Gov. John Connally Grips His White Stetson Hat at Z-272

[Benjamin Cole]

Part of the Texas Lore of the JFKA is that Gov. John Connally kept his grip on his white Stetson cowboy hat, even after being shot through the wrist, by the same bullet that first passed through President JFK's neck, then through JBC's chest, and only then through JBC's wrist. The same whole slug burrowed into JBC's thigh (and somehow mysteriously ended up on a hospital gurney, or below the gurney, several floors below JBC's operating room, by the WC version). That is C-399. Quite the adventurous bullet!

Nellie Connally said her husband held on onto his Stetson cowboy hat all the way to the Parkland hospital, although Nellie Connally also said the assassin's first shot struck JFK, the second hit JBC, and the third hit JFK. Such are the perils of citing JFKA witnesses, for SBT'ers and LN'ers alike. 

On a more authoritative note, Cyril Wecht, (now deceased) a renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Commission (WC), maintained that it was physically and neurologically impossible for Connally to have maintained a grip on his hat if the "Magic Bullet" (Commission Exhibit 399) had actually shattered his radius bone, as the WC claimed.

The WC was, or course, was required to accept the Texas Lore, given that it had committed to the SBT, which meant that JBC was shot ~Z-223.

The WC version is, well, dubious:

"The SBT bullet entered the dorsal (back) side of his right wrist (thumb side), shattered the distal radius bone, and exited on the palm side. This path damaged nearby structures, including a partial transection of a dorsal branch of the radial nerve and a tendon leading to the thumb.

Dr. Charles F. Gregory (the orthopedic surgeon who operated on the wrist) noted this during the procedure. The Warren Commission Report explicitly references the "partial cutting of a radial nerve and tendon" as evidence that the bullet was already tumbling/yawed (not pristine), as it caught and tore these structures rather than pushing them aside."

OK, to reprise, the WC maintains JBC was shot through the right wrist ~Z-223, but was still holding onto his Stetson hat at Z-272.

Layman's view: I have never had a wrist shattered by a bullet. I was struck on the wrist hard enough (in an industrial mishap) once to leave bone bruises, or contusions, on my wrist. Yes bones can bruise and swell. The blow struck the dorsal side on the wrist. I could not have held onto my baseball cap through that experience, had I been holding one. I never had a Stetson.

Yet here is Gov. JBC at Z-272 still holding onto the Stetson, after having been shot through the wrst (and the chest).:



Note that JBC has made a near 180-degree in his seat, despite having been shot through the chest (by the SBT version). JBC is checking up on JFK, after hearing the first shot, JBC said. Those darn witnesses!

Side note: The telltale smell of gunsmoke hung in the air in the GK area in the immediate aftermath of the JFKA.

This gunsmoke could not have been from LHO's M-C, as the breeze was blowing from the GK towards to the TSBD---that is proven beyond dispute by women's skirts and coats fluttering in the wind.

Conclusion: The SBT strikes me as dubious.

The WC was driven towards the LN explanation by LBJ's fear that LHO-KGB-G2 connections could trigger a nuclear war. LBJ said so himself. For you younger folks, in the 1960s talk of nuclear war was nearly a daily event, especially during the CMC-1962. The possibility of a nuclear war seemed real, nearly tangible. Students practiced nuclear war drills once a week (that includes me!). Sears Roebuck started building bomb shelters under new stores in the early 1960s. Nelson Rockefeller floated a plan to finance every homeowner in America building bomb shelters under their houses.

WC members Russell, Boggs, Cooper all later said they disagreed with the WC conclusions.

The Texas Lore that JBC held onto his Texas Stetson Hat ...well, not sure about that. I lived in Texas in the late 1970s. Texas Lore and state pride are big things, and so are Stetson cowboy hats.

Caveat emptor, and draw your own conclusions.

[Tom Graves]

Part of the Texas Lore of the JFKA is that Gov. John Connally kept his grip on his white Stetson cowboy hat, even after being shot through the wrist, by the same bullet that first passed through President JFK's neck, then through JBC's chest, and only then through JBC's wrist. The same whole slug burrowed into JBC's thigh (and somehow mysteriously ended up on a hospital gurney, or below the gurney, several floors below JBC's operating room, by the WC version). That is C-399. Quite the adventurous bullet!

