Pat Speer

Thanks, Bill, for the report. It sounds like most of the "new" material was on RFK, and was largely the same as what was presented in L.A. in June. I do regret missing the Sunday wrap-up on JFK, though. Just curious. In Dr. Aguilar's presentation, was there any discussion of Dr. Baden?

FETZER: My opinion of Pat Speer has never sunk lower. Bob Livingston was a world authority on the human brain. He founded the first department of neuroscience in the world at UCSD. His accomplishments were so great that, when he was appointed as the scientific director of the National Institute of Mental Health and of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, they had to create a new, higher, civil service rank since they had never had anyone of his degree of distinction. Anyone who would like to review his credentials should consult ASSASSINATION SCIENCE (1998), which I am quite sure Speer, who would not have qualified to carry Bob's luggage, has never done. Livingston was a founding member of the first society to be awarded the Nobel Prize and served as the science advisor to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Bob Livingston taught at some of the most distinguished universities in the United States. He danced with Jackie at a state dinner and was the most exceptional American I have ever known. MY RESPONSE: none of this means Livingston's memories were accurate. If Einstein thought, in his later years, that he'd once played kick the can with the Kaiser, it wouldn't have made it true. FETZER: Although Speer appears not to know it, descriptions of two wounds were widely broadcast on radio and television, namely: a shot to the throat and a shot to the right temple. (Speer does not understand the difference between entry and exit wounds!) MY RESPONSE: I don't believe this is true. I've listened to hours and hours of radio and TV coverage from 11-22. And there was no consistent description of the wounds. Clark and Perry, at the Press conference, made it clear they did not know how many times Kennedy had been hit, and if the throat wound and head wound were connected. If, in the hours after the press conference, between 4:00 and 8:00 PM EST, the media suddenly got in lockstep and reported the wounds as you describe, it would be news to me. Can you provide any links to any radio broadcasts describing the wounds so clearly? As far as your last little dig, it's clear you're ill-informed. Chapter 16 at patspeer.com includes a comprehensive discussion of wound ballistics, in relation to the Kennedy assassination. If you read it you may very well learn a thing or two. FETZER: Bob learned of the clean, neat wound to the throat during a taxi ride in New York. Having supervised an emergency medical hospital for injured Okinawans and Japanese prisoners of war during the Battle of Okinawa, he recognized that it had to be a wound of entry. (Speer probably also does not know that, during the Parkland Press Conference held at 3:15 PM in Dallas, Malcolm Perry had described the throat wound as an entry wound not once, not twice, but three times! The transcript was not made available to The Warren Commission but appears as an appendix to ASSASSINATION SCIENCE. Considering the importance of this collection of studies, it might be a good idea if Speer were to consult it and bring himself a bit more up-to-speed lest others conclude that he is a fraud!) MY RESPONSE: clearly, Dr. Jim needs to bring himself up to speed. I have read Assassination Science and much much more and the book at my webpage describes the press conference in detail. It was not broadcast live on national radio or TV. It was reported in bits and pieces throughout the day and many of the reporters either misunderstood the doctors, or misrepresented what they had to say. If Dr. Fetzer can find an 11-22 radio description of a "clean, neat wound" of the throat, I'd be most impressed. FETZER: The National Institutes for Health are located across the street from Bethesda Hospital. Livingston deliberated about calling or not calling, but finally decided he should call. He identified himself to the Officer of the Deck, who put him through to Commander Humes. Humes told him he was not listening to reports on radio or television, but Bob explained to him that since, given the description of the wound, it had to be a wound of entry, if there was any evidence of shots fired from the rear, then there had to have been more than one gunman and therefore a conspiracy. He also emphasized to Humes that it was important to carefully dissect the neck for information that would lead to a calculation of the trajectory of the wound and its most probable firing location. To Bob's surprise, their call was interrupted by the FBI, which he found difficult to believe, since this was a conversation between physicians about conducting an autopsy on the body of the President of the United States. It always bothered him that that had happened. MY RESPONSE: this just doesn't make sense. If Livingston was as experienced as he claimed, he would undoubtedly have known that emergency room doctors routinely mistake wounds of entrance and exit, and that it is the business of forensic pathologists to determine the actual direction of the bullet. It seems likely that if Livingston had called Humes to tell him anything, it would have been to be sure and have a forensic pathologist at his side. FETZER: Some lowlifes will stoop to anything to try to make themselves appear important. I am sorry, Pat, but nothing you can do will ever make you important. That you should attempt to disgrace the name of one of the most remarkable human beings the world has known simply discredits you. You have no idea who you are dealing with and no understanding of the significance of qualifications of the extraordinary kind that Bob Livingston possessed. At my suggestion, he visited the audio/video department at UCSD and recorded his experiences, which he had copied and distributed to a dozen or more reliable sources, just in case anything should happen to him. I am glad to say, nothing did. My final memory of Bob was taking him to Encinida for presentations by Noel Twyman, David Mantik, Gregory Burnham, and me. His hair was long and a bit unkempt when I picked him up in a Sebring convertible. He had a great time and I will never forget the wind blowing through his hair as we navigated the Interstate highway. MY RESPONSE: I'm sorry if my calling Livingston a "fraud" hurt your feelings. "Fraud" does sound harsh. I've retracted it from my original post. I'd have been better off saying his story was simply not credible. But you're calling me a "lowlife" says a lot more about you than it does about me. How can it be that you, while claiming to be an ardent proponent of using science and reason to understand the Kennedy assassination, are totally unaware of all the research on my website? While people are free to disagree with my findings, they are not free to pretend I never did my homework. You probably should read up and get up to speed before you pass any further judgment on the "importance" of me or my work.

Crenshaw's story is not entirely credible either. Even so, it should be noted that his final "examination" of Kennedy's head wound, as described on page 84 of Trauma Room One, consisted of his turning down the sheet and looking at the wound while Kennedy was lying on his back. Aubrey Rike, one of the men tasked with lifting Kennedy into his coffin, would have been in or near the room at this time. I saw him speak in Dallas, and briefly spoke to him. He emphasized that he never saw Kennedy's head without the sheet wrapped around it. I also don't believe he has ever said anything about a young doctor sneaking back in to the room, with Jackie nearby, to get a final peek at the head wound. Crenshaw's story then has no support, and doesn't seem reasonable considering that, if he'd been caught sneaking back in to look at the wounds of the President, he could very well have been fired. I mean, they'd covered Kennedy's head for a reason--to hide it from the looky-loos--and Crenshaw was by no means the doctor tasked with properly describing the wound; that would have been Clark. I am NOT, however, trying to imply Livingston or Crenshaw lied. People's memories are not that reliable when collected fresh, and are far less reliable after 25-30 years.

