Chapter 2b: The Secret Service Secrets

For reasons beyond my grasp, the first image in each chapter sometimes fails to appear. If there's nothing up above, don't despair; you can still see the image here

A Matter of Degrees 

So now we’re working for the Warren Commission.  We’ve been tasked with studying the statements of the eyewitnesses and coming to a conclusion about the shots independent of the FBI’s conclusions.  We are also given access to internal Warren Commission documents and new Secret Service and FBI reports as they come in.  

On 12-5 we see yet another signed statement from Buell Frazier, who gave Oswald a ride to work on 11-22-63. Frazier was the only person to get a good look at the package Oswald brought to work. Every member of law enforcement working on the case wants to believe this package contained Oswald's rifle, but Frazier told first the Dallas Police, and then the FBI, that the package he saw was only 2 feet long. Unfortunately, the bag reportedly found in the sniper's nest (there is no picture of it in situ) was over 3 feet long. This was barely long enough to have held Oswald's disassembled rifle. This newly-signed statement comes from the Secret Service. The third time's not the charm. Frazier sticks to his guns. He writes: "He had put a package in the back seat of the car. I got into the car and sort of glanced over my shoulder and saw a package in the seat. The package was approximately two feet in length. It was a brown paper sack and was folded so that the contents could not be seen. I asked Lee about the package and he said it was curtain rods." Frazier sticks to his guns in other ways as well. He writes:"Lee got out and took the package...The package was under his arm lengthwise and the paper was all that could be seen." (CD87, p795-796). A three-foot long package would not have fit under Oswald's arm in such a manner. If Frazier is not mistaken, Oswald didn't act alone.

On 12-5 we also see an FBI teletype message from Special-Agent-in-Charge J. Gordon Shanklin in Dallas.  It discloses that the FBI's Exhibits section, under Leo Gauthier, is in Dallas preparing exhibits depicting the shooting, and that "While Gauthier and assistants were making measurements on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building, on December Five, Secret Service Agents Miller and Sorrell arrived on the scene with a motion picture cameraman.  These men identified themselves as Secret Service men to Gauthier.  At approximately three P.M. on December Five, Secret Service Agents Miller and Sorrell supervised re-enactment of the route of the President's assassination. A white convertible similar to the black one in which President Kennedy made his last ride, rolled past the assassination spot.  A man and a woman sat in the back seat just as President and Mrs. Kennedy did, two men were in the front. Looking down on this scene was the movie camera, perched in the same window from which the fatal shots were fired.  Field surveyors from the Robert H. West land survey company, apparently employed by the Secret Service, were present, compiling survey data (slope of the road) at the three points on the freeway where it is believed the bullets struck the President and the Governor. Gauthier discontinued making measurements during the time the Secret Service enactment." This tells us that not only are the Secret Service and FBI not working together to investigate the crime, but that they aren't even sharing any basic information.  

The 12-5 New York Times further describes this re-enactment: "An open car with a man and a woman in the back seat simulated again and again today the ride of the President and Mrs. Kennedy on Nov. 22. A motion picture camera in the sixth-floor window that was used by the assassin recorded these trips.  A surveyor's transit stood in the parkway on the other side of the street looking up at the window. Each of the simulations differed slightly from the other, either in the speed of the car or the gestures of the occupants, or in some other detail. On one trip both occupants of the back seat waved. On another the man turned to the right, and, moments later, slumped in his seat; then the car's speed picked up. On all simulations, a motorcycle policeman rode on each side near the rear of the car. At all times the car used the middle of the three-lane road."

On 12-9, we see a memo from Gauthier himself, describing his efforts in Dallas.  He is preparing floor plans of the depository and of the police station where Oswald was killed, as well as a mock-up of Dealey Plaza. He lists the advantages of having these exhibits and then declares "The marks on the freeway indicating where shots one, two, and three were believed to have struck the Presidential car, have been noted and this information can be indicated on the model.  From this information, it appears that shot one struck the President momentarily after he came within gun range when his car moved passed the tree top as viewed by the assassin. Shot number two which is believed to have struck Governor Connally occurred after the car had traveled a distance of 95 feet at approximately 15 m.p.h.  The markings on the Freeway indicated that shot number three which is believed to have struck the President occurred after the car had traveled another 45 feet.  At 15 m.p.h a car moves forward at a speed of about 22 feet per second or one car length.  The President's car length is 21 feet long.  Based upon this information the second shot occurred about 4.36 second after the first shot was fired and the third shot occurred about 2.0 seconds after the second shot was fired. The total elapse time to fire shots two and three was approximately 6.4 seconds during which time the President's car traveling at 15 m.p.h. covered approximately 141 feet." 

This is disturbing.  Hasn't anyone told Gauthier that the FBI's Robert Frazier has already tested the rifle and found that a shooter would need at least 2.3 seconds between shots?  And what does he mean by "marks on the freeway"? Has someone placed marks on Elm Street at the limo's locations when the shots were fired?  If so, how did they establish these locations and why do these marks differ so greatly from the locations determined by agent Howlett?

