Cyril H. Wecht received
degrees from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (1956)
and the University of Maryland School of Law (1962). As a medical
expert, Dr. Wecht has performed over 14,000 autopsies and has supervised,
reviewed or been consulted on approximately 30,000 additional post-mortem
examinations.
Wecht was one of the medical
experts who testified before the House
Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978. During his testimony
Wecht argued against the idea that President John
F. Kennedy
was shot by one gunman from
the Texas Book Depository. It was partly as a result of Wecht's testimony
that the final report stated that "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."
For many years Wecht was
coroner of Allegheny County. Other posts held by Wecht include clinical
professor at the University of Pittsburgh schools of Medicine, Dental
Medicine and Public Health and the professor at Duquesne University’s
schools of Law, Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Wecht is the author of
several books including Legal Medicine
(1988) United States Medicolegal Autopsy
Laws
(1989), Cause of Death: The Final Diagnosis
(1994), Grave Secrets (1996),
Forensic Sciences (1997) and
Who Killed Jonbenet Ramsey? (1998)
During his career Wecht
has served as president of the American College of Legal Medicine
and the American Academy of Forensic Science, as well as chairman
of the boards of trustees of both the American Board of Legal Medicine
and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation. He is also
is a fellow of both the College of American Pathologists and the American
Society of Clinical Pathologists.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
Cyril Wecht was interviewed by Donald A. Purdy for the Select
Committee on Assassinations about
the single-bullet theory (8th September, 1978)
Donald Purdy: Dr.
Wecht, what are the major conclusions of the forensic pathology panel
with which you are in disagreement?
Cyril Wecht: The major
disagreement is the single-bullet theory which I deem to be the very
essence of the Warren Commission report's conclusions and all the
other corroborating panels and groups since that time. It is the sine
qua non of the Warren Commission report's conclusions vis-a-vis
a sole assassin. Without the single-bullet theory, there cannot be
one assassin, whether it is Oswald or anybody else.
I am in disagreement with
various other conclusions of the panel. I am most unhappy and have
been extremely dismayed by their failure to insist upon the performance
of appropriate experiments, which I believe could have been undertaken
with a reasonable degree of expenditure of time, energy, and money
to once and for all show whether a bullet 6.5-millimeter, copper-jacketed,
leadcore piece of military-type ammunition could indeed strike a rib
and a radius in a human being and emerge in the condition which Commission
exhibit 399 is today.
I am extremely unhappy
about the fact that a greater and more intensive effort was not made
to locate the missing pieces of very important medical evidence in
this case, which I pointed out back in the summer of 1972. Not that
I was the first to learn of this, but amazingly, nobody had made that
public disclosure prior to that time. I have raised same questions
concerning the head wound and the possibility, albeit remote, of a
second shot fired in synchronized fashion from the right side or the
lower right rear, synchronized with the head shot that struck the
President in the back of the head. And this is related to a few pieces,
a couple of pieces of evidence and, again, emphasizes the necessity
of having the brain to examine. These are the major areas. There are,
of course, numerous facets of all of these disagreements that are
related to the so-called single-bullet theory.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
is it your opinion that no bullet could have caused all of the wounds
to President Kennedy and Governor Connally or the Commission exhibit
399 could not have caused all of the wounds to both men?
Cyril Wecht: Based upon
the findings in this case, it is my opinion that no bullet could have
caused all these wounds, not only 399 but no other bullet that we
know about or any fragment of any bullet that we know about in this
case...
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
what is the basis for your opinion that Commission exhibit 399 could
not have caused all of the wounds to President Kennedy and Governor
Connally?