Antti, Livingston's story is a convenient one for conspiracy theorists. But it's extremely doubtful. Fetzer's response--where he argues based upon his affection and respect for Livingston, and not based on any evidence, is further proof of that. He might as well be saying that his grandfather told him he'd shot Hitler, and that his grandfather would never lie, never ever. It's well known that elderly people often fill in the blanks of their memory with fantastic stories bearing only a minor relation to the truth. Perhaps Livingston tried to call Bethesda to offer his help, and was rebuffed. We'll probably never know the truth. But there's simply no reason to believe his story as later retold. There is no support for it, and it doesn't pass a reasonable person's smell test. There's a pretty good chance that the old lady now claiming to have been on a crowded grassy knoll also thinks she is telling the truth.

Antti, Livingston has absolutely nothing to back up his story. Humes claimed he'd never talked to him. There's no record of Livingston's story for what--25 years after the assassination? Even worse, his story makes little sense. Humes, preparing for the autopsy of the President, took the call of a doctor he did not know? Humes. while under strict military control, told Livingston the FBI--who had no authority over Humes--wouldn't let him talk any longer? These assertions shouldn't pass any thinking person's smell test. It's clear to me that Livingston, much as Joe O'Donnell, is a (NOTE: I originally used the word "fraud" here but this is unduly harsh) person whose memories faltered with time. Perhaps, as O'Donnell, he had a memory problem, and just told stories to anyone who'd listen. He could very well have believed his assertions. But really, give me a break... a doctor at a civilian hospital takes it upon himself to call a military hospital and inform the autopsy team scheduled to perform the President's autopsy of something DOZENS OF PEOPLE traveling with the president should have known, y'know, just in case these people were incredibly ill-informed. (Which, evidently, they were.) And he does this at a time that NO ONE KNOWS an autopsy is even going to be performed, let alone where it is going to be performed. And he actually gets through, and talks to the doctor heading the autopsy. And this doctor tells him that the FBI--who was only allowed in the hospital as a courtesy--won't let him talk! What's worse--he was calling to tell Humes of a supposed media report of a wound to the throat...at a time when most of the reports were simply saying Kennedy had been hit in the front, and many were still implying he'd been hit in the front...of the head.

Bernice, to be clear, I am most definitely not defending the Gov's findings. They interpreted the large head wound to be an exit. My research indicates it was a tangential wound, both entrance and exit. This means that the entrance wound reported on the back of the head, whether it be high or low, came as the result of a second impact. Thus, TWO head wounds. As far as the Parkland witnesses...I was quite reluctant to propose they were wrong. IF they saw an entrance on the front of the head, and an exit on the back of the head, and the Gov proposed they were wrong about both, I'd think their recollections to be proof of a conspiracy. But they did not. They described a wound looking exactly like the large head wound shown in the autopsy photos and Zapruder film, only a few inches further to the back. Several of them, after looking at the autopsy photos, deferred to the autopsy photos as authentic. Even then, though, I was reluctant to propose they'd been wrong. The tipping point for me, was seeing footage of both Newman and Zapruder on TV, before anyone knew anything about from where the shots had been fired. They both pointed to the temple, when discussing the head wound, and not the back of the head. Malcolm Kilduff, in his press conference, also said the bullet impacted at this location. It then occurred to me to me that one could not assume the head wound was on the back of the head, as proposed by the Parkland witnesses, and that it had somehow been changed before the autopsy photos were taken, or that the autopsy photos and Zapruder film had been faked, without simultaneously assuming that Newman and Zapruder were wrong, and wrong in such a way that their errors just COINCIDENTALLY supported the autopsy photos and Zapruder film. This made little sense. The Parkland witnesses were right about the rough appearance of the wound, but were almost certainly wrong about its exact location. Four members of my immediate family--my mother, sister, brother, and sister-in-law, have spent a cumulative 120 years working in hospitals. They all agree its possible a medical team, working in an emergency situation, where no notes were taken, could incorrectly recall the exact location of a bullet wound surrounded by hair and scalp. And are not all that surprised that such a mistake was made.

I'd been planning on going for months, but backed out at the last due to concerns about the economy, and the feeling that I'll need the money before long. If you can give us a summary of events, Bill, it would be most appreciated.

Jack, no one in Dallas saw more than one head wound. The assumption of everyone was that the head wound was either both an entrance and an exit, or the exit of a bullet entering the throat. Everyone on my Who to Believe slide is pointing to where they remembered seeing a large head wound, with the exception of Kilduff, who was repeating what Burkley told him. It turns out that 6.5mm ammunition frequently leaves tangential wounds of both entrance and exit. Dr. Clark thought Kennedy's wound was one such wound. My research, which at this point entails reading thousands of pages on wound ballistics, from dozens of authors, and inspecting hundreds of photos of gunshot victims, tells me he was right.