On 12-10, in the office of Secret Service Chief Rowley, we get a brief look at the 12-5 survey plat of Dealey Plaza, prepared by surveyor Robert West under the supervision of the Service's Elmer Moore.  We compare this plat to the drawing of the plaza included in the FBI's 11-30 report on the first re-enactment. We see that the school book depository is now much closer to Elm Street, and that, as a result, the angles into the car from the sniper's nest are much less severe. This is a bit of a relief, as the angles in the first drawing cast doubt on the FBI's conclusion that Oswald fired the fatal head shot.  It makes little sense, after all, for a bullet heading 17 degrees left to right to strike someone an inch to the right of the mid-line of his skull and exit from the right side of his skull, with the left side undamaged.

The Secret Service Survey

We get a look at a 12-11-63 report by Secret Service Agent Elmer Moore on the survey.  He claims it  depicts the "probable trajectory of the bullets." We decide to take a closer look. 

Sure enough, across the bottom of the plat surveyor Robert West depicts the angles and distances of three shots fired from the sniper’s nest.  The distance of the first shot is 184 feet. As the Warren Commission would eventually propose that the first shot was fired between frame 210 of the Zapruder film, from a distance of 176.9 feet, and frame 225, at a distance of 190.8 feet, this means the fist shot proposed by Moore came around frame 217, when the President was behind the sign in the Zapruder film.  The second shot, apparently the shot striking Governor Connally, is purported to have been fired from 242 feet. This is much closer to the first shot than the second shot described by the FBI's Gauthier in his memo of 12-9. Even so, this would correspond to a shot fired around frame 283 of the Zapruder film, long after it seems clear Connally has been shot. The final shot, which Moore describes in his 12-11 report as “the second bullet which struck the President (the third bullet fired)” is recorded as a shot of 294 feet. 294 feet is 34 feet further than the distance from the sniper’s nest to Kennedy determined by Agent Howlett only a week before (and 29 feet further than the distance from the sniper’s nest to Kennedy determined by the Warren Commission).  294 feet, moreover, reflects the distance of the President from the sniper’s nest circa frame 343 of the Zapruder film, almost 2 seconds after the obvious head shot.  This is no small mistake. (When printed by the Warren Commission as exhibit CE 585, this plat will be nearly impossible to read. This may not have been a mistake.  When Warren Commission counsel Melvin Eisenberg enters this plat into evidence during the 3-30-64 testimony of Ronald Simmons, who'd tested the accuracy of Oswald’s rifle, Eisenberg explains “I would like to introduce it into evidence solely to show the basis which Mr. Simmons was using in this test, and not for the truth of the measurements which are shown here.” )

Elsewhere in his 12-11 report, Agent Moore explains that the “precise trajectory of bullets striking President Kennedy cannot be positively ascertained by the resulting wounds” but that after studying the Zapruder film, still photographs, eyewitness statements, interviews with the emergency room doctors, the autopsy protocol, and the assassination scene “it is concluded that the wounds indicate that both of the two bullets which struck the President were fired from a position to the rear and above the level of the President.” In support of this, Moore goes on to describe the President’s wounds, boldly asserting that the missile path of the first bullet to strike the President “is from the upper right posterior thorax to the exit position in the low anterior cervical region and is in slight general downward direction.”  This is a strange statement.  The “cervical region”, by most every definition, is above, the “thorax.”  Unless a body was doubled-over, it makes little sense for a bullet to travel “in a slight general downward direction” from the upper thorax to the lower cervical region.

A few days later, we finally hear from two of the closest witnesses. Governor John Connally (12-13-63 FBI report CD188, p. 3-5) “Governor Connally stated “First sense or realization of anything unusual I became conscious of a shot or what sounded like a gunshot.  I knew it came from my right rear. I instinctively turned to my right to look back and as I did so I sensed more than I saw that President Kennedy was hit. As I turned I realized something was amiss with President Kennedy and then I turned back to my left a little and as I did so I got hit with a bullet in my right shoulder…I believe I remarked “Oh my God, they are going to kill us all!”  Realizing I had been hit I crumpled over to Mrs. Connally and she pulled me over towards her…I was conscious of a third shot and heard it…we were all splattered with what I thought was brain tissue from President Kennedy.” …When Governor Connally was asked about the elapsed time between the first and last shot he remarked “Fast, my God it was fast.  It seemed like a split second.  Just that quick”   and he snapped his fingers three times rapidly to illustrate the time and said “unbelievably quick…Governor Connally felt the shots were fired so fast the assassin had hit him by accident on the second shot.”  Nellie Connally (12-13-63 FBI report, CD188, p.6-7) “she was facing the front of the car when the first shot was fired and turned to her right towards President Kennedy and saw him with his hand at his throat and then slump down. …almost immediately Governor Connally recoiled in the opposite direction from her and was heard to remark “My God, they are going to kill us all.” She had feelings that buck shot was falling all around them and then she realized it was probably brain matter from President Kennedy’s head…When asked about the lapse of time between the first and last shots she replied “About like saying “crack, crack, crack.”  She sensed that Governor Connally had been hit when she heard the second shot and she turned to hold him…The direction of all shots were from somewhere to the rear of the car.”  Final shot head shot.

Even though the Connallys' statements complement the earlier conclusions of Agent Howlett and the FBI, the Secret Service delivers a bare-bones report to the Warren Commission on 12-18-63 describing the shooting only in the statements of its agents, and a vague summary of events.  Despite its multiple re-enactments and its extensive study of the Zapruder film, the Secret Service came to no official conclusions on the number and timing of the shots. 

