The cornerstone of the Warren Commission's conclusions regarding who killed President John F. Kennedy and how they did it is a theory. The single bullet theory (SBT), invented by Arlen Specter, states that one bullet, fired from the sixth-floor East-most window of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) caused seven wounds to two people in the Presidential limousine.[1]
The US government worked hard to contain the investigation into the killing - many more qualified researchers than me have commented on the possible reasons that this would be so. It is well known that both Katzenbach and Hoover were determined to limit the responsibility for the crime to one individual --- Lee Harvey Oswald.
With the official position seeming to be "prove Oswald did it without help", the SBT was a virtual necessity.
The investigation began tying Oswald into the killing with gusto to the extent that even the first testimony taken by the Warren Commission was from Marina Oswald. The Warren Commission could only work with three shots fired from the TSBD - that's where Oswald was during the assassination and that's where the Dallas Police Department found three spent cartridges. The Warren Commission also had their rather doubtful "clock" - the Zapruder film. This had shown that the President and John Connally were both hit in less time than it takes to reload a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle (the type of rifle "linked" to LHO). The Zapruder film also indicated a period of about six seconds when all of the shots must have been fired (calculated from the first sign of JFK reacting to a shot until the fatal head shot). The Warren Commission had tests done which proved that it is physically impossible for one man to fire more than three shots in six seconds with a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. With one shot causing the President's head wounds and one shot missing and wounding James Tague, the Warren Commission were left with only one shot to account for the remaining seven wounds.
According to the Warren Commission, one bullet caused a perforating wound in the President's neck. The same bullet then went on to perforate the chest and wrist of Texas Governor John Connally and finish up in the Governor's left thigh. This single bullet (often called the "Magic Bullet") continued its charmed existence by, according to the Warren Commission, dropping out of the Governor's thigh, being found and identified, being proved as causing all seven wounds and being ballistically matched to a rifle found in the TSBD. The other two shots/bullets that the Warren Commission would accept had fragmented, one when it hit JFK's head and one when it hit the curb near James Tague. So, once the bullet, Commission Exhibit 399 (CE 399) was matched to the rifle, it had to be the single bullet. If that bullet had been found anywhere at the scene of the crime or the hospital it would have had to be the single bullet. If the bullet had been found in Ladybird Johnson's handbag, inscribed with Hoover's signature, it would still have had to be the single bullet. That's the ridiculous mess that the Warren Commission was tying itself up in. The Warren Commission had no choice. Regardless of the condition of CE 399 and regardless of where it was found, it had to be the bullet that caused all seven wounds to JFK and Connally.
Unfortunately for the Warren Commission and its supporters, CE 399 itself casts doubt on the SBT. While CE 399 is not "pristine" as some researchers have claimed, it is barely damaged. It appears to have lost only 3 grains (or 0.2 grams) of its un-fired weight. If I were feeling generous, I might be persuaded to believe that this is accounted for by a very small extrusion of lead from the base of the bullet. Robert Frazier (an FBI ballistics expert), however, testified that "there did not necessarily have to be any weight loss to the bullet".[2] The difference between the weight of CE 399 (158.6 grains) and the average for this type of bullet (161grains) could be accounted for by normal manufacturing variation.
If this one bullet could be proven to be the cause of the seven wounds to the President and the Governor, the Warren Commission would be home and dry, no further investigation required, no embarrassments or worse to be discovered. Unfortunately for the Warren Commission and its supporters, the evidence does not support the SBT and the case is still wide open. Without the SBT, more than one bullet was responsible for the wounds to the President and the Governor. If there were four or more shots, there had to be a second shooter in Dealey Plaza and there had to be a conspiracy. No lone nut, acting alone, killed by another lone nut acting alone.
Few, if any, of the Warren Commission's claims for CE 399 are supported by the evidence. On the contrary, there is a mass of evidence that refutes the SBT. This includes:
I called this article "The Best Evidence Against the SBT" because I want to focus on the medical evidence and touch upon the physical. I'm doing this not because the other fields of evidence are of no value - they are more nails in the SBT coffin, but because the medical/physical evidence is, in legal terms, the best evidence. It carries the most weight in court.
