On the Matter of the Brain Matter

[Pat Speer]

Seeing as some have taken to claiming President Kennedy was killed by a shot fired from the front, and suffered no wound of any substance on the front or top of his head beyond a small entrance wound on his forehead, I present some quotes as a reminder of why most long-time researchers believe this to be bunkum.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (11-29-63 interview with Theodore White, notes released 5-26-95, and subsequently published in the September 1995 Kennedy Assassination Chronicles) “They were gunning the motorcycles; there were these little backfires; there was one noise like that; I thought it was a backfire. Then next I saw Connally grabbing his arm and saying no no no nonono, with his fist beating—then Jack turned and I turned—all I remember was a blue gray building up ahead, then Jack turned back, so neatly; his last expression was so neat; he had his hand out, I could see a piece of his skull coming off; it was flesh colored not white—he was holding out his hand—and I can see this perfectly clean piece detaching itself from his head; then he slumped in my lap.” (When describing the immediate aftermath of the shots) "All the ride to the hospital, I kept bending over him saying, "Jack, Jack, can you hear me, I love you, Jack." I kept holding the top of his head down trying to keep the..." (When describing her husband's condition upon arrival at the hospital) "From here down"--and here she made a gesture indicating her husband's forehead--"his head was so beautiful. I'd tried to hold the top of his head down, maybe I could keep it in...I knew he was dead." (4-7-64, 5-4-64, 5-7-64, 5-8-64, and 7-20-64 interviews with William Manchester, as represented in The Death of a President, 1967) (On the first shot) "Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise." (On Connally's screaming) "Jacqueline Kennedy heard him. In a daze she wondered 'Why is he screaming?' Already she had started to turn anxiously to her husband." (On the final shot) "The First Lady, in her last act as First Lady, leaned solicitously toward the President. His face was quizzical. She had seen that expression so often, when he was puzzling over a difficult press conference question. Now, in a gesture of infinite grace, he raised his right hand, as though to brush back his tousled chestnut hair. But the motion faltered. The hand fell back empty. He had been reaching for the top of his head. But it wasn't there any more."

 Governor John Connally (12-13-63 FBI report on a 12-11 interview, CD188, p. 3-5) “I was conscious of a third shot and heard it…we were all splattered with what I thought was brain tissue from President Kennedy." (4-21-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 4H129-146) “I reclined with my head in her lap, conscious all the time, and with my eyes open, and then, of course, the third shot sounded, and I heard the shot very clearly. I heard it hit him. I heard the shot hit something…I heard it hit. It was a very loud noise, just that audible, very clear…Immediately, I could see on my clothes, my clothing, I could see on the interior of the car…brain tissue….on my trousers there was one chunk of brain tissue as big as almost my thumb..."

Nellie Connally (12-13-63 FBI report, CD188, p.6-7) “she was facing the front of the car when the first shot was fired and turned to her right towards President Kennedy and saw him with his hand at his throat and then slump down. …almost immediately Governor Connally recoiled in the opposite direction from her and was heard to remark “My God, they are going to kill us all.” She had feelings that buck shot was falling all around them and then she realized it was probably brain matter from President Kennedy’s head…" (4-21-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 4H146-149) “I never again looked in the back seat of the car after my husband was shot…I remember that he turned to the right and then just slumped down into the seat, so that I reached over to pull him toward me…The third shot that I heard I felt, it felt like spent buckshot falling all over us, and then, of course, I too, could see that it was the matter, brain tissue, or whatever, just human matter, all over the car and both of us..."

Motorcycle Officer James Chaney, who was traveling just behind Kennedy and on his right.  (11-22-63 interview with KLIF radio, reportedly around 12:45 PM--but not broadcast at that time--as presented on the KLIF album The Fateful Hours. Note: parts of this interview were also played in the 1976 CFTR radio program Thou Shalt Not Kill.) "On the first shot we thought it was a motorcycle backfire. I looked to my left and so did President Kennedy, looking back over his left shoulder, and when the second shot struck him in the face then we knew that someone was shooting at the President." (When then asked if he saw where the bullet had come from) "No, all I knew is it come over my right shoulder." 

