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), 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 ...

, and his interview with

Marina Oswald Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter (; born July 17, 1941) is a Russian–American former pharmacist who was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. Born in the Soviet Union in 1941, she immigrated to the United States after marrying United States Marine C ...

. Barker was born in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, 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, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KDFI (channel ...

), 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 age 12 for truan ...

. 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 People associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy American television reporters and correspondents