Zapruder film evidence Oswald
didn’tact alone,researchers sav
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two
part series concerning the Kennedy As
sassination and the movement for a new
investigation. Wednesday’s story will
cover theories concerning the inno
cence of Lee Harvey Oswald and back
ground for current conspiracy theories.
By CURT KOEHLER and
CHIP BERLET
(CPS) — When John Kennedy died in
Dallas over 11 years ago, the world
changed. Camelot was shattered, and in its
place came the turmoil of the 60 s and early
70 s: race riots, the nightmare of Vietnam,
protests and counter-protests tearing the
nation apart, still more assassinations, the
Nixon presidency and Watergate.
An increasing number of people, prod
ded by a group of dedicated, sometimes
fanatical “conspiracy researchers,” have
come to believe that history had some help
that day. They reject the Warren
Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Os
wald, alone and unassisted, shot President
Kennedy to death.
Instead they have argued that the War
ren Commission, during its ten-month in
vestigation, succeeded only in offering a
timid and flawed defense of suppositions
formed in the hours immediately following
the shooting, that Kennedy was indeed
murdered as part of a well-planned conspi
racy and that the murderers still remain at
large loaay.
These claims are based, in part, upon
analysis of photographic evidence which
indicates the President may have been
fired upon by from two to four gunmen and
re-exammaticn of medical evidence used
by the Warren Commission to support the
single assassin theory which indicates the
original autopsy resuits were ineptly pre
pared, forged or both.
Much of the controversy starts with a
home movie of the assassination made by
Abraham Zapruder, a Dallas dressmaker
who captured the moments during which
Kennedy died.
By timing the film speed investigators
have established that the shots fired at the
Presidential motorcade were fired during a
5.6 second interval. Tests conducted by the
commission on the rifle popularly believed
fired by Oswald determined it was impossi
ble to load and shoot the dumsy, single
shot weapon more than three times during
those 5.6 seconds.
The Zapruder film consequently be
comes crucial to any analysis of the shoot
ing. For if it could be shown that more than
three shots were fired that day in Dallas, it
would follow instantly and irrefutably that
someone other than Oswald fired upon
the President. And if someone other than
Oswald fired, it also follows that there was a
conspiracy to kill Kennedy.
Wednesday evening the uncut Zapruder
film will be shown in the EMU Ballroom. The
film, and slides, will be shown by Rusty
Rhodes, executive director of the Commit
tee to Investigate Political Assassinations.
Rhodes will also lecture on “A Decade of
Conspiracy from Dallas to Watergate.” The
8 p.m. event, sponsored by the EMU Cul
tural Forum, is free of charge.
FLIGHT OF THE SUPERBULLET
President Kennedy, Texas Gov. John
Connally and spectator James Tague were
all wounded during those critical 5.6 sec
onds. The Warren Commission argued that
the first bullet struck Kennedy and Con
nally, the second missed the motorcade
completely, hit a curb and sent a concrete
splinter flying into Tague’s cheek, while the
third, fatal bullet struck Kennedy in the
head, literally blowing his brain apart.
The first bullet, said the commission,
struck the President in the base of his neck,
exited from his throat, slammed into
Connally’s back shattering his fifth rib,
emerged from the Governor’s chest and
passed through his right wrist, breaking at
least one bone, and finally came to rest in
Connally’s left thigh. This bullet, commonly
called the Superbullet, inflicted seven
wounds, broke at least two bones, and was
found in near perfect condition by a janitor
on a stretcher in Parkland Hosoital.
Bu'. the president of the American
Mcaaemy ot »-orensic science finds this
these extremely doubtful. Dr. Robert Joling
told CPS, “It is to me inconceivable that the
bullet in question could have passed
through Kennedy and Connally and then be
found in such a pristine condition.” Joling
said if it were possible to weigh the lead
fragments found in Kennedy and Connally
and add them to the weight of the un
scathed bullet, the total weight would ex
ceed the normal weight of a single bullet.
There are other reasons to label this lone
bullet the Superbullet. Examination of
Kennedy’s shirt and jacket, the initial au
topsy sketches and testimony of witnesses
present at the autopsy have indicated the
Superbullet entered Kennedy s back six in
ches below the wound in the President’s
throat from which the bullet allegedly ex
ited.