Motorcycle Officer Douglas Jackson rode to the right of Chaney. (Notes written on the night of 11-22-63 as reprinted in The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, 1979): "I looked then back to my right and behind me then looked back toward Mr. Kennedy and saw him hit in the head; he appeared to have been hit just above the right ear. The top of his head flew off away from me." (On what happened after they arrived at Parkland Hospital and he approached the limo) "An agent opened the car door and started to get Mrs. Kennedy out but Mrs. Kennedy said no. It's no need she said and raised up from over Mr. Kennedy. I could see the top of his head was gone, his left eye was bulged out of socket. The agent said "Oh no!" and started crying, pulled his coat off, and placed it over Mr. Kennedy's head." 

Abraham Zapruder stood on a pedestal in the arcade on the North side of Elm. (11-22-63 notes of an unknown reporter found in the files of the Dallas Times Herald, and quoted in Pictures of the Pain by Richard Trask, p. 149, published 1998.) “Abraham Zapruder…heard 3 shots///after first one Pres slumped over grabed stomac…hit in stomac…two more shots///looked like head opened up and everything came out…blood spattered everywhere…side of his face…looked like blobs out of his temple… forehead… Jackie first reached over to the Pres. And after second shot…she crawled over to back of car…after that she was lying…” 

Marilyn Sitzman, Zapruder's secretary who was standing beside and in back of him. (11-22-63 notes on an interview of Sitzman by a Dallas Times-Herald reporter, presumably Darwin Payne, as presented in The Zapruder Film by David Wrone, 2003) "Shot hit pres. Right in the temple." 

William Newman was standing on the north side of Elm Street with his wife and two kids and can be seen in the Muchmore film just behind Kennedy as the fatal shot is fired. (11-22-63 interview on WFAA, prior to the announcement of the President's death, at approximately 12:45) “I don't know who was hit first but the President jumped up in his seat, and I thought it scared him, I thought it was a firecracker, cause he looked, you know, fear. And then as the car got directly in front of us well a gunshot apparently from behind us hit the President in the side of the temple.” (11-22-63 third interview on WFAA, at approximately 1:10 PM) “My wife and my two sons were standing at the curb, looking at the President approaching us, when we heard a blast. And the President looked like that he right jumped up in his seat, and by that time he was directly in front of us. And then he......we seen him get shot in the side of the head. And he fell back in his seat and Governor Connally was holding his stomach.

Frances Gayle Newman was Bill Newman's wife 11-22-63 second interview on WFAA, at approximately 1:17 PM) “We were standing next to the curb so the children could see the President. And the car was just up apiece from us and this shot fired out, and I thought it was a firecracker, and the President kind of raised up in his seat. And I thought, you know, he was kind of going along with a gag or something. And then all of a sudden the next one popped, and Governor Connally grabbed his stomach and kind of laid over to the side. And then another one—it was just awful fast. And President Kennedy reached up (with both hands she reaches for her right temple) and grabbed--it looked like he grabbed--his ear and blood just started gushing out. (11-22-63 statement to Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 24H218) “Just about the time President Kennedy was in front of us, I heard another shot ring out and the President put his hands up to his head, I saw blood all over the side of his head.” 

Emmett Hudson was standing on the grassy knoll steps to the right and In front of the President. (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H558-565) “I was trying to get a good look at President Kennedy. I happened to be looking right at him when that bullet hit him, the second shot…it looked like it hit him somewhere along a little bit behind the ear and a little bit above the ear." (8-2-68 interview with Barry Ernest recounted in The Girl on the Stairs, published 2011) "When I inquired about the shots, he repeated what he had said to the Commission: they sounded as if they came from above, behind, and to the left. 'Above, behind, and to the left of what?' I asked. 'Above and behind the motorcade, and to the left of me' he replied."

James Altgens was on the opposite side of the street from Hudson and was pretty much in front of Kennedy, due to the curvature of the street. (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H517-525) “There was flesh particles that flew out of the side of his head in my direction from where I was standing, so much so that it indicated to me that the shot came out of the left side of his head. Also, the fact that his head was covered with blood, the hairline included, on the left side all the way down, with no blood on his forehead or face--- suggested to me, too, that the shot came from the opposite side, meaning in the direction of this Depository Building" 

 

Note: this is just a small sample of the dozens of eyewitness statements which either describe a wound on the top or side of Kennedy's head, or an ejection of matter forwards from his position when hit. These witness statements are incompatible with the pet theory of some that there was no wound on the top or side of JFK's head, and that all films showing as much are fake. 

