Dr. Cyril Wecht has died

[Charles Collins]

    You just shot yourself in the foot. Humes did Not support the SBT.

Another snip from “Passion for Truth” by Arlen Specter, page 81:


Humes saw Bullet 399, which was almost pristine, for the first time the day he testified. When I showed him photographs of the positions that Kennedy and Connally had occupied in the Lincoln, Humes suggested that the same bullet might have exited Kennedy’s neck and then passed through Connally’s chest.

I asked Humes whether he thought Bullet 399 could have caused Connally’s other wounds, to the right wrist and left thigh. Humes could rely only on the Parkland Hospital records to answer. “I think that extremely unlikely,” he replied. “The reports, again Exhibit 392 from Parkland, tell of an entrance wound on the lower mid thigh of the governor, and X rays taken there are described as showing metallic fragments in the bone, which apparently by this report were not removed and are still in Governor Connally’s thigh. I can’t conceive of where they came from this missile.”
Humes also did not think Bullet 399 had caused the wounds to Connally’s wrist, because of metallic fragments found in that wound. “The reason I believe it most unlikely that this missle could have inflicted either of these wounds is that this missle is basically intact; its jacket appears to me to be intact, and I do not understand how it could possibly have left fragments in either of these locations.” At this point then, there was no Single-Bullet Theory. Humes had given us vital information indicating that the bullet had exited from Kennedy’s throat at high speed. The theory that the bullet then went through Conbnally’s chest and wrist and lodged in the governor’s thigh would have to be checked against his X rays, a suggestion Humes made. The key lay in the size and weight of the fragments.
We would later prove that Bullet 399 could indeed have passed through the president and then inflicted all of the governor’s wounds. We would make the case partly by weighing Bullet 399 and the metal fragments taken from Connally’s body. Together, the nearly whole bullet and the fragments weighed no more than an ordinary bullet.

As you can see, I said the idea that evolved into the single bullet theory originated with Dr. Humes’ testimony. Whether or not Humes believed that the other two wounds were caused by Bullet 399 is not relevant to the statement that I made.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Another snip from “Passion for Truth” by Arlen Specter, page 81:


Humes saw Bullet 399, which was almost pristine, for the first time the day he testified. When I showed him photographs of the positions that Kennedy and Connally had occupied in the Lincoln, Humes suggested that the same bullet might have exited Kennedy’s neck and then passed through Connally’s chest.

I asked Humes whether he thought Bullet 399 could have caused Connally’s other wounds, to the right wrist and left thigh. Humes could rely only on the Parkland Hospital records to answer. “I think that extremely unlikely,” he replied. “The reports, again Exhibit 392 from Parkland, tell of an entrance wound on the lower mid thigh of the governor, and X rays taken there are described as showing metallic fragments in the bone, which apparently by this report were not removed and are still in Governor Connally’s thigh. I can’t conceive of where they came from this missile.”
Humes also did not think Bullet 399 had caused the wounds to Connally’s wrist, because of metallic fragments found in that wound. “The reason I believe it most unlikely that this missle could have inflicted either of these wounds is that this missle is basically intact; its jacket appears to me to be intact, and I do not understand how it could possibly have left fragments in either of these locations.” At this point then, there was no Single-Bullet Theory. Humes had given us vital information indicating that the bullet had exited from Kennedy’s throat at high speed. The theory that the bullet then went through Conbnally’s chest and wrist and lodged in the governor’s thigh would have to be checked against his X rays, a suggestion Humes made. The key lay in the size and weight of the fragments.
We would later prove that Bullet 399 could indeed have passed through the president and then inflicted all of the governor’s wounds. We would make the case partly by weighing Bullet 399 and the metal fragments taken from Connally’s body. Together, the nearly whole bullet and the fragments weighed no more than an ordinary bullet.

As you can see, I said the idea that evolved into the single bullet theory originated with Dr. Humes’ testimony. Whether or not Humes believed that the other two wounds were caused by Bullet 399 is not relevant to the statement that I made.

