Who was the mysterious Umbrella Man at JFK’s assassination? Errol Morris explores

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

A new film from one of the world’s greatest documentary filmmakers is always cause for joy. 

Today the New York Times has published an op-ed and short film by Errol Morris titled THE UMBRELLA MAN. An interview with Josiah “Tink” Thompson, the scholar who wrote “Six Seconds in Dallas” about the Zapruder film, he talks about the suspicious man holding an umbrella during the parade on that beautiful sunny day. Thompson was the man who first noticed this figure who was standing right near where the shots rang out, and named him. People supplied their own conspiracy theories, but the Umbrella Man himself eventually came forward with an explanation.

It’s fascinating stuff, impeccably constructed as usual by Morris. Head on over to the Times to check out the six-minute short.

At the end of the article Morris expresses his wishes for this to become the first part of an extended series of the JFK assassination, as this was just a tiny bit of his six-hour interview with Thompson. Let’s hope he gets it made.