UPI - 1963 and 1969 Copy

From a UPI Article, 1963

Merriman Smith of UPI had been riding in the press pool car, four cars behind the Presidential limousine in the motorcade. Moments after the sound of the gunfire, at 1:30 p.m. Washington time--an hour earlier in Dallas--he dictated the first bulletin to his local bureau over the pool car's radiotelephone:

"Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas."

That went out on UPI printers at 1:34, two minutes before the Presidential car reached the hospital. At 1:36 Don Gardiner of the ABC radio network cut into local programs with it. At 1:40 CBS-TV interrupted As the World Turns, a soap opera, viewers beheld a distraught Walter Cronkite relaying Smith's report of the three shots and adding, "The first reports say that the President was 'seriously wounded.'" At 1:45 NBC-TV scuttled another soap opera, Bachelor Father, to switch to Chet Huntley.

That put the three networks on the air with the news. They would remain there, with no interruptions for commercials, for three days and three nights, until the President had been buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

A minority first heard about the shooting from those early broadcasts and telecasts. One watcher in Fort Worth was Marguerite Oswald, the assassin's mother; she was tuned to WFAA-TV. In Irving, a Dallas suburb, her daughter-in-law Marina was another viewer.

Elizabeth Pozen, the wife of a government official, was listening to WGMS over her car radio in Washington. One of her passengers was Caroline Kennedy, who was going to spend the night with a Pozen child, and when Mrs. Pozen heard the announcer say ". . .shot in the head and his wife Jackie. . ." she instantly switched it off.

But most people did not learn what had happened that directly. The news reached them third or fourth hand, from a passing stranger, or a telephone call, or a public address system, or a waiter in a restaurant--often from sources which were so unlikely that a common reaction was utter disbelief. To make sure that it was untrue, they gathered around transistor radios, car radios and television sets in bars--whatever was available--and there they learned that it was true after all.

[Some of the reports were inaccurate or misleading, however. At 2:18 Washington time the Associated Press circulated an unconfirmed report that Lyndon Johnson had been "wounded slightly," and at 3:14 Washington time AP teletypes chattered that "A Secret Service agent and a Dallas policeman were shot and killed today some distance from the area where President Kennedy was assassinated." This seemed to support theories of an elaborate plot. It wasn't corrected until 4:33 p.m.]

At 2 p.m. Washington time Kennedy was pronounced dead. The announcement was delayed until Lyndon Johnson could get away from the hospital; in that first hour it was widely assumed that the gunman had been part of a larger conspiracy. The new President left for the airport at 2:26 p.m.

Six minutes later UPI quoted Father Oscar Huber, the Dallas priest who had celebrated the last rites for Kennedy, as saying, "He's dead, all right."

Confirmation by the President's acting press secretary followed, and at 2:35 Washington time UPI bells chimed on teletype machines around the world.

FLASH

     PRESIDENT KENNEDY DEAD

                         JT135PCS

Excerpt from The Day Kennedy Was Shot, by Jim Bishop

In newspaper offices across the United States, a small bell began to tinkle. In the wire rooms, the UPI machine was chattering about a murder trial in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

   DETECTIVES WERE THERE AND THEY "ASKED HIM TO LOOK
IN THERE (THE BRIEFCASE) FOR SOMETHING."
   THE CASE WAS OPENED AND AN ENVELOPE WAS FOUND
CONTAINING 44 $100 BILLS, THE WITNESS SAID.  THE STATE
HAD SAID IT WOULD PRODUCE THAT PIECE OF EVIDENCE BUT
IT HAD NOT LISTED IT AS ONE "OF THE SEVEN LINKS.  "THE
DEFENSE HAS IMPLIED IT WILL TAKE THE LINE THAT CAROL'S
DEATH AFTER A SAVAGE BLUDGEONING AND STABBING IN HER
HOME WAS THE RESULT OF AN ATTEMPTED
MOREDA 1234 PCS
UPI A 7N DA
      PRECEDE KENNEDY
   DALLAS, NOV. 22(UPI)--THREE SHOTS WERE FIRED AT
PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S MOTORCADE TODAY IN DOWNTOWN
DALLAS
                          JT1234PCS

...The little bells in the wire rooms tinkled again. This time editors--not copy boys--came running. They had seen Merriman Smith's first flash, and it could be a mistake. Editors scanned the Associated Press machine, dreading to place credence in one wire service against the other, but while the AP was rippling through run-of-the-mill stories. . . .

