Bonar Menninger was a journalist
on the Kansas City Business Journal.
He took a keen interest in the assassination of John
F. Kennedy
and for many years worked
on a book on the case with Howard Donahue, a retired ballistics expert
from Towson, Maryland,
Menninger's book, Mortal
Error, was published in 1992. In the book Menninger claims
that Kennedy was killed by Secret Service agent George
Hickey, who, riding in the car directly behind the president,
tried to stand up on the backseat of the car, lost his balance, and
accidentally discharging his gun into the back of Kennedy’s head.
The book was based on the
following evidence: (1) S.
M. Holland
saw Hickey lose his balance
when he stood up during the firing; (2) AR-15 rounds are encased in
thin copper and tend to break up upon impact, as did the shot that
struck John
F. Kennedy
in the head; (3) A Mannliher-Carcano
bullet would not break up when it hit a target; (4) Ralph
Yarborough
and other witnesses smelled
gunpowder soon after the shooting, indicating that at least one shot
had been fired from street level; (5) Two witnesses, Austin Miller
and Royce Skelton, thought one of the shots came from near the presidential
limousine and (6) Howard Donahue argued that the bullet's trajectory
that hit Kennedy in the head suggested it came from Hickey's gun.
In April, 1995, George
Hickey sued Menninger for what he said about him in his book,
Mortal Error. However, the court
judge in Baltimore said the suit by Hickey was filed too long after
publication of the book.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
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