Edited March 15 by Pat Speer

[Keven Hofeling]

On 3/15/2024 at 2:59 PM, Pat Speer said:

Seeing as some have taken to claiming President Kennedy was killed by a shot fired from the front, and suffered no wound of any substance on the front or top of his head beyond a small entrance wound on his forehead, I present some quotes as a reminder of why most long-time researchers believe this to be bunkum.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (11-29-63 interview with Theodore White, notes released 5-26-95, and subsequently published in the September 1995 Kennedy Assassination Chronicles) “They were gunning the motorcycles; there were these little backfires; there was one noise like that; I thought it was a backfire. Then next I saw Connally grabbing his arm and saying no no no nonono, with his fist beating—then Jack turned and I turned—all I remember was a blue gray building up ahead, then Jack turned back, so neatly; his last expression was so neat; he had his hand out, I could see a piece of his skull coming off; it was flesh colored not white—he was holding out his hand—and I can see this perfectly clean piece detaching itself from his head; then he slumped in my lap.” (When describing the immediate aftermath of the shots) "All the ride to the hospital, I kept bending over him saying, "Jack, Jack, can you hear me, I love you, Jack." I kept holding the top of his head down trying to keep the..." (When describing her husband's condition upon arrival at the hospital) "From here down"--and here she made a gesture indicating her husband's forehead--"his head was so beautiful. I'd tried to hold the top of his head down, maybe I could keep it in...I knew he was dead." (4-7-64, 5-4-64, 5-7-64, 5-8-64, and 7-20-64 interviews with William Manchester, as represented in The Death of a President, 1967) (On the first shot) "Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise." (On Connally's screaming) "Jacqueline Kennedy heard him. In a daze she wondered 'Why is he screaming?' Already she had started to turn anxiously to her husband." (On the final shot) "The First Lady, in her last act as First Lady, leaned solicitously toward the President. His face was quizzical. She had seen that expression so often, when he was puzzling over a difficult press conference question. Now, in a gesture of infinite grace, he raised his right hand, as though to brush back his tousled chestnut hair. But the motion faltered. The hand fell back empty. He had been reaching for the top of his head. But it wasn't there any more."

 Governor John Connally (12-13-63 FBI report on a 12-11 interview, CD188, p. 3-5) “I was conscious of a third shot and heard it…we were all splattered with what I thought was brain tissue from President Kennedy." (4-21-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 4H129-146) “I reclined with my head in her lap, conscious all the time, and with my eyes open, and then, of course, the third shot sounded, and I heard the shot very clearly. I heard it hit him. I heard the shot hit something…I heard it hit. It was a very loud noise, just that audible, very clear…Immediately, I could see on my clothes, my clothing, I could see on the interior of the car…brain tissue….on my trousers there was one chunk of brain tissue as big as almost my thumb..."

Nellie Connally (12-13-63 FBI report, CD188, p.6-7) “she was facing the front of the car when the first shot was fired and turned to her right towards President Kennedy and saw him with his hand at his throat and then slump down. …almost immediately Governor Connally recoiled in the opposite direction from her and was heard to remark “My God, they are going to kill us all.” She had feelings that buck shot was falling all around them and then she realized it was probably brain matter from President Kennedy’s head…" (4-21-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 4H146-149) “I never again looked in the back seat of the car after my husband was shot…I remember that he turned to the right and then just slumped down into the seat, so that I reached over to pull him toward me…The third shot that I heard I felt, it felt like spent buckshot falling all over us, and then, of course, I too, could see that it was the matter, brain tissue, or whatever, just human matter, all over the car and both of us..."

Motorcycle Officer James Chaney, who was traveling just behind Kennedy and on his right.  (11-22-63 interview with KLIF radio, reportedly around 12:45 PM--but not broadcast at that time--as presented on the KLIF album The Fateful Hours. Note: parts of this interview were also played in the 1976 CFTR radio program Thou Shalt Not Kill.) "On the first shot we thought it was a motorcycle backfire. I looked to my left and so did President Kennedy, looking back over his left shoulder, and when the second shot struck him in the face then we knew that someone was shooting at the President." (When then asked if he saw where the bullet had come from) "No, all I knew is it come over my right shoulder." 

