Jim Gochenauer has Passed

[Micah Mileto]

On 3/17/2024 at 11:05 PM, Ron Bulman said:

Maybe there needs to be a little more respect shown to Jim Gochenauer as a witness in regard to his passing.

I'm sorry but why shouldn't I strongly suspect that Gochenaur was trash?

 

Gochenaur claimed that Elmer Moore told him about the time he spoke to Dr. Perry, discussing with Perry the details from the official autopsy protocol, among other things. Moore allegedly said that he questioned Perry regarding his confidence in whether the throat wound was an entry or exit. Moore was quoted as saying that he was ordered to do this (Church Committee report on 6/6/1975 interview with Gochenaur; HSCA 180-10086-10438, HSCA interview of James Gochenaur, 5/10/1977 [text] [link 3]; Grassyknoll.us, The Jim Gochenaur Interviews, 2020; JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, 2021 film; JFK: Destiny Betrayed, 2021 series; Black Op Radio, show #1071, 12/2/2021; JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, 2022 book by James DiEugenio). Beginning in 1970, James Gochenaur exchanged letters with Harold Weisberg (Archive.org, Weisberg Collection on the JFK Assassination, Gochenauer James; Harold Weisberg Archive, jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/G Disk/Gochenauer James). In a letter to dated 5/10/1971, Gochenaur wrote a list of details on when he says Elmer Moore showed him his personal briefcase of pictures and documents on the assassination, which included “Rough handwritten notes on interviews” with, among others, Dr. Perry and Dr. Humes. Humes’ name has an asterisk after it, noted as “means he wouldn't let me read them” Gochenaur wrote of Moore meeting Perry “A. No date on notes: (Moore said it was the 28th or 29th of Nov.) B. Moore brought with him Humes report. C. Moore told me several times he did not "twist Perry's arm", which leads me to believe he might have. D. Perry said he did not see a back wound. E. Perry did not observe a hole near the top, front of right ear. F ) Moore drew "rough renderings" of discription of head wounds”, then on the letter is a drawing of a right-profile view of a head with a large circular wound above the ear, with an arrow pointed to it labeled “missing area”, as well as small wounds in the lower back of the head, upper back, throat, as well as a spot on the forehead pointed at by an arrow labeled “"wound" near left eye. Right eye swollen”. Below the drawing it reads “Moore showed Perry drawings and "other visual aids" the back wound from Humes work. Moore wrote up a long memo to the Commission. The basic summary of which was: 1. The wound can not indicate conclusively the angles of the shots. 2. The direction of the shots are above and behind. 3. The photos of wounds likewise can not conclusively give angles - (he left out direction). according to Moore, Warren told him that its best just not to talk conspiracy: we just don't have anything”... “Moore doesn't know, of course, I'm writing to you. His motives for letting me peek into his horror chest is unknown. I sense a guilt thing"” (Harold Weisberg Archive, jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/G Disk/Gochenauer James/Item 12 [link 2]).

 

No mention of Elmer Moore flashing a gun to him in any of his early letters or official statements, unless you can find something I can't. His Church Committee testimony is lost, but his Church Committee interview report isn't, and neither is his HSCA testimony.

 

I wish I could've gone to the Pittsburgh conference to try and ask him about this.

Edited March 19 by Micah Mileto

[Micah Mileto]

ALSO Gochenaur only later added the detail about Elmer Moore showing him Kennedy autopsy photographs.

 

Gochenaur, in a 11/4/1970 letter to Harold Weisberg describing his interactions with Secret Service agent Elmer Moore, wrote “...Then he said something that did surprise me to no end. He said he and others studied the photos of President Kennedy's head wounds and that nothing was out of the ordinary?!? He told me that the photos could not prove anything worthwhile. I asked him about having competent medico-legal personnel take a look at the photos. again, he said something to the effect, "It wouldn't prove anything". I believe that agent Moore was either lying to me or that the Warren Report statements are a fraud as to the status of the autopsy photos. Could you make a comment on this?” (Link). In another letter from Gochenaur to Weisberg, dated 12/11/1970, it reads “After talking for some time on the value of the Mooreman Photo with Moore I asked Him why no one was allowed to view the autopsy photographs. Mr. Moore said, "I did." The following paragraph is an attempt at what Moore followed this remark with verbatum. "Lots of people saw em. Look, let me ask you something, what would prints prove anyway. They couldn't give you angles or anything like that. We looked over that rail yard, or bullets, nothing. If there were others shooting at him, where did they go? Do you know Garrison? Well, he thinks a guy popped up and hit him with a 45 from a sewer. Look, I must have seen the zapruter film a thousand times---nothing, nothing at all. We saw several movies, lots of photos, and there just isn't anything to prove from them. Pictures can't tell you as much as you seem to think."” (Link [link 2]). In 2021, James Gochenaur claimed that Elmer Moore actually showed him an autopsy photograph (Black Op Radio, show #1071, 12/2/2021 [audio, 31:33]; JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, 2022 book by James DiEugenio) – as opposed to his earlier statements where he described just being told of the pictures by Moore. When interviewed by James DiEugenio, Gochenaur said “...And then he showed me—another shock—he showed me a color photograph, 8 x 10, of President Kennedy in autopsy I assume. It was different from Mr. Groden’s pictures in that this side of the face, the right side of the face, the eye was swollen. And it was black and blue”. When DiEugenio replied “I don’t remember ever seeing an autopsy photo like that, that you described”, Gochenaur said “I don’t like to talk about it. I’ll talk about it with you” (JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass, 2022 book by James DiEugenio). There doesn’t seem to be any known prior instance of Gochenaur claiming that Moore showed him an autopsy photo – and in a 5/10/1971 letter to Weisberg, Gochenaur gave a detailed list of materials that he said Elmer Moore showed him, and autopsy images were not mentioned (Harold Weisberg Archive, jfk.hood.edu/Collection/Weisberg Subject Index Files/G Disk/Gochenauer James/Item 12 [link 2]).

 

EDIT: 4 days and no new comments. Damn, I didn't mean to hammer the last nail in his coffin.

Edited March 27 by Micah Mileto