THE SINGLE-BULLET THEORY IS JUST AS TRUE (AND LOGICAL) TODAY AS IT WAS IN 1963-1964, AND EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW WHY....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virtually all conspiracy theorists who are of the opinion that President John F. Kennedy met his violent death on November 22, 1963, as the result of an evil, elaborate plot orchestrated and carried out by ________ (the roster of potential assassins and conspirators is nearly endless to use in this blank space), are also of the opinion that Mr. Arlen Specter and the Warren Commission he worked for in the year 1964 were all wet and/or full of stinky fecal matter when it comes to the three words that have sparked debate the world over since the President's assassination -- the "Single-Bullet Theory".
But if conspiracists could shake loose the forever-strangling "All Evidence In The JFK Case Must Have Been Faked And/Or Tampered With" albatross that hangs around their necks, they could easily see that any theory that needs to be substituted for the Single-Bullet Conclusion lacks all credibility and can easily be shot full of holes via common sense alone.
Forgive the heavy dose of sarcasm that follows, but I think it is appropriate given the subject matter. I've put on my Arlen Specter hat when writing the comments below, which are comments that serve as a "faux notebook" of Mr. Specter's in a sense, as Arlen tries to figure out what the devil really occurred on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, on 11/22/63. (And for the sake of my imaginary "Specter Notes", the dreaded "SBT" is NOT to be considered as an option for even a brief moment.)
I can just hear Mr. Specter now, as he attempts to explain the simultaneous wounding of President Kennedy and Governor John B. Connally in a Non-SBT manner -- which, of course, would be in a manner that needs to reconcile an incredible THREE-SHOTS-LOOK-LIKE-ONE shooting that the Houdini-like riflemen seemingly pulled off in Dealey Plaza.
In such a make-believe scenario, Arlen's notebook just might be filled with comments like this (as of early September 1964, just before the Commission hands over its Final Report to President Johnson):
[Arlen Specter Simulation On...]
We here at the Warren Commission have come to the conclusion that President Kennedy and Governor Connally were struck by three separate bullets (not counting the JFK head shot). These three bullets all disappeared...somehow...without a single one being recovered and placed into evidence.
Regarding the subject of bullets -- The Commission discounts Bullet #CE399 as being connected to the actual shooting in any fashion whatsoever....because we've been told by people with far greater minds and resources than that which the Commission possesses that Bullet 399 was "planted" in Parkland Hospital by some unknown conspirator in order to mislead the investigators and in order to falsely implicate one Lee Harvey Oswald in the President's demise.
Therefore, the Commission has no choice but to accept this rumor of bullet-planting as being an ironclad, undeniable fact, even though the Commission has no solid, verifiable evidence to back up such allegations of evidence tampering. But, I'm obliged to go with the flow and just assume that said bullet was a plant. Oh, well. So be it.
We at the Commission are at a loss to explain where all of these three missing projectiles vanished to. But I guess we'll just have to assume that they all just magically evaporated into a puff of smoke just after the THREE (unknown and unseen) separate gunmen squeezed off these rounds into the two victims.
We at the Commission are also at a loss to explain just how the bullet which entered Mr. Connally's back created an elongated entry wound without having hit President Kennedy (or some solid object) first. But, we'll just have to assume, I guess, that the bullet started tumbling in mid-air after having hit nothing but Dallas, Texas, atmosphere between the rifleman's weapon and the Governor's back.
Also...we at the Warren Commission are somewhat stumped as to WHY two separate bullets completely stopped after striking JFK's neck and back, with neither bullet causing an exit wound after entering, and with neither of these two bullets striking any hard or bony substances within the President's body. Another obligatory "Oh, well" is needed here it would appear. (Along with a vigorous shrugging of the shoulders, signifying complete and utter bewilderment regarding this matter, a matter that all conspiracy theorists think is totally unimportant and, therefore, doesn't mean a darn thing.)