Motorcycle Officer Douglas Jackson rode to the right of Chaney. (Notes written on the night of 11-22-63 as reprinted in The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, 1979): "I looked then back to my right and behind me then looked back toward Mr. Kennedy and saw him hit in the head; he appeared to have been hit just above the right ear. The top of his head flew off away from me." (On what happened after they arrived at Parkland Hospital and he approached the limo) "An agent opened the car door and started to get Mrs. Kennedy out but Mrs. Kennedy said no. It's no need she said and raised up from over Mr. Kennedy. I could see the top of his head was gone, his left eye was bulged out of socket. The agent said "Oh no!" and started crying, pulled his coat off, and placed it over Mr. Kennedy's head." 

Abraham Zapruder stood on a pedestal in the arcade on the North side of Elm. (11-22-63 notes of an unknown reporter found in the files of the Dallas Times Herald, and quoted in Pictures of the Pain by Richard Trask, p. 149, published 1998.) “Abraham Zapruder…heard 3 shots///after first one Pres slumped over grabed stomac…hit in stomac…two more shots///looked like head opened up and everything came out…blood spattered everywhere…side of his face…looked like blobs out of his temple… forehead… Jackie first reached over to the Pres. And after second shot…she crawled over to back of car…after that she was lying…” 

Marilyn Sitzman, Zapruder's secretary who was standing beside and in back of him. (11-22-63 notes on an interview of Sitzman by a Dallas Times-Herald reporter, presumably Darwin Payne, as presented in The Zapruder Film by David Wrone, 2003) "Shot hit pres. Right in the temple." 

William Newman was standing on the north side of Elm Street with his wife and two kids and can be seen in the Muchmore film just behind Kennedy as the fatal shot is fired. (11-22-63 interview on WFAA, prior to the announcement of the President's death, at approximately 12:45) “I don't know who was hit first but the President jumped up in his seat, and I thought it scared him, I thought it was a firecracker, cause he looked, you know, fear. And then as the car got directly in front of us well a gunshot apparently from behind us hit the President in the side of the temple.” (11-22-63 third interview on WFAA, at approximately 1:10 PM) “My wife and my two sons were standing at the curb, looking at the President approaching us, when we heard a blast. And the President looked like that he right jumped up in his seat, and by that time he was directly in front of us. And then he......we seen him get shot in the side of the head. And he fell back in his seat and Governor Connally was holding his stomach.

Frances Gayle Newman was Bill Newman's wife 11-22-63 second interview on WFAA, at approximately 1:17 PM) “We were standing next to the curb so the children could see the President. And the car was just up apiece from us and this shot fired out, and I thought it was a firecracker, and the President kind of raised up in his seat. And I thought, you know, he was kind of going along with a gag or something. And then all of a sudden the next one popped, and Governor Connally grabbed his stomach and kind of laid over to the side. And then another one—it was just awful fast. And President Kennedy reached up (with both hands she reaches for her right temple) and grabbed--it looked like he grabbed--his ear and blood just started gushing out. (11-22-63 statement to Dallas Sheriff’s Department, 24H218) “Just about the time President Kennedy was in front of us, I heard another shot ring out and the President put his hands up to his head, I saw blood all over the side of his head.” 

Emmett Hudson was standing on the grassy knoll steps to the right and In front of the President. (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H558-565) “I was trying to get a good look at President Kennedy. I happened to be looking right at him when that bullet hit him, the second shot…it looked like it hit him somewhere along a little bit behind the ear and a little bit above the ear." (8-2-68 interview with Barry Ernest recounted in The Girl on the Stairs, published 2011) "When I inquired about the shots, he repeated what he had said to the Commission: they sounded as if they came from above, behind, and to the left. 'Above, behind, and to the left of what?' I asked. 'Above and behind the motorcade, and to the left of me' he replied."