On this same day, the FBI's Alex Rosen sends a memo to Assistant Director Belmont stating "If approved, Mr. Rankin will be advised that the Bureau is in the process at the present time of preparing three-dimensional exhibits which will accurately portray the locations covering the assassination of the President along with other material which would be of considerable benefit to the Commission...Mr.  Gauthier has assured us that the exhibits will be ready by 1/2/64."  We can hardly wait.

The Secret Service Secrets

On 1-8-64, the Secret Service provides the Warren Commission photos of its 11-27 re-enactment. These photos, taken from the sniper’s nest, follow a car as it drives the motorcade route.  A tree obstructs the sniper's nest view for part of the route on Elm. 

When we look at the photos in the context of the original photo album, Commission Document 88, we see handwritten captions to three of these photos. These captions indicate that these three reflect the proposed locations for the limousine at the time of the first, second and third shots. (Rex Bradford, who placed Commission Document 88 online, confirms that he scanned the photos directly from the National Archives, and that the Warren Commission documents online on the Mary Ferrell website did not come from the files of a private researcher, who might otherwise be blamed.) Strangely, however, even though the Secret Service study of the Zapruder film at the National Photographic Interpretation Center had placed the first shot at frame 224 and the second at frame 256, and even though the 11-27 efforts of Agent John Joe Howlett had placed the second shot halfway in between the first shot, circa frame 200, and the third shot, at frame 313, the second shot depicted in these re-enactment photos comes much later, around Zapruder frame 283. The final shot also looks suspicious. 

As these shots reflect the distances recorded on the 12-5 plat, we begin to question both the accuracy and the integrity of the 12-5 survey.

(When published in the Warren Report’s 26 volumes of supporting evidence as Exhibit 875, these photos were, not surprisingly, published without these captions.) 

More Secret Service Secrets

As we weed through Commission Document 87, an over-thousand page Secret Service report detailing their investigation, we find more reasons to doubt the accuracy of their 12-5 survey.  We find more pictures of the 11-27 re-enactment, these ones purportedly taken from the location of Abraham Zapruder's camera.  The SS location for shot  2 seems way beyond the point where Connally is hit in the film.  The location for shot 3 is past Zapruder, when the head shot in the film comes just as the car pulls even with Zapruder.

As Simple as 1, 2...

We decide to super-impose some slides from the Zapruder film onto the photos taken from his location.   While the first shot proposed by the SS takes place when Kennedy is behind the sign in the film, the second shot proposed takes place after Connally has obviously been hit, at a point when he is nearly facing Kennedy.  It seems highly unlikely that a bullet coming from the sniper's nest at this moment could enter Connally's right armpit and exit the right front of his chest.  We wonder why the Secret Service assumed Connally'd been turned to his right when hit. Perhaps they'd misunderstood his statements.  If they had, they missed or ignored that he'd claimed to have yelled out after being shot, and that he'd already yelled out by frame 283. 

3???

When we super-impose Zapruder frame 313, the frame depicting the head shot, onto the Secret Service photo for shot 3 we find that the amount of grass behind Kennedy in frame 313 is inconsistent with the amount of grass behind his purported location in the re-enactment photo. We try to convince ourselves this is a result of a slight difference in camera elevation, but the angle of the back seat to the camera also appears wrong. This leads us to believe the 12-5 survey inaccurately recorded and measured Kennedy's position at the moment of the head shot. We now wonder if Agent Howlett's earlier measurement for the distance of this shot wasn't more accurate, and why someone decided to change it. 

We also notice some traffic cones in the photo.  We recall a passage in the Secret Service's investigative file, CD 87, describing a short film of the 11-27 re-enactment.  It proclaims:  "Immediately after the motorcade passes out of view, Lt. Day of the Dallas Police Department walks onto the the street from the right-hand side and places a traffic cone at the point of impact of the third shot. He then walks forward and places a traffic cone at the point of of impact of the second shot and continues forward to place a traffic cone at the point of impact of the first shot and exits to the left." We recall also that Day had told the Dallas Times Herald that these locations had been established from watching a film, undoubtedly the Zapruder film. Well, this is a bit confusing. The cones in the 11-27 photos do not align with the shot locations Howlett reported to the FBI, nor  to the shot locations determined by the Secret Service's 12-5 survey. We decide to ask a friend on the Dallas Police Department if he remembers what the cones in the photos were supposed to represent.

Time moves forward.

Cecil Ault (1-10-64 FBI report, 24H534) “After the presidential car had turned the corner onto Elm Street, Mr. Ault heard three loud reports…the first and second shots sounded to him to be close together and the third shot was spaced more after the second shot, the first two shots sounding close enough to be from an automatic rifle…Following the first shot Mr. Ault noted that President Kennedy appeared to raise up in his seat in the Presidential automobile and after the second shot the president slumped into his seat.”  Shot after the head shot.  Lillian Mooneyham (1-10-64 FBI report, 24H531) “Mrs. Mooneyham heard a gunshot and observed President Kennedy slump to the left of the seat of his car. At the time of the initial shot, Mrs. Mooneyham believed that a firecracker had gone off.  Following the first shot, there was a slight pause and then two more shots were discharged, the second and third shots sounding closer together. Mrs. Mooneyham observed Mrs. Kennedy climb up on the back of the car…Mrs. Mooneyham estimated that it was a bout 4 ½ to 5 minutes following the shots fired by the assassin that she looked up towards the sixth floor of the TSBD and observed the figure of a man standing in the sixth floor window behind some cardboard boxes.”  Double head shot.

