Post by Rusty SitesPost by John CorbettThe FBI determine that Zapruder's camera ran at an average speed of 18.3
frames per second. Rounding out to four decimal places that comes to an
average of .0546 seconds per frame. However, each frame is not exposed for
that length of time. Movie film is simply a string of rapid fire still
photos which require a continuous series of starts and stops with the
frame being exposed during the stops with no exposure being made while the
film advances to expose the next frame. I think I read a long time ago
that each frame is exposed for 60% of the .0546 seconds follow by a gap
of 40% of the .0546 seconds. I can't find a reference to confirm if that
is true or whether this is just a faulty memory. Assuming it is true and
again rounding out to four decimal places, that means a frame is exposed
for .0328 seconds and advanced for .0219 seconds during which the camera
is not recording the action. Because the bullets would require only a
couple milliseconds to pass through the bodies of JFK and JBC, that means
that either of the shots which struck JFK could have hit him during the
exposure of a frame or during the gap between frames. The head shot could
have struck either during the exposure of frame 313 or in the gap between
312 and 313 with frame 313 showing us only the aftermath of the strike. It
is less definite as to when the single bullet struck and if it did strike
during the exposure of a frame, we don't know if it struck early during
the exposure, late or somewhere in the middle. This makes it a bit more
difficult to determine precisely when the shot was fired and when it
struck. We are left to analyze clues to determine the best fit for those
clues. The clues we have are the bulging of the JBC's jacket, and the
jiggle of Zapruder's camera at frame 227. The jiggle from head shot
occurred about 7 frames after the shot was fired. Since Zapruder was a
constant distance from the rifle, we could expect a similar amount of
frames between the shot being fired and the jiggle. That would indicate
the single bullet shot was likely fired during Z220 or the gap before or
after the exposure of that frame striking a couple frames later. The
bulging of JBC's jacket at Z224 happened after the bullet passed through
it. What we aren't sure of is how much of lag there was between the bullet
passing through and the jacket bulging. It seems to indicate a strike
about 223. The simultaneous reaction by JFK and JBC at 226 would have
occurred roughly 3-4 frames after the bullet passed through them. That
reaction could have begun in the 225-226 gap, late in the exposure of 226
or somewhere in between. What we are left with are three approximations
and it seems to me the best fit for all three of these approximations
would be the bullet strike either in the gap between 222-223 or early in
the 223 exposure.
Determining the precise instant of the single bullet strike is not
necessary for proving the validity of the SBT but it needs to be shown
that there is a plausible time frame for when that bullet struck. It think
the above analysis accomplishes that. In 1964 the WC gave us a range of
210-225 for when the single bullet could have struck. Given the advantage
of time and better technology, I think we can establish a much tighter
time frame for when that bullet struck.
I would be interested to see how others analyze these clues.
Here are some clues which I think are important for determining when
Connally was hit.
1) Everything Connally did after he came out from behind the sign was to
see JFK or see him better until he abruptly falls back about 285,
starts rolling his head back and forth, and doesn't try to see JFK
anymore. Perhaps you find some small event between 222 and 230 that you
think shows he is hit but after that you have 3-4 seconds where
Connally does not appear to be behaving as if he is hit and certainly
not like he has shattered ribs. How does that not strongly argue
against him being hit when you think he was? One of my guiding
principles is, once they're hit, they stay hit. Another clue is that,
in his hospital interview, Connally said he turned and saw JFK was
slumped before he was hit.
That's not true. He didn't say he saw the President was slumped. He said
"the President had slumped". In his testimony before both the Warren
Commission and the HSCA, he explained he never saw the President during
the shooting or thereafter. Nellie saw the President, and it was her
testimony the President appeared to be hit by the first shot. And that's
when the President slumped.
Nellie Connally's Warren Commission testimony:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/conn_n.htm
== QUOTE ==
Mrs. CONNALLY. In fact the receptions had been. so good every place that I
had showed much restraint by not mentioning something about it before I
could resist no longer. When we got past this area I did turn to the
President and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love
you." Then I don't know how soon, it seems to me it was very soon, that I
heard a noise, and not being an expert rifleman, I was not aware that it
was a rifle. It was just a frightening noise, and it came from the right.
I turned over my right shoulder and looked back, and saw the President as
he had both hands at his neck.
Mr. SPECTER. And you are indicating with your own hands, two hands
crossing over gripping your own neck?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes; and it seemed to me there was--he made no utterance,
no cry. I saw no blood, no anything. It was just sort of nothing, the
expression on his face, and he just sort of slumped down.