James Altgens was on the opposite side of the street from Hudson and was pretty much in front of Kennedy, due to the curvature of the street. (7-22-64 testimony before the Warren Commission, 7H517-525) “There was flesh particles that flew out of the side of his head in my direction from where I was standing, so much so that it indicated to me that the shot came out of the left side of his head. Also, the fact that his head was covered with blood, the hairline included, on the left side all the way down, with no blood on his forehead or face--- suggested to me, too, that the shot came from the opposite side, meaning in the direction of this Depository Building" 

 

Note: this is just a small sample of the dozens of eyewitness statements which either describe a wound on the top or side of Kennedy's head, or an ejection of matter forwards from his position when hit. These witness statements are incompatible with the pet theory of some that there was no wound on the top or side of JFK's head, and that all films showing as much are fake. 

PAT SPEER WROTE:

Quote

Seeing as some have taken to claiming President Kennedy was killed by a shot fired from the front, and suffered no wound of any substance on the front or top of his head beyond a small entrance wound on his forehead, I present some quotes as a reminder of why most long-time researchers believe this to be bunkum.

Why don't you provide us a list of what you characterize as "most long-term researchers" who concur with your hypothesis that the back of President Kennedy's head was intact and that the large avulsive wound was instead on the top of his head? You seem so smug in making such loaded statements, despite the fact that you cannot substantiate them. Dr. Aguilar appears to agree that the large wound extended into frontal bone, but he would never agree there was no occipital damage. Dr. Mantik agrees that the X-rays indicate disrupted frontal bone, but he believes the X-rays are inconsistent with the Zapruder film head wound imagery, and that said imagery is fraudulent. You have elsewhere claimed that Harrison Livingstone believed in a frontal head wound, but that is inconsistent with everything I've read in his books (Livingstone coined the term "the Blob" for the Zapruder film frontal head wound imagery and contended that same is contradicted by all of the witnesses, and the autopsy photographs and X-rays). You could surely list all kinds of lone nutters like Paul Seaton and Randy Robertson, but all of their reasoning and methods suffer from the same shortcomings as your own, which I will demonstrate as follows:

PAT SPEER WROTE:

Quote

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (11-29-63 interview with Theodore White, notes released 5-26-95, and subsequently published in the September 1995 Kennedy Assassination Chronicles) “They were gunning the motorcycles; there were these little backfires; there was one noise like that; I thought it was a backfire. Then next I saw Connally grabbing his arm and saying no no no nonono, with his fist beating—then Jack turned and I turned—all I remember was a blue gray building up ahead, then Jack turned back, so neatly; his last expression was so neat; he had his hand out, I could see a piece of his skull coming off; it was flesh colored not white—he was holding out his hand—and I can see this perfectly clean piece detaching itself from his head; then he slumped in my lap.” (When describing the immediate aftermath of the shots) "All the ride to the hospital, I kept bending over him saying, "Jack, Jack, can you hear me, I love you, Jack." I kept holding the top of his head down trying to keep the..." (When describing her husband's condition upon arrival at the hospital) "From here down"--and here she made a gesture indicating her husband's forehead--"his head was so beautiful. I'd tried to hold the top of his head down, maybe I could keep it in...I knew he was dead." (4-7-64, 5-4-64, 5-7-64, 5-8-64, and 7-20-64 interviews with William Manchester, as represented in The Death of a President, 1967) (On the first shot) "Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise." (On Connally's screaming) "Jacqueline Kennedy heard him. In a daze she wondered 'Why is he screaming?' Already she had started to turn anxiously to her husband." (On the final shot) "The First Lady, in her last act as First Lady, leaned solicitously toward the President. His face was quizzical. She had seen that expression so often, when he was puzzling over a difficult press conference question. Now, in a gesture of infinite grace, he raised his right hand, as though to brush back his tousled chestnut hair. But the motion faltered. The hand fell back empty. He had been reaching for the top of his head. But it wasn't there any more."

Re: Jackie Kennedy:

To attempt to substantiate your claim that Jackie Kennedy's was a top-of-the-head witness, you rely upon the interviews conducted by Theodore White and William Manchester who filtered her words through their own lemses of what they believed to be accurate -- and/or politically acceptable -- at the time they published their interviews, and you fail to mention the most important interview of Jackie Kennedy, which is the one that was conducted by the Warren Commission with Jackie sworn under pains and penalties of perjury (although the Warren Commission did attempt to filter her testimony about the President's head wound by classifying it top secret and omitting it from the Warren Report, the testimony was released as the result of litigation in the early 1970's. That sworn testimony was as follows

"I was trying to hold his hair on. From the front there was nothing -- I suppose there must have been. But from the back you could see, you know, you were trying to hold his hair on, and his skull on...."                                                            

There is nothing ambiguous about Jackie Kennedy's Warren Commission testimony. She clearly stated that there was no damage to the front of JFK's head, and that she was trying to hold his hair and skull down on the back of his head.