Bernice, "Three Patients" was not written from original interviews. It was written by an author given access to the original statements of the Parkland doctors, which were by no means covered up. These statements were, in fact, printed with the Warren Report. The "everyone who saw the head wound thought it was on the back of the head" argument is just not true. It is a conspiracy myth. Several people thought it was on the back of the head, but the photos used by Lifton and Groden were all taken many years later. More telling, by far, are the observations of people on 11-22. We find then that the only three people to point out the wound location within the first few hours all pointed to a wound on the temple. Hmmm. Here are the original statements of the doctors. They are far from convincing that these men got a thorough look at the head wound, and accurately noted its location. Appendix VIII - Medical Reports from Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Texas Commission Exhibit No. 392 The President arrived in the Emergency Room at exactly 12:43 p. m. in his limousine. He was in the back seat, Gov. Connally was in the front seat of the same car, Gov. Connally was brought out first and was put in room two. The President was brought out next and put in room one. Dr. Clark pronounced the President dead at 1 p. m. exactly. All of the President's belongings except his watch were given to the Secret Service. His watch was given to Mr. O. P. Wright. He left the Emergency Room, the President, at about 2 p.m. in an O'Neal ambulance. He was put in a bronze colored plastic casket after being wrapped in a blanket and was taken out of the hospital. He was removed from the hospital. The Gov. was taken from the Emergency Room to the Operating Room. The President's wife refused to take off her bloody gloves, clothes. She did take a towel and wipe her face. She took her wedding ring off and placed it on one of the President's fingers. Summary The President arrived at the Emergency Room at 12:43 P. M., the 22nd of November, 1963. He was in the back seat of his limousine. Governor Connally of Texas was also in this car. The first physician to see the President was Dr. James Carrico, a Resident in General Surgery. Dr. Carrico noted the President to have slow, agonal respiratory efforts. He could hear a heartbeat but found no pulse or blood pressure to be present. Two external wounds, one in the lower third of the anterior neck, the other in the occipital region of the skull, were noted. Through the head wound, blood and brain were extruding. Dr. Carrico inserted a cuffed endotracheal tube. While doing so, he noted a ragged wound of the trachea immediately below the larynx. At this time, Dr. Malcolm Perry, Attending Surgeon, Dr. Charles Baxter, Attending Surgeon, and Dr. Ronald Jones, another Resident in General Surgery, arrived. Immediately thereafter, Dr. M. T. Jenkins, Director of the Department of Anesthesia, and Doctors Giesecke and Hunt, two other Staff Anesthesiologists, arrived. The endotracheal tube had been connected to a Bennett respirator to assist the President's breathing. An Anesthesia machine was substituted for this by Dr. Jenkins. Only 100% oxygen was administered. A cutdown was performed in the right ankle, and a polyethylene catheter inserted in the vein. An infusion of lactated Ringer's solution was begun. Blood was drawn for type and crossmatch, but unmatched type "O" RH negative blood was immediately obtained and begun. Hydrocortisone 300 mgms was added to the intravenous fluids. Dr. Robert McClelland, Attending Surgeon, arrived to help in the President's care. Doctors Perry, Baxter, and McClelland began a tracheostomy, as considerable quantities of blood were present from the President's oral pharynx. At this time, Dr. Paul Peters, Attending Urological Surgeon, and Dr. Kemp Clark, Director of Neurological Surgery arrived. Because of the lacerated trachea, anterior chest tubes were place in both pleural spaces. These were connected to sealed underwater drainage. Neurological examination revealed the President's pupils to be widely dialted and fixed to light. His eyes were divergent, being deviated outward; a skew deviation from the horizontal was present. Not deep tendon reflexes or spontaneous movements were found. There was a large wound in the right occipito-parietal region, from which profuse bleeding was occurring. 1500 cc. of blood were estimated on the drapes and floor of the Emergency Operating Room. There was considerable loss of scalp and bone tissue. Both cerebral and cerebellar tissue were extruding from the wound. Further examination was not possible as cardiac arrest occurred at this point. Closed chest cardiac massage was begun by Dr. Clark. A pulse palpable in both the carotid and femoral arteries was obtained. Dr. Perry relieved on the cardiac massage while a cardiotachioscope was connected. Dr. Fouad Bashour, Attending Physician, arrived as this was being connected. There was electrical silence of the President's heart. President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1300 hours by Dr. Clark. Kemp Clark, M. D. Director Service of Neurological Surgery KC:aa cc to Dean's Office, Southwestern Medical School cc to Medical Records, Parkland Memorial Hospital (Note: this summary was written by Dr. Clark. Here he describes the head wound as right occipito-parietal, which would place it just behind the right ear. As no notes were taken in the ER, however, it seems clear Dr. Clark was relying solely on his memory of a wound seen hours before. As a result, it is not unreasonable to suspect he made a rotation error.) PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE J. F. KENNEDY DATE AND HOUR 11/22/63 1620 DOCTOR: Carrico When patient entered Emergency room on ambulance carriage had slow agonal respiratory efforts and scant cardiac beats by auscultation. Two external wounds were noted. One small penetrating wound of ant. neck in lower 1/3. The other wound had avulsed the calvarium and shredded brain tissue present with profuse oozing. No pulse or blood pressure were present. Pupils were dilated and fixed. A cuffed endotracheal tube was inserted and through the laryngoscope a ragged wound of the trachea was seen immediately below the larynx. The tube was passed past the laceration and the cuff inflated. Respiration using the resp assistor on auto-matic were instituted. Concurrently an IV infusion of lactated Ringer solution was begun via catheter placed in right leg and blood was drawn for type and crossmatch. Type O Rh negative blood was obtained as well as hydrocortisone. In view of tracheal injury and decreased BS a tracheostomy was performed by Dr. Perry and Bilat. chest tubes inserted. A 2nd bld infusion was begun in left arm. In addition Dr. Jenkins began resp with anethesia machine, cardiac monitor, and stimulator attached. Solu cortef IV given (300mg), attempt to control slow oozing from cerebral and cerebellar tissue via packs instituted. Despite these measures as well as external cardiac massage, BP never returned and EKG evidence of cardiac activity was never obtained. Charles J. Carrico M.D (Note: Dr. Carrico was the first doctor on the scene. Here he fails to specify the exact location of the head wound. Perhaps he, in fact, had no clear recollection of its location. In any event, he would later make statements suggesting the wound was in the occipital bone. After viewing the autopsy photos in the Archives, however, he would disavow these statements, and insist instead that Kennedy’s wounds were as shown in the photos.) PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE J. F. KENNEDY DATE AND HOUR 22 Nov 1963 DOCTOR: PERRY Staff Note At the time of initial examination, the pt. was noted as non-responsive. The eyes were deviated and the pupils were dilated. A considerable quantity of blood was noted on the patient, the carriage and the floor. A small wound was noted in the midline of the neck, in the lower third anteriorly. It was exuding blood slowly. A large wound of the right posterior cranium was noted, exposing severely lacerated brain. Brain tissue was noted in the blood at the head of the carriage. Pulse or heartbeat were not detectable but slow spasmodic respiration was noted. An endotracheal tube was in place and respiration was being assisted. An intravenous infusion was being placed in the leg. At this point I noted that respiration was ineffective and while additional venisections were done to administer fluids and blood, a tracheostomy was effected. A right lateral injury to the trachea was noted. The tracheostomy tube was put in place and the cuff inflated and respiration assisted. Closed chest cardiac massage was instituted after placement of sealed drainage chest tubes, but without benefit. Electrocardiographic evaluation revealed that no detectable electrical activity existed in the heart. Resuscitation attempts were abandoned after the team of physicians determined that the patient had expired. Malcolm O. Perry, M.D. 1630 hr 22 Nov 1963 (Note: Perry simply describes the large head wound as posterior. When Kennedy was lying flat on his back, of course, the wound on the top of his head was ...posterior. Perry has since stated that the autopsy photos accurately depict the wounds.) PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE DATE AND HOUR NOV 22, 1963 DOCTOR: BAXTER Note of Attendance to President Kennedy I was contacted at approx 12:40 that the President was on the way to the emergency room having been shot. On arrival there, I found an endotracheal tube in place with assisted respirations, a left chest tube being inserted and cut downs going in one leg and in the left arm. The President had a wound in the mid-line of the neck. On first observation of the remaining wounds the rt temporal and occipital bones were missing and the brain was lying on the table, with extensive lacerations and contusions. The pupils were fixed and deviated lateral and dilated. No pulse was detectable and respirations were (as noted) being supplied. A tracheotomy was performed by Dr. Perry and I and a chest tube inserted into the right chest (2nd intercostal space anteriorally). Meanwhile, 2 pts of O neg blood were administered by pump without response. When all of these measures were complete, no heart beat could be detected. Closed chest massage was performed until a cardioscope could be attached which revealed no cardiac activity was obtained. Due to the excessive and irreparable brain damage which was lethal, no further attempt to resuscitate the heart was made. Charles R. Baxter M.D. Associate Prof of Surgery Southwestern Medical School (Note: Baxter’s statement is a bit