For
a detailed account of the assassination read an Overview
of the Assassination of JFK.
Drawing
taken from David Simkin's book, The Assassination of President
Kennedy.
Larger
map of the Dealey Plaza
(B1)
Key: (A) Sixth Floor Window (rifle and cartridge cases found here);
(B) Wooden Fence on Grassy Knoll where witnesses saw a "puff
of smoke". Position of the presidential limousine: (a) position
where view of Kennedy from Texas Book Depository is obscured by tree;
(b) position at the time of Kennedy's reaction to first shot; (c)
position at time of Governor Connally's reaction to a shot; (d) position
of Kennedy's car at the time of the fatal head shot.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(B2)
Kenneth
O'Donnell was interviewed
by Arlen
Specter on behalf of the Warren
Commission ( 1964)
Arlen Specter: Would you outline the origin of that trip to Texas,
please?
Kenneth O'Donnell: It came
from a conversation between the President and Vice President Johnson,
and myself. It concerned President Kennedy's desire, and President
Johnson's desire that he came to Texas...
Arlen
Specter: In a general way, what was the purpose of the
President's trip to Texas in November of 1963?
Kenneth O'Donnell: Well,
he hadn't conducted any political activities in Texas. There were
great controversies existing. There was a party problem in Texas that
the President and the Vice President felt he could be helpful, as
both sides of the controversy were supporting President Kennedy, and
they felt he could be a bridge between these two groups, and this
would be helpful in the election of 1964. I think that is the major
reason for the trip.
Why did
Lyndon B. Johnson want President Kennedy want to visit Texas in November,
1963.
(B3)
Joachim
Joesten,
How Kennedy Was Killed (1968)
For
the plot to kill President Kennedy to have a maximum chance
of success, it was necessary to draw him out of an environment where
he was ordinarily well-protected, such as Washington, and lead him
to a place where the security apparatus could be effectively neutralized.
Dallas was just such a place, for there the police force was in the
hands of an organisation (The Citizens Council) determined to get
rid of the liberal, progressive, peace-minded Chief Executive. In
all of the United States, there was no city where Kennedy had more
powerful and active enemies. Not only the local police force, but
also the regional bureaus of the FBI and the Secret Service were headed
by persons hostile to him. In Dallas there was, to use the favorite
LBJ term again, a 'consensus' that Kennedy was a president the nation
could do without and that Lyndon B. Johnson would make a fine successor.
And out of that consensus developed the conspiracy.
Why
does Joachim Joesten believe that President Kennedy was invited to
Dallas?
(B4)
The Warren Commission Report (September,
1964)
When Governor Connally called at the White House on October
4 to discuss the details of the visit, it was agreed that the planning
of events in Texas would be left largely to the Governor. At the White
House, Kenneth O'Donnell, special assistant to the President, acted
as coordinator for the trip.
Everyone agreed that, if
there was sufficient time, a motorcade through downtown Dallas would
be the best way for the people to see their President. When the trip
was planned for only one day, Governor Connally had opposed the motorcade
because there was not enough time. The Governor stated, however, that
"once we got San Antonio moved from Friday to Thursday afternoon,
where that was his initial stop in Texas, then we had the time, and
I withdrew my objections to a motorcade." According to O'Donnell,
"we had a motorcade wherever we went," particularly in large
cities where the purpose was to let the President be seen by as many
people as possible. In his experience, "it would be automatic"
for the Secret Service to arrange a route which would, within the
time allotted, bring the President "through an area which exposes
him to the greatest number of people."
Advance
preparations for President Kennedy's visit to Dallas were primarily
the responsibility of two Secret Service agents: Special Agent Winston
G. Lawson, a member of the White House detail who acted as the advance
agent, and Forrest V. Sorrels, special agent in charge of the Dallas
office. Both agents were advised of the trip on November 4. Lawson
received a tentative schedule of the Texas trip on November 8 from
Roy H. Kellerman, assistant special agent in charge of the White House
detail, who was the Secret. Service official responsible for the entire
Texas journey. As advance agent working closely with Sorrels, Lawson
had responsibility for arranging the timetable for the President's
visit to Dallas and coordinating local activities with the White House
staff, the organizations directly concerned with the visit, and local
law enforcement officials. Lawson's most important responsibilities
were to take preventive action against anyone in Dallas considered
a threat to the President, to select the luncheon site and motorcade
route, and to plan security measures for the luncheon and the motorcade.
Secret Service arrangements for Presidential trips, which were followed
in the Dallas motorcade, are designed to provide protection while
permitting large numbers of people to see the President. Every effort
is made to prevent unscheduled stops, although the President may,
and in Dallas did, order stops in order to greet the public. Men the
motorcade slows or stops, agents take positions between the President
and the crowd. The order of vehicles in the Dallas motorcade was as
follows:
Motorcycles - Dallas police
motorcycles preceded the pilot car.
The pilot car - Manned
by officers of the Dallas Police Department, this automobile preceded
the main party by approximately quarter of a mile. Its function was
to alert police along the route that the motorcade was approaching
and to check for signs of trouble.
Motorcycles - Next came
four to six motorcycle policemen whose main purpose was to keep the
crowd back.
