Kennedy Assassination Case Study
Introduction
John Fitzgerald Kennedy who was the 35th President of the United States was assassinated at 12.30pm on Friday, November 22nd, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, and it was cruel and shocking to see such an act of violence toward a man, a family, a nation and against all mankind. He was young, vigorous and well liked leader who used his powers for all the good reason for his nation, who’s years of public and private life stretched before him was the victim of the fourth Presidential assassination in the history of a country dedicated to the concepts of reasoned argument and peaceful political change .It was hoped that Dallas planned trip motorcade would evoke a demonstration of the President’s personal popularity in a city where …show more content…
he had lost in the 1960 election. Procession from Love Field airport to the site of a luncheon planned by Dallas Business and Civic leaders in honour of the President should’ve taken forty-five minutes, but he never made it to Trade Mart Luncheon site that they had chosen as he was shot and murdered five minutes away from his destination.
Narrative of Events
Advance preparations for President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas were preliminary responsibilities of two secret service agent: Winston G. Lawson who was a member of the White house and a special agent Forrest V. Sorrels, who was in charge of the Dallas office. They were both informed of the trip on November the 4th, their responsibilities were to organize the timetable, coordinating local activities with the White House staff, though the most significant responsibilities were: to take precautionary action against anyone in Dallas considered a threat to the president, also to select the luncheon site, motorcade route and to plan security measures. At 11.40am on Friday, November 22nd 1963, President John Kennedy, Mrs Kennedy, and their party arrived at Love Field, Dallas, Texas. Behind them was the first day of a Texas trip that was planned five months before by the president, vice president Lyndon B. Johnson and John B Conally, Jr Governor of Texas. The motorcade left Love Field just after 11.50am, and drove at a speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour on the outskirt of Dallas. The automobile stopped twice, first to shake hands with people and second to talk to a catholic nun and a group of young children. In a city centre large crowd of spectators gave the president a tremendous reception. The crowd was so compressed that Special Agent Clinton J. Hill had to leave the left front running board of the President’s follow-up car four times to ride on the rear of the Presidents limousine. Several times Special Agent John D. Ready and Glen A. Bennett left their places inside the follow-up car to help keep the crowd away from the president’s car. In several locations when the Vice Presidents car was slowed down by the multitude, Special Agent Youngblood stepped out to hold the crowd back.
As scheduled the President's motorcade continued west through downtown Dallas on Main Street to the connection of Houston Street, which is the beginning of Dealey Plaza. On the beginning of Main Street the convoy turned right and went north on Houston Street, going passed tall buildings on the right, and headed toward the Texas School Book Depository Building. The viewers were still thickly gathered in front of the buildings which lined the east side of Houston Street, but the crowd thinned abruptly along Elm Street, which curves in a south westerly direction as it continues downgrade toward the Triple Underpass and the Stemmons Freeway. As the motorcade moved towards the intersection of Houston and Elm Streets, there was general satisfaction in the Presidential party about the enthusiastic reception. Evaluating the political overtones, Kenneth O'Donnell was especially contented because it convinced him that the normal Dallas resident was like other American citizens in respecting and admiring the President. Mrs. Connally thrilled by the reception, turned to President Kennedy and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you." The President replied, "That is very obvious."
Assassination At 12.30pm, Eastern Standard Time, the President’s opened limousine continued at approximately 11.2 miles per hour along Elm Street which was heading to the Triple Underpass, shots that were fired from a rifle fatally wounded President Kennedy and seriously injured Governor Conally. One bullet passed through the Presidents neck; a following bullet, which was mortal, crushed the right side of his skull. Governor Conally sustained bullet wounds in his back, the right side of his chest, right wrist, and left thigh. Rufus W. Youngblood a Special Agent, saw that the electric clock on top of the Texas School Book Depository building showed the time of 12.30, the exact time of the Assassination determined by the evidence of four witness, according to David F. Powers that’s the time they were due at the Trade Mart . A few seconds’ later, shots were heard in rapid succession. The President’s hands then moved to his neck. He seemed to have stiffened all of a sudden and lurch slightly forward in his seat. A bullet had penetrated the back of his nick close to the right of the spine. It travelled downward and exited from the front of the neck, causing a small wound in the left lower part of the knot in Presidents necktie. Just before the shootings, Governor Conally was facing the crowd on the right. He moved towards the left and all of a sudden he felt a blow on his back meaning he had been hit by a bullet which had entered through his back on the right side just below his right armpit. The bullet moved through his chest in a downward and forward direction exiting below his right nipple, which than passed through his right wrist that was on his lap also causing a wound to his left thigh.