The rest of the Commission staff and I are also unable to explain the fact that the autopsy report (signed by three doctors) unambiguously determined (on
page #6 of its report) that the bullet which struck JFK in his upper back positively emerged from the front of his neck and then went....well....where the hell did it go? It must have gone someplace. But I've been told by conspiracy theorists that I can't rely on a "Single-Bullet Conclusion"; so the answer must rest elsewhere.
And we know the bullet did not do any damage to the interior of the limousine, because the FBI's Bob Frazier testified to that fact during our interview with him. (Note -- Check on Mr. Robert A. Frazier's credibility...he may be "in" on the "cover-up" too, just like hundreds of others like him, who are bent on keeping the truth of President Kennedy's death a secret no matter what.)
Oh well, we'll just leave this additional little problem to greater minds in future generations. For right now, I'll just pretend this snafu concerning the autopsy report (saying that a bullet exited JFK's throat) doesn't exist at all.
The Commission's members and staff are also a little puzzled as to how in the world Governor Connally was struck by a separate shot in the back, even though he was seated almost directly in front of JFK in the car.
Given the bullet's entry point on Mr. Connally's back and its downward and slightly right-to-left course through the Governor's body, it would seem to us at the Commission that this bullet would have probably had to have passed through someone sitting behind the Governor prior to striking Mr. Connally.
But, various conspiracy theorists have told us that this one-bullet scenario must be impossible, so I guess we'll have to think of a non-SBT way for this bullet to get to Connally by not travelling through the man sitting behind Mr. Connally. Oh well...we'll try another theory I guess.
Another "Commission Stumper" for us dumbbells in Washington is the amazing "lining up" of the three wounds on the two victims -- with the back wounds on the President and Governor Connally, plus the wound on the front of JFK's neck, seemingly lining up pretty doggone close to being at an approximate 17-degree downward angle through the men, which is, as it turns out by gosh, an angle that leads back to a sixth-floor window in a building where a certain rifle with the serial number C2766 was found at 1:22 PM on November 22 (just 52 minutes after JFK and John Connally were shot by these [at least] three separate gunmen in Dealey Plaza).
Oh well, just a pure coincidence I guess. I'll mark it down as such a coincidence...but I want these incredible shooters/marksmen on MY side in the next war, by golly, I'll tell ya that right now!
We at the Commission, after looking long and hard at the Abraham Zapruder home movie of the assassination, are also a tad bit perplexed at just exactly HOW these THREE SEPARATE (ace) shooters in Dallas were able to fire their respective weapons in perfect, or near-perfect, synchronization from their three separate locations within Dealey Plaza so to have struck the two victims with these three shots/bullets at a point in time (per the Zapruder home movie) to make it appear that both men were struck initially by bullets at an identical point in time.
(Note -- Maybe the film has been "altered" in some manner....consult a certain "Mr. Fetzer" for further information on this possibility; because, sans alteration of said motion picture and sans a whole bunch of people running around covering up the real evidence, it looks to most of the Commission members and its staff as if this three-bullet scenario is a real turd of an idea.)
The Commission is also in a quandary over the Neutron Activation Analysis, which concluded that the Connally wrist fragments "most likely" came from bullet CE399 found at Parkland. [This "NAA" item is a bonus item. Since Vincent Guinn's NAA analysis did not occur until the 1970s, we can just pretend that Mr. Specter added this item to his notebook at a later date.]
But, if the Warren Commission is to believe the words of valid and bona fide conspiracy researchers who have studied this case long and hard, then Commission Exhibit #399, as I discussed earlier, was "planted" by evil henchmen in the hospital.
(Note -- Figure out a way to make myself believe that there was ANY way on this Earth that some crazy, suicidal conspirator(s) would have had a desire to risk blowing the conspiracy plot wide open by planting a bullet on a stretcher at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas before 2:00 PM (Central Standard Time) on 11/22/63, a time when Governor Connally was still in the operating room and, hence, no plotters had the slightest friggin' idea where all the "real" bullets connected with the assassination were located. Then call Vince Bugliosi in Minnesota or L.A. -- I need to talk to someone with a grip on reality here.)