There has been so much argument over the years about the wounds to JFK's back and throat. For an excellent discussion of these wounds, see David Lifton's book Best Evidence (New York, Carroll & Graf, 1988). The wounds simply do not support the SBT. There is no evidence that the wound through JFK's back was perforating (transitory). The Navy autopsy doctors, Drs. James Humes, J Thornton Boswell and Pierre Finck did not dissect the path of bullet[7] and their probes could not define a path.[8]
The Warren Commission (and supporters) description of this wound as back to front through neck would almost certainly not be upheld in court. And, even if the wound was transitory, the Warren Commission puts the angle of the perforating path at around 17 degrees and slightly right to left.[9] This angle is 8 degrees shallower than the perforating wound to Connally's chest. What deflected the bullet downwards?
The back wound is correctly described as a back wound (not a neck wound). The autopsy face sheet completed at the autopsy of JFK by Dr. Boswell[10] and marked "verified" by the President's personal physician, Admiral Burkley, shows the wound to be in JFK's back. JFK's jacket and shirt[11] both show a hole in the back. The death certificate for JFK[12], prepared by the Admiral Burkley, also places the hole at the 3rd thoracic (i.e. the upper half of the torso) vertebra and not in the cervical (i.e. neck) vertebrae. This physical evidence is backed up by the eyewitness statement of Secret Service Agent Glenn Bennett[13] and Secret Service Agent Clint Hill's testimony to the Warren Commission.[14]
There is no good evidence that the back wound was an entry wound. On the contrary, there is enough evidence to cast doubt upon this. Dr. Finck testified that the wound did not penetrate deeply.[15] In Dr. Humes' hand-written original autopsy report, the back wound is described as a "puncture" wound.[16] Even in the published autopsy report, Dr. Humes can only bring himself to call the back wound "presumably of entry."[17]
Similarly, there is no good evidence that the throat wound was an exit wound. During the autopsy, the neck wound was not carefully examined as the doctors assumed that the wound was a tracheotomy. Only after the body was no longer available for examination did Dr. Humes discover that there had been a wound in the throat when JFK was admitted to Parkland Memorial Hospital. The throat wound may have been an entry wound - many of the Parkland doctors testified that it could have been either an entry or exit. The autopsy report prepared by Dr Humes hedges and states that the throat wound was "presumably of exit."[18] Once again, there is reasonable doubt over the best evidence.
The Doctors' Testimony
Connally was treated for his gunshot wounds at Parkland Memorial Hospital by several doctors. He
had three wounds, a perforating wound of the chest which had shattered a rib and damaged the pleural
sac covering his right lung, a perforating wound of the right wrist which had shattered his radius and a
penetrating wound of the left thigh. He was in surgery for over three hours. The doctors divided into
three teams; each concentrating on one wound. Each team was led by a senior doctor, a professor in
his field of medicine and unquestionably the best man for the job in the Dallas area. John Connally got
the best medical attention available.
Given their seniority, their obvious intelligence and their ability to teach (at the University of Texas Medical School), the testimony of the three professors that treated John Connally, Dr. Robert Shaw, Dr. Charles Gregory and Dr. George Shires, should have been crystal clear. In their usual fashion, however, the Warren Commission seem determined to confuse us:
I am not the first to notice that presentation of data in this way seems almost a deliberate ploy to confuse anyone checking up on the facts behind the Warren Commission Report.
Dr. Robert Roeder Shaw
Dr. Shaw was Professor of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at the time of
the assassination.[25] He worked on Connally's chest wound and was assisted in surgery by Drs.
