Body Language Analysis No. 4104: Walter Cronkite Reaction to JFK Assassination - Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Yesterday, under President Trump's direction, the US Federal Government released thousands of previously classified documents pertaining to the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Some of the documents which were to be released are being held back pending further review and will possibly be made available to the public in April 2018. This last-minute change came in response to requests made by the FBI, CIA, and other intelligence agencies.

Although the majority of Americans weren't yet born or old enough to remember President Kennedy's assassination, those who watched the news that day have the events forever etched in their memory. Walter Cronkite was an American broadcast journalist and anchorman at CBS Evening News from 1962 - 1981. What follows is a partial nonverbal analysis of Walter Cronkite's live broadcast reaction on 22 November 1963 to President Kennedy's death.

During 1:11 in the above video, as he is handed the news of Kennedy's death, Mr. Cronkite scratches his mustache area. Facial touching is a universal signal of anxiety, and more specifically, this signals Cronkite's disbelief. While his logical brain knows what's occurred, his emotional brain has yet to fully process the events of the day.

After putting his glasses on only eight seconds before, Walter Cronkite removes them again (1:19). This action is a subconscious stalling maneuver, giving the psyche additional time to process the emotional news. The glasses also act as an extension of the body, and thus touching them serves as a MAP surrogate (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier) and a tactile outlet for his anxiety.

As Cronkite begins to put his glasses back on (1:26) his jaw thrusts forward (an adrenaline surge) as the corners of his mouth vector laterally with a tightening of his mouth/lips in a classic expression of bitterness and regret.

Here we see Walter display a "Tight Tongue Jut" in a display of strong Disdain and Disgust (1:27). This is a signal of his mind emotionally rejecting the event.

His jaw then tightens dramatically during another adrenaline surge in an effort to suppress his tears (1:29).

A Tongue-In-Cheek is a common nonverbal maneuver to dampen tears and/or prevent an expression of sadness and crying (1:31).

His voice cracks as he says, "... Vice President Johnson ...", and Cronkite then clears his throat (1:33).

Cronkite then adjusts his glasses before removing them once again (1:36) - an additional attempt at down-regulating his anxiety.

As he says, "... thirty-sixth President ...", Mr. Cronkite blinks rapidly in a common display of anxiety (1:46).

Summary: Even with skilled professionals, suppressing strong emotions is almost impossible - and then only for very short durations. Signals always "leak" through. In this situation with Walter Cronkite, with our 20/20 "retrospectroscopes", it's easy for most people to see his nonverbal, verbal, and paralanguage signals. In our everyday worlds', these are just as detectable - if you know the tells.

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2618: Learning of Kennedy Assassination - Body Language of Sudden Facial Touching (PHOTOS)

A very valuable skill when accessing a person's personality is developing an ability to gauge their empathy level. One way to to qualify and quantify this is using objective nonverbal methods. Those who lack empathy are not healthy to be friends with, baby sit your child, teach your child, hire, work for, date, marry, pick for a jury, etc.

Although there are other emotions intermixed, one key characteristic (can you name any others?) of those who rapidly touch their face upon hearing dramatic news have high empathy quotients. Mouth covering is the most common variety - although other examples are shown here.

A form of a MAP (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier), rapid face touching is accompanied a variety of emotions - e.g. sadness, shock, fear, happiness, etc.

All four of these images where captured an instant after these subjects learned of President John Kennedy's assassination.



This quality of caring is also known as high "Empathy Quotients".

It also signals a dissonance between the logical brain and the emotional brain. Thus people are processing the sudden difference - their psyches are trying to "catch up".

Based on her body language, what additional emotions (besides empathy) is this woman feeling-thinking upon hearing of JFK's death?














See also:

Nonverbal Communication Secret # 21:  Surprise + Fear + Empathy

Leadership Secret # 221:  Spontaneous Mouth Covering & Empathy

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1212:  Sudden Mouth Covering

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 871:  Mouth Covering Candidate - Gov. Rick Perry

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2049:  Emotionally Processing a Sad or Shocking Event

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2055:  Three Wise Monkeys -  Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil -  Body Language Interpretation vs. Traditional Symbolism 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2579: Brandon Bryant Body Language of Disgust and Empathy - Confessions of a Drone Operator

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2617: Walter Cronkite Announces President John Kennedy's Death - Body Language and Suppression of Grief 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2617: Walter Cronkite Announces President John Kennedy's Death - Body Language and Suppression of Grief (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

"From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at One P.M. Central Standard Time; Two O'clock Eastern Standard Time; some thirty eight minutes ago ...[tongue-in-cheek at 0:19 mark and imaged below] ... Vice President [voice crack] Johnson [cough] has left the hospital in ah Dallas, but we do not know ah, to where he has proceeded - ah presumably he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become ah, the thirty-sixth President of the United States."  

The "Tongue-in-Cheek" facial expression (in the above video at 1:31 and captured in the image below) has several possible meanings depending on the other nonverbal signals with which it is clustered (can you name them all?). In this most famous news clip wherein Walter Cronkite announces President John Kennedy's death, we see an example of this body language being used to suppress grief. Moreover Cronkite's cracking voice along with his cough to clear his throat, example paralanguage congruencies with this emotion.