[Specter Simulation Off]
The above serves as a paraphrased transcript of Arlen Specter's probable notes regarding an alternative to the Single-Bullet Theory--dated September 8th, 1964 [with an addendum added in 1978 for the NAA stuff]. Exact verbiage may vary from final notebook of Mr. Specter. But rest assured, whatever the final verbatim version of such a notebook would have looked like, the end result would have been undoubtedly just as laughable and impossibly ridiculous.
------------------
The Single-Bullet Theory is so obviously the most logical (and almost certainly correct) version of the wounding of both President John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally....and for so many different and interconnected reasons (most of which are outlined in tongue-in-cheek style above).
Even the "evidence" which ISN'T present in the JFK murder case (but SHOULD definitely be in existence if the SBT is a false scenario) is telling us that the Commission's single-bullet conclusion almost HAS to be accurate -- e.g., no bullets found in the victims; no other bullets in evidence except CE399; no damage to the limo's back-seat areas; plus: virtually no damage done to the interior portions of JFK's upper back and neck (i.e., no broken bones and no hard, bony structures being struck by either of the TWO projectiles that conspiracists believe entered these regions of the President's body and failed to exit).
The total absence of injuries within President Kennedy's neck and back is enough--all by itself--to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that just a single bullet made a clean getaway through JFK's body, without pausing to do any substantial damage whatsoever.
It's always been amazing to me that so many people who bash Mr. Specter and the Single-Bullet Theory can then seemingly believe in some "alternate" scenario that is far more fanciful and full of implausibilities and complications and vanishing bullets than is the Single-Bullet Conclusion. And there MUST be a correct alternate theory if the SBT is untrue. So what the heck is it?! Conspiracists never say, of course.
In short, those who disbelieve the SBT are, by default, automatically choosing to believe some OTHER theory regarding the wounding of President Kennedy and Governor Connally. And ANY alternate theory in this matter falls way, way short in the common-sense and realistic departments--not to mention in the "physical evidence" category as well.
Only an outright fool could believe in an "alternate" theory to the SBT. Let's face it, the shooting DID occur -- these two men WERE injured on November 22nd in Dallas -- and somebody WAS shooting at them.
And I shall ask again -- Lacking the SBT, what is the correct shooting scenario to account for the seven wounds sustained by Kennedy and Connally? No conspiracy buff ever wants to tackle that perfectly valid question. Which says a lot--because no conspiracy theorist can answer that question without making a total goof out of himself.
But even if one day in the year 2099 (when some brave person decides to put forth an alternate theory that he/she thinks debunks the SBT once and for all), one thing's still a certainty: No other theory postulated could possibly match the EVIDENCE and, above all, the COMMON SENSE that the Single-Bullet Theory matches and possesses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You call it the [Single-Bullet] theory; I call it the 'conclusion'. It was a theory until we found the facts; that's why I refer to it as the 'Single-Bullet Conclusion'." -- Arlen Specter; 1965
David Von Pein
March 2006
The Autopsy Doctors Sprouted The "SBT" Seeds
In Oliver Stone's 1991 motion picture "JFK", a major stepping "stone" to "conspiracy" that's used by Mr. Stone (and nearly all other conspiracy theorists who have studied the John F. Kennedy assassination since that sad event occurred in 1963) is the contention that the controversial "Single-Bullet Theory" is and was a completely preposterous myth that could never have happened in a million lifetimes, and was placed into the Warren Commission's final report regarding the Kennedy assassination solely out of NECESSITY. I, however, cannot disagree more strongly with such an allegation.
While it's true that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter is given the most credit for having come up with the "Single-Bullet Theory" to explain the simultaneous wounding of President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally -- as a point of fact, the "SBT" was in reality more than half way home (so to speak) as early as November 23rd, 1963 (well before Mr. Specter had ever gazed at any of the evidence in the JFK assassination case).