strange. If “the rt temporal and occipital bones were missing”, as Baxter claimed, there would be a huge hole on the side and back of Kennedy’s head, something noticed by no one. It seems likely, then, that Baxter, not unlike many of the other doctors, referred to all bones towards the back of the head as occipital bone, and was actually talking about the parietal bone. Baxter would eventually try to clear this up. He told the ARRB "None of us at that time, I don't think, were in any position to view the head injury. And, in fact, I never saw anything above the scalpline, forehead line, that I could comment on.”) DATE AND HOUR 22 Nov 1963 12:20pm to 13:00 hrs Called by EOR while standing in (illegible) Laboratory at SWMS. Told that the President had been shot. I arrived at the EOR at 1220 - 1225 and .The President was bleeding profusely from the back of the head. There was a large (3 x 3cm) amount of cerebral tissue present on the cart. There was a smaller amount of cerebellar tissue present also. A tracheostomy was being performed by Drs. Perry, Baxter and McClelland. Exam of the President showed that an endotracheal tube was in place and respiratory assistance was being given by Dr. Akins and Jenkins. The pupils were dilated, fixed to light and his eyes were deviated outward and the right one downward as as well . The trach was completed and I adjusted the endotracheal tube a little bit. Blood was present in the oral pharynx. Suction was used to remove this. Levine Catheter was passed into the stomach at this time. He was (illegible) that I (illegible) no carotid pulse. I immediately began closed chest massage. A pulse was obtained at the carotid and femoral pulse levels. Dr. Perry then took over the cardiac massage so I could evaluate the head wound. There was a large wound beginning in the right occiput extending into the parietal region. Much of the skull appeared gone at brief examination. The previously described lacerated brain was present. By this time an EKG was hooked up. There was no electrical activity of the heart and no respiratory effort - He was pronounced dead at 1300 hrs by me. W. Kemp Clark 22 Nov 1963 1615 hrs - (Note: although Clark describes cerebral and cerebellar tissue on the cart, his colleagues have noted that macerated brain tissue is difficult to distinguish from cerebellar tissue, and that he, as they, could have been mistaken. His statement that “much of the skull appeared gone” is problematic for those who try to make the Dallas doctors' descriptions of a wound on the back of the head jive with the Zapruder film and autopsy photos' depiction of a wound on top of the head by speculating that the Dallas doctors did not see the large head wound on top of the head because Mrs. Kennedy had put the bones back in place. Clark claimed to see a large hole in the skull, and not a hole beneath some bone flaps. This means that either the large head wound was on the top of the head and Clark was mistaken as to its exact location, or it was on the back of the head as described by Clark and the Zapruder film and autopsy photos have been faked. I choose the first alternative.) PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE DATE AND HOUR Nov. 22, 1963 4:45 P.M. DOCTOR: Robert N. McClelland Statement Regarding Assassination of President Kennedy At approximately 12:45 PM on the above date I was called from the second floor of Parkland Hospital and went immediately to the Emergency Operating Room. When I arrived President Kennedy was being attended by Drs Malcolm Perry, Charles Baxter, James Carrico, and Ronald Jones. The President was at the time comatose from a massive gunshot wound of the head with a fragment wound of the trachea. An endotracheal tube and assisted respiration was started immediately by Dr. Carrico on Duty in the EOR when the President arrived. Drs. Perry, Baxter, and I then performed a tracheotomy for respiratory distress and tracheal injury and Dr. Jones and Paul Peters inserted bilateral anterior chest tubes for pneumothoracis secondary to the tracheomediastinal injury. Simultaneously Dr. Jones had started 3 cut-downs giving blood and fluids immediately, In spite of this, at 12:55 he was pronounced dead by Dr. Kemp Clark the neurosurgeon and professor of neurosurgery who arrived immediately after I did. The cause of death was due to massive head and brain injury from a gunshot wound of the left temple. He was pronounced dead after external cardiac message failed and ECG activity was gone. Robert N. McClelland M.D. Asst. Prof. of Surgery Southwestern Med. School of Univ of Tex. Dallas, Texas (Note: in this, his earliest statement on the assassination, Dr. McClelland reveals that he was easily confused and prone to speculation. First of all, he gets himself all turned around and mistakenly says there was a wound in the left temple. He says nothing of a wound on the back of the head or behind the ear. Second of all, he states, without offering any supporting evidence, that the throat wound was a fragment wound. On March 21, 1964, Dr. McClelland testified before the Warren Commission. He said: “As I took the position at the head of the table that l have already described, to help out with the tracheotomy, I was in such a position that I could very closely examine the head wound, and I noted that the right posterior portion of the skull had been extremely blasted. It had been shattered ... the parietal bone was protruded up through the scalp and seemed to be fractured almost along its right posterior half, as well as some of the occipital bone being fractured in its lateral half, and this sprung open the bones that I mentioned in such a way that you could actually look down into the skull cavity itself and see that probably a third or so, at least, of the brain tissue, posterior cerebral tissue and some of the cerebellar tissue had been blasted out.” Since Kennedy was by all reports lying on his back, it is impossible to understand how McClelland could look down into a wound on the back of Kennedy’s head. It seems likely then that McClelland, as Clark, was confused by the rotation of Kennedy’s skull. Incidentally, McClelland, while insisting that the wound he saw was posterior, nevertheless defends the legitimacy of the autopsy photos. He explains that the back of the head photo depicts sagging scalp pulled over a large occipito-parietal wound. This assertion is utterly fantastic and is unsupported by every book on wound ballistics ever written. Scalp overlying explosive wounds does not sag, it tears. No such tears were noted on the back of Kennedy's head at autopsy.) PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE DATE AND HOUR Nov. 22, 1963 4:45 P.M. DOCTOR: BASHOUR Statement Regarding Assassination of the President of the U.S.A., President Kennedy At 12:50 PM, we were called from the 1st floor of Parkland Hospital and told that President Kennedy was shot. Dr. D ?? and myself went to the emergency room of Parkland. Upon examination, the President had no pulsation, no heartbeat, no blood pressure. The oscilloscope showed a complete standstill. The president was declared dead at 12:55 P.M. F. Bashour M.D. Associate Professor of Cardiology Southwestern Medical School Dallas, Texas. (Note: there is not much to say about Dr. Bashour’s statement, but the next statement, holds the key.) THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL SCHOOL, DALLAS November 22, 1963 1630 To: Mr. C. J. Price, Administrator Parkland Memorial Hospital From: M. T. Jenkins, M.D., Professor and Chairman Department of Anesthesiology Subject: Statement concerning resuscitative efforts for President John F. Kennedy Upon receiving a stat alarm that this distinguished patient was being brought to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital, I dispatched Doctors A. H. Giesecke and Jackie H. Hunt with an anesthesia machine and resuscitative equipment to the major surgical emergency room area, and I ran down the stairs. On my arrival in the emergency operating room at approximately 1230 I found that Doctors Carrico and/or Delaney had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing an orotracheal tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus. Doctors Charles Baxter, Malcolm Perry, and Robert McClelland arrived at the same time and began a tracheostomy and started the insertion of a right chest tube, since there was also obvious tracheal and chest damage. Doctors Paul Peters and Kemp Clark arrived simultaneously and immediately thereafter assisted respectively with the insertion of the right chest tube and with manual closed chest cardiac compression to assure circulation. For better control of artificial ventilation, I exchanged the intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus for an anesthesia machine and continued artificial ventilation. Doctors Gene Akin and A. H. Giesecke assisted with the respiratory problems incident to changing from the orotracheal tube to a tracheostomy tube and Doctors Hunt and Giesecke connected a cardioscope to determine cardiac activity. During the progress of these activities, the emergency room cart was elevated at the feet in order to provide a Trendelenburg position, a venous cutdown was performed on the right saphenous vein, and additional fluids were begun in a vein in the left forearm while blood was ordered from the blood bank. All of these activities were completed by approximately 1245, at which time external cardiac massage was still being carried out effectively by Doctor Clark as judged by a palpable peripheral pulse. Despite these measures there was no electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac activity. These described resuscitative activities were indicated as of first importance, and after they were carried out attention was turned to all other evidences of injury . There was a great laceration on the right side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect in the skull plate so that there was herniation and laceration of great areas of the brain, even to the extent that the cerebellum had protruded from the wound. There were also fragmented sections of brain on the drapes of the emergency room cart . With the institution of adequate cardiac compression, there was a great flow of blood from the cranial cavity, indicating that there was much vascular damage as well as brain tissue damage . It is my personal feeling that all methods of resuscitation were instituted expeditiously and efficiently. However, this cranial and intracranial damage was of such magnitude as to cause the irreversible damage. President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1300. Sincerely, M. T. Jenkins, M.D .