   UPI A8N DA
             URGENT
   1ST ADD SHOTS, DALLAS (A7N) XXX DOWNTOWN DALLAS.
   NO CASUALTIES WERE REPORTED.
   THE INCIDENT OCCURRED NEAR THE COUNTY SHERIFF'S
OFFICE ON MAIN STREET, JUST EAST OF AN UNDERPASS
LEADING TOWARD THE TRADE MART WHERE THE PRESIDENT
WAS TO MA
FLASH        FLASH
   KENNEDY SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
                            PERHAPS SERIOUSLY
   PERHAPS FATALLY BY ASSASSINS BULLET
                                      JT 1239 PCS

...In the same minute, the Cabinet plane was fleeing the morning sun over the Pacific Ocean. [...] Pierre Salinger did not understand why anyone was summoned, but he bent over Secretary of State Dean Rusk's polished head to read a sheet of paper which appeared to be badly scrambled in transmission. It was a teletype bulletin but the operator who sent it must have been confused or upset:

   UPI--207
   HANOVER, GERMANY. NOV. WW (UPI)--THE STATE
PROSECUTOR
BUST
    BUST
QMVVV
UPI--207
   BULLET NSSS
PRECEDE KENNEDY
X DALLAS. NTEXAS, NOV. 22(.708 LAS THREE SHOTS WERE
FIRED AT PRESIXENT KENNEDY'S MOTORCADE TODAY IN
DOWNTOWN DALLAS
      HSQETPEST
VVU PLF208
   HANOVER, GERMANY NOV WWKVUPI)--THE STATE PROSE-
CUTOR TODAY DEMANDEJ AM QIAMONTH PRISON TERM FOR WEST
GERMANYSJS ZSTZRILIZATION DOCTOR."
X.X.X.X X,XNXLKDN, VOGEL TOLD THE THREEJU THAT
HANDSOME DR. ALEL DOHRN. %% WAS N IDEALIST BUT BROKE
THE LAW IN AT LEAST IP OF THE QNEPP STERILIZATION
OPERATIONS HE HAS PERFORME ON LOCAL WOMEN
        MORE
            HS137PEST
RV
SSSSSSSS
FLASH
     KENNEDY SERIOSTY WOUNDED       PESTSSSSSSSSSS
                             HS 138/
SSSSSSSSSSS
MAKE THAT PERHAPS PERHAPS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
                                           HSQEOPEST
SSSSSSSSSSSSSS
       GJ     OWHL W WOUNDED BY
                 HQ139PESTXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
KENNEDY WOUNDED PERHAPS FATALLY BY VASSASSINS BULLET
                         HS139PESTSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Note: Jim Bishop’s explanation that the operator was “confused or upset” is incorrect. In 2008 Bob Cockrum wrote:

Jeff, I was reading the page on which you have UPI copy from the Kennedy assassination. You have -- It was a teletype bulletin but the operator who sent it must have been confused or upset: And then you have the garbled transmission of a story from Hanover, Germany, and Dallas.
It looks like what that actually is, is a wire fight within the New York office before they actually let Dallas start sending direct. But on the sending teletype there is a "break" key which can be held down and interrupt anything that is going out on the same wire in the same bureau or another one.
I imagine there was plenty of confusion; it appears the teletype operator "HS" broke into the story for the bulletin. But then the Germany story is restarted and HS breaks in again, "moring" off the story. He is either extremely nervous or maybe the Germany story is not totally broken off ... or his keyboard/transmitter is not working properly. All the S's you see would actually have been ringing the teletype bell - the bell is made to ring by going to the upper rail (upper case) on the all caps teletype keyboard, but it didn't shift like it was supposed to, so it came out a bunch of S's. In some cases there are fewer S's than standard (10 bells for a flash, five for a bulletin, four for an urgent, three for an advisory) but then you have that long string after the last entry. The HSQETPEST after the "bulletin precede" translates to the operator's initials (who may have been a reporter/editor and not a regular teletype operator) then it should have shifted to the upper rail for numbers 1:35 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The reason I think it was perhaps not an operator is that the standard sign-off, as in:
FLASH        FLASH
   KENNEDY SERIOUSLY WOUNDED
                            PERHAPS SERIOUSLY
   PERHAPS FATALLY BY ASSASSINS BULLET
                                      JT 1239 PCS
was to drop the T for Time ... as in the above 12:39 p.m. Central Standard. JT, by the way, was Jim Tolbert, chief teletype operator in Dallas.