The Governor appeared to spin to his right due to the force of the bullet it impacted. Another bullet later hit the President on the right side of his head, leaving an immense and deadly wound. The President fell to the left into Mrs. Kennedy's lap. Clinton J. Hill a Secret Service Agent was riding in the follow-up car on the left running board, until he heard a noise which sounded like a firecracker and saw the president lean forward and to the left all of a sudden. The Secret Service Agent jumped off and started to chase towards the President car, Agent Youngblood who was in the front seat of the Vice Presidential car, also heard an explosion and jumped into the rear seat and sat on vice president to protect him. At the same time Agent Kellerman turned to see the President and saw he was struck, Kellerman instructed the driver, "Let's get out of here; we are hit.” He radioed ahead to the lead car, "Get us to the hospital immediately." Agent Greer immediately accelerated the Presidential car. As speed increased, Agent Hill managed to pull himself onto the back of the car where Mrs. Kennedy had climbed. Hill put her back into the rear seat and shielded the stricken President and Mrs. Kennedy while the President's car continued at high speed to Parkland Memorial Hospital which was 4 miles away. As soon as they arrived at the hospital Kennedy was instantly treated by a team of physician who were notified for the President's arrival by the Dallas Police Department. The doctors recognized irregular breathing movements and a possible heartbeat, although they could not detect a pulse beat. They saw the wide wound in the President's head and a small wound approximately one-fourth inch in diameter in the lower third of his neck. Trying to make his breathing easily; the physicians performed a tracheotomy by enlarging the throat wound and inserting a tube. Completely absorbed in the immediate task of trying to preserve the President's life, the doctors never turned the president over for an examination of his back. At l p.m., after all heart activity stopped and the Last Rites were administered by a priest, President Kennedy was pronounced dead. Governor Connally underwent surgery and eventually recovered from his serious wounds.
The Vice President Johnson left Parkland hospital under close guard and proceeded to the Presidential plane at Love Field when the president was pronounced dead. Mrs. Kennedy, accompanying her husband's body, boarded the plan shortly after. At 2:38 p.m., in the central compartment of the plane, Lyndon B. Johnson was confirmed as the 36th President of the United States by Federal District Court Judge Sarah T. Hughes. The plane left immediately for Washington, D.C., arriving at Andrews AFB, Md., at 5:58 p.m., e.s.t. The President's body was taken to the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., where it was given a complete pathological examination. The autopsy revealed the large head wound observed at Parkland and the wound in the front of the neck which had been enlarged by the Parkland doctors when they performed the tracheotomy. Both injuries were described in the autopsy report as being "presumably of exit." In addition the autopsy exposed a small wound of entry in the rear of the President's skull and another wound of entry near the base of the back of the neck. The autopsy report stated the cause of death as "Gunshot wound, head" and the bullets which hit the President were described as having been fired "from a point behind and somewhat above the level of the deceased. ”At the scene of the shooting, there was apparent confusion at the outset concerning the point of origin of the shots. Witnesses differed in their accounts of the direction where the sounds of the shot came from. After a few minutes, however, attention centered on the Texas School Book Depository Building as the source of the shots also there was a lot of congestion around the grassy knoll.
The Witnesses
The vast majority of witnesses in the Dealey Plaza on the assassination day claimed that shots came from two directions: the Texas Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll. The way the police acted towards the shooting is also very interesting. Footage of the Dealey Plaza shows that in a matter of seconds of the shots been fired, numerous police go to the grassy knoll. Sometime later there were over 50 police men searching around the grassy knoll area and the railroad parking lot that was situated behind it, this was a far larger number than went into the Texas Book Depository. Many spectators who were on Houston and Elm Street saw a rifle being fired toward the President’s Car from the eastern side window of the sixth floor on the south side of the building. Others saw a rifle in this same window instantly after the assassination. Also during and after the shooting, seven men who were standing on the triple underpass saw a puff of smoke above the grassy knoll where heaps of witnesses said they heard shots fired just behind the wooden fence, about 10-20 feet to the right of the corner of the fence, and was slightly below and about 180 feet to the left of where the seven men were standing on the triple underpass.