The lead car - Described
as a "rolling command car," this was an unmarked Dallas
police car, driven by Chief of Police Curry and occupied by Secret
Service Agents Sorrels and Lawson and by Dallas County Sheriff J.
E. Decker. The occupants scanned the crowd and the buildings along
the route. Their main function was to spot trouble in advance and
to direct any necessary steps to meet the trouble. Following normal
practice, the lead automobile stayed proximately four to five car
lengths ahead of the President's limousine.
The Presidential limousine
- The President's automobile was specially designed 1961 Lincoln convertible
with two collapsible jump seats between the front and rear seats.
It was outfitted with a clear plastic bubbletop which was neither
bulletproof nor bullet resistant. Because the skies had cleared in
Dallas, Lawson directed that the top not be used for the day's activities.
He acted on instructions he had received (from Kenneth O'Donnell,
special assistant to the President).
Who organized
the motorcade in Dallas on 22nd November, 1963?
(B5)
Bob Jackson, a photographer for the Dallas Time Herald, was
in the Dealey Plaza when John
F. Kennedy was
assassinated. His account was quoted in
The Times on 23rd November, 1963.
When we heard
the first shot the President had already turned the corner. We had
not made the corner yet. Then we heard two more shots. As far as I
know, three shots were all I heard.
Since I was facing the
building where the shots were coming from (Texas Book Depository),
I just glanced up and saw two coloured men in a window straining to
look at a window up above them. As I looked up to the window above,
I saw a rifle being pulled back in the window. It might have been
resting on the windowsill. I didn't see a man. I didn't even see if
it had a scope (telescopic sight) on it.
As soon as I saw the rifle,
I knew someone was trying to kill them, but it never entered my mind
that he could be dead. I just couldn't believe it.
What
valuable evidence did Bob Jackson provide to the Dallas Police Department
about the assassination of President Kennedy?
(B6)
Harold
Norman,
was watching the motorcade from the 5th floor of the Texas Book Depository.
He gave an account of what he saw on The Warren
Report: Part 2, CBS Television
on 26th June, 1967.
Then I think, about that time, well, Jarman says, somebody's shooting
at the President. And I told Jarman, I said, I said, I know it is
because I could hear - they are above me, and I could hear the shots
and everything, and I could even hear the empty cartridges hitting
the floor. I mean, after the shots had been fired.
And
so, after the shots were fired, well, all the officers and everyone
else seemed to think they came from by the track over by
the underpass, because that's where everyone ran, over that-a-way.
But, I - just like I said, I've been hunting enough to know the sound
of a rifle from-from a backfire or a firecracker or anything like
- especially that close to me.
According
to Harold Norman, where did most people think the shots had been fired
from?
(B7)
Carolyn
Walther,
The Warren Report:
Part 1, CBS Television (25th June, 1967)
I think I got out on the street about 12:15 or 12:20 - something along
there. And we were looking
around, back and forth. People were talking and laughing, and in a
very good mood. And I looked at this building (Texas Book Depository)
and saw a man with a gun, and there was another man standing to his
right. I could not see all of this man, and I couldn't see his face.
The other man was holding
a short gun. It wasn't as long as a rifle. He was holding it pointed
down, and he was kneeling in the window, or sitting. His arms were
on the window. He was holding the gun in a downward position, and
he was looking downward. ...
Just as I was looking
at this man the people started shouting "Here he comes, here
he comes." So I looked the other way and forgot about the man.
The President passed us,
and he was smiling, and everybody was waving. Then the last of the
cars went by, and I heard the shot. I thought it was a firecracker.
Then I started back to work, and it was along the curb, and then two
shots right together, and then another one. I'm sure there were four
shots.
And then I said "It's
gunshots." And people started screaming. I told them that I saw
the man had light hair, or brown, and was wearing a white shirt. I
explained to the FBI agents that I wasn't sure about that. That was
my impression on thinking about it later. That I thought that was
the way the man was dressed. This other man was wearing a brown suit.
That was all I could see, half of this man's body from his shoulders
to his hips. He was facing the window. Evidently he was looking out.
But his face was in the upper part, where the glass was dirty, and
I couldn't see his face....
The first statement that
I made, I said the man was on the fourth or fifth floor, and I still
feel the same way.
How does
Carolyn Walther's account of the assassination differ from that of
Bob Jackson (B5) and Harold Norman (B6)?
(B8)
Michael
Kurtz, Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination From
a Historians Perspective (1982)
Intensive
scientific analysis of the Zapruder film by a team of Life researchers,
as well as by the Itek Corporation, reveals that the head actually
undergoes a double movement. The optically enhanced computer analysis
by Itek demonstrated that in frames Z312 through Z313, President Kennedy's
head flies rapidly forward. This forward head movement is not apparent
to the viewer of the film because the head moves faster than the speed
of the film and camera. In frame 314 the head reverses direction and
moves rapidly backward until it hits the rear seat in frames Z321...
The most
plausible explanation for the forward and backward movement of the
head and body is that of a double impact on the head, one shot fired
from the rear, and the other from the front. The author has interviewed
numerous physicians and veterans who served in Italy during World
War II. He has also interviewed several veterans of the Italian Army
who used Mannlicher-Carcano rifles and copper-jacketed ammunition.
