Explaining the Shooting of Governor John Connally

Shown on FreeRepublic for the first time. | October 25, 2006 | Bill Charleston

[BILL_C]

It’s fall, the temperature is falling, the leaves are turning and with November here, we have some repeats to watch on the cable networks.

The History Channel will show one of their favorites, ABC’s documentary “Beyond Conspiracy” featuring Peter Jennings and a computer animation which shows a bullet that hit President Kennedy’s back four inches below his collar but then the bullet allegedly exited his neck after nicking the upper part of the knot of his tie, and then it goes down at approximately a 25 degree down angle to hit Governor Connally in his back. It’s amazing what computers can show.

We’ll also most likely see the Discovery Channel’s explanation of the assassination in “Beyond the Magic Bullet.” This show also features Dale Meyers’ computer animation, the same one used in “Beyond Conspiracy.” The show goes beyond the previous documentary as the producers go to Australia to get an expert shooter to attempt to duplicate the magic bullet, the shot that hit both JFK and Governor Connally. The shots they fire are aimed at figures composed of material which act like human muscle and bone when a bullet is fired into them.

Both of these shows think they proved the magic bullet theory is true.

Watch the digitized and stablilized Zapruder Film

The Closeup Zapruder Film with Frame #

For over 40 years we’ve heard and seen documentaries which talk about strange details in the JFK assassination investigation and reports. We first had the Warren Commission appointed by President Johnson with the main purpose to show that a lone gunman fired three shots at the limousine and wounded JFK, Governor Connally and a bystander too. We then had the House Subcommittee on Assassinations investigation in 1978 which investigated additional evidence in part because the Zapruder film was first shown to the American public on night TV in 1975. One of the newer pieces of evidence was the finding that the Dallas Police radio channel recorded a stuck open microphone during the time of the assassination and may have actually recorded the actual gunshots.

In 1991 the movie “JFK” again ignited the public’s curiosity about the assassination with “back and to the right” along with witnesses saying they saw another gunman. The government again responded and gave us the Records Review Act which released even more information about the murder. In 1997, the Zapruder film was digitized and now we can see even more details in the film. And in 2001, a statistical analysis was published concerning the Dallas Police recording with the finding there were five shots captured by the recording. A gunshot and it’s reflections off objects is like a fingerprint in that it’s fairly unique and dependent on where the shooter is and where the microphone is that captured the sounds, and the objects such as buildings that the sounds reflect off of.

Although we’ve heard about “discrepancies” for years in documentaries such as the “Men Who Killed Kennedy,” we’ve also had some documentaries disappear from the airways as the History Channel found them not to be accurate such as the “Guilty Men”, a documentary that fingered Vice-President Johnson and other cronies in a Texas murder ring.

The story in my opinion will not die as so many of the “facts” don’t seem to fit reality. We need to see something that makes sense.

Last year I met with one of the best known critics of the Warren Commission. I showed Dr. Cyril Wecht that one assumption made in the killing had led virtually everyone to make incorrect conclusions in the case. That assumption is that all of Governor Connally’s wounds were caused by one bullet when in fact Governor Connally was wounded by two separate shots which were both fired from the Texas School Book Depository. Dr. Wecht’s questions and observations led me to do more research which I’m still working on.

But what I want to show you today is when Governor Connally was wounded, something that has never been shown correctly on any of the documentaries or in any of the books that I’ve reviewed. You see, experts such as Dr. Wecht have been arguing about what did not happen. Instead, let’s show you what actually did happen.

To do that, I think the best place to start is with the last shot.

To briefly familiarize you with the Zapruder Film frame numbers, Z frame number 313 will be called Z313. The following are a few major frame numbers for familiarization.