Near the Depository
Amos Lee Euins, a 15 year old ninth grade student, specified he was standing on the corner of Elm and Houston Street and he was facing the Texas School Book Depository. He says “I saw the President turn the corner in front of me and I waived at him and he waived back. I watched the car on down the street and about the time the car got back near the black and white sign I heard a shot”. Euins hid behind a fountain bench after seeing the first shot and once again saw the man shoot from the window in the southeast corner of the Depository sixth floor who then stepped back behind some boxes. After the assassination had happened he instantly reported his observations to Sgt. D. V. Harkness of the Dallas Police Department and also to James Underwood of station KRLD-TV of Dallas.
Fifth Floor James Jarman, Jr., age 34, a wrapper in the shipping department ;Bonnie Ray Williams, age 20, a warehouseman temporarily assigned to laying a plywood floor on the sixth floor; and Harold Norman, age 26, an "order filler”, are three employees in the depository who were in the fifth floor when the shots were fired.
While it was their lunch hour break Norman and Jarman went to go and watch the parade on the fifth floor window. For the time being, Bonnie Ray Williams went to the sixth floor and ate his lunch on the south side of this floor and as he saw nobody once he finished his lunch he went to go and look for some company. He then joined Norman and Jarman on the fifth floor. Norman who was in the south-east corner was directly under the window where witnesses saw the rifle. Williams testifies that he “really did not pay any attention” to the first shot and that the second and third shot sounded like it was right in the building. When Jarman heard the first shot, he thought that it was either a backfire or an officer giving salute to the President, “Well, after the third shot was fired, I think I got up and I run over to Harold Norman and Bonnie Ray Williams, and told them, I said, I told them that it wasn't a backfire or anything, that somebody was shooting at the President.” Jarman specified Norman said “he was sure that the shot came from inside the building because he had been used to guns and all that, and he said it didn't sound like it was too far off anyway." Williams, Norman and Jarman, Jr. ran to the west side of the building, which allowed them to look towards the Triple Underpass to see what had happened to the motorcade. Jarman stated that Norman said that he knows that the shots came from the building above since he could hear the action of the bolt and that he could hear the cartridges drop on the floor.” Norman and Jarman saw Brennan, a construction worker, when the three man ran down the stair and Norman and Jarman ran out through the
entrance of the building, they then reported their own experience when they saw Brennan talking to a police officer.
Grassy Knoll James Tague, a 27 year old, was the only person to receive a minor wound on his right cheek by gun fire in Dallas Dealey Plaza that day. He was standing near the triple underpass and was a perfect position to hear the shots. He said he heard the shots fired from the grassy knoll, he remembers hearing the first shot and compared it to a firecracker. Tague later stated that the first shot he remembered hearing happened after the President limousine completed 120 degree in slow turn from Houston onto Elm Street and then straightened out. When the council recommended he may have heard echoes he replied, “there was no echo”.
Lee E. Bowers, a 38 years old man, working in a high tower overlooking the Dealey Plaza in Dallas was watching the president and allowed him to have a good view of the presidential motorcade. Bowers states he saw two men who were standing near the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll which his attention was drawn to them when a flash of light or smoke or something which he states caused him to look at this spot. He said "These men were the only two strangers in the area. The others were workers whom I knew."
Kenny O’Donnell, a close friend and aide of Kennedy, was seated in the follow-up-car. He stated to former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill throughout a private dinner that he was certain he had heard "two shots that came from behind the fence" on the knoll. When O’Neill had noted that O’Donnell did not say this in his FBI statement , he replied that he had told this to the interviewing agents but that they reacted in saying he must have been imagining things. So, O'Donnell continued, "I testified the way they wanted me to". How many other witnesses were persuaded or pressured into "testifying the way they wanted me to"?
James W. Altgens was on the Grassy Knoll side of Elm St, to Kennedy’s left front. Altgens told the FBI that the bullet struck President Kennedy on the ride side of his head and that particle of flesh, blood and bonds appeared to fly from the right side of Kennedy’s head and “pass in front of Mrs Kennedy” to the left of the limo.
