Zapruder Frame 207 - The frame that Time admitted to damaging years later

Frame 207 marks a dark chapter not just in the Zapruder film, but in the history of how it was handled. This is one of the frames that Time, Inc.—the media conglomerate that purchased the film the day after the assassination—eventually admitted to damaging. Along with Frame 212, Frame 207 was irreparably harmed during Time’s internal processing. The four intervening frames—208 through 211—were reportedly lost entirely.

But this admission did not come immediately. In fact, Time withheld this information for years, only acknowledging the damage under public pressure. Even then, their explanation was thin—at most, a vague reference to errors made during publication. No investigation, no names, no timeline, no accountability.

Further, Frame 207 lies squarely within one of the most critical moments of the assassination sequence, right before JFK mysteriously disappears behind the Stemmons Freeway Sign. Frame 207 itself is permanently marred. It is gone, and we will never see what it showed.

Time defenders have pointed out that copies of the film were made before the damage occurred. But that misses the point entirely. Copies, no matter how careful, are not a substitute for the original. Every frame of the original Zapruder film is a one-of-a-kind artifact of immense historical value. These copies did not even purport to contain all the material that the original had. The left one-third of the frame was lost forever because the copies did not retain that portion in between the sprocket holes.