Posted on 11/16/2023 6:07:01 AM PST by Red Badger
Now 88 years old, former Secret Service agent Paul Landis is breaking his silence regarding what he witnessed on the day US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Telling his version of events in the book, The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After Sixty Years, Landis’ account could change the way the public has long understood the events of that infamous day.
While the official report states Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter that day, Landis’ account might suggest otherwise.
An eyewitness to John F. Kennedy’s assassination
Paul Landis first joined the Secret Service in 1959, and, by ’63, had been assigned to protect First Lady Jackie Kennedy and her children. Accompanying the family to Dallas, Texas, Landis was one of the agents walking behind the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963.
After hearing the first shot, Landis spun around to locate where it had come from, but didn’t spot anything. When he turned back, he watched fellow agent Clint Hill run toward the limousine. Landis then witnessed JFK get shot in the head. He was so close that he had to duck down to avoid being splattered with the president’s brain tissue.
The limousine rushed both Kennedy and wounded Texas Gov. John Connally to Parkland Memorial Hospital, with several agents following. Once the two men were removed from the vehicle, Landis noticed two bullet fragments in a pool of blood, but left them alone.
However, there was another bullet, still intact, that he found in the seam of the leather cushioning that has to potential to change how we understand the infamous assassination.
Confusion around the bullet
This bullet is the same one that’s the foundation of the single-bullet theory in the Warren Commission’s report. Doctors deduced that the round must have struck JFK from behind, exiting his throat before continuing toward John Connally. It entered the governor’s right shoulder, struck his rib and exited under his right nipple, before continuing through his right wrist and into his left thigh. The near-pristine condition the bullet was in has led many to regard it as a “magic” bullet.
The round was found on Connally’s stretcher and, as such, the Warren Commission stated it “eliminated President Kennedy’s stretcher as a source of the bullet,” as the president’s body was only moved from the stretcher upon it being placed in a coffin. However, Landis claims he was the one to find the bullet in the limousine, placing it in his pocket to prevent souvenir hunters from taking it.
Speaking with The New York Times, the former Secret Service agent says:
“There was nobody there to secure the scene, and that was a big, big bother to me. All the agents that were there were focused on the president. This was all going on so quickly. And I was just afraid that – it was a piece of evidence, that I realized right away. Very important. And I didn’t want it to disappear or get lost. So it was, ‘Paul, you’ve got to make a decision,’ and I grabbed it.”
Once Landis arrived at the hospital, he planned to hand over the round to a supervisor, but in the mass confusion placed it on Kennedy’s stretcher. In doing so, he’d hoped it would help the doctors determine exactly what had happened. He believes the bullet must’ve bounced from JFK’s stretcher onto Connally’s when they were pushed together, leading to the single-bullet theory.
Paul Landis’ account could debunk the single-bullet theory
Paul Landis thinks the bullet he found must have struck JFK in the back and was unable to penetrate deeply, causing it to pop out and fall back in the seat. If this account is true, then the single-bullet theory may be debunked after all.
James Robenalt, a Cleveland lawyer and historical author who worked with Landis, tells The New York Times:
“If what he says is true, which I tend to believe, it is likely to reopen the question of a second shooter, if not even more. If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy’s back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong.”
Film footage of the assassination shows JFK and John Connally physically reacting to the shooting, but their reactions are about a second apart. Investigators have estimated that it would’ve taken Lee Harvey Oswald 2.3 seconds to reload and fire a second time.
“The FBI recreation suggests that Oswald would not have had enough time to get off two separate shots so quickly as to hit Connally after wounding the president in the back,” Robenault explains in an article in Vanity Fair. As such, it’s believed that, had there been a second shooter, their shot hit likely Connally from “above and to the rear.”
Why is Paul Landis speaking out now?
Being an eyewitness to the assassination, Paul Landis has been haunted by what he saw that fateful day. “The president’s head exploding – I could not shake that vision,” he tells The New York Times. “Whatever I was doing, that’s all I was thinking about.”
