Hugh Aynesworth is Dead: The Grinch is Gone

[James DiEugenio]

I am posting this anew because, first it just went up a couple of days ago.  But also, there is a lot more information in this article than any other one out there. For one example the man would never admit to who he was, that is a government informant who sought their protection.

I took some time in writing it, and used a lot of both primary and secondary sources that I had accumulated over time.  I have been studying the sorry career of this hack for a long time, maybe 30 years. Its a pretty sorry sight when you focus on what he did to the JFK case and how the city of Dallas covered up for him and actually enabled him.

To me, he signified all that was wrong with reporting on the Kennedy case. Only Gus Russo could put him on national TV and only Jennings could have approved it.  Hugh A was a walking atrocity.  As long as this is, it could have been much longer.  I refer the prurient reader to JFK:Destiny Betrayed for more ugly details.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/hugh-aynesworth-is-dead-the-grinch-is-gone

Edited January 13 by James DiEugenio

[Pat Speer]

Hugh Aynesworth's behavior as a witness is also problematic. His early statements didn't precisely fit the Oswald-did-it scenario, so he tweaked it over the years. This is not surprising. I studied the statements of all the witnesses over the years and the statements of those suspecting conspiracy most always slid in that direction, and the statements of those believing Oswald did it most always slid in that direction. But it cuts into his credibility as a reporter. 

Hugh Aynesworth (March-May 1964 account written for the Dallas Morning News, published in the 2013 book JFK Assassination: The Reporters' Notes.) "I stopped at the corner of Houston and Main. As I looked toward the Texas School Book Depository Building--never dreaming that this would become a legend, only interested in the Hertz clock it held high atop its roof--I spotted a man, I thought, named Maurice Harrell, an assistant district Attorney. I thought I'd walk over and say hello. He was standing out from the crowd at Elm and Houston. By the time I got there, he was gone, moved to another vantage point. Harrell told me later he was standing a block away at the time and that it probably wasn't him I saw. So, by at least a dozen strange quirks of fate, I found myself only a stone's throw away from where a crazed gunman fired three shots really heard 'round the world...A huge Negro woman in a pink dress was all eyes as the first car of the caravan came around the corner. Her screech of 'Here they is' prompted a scramble for position--though the crowds here were sparse compared to those farther uptown or even a block away at Main and Houston Streets...I recall a woman to my left who cried "Isn't she beautiful?" as she got a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy. A murmur of voices spread and said other complimentary things about the first lady, about her "beautiful" dress, her "radiance," and her smile...A motorcycle officer rode by and he strained to look through the crowd as the crowd strained to see past him...Then came the first shot. I looked instinctively at one of the motorcycles to see if it was an exhaust. A woman near screamed. I saw a face look into mine briefly with a lost look, much as mine must have been. Then another shot. This was a shot I knew. I recall darting my eyes to the President's open limousine, now slipping down Elm St. to the viaduct. The president jerked his head. I could not tell if he were looking to see what the noise was, but I recall thinking he was only jerking his head to wave at the people on the other side of the glassy (sic--he almost certainly meant "grassy") slope. His hair seemed to jump up. Later I understood why. Some of the vehicles in the caravan seemed to come to almost a complete stop. Others crept along. I could not tell who was in charge. Then a third shot, clearer now, for I somehow almost expected it. "He's up there," shouted a sickly white-faced woman as she pointed to the overpass. "Over there," sang out another, pointing to the grassy knoll that lines the sides of the parade route."...I found tears in my own eyes, perhaps from excitement--certainly not from understanding, for I still didn't know which way to run, or even, if I should run. The caravan suddenly roared into action, and sped off down and out of sight, en route to Parkland Hospital...Within seconds--it must have been hours in my thoughts--it was pretty well determined that the man who did the shooting was inside the Depository Building." (Article on Aynsworth by Nora Ephron, published in the February 1976 issue of Esquire Magazine) "He was standing catty-corner to the School Book Depository Building when he heard three shots. 'I thought the first one was a motorcycle backfiring,' he says, but by the time I heard the second, I knew what it was." (Profile of Aynesworth in the March 1976 Texas Monthly) "Aynesworth was standing in front of the County Records Building, across the street from the School Book Depository, when the motorcade came down Elm. The President waved. Nellie Connally leaned forward, said something. Then a shot, the President clutched at his throat, the agonizingly slow motion of the car, another shot, then another, and the President's head exploded. In an instant, the President's car was gone, speeding under the triple underpass." (11-20-83 article in the Washington Post) "Near the intersection of Houston and Elm, I chatted with an assistant district attorney I had known for several years...As the presidential car drove by, Gov. Connally and his wife, Nellie, radiated pride. They too had been anxious about Kennedy’s visit, but it appeared that, so far, everything was going beautifully. Both Connally and Kennedy seemed to notice the huge woman waving frantically with one arm, the small child dangling from the other. (Nellie Connally later testified that she had just said, “Well, Mr. President, you can’t say there aren’t some people in Dallas who love you!”) The rest of the motorcade passed by. I could see Sen. Ralph Yarborough sitting to the left of Vice President Johnson and Lady Bird. He had a frozen smile on his face, but he didn’t really look like he was having much fun. Then it hit. A pop, like the backfire of a police motor-cycle. A nearby cop was tensed. A few seconds later, there was a second pop, then a third. Gunfire! “Hey! Hey!” a big man in a cowboy hat shouted, as though he could stop whatever was happening by being assertive. Two or three cops stopped short, then ran in different directions. A motorcycle policeman veered to his right. People started yelling and running. The woman in the pink dress turned, clutched her stomach and threw up on the street...It’s hard to recall the next few minutes. I remember running over to the front of the Depository building and listening to people there tell how they had seen the president shot. I looked at the triple overpass and saw three or four people running along the tracks. That’s where the shots must have come from, I thought." (9-5-93 article in the Dallas Morning News) "Veteran author and newsman Hugh Aynesworth stood in the middle of Elm Street and 'could have hit Oswald with a rock' on that day. He also heard only three shots ring out." (11-21-93 article in the San Antonio News-Express) "'I thought the first shot was a motorcycle backfiring. Actually, if I'd looked up, I could have seen who fired. It was only a few seconds until the second shot, and then I knew. "I looked at the underpass first, because I could see some people starting to run in that direction.' Aynesworth said he then realized the shots had been fired from a window high up in the Texas School Book Depository building. 'My attention was first toward the people who were running and by the time I looked around, he had pulled the gun in after the third shot and gone.'"