On 1-11, Chairman Warren and General Counsel Rankin present their outline for the Warren Commission’s investigation and report. The pre-planned conclusion is that Oswald killed Kennedy and that he acted alone.

On 1-11, we learn that the FBI's exhibits are ready, and that the Director himself has inspected them and approved them. We wonder if they will satisfy the Commission, however. Apparently, someone on the Commission has read the eyewitness statements, and has realized that the last two shots were fired quite close together, and is openly talking about it. Today's syndicated newspaper column by Robert S. Allen and Paul Scott reports that "The commission also wants more information about the alleged murder rifle. The FBI has been asked to conduct further tests on the time required to fire three shots. Reason for this is new evidence that the second and third shots came in exceptionally rapid succession. It was the third shot that shattered the back of the President's head, and fragmented. This has made very difficult determining whether that round was fired by the same rifle." 

On 1-13 exhibits section chief Gauthier visits with the Warren Commission's chief counsel Lee Rankin, and Rankin requests 28 copies of a brochure of photos taken of these exhibits. A 1-14 memo on this meeting by Gauthier tells us further that "The Director firmly believes that the FBI should turn over full custody of these visual aids to the Commission as soon as possible in order that inquiries concerning these exhibits can be referred directly to Chairman Warren, particularly requests from news media to publicize the "new development."

We're also shown the FBI's Supplemental Report of 1-13-64, reporting back on tests conducted since the 12-9 report.  On page 3 it states “A motion picture of the assassination taken by an amateur photographer, Abraham Zapruder…was examined by the FBI Laboratory. The best estimate of the time interval of the shots fired is that approximately six seconds elapsed from the first to the final shot, with the second shot occurring approximately in the middle of the six second period. The firing period begins with the first shot, so that it is necessary to operate the rifle bolt only twice to fire three shots within a given period of time.” This report reinforces what we already know--that, for Oswald to have fired all the shots, the shot impacting Connally needed to have been fired 40-50 frames before or after the shots hitting Kennedy in the Zapruder film. Kennedy is undoubtedly hit at frame 313.  Should the Secret Service have honestly believed Connally was hit circa frame 283, then they honestly should have concluded there'd been more than one shooter. We wonder if the FBI's exhibits will prove more accurate.

From the Archives

Our friend sends us copies of the DPD's re-enactment photos. These photos are identical to the photos provided by the Secret Service, with one notable difference. The caption to these photos states that the cones in the photos reflect the locations of the shots. Well, this is mighty curious.  As the second cone is just past the location of the head shot, and the third cone is far past this point, this means the Secret Service initially concluded the head shot was the second shot, precisely as concluded in our analysis of the eyewitnesses.

The Third Shot Miss

When we superimpose frames from the Zapruder film onto the DPD photos, we discover that Lt. Day's and the Secret Service's original location for the second shot was circa frame 343, considerably past the head shot. The third shot, amazingly, comes at a point when Mrs. Kennedy is already on the trunk of the limousine. As Kennedy has been hit at least twice by this point, it seems likely the Secret Service concluded this third shot missed the President.   

But then what happened to it?  If Kennedy was hit in the back with the first shot, and hit in the head with the second shot, then this third shot MUST have hit Connally. Connally is laying down in his seat.  His right armpit is exposed.  A bullet hitting Connally at this moment MIGHT make sense.  But that would mean Connally had lied when he'd said he was hit before the head shot.  It would also mean that Connally, a former Secretary of the Navy, had crouched in self-protection a few feet from his President, when his President was under fire.

Fortunately, for those concerned with Connally's courage or lack thereof, you can see blood near his armpit as early as frame 340 of the Zapruder film, before either of the last two shots in the DPD and Secret Service re-enactment.  Did the Secret`Service agents running the re-enactment even look at the film to double-check this theory? 

Apparently so. The photos with the cones were taken during the 11-27 re-enactment. The FBI, we should recall, reported Howlett's conclusions on this re-enactment in an 11-29 memo from Agent Barrett. Howlett's conclusions were reportedly that the first shot struck Kennedy at a distance  corresponding to the limo's location circa frame 200 of the Zapruder film and that the second one to hit him did so from a distance corresponding to the limo's distance circa frame 313, with a shot hitting Connally in the middle. This suggests that Howlett used the cones during the re-enactment, compared these locations to the Zapruder film, and then decided the cones were placed in the incorrect locations. 

So then why, one might ask, did Elmer Moore re-consider the whole thing on 12-5? And create a new and improved survey that was so obviously wrong?

The Smell of Deception

On 1-20-64, we receive another shock. On the first page of a 65-page packet of visual aids and memos from the FBI’s Exhibits Section (CD 298) is a letter from J. Edgar Hoover himself, telling us that 28 copies of this packet have been sent out to Warren Commission counsel and staff per General Counsel Rankin’s request. This amounts to Hoover's personal seal of approval. When we look inside, however, we find that Gauthier's Exhibits Section has stood by the strange numbers reported in his 12-9 memo. We can’t believe it. His conclusions are similar to the original conclusions of the Secret Service, as depicted in the DPD photos. There is photo after photo of the FBI’s model of Dealey Plaza, and photo after photo depicting the limousine in front of the concrete steps at the time of the third shot. At the end of the packet, moreover, is a summary of the Exhibit Section’s findings. Under the heading “What was the aiming pattern of the assassin’s target?” it reads:  

• a. SHOT ONE hit the target from a distance of 167 feet, measured downward along a 23-degree angle from the horizontal.   