Detention One of the suspects was Lee Harvey Oswald which police claimed he fired three shots at President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The second shot which had struck the president and governor Conally. The third shot which had wounded the president fatally and killed him. Within 80 minutes of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theatre and took him to the Dallas Police for interrogation except for the force required to effect his arrest, Oswald was not subject to any physical coercion by any law enforcement officials. He was advised not to make any statements or give information as they may be used against him in court. Numerous reporters were allowed access to the area through which Oswald had to pass when he was moved from his cell to the interrogation room, thereby subjecting Oswald to harassment created chaotic conditions contrary to the protection of the right of the prisoner, and with all the news from reporters and police versions of event most of them were erroneous, and it wouldn’t have giving him a fair trial. On 24th of November, 1963, Oswald was being transferred to the county jail which had been decided by the Dallas Police. When Oswald was being led through the basement of police headquarters, Jack Ruby rushed forwards and shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the Stomach. Ruby was arrested straight away by the police officers and Oswald died soon afterwards.
Out of all the people that the police took into custody immediately after the assassination, none have enjoyed as much notoriety as the infamous “Three Tramps” Charles Harrelson, Charles Rogers, and Chauncey Holt who were three homeless, rail-riding hobo-types who happened to be in a box car beyond the greasy knoll at the time of the shooting. Also policemen seemed little interested in the men they were escorting, all of whom must be considered as a suspect in just having murdered the President of the United States. They weren’t photographed, nor fingerprinted by the police when they were taken into custody as normal police procedures of law enforcement. Dallas Police members were never able to identify them.
Conclusion This commission working on this task was to create facts of the previous summary of events. It has reached to a conclusion on all possible evidence and possibilities of the assassination of the president.
Shots that came from the Sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and the grassy knoll which killed President Kennedy and seriously injured Governor Conally are shown by the following:
Loads of Witnesses saw a rifle on the sixth floor of the Depository building, during and after the assassination.
Many other witnesses saw a puff of smoke or heard a shot come from near the grassy knoll, near the picket fence.
Footprints in the mud found around the fence and footprints on the two-by-four railing on the fence.
Close to the window on the sixth floor at the southeast corner of the building there were three used cartridge cases found.
The bullets that President Kennedy and Governor Conally suffered and the location of the car at the time of the shots show that the bullets fired came from the Texas School Book Depository and the Grassy knoll. This is shown by:
Witnesses who saw a puff of smoke and heard a gunshot near the Grassy Knoll area
Other witnesses who saw a rifle being pointed to President Kennedy from the southeast corner of the Depository sixth floor.
The “three tramps”, Charles Harrelson, Charles Rogers, and Chauncey Holt who became a suspicion when it was noticed that these men were clean and shaved. The fact that the men spent the previous night at a shelter, where they were privy to a shower and a shave. For decades assumption over the identities of the three men ran the gamut, and it didn’t help the solution of the case that Dallas police kept no records of who was detained. It was decades later that the Dallas Police department publicized the name of the “three tramps” as Gus Abrams, John F. Gedney and Harold Doyle.
The commission has concluded there was insufficient cooperation and coordination of information between the secret service and other federal agencies necessary concern with Presidential protection.
The Commission has determined that some of the progressing cooperation in Dallas made by the secret services, such as the detailed security measures taken at Love field and the Trade Mart were very well executed. In other respects however, the commission has concluded that the advanced preparation for the president trip was deficient.
Also the secret service bound to rely extensile on local law enforcement official, its actions at the time of the Dallas trip didn’t organize for well-defined instruction as their particular responsibilities of the police officials and others helping in the protection of the president.
The Secret Service should’ve investigate or checked the buildings located along the motorcade route taken by the president. Secret Service agents riding in the motorcade, local police personnel station on the street to regulate crowds were responsibility for observing windows in this building during the motorcade; the commission had concluded that this arrangement during the trip was clearly not sufficient.
The formation of the Presidential car and the way they were seating arrangement of the secret service agents in the car did not afford the secret service agent the opportunity they should have had to be of immediate assistance to the President at the first sign of danger.
The commission finds that the agent responded quickly enough based on this limitation to protect the president at the time of the shooting.
The commission believe on the basic of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was most likely assassinated due to a conspiracy. The Committee was unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the Conspiracy.
There is a lot of unanswered question and inconclusive decisions based on witnesses and police records.
There is a lot of inclusive decisions about Oswald unanswered.
