Was JFK really waving?

[Robert Harris]

Standard lore in the JFK case is that at the time JFK first appeared at frame 133 in the Zapruder film, he was happily waving to the crowd. And it may be that some of the witnesses thought the same. But we have an advantage over them. We can slow down the action and magnify the frames to make a much better determination of what was happening.

In this animation I would invite interested readers to look VERY closely at JFK then and particularly at frame 139 where I inserted a short pause to give you a better look at his right hand. If his hand was turned outward, then he was probably waving.

But if it was turned inward, it is far more likely that he had raised his hand to his head, exactly as we would expect him to do if he had been struck there by a piece of debris from a missed shot that shattered on the pavement to his right.

I'm sure some of my newfound shadows will be eager to tell you what you are seeing but I would urge everyone to look very, very closely and make his own call.

[David Andrews]

OK - but as earlier film of the motorcade on Main and elsewhere shows, Kennedy was repeatedly brushing his windblown forelock back.

[Dean Hagerman]

LMFAO!

[Dean Hagerman]

OK - but as earlier film of the motorcade on Main and elsewhere shows, Kennedy was repeatedly brushing his windblown forelock back.

Good call David, this is what JFK is doing, he waves then brushes his hair back

[David Andrews]

I've followed a lot of Bob's video presentations on the "early miss," though - and I'm far from ready to write it off.

The gesture could conceivably have both motives in it. Ex-servicemen and executive officers both, Kennedy and Connally were definitely "on parade," and thus their reactions were tempered - until the bullet penetrates the windshield from the front, and Connally ducks to his right most forcefully.

Kennedy's presidential cool was on the line down there in "nut country," so interpretation of his gestures has to take his self-restraint into account.

Edited October 25, 2010 by David Andrews

[Robert Harris]

OK - but as earlier film of the motorcade on Main and elsewhere shows, Kennedy was repeatedly brushing his windblown forelock back.

Good call David, this is what JFK is doing, he waves then brushes his hair back

Do you really think his hand goes back far enough to be brushing his hair?

[Don Roberdeau]

I've followed a lot of Bob's video presentations on the "early miss," though - and I'm far from ready to write it off.

The gesture could conceivably have both motives in it. Ex-servicemen and executive officers both, Kennedy and Connally were definitely "on parade," and thus their reactions were tempered - until the bullet penetrates the windshield from the front, and Connally ducks to his right most forcefully.

Kennedy's presidential cool was on the line down there in "nut country," so interpretation of his gestures has to take his self-restraint into account.

Good Day David .... Here is the simplest, most direct reason, based solidly on the precise locations of JFK and JBC @ Z-206 relative to the windshield defect point, for exactly why during the volleys of the attack shots there was never any bullet that passed through the windshield from the front....

.... and, further detailed here....

http://www.jfklancer...5&mesg_id=82475

Best Regards in Research,

Don

Donald Roberdeau

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John," Plank Walker

Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges Clearly

For your considerations....

Homepage: President KENNEDY "Men of Courage" speech, and Assassination Evidence, Witnesses, Suspects + Outstanding Researchers Discoveries and Considerations

Dealey Plaza Map Detailing 11-22-63 Victims precise locations, Witnesses, Films & Photos, Evidence, Suspected bullet trajectories, Important information & Considerations, in One Convenient Resource

Visual Report: "The First Bullet Impact Into President Kennedy: while JFK was Hidden Under the 'magic-limbed-ricochet-tree' "

Visual Report: Reality versus C.A.D. : the Real World, versus, Garbage-In, Garbage-Out

Discovery: "Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Headsnap:

West, Ultrafast, and Directly Towards the Grassy Knoll"

File: President KENNEDY Assassination Research, Maps, & Discoveries for Your Considerations

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National Terror Alert for the United States:

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/

[David Andrews]

Don R.: Turn the cheesy soundtrack on this clip all the way down and watch Connally in this rather useful framing. What is it that Connally jerks his left arm at and lifts his hat up to ward away? A bumblebee?

Bob H: Find the last couple places in your own filmography where JFK brushes his hair away, and compare the size/duration of the hand gesture involved. He does it briefly with his right hand just at the beginning of the Tina Towner clip shown in your "The First Shot" presentation, before the limo proper is fully turned onto Elm. It's at about 0:02-0:03 in this version:

I'm thinking that the "hair-brush motion" at Z-133 (which is after the "before" comparison moment in Towner above) is partly habit, and partly a self-checking gesture. If JFK wasn't actually peppered with backflying asphalt grains from the missed shot, then the hair-brush motion may be the physical equivalent of a "Whew!" - that is, a transfer of energy from Kennedy's reaction to the missed shot into an innocuous, "business-as-usual" gesture, to not alarm the crowd or Jackie. I notice that his next action is to look over toward Jackie, as if to make sure she's OK.