Collectively, these people have seen several thousand gunshot wounds
inflicted by Mannlicher-Carcano rifles. Their unanimous experience
has been that the type of head wounds suffered by President Kennedy,
as well as the double movement of his head, could not possibly have
been caused solely by Oswald's rifle.
Why
does Michael Kurtz believe there were at least two gunman involved
in the assassination of President Kennedy?
(B9)
S.
M. Holland,
The Warren Report:
Part 2, CBS Television (26th June, 1967)
Just about the time that the parade turned on Elm
Street, about where that truck is - that bus is now, there was a shot
came from up-the upper end of the street. I couldn't say then, at
that time, that it came from the Book Depository book
store. But I knew that it came from the other end of the street, and
the President slumped over forward like that and tried to raise his
hand up. And Governor Connally, sitting in front of him on the right
side of the car, tried to turn to his right and he was sitting so
close to the door that he couldn't make it that-a-way, and he turned
back like that with his arm out to the left. And about that time,
the second shot was fired and it knocked him over forward and he slumped
to the right, and I guess his wife pulled him over in her lap because
he fell over in her lap.
And about that time, there
was a third report that wasn't nearly as loud as the two previous
reports. It came from that picket
fence, and then there was a fourth report. The third and the fourth
reports was almost simultaneously. But, the third report wasn't nearly
as loud as the two previous reports or the fourth report. And I glanced
over underneath that green tree and you see a - a little puff of smoke.
It looked like a puff of steam or cigarette smoke. And the smoke was
about - oh, eight or ten feet off the ground, and about fifteen feet
this side of that tree.
What evidence
does S. M. Holland provide that there were gunman firing at President
Kennedy from behind and in front of the presidential limousine.
(B10)
The Zapruder Film film shows the position
of Jean
Hill
(left)
and Mary Moorman when John
F. Kennedy was shot.
(B11)
Jean
Hill
interviewed by Arlen
Specter from the Warren
Commission (24th March, 1964)
Arlen
Specter: You did think there was more than one person shooting?
Jean
Hill: Yes, sir.
Arlen
Specter: What made you think that?
Jean
Hill: The way the gun report sounded and the difference in the way
they were fired-the timing.
Arlen
Specter: What was your impression as to the source of the second group
of shots which you have described as the fourth, perhaps the fifth,
and perhaps the sixth shot?
Jean
Hill: Well, nothing, except that I thought that they were fired by
someone else.
Arlen
Specter: And did you have any idea where they were coming from?
Jean
Hill: No; as I said, I thought they were coming from the general direction
of that knoll.
Jean
Hill was watching the motorcade from the grassy knoll facing the Texas
School Depository Building. Study source B8. How does this picture
explain why Jean Hill's testimony was considered to be so important.
(B12)
Jean
Hill,
speech (November, 1991)
That area (of the Dealey Plaza) is sloping so when Mary reached
up to take the picture, we did get a picture of the School Book Depository.
We knew that, because we had
a Polaroid camera, we were going to have to be quick if we wanted
to take more than one picture. So what we planned was, Mary would
take the picture, I would pull it out of the camera, coat it with
fixative and put it in my pocket. That way we could keep shooting.
When the head shot came, Mary fell down and the film (i.e., the famous
photograph) was still in the camera. When the motorcade came around,
there were so many voters on the other side (of Elm Street) that I
knew the President was never going to look at me, so I yelled, "Hey
Mr. President, I want to take your picture!" Just then his hands
came up and the shots started ringing out. Then, in half the time
it takes for me to tell it, I looked across the street and I saw them
shooting from the knoll. I did get the impression that day that there
was more than one shooter, but I had the idea that the good guys and
the bad guys were shooting at each other. I guess I was a victim of
too much television, because I assumed that the good guys always shot
at the bad guys. Mary was on the grass shouting, "Get down! Get
down! They're shooting! They're shooting!" Nobody was moving
and I looked up and saw this man, moving rather quickly in front of
the School Book Depository toward the railroad tracks, heading west,
toward the area where I had seen the man shooting on the knoll. So,
I thought to myself, "This man is getting away. I've got to do
something. I've got to catch him." I jumped out into the street.
One of the motorcyclists was turning his motor, looking up and all
around for the shooter, and he almost ran me over. It scared me so
bad, I went back to get Mary to go with me. She was still down on
the ground. I couldn't get her to go, so I left her. I ran across
and went up the hill. When I got there a hand came down on my shoulder,
and it was a firm grip. This man said, "You're coming with me."
And I said, "No, I can't come with you, I have to get this man."
I'm not very good at doing what I'm told. He showed me I.D. It said
Secret Service. It looked official to me. I tried to turn away from
him and he said a second time, "You're going with me." At
this point, a second man came and grabbed me from the other side,
and they ran their hands through my pockets. They didn't say, "Do
you have the picture? Which pocket?" They just ran their hands
through my pockets and took it. They both held me up here (at the
shoulder near the neck) someplace, where you could hurt somebody badly
- and they told me, "Smile. Act like you're with your boyfriends."
