Single bullet theory

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The single bullet theory (also known as the magic bullet theory by the majority of critics and conspiracy theorists) is the crucial element of the Warren Commission theory that only one assassin shot during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The theory, generally credited to by Warren Commission staffer Arlen Specter (now a US Senator), posits that a single bullet, known as "Warren Commission Exhibit 399" (also known as "CE399"), caused all of the non-fatal wounds in both President John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally. It is an important theory because its plausibility has been a popular point of contention. The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations Report agreed with the theory, but differed on the time frame.

Contents

1 Location of back wound
2 Importance of bullet entry level to theory
3 Theorized path of the bullet CE399
4 Discovery Channel's reenactment of bullet CE399's path
5 Criticisms
6 The single bullet theory in popular culture
7 See also
8 External links

Location of back wound

President Kennedy's Death Certificate places the bullet wound to Kennedy's back at the third thoracic vertebra. [link] The death certificate was signed by Dr. Geoffrey Burkley, the President's personal physician and a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy at the time. Partially supporting this location is a diagram from the autopsy report of Kennedy, [link] which shows a bullet hole in the upper back, but landmarks are not shown. The bullet hole in the shirt worn by Kennedy [link] and the bullet hole in the suit jacket worn by Kennedy [link] both show bullet holes between 5 and 6 inches below Kennedy's collar[link]. These do not necessarily correspond with skin wounds, since Kennedy was struck with his arm raised.

The theory of a "single bullet" places a bullet wound considerably higher, at the sixth cervical vertebra of the vertebral column. The Warren Report did not authenticate a bullet entry wound specifically at the sixth cervical vertebra-- this conclusion was reached later (see below). At Bethesda, the official autopsy report on the president, Warren Exhibit CE 386 [link] described the back wound as being oval, 6 x 4 mm, and located "above the upper border of the scapula" [shoulder blade] at a location 14 cm (5.5 in.) from the tip of the right acromion process, and 14 cm (5.5 in.) below the right mastoid process (the boney prominence behind the ear). The report also reported contusion (bruise) of the apex (top tip) of the right lung in the region where it rises above the clavicle, and noted that although the apex of the right lung and the parietal pleural membrane over it had been bruised, they were not penetrated. The report also noted that the thoracic cavity was not penetrated. See Warren Exhibit CE 386 [link].

The concluding page of the Bethesda autopsy report [link] states: "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."

Many years after the Warren Commission report, Representative Gerald Ford stated he changed a draft of the Warren Report to indicate the bullet entered the President's neck, rather than lower down on his back, but said he did not do it as part of a conspiracy. [link]. However, the original Bethesda autopsy report, included in the Warren Commission report, did conclude from the data it had, that this bullet passed through the president's neck. [link].

The conclusion of bullet entry specifically at the sixth cervical vertebra was made in a 1979 report on the Kennedy assassination by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), which noted a defect in the C6 vertebra in the Bethesday X-rays, which the Bethesda autopsy physicians had missed. Moreover, this position is consistent with publicly available autopsy photographs [link] although these themselves have been disputed because they have not officially been released and therefore, cannot be confirmed.

Importance of bullet entry level to theory

The importance or how low or high the bullet struck the President in the back is a matter of physics. The bullet was supposed to have been shot from the sixth floor and traveled downwards at a 45 degree to 60 degree angle . A bullet entering the President's back at the third thoracic vertebra, and then traveling downward from there at from a 45 degree angle to 60 degree angle would not have been capable of inflicting a throat wound in the President as theorized in the Magic Bullet theory of the Warren Report.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Theorized path of the bullet CE399