Cyril Wecht: It is a composite
based upon several things: The timing of the Zapruder film, which
we know runs at 18.3 frames or individual units of the film strip
per second; the evaluation of the wounds in the President and Governor
Connally; the timing of the test-firing in the hands of the most skilled
marksman the Government could find in 1964 of this Mannlicher-Carcano
weapon, the bolt action nonautomatic World War II Italian carbine,
a grossly inferior weapon; the very vivid testimony of Governor John
Connally about which he has been completely consistent for the past
14 years concerning the fact that he was struck by a different bullet;
the vertical and horizontal trajectories that must be attributed to
Commission exhibit 399 if the single-bullet theory is to be substantiated.
These are the various factors that relate to the single-bullet theory.
Donald Purdy: So, Dr. Wecht,
it is your opinion, that were tests to be conducted to simulate these
wounds, such tests could sufficiently duplicate the wounds in question
to have an accurate illustration?
Cyril Wecht: Let me point
out, that these tests that I am referring to have been performed,
in fact, by a pathologist, Professor John Nichols, University of Kansas
School of Medicine, a full-time academician, who shot them through
ribs and wrists. I know Dr. Nichols. He is not an independently wealthy
man. He was able to do this; he was able to get the materials; he
was able to set up the experiments and follow through. Why our panel
of distinguished experts with all our expertise and this staff representing
a very prominent committee which, in turn, represents the House of
Representatives of the United States Congress, why such tests could
not be performed is beyond me. I feel constrained to say that they
were not performed because people knew full well what the results
would be. I also want to take strong exception with the statement
that if one were to shoot through bones that are not innervated and
vascularized as they are in living human beings, one cannot be sure
that one is getting similar reactions. Here, we are not talking about
how the President's body would have reacted to the head wound. We
are not talking about that. We are talking only about whether a bullet,
as several members of the House Committee have questioned Dr. Baden,
we are talking about what the condition of the bullet would be if
it went through these bones. There is no problem in setting up that
experiment.
(2)
Cyril Wecht was interviewed by Donald A. Purdy for the Select
Committee on Assassinations about
the Abraham
Zapruder
film (8th September, 1978)
Donald Purdy: Dr.
Wecht, what point along the film do you feel corresponds with the
time when President Kennedy and Governor Connally were ,supposed to
have been hit, according to the single bullet theory?
Cyril Wecht: . Commission
exhibit of - I am sorry - an exhibit of this panel, of this committee,
of 229, which is a blow-up of Zapruder frame 193, demonstrates the
President and Governor Connally just before they go in behind the
Stemmons Freeway sign. Both gentlemen are turned to the right facing
the crowd and their right arms are extended in a wave of greeting
or recognition. This exhibit F-272, is a blowup of Zapruder frame
222 and shows Gov. John Connally after emergence from behind the Stemmons
Freeway sign, and F-244, which is a blowup of Zapruder frame 225,
shows the President and Gov. John Connally. In my opinion, Zapruder
frame 193 clearly demonstrates that neither gentlemen had been shot.
Donald Purdy: Wecht, based
on F-229, what is the basis for your opinion that neither man had
been struck by a bullet in that photograph?
Cyril Wecht: There is absolutely
no external physical manifestation, no reaction of any kind on their
part of a voluntary or involuntary nature which would even suggest
they have been struck by a missile.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
is it possible that either or both men have been struck by a bullet
but are not yet manifesting a reaction?
Cyril Wecht: In my opinion,
without any question, no.
Donald Purdy: referring
to F-272, which corresponds with Zapruder frame 222, is it your opinion
that Governor Connally is indicating a reaction to being struck in
that photograph?
Cyril Wecht: No; absolutely
not.
Donald Purdy: Referring
to F-244, is there any indication on that photograph that either or
both men have been struck by a bullet?
Cyril Wecht: Yes. President
John F. Kennedy has definitely been struck, as seen on F-244, Zapruder
frame 225. Gov. John Connally, in my opinion, has not been struck
in that frame, as of that frame.
Donald Purdy: Referring
again to F-244, what is the earliest prior to that point that President
Kennedy would have had to have been struck?