But I couldn't smile because it hurt too badly. And they said, "Here
we go," each one holding me by a shoulder. They took me to the
Records Building and we went up to a room on the fourth floor. There
were two guys sitting there on the other side of a table looking out
a window that overlooked "the killing zone," where you could
see all of the goings on. You got the impression that they had been
sitting there for a long time. They asked me what I had seen, and
it became clear that they knew what I had seen. They asked me how
many shots I had heard and I told them four to six. And they said,
"No, you didn't. There were three shots. We have three bullets
and that's all we're going to commit to now." I said, "Well,
I know what I heard," and they told me, "What you heard
were echoes. You would be very wise to keep your mouth shut."
Well, I guess I've never been that wise. I know the difference between
firecrackers, echoes, and gunshots. I'm the daughter of a game ranger,
and my father took me shooting all my life.
How many
shots did Jean Hill hear? Why did the Secret Service agents disagree
with this account?
(B13)
William
Manchester, The Death of a President (1967)
There was
a sudden, sharp, shattering sound. Various individuals heard it differently.
Jacqueline Kennedy believed it was a motorcycle noise. Curry was under
the impression that someone had fired a railroad torpedo. Ronald Fischer
and Bob Edwards, assuming that it was a backfire, chuckled. Most of
the hunters in the motorcade - Sorrels, Connally, Yarborough, Gonzaiez,
Albert Thomas - instinctively identified it as rifle fire.
But the White
House Detail was confused. Their experience in outdoor shooting was
limited to two qualification courses a year on a range in Washington's
National Arboretum. There they heard only their own weapons, and they
were unaccustomed to the bizarre effects that are created when small-arms
fire echoes among unfamiliar structures - in this case, the buildings
of Dealey Plaza. Emory Roberts recognized Oswald's first shot as a
shot. So did Youngblood, whose alert response may have saved Lyndon
Johnson's life. They were exceptions. The men in Halfback were bewildered.
They glanced around uncertainly. Lawson, Kellerman, Greer, Ready,
and Hill all thought that a firecracker had been exploded. The fact
that this was a common reaction is no mitigation. It was the responsibility
of James J. Rowley, Chief of the Secret Service, and Jerry Behn, Head
of the White House Detail, to see that their agents were trained to
cope with precisely this sort of emergency. They were supposed to
be picked men, honed to a matchless edge. It was comprehensible that
Roy Truly should dismiss the first shot as a cherry bomb. It was even
fathomable that Patrolman James M. Chaney, mounted on a motorcycle
six feet from the Lincoln, should think that another machine had backfired.
Chaney was an ordinary policeman, not a Presidential bodyguard. The
protection of the Chief Executive, on the other hand, was the profession
of Secret Service agents. They existed for no other reason. Apart
from Clint Hill - and perhaps Jack Ready, who started to step off
the right running board and was ordered back by Roberts - the behaviour
of the men in the
follow-up car was unresponsive. Even more tragic was
the perplexity of Roy Kellerman, the ranking agent in Dallas, and
Bill Greer, who was under Kellerman's supervision. Kellerman and
Greer were in a position to take swift evasive action, and for five
terrible seconds
they were immobilized.
Hill, though
mistaken about the noise, saw Kennedy lurch forward and grab his neck.
That was enough for Clint. With his extraordinary reflexes he leaped
into Elm Street and charged forward.
Why
is William Manchester critical of the way the Secret Service behaved
during the assassination of President Kennedy?
(B14)
Michael
L. Kurtz, Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination From
a Historians Perspective (1982)
The Zapruder and
other films and photographs of the assassination clearly reveal the
utter lack of response by Secret Service agents Roy Kellerman and
James Greer, who were in the front seat of the presidential limousine.
After the first two shots, Greer actually slowed the vehicle to less
than five miles an hour. Kellerman merely sat in the front seat, seemingly
oblivious to the shooting. In contrast, Secret Service Agent Rufus
Youngblood responded instantly to the first shot, and before the head
shots were fired, had covered Vice-President Lyndon Johnson with his
body.
Trained to react instantaneously,
as in the attempted assassinations of President Gerald Ford by Lynette
Fromme and Sara Jane Moore and of President Ronald Reagan by John
Warnock Hinckley, the Secret Service agents assigned to protect President
Kennedy simply neglected their duty. The reason for their neglect
remains one of the more intriguing mysteries of the assassination.
Does Michael
Kurtz agree with William Manchester (B13) about the behaviour of the
Secret Service during the assassination of President Kennedy?
(B15)
The
Warren Commission Report (September, 1964)
The
Commission has concluded that some of the advance preparations in
Dallas made by the Secret Service, such as the detailed security measures
taken at Love Field and the Trade Mart, were thorough and well executed.
In other respects, however, the Commission has concluded that the
advance preparations for the President's trip were deficient.
Although the Secret Service is compelled to rely to a great extent
on local law enforcement officials, its procedures at the time of
the Dallas trip did not call for well-defined instructions as to the
respective responsibilities of the police officials and others assisting
in the protection of the President.
