Has The History Channel Tweaked Its Stance on the JFK Assassination?

[Pat Speer]

Greetings. For the past decade or so I have had my TiVo record anything with the word JFK in the description. Most everything that comes up is related to JFK airport, or is a documentary I've already watched, usually something from the 50th anniversary. There was a recent recording, however, that I didn't recognize. It took me months to get up the gut-strength to watch it, but I finally did a few days ago.

The program was an episode of a series called "History's Greatest Mysteries." It is now viewable online, here: https://play.history.com/shows/historys-greatest-mysteries/season-4/episode-3

I watched it expecting the usual Oswald-did-it stuff. But I quickly saw that Phil Shenon and Jeff Morley were among the talking heads, and knew that they both suspect there was more to it than Oswald acting alone. 

Well, sure enough, after mis-reporting what happened to prove Oswald was the shooter, the program went on to list various theories as to who else was involved. Not surprisingly, the program ends with a "We'll never know." This was bit of a surprise, as The History Channel, for the last 20 years or so, has been very much in the "Oswald did it all by himself" camp. So, yes, I think they've tweaked their stance.

It is interesting, nonetheless, how badly they mis-reported the shooting itself. The program had a series of talking heads, Shenon, Morley, and three others who were probably friends of the producer (as they had no apparent expertise related to the case). While describing the assassination and evidence against Oswald, these heads blew some serious smoke. Deceptive at best, quite possibly deliberate disinformation. For example, after mentioning that some police stormed into the TSBD after the shots, Shenon said "they" found a paper bag in the sniper's nest. Well, as we know "they" did no such thing. The first cops on the scene did not see the bag, and the "bag" wasn't found until much later, after the first cops on the scene had left the building. One of the talking heads then said something about three shells being found "next" to the rifle. Not true. Shenon later says that Tippit stopped Oswald because he matched a description given for the sniper. But Tippit never told anyone why he stopped him, if he did, and the description only marginally matched Oswald. Still later, Shenon says Oswald's palm prints were found on the weapon discovered in the building. Well, hell's bells, this hid that the FBI found no such print, and that the only palm print purported to be found on the rifle appeared essentially out of nowhere days after Oswald's death. 

And yet, not surprisingly, the biggest deception involved the President's wounds. Although this program was clearly a low budget affair, it presented a profile shot of Kennedy in the limo to demonstrate the wounds he suffered. As one of the talking heads, a history professor with a lisp, reports "Two shots hit Kennedy. The first enters his upper back and comes out his throat. And then the second enters the back of his skull" the viewer is shown some animation of the shots passing through Kennedy, culminating in the image below. 

Well, as you can see, the first bullet doesn't hit the "upper back" and the second bullet hits at the cowlick entrance proposed by the HSCA, and not the WC. By continuing the line through JFK's head, moreover, the program, apparently inadvertently, reveals the laziness of the program's creators. I mean they would have to know the entrance location for shot one and the exit location for shot two were total nonsense. But they showed them anyhow. Because, to the History Channel, the medical evidence just doesn't matter. What matters is that Oswald did it...so let's move on to discuss who else might have been involved. Just awful. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Gerry Down]

I wonder if any of these channels have anything new for the 60th.

[Pat Speer]

3 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

I wonder if any of these channels have anything new for the 60th.

I suspect the history channel will repeat this episode, at the very least. 

[Charles Blackmon]

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense, certainly to all of us who have read the thousands of words Pat, Joe McBride and many others have written to educate us about the real evidence in this case.

Regarding the paper bag, there is an "Allan Ford" over on that other JFK Forum who has speculated that Oswald tossed the paper bag when he "went outside to watch the parade" (and possibly perform some kind of false-flag related function). Interesting speculation, apparently not taken very seriously over here.

[Rob Clark]

https://www.spreaker.com/user/7336374/ep-229-historys-greatest-mystery

Edited May 17, 2023 by Rob Clark

[James DiEugenio]

What a deceitful diagram that is.  I mean its horrid.

We have the actual illustration of the back wound today, and its nowhere near where they placed it.  But they want to make the SBT credible so they lied.

The revised placement of the head shot, their diagram has it going through JFK's eye.  But as we accented in Oliver's film, how can that be if there is no damage to the face?

Pat, I heard Gus Russo was on this one, is that true?

[Gerry Down]

The diagram is wrong because it has the SBT exiting at JFKs jaw line when it actually exited 6 inches lower near the Adams apple. 6 inches lower would get to the entry point on the upper back as per the autopsy photo. Also JFKs head was tilted forward for the head shot which the diagram is unable to cater for. I guess proper 3d animations were too expensive to include.

Historys Greatest Mysteries recently did a 6 part series on Roswell. It was open to the idea of it being a ufo so I guess the History channel is now open to that.