(11-21-93 Reporters Remember Conference, as quoted in Reporting the Kennedy Assassination) “I went over to the area around Elm and Houston Streets and was there when the three shots rang out. Three definite shots. Total chaos. I still have trouble putting it all together, how it happened.” (11-22-93 article in the Washington Times) "What I witnessed in the horrible few seconds as he was shot changed my life... I heard what I at first thought was the backfire of one of the police motorcycles veering left as it moved past the Texas School Book Depository... What I had heard were three rifle shots. "Chaos" is not too strong to describe what happened in the next moments. My lawyer friends took off in different directions. I saw two policemen running with guns drawn. Off to my right I saw a public relations man I knew, standing with hands on hips, a perplexed look on his face. Pure agony lined the face of a large black woman holding a child... It must have been a minute or so before I saw two women pointing at a window high in the book depository building." (No More Silence, published 1998, p.21-40) “There was no particular reason why I went to Elm Street other than the crowds were larger along Main Street, two or three deep, and I wanted to get a clearer view. Locating myself in the middle of the street a little toward the curb, had I looked up to my right I could have seen Oswald up there... The first shot I wasn’t sure was a shot. I thought it might have been a backfire from one of the motorcycles since there were several in the vicinity. When you hear one, you listen more closely, and when I heard a second and third very clearly, there was no doubt in my mind that they were shots and that they were from a rifle… Immediately, people started jumping and running and some were throwing their kids down.” (JFK: Breaking the News, 2003) “when I saw a couple of familiar assistant district attorneys standing in front of the jail building near the corner of Houston and Elm, I walked over to join them…I was standing with my lawyer friends maybe 10 feet from the curb. As we watched the big blue Continental glide by—I vividly remember Governor Connally’s grin—a huge black woman nearby burst into shouts… At 12:30 we heard the first loud pop. At first I assumed a nearby police motorcycle backfired.…(Secret Service Agent Roy) Kellerman turned in his seat just as two more shots were fired…” (Interview in film Oswald's Ghost, 2007) "As he goes by, two or three seconds later I hear a pop. I think it's a motorcycle backfire because a motorcycle had just gone by. But then, suddenly, a second or two later another and then another. Three shots." (4-28-11 article by Jim Schutze in the Dallas Observer) "You hear shots ring out, and you don't count how many seconds there are between them." (5-2-12 article on News-Register online.com, reporting on a 4-2-12 appearance by Aynesworth at North Lake College) "'It was amazing, the happiness and the feeling of good will that was in the crowd,' recalled Aynesworth. 'Then all of a sudden BOOM! One shot, but I thought it was backfire from a motorcycle. Then a second and then a third. I then realized it was shots from a rifle. We didn’t know where the fire was coming from or if we’d be next. People were throwing their children to the ground and taking cover. Everyone was scared,' he said." (3-27-13 appearance at the Irving Central Library, video found online) "They made that left turn to go out to the Trade Mart. And then suddenly three shots. Boom Boom Boom." (He says these booms in quick order over about 2 seconds.) "Nobody knew where they came from...You couldn't tell where the shots were coming from." (Interview on BBC Radio program on the 50th anniversary of the assassination, first broadcast 9-1-13) "I, like Mrs. Newman, thought the first shot was a motorcycle backfire, because one had just gone by. And the second shot, I could hear the whine of a rifle. Immediately, everybody was throwing their children down, regurgitating, screaming, crying, running. I didn't know what to do." (November 22, 1963: Witness to History, published 9-3-13) "At 12:30, we heard the first loud pop! At first I assumed a nearby police motorcycle had backfired...Roy Kellerman in the front seat of the presidential limousine heard the pop! And turned just as two more shots were fired." (11-1-13 article by Nigel Richardson in The Telegraph) "When the first shot rang out, he thought it was a motorcycle backfiring – there were plenty of police motorcycles around that day. 'But the second and third shots were very clearly the whine of rifle shots,' he remembers." (Appearance on the Reelz Channel program Killing JFK: 50 Questions Answered, first broadcast 11-5-13) "As the Kennedys went by us, they were happy. They were waving. They were grinning. Then all of a sudden I hear what I think is a motorcycle backfire. And then a couple of seconds later, a shot, and then another shot. Now I'm not a shooter, but I can tell the whine of a rifle. And then it was total chaos." (11-20-13 article by Susan Donaldson James on ABCNEW.Go.com) "I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, but it wasn't. It was a shot and then two other shots. It was chaos." (11-22-13 Reuters article found in the Chicago Tribune) "Then I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, only it wasn't - it was the first shot and then in a few seconds, another shot and a third." (11-22-13 appearance on NPR radio program Morning Edition) (On the aftermath of the shooting) "Well, I looked directly in front of me, across Houston Street; and I saw a man jumping up and down, and pointing up to the sixth-floor window up there. I didn't know what he'd known or what he'd seen or anything else, but I knew I had to get to him and find out. And as it turned out, he was the only real eyewitness that saw Oswald in that window."