The
procedures relied upon by the Secret Service for detecting the presence
of an assassin located in a building along a motorcade route were
inadequate. At the time of the trip to Dallas, the Secret Service
as a matter of practice did not investigate, or cause to be checked,
any building located along the motorcade route to be taken by the
President. The responsibility for observing windows in these buildings
during the motorcade was divided between local police personnel stationed
on the streets to regulate crowds and Secret Service agents riding
in the motorcade. Based on its investigation the Commission has concluded
that these arrangements during the trip to Dallas were clearly not
sufficient.
The
configuration of the Presidential car and the seating arrangements
of the Secret Service agents in the car did not afford the Secret
Service agents the opportunity they should have had to be of immediate
assistance to the President at the first sign of danger.
Within
these limitations, however, the Commission finds that the agents most
immediately responsible for the President's safety reacted promptly
at the time the shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository
Building.
Did
the Warren Commission agree with William Manchester and Michael Kurtz
about the behaviour of the Secret Service during the assassination
of President Kennedy?
(B16)
Clinton J. Hill, statement dated 30th November,
1963.
My instructions for Dallas
were to work the left rear of the Presidential automobile and remain
in close proximity to Mrs. John F. Kennedy at all times. The agent
assigned to work the left rear of the Presidential automobile rides
on the forward portion of the left hand running board of the Secret
Service follow-up car and only moves forward to walk alongside the
Presidential automobile when it slows to such a pace that people can
readily approach the auto on foot. If the crowd is very heavy, but
the automobile is running at a rather rapid speed, the agent rides
on the left rear of the Presidential automobile on a step specifically
designed for that purpose...
The motorcade made a right
hand turn onto Elm Street. I was on the forward portion of the left
running board of the follow-up car. The motorcade made a left hand
turn from Elm Street toward an underpass. We were traveling about
12 to 15 miles per hour. On the left hand side was a grass area with
a few people scattered along it observing the motorcade passing, and
I was visually scanning these people when I heard a noise similar
to a firecracker. The sound came from my right rear and I immediately
moved my head in that direction. In so doing, my eyes had to cross
the Presidential automobile and I saw the President hunch forward
and then slump to his left. I jumped from the Follow-up car and ran
toward the Presidential automobile. I heard a second firecracker type
noise but it had a different sound - like the sound of shooting a
revolver into something hard. I saw the President slump more toward
his left.
I jumped onto the left
rear step of the Presidential automobile. Mrs. Kennedy shouted, "They've
shot his head off," then turned and raised out of her seat as
if she were reaching to her right rear toward the back of the car
for something that had blown out. I forced her back into her seat
and placed my body above President and Mrs. Kennedy. SA Greer had,
as I jumped onto the Presidential automobile, accelerated the Presidential
automobile forward. I heard ASAIC Kellerman call SA Lawson on the
two-way radio and say, "To the nearest hospital, quick."
I shouted as loud as I could at the Lead car, "To the hospital,
to the hospital."
As I lay over the top of
the back seat I noticed a portion of the President's head on the right
rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Part of his brain
was gone. I saw a part of his skull with hair on it lying in the seat.
The time of the shooting was approximately 12:30 p.m., Dallas time.
I looked forward to the jump seats and noticed Governor Connally's
chest was covered with blood and he was slumped to his left and partially
covered up by his wife. I had not realized until this point that the
Governor had been shot.
When we arrived at Parkland
Memorial Hospital, Dallas, I jumped off the Presidential automobile,
removed my suit coat and covered the President's head and upper chest
with it. I assisted in lifting the President from the rear seat of
the automobile onto a wheel type stretcher and accompanied the President
and Mrs. Kennedy into the Emergency Room. Governor Connally had been
placed in an Emergency Room across the hall.
What was
Clint Hill's main responsibility during the Dallas motorcade? Was
he successful in carrying out this responsibility.
(B17)
William
Greer interviewed by Arlen
Specter on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen Specter: Describe
as best you can the types of sound of the second report, as distinguished
from the first noise which you said was similar to a motorcycle backfire?
William Greer: The second
one didn't sound any different much than the first one but I kind
of got, by turning around, I don't know whether I got a little concussion
of it, maybe when it hit something or not, I may have gotten a little
concussion that made me think there was something different to it.
But so far as the noise is concerned, I haven't got any memory of
any difference in them at all...
Arlen
Specter: Did you
step on the accelerator before, simultaneously or after Mr. Kellerman
instructed you to accelerate?
William Greer: It was about
simultaneously.
Arlen
Specter: So that
it was your reaction to accelerate prior to the time...
William Greer: Yes, sir.
Arlen
Specter: You had
gotten that instruction?
William Greer: Yes, sir;
it was my reaction that caused me to accelerate.
Arlen
Specter: Do you
recollect whether you accelerated before or at the same time or after
the third shot?
William Greer: I couldn't
really say. Just as soon as I turned my head back from the second
shot, right away I accelerated right then. It was a matter of my reflexes
to the accelerator.
How did
William Greer react when
the first shot was fired at President Kennedy.
(B18)
Roy
Kellerman
interviewed by Arlen
Specter, John
S. Cooper
and Gerald
Ford on behalf of the Warren
Commission (9th March, 1964)
Arlen
Specter: All right. Now, describe what occurred as you proceeded down
Elm Street after turning off of Houston.
