The Assassination Of Number 35
November 22nd, 1963, It was John F. Kennedy’s 1036th day in office when he was to unfortunately be shot down by assassins bullet’s while
travelling through Dealey Plaza, Texas – this in itself being a somewhat controversial location to visit at the time as highlighted in the previous
page. Kennedy was very unpopular here and there were already some serious security concerns over his proposed visit, particularly over recent apparent
assassination attempts in the previous cities he was visiting before reaching Texas, but Kennedy seeking re-election in 1964 decided it was more than
worth the risk still, to his cost as we now know.
Just prior to Kennedy’s visit to Dallas Texas, as a testament to people’s dislike of him in this state, here perhaps more than anywhere else, it
was widely known that wanted signs (shown below) calling for his own arrest for treason started to appear around the city.
On the morning of the 22nd of November, It was a bland, dreary, rainy day. Something vastly different to what we can see in the Zapruder film, this
being the sole film which is said to have captured the entire assassination take place from start to finish. As the weather appeared to be clearing
and reports for the rest of the day were clear, sunny skies, It was eventually decided by Secret Service personnel it seems, not Kennedy, that the
roof of the Presidential Limousine would be left off, something commonly seen in previous Presidential trips in fact. According to the JFK Lancer
website:
Another controversy with direct bearing on the criminal investigation of the assassination relates to the origin of the order to remove the
bubble-top from the presidential limousine. Kinney adamantly told me that he, and not the president, was solely responsible for the removal of the
presidential limousine’s clear roof on November 22, 1963. However, in testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, agents Kellerman
and Win Lawson spoke of their involvement in that critical decision.
Kinney passed away on July 21, 1997. This correspondent cannot be definitive regarding the number of individuals involved in the decision to remove
the bubble-top. However, based upon thorough investigation of the issue, the strong possibility exists that Lawson, acting through Kellerman and/or
Boring, either gave the order or was represented as having given it.
(Source)
After a breakfast speech in Fort Worth the morning of the 22nd, the Presidential entourage boarded Air Force One and after a short 15 minute flight
landed at Love Field, Dallas, Texas. At approximately 11:50 CST the Presidential Limousine with the rest of the motorcade was to begin It’s allotted
45 minute journey, although stopping at least twice at the request of Kennedy to greet those waiting for him along the route. They were heading to the
Dallas Trade Mart where Kennedy would give a speech and would then go onto attend and speak at a Democratic fund-raising dinner in Austin later in the
day before finally he would proceed to the Texas ranch of the Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, the man who would be President by the end of the day.
With the President in the Presidential Limousine at the time it departed from Love Field was his wife Jackie Kennedy sitting alongside him; Governor
John Connally alongside his wife Nellie immediately in front of them and 2 secret service agents, William Greer, who was the driver of the limousine,
and passenger Roy Kellerman, both agents situated at the very front of the vehicle.
By 12:30pm CST the Limousine was scheduled to reach the Dallas Trade Mart where Kennedy would give his speech, but due to the previous stops, they
were running slightly late and it was at this time that they were to pass the Texas School Book Depository building, this where Lee Harvey Oswald was
supposedly laying in wait with his Mannlicher Carcano Rifle ready to strike. The limousine entered Dealey Plaza coming from Main Street, it turned
right onto Houston and just seconds later it took the 120 degree turn into Elm Street going onto pass the now infamous Schoolbook Depository Building,
the Dal-Tex building and finally the Grassy Knoll as highlighted in the above image.
It was as it made the journey down Elm Street that a total of, according to the Warren Commission, 3 shots rang out, the first of which said to have
completely missed the limousine altogether, hitting a tree that was in the way and ricocheting down the street hitting a curb and finally striking
witness James Tague situated near the Overpass (pictured below), the second bullet striking President Kennedy in the “base of the neck,” then
continuing it’s journey to exit through his throat striking Governor Connally sat directly in front and the third and final bullet striking Kennedy
in the upper right portion of his skull, killing him instantly.
(An image taken immediately following the assassination – The position of James Tague can be viewed in the middle right side
of this image)
The first bullet that is said to have struck Kennedy did so through the “base of his neck” according to the commission exiting through his
Adam’s apple and further traveling to strike and injure Governor Connolly situated directly in front causing wounds to his back, chest, wrist and
thigh – this being a major part of the Single Bullet Theory they proposed, a theory that Connally seemed to later disagree with. He was quoted as
saying “Beyond any question, and I’ll never change my opinion, the first bullet did not hit me. The second bullet did hit me. The third bullet did
not hit me.” This a statement to suggest that he had been struck with a separate bullet to the one that had first struck Kennedy in the neck.