It is not true that the Parkland doctors inspected Kennedy's wounds from many angles. He was already laying on a stretcher when they came in the room, and they left the room after his death was declared. He was never turned over during treatment. The only ones to see his wounds during the cleaning, if I recall, were two nurses and an orderly, none of whom made a written description of his wounds on 11-22. Clint Hill covered Kennedy's head with his jacket before he was removed from the limousine. Nobody got a good look at his head wounds till Clark arrived in the ER minutes later. No one stuck around to look at it after his death was declared.

Don, you'll be happy to know that McCain is mocking Biden for his gaffe and trying to use it as a wedge tool---"you guys report everything stupid Sarah and I say but won't attack Joe...WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" McCain is rapidly proving himself to be the least qualified person to run for President in recent history. He's totally unstable, IMO. While I'm no Democrat, never have been, it's pretty clear to me why the Biden gaffe has received so little play. The media knows Biden--they know he's a smart man. Palin, meanwhile, is unknown--people are still trying to figure out if she's really a ditz or not. As stated, as far as gaffes, Biden's brain fart is nowhere near McCain's comments about Iraq. The media gave McCain the benefit of the doubt--figuring he knew better--and they gave it to Biden as well. Palin has, as yet, earned no one's benefit of the doubt.

Evidently, I am the only one here to have watched the early presidential debates, in which Biden participated. He was easily the most likable and witty of all the candidates. He also had the most experience. I think Obama made a smart choice. At the time McCain was running on the experience issue, and having Biden on board sent a signal to middle-America that he recognized their concerns, and was not so "left-wing" that he felt the need to shove both a negro and a woman down their throats. Some people seem to think Obama should run as Muhammad Ali, when he is clearly trying to emulate Jackie Robinson. As far as Biden's slip-up about FDR, this was clearly a case of foot in mouth. He probably laughed about it afterwards. His comment was taken somewhat out of context, in that when he said FDR went on TV (which was a mistake--he almost certainly meant radio) after the stock market crashed, he was probably using "after the stock market crashed" as a generic term, meaning "during the great depression". Still, it was a pretty stupid thing to say--but NOWHERE in the league of some of McCain's and Palin's gaffes. I mean, even if Biden really did believe FDR made TV appearances, he has never claimed to be an historian. McCain, meanwhile, claims to be an expert on foreign policy and the mid-east, and yet he has, at times, demonstrated that he has little grasp of what's going on in Iraq. He has frequently made statements showing that he is unable to separate Al Qaeda (which is made up of Sunni extremists) and the Shi'ite insurgency in his mind. He has suggested that Iran (a Shiite country) backs Al Qaeda. He has also talked of the Iraq/Afghanistan border, not realizing that they are separated by...Iran. As far as Biden's son, Beau... He stepped down from his government job to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. His other son, Hunter, I think, is more problematic, in that he has some ties to the insurance industry, and has represented a possible conflict of interest for Biden, whose state is a home to some of the biggest insurance companies. Few believe Biden to be corrupt, however. A recent study showed that, despite his having been a Senator for 36 years, Biden is one of the least wealthy members of all congress. As far as the plagiarism charge, where Biden quoted a British politician in a debate, without citing him as a source... Biden was actually quoting his own stump speech, in which he cited the source for the quote. In the context of the debate, however, he edited out that part of his speech. The journalists who'd been covering his campaign thought nothing of it, as they knew he wasn't trying to steal anything from anyone. It was only those unfamiliar with the stump speech who were offended...