The Scientific acoustical evidence establish a very high probability that two gunman fired at President JFK.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy who was the 35th President of the United States was assassinated at 12.30pm on Friday, November 22nd, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas, and it was cruel and shocking to see such an act of violence toward a man, a family, a nation and against all mankind. He was young, vigorous and well liked leader who used his powers for all the good reason for his nation, who’s years of public and private life stretched before him was the victim of the fourth Presidential assassination in the history of a country dedicated to the concepts of reasoned argument and peaceful political change .It was hoped that Dallas planned trip motorcade would evoke a demonstration of the President’s personal popularity in a city where …show more content…
he had lost in the 1960 election. Procession from Love Field airport to the site of a luncheon planned by Dallas Business and Civic leaders in honour of the President should’ve taken forty-five minutes, but he never made it to Trade Mart Luncheon site that they had chosen as he was shot and murdered five minutes away from his destination.
Narrative of Events
Advance preparations for President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas were preliminary responsibilities of two secret service agent: Winston G. Lawson who was a member of the White house and a special agent Forrest V. Sorrels, who was in charge of the Dallas office. They were both informed of the trip on November the 4th, their responsibilities were to organize the timetable, coordinating local activities with the White House staff, though the most significant responsibilities were: to take precautionary action against anyone in Dallas considered a threat to the president, also to select the luncheon site, motorcade route and to plan security measures. At 11.40am on Friday, November 22nd 1963, President John Kennedy, Mrs Kennedy, and their party arrived at Love Field, Dallas, Texas. Behind them was the first day of a Texas trip that was planned five months before by the president, vice president Lyndon B. Johnson and John B Conally, Jr Governor of Texas. The motorcade left Love Field just after 11.50am, and drove at a speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour on the outskirt of Dallas. The automobile stopped twice, first to shake hands with people and second to talk to a catholic nun and a group of young children. In a city centre large crowd of spectators gave the president a tremendous reception. The crowd was so compressed that Special Agent Clinton J. Hill had to leave the left front running board of the President’s follow-up car four times to ride on the rear of the Presidents limousine. Several times Special Agent John D. Ready and Glen A. Bennett left their places inside the follow-up car to help keep the crowd away from the president’s car. In several locations when the Vice Presidents car was slowed down by the multitude, Special Agent Youngblood stepped out to hold the crowd back.
As scheduled the President's motorcade continued west through downtown Dallas on Main Street to the connection of Houston Street, which is the beginning of Dealey Plaza. On the beginning of Main Street the convoy turned right and went north on Houston Street, going passed tall buildings on the right, and headed toward the Texas School Book Depository Building. The viewers were still thickly gathered in front of the buildings which lined the east side of Houston Street, but the crowd thinned abruptly along Elm Street, which curves in a south westerly direction as it continues downgrade toward the Triple Underpass and the Stemmons Freeway. As the motorcade moved towards the intersection of Houston and Elm Streets, there was general satisfaction in the Presidential party about the enthusiastic reception. Evaluating the political overtones, Kenneth O'Donnell was especially contented because it convinced him that the normal Dallas resident was like other American citizens in respecting and admiring the President. Mrs. Connally thrilled by the reception, turned to President Kennedy and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you." The President replied, "That is very obvious."
Assassination At 12.30pm, Eastern Standard Time, the President’s opened limousine continued at approximately 11.2 miles per hour along Elm Street which was heading to the Triple Underpass, shots that were fired from a rifle fatally wounded President Kennedy and seriously injured Governor Conally. One bullet passed through the Presidents neck; a following bullet, which was mortal, crushed the right side of his skull. Governor Conally sustained bullet wounds in his back, the right side of his chest, right wrist, and left thigh. Rufus W. Youngblood a Special Agent, saw that the electric clock on top of the Texas School Book Depository building showed the time of 12.30, the exact time of the Assassination determined by the evidence of four witness, according to David F. Powers that’s the time they were due at the Trade Mart . A few seconds’ later, shots were heard in rapid succession. The President’s hands then moved to his neck. He seemed to have stiffened all of a sudden and lurch slightly forward in his seat. A bullet had penetrated the back of his nick close to the right of the spine. It travelled downward and exited from the front of the neck, causing a small wound in the left lower part of the knot in Presidents necktie. Just before the shootings, Governor Conally was facing the crowd on the right. He moved towards the left and all of a sudden he felt a blow on his back meaning he had been hit by a bullet which had entered through his back on the right side just below his right armpit. The bullet moved through his chest in a downward and forward direction exiting below his right nipple, which than passed through his right wrist that was on his lap also causing a wound to his left thigh.