Roy
Kellerman: As we turned off Houston onto Elm and made the short little
dip to the left going down grade, as I said, we were away from buildings,
and were there was a sign on the side of the road which I don't recall
what it was or what it said, but we no more than passed that and you
are out in the open, and there is a report like a firecracker, pop.
And I turned my head to the right because whatever this noise was
I was sure that it came from the right and perhaps into the rear,
and as I turned my head to the right to view whatever it was or see
whatever it was, I heard a voice from the back seat and I firmly believe
it was the President's, "My God, I am hit," and I turned
around and he has got his hands up here like this.
Arlen
Specter: Indicating right hand up toward his neck?
Roy
Kellerman: That is right, sir. In fact, both hands were up in that
direction...
Arlen
Specter: You say that you turned to your right immediately after you
heard a shot?
Roy
Kellerman: Yes, sir.
Arlen
Specter: What was the reason for your reacting to your right?
Roy
Kellerman: That was the direction that I heard this noise, pop.
Arlen
Specter: Do you have a reaction as to the height from which the noise
came?
Roy
Kellerman: No; honestly, I do not.
Gerald
Ford: Was there any reaction that you noticed on the part of Greer
when the noise was noticed by you?
Roy
Kellerman: You are referring, Mr. Congressman, to the reaction to
get this car out of there?
Gerald
Ford: Yes.
Roy
Kellerman: Mr. Congressman, I have driven that car many times, and
I never cease to be amazed even to this day with the weight of the
automobile plus the power that is under the hood; we just literally
jumped out of the God - damn road.
Does
Roy Kellerman account support the views of William Greer (B17)?
(B19)
Evidence of four police officers protecting the motorcade about what
the presidential car did when the shots were fired in the Dealey Plaza.
James Chaney (motorcyclist on motorcade): "From the time the
first shot ran out, the car stopped completely, pulled to the left
and stopped."
Bobby Hargis
(motorcyclist on motorcade):
"The car stopped immediately after that and stayed stopped for
about half a second, then took off."
Earle Brown (police officer
on overpass): "When the shots were fired, it (the car) stopped."
J. W. Foster (police officer
on overpass): "Immediately after Kennedy was struck... the car
pulled to the curb."
How do
these accounts differ from that given by William Greer and Roy Kellerman?
(B20)
Winston
G. Lawson,
United States Secret Service, statement (1st December, 1963)
At the corner of
Houston and Elm Streets I verified with Chief Curry that we were about
five minutes from the Trade Mart and gave this signal over my portable
White House Communications radio. We were just approaching a railroad
overpass and I checked to see if a police officer was in position
there and that no one was directly over our path. I noticed a police
officer but also noticed a few persons on the bridge and made motions
to have these persons removed from over our path. As the lead car
was passing under this bridge I heard the first loud, sharp report
and in more rapid succession two more sounds like gunfire. I could
see persons to the left of the motorcade vehicles running away. I
noticed Agent Hickey standing up in the follow-up car with the automatic
weapon and first thought he had fired at someone. Both the President's
car and our lead car rapidly accelerated almost simultaneously. I
heard a report over the two-way radio that we should proceed to the
nearest hospital. I noticed Agent Hill hanging on to the rear of the
President's vehicle. A motorcycle escort officer pulled alongside
our lead car and said the President had been shot. Chief Curry gave
a signal over his radio for police to converge on the area of the
incident. I requested Chief Curry to have the hospital contacted that
we were on the way. Our lead car assisted the motorcycles in escorting
the President's vehicle to Parkland Hospital.
Who did
Winston G. Lawson believe had fired the first shot?
(B21)
Michael Granberry, Dallas
Morning News (22nd November, 2003)
And then came the first shot. Like most witnesses, Winston Lawson
recalls two more, though puzzled by the quicker pace between the second
and the third, which all but tore the president's head off. The madness
that ensued found him and other agents racing to Parkland Hospital,
where he was among the first to see the president's body, crumpled
in the Lincoln.
"You
could see the damage to the head, which was devastating," he
says. "You could see the color of the skin, which was gray, but
not gray, really. I knew it had to be a fatal wound. I never saw the
president alive again or his body again."
Instead, he embarked on a 40-year trial of re-examination. "I
must have thought a million times, what could I have done to prevent
it?" he said. "And what could I have done about 20,000 windows?"
He
says he believes fervently that Oswald acted alone. Conspiracy buffs,
he says, neglect to consider the 10 miles of the motorcade's route,
stretching from Love Field, to Lemmon Avenue, to Turtle Creek, to
Cedar Springs, to Harwood, to Main, to Elm, to history. The trip was
to take 35 minutes before arriving at the Trade Mart.
"There
were a million better places from which to have fired a weapon,"
said Lawson.
Why
does Winston Lawson believed that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman?
(B22)
Rufus
Youngblood,
statement on the assassination of John
F. Kennedy
(29th November, 1963)
I heard an explosion
- I was not sure whether it was a firecracker, bomb, bullet, or other
explosion. I looked at whatever I could quickly survey, and could
not see anything which would indicate the origin of this noise. I
noticed that the movements in the Presidential car were very abnormal
and, at practically the same time, the movements in the Presidential
follow-up car were abnormal. I turned in my seat and with my left
arm grasped and shoved the Vice President, at his right shoulder,
down and toward Mrs. Johnson and Senator Yarborough. At the same time,
I shouted "get down!" I believe I said this more than once
and directed it to the Vice President and the other occupants of the
rear seat. They all responded very rapidly.
