David Wrone
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David R. Wrone (born May 15, 1933) is an American academic, author and historian. He is a professor emeritus of history at the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
and a specialist in the fields of
Native American history Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the Contiguous United States, lower 48 states and A ...
and political assassinations, writing books and articles on the assassinations of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...
and
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...
.


Biography

A native of
Clinton, Illinois Clinton is the largest city and the county seat in DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,898 at the 2023 census. The city and the county are named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, 1817–1823. Clinton Nuclear ...
, Wrone graduated from Clinton High School in 1951. He attended the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
, earning his bachelor's degree and doctorate in American history. He was a history professor for 35 years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and has been professor emeritus since retiring in 1993. UW-Stevens Point honored Wrone with the "Excellence in Teaching Award" for 1969-1970 and the "Scholar Award" for 1993-1994. Wrone is on the board of directors of the Assassination Archives and Research Center, an organization founded in 1984 to research and compile records related to political assassinations.


Career


Native American history

In the course of his academic career, Wrone lectured, researched and wrote about Native American tribes. His research includes the
treaty rights In Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States the term treaty rights specifically refers to rights for indigenous peoples enumerated in treaties with settler societies that arose from European colonization. Exactly who is indigeno ...
of the U.S.-Native American treaties, and on the
Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...
nation and Stockbridge-Munsee Community of Wisconsin. In 1973, he authored the book, ''Who's The Savage? A Documentary History of the Mistreatment of the Native North Americans.'' At UW-Stevens Point, Wrone helped introduce
Menominee language Menominee , also spelled Menomini (In Menominee language: ) is an endangered Algonquian language spoken by the Menominee people of what is now northern Wisconsin in the United States. The federally recognized tribe has been working to encourage ...
courses, the first instruction of the language at any university.


Study of JFK assassination

Wrone has devoted more than 40 years to researching the
assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...
. He is a frequent author of book reviews on the assassination, and edited ''The Legal Proceedings of
Harold Weisberg Harold Weisberg (April 8, 1913 – February 21, 2002) served as an Office of Strategic Services officer during World War II, a U.S. Senate staff member and investigative reporter, an investigator for the Senate Committee on Civil Liberties, and a ...
v. General Services Administration'' (1975), the court record on the lawsuit to obtain the executive session transcripts of the
Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President of the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the A ...
from January 20, 1964 and January 27, 1964. Wrone sued the United States government for records of
Abraham Zapruder Abraham Zapruder (May 15, 1905 – August 30, 1970) was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He unexpectedly captured ...
's 26-second film of Kennedy's assassination, in particular records relating to its acquisition and purchase. Wrone taught a course on the subject at UW-Stevens Point, and in 1993 published the book, ''The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination'', an in-depth analysis of the film. According to Wrone, the film proves that there was more than one gunman firing at Kennedy's motorcade. He is a frequent critic of the
Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President of the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the A ...
and its subsequent report, which he believes was padded with useless information. Wrone said in 2013, “When you go through those 912 pages, you'll find that it tells you Lee Harvey Oswald in 1941 had a dog called 'Sunshine' and that his aunt worked in 1929 in Woolworths dime store in New Orleans. It also tells you that
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diploma ...
, President of the United States, liked to skinny dip in the Potomac River, and that President Chet Arthur liked to ride the streetcars. It also tells you many other interesting things that had no relationship whatsoever to the murder of President John F. Kennedy.” Wrone has commented on
Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...
's 1991 film ''
JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until Assassination of John F. Kennedy, his assassination in 1963. He was the first Catholic Chur ...
'' by stating: "The film fails on logic, fails on fact." He described Stone's premise of a conspiracy involving the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
and a so-called military-industrial complex as "irrational". According to Wrone, other assassination films, including '' Executive Action'' and ''
Interview with the Assassin ''Interview with the Assassin'' is a 2002 American pseudo-documentary Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Neil Burger and starring Raymond J. Barry and Dylan Haggerty. Plot An unemployed cameraman, Ron Kobeleski (Haggerty), is ask ...
'', are "the commercial exploitation of a great tragedy". Regarding the latter film, he said: "The facts in ''Interview with the Assassin'' were so egregiously in error, I had to stop watching it." He is one of several academic critics of
Gerald Posner Gerald Leo Posner is an American investigative journalist and author of thirteen books, including ''Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK'' (1993), which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination, and ''Killing the Dream: ...
's well-known JFK assassination book ''Case Closed'' (1993), which Wrone blames for "massive numbers of factual errors" as well as off-base speculation.''
Journal of Southern History The Southern Historical Association is a professional academic organization of historians focusing on the history of the Southern United States. It was organized on November 2, 1934. Its objectives are the promotion of interest and research in Sou ...
'' (Feb. 1995), cited in: David W. Mantik, "Paradoxes of the JFK Assassination: The Silence of the Historians." In: ''Murder in Dealey Plaza'', edited by
James H. Fetzer James Henry Fetzer (born December 6, 1940) is an American professor emeritus of the philosophy of science at the University of Minnesota Duluth, known for promoting conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Fetzer has worked on assessing and clar ...
. Chicago: Catfeet Press (2000), p.
375 __NOTOC__ Year 375 ( CCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year after the Consulship of Augustus and Equitius (or, less frequently, year 1128 ''Ab urbe condita''). The ...
.
He also criticized pundit Bill O'Reilly's 2012 book, ''Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot'', calling it "one atrocious book."