UPI Broadcast Wire, 1969

CONTROL:  "YOU'RE LOOKING GOOD AT EIGHT MINUTES."
    -0-
SPEED 129 FEET PER SECOND.
    -0-
P GROUND TELLS THEM:  "EAGLE YOURE LOOKING GREAT."
ALTITUDE RIVE-THOUSAND-200 FEET.
    -0-
GROUND SAYS:  "YOU'RE GO FOR LANDING."
    -0-
EAGLE SAYS WE'RE GO.!!
TWO-THOUSAND FEET!!
    -0-
14-HUNDRED!!...
    -0-
--540.....
400--FEET..
300-FEET..
220--FEET..
COMING DOWN NICELY.....
120--...
100--...
75..--
30 FEET PICKING UP SOME DUST..
ENGINE STOPPED...

FLASH!!!
     THEY'VE LANDED!!!
  UPI SPACE FLIGHT
  RU317P 7/29CDT

BULLETIN
   (SPACE CENTER)--THE APOLLO--11 IS ON THE MOON.
ASTRONAUTS NEIL ARMSTRONG AND EDWIN ALDRIN HAVE SOFT-LANDED
THE EAGLE ON THE LUNAR SURFACE.
  RU318P 7/29CDT

GROUND SAYS:  "YOU'RE LOOKING GOOD."
    -0-
THE TOUCHDOWN WAS 4:18 P-M
    -0-
EAGLE REPORTS WE ARE VENTING.
    -0-
COMMUNICATIONS GOOD WITH SOME LIGHT STATIC.
    -0-
GROUND ADVISES COLUMBIA:  "HE HAS LANDED AT TRANQUILITY BAY."
COLLINS SAID:  "YEH.  I HEARD THE WHOLE THING.  FANTASTIC."
    -0-
THERE SOON WILL BE A DECISION ON STAY-NO STAY.

   (SUB APOLLO)
   (SPACE CENTER)---THEY'VE LANDED ON THE MOON.
   TWO MEN OF PLANET EARTH...IN A GANGLY-LOOKING
SPACECRAFT CALLED "EAGLE"...HAVE CONQUERED ONE OF THE TREASURES
OF SPACE.
   APOLLO-11 ASTRONAUTS NEIL ARMSTRONG AND EDWIN ALDRIN
IN THEIR 17-TON LUNAR LANDER SUCCESSFULLY SOFT-LANDED ON THE
MOON'S SEA OF TRANQUILITY AT 4:18 P-M EDT.
   "THE EAGLE HAS LANDED," ARMSTRONG SAID.
      RU322P 7/20CDT..

(Note: any errors in the above, including the incorrect 7/29 date, appeared as such on the wire.)

UPI Broadcast Wire, 1969

174UPR
      FIFTEENTH WORLD IN BRIEF
                              -0-
  THE FIRST MEN ON THE MOON...THE CONTINUING SAGA OF MAN'S GREATEST
ADVENTURE FROM THE WIRES OF U-P-I...

  (INSERT HERE THE LATEST SUB APOLLO)
                                     -0-
  ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD...THESE OTHER ITEMS IN THE NEWS...

  (EDGARTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS)---WHILE SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY RESTS
UNDER A DOCTOR'S CARE, POLICE PREPARE TO FILE CHARGES OF LEAVING
THE SCENE OF A FATAL ACCIDENT AGAINST HIM.  AN ACCIDENT, IN WHICH
KENNEDY'S CAR WENT INTO A POND NEAR EDGARTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS AND
KILLED A WOMAN COMPANION, WAS NOT REPORTED BY KENNEDY UNTIL NINE
HOURS AFTER IT HAPPENED.
                        -0-
  IN THE MIDEAST, THESE DEVELOPMENTS...

