Parkland Hospital
Within minutes of the shooting of President Kennedy and Governor Connally, the presidential motorcade arrived at Parkland Hospital. A frantic attempt to save the life of John F. Kennedy failed and, in the presence of the attending physicians, Mrs. Kennedy, and Secret Service agents, the president made a few agonal breaths and died. The grim task of making the official announcement of the president's death fell to Assistant Press Secretary, Malcolm Kilduff.
A visibly shaken Kilduff makes the announcement
At the same time as the president's admission to the hospital, Secret Service agents obtained cleaning supplies and, unwittingly, washed the blood from the back seat crime scene. Many in the conspiracy community suggest Secret Service involvement and removal of evidence proved their treachery. Further, the conspiracy community point to the removal of the president's body from Parkland Hospital prior to official autopsy, an illegal act according to Texas law, as further proof of conspiracy. The most horrendous allegation against the Secret Service was the contention they tampered with the late president's body aboard Air Force One during the flight back to Washington.
As Secret Service agents forcibly removed President Kennedy's body, the medical team at Parkland Hospital delivered statements to the press. Drs. Malcolm Perry and Kemp Clark answered questions fired at them by news hungry press. Dr. Perry informed the members of the press the wound to the president's throat appeared to come from the front. He could not comment on the trajectory of the head wound or explain how many bullets hit the president. Dr. Clark's explanation of events was equally confusing. Many of the attending physicians at Parkland Hospital testified before the Warren Commission the president's head wound was located in the rear of the skull, in stark contrast to the findings of the autopsy performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. From these disputed findings sprung a firestorm of dissent, the likes of which exist to this day.
The conspiracy community claims the Parkland doctors universally agree about the location of the president's head wound, the rear of the skull. This is incorrect. In the following video, Parkland doctors indicate their recollection of the head wound.
Dr. McClelland, a staunch advocate for conspiracy, claimed the head wound was in the rear of the skull, a claim corroborated by Dr. Peters and Dr. Dulaney. This claim is doubtful as all the attending staff testified the president was flat on his back, the body never rolled to the side, and they made no examination of the head wound. Only Dr. Jenkins indicated the location of the head wound above the right ear, the finding of the Bethesda doctors.
Presidential limousine top being replaced. Note bucket on ground.
The Autopsy
Air Force One arrived at Andrews Air Force Base in Southern Maryland with President Kennedy's body at 5:58, EST, on Friday, November 22, 1963. An ambulance transported the President's casket to Bethesda Navy Hospital for the official autopsy. Jaqueline Kennedy chose Bethesda simply because, "Jack was a Navy man."
After the departure of the ambulance to Bethesda, Lyndon Johnson, the newly sworn in 36th President of the United States, made his first address to the American people. Johnson, not gifted with a pleasant voice, more of a high-pitched Jed Clampett, delivered a short statement that, I suspect, irritated rather than soothed the heartfelt pain of the American people. My father remarked, while watching the event on television, "You can't trust a man that looks like that, he has a face like a horse." Still, I felt sorry for Johnson, it was his task to bring the country together and, employing a popular euphemistic question, one might ask, "How did that go?"
The ambulance arrived at Bethesda about one hour later (there was no Washington Beltway in 1963) and the President's body delivered immediately to the autopsy room. The conspiracy community claim the autopsy was a cover-up by the government. The leading conspirator in the autopsy debate is Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist, a lawyer, and the author of several books on high profile cases. Dr. Wecht is outspoken in his vilification of the Warren Commision and the findings of the autopsy doctors at Bethesda, particularly Drs. Humes and Boswell, whom Dr. Wecht referred to as "totally incompetent." Dr. Wecht was at odds with the findings of the nine-member forensic panel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, a panel of which he was a member. The HSCA forensic panel concluded that the autopsy at Bethesda was correct in its findings, albeit nowhere as thorough as the case required.
I have included a video of Dr Wecht. Of particular note is his belief that President Kennedy was hit three times, once in the upper back, once in the back of the head, and once in the right temple, ostensibly from a shot fired from the Grassy Knoll. The shot sequence is described by Dr. Wecht at the 2:00 point in the video.
Dr. Wecht's comments sound fanciful. To suggest the President was hit with two shots to the head, one from the right front and one from the rear, with the rear bullet exiting out the "huge defect created by the first headshot," is absurd. It is difficult, if not impossible, for this writer to challenge the curriculum vitae of Dr. Wecht, therefore, the task fell to the eight other members of the HSCA forensics panel and Drs. Humes, Boswell and Finck who disagreed with Dr. Wecht. But, for a moment, if we assume Dr. Wecht is correct, then a bullet, either intact or fragmented to some degree, traveled forward at a downward angle, and most likely would have struck the windshield, Roy Kellerman, or the dashboard. The physical evidence does not support this conclusion.
Another interesting comment by Dr Wecht, at the 3:35 point in the video, suggested by an unnamed " top medical person," the wound to Kennedy's throat was an entrance wound. If one assumes a wound of entrance to the throat and, given the known trajectory of the missile, then the bullet should have exited the president's back at a downward angle and lower than the actual injury location. Further, considering the windshield of the Presidential limousine did NOT have a bullet hole from the front, this conclusion is inconsistent with the physical evidence.
We now turn our narrative away from the accepted timeline of events, what is understood to be true on the day of the assassination, and explore some of the plausible, as well as the preposterous, cases for conspiracy.
Cdr. Boswell, Cdr. Humes, and Lt. Col. Finck (l-r)