Edmund Asa "Eddie" Barker Jr. (August 18, 1927 – July 23, 2012) was a television reporter in Dallas, Texas, perhaps best known for being the first newsman to report the death of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

, and his interview with

Marina Oswald Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter ( Prusakova; russian: Марина Николаевна Прусакова; born July 17, 1941) is the Russian-American widow of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of US President John F. Kennedy. Early life Port ...

. Barker was born in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, and began his radio career in 1943. He later went to Dallas' KRLD (now

KDFW KDFW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, broadcasting the Fox network to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNe ...

), where in 1963, he was covering the visit of President Kennedy to Dallas. After the assassination, he was first to report the president's death on CBS, 5 minutes before the network feed, and Walter Cronkite's famous flash. Later, he secured the first interview with Marina Oswald, the wife of assassin

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

. Barker died in July 2012 in Dallas, of natural causes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Eddie 1927 births 2012 deaths Journalists from San Antonio Journalists from Dallas American male journalists Assassination of John F. Kennedy American television reporters and correspondents