Cyril Wecht: I would say
probably somewhere like - well I can't - I would put it, based upon
the timing of the Zapruder film and counting the frames, I would put
it back somewhere about a half a second, maybe even a little bit more,
somewhere along there. I cannot be precise. I do want to point out
at this time, if I may, because there is some confusion on this, sometimes
there has been deliberate misrepresentation of the period of time
during which the two gentlemen are behind the Stemmons Freeway sign.
That is a period of 0.9 seconds. I emphasize that because we see in
F-229 that indeed Gov. John Connally is sitting directly in front
of the President. We see in F-244 that Gov. John Connally is still
seated directly in front of the President. When we bring up the question
of the trajectory, that hopefully we will get into later, they say,
ah, but we cannot know what happened when they were behind the Stemmons
Freeway sign. I just think it is important for the record to reflect
upon the fact that what presumably they are asking us to just speculate
upon is that in that 0.9 second interval, the President bent down
to tie his shoelace or fix his sock, he was then shot and then sat
back up. I do not mean to be flip, this is a very serious matter,
but I would suggest that is a movement that the most skilled athlete,
knowing what he is going to do, could not perform in that period of
time. That is very important to understand, because we see their positions
before and immediately afterward. I think it is pure poppycock, it
would be an insult to this committee for anybody to suggest that we
can't really determine trajectory because we don't know what the physical
relationship was between the two men when the President was shot,
and when they say under the single bullet theory, John Connally had
also been shot.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
what was the nature of the wound through President Kennedy that indicates
to you that he would have reacted to being struck as quickly as you
indicate?
Cyril Wecht: He was struck
in the back. There are a variety of nerves that innervate the skin,
the musculature, blood vessels, and so on. He, as indeed Gov. John
Connally, were both healthy, adult males, in a very vibrant, dynamic
sensitive situation, attuned very much to their environment, and there
is no question in my mind that the reaction would have occurred immediately
in an infinitesimal moment.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
based on the photograph, you have already gone into the issue of trajectory
and articulated to some extent why you believe the President and the
Governor were not lined up in such a way that a bullet could have
passed between them. How certain are you that they could not have
been lined up behind the sign when they were out of the view of the
camera?
Cyril Wecht: I am absolutely
certain for the reasons that I have already given and as are demonstrated
on these films. There is simply no way in the world that the kinds
of changes of positions of these two men required by the single bullet
theory could have been accomplished. There is no physiological way
in which it could have been performed, there is no basis to speculate
on why such a movement would have occurred. Quite literally, John
Connally would have had to have moved a foot or more to his left and
then moved back, and/or the President would have had to have almost
leaned out of the car and then to have come back to his position.
And I am not being the least bit facetious. That is what would have
had to have occurred in that nine-tenths of a second interval if we
are to assume that this bullet went through the two men in the fashion
attributed to it in the single bullet theory.
(3)
Cyril Wecht was interviewed by Donald A. Purdy for the Select
Committee on Assassinations about
the Abraham
Zapruder
film (8th September, 1978)
Donald Purdy: What
is it about the normal paths of bullets which leads you to the conclusion
that these diagrams illustrating the photographs, permit you to conclude
that the bullet did not pass through both men?
Cyril Wecht: The inescapable
fact that unless a bullet, especially one fired from a high speed
weapon, reasonably high speed, approximately 2,000 feet per second
muzzle velocity - unless it strikes something of firm substance, such
as bone or something else, that that bullet will travel in a straight
line.
Donald Purdy: Mr. Chairman,
I would ask at this time that the item marked JFK exhibit F-245, which
is a blowup of frame 230 of the Zapruder film, be entered into the
record... Dr. Wecht, in your opinion, could Governor Connally have
incurred the damage to his wrist which is described in the medical
reports and still be holding the hat as shown in this photograph?