Fueishier, James Duke, James Boland, David Mebane, Jackie Hunt and Adolf Giesecke.[26] He
described the path of the bullet that caused this wound as entering John Connally's back at the right
armpit and exiting near his right nipple. The angle of perforation was about 25 degrees downward (a
much steeper angle than the Warren Commission has the bullet path through JFK's "neck" wound),
only very slightly right to left.[27] Of course the bullet might have been deflected when it shattered 10
cm of Connally's rib, but if that is so, supporters of the Warren Commission cannot hold to the smooth
flight of CE 399 as speculated by Gerald Posner among others.[28]
Dr. Shaw gave evidence to the Warren Commission twice, first in March 1964 (volume 6H), then a month later in April 1964 (volume 4H). The difference between the two occasions is that Dr. Shaw was allowed to view the Zapruder film, CE 399 and the Governor's clothes on the second occasion. His testimony was markedly different after viewing the physical evidence.
In March 1964, Dr Shaw was happy to speculate that one bullet did all the damage to John Connally, but in April, he won't be held to that and even discusses the possibility of several bullets.[29] Dr Shaw said in April 1964, "Mr. Dulles, I thought I knew just how the Governor was wounded [i.e. with one bullet through JFK and John Connally] until I saw the pictures today, and it becomes a little bit harder to explain."[30] The extent to which the Warren Commission had already committed to the SBT is evident in Dulles' confusion when Shaw suggests the possibility of three bullets to account for the three wounds suffered by Connally.[31]
Interestingly, Dr. Shaw went off the record with Arlen Specter several times at crucial points in his testimony in March and April 1964:
Off the record discussion with counsel of this type surely casts reasonable doubt on the evidence given by a witness. It would seem less harmful to the Warren Commission's case if these off the record discussions did not relate to the roots of the SBT. It also does not help the credibility of the Warren Commission when Counsel lies to a witness. Specter tells Shaw that the Warren Commission has ascertained that CE 399 came from Connally's stretcher,[35] that is simply untrue. Unfortunately for us, Specter was not under oath.
To his credit, after seeing the Zapruder film and CE 399, Dr Shaw would not agree to one bullet having caused all John Connally's wounds. Even if one bullet did cause all of Connally's wounds, Dr. Shaw doubted that it could have been CE 399.[36] Shaw discusses trying to find a frame from the Zapruder film which would show when Connally was "in position" to be wounded by one bullet. The doctors settled on frame 236 - at least 12 frames after JFK is obviously hit. Given this and Connally's recollections, Shaw says, "I think it is hard to say that the first bullet hit both of these men almost simultaneously."[37]
Dr. Charles Francis Gregory
Dr. Gregory was Professor of Orthopedic Surgery University of Texas Medical School in November
1963.[38] He worked on Connally's wrist wound and was assisted in surgery by Drs. William Osborne
and John Parker.[39] He described the wound on the upper (or dorsal) surface as 2cm round and ragged
about 5 cm above wrist joint. The wound on the underside (volar) he described as 1cm round and
smooth cut, about 1.5cm above wrist joint.[40] Both were roughly in the midline of the wrist.
Please take some time right now to do the following demonstration:
But, it gets worse for the Warren Commission and its supporters. Not only is the trajectory wrong for their SBT, the shot that wounded Connally's wrist may have been fired from the front. Gregory states that the wrist wound goes from the upper (dorsal) surface to the under (volar) surface for five reasons:
Please remember, Dr. Gregory was a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery. For such a senior and experienced surgeon to give five reasons that the wound in Connally's wrist was dorsal to volar casts serious doubt on the SBT.
Specter and Gregory spent some time during testimony discussing whether the bullet that injured Connally's wrist had already lost velocity by transacting other tissues.[46] While Gregory's responses seem to support the SBT, previous penetration is not the only possibility for a slower bullet. Perhaps it was a different type of bullet fired from a different weapon or from a greater range. Perhaps it was deflected from elsewhere. These possibilities are ignored.
For the entrance wound and trajectory to fit the SBT, we firstly have to accept that a bullet perforated JFK's neck. Then we have to imagine Connally with the upper side of his wrist pressed to his nipple (try it yourself ) while holding his Stetson, moving to his left and up so that a bullet leaving the midline of JFK's neck could hit him in the back near his armpit and lifting his left thigh ready to catch a bullet emerging from the underside of his wrist. Most people can't do this. And there's absolutely no evidence that Connally did it on November 22nd 1963.
