Joseph Fitzgerald

Joseph Fitzgerald is the main protagonist of "Profile in Silver", the first segment of the 20th episode of the first season of the 1985-1989 iteration of The Twilight Zone, the episode airing in 1986. He is a time-traveling historian who tried to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 
Joseph Fitzgerald was portrayed by the late Lane Smith. 
==Biography==
Joseph Fitzgerald, a descendant of John F. Kennedy, lived in the late 2100s, where he was part of an institution of time-travelers who traveled back in time to record historical events on video, referred to as field historians, who appeared to work under the future Harvard University. In 2172, he proposed a project of recording the presidency of his own ancestor, and was accepted, being sent back to 1960, taking on the identity of a history professor at Harvard. For the next three years, he documented Kennedy's life, even met him during a reception, but barely got to know him. On November 21st, 1963, the day before Kennedy's assassination, Fitzgerald remained in the guise of the professor, assigning a midterm report of 1500 words covering any contemporary topic, being momentarily shaken by a student asking him to do his report on Kennedy's planned speech the next day, knowing what was going to happen. After getting back to his office, he emptied his pockets to retrieve something, accidentally dropping a coin from 1964 engraved with Kennedy's face. Then, hearing the sounds of a time machine, he closed the windows, just as a colleague of his from 2172, Dr. Kate Wang, teleported into the room.
Fitzgerald noted that he wasn't expecting her for a month, to which Wang replied that she was just performing a friendly greeting, Fitzgerald being amused by the fact that while operatives sent through time spent months or years in the past, only a few hours had passed when they returned to the future. Wang noted how it was hard to let go of the past many times, although Fitzgerald claimed he didn't get attached to the past or anyone in it, lamenting that he couldn't really talk about his interests to anyone due to things he liked not being invented for a couple hundred more years, making him nothing more than an observer who couldn't interfere. Wang berated him for his Chinese view of ancestor worship, making Fitzgerald protest that his main motive for proposing the project was merely documenting one of the most turbulent times the United States saw. Wang tried to insist that he didn't have to go to Dallas, the site of the assassination, but Fitzgerald felt obliged to, due to the investment and funding he put into it. He still felt saddened that he never got to know Kennedy, and picked up his coin, commenting that it was a good luck charm. However, Wang saw that it was dated for the future, which was against time-travel policy, but Fitzgerald implored her to let the minor infraction slide, as the rule was not strictly enforced. Wang then teleported back to the future, but said something in Chinese to Fitzgerald as she vanished. 
Fitzgerald, not understanding what she said, used a scanner built into his watch-mounted time machine to make sure his holographic recorder, disguised as a simple video camera, was in proper working order, and that his emergency backup time machine, disguised as a Harvard school ring, was operational. Finding the devices all in perfect working order, Fitzgerald used his watch to time travel to the next day, at the time and scene of the assassination, manifesting in Dallas in the crowd along the motorcade path. A man noticed him suddenly appear, but Fitzgerald brushed his question aside and began recording the arriving motorcade. However, he then turned the camera towards the nearby Texas School Book Depository, seeing Lee Harvey Oswald prepping his rifle to shoot Kennedy. Overcome by the knowledge of what was about to happen, Fitzgerald instinctively began pushing his way through the crowd, calling out to Kennedy to get down. Hearing Fitzgerald, Kennedy ducked, making Oswald miss his shot and altering the course of history. The motorcade promptly drove off to safety, Fitzgerald getting down with a member of the Secret Service covering him, the realization of what he had just done sinking in. 
The agent, Ray Livingston, having heard Fitzgerald call out to Kennedy, took him into a government car, Fitzgerald noting that the student would get to do his essay after all. Ray revealed that he knew who Fitzgerald, or at least his assumed identity, was, due to Fitzgerald previously meeting some now-serving government officials during his 3-year stay. Fitzgerald claimed he was in Dallas to record the speech for his class, and claimed that he didn't actually see the gunman, only the glint of the sun on metal and panicked. Fitzgerald then asked where they were going, Ray revealing that Kennedy recognized Fitzgerald's name from the time they met, and wanted to talk to him after his speech, the car currently on its way to meet Kennedy at a nearby airport. At the airport, Fitzgerald met Kennedy once more, honored to be with his ancestor again, but was surprised to learn that Kennedy wanted to take him to the White House for dinner. Fitzgerald accepted, and sat with Kennedy during the flight, noticing Kennedy lost in thought. Asking what Kennedy was thinking about, Kennedy revealed that he thought it was strange to be personally targeted, noting that in war, the enemy didn't truly shoot at the other person, just the uniform. He then asked if Fitzgerald was in any way related to his grandfather, seeing some resemblance, but Fitzgerald was forced to deny it, making some jokes with Kennedy and hearing Kennedy's thoughts on his presidency and the idea of power, especially that Kennedy felt that no one man should have so much power. Fitzgerald subtly referenced his own time by mentioning that it would take a century before people take Kennedy's words to heart, only for Kennedy to be called away, and Fitzgerald then suddenly dropped his Kennedy coin when he took it out, the coin being picked up by Ray. 
