The Zapruder film is a silent, color motion picture sequence shot by private citizen Abraham Zapruder with a home-movie camera, as U.S. President John F. Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, thereby unexpectedly capturing the President's assassination.

Though not the only film of the shooting, it has been called the most complete, giving a relatively clear view from a somewhat elevated position, and on the side from which the president's head wound is visible. It was an important part of the Warren Commission hearings and all subsequent investigations of the assassination, and is one of the most studied pieces of film in history. Of greatest notoriety is the film's capture of the fatal shot to President Kennedy's head when his limousine was almost exactly in front of, and slightly below, Zapruder's position.

Holding a Model 414 PD Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Camera powered by a spring-wound mechanism, Zapruder stood atop the most western of the two concrete pedestals that extend from the John Neely Bryan north pergola^{[clarification needed]} overlooking Elm Street in Dealey Plaza. He filmed from the time the presidential limousine turned onto Elm Street about 12:30 pm Central Time, until it passed out of view under a railway overpass, though with one apparent brief interruption (see below). The sequence contains 486 frames, or 26.6 seconds of Kodachrome II 8 mm safety film, running at 18.3 frames per second of which 343 of the frames (18.7 seconds) show the president's limousine.

Abraham Zapruder (May 15, 1905 – August 30, 1970) was an American manufacturer of women's clothing best-known for filming the "Zapruder Film," a home-movie documentation the November 22, 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, as the President's motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, Texas. Zapruder's film is one of the most famous segments of film footage ever produced.

Zapruder was born in 1905 into a Russian-Jewish family in the city of Kovel in Ukraine (at that time under the Russian Empire). He received only four years of formal education in Russia. In 1920, amid the turmoil of the Russian Civil War, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, New York. Studying English at night, he found work as a clothing pattern maker in Manhattan's garment district. He and his wife Lillian married in 1933 and had two children.

In 1941, Zapruder moved to Dallas to work for Nardis, a local sportswear company. In 1949 he co-founded Jennifer Juniors, Inc., producing the Chalet and Jennifer Juniors brands. His offices were in the Dal-Tex Building, directly across the street east of the Texas School Book Depository.

John Bowden Connally, Jr. (February 27, 1917 – June 15, 1993), was an influential American politician, serving as the 39th governor of Texas, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and as Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. While he was Governor in 1963, Connally was a passenger in the car in which President Kennedy was assassinated. Connally was seriously wounded during the shooting.

Connally was born into a large family in Floresville, the seat of Wilson County southeast of San Antonio. He was one of seven children born to Lela (née Wright) and John Bowden Connally, Sr., a dairy and tenant farmer. At the time, Connally was among the few Floresville High School graduates who attended college. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the student body president and a member of the Friar Society. He subsequently graduated from the University of Texas School of Law and was admitted to the bar by examination.

Connally served in the United States Navy during World War II, first as an aide to James V. Forrestal, then as part of the planning staff for the invasion of Africa by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He transferred to the South Pacific Theater, where he served with distinction. He was a fighter-plane director aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex and won a Bronze Star for bravery. He was shifted to another Essex class aircraft carrier, the USS Bennington and won a Legion of Merit. He was also involved in the campaigns in the Gilbert, Marshall, Ryukyu, and Philippine islands. He was discharged in 1946 at the rank of lieutenant commander.