Gregory testified that he doubted that the SBT is likely because the bullet would not have had sufficient energy to smash the radius and then go on to penetrate the thigh.[47] He said that it was more likely for bullet fragments like CE 568 or CE 570 to have remained after causing Connally's wrist injury.[48] This is crucial testimony - the orthopedic surgeon who treated Connally's wrist testifies that it was probably not CE 399 that damaged Connally's wrist.
Having discarded CE 399 as the probable cause of the wrist injury, Gregory speculates that the bullet which caused JFK's head wound may have fragmented and a piece gone on to injure Connally's wrist.[49] If that were true, the SBT wouldn't be needed to explain three shots causing all the wounds. However, Connally's position at the time of the head shot (on the floor of the limousine underneath his wife) and the degree of fragmentation of the bullet(s) that hit JFK's head would seem to diminish this possibility. I have much sympathy for Gregory and his colleagues - Specter had boxed them in. He described how it must have been. The doctors only have two bullets over which to speculate. Rather than this mental bondage, the probability of other shots and shooters should have been investigated. That it was not is simply criminal.
Dr George T Shires
Dr. Shires was Professor of Surgery at University of Texas Medical School at the time of the
assassination.[50] He worked on Connally's thigh wound and was assisted in surgery by Drs. Robert
McClelland, Charles Baxter and Ralph Patman.[51] Dr. Malcolm Perry was also asked to scrub in ready
to assist with vascular surgery if it became necessary.[52] Dr. Shires described how the surface wound in
the skin was larger than the penetrating path and soft tissue damage.[53] The thigh wound looked to Dr.
Shires like a tangential hit [54] meaning that a missile had struck a glancing blow at a sharp angle to
Connally's leg. Dr Shires was very insistent with Specter that the wound had to have been caused by
a tangential hit.[55]
The Warren Commission was sent more evidence about the wound to Connally's thigh by the FBI. Another Parkland doctor, Dr. Jack Reynolds, sent a note to the FBI describing the wound and with an X-ray of Connally's left thigh attached.[56] He described the thigh wound as round, 1cm diameter and containing a roughly oval fragment, 3.5mm long, 1.3 mm wide lying on the axis of thigh (a shape not consistent with lead extruded from base). The note and X-ray were forwarded to the Warren Commission, however, they chose not to use this information.
With the testimony of Dr. Shires and the FBI note from Dr. Reynolds, the Warren Commission was well aware that a whole bullet did not penetrate Connally's thigh, only a fragment. Dr. Shires said that the skin wound was either tangential or that a larger fragment (not a whole bullet) had penetrated or stopped in the skin and then fallen out.
The Warren Commission used two sets of body diagrams during the testimony of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gregory - Gregory Exhibit 1 and CE 679 & 680. They were not drawn by the doctors at the time of treating Connally; in fact they were not drawn by any doctor. It seems that they were produced by the Secret Service. They are anatomically incorrect and the wounds they depict seem to have been drawn in an effort to confuse and deceive rather than to aid testimony.
Dr. Shaw points out that the nipples are drawn too high and repositions them about four inches (relatively) lower.[57] While this might at first appear innocent, even amusing, could it be that Specter was hoping that Shaw would not notice the "high nipple line" and, using the nipple to orient the chest wound, move the exit higher? This would give a shallower trajectory through Connally's chest and possibly aid the SBT.