Instead, you have given us a portion of Theodore White's 11/29/1963 interview of Jackie (published in the 12/6/1963 issue of LIFE magazine, but portion of interview hee in question was not published in the original article) in which he claimed that Jackie said "[h]is head was so beautiful. I tried to hold the top of his head down, maybe I could keep it in... but I knew he was dead." https://www.pinkpillbox.com/index.php/historical-record/words-and-images/interviews/1963-life-interview

However, there is a problem with White's claim that Jackie said she tried to hold down the "top" of JFK's head. Theodore White's notes of the interview do not reflect that Jackie used the word "top." https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/thwpp-059-011#?image_identifier=THWPP-059-011-p0005

To the contrary, and as the White's notes above reflect, what Jackie said was "I tried to hold it down, maybe I could keep it in." Above the phrase White puts in brackets that Jackie gestured to her forehead when saying it, but it was obviously added at a different time. Did White add it years later, in 1969 when he donated the notes to the JFK library, to justify liberties he had earlier taken to make Jackie's account conform to the government version of the head wound? 

With regard to the William Manchester phrase you provided ("Now, in a gesture of infinite grace, [JFK] raised his right hand, as though to brush back his tousled chestnut hair. But the motion faltered. The hand fell back empty. He had been reaching for the top of his head. But it wasn't there any more.") from page 158 of The Death of a President, Manchester described JFK making a gesture for the top of his head that we do not even see in the Zapruder film, and it is also clear from other references in the book that Manchester's interviews of other witnesses had provided him with a more accurate understanding that the large wound was in the back rather than the front or the top of the head, such as the following: Page 159 -- "Sam Kinney, seeing the back of the President's head erupt, stamps on his siren button with his left foot to alert Kellerman and Greer." Page 182 -- "The damage to the posterior cranium, however, could scarcely be exaggerated. That was the origin of the massive bleeding, which had begun on Elm Street, had continued throughout the ride to the unloading dock and the trip down the corridor and which was unstanched even here."

The photographic evidence of Jackie Kennedy's interactions with the head wound is just as decisive as her Warren Commission testimony and corroborates it. In the following slow motion high definition Zapruder film footage we see Jackie Kennedy very deliberately feel the dimensions of the occipital-parietal wound with her white gloved hand (and no, she is not feeling a shadow, that is the false appearance presented by the surreptitious black patch placed over the Zapruder film imagery of the occipital-parietal wound by the CIA):

Jackie next went on to the trunk to retrieve skull and brain matter that had been blown out of the back of JFK's head:

 

We know that Jackie Kennedy retrieved skull and brain from the trunk of the limo because Dr. Marion Jenkins has reported that she turned same over to him when she arrived at Parkland Hospital:

Even more problematic for your claim that Jackie Kennedy is a top-of-the-head wound witness is that after Jackie turned over the skull and brain fragments to Dr. Jenkins he then later that day filed a first day Parkland Hospital Admittance Note reporting that the President's large head wound had been located in the temporal and occipital regions of the head, and that cerebellar brain tissue had been extruding from the wound.

If Jackie Kennedy had instead turned over to him parietal skull and cerebral brain tissue don't you think the good doctor would have reported that in his Admittance Note? 

Setting aside your nonsense claims about Dr. Robert McClelland's 11-22-1963 Admittance Note (which a long list of researchers have repeatedly schooled you on for nearly twenty years), ALL of the treating physicians who attended to JFK and filed first day Admittance Notes reported the large avulsive head wound as being occipital and involving extruding cerebellum, and that fact has virtually as much evidentiary weight as if you and I had the body itself in front of us to inspect.

https://www.jfk-assassination.net/russ/jfkinfo/app8.htm

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,
/s/ M. T. Jenkins
M. T. Jenkins, M.D .

 

Edited March 17 by Keven Hofeling