I quickly looked all around
again and could see nothing to shoot at, so I stepped over into the
back seat and sat on top of the Vice President. I sat in a crouched
position and issued orders to the driver. During this time, I heard
two more explosion noises and observed SA Hickey in the Presidential
follow-up car poised on the car with the AR-15 rifle looking toward
the buildings. The second and third explosions made the same type
of sound that the first one did as far as I could tell, but by this
time I was of the belief that they definitely were shots - not bombs
or firecrackers. I am not sure that I was on top of the Vice President
before the second shot - he says I was. All of the above related events,
from the beginning at the sound of the first shot to the sound of
the third shot, happened within a few seconds.
What did
Rufus Youngblood do when he realised that a gunman was firing at the
motorcade?
(B23)
The Times (23rd November, 1963)
The assassination
took place as the presidential party drove from the airport into the
city of Dallas. One witness said the shots were fired from the window
of a building. People flung themselves to the ground as armed policemen
and Secret Service agents rushed into the building. A rifle with telescopic
sights was found there.
The President was wounded
in the head and collapsed into the arms of his wife: She was heard
to cry, "Oh, no", as she cradled his head in her lap and
the car, spattered with blood, speeded to Parkland Hospital.
The President was still
alive when he reached the hospital. He was taken into an emergency
room where facilities were said to be adequate. Two Roman Catholic
priests were called and the last rites were administered. Mr. Kennedy
died at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (7 p.m. G.M.T.), about 35 minutes
after the shots were fired.
Vice-president Lyndon Johnson
escaped because his car, following the presidential vehicle, was delayed
by the large crowds.
Mrs. Connally said afterwards
that she thought that President Kennedy was shot first. She said that
the President was in the right rear seat of the open car and Mrs.
Kennedy was at his left. Mr. Connally faced the President on a jump
seat. She herself faced Mrs. Kennedy.
"They had just gone
through the town. They were pleased at the reception they had received.
They got ready to go through the underpass when a shot was heard.
When the first shot was fired Governor Connally turned in his seat
and almost instantly was hit."
An assistant to the Governor
said: "She does not know about the third shot, but it may have
been the one that hit the Governor's wrist. Jackie grabbed the President,
and Mrs. Connally grabbed Connally, and they both ducked down in the
car."
Two Secret Service men
were in the front of the car and one of them instantly telephoned
to a control centre and said, "Let's go straight to the nearest
hospital."
President Kennedy was shot
through the throat and head, possibly by the same bullet, according
to Dr. Malcolm Perry, the surgeon who attended him. Dr. Perry said
that a tracheotomy was performed to relieve the President's breathing
and blood and fluid were administered intravenously. Chest tubes were
inserted, and Dr. Perry tried chest cardiac massage, but to no avail....
Dr. Perry said later that
Mr. Kennedy suffered a neck wound - a bullet hole in the lower part
of the neck. There was a second wound in the President's head, but
Dr. Perry was not certain whether it was inflicted by the same bullet.
He said the President lost
consciousness as soon as he was hit and never recovered consciousness.
"We never had any hope of saving his life," Dr. Perry said,
though eight or 10 doctors attended him.
Dr. Perry said that soon
after he reached the hospital, Mr. Kennedy's heart action failed and
"there was no palpable pulse beat".
According
to Mrs. Connally, how many shots were fired at Kennedy's car.
(B24)
Tom Wicker, New
York Times (23rd November, 1963)
Mr. Kilduff
indicated that the President had been shot once. Later medical reports
raised the possibility that there had been two wounds. But the death
was caused, as far as could be learned, by a massive wound in the
brain.
Later in the
afternoon, Dr. Malcolm Perry, an attending surgeon, and Dr. Kemp Clark,
chief of neurosurgery at Parkland Hospital, gave more details.
Mr. Kennedy
was hit by a bullet in the throat, just below the Adam's apple, they
said. This wound had the appearance of a bullet's entry.
Mr. Kennedy
also had a massive, gaping wound in the back and one on the right
side of the head. However, the doctors said it was impossible to determine
immediately whether the wounds had been caused by one bullet or two.
Did
Dr. Malcolm Perry think there were gunman firing at President Kennedy
from behind and in front of the presidential limousine?
(B25)
William
Turner,
The
Warren Report: Part 2,
CBS Television (27th June, 1967)
Now, what happened
there was that the Kennedy motorcade coming down there, the Kennedy
limousine - there were shots from the rear, from either the Dallas
School Book Depository building, or the Dell Mart, or the courthouse;
and there were shots from the grassy knoll. This is triangulation.
There is no escape from it, if it's properly executed.
I think that the massive
head wound, where the President's head was literally blown apart,
came from a quartering angle on the grassy knoll. The bullet was a
low velocity dum-dum mercury fulminate hollow-nose, which were outlawed
by the Hague Convention, but which are used by paramilitary groups.
And that the whole reaction is very consistent to this kind of weapon.