[Pat Speer]

2 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

The diagram is wrong because it has the SBT exiting at JFKs jaw line when it actually exited 6 inches lower near the Adams apple. 6 inches lower would get to the entry point on the upper back as per the autopsy photo. Also JFKs head was tilted forward for the head shot which the diagram is unable to cater for. I guess proper 3d animations were too expensive to include.

Historys Greatest Mysteries recently did a 6 part series on Roswell. It was open to the idea of it being a ufo so I guess the History channel is now open to that.

The History Channel was home to the most prominent conspiracy TV series--The Men Who Killed Kennedy. But they received a ton of crap over that. So then they reversed course and only played Oswald did it stuff for the past few decades, while, at the same time, embracing tons of conspiracy stuff regarding UFOs and aliens. Now, it appears, they think it's safe to push a possible conspiracy re JFK--as long at they make it clear Oswald was the primary shooter.  

[Pat Speer]

5 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

What a deceitful diagram that is.  I mean its horrid.

We have the actual illustration of the back wound today, and its nowhere near where they placed it.  But they want to make the SBT credible so they lied.

The revised placement of the head shot, their diagram has it going through JFK's eye.  But as we accented in Oliver's film, how can that be if there is no damage to the face?

Pat, I heard Gus Russo was on this one, is that true?

I remember them discussing Russo's "conclusion" regarding Oswald's supposed belief he was killing JFK on behalf of Cuba, and his attempt at getting to an airplane which would fly him to Cuba. But I don't recall seeing his face. Maybe I was looking the other way at that point. In any event, the last half of the program presented Cuba-did-it, the Russians did it, the mob did it, etc, and even presented a bit on Garrison which acknowledged Oswald knew Ferrie, etc. So the last half wasn't a total disaster. Like I said, it seems the History Channel is now open to any conclusion, any conspiracy, as long as Oswald is the shooter.  

Edited May 18, 2023 by Pat Speer

[James DiEugenio]

We do not know if that was an exit.

Alright. 

I mean what are people doing here who say that was positively an exit!

We know what the man in the best position said that day about it and he said it THREE TIMES!

That night, he was called up by the doctors at Bethesda and they were trying to push him into withdrawing that statement.

Why would they do that?  Maybe because some of the brass in the room forced them to?  The same guys who would not allow a dissection of the wound which would have proved directionality and if it transited.  The preponderance of the evidence says it did not.

So please spare us this whole thing about moving it up, moving it down and it exits here and.....

Dr. Henry Lee, the best reconstruction guy in the business said, point blank, you cannot do that in the JFK case since neither wound was dissected. 

And no one on this board has near the credentials he does. Or his experience.

Thanks for your reply Pat about Russo.

Edited May 18, 2023 by James DiEugenio

[Michael Crane]

There's at least 5 shows that you can watch if you have Comcast Cable (in my area) a few more if you sign up for a free trial for that Prime Video,Hulu,Tubi & Roku type stuff.

[Michael Griffith]

14 hours ago, Gerry Down said:

The diagram is wrong because it has the SBT exiting at JFKs jaw line when it actually exited 6 inches lower near the Adams apple. 6 inches lower would get to the entry point on the upper back as per the autopsy photo. Also JFKs head was tilted forward for the head shot which the diagram is unable to cater for. I guess proper 3d animations were too expensive to include.

No bullet exited JFK's throat. The rear clothing holes establish that the back wound was far too low to have enabled a bullet to exit the throat. No photo or footage shows JFK's coat with the kind of bunch that would have been required to cause the bullet to make holes that far down in the coat and shirt. The very idea that the shirt could have bunched in virtually millimeter-for-millimeter correspondence with the coat is preposterous. 

We now know from ARRB-released records and other sources that on the night of the autopsy, the pathologists were absolutely, positively certain that the back wound had no exit point. In his ARRB interview, Boswell stated that once they removed the chest organs, the stiffness of the muscles/tissue was no longer a problem and that they were then able to properly probe the wound. 

We also now know that the first two drafts of the autopsy report said nothing about a bullet exiting the throat. 

The irregular shirt slits were not made by a bullet. Even the FBI lab admitted this by concluding that the slits appeared to have been made by a fragment. Dr. Mantik examined the slits at the National Archives and saw clear indications that they were made by a scalpel. He also found that no fabric was missing from the slits, which is significant because bullets remove fabric when they tear through clothing. 

What's more, any bullet exiting through the slits could not have missed JFK's tie. However, the tie has no hole through it, and has no nick on either edge. The only defect is a small nick on the knot that is clearly not on the edge of the knot. 