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CE399 side view

The following description assumes that bullet CE399 hit high, at the sixth cervical vertebra rather than the third thoracic vertebra: The 6.5 millimeter, 161 grn., round nose military style full metal jacket bullet, which was manufactured by the "Western Case Cartridge Company" and later stored nearly whole in the U.S. National Archives, was first theorized by the Warren Commission to have:

after an initial supersonic rifle exit muzzle velocity of 1850 to 2000 feet per second (560 to 610 m/s), ballistically arced very slightly while traveling 189 ft (58 m) in a downward net angle of 25 degrees (allowing for the 3 degrees downward of Elm Street) then entered President Kennedy's rear suit coat at about 1700 feet per second (518 m/s),

passed through President Kennedy's suit coat back, just to the right of his spine, and 5.375 inches (137 mm) below his collar line,

impacted then entered President Kennedy 2 inches [50 mm] to the right of his spine, creating a wound documented size of 4 millimeters by 7 millimeters in the rear of his upper back with a red-brown to black area of skin surrounding the wound, forming what is called an abrasion collar. This abrasion collar was caused by the bullet's scraping the margins of the skin on penetration and is characteristic of a gunshot wound of entrance. This abrasion collar was photographically documented to be larger at the lower margin half of the wound, which is strong evidence that the bullet's long-axis orientation at the instant of penetration was slightly upward in relation to the plane of the skin immediately surrounding the wound, however, the skin of Kennedy's upper back slopes inward, and the Croft photo (shot shortly before Kennedy was hit) shows Kennedy slumped forward, both of which would suggest that a shooting position above Kennedy is possible,

the bullet's passage near the spine slightly fractured the president's sixth cervical vertebra, C-6. (there is debate whether the C-6 spinal vertebra seen in the x-rays was fractured directly when the bullet struck the vertebra, or, whether the pressure cavity wave the bullet caused during its passage fractured the spinal vertebra),

passed through his neck. Warren Exhibit CE 386 [link] reported contusion (bruise) of the apex (top tip) of the right lung in the region where it rises above the clavicle, and noted that although the apex of the right lung and the parietal pleural membrane over it had been bruised, they were not penetrated. This is consistent with a bullet passing through the neck, immediately over top tip of the right lung (the pressure wave causing brusing to both membrane and apex of lung), but without penetrating the thoracic cavity or lung. After passing through the neck, the bullet

exited President Kennedy's throat, at the centerline below the President's adam's apple. Within three hours of the assassination, this neck frontal wound was described in an afternoon press conference by the Parkland trauma room #1 emergency physician, Doctor Malcolm Perry, after he attended to the frontal throat wound, as being an "entrance wound". Doctor Perry stated the neck frontal wound was an "entrance" wound three times during his press conference. However, medical researchers have found that ER doctors frequently make mistakes with regard to entrance and exit wounds. Within nineteen hours of his press conference statement, Doctor Perry also described via telephone to Doctor Humes, one of the three U.S. Navy Bethesda Hospital military autopsist, that the neck front wound was originally only "3 to 5 millimeters" in circular width before doctor Perry attended to the front throat wound (Humes documented Perry's "3 to 5 millimeters" wound size by writing it down during the phone conversation),

passed through his shirt,

nicked President Kennedy's tie-knot on its upper left side. Upon clearing the tie-knot the bullet had slowed to about 1500 feet per second (457 m/s) and then it started to tumble,

traveled the 25.5 inches (650 mm) between President Kennedy and Governor Connally,

impacted then entered Connally's back just below and behind his right armpit creating an 8 millimeters by 15 millimeters elliptical wound, indicating that bullet was fired from an acute angle to the entrance wound point, or that the bullet was tumbling having hit something (presumably Kennedy),

completely destroyed 127 millimeters (5 in) of Connally's fifth right rib bone as it smashed through his chest interior at a documented 10-degree anatomically downward angle, (post-operative x-rays document that some of the metal fragments are still buried with him)

exited slightly below his right nipple, creating a 50 millimeter, sucking-air, blowout chest wound,

passed through Connally's shirt and suit coat front, seen in commission photos five inches (127 mm) to the right of the suit coat right lapel, and even with the lowest point of the right lapel,