(Description of the last two shots by Aynesworth in a 2015 Dallas Morning News interactive feature entitled John F. Kennedy Portraits: History Lived) "...Two or three seconds later a second and a third. And I was sure that those two were rifle shots. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a pencil or paper and nothing with me to write on. I knew I had to start interviewing people. People were just in pandemonium, it was just, they were throwing their kids down and covering them, they were screaming, they were crying, but no one knew where to run, ‘cause we didn’t know where the shots were coming from. We didn’t know how many people were shooting. We didn’t know what was going on." (2-17-16 Living History interview with The Sixth Floor Museum) "They moved on down, and five or six seconds later, I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfire. That wasn't too bothersome. But then later two other distinguishable shots, and I could tell they were rifle shots. And it was chaos...Nobody knew where the shots were coming from." (Interview on the Historyextra website, published 11-21-18) "I went to the corner of Elm and Houston Street, right in front of the Book Depository. It was so exciting. It had been raining that morning but at about 11am the sun came out, and it was a beautiful November day. The crowd was excited. It was something you read about but you never quite get to witness. I stopped and was only there for a few minutes when the motorcade went by me. Seconds later I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, but it was the first shot. There were three shots. The place went wild. People were throwing their children down, screaming, crying, throwing up. Nobody knew what to do. We did not know who was shooting, or how many shooters there were. I probably would have run, but I did not know where to run to. My reporter instinct kicked in. I saw a man across from me pointing to the sixth floor window, saying “he’s up there.” The man had a hard hat under his arm. I ran to him to talk to him, but he was scared when he found out I was a reporter. In the end two policemen had to force me away." (Interview on the Vic Feazell podcast, broadcast 9-21-20) "I saw a couple lawyers that I knew and I sorta followed them over to Elm Street. That's where I stood--the center of Elm Street...The Kennedys had just passed me--it was about four cars later--and I heard the shots. I wasn't sure if the first one wasn't a car backfiring. And then two others. And I knew they were shots...And I saw this man pointing up to the window--he was right across the street. So I ran to him. And he was the one that described Oswald...He described him perfectly." Analysis: Aynesworth, a career reporter, is not a very credible source of information. He originally claimed he was at Houston and Elm at the time of the shooting, then suggested he was out in front of the jail, a half a block away, then returned to saying he was at Houston and Elm, and then, finally, that he was in the middle of Elm. In 1964, he said he walked towards Elm in search of an assistant district attorney, but did not find him. By 1983, however, he claimed he was chatting with him as the motorcade passed. In 1964, he said that right after the shots two women yelled out that the shots came from places in front of the limo. By 1993, however, he'd taken to claiming two women pointed to the depository building just after the shots. And this slide apparently continued, for, by 2013, these women had morphed into Howard Brennan. Still, Aynesworth said just enough to indicate that the single-assassin theory he’s been standing behind all these years is not exactly solid. His grouping together of the last two shots suggests the last two shots were bunched together. Even more intriguing, his earliest statement indicates that the second shot was the head shot. First shot hit 190-224. Last two shots bunched together, with the last shot after the head shot.

