Wounding of Governor John Connally of Texas November 22, 1963 ,.7Jf" CiLE1 AUG 1 3C1C1Y-13 By JOHN NICHOLS, MD WERE NOT FOLLOWED. ? KOLOis b4ED.Ct Ut4V3.6..61,11ichals is Aretierate tfessor of During a fateful six seconds be- the Governor's chest lateral to the Pathology in the Department of Path- ginning at 12:34) PM (Central right scapula, effecting a fracture ology and Oncology of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Rainbow Standard Time) in Dallas, TX on of the fifth rib posterior, traversed Blvd. at 39th St., Kansas City, KS 66103, Nov. 22, 1963, according to the the thorax right to left and where he should be contacted for re- now renowned Warren Commis- emerged below the right nipple. print and any other related data. The sion Report, Lee Harvey Oswald The bullet continued, fractured following article represents the AUTH- OR'S VIEWPOINT ALONE, and in no is alleged to have fired, within 5.6 the Governor's right wrist and is way ref lects the views or opinions of seconds, three shots—from above, presumed to have become en- the JOURNAL, the Medical and Chirurg- behind and to the right of a mo- tangled in his clothing, only later hal Faculty of the State of Maryland, the torcade in which then-Texas Gov- to faIl from his trousers on a university of Kansas or Cosi. Connally. ernor John Connally was riding stretcher at Parkland Hospital, also 281/2 inches directly in front of in Dallas. A fragment of this bul- Introduction President John F. Kennedy. let is considered to have detached The work described herein was and buried itself in the Cover- The first bullet is presumed to done entirely at the personal ex- nor'slitiglit femur. pense of the author: the findings, have entered the neck of the ideas, opinions and conclusions President from behind and Thekt&ond shot is considered do not necessarily reflect endorse- emerged at the midline in the to have missed, while the third ment or approval of any other per- front between tracheal rings three and last shot inflicted the Presi- son or organization. and four. Continuing, it entered dent's fatal head wound. (Figures 1 and 2.) This paper is a reassessment of Gov. Connally's wounds, taking into account hitherto ignored, but available, facts about his femur wound. From this, I hope, will emerge an awakening to the mag- nitude of what I consider to be the inadequacy and superficiality in probing the medical aspects of the assassination by the Warren Commission. After the tragic motorcade shoot- ing, the wounded President and Governor were taken to Parkland Hospital, the nearest fully-equip- ped, 900-bed teaching hospital, a division of the School of Medicine of the University of Texas; it had a full complement of Professors, Residents, Interns, Nurses a n d Technicians. As the shocking drama continued that fateful day, every decision and action of the staff and every incident (except that considered herein, in my opin- ion) has been subsequently sub- jected to critical scrutiny. Later, in an unauthored article by Park- land Hospital entitled Three Pa- tients al Parkland, it was correctly written: "Today . Parkland has a new reputation all over the ATTORNEY GENERAL ROBERT F. KENNEDY (left) and PRESIDENT JOHN F. world, and historians are typing its KENNEDY at the White House, 1962. (Photo by Cecil Stoughton, the White House.) name into manuscripts that will be in textbooks for generations to come." This appeared in the January, 1964 issue of the Texas Stine Journal of Medicine,1 which also reproduced a letter of gratitude from Gov. Connally dated Jan. 8, 1964, together with biographies of the several physicians and surg- eons who attended the late Presi- dent, the Governor and the late Mr. Oswald. In the course of analyzing and reenacting the assassination of President Kennedy and a study of the Warren Commission docu- ments, an alarming number of pre- viously-unnoticed or ignored errors have been found, Kaye. Some of these may have had a bearing on the guilt or innocence of the accused, had he been afforded the trial to which he was entitled. This preliminary account of some of the medical aspects brings to light, 4.