That he was struck and his head - doesn't go directly back this way
but it goes back and over this way, which would be consistent with
the shot from that direction, and Newton's Law of Motion.
Now, I feel also that
the escape was very simple. Number one using a revolver or a pistol,
the shells do not eject, they don't even have to bother to pick up
their discharged shells. Number two, they can slip - put the gun under
their coat, and when everybody comes surging up there they can just
say, "He went that-a-away". Very simple. In fact, it's so
simple that it probably happened that way.
According
to William Turner, what caused the massive wound in President Kennedy's
head?
(B26)
Mark
Lane, The
Warren Report: Part 2,
CBS Television (27th June, 1967)
I think the evidence
indicates - of course, the car came down Main, up here, and down to
Elm Street, and was approximately here when the first shot was fired.
The first shot struck the President in the back of the right shoulder,
according to the FBI report, and indicates therefore that it came
from some place in the rear - which includes the possibility of it
coming from the Book Depository building.
The second bullet struck
the President in the throat from the front, came from behind this
wooden fence, high up on a grassy knoll. Two more bullets were fired.
One struck the Elm - the Main Street curb, and caused some concrete,
or lead, to scatter up and strike a spectator named James Tague in
the face. Another bullet, fired from the rear, struck Governor Connally
in the back. As the limousine moved up to approximately this point,
another bullet was fired from the right front, struck the President
in the head, drove him - his body, to the left and to the rear, and
drove a portion of his skull backward, to the left and to the rear.
Five bullets, fired from at least two different directions, the result
of a conspiracy.
How many
bullets were fired at the president's car. Where did the bullets come
from and what did they hit?
(B27)
The
Warren Commission Report (September, 1964)
(1) The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor
Connally were fired from the sixth floor window at the southeast corner
of the Texas School Book Depository. This determination is based upon
the following:
Witnesses
at the scene of the assassination saw a rifle being fired from the
sixth-floor window of the Depository Building, and some witnesses
saw a rifle in the window immediately after the shots were fired.
The
nearly whole bullet found on Governor Connally's stretcher at Parkland
Memorial Hospital and the two bullet fragments found in the front
seat of the Presidential limousine were fired from the 6.5-millimeter
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository
Building to the exclusion of all other weapons.
The
three used cartridge cases found near the window on the sixth floor
at the southeast corner of the building were fired from the same rifle
which fired the above - described bullet and fragments, to the exclusion
of all other weapons.
The
windshield in the Presidential limousine was struck by a bullet fragment
on the inside surface of the glass, but was not penetrated.
The
nature of the bullet wounds suffered by President Kennedy and Governor
Connally and the location of the car at the time of the shots establish
that the bullets were fired from above and behind the Presidential
limousine, striking the President and the Governor as follows:
President
Kennedy was first struck by a bullet which entered at the back of
his neck and exited through the lower front portion of his neck, causing
a wound which would not necessarily have been lethal. The President
was struck a second time by a bullet which entered the right-rear
portion of his head, causing a massive and fatal wound.
Governor
Connally was struck by a bullet which entered on the right side of
his back and traveled downward through the right side of his chest,
exiting below his right nipple. This bullet then passed through his
right wrist and entered his left thigh where it caused a superficial
wound.
There
is no credible evidence that the shots were fired from the Triple
Underpass, ahead of the motorcade, or from any other location.
(2)
The weight of the evidence indicates that there were three shots fired.
(3)
Although it is not necessary to any essential findings of the Commission
to determine just which shot hit Governor Connally, there is very
persuasive evidence from the experts to indicate that the same bullet
which pierced the President's throat also caused Governor Connally's
wounds. However, Governor Connally's testimony and certain other factors
have given rise to some difference of opinion as to this probability
but there is no question in the mind of any member of the Commission
that all the shots which caused the President's and Governor Connally's
wounds were fired from the sixth floor window of the Texas School
Book Depository.
(4)
The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally
were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald.
How
many of the witnesses in this unit supplied evidence that supported
the conclusions of the Warren Commission? How many of the witnesses
contradicted the conclusions of the Warren Commission?
(B28)
House
Select Committee on Assassinations
(1979)
Findings of the Select Committee on Assassinations in the Assassination
of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963.
Lee
Harvey Oswald fired three shots at President John F. Kennedy. The
second and third shots he fired struck the President. The third shot
he fired killed the President.
President
Kennedy was struck by two rifle shots fired from behind him.
The
shots that struck President Kennedy from behind him were fired from
the sixth floor window of the southeast corner of the Texas School
Book Depository building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald owned the rifle that was used to fire the shots from
the sixth floor window of the southeast comer of the Texas School
Book Depository building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald, shortly before the assassination, had access to and
was present on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository
building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald's other actions tend to support the conclusion that
he assassinated President Kennedy.
Scientific
acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that two gunmen
fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence does
not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President.
Scientific evidence negates some specific conspiracy allegations.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result
of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman
or the extent of the conspiracy.
How many
of the witnesses in this unit supplied evidence that supported the
conclusions of the House Select Committee on Assassinations? How many
of the witnesses contradicted the conclusions of the House Select
Committee on Assassinations?
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