Was JFK hit by the first shot as Governor Connally said?

[Tom Graves]

IMHO, Governor Connally mistakenly assumed after the assassination that the first of Oswald's three shots had hit JFK, the second one had hit only him (JBC), and the third one had hit JFK.

Although he correctly remembered turning his head to his right to see if JFK was all right after hearing the first shot (which a 2020 scientific study has shown occurred half-a-second before Zapruder resumed filming, after a 17-second pause, at Z-133), he didn't realize that he began making this turn at Z-160 and that the reason he wasn't able to "see" JFK's face was because by Z-172, JFK had started raising his right hand to wave to someone and his raised hand therefore blocked JBC's view of JFK's turned-far-to-his-right face.

After talking with his mistaken wife and viewing the Zapruder film, Governor Connally confused his Z-160 turn with the gross turn he made after JFK and he were both hit by CE-399 around Z-224.

[Tom Graves]

Do you agree with me that Governor Connally and his wife were sadly mistaken?

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

IMHO, Governor Connally mistakenly assumed after the assassination that the first of Oswald's three shots had hit JFK, the second one had hit only him (JBC), and the third one had hit JFK.

Although he correctly remembered turning his head to his right to see if JFK was all right after hearing the first shot (which a 2020 scientific study has shown occurred half-a-second before Zapruder resumed filming, after a 17-second pause, at Z-133), he didn't realize that he began making this turn at Z-160 and that the reason he wasn't able to "see" JFK's face was because by Z-172, JFK had started raising his right hand to wave to someone and his raised hand therefore blocked JBC's view of JFK's turned-far-to-his-right face.

After talking with his mistaken wife and viewing the Zapruder film, Governor Connally confused his Z-160 turn with the gross turn he made after JFK and he were both hit by CE-399 around Z-224.

Oswald's first shot ricocheted offa the overhead signal arm at pseudo Z105-110 (23 frames to 28 frames before Z133, not 9 frames before), & lead splatter hit jfk in the back of his head.
And splatter possibly made 3 small holes in jfk's rt cheek (if jfk had been looking hard right at the time).

[Tom Graves]

Oswald's first shot ricocheted off the overhead signal arm at pseudo Z105-110 (23 frames to 28 frames before Z133, not 9 frames before), & lead splatter hit jfk in the back of his head. And splatter possibly made 3 small holes in jfk's rt cheek (if jfk had been looking hard right at the time).

IIRC, you said earlier that the large fragments that were found in the limo were from that first-shot bullet.

[Marjan Rynkiewicz]

IIRC, you said earlier that the large fragments that were found in the limo were from that first-shot bullet.

Yes, the 2 large fragments were the copper or brass jacket which broke in two as per uzual (jackets are made in two pieces then fuzed together).
Ricochet witness board tests offa pipe show three separate ricochet streams on three different angles.... the fine lead splatter (some of it on jfk), the jacket(s) (found in the limo), & the remnant slug (which made a hole in the floor between the jump seats).

[Tom Graves]

Yes, the 2 large fragments were the copper or brass jacket which broke in two as per usual (jackets are made in two pieces then fused together).
Ricochet witness board tests off a pipe show three separate ricochet streams on three different angles.... the fine lead splatter (some of it on jfk), the jacket(s) (found in the limo), & the remnant slug (which made a hole in the floor between the jump seats).

I see.

(LOL!)

[Michael T. Griffith]

IMHO, Governor Connally mistakenly assumed after the assassination that the first of Oswald's three shots had hit JFK, the second one had hit only him (JBC), and the third one had hit JFK.

Although he correctly remembered turning his head to his right to see if JFK was all right after hearing the first shot (which a 2020 scientific study has shown occurred half-a-second before Zapruder resumed filming, after a 17-second pause, at Z-133), he didn't realize that he began making this turn at Z-160 and that the reason he wasn't able to "see" JFK's face was because by Z-172, JFK had started raising his right hand to wave to someone and his raised hand therefore blocked JBC's view of JFK's turned-far-to-his-right face.

After talking with his mistaken wife and viewing the Zapruder film, Governor Connally confused his Z-160 turn with the gross turn he made after JFK and he were both hit by CE-399 around Z-224.

This is just silly. This is trying to force a large block of wood into a small round hole. I'm tempted to ask if you're using a bogus AI-generated version of the Zapruder film.

Connally turned to his right twice, once early in the shooting sequence in response to hearing a loud noise, and again when he unmistakably heard the Z186-190 gunshot that hit JFK.

As we can plainly see in the film, and as Connally himself said, Connally was not hit before Z229. After spending hours studying high-quality prints of the film under high magnification, Connally said he was certain he was not hit before Z229, and he chose Z234 as the moment of impact. His surgeons chose Z234-237 as the moment of impact. Starting in Z238, we see Connally's right shoulder slammed downward and a pained expression come over his face, consistent with his repeated statement that the bullet's impact felt like someone hit him hard with a closed fist.

We now know that there was no bullet hole in JFK's tie knot, only a small nick on the left edge. We now know that the slits in the front of JFK's shirt were below the collar, that they had no metallic traces around them, that they had no fabric missing from them, and that they were made by the nurses as they hurriedly cut away his clothing. We also know that the throat wound was above the collar and tie (see, for example, the documentary JFK: What the Doctors Saw). No bullet exited JFK's throat. The throat wound was an entrance wound.

We also now know that on the night of the autopsy, the autopsy doctors were absolutely, positively, completely, totally certain that the back wound had no exit point. They established this with prolonged and repeated probing, with fingers and with surgical probes, and even removed the chest organs to facilitate and observe the probing. Med techs could see the end of the probe pushing up against the chest cavity lining.

We also now know that the first draft of the autopsy report said that a fragment from the head shot caused the throat wound.

An analysis of torso x-rays of men the same size as JFK proves there was no path from the back wound to the throat wound without smashing through the spine--not just nicking the edge of T1 or C7 but smashing through the spine.

We have known for many years now that the SBT was only concocted late in the WC's life in an attempt to address "the timing problem" and also the Tague wounding. We also know that even three members of the WC rejected the SBT, and that when some staffers heard about the theory they dismissed it as preposterous.

No FMJ bullet in the history of forensic science has done the damage attributed to CE 399 and still emerged with only 3-4 grains of its substance missing and with its lands and grooves intact. The WC's wound ballistics tests refuted the SBT, as Dr. Joseph Dolce admitted for the 1988 documentary Reasonable Doubt: The Single-Bullet Theory and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. You can view the documentary here:

Finally, the most sophisticated, data-intensive SBT trajectory analysis ever done, the 2023 Knott Laboratory analysis, established beyond all doubt that JFK and Connally were never aligned in a way that would have enabled a bullet exiting JFK's throat to hit Connally near his right armpit.

[Tom Graves]

[...]

“Unmistakably” . . . “Plainly”  . . . blah . . . blah . . . blah.

Regarding Connally’s “first turn to his right” at Z-160/161 (which you admit was “in response to hearing a loud noise”), do you think it was 1) a “startle reaction” to said loud noise, or 2) a conscious decision on his part? If the latter, do you think two seconds conscious-reaction-time is unrealistic? If not, do you really think he instantaneously realized, without having to think about it, that what he had heard were the sounds of a high-powered rifle being fired? Since he was an experienced hunter and recognized it as a rifle shot, do you really think he didn’t think about ducking down instead of doing the more dignified thing -- turning his head to his right to try to glance at the President “over his shoulder” to see if he was okay?