Edited January 13 by Pat Speer

[Joe Bauer]

3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

I am posting this anew because, first it just went up a couple of days ago.  But also, there is a lot more information in this article than any other one out there. For one example the man would never admit to who he was, that is a government informant who sought their protection.

I took some time in writing it, and used a lot of both primary and secondary sources that I had accumulated over time.  I have been studying the sorry career of this hack for a long time, maybe 30 years. Its a pretty sorry site when you focus on what he did to the JFK case and how the city of Dallas covered up for him and actually enabled him.

To me, he signified all that was wrong with reporting on the Kennedy case. Only Gus Russo could put him on national TV and only Jennings could have approved it.  Hugh A was a walking atrocity.  As long as this is, it could have been much longer.  I refer the prurient reader to JFK:Destiny Betrayed for more ugly details.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/hugh-aynesworth-is-dead-the-grinch-is-gone

Just beginning to read Jim Di's essay on Hugh "Clark Kent" Aynesworth.

Must stop right now.

However, is there enough credible evidence to verify the suggested statements attributed to Aynesworth regards his claiming to have had a sexual affair with Marina Oswald and the charge that Ruth Paine and Marina had engaged in a lesbian relationship?

I have read accounts of Aynesworth claiming he was quite the ladies man in his single life. He even frequented Jack Ruby's and his sister Eva Grant's nightclub/dance joint "The Silver Spur" in the day.

I noticed in one of Pat's postings that Aynesworth claimed "he just happened" to pick Dealey Plaza as a location to view the JFK/Jackie motorcade.

Another "I just happened to" claim? 

HA just happened to be in Dealey Plaza when JFK was shot, on the Tippit shooting scene within minutes, then onto the Texas Theater scene where he personally witnessed the scuffling arrest of Oswald and then onto the Dallas PD basement Oswald shooting scene on Sunday morning.

Did Aynesworth drive himself from scene to scene to scene?

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Joe, IMO, the so called lesbian relationship was part of his smear of Marina.

Carol Hewett, perhaps the best researcher there was on Ruth, said she found no evidence of that in all the years she studied the Paines.

As per his affair with Marina, well he said it and was going to show pics of it to Rachel Rendish. And Rachel said that Marina told her about it. I leave it up to the reader.

What a slimeball this guy was.

Edited January 13 by James DiEugenio

[Benjamin Cole]

6 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

Hugh Aynesworth's behavior as a witness is also problematic. His early statements didn't precisely fit the Oswald-did-it scenario, so he tweaked it over the years. This is not surprising. I studied the statements of all the witnesses over the years and the statements of those suspecting conspiracy most always slid in that direction, and the statements of those believing Oswald did it most always slid in that direction. But it cuts into his credibility as a reporter. 

