Single-bullet theory

Please reference the "Discuss this page" and the first 4-22-04 dated discussion.

The magic bullet theory (sometimes known as the single bullet theory) is the crucial element of the Warren Commission's conclusion that one assassin acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy.

Findings of Warren Commission

According to the Warren Commission, only three shots were fired, based on earwitness testimony, and three empty shells found in the, supposed, lone nut "sniper's nest" in the book depository (and one live bullet still chambered in the rifle). According to the Warren Commission, one theorized bullet hit Kennedy in the neck, one theorized bullet hit somewhere outside of the large limousine, and only one theorized bullet struck President Kennedy in the head.

When he is struck in his head, the President's head moved slightly forward 1" to 2", then, after a 0.11 second pause, the President's head, upper torso, and right arm all violently snap simultaneously upwards, then backwards (towards the depository) and leftwards (away from the grassy knoll).

As recorded in the Zapruder film, Governor Connally was also wounded.

Rather than introduce more than three fired bullets, the Commission was persuaded (by 4 to 3) of a theory advocated by Arlen Specter, and altered at the last minute by Warren Commissioner-and-future-President Gerald Ford, that the same bullet that non-fatally wounded President Kennedy twice, also caused Governor Connally's five bones-breakings wounds.

This 6.5 millimeter, "Western Case Cartridge," fully-metal-jacketed, nearly pristine “magic bullet” path was theorized by the Warren Commission to have:

passed through President Kennedy’s suit coat back, just to the right of his spine, and 5.75” below his shoulder line,

then passed through President Kennedy’s shirt back, just to the right of his spine, and 5.75” below his shoulder line,

then entered President Kennedy just to the right of his spine, creating a circular wound in the rear of his upper back, with abrasion collar characteristics that indicate the bullet entrance path was slightly upward, relative to the plane of the skin immediately surrounding the wound. (07HSCA175)

then passed through his neck on an anatomically slightly upward path,

then exited President Kennedy's throat, just on the centerline bottom edge of the President's “Adam’s apple.” This neck front wound was described in an 11-22-63 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 front wound was an entrance wound three times during the press conference. Importantly, within 19 hours of his press conference statement, doctor Perry described via telephone to one of the three U.S. Navy Bethesda Hospital autopsist that the neck front wound was originally only "3 to 5 millimeters" (which the autopsist wrote down) in circular width before doctor Perry attended to the front wound),

then passed through his shirt,

then nicked President Kennedy's tie-knot,

then passed through Governor Connally’s suit coat and shirt just below and behind his right armpit,

then entered Connally's back just below and behind his right armpit, (creating an elliptical wound, indicating that bullet was fired from an acute angle to the entrance wound, or, the bullet had turned somewhat sideways before creating the elliptical wound),

then destroyed 5" of a Connally right ribcage bone as it smashed through his chest interior, while leaving behind lead fragments,

then exited slightly below his right nipple, creating a 4" sucking-air open chest wound while leaving behind lead fragments,

then passed through Connally’s shirt and suit coat front, seen in commission photos 5” to the right of the suit coat right lapel, and even with the lowest point of the right lapel,

then entered through Connally's right upper wrist, (but did not first pass through his suit coat nor shirt wrist area)

then broke his wrist bone depositing lead fragments,

then exited the palm side of Connally’s wrist,

then entered his left thigh,

then buried itself 2" into Connally’s left thigh muscles

then deposited a bullet fragment in Connally's left thigh bone (that is still buried with him)

....then, at Parkland Hospital, this "magic bullet" reversed its path 2” and backed out of Connally's left thigh muscles,

then this "magic bullet" fell out of Connally's thigh wound,

then this "magic bullet" landed on a stretcher at Parkland Hospital,

then this "magic bullet" wedged itself between the stretcher frame and stretcher horizontal cloth material of a stretcher --a stretcher that --according to the man who found this "magic bullet" --was NOT even the stretcher that Connally had ever laid upon.

File:Ce399underNOcircumstanceJPG.jpg

CE399, the "magic bullet"

In fact, all 3 persons who first handled and saw this round-nosed "magic bullet" on 22 November 1963 refused to identify CE399 as the more-pointed-nose bullet they stated that they each observed/touched at Parkland Hospital.

According to all documentation, there were no thread striations (fine lines created/etched onto a bullet tip and/or copper side casing when the bullet tip first contacts/penetrates clothing threads), there was no blood, no human matter, nor any pieces of clothing found on this, truly, "magic bullet"

After this theorized journey, causing seven wounds while breaking two bones and depositing lead fragments along the way, the "magic bullet" appears nearly pristine; its tip was still perfectly round (a small slice was removed for analysis), its body is very slightly flattened and very slightly curved on only one of six rotated views side, has rifling barrel grooves clearly visible, yet a very small amount of lead was missing from the open bottom of the still intact copper jacket.

After this theorized journey, causing seven wounds while breaking two bones and depositing lead fragments along the way, the "magic bullet" appears nearly pristine; its tip was still perfectly round (a small slice was later removed for analysis), its body is very slightly flattened and very slightly curved on only one of six rotated views side, has rifling barrel grooves clearly visible. Only a very small amount of lead was missing from the open bottom of the still intact copper jacket. This “magic bullet“ had lost only a, measured, 1.5% of its original average weight.

Several of the exact same type 6.5 mm test bullets were fired by the Warren Commission investigators. The test bullet that matched the “magic bullet" slight side flattening the most was a bullet that had only been fired into a thick layer of cotton.

The Warren Commission labeled this bullet CE399. It is currently stored in the National Archives, but not on public display.

Test shots through animal flesh and bones with cloth covering were performed by ballistics experts. According to these tests some, but not all, of the Governor's wounds could be explained by a single bullet. Under the assumption of appropriate relative positions of President Kennedy and Governor Connally in the car, the Warren Commission ballistics experts considered it also plausible that the same bullet that passed through the President's neck may have subsequently inflicted the Governor's wounds. The Warren Commission concluded that it was persuaded that the President's neck wound and all of the Governor's wounds were caused by a single bullet.

Criticism

Critics claim out that a bullet that passed through several layers of clothing and flesh, smashed a five inch section of a rib, and broke a wrist radius bone could not be in such good shape, especially given that the "headshot" bullet, according to the Warren Commission, completely broke apart after passing through only 2 layers of less dense skull bone.

Skeptics make another point: the only known examination of Kennedy's back wound—the first wound attributed to the magic bullet—is from the Bethesda pathologists, who noted a steep 45–60° downward angle and no exit. The ‘Oswald window’ was only about 20° above Kennedy at the time.[1] However skeptics point out that the Bethesda examiners were harried and harassed; it is possible the record may be in error. One doctor said at least three times that the wound on the front of the President's throat was an entry point, only to change his mind later that it was an exit point.

Without the 'magic bullet theory', anyone would have to conclude that, at least, a fourth shot was fired, and may not have been able to conclude Oswald was the sole shooter, which would have left the Kennedy assassination officially unsolved at the conclusion of the Warren Commission investigation.

Findings of Warren Commission

Criticism

Related topics