After about six more months of trying to work, Landis called it quits and left the Secret Service. The Warren Commission never reached out to him, which was a surprise. He says he thought the agency was simply protecting their own, and after everything that had happened, he didn’t want to talk about it.
However, after reading Six Seconds in Dallas: A Micro-study of the Kennedy Assassination in 2014, he realized his memories of the event didn’t align with the account presented by the Warren Commission.
Speaking about the many theories surrounding JFK’s death, Landis says, “I just paid no attention to that. I just removed myself. I just felt I had been there. I had seen it, and I knew what I saw and what I did. And that’s all.”
However, this brought up mixed feelings. “I didn’t want to talk about it,” he explains. “I was afraid. I started to think, did I do something wrong? There was a fear that I might have done something wrong and I shouldn’t talk about it.” Even Clint Hill discouraged him from coming forward, suggesting how there could be “many ramifications.”
However, while it may have taken a few years, Landis still feels his account needs to be shared. “There’s no goal at this point,” he explains. “I just think it had been long enough that I needed to tell my story.”
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Samantha Franco is a Freelance Content Writer who received her Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of Guelph, and her Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Western Ontario. Her research focused on Victorian, medical, and epidemiological history with a focus on childhood diseases. Stepping away from her academic career, Samantha previously worked as a Heritage Researcher and now writes content for multiple sites covering an array of historical topics.
In her spare time, Samantha enjoys reading, knitting, and hanging out with her dog, Chowder!
linkedin.com/in/samantha-v-franco
Can’t recall where I heard it...
Though now that I am looking again it does appear that his head snaps down before going back... That is what a head would do if it was hit with a downward momentum externally... not sure what physics would happen if shot was up through neck and out through the head... seems it should be just snap backward... and not go down first... but again not an expert...
Momentum entering body at the neck, then out of the top of the skull, I don’t think there would be enough time for the upward momentum being absorbed to cause the hesd to snap down before the exit would snap it back.. but someone with much better understanding of the physics can answer that.
Oswald connected (in Texas) with George de Mohrenschildt:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_de_Mohrenschildt
EXCERPT:
“While in New York, de Mohrenschildt became acquainted with the Bouvier family, including future First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Bouvier. Jacqueline grew up calling de Mohrenschildt “Uncle George” and would often sit on his knee.[22] He became a close friend of Jacqueline’s aunt Edith Bouvier Beale.”
***his preferred hitman / fixer was Billy Sol Estes.***
O-o-h! I remember him from all the scandals in Texas in 1961- 62! Read about them in the Carlsbad Current Argus and El Paso Times back then.
Anyone remember 1964 when a cop in Texas stopped a speeder and it turned out to be LBJ and his secretary?
The brain
Punctured skull
Pressure - recoil
exploding backwards
Makes more sense to me
Physics not psychics
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4190149/posts?q=1&;page=1
The 1st shot deflected off an overhead sign
Spoliation
Yea, that’s it.. sorry.. I couldn’t recall the details, but definitely recalled reading about the actual fatal shot was believed to be by an accidental SS discharge.
It would explain the cover up, and why the forensics don’t match the claims.
Not that Oswald wasn’t in the repository shooting at Kennedy, but it wasn’t his gun that produced the kill shot.
The autopsy was performed in Maryland. Bethesda Naval Hospital. The Dallas doctors were furious that Texas law was ignored.
Even Wikipedia has it correct.
I guess I’m the idiot writer. I assumed all Freepers know the difference between a coffin and a casket. Sorry FReeworld.
Why did they need to fake the moon landings? They did it six times for real, what would be the point.
Why didn’t he run in 68? Easy answer. Viet Nam. When LBJ lost Cronkite...he lost the will to run.
I know thats the given answer, but if he’s willing to murder as other have stated here, sure doesn’t seem like he’s just going to walk away.
Very possible theory, especially if Post #56 is possibly true:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4197260/posts?page=56#56
Every inch of the limo should have been photographed in detail before destroying or replacing anything.
I see what you did there. :)
JFK-killed on Nov. 22. So why does this come out on the 60th anniversary?
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