Jfk Assassination 50Th Anniversary
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JFK ASSASSINATION 50TH ANNIVERSARY Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle in the Decades later, emotions, doubts remain backyard at 214 Neeley St. in Dallas, where his President John F. Kennedy’s administration was identified with currents of global change: sharp crises in the Cold War, the looming specter of the Vietnam family rented in 1963. conflict, social changes embodied by the civil rights movement. His killing Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas at age 46 deeply shocked the American public. Many still feel the official account of the assassination, the Warren Commission Report of 1964, presented some questionable findings and selectively ignored some evidence. It concluded the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone. Fifty years later, doubts persist over some key questions: JFK, first lady Jacqueline One shooter, Kennedy and Texas Gov. John three bullets Connally riding in motorcade moments before shooting. u Manlicher-Carcano bolt-action rifle and three shell casings were found near this sixth-floor “sniper’s nest” in the Texas School Book Depository. u The Warren Commission ruled that Oswald was the sole shooter and he only fired three shots. Zapruder film complicates stated limit of three bullets u 8mm film recorded 486 frames, or 26.6 seconds, as JFK’s limo slowly passed on Elm Street. A miss One of three shots misses limo; bystander u Warren Report had to reconcile visual evidence in film James Tague is hit by with their account that only three shots were fired. Frame 313 According to Warren fragment near underpass; Report, final shot hits JFK in the this leaves just two bullets Frames 155-169 Passengers in limousine Frames 210-225 According to Warren Report, a single bullet hits JFK in back, head; this shot is clearly the lethal to account for the wounds are seen reacting to sound of possible shot. exits his neck and also injures Connally in his torso, right wrist, left thigh. wound, it rips top of his head away. to Kennedy and Connally. 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 Abraham Zapruder’s Bell & Howell camera exposed film at rate of 18.3 frames per second There is a 5.6-second span between shots that appear to injure Kennedy Dealey Plaza, on the west side of downtown Dallas Dal-Tex Building Sixth- (Zapruder Texas floor worked School window here) Book StemmonsFreeway Depository Dallas Union Terminal Rail yard 5 parking County North Tower Records Building Rail yard parking 7 County Concrete 6 3 pergola 9 Criminal Stockade fence Courts 2 St. Houston Building 4 (county Rail jail, Pool tracks sheriff’s office) JFK, Connally appear Elm St. to be wounded here Car’s position at time of fatal head shot, M 265 feet from the sixth floor depository window o t o r 1 c a Main St. d e ro Co u mm te er 9 Triple ce underpass S 10 t . Old Courthouse Dallas, Warren Commission findings Details calling Warren findings into question Motorcade route Texas Bystander James Tague said he was struck by debris shooting, he saw three cars and two pairs of men from airport Locations, 1 that richocheted off a curb near where he was standing moving in the parking lot and near the fence; he also at the triple underpass on the west side of the plaza. said he saw a “flash of light or smoke” near the fence. movements 1 In 1979, the U.S. House Select Committee on According to the Warren Report, this is the 354 that day 2 Assassinations concluded with a 95 percent probability 6 trajectory of the fatal shot that struck JFK’s head. that a shot came from the fence line above the grassy Lemmon Ave. Also according to the report, this is the trajectory of Harry Hines Blvd. 1. 11:40 a.m. Air Force knoll, but that the shot missed. 7 the bullet that caused seven wounds to JFK and Trade Mart, One arrives in Dallas from Abraham Zapruder stood here as he filmed his 8mm Connally; the commission said three shots were fired where Kennedy Fort Worth, Texas. 3 and one of the first two missed. home movie, which captured the assassination and put Route back was to speak 2. 12:22 p.m. Motorcade pressure on the Warren Commission’s finding that only Howard Brennan sat on this low wall near the north to airport 4 enters downtown Dallas. three shots were fired; led to Single Bullet theory. 8 reflecting pool and said he had seen a gunman in the sixth-floor southeast window of the depository. 45 3. 12:30 p.m. Kennedy Bill and Gayle Newman shielded their two children and Connally are shot. 4 after seeing JFK shot; Bill said he thought shots had Charles Bronson took home movie footage from here. Ross Ave. 9 Route to 35 come from above and behind them, on the knoll. 