Hugh Aynesworth (March-May 1964 account written for the Dallas Morning News, published in the 2013 book JFK Assassination: The Reporters' Notes.) "I stopped at the corner of Houston and Main. As I looked toward the Texas School Book Depository Building--never dreaming that this would become a legend, only interested in the Hertz clock it held high atop its roof--I spotted a man, I thought, named Maurice Harrell, an assistant district Attorney. I thought I'd walk over and say hello. He was standing out from the crowd at Elm and Houston. By the time I got there, he was gone, moved to another vantage point. Harrell told me later he was standing a block away at the time and that it probably wasn't him I saw. So, by at least a dozen strange quirks of fate, I found myself only a stone's throw away from where a crazed gunman fired three shots really heard 'round the world...A huge Negro woman in a pink dress was all eyes as the first car of the caravan came around the corner. Her screech of 'Here they is' prompted a scramble for position--though the crowds here were sparse compared to those farther uptown or even a block away at Main and Houston Streets...I recall a woman to my left who cried "Isn't she beautiful?" as she got a glimpse of Jackie Kennedy. A murmur of voices spread and said other complimentary things about the first lady, about her "beautiful" dress, her "radiance," and her smile...A motorcycle officer rode by and he strained to look through the crowd as the crowd strained to see past him...Then came the first shot. I looked instinctively at one of the motorcycles to see if it was an exhaust. A woman near screamed. I saw a face look into mine briefly with a lost look, much as mine must have been. Then another shot. This was a shot I knew. I recall darting my eyes to the President's open limousine, now slipping down Elm St. to the viaduct. The president jerked his head. I could not tell if he were looking to see what the noise was, but I recall thinking he was only jerking his head to wave at the people on the other side of the glassy (sic--he almost certainly meant "grassy") slope. His hair seemed to jump up. Later I understood why. Some of the vehicles in the caravan seemed to come to almost a complete stop. Others crept along. I could not tell who was in charge. Then a third shot, clearer now, for I somehow almost expected it. "He's up there," shouted a sickly white-faced woman as she pointed to the overpass. "Over there," sang out another, pointing to the grassy knoll that lines the sides of the parade route."...I found tears in my own eyes, perhaps from excitement--certainly not from understanding, for I still didn't know which way to run, or even, if I should run. The caravan suddenly roared into action, and sped off down and out of sight, en route to Parkland Hospital...Within seconds--it must have been hours in my thoughts--it was pretty well determined that the man who did the shooting was inside the Depository Building." (Article on Aynsworth by Nora Ephron, published in the February 1976 issue of Esquire Magazine) "He was standing catty-corner to the School Book Depository Building when he heard three shots. 'I thought the first one was a motorcycle backfiring,' he says, but by the time I heard the second, I knew what it was." (Profile of Aynesworth in the March 1976 Texas Monthly) "Aynesworth was standing in front of the County Records Building, across the street from the School Book Depository, when the motorcade came down Elm. The President waved. Nellie Connally leaned forward, said something. Then a shot, the President clutched at his throat, the agonizingly slow motion of the car, another shot, then another, and the President's head exploded. In an instant, the President's car was gone, speeding under the triple underpass." (11-20-83 article in the Washington Post) "Near the intersection of Houston and Elm, I chatted with an assistant district attorney I had known for several years...As the presidential car drove by, Gov. Connally and his wife, Nellie, radiated pride. They too had been anxious about Kennedy’s visit, but it appeared that, so far, everything was going beautifully. Both Connally and Kennedy seemed to notice the huge woman waving frantically with one arm, the small child dangling from the other. (Nellie Connally later testified that she had just said, “Well, Mr. President, you can’t say there aren’t some people in Dallas who love you!”) The rest of the motorcade passed by. I could see Sen. Ralph Yarborough sitting to the left of Vice President Johnson and Lady Bird. He had a frozen smile on his face, but he didn’t really look like he was having much fun. Then it hit. A pop, like the backfire of a police motor-cycle. A nearby cop was tensed. A few seconds later, there was a second pop, then a third. Gunfire! “Hey! Hey!” a big man in a cowboy hat shouted, as though he could stop whatever was happening by being assertive. Two or three cops stopped short, then ran in different directions. A motorcycle policeman veered to his right. People started yelling and running. The woman in the pink dress turned, clutched her stomach and threw up on the street...It’s hard to recall the next few minutes. I remember running over to the front of the Depository building and listening to people there tell how they had seen the president shot. I looked at the triple overpass and saw three or four people running along the tracks. That’s where the shots must have come from, I thought." (9-5-93 article in the Dallas Morning News) "Veteran author and newsman Hugh Aynesworth stood in the middle of Elm Street and 'could have hit Oswald with a rock' on that day. He also heard only three shots ring out." (11-21-93 article in the San Antonio News-Express) "'I thought the first shot was a motorcycle backfiring. Actually, if I'd looked up, I could have seen who fired. It was only a few seconds until the second shot, and then I knew. "I looked at the underpass first, because I could see some people starting to run in that direction.' Aynesworth said he then realized the shots had been fired from a window high up in the Texas School Book Depository building. 'My attention was first toward the people who were running and by the time I looked around, he had pulled the gun in after the third shot and gone.'"