Then very soon there was the second shot that hit John. As the first shot
was hit, and I turned to look at the same time, I recall John saying, "Oh,
no, no, no." Then there was a second shot, and it hit John, and as he
recoiled to the right, just crumpled like a wounded animal to the right,
he said, "My God, they are going to kill us all."
== UNQUOTE ==
John Connally's Warren Commission testimony:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/conn_j.htm
== QUOTE ==
Governor CONNALLY. We had--we had gone, I guess, 150 feet, maybe 200 feet, I don't recall how far it was, heading down to get on the freeway, the Stemmons Freeway, to go out to the hall where we were going to have lunch and, as I say, the crowds had begun to thin, and we could--I was anticipating that we were going to be at the hall in approximately 5 minutes from the time we turned on Elm Street.
We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot. I heard this noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right because the sound appeared to come from over my right
shoulder, so I turned to look back over my right shoulder, and I saw nothing unusual except just people in the crowd, but I did not catch the President in the corner of my eye, and I was interested, because once I heard the shot in my own mind I identified it as a rifle shot, and I immediately--the only thought that crossed my mind was that this is an assassination attempt.
So I looked, failing to see him, I was turning to look back over my left shoulder into the back seat, but I never got that far in my turn. I got about in the position I am in now facing you, looking a little bit to the left of center, and then I felt like someone had hit me in the back.
...
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe any reaction by President Kennedy after the shooting?
Governor CONNALLY. No; I did not see him.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you observe any reaction by Mrs. Kennedy after the shooting?
Governor CONNALLY. I did not see her. This almost sounds incredible, I am sure, since we were in the car with them. But again I will repeat very briefly when what I believe to be the shot first occurred, I turned to my right, which was away from both of them, of course, and looked out and could see neither, and then as I was turning to look into the back seat where I would have seen both of them, I was hit, so I never completed the turn at all, and I never saw either one of them after the firing started, and, of course, as I have testified, then Mrs. Connally pulled me over into her lap and I was facing forward with my head slightly turned up to where I could see the driver and Roy Kellerman on his right, but I could not see into the back seat, so I didn't see either one of them.
== UNQUOTE ==
John Connally's testimony to the HSCA says he never saw the President either:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/m_j_russ/hscacon.htm
== QUOTE ==
Mr. CONNALLY. Mr. Cornwell, we had just turned to Elm. We had gone, I suspect, oh, 150, 200 feet when I heard what I thought was a rifle shot and I thought it came from--I was seated right, as you know, the jump seat right in front of the President, and they have a fairly straight back on them so I was sitting up fairly erect. I thought the shot came from back over my right shoulder, so I turned to see if I could catch a sight of the President out of the corner of my eye because I immediately had, frankly, had fear of an assassination because I thought it was a rifle shot.
I didn't think it was a blowout or explosion of any kind. I didn't see the President out of the corner of my eye, so I was in the process of, at least I was turning to look over my left shoulder into the back seat to see if I could see him. I never looked, I never made the full turn. About the time I turned back where I was facing more or less straight ahead, the way the car was moving, I was hit. I was knocked over, just doubled over by the force of the bullet. It went in my back and came out my chest about 2 inches below and the left of my right nipple. The force of the bullet drove my body over almost double and when I looked, immediately I could see I was just drenched with blood. So, I knew I had been badly hit and I more or less straightened up. At about this time, Nelly reached over and pulled me down into her lap.
I was in her lap facing forward when another shot was fired. I only heard two shots. I did not hear the shot that hit me. I wasn't conscious of it. I am sure I heard it, but I was not conscious of it at all. I heard another shot. I heard it hit. It hit with a very pronounced impact, just [slap of hands] almost like that. Almost that loud a sound; it made a very, very strong sound.
Immediately, I could see blood and brain tissue all over the interior of the car and all over our clothes. We were both covered with brain tissue, and there were pieces of brain tissue as big as your little finger. It was something that was unmistakable. There was no question in my mind about what it was.
About this moment in time, Roy Kellerman, who was the Secret Service agent sitting in the right-front seat, pushed, apparently was pushing some buttons on the panel, doing what, I don't know. I heard him say, "Let's get out of here fast," and the car lurched forward then. Bill Greer was the driver. He accelerated it tremendously.