Z=133 We first see the Limo in the film

Z=160 Some theorize the first shot from the Texas School Book Depository, we see Gov. Connally’s head movement to the right shortly afterwards

Z=220 We first see President Kennedy emerge from behind the sign, clutching his throat and obviously wounded

Z=223 Governor Connally reacts to his first wound

Z=220 to Z=324 Governor Connally turns to look over his shoulder toward what he thinks are gunshots

Z=313 We see the fatal shot to President Kennedy

Z=325 Governor Connally is hit in the back and driven forward

With the film speed of 18.3 frames/second, things happened quickly, too quick for 1960’s technology and the lack of accurate information they had to extract the truth. What we can see now in individual frames captured and edited was not possible even a few years ago when everything was analogue. And of course, nobody looked at Governor Connally closely after JFK's head shot at Z=313. Most everyone was sure all the serious action was over.

To those of you who remember the basic scenarios of the Warren Commission and the other numerous theories, the descriptions shown above concerning Connally’s wounds are new. And as I’ll show you, it isn’t a theory, it’s the only times Governor Connally could have been wounded in the eight seconds from the first shot until the last was fired.

With literally thousands of books and hour after hour of documentaries on what must surely be the most investigated murder in history, at this time let’s concentrate on Governor Connally’s wounds. Once you understand the only way possible that Governor Connally could have been wounded based on the facts we have, then not only can we understand how both men were wounded, it will once and for all reveal how the Guilty Men pulled this off.

The first question concerns the last shot shown above at Z=325. The Warren Commission concluded the last shot was the fatal head shot at Z=313 but was faced with testimony such as one of the best witnesses, Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman who sat in the Limo directly in front of Governor Connally. During his Warren Commission testimony, Kellerman spoke of the ending of the shooting as a “flurry” of shots. When pressed for how many, he said two. He described the spacing of the last two shots as bang-bang. When Arlen Specter pressed him again, he said it was like an airplane breaking the sound barrier (the front of the plane breaks the sound barrier before the rear of the plane, hence you hear bang-bang also).

When Arlen Specter asked the spacing between the first shot and the flurry of shots, Kellerman said three to five seconds.

When we look at the Zapruder film, we see at Z=325 the collapse forward and downward movement of Connally’s head. Looking at the sequence in real time, we see Connally driven quickly forward with his head snapping forward when he is shot. Further confirmation is given when you look at the analysis of the Dallas Police Recording. The difference between the Z=313 shot and the last shot is 0.7 seconds or approximately 12 frames.

We now have a credible witness, a recording, and the best motion picture of the assassination showing agreement that a shot was fired at Z=325.

But listen to a recent explanation of the Zapruder film factoring in the Dallas Police Recording. The reasons for Dr. Thomas' confusion and his trying to cling to the Warren Commission's are easily explained, but I'll leave that for later. Listen to the description of the last shot, "fired almost simultaneously" but they didn't even look to see what it might have done.

The Zapruder Film and the Dallas Police Recording per the Main Stream Media

A Warren Commission supporter will tell you that Governor Connally could not have been shot after Kennedy was shot because his leg wound does not line up with the shot trajectory through his body and through his right wrist. And, of course, there were only three bullets fired from the TSBD.

The hole in their argument is that Connally was indeed wounded earlier by a bullet fragment which entered Governor Connally’s leg. And note the importance of the fact to this investigation that it was a bullet fragment, not an intact bullet. That Connally was hit by a bullet fragment to his left leg is well documented but many of today’s documentaries incorrectly describe that the left leg wound was caused by an intact bullet which then fell out of his leg later at the hospital.

Three bullet fragments were found under Nellie Connally’s seat (CE840), who sat directly to the left of Governor Connally. It’s therefore credible that the bullet fragment that John Connally’s left leg is from the CE840 shot.

To test this “theory” against the Warren Commission’s, I took some of the better known observations in the JFK assassination list and compared the Z=325 scenario against the Warren Commission scenario. This is a quick way to see how facts fit against both theories.

