"The Twilight Zone" was a one-hour television series which ran on the CBS television network from 1985 to 1989. It was based on the 1959 to 1965 mostly half-hour television series created by Rod Serling. The 1980's episodes were filmed in color unlike the black and white 1960's episodes. The series was an anthology series with different stories and actors. Most of the stories were either fantasy or science fiction.

This episode is titled "Profile in Silver" and was first broadcast on March 7, 1986. A college professor in the year 2172 who is a descendent of United States President John F. Kennedy (president from 1961 to 1963) travels back in time to 1963 to study the Kennedy administration. He carries a 1964 Kennedy half dollar with him and this coin gets him into trouble in 1963. The Kennedy half dollar shown is an imitation or prop coin, not a real one.

In the year AD 2172 time travel is a procedure used by historians to study the past. One has to get permission from the authorities known as "Time Doctors" to do so. Prof. Joseph Fitzgerald, a descendent of John Kennedy, is a Harvard University professor who travels back to 1963 to study the Kennedy administration.

His cover in 1963 is also a teaching position at Harvard. The date is November 21, 1963, and a "Time Doctor" Dr. Kate Wange appears to check on him.

Prof. Fitzgerald carries a Kennedy half dollar and a watch which connects him to the time service. The professor plans to travel to Dallas to watch the assassination and then return to his own time.

This coin does not look like a real Kennedy half dollar.

Silver, 30.6 mm, 12.50 gm
Kennedy half dollars were minted starting in 1964 and are still being minted for collectors.
The 1964 90% silver Kennedy half dollar was a one year issue.

The ring has a time travel device which will return the wearer to AD 2172.

The professor travels to Dallas and, overcome by emotion, interferes with the events. John Kennedy survives, and the professor is taken into custody by Secret Service agents. The professor is flown to to the White House with Kennedy. On the plane, a Secret Service agent finds the half dollar on the floor. Kennedy is informed that Russia's Premier Khrushchev was assassinated and that the Russians have attacked Berlin. In Washington, the professor is kept at the White House. He checks his time watch which informs him that what he has set in motion will cause a nuclear war to occur and the only fix is to end the Kennedy presidency.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service agents are looking at the professor's half dollar, discussing what it is, counterfeit, illegal, a joke piece produced by Kennedy's brothers, or the Republicans. One agent says it is "against US policy to mint the image of any living president" and that the coin would be a "felony." The agents become suspicious of the professor and his new friendship with Kennedy, some think that he could be some kind of Soviet agent. The agents also check his camera and find that while it looks like a 1960's camera from the outside, it is made of "some weird alloy" and "they cant even open it up." The professor tells Pres. Kennedy who he really is and explains what he has caused, and what must be done about it. He uses his camera to project three-dimensional images of Dallas to prove what he says. The professor gives Pres. Kennedy his Harvard ring which causes Kennedy to disappear.

The professor appears in the car in place of Kennedy, and is shot and killed.

Dr. Wange tells the agent that the time disruptions have been fixed.

Harvard has a new professor on it's staff.

Lane Smith as Prof. Joseph Fitzgerald
Andrew Robinson as President John F. Kennedy
Barbara Baxley as Dr. Kate Wange
Louis Giambalvo as Raymond Livingston (Secret Service agent)
Director: John Hancock
Writers: J. Neil Schulman