Describing the events take place Connally was also quoted as describing his movements as so: “The first sound, the first shot, I heard, and turned
and looked right into the President’s face. He was clutching his throat, and just slumped down. He Just had a – a look of nothingness on his face.
He-he didn’t say anything. But that was the first shot. The second shot, that hit John – well, of course, I could see him covered with – with
blood, and his – his reaction to a second shot. The third shot, even though I didn’t see the President, I felt the matter all over me, and I could
see it all over the car.” It was only s Connally was turning to his right, after the first shot had struck Kennedy, that he claimed to have been
struck by a bullet. The second shot to strike the Limousine did so directly in the head of Kennedy, this being the fatal shot commonly referred to as
Z-313, a reference to frame 313 of the Zapruder film, the frame where the damage to his skull could first be seen.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination the surrounding crowd, nothing short of horrified at what had just taken place, were seemingly frozen
and unsure what to do. Before long the majority of them slowly started to move towards the location behind the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll,
presumably as this was where they first suspected a shot to have come from, that or only a small percentage of them thought so and the rest were
simply following where others were running to, It’s not fully clear.
(Witnesses running to the knoll)
We do know however that other witnesses do report strange activity in this area immediately before and after the assassination had taken place. Lee
Bowers for example was a witness situated behind the Grassy Knoll in his rail yard tower and he had an almost perfect view of the knoll. He once
claimed to JFK researcher Mark Lane that: “At the time of the shooting, in the vicinity of where the two men I have described were, there was a
flash of light or, as far as I am concerned, something I could not identify, but there was something which occurred which caught my eye in this
immediate area on the embankment. Now, what this was, I could not state at that time and at this time I could not identify it, other than there was
some unusual occurrence – a flash of light or smoke or something which caused me to feel like something out of the ordinary had occurred
there.”
The Interview with Bowers and Lane can be viewed here:
Sam Holland was another witness and one who more than likely had the greatest view of the assassination of anyone else that day, and he once claimed:
“Just about the time that the parade turned on Elm Street, about where that truck is – that bus is now, there was a shot came from up-the upper
end of the street. I couldn’t say then, at that time, that it came from the Book Depository book store. But I knew that it came from the other end
of the street, and the President slumped over forward like that and tried to raise his hand up. And Governor Connally, sitting in front of him on the
right side of the car, tried to turn to his right and he was sitting so close to the door that he couldn’t make it that-a-way, and he turned back
like that with his arm out to the left. And about that time, the second shot was fired and it knocked him over forward and he slumped to the right,
and I guess his wife pulled him over in her lap because he fell over in her lap.
And about that time, there was a third report that wasn’t nearly as loud as the two previous reports. It came from that picket fence, and then there
was a fourth report. The third and the fourth reports was almost simultaneously. But, the third report wasn’t nearly as loud as the two previous
reports or the fourth report. And I glanced over underneath that green tree and you see a – a little puff of smoke. It looked like a puff of steam
or cigarette smoke. And the smoke was about – oh, eight or ten feet off the ground, and about fifteen feet this side of that tree.”
This interview with Holland can be observed here:
Other witnesses, including Marrion Baker for example, immediately ran to the Texas School Book Depository building, this being where a shot could be
heard to have originated from. Whether someone was shooting from somewhere around the knoll though, Is unclear. Whoever they were, if they exist at
all, they seemingly made their escape somehow. But if we are to believe the majority of the witnesses present in Dealey Plaza, one thing we can be
sure one… there was at least someone shooting from the ground as well as someone, whether It be Oswald or someone else, shooting from a building
somewhere behind the Limousine.
By 1pm that day, the 22nd of November, the assassination taking place at approximately 12:30pm, Kennedy was finally confirmed dead at Parkland
hospital, this being due to the severe injuries he had sustained, primarily the massive head wound he had suffered. John Connally was immediately
taken for surgery following his arrival at Parkland as he had also suffered multiple serious wounds in the attack but none proved fatal and he
survived. To his death in 1993 he’s said to have believed that he was struck with a different bullet to the one that had struck Kennedy in the neck
thus he did not believe in the Single Bullet Theory.
The attacker who was seemingly shooting from the Texas School Book Depository also somehow seemed to evade capture following the attack and was now on
the run.
edit on 23-8-2012 by Rising Against because: (no reason given)
