PSC482G, Spring 2000
Answers
to Assignment 12
Warren Commission Report 3
(N.B. This assignment is for your guidance only. It need not be turned in.)
Read: Warren Commission Report Chapter III (pp. 61–117).
Answer these questions (briefly):
1. Name the persons who saw the rifle being fired from the sixth-floor window or being withdrawn after the shooting. Who saw the most? Howard Brennan (saw a man firing at least the third shot), ninth-grader Amos Lee Euins (saw a man firing at least two of the shots), James N. Crawford (movement in window), Mrs. Earle Cabell (“projection” from window), television newsreel cameraman Malcolm Couch (rifle being withdrawn), and Robert Jackson, staff photographer of the Dallas Times Herald (rifle being withdrawn). Brennan saw the most (a man coming and going, then firing the last shot).
2. Who was on the fifth floor of the TSBD during the shooting, and what did they hear? Depository employees James Jarman, Bonnie Ray Williams, and Harold Norman. Heard shots, the action of the bolt, and shells hitting the floor.
3. Describe the bullet fragments found in the presidential limousine. Which ones were traced ballistically to C2766? Were any traced to another weapon? Two large fragments from the front seat, nose and base of WCC/MC bullet(s), 44.6 and 21 grains. Three tiny fragments under Mrs. Connally’s jump seat, <1 grain each. The large fragments were traced to C2766 to the exclusion of all other weapons.
4. How was the windshield of the presidential limousine damaged, and what does the nature of the damage imply about the direction of the shot? Cracks on outside, lead fragments on inside. Must have been hit by a projectile from the rear.
5. Describe how the nearly whole bullet was found in Parkland Hospital. What did the Commission conclude about its origin, and why? A stretcher on the ground floor was bumped, and the bullet “rolled out.” Bullet traced to C2766 to exclusion of all other weapons. Stretcher presumed to be Connally’s because it could not have been Kennedy’s. Therefore, bullet from Connally. (In case you are worried about it's being a plant, neutron-activation analysis later matched the lead in this bullet to fragments from Connally's wrist.)
6. What was the condition of this bullet? Was it “pristine”? Flattened enough at base to squeeze some lead out. NOT pristine. Viselike forces required to deform it in this way. Recent European ballistics research has revealed similar deformations in similar bullets fired at similar speeds. (See the discussion of CE 399 on our web.) Therefore, the "magic" bullet is actually quite normal, and hardly unique in the way that it is usually portrayed.
7. Why did the autopsy physicians conclude that the tiny rear wound in JFK’s head was one of entrance, and that the large wound on the right side was one of exit? The tiny wound was one of entrance because of beveling between the inner and outer surfaces and the clean, smooth edges. (See diagram about beveling in Lifton's "Best Evidence.") The large wound was one of exit because (a) exit wounds are larger than entrance wounds, (b)one of three large fragments from the large hole wound was beveled in a way that indicated a wound of exit; and (c) tests on human skulls showed that an MC bullet actually created this kind of large wound in the same general area. Dr. John K. Lattimer later confirmed reason (c).
8. Describe Connally’s wounds. Could they have been produced by a single bullet? See description on pp. 92 ff. These wounds could easily have come from a single jacketed bullet of the MC type.
9. Consider the locations of the bullet wound in the president’s back and the hole through his jacket. What do you notice about their vertical placements? What might these locations mean? Hole in jacket is inches below hole in back. Jacket rode up Kennedy's back as he moved, waved, and rested his rights arm on the car. There are photos showing this bunching.
10. Using the appropriate diagram (with timings derived from the Zapruder film), show why the Warren Commission felt that the body wounds to Kennedy and Connally had to have been produced by the same bullet (the single-bullet theory). Can you think of any other evidence pro or con? Kennedy was hit at Z210 at the earliest; Connally hit the latest at Z240. The difference in time is ≤1.6 seconds. Since an MC rifle can’t be aimed and refired in <2.3 sec, either (a) two shooters from the rear, or (b) one bullet hit both men. Other evidence pro = general alignment of the two men, nature of Connally’s wounds, absence of second bullet in body or limousine. Strictly speaking, the evidence for the SBT is supportive rather than probative. But no other explanation has emerged that is as simple and explains as much. Thus, the SBT must be the default explanation, or working hypothesis, for the wounds to the two men’s bodies. [See "A Logical Approach to the Single-Bullet Theory" for details.]