McClelland's story of seeing cerebellum makes a lot more sense if he was looking down into the top of Kennedy's head, as depicted on the Trendelenburg slide. The story as told by McClelland--that he was looking down into a wound on the BACK of Kennedy's head, from above, while Kennedy was laying flat on his back--makes no sense. Of course, if he was looking down into Kennedy's skull while Kennedy was in the Trendelenburg position he would not be looking at cerebellum, but cerebrum. As McClelland claimed to have seen a chunk of cerebellum fall from the head, and no such chunk of cerebellum was missing from the brain in the photos taken of the brain, it only makes sense that what he saw was a chunk of macerated cerebrum. That cerebrum was missing is confirmed by the photos.

Okay, I'll give a hint... it has to do with the red stars. Pat, in the left photo the star appears to be directly above the ear, whereas in the upright photo of President Lincoln, the star appears to be above and back of the ear. Were the wounds in Lincoln's case placed inconsistently? (Not a student of the Lincoln case) Best, Royce Bierma That's it, Royce. In the Lincoln image at left I placed the red star directly above his ear, in the location of the wound on Kennedy's head in the autopsy photos. In the Lincoln image at right I placed it on the back of his head, in the location many of the Parkland witnesses believed was the location of Kennedy's head wound. The backwards lean of Lincoln in the first image, which shifts the wound above the ear to a position behind the ear in lateral space, however, confuses people as to its actual location. Most people look at this image and think the two stars are in the same location. The inability of people to accurately judge the spatial relationship of marks on the face when the face is turned sideways has been well-documented, and is discussed in chapter 19 at patspeer.com. The problems associated with this at Parkland were only amplified by Kennedy's being turned almost upside down. According to Jenkins, they put him in the Trendelenburg Position. As far as Lincoln, the doctors differed on whether it was on the right or left side, but the bullet purportedly entered behind the ear, and not on top of the ear.

Okay, I'll give a hint... it has to do with the red stars.

Kathy, this program has been discussed in depth. Here is part of my discussion of the program in chapter 12b at patspeer.com... In 2004, the Discovery Channel began running a new program entitled JFK: Beyond the Magic Bullet. While appearing authoritative, using scientists and experts to simulate the shooting in Dealey Plaza, the program was rife with errors and/or distortions. Ultimately, it demonstrated reasons to disbelieve the magic bullet theory, but then turned around and claimed the opposite! They simulated the shots from the sniper's nest by placing their shooter on on an elevated platform, at a distance of 180 feet, the distance they claim the HSCA claimed for the second shot. Well, there are two problems with this: one is that the HSCA claimed the shot came at around Z-190, which according to the Warren Commission’s recreation, would make it roughly 160 feet, and two is that the Dale Myers animation they used as evidence depicted the shot at Z-224, which would make it roughly 190 feet. It’s unclear where they derived their 180 foot measurement, but the Warren Commission, which failed to pick an exact moment for the shot, estimated the length of the shot to be 180 feet. They then shot through a gelatin block simulating Kennedy's back and neck to see if the exiting bullet would leave an elongated entrance like the one they claimed was on Connally. (Following the well-worn path of Dr.s Lattimer and Baden, previously discussed, they incorrectly believed the bullet was traveling sideways upon impact with Connally). When the bullet headed straight through the gelatin with scarcely a wobble, they decided to add rope into the gelatin to better simulate the "dense sinu" of the human neck. There is a huge problem with this: Dr. Humes et al testified that the bullet striking Kennedy's neck passed between the strap muscles, and not through them. Their second try, not surprisingly, created the wound desired. They then expanded their test to include two gelatin blocks representing Connally's chest, and were similarly pleased with the results. They then began to shoot at simulated human torsos. After shooting on some empty shells, they placed a target on a fully-simulated torso of the President at a point several inches to the right of the wound seen on the autopsy photos. They claimed this placement came after “triple-measurement.” What they failed to mention was that the autopsy measurements reflected the distance from the shoulder and from the back of the head and that their torso had no head. The HSCA and Clark Panel made estimates as to the distance from the spine, which they clearly ignored. Even so, the shooter missed this target and actually hit the torso very close to where the wound is depicted on the autopsy photos. (See Exhibit 1 on the slide above.) I’d like to think this “miss” was on purpose. But this was just the beginning of their troubles. Since their “magic bullet,” after traversing simulated torsos of both Kennedy and Connally, failed to explode the simulated wrist to the extent Connally’s was damaged and actually bounced off the simulated thigh, they had to look for it in the surrounding brush. They found a clearly deformed bullet several yards to the right of the torsos. (See Exhibit 2 on the slide above.) During a slow-motion replay of the shooting, moreover, the narrator stated as a matter-of-fact that the bullet “struck Kennedy in the neck.” Someone should have told the writer that that particular lie, although an all-time favorite, died with the HSCA. At this point, the direction of the program became obvious. While one of the great controversies surrounding the single-bullet theory is whether or not a bullet striking Kennedy in the back from above would exit his throat as purported, the program failed to show a close-up of the bullet's exit from the Kennedy torso. Nevertheless, the profile shot of the bullet's path made it clear the bullet exited from the Kennedy torso's chest, and not its throat. (See Exhibit 3.) They then conducted a post-mortem to see what went wrong with their simulation. After taking the Connally torso to a doctor for a cat-scan, they concluded that the bullet struck two of Connally’s ribs instead of the one struck by the “magic bullet” and that this was why their bullet was more damaged. Still, the cat-scan revealed more than the producers of the show could possibly have desired. The cat-scan (Exhibit 4 above) revealed that the two damaged ribs on the Connally torso were the 8th and 9th ribs, some distance below the entrance on Connally’s 5th rib. This demonstrated once again that the bullet trajectory from the sniper's nest didn't quite line-up with Kennedy's and Connally's wounds. But this wasn't all the cat-scan revealed. Astonishingly, (and as seen in Exhibit 5) it also revealed that the simulated ribs on the Connally torso were not even connected to the sternum! This meant that there was no bones in the front of the Connally torso to slow or damage the “magic bullet” before it struck the simulated wrist. Since the purpose of the simulation was purportedly to see if a bullet creating Kennedy's and Connally's wounds might emerge as undamaged as the "magic" bullet, CE 399, removing bone from the purported path of the bullet was undoubtedly deceptive and dishonest. At this point, I ran a quick replay. I went back to the beginning of the program where they created the torsos and noticed this time that the Kennedy torso had no spine, and that neither torso had shoulder blades. While these bones may have been left out because the producers believed the real “magic” bullet missed these bones, the exclusion of Connally’s front ribs, where the bullet made its exit, was inexcusable. That this was no mistake is confirmed by the statements of their wound ballistics expert. When they were preparing for their torso shoot by shooting at two gelatin blocks simulating Connally's chest, he said "The thorax is not one piece of muscle. It is a piece of muscle, some bone, then an airspace--the lung--and then another piece of tissue after that." It's almost certain he knew perfectly well that the bullet exiting Connally's chest exited through his fifth rib, and not through just "another piece of tissue". It then became clear. Rather than testing if a bullet hitting the President in the assumed location would go on to hit Connally in his armpit, wrist and thigh, and come out largely unblemished, the program’s creators were testing if such a bullet, after missing Kennedy’s spine, which is doubtful, after exiting Kennedy’s throat, which is doubtful, and after hitting Connally’s ribs in only one place, which is doubtful, would go on to create the other wounds and appear unblemished. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the program’s creators neglected to tell their audience the significance of that which they did discover. That the tumbling bullet in their re-enactment hit two ribs while the bullet striking Connally stuck but one suggested that the bullet striking Connally was not tumbling. This supported the statements of Dr. Robert Shaw, Connally’s doctor, who said the entrance wound was only 1.5 cm long. It was, however, in direct contradiction with all too many single-assassin theorists, including the HSCA’s Dr. Baden, who cite the fact (which is not a fact) that the bullet was tumbling as evidence that the bullet first struck Kennedy. These single-assassin theorists, and the Discovery program under their influence, repeat like a mantra that the entrance in Connally’s armpit was 3 cm, the size of a bullet traveling sideways, and ignore Shaw’s statements that the wound was but 1.5 cm and the inconvenient fact that the corresponding tear in Connally’s jacket was only 1.7 cm. (As discussed in the Ovoid? Oy Vey! section of chapter 11.) In any event, instead of telling the audience the significance of the bullet hitting two ribs, the Beyond the Magic Bullet program cut to some supposed expert stating that their simulation had taken the “magic” out of the “magic bullet”. But the program wasn’t over. For their final act they took an autopsy report reflecting the wounds incurred by their simulated torsos to an L.A. County Coroner. Surprisingly, the face sheet created for the Kennedy torso revealed that the bullet exited not from the torso’s throat but from its left chest, and that it probably would have hit its spine (if it had one) and must have hit its sternum (if it had one). (Exhibit 6 above.) Even worse, a probe poked through a skeleton by the doctor to depict the path of the bullet exploded the program’s assertion of replicating the magic bullet, as the probe passed below the clavicle and first rib. (Exhibit 7.) A bullet traveling on such a trajectory would not have bruised the President’s lung, but pierced it, and would have exited far below his throat. In conclusion, one might state that the Discovery Channel did recreate the magic bullet, if one is to acknowledge that magic is deliberate deception designed to create the illusion that fantastic events have taken place.

... the only two good reasons I can think of to tell a story that's not quite true. Of course, maintaining her privacy by not identifying herself certainly takes her off of the "publicity seekers' list!" To me, the odds are 99% that she wasn't even there. People are always stretching things to put themselves closer to historic events. I remember reading something on this very issue--that something like 90% of people claiming to have been at Woodstock have boasted about seeing Jimi Hendrix perform, when the reality is that 90% of the people left before he played. From my study of the JFK eyewitness evidence, I can see that this is true. There were a number of witnesses who said they heard two shots, only to, over time, start saying they heard three shots. There were also a number of witnesses who claimed Kennedy was only a few feet from them when the shots were fired, when he was clearly much further. It's important to note, however, that these people are not lying--at least not in their own minds. Perhaps this woman was in Dallas. Perhaps she was even in the Plaza. But she was most definitely not on the knoll.

Jim, as you know, Spooks was one of the few books to do any real investigation into Robert Maheu. Maheu has now passed on. Did you hold anything back from Spooks that can now be revealed? It has long been clear to me that if there was anyone who could have planned and coordinated the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and then walked away, it was Robert Maheu, perhaps at the bidding of the half-insane Hughes. It has always intrigued me that Maheu moved to Vegas and became Hughes' public face shortly after the assassination. Could this have been his reward for "services rendered"? Any final words on Maheu?

Tom, to clarify, at what frame was Connally struck in the back?