(THIS IS THE LIMO’S APPROXIMATE POSITION AT FRAME 197 OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM, WHEN A TREE  OBSCURED THE SNIPER"S NEST'S VIEW OF THE LIMOUSINE. THIS IS A BIT OF A SURPRISE AS GAUTHIER'S 12-9 MEMO MADE A POINT OF STATING THAT "IT APPEARS THAT SHOT ONE STRUCK THE PRESIDENT MOMENTARILY AFTER HE CAME WITHIN GUN RANGE WHEN HIS CAR MOVED PAST THE TREE TOP AS VIEWED BY THE ASSASSIN." IT WOULD LATER BE  DETERMINED THAT THE PRESIDENT DIDN'T MOVE PAST THE TREE TOP UNTIL FRAME 207 OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM.) 

• b. SHOT TWO hit the target from a distance of 262 feet, measured downward along an 18-degree angle from the horizontal.  The target moved forward 96 feet in 4.4 seconds at 15 mph (22fps) or 5.5 seconds at 12 mph (17.6 fps).  Line of sight change from shot one:  5 degrees upward, 4 degrees to the right.   

(THIS WOULD SEEM TO BE A REFERENCE TO FRAME 313 OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM, THE MOMENT OF THE FATAL HEADSHOT, A SHOT DETERMINED TO HAVE BEEN 260 FEET IN DISTANCE ON 11-27-63 AND EVENTUALLY DETERMINED TO HAVE BEEN 265 FEET IN DISTANCE.)  

• c. SHOT THREE hit the target from a distance of 307 feet, measured downward along a 15 degree angle from the horizontal.  The target moved forward 45 feet in 2.0 seconds at 15 mph (22 fps) or 2.5 seconds at 12 mph (17.6 fps).  Line of sight change from shot two:  3 degrees upward, 1.5 degrees to the right.  

(THIS IS KENNEDY’S APPROXIMATE POSITION AT FRAME 358 OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM, APPROXIMATELY 2 1/2 SECONDS AFTER THE FATAL HEADSHOT.) 

• d. ELAPSED TIME to hit targets two and three after hitting target one: 6.4 seconds at 15 mph (22 fps) or 8.0 seconds at 12 mph (17.6 fps). 

(THIS PASSAGE IS MIGHTY CURIOUS. ON  1-06, THE FBI HAD PROVIDED THE COMMISSION CD 206, WHICH INCLUDED AN FBI LAB REPORT FROM 12-20, CLAIMING  "The K51 8mm motion picture camera has been tested to determine the running speed of this camera, and it has been determined that this camera when operated at normal “RUN” speed operates at 18 1/3 frames per second.”  FURTHERMORE, ON 1-13,, THEY'D PROVIDED THE COMMISSION WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT TO THEIR ORIGINAL SUMMARY REPORT.  IT CLAIMED  "The best estimate of the time interval of the shots fired is that approximately six seconds elapsed from the first to the final shot, with the second shot occurring approximately in the middle of the six second period."  SO WHAT'S WITH THEIR OFFERING ELAPSED TIMES  FOR TWO DIFFERENT RUNNING SPEEDS?  WELL, A CLOSE LOOK AT THE TESTIMONY OF THEIR CAMERA EXPERT LYNDAL SHANEYFELT 'S TESTIMONY ON 6-4-64 REVEALS THAT THE ESTIMATED RUNNING SPEED OF 18.3 FPS WAS AN AVERAGE.  BASED ON THIS REPORT,THEN, ONE MIGHT GUESS THAT THE RANGE OF THE RESULTS AVERAGING OUT TO 18.3 WAS 17.6 TO 22.  IN 1967, CBS PURCHASED FIVE IDENTICAL CAMERAS AND FOUND THAT THEY RAN 15.45, 17.7, 18.7, 19.25, AND 20.95 FRAMES PER SECOND, A SIMILAR RANGE WITH A SIMILAR AVERAGE OF 18.4 FPS.  IF THE FIRST SHOT FROM THE SNIPER'S NEST WASN'T FIRED UNTIL AFTER KENNEDY HAD EMERGED FROM BEHIND A TREE, AROUND FRAME 210, AND IF THE LAST SHOT WAS THE HEAD SHOT, AT FRAME 313, AND SHOULD THE CAMERA HAVE BEEN RUNNING AS FAST AS 22 FPS, THE FBI"S FASTEST TIME, OR 20.95, CBS' FASTEST TIME, THE TIME-SPAN OF THE SHOOTING SEQUENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN UNDER 5 SECONDS, TOO SHORT A TIME-SPAN FOR OSWALD TO HAVE FIRED ALL THE SHOTS. ONE MIGHT SUSPECT THEN THAT THE EXHIBITS SECTION WAS WELL AWARE OF THIS PROBLEM AND THAT THIS INFLUENCED THEIR PLACEMENT OF THE THIRD SHOT.) 

•  e. CHANGE OF AIMING PATTERN from shot one to shot three:  8 degrees upward, 5.5 degrees to the right.