This hair-brush/self-check is just a residual effect; the real action is already over. It was cut out of Zapruder (whose JFK footage "begins" as soon as it's safe to, with JFK's "innocuous" gesture), and it was truncated in Towner due to the "processing damage" done by the FBI. Then, during the turn, as you've shown us, is where the real action was - something happened in the middle of Towner and at the start of Zapruder that, um, somebody didn't want us to see...

Edited October 26, 2010 by David Andrews

[Robert Harris]

Don R.: Critic, please! Turn the cheesy soundtrack all the way down and watch Connally in this rather useful framing. What is it that Connally jerks his left arm at and lifts his hat up to ward away? A bumblebee?

Bob H: Find the last couple places in your own filmography where JFK brushes his hair away, and compare the size/duration of the hand gesture involved. He does it briefly with his right hand just at the beginning of the Tina Towner clip shown in your "The First Shot" presentation, before the limo proper is fully turned onto Elm. It's at about 0:02-0:03 in this version:

I'm thinking that the "hair-brush motion" at Z-133 (which is after the "before" comparison moment in Towner above) is partly habit, and partly a self-checking gesture. If JFK wasn't actually peppered with backflying asphalt grains from the missed shot, then the hair-brush motion may be the physical equivalent of a "Whew!" - that is, a transfer of energy from Kennedy's reaction to the missed shot into an innocuous, "business-as-usual" gesture, to not alarm the crowd or Jackie. I notice that his next action is to look over toward Jackie, as if to make sure she's OK.

This hair-brush/self-check is just a residual effect; the real action is already over. It was cut out of Zapruder (whose JFK footage "begins" as soon as it's safe to, with JFK's "innocuous" gesture), and it was truncated in Towner due to the "processing damage" done by the FBI. Then, during the turn, as you've shown us, is where the real action was - something happened in the middle of Towner and at the start of Zapruder that, um, somebody didn't want us to see...

Yes, but I think we see more than enough to confirm that he was reacting very strangely and considering the situation at the time, it's hard to imagine that being caused by anything other than a gunshot.

And since he fell to his left, it would seem that he was struck by something from his right, so it would seem likely that the area where his hand was at 133 could have been where he was hit.

Of course, there's no way to prove any of that. There's not enough detail in the Zfilm at that point, but doesn't it make sense that he would move his hand to wherever he was struck, perhaps to check to see if there was any blood?

Anyway, whatever he was doing, he sure as hell wasn't cheerfully waving at the crowd.

[Pat Speer]

Standard lore in the JFK case is that at the time JFK first appeared at frame 133 in the Zapruder film, he was happily waving to the crowd. And it may be that some of the witnesses thought the same. But we have an advantage over them. We can slow down the action and magnify the frames to make a much better determination of what was happening.

In this animation I would invite interested readers to look VERY closely at JFK then and particularly at frame 139 where I inserted a short pause to give you a better look at his right hand. If his hand was turned outward, then he was probably waving.

But if it was turned inward, it is far more likely that he had raised his hand to his head, exactly as we would expect him to do if he had been struck there by a piece of debris from a missed shot that shattered on the pavement to his right.

I'm sure some of my newfound shadows will be eager to tell you what you are seeing but I would urge everyone to look very, very closely and make his own call.

Bob, Kennedy's brush of his hair at this point was used by Bugliosi to suggest a shot at Z-160, as B.R. Williams said it was the last thing he saw Kennedy do before the first shot. Bugliosi hid from his readers that B.R. Williams' view of Kennedy was obscured by a tree for the next few seconds, and that within that time, JFK happily waved to Mary Woodward and the crowd to his right, and then jerked to his left with the impact of a shot.

Both the waving and the jerk to the left were noted by Woodward and her friends, and JFK's friends O'Donnell and Powers.

[John Dolva]

I've followed a lot of Bob's video presentations on the "early miss," though - and I'm far from ready to write it off.

The gesture could conceivably have both motives in it. Ex-servicemen and executive officers both, Kennedy and Connally were definitely "on parade," and thus their reactions were tempered - until the bullet penetrates the windshield from the front, and Connally ducks to his right most forcefully.

Kennedy's presidential cool was on the line down there in "nut country," so interpretation of his gestures has to take his self-restraint into account.

Good Day David .... Here is the simplest, most direct reason, based solidly on the precise locations of JFK and JBC @ Z-206 relative to the windshield defect point, for exactly why during the volleys of the attack shots there was never any bullet that passed through the windshield from the front....

.... and, further detailed here....

http://www.jfklancer...5&mesg_id=82475

Best Regards in Research,

Don

Donald Roberdeau

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John," Plank Walker

Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges Clearly

For your considerations....

