Editing Profile in Silver

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series         = [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]
| image          = Profile in Silver.jpg
| caption        = Scene from "Profile in Silver"
| season         = 1
| episode        = 20
| segment        = a
| director       = John Hancock
| writer         = [[J. Neil Schulman]]
| production     = 
| airdate        = {{Start date|1986|03|07}}
| guests         = 
* [[Lane Smith]] as Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald 
* [[Andrew Robinson (actor)|Andrew Robinson]] as John F. Kennedy 
* [[Louis Giambalvo]] as Ray Livingston 
* [[Barbara Baxley]] as Dr. Kate Wang 
* [[Jerry Hardin]] as Lyndon B. Johnson 
* Ken Hill as Presidential aide 
* Huck Liggett as Texan
| prev           = [[Dead Run (The Twilight Zone)|Dead Run]]
| next           = [[Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)|Button, Button]]
| episode_list   = List of The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes
}}
"'''Profile in Silver'''" is the first segment of the twentieth episode of the [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) (season 1)|first season]] of the 1985 revival of ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' television series. In this segment, a [[time travel]]er interferes in the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]], and must find a way to repair the resulting damage to the timeline.

==Plot==
Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald has traveled back in time from the year 2172 and assumed the identity of an instructor at [[Harvard University]]. His mission is to video record the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]], from whom he is descended. Fitzgerald is nervous about watching his own ancestor be murdered. Dr. Kate Wang, a colleague from his own time, rebukes him for carrying around a 1964 coin with Kennedy's image, but he implores her to let this minor infraction against time travel rules slide.

At the scene of the assassination, Fitzgerald impulsively shouts for the president to take cover. President Kennedy ducks, and the shot misses him. A grateful Kennedy invites Fitzgerald to stay at the [[White House]]. As Kennedy and his entourage return home, the president is notified that [[Nikita Khrushchev]] has been assassinated and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] troops have captured [[West Berlin]].

Fitzgerald consults his wrist computer, which informs him that his alteration of history has caused massive rips in the fabric of time. The assassination of Khrushchev was not enough to fix the damage; all possible outcomes to this timeline involve war between the superpowers. The only way to repair the timeline is for Kennedy to die in the exact manner as history recorded.

The president's [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] bodyguard, Ray, has grown suspicious of Fitzgerald after finding his 1964 coin and examining his video camera, the shell of which is an unknown alloy that cannot be opened. Kennedy summons Fitzgerald, who tells them the whole story, showing a holographic display from the camera as partial proof. Kennedy volunteers to go back and be assassinated in order to repair the timeline. Fitzgerald, overwhelmed by his ancestor's heroism, removes his Harvard school ring, which is actually his time travel device, and places it on Kennedy's hand. Kennedy is transported to Fitzgerald's home, in 2172. Fitzgerald takes Kennedy's place in the Dallas motorcade.

At [[Parkland Memorial Hospital]] in Dallas, the dead body of "President Kennedy" (actually Fitzgerald) is attended to by Dr. Wang. Ray recognizes her ring because it is identical to Fitzgerald's. She tells him she knew what Fitzgerald's fate would be, since even actions committed during time travel become part of history, but could not let him know.

At Harvard University in 2172, John F. Kennedy delivers a speech to a classroom full of students, in which he implicitly lauds Fitzgerald's sacrifice and the sacrifices of other honorable men like him.

==Response==
[[Starlog]]gers.com ranks it as number two on its top 10 ''Twilight Zone'' episodes from the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://starloggers.com/2019/04/07/top-10-twilight-zone-episodes-from-the-1980s|title = Top 10 Twilight Zone Episodes from the 1980s|date = 7 April 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy in popular culture]]
* ''[[11/22/63]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb episode|0734727}}
* [http://postcardsfromthezone.blogspot.com/2006/02/149-profile-in-silver.html Postcards From The Zone episode 1.49 Profile in Silver]
* [http://www.pulpless.com/1025.html Profile in Silver and Other Screenwritings]
* [http://www.pulpless.com/profsamp/profsamp.html#profintr Profile in Silver: An Introduction]
* [http://www.pulpless.com/profsamp/profsamp.html#profile1 Profile in Silver: Script First Draft]
* [http://birth-of-a-notion.blogspot.com/2011/03/back-to-dealey-plaza.html Back to Dealey Plaza]
* [http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=98595 "Profile in Silver" Announced as 2014 Feature Film]

{{The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes}}

[[Category:1986 American television episodes]]
[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) season 1 episodes]]
[[Category:Works about the assassination of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1963]]
[[Category:Television episodes set in the 22nd century]]
[[Category:Television episodes about time travel]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Lee Harvey Oswald]]
[[Category:World War III speculative fiction]]
[[Category:Alternate history television episodes]]
[[Category:Television episodes set in the 1960s]]

[[fr:Telle était ma destinée]]