The First Shot

[Andrew Mason]

Rosemary Willis started to look away from the Presidential limo back towards the Texas School Book Depository at Z-140.

You are imagining something that is not apparent in the zfilm.  She comes out of the shadow and her head does not turn. Here is z138 to z152 in slow motion:



At z145-152 her hood is pointing directly sideways so she is facing the President's car:


Rosemary Willis is marked no. 50 in the Tyler animation.  If she was looking at Clint Hill, her head would be turned more than 90 degrees to Zapruder's line of sight and her hood opening would not be visible.  But we can see her hood opening so her hood is facing the President's car. We can't see her face.

JFK began quickly turning his head to his left at Z-143.

Here is z140-151 in slow motion:


He does not move his head any perceptible amount. You are imagining this.

Nellie began a quick sweeping head turn to her right at Z-144.

She turns from looking forward, perhaps a little left, to looking forward, a little to the right.  Not really quick or sweeping.

Regarding the former, JFK's last (as in final) wave began around Z-173, right before he passed behind the Stemmons Freeway sign and was hit in the lower neck/upper back by Oswald's second shot at Z-222.

Regarding the later, Chism and Woodward "recalled" this several hours, days, weeks, months, or years after the startling and traumatic event.

Chism gave his statement on 22Nov63 within hours of the assassination.

Woodward went from Dealey Plaza to her office and immediately wrote the story that appeared in the Dallas Morning News the next day. She said:

• "The President was looking straight ahead and we were afraid we were afraid we would not get to see his face. But we started clapping and cheering and both he and Mrs. Kennedy turned, and smiled and waved, directly at us, it seemed. Jackie was wearing a beautiful pink suit with beret to match. Two of us, who had seen the President last during the final weeks of the 1960 campaign remarked how relaxed and robust he looked.
  
  As it turned out, we were almost certainly the last faces he noticed in the crowd."
  
  After acknowledging our cheers, he faced forward again and suddenly there was a horrible, ear-shattering noise coming from behind us and a little to the right."

Anyone with normal vision (evidently not you) can see that he lowers his hand over the next couple of frames until it's all the way back down at Z-150.

He moves his hand from vertical to horizontal.  He does not move his head a perceptible amount. You are imagining this.

[Tom Graves]

Mary Woodward went from Dealey Plaza to her office and immediately wrote the story that appeared in the Dallas Morning News the next day.
 
She said, "The President was looking straight ahead and we were afraid we were afraid we would not get to see his face. But we started clapping and cheering and both he and Mrs. Kennedy turned, and smiled and waved, directly at us, it seemed. Jackie was wearing a beautiful pink suit with beret to match. Two of us, who had seen the President last during the final weeks of the 1960 campaign remarked how relaxed and robust he looked. As it turned out, we were almost certainly the last faces he noticed in the crowd. After acknowledging our cheers, he faced forward again and suddenly there was a horrible, ear-shattering noise coming from behind us and a little to the right."

Woodward was referring to Oswald's second shot at Z-222, the one where CE-399 wounded both JFK and JBC. You can see JFK starting to lift his arm to wave to Woodward and her journalism colleagues in Z-173 (in which Woodward is standing between journalist Aurelia Alonzo to her left and Ann Donaldson to her right in the blurry edge of the frame. Another colleague, Maggie Brown, is dressed in black and standing in the clear part of the frame to Donaldson's right.

Woodward told Stephen Fagin in a videotaped interview at the Sixth Floor Museum that she heard three shots altogether, and that the first one, which she thought had missed everything, sounded like a backfire.

It's obvious to me that the "shattering noise" she spoke about wasn't Oswald's first, missing-everything, shot at "Z-124," but his second shot at Z-222.

https://assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z173.jpg

[Andrew Mason]

Woodward was referring to Oswald's second shot at Z-222, the one where CE-399 wounded both JFK and JBC. You can see JFK starting to lift his arm to wave to Woodward and her colleagues in Z-173 (in which Woodward is standing between journalist Aurelia Alonzo to her left and Ann Donaldson to her right in the blurry edge of the frame. Another colleague, Maggie Brown, is dressed in black and standing in the clear part of the frame to Donaldson's right.

Woodward told Stephen Fagin in a videotaped interview at the Sixth Floor Museum that she heard three shots altogether, and that the first one, which she thought had missed everything, sounded like a backfire.

It's obvious to me that the "shattering noise" she spoke about wasn't Oswald's first, missing-everything, shot at "Z-124," but his second shot at Z-222.

I don't understand how it can be be "obvious" to you that she was describing the second shot because that is definitely not what she said.  She said she heard three shots.  She described the first horrible ear shattering noise that occurred when the car had passed by and the president had turned forward.  She described a pause of a few seconds and then two shots that were very close together.


The problem is not all the witnesses.  The problem is your z124 first shot. It didn't happen, according to those who were there.

[Tom Graves]

I don't understand how it can be be "obvious" to you that she was describing the second shot because that is definitely not what she said.  She said she heard three shots.  She described the first horrible ear shattering noise that occurred when the car had passed by and the president had turned forward.  She described a pause of a few seconds and then two shots that were very close together. The problem is not all the witnesses.  The problem is your z124 first shot. It didn't happen, according to those who were there.

"The President was looking straight ahead and we were afraid we would not get to see his face. But we started clapping and cheering and both he and Mrs. Kennedy turned, and smiled and waved, directly at us, it seemed. Jackie was wearing a beautiful pink suit with beret to match. Two of us, who had seen the President last during the final weeks of the 1960 campaign remarked how relaxed and robust he looked.

As it turned out, we were almost certainly the last faces he noticed in the crowd."

After acknowledging our cheers, he faced forward again and suddenly there was a horrible, ear-shattering noise coming from behind us and a little to the right."


My comment:

The only time JFK waved to Woodward and her colleagues was when he started raising his arm to do so in Z-173.

https://assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/z173.jpg


He's waving to them (and in the process of turning his head even farther to the right in order to look at them), and Jackie has turned her head in their direction, too, in Z-180.

[Zeon Mason]

Unlike the other Mason, I’m seeing that JFK, Jackie and SS agent Hickey are ALL reacting in sync from Z140-Z150. That’s quite a coincidence I have to admit but I’m not sure if it’s a loud shot from TSBD which is the cause of those 3 in snyc reactions.

Because why has not JC turned his head left also at Z140-Z150  since he said he recognized the 1st loud noise as a rifhe shot?
 

[Tom Graves]

Unlike the other Mason, I’m seeing that JFK, Jackie and SS agent Hickey are ALL reacting in sync from Z140-Z150. That’s quite a coincidence I have to admit but I’m not sure if it’s a loud shot from TSBD which is the cause of those 3 in snyc reactions.

Because why has not JC turned his head left also at Z140-Z150 since he said he recognized the 1st loud noise as a rifhe shot?

He did consciously react to the sound of Oswald's first, missing-everything, shot at "Z-124" by turning his head to his right (before quickly turning it to his left and be caught looking straight forward in Croft at Z-161) around Z-145.

Remember, he testified that he recognized the sound as a rifle shot and thought that it had come from behind him and to his right.

[Andrew Mason]

My comment:

The only time JFK waved to Woodward and her colleagues was when he started raising his arm to do so in Z-173.

He's waving to them (and in the process of turning his head even farther to the right in order to look at them), and Jackie has turned her head in their direction, too, in Z-180.

I quite agree.  That is the turn and wave that she is referring to.   But she said it occurred before the "horrible ear-shattering noise" that was followed by a pause of a few seconds and then two more shots, the third coming rapidly after the second.