The Governor appeared to spin to his right due to the force of the bullet it impacted. Another bullet later hit the President on the right side of his head, leaving an immense and deadly wound. The President fell to the left into Mrs. Kennedy's lap. Clinton J. Hill a Secret Service Agent was riding in the follow-up car on the left running board, until he heard a noise which sounded like a firecracker and saw the president lean forward and to the left all of a sudden. The Secret Service Agent jumped off and started to chase towards the President car, Agent Youngblood who was in the front seat of the Vice Presidential car, also heard an explosion and jumped into the rear seat and sat on vice president to protect him. At the same time Agent Kellerman turned to see the President and saw he was struck, Kellerman instructed the driver, "Let's get out of here; we are hit.” He radioed ahead to the lead car, "Get us to the hospital immediately." Agent Greer immediately accelerated the Presidential car. As speed increased, Agent Hill managed to pull himself onto the back of the car where Mrs. Kennedy had climbed. Hill put her back into the rear seat and shielded the stricken President and Mrs. Kennedy while the President's car continued at high speed to Parkland Memorial Hospital which was 4 miles away. As soon as they arrived at the hospital Kennedy was instantly treated by a team of physician who were notified for the President's arrival by the Dallas Police Department. The doctors recognized irregular breathing movements and a possible heartbeat, although they could not detect a pulse beat. They saw the wide wound in the President's head and a small wound approximately one-fourth inch in diameter in the lower third of his neck. Trying to make his breathing easily; the physicians performed a tracheotomy by enlarging the throat wound and inserting a tube. Completely absorbed in the immediate task of trying to preserve the President's life, the doctors never turned the president over for an examination of his back. At l p.m., after all heart activity stopped and the Last Rites were administered by a priest, President Kennedy was pronounced dead. Governor Connally underwent surgery and eventually recovered from his serious wounds.
The Vice President Johnson left Parkland hospital under close guard and proceeded to the Presidential plane at Love Field when the president was pronounced dead. Mrs. Kennedy, accompanying her husband's body, boarded the plan shortly after. At 2:38 p.m., in the central compartment of the plane, Lyndon B. Johnson was confirmed as the 36th President of the United States by Federal District Court Judge Sarah T. Hughes. The plane left immediately for Washington, D.C., arriving at Andrews AFB, Md., at 5:58 p.m., e.s.t. The President's body was taken to the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., where it was given a complete pathological examination. The autopsy revealed the large head wound observed at Parkland and the wound in the front of the neck which had been enlarged by the Parkland doctors when they performed the tracheotomy. Both injuries were described in the autopsy report as being "presumably of exit." In addition the autopsy exposed a small wound of entry in the rear of the President's skull and another wound of entry near the base of the back of the neck. The autopsy report stated the cause of death as "Gunshot wound, head" and the bullets which hit the President were described as having been fired "from a point behind and somewhat above the level of the deceased. ”At the scene of the shooting, there was apparent confusion at the outset concerning the point of origin of the shots. Witnesses differed in their accounts of the direction where the sounds of the shot came from. After a few minutes, however, attention centered on the Texas School Book Depository Building as the source of the shots also there was a lot of congestion around the grassy knoll.
The Witnesses
The vast majority of witnesses in the Dealey Plaza on the assassination day claimed that shots came from two directions: the Texas Book Depository and the Grassy Knoll. The way the police acted towards the shooting is also very interesting. Footage of the Dealey Plaza shows that in a matter of seconds of the shots been fired, numerous police go to the grassy knoll. Sometime later there were over 50 police men searching around the grassy knoll area and the railroad parking lot that was situated behind it, this was a far larger number than went into the Texas Book Depository. Many spectators who were on Houston and Elm Street saw a rifle being fired toward the President’s Car from the eastern side window of the sixth floor on the south side of the building. Others saw a rifle in this same window instantly after the assassination. Also during and after the shooting, seven men who were standing on the triple underpass saw a puff of smoke above the grassy knoll where heaps of witnesses said they heard shots fired just behind the wooden fence, about 10-20 feet to the right of the corner of the fence, and was slightly below and about 180 feet to the left of where the seven men were standing on the triple underpass.
