Why JFK's Casket Stayed Closed | Ask a Mortician

"They have to remember Jack alive."



***PRODUCTION CREDITS***

Mortician and Writer: Caitlin Doughty
Producer and Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Timothy Meier
Thumbnail: Landis Blair (@LandisBlair)

This video was greatly informed by the book “The Death of a President" by the late William Manchester. Since new information has come to light in the past decades, a huge thank you to Stephen Fagin from The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza for your assistance and insight into many of the details in this story.

A portion of this video features The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Thank you to Megan Bryant and the Museum staff for your thoughtful assistance. Learn more about the Museum at https://www.jfk.org/


***SELECTED SOURCES & ADDITIONAL READING***

Manchester, William
The Death of a President
Little, Brown and Company; reprint edition 2013

The Loved One (1965 film) directed by Tony Richardson based on the book by Evelyn Waugh

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
https://www.jfk.org/page-timeline/

“Fond Farewells”
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/death/fond-farewells

“JFK assassiantion – timeline”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/22/jfk-assassination-timeline

“Jackie Kennedy's Secret Service Agent Remembers President Kennedy's Funeral”
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a8643/jackie-kennedy-jfk-assassination/

“Burial At Sea: The Odyssey of JFK’s Original Casket”
https://anthonybergen.medium.com/burial-at-sea-the-odyssey-of-jfk-s-original-casket-8c458b758c64

“How Jackie Kennedy Orchestrated The Perfect Funeral”
https://www.businessinsider.com/jfk-funeral-arrangement-2013-11

“Eyewitness to the Autopsy of JFK”
https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/history/eyewitness-to-history/

“Funeral Arrangements for John Fitzgerald Kennedy” (Gawler account)
https://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/arrb/master_med_set/pdf/md134.pdf

“The woman who forced us to look death in the face”
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160721-how-jessica-mitford-changed-our-ideas-about-death