Shaw goes on to say that the entrance wound is drawn too large.[58] A larger wound might suggest a tumbling bullet which would happen if the bullet had penetrated something before Connally's chest and thus support the SBT. Specter needed a tumbling bullet. Unfortunately for him, Dr. Gregory doubted that the bullet that perforated Connally's chest hit anything first. He described the entrance wound on Connally's back as "sort of linear, perhaps three-quarters of an inch in length with a rounded central portion".[59] Draw it yourself, it's small. He then describes how a bullet that strikes something before creating a wound begins to tumble. This tumbling, says Gregory, creates an entrance wound that is "usually quite large and the destruction in creates is increased".[60] Gregory said, "These are only theoretical observations, but these are some of the reasons why I would believe that the missile in the Governor behaved as though it had never struck anything except him".[61]
As for the wrist, note that the Warren Commission had already decided which wrist wounds were entry and exit before Gregory's testimony. He marked the correct wounds on this diagram.[62]
Gregory states twice that the chest entrance wound is drawn too high[63] - once again, a higher entrance would be useful to the SBT.
Shaw argues again - this time off the record - that the chest entrance wound is drawn too large.[64]
This diagram shows no more that Diagram 2, but the caption is misleading. It begins, "Body diagram utilized by Dr. Shaw indicating probable path of projectile passing though Gov. Connally's body". The caption leads us to believe that Dr. Shaw produced the diagram and that he may have used it in his medical reports or even during surgery. The diagram was merely shown to Dr. Gregory and Dr. Shaw.
Incredibly, the caption to this diagram reads, in part,"The blue line indicates path of projectile though the body as indicated by examination of wounds." Whose examination?
Certainly not the Parkland doctors. Gregory testified that the entrance wound in the wrist is where this diagram shows an exit wound. Moreover, the Warren Commission published his correction of their mistake in diagrams 1 and 3 just 2 pages previously.
These diagrams were shown to Dr. Shaw and Dr Gregory in their second round of giving testimony to the Warren Commission in April 1964. Specter said, "We have heretofore, may the record show the deposition covered much the same ground with Dr Shaw, but the diagrams used now are new diagrams which will have to be remarked in accordance with your recollection".[65] But, they are not "new diagrams" - they are the same as Gregory Exhibit 1 Diagrams 1 and 2.
Why do they need to be remarked: Had Specter lost the originals? Had the doctors been coached? Was Specter hoping that the last utterly confusing round in March might change recollections in his favour? This time, Shaw does not mention the "high nipple line", but simply moves the wound up - how convenient for Specter's SBT.
Gregory is asked again "whether these documents accurately depict the place and the identity of the entry and exit wounds [in the wrist]". He states unequivocally, "They do not ... it is my opinion that the entrance and exit terms have been reversed."[66]
What is going on here? The doctors had already marked the same diagrams in the previous month. Why don't the "new diagrams" show revised positions, sizes, and wound identities as pointed out to Specter? And why are the diagrams still anatomically incorrect? I cannot help wondering why all the mistakes pointed out to Specter on Gregory Exhibit 1 support the SBT and why he persists with them in CE 679 and 680. The wool is not yet over my eyes.
Connally's body contained many bullet fragments when he was admitted to Parkland Memorial Hospital. During his three hours in surgery, only a few were removed. The rest remained in his body as it was thought that they posed no danger to the Governor's health and that it would be risky to attempt removing them.
Dr. Shires, being the most senior doctor, was in charge of the John Connally case and, importantly, testified to a bullet fragment being visible on John Connally's chest X-ray.[67]
Dr Gregory testified that he removed two fragments, but that there were many more smaller fragments which were left in the wound.[68]
The thigh contained at least one fragment (on the axis of femur) and its shape is not consistent with lead extruded from base of CE 399.[69]
Several fragments large enough to be seen on X ray remain in the body and two were removed. I would speculate that these would represent more material than is missing from CE 399 (three grains or 0.2 grams).
Governor John Connally was wounded by more than one bullet. The injury to his chest was probably caused by a bullet shot from behind the limousine. The injury to his wrist was almost certainly caused by a bullet fired from in front of the limousine. It is more difficult to explain the thigh wound, but it seems likely that it was not caused by a whole bullet and, therefore, it was not caused by CE 399.