What other body language does Mr. Cronkite display which is also signaling the suppressing of sadness and curtailing tears?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2233:  Body Language, President Obama, 20 Children  and the Tongue-in-Cheek

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2434:  Brad Pitt's Tongue-in-Cheek regarding  Reasons for Choosing to Work on "World War Z"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2530: Tom Coburn, Obamacare and Anxiety - Body Language Tell on a Senator's Face

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1153:  President Obama's Tongue in Cheek

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2352:  Mila Kunis' Tongue in Cheek  Graham Norton Part II

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2554: Harry Reid's Body Language Lets Us Know What He's Thinking - Short Term Debt Limit Hike 

Nonverbal Communication Test No. 2465:  Barack Obama's Comments on  Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman Body Language & Sincerity 
 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2616: John Kennedy and Richard Nixon Handshake at Kennedy Inaugural Address, One Body Language Maneuver to Counter a Dominance Display (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Just as notably, it has been almost 53 years since his inauguration. The video above shows his inaugural address as well as his swearing-in by then Chief Justice Earl Warren (later of the Warren Commission).

At the beginning of the video, just after Kennedy takes his Oath of Office, he shakes Chief Warren's hand, then Lyndon Johnson's - and then Richard Nixon's. What follows is a short-lived but significant alpha display by Nixon with Kennedy re-asserting his dominance. JFK examples here (0:45 - 0:49) one method by which the "double-hander" can be countered.

Initially, Kennedy should have first turned his body more completely before reaching for Nixon's hand.

Nixon immediately uses both hands to rapidly configure in the "Politician's Double-Hander". Unfortunately this variety of handshake is ingrained in most politicians' body language repertoire. It sends signals of dominance - (or attempts at dominance) and is very negatively received by most people.

Kennedy begins to turn in order to fully face Nixon.

Kennedy continues to turn

Kennedy is now nearly fully "squared" to Nixon, with his face, torso, hips (and feet - very important though not visible here) towards Nixon.

Kennedy's left hand begins to reach up to grasp Nixon's right arm.

Nixon continues his double-hander.

Kennedy is now asserting counter-dominance over the man he had just defeated in the 1960 election by gripping the former V.P.'s right arm.

Nixon pulls away his left hand - far away (over-compensating much as an over-steering event while driving) leaving him with significantly less alpha. Kennedy now has the dominance advantage while continuing to grasp Nixon's right arm.

Both men now disengage their handshake, however Kennedy continues to assert his Presidential dominance by still holding Nixon's right elbow - and in effect "getting the last word".

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2134:  A Watershed Body Language Moment:  Nixon - Kennedy Debates 1960

Nonverbal Communication Negotiation Secret # 323:  I am Not a Crook!

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2104:  Mitt Romney's Convention Speech - Part II

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2609: John Kennedy in 1959 on "Face The Nation", "Are You Running for President?" - What His Body Language says

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1085:  Low Confidence vs. High Confidence  Kennedy and Eisenhower

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2577: Bill Clinton and Terry McAuliffe - Alpha and Beta Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2595: Barack Obama's Emotional Dissonance, Low Confidence and the "Turtle Retreat" - He Does Not Want To Be There

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2609: John Kennedy in 1959 on "Face The Nation", "Are You Running for President?" - What His Body Language says (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Every November in the United States, people become fascinated with all things JFK - and this year being the 50th anniversary of his assassination is certainly no exception. In this flashback video of then U.S. Senator John Kennedy on "Face the Nation", there are two brief segments - one from 1958 and a second from 1959 in which the same commentator William Lawrence asks Kennedy to declare his intentions regarding his candidacy for the 1960 Presidential election.

Note: Since the original writing of this post, the video has since been deleted from its internet source.

At 1:18, Lawrence begins, "... Senator when are you going to drop this, um, public pretense of non-candidacy and frankly admit that you're already seeking the Democratic Presidential Nomination in 1960?"

This is the first frame of Kennedy when the second camera shows his face in response to Lawrence's question.

John Kennedy's face shows all the components of Full Sincere Smile:

The Senator's eyelids are partially closed - although he did have longstanding droopy skin above his right upper eyelid (dermatochalasis), his lids are further and partially closed here.

Another very important feature of a sincere smile is the dynamic concave-up furrows in each of Kennedy's lower eyelids. This is an absolute requirement for any sincere smile.

The primarily upward vectoring of the muscles of the cheeks is another requirement of a sincere smile and indeed is the cause of the above mentioned temporary lower eyelid creases.

Only the Senator's upper teeth are visible here - and with the exception of viewer or camera position, outright laughter or prolonged posing - the bottom teeth should not be seen during a sincere smile.

Finally we see no contraction of any muscles within Kennedy's forehead (This of course excludes any passive wrinkles). If any forehead contraction is seen - the smile is NEVER a sincere one.

A sincere smile (even a partial, suppressed one as long as it is sincere) - coupled with blushing is highly indicative of concealment of the truth upon being confronted. This is related to the same phenomenon which occurs during "Duping Delight". Even though this image is black and white and of low resolution - what signs are present in this example indicating the future President is also blushing?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2134:  A Watershed Body Language Moment:  Nixon - Kennedy Debates 1960

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1085:  Low Confidence vs. High Confidence  Kennedy and Eisenhower 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2601: "Governor Christie, Are You a Tea Party Republican?" Why His Answer Tells Us Whether or Not He Will Run for President in 2016  

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2474:  Mayor Bob Filner's False Smile -  Insincerity, Body Language and San Diego 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2546: Miss America Nina Davuluri, A Beautiful Woman - but What of Her Smile? 

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 353:  Brad Pitt's Smiling Eyes -  Sincere and Insincere Smiles

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2482:  Alex Rodriguez's Sincerity  Body Language of a One-Sided Smile

Dating & Romance Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1010:  What Makes the Twinkle in Her Eye?

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