Near the Depository
Amos Lee Euins, a 15 year old ninth grade student, specified he was standing on the corner of Elm and Houston Street and he was facing the Texas School Book Depository. He says “I saw the President turn the corner in front of me and I waived at him and he waived back. I watched the car on down the street and about the time the car got back near the black and white sign I heard a shot”. Euins hid behind a fountain bench after seeing the first shot and once again saw the man shoot from the window in the southeast corner of the Depository sixth floor who then stepped back behind some boxes. After the assassination had happened he instantly reported his observations to Sgt. D. V. Harkness of the Dallas Police Department and also to James Underwood of station KRLD-TV of Dallas.
Fifth Floor James Jarman, Jr., age 34, a wrapper in the shipping department ;Bonnie Ray Williams, age 20, a warehouseman temporarily assigned to laying a plywood floor on the sixth floor; and Harold Norman, age 26, an "order filler”, are three employees in the depository who were in the fifth floor when the shots were fired.
While it was their lunch hour break Norman and Jarman went to go and watch the parade on the fifth floor window. For the time being, Bonnie Ray Williams went to the sixth floor and ate his lunch on the south side of this floor and as he saw nobody once he finished his lunch he went to go and look for some company. He then joined Norman and Jarman on the fifth floor. Norman who was in the south-east corner was directly under the window where witnesses saw the rifle. Williams testifies that he “really did not pay any attention” to the first shot and that the second and third shot sounded like it was right in the building. When Jarman heard the first shot, he thought that it was either a backfire or an officer giving salute to the President, “Well, after the third shot was fired, I think I got up and I run over to Harold Norman and Bonnie Ray Williams, and told them, I said, I told them that it wasn't a backfire or anything, that somebody was shooting at the President.” Jarman specified Norman said “he was sure that the shot came from inside the building because he had been used to guns and all that, and he said it didn't sound like it was too far off anyway." Williams, Norman and Jarman, Jr. ran to the west side of the building, which allowed them to look towards the Triple Underpass to see what had happened to the motorcade. Jarman stated that Norman said that he knows that the shots came from the building above since he could hear the action of the bolt and that he could hear the cartridges drop on the floor.” Norman and Jarman saw Brennan, a construction worker, when the three man ran down the stair and Norman and Jarman ran out through the
entrance of the building, they then reported their own experience when they saw Brennan talking to a police officer.
Grassy Knoll James Tague, a 27 year old, was the only person to receive a minor wound on his right cheek by gun fire in Dallas Dealey Plaza that day. He was standing near the triple underpass and was a perfect position to hear the shots. He said he heard the shots fired from the grassy knoll, he remembers hearing the first shot and compared it to a firecracker. Tague later stated that the first shot he remembered hearing happened after the President limousine completed 120 degree in slow turn from Houston onto Elm Street and then straightened out. When the council recommended he may have heard echoes he replied, “there was no echo”.
Lee E. Bowers, a 38 years old man, working in a high tower overlooking the Dealey Plaza in Dallas was watching the president and allowed him to have a good view of the presidential motorcade. Bowers states he saw two men who were standing near the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll which his attention was drawn to them when a flash of light or smoke or something which he states caused him to look at this spot. He said "These men were the only two strangers in the area. The others were workers whom I knew."
Kenny O’Donnell, a close friend and aide of Kennedy, was seated in the follow-up-car. He stated to former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill throughout a private dinner that he was certain he had heard "two shots that came from behind the fence" on the knoll. When O’Neill had noted that O’Donnell did not say this in his FBI statement , he replied that he had told this to the interviewing agents but that they reacted in saying he must have been imagining things. So, O'Donnell continued, "I testified the way they wanted me to". How many other witnesses were persuaded or pressured into "testifying the way they wanted me to"?
James W. Altgens was on the Grassy Knoll side of Elm St, to Kennedy’s left front. Altgens told the FBI that the bullet struck President Kennedy on the ride side of his head and that particle of flesh, blood and bonds appeared to fly from the right side of Kennedy’s head and “pass in front of Mrs Kennedy” to the left of the limo.