Cyril Wecht: No; absolutely
not. In F-245, which is a blowup of Zapruder frame 230, we are told
under the single bullet theory that Gov. John Connally, for a period
of approximately one and a half seconds, has already been shot through
the right chest with the right lung pierced and collapsed, through
the right wrist, with the distal end of the radius comminuted and
the radial nerve partially severed. I heard some vague reference to
a nerve in the prior testimony, but I didn't hear the followthrough
discussion that I was waiting for about nerve damage. There was nerve
damage, yes, to the radial nerve. And the thumb which holds this large
Texas white Stetson that is required for it to be in apposition with
the index or index and middle fingers to hold that hat is innervated
by the radial nerve. Note in F-245 that the hat is still being held
and Governor Connally is not reacting. This is again a very alert
individual, under a very special circumstance, and I do not believe
or accept for one moment the story that we must accept under the single
bullet theory that this gentlemen, at this point, one and a half seconds
previously, has already been shot through his chest, through his wrist,
and into his left thigh.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
is it your opinion based on this exhibit, JFK exhibit F-245, that
Governor Connally is not yet injured in any way?
Cyril Wecht: Yes; that
is my opinion.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
Is it possible that he had been injured prior to this frame but has
not yet manifested a reaction?
Cyril Wecht: NO; I do not
believe so, not given the nature and extents of his wounds, the multiplicity
and the areas damaged, I do not believe that.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
given the nature of his wounds, how much prior to the time that he
manifests a reaction is the earliest he could have been struck?
Cyril Wecht: Well, a fraction
of a second, again, an infinitesimal moment. It is possible that a
fraction of a second earlier he could have been shot, although I do
not believe that. Please keep in mind that now we must correlate that
with the Governor's own version, and remembering that this bullet
was traveling 2,000 feet per second muzzle velocity, much faster than
the speed of sound. Please keep in mind that it does not seem at all
likely. I doubt that it is possible that he had already been struck.
The panel (of experts assembled by the House Select Committee on Assassinations),
to the best of my recollection, was in unanimous agreement that there
was a slight upward trajectory the bullet through President John F.
Kennedy, that is to say, that the-bullet wound of entrance on the
President's back, lined up with the bullet wound of exit in the front
of the President's neck drawing a straight line, showed that vertically
the bullet had moved slightly upward, slightly, but upward. That is
extremely important for two reasons. One, under the single bullet
theory - with Oswald as the sole assassin, or anybody else, in the
sixth floor window, southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository
Building, you have the bullet coming down at a downward angle of around
20-25 degrees, something like that, maybe a little bit less. It had
originally been postulated, I think, by the autopsy team, and the
initial investigators, at considerably more. How in the world can
a bullet be fired from the sixth floor window, strike the President
in the back, and yet have a slightly upward direction? There was nothing
there to cause it to change its course. And then with the slightly
upward direction, outside the President's neck, that bullet then embarked
upon a rollercoaster ride with a major dip, because it then proceeded;
under the single bullet theory, through Gov. John Connally at a 25
degree angle of declination. To my knowledge, there has never been
any disagreement among the proponents and defenders of the Warren
Commission report or the critics, about the angle of declination in
John Connally - maybe a degree or two. We have that bullet going through
the Governor at about 25 degrees downward. How does a bullet that
is moving slightly upward in the President proceed then to move downward
25 degrees in John Connally. This is what I cannot understand. My
colleagues on the panel are aware of this. We discussed it, and what
we keep coming back to is, "well, don't know how the two men
were seated in relationship to each other." I don't care what
happened behind the Stemmons freeway sign, there is no way in the
world that they can put that together, and likewise on the horizontal
plane, the bullet, please keep in mind, entered in the President's
right back, I agree, exited in the anterior midline of the President's
neck, I agree, and was moving thence by definition, by known facts,
on a straight line from entrance to exit, from right to left. And
so with that bullet moving in a leftward fashion, it then somehow
made an acute angular turn, came back almost two feet, stopped, made
a second turn, and slammed into Gov. John Connally behind the right
armpit, referred to medically as the right posterior axillary area.