If a bullet had exited the throat, it would not have created a small (3-5 mm) wound that was punched inward. It would have created a larger and avulsed wound.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Nick Bartetzko]

39 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

No bullet exited JFK's throat. The rear clothing holes establish that the back wound was far too low to have enabled a bullet to exit the throat. No photo or footage shows JFK's coat with the kind of bunch that would have been required to cause the bullet to make holes that far down in the coat and shirt. The very idea that the shirt could have bunched in virtually millimeter-for-millimeter correspondence with the coat is preposterous. 

We now know from ARRB-released records and other sources that on the night of the autopsy, the pathologists were absolutely, positively certain that the back wound had no exit point. In his ARRB interview, Boswell stated that once they removed the chest organs, the stiffness of the muscles/tissue was no longer a problem and that they were then able to properly probe the wound. 

We also now know that the first two drafts of the autopsy report said nothing about a bullet exiting the throat. 

The irregular shirt slits were not made by a bullet. Even the FBI lab admitted this by concluding that the slits appeared to have been made by a fragment. Dr. Mantik examined the slits at the National Archives and saw clear indications that they were made by a scalpel. He also found that no fabric was missing from the slits, which is significant because bullets remove fabric when they tear through clothing. 

What's more, any bullet exiting through the slits could not have missed JFK's tie. However, the tie has no hole through it, and has no nick on either edge. The only defect is a small nick on the knot that is clearly not on the edge of the knot. 

If a bullet had exited the throat, it would not have created a small (3-5 mm) wound that was punched inward. It would have created a larger and avulsed wound.

Weisberg also concluded the shirt damage was caused by a scalpel and that the neck wound was one of entry with a corresponding ring of bruising as told to Weisberg by Dr Perry. These issues are discussed in Weisberg’s book Post Mortem. 

[Adam Johnson]

4 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Hi Michael,

I gotta pull you up on a few things here buddy.....i have agreed with many of your comments in other posts but on the statements you have made in this post you have some errors.

No bullet exited JFK's throat. (Something did that day) The rear clothing holes establish that the back wound was far too low to have enabled a bullet to exit the throat. (No sorry not true, go look at some side on views of JFK in the motorcade that day...jfk also possessed shoulders when clothing is worn having shoulders raises the clothing fabric upwards compared to just hanging on a coat hanger or pictured laying flat on a table).

No photo or footage shows JFK's coat with the kind of bunch that would have been required to cause the bullet to make holes that far down in the coat and shirt. (yeh sorry, go check robin ungers jfk site...plenty of side on views show jfks suit jacket buckled up near his shoulders/neck area). The very idea that the shirt could have bunched in virtually millimeter-for-millimeter correspondence with the coat is preposterous. (Yeh, nah..sorry)

We now know from ARRB-released records and other sources that on the night of the autopsy, the pathologists were absolutely, positively certain that the back wound had no exit point. (yeh nah, they weren't allowed to track the wounds by inserting metal rods, standard procedure with tracing a bullet wound...they were stopped from doing this..Pierre Finck one of the autopsy doctors testified to this) In his ARRB interview, Boswell stated that once they removed the chest organs, the stiffness of the muscles/tissue was no longer a problem and that they were then able to properly probe the wound. (Probe with a finger...how long is your pinky?)

We also now know that the first two drafts of the autopsy report said nothing about a bullet exiting the throat. (Wonder why..see all points above)

The irregular shirt slits were not made by a bullet. Even the FBI lab admitted this by concluding that the slits appeared to have been made by a fragment. (careful, a fragment of what? passed thru the shirt collar and made the slits?) Dr. Mantik examined the slits at the National Archives and saw clear indications that they were made by a scalpel. (honestly can you tell if scissors a box cutter or a scalpel cut a piece of paper?)  He also found that no fabric was missing from the slits, which is significant because bullets remove fabric when they tear through clothing. (How much material do you expect a fragment to take? 3 4 threads..20 please)

What's more, any bullet exiting through the slits could not have missed JFK's tie. However, the tie has no hole through it, and has no nick on either edge. The only defect is a small nick on the knot that is clearly not on the edge of the knot. (Every thing in this state is 100% in correct. Go to history matters website...search for the fbi evidence photos..or NARA site photos in color of jfk tie...wow)

If a bullet had exited the throat, it would not have created a small (3-5 mm) wound that was punched inward. It would have created a larger and avulsed wound. ( Sorry but also incorrect,  pathologist's have over the past 60 years found that a bullet or bullet fragment exiting skin thru an area of the body tightly restricted by clothing can result in a neat smaller then expected exit wound thru said skin-i have even met with two forensic pathologist's here in Melbourne Australia that personally confirmed this.)

Michael,  the fbi had a supplemental report made regarding the assassination, within 9 hours after jfk was shot his clothing was photographed....the autopsy was still taking place at the time the photos were taken....earliest evidence is the best evidence. You should read that supplemental report and look at all the photograph's....it was a learning experience for me.....all the best AJ.

Here are a couple of pics Michael...