(11-21-93 Reporters Remember Conference, as quoted in Reporting the Kennedy Assassination) “I went over to the area around Elm and Houston Streets and was there when the three shots rang out. Three definite shots. Total chaos. I still have trouble putting it all together, how it happened.” (11-22-93 article in the Washington Times) "What I witnessed in the horrible few seconds as he was shot changed my life... I heard what I at first thought was the backfire of one of the police motorcycles veering left as it moved past the Texas School Book Depository... What I had heard were three rifle shots. "Chaos" is not too strong to describe what happened in the next moments. My lawyer friends took off in different directions. I saw two policemen running with guns drawn. Off to my right I saw a public relations man I knew, standing with hands on hips, a perplexed look on his face. Pure agony lined the face of a large black woman holding a child... It must have been a minute or so before I saw two women pointing at a window high in the book depository building." (No More Silence, published 1998, p.21-40) “There was no particular reason why I went to Elm Street other than the crowds were larger along Main Street, two or three deep, and I wanted to get a clearer view. Locating myself in the middle of the street a little toward the curb, had I looked up to my right I could have seen Oswald up there... The first shot I wasn’t sure was a shot. I thought it might have been a backfire from one of the motorcycles since there were several in the vicinity. When you hear one, you listen more closely, and when I heard a second and third very clearly, there was no doubt in my mind that they were shots and that they were from a rifle… Immediately, people started jumping and running and some were throwing their kids down.” (JFK: Breaking the News, 2003) “when I saw a couple of familiar assistant district attorneys standing in front of the jail building near the corner of Houston and Elm, I walked over to join them…I was standing with my lawyer friends maybe 10 feet from the curb. As we watched the big blue Continental glide by—I vividly remember Governor Connally’s grin—a huge black woman nearby burst into shouts… At 12:30 we heard the first loud pop. At first I assumed a nearby police motorcycle backfired.…(Secret Service Agent Roy) Kellerman turned in his seat just as two more shots were fired…” (Interview in film Oswald's Ghost, 2007) "As he goes by, two or three seconds later I hear a pop. I think it's a motorcycle backfire because a motorcycle had just gone by. But then, suddenly, a second or two later another and then another. Three shots." (4-28-11 article by Jim Schutze in the Dallas Observer) "You hear shots ring out, and you don't count how many seconds there are between them." (5-2-12 article on News-Register online.com, reporting on a 4-2-12 appearance by Aynesworth at North Lake College) "'It was amazing, the happiness and the feeling of good will that was in the crowd,' recalled Aynesworth. 'Then all of a sudden BOOM! One shot, but I thought it was backfire from a motorcycle. Then a second and then a third. I then realized it was shots from a rifle. We didn’t know where the fire was coming from or if we’d be next. People were throwing their children to the ground and taking cover. Everyone was scared,' he said." (3-27-13 appearance at the Irving Central Library, video found online) "They made that left turn to go out to the Trade Mart. And then suddenly three shots. Boom Boom Boom." (He says these booms in quick order over about 2 seconds.) "Nobody knew where they came from...You couldn't tell where the shots were coming from." (Interview on BBC Radio program on the 50th anniversary of the assassination, first broadcast 9-1-13) "I, like Mrs. Newman, thought the first shot was a motorcycle backfire, because one had just gone by. And the second shot, I could hear the whine of a rifle. Immediately, everybody was throwing their children down, regurgitating, screaming, crying, running. I didn't know what to do." (November 22, 1963: Witness to History, published 9-3-13) "At 12:30, we heard the first loud pop! At first I assumed a nearby police motorcycle had backfired...Roy Kellerman in the front seat of the presidential limousine heard the pop! And turned just as two more shots were fired." (11-1-13 article by Nigel Richardson in The Telegraph) "When the first shot rang out, he thought it was a motorcycle backfiring – there were plenty of police motorcycles around that day. 'But the second and third shots were very clearly the whine of rifle shots,' he remembers." (Appearance on the Reelz Channel program Killing JFK: 50 Questions Answered, first broadcast 11-5-13) "As the Kennedys went by us, they were happy. They were waving. They were grinning. Then all of a sudden I hear what I think is a motorcycle backfire. And then a couple of seconds later, a shot, and then another shot. Now I'm not a shooter, but I can tell the whine of a rifle. And then it was total chaos." (11-20-13 article by Susan Donaldson James on ABCNEW.Go.com) "I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, but it wasn't. It was a shot and then two other shots. It was chaos." (11-22-13 Reuters article found in the Chicago Tribune) "Then I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, only it wasn't - it was the first shot and then in a few seconds, another shot and a third." (11-22-13 appearance on NPR radio program Morning Edition) (On the aftermath of the shooting) "Well, I looked directly in front of me, across Houston Street; and I saw a man jumping up and down, and pointing up to the sixth-floor window up there. I didn't know what he'd known or what he'd seen or anything else, but I knew I had to get to him and find out. And as it turned out, he was the only real eyewitness that saw Oswald in that window."

(Description of the last two shots by Aynesworth in a 2015 Dallas Morning News interactive feature entitled John F. Kennedy Portraits: History Lived) "...Two or three seconds later a second and a third. And I was sure that those two were rifle shots. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a pencil or paper and nothing with me to write on. I knew I had to start interviewing people. People were just in pandemonium, it was just, they were throwing their kids down and covering them, they were screaming, they were crying, but no one knew where to run, ‘cause we didn’t know where the shots were coming from. We didn’t know how many people were shooting. We didn’t know what was going on." (2-17-16 Living History interview with The Sixth Floor Museum) "They moved on down, and five or six seconds later, I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfire. That wasn't too bothersome. But then later two other distinguishable shots, and I could tell they were rifle shots. And it was chaos...Nobody knew where the shots were coming from." (Interview on the Historyextra website, published 11-21-18) "I went to the corner of Elm and Houston Street, right in front of the Book Depository. It was so exciting. It had been raining that morning but at about 11am the sun came out, and it was a beautiful November day. The crowd was excited. It was something you read about but you never quite get to witness. I stopped and was only there for a few minutes when the motorcade went by me. Seconds later I heard what I thought was a motorcycle backfiring, but it was the first shot. There were three shots. The place went wild. People were throwing their children down, screaming, crying, throwing up. Nobody knew what to do. We did not know who was shooting, or how many shooters there were. I probably would have run, but I did not know where to run to. My reporter instinct kicked in. I saw a man across from me pointing to the sixth floor window, saying “he’s up there.” The man had a hard hat under his arm. I ran to him to talk to him, but he was scared when he found out I was a reporter. In the end two policemen had to force me away." (Interview on the Vic Feazell podcast, broadcast 9-21-20) "I saw a couple lawyers that I knew and I sorta followed them over to Elm Street. That's where I stood--the center of Elm Street...The Kennedys had just passed me--it was about four cars later--and I heard the shots. I wasn't sure if the first one wasn't a car backfiring. And then two others. And I knew they were shots...And I saw this man pointing up to the window--he was right across the street. So I ran to him. And he was the one that described Oswald...He described him perfectly." Analysis: Aynesworth, a career reporter, is not a very credible source of information. He originally claimed he was at Houston and Elm at the time of the shooting, then suggested he was out in front of the jail, a half a block away, then returned to saying he was at Houston and Elm, and then, finally, that he was in the middle of Elm. In 1964, he said he walked towards Elm in search of an assistant district attorney, but did not find him. By 1983, however, he claimed he was chatting with him as the motorcade passed. In 1964, he said that right after the shots two women yelled out that the shots came from places in front of the limo. By 1993, however, he'd taken to claiming two women pointed to the depository building just after the shots. And this slide apparently continued, for, by 2013, these women had morphed into Howard Brennan. Still, Aynesworth said just enough to indicate that the single-assassin theory he’s been standing behind all these years is not exactly solid. His grouping together of the last two shots suggests the last two shots were bunched together. Even more intriguing, his earliest statement indicates that the second shot was the head shot. First shot hit 190-224. Last two shots bunched together, with the last shot after the head shot.

