The First Shot

[Gerry Down]

Now, as to my personal feelings regarding Aynesworth's credibility... When I created my witness database, many if not most CTs were of the mind-set Aynesworth was not even in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting--I mean, where were his notes, his interviews, etc, and why hasn't he ID'ed himself in a photo, etc... But, from reading his many statements over the years, I've come to believe he was just where he said he was (at least some of the time), mid-block on the east side of Houston and Elm.

I find it difficult to believe he was in all the places he said he was:

In Dealey Plaza during the shooting
At the Texas Theate during Oswalds arrest
In the basement when Oswald was shot

Could it be that he was jut a young reporter and he made this stuff up in order to build up his image in the eyes of his employer and make a name for himself? And he has since been stuck with having to go along with the debacle?

His Wikipedia page says the following:

Aynesworth has been reported to have "interviewed John F. Kennedy in the shower [and] Lyndon B. Johnson in bed".[3] According to one report: "He also tracked down the person who stole "most of" eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes' money, chased James Earl Ray all over the South and into Canada after he shot the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr."[3] According to Aynesworth, he was asked to serve as a pallbearer for Jack Ruby and played basketball with Fidel Castro.[3] He said that he was playing outside of Havana: "And all of a sudden, this Jeep drives up and a bearded gentleman gets out and puts on his tennis shoes and joins us. I'd been having trouble getting an interview, and after that, it came a little easier. I told him that I would let him win."[3]

[Walt Cakebread]

In this interview with Aynesworth he basically opens it with saying he didn't see JFK at the time of the assassination'

JFK did react within a fraction of a second of being hit. This first reaction is recorded in Zapruder and is dealt with in this thread. The head jerk is a reference to the headshot. JFK is indeed hidden behind the sign when hit at z223 but by z224 onwards enough of him is visible to ascertain when his first reaction to being hit took place.

The danger of using JFK's right arm position as he emerges from behind the sign to indicate a reaction to being shot is dealt with in this thread. It is his left arm position that indicates his reaction more accurately

I doubt that JFK would have reacted to being shot in the head.....The head shot "short circuited" all brain functions....In essence JFK was dead at that instant.   JFK DID react to being shot in the throat....  And that reaction is seen in the Altgen's photo.

I have seen videos ( Nazi Films) of men being being executed by a shot to their head.....  They do not react to the shot.....They simply drop dead.

[Charles Collins]

Huh. Aynesworth's original account of his actions on the day of the shooting, found in the book you recently purchased, claims he saw Kennedy's head jerk with the second shot. He reports this in an eyewitness account--not in an account of the shooting as told by numerous witnesses. If you read through the book, furthermore, you'll find that the notes collected by his paper were all supposed to be personal accounts of the day of the shooting, and not news stories comprising the recollections of others.  Now, this was written before the publication of the Warren Report, and the gradual belief the last shot was the head shot. So it's understandable if Aynesworth backed away from his initial impression--lord knows many other witnesses did as much.

Now, could Aynesworth have even seen Kennedy at the time of the head shot? Good question. Probably not. The possibility exists, then, that he just added the bit about seeing Kennedy's head jerk to impress his boss--Aynesworth was at that time a young ambitions reporter and he may very well have noticed how those closest to the action (or claiming to be closest to the action, a la Dan Rather) received a boost in credibility, and stature, within the journalistic community. (See Barbie Zelizer's Covering the Body).

Now, as to my personal feelings regarding Aynesworth's credibility... When I created my witness database, many if not most CTs were of the mind-set Aynesworth was not even in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting--I mean, where were his notes, his interviews, etc, and why hasn't he ID'ed himself in a photo, etc... But, from reading his many statements over the years, I've come to believe he was just where he said he was (at least some of the time), mid-block on the east side of Houston and Elm.

So why do I think as much? Aynesworth is a dyed-in-the-wool Oswald did-it guy. And yet he has been consistent in claiming the last two shots were bunched together. If he'd made up his story, it seems he would have changed it to fit the nonsensical 160-224-313 scenario pushed by most LNs these days. But he hasn't. So I tend to believe it is his genuine impression the last two shots were bunched together.

In any event, upon re-reading Aynesworth's account, I noticed something I should have included on my website--that Aynesworth placed himself in the vicinity of a large black woman wearing a pink dress. Such a woman should be easy to spot in the crowd along Houston. I took a quick look and was unable to find her. Maybe someone with an interest in supporting Aynesworth's credibility could find her, and then find him nearby.

The request memo by Bill Rives specifically says: “Include anecdotes, personal observations and anything else that will reflect the tone of the time as well as indicate the thoroughness of our coverage.”

Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that (in light of Hugh Aynesworth’s position and lack of a line of sight to the limo during the shooting) the description he provided of seeing JFK after he was shot was an anecdote he obtained from another witness. His notes are written in a fashion that makes it appear to be his own description. But his position and later claims that he couldn’t see the limo during the shooting say otherwise.

