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Jean Hill


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One of the most interesting characters involved in the Kennedy assassination is the schoolteacher, Jean Hill. On 22nd November, 1963, Hill, watched the motorcade of President John F. Kennedy from the grassy knoll facing the Texas School Depository Building. Hill and her friend, Mary Moorman, who was taking Polaroid pictures of the motorcade, were only a few feet away from President John F. Kennedy when he was shot. Hill and Moorman thought the shots had come from behind her on the grassy knoll and as soon as the firing stopped they ran towards the wooden fence in an attempt to find the gunman. However, they were detained by two secret service men. After searching the two women they confiscated the picture of the assassination.

Hill gave a statement to the police where she stated: "Mary Moorman started to take a picture. We were looking at the president and Jackie in the back seat... Just as the president looked up two shots rang out and I saw the president grab his chest and fell forward across Jackie's lap... There was an instant pause between two shots and the motorcade seemingly halted for an instant. Three or four more shots rang out and the motorcade sped away."

Hill later gave evidence to the Warren Commission that was highly controversial. She claimed that she heard between four and six shots. Hill was also convinced that some of the shots came the grassy knoll. In interviews on television after the assassination Hill said she saw "a little white dog" in the rear seat of the president's car. As there was no dog in the car, the reliability of Hill's witness statement was undermined. However, 25 years later, it was revealed that a small white stuffed animal was on the back seat of the car. A child had presented it to Jackie Kennedy at the beginning of the tour of Dallas. This information was suppressed in order to discredit Hill as a reliable witness.

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  • 2 months later...

About the little white dog Jean spoke about ...

Jean had told the reporter before that interview that she had seen JFK and Jackie looking at something in the seat. The reporter asked Jean what she thought it might be and she said that she didn't know, but it could have been a little dog or something. The reporter then asked that Jean give her initial impression as to what she first thought was in the seat when they starting taping her interview. Jean had said many times in later life that she regretted doing what the reporter asked of her because it made it sound as if she believed she had seen a dog when in fact she didn't really know what it was. It was that statement about seeing a dog that Jean felt had been used against her powers of observation and is why she regretted ever going along with the reporter about stating what her first impression was.

Edited by Larry Peters
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John, as far as I know that "white stuffed animal" was never actually verified and indeed it is probably a mistake. For a time I bought in to it myself and did some

photo enhancement from the news movie footage that seems to show

a white bunny rabbit toy. However that was from a very poor quality

copy of the footage and Richard Trask resolved the whole issue in his second

book, That Day In Dallas.

On page 29 of that book you will see that while passing off the plane Jackie must have been given a small boquet of white flowers - which she is holding under

the red roses she was given immediately upon debarking.

She appears to have taken both the large rose boquet and the smaller white flower boquet to the limo and it is very likely the sort of "clumpy" white flowers that Jean saw in the car....at a distance it does look sort of like one of those "rag" toys, a dog or bunny. I'm petty sure that's what Jean saw...it would really stand out in the car due to being bright white and actually gives some support to her being a good witness for detail even if she could not be sure in a quick glance exactly what it was.

-- Larry

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John, as far as I know that "white stuffed animal" was never actually verified and indeed it is probably a mistake.

Larry,

I think it was a Lamb Chop puppet.

From a 9/24/02 posting in the Lancer Forum by Jim Oliver:

"It was at an Ask CONFERENCE that researcher Wallace Millam(?spelling) produced the footage of Jackie Kennedy being given a little white stuffed animal (Lamb Chop) at the fence at Love Field. Mrs. Kennedy placed the white toy animal(that did look like a little dog)on the rear seat of the limo between her and the President. This really impressed me as to how close to the car Jean actually was and how much she did see."

Steve Thomas

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The "lamb chop" footage is the footage from Love field that I was talking

about having still framed myself. It is black and white and not great quality and

I was as convinced as Wallace that it was a toy - until I saw the high

quality photo that I described.

It truly does look like a doll in the news footage but that's because

of the quality. I don't know if Wallace ever got the other photos or not.

About all I can do is suggest that you take a look at the book and I think

you will be persuaded we are talking about Jacke holding a boquet of

white flowers and not "lamb chop", although that would have been a neat

solution.

In any event, Jean certainly did not make up the white object.

-- Larry

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Boy you are quick James, yes that's exactly what I ended up with...looks

like either lamb chop or more possibly a bunny.

However if you get Tasks much higher quality images you see with no

doubt that it's a white flower boquet.

-- Larry

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However if you get Tasks much higher quality images you see with no

doubt that it's a white flower boquet.

Yep, you're right, Larry.

I just had a hunt around and found some good examples. I'm having trouble with some of my photo folders and I can't get certain images to attach. D'oh!

And they said the computer was going to make our lives easier. :huh:

James

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JFK Researcher James Gordon of Scotland pointed out long ago some color formations in that white clump on the limo seat being discussed here and he found that it was consistant with a small bouquet Jackie had in her hands along with her roses at Love Field. His images were very convincing. Of Course that doesn't mean that Jackie's didn't have a white 'lamb chop' doll with her on the back seat either. Gordon was just pointing out that it wasn't what was being seen on the rear limo seat in the post assassination photos.

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  • 3 years later...
About the little white dog Jean spoke about ...

Jean had told the reporter before that interview that she had seen JFK and Jackie looking at something in the seat. The reporter asked Jean what she thought it might be and she said that she didn't know, but it could have been a little dog or something. The reporter then asked that Jean give her initial impression as to what she first thought was in the seat when they starting taping her interview. Jean had said many times in later life that she regretted doing what the reporter asked of her because it made it sound as if she believed she had seen a dog when in fact she didn't really know what it was. It was that statement about seeing a dog that Jean felt had been used against her powers of observation and is why she regretted ever going along with the reporter about stating what her first impression was.

Jean Hill has been rehabilitated regarding her seeing the "dog" in the car.

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