Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (06 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
Mr. SPECTER. You say Dr. Burkley or Buckley?
Dr. CLARK. Dr. Burkley.
Mr. SPECTER. That's the President's private physician?
Dr. CLARK. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Dr. Clark, would your observations be consistent with some
other alleged facts in this matter, such as the presence of a lateral
wound measuring 15 by 6 mm. on the posterior scalp approximately 2.5
cm. laterally to the right and slightly above the external occipital
proturberant--that is to say, could such a hole have been present
without your observing it?
Dr. CLARK. Yes, in the presence of this much destruction of skull and
scalp above such a wound and lateral to it and the brief period of time
available for examination--yes, such a wound could be present.
Mr. SPECTER. The physicians, surgeons who examined the President at the
autopsy specifically, Commander James J. Humes, H-u-m-e-s (spelling);
Commander J. Thornton Boswell, B-o-s-w-e-l-l (spelling), and Lt. Col.
Pierre A. Finck, F-i-n-c-k (spelling), expressed the joint opinion
that the wound which I have just described as being 15 by 6 mm.
and 2.5 cm. to the right and slightly above the external occipital
protuberant was a point of entrance of a bullet in the President's
head at a time when the President's head was moved slightly forward
with his chin dropping into his chest, when he was riding in an open
car at a slightly downhill position. With those facts being supplied
to them in a hypothetical fashion, they concluded that the bullet
would have taken a more or less straight course, exiting from the
center of the President's skull at a point indicated by an opening
from three portions of the skull reconstructed, which had been brought
to them--would those findings and those conclusions be consistent
with your observations if you assumed the additional facts which I
have brought to your attention, in addition to those which you have
personally observed?
Dr. CLARK. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Dr. Clark, in the line of your specialty, could you
comment as to the status of the President with respect to competency,
had he been able to survive the head injuries which you have described
and the total wound which he had?
Dr. CLARK. This, of course, is a question of tremendous importance.
Just let me state that the loss of cerebrellar tissue would probably
have been of minimal consequence in the performance of his duties. The
loss of the right occipital and probably part of the right parietal
lobes would have been of specific importance. This would have led to a
visual field deficit, which would have interfered in a major way with
his ability to read, not the interpretation of reading matter per se,
but the acquisition of information from the printed page. He would have
had specific difficulty with finding the next line in a book or paper.
This would have proven to be a specific handicap in getting information
on which, as the President of the United States, he would have to act.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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