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Observation	Warren Commission Three Shots	Z=325 Shot to Connally’s back
Connally turns in his seat and looks back at JFK Z=230 to Z=324	No (1)	Yes
Connally holds hat in his hand until at least Z=325	No	Yes
Nellie and John Connally both said John Was shot after JFK’s first wound (3)	No	Yes
Connally falls forward as he describes in later Interviews when he is shot	No	Yes
Three shots were fired from the TSBD	Yes	Yes
Several Witnesses saw shooter(s) at the Grassy Knoll	No	Yes
Agrees with Dallas Police Recording	No	Yes
Kellerman Described “flurry of shots”	No	Yes
JFK and Connally both react to Z=222 shot	Yes	Yes
Connally bullet left wide scar to his back like the bullet was tumbling	Yes (4)	No
Bullet to JFK’s back did not have a point of exit (5).	No	Yes

 

 

 

(1) If seriously wounded at approximately Z=220, this turn would be incredible for a man wounded so seriously.

(2) Connally’s right wrist is allegedly broken by the shot at Z=220, it’s not reasonable to believe he could hold his hat for over 5 seconds

(3) Both Nellie and John Connally were actually very sure he was not wounded by the same bullet that first struck JFK. At a showing of the Zapruder film, John Connally guessed that he was wounded closer to Z=238. If the Dallas Police recording is valid, there is no shot fired at that time. Roy Kellerman’s testimony also stated that it was 3-5 seconds before the last two shots after the first.

(4) The Single Bullet supporters such as Dr. Latimer use this as support that the bullet which hit Gov. Connally in the back struck something else first. Experimental shots show that a bullet passing through tissue like JFK’s upper body tends to roll over; hence the wider scar that was left in Gov. Connally’s back. This is not proof, however, that the bullet struck something else before it entered John Connally’s back.

(5) FBI agent O’Neal described the autopsy discovery of the bullet wound to Kennedy’s back and then said no point of exit was discovered by probing with both the doctor’s finger and instruments.

The above table indicates based on some of the information commonly discussed concerning the assassination that the Z=325 scenario has merit. When you look at the location of the shot to JFK’s back (four inches below the collar) and the fact that after exiting his neck, the bullet next has to be traveling at a 25 degree down angle; this is probably the major reason the single bullet theory has been so disbelieved.

Is that enough of an introduction? I’ll tell you later the rest of the story as for this to be credible, there had to be at least six shots with three different shooters according to one of the doctors involved in the Warren Commission investigation. But as I’ve shown so far, Governor Connally’s left leg wound was caused by a bullet which fragmented and hit both JFK and Governor Connally.

That reduces to five shots and three different shooters, three shots from the TSBD and two shots from the front of the limo, fired by two different shooters. And funny thing is, there were witnesses who saw them!

To give you a hint about the rest of the story, in Tip O’Neal’s book, “The Man of the House” he discusses a conversation with JFK aid Kenny O’Donnell who said he was quite sure there were two shot fired from the front. O’Donnell also tells why he did not tell the Warren Commission what he saw and heard when he testified.

The cover-up and the misinformation supplied by the government is as interesting as the shooting analysis itself. You see, for the government to get the investigation this wrong with testimony so clear, there had to be some interesting arm twisting going on. Arlen Specter, do you even today have a clue what you did? And Gerald Ford, the lone surviving member of the Warren Commission, you have to know something, don’t you? Or did both of you keep your heads buried in the sand as you were manipulated by the Guilty Men? The truth is buried in a Conspiracy of Silence, just like Dr. Crenshaw said in the first book I read on the subject.

And how could the major news media keep getting this so wrong? "We" will deal with you later.

If you check Tip O’Neal’s book, “The Man of the House”, you’ll see that he talks about Kenny O’Donnell’s description in the book of two shots that were fired from the front. Since O’Donnell was in one of the cars behind JFK’s, he had a unique position and describes later to Tip O’Neal why he did not tell what he saw correctly to the Warren Commission.