The vertical and horizontal trajectory of this bullet, 399, under
the single bullet theory is absolutely unfathomable, indefensible,
and incredible.
Cyril Wecht: Yes; I believe
F-246, which is a blowup of Zapruder frame 237, demonstrates that
Gov. John Connally has now been struck.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
what is it about his movements that leads you to the conclusion that
he has been struck?
Cyril Wecht: The body is
turning, the cheeks are puffing out, there is a noticeable grimace
on his face, in contrast, for instance, to F-245, Z-frame 230, and
there seems to be some dishevelment of his hair. These features can
be seen very dramatically also one frame later, F-247, or Zapruder
frame 238, which I remind you is one eighteenth of a second interval
away, and you can see the hair movement, the twisting of the body.
There is no question in my mind that the Governor has now been hit.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
referring again to the JFK exhibits F-229, F-272 and F-244, which
are the frames immediately before and the frames after the sign, you
discussed the fact that the men did not line up in a horizontal trajectory?
Cyril Wecht: Yes. The panel,
to the best of my recollection, was in unanimous agreement that there
was a slight upward trajectory the bullet through President John F.
Kennedy, that is to say, that the-bullet wound of entrance on the
President's back, lined up with the bullet wound of exit in the front
of the President's neck drawing a straight line, showed that vertically
the bullet had moved slightly upward, slightly, but upward. That is
extremely important for two reasons. One, under the single bullet
theory - with Oswald as the sole assassin, or anybody else, in the
sixth floor window, southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository
Building, you have the bullet coming down at a downward angle of around
20-25 degrees, something like that, maybe a little bit less. It had
originally been postulated, I think, by the autopsy team, and the
initial investigators, at considerably more. How in the world can
a bullet be fired from the sixth floor window, strike the President
in the back, and yet have a slightly upward direction? There was nothing
there to cause it to change its course. And then with the slightly
upward direction, outside the President's neck, that bullet then embarked
upon a rollercoaster ride with a major dip, because it then proceeded;
under the single bullet theory, through Gov. John Connally at a 25
degree angle of declination. To my knowledge, there has never been
any disagreement among the proponents and defenders of the Warren
Commission report or the critics, about the angle of declination in
John Connally - maybe a degree or two. We have that bullet going through
the Governor at about 25 degrees downward. How does a bullet that
is moving slightly upward in the President proceed then to move downward
25 degrees in John Connally. This is what I cannot understand. My
colleagues on the panel are aware of this. We discussed it, and what
we keep coming back to is, "well, don't know how the two men
were seated in relationship to each other." I don't care what
happened behind the Stemmons freeway sign, there is no way in the
world that they can put that together, and likewise on the horizontal
plane, the bullet, please keep in mind, entered in the President's
right back, I agree, exited in the anterior midline of the President's
neck, I agree, and was moving thence by definition, by known facts,
on a straight line from entrance to exit, from right to left. And
so with that bullet moving in a leftward fashion, it then somehow
made an acute angular turn, came back almost two feet, stopped, made
a second turn, and slammed into Gov. John Connally behind the right
armpit, referred to medically as the right posterior axillary area.
The vertical and horizontal trajectory of this bullet, 399, under
the single bullet theory is absolutely unfathomable, indefensible,
and incredible.
(4)
Cyril Wecht was interviewed by Donald A. Purdy for the Select
Committee on Assassinations about the direction
of the shot that hit Kennedy in the head (8th September, 1978)
Donald Purdy: Dr.
Wecht, what evidence is there which supports the possibility that
there was a shot from the side or from the lower right rear?