  EGYPT CLAIMS TO HAVE SHOT DOWN 17 ISRAELI PLANES TODAY IN THE
HEAVIEST FIGHTING SINCE THE SIX-DAY 1967 MIDEAST WAR.  ISRAEL ADMITTED
LOSING TWO PLANES AND SAID IT SHOT DOWN FIVE EGYPTIAN JETS IN
CLASHES ALONG THE SUEZ CANAL FRONT.
                                   -0-
  (SAIGON)---GENERAL EARLE WHEELER RULES OUT A COMPLETE U-S
WITHDRAWAL FROM VIETNAM BY THE END OF 1970.  WHEELER, CHAIRMAN OF
THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF HAS BEEN TOURING VIETNAM.  HE ALSO
DISCOUNTED THE MONTH-LONG LULL IN FIGHTING AS A COMMUNIST POLITICAL
GESTURE.
        -0-
  (PARIS)---THE PARIS PEACE TALKS ARE STALEMATED AGAIN...A FREEZE
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE UNTIL PRESIDENT NIXON RETURNS TO THE WHITE HOUSE
FROM HIS ASIAN TOUR.
                    -0-
  (HAVANA)---EIGHT SOVIET WARSHIPS ARRIVED IN HAVANA TODAY ON AN
OFFICIAL VISIT TO CELEBRATE TWO NATIONAL HOLIDAYS...JULY 26,
THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION, AND THE FOLLOWING DAY,
RUSSIA'S NAVY DAY.
                  -0-
  A CEASE-FIRE IS GENERALLY BEING OBSERVED IN CENTRAL AMERICA
WITH TEAMS FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES POLICING THE
STOP IN THE SHOOTING BETWEEN EL SALVADOR AND HONDURAS.
                                                      -0-
  (WASHINGTON)---FEDERAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ARE SIGNING AND
STOCKPILING RESIGNATIONS BECAUSE THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
RECENTLY THREATENED TO DISCIPLINE THEM FOR A SICK-CALL BOYCOTT LAST
MONTH.
      -0-
  (JODRELL BANK, ENGLAND)---RUSSIA'S LUNA-15 SATELLITE IS PASSING
OVER THE APOLLO-11 LANDING SITE AT AN ALTITUDE OF A LITTLE LESS
THAN 10 MILES...BUT THERE IS STILL NO CLUE AS TO ITS MISSION.
                                                             -0-
  (FARRAGUT STATE PARK, IDAHO)---THOUSANDS OF SCOUTS ATTENDING
THEIR NATIONAL JAMBOREE AT FARRAGUT STATE PARK IN IDAHO CHEERED
LUSTILY WHEN THEY LEARNED FELLOW SCOUTS NEIL ARMSTRONG AND EDWIN
ALDRIN HAD LANDED ON THE MOON.
                              -0-
  (WASHINGT0N)---WATCHING TELEVISION DURING THE MOON LANDING
PRESIDENT NIXON TERMED THE ACHIEVEMENT "THE GREATEST MOMENT OF
OUR TIME."
          FK920P7/20CDT

U R G E N T

  (SPACE CENTER)---THEY HAVE STARTED DE-PRESSURIZING THE EAGLE.

                                                               -0-

 MORE DEPRESSURIZING URGENT X X X EAGLE.

 THEY NOW HAVE ON THEIR PORTABLE LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS.

 AS HE BEGAN DEPRESSURIZATION, ARMSTRONG SAID---"NOW

COMES THE GYMNASTICS."

                      FK931P7/20CDT

  ALDRIN SAID "IT TAKES A LONG WAY TO GET ALL THE WAY DOWN

DOESN'T IT"---APPARENTLY REFERRING TO THE DE-PRESSURIZATION.

                                                            -0-

  HATCH WILL BE OPENED WHEN PRESSURE GOES TO ZERO.

                                                  -0-

  EAGLE REPORTS "NOW WE'LL SEE IF IT WILL OPEN UP."

                                                   -0-

  ALDRIN REPORTED GETTING SOME STATIC.

                                      -0-

  ARMSTRONG SAID, "EVERYTHING IS GO WE'RE JUST WAITING FOR THE

PRESSURE TO GO LOW ENOUGH TO OPEN THE HATCH."

                                             -0-

  GROUND CONTROL SAID THEY SHOWED A RATHER STATIC PRESSURE IN THE

CABIN OF HATCH OPENING

                      -0-

     B U L L E T I N

  (SPACE CENTER)---THE HATCH IS OPEN ON THE LUNAR LANDER AND

NEIL ARMSTRONG IS READY TO CLIMB DOWN TO THE LUNAR SURFACE.

                                                            FK941PCD

  GROUND CONTROL FED SOME DATA TO COLUMBIA.