Don Roberdeau’s map pinpoints Aynesworth’s position. I don’t know how he confirmed it. But it is a good place to start a visual search of the photographic records.

[Walt Cakebread]

Huh. Aynesworth's original account of his actions on the day of the shooting, found in the book you recently purchased, claims he saw Kennedy's head jerk with the second shot. He reports this in an eyewitness account--not in an account of the shooting as told by numerous witnesses. If you read through the book, furthermore, you'll find that the notes collected by his paper were all supposed to be personal accounts of the day of the shooting, and not news stories comprising the recollections of others.  Now, this was written before the publication of the Warren Report, and the gradual belief the last shot was the head shot. So it's understandable if Aynesworth backed away from his initial impression--lord knows many other witnesses did as much.

Now, could Aynesworth have even seen Kennedy at the time of the head shot? Good question. Probably not. The possibility exists, then, that he just added the bit about seeing Kennedy's head jerk to impress his boss--Aynesworth was at that time a young ambitions reporter and he may very well have noticed how those closest to the action (or claiming to be closest to the action, a la Dan Rather) received a boost in credibility, and stature, within the journalistic community. (See Barbie Zelizer's Covering the Body).

Now, as to my personal feelings regarding Aynesworth's credibility... When I created my witness database, many if not most CTs were of the mind-set Aynesworth was not even in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting--I mean, where were his notes, his interviews, etc, and why hasn't he ID'ed himself in a photo, etc... But, from reading his many statements over the years, I've come to believe he was just where he said he was (at least some of the time), mid-block on the east side of Houston and Elm.

So why do I think as much? Aynesworth is a dyed-in-the-wool Oswald did-it guy. And yet he has been consistent in claiming the last two shots were bunched together. If he'd made up his story, it seems he would have changed it to fit the nonsensical 160-224-313 scenario pushed by most LNs these days. But he hasn't. So I tend to believe it is his genuine impression the last two shots were bunched together.

In any event, upon re-reading Aynesworth's account, I noticed something I should have included on my website--that Aynesworth placed himself in the vicinity of a large black woman wearing a pink dress. Such a woman should be easy to spot in the crowd along Houston. I took a quick look and was unable to find her. Maybe someone with an interest in supporting Aynesworth's credibility could find her, and then find him nearby.

Aynesworth's accounts aren't worth anything.....  If you're looking for facts and spending money in your quest..... You won't get a nickel's worth from Aynesworth.

[John Tonkovich]

Aynesworth did a credible job with the Henry Lee Lucas false confessions. I watched the 2019 Netflix series on that called "The Confession Killer". Maybe it took one to know one, as in Aynesworth being a Texas blowhard who exposed what the Texas Department of Public Safety blowhards were doing.

Aynesworth reminds me a bit of Phil Willis, the Texas blowhard who exaggerated the worth of his Z202 slide, claiming it was taken simultaneously with the first shot. That misled the Warren Commission, along with countless JFK assassination buffs.

One major difference.
Willis has photographic proof.
Aynesworth has none.

[Charles Collins]

Huh. Aynesworth's original account of his actions on the day of the shooting, found in the book you recently purchased, claims he saw Kennedy's head jerk with the second shot. He reports this in an eyewitness account--not in an account of the shooting as told by numerous witnesses. If you read through the book, furthermore, you'll find that the notes collected by his paper were all supposed to be personal accounts of the day of the shooting, and not news stories comprising the recollections of others.  Now, this was written before the publication of the Warren Report, and the gradual belief the last shot was the head shot. So it's understandable if Aynesworth backed away from his initial impression--lord knows many other witnesses did as much.

Now, could Aynesworth have even seen Kennedy at the time of the head shot? Good question. Probably not. The possibility exists, then, that he just added the bit about seeing Kennedy's head jerk to impress his boss--Aynesworth was at that time a young ambitions reporter and he may very well have noticed how those closest to the action (or claiming to be closest to the action, a la Dan Rather) received a boost in credibility, and stature, within the journalistic community. (See Barbie Zelizer's Covering the Body).

Now, as to my personal feelings regarding Aynesworth's credibility... When I created my witness database, many if not most CTs were of the mind-set Aynesworth was not even in Dealey Plaza at the time of the shooting--I mean, where were his notes, his interviews, etc, and why hasn't he ID'ed himself in a photo, etc... But, from reading his many statements over the years, I've come to believe he was just where he said he was (at least some of the time), mid-block on the east side of Houston and Elm.

So why do I think as much? Aynesworth is a dyed-in-the-wool Oswald did-it guy. And yet he has been consistent in claiming the last two shots were bunched together. If he'd made up his story, it seems he would have changed it to fit the nonsensical 160-224-313 scenario pushed by most LNs these days. But he hasn't. So I tend to believe it is his genuine impression the last two shots were bunched together.

In any event, upon re-reading Aynesworth's account, I noticed something I should have included on my website--that Aynesworth placed himself in the vicinity of a large black woman wearing a pink dress. Such a woman should be easy to spot in the crowd along Houston. I took a quick look and was unable to find her. Maybe someone with an interest in supporting Aynesworth's credibility could find her, and then find him nearby.

