Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (05 of 26): Hearings Vol. V (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. SPECTER. How would you characterize your participation?
Dr. LIGHT. Largely--originally Dr. Dziemian, as I recall, was ill, and
by the time we began to do these specific tests that you mention,
Dr. Dziemian was back on the job again. So he took over whatever
supervision was needed.
Mr. SPECTER. Were the tests which Dr. Olivier described made at the
request of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President
Kennedy?
Dr. LIGHT. Yes; they were.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have anything to add by way of any detail to the
findings reported by Dr. Olivier in his testimony here earlier today?
Dr. LIGHT. No; I think he covered it very thoroughly.
Mr. SPECTER. And as to the conclusions and opinions which he expressed,
do you agree or disagree, to some extent, on his conclusions?
Dr. LIGHT. I agree in general at least. I am not quite so certain about
some of the things, but generally I certainly agree with what he said.
Mr. DULLES. What are the things on which you are not quite so certain?
Dr. LIGHT. For example, I am not quite as sure in my mind as I believe
he is that the bullet that struck the Governor was almost certainly one
which had hit something else first. I believe it could have produced
that wound even though it hadn't hit the President or any other person
or object first.
Mr. DULLES. That is the wound, then, in the thigh?
Dr. LIGHT. No; in the chest.
Mr. DULLES. I was thinking that the wound in the thigh--let me start
again. As I understand the previous testimony, Dr. Olivier would have
expected the wound in the thigh to be more serious if it had not hit
some object.
Dr. LIGHT. Yes.
Mr. DULLES. Prior to entering Governor Connally's body, but you feel
that the wound in the thigh might be consistent?
Dr. LIGHT. The wound in the thigh is the terminal end, is the far end
of the whole track. I don't believe that in passing through the tissue
which was simulated by what Dr. Olivier described first, 13 or 14
centimeters of gelatin, I don't believe that the change in velocity
introduced by the passage through that much tissue can be relied upon
to make such a definite difference in the effect.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you believe that if the Governor had been struck by a
pristine bullet which had gone through his chest, that it would have
caused no more damage than which appeared on the Governor's chest?
Dr. LIGHT. I think that is possible; yes. I might say I think perhaps
the best, the most likely thing is what everyone else has said so far,
that the bullet did go through the President's neck and then through
the chest and then through the wrist and then into the thigh.
Mr. SPECTER. You think that is the most likely possibility?
Dr. LIGHT. I think that is probably the most likely, but I base
that not entirely on the anatomical findings but as much on the
circumstances.
Mr. SPECTER. What are the circumstances which lead you to that
conclusion?
Dr. LIGHT. The relative positions in the automobile of the President
and the Governor.
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