Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
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."
I never again----
Mr. DULLES. To the right was into your arms more or less?
Mrs. CONNALLY. No, he turned away from me. I was pretending that I was
him. I never again looked in the back seat of the car after my husband
was shot. My concern was for him, and I remember that he turned to the
right and then just slumped down into the seat, so that I reached over
to pull him toward me. I was trying to get him down and me down. The
jump seats were not very roomy, so that there were reports that he slid
into the seat of the car, which he did not; that he fell over into my
lap, which he did not.
I just pulled him over into my arms because it would have been
impossible to get us really both down with me sitting and me holding
him. So that I looked out, I mean as he was in my arms, I put my head
down over his head so that his head and my head were right together,
and all I could see, too, were the people flashing by. I didn't look
back any more.
The third shot that I heard I felt, it felt like spent buckshot falling
all over us, and then, of course, I too could see that it was the
matter, brain tissue, or whatever, just human matter, all over the car
and both of us.
I thought John had been killed, and then there was some imperceptible
movement, just some little something that let me know that there was
still some life, and that is when I started saying to him, "It's all
right. Be still."
Now, I did hear the Secret Service man say, "Pull out of the motorcade.
Take us to the nearest hospital," and then we took out very rapidly to
the hospital.
Just before we got to Parkland, we made a right-hand turn, he must have
been going very fast, because as he turned the weight of my husband's
body almost toppled us both.
Mr. SPECTER. How fast do you think he was going?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I don't know; very rapidly. The people I could see going
by were just rushing. We were just rushing by very fast.
We arrived at the hospital and sat there what seemed to me like an
interminable time, and from what I know was just a few minutes, but
the thoughts that went through my mind were how long must I sit here
with this dying man in my arms while everybody is swarming over the
President whom I felt very sure was dead, and just when I thought I
could sit and wait no longer, John just sort of heaved himself up. He
did not rise up in the car, he just sort of heaved himself up, and then
collapsed down into the seat.
Mr. SPECTER. At that time you and Governor Connally were still on the
jump seats of the car?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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