The Single Bullet Theory
If you believe what the conspiracy books say the Warren Commission believed about the Single Bullet Theory, you would have to conclude the commissioners and staff of the commission were a bunch of fools. Conspiracy authors always show Connally seated directly in front of Kennedy, at the same height, and facing forward. You've seen Kevin Costner do this sort of thing. The graphic at right, taken from Groden and Livingstone's High Treason is an example of this. Could Commission Exhibit 399, which conspiracists have christened the "Magic Bullet," have done what the Warren Commission said it did?
Consider, for example, James Altgen's photo of the limo rounding the corner of Main and Houston. Check out the relative heights of Kennedy and Connally.
Rarely seen before, a photo of the limo made after it was returned to Washington. The right-side door is wide open, and you can plainly see the relative heights of Kennedy's seat and Connally's seat. Uploaded by Bob Artwohl to Compuserve, and uploaded here by permission.
But what about the idea that Connally was sitting directly in front of Kennedy? Numerous photos of the motorcade show Connally well inboard of Kennedy in the limo. They include:
· The picture above left: a frame from an amateur movie shot by presidential aide Dave Powers. You can see several clips from the movie at the CNN All Politics web site.
· A photo shot by a Paris Match photographer as the limo passed.
· Another photo by the same photographer a couple of seconds later.
· A frame from the Muchmore film, taken as the limo rounds the corner from Main to Houston Street. Courtesy of Joe Durnavich.
A film put together from amateur footage by Dallas Cinema Associates (the "DCA film") has some sequences that clearly show Connally well inboard of Kennedy. Here is one sequence, and here is another. A still from the film is below, right.
To view these video sequences you will need Real Player.
Thomas Canning was a NASA scientist who studied the Single Bullet trajectory for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. He used the Betzner photograph to establish a line to the right of which Connally could not have been. He also estimated the rotation of Connally's torso from the Zapruder film. The result was an alignment that showed the bullet leaving Kennedy's throat to strike Connally in the back hear the shoulder — which is where Connally was actually struck. Of course, you don't really have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.
Canning used the House Select Committee scenario that had Kennedy and Connally being struck by the Single Bullet at Zapruder frame 190. More recent work has pinpointed the time of the hit to Zapruder frame 223. Various researchers have modelled the Single Bullet Theory at that frame. Failure Analysis Associates, in work done for a 1992 "mock trial" of Lee Harvey Oswald for the American Bar Association, used 3-D computer animation and modelling techniques to research the bullet trajectory, and concluded that the Single Bullet Trajectory works.
Click here to look at the FAA (now Exponent) web page, and download the computer animation — if desired.
Dale Myers, a specialist in computer animation, built a 3-D model of Dealey Plaza, the limo, Kennedy and Connally, and also concluded that the trajectory works. Click here to see his views from the Sniper's Nest and from the right front of the limo. Myers animation was featured on the ABC News Special "Beyond Conspiracy."
Click here for information on how to purchase Myers' video, and numerous additional frames. This informative page outlines Myers' technical approach to modeling the assassination sequence in Dealey Plaza.