Why? --- Because the seeds that ultimately sprouted the wholly acceptable and utterly logical "Single-Bullet Theory" are right there in the November 1963 autopsy report signed by Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck.
It wasn't Arlen Specter who just arbitrarily decided (on a whim or ON HIS OWN) that a single bullet had gone completely through the upper back of President Kennedy and had exited his throat in the front. It was the AUTOPSY DOCTORS who made this critical determination on November 23, 1963 (one day after Kennedy's death and the FIRST DAY when ALL available and required information had been assembled and evaluated by the autopsy doctors; i.e., the first day when Drs. Humes, Boswell, and Finck had any knowledge at all that a bullet hole had been located in the front of President Kennedy's neck).
The remainder of the SBT was, of course, pieced together in the early portions of 1964 by Specter (and probably other Warren Commission people as well) while utilizing other important information and evidence surrounding the assassination.
The testimony of Robert Frazier of the FBI was an integral part of the "SBT puzzle". Frazier testified to the very important information about there having been no limousine damage in the rear-seat areas of the vehicle, proving that no bullet or bullets had penetrated the back seats or the Connally "jump" seats; nor did any whole or nearly-whole bullet(s) come to rest anywhere near JFK's or Connally's seats on 11/22/63.
And there's, of course, the other vital (bodily) link in the "SBT chain" -- John Connally's body and his wounds (with the "elongated" entry wound on the Governor's back being a tell-tale sign that the bullet which struck Mr. Connally almost certainly had hit something or someone else first before entering the Governor's back); plus the lack of ANY bullets in Connally's body (and none found in JFK's body either, which was determined at his autopsy); and the determination by Connally's doctor (Dr. Robert Shaw) that Connally's wounds were all most likely caused by just one single bullet [see video below].
Which leads us to the ONLY BULLET ever discovered anywhere near the victims that could have been linked in any fashion to the wounds sustained by Kennedy and/or Connally (the non-fatal wounds to JFK that is) -- famous Bullet #CE399, which was found on a stretcher at Parkland Hospital by Darrell Tomlinson prior to 2:00 PM (CST) on 11/22/63, which would have been a ludicrous time for any conspirator(s) to have wanted to "plant" such a bullet -- because it was WAY TOO SOON to know for certain if OTHER missiles would be recovered from either of the victims, other bullets which (if found) would have rendered a "Planted CE399" completely useless and superfluous and, above all, PLOT-BLOWING!
Commission Exhibit No. 399 was linked to Lee Harvey Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano bolt-action rifle (to the exclusion of every weapon ever made).
Given all of the above (in its totality), can someone please explain how in the "Real World" (where most of the population resides) the Warren Commission could have come to any conclusion OTHER than the Single-Bullet scenario to explain all of these above-mentioned factors?
Obviously, they could not have explained the wounds themselves (and the wounds' physical arrangement on the two victims' bodies)....and the lack of bullets....and the lack of limo damage via ANY other logical and reasonable way -- other than to say what the Warren Commission ultimately did say: One single missile (CE399) travelled through John Kennedy's upper body, exited his throat, entered John Connally's back, traversed the Governor's chest (taking out a rib en route), exited the Governor's chest just below the right nipple, continued on its flight into Connally's right wrist, then exited the wrist where it became spent in the Governor's left thigh .... where it then was dislodged at some point (in the car or in the hospital), ending up on Governor Connally's stretcher, where the bullet was then discovered by hospital employee Darrell Tomlinson at approximately 12:50 PM to 12:55 PM, Dallas time, on November 22nd, 1963.
But the literal genesis of the Single-Bullet Theory lies NOT within the Warren Commission or Arlen Specter specifically -- it lies in the autopsy report itself, a report which was signed by three different doctors WEEKS before the Warren Commission even began to assemble its panel of counsel members and legal assistants (which didn't occur until mid-December 1963).