In any event, upon re-reading Aynesworth's account, I noticed something I should have included on my website--that Aynesworth placed himself in the vicinity of a large black woman wearing a pink dress. Such a woman should be easy to spot in the crowd along Houston. I took a quick look and was unable to find her. Maybe someone with an interest in supporting Aynesworth's credibility could find her, and then find him nearby.

I would certainly like to hear Hugh Aynesworth explain the discrepancies. But like I said earlier, I don’t want to be the one to confront him with this. He is still around as far as I know. And he isn’t hard to look up. If you want to use this account as “evidence” and that he is describing what he himself saw, then perhaps you might want to be the one to contact Aynesworth and have him confirm or deny your claim.

In the meantime I remembered a description in Howard Brennan’s book “Witness to History” which was written around 1987 that has a certain amount of similarity to what Hugh Aynesworth wrote in the account in question in 1964. From page 13 in Howard Brennan’s book:

Just then a woman close to me screamed in full realization of what was happening. She uttered something like, “Oh, my God!” But even as she did my eyes darted back to that solitary figure who was changing history.

Yes, I know it is not exactly the same description that Aynesworth wrote in 1964. But the use of the word darted when describing eye movements is interesting. How many witnesses have used that word in their accounts? I don’t recall any others off the top of my head. And if Aynesworth was doing what he claims he was doing immediately after the shooting (taking notes of his interviews) and he heard Brennan use that word, he might have jotted it down in his notes. If so, and if Aynesworth was using his notes when writing the account as requested by his editor, he might have decided to use that word in the account.

Yep, it is a stretch, and only my conjecture. And I could be completely wrong and it could only be a coincidence. But there is a certain similarity that I find interesting.

[John Tonkovich]

What do we see in the Willis photo that proves it was taken simultaneously with the first shot?

I see some things that suggest it was taken well after the first shot:

• Mrs. Kennedy and the Connallys are looking to their right; all said they turned their heads in reaction to hearing the first shot; the Connallys beginning in the Z160s and Mrs. Kennedy in the Z170s. Willis05 was taken at Z202. Willis himself stated:
  
      "Mrs. Kennedy was likewise smiling and facing more to my side of
       the street. When the first shot was fired, her head seemed to just
       snap in that direction ... she turned to the right toward him."
  
• Agent John Ready is looking off to his right; he also said he did this in response to the first shot.
  
• Agent Bennett (between the Betzner and Willis photos) moves his head from his right to his left:
  
      "I immediately looked from the right/crowd/physical area/and
       looked towards the President who was seated in the right
       rear seat of his limousine open convertible."

My timing of the Willis photo is that it was taken about 2.4 seconds after the first shots and 1.14 seconds before the second shot. If it happened that way, the Willis photo was "simultaneous" with the first two shots, but not a particular shot. Willis was sort of telling the truth, Ted Cruz-style.

My point being, Willis "was" in Dealey Plaza. There's proof.
I could give a rat's a$$ about Z202 vs Z204.
Aynesworth "was" somewhere. Dealey Plaza? No proof.

Don't muddle the issue.
We're back to Gerry Ford again. Regardless of what Ted Kennedy said years later, there was still a quid pro quo.

[Pat Speer]

On a second look through the photos, Charles, I think I found the woman described by Aynesworth. She's right by the entrance to the jail, which is to say, near the south end of the County Records Building along Houston. She is most easily observed in the Betzner photo of the JFK limo on Houston.



To be clear, I don't have a particular grievance against Aynesworth. When I first started researching this case (about 18 years ago), I was confounded by all the cherry-picking and misinformation caused by cherry-picking. So I decided to create a database per se, in which I compared the statements made by witnesses over the years. I started off with the assassination witnesses, but eventually included sections where I compare the statements of the Parkland witnesses as well. And the bottom line is this--most every witness making more than one or two statements over the years contradicted themselves on one point or another.

But that's not to say that witnesses are unreliable. When there is a consistent pattern within the witness statements--such as the earliest and closest witnesses saying the last two shots were bunched together--which is in direct opposition to the cognitive psychology maxim time slows down during traumatic events--one can bet the farm the last two loud sounds heard by the bulk of the witnesses were bunched together.

As far as the possibility of a shot at 190, it's not just the blur analysis and eyewitness evidence that places the first shot at this time, but the photo analysis. One of the most overlooked facts about the case is that the HSCA photography panel concluded a shot rang out before Kennedy went behind the sign...and that they came to this conclusion before the acoustics panel came to their conclusion a shot at Z-190 was probable.

Dave Powers said Kennedy jerked off the side of the car when hit. Kennedy's head and arm movements as he heads behind the sign suggest he was hit at this time. His movements at this time certainly don't look natural. And the failure of Dale Myers etc to acknowledge this and to insist he continued calmly waving at this time is perplexing, to say the least.