Now let’s look at the individual frames and see Connelly’s head snap downward immediately after the bullet hits him in the back. I drew a white line through the back of his head in each frame to make the rapid movement of his head clearer. This is the first time to my knowledge that this head movement has been documented. With 18.2 frames per second, it would be virtually impossible for Connally’s head to collapse without an external force.

Z=324

Z=325

Z=326

Z=327

Z=328

Now that you see in just a couple of frames how Governor Connally's head rolled down as he was ducking forward from the Z=313 shot that hit JFK in the head, listen to his description of how he was thrown forward as he was shot in the back.

A interview with Connally describing how he was shot

As you listen to Connally's description, the part about how he was hit in the back and thrown forward by the force of the bullet agrees with the Z=325 shot to Connally's back scenario very well, but then Govenor Connally goes on to describe how he then hears the fatal shot to JFK's head.

One of the reasons that this issue has been so confusing for so long is that many of the witnesses only got parts of what they said correct. Governor Connally, for example, did not see the head shot to President Kennedy as he was looking forward as he was turning to look over his left shoulder but he clearly says in his interview clip that JFK was shot after his back wound was received. Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman says he heard one shot followed by 3-5 seconds then two shots, bang-bang. Kellerman argues with Specter later trying to reason there had to be more shots than three but Kellerman never says he heard more than three. The shots Kellerman identifies are number 3, 4 and 5. Shot 3 fragments and hits both JFK and wounds Connally in the left leg with a bullet fragment, shot 4 is the fatal head shot at Z=313, and shot 5 is the shot to Connally's back at Z=325.

And later when other details are explained, the actual killers will be exposed. No investigation could get this so wrong without some serious arm twisting.

[editor-surveyor]

I agree with you in general, but where is this going? The people responsible are likely all dead.

[BILL_C]

I agree with you in general, but where is this going? The people responsible are likely all dead.

I'd like to know if you agree that we can finally agree when John Connally was shot. I look it as NOW as obvious, he was shot in the back at Z=325. Is that what you agree with?

Now, WHY is this important? IF you, as a person in charge of a Federal Investigation, whatever your capacity, know beyond any doubt that you can publish conclusions that are absolutely rediculous because they are physically impossible, then you have a dangerous situation because the press is NOT keeping the people we elect accountable. If it was LBJ and Hoover who arranged both the killing and the coverup, then we the people should know that.

In 2003, the History Channel put on a show named THE GUILTY MEN. It was based in part on Barr McClellan's book about the assassination. The show was one of three new hour long shows of the MEN WHO KILLED KENNED series.

The show was shown two different days and then pulled. The only real physical evidence they had on LBJ was a fingerprint tied to Mac Wallace, a Texas killer who without any doubt killed for LBJ. Prove the fingerprint belonged to Wallace and he was in the sniper's nest, and you have LBJ tied to the assassination.

The show was pulled and if you look at the history of that "censorship", you'll see the names Bill Moyers, Jack Valenti, Gerald Ford, and I believe Lady Bird Johnson. Three of those people definitely don't want you to know about the coverup, and they are still alive.

So why is it important? My tagline is: Those who don't understand the lessons of history are bound to repeat them! IF we don't expose lies that were used in 1963, then the techniques used then can and will be used again. Probably not an assassination of a President, but maybe withholding the truth about some other plot.

As the writers of the Constitution understood, the leaders of our Country need to fear us when they allow commit crimes and when they coverup crimes of others.

[editor-surveyor]

I see President Kennedy as clearly having been shot as they emerge from behind the sign, then clearly again being shot in the head, and next Connally being propelled foreward about 1 1/2 seconds later, around Z325/326.

Of those of us that lived through that era, I'd say that less than 5% buy the one bullet Warren Commission coverup. This loss of trust has been a large part of the subsequent moral/social/spiritual decay. None of this should be surprising; the Lord told us in Daniel chapter four that we would be governed by the basest of men. We have been, and continue to be.

I'm sure that most of us at FR are well aware of what kind of man Bill Moyers is, but I doubt that he was one of the original perps; he only goes along because it advances his globalist/socialist/humanist beliefs.