When I was hit, or shortly before I was hit--no, I guess it was after I was hit--I said first, just almost in despair, I said, "no, no, no, just thinking how tragic it was that we had gone through this 24 hours, it had all been so wonderful and so beautifully executed. The President had been so marvelously received and then here, at the last moment this great tragedy. I just said, "no, no, no, no".
Then I said right after I was hit, I said, "My God, they are going to kill us all." ....
The shots came, in my judgment, the two shots I heard came from the same direction, back over my right shoulder, came from behind us. Very clear to me where they came from. I don't think any shots came from any other direction. I was conscious until we hit the Stemmons Freeway and then I faded into unconsciousness.
I revived when the car came to a stop at what was Parkland Hospital. Apparently, the braking of the car--we must have been traveling at an enormous rate of speed--the braking of the car brought me back to consciousness and you know it is strange what thoughts run through your mind.
The first thought that occurred to me was that I was in the jump seat, that the right door of the car was opposite my seat and that they couldn't reach the President. Well, I got out of the way and that is when I tried to raise myself up out of Nelly's lap and actually tried to get out of the car myself, so that they could get to him in the back seat.
I knew he was hit. I knew their first concern would be for the President. So, that was the reason why I lurched up, or tried to get up out of a reclining position. Of course, I couldn't. I wasn't able to. I got halfway up and just slumped again, as Nelly just told you. Then, someone did pick me up and put me on a stretcher and took me into an emergency room or trauma room, whatever it was.
I obviously didn't know what it was. At that point, I felt the first pain, really, that I had experienced and when I was on the stretcher, I was laid out. Then, there was excruciating pain in my chest.
At the time I was hit, strangely enough, I felt no sharp pain. It was as if someone had come up behind me with a doubled up fist and just hit me in the back right between the shoulder blades. It was that kind of a sensation.
I would have to volunteer the very, very strong opinion, I know much has been written, much has been discussed, I was being a participant, I can only give you my impressions, but I must say you, as I said to the Warren Commission, I do not believe, nor will I ever believe, that I was hit with the first bullet. I don't believe that. I heard the first shot. I reacted to the first shot and I was not hit with that bullet: Now, there's a great deal of speculation that the President and I were hit with the same bullet that might well, be, but it surely wasn't the first bullet and Nelly doesn't think it's the second bullet. I don't know, I didn't hear the second bullet. I felt the second bullet. We obviously weren't hit by the third bullet. I was down reclining in her lap at the time the third bullet hit.
Mr. CORNWELL. I am sorry, I didn't understand one statement. You said Mrs. Connally doesn't agree it was the second bullet or the same bullet?
Mr. CONNALLY. The second bullet.
Mrs. CONNALLY. That what?
Mr. CONNALLY. That hit me. That hit him and me--
Mrs. CONNALLY. No; I heard three shots, I had three reactions, three separate reactions. The first shot, then I looked and saw the President, the second shot, John, and third, all this matter all over us.
Mr. CORNWELL. So you agree that your recollection is it was the second shot that hit the Governor?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I know it was the second shot that hit the Governor.
Mr. CORNWELL. And, where you disagree is as to the possibility or the question of whether or not it was the same bullet that hit, is that accurate, in other words, the Governor has no knowledge on that subject matter, would that be accurate, since you didn't turn around to see the President, after the first noise, you don't know whether he was hit and Mrs. Connally's recollection is that she did turn and saw him hold his throat before you were hit, is that accurate?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I did.
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct. I never saw him. I never saw Mrs. Kennedy after the shots were fired. I never saw either one of them, and I don't know when he was hit.
== UNQUOTE ==
Now, my problem with all this is simple: John never saw the President, so he's not qualified to say the President had slumped. He's passing on what Nellie told him. Ad he admitted that here:
== QUOTE ==
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKconnally.htm
Eddie Barker: Do you believe, Governor Connally, that the first bullet could have missed, the second one hit both of you, and the third one hit President Kennedy?
John Connally: That's possible. That's possible. Now, the best witness I know doesn't believe that.
Eddie Barker: Who is the best witness you know?
John Connally: Nellie was there, and she saw it. She believes the first bullet hit him, because she saw him after he was hit. She thinks the second bullet hit me, and the third bullet hit him.
== UNQUOTE ==
Nellie hasn't turned to look back at the President by 223. She turned after Z223, but recalled herself turning sooner. What she saw is what the Z-film shows after the President emerges from behind the sign.
Do you believe the Governor was struck at Z285?
Hank
