President John F. Kennedy delivered his Whiskeytown Dam Dedication Speech to a crowd of more than 10,000 people in Northern California while Shasta County Sheriff Deputies provide security along the hillside during this historic event. (Photograph Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston, Massachusetts)

Business Need

SVTT created an educational DVD video documentary called" Whiskeytown"   for the National Park Service that shows President John F. Kennedy dedicating Whiskeytown Dam on September 28, 1963. The project was important to the National Park Service because it represented President Kennedy's last official visit to California, just seven weeks six days before he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Project Goals

The project goals were to create an experience that would allow viewers to witness what it must have been like to see President Kennedy dedicate Whiskeytown Dam, and create a product of value that can be sold at Whiskeytown's Visitor Center in hopes that future sales revenues could be used to increase the number of free ranger-guided programs that Whiskeytown offers to the general public.

SVTT created a project database of donated images that Whiskeytown National Recreation Area had already collected from the public, then searched for any other existing media (e.g., photographs, movies, films, video) that could be used in this educational program.  As a result of this search, SVTT worked closely with the National Park Service to negotiate usage rights for copyrighted material from 
a number of commercial and non-commercial sources.

Once the project database was completed, SVTT developed a content outline of selected media to include in the educational DVD, then assembled a prototype of the program to elicit user comments and feedback.  This DVD prototype was circulated among audience members to document their perceptions and reactions, and flush out any issues concerning content, sequence and navigation.

More than half of the project was allocated to restoring a videotape of a live remote broadcast made by television station KRCR-TV in Redding, California.  For more than 40+ years, this videotape had severely deteriorated to the point the television station deemed the footage no longer met acceptable broadcast standards. After donating usage rights to the National Park Service, SVTT digitized the existing videotape and restored it frame-by-frame back to an acceptable broadcast standard.

Click on the audio link to hear
President Kennedy's Whiskeytown
Dam Dedication Speech

SVTT also digitally restored the audio portion of the videotape to eliminate hum, hiss and distortion contained within President Kennedy's Whiskeytown Dedication Speech.

The result of SVTT's restoration efforts is an exciting 48-minute special feature presentation in a new video documentary that contains more than two hours of rare historical footage.

To see a video clip, click on a
Real Player or Windows Media link

Whiskeytown"   contains five special feature segments:

  President Kennedy at Whiskeytown--Produced by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, this is 
        the only color film showing JFK’s helicopter approaching, landing and lifting off of Whiskeytown
        Dam. Provides an "edited" view of Kennedy’s speech and event. Real Player or Windows Media

  KRCR-TV Live Broadcast--Donated by KRCR News Channel 7, this segment features an 
        extremely rare un-edited view of the entire Whiskeytown Dedication Ceremony that only a handful
        of people even knew existed.  Although this footage does not show JFK meeting Terri Hazeleur
        (a.k.a. the "Hayfork Hiker"), this restored live broadcast shows what President Kennedy did after
        he left the speaker’s platform.  Real Player or Windows Media

  KCRA-TV News Footage--This black-and-white footage was taken from the media platform
        by legendary KCRA-TV news photographer Harry Sweet.  This footage shows how the ceremony 
        was reported that evening on Sacramento television news. Real Player or Windows Media

  National Conservation Tour--Produced by the U.S. Naval Photographic Center in Washington
        D.C., this color film summarizes each stop on President Kennedy’s 1963 National Conservation
        Tour. Whiskeytown Dam was the second to last stop on JFKs "Western Tour" where he promoted
        conservation and preservation of our country’s natural resources. Real Player or Windows Media

  Personal Interviews--Interviews with Robert Anderson (1963 Chamber President) who officially
        invited Kennedy to dedicate Whiskeytown Dam on behalf of the Greater Redding Chamber of
        Commerce, Lou Gerard (Local Businessman and Civic Leader) watched Kennedy speak from the 
        VIP section, Sherry Fredricks (1962 Miss Shasta County) greeted and escorted the President on
        to the speaker’s platform, Terri Hazeleur (the "Hayfork Hiker") met Kennedy right after he left the
        speaker’s platform, and Rudy Balma (Local Businessman and Civic Leader) was Master of
        Ceremonies at the dedication of the Kennedy Memorial held one year after President Kennedy
        dedicated Whiskeytown Dam.

SVTT revised the prototype based on user comments and feedback, added the revised program segments, and completed the project prior to the 42nd anniversary of the dedication ceremony.

SVTT also designed the DVD package and disc label, backed up all of the associated project files, and trained National Park Service staff on how to produce their own future video productions.

To learn more about the video documentary"Whiskeytown",  go to www.nps.gov/whis/