Can the American people see the JFK autopsy x-rays in high quality?

[Ramon F. Herrera]

Summary: So far, the score is 3 to 1, against anybody being allowed to see the X-rays in high quality, digital copies outside the National Archives building.

EVIDENCE AGAINST:

(1) Dr. Peter Cummings, Forensic Pathologist, Boston University.

This is from the PBS Nova Cold Case JFK documentary

Can the American people see the JFK autopsy x-rays in high quality?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLawLMl0JiY

(2) Dr. Michael Chesser, Neurologist

http://assassinationofjfk.net/a-review-of-the-jfk-cranial-x-rays-and-photographs/

(3) Dr. Joseph Riley, PhD in Neuroscience. In an e-mail he told me:

"Let me clarify: I don’t have copies of the x-rays; no one does. What I have are copies of the exhibits used by the HSCA (including their reproductions of the x-rays). I have 8x11 in prints of most of the medical evidence and 4x5 in negatives for the x-rays as well as prints. I got them from the National Archives but that was many years ago; there may be better copies available now. I just don’t know."

http://jfkhistory.com/riehl/What_Struck_John.html

So far, the news is bad, correct? That's is 3 to 0.

Don't despair, though! There is reason to be hopeful !!

See EVIDENCE FOR in my next post.

-Ramon

Edited December 24, 2015 by Ramon F. Herrera

[Ramon F. Herrera]

Some notes:

The reason I keep on mentioning Dr. Joseph Riley is because when I joined this forum, I discovered his -shall we say "vintage"- web site.

http://jfkhistory.com/riehl/What_Struck_John.html

Being somewhat of a perfectionist, I found it to be of very poor quality and even repaired his PDF document. Next, I tried to contact him. Several people in the forum helped. The consensus was that he was probably dead. Long story short, he had a kick when I told him that (he is in his youthful 60s). The readers helped me locate him.

Since I have some background in 3D computer graphics, I got the idea: "Hey! Those X-rays should be projected in 3 dimensions!".

This is the current result/status of the work, with the help from you, forum participants:

Isometric to 3D Projection

https://goo.gl/cZ7Axr

[Enter into the "3D Models" folder]

The defects carved in those craniums are guesses. You will notice that the folder "Reconstruction by Researchers and Their Algorithms" is conspicuously empty.

Well, our job is to fill up that folder.

-RFH

Edited December 26, 2015 by Ramon F. Herrera

[Ramon F. Herrera]

Summary: So far, the score is 3 to 1, against anybody being allowed to see the X-rays in high quality, digital copies outside the National Archives building.

EVIDENCE AGAINST:

[...]

So far, the news is bad, correct? That's is 3 to 0.

Don't despair, though! There is reason to be hopeful !!

See EVIDENCE FOR in my next post.

-Ramon

I just received this, and would like to place it on the public record.

=====================

From: Gene Morris xxx@nara.gov

To: Ramon F Herrera ramon@patriot.net

Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 15:22:55 -0500

Subject: Re: Autopsy material, high quality copies of the X-rays

Mr. Herrera:

This is in response to your December 2, 2015 request for information about the records of the JFK Assassination Collection, Specifically, you are seeking copies of JFK’s autopsy records and the associated X-rays.

The autopsy photographs and X-rays of President Kennedy were donated to the National Archives by the Kennedy family by an agreement dated October 29, 1966. This agreement limits access to such materials to: (1) persons authorized to act for a Committee of Congress, a Presidential Commission, or any other official agency of the Federal government having authority to investigate matters relating to the assassination of President Kennedy and to (2) recognized experts in the field of pathology or related areas of science and technology whose applications are approved by the Kennedy family representative, Mr.Paul Kirk.

Paul Kirk’s address:

Paul Kirk

PO Box 1433

Marstons Mills, MA 02648

The JFK Assassination Collection does not contain pre-mortem X-rays of President Kennedy.

[Ramon F. Herrera]

From: Gene Morris xxx@nara.gov
To: Ramon F Herrera ramon@patriot.net
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:11:19 -0500
Subject: Re: Autopsy material, high quality copies of the X-rays

Mr. Herrera:

Once you have Mr. Kirk’s approval to proceed, we might have to approve the use of the device beforehand, as I’m not sure it’s currently approved. Dealing with the photos and other (that’s a technical function outside my normal duties) but I believe it would be possible to make high quality, digital copies, should the request be approved.

Gene Morris
Archives II Textual Reference Branch (RDT2)

========================

[underscore above is mine -Ramon]

[Pat Speer]

Ramon, the answer is no. While the Kennedy family should never have been given control of the autopsy materials, the fact remains that the family returned them under certain conditions. These conditions were spelled out in a public document. This is discussed in detail in Harold Weisberg's book Post Mortem.

In any event, two of the conditions were that only experts be allowed to view these materials, and that no unauthorized reproductions be made. Now, as you've probably figured out, there's a loophole, and that's that Ted Kennedy allowed the HSCA to show copies of these x-rays in the HSCA's hearings, and publish copies of these x-rays in the HSCA's reports. Well, from this we can assume that those exhibits--not the originals, and not the copies, but photographs of the copies that are much clearer than those published on paper and currently in the public domain--are public documents in NARA's files. So...if you contact NARA and are willing to pay them to make photographic copies of the HSCA's x-ray exhibits, you might very well end up with better copies of the x-rays than those currently in the public domain.

[Ramon F. Herrera]

Pat:

Did you read the second e-mail that The National Archives sent me? It essentially says that the decision is up to the Kennedys.

A letter will be written and sent to Caroline. The only unknown at this point is whether it will be public or private and the people who are going to sign it. An Internet petition is not out of the question.

-Ramon

Edited December 26, 2015 by Ramon F. Herrera

[Ramon F. Herrera]

So...if you contact NARA and are willing to pay them to make photographic copies of the HSCA's x-ray exhibits, you might very well end up with better copies of the x-rays than those currently in the public domain.

This is what doctor Chesser, who handled the originals recently, has to say:

Where can I find the 2 main autopsy X-rays (front and side) in the best possibly quality and detail?

http://forum.assassinationofjfk.net/index.php/topic/1736-where-can-i-find-the-2-main-autopsy-x-rays-front-and-side-in-the-best-possibly-quality-and-detail/?p=9888

-Ramon

[Ramon F. Herrera]

Here's the step-by-step plan. Yes, it is increasingly difficult.

( 1 ) I get the widely available lower quality copies of the 2 X-rays, ask National Archives to Fedex them directly to the research lab in Germany. I don't even want to touch anything.

( 2 ) The experts emit an opinion about the feasibility of the project. At the very least they should be able to:

(2a) Determine whether the two isometric x-rays indeed are a match.

(2b) The borders of the defect should be much more accurate than what I have now.

(2c) In addition to an empty cranium (of an average person), they can provide a model of JFK, in NRRD format:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=22405&p=317762

( 3 ) Attempts are made to get high quality, digital copies.

( 4 ) The resulting 3D model is donated back to the National Archives.

All sides of the JFK Community will be invited to participate.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Ramon F. Herrera