Homepage: President KENNEDY "Men of Courage" speech, and Assassination Evidence, Witnesses, Suspects + Outstanding Researchers Discoveries and Considerations

Dealey Plaza Map Detailing 11-22-63 Victims precise locations, Witnesses, Films & Photos, Evidence, Suspected bullet trajectories, Important information & Considerations, in One Convenient Resource

Visual Report: "The First Bullet Impact Into President Kennedy: while JFK was Hidden Under the 'magic-limbed-ricochet-tree' "

Visual Report: Reality versus C.A.D. : the Real World, versus, Garbage-In, Garbage-Out

Discovery: "Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Headsnap:

West, Ultrafast, and Directly Towards the Grassy Knoll"

File: President KENNEDY Assassination Research, Maps, & Discoveries for Your Considerations

T ogether

E veryone

A chieves

M ore

National Terror Alert for the United States:

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/

This doea not account for the damage to the chrome strip nor that of the rearview mirror mount (which seems to be studiously ignored..

I think a trajectory that takes this into account as a sequence of events of a fragmenting bullet or part thereof can explain all these three damages to the limo and fragments found in the limo as well as the sense of a number of occupants that there were more bullets fired than there were.

(While I'm at it, the 'Tague strike' is, imo, questionable, yet taken as given. I think this is a mistake.)

[Robert Harris]

I've followed a lot of Bob's video presentations on the "early miss," though - and I'm far from ready to write it off.

The gesture could conceivably have both motives in it. Ex-servicemen and executive officers both, Kennedy and Connally were definitely "on parade," and thus their reactions were tempered - until the bullet penetrates the windshield from the front, and Connally ducks to his right most forcefully.

Kennedy's presidential cool was on the line down there in "nut country," so interpretation of his gestures has to take his self-restraint into account.

Good Day David .... Here is the simplest, most direct reason, based solidly on the precise locations of JFK and JBC @ Z-206 relative to the windshield defect point, for exactly why during the volleys of the attack shots there was never any bullet that passed through the windshield from the front....

.... and, further detailed here....

http://www.jfklancer...5&mesg_id=82475

Best Regards in Research,

Don

Donald Roberdeau

U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, "Big John," Plank Walker

Sooner, or later, The Truth emerges Clearly

For your considerations....

Homepage: President KENNEDY "Men of Courage" speech, and Assassination Evidence, Witnesses, Suspects + Outstanding Researchers Discoveries and Considerations

Dealey Plaza Map Detailing 11-22-63 Victims precise locations, Witnesses, Films & Photos, Evidence, Suspected bullet trajectories, Important information & Considerations, in One Convenient Resource

Visual Report: "The First Bullet Impact Into President Kennedy: while JFK was Hidden Under the 'magic-limbed-ricochet-tree' "

Visual Report: Reality versus C.A.D. : the Real World, versus, Garbage-In, Garbage-Out

Discovery: "Very Close JFK Assassination Witness ROSEMARY WILLIS Zapruder Film Documented 2nd Headsnap:

West, Ultrafast, and Directly Towards the Grassy Knoll"

File: President KENNEDY Assassination Research, Maps, & Discoveries for Your Considerations

T ogether

E veryone

A chieves

M ore

National Terror Alert for the United States:

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/

This doea not account for the damage to the chrome strip nor that of the rearview mirror mount (which seems to be studiously ignored..

I think a trajectory that takes this into account as a sequence of events of a fragmenting bullet or part thereof can explain all these three damages to the limo and fragments found in the limo as well as the sense of a number of occupants that there were more bullets fired than there were.

(While I'm at it, the 'Tague strike' is, imo, questionable, yet taken as given. I think this is a mistake.)

The DP witnesses saw the same thing we see in the film, except we can slow things down, blowup the images and look at them a hundred times. Yet even with that advantage most people thought JFK for decades that he was waving at 133 and again during the frames between 170 and 193. So it is hardly surprising that some of the witnesses thought that too.

But he wasn't. He was reacting first to the shot fired during the Towner film and then again to the shot fired at app. 160.

[John Dolva]

Robert, that post was not about your personal beliefs, but a responnse to Don's diagram.

[Mark Haley]

I looked at your animation last night Bob. For some reason I can't see it today? My original impression at the time though was, at frame 139, JFK's fingers seemed to be slightly bunched and not quite as far back as his hairline.

It's almost as if he was 'picking' at something.

Whenever I 'brush' my hair back my fingers are straight and the motion includes going all the way back behind my ear.

I'm sure Kennedy brushed his hair back numerous times that day. He was travelling in a open top car after all, but at frame 139 I would agree he seems to be doing something slightly different.

[David Andrews]

Duplicate post - sorry

Edited October 26, 2010 by David Andrews