Cyril Wecht: Very meager,
and the possibility based upon the existing evidence is extremely
remote. There is a small piece of some material that is present at
the base of the external scalp, just above the hairline, which has
never been commented on before except by me following the 1972 investigation
of the material at the Archives, and later commented upon by this
forensic pathology panel. There is a total deformation of the right
side of the cranial vault with extensive fractures of the calvarium,
the top portion of the skull, and extensive scalp lacerations and
loss of soft tissue, so that we cannot exactly know where the exit
wound was. It is, therefore, possible that that extensive deformity
of the scalp, underlying galea, underlying bone calvarium, could also
be the locus of the second shot of some kind of frangible ammunition
which would not have penetrated deeply or at all through the calvarium.
I want to emphasize that this is remote but I have pointed this out
because it is a possibility. The question of the President's movement
after he was struck in the head makes us direct our attention toward
such a possibility and, of course, the absence of the brain and the
failure of the original pathologists to have conducted studies that
are routine, perfunctory in any kind of an autopsy where the brain
has been fixed in formalin, to serially section the brain 10 to 14
days later, and the absence of the brain and the inability or the
failure of the staff to obtain that medical evidence, all of these
things, I believe, make it important to just raise that possibility,
remote as it may be, that a second shot might have struck the President
in the head in synchronized or simultaneous fashion.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
to what extent would having access to the brain itself enable a final
determination as to whether or not the remote possibility of a shot
from the side is supported or refuted by the evidence?
Cyril Wecht: Well, examination
of the brain would help a great deal. Of course, if the bullet had
not penetrated through the calvarium then there would be no evidence
of a second bullet track in the soft brain tissue. If it had penetrated
partly, or even a fragment or two, then certainly at that time, and
even today, if the brain had been properly preserved and fixed and
the formalin solution changed every so often, one would be able, I
believe, to tell whether there is only one bullet track, that is,
from the right upper occipital region down to the lower right temporal
parietal area. The brain would be extremely important to help us determine
whether more than one missile had penetrated or a fragment of a second
missile might have penetrated the brain along with the one that we
do know definitely penetrated. I am in agreement with the description
that was presented today regarding the shot through the head.
Donald Purdy: Dr. Wecht,
does the present state of available evidence permit the conclusion
that to a reasonable degree of medical certainty there was not a shot
from the side which struck the President?
Cyril Wecht: Yes, with
reasonable medical certainty I would have to say that the evidence
is not there. I have already said it is a remote possibility and I
certainly cannot equate that with reasonable medical certainty.
(5)
Cyril Wecht was interviewed by Gary Cornwell for the Select
Committee on Assassinations about
the direction of the shot that hit Kennedy in the head (8th September,
1978)
Gary Cornwall: Directing
your attention, next, to the single-bullet theory, as I understand
your testimony, it is not that one bullet of the Mannlicher-Carcano
type would not have been powerful enough to go through the neck, the
chest, the wrists and imbed itself in the thigh, is that correct,
as a matter of mere power?
Cyril Wecht: Yes; I believe
that it is possible for that kind of ammunition to go through those
several portions of human body.
Gary Cornwall: And if the
single-bullet theory is not correct, how many bullets, in your view,
did strike the two occupants of the car?
Cyril Wecht: Of course,
then - let me answer that, I believe that the President was struck
definitely twice, one bullet entering in the back, and one bullet
entering in the back of the head. I believe that Gov. John Connally
was struck by a bullet, and I believe that another bullet completely
missed the car. I think that there were four shots most probably fired.
I eagerly await with extreme anticipation the results of the consulting
firm that I understand your committee has retained in Boston, Bolt,
Beranek & Newman, concerning their interpretative studies of the
motorcycle policeman's tape from that day; as to whether or not they
have definitely found evidence of four shots having been fired. But
I think your question was, how many bullets struck the occupants,
and I think that there is definite evidence for three. There is a
possibility of more, but I can't really introduce evidence that would
corroborate that; more than three.
(6)
G.
Robert Blakey explained
to the Select
Committee on Assassinations what
happened to John F. Kennedy's brain (8th September, 1978)
Following the autopsy
of President Kennedy, Robert I. Bouck, the head of the Protective
Research Division of the U.S. Secret Service in 1963, received all
of the materials relating to the autopsy from Agent Kellerman, and
maintained these items in the White House under security for Dr. George
Burkley the White House physician. On April 22, 1965, Robert F. Kennedy
authorized a release of all of these materials to Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln,
who then had an office in the National Archives. Mrs. Lincoln was
in the process of assisting in the transfer of President Kennedy's
official papers to the National Archives. In response to this order,
Mr. Bouck and Dr. Burkley prepared an inventory list and transferred
these materials to Mrs. Lincoln. Included in those materials was one
stainless steel container, 7 inches in diameter and 8 inches - 7 by
8, containing the inventory list indicated gross material. The best
speculation is that stainless steel container held the brain. On October
31, 1966, Burke Marshall, a representative of the Kennedy family,
formally transferred the autopsy material to the Archives. I don't
mean this physically, because the materials were allegedly in the
Archives at the time in the custody of Mrs. Lincoln. When that transfer
occurred, the steel container was not included. The committee, as
I indicated this morning has conducted a comprehensive investigation
in an attempt to locate the missing materials. The people interviewed
have included Dr. Burkley, Dr. Humes, Mr. Bouck, Ramsey Clark, Mrs.
Lincoln, Ms. Angela Novelli, Robert Kennedy's secretary, Dr. Finck,
and Mr. Marshall, and all of the relevant Archives people. As I indicated
this morning, over 30 people have been either interviewed or deposed.
The closer they came to the chain of custody they were deposed. We've
even interviewed all of the people associated with the reinterment
of the President's body. That interviewing and deposition process
has not indicated with certainty what happened. As I indicated earlier
this morning, a Kennedy family spokesman did indicate that Robert
Kennedy expressed concerns that these materials could conceivably
be placed on public display many years from now and he wanted to prevent
that. I would infer from that that the most likely result is that
the President's brother destroyed the documents.
(7)
Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette (16th November, 2003)
Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, forensic
pathologist and renowned-coroner-in-the-making, was in a Los Angeles
morgue surrounded by corpses when the news broke.
Philadelphia Assistant
District Attorney Arlen Specter was stepping into an elevator en route
to a murder trial. The clock at City Hall said 1:40 p.m.
It was 40 years ago next
Saturday. President Kennedy, torchbearer of a new generation of Americans,
trailblazer to the New Frontier, had been cut down by an assassin's
bullet in Dallas.
Neither Wecht, then 32,
nor Specter, then 33, could have known then they would soon become
inextricably linked with that momentous event and the endless debate
about what really happened during those "six seconds in Dallas"
on Nov. 22, 1963.
Specter, now the state's
senior U.S. senator, went on to work with the Warren Commission's
investigation of the assassination, and wrote the famous or, depending
on one's perspective, infamous "single-bullet theory" that
supported the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald alone killed Kennedy.
Wecht, now the Allegheny
County coroner and a power in local and state politics for decades,
became one of the foremost critics of that official version. In his
1993 book, "Cause of Death," Wecht characterized the Warren
Report as "absolute nonsense" and Specter's single-bullet
assertion "an asinine, pseudoscientific sham at best."
(8)
Walter
Cronkite,
The Warren
Report: Part 2, CBS Television
(26th June, 1967)
In answer to our
major question as to whether shots came from a direction other than
the Book Depository Building, indicating other gunmen and a conspiracy,
we have eye - or ear witnesses inside the building saying the shots
came from there. Now, Mr. Holland who was on the railroad overpass,
here, insists that he heard a shot from here. And in Mark Lane's book.
Rush to Judgment, he writes that fifty-eight out of ninety
people who were asked about the shots thought they came from the grassy
knoll.
Now, expert
opinions differ. All the experts agree that the shots could have come
from the rear. But where some experts, such as Dr. Humes, say bluntly
that they did, others - such as Dr. Wecht - find it highly unlikely.
CBS News
concludes that the most reasonable answer is that the shots came from
the Book Depository building, behind the President and Governor Connally.