From this, we can see that the FBI's photos were not a mistake. The report of their Exhibits Section is in clear contradiction with the 12-20 report on the Zapruder film by the FBI crime lab, which claimed the timing of the first two shots couldn't be established, and implied the third shot was the head shot. This new report, conversely, seems to be claiming there was a shot after the head shot. 

Nix, Nix, Nix

Since the head shot n the Nix film (and noted in the Exhibits Section's report) occurs when the limousine is in front of the pedestal, with Zapruder in the background, and since the Exhibits Section's report describes the Nix film as follows: "Nix, standing on the Plaza grass across the road from the Pergola (where Zapruder viewed the motorcade) photographed the motorcade as it approached the triple underpass" it certainly seems they knew Nix was standing across from Zapruder, and not far off to his right.  As the third shot portrayed in their exhibits is considerably past Zapruder, and since Nix would have to have been in front of the limousine, with it heading his direction, in order for him to catch Zapruder in the background of his film at this time, it only makes sense that the FBI Exhibits Section believed the head shot captured by Nix came earlier, and was in fact the second shot.  Still, we recall Gauthier's 12-9 memo, spelling out that the second shot hit Connally. This is undoubtedly confusing.

This makes us wonder if the FBI actually believes the second shot is the head shot, or has implied this due to their collective incompetence.

Let's examine this first possibility. Could the FBI have concluded the second shot was the head shot?

Certainly not at first. Besides the 11-29 report by Agent Barrett on the first re-enactment, stating that Connally was hit by the second shot, there is the 12-3 report by Agent Abernathy (CD385 p22), stating that the assassination sequence in Nix's film, which depicts the head shot, began "subsequent to the firing of the first two shots."  

We compare this to the language of the FBI's summary report of 12-9 (written around 12-4, after Gauthier's people had begun their work in Dallas). It describes the shooting as follows:  "As the motorcade was traveling through downtown Dallas on Elm Street about fifty yards west of the intersection with Houston Street (Exhibit 1), three shots rang out.  Two bullets struck President Kennedy, and one wounded Governor Connally."  We note that here Connally is mentioned last. This raises the possibility that, through their work in Dallas, the FBI's Exhibits Section Chief Leo Gauthier and his team had, if only for a spell, convinced the Bureau that the head shot was the second shot, and that Connally was wounded by the third shot. That the shot after the head shot didn't miss the car entirely is betrayed by the Exhibits Section's conclusion that each of the three shots "hit the target."

But then there's Gauthier himself, in his 12-9 memo, relating "Shot number two which is believed to have struck Governor Connally." And then there's the the 12-20 report from the crime lab.

And then there's this. In another section of Gauthier's report, in a brief description of the Zapruder film, it's made fairly clear the writer believed Connally'd been hit before the head shot. It relates: “The car momentarily became obscured from Zapruder’s line of sight behind a road sign (refer to scale model).  As it emerged from behind the sign, the Zapruder film reproduced the action of the occupants of the car as follows:  The President is slumped forward in his seat with his right hand partly lowered from the previous waving position, he appears to be leaning toward his left nearer to Mrs. Kennedy; Governor Connally is seen turning his head to the right and rear, falling towards Mrs. Connally, as a circle of light resembling an explosive blast encircles the President’s head.”  If the writer of this report felt Connally was not yet wounded and still under his own power at the moment of the head shot, it seems highly unlikely he'd describe him as "falling" towards his wife.

This convinces us that the first possibility is not true.  Which leaves us with the second possibility: that the FBI of 1964 was largely incompetent.  

As hard as it is to accept, the bulk of the evidence suggests that the Secret Service and FBI always believed Connally was hit by the second shot, and meant to express this in their exhibits, but failed to do so due to their collective incompetence. While this might sound unduly harsh, what other "innocent" conclusion can be reached from the undeniable fact the FBI and Secret Service each took measurements in Dealey Plaza, and studied two films of the shooting taken from opposite angles, but were nevertheless  unable to locate Kennedy's position at the time of the head shot within 25 feet of his easily recognized position?  What other "innocent" explanation is there for the FBI's concluding the first shot was 17 feet closer, the second shot 20 feet further, and the third shot 13 feet further from the sniper’s nest than the Secret Service's "corrected" conclusions? While it seems possible that someone had fooled the FBI's Gauthier, a man of questionable competence (see below), with some "marks on the freeway" there can be no excuse for the Secret Service's similar mistakes. Someone's measurements were very wrong, or someone's eyesight was very bad, or both.  

(In 1976, it would be revealed that FBI Exhibits Section Chief Leo Gauthier's job entailed such tasks as re-modeling FBI Director Hoover's home. This included replacing the patches of Hoover's lawn destroyed by doggy urine.)

There is, of course, a third possibility, one not so "innocent." Perhaps the errors apparent in the 12-5-63 Secret Service Survey and the exhibits prepared by the FBI are not confusing at all, but clear reflections that the Secret Service and FBI were both blindly clutching at straws trying to give Oswald enough time to have fired all three shots.   