The minutes of the 27 January 1964 meeting of the Warren Commission record the following statement from the Chief Counsel J. Lee Rankin:
"It seems quite apparent now, since we have a picture of where the bullet entered in the back, that the bullet entered below the shoulder blade, to the right of the backbone, which is below the place where the picture shows the bullet came out the neckband of the shirt, in front. So that how it could turn and ......"
As Harold Weisberg noted, Rankin trails off because he realizes that he has just talked his way out of the "single bullet theory".
The single bullet theory cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt using the best evidence. Many other researchers would argue that the rather doubtful nature of the Zapruder film as a clock should also result in a retraction of this fanciful theory. The surviving members of the Warren Commission and its supporters know that the single bullet theory should be replaced by a multiple bullet theory and conspiracy in the assassination of JFK.
My thanks, once again, to Ian Griggs for generous access to his set of the Warren Commission 26 volumes and his constant encouragement. Thanks too to Justin Bowley for his help with the testimony of Pierre Finck in the Garrison trial of Clay Shaw.
1. For an excellent account of the Warren Commission's rush to judgment and the origins of the single bullet theory, see Epstein, Inquest.
2. Testimony of Robert A Frazier 3H 430.
3. John Connally interview Sept 28th 1964, Reasonable Doubt video, CS Films Inc, 1988.
4. Frame 230 of the Zapruder film shows Connally gripping his Stetson hat well after JFK is obviously wounded in the throat. The Warren Commission's single-bullet theory would have us believe that Connally had also sustained all his injuries at this point. This is impossible:
5. See photograph on page 125 of Robert Groden's The Killing of a President, 1993.
6. There are good pictures of CE 399 in several of the assassination books including page 602 in Harold Weisberg's Post Mortem, self published, 1975.
7. Testimony of Dr. Finck during the Clay Shaw trial.
8. Testimony of Dr. Humes, 2H 361.
9. JFK Autopsy Report, CE 387.
10. CE 397 (WC 17E45)
11. See photograph on page 78 of Robert Groden's The Killing of a President, 1993.
12. See photograph on page 79 of Robert Groden's The Killing of a President, 1993.
13. 23 Nov 1963 Field Report of Secret Service Agent Glenn Bennett.
14. Testimony of Clint Hill, 2H 144.
15. Testimony of Dr. Finck during the Clay Shaw trial.
16. Dr. Humes' original, hand-written autopsy report is reproduced in Harold Weisberg's Post Mortem, self published, 1975.
17. Autopsy Report, Kennedy, John F., CE 387
18. Ibid.
19. Volume 4 of the Hearings contains testimony taken from the doctors in April 1964. Volume 6 of the Hearings contains testimony taken in March 1964.
20. For example, see Dr. Shaw's testimony given to Arlen Specter in volume 6H
21. For example, see Dr. Gregory's testimony in volume 4H
22. Connally takes his shirt off 4H 136. Connally takes his trousers off 4H 138.
23. 4H 109
24. McCloy's question in 4H 115 and Cooper's question in 4H 117
25. Testimony of Dr. Robert Shaw, 4H 102
26. Testimony of Dr. Robert Shaw, 4H102 and 6H 84
27. 4H 137
28. Pages 478-9, Gerald Posner, Case Closed.
29. 4H 109
30. Ibid
31. Ibid
32. 6H 89
33. 6H 92
34. 4H 114
35. 4H 112
36. 4H 113-114
37. 4H 114
38. 6H 96
39. 6H 97
40. 6H 97-98
41. 4H 118
42. 4H 119
43. 4H 120
44. Ibid
45. Ibid
46. 6H 102
47. 4H 127
48. 4H 128
49. Ibid
50. Testimony of Dr. Shires, 6H 104
51. 6H 106
52. Perry scrub in 3H 383????
53. 6H 106
54. Ibid
55. 6H 111
56. Harold Weisberg, Post Mortem.
57. 6H 86
58. Ibid
59. 6H 97
60. 6H 103
61. Ibid
62. 6H101
63. Ibid
64. 6H 87
65. 4H103
66. 4H 126
67. 6H 111
68. 4H 123
69. Harold Weisberg, Post Mortem.
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