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
I know the difference, but I read on this thread that he was flown to DC for the autopsy, yet those pics claim it was done in Parkland’s facility. I’m getting confused... heh.
Of course the book is going to come out mid-November right before the anniversary of the assassination. $$$
I skipped Wiki because of their many errors/bias in the past.
I’m corrected. Thanks.
We all should stand down and wait for a true, all knowing and always eye witness to earth changing events, Jose Bidet, to comment!
“destroying the windshield of the car that held the nation’s president in one of the most notorious acts in history of us”
************
Preserving this critical piece of evidence could have answered a lot of questions. Destroying it did not serve the interests of an honest investigation.
Come to think of it, the entire vehicle (crime scene) should have been preserved and stored in a secure facility, at least for a decade or two.
Billy Sol Estes was LBJ’s business associate from his Senate days in fleecing the federal government of illicit cotton subsidies. Billie Sol, who spent time in federal prison, testified before a Texas grand jury in 1985 that LBJ had ordered the murder of at least eight men, the eighth being John F. Kennedy. Maybe he was lying but I doubt it - why would he at the end of his life when he had nothing to gain and nothing to lose.
I was on the side of Wisconsin Avenue just north of Bethesda on the dark night Kennedy was brought to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy. I remember that he passed by in a grey ambulance and that a coffin was visible through its rear windows.
Rather held the title “Chief of Southern Bureau” for CBS 60 years ago. He was based out of New Orleans but moved his whole team of four reporters, camera crews etc. to Dallas expecting a “big story” that day.
The “Far Right” was stirring up trouble in Dallas they harassed Adlai Stevenson JFK’s UN Ambassador on a previous visit.
They OWN the media...how is that going to happen?
They obviously also own the majority of the financial(outspend rep. 3-1 elections 2018+)/judicial system(see how Trump/Jan 6 are being persecuted/prosecuted)...along with majority of social media/academia. THEIR protestors get lawyers, and get off, THEIR media is complicit in burying stories that might hurt THEIR fellow dems...while at the same time being able to bury their opponents (us) with pure, made-up B.S.....because they now OWN the power/apparatus to do so.
No, you cannot touch these people with a 10 foot pole(legally anyway)...while they can push MAGA/conservatives around with a toothpick.
“If LBJ was behind it, why would he not run in 68?”
***********
One of the few things that make a politician “retire” is knowing their chances of getting re-elected are slim. Note Manchin’s recent decision to leave the senate (because the polls are telling him he’s done).
“So, why would this guy NEVER say crap about this all these years!”
Because he did not want to be one of the massive number of people who were killed after the assassination because of what they knew/saw.
He is old now, and all the ones ordering the murders are all gone now.
Cui bono or who benefitted? LBJ. First, Life Magazine was going to run an expose the following Monday on his corruption and that of his chief Senate aide, one Bobby Baker. Second, JFK had told his secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, that he intended to dump LBJ as VP in 1964 when he was to return from Texas. Third, Jackie told the biographer William Manchester that LBJ was behind it. Fourth, Jackie overheard an argument between JFK and LBJ at his Fort Worth hotel room the night before in which LBJ was adamant that Ralph Yarborough, whom he detested, and not his protege John Connally ride with the President, an argument that LBJ lost. Fifth, LBJ lied about Secret Service agent Rufus Youngblood jumping on him while the bullets flew - the back seat could not accommodate this and Senator Yarborough, who rode with LBJ, said it never happened.
There was also an Australian group that reenacted the entire shooting using forensic evidence. They came to the same conclusion that the shot that killed him came from directly behind the limo. Not in front from the grassy knoll. Also, that the hole in the back of Kennedy's head was the same diameter as the round fired by the weapon used by the SS agents. That the round fired by Oswald's weapon was larger than the hole in the back of his head.
Wow!
I think actually … maybe some sort of professional diagnosis might be prudent in your situation. We all hope that you get the help that you need. There’s no stigma, and the sooner they get started the prognosis is probably a lot better.
Good Luck!
He could have also been afraid for his life.
I’ve long thought he was behind the hit. LBJ hated the Kennedy’s and vice versa. LBJ may possibly be the worst prez we’ve ever had. He and bammy could be 1 and 1A on that list.
I stopped reading when I got to the part about the bullet not penetrating Kennedy and then bouncing back to the seat. Even more outlandish is the claim he put the bullet on Kennedy’s stretcher where it somehow bounced to Connolly’s stretcher where it was found.
BUMP
Somebody is going to write a book and spill it all there is no loyalty. After what happened in Isreal it is payback time and It will feel good.
Great. Another old witness who will be dying soon.
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