Nice compilation. 

Aynesworth's earliest recollections also suggest the first shot was different in pitch and volume than the succeeding shots, which is what many (most?) witnesses said. 

I can't think of a reason for that, except that different weapons at different locations were the source of the audible gunshots.

There may also have been inaudible gunshots, or shots that were nearly simultaneous, but heard as one shot by witnesses. 

[Benjamin Cole]

7 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

I am posting this anew because, first it just went up a couple of days ago.  But also, there is a lot more information in this article than any other one out there. For one example the man would never admit to who he was, that is a government informant who sought their protection.

I took some time in writing it, and used a lot of both primary and secondary sources that I had accumulated over time.  I have been studying the sorry career of this hack for a long time, maybe 30 years. Its a pretty sorry sight when you focus on what he did to the JFK case and how the city of Dallas covered up for him and actually enabled him.

To me, he signified all that was wrong with reporting on the Kennedy case. Only Gus Russo could put him on national TV and only Jennings could have approved it.  Hugh A was a walking atrocity.  As long as this is, it could have been much longer.  I refer the prurient reader to JFK:Destiny Betrayed for more ugly details.

https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/hugh-aynesworth-is-dead-the-grinch-is-gone

Nice work.

[Mark Ulrik]

37 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Nice compilation. 

Aynesworth's earliest recollections also suggest the first shot was different in pitch and volume than the succeeding shots, which is what many (most?) witnesses said. 

I can't think of a reason for that, except that different weapons at different locations were the source of the audible gunshots.

There may also have been inaudible gunshots, or shots that were nearly simultaneous, but heard as one shot by witnesses. 

We could ask one of the ear-witnesses:

Quote

When the sound of this shot came, it sounded to me like this shot came from away back or from within a building. I have heard this same sort of sound when a shot has come from within a cave, as I have been on many big game hunts.

Garland Slack, 11/22/63 affidavit, Decker Ex 5323, 19H495

[Benjamin Cole]

Just now, Mark Ulrik said:

We could ask one of the ear-witnesses:

Garland Slack, 11/22/63 affidavit, Decker Ex 5323, 19H495

Well, one witness. 

Evidently, a fellow who went on big game hunts inside of caves?

Or big game hunts near cave entrances?

He was outside of a cave, fellow hunters were hiding inside of a cave and firing at game? 

How many places have large caves from which one hunts big-game with high-powered rifles? 

This is an aspect of big-game hunting I have never heard. 

 

 

 

[Mark Ulrik]

Just now, Benjamin Cole said:

Well, one witness. 

Evidently, a fellow who went on big game hunts inside of caves?

Or big game hunts near cave entrances?

He was outside of a cave, fellow hunters were hiding inside of a cave and firing at game? 

How many places have large caves from which one hunts big-game with high-powered rifles? 

This is an aspect of big-game hunting I have never heard.

You can always count on someone missing the point completely. The first shot would have sounded differently if the muzzle wasn't protruding out the window. That's a possible explanation. It's also possible (if not likely) that the shooter switched to the iron sights after the first shot.

[Benjamin Cole]

46 minutes ago, Mark Ulrik said:

You can always count on someone missing the point completely. The first shot would have sounded differently if the muzzle wasn't protruding out the window. That's a possible explanation. It's also possible (if not likely) that the shooter switched to the iron sights after the first shot.

While hunting big game, in and outside caves, or cave entrances...