4. 12:36 p.m. Limousine Robert Hughes also shot film from this vantage; later hospital 2 30 Lee Bowers, a railroad employee working in this 10 computer analysis suggested movement in the window reaches hospital. 5 3 14-foot tower said that in the 20 minutes prior to the from which Oswald is said to have fired. Singleton Blvd. 5. 12:59 p.m. Oswald reaches boarding house, Westmoreland Rd. Westmoreland DALLAS Discrepancies in autopsy observations 30 Dealey Plaza after bus and cab rides. 6. 1:15 p.m. Officer The first doctors to see the president at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas found a large wound at the back of his head, 5 J.D. Tippit allegedly shot which they thought was an exit wound; part of the skull was missing; in an effort to treat JFK, a tracheotomy was performed W. Davis St. to death by Oswald. over what one of them considered to be an entrance wound in the throat; the back wound was not examined in Dallas 6 1 mile 7 7. 1:50 p.m. Oswald 45 arrested in Texas Theater. Parkland Memorial Hospital 1 km Dr. Charles Carrico, Dr. Malcolm Perry, Two versions of diagram Dr. (and Admiral) George Burkley Original diagram, left, and version in Warren Report, right, missing Dr. Burkley’s signature u During early press conference, Perry U.S. House investigation, 1976-79 confirming location of back says neck wound was an entry wound. wound noted by Dr. Boswell. u The Select Committee on Assassinations, spurred by public u Testifying before Warren Commission outcry after the Zapruder film was shown on television in 1975, later, he reversed himself and said it had conducted an investigation into the killings of both JFK and been an exit wound. Martin Luther King Jr. u It reported the likelihood of a second shooter Bethesda Naval Hospital in the JFK case, and therefore a conspiracy. Lt. Cmdr. J. Thornton Boswell, u Key to this finding was the apparent recording Cmdr. James Humes, Dr. Burkley of a fourth shot on a Dictabelt recorder of a u Burkley notes wound on back, 5.25 in. Dallas police motorcycle; later analysis has (13.3 cm) below collar; too low for that discredited the audio evidence cited. bullet to have exited throat at necktie u The committee reported James Earl Ray had acted alone in knot level; Bosley marks diagram to show killing King, but also said a conspiracy was possible in that case. that spot; Burkley agrees, signs it. u Throat wound not examined; tracheotomy incision had altered it. Stone’s ‘JFK’ stirs debate again in 1991 Oliver Stone’s film chronicles the only prosecution resulting from the JFK case, Revised Warren Report version led by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison from 1966 to 1969. u Back wound noted at a higher location. u Humes burns notes, first autopsy draft, he says because it was bloodstained. Effects of the film 2 u Earned $205 million worldwide. 6 1 u Its popularity spurred passage of the JFK The Single Bullet Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992. Because one of the three shots missed the limo and another Front u A review board worked until 1998, talking to witnesses, caused the fatal head wound to JFK, only one bullet remained to some of whom had never been interviewed before. account for seven other wounds to Kennedy and Connally; this u The federal government bought the Zapruder film. 5 4 3 finding in the Warren Report has drawn skepticism for decades. u Previously classified records were made public. D ow nw Bullet hole Chest wounds ar Limousine d a at level of tie knot fifth rib shattered, ‘Pristine bullet’ ng passengers le exit wound, nipple Americans still think a conspiracy likely CE-399 Test 1. JFK The percentage of Americans who doubt that Oswald acted alone is still high, 2. Gov. but it has dropped Bullet hole Left thigh bullet stops Connally in shirt, 5.25 in (13.3 cm) below Entry 3. Jacqueline Nov. 2003, Gallup poll April 2013, Associated Press poll line of collar right armpit Kennedy 4. Nellie More Oswald More Oswald Kennedy Connally than acted than acted one alone one alone 5. William CE-399 was found at person 19% person 24% Greer, Secret involved involved hospital in near-perfect Service, driver Right wrist condition; a bullet of the 75% 59% shattered same type was fired 6. Roy Kellerman, Not Not through a cadaver’s wrist sure sure and was badly deformed Secret Service Connally 6% 16% Source: ESRI, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, MCT Photo Service, Assassination Archives and Research Center, AP, Library of Congress, Warren Commission, U.S.