Features: The Warren Commission, The Truth, and Arlen Specter: Part 2

THE WARREN COMMISSION used the autopsy and location of Kennedy’s head wounds as a basis for concluding that the fatal shot also came from the rear and above. The report said that there was a small hole in the rear of the President’s skull which was the point of entry, and a large opening on the right side of his head was the wound of exit.

Specter had tests conducted on reconstructed inert human skulls to prove that this could happen. The series of tests, said the Report, "demonstrated that the President’s head wound could have been caused by the rifle and bullets fired by the assassin from the sixth-floor window."

". . . could have . . ."’? There, again, it’s that prima facie case against Oswald steering the investigation. The ballistic tests were conducted to determine if the wounds in Kennedy’s head, as described in the autopsy report, "could have" been the result of someone firing from the Depository. (Earlier tests, by the way, showed that FBI experts could not duplicate Oswald’s alleged feat of two out of three hits in 5.6 seconds, even though they were shooting at a stationary target only 15 yards away, had partially corrected for the inaccuracy of Oswald’s telescopic sight, and had unlimited time to aim the first shot. Subsequent tests eventually turned up one Army rifle expert who finally got two out of three hits on silhouette targets.)

Yet a major question on which no tests were conducted — and about which there was no explanation or discussion in the Report — was hinted at in those series of Zapruder frames reproduced in Life: Kennedy’s actual reaction to the head hit.

What happens is very clear on a viewing of the Zapruder films. It is unmistakable that the head hit occurs exactly at frame 313. Prior to it, the President has clutched at his throat, raised up as in a huge gasp for breath, and begun to fall forward. His chin is on his chest and his face is inclined slightly downward when the shot hit. Then in one dramatic, shocking convulsion, his head is lifted violently backward and to the left with such force that his whole body twists in that direction and his skull explodes.

Further corroboration of this reactions comes from a close examination and comparison of the individual frames of the Zapruder film at the National Archives. With the excellent cooperation of the Archives’ staff, two slide projectors can be set up and, from one, frame 313 projected on a screen. From the other, frames 314, 315 and 316 can be individually superimposed over the image of 313. (Each frame represents a time lapse of only about 1/18th of a second.) It then becomes clearly evident that the hit produced no forward motion of the head or body at all. Kennedy’s head flew hack and to the left, his shoulders and torso spun to the left, his whole body was slammed against the back seat of the car. The right top of his head was blown apart.

Yet, says the Commission, the fatal bullet hit the President low on the back of his head. It has to be assumed. therefore, that Kennedy’s reaction violated an inviolable law of physics. The Commission says he wore a back brace which kept him from going forward. It is difficult to believe, however, that a bullet slamming into the back of his head would not produce some forward motion of the head or drive his body frontwards, if only on initial impact, regardless of a back brace. It is difficult to believe that Kennedy’s reaction was not the result of a bullet impacting on the right front part of his head with tremendous force.

Secret Service agent Samuel Kinney, who drove the follow-up car, said, "I saw one shot strike the President in the right side of the head. The President then fell to the seat to the left toward Mrs. Kennedy,"

Agent George Hickey, also directly behind the President, said, "I heard what appeared to be two shots and it seemed as if the right side of his head was hit and his hair flew forward."

Agent Emory Roberts, in the front seat of the follow-up car, said, "I saw what appeared to be a small explosion on the right side of the President’s head, saw blood, at which time the President fell further to his left. … I could not determine from what direction the shots came, but felt they had come from the right side."

Agent Clinton Hill said be saw the President slump "noticeably to his left."
Another amateur photographer, Orville Nix, also filmed the assassination. Although viewing of this film by researchers is still restricted, an FBI report of what the film shows describes the head hit: ". . . when the President’s head suddenly snaps to the left and the car picks up speed as a man jumps on the left foot-hold."

The Commission, of course, had to discard such evidence in view of the assumption that Oswald was firing not from the right front, but from the rear of the Presidential limousine. And he was firing, as exhibit 399 shows, copper-jacketed bullets.

Yet the reports of Agent Hickey ("I heard what appeared to be two shots. .") and Agent Roberts ("I saw . . . a small explosion on the right side of the President’s head , ‘ ") might indicate that what struck Kennedy was a special type of bullet which exploded and fragmented tremendously on impact.

Mr. Specter: Now, did you observe during the course of the autopsy, bullet fragments which you might describe as little stars?                                      Mr. Kellerman: Yes, of the numerous x-rays that were taken main Iv of the’ skull. the head. The reason for it was that through all the probing which these gentlemen were trying to pick up little pieces of evidence in the form of shell fragments, they were unable to locate any. From the x-rays upon the light the whole head looked like a little mass of stars, there must have been 30, 40 lights where these pieces were so minute they couldn’t be reached.