now slowed to 900 feet per second (274 m/s)(subsonic), the bullet entered through Connally's right upper (outside) wrist, (but did not first pass through his suit coat nor shirt wrist area) (in 2003 Nellie Connally described in her book “From Love Field” that Connally's right hand, French cuff shirt cuff, solid-gold “Mexican peso” cufflink was struck with a bullet and the cufflink was completely shot off during the attack. Connally’s cufflink is not found -nor was ever entered- into the assassination evidence)

broke his right radius wrist bone at its widest point, depositing metal fragments, (post-operative x-rays document that some of the metal fragments are still buried with him)

exited the palm (inner) side of Connally's wrist,

now slowed to 400 feet per second (122 m/s), the bullet entered the front side of his left thigh creating a documented 10-millimeter nearly round wound,

buried itself shallowly into Connally's left thigh muscles,

then, at Parkland Hospital, the bullet fell out, perhaps when Connally was undressed,

landed on a stretcher that Connally supposedly had laid upon,

was discovered on a stretcher located 91 ft (28 m) away from emergency trauma room #2 where Connally was first examined at Parkland Hospital next to a stretcher used for a little boy, Ronnie Fuller, wedged between the frame and the cloth material of a stretcher which, according to the man who found this bullet, was not the same stretcher that Connally had ever laid upon.

Of the bullet that he remembered impacting his back Connally has stated, "...the most curious discovery of all took place when they rolled me off the stretcher and onto the examining table. A metal object fell to the floor, with a click no louder than a wedding band. The nurse picked it up and slipped it into her pocket. It was the bullet from my body, the one that passed through my back, chest, and wrist, and worked itself loose from my thigh."

The Warren Commission's "single bullet," according to all documentation:

had no thread striations (fine lines etched onto a copper encased bullet tip and/or bullet side casing by clothing threads when the bullet first penetrates clothing threads),

was marked with no blood,

was marked with no human tissue,

had no pieces of clothing attached,

had lost only 1.5 % of its original average weight.

CE399 butt view

After this "single bullet" theorized trajectory, causing seven wounds while breaking two major body bones and depositing lead fragments along the way, the bullet appears nearly pristine. Its tip was still perfectly round (a small slice was later removed for analysis testing). Its body is flattened and curved on only one of six rotated views side. It has visible rifling barrel grooves.

Several of the exact same type 6.5 millimeter test bullets were test-fired by the Warren Commission investigators. The only test bullet that most matched the slight side flattening and nearly pristine, still rounded impact tip of CE399 was a bullet that had only been fired into a long tube containing a thick layer of cotton.

CE399 is stored out of the public's view in the National Archives and Records Administration, though numerous pictures of the bullet are available on the NARA website.

Ballistics experts performed test shots through animal flesh and bones with cloth covering. According to these tests some, but not all, of the Governor's wounds could be explained by a single bullet. Under the assumption of an adjusted relative position of President Kennedy and Governor Connally within the car, some, but not all, of the Warren Commission ballistics experts considered it possible that the same bullet that passed through the president's neck may have caused all of the governor's wounds. The Warren Commission wrote that it was persuaded that the President's neck wound and all of the governor's wounds were caused by a single bullet.

If one rejects the Single Bullet Theory, one has to posit several additional shots in Dealey Plaza. If Kennedy's neck wound, for example, was an entrance wound, then another bullet must have hit Kennedy in the back. If a bullet exiting Kennedy's throat did not wound Connally, then another shooter behind both men (given the timing of the reactions in the Zapruder film) had to have fired a bullet that hit Connally. The vast majority of witnesses claim to have heard three or fewer shots, but there are some witnesses who allege at least four shots, and a few who claim five or more shots were fired that day.