Since Oswald was firing from above
Kennedy, this means the Superbullet must
have turned in midair before striking the
President, passed through him on an up
ward path, and then made a second,
downward turn before striking Connally.
The final autopsy sketches, however,
show the initial entrance wound above the
exit wound, where it would have to be to
uphold the Superbullet theory.
"THEY ALTERED THE SKETCHES”
According to Dr. Cyril Wecht, past presi
dent of the American Academy of Forensic
Sciences and the American College of
Legal Medicine, the autopsy doctors
changed their sketches to suit this theory.
“They (the autopsy doctors) simply al
tered the sketches that pinpointed the
wounds,” said Wecht. “I’ve seen the first
sketches made of the wounds and they
Showed a wound six inches below the
shoulder. I’ve also seen the holes in
Kennedy’s shirt and jacket and everything
matches up. But in testimony before the
Warren Commission the doctors simply
moved the hole up several inches."
Wecht has since described the Kennedy
autopsy as “one of the most incomplete,
superficial, incompetent, medical-legal au
topsies that I have ever seen.”
Testimony of witnesses present during
the autopsy has indicated the Superbullet
may never, in fact, have exited from
Kennedy’s back after inflicting the initial
wound. Secret Service agent Roy Keller
man has described how one of the autopsy
doctors probed the bullet entrance wound
as Kellerman asked, “Where did it (the bul
let) go?" The doctor replied, “There are no
lanes for an outlet of this entry in this man's
shoulder."
Furthermore, doctors were unable to
trace a path for the Superbullet through
Kennedy’s body. According to Dr. Milton
Helpem, Chief Medical Examiner of New
York City, 'There is no such thing as a rifle
bullet passing through a neck without leav
ing a path...It is a sine qua non of forensic
pathology that if a bullet passes through a
body it must leave a discernible path.”
Here follow inescapable conclusions. If
the first bullet never exited, the “exit
wound” in the throat must have been made
by a fourth bullet, and a fourth bullet means
a second assassin and a conspiracy.
The Warren Commission steadfastly
maintained that the superbullet did pass
through Kennedy and continued on to strike
Connally. The Zapruderfilm, however, then
sets the scene for another amazing claim
for this bullet: it pauses in mid-air for .5 to
1.5 seconds.
The film shows Kennedy has been hit by
frame #224. Connally, though, is appar
ently unharmed until Frame #234. This dif
ference represents .5 seconds. Since
Kennedy’s limousine passed behind a sign
during the impact of the initial bullet, it's
exact moment of impact is unknown and
could have been up to 1.5 seconds before
Connally visibly reacted to his wounds.
Warren Commission defenders have
maintained Connally experienced a de
layed reaction.
Critics of the commission have claimed
Connally was hit by another bullet. "A bullet
travelling 1,800 to 2,100 feet per second
simply does not hang around that long to
decide which way it wants to go," said Jol
ing. If the bullet did not pause, once again
the conclusion follows: another bullet,
another assassin.
KENNEDY THRUST BACKWARDS?
The Zapruder film was recently shown
twice on national TV and provided, during
the instants surrounding the final, fatal shot,
what may be the most dramatic evidence of
a conspiracy. The film shows that Kennedy
and Connally have been hit. The final shot
then strikes Kennedy in the head and snaps
his upper torso backwards into the arms of
his wife, showering bits of blood and brain
likewise backwards.
Conspiracy theorists have argued if Ken
nedy was hit from behind, where Oswald
was supposed to be, his body would have
been pushed forward. While Warren Com
mission defenders have claimed Kennedy
falling backwards was a neuromuscular
reaction to the destruction of his brain, cri
tics have charged it is the final proof that
someone fired from the front of the motor
cade.
Joling has his own copy of the Zapruder
fHm and after extensive viewings has con
cluded the head shot could have been fired
from the front or rear, although he said he
tends to think the fatal shot came from the
front, because of Kennedy’s body move
ment backwards and to the left.