''The Zapruder Film''

Wrone's 2003 book, ''The Zapruder Film: Reframing JFK's Assassination'', provides a frame-by-frame analysis of
Abraham Zapruder Abraham Zapruder (May 15, 1905 – August 30, 1970) was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He unexpectedly captured ...
's 26-second film of Kennedy's assassination and various aspects of the film's history. The book also outlines Wrone's argument that shots were fired at Kennedy from three different angles, with none of them originating from
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 age 12 for truan ...
's position on the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book Depository The Texas School Book Depository, later known as the Dallas County Administration Building and now "The Sixth Floor Museum", is a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The building was Lee Harvey Oswald's vantage point du ...
. Addressing the issue that some believe the film to be a forgery, Michael L. Kurtz wrote that "...Wrone's lengthy and exhaustive study of the history of the Zapruder film argues persuasively for its authenticity." Reviewing the book for
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, L.D. Meagher wrote: "Wrone writes carefully, building his analysis brick by brick. His prose is academic, which may be off-putting to the casual reader. But his research is quite thorough and his conclusions are compelling." A review in ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' stated: "While Wrone's exhaustive consideration of the film itself quickly becomes tedious, he provides a few chapters that tell some intriguing stories" and " ide from these anecdotes, however, there is nothing new here, just reiteration of the scathing criticisms of the Warren Commission's conclusions." According to Kermit L. Hall: "The book treats what might be thought the perfect piece of evidence with far too much authority. What the Zapruder footage shows is that a man was killed before our eyes, but Wrone's efforts to determine the origin of the shots is, in the end, frustrating and ultimately problematical."


Selected publications

* ''Newspapers of DeWitt County, 1854-1960: A Bibliography and Checklist''. Springfield:
Illinois State Library The Illinois State Library (ISL) is the official State Library of Illinois located in Springfield, Illinois. The library has a collection of 5 million items and serves as regional federal documents depository for the state. The library oversees ...
. .
"The Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy: An Annotated Bibliography."
'' The Wisconsin Magazine of History'', vol. 56, no. 1 (Autumn 1972), pp. 21–36. . * ''Who's The Savage? A Documentary History of the Mistreatment of the Native North Americans'', with Russell S. Nelson. Fawcett (1973). * ''The Freedom of Information Act and Political Assassination: The Legal Proceedings of Harold Weisberg v. General Services Administration''. Steven's Point, Wis.: Foundation Press (1978). .
"Lincoln: Democracy's Touchstone."
'' Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association'', vol. 1, no. 1 (1979), pp. 71-83. * ''The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: A Comprehensive Historical and Legal Bibliography, 1963-1979''. Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of B ...
(1980). . * ''Two Assassinations: Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy''. Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin, 37th Meeting, Madison (1980).
Introduction
to ''The HSCA, the Zapruder Film, and the Single-Bullet Theory'', by Raymond Marcus (1992), pp
i-iii.
* ''The Zapruder Film: Reframing the JFK Assassination''. Lawrence, Kan.:
University Press of Kansas The University Press of Kansas is a publisher located in Lawrence, Kansas. Operated by the University of Kansas, it represents the six state universities in the US state of Kansas: Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas ...
(2003). .


References


External links


Appearances
on
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrone, David 1933 births Living people People from Clinton, Illinois Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni