Specter predicts

[Barry Keane]

Specter effectively admits cover-up.

[James DiEugenio]

What does this mean?

The Commission had the Zapruder film.  They watched it something like 13 times with Frazier and Shaneyfelt.

The Z film itself undermines the Rydberg drawings.

During Humes' testimony, he was given stills from the film and he went along with the lie.

If I didn't know better, I would say that Specter is laying it all off on Bobby Kennedy this early. Because this memo was written over a month after Humes' testimony.

[Micah Mileto]

2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

What does this mean?

The Commission had the Zapruder film.  They watched it something like 13 times with Frazier and Shaneyfelt.

The Z film itself undermines the Rydberg drawings.

During Humes' testimony, he was given stills from the film and he went along with the lie.

If I didn't know better, I would say that Specter is laying it all off on Bobby Kennedy this early. Because this memo was written over a month after Humes' testimony.

There's actually a part in Humes' WC testimony where Allen Dulles himself points out the extreme sharp angle for the head shot shown in the Rydberg drawings.

[James DiEugenio]

That is really funny Robert.

I guess one can say that once a cover up artist, always a cover up artist.

[Barry Keane]

The Warren Commission chose not to study the autopsy photos and x-rays so as not to make them a part of the record. Reasons of taste apparently overrode historical accuracy. When the drawings were finished they were stood against a wall in an office at Bethesda and Humes said "We can fly with these" Specter's memo indicates that he knew the drawings were misleading and at some time in the future they will be compared with the autopsy photos and throw doubt on the Commissions conclusions. Which of course they have. The Commission chose to get by with them, knowing full well they are inaccurate, so they lied. 

[James DiEugenio]

10 hours ago, Barry Keane said:

The Warren Commission chose not to study the autopsy photos and x-rays so as not to make them a part of the record. Reasons of taste apparently overrode historical accuracy. When the drawings were finished they were stood against a wall in an office at Bethesda and Humes said "We can fly with these" Specter's memo indicates that he knew the drawings were misleading and at some time in the future they will be compared with the autopsy photos and throw doubt on the Commissions conclusions. Which of course they have. The Commission chose to get by with them, knowing full well they are inaccurate, so they lied. 

The Commission did have the autopsy materials.  They kept them in a safe in their building.  Rankin said this to McCloy at one of their executive meetings.

Specter himself was shown at least one of the photos through Elmer Moore of the Secret Service.  Since, in 1964, the SS controlled that evidence, not Bobby Kennedy.

 This relates to my other point.  Humes had already testified when this memo was written.  The Commission had the Z film. They knew that the Rydberg drawings would not match up with the film. For the simple matter that the drawing depicting 313 does not match 313  in the film.  This is why Specter asked Humes if the stills are an approximation of the drawings.  Also, Specter could have shown Humes and Boswell the Z film before they talked to Rydberg.

So this memo seems to me to be at least partly smoke. As time went on, Specter more and more began to blame others for his own deceptions and his own willingness to be an active part  of  the cover. up. He blamed Bobby Kennedy about the autopsy photos when, in fact, RFK did not control those photos and  x rays at the time. And Specter had to know this since Moore had them.  And the Z film, which they had, blew open Rydberg.

The proof of that is that Thompson exposed Rydberg by comparing  the artist's depiction of 313 with the actual 313 in  Six Seconds in Dallas.. Specter knew that, which is why he refers to it in his memo.  Its called CYA.

Edited May 19, 2020 by James DiEugenio

[Barry Keane]

13 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

The Commission did have the autopsy materials.  They kept them in a safe in their building.  Rankin said this to McCloy at one of their executive meetings.

Specter himself was shown at least one of the photos through Elmer Moore of the Secret Service.  Since, in 1964, the SS controlled that evidence, not Bobby Kennedy.

 This relates to my other point.  Humes had already testified when this memo was written.  The Commission had the Z film. They knew that the Rydberg drawings would not match up with the film. For the simple matter that the drawing depicting 313 does not match 313  in the film.  This is why Specter asked Humes if the stills are an approximation of the drawings.  Also, Specter could have shown Humes and Boswell the Z film before they talked to Rydberg.

So this memo seems to me to be at least partly smoke. As time went on, Specter more and more began to blame others for his own deceptions and his own willingness to be an active part  of  the cover. up. He blamed Bobby Kennedy about the autopsy photos when, in fact, RFK did not control those photos and  x rays at the time. And Specter had to know this since Moore had them.  And the Z film, which they had, blew open Rydberg.

The proof of that is that Thompson exposed Rydberg by comparing  the artist's depiction of 313 with the actual 313 in  Six Seconds in Dallas.. Specter knew that, which is why he refers to it in his memo.  Its called CYA.

All this is fine James, but my point is, although they did have the autopsy photos etc, they were never going to rely on them for an accurate depiction of what happened in Dealey Plaza. Whereas one can understand that for possible reasons of taste they chose to rely on schematic drawings to illustrate JFK’s wounds. As they are misleading, they should never have been published in volume 16 of the 26 Volumes. If in 1964 an interested party were to examine the illustrations as published by the Warren Commission, they would discover that the Rydberg drawings are presented as fact. If schematic drawings had to be used as substitute for the autopsy photos, they would have to be historically accurate, if the Commission wanted the truth to paramount. Clearly this was not the case. Specter knew this, for all his faults, he was no fool. He knew that someday the Commission would be taken to task for their obfuscation. Humes lied about these drawings being an accurate depiction of the wounds. Rydberg may have actually drawn the exhibits, but the authors were Humes and Boswell and the fact that the Commission relied on them, is an indelible stain on their search for truth and justice.

[Cliff Varnell]

7 minutes ago, Barry Keane said:

All this is fine James, but my point is, although they did have the autopsy photos etc, they were never going to rely on them for an accurate depiction of what happened in Dealey Plaza.

That’s because some of the autopsy photos were not faked well enough.  The back-of-head photo’s faked back wound was still too low: the stare-of-death photo’s faked throat wound tried to approximate a tracheotomy incision and an SBT exit wound.

They were not produced according to autopsy protocol and there is no chain of possession.

All the autopsy photos are worthless.

 

7 minutes ago, Barry Keane said:

[Barry Keane]

1 hour ago, Cliff Varnell said:

That’s because some of the autopsy photos were not faked well enough.  The back-of-head photo’s faked back wound was still too low: the stare-of-death photo’s faked throat wound tried to approximate a tracheotomy incision and an SBT exit wound.

They were not produced according to autopsy protocol and there is no chain of possession.

All the autopsy photos are worthless.

 

The JFK autopsy photos have never been officially released. What we see today are bootlegged photos which first entered the public domain via Mark A. Crouch and James K. Fox. Crude attempts were made by someone to conceal the real nature of the wounds. In 1964 when the Warren Commission had access to them, they may have been un-doctored images depicting the reality of the wounds. I have no way of knowing this to be a fact, but I do know the Rydberg drawings do not depict the truth of the wounds. Specter, Rankin and no doubt all of the Commission members knew it as well.

They would have done better not to publish the drawings at all, because as Specter wrote

“Someday someone may compare the films with the artist’s drawing, and find a significant error which might substantially effect the essential testimony and the Commissions conclusions “

Significant error? You better believe it Arlen!