Well it is good to see you take witnesses into account even if they were 150-200 feet away, had an obstructed view and did not provide a statement at the time, giving their statement 25 years later. Presumably, you would find the recollections of people who had an unobstructed view from much closer - some only 20 feet away, many of whom gave their statements within hours of the events to be almost as compelling:
- T.E. Moore (24 H 534, "President KENNEDY had reached the Thornton Freeway sign, a shot was fired and Mr. MOORE observed the President slumping forward in the Presidential car.") (heard 3 shots)
I'll review a few.
Wasn't like Moore was side-to the President and the sign.
Nellie Connally (4 H 147. "I turned over my right shoulder and looked back, and saw the President as he had both hands at his neck.") (heard 3 shots)
More often than not, Nellie said she saw Kennedy before he reached for his throat. She also said there was less pause between the first and second shots than the last two.
One way to reconcile the disparity in shot-spanning accounts is to think the shots were relatively even-spaced. The Z150-to-Z223-to-Z312 span is 1....2.....3. Studies show that when people have additional major elements to process, time spans seem shorter. The latter span had the added elements of two shots having been heard (harder to dismiss as a mere firecracker or backfire), some people looking around, and some seeing the President and the Governor reacting.
David Powers (7 H 473: "I noticed then that the President moved quite far to his left after the shot from the extreme right hand side where he had been sitting. There was a second shot and Governor Connally disappeared from sight and then there was a third shot which took off the top of the President’s head") (heard 3 shots)
How does Powers work for a Z190s first shot if he said the President moved left right away? Almost two second gap between Z195 and Z228.
Bobby Hargis (heard 3 shots) (6 H 294):
“….I was next to Mrs. Kennedy when I heard the first shot, and at that time the President bent over, and Governor Connally turned around. He was sitting directly in front of him, and a real shocked and surprised expression on his face.
Mr. STERN. On Governor Connally’s?
Mr. HARGIS. Yes; that is why I thought Governor Connally had been shot first, but it looked like the President was bending over to hear what he had to say, and I thought to myself then that Governor Connally, the Governor had been hit, and then as the President raised back up like that (indicating) the shot that killed him hit him. I don’t know whether it was the second or the third shot. Everything happened so fast.
Hargis' account of who got struck on which shot is inconclusive. I think he meant Connally was hit on the shot before the head shot:
"About ten seconds after we made that left-hand turn, that first shot
rung out. It sounded like a firecracker. First thing that came to my
mind was, it was a firecracker. I was kind of hoping it would be a
firecracker, but it wasn't. I thought Connally was the first one shot
because he turn[ed] around and looking at the president like, you
know, he'd been shot. And I remember Kennedy leaned forward to
listen to what he had to say. And then when he raised back up,
that second shot hit him in the head.
-- Texas Monthly, 1988
Kennedy "leaning forward" toward Connally probably means Kennedy was hit at the same moment. (Hargis goes on to describe the SBT as what happened).
Gayle Newman (19 H 488: "President Kennedy kind of jumped like he was startled and covered his head with his hands and then raised up. After I heard the first shot, another shot sounded and Governor grabbed his chest and lay back on the seat of the car") (heard 3 shots)
William Newman (19 H 490 "The President jumped up in his seat, and it looked like what I thought was a firecracker had went off and I thought he had realized it.") (first (22Nov63) described only 2 shots and later (24Nov63) 3 shots)
At the Shaw Trial, Bill Newman testified:
"I heard two shots — BOOM, BOOM — and when the first shot was
fired the President throwed his hands up like this (demonstrating),
and at the time what we thought had happened, somebody throwed
firecrackers or something under the automobile and he was protecting
his face. At the time of the first shot Governor Connally turned in his
seat in this manner (demonstrating), to look back at the President
I suppose."
Sounds like both men hit by the same bullet, the one fired prior to the head shot.
John Chism (19 H 472 “When I saw the motorcade round the corner, the President was standing and waving to the crowd. And just as he got just about in front of me, he turned and waved at the crowd on this side of the street, the right side; at this point I heard what sounded like one shot, and I saw him, "The President," sit back in his seat and lean his head to his left side.” (described 2 shots but not asked how many there were).
Faye Chism (19 H 471 “As the President was coming through, I heard this first shot, and the President fell to his left.”) (described 2 shots but not asked how many there were)
Here Mason says the Chisms were "not asked how many there were". That's so he can claim they're describing the President hit on the "first shot", that they must have not noticed or lost track of Mason's "second shot" at Z271, and that the head shot was what they termed the "second shot".
But it doesn't help that there's almost two seconds between Mason's mythical Z195-ish (or whatever it is these days) "first shot" and the President slumping about Z228ff. On the other hand, the Chisms didn't say the President reacted immediately.
James Altgens (7 H 520. He said his z255 shot was after first shot and before any other. It shows JFK reacting.) (more than 2 shots-not sure)
Abraham Zapruder (TV interview at 2:00 pm Nov. 22/63: https://www.jfk.org/the-collections/abraham-zapruder-film/zapruder-interview-transcript/ - " I heard a shot, and he slumped to the side, like this. Then I heard another shot or two, I couldn't say it was one or two) (2 or 3 shots, not sure)
SA Clint Hill (2 H 138, Recalled only two shots. After the first: "I saw President Kennedy grab at himself and lurch forward and to the left". CE1024, 18 H 742: "I saw the President hunch forward and then slump to his left."). (2 shots recalled)
Linda Willis (7 H 498. “ Yes; I heard one. Then there was a little bit of time, and then there were two real fast bullets together. When the first one hit, well, the President turned from waving to the people, and he grabbed his throat, and he kind of slumped forward, and then I couldn’t tell where the second shot went.) (heard 3 shots)
The Zapruder film shows Linda Willis can't see Kennedy at all during the time of your first shot.
She can't see Kennedy grab his throat in the Z220s. Linda said the President was between her and a sign (Stemmons, she said). I think she might have meant the Thornton Frwy sign. At least she can see to the President and the Thornton sign, whereas it's doubtful she can see the President in line with the Stemmons sign. As for the slump:
(Clearer frames on right side) |