When Kennedy returned, he revealed that the Soviets had invaded and captured West Berlin, demanding that the US pull out its troops from Germany, and that Nikita Khrushchev was just assassinated, making Fitzgerald realize just how much damage he had done to the timeline. Landing at the White House, Kennedy was forced to cancel dinner due to the security crisis, but still had Fitzgerald spend the night. However, Fitzgerald realized he left his camera on Air Force One. Later, alone in a room in the White House, Fitzgerald asked his watch what his interference did. The watch scanned the timestream and replied that the initial effect created massive time distortions that physically altered the globe, enough to create several tornadoes near Dallas, and other temporal damage included incredible rips in the timestream. The timeline attempted to stabilize itself by having Khrushchev killed, but the distortions would continue soon for as long as the timeline existed. After Fitzgerald asked for the best and worst scenario outcomes of the timeline, the watch replied that the worst case scenario was nuclear war, while the best case scenario was a brief conventional war that led into a prolonged, semi-secret bioweapons war through agricultural trade, both of which led to the total annihilation of the human race, although the worst case scenario was overwhelmingly likely, leaving 11% unknown. Fitzgerald was crestfallen, but when he wanted to know what the way to avoid war was, but the watch informed him that the last 11% also led to complete annihilation of the planet's biosphere, but through various methods. Fitzgerald then asked how to fix the timeline, only for the watch to tell him that the only option was to end the Kennedy presidency exactly as the original timeline dictated, horrifying Fitzgerald. 
At the same time, the first signs of war started as a US bomber was attacked by Soviet aircraft, Kennedy giving the authorization for the pilots to defend themselves. Ray also analyzed Fitzgerald's camera, finding that its shell was impenetrable and comprised of an unknown alloy, and his Kennedy coin, finding that nobody knew Fitzgerald before he arrived at Harvard and began suspecting him of being a potential Soviet sleeper agent. With that, Fitzgerald was called in to meet with Kennedy and Ray, where Kennedy questioned him about the coin. Fitzgerald tried to say that Kennedy wouldn't believe him, but Kennedy demanded an answer, as the world was on the brink of war. Fitzgerald then told the truth, that the coin was in his family's possession for 200 years, picking up his camera for proof, only for Ray to draw his pistol on Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald clarified that the camera was not a hidden weapon, activating its hologram projection feature to show the holographic footage of the motorcade, astonishing Ray and the president, allowing Fitzgerald to admit that he was a historian from the future who was sent to record the past, offering to show recordings of other eras. Kennedy finally recognized that he and Fitzgerald were actually related, correctly deducing that Fitzgerald was a descendant of his. Kennedy then asked why Fitzgerald made contact, but then realized that due to the coin's date, he was meant to die back in Dallas, and that the Soviet invasion wasn't meant to happen. Kennedy asked him if there was any way to undo the damage, but Fitzgerald's silence allowed him to realize that the only way was for him to die in the motorcade. 
Ray tried to protest, but Kennedy already made up his mind, realizing that Fitzgerald's existence meant that his family lived on. Tearing up, Fitzgerald replied that in his time, Kennedy's greatest dreams had been realized, the people of the future spread among the stars with no tyranny or war, directly attributing their success to Kennedy's ideas. Knowing what he had to do, Fitzgerald asked Kennedy if he wanted to say goodbye to anyone, but Kennedy said that he wouldn't be able to leave them if he went to them. Kennedy asked what he had to do, and Fitzgerald first began to take off his watch to have Kennedy travel back, only to be overcome by the heroism of his ancestor, instead giving Kennedy his ring. Said ring was programmed to automatically send whoever wore it back to 2172 if it detected that they were separated from the time watch, and since Kennedy had no time watch, he was sent to the future, sparing his life. Fitzgerald then told Ray that they had work to do, and using his time watch, teleported back to the scene of the assassination. However, he somehow used the time watch to fuse himself with the past Kennedy, unnoticed by the public, effectively taking control of the president's body. As Kennedy, Fitzgerald allowed himself to be shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, restoring the timeline to its proper state. 
Later, still in 1963, in the morgue, Fitzgerald's body was met by Kate Wang and Ray, who had his memories of the alternate timeline restored. Wang revealed that she knew what was going to happen, as she had been to the further future to learn of Fitzgerald's fate, also revealing that even actions committed during time travel become a part of history, and that what she told Fitzgerald was a Chinese phrase that translated to 'Goodbye, old friend, goodbye.' 
Back in 2172, the still-living Kennedy saved from the alternate timeline had become a professor at the future Harvard, implicitly praising the sacrifice of Joseph Fitzgerald and others like him to a classroom full of students. 
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