Charles: Here is Humes in 1992 in the JAMA article:

"Once we saw the holes in the back of the President's suit jacket and shirt and the nicks on his shirt collar and the knot of his necktie, the path of the second bullet was confirmed. That bullet was traveling very fast and it had to go somewhere. I believe in the single-bullet theory that it struck Governor Connally immediately after exiting the President's throat."

So it's true he initially disbelieved the idea, or thought it unlikely; he later came to support it.

That JAMA article is here: https://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/arrb/master_med_set/pdf/md22.pdf

[Charles Collins]

Charles: Here is Humes in 1992 in the JAMA article:

"Once we saw the holes in the back of the President's suit jacket and shirt and the nicks on his shirt collar and the knot of his necktie, the path of the second bullet was confirmed. That bullet was traveling very fast and it had to go somewhere. I believe in the single-bullet theory that it struck Governor Connally immediately after exiting the President's throat."

So it's true he initially disbelieved the idea, or thought it unlikely; he later came to support it.

That JAMA article is here: https://aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/arrb/master_med_set/pdf/md22.pdf

Thanks Steve, yes Arlen Specter’s book spells out the limited information that Humes had at the time of his testimony. That explains why he testified as he did. It is good to know that he later supported the SBT after learning more facts.


Edit: I think that one of the insurmountable reasons that no one will ever disprove the SBT is what Humes said:

“That bullet was traveling very fast and it had to go somewhere.”

[Michael Capasse]

Mr. SPECTER – Doctor Humes, I show you a bullet which we have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 399,
and may I say now that, subject to later proof, this is the missile which has been taken from the stretcher which
the evidence now indicates was the stretcher occupied by Governor Connally. I move for its admission into evidence at this time.

...that later proof was never shown.
https://jfk.boards.net/post/3956/thread

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mr. SPECTER. And could that missile have made the wound on Governor Connally's right wrist?

Commander HUMES. I think that that is most unlikely ...The reason I believe it most unlikely that this missile could have inflicted either of these wounds is that
this missile is basically intact; its jacket appears to me to be intact, and I do not understand how it could possibly have left fragments in either of these locations.

[Fergus O'Brien]

   


 Note, if you will, how far to JFK's left John Connally is seated.
 Note too, how JFK was seated completely up against the inside side of the limousine, so that he could rest his right arm comfortably while riding in the motorcade,

  Cyril Wecht was very dishonest when using stand-ins to simulate JFK and JBC seatd in the limousine.   He also knew about the "Lapel Flip" as far back as 1975, and never said a word about it!

"Note, if you will, how far to JFK's left John Connally is seated."

the photos you posted have dark shadow in the area of connallys right arm / elbow and the area of the right side of the limo . in addition the photos were taken high above and at an angle . this creates an illusion of a larger gap . the gap was 2.5 inches .




 

"Note too, how JFK was seated completely up against the inside side of the limousine, so that he could rest his right arm comfortably while riding in the motorcade"



we only have the photos and film that we have , so we cant do anything about that . but we can try and show the best photos .

[Steve Barber]

"Note, if you will, how far to JFK's left John Connally is seated."

the photos you posted have dark shadow in the area of connallys right arm / elbow and the area of the right side of the limo . in addition the photos were taken high above and at an angle . this creates an illusion of a larger gap . the gap was 2.5 inches .




 

"Note too, how JFK was seated completely up against the inside side of the limousine, so that he could rest his right arm comfortably while riding in the motorcade"



we only have the photos and film that we have , so we cant do anything about that . but we can try and show the best photos .

  Look at these two pictures again. Arrows are pointing to the top corner of the jump seat, and the distance between JBC and the side of the car.  JBC is facing straight ahead, which he wasn't doing at the time of the assassination, as the Zapruder film reveals. The right side of JBC's body is further away from the side of the car with his body turned slightly sideway.
 
I am aware of the 2.5inch distance between the seat and the side of the limousine.  This doesn't change the fact that JBC is far left of JFK's position.
JFK and JBC do not line up, and the single bullet that struck JFK also caused all of JBC's wounds. 
The fact that JFK is seated against the side of the car makes all the difference in the world, and the reason he was so far to JBC's right.