Nellie Connally said her husband held on onto his Stetson cowboy hat all the way to the Parkland hospital, although Nellie Connally also said the assassin's first shot struck JFK, the second hit JBC, and the third hit JFK. Such are the perils of citing JFKA witnesses, for SBT'ers and LN'ers alike. 

On a more authoritative note, Cyril Wecht, (now deceased) a renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Commission (WC), maintained that it was physically and neurologically impossible for Connally to have maintained a grip on his hat if the "Magic Bullet" (Commission Exhibit 399) had actually shattered his radius bone, as the WC claimed.

The WC was, or course, was required to accept the Texas Lore, given that it had committed to the SBT, which meant that JBC was shot ~Z-223.

The WC version is, well, dubious:

"The SBT bullet entered the dorsal (back) side of his right wrist (thumb side), shattered the distal radius bone, and exited on the palm side. This path damaged nearby structures, including a partial transection of a dorsal branch of the radial nerve and a tendon leading to the thumb.

Dr. Charles F. Gregory (the orthopedic surgeon who operated on the wrist) noted this during the procedure. The Warren Commission Report explicitly references the "partial cutting of a radial nerve and tendon" as evidence that the bullet was already tumbling/yawed (not pristine), as it caught and tore these structures rather than pushing them aside."

OK, to reprise, the WC maintains JBC was shot through the right wrist ~Z-223, but was still holding onto his Stetson hat at Z-272.

Layman's view: I have never had a wrist shattered by a bullet. I was struck on the wrist hard enough (in an industrial mishap) once to leave bone bruises, or contusions, on my wrist. Yes bones can bruise and swell. The blow struck the dorsal side on the wrist. I could not have held onto my baseball cap through that experience, had I been holding one. I never had a Stetson.

Yet here is Gov. JBC at Z-272 still holding onto the Stetson, after having been shot through the wrst (and the chest).:



Note that JBC has made a near 180-degree in his seat, despite having been shot through the chest (by the SBT version). JBC is checking up on JFK, after hearing the first shot, JBC said. Those darn witnesses!

Side note: The telltale smell of gunsmoke hung in the air in the GK area in the immediate aftermath of the JFKA.

This gunsmoke could not have been from LHO's M-C, as the breeze was blowing from the GK towards to the TSBD---that is proven beyond dispute by women's skirts and coats fluttering in the wind.

Conclusion: The SBT strikes me as dubious.

The WC was driven towards the LN explanation by LBJ's fear that LHO-KGB-G2 connections could trigger a nuclear war. LBJ said so himself. For you younger folks, in the 1960s talk of nuclear war was nearly a daily event, especially during the CMC-1962. The possibility of a nuclear war seemed real, nearly tangible. Students practiced nuclear war drills once a week (that includes me!). Sears Roebuck started building bomb shelters under new stores in the early 1960s. Nelson Rockefeller floated a plan to finance every homeowner in America building bomb shelters under their houses.

WC members Russell, Boggs, Cooper all later said they disagreed with the WC conclusions.

The Texas Lore that JBC held onto his Texas Stetson Hat ...well, not sure about that. I lived in Texas in the late 1970s. Texas Lore and state pride are big things, and so are Stetson cowboy hats.

Caveat emptor, and draw your own conclusions.

Where's Jake Maxwell when we really need him???

[Mitch Todd]

Part of the Texas Lore of the JFKA is that Gov. John Connally kept his grip on his white Stetson cowboy hat, even after being shot through the wrist, by the same bullet that first passed through President JFK's neck, then through JBC's chest, and only then through JBC's wrist. The same whole slug burrowed into JBC's thigh (and somehow mysteriously ended up on a hospital gurney, or below the gurney, several floors below JBC's operating room, by the WC version). That is C-399. Quite the adventurous bullet!

Nellie Connally said her husband held on onto his Stetson cowboy hat all the way to the Parkland hospital, although Nellie Connally also said the assassin's first shot struck JFK, the second hit JBC, and the third hit JFK. Such are the perils of citing JFKA witnesses, for SBT'ers and LN'ers alike. 

On a more authoritative note, Cyril Wecht, (now deceased) a renowned forensic pathologist and longtime critic of the Warren Commission (WC), maintained that it was physically and neurologically impossible for Connally to have maintained a grip on his hat if the "Magic Bullet" (Commission Exhibit 399) had actually shattered his radius bone, as the WC claimed.