[BILL_C]

I see President Kennedy as clearly having been shot as they emerge from behind the sign, then clearly again being shot in the head, and next Connally being propelled foreward about 1 1/2 seconds later, around Z325/326.

REPLY: Actually you see President Kennedy reacting to a shot to his throat followed shortly thereafter by a shot to his back from the Texas School Book depository, with a bullet fragment hitting Governor Connally at around the same time as we see Connally react by raising his hands and looking slightly to his left. 4.8 seconds later at Z=313, JKF is shot in the head, then at Z=325, 0.7 seconds after JFK's head shot, Connally is hit in the back by a shot fired from behind (Texas School Book Depository). Kennedy was knocked out of the way by the bullet to his head, and the bullet fired from behind misses JFK's head and hits Connally in the back. Zapruder's camera frame rate was 18.2 frames/second.

Bill Moyers was an aide to LBJ.

<"Attorney General to Bill Moyers describing how we must convince the public that there was a lone assassin, he had no assistance, and he would have been convicted at a trial">

[smoketree]

You assume I have not fired any suppressed weapons.
You are WRONG AGAIN.
I have fired lots of suppressed weapons.
Big ones, small ones, semi auto, full auto.
I know what they sound like. Up close and far away.
Some make a fair amount of noise, e.g., 308. Some you can hardly hear. MP5 on full auto with a auppressor is very quiet.
So your debate tactic of trying to tell me what I know or don't know, what I have seen or not is simply more rattling.
A small fish makes a big splash in a small pond.

[Shooter 2.5]

Without proof, I don't believe a single word you say. We already had the Carcano "expert" who couldn't identify the one characteristic of the rifle which made it unique.

Without a picture of you with a suppressed firearm, you can't be believed. This is especially since you don't have a working knowledge of trajectories which any beginner should know.

[smoketree]

Go away you obnoctious twelve year old.

[archy]

Without proof, I don't believe a single word you say. We already had the Carcano "expert" who couldn't identify the one characteristic of the rifle which made it unique.

Again, you're wrong. There were SEVERAL specific characteristics to both the Fucile M 1938, serial no. C 2766 reputedly used in the JFK shooting, and to that type rifle in general.

If you have not read Hank Bloomgarden's The Gun: A "Biography" of the Gun That Killed John F. Kennedy,ISBN: 0-670-35763-4, you've not even begun any serious homework. Was the Carcano's stock black, and what is the significance of that?

What was the rifle's bore diameter and rifling characteristics, and why is that of importance for several reasons?

What were the distribution sources for the rifle and its ammunition, how were they linked and funded, and what particularly ironic connection ensues thereof?

What was the connection to the second 6.5 Mannlicher-Carcano recovered from a Texas resident in a Terre Haute, Indiana hotel, and how is Terre Haute relevant to the matter at hand?

Oh, and hey, what about the two previous attempts on JFK's life, in Tampa and Chicago? How did the Secret Service reward S/A Abraham Bolden, involved in making the Chicago arrest of a former Marine who planned to shoot JFK as his car passed the upper-story window of his boarding house? Sound like a familiar scenario? Oh, and what was the part played in the arrest by Illinois State's Attorney Investigator Richard Cain, simultaneously working for the Chicago police, the mob and the FBI.

There's more interesting information to be weighed, a considerable amount more, and pompous, self-serving expertise from the Grand Poohbah Of All Knowledge does not cut it among those with a serious interest in the matter.

[smoketree]

Forget about having a serious discussion with 2.5.
I think he's about twelve years old and a spoiled brat who wants everything his way and doesn't want to listen to adults.

[archy]

Speaking of Richard Cain:

[archy]

When Oswald said, "I'm a patsy!", he signed his immediate death warrant. No way would he live long enough to be interrogated or give testimony. In fact, I believe he wasn't even supposed to be arrested, but killed 'resisting' arrest, the usual fate of patsies who don't know they were patsies until the last moment. Oswald realized it in time to make the public announcement, but it still didn't save him.