      

[Charles Collins]

Mr. SPECTER – Doctor Humes, I show you a bullet which we have marked as Commission Exhibit No. 399,
and may I say now that, subject to later proof, this is the missile which has been taken from the stretcher which
the evidence now indicates was the stretcher occupied by Governor Connally. I move for its admission into evidence at this time.

...that later proof was never shown.
https://jfk.boards.net/post/3956/thread

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mr. SPECTER. And could that missile have made the wound on Governor Connally's right wrist?

Commander HUMES. I think that that is most unlikely ...The reason I believe it most unlikely that this missile could have inflicted either of these wounds is that
this missile is basically intact; its jacket appears to me to be intact, and I do not understand how it could possibly have left fragments in either of these locations.

...that later proof was never shown.


Another snip from “Passion for Truth” by Arlen Specter, page 97:

I next investigated what had happened to Kennedy’s stretcher. As the blood-soaked Lincoln arrived at Parkland, Diana Bowron, a twenty-two-year-old nurse from England, heard an intercom message that carts were needed at the emergency room entrance. She and an orderly grabbed a gurney from Major Surgery and ran down the hall. The stretcher was pushed near the limousine. The president was lying across Mrs. Kennedy’s knee. Nurse Bowron tried to lift the president’s head, but the First Lady pushed her away. Jacqueline Kennedy then lifted the president’s head onto the cart. The stretcher was rushed into Trauma Room 1, with Mrs. Kennedy running beside it. Jacqueline Kennedy placed a bouquet of red roses, which she had been given at the airport, on the president’s chest as he lay on the stretcher. Her pink pillbox hat, along with the roses, was lying on top of the president when he was wheeled into the emergency room.
Kennedy remained on that stretcher from the time he was wheeled into Trauma Room 1, through the unsuccessful medical treatment , until his body was placed in a casket in the same room. After Kennedy was in his casket, the sheets from his stretcher were gathered and placed in a linen hamper. The stretcher was then wheeled over to Trauma Room 2. Kennedy’s stretcher was never near the area where Tomlinson found the bullet.
Commission Exhibit 399 obviously had dropped from the stretchers that had carried either Kennedy or Connally. We proved that the bullet could not have come from Kennedy’s stretcher. It also could not have come from an odd stretcher that happened to be resting by Connally’s stretcher near the ground-floor men’s room. The bullet, the commission concluded, had to have fallen from Connally’s stretcher.

[Michael Capasse]

...that later proof was never shown.


Another snip from “Passion for Truth” by Arlen Specter, page 97:

I next investigated what had happened to Kennedy’s stretcher. As the blood-soaked Lincoln arrived at Parkland, Diana Bowron, a twenty-two-year-old nurse from England, heard an intercom message that carts were needed at the emergency room entrance. She and an orderly grabbed a gurney from Major Surgery and ran down the hall. The stretcher was pushed near the limousine. The president was lying across Mrs. Kennedy’s knee. Nurse Bowron tried to lift the president’s head, but the First Lady pushed her away. Jacqueline Kennedy then lifted the president’s head onto the cart. The stretcher was rushed into Trauma Room 1, with Mrs. Kennedy running beside it. Jacqueline Kennedy placed a bouquet of red roses, which she had been given at the airport, on the president’s chest as he lay on the stretcher. Her pink pillbox hat, along with the roses, was lying on top of the president when he was wheeled into the emergency room.
Kennedy remained on that stretcher from the time he was wheeled into Trauma Room 1, through the unsuccessful medical treatment , until his body was placed in a casket in the same room. After Kennedy was in his casket, the sheets from his stretcher were gathered and placed in a linen hamper. The stretcher was then wheeled over to Trauma Room 2. Kennedy’s stretcher was never near the area where Tomlinson found the bullet.
Commission Exhibit 399 obviously had dropped from the stretchers that had carried either Kennedy or Connally. We proved that the bullet could not have come from Kennedy’s stretcher. It also could not have come from an odd stretcher that happened to be resting by Connally’s stretcher near the ground-floor men’s room. The bullet, the commission concluded, had to have fallen from Connally’s stretcher.