Let's have a look (verbatim) at just exactly what was determined to be the truth concerning the details of President Kennedy's back and neck wounds as of November 23, 1963 (six days before the Warren Commission was even created):
"Summary: Based on the above observations, it is our opinion that the deceased died as a result of two perforating gunshot wounds inflicted by high-velocity projectiles, fired by a person or persons unknown. The projectiles were fired from a point behind and somewhat above the level of the deceased. .... The fatal missile entered the skull above and to the right of the external occipital protuberance. .... The other missile entered the right superior posterior thorax above the scapula and traversed the soft tissues of the supra-scapular and the supra-clavicular portions of the base of the right side of the neck. This missile produced contusions of the right apical parietal pleura and of the apical portion of the right upper lobe of the lung. The missile contused the strap muscles of the right side of the neck, damaged the trachea, AND MADE ITS EXIT THROUGH THE ANTERIOR SURFACE OF THE NECK. As far as can be ascertained, this missile struck no bony structures in its path through the body." (Added emphasis my own.)
The above quotes come from page 6 of the official autopsy report on President John F. Kennedy (aka: "Pathological Examination Report"), bearing the signatures of all three doctors who were present at JFK's 11/22/63 autopsy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, Maryland -- Commander James J. Humes, Commander J. Thornton Boswell, and Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck.
And those words were published on page 543 of the Warren Commission's Final Report.
The above passages from John F. Kennedy's official autopsy report absolutely destroy the idea spouted by conspiracy theorists of TWO separate bullets striking the back and neck areas of President Kennedy.
And, in essence, this reference to an 'Into-The-Back-And-Out-The-Neck' bullet path, as described by JFK's autopsy doctors, results in (literally) two-thirds of the "Single-Bullet Theory" being purported just ONE DAY after Kennedy's death. The "two-thirds" being -- An OFFICIAL explanation by the autopsy doctors themselves linking....
#1.) The entry wound in JFK's upper back to....
#2.) The exit wound in the front of his neck.
Why it is that the word of ALL THREE of these pathologists who signed off on the official autopsy report describing the wounds of a murdered American President are tossed into the nearest trash can by virtually ALL conspiracy promoters is something I have a difficult time reconciling (except to say that many conspiracy believers desperately NEED that particular autopsy report to be dead wrong in order to further the notion that THREE separate bullets struck JFK and John Connally that day in Dallas, instead of just the one "SBT" missile).
But the OFFICIAL record is crystal clear regarding the back and neck wounds to President Kennedy, and it's been crystal clear since November of 1963.
To repeat this ultra-important point -- The doctors said that just ONE bullet passed clean through John F. Kennedy!!
Therefore, unless every last one of those three autopsy doctors were (to a man) hopeless and utter incompetents or all three of them were lying scumbags who would deliberately falsify the most important autopsy report any of them would ever sign in their entire lives -- then the very first (and verifiably true) seeds and important links to the Single-Bullet Theory lie in that 1963 autopsy report -- and not just in Arlen Specter's mind (nor in any unsubstantiated "theory" placed on the table by Mr. Specter alone, as many conspiracy promoters seem to believe).
Conspiracy theorists should begin to accept the obvious -- that "obvious" being: the Single-Bullet Theory is the most logical and valid scenario to explain the seven wounds sustained by John F. Kennedy and John B. Connally in Dealey Plaza. And it is the ONLY possible explanation of the event that stands up to critical scrutiny, detailed analysis, and common-sense interpretation of the evidence when the entire batch of single-bullet-favoring evidence is gathered together in the same place.
Denying this fact is to play Oliver Stone's game -- a game highlighted by mystery killers firing from the Grassy Knoll, unexplainable disappearing bullets, and a series of bullet holes (made by THREE different gunmen) in TWO different victims that mirror a SINGLE-BULLET EVENT so closely as to be deemed perfect for the adoption of the "SBT" in the months following the shooting.
And I ask with the utmost sincerity -- Who in their right mind would have any desire to play that conspiracy-filled game of impossible-to-pull-off nonsense?
Not I, that's for certain.
David Von Pein
January 2006
February 2014
