PSC482G, Spring 2000
Answers to midterm examination, Wednesday 8 March
1. Basic data of the assassination. (20 points) Answer each of these questions briefly:
(a) Why did Kennedy travel to Texas? To
heal a rift in the Texas Democratic Party, to boost his popularity in Texas, and
to become more familiar with conditions in Texas.
(b) What was the destination of the motorcade? The Dallas Trade Mart, for a
luncheon.
(c) Why did the motorcade jog from Main Street over to Elm Street? Because
concrete barriers prevented cars from passing directly from Main Street to the
Stemmons Freeway.
(d) Over what timespan were the shots fired (careful!)? If the first shot
hit, the shots spanned roughly 5.6 seconds. If the first shot missed, they
spanned in excess of 7.9 seconds or so.
(e) What efforts were taken to save the president’s life? Tracheotomy,
intravenous blood and saline solution, oxygen, hydrocortisone, etc.
(f) When was JFK declared dead? At 1:00 p.m.
(g) When and how did Oswald leave the Depository? A few minutes after the
shootings, he apparently walked out the front door.
(h) How did Oswald’s description get broadcast within 15 minutes or so after
the shooting? Howard Brennan gave it to a policeman a few minutes after the
shooting. The policeman radioed it to police HQ.
(i) Where was Oswald arrested? In the Texas Theatre.
(j) Who tipped off the police to Oswald’s whereabouts? Johnny Calvin
Brewer, manager of the shoe store next door, saw Oswald looking nervous just
before he entered the theater. Brewer told the ticket-taker lady, who telephoned
the police.
2. The Warren Commission. (20 points)
(a) Who formed the Warren Commission? President
Lyndon B. Johnson.
(b) When was it established? November 29, 1963.
(c) Why was it formed? To forestall multiple separate investigations and to
reassure the U.S. and the world. It also made President Johnson look good.
(d) What powers did it have? To issue subpoenas, to grant immunity in return
for testimony, and to spend as much money as they needed.
(e) Who was its head? (Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?) Chief Justice Earl
Warren, who by the way is not buried in Grant’s Tomb.
(f) What was the dominant profession of the commissioners and staff? Lawyers.
(g) What was the charge to the commission? To evaluate all the evidence and
report to LBJ.
(h) What did the commission say about the number of shots? The weight of the
evidence was for three shots.
(i) What did the commission say about evidence of conspiracy in the
assassination? No evidence found. Could not rule out conspiracy, though,
because there may have been evidence that they were not aware of.
(j) What did the commission say about Jack Ruby and possible conspiracy? Acted
on his own. No evidence fond for conspiracy.
3. More short answers. (20 points)
(a) Was the “pristine bullet”
really pristine? Explain. No. The base had been deformed by viselike forces.
It was also slightly deformed laterally.
(b) Who was James Jarman and why is his testimony important? One of three
young black men who observed the assassination from the fifth floor of the TSBD.
He heard (and felt) shots being fired directly above him, heard the rifle being
operated, and heard the empty shells hitting the floor.
(c) What can we say about possible shooters on the knoll? No strong evidence
for. If someone did fire from there, the shot missed and the person left no
physical trace. Therefore we may not build a knoll shooter into any of our
hypotheses.
(d) What can we say about whether Jack Ruby shot Oswald as part of a conspiracy?
Ruby’s role was either dumb luck (no conspiracy) or an extremely highly
organized conspiracy. Since there is no evidence for the latter, we must begin
our deliberations with the former.
(e) How do we know that the bullet entered Kennedy’s neck from the rear? Fibers
around hole in back of shirt and jacket are bent forward.
(f) How do we know that both bullets that were retrieved came from Oswald’s
rifle? Their ballistic markings tie them to his rifle to the exclusions of
all other rifles.
(g) What can we say about who fired those bullets? All strong evidence
consistent with Oswald. No strong evidence for any other shooter. Can’t be
certain that Oswald shot his rifle.
(h) How do we know that the windshield of the presidential limo was hit from
behind? Glass pushed toward the front. Lead particles on the inside of glass.
Bullet fragments found on front seat (after bouncing off the glass).
