Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
In essence, then, the prosecution remained with the theory that Oswald,
while acting alone, shot the President from the front from the back.
However,----
Mr. RANKIN. I don't understand that.
Mr. LANE. I don't understand that either, but this was the theory of
the prosecution--that the President had--it had been conceded at that
time that the President had been shot in the front of the throat.
However, the evidence then developed indicated that the Presidential
limousine had already passed the Book Depository Building, and the
President was not facing the Book Depository Building when the first
shot was fired. At that time, Life magazine explains it all in a
full page article entitled, "An End to Nagging Rumors, the 6 Crucial
Seconds."
And Life conceded that the limousine was some 50 yards past Oswald when
the first shot was fired, and that the shot entered the President's
throat from the front, but explained that the President had turned
completely around and was facing the Book Depository Building when the
shot was fired.
But that theory, however, could not----
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have the date of that article?
Mr. LANE. That was December 6, Life magazine. The full page article was
entitled "End to Nagging Rumors, the Six Critical Seconds."
The problem----
Senator COOPER. May I ask a question there--just to clarify? Did you
say that in this article that Life said that the late President had
turned around and was facing the Book Depository Building when the shot
was fired?
Mr. LANE. Yes, Senator. The trouble with that theory, however, which
was enunciated by Life, and from where they secured it I do not
know, but they certainly were in Dallas very much in evidence on the
scene--was that the week prior to then Life magazine itself printed
the stills of the motion pictures, and in those stills, with Life's
own captions, it was quite plain that the President was looking almost
completely forward, just slightly to the right, but almost forward, and
certainly not turned around when the first shot was fired. And so the
stills printed in Life's own publication a week before they enunciated
this theory proved that the Life theory was false.
In addition to this, persons present on the scene, such witnesses as
Mrs. Connally and the Governor of Texas, indicated that the President
was looking almost straight ahead. And I believe that Mrs. Connally
stated that she had just made a statement to the President, tragically
enough, something about, "You cannot say the people of Dallas have not
given you a warm welcome today," and he was about to respond when the
first bullet struck him.
In order for the prosecution to remain with the theory in the light
of the new evidence that Oswald was the assassin and he acted alone,
something would have to give, and it became plain that the third try
would have to result in a new examination of the medical testimony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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