Oddly enough, this sequence of frames
was printed in the Warren Commission re
port in reverse order, so that it appeared as
though Kennedy was thrust forward. This
has since been acknowledged as a “print
ing error."
Another piece of critical evidence regard
ing the fatal shot, Kennedy’s preserved
brain, has been reported missing from the
National Archives. The brain, preserved in
formalin so future forensic pathologists
could trace the track of the bullet or bullet
fragments that killed Kennedy, turned up
missing when Wecht went to examine it as
part of his study of the Warren Commission
findings.
In addition, microscopic tissue slides of
the alleged entrance and exit wounds, spe
cial slide sections of the brain, and photo
graphs of Kennedy’s interior chest are also
reportedly not in the archives. Wecht
states, “Probably the four most important
items of hard physical forensic pathology
evidence regarding the autopsy of the Pres
ident are missing.”
Joling, however, told CPS that a box con
taining what may be tissue samples or other
brain matter has recently been found in the
Archives and attempts are being made to
examine the contents.
REOPENING THE INVESTIGATION
While much of this information has been
around for years, the combination of
Watergate and CIA revelations plus new
disclosures obtained under Freedom of In
formation act suits have created increased
demands for re-opening the Kennedy As
sassination investigation.
Even a staff member of the Warren
Commission has joined those calling for a
new investigation. “The case ought to be
reopened,” Burt Griffin, now a judge in
Cleveland, told Rolling Stone magazine.
“It’s not at all clear to me how to approach
it,” Griffin said. “But the public is concerned
and it’s all tied in with everything that’s been
happening in our government for the past
ten years.”
Concluded another observer, “It does
matter who killed John Kennedy...simply
because a great deal might have been dif
ferent if (he) had lived."
Back then: rising (not declining)
enrollments caused money crunch
“In blunt terms, the State Sys
tem of Higher Education needs
more money.
"University Pres. Arthur S.
Hemming has said on several oc
casions that 1965 will be the year
of crisis.”
So began the third of a three
part series on the University
budget in the Friday, May 25,
1962, Oregon Daily Emerald.
The biggest problem the Uni
versity and the rest of the state
sytem faced, according to the
Emerald managina editor, who
wrote the articles, was "mush
rooming enrollments.” The state
system had requested $2.7 million
from the Legislature and received
$150,000 from the Legislature’s
emergency fund.
“The issue touched off a mild
controversy (over) whether taxes
would have to be raised...which
reached a dramatic high point
whefi State Senator Robert
Straub (D-Eugene) accused Gov.
Mark Hatfield of “failing his re
sponsibility.’ ” Thirteen years later
it seems that the shoe is on the
other foot! “The state system still
did not receive the needed addi
tional funds," the managing editor
wrote, it is perhaps unfortunate
that the Emerald does not deter
mine for the rest of the state how
much money the state system
"needs.’’
In the Wednesday, June 2,
1972, Emerald — the last of the
spring quarter — Frederic Merrill,
assistant law professor and Chief
of the Law School Placement of
fice, was quoted to the effect that
law school grads were ‘‘not
among the many college grads
facing a poor job market this
year.” However, he admitted the
profession was “beginning to feel
the crunch of the economic reces
sion.” Was that the same reces
sion we are in the throes of now, or
a different one?
The top beginning salary a 1971
University law school. Merrill said
could expect, was $14,000 ac
cording to Merrill. Most of this
year's grads would love to start
with a salary that high!
Another thing about the law
school’s graduating class that has
changed radically in the last four
years is the number of women
graduates. In June. 1971, only
eight women graduated from the
University Ipw school, Merrill said
he believed that sex discrimina
tion was diminishing but still ex
isted.
Meanwhile, an editorial in that
same June 2 Emerald argued,
“Students are being priced out of
the University.” After admitting
that it was difficult to ascertain
who or what is to blame for the
tuition increases and budget cuts
then (if not constantly!) taking
place at the University, the editor
ial writer charged that “The war
and all its ramifications have
something to do with it."
But that was only part of the
story as far as the Emerald was
concerned. It also asserted that, it
was "the attitude of most people
toward students” that “really
propels the? knife toward their
backs.”