• km* details of one of the errors of commission, an error which the late J. Edgar Hoover had on three occasions refused to all o w his agents to hear. Ismipaiime it bears directly on the validity of the Warren Commission's one-bullet theory to explain the President's neck wound, and all of Gov. Con- nally's injuries. • According to this one-bullet theory, a bullet subsequently desig- nated as Commission Exhibit (CE) 399 was allegedly fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. It traversed the President's neck from the rear. downward from right to left, and the Governor's chest downward from right to left, fractured the Governor's right wrist and injured his left thigh, only later to fall from his clothing in Parkland Hos- pital. (Figures 3 and 4.) Bullet CE 399 weighs 158.6 grains, while unfired bullets from identical ammunition weigh 161- 0.07 (standard error of the mean) grains. This leaves 2.4 grains of metal (lead ?) to be accounted for. Much speculation and confusion prevails from failure of attempts to make CE 399 fit into the one- bullet theory and to account for JOHN B. CONNALLY, former Governor of Texas. all the missing metal. (Pix by 011ie Atkins.) .46 Sniper's Perch Warehouse II. —erg oc". • r Texas School Book Depository 1141. 01; • r ti ailmaci Overpass FIGURE 1: Postcard view of Dealey Plaza showing route of the motorcade, le. alleged firing position of Mr. Oswald and presumed trajectory of the three shots. According to Commander J. J. assembled on Feb. 26-27. 1968, by tallic fragments" in the soft tissues Humes, Commander J. Thorn- the US Attorney General, Ramsey of the neck. This is difficult to ton Boswell and Lt. Col Pierre A. Clark, for a study of the X-ray films understand, because CE 399 is a Finck—the military medical officers and photographs taken at the au- military bullet with a hard lead who performed the subsequent au- topsy, but not seen by the prosec- core and a full jacket 0.10m/. topsy on President Kennedy at the tors prior to their autopsy report thick. It is made of an alloy com- Bethesda Naval Hospital—the bul- of Dec. 6. 1963. The existence of posed of 90% Copper and 10% let which traversed the President's the 1968 Expert Review Panel Zinc,• being approximately the neck did not strike bone or leave was not made public until Jan. same composition as an American metal fragments. These prosectors 16, 1969, when a copy of its report penny. In this writer's experience, did not examine X-ray photo- (published in full as an appendix identical and similar jacketed bul- graphs of the neck at the time of to an article by Mr. Blaine Tay- lets do not leave metal fragments autopsy; however, Commander lor) was deposited with the Wash- in soft tissues when bone is not John H. Ebersole did so, and re- ington. DC, District Court. This struck. Even unjacketed lead bul- ported this by telephone prior to was part of a futile attempt by lets usually do not leave metal completion of the autopsy. The Attorney General Clark to forestall particles in soft tissues when bone prosectors, together with Dr. Eber- issuance of a subpoena requiring is not struck. A diverse view is sole, subsequently confirmed this the Archivist of the US to take taken by Lattimer at al;5 Dr. Lat- absence of fractures and metal par- artifacts of the assassination to New timer has studied the X-ray films ticles in the neck of the late Presk Orleans for use in the case of in the National Archives. dent during an inspection of the Louisiana vs. Shaw. (Mr. Clay These authors believe the metal X-ray films in the National Ar- Shaw was subsequently acquitted particles seen by the "Expert Re- chives in Wash.. DC on Nov. 1. of conspiracy in the assassination view Panel" are spicules of bone 1966.2 of the President.) broken from the transverse process An "Expert Review Panel," con- The Attorney General's experts of the sixth cervical vertebra after sisting of Drs. William H. Carnes, in Forensic Pathology and Radiol- having been struck by the bullet Russell S. Fisher, Russell H. Mor- ogy also agreed that a bullet did C E 399. They further believe gan and Alan R. Moritz, with not strike bones in the neck, but the spinal cord was contused, Counsel Bruce Bromley, Esq., was reported seeing "Several small me- which would have made serious subsequent complications had the President lived. The spinal cord is among the structures omitted from the autopsy reports It was abridged at the request of Robert F. Kennedy,s•l the President 's brother, and at that time US At-. torney General. This author has been refused permission to study the X-ray films in the Archives which were taken at autopsy of the late Presi- dents Vice President Nelson A. Rocke- feller's Commission on CIA Ac- tivities Within the US submitted its report' in June, 1975, in which it is mentioned that a second panel of experts consisting of Drs. Rich- ard Lindberg, Werner U. Spitz and Fred J. Hodges, together with Lt. Col. R. M. McMeekin and Alfred G. Olivier, VMD, had also studied the X-ray films and photographs taken at the President's autopsy.