The Anfield Wrap Martin Fitzgerald - 'The Umbrella Man and Other Stories': Free TAW Special
Mar 25, 2026
Martin Fitzgerald, author and researcher of the JFK assassination, shares his work on witnesses, memory and Dallas culture. He discusses accessing archives, building trust with eyewitnesses, and the quirks of Dealey Plaza bystanders. Conversation covers the Zapruder film, Dallas in 1963, and how humour and respect shaped his approach.
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Book Is A Romantic History Of Memory
- Martin Fitzgerald frames his book as a romantic, human-centred history that values memory and storytelling over prosecuting theories about who killed JFK.
- He deliberately avoids judgment and argument, aiming to make readers feel like they're listening to a curious friend rather than reading another polemic history.
Incompetence Explains Many Gaps Not Conspiracy
- Fitzgerald highlights pervasive investigative incompetence in 1963 Dallas as a reason why definitive answers are impossible, not proof of conspiracy.
- Examples include no crime-scene cordon and officers taking souvenirs like shells, showing standards were very different then.
Zapruder Was An Accidental Witness
- Abraham Zapruder skipped work that morning, needed convincing to fetch his camera, then filmed the assassination, making his movie an accidental but decisive record.
- Fitzgerald uses Zapruder as an example of incidental witnesses whose ordinary choices produced extraordinary historical evidence.