fn. 3. As printed on the back cover of the book's jacket, Altgens called Pictures a "powerful display of words and pictures graphically illustrating one of the most tragic moments in the history of the United States. Actual photographs, eyewitness reports, and the author's standard of thoroughness qualify this book as a 'must read' chronicle of the real event taking place that fateful day."
  67. Trask 1994, p. 307–22. In his correspondence in 1984, Altgens wrote, "there will always be some controversy about details surrounding the site and shooting of the President." In 1991 he added, "Until those people come up with solid evidence to support their claims, I see no value in wasting my time with them."
  68. Journalists Remember 1993, 1:52:58. "James 'Ike' Altgens, well-known photographer for the AP, shot a very memorable picture that day, among others I'm sure, but it became very controversial because as I recall, and I do recall, it showed a man that looked like Oswald in the door of the depository building."
  69. Journalists Remember 1993, 1:56:29–1:56:56.
  70. Journalists Remember 1993, 1:55:30. In response to someone's request for his thoughts, "I said, 'The woman was scared out of her mind and she was looking for a way to escape.'"
  71. Sneed 1998, p. 47.
  72. "He Looked Like Kennedy's Assassin, and It Hounded Him Until His Death". St. Petersburg Times. United Press International. January 19, 1979. p. B15. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2016 – via Google News.
  73. Sneed 1998, p. 53.
  74. "Photographer of JFK, wife found dead". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 6, 1999.
  75. Pace, Eric (December 17, 1995). "James Altgens, photographer at Kennedy assassination, dies at 76". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  76. "James Altgens". AP News Archive. Associated Press. December 15, 1995. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2014.

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