                                           -0-

  THE ASTRONAUTS HAVE BEEN ON THEIR PORTABLE SUPPORT SYSTEMS NOW

FOR 17 MINUTES.

               -0-

  THE PORTABLES ARE GOOD FOR FOUR HOURS.

                                        -0-

  THE ASTRONAUTS ALSO HAVE A 30 MINUTE EMERGENCY OXYGEN SUPPLY.

  -0-

  ALDRIN REPORTS "OKAY MY WINDOW IS CLEAR."

                                           -0-

  EAGLE REPORTS ALL WINDOWS CLEAR.

                                  -0-

  ARMSTRONG GIVING READINGS.

                            -0-

  ARMSTRONG IS NOW HOOKING UP HIS LUNAR EQUIPMENT CONVEYOR WHICH

WILL BE USED TO MOVE EQUIPMENT OFF THE LANDER.

                                              -0-

  ARMSTRONG IS NOW MOVING ONTO THE PLATFORM.

                                            -0-

  ALDRIN IS GIVING HIM DIRECTIONS TO CRAWL THROUGH THE NARROW

HATCH IN THE BULKY SPACE SUIT.

                              -0-

  ALDRIN SAYS "YOU'RE NOT QUITE CLEARED AWAY.  MOVE TO THE RIGHT A

LITTLE."  ARMSTRONG SAYS "BELIEVE THAT'S OKAY"

                                               -0-

  ARMSTRONG "HOW'M I DOING."

  ALDRIN "YOU'RE DOING FINE."

                              -0-

  ALDRIN SAID "OKAY YOU WANT THOSE BAGS?"

  ARMSTRONG SAID YES.

                     -0-

  ARMSTRONG IS OUT

                  -0-

  ARMSTRONG SAID "OKAY HOUSTON, I'M ON THE PORCH."

                                                  -0-

  HE WILL NOW DESCEND THE LADDER SLOWLY AND START THE T-V CAMERA

BY PULLING A RING.

                  -0-

  25 MINUTES OF LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS EXPENDED

                                             -0-

  ARMSTRONG SAYS "I'M GOING TO PULL THE RING."

                                              -0-

  THIS WILL OPEN STORAGE AREA WHERE CAMERA IS STORED.

                                                      -0-

  RING IS TO BE PULLED ON SECOND RUNG OF THE LADDER.

                                                    -0-

  THE T-V PICTURE IS ON.

                         -0-

  VIEWERS COULD SEE WHAT APPEARED TO BE THE LUNAR LANDER LEG

WHICH AT FIRST WAS SHOWN UPSIDE DOWN.  PICTURE NOW REVERSED.

                                                            -0-

  ARMSTRONG COULD BE SEEN COMING DOWN.

                                      -0-

  ARMSTRONG WENT BACK TO FIRST STEP JUST TO TEST HIS MOVEMENT.

                                                               -0-

  ARMSTRONG SAID "I'M AT THE FOOT OF THE LADDER."

                                                  -0-

FLASH

      ARMSTRONG SETS FOOT ON MOON

  UPI/SPACE FLIGHT

                  FK957P7/20CD..


  ARMSTRONG SAID "HERE'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN."

                                                 -0-

  "SURFACE IS FINE AND POWDERY"

                                -0-

  "  "IT SEEMS TO BE IN FINE LAYERS LIKE POWDERED CHARCOAL."

                                                             -0-

  "I CAN CLEARLY SEE THE FOOTPRINT OF MY SHOES IN THE FINE SANDY

PARTICLE."

          -0-

  ARMSTRONG HAS NOW LET LOOSE OF THE LADDER.

  "THERE SEEMS TO BE NO DIFFICULTY MOVING AROUND AS WE EXPECTED."

                                                                  -0-


     B U L L E T I N

  (SPACE CENTER)---AMERICAN ASTRONAUT NEIL ARMSTRONG HAS STEPPED

ONTO THE MOON---THE FIRST MAN FROM EARTH TO SET HIS FEET ON ANOTHER

HEAVENLY BODY.  THE SCHEDULE CALLS FOR ASTRONAUT EDWIN ALDRIN TO

FOLLOW HIM ONTO THE LUNAR SURFACE SHORTLY.

                                          FK959P7/20CDT


  HE SET FOOT ON THE MOON AT 10:56 :31 P-M EDT.

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