The WC was, or course, was required to accept the Texas Lore, given that it had committed to the SBT, which meant that JBC was shot ~Z-223.

The WC version is, well, dubious:

"The SBT bullet entered the dorsal (back) side of his right wrist (thumb side), shattered the distal radius bone, and exited on the palm side. This path damaged nearby structures, including a partial transection of a dorsal branch of the radial nerve and a tendon leading to the thumb.

Dr. Charles F. Gregory (the orthopedic surgeon who operated on the wrist) noted this during the procedure. The Warren Commission Report explicitly references the "partial cutting of a radial nerve and tendon" as evidence that the bullet was already tumbling/yawed (not pristine), as it caught and tore these structures rather than pushing them aside."

OK, to reprise, the WC maintains JBC was shot through the right wrist ~Z-223, but was still holding onto his Stetson hat at Z-272.

Layman's view: I have never had a wrist shattered by a bullet. I was struck on the wrist hard enough (in an industrial mishap) once to leave bone bruises, or contusions, on my wrist. Yes bones can bruise and swell. The blow struck the dorsal side on the wrist. I could not have held onto my baseball cap through that experience, had I been holding one. I never had a Stetson.

Yet here is Gov. JBC at Z-272 still holding onto the Stetson, after having been shot through the wrst (and the chest).:



Note that JBC has made a near 180-degree in his seat, despite having been shot through the chest (by the SBT version). JBC is checking up on JFK, after hearing the first shot, JBC said. Those darn witnesses!

Side note: The telltale smell of gunsmoke hung in the air in the GK area in the immediate aftermath of the JFKA.

This gunsmoke could not have been from LHO's M-C, as the breeze was blowing from the GK towards to the TSBD---that is proven beyond dispute by women's skirts and coats fluttering in the wind.

Conclusion: The SBT strikes me as dubious.

The WC was driven towards the LN explanation by LBJ's fear that LHO-KGB-G2 connections could trigger a nuclear war. LBJ said so himself. For you younger folks, in the 1960s talk of nuclear war was nearly a daily event, especially during the CMC-1962. The possibility of a nuclear war seemed real, nearly tangible. Students practiced nuclear war drills once a week (that includes me!). Sears Roebuck started building bomb shelters under new stores in the early 1960s. Nelson Rockefeller floated a plan to finance every homeowner in America building bomb shelters under their houses.

WC members Russell, Boggs, Cooper all later said they disagreed with the WC conclusions.

The Texas Lore that JBC held onto his Texas Stetson Hat ...well, not sure about that. I lived in Texas in the late 1970s. Texas Lore and state pride are big things, and so are Stetson cowboy hats.

Caveat emptor, and draw your own conclusions.

The radial nerve covers the extensor muscles of the hand. Holding the hat requires the flexors, not the extensors. The radial nerve transection, then, wouldn't be expected to prevent Connally from continuing to hold the hat.


BC: Note that JBC has made a near 180-degree in his seat, despite having been shot through the chest

His upper body moves about 90 degrees after being shot. I don't see how being shot would have prevented that: I don't see who the bullet path would have prevented the muscles of the hips, abdomen, and lower back from accomplishing this.

[Benjamin Cole]

MT Thanks for your comment.

"The radial nerve covers the extensor muscles of the hand. Holding the hat requires the flexors, not the extensors. The radial nerve transection, then, wouldn't be expected to prevent Connally from continuing to hold the hat."--MT

The WC said something along those lines too. Maybe so.

Cyril Wecht had the opposite opinion, as I cited above.

My layman's view is the impact and injury to the wrist would have dislodged Gov. JBC's grip from the hat, and likely did.

I rather suspect it was Texas Lore, that "and the Gov. was still holding onto to his Stetson hat." A sign of defiance and strength, in the face of dire adversity.

Caveat emptor, and draw your own conclusions.

[Tom Graves]

I rather suspect it was Texas Lore that "The Gov. was still holding onto to his Stetson hat." A sign of defiance and strength, in the face of dire adversity.

I suspect that you're full of smoke, bang, and beans in the bushes.

[Benjamin Cole]

[Tom Graves]

I guess that would explain your flash-bang in the bushes.