But if the shots came from the rear, and if there were only three
of them, can all the wounds be accounted for? The President was struck
at least twice. Governor Connally was wounded in the chest, the wrist,
and the thigh. One bullet was recovered intact, as well as two large
fragments. The Warren Commission concluded that of the three bullets
fired, one missed entirely, one struck the President's skull and fragmented,
and the third - this one - passed through the President's neck and
went on to inflict all the governor's wounds. This is the single-bullet
theory. And so we must ask: Could a single bullet have wounded both
President Kennedy and Governor Connally?
We asked Arlen
Specter, assistant counsel to the Commission, and now district attorney
of Philadelphia, and the author of the single-bullet theory.
Arlen Specter:
The possibility of one bullet having inflicted the wounds on both
the President's neck and the Governor's body came in a very gradual
way. For example, the first insight was given when Dr. Humes testified,
based on his autopsy findings. And at that time it was made clear
for the first time that the bullet that went through the President's
neck hit no bone, hit no solid muscle. And, according to Dr. Humes,
came out with great velocity.
Now, it was
at that juncture that we wondered for the first time what happened
to the bullet. Where did the bullet go? The probability is that it
went into Governor Connally, because it struck nothing else in the
car. That is the single most convincing piece of evidence that the
one bullet hit both men, because looking down the trajectory, as I
did through Oswald's own rifle, and others did too, the trajectory
was such that it was almost certain that the bullet which came out
of the President's neck with great velocity would have had to have
hit either the car or someone in the car.
(9)
Michael
Kurtz, Crime of the Century: The Kennedy Assassination From
a Historians Perspective (1982)
Forensic
Pathologist Cyril Wecht examined the Kennedy autopsy photographs and
X-rays. He calculated the angle of the bullet that entered the rear
of the back and presumably exited through the "exit" hole
in the throat. Dr. Wecht estimated the angles of the bullet path as
11.5 degrees downward and 17.5 degrees right to left. Both of these
angles are incompatible with a shot fired from the sixth-floor southeast
corner window of the Texas School Book Depository building. They are
also incompatible with a bullet exiting Kennedy's throat and striking
Governor Connally. The governor was struck on the right side of his
back between the shoulder blade and the armpit. Since he was sitting
directly in front of President Kennedy, a bullet traveling
downward and right to left
could not have struck Governor Connally unless the bullet made a right
and then a left angle turn in mid-air. Dr. Wecht calculated that the
bullet which exited the president's throat (an unproven assumption)
would have passed over Mrs. Connally's right shoulder and over the
left shoulder of the driver of the limousine, Secret Service Agent
William Greer, and then would have struck the grass on the north side
of Elm Street. Wecht believes that based on his computation of the
angles of the bullet wounds in President Kennedy and Governor Connally,
that the shots were fired from a lower floor of the Book Depository
building and from the roof of the Dal-Tex building...
Even though
precise angles of the bullet wounds are not known, Dr. Wecht's contention
that a bullet fired from the sixth-floor southeast corner window of
the Depository building and passing through President Kennedy's neck
could not have hit Connally of the right side of his back is strongly
supported by the known facts. Except for eighteen frames (or one second),
the Zapruder film clearly shows Governor Connally to be seated directly
in front of President Kennedy If a bullet fired from the sixth-floor
window entered the rear of Kennedy's neck and exited from the front
of his throat, it would have traveled at a right-to-left angle to
strike Connally Since the entrance hole on Governor Connally's back
was to the right of the alleged exit hole of the bullet from Kennedy's
throat, that same bullet could not have struck the governor. Only
during that one second, when the street sign blocked Zapruder's view
of the limousine, could Connally have been struck by the same bullet.
That is possible only under the extremely unlikely circumstance that
the governor jumped out of his seat, moved four feet to his left,
squatted down, received a shot in the back, then returned to his original
position - all within one second.
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