Altgens associated just one shot with the head shot. He heard no shots after the one at frame 313. Tom's pet theory, which relies on Altgens, is at odds with his statements. This, by itself, would not be fatal. But Tom also claims Connally was injured after the head shot at frame 313, by a shot fired from Oswald's rifle, even though blood can be seen at Connally's back wound location within 1 1/2 seconds of the head shot, and Connally (and just about everyone else for that matter) felt sure he was hit before the head shot at frame 313. As a consequence, it seems pretty clear Tom's just making stuff up to amuse himself. James Altgens can be seen in Zapruder frame 345 just to the east of Malcolm Summers. (11-22-63 eyewitness account, presented as an AP dispatch and found online) "There was a burst of noise - the second one I heard - and pieces of flesh appeared to fly from President Kennedy's car. Blood covered the whole left side of his head. Mrs. Kennedy saw what had happened to her husband. She grabbed him exclaiming, "Oh, No!". (11-22-63 announcement on WFAA that the President had been shot) “An Associated Press photographer, James Altgens…reports he saw blood on the President’s head. The AP man said he heard two shots but that he thought someone was shooting fireworks until he saw blood on the President.” (11-22-63 AP report preceding the announcement of Kennedy's death and found in the Frederick Maryland News) "AP Photographer James W. Altgens said he saw blood on the President's head. Altgens said he heard two shots but thought someone was shooting fireworks until he saw the blood on the President. Altgens said he saw no one with a gun." (11-22-63 news bulletin on WBAP, shortly after the AP report) "The Associated Press reports from Dallas that President Kennedy was shot today just as his motorcade left the downtown section. Mrs. Kennedy is said to have jumped up and grabbed her husband and cried "Oh, no!" as the motorcade sped off. Photographer J.W. Altgens of the Associated Press said that he saw blood on the President's head. The photographer said he heard two shots but thought someone was shooting fireworks until he saw the blood on the President. He said he saw no one with a gun." (11-22-63 AP dispatch, as reprinted in Cover-Up) “At first I thought the shots came from the opposite side of the street. I ran over there to see if I could get some pictures...I did not know until later where the shots came from." (5-24-64 article in the New York Herald-Tribune) "I was about 30 feet in front of the President's limousine on Mrs. Kennedy's side. I remember hearing what I thought was a firecracker at the instant I snapped the picture. I was going to make another picture, the one I was really set up for, when I realized what had happened and I froze, aghast." (6-5-64 FBI report, CD 1088 p.1-6) “at about the instant he snapped the picture, he heard a burst of noise which he thought was firecrackers… he does not know how many of these reports he heard…After taking the above photograph…he heard another report which he recognized as a gunshot. He said the bullet struck President Kennedy on the right side of his head and the impact knocked the President forward. Altgens stated pieces of flesh, blood, and bones appeared to fly from the right side of the President’s head and pass in front of Mrs. Kennedy to the left of the Presidential limousine. Altgens stated Mrs. Kennedy grabbed the President and Altgens heard her exclaim “Oh, no!” as the president slumped into her lap. Altgens said he also observed blood on the left side of the President’s head and face.” (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H517-525) “I made one picture at the time I heard a noise that sounded like a firecracker—I did not know it was a shot, but evidently my picture, as I recall, and it was almost simultaneously with the shot—the shot was just a fraction ahead of my picture, but that much—of course—at that time I figured it was nothing more than a firecracker, because from my position down here the sound was not of such volume that it would indicate to me it was a high velocity rifle…it sounded like it was coming up from behind the car from my position—I mean the first shot, and being fireworks—who counts fireworks explosions? I wasn’t keeping track of the number of pops that took place, but I could vouch for number 1 and I can vouch for the last shot, but I can not tell you how many shots were in between. There was not another shot after the President was struck in the head.” (on the head shot) “up to that time I didn’t know that the President had been shot previously. I still thought up until that time that all I heard was fireworks and that they were giving some sort of celebration to the President by popping these fireworks. It stunned me so at what I saw that I failed to do my duty and make the picture I was hoping to make.” (Interview with CBS broadcast 6-26-67) “As I was getting ready to make some pictures why I heard this noise-- I thought it was a firecracker explosion—but I just went ahead and made the picture which shows the President right after he was struck by a bullet, struck in the neck, the first shot, and this was the picture that the Warren Report later fixed as being made two seconds after the shot was fired. And as they got in close to me, I was prepared to make the picture—I had my camera about at eye level—that’s when the President was shot in the head. And I do know that the President was still in an upright position, tilted, favoring Mrs. Kennedy. And at the time that he was struck by this blow to the head, it was so obvious that it came from behind. It had to come from behind because it caused him to bolt forward, dislodging him from this depression in the seat cushion, and already favoring Mrs. Kennedy, he automatically fell in that direction.” (No More Silence, p.41-59, published 1998) “I only recall the President hit once that I can vouch for because that first camera shot…made any definite conclusion uncertain. But this particular one where he was hit, the head shot, was obvious to everyone that it was a shooting, not fireworks. I don’t know how many shots there were. If I were guessing, I would figure that was probably the third shot. In other words, he was hit when I was taking the picture, and the fatal shot should have been somewhere around the third shot, and that should have been the last…The tissue, perhaps bone, a lot of fragments, all came my way…But the majority of the mass that was coming from his head came directly like a straight shot out my way on to the left in a straight line. When he fell over into her lap, the blood was on the left side of his face. There was no blood on the right hand side which suggested to me that the wound was more to the left than it was to the right.”

Ironically, I agree with Tom that there was a shot fired after the head shot. I just don't think that Altgens, the FBI or the SS ever shared our belief. As stated, I used to believe they shared our belief, but then took a walk through the FBI files at Maryferrell, and found they believed that Connally's been hit by the second shot, and that the exploding headshot at frame 313 (which they inexplicably describe as a halo) marked the final shot.

Tom, You dismiss Gauthier's relevance by saying he was a tinker-toy specialist. You are right about his being a tinker-toy specialist. Which is the point. This was how the FBI re-enacted crime scenes in 1963. Your assertion that the early surveys accurately depicted the location for the head shot, and had placed it out in front of James Altgens' position, is without merit. The FBI never spoke to Altgens until months after the shooting, and then only at the request of the WC. The SS never spoke to him. Even if he said there were two head shots--which he most certainly did not--he never told it to them. As far as the Connnallys, they both implied the head shot at 313 was the last shot. For the FBI and the mainstream press, that was game, point, match. Connally says Kennedy was hit before him, and that he was hit by the second, and that the third hit Kennedy in the head. Okie-doke. He's the President's buddy. And a national hero. They ignored the statements of everyone else after that. For a long time, I thought you were right, and believed that the surveys demonstrated that the FBI and SS thought there'd been a shot after the head shot. But then I checked the paper trail at maryferrell, and found memo after memo stating that Connally was hit by the second shot and that the last shot was the head shot at frame 313. I agree this makes little sense. Unless the FBI and SS were total incompetents unconcerned with establishing Kennedy's actual position OR deliberately stretching out the shooting scenario for some dishonest purpose.

during the two (2) SS/FBI re-enactments frame blowups from the Zapruder film were ustilized to establish shot/limo placement! As well as the surveyor plat! They were not "lazy".... Your last sentence above Pat, is a real stretch! Unless your aware of another film capturing the assassination from the north side of Elm Street? In chapter 2b and 3 of patspeer.com, I review all the FBI and SS memos and documents I could find re the December re-enactments. While it's true they placed the last shot after Kennedy's location at the head shot, it's also true they repeatedly claimed the last shot was the head shot. On the surface, this makes no sense. One possible explanation is that they were lazy and/or incompetent. You are right, however, that there is another explanation that makes just as much, if not more, sense. I discuss this in chapter 4. As both the SS and FBI believed the last shot was the head shot, by placing the head shot further down the road than its actual location they were also stretching out the shooting scenario, and giving Oswald more time to fire the shots. That this was their goal, however, is called into question by the fact that the Z-film could still be used to demonstrate the short time. This raises the additional possibility that they were trying to stretch out the shooting scenario in order to hide the embarrassing and possibly suspicious fact that Greer slowed down just before the head shot. One is stuck with the probability then that they were either incompetent or liars, or BOTH.

Anyone believing the FBI and Secret Service shared the belief there was a shot after the head shot at frame 313, and that it struck Governor Connally, really needs to read these little known FBI memos: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=143 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...p;relPageId=248 The theory just isn't true. While the FBI and SS created widely diverging shooting scenarios, in which the final shot was measured at a point after Kennedy's position at frame 313, they both believed the head shot at frame 313 was the final shot. So why did they incorrectly measure the distance for this shot? Good question. I'm beginning to suspect they were just lazy, and that they marked the head shot location at a point next to where the wreaths were placed in Dealey, at a point opposite the steps, without actually establishing this location via the Zapruder and Nix films. An alternative or complimentary explanation is that they incorrectly thought Zapruder was standing by the steps, and not the Arcade.