That's one theory. Another is that he was supposed to be flown out of the country via Mexico, leaving links to his later taking a commercial flight from Mexico City to Havana, thereby implicating Fidel in the murder.

But Oswald was at least sharp enough that he smelled a rat [or feared that the *escape to Havana* plan was a cover for killing him after which his body would NEVER be found] that he raised a fuss, during which both he and J.D. Tippit were shot. And explaining the reason for that second .38 S&W revolver the FBI tried to trace.

[Eastbound]

" . . . leaving links to his later taking a commercial flight from Mexico City to Havana, . . . "

Interesting. Perhaps there is still a record of a 'no-show' on any commercial airline list for Mexico City on that day. Chances are the ticket was already purchased but not used. Shouldn't take much to find out if his name was scheduled for boarding on that day or if the ticket was returned for rebate. For that matter, NOT returned for rebate.

[archy]

Perhaps there is still a record of a 'no-show' on any commercial airline list for Mexico City on that day.

Interestingly, the photograph of the gentlemen celebrating late in January of 1963 on the cover of Barry and the Boys was reportedly taken at the La Reforma hotel/nightclub in Mexico City....

[Shooter 2.5]

The most unique feature of the Carcano was it's split bridge receiver. That's why the scope had to be mounted as an offset.

Look at bolt rifles today and they're in different calibers, colors and material. You won't find a split bridge being made today.

[smoketree]

That object is on a stationary pole.
If it was on something not fastened to anything it would not go backward in the direction the bullet came from it would continue in the direction of the bullet however it explodes.

[Tares]

That object is on a stationary pole.
If it was on something not fastened to anything it would not go backward in the direction the bullet came from it would continue in the direction of the bullet ...

A demonstrably wrong statement.

Melon 1
Melon 2
Click on skull below

[smoketree]

Good point. So the entire object goes back in the direction of where the bullet comes from. Is that in every case and every bit of material always goes back to where the bullet came from? so if that apple was on a string it would instead travel backward? Must be new science. I guess then that every time I shot something and it went flying off it really came back at me I just didn't know it.
Maybe Kennedy's head was not attached to anything and that is why it went backward and to the left curiously in a direct line with a shot from the front right.

[BILL_C]

He has concerns about the car. What happened to it? Much evidence about bullet trajectory should have been obtained from it.

The Limo was taken from Dallas and flown to Washington, DC. According to the clips below, the car was taken from Washington (secretly) and taken to Detroit where the windshield was copied and then destroyed. The windshield had a hole in it from a second shot from the front (of course, the other shot from the front was the Z=313 fatal head shot to JFK). So, the conspirators HAD to destroy the windshield as it alone was proof of a frontal shot, something which had to be changed to a crack as too many people had seen the damage to the windshield. The copies of the windshield were made so an appropriate crack could be made. The original windshield was destroyed.

You'll notice that he says the car was stripped by Monday morning when he saw it. Apparently there was more "evidence" that had to be planted or removed.

<"Limo taken to Detroit to replace windshield, Part I">

<"Limo taken to Detroit to replace windshield, Part II">

[smoketree]

Can't retrieve the video from utube.
Destruction of evidence sounds exactly like Waco where the front door which would prove who shot first disappeared and the whole site was bulldozed immediately after the siege destroying all other evidence.
Coindence?

[BILL_C]

Can't retrieve the video from utube. Destruction of evidence sounds

The video comes up for me even when logged out of my account, so it should be OK....

As an investigator, you want the physical evidence to mesh with the witness statements so that it makes SENSE. The RIGHT ANSWER ALWAYS MAKES SENSE. What we have now is a Federal Governement that realizes that the fools in the Press can be EASILY convinced that the witnesses are WRONG on just about any question.

I'm not familiar with Waco except superficially.