OK, yes, that may be, that a gunman inside the TSBD shifted position after the initial shot. 

Or that there were two gunmen on the 6th floor, in different positions and depths within the TSBD.

One of the fifth-floor earwitnesses, a military vet, said he thought the shots had come from beneath him.

There is even a possibility that someone was firing from further inside the second-floor window office (Elm St. side) of the TSBD. 

Still, little matters thus. 

It sure looks like JBC was shot at Z295, and then JFK at Z313. That is about one second apart.

So, I rule out a lone gunman, armed with a single-shot bolt action rifle, fired all the shots on 11/22. 

There was also a smoke-and-bang show on the Grassy Knoll. I don't know what happened there. 

 

 

[Ron Bulman]

3 hours ago, Mark Ulrik said:

When the sound of this shot came, it sounded to me like this shot came from away back or from within a building. I

That's the important part.  Slightly muffled?  Too bad the WO didn't ask more questions.  

[Joe Bauer]

*******

 

Edited January 14 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

21 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Joe, IMO, the so called lesbian relationship was part of his smear of Marina.

Carol Hewett, perhaps the best researcher there was on Ruth, said she found no evidence of that in all the years she studied the Paines.

As per his affair with Marina, well he said it and was going to show pics of it to Rachel Rendish. And Rachel said that Marina told her about it. I leave it up to the reader.

What a slimeball this guy was.

The sexual affair between Marina and Hugh Aynesworth does seem possible in at least one aspect considering Ayneworth's self-stated image of himself as quite the ladies man in his younger years.

As far as the Ruth Paine/Marina intimacy interaction claim, I doubt the relationship went to that level.

I could easily believe however, that Ruth Paine had physical attraction feelings for the sparkling blue, doe-eyed young beauty Marina that were stronger than just typical Quaker humanitarian ones.

Seems everyone else around the young, beautiful and vulnerable Marina felt the same feelings of attraction.

It can't be proven I guess, but if the story of Ruth's affectionate letter comments to Marina "I love you Marina." I want you to live with me...are true, those are powerful words of intimacy usually not said directly to another person who isn't your daughter, mom, sister, etc.

In my life-time experience senses anyways.

What would be the importance of such a truth?

I don't know. Maybe a growing longing possessiveness and protectiveness toward Marina on Ruth's part? 

And Ruth hating Lee Oswald ( whom she saw as less than deserving of Marina ) even more because of it?

Edited January 14 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

18 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

"A huge Negro woman in a pink dress was all eyes as the first car of the caravan came around the corner. Her screech of 'Here they is' prompted a scramble for position..."

I would think a reputable integrity minded newsman would have used a little more discretion in actually submitting a piece for publication that so clearly described the woman in a such a negative stereotype way.

"Huge." ?  

Wouldn't "heavier set" been more journalistic ethics and personally insulting sensitive appropriate?

Same with a "screech" of "here they is"?

"Screech"  ... versus shouted?

"Here they is" versus...here they come?

Sounds like Aynesworth was reporting the story of this woman and her motorcade arriving actions and words more as an "Aunt Jemima" exaggerated parody than a journalistic ethics guided one.

Humble and ethics guided journalist Seth Kantor was the moral and professional antithesis to the braggadocious and attention seeking Hugh Aynesworth.

 

 

[Tom Gram]

12 hours ago, Mark Ulrik said:

You can always count on someone missing the point completely. The first shot would have sounded differently if the muzzle wasn't protruding out the window. That's a possible explanation. It's also possible (if not likely) that the shooter switched to the iron sights after the first shot.

Garland said he heard only two shots and from the sound he “knew” they both hit something. He also said nothing about one shot sounding different from the other:

Today, I was standing on Houston Street, just below the window to Sheriff Decker's office waiting for the parade. I was standing there when the President's car passed and just after they rounded the corner from Houston onto Elm Street, I heard a report and I knew at once it was a high-powered rifle shot. I am a [cross-out] big game hunter and am familiar with the sound of hi [sic] powered rifles and I knew when I heard the retort [sic] that the shot had hit something. Within a [cross-out] few seconds I heard another retort [sic] and knew it also had hit something and all I could see was the highly colored hat that Mrs. Kennedy had on. I couldn't see anything else. I was so sick that I went back to my office but after thinking it over, I came back as a citizen to offer my statement if it could help in any way. During the time I was standing there I did look up into the building where the Texas Book Depository is and saw some people, maybe 12 or 14, hanging out of windows, but I didn't see anyone with a gun.

When the sound of this shot came, it sounded to me like this shot came from away back or from within a building. I have heard this same sort of sound when a shot has come from within a cave, as I have been on many big game hunts.

He says “when the sound of this shot came”, but he doesn’t differentiate between the two shots. His conviction that they both hit something implies that he thought the shots sounded similar, not different. 

Garland doesn’t seem like much of a witness for what you are suggesting.