(i) How do we know that Kennedy’s head was hit from the rear? Quick snap
forward in the Zapruder film. Forward beveling of both wounds. Cone of tiny lead
fragments extending from small entrance wound in rear to large exit wound on
back half of right side. Rear wound much smaller than side exit wound (which is
not the same as the big hole).
(j) How do we know that Oswald was not stuffed into a job at the Depository so
that he could shoot the President when the motorcade passed directly in front of
the building? Oswald started to work there weeks before even the Secret
Service was notified of the trip.
4. Longer answers: (30 points)
(a) Explain why strong evidence (physical evidence) is so important to understanding the JFK assassination. Physical evidence can be tested by multiple experts independently; testimonial evidence cannot. This makes physical evidence the key to any crime.
(b) The FBI ran tests to see whether expert shooters could replicate Oswald’s shooting feat. They had trouble. Explain how these tests were run, whether they really represented the conditions of November 22nd, and what they really showed about the feat. The FBI’s marksmen shot at unrepresentative stationary targets, just as the KGB’s marksmen did. They tried to get off three shots in 5.6 seconds, which represents the more difficult of the two scenarios (the other involving 8 seconds or more). Even so, they showed it was possible to get off three shots in 4.6 seconds in the best case. This result tends to make the actual shooting feat plausible (as we know it must be because it happened).
(c) Many critics make much of the fact that the holes in the rear of Kennedy’s shirt and jacket are 2–3 inches below the hole in his back/neck. They claim that this proves that the bullet had an upward trajectory through Kennedy’s body and therefore could not have come from the sixth floor of the Depository. Explain what the evidence really shows about the position of entrance wound and the angle of the trajectory. The holes in the jacket, shirt, and back must line up because there is only one in each. The shirt and jacket may move up and down relative to the back. The bunching effect can move the shirt and jacket up by 2–3 inches, just the distance that the holes in the clothing are below the hole in the back. The hole in the back, as located by measuring from the tip of the right shoulder and the right mastoid process, makes a downward angle relative to the exit in the throat that is compatible with the sixth floor of the depository.
(d) Lay out the web of evidence against Oswald in as much detail as you can. What can you conclude from it? Oswald owned and possessed the rifle. He brought it to the TSBD that morning, under the guise of curtain rods. He was on the sixth floor within 35 minutes of the shooting. Howard Brennan saw him fire at least the third shot. His fresh fingerprints and palmprint were on the rifle, as were fibers consistent with his shirt. His fresh palmprint was on at least one box. He made an unscheduled visit home that night before the assassination and left with a long, heavy, bulky object. He left the TSBD right after the shooting. He left his wedding ring and $170 for Marina that morning. This evidence does everything except put his finger on the trigger. There is no such evidence against anyone else, even after 36 years or trying.
(e) Describe the act of believing, in terms of various levels of probabilities. Compare it with the act of a jury in convicting a defendant. Use a diagram if you need to. Believing is accepting as true (probability of 100%) something whose real probability is less than 100%. The act of believing thus represents a personal, voluntary raising of probabilities to the level of certainty. The probabilities raised to 100% may be as high as 95% or as low as 2%–3% (as JFK conspiracists do). A jury does the same thing when it convicts a defendant—it accepts that the actual probability of guilt, always less than 100%, is actually 100%.
5. Our logical/critical way of thinking. (10 points) Use our procedure for critical thinking to address the question “From how many locations in Dealey Plaza were shots fired at the President?” Go through the various steps involving hypotheses, evidence, etc., and see what answer you can justify.
Question: From how many locations were shots fired at the president?
All possible hypotheses:
TSBD only
Knoll only
Dal-Tex only
TSBD + Dal-Tex
TSBD + knoll
Dal-Tex + knoll
All three
All strong evidence
Rifle found on sixth floor of TSBD
All large bullet fragments matched that rifle.
The three cartridge cases matched that rifle.
JFK’s head was hit from the rear
JFK’s body was hit from the rear
The limousine’s window was hit from the rear
No other weapons or physical traces of shooters found
All hypotheses consistent with the
strong evidence
TSBD only
TSBD + Dal-Tex
TSBD + knoll
All three
Simplest hypothesis consistent with the
strong evidence
TSBD only
Thus our working hypothesis must be that shots were fired from only the TSBD.