Discovery Channel's reenactment of bullet CE399's path

A Discovery Channel special Unsolved History: JFK - Beyond the Magic Bullet atempted to replicate, as well as possible, the conditions of that day. The participants set up blocks of ballistics gel with a substance similar to human bone inside. These studies showed that largely undeformed bullets were possible to produce, if they were slowed by a passage though a tissue-like substance before striking bone. Next, two mannequin figures made of ballistic anatomical substances (animal skin, gelatin, and interior bone-like cast) were set up in the exact relative position of JFK and Connally. A marksman, from a distance equal to that of the sixth floor of the book depository building, fired the same rifle model found in the Book Depository, using a round from the same batch of the same "Western Case Cartridge Company" 6.5x52 mm ammunition purchased with the surplus Carcano weapon in early 1963 (and three expended brass from which was found with the weapon, in the book depository Nov. 22, 1963). The path of their single bullet (followed by high speed photography) duplicated, almost exactly, the wounds suffered by the victims that day, the only difference being that the bullet did not quite have enough energy to penetrate the "thigh" substance in front of the Connally figure, due to striking an extra bone in the "rib" model (i.e., it fractured 2 ribs in the model vs. one rib in Connally). It was also slightly more deformed than CE 399, possibly for the same reason. However, this bullet came close enough to duplicating all wounds in both men with a single shot, with a bullet having little deformation, that the theory, while technically improbable, is much more plausible than previously thought [link].

Criticisms

Critics claim that a bullet that passed through several layers of clothing and flesh, destroyed a five inch (127 mm) section of a rib, broke a wrist radius bone, and shed metal fragments (some of which are buried with Connally) could not be in such nearly pristine shape, especially given that the, supposedly, same type "headshot" bullet, according to the Warren Commission, completely broke apart after passing through only two layers of less-dense skull bone. Proponents point out that these questions have been answered by later study (see Unsolved History above): 160 gr. bullets of this type only fragment if they hit bone at high velocity; the CE 399 bullet is postulated to have been slowed considerably by passage though JFK's neck with little or no bone contact, then to have hit rib bone side-on, after tumbling through more chest tissue. Such tests in skin, gelatin, and bone-mock-up models have produced bullets with little deformation.

Critics also point out that the only known examination of Kennedy's back wound, the first wound attributed to the nearly pristine bullet, is from the Bethesda pathologists, who noted a steep forty-five to sixty degree downward angle and no exit. Taking into consideration the 3-degree decline of Elm Street at the time of the Warren Commission's single bullet, the "Oswald window" was only about twenty degrees above Kennedy at the time. [link]

At least as damaging to the single bullet thesis as questions about the bullet's trajectory and the lack of damage it received is the question of timing. From the Zapruder film one can see Kennedy reach up and clasp at his neck as he is hit by the first bullet. By the single bullet thesis, this is the same projectile that passed through so much of John Connally's body. But it is obvious that, at this point, Connally has not been hit. He is turning to see what has happened to Kennedy. Then we see his cheeks puff out as he is hit by what surely seems to be a separate bullet. Proponents of the single bullet thesis argue that Connally simply exhibited a delayed reaction to having been hit by the same bullet that hit Kennedy. Any delayed reaction, however, would have to have been a neurological one. The puffing out of Connally's cheeks, however, is simply physics at work, as the bullet collapses one of his lungs, forcing air into his mouth.

The single bullet theory in popular culture

The main purpose of the controversial video game JFK Reloaded was to have the player attempt to re-enact the shooting with a single bullet, in order to duplicate the Warren Commission's conclusions. However, the game's physics were slightly modified to make it easier to "win".

The single bullet theory was parodied in a 1992 episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, in which baseball player (and guest star) Keith Hernandez allegedly spat a "magic loogie" at Kramer and Newman. This scene from Seinfeld was actually a parody of a near identical, but more serious, scene from the 1991 movie JFK. Of particular interest, the actor Wayne Knight, who portrayed the Newman character in Seinfeld, occupied the same position in both the "magic bullet" scene of the JFK movie and the subsequent Seinfeld parody.

External links

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John F. Kennedy assassination
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