Detention One of the suspects was Lee Harvey Oswald which police claimed he fired three shots at President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The second shot which had struck the president and governor Conally. The third shot which had wounded the president fatally and killed him. Within 80 minutes of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theatre and took him to the Dallas Police for interrogation except for the force required to effect his arrest, Oswald was not subject to any physical coercion by any law enforcement officials. He was advised not to make any statements or give information as they may be used against him in court. Numerous reporters were allowed access to the area through which Oswald had to pass when he was moved from his cell to the interrogation room, thereby subjecting Oswald to harassment created chaotic conditions contrary to the protection of the right of the prisoner, and with all the news from reporters and police versions of event most of them were erroneous, and it wouldn’t have giving him a fair trial. On 24th of November, 1963, Oswald was being transferred to the county jail which had been decided by the Dallas Police. When Oswald was being led through the basement of police headquarters, Jack Ruby rushed forwards and shot Lee Harvey Oswald in the Stomach. Ruby was arrested straight away by the police officers and Oswald died soon afterwards.
Out of all the people that the police took into custody immediately after the assassination, none have enjoyed as much notoriety as the infamous “Three Tramps” Charles Harrelson, Charles Rogers, and Chauncey Holt who were three homeless, rail-riding hobo-types who happened to be in a box car beyond the greasy knoll at the time of the shooting. Also policemen seemed little interested in the men they were escorting, all of whom must be considered as a suspect in just having murdered the President of the United States. They weren’t photographed, nor fingerprinted by the police when they were taken into custody as normal police procedures of law enforcement. Dallas Police members were never able to identify them.
Conclusion This commission working on this task was to create facts of the previous summary of events. It has reached to a conclusion on all possible evidence and possibilities of the assassination of the president.
Shots that came from the Sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and the grassy knoll which killed President Kennedy and seriously injured Governor Conally are shown by the following:
Loads of Witnesses saw a rifle on the sixth floor of the Depository building, during and after the assassination.
Many other witnesses saw a puff of smoke or heard a shot come from near the grassy knoll, near the picket fence.
Footprints in the mud found around the fence and footprints on the two-by-four railing on the fence.
Close to the window on the sixth floor at the southeast corner of the building there were three used cartridge cases found.
The bullets that President Kennedy and Governor Conally suffered and the location of the car at the time of the shots show that the bullets fired came from the Texas School Book Depository and the Grassy knoll. This is shown by:
Witnesses who saw a puff of smoke and heard a gunshot near the Grassy Knoll area
Other witnesses who saw a rifle being pointed to President Kennedy from the southeast corner of the Depository sixth floor.
The “three tramps”, Charles Harrelson, Charles Rogers, and Chauncey Holt who became a suspicion when it was noticed that these men were clean and shaved. The fact that the men spent the previous night at a shelter, where they were privy to a shower and a shave. For decades assumption over the identities of the three men ran the gamut, and it didn’t help the solution of the case that Dallas police kept no records of who was detained. It was decades later that the Dallas Police department publicized the name of the “three tramps” as Gus Abrams, John F. Gedney and Harold Doyle.
The commission has concluded there was insufficient cooperation and coordination of information between the secret service and other federal agencies necessary concern with Presidential protection.
The Commission has determined that some of the progressing cooperation in Dallas made by the secret services, such as the detailed security measures taken at Love field and the Trade Mart were very well executed. In other respects however, the commission has concluded that the advanced preparation for the president trip was deficient.
Also the secret service bound to rely extensile on local law enforcement official, its actions at the time of the Dallas trip didn’t organize for well-defined instruction as their particular responsibilities of the police officials and others helping in the protection of the president.
The Secret Service should’ve investigate or checked the buildings located along the motorcade route taken by the president. Secret Service agents riding in the motorcade, local police personnel station on the street to regulate crowds were responsibility for observing windows in this building during the motorcade; the commission had concluded that this arrangement during the trip was clearly not sufficient.
The formation of the Presidential car and the way they were seating arrangement of the secret service agents in the car did not afford the secret service agent the opportunity they should have had to be of immediate assistance to the President at the first sign of danger.
The commission finds that the agent responded quickly enough based on this limitation to protect the president at the time of the shooting.
The commission believe on the basic of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was most likely assassinated due to a conspiracy. The Committee was unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the Conspiracy.
There is a lot of unanswered question and inconclusive decisions based on witnesses and police records.
There is a lot of inclusive decisions about Oswald unanswered.
The Scientific acoustical evidence establish a very high probability that two gunman fired at President JFK.