If so, they may have been trying to complete the circle suggested by the other evidence.  After all:

1. Most witnesses heard three shots.
2. Three shells were reportedly found in the sniper’s nest.
3. Three hits would help explain the two reported entrances on Kennedy and the three impact locations on Connally.
4. Oswald was a communist-sympathizer. Such a man, in the minds of many Americans, including FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, was imbalanced. To their mind, Oswald didn’t need a rational motive for his actions because, as a communist sympathizer, he was inherently irrational.
5. President Johnson was anxious for the case to be settled. Johnson, the State Department, and the business community were all anxious to show the world that the United States was a stable and strong democracy.  Dragging out a criminal investigation would hurt U.S. business interests, jeopardize the country’s international relations, and allow communists worldwide a powerful propaganda tool.  A long and involved investigation could also be used by Johnson’s right-wing opponents to damage him domestically; it might even lead to his downfall.  Word had to get out and get out quick that Johnson was definitely not involved, and the easiest way to do that was to say that Oswald acted alone, and concoct a scenario by which he may have acted alone. 

In any event, within just a few days of receiving Gauthier's exhibits section's report the Warren Commission counsel tasked with investigating the shooting realized that the FBI had no clue what happened during the shooting, and had fed them a big steaming pile of nonsense. A 1-23 memo from Gauthier to his boss Nicholas Callahan reveals that on this day he met with Warren Commission counsels Ball, Belin, Eisenberg and Redlich, as well as Inspector Thomas Kelley of the Secret Service, and that the six men spent three hours "re-enacting" the shooting in Dealey Plaza using Gauthier's scale model of the plaza and model cars. (This memo can be found in FBI file 62-109090 Sec. 2 p 143-146). Gauthier reports that Kelley "stated that the versions of the FBI and Secret Service were good approximations" and that "The staff is hoping to eventually be in a position to say exactly where the shots occurred on the Parkway with a plus or minus factor of several feet." He then reports that they will meet again on 1-27, at which time they will view the Zapruder and Nix films and try to come to some sort of agreement on the location of the limo during the shots. Not surprisingly, given the FBI's concern about the Commission, in the comments section of this memo Gauthier (or is it Callahan?) tries to assure his superiors that no one is second-guessing their inept work, although, clearly, they were. He writes: "The points on the Parkway as defined by the FBI  are considered to be the best approximations possible and in line with the Secret Service version. Inspector Kelley shares the same views. The FBI has the first shot occurring just before the President's head emerges from behind the sign while the Secret Service approximates the location moments after the President emerges. Approximately one second is involved between the two versions. The Commission realizes that there is no material difference between the FBI's and Secret Service's approximations; however, they wish to attempt to fix shooting sequence with a great degree of accuracy with a plus or minus factor of a few feet." (This is already surprising. How could the Secret Service NOT see that Kennedy was hit before he came out from behind the sign in the Zapruder film?) 

Attached to Gauthier's memo is a further comparison of the FBI and Secret Service proposed shooting scenarios. It reads:

• Shot One: It occurred when the Presidential car was unobserved by Zapruder for approximately twenty feet while moving behind a road sign. Shot one was approximately fixed on the model at a point directly behind the center of this sign. The movie reveals that prior to reaching this sign the President was seen waving and moments later after emerging from behind the sign he was slumped forward.  The position on the Parkway where shot one occurred as approximated by the Secret Service varies about one car length (13 feet) or about one half second at 15 mph. The FBI's estimate places the President approximately one-half second nearer to the assassin when shot one was fired.

(THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FIRST SHOT ON THE 12-5 SECRET SERVICE PLAT AND GAUTHIER"S 1-20 EXHIBITS SECTION REPORT WAS 17 FEET, NOT 13 FEET. CLEARLY, GAUTHIER AND KELLEY ARE NOT RELYING ON THEIR PREVIOUS STUDIES. THAT GAUTHIER BELIEVES SHOT ONE RANG OUT WHEN THE MODEL WAS BEHIND THE CENTER OF THE SIGN, WHEN HE'D PREVIOUSLY APPROXIMATED THIS DISTANCE AS 167 FEET, SUGGESTS THAT HIS MODEL OF DEALEY PLAZA WAS INACCURATE. THE WARREN COMMISSION WOULD LATER DETERMINE THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS 167 FEET FROM THE SNIPER'S NEST BEFORE HE WENT BEHIND THE SIGN.)

• Shot Two: It occurred approximately at the time Governor Connally was turning his head to the right rear. This point was established through the interpretation of the relative location of trees, shrubs, street lights, curbing, etc, appearing in the movie. The position on the Parkway approximated by the FBI and the Secret Service varies about 1.5 car lengths (22 feet) or about one second at 15 mph. The FBI's estimate places the Governor approximately one second further away from the assassin when shot two was fired. 

