Lloyd, Continuing from where you left off:
Allen Dulles was not fired by JFK.
Forced resignation would probably be a better word. The White House released Dulles's resignation letter in the aftermath of the failed Bay of Pigs disaster. David Talbot who wrote an excellent biography of Allen Dulles
The Devil?s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America?s Secret Government, does a very good job explaining this issue along with the forced resignations of Richard Bissell and General Charles Cabell [the brother of the Mayor of Dallas, Earl Cabell who has since been proven to be a CIA asset]
"My first reaction, and also my friends', was that as a joke someone had backfired their car. Apparently, the driver and occupants of the President's car had the same impression, because instead of speeding up, the car came almost to a halt. Things are a little hazy from this point, but I don't believe anyone was hit with the first bullet. The President and Mrs. Kennedy turned and looked around, as if they, too, didn't believe the noise was really coming from a gun...Then after a moment's pause, there was another shot and I saw the President start slumping in the car. "
-Mary Woodward
"I think that this is where cognitive dissonance comes into play for some on a number of issues. If there were three shots and they all came from the Grassy Knoll, how was it possible that Kennedy and Connally were both struck in the back? Kennedy was really struck at the base of the neck, but that's another matter. The wound itself was one of entry. Also, if the first shot missed, then how does one get around the Single Bullet Theory? "Tim,
These are all excellent questions that need excellent answers and I am not sure I have them. To begin with I don't believe all the shots came from any one location.
If Mary Woodward was correct and the first shot missed [and likely hit James Tague near the triple underpass over a hundred yards away from the limousine carrying the President] then according to the WC, the second shot must have struck both JFK and Gov. Connelly [this is so called Magic Bullet or SBT depending on your point of view] and then the last bullet would have struck JFK in the head.
This would mean the Dallas doctors and nurses who thought the neck wound was one of entrance were wrong. It would also require the three pathologists at the official autopsy to be incorrect when they probed and found JFK's shallow back wound did not exit JFK's body. They noted the end of this wound could be felt with their finger.
The three pathologists would also have to be wrong when they found the angle of the back would was 45 to 60 degrees downward [much steeper than the angle of approximately 19 degrees the FBI and WC concluded the angle from the 6th floor of the TSBD to the President at the time the bullet would have struck JFK and Connelly.] This would make it impossible for this bullet reverse course and then travel upwards to exit JFK's throat and then reverse course downward again and travel into Gov. Connally's back.
The list of things that would have had to occur for the Magic Bullet/Single Bullet theory to work is staggering to me. From the official report of FBI Agents Sibert and O?Neill who documented the autopsy for the FBI:
"During the latter stages of this autopsy, Dr. HUMES located an opening which appeared to be a bullet hole which was below the shoulders [and obviously not JFK's neck] and two inches to the right of the middle line of the spinal column. This opening was probed by Dr. HUMES with the finger, at which time it was determined that the trajectory of the missile entering at this point had entered at a downward position of 45 to 60 degrees.
Further probing determined that the distance travelled by this missile was a short distance inasmuch as the end of the opening could be felt with the finger. Inasmuch as no complete bullet of any size could be located in the brain area and likewise no bullet could be located in the back or any other area of the body as determined by total body X?Rays and inspection revealing there was no point of exit, the individuals performing the autopsy were at a loss to explain why they could find no bullets."
If the entrance wound in JFK back was shallow [less than the length of the pathologist's finger] and did not exit or pass through JFK body to come out the front of the throat, how could this bullet strike Gov. Connelly?
And what caused the small [4mm to 7mm] round, well demarcated wound in JFK's throat that Dallas Emergency Room doctors clearly described as a wound of entry?
Interesting enough, even the FBI had decided on a completely different version of these three shots than what the WC would eventually decided had happened. The FBI stood by their original conclusions for several months until they were forced to confront and deal with the injury of James Tague in the summer of 1964.