(GAUTHIER HAD PREVIOUSLY SAID THIS SHOT WAS FIRED WHEN THE LIMO WAS 262 FEET FROM THE SNIPER'S NEST. ON 12-5 THE SECRET SERVICE HAD APPROXIMATED THE DISTANCE FOR THIS SECOND SHOT AS 242 FEET, 20 FEET CLOSER.. NOW, GAUTHIER TELLS US THAT THEY ARE EVEN FURTHER APART, 22 FEET. THIS IS INCREDIBLY PROBLEMATIC. IF ONE PROPOSES THAT GAUTHIER'S MEASUREMENTS ARE WRONG, IT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY, EVEN AFTER COMPARING SHOOTING SCENARIOS ON HIS MODEL OF DEALEY PLAZA WITH THE SECRET SERVICE, HE STILL HOLDS THAT THIS SHOT WAS FIRED WELL AFTER THE SECRET SERVICE'S SHOT. EVEN STRANGER, GAUTHIER HAS ALREADY SAID THE FIRST SHOT WAS FIRED WHEN THE LIMO WAS BEHIND THE CENTER OF THE SIGN--WHICH IS AT APPROXIMATELY FRAME 210 OF THE ZAPRUDER FILM--AND HAS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED THAT THE SECOND SHOT WAS AT LEAST 4.4 SECONDS AFTER THE FIRST, WHICH WOULD EQUATE TO ABOUT 80 FRAMES. THIS PLACES THE SECOND SHOT IN GAUTHIER"S ANALYSIS AT FRAME 290--AT THE VERY EARLIEST. THIS, OF COURSE, IS WITHIN TWO SECONDS OF THE OBVIOUS HEAD SHOT AT FRAME 313, AND IS WAY TOO CLOSE IN TIME TO FRAME 313 FOR BOTH SHOTS TO HAVE BEEN FIRED BY OSWALD'S BOLT ACTION RIFLE. GAUTHIER'S INABILITY TO REALIZE THIS, OR HIS DELIBERATE IGNORANCE OF THIS FACT, DOES NOT REFLECT WELL ON THE BUREAU AND ITS COMMITMENT TO THE TRUTH.)

• Shot Three: It occurred approximately at the time a circle of light resembling an explosive blast encircles the President's head. The position on the Parkway approximated by the FBI and the Secret Service varies about 2/3 car length (14 feet) or about 2/3 second at 15 mph. The FBI's estimate places the President approximately 2/3 second nearer to the assassin when shot three was fired. 

(APPROXIMATELY? WHO IS HE KIDDING? THE MAN'S HEAD EXPLODES. AND WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT A "CIRCLE OF LIGHT"? IS GAUTHIER AFRAID TO REPORT THAT BLOOD AND BRAIN ARE VISIBLE IN THE FILM? WHY?  AND WHY, WHEN THE SECRET SERVICE'S 12-5 PLAT HAS THE THIRD SHOT AT 294 FEET, AND GAUTHIER'S 1-20 REPORT HAS IT AT 307 FEET, DOES HE STATE THAT THE FBI'S THIRD SHOT IS 14 FEET CLOSER TO THE ASSASSIN THAN THE SECRET SERVICE'S THIRD SHOT? DOES HE MEAN BY THIS THAT THE SECRET SERVICE'S THIRD SHOT IS NOW 321 FEET FROM THE SNIPER'S NEST? OR THAT HE NOW BELIEVES THE THIRD SHOT WAS ABOUT 280 FEET FROM THE SNIPER'S NEST, JUST 18 FEET PAST HIS PREVIOUSLY DETERMINED LOCATION FOR THE SECOND SHOT? NEITHER OF THESE SCENARIOS, UNFORTUNATELY, MAKES MUCH SENSE.)

The final words of Gauthier's memo speak volumes, and read like a really lame alibi, somewhat akin to "the dog ate my homework".

• Comments: The FBI's analysis of the shooting sequence was determined independently of a similar study made of the movie by the Secret Service. "WHERE ON THE PARKWAY WAS THE PRESIDENTIAL CAR EXPOSED TO GUN FIRE?" The answer to this question is subject to varying factors such as the speed of the vehicle, the firing position of the assassin and the position of Zapruder. It is a matter of accepting the fact that there will be as many versions as there are analysis made of the shooting sequence. The FBI bases its approximations on an interpretation of the Zapruder movie re-enacted on a scale model, The Secret Service has also used the movie to approximate the shooting sequence; eyewitnesses may vary in locating the car at the time of the shooting; members of the Commission may also have differing opinions regarding this matter.
• The Zapruder movie was utilized by the FBI s the best medium for approximating the points on the Parkway where the shooting occurred.  

(IF THE ZAPRUDER FILM AND SCALE MODEL WERE USED AS PURPORTED, THEN WHY DID THEY EITHER 1) PLACE THE HEADSHOT FAR PAST ZAPRUDER, BY THE STEPS, WHEN THE FILM SHOWS KENNEDY TO BE ABREAST OF ZAPRUDER AT THE MOMENT OF IMPACT; OR 2) MISTAKENLY BELIEVE ZAPRUDER WAS FILMING FROM ON TOP OF THE BLOCK WALL CLOSEST TO THE STEPS, INSTEAD OF HIS EASILY ASCERTAINED  ACTUAL LOCATION BY THE ARCADE? COULD THEY REALLY HAVE BEEN SO INCOMPETENT?)

While it's unclear if the commission really understood how incredibly daft or dishonest the Secret Service and FBI would have to have been to make the mistakes and errors just discussed, it is clear they were largely unimpressed with the work of the Secret Service and FBI.  At a pivotal point in the 12-16 executive session, Congressman Hale Boggs voiced his disappointment with the FBI’s report of 12-9.  He complained: “Everyone has all kinds of questions, reading that FBI report leaves a million questions.” After discussing the Commission’s need to interview the closest witnesses in order to determine which shots actually struck the President, Boggs returned to this theme, declaring “Well, this FBI report doesn’t clear it up.” To this complaint, Chief Justice Earl Warren chimed in: “It doesn’t do anything.” Boggs then observed: “It raises a lot of new questions in my mind.” 

After reading such a discussion, one might assume that the Warren Commissioners would make certain that their report, issued over nine months later, would be clear about which shots hit the President. One might also assume that these conclusions would be in sync with the recollections of the closest eyewitnesses. But one would be wrong.