WP: No Closer to Cracking the Kennedy Case

[Rose Siding]

The conference was optimistically titled "Cracking the JFK Case," but it was widely noted that many of the speakers and members of the audience had grown gray hair or lost much of it while looking for the answers.

One of the presentations at the three-day session revived doubts about the famous "single bullet theory" that the House Select Committee on Assassinations thought it had resolved in the late 1970s. Another demolished persistent claims that the Zapruder film -- the "clock" of the Kennedy assassination -- had somehow been altered or contradicted by other photographic evidence. Still another speaker demonstrated how the sounds on Dallas police tapes showed that four and perhaps five shots had been fired -- meaning that at least one other person besides alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald had squeezed a trigger.

None of that solved the whodunit, although the conferees could still count themselves and like-minded historians and researchers winners in a way. Three out of every four Americans think President John F. Kennedy's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, was the result of a conspiracy. Almost as many think there was a coverup.

But the proposition that drew about 135 people to a Bethesda hotel this past weekend -- that it is not too late "to solve the greatest mystery of the 20th century" -- has less traction with the public. According to the most recent poll, conducted in 2003 for the 40th anniversary of the JFK assassination, 75 percent of the public does not want another government investigation.........more.......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112000830.html

[hippiepunk]

1. Three out of four?!?!

Why are people so insane?

[Catch22Dem]

6. I don't understand

You don't think there was a conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination?

[hippiepunk]

26. No, I don't

some whacko shot a president. I don't buy the whole LBJ or the CIA or the mob putting out a hit on him.

[niallmac]

2. The Warren Commission Report is the single most damning

piece of evidence about the Dallas coup. If someone can read even a condensed version of the report and not come away shaking their head then they deserve their present government.

[SheilaT]

3. The supposed Dallas tapes

have been discredited.

The police officer whose open mike the 4 plus shots are supposedly recorded from, has said he was no where near Dealey Plaza when the assassination occurred.

Basically the question to ask yourself is this: What real proof (not wishful thinking, but real proof) is there that anyone else besides Lee Harvey Oswald actually shot at JFK. And no, shadows in photographs don't count.

[johnnyburma]

4. Ditto Sheila

Count me among those that believe the case was solved 42 years ago.

[papau]

5. The Dallas policeman H.B. McLain tapes and their extra shot(s) seem real

This file may be freely distributed but Mark D. Turner retains all copyrights. Do not make any changes to this file, please. Comments and suggestions for future issues are appreciated.


THE AUDIO RECORDING

Many people are familiar with the Zapruder film and some even know of the other photographic evidence in the Kennedy assassination. These will be covered in future issues. A lesser known item is an audio recording of the shots.

Behind and to the left of Kennedy's car was a policeman riding a motorcycle. Apparently, his microphone's "push-to-talk" button was stuck in the on position and a recording machine at Dallas police headquarters taped the entire assassination. The Warren Commission turned the recording over to the FBI who claimed to find nothing which resembled gunshots. Then it was given to Dr. Lawrence Kersta of Bell Telephone Acoustics & Speech Research Laboratory who said there were "six nonvoiced noises." The Warren Report did not reveal his test results. Interestingly, the original tape has disappeared from the National Archives.


THE 1978 ANALYSIS
In May, 1978, The House Select Committee on Assassinations turned the recording over to Dr. James Barger of Bolt, Beranek and Newman who had previously examined the infamous Watergate tapes. The firm had only a short time to analyze the sounds as the Committee was entering its final months. The tape was filtered and digitized so that repetitive noises such as engines could be removed and wave- forms could be produced. They found at least six impulses (and possibly as many as nine) which could have been gunshots.

The Committee, based on the Zapruder film, set a certain time frame that the shots had to fit within. All six impulses occurred at the at the correct time. The sounds also matched patterns of gunfire recorded through a radio system similar to the Dallas police depart- ments. The former Chief Counsel of the Assassinations Committee, Robert Blakey, has said on several occasions "There were six or seven shots on the tape." Of course, Oswald could not have fired near this many shots in the 5.6 second period that most experts agree on (based on the Zapruder film). Also, only three empty cartridges were found at Oswald's supposed firing spot.

Next, BBN recommended firing test shots in Dealey Plaza to see if they matched any of the six impulses. By setting up microphones at various positions and firing from different places, unique acoustic finger- prints could be taken. Each combination of positions would result in a unique spacing of the shot's noise and echoes.


MICROPHONE LOCATION
One thing that made the measurements more difficult was the use of stationary microphones rather than moving ones such as the one which originally recorded the shots. When the scientists studied the 26 echoes for each shot and computed the location of the original micro- phone, it resulted in an accuracy within one foot. One set of data matched better than 95% as the position of the open mike and it was the location of motorcycle policeman H.B. McLain.

McLain was then interviewed and estimated that he was "about 150 feet" behind Kennedy. The acoustic evidence showed the open mike was 154 behind the car when the third shot was fired. Photographs also show McLain to be in this position at the time. The sound experts also stated that the mike was on the left side of the motorcycle and pointed toward the ground. McLain confirmed this along with the fact that he frequently had open mike problems. The tape also contained the sounds of the motorcycle quickly accelerating about 30 seconds after the last shot, then slowing, idling, and disappearing. This matches what is known to have happened following the shooting, with the recording ending as McLain flipped on his siren and thereby closed the microphone.


THE SNIPERS' NESTS
A major mistake with the reenactment was that shots were only fired from two locations: the Texas School Book Depository and the grassy knoll. Other locations were ignored although there has been much evidence that three or more gunmen may have participated. The first and sixth impulses did not match gunfire from either of the two tested locations and so were dismissed by the Committee. They did carefully word the report to state that they did not match the two tested firing spots rather than stating that they were not gunshots. They could have been gunshots fired from other positions. The first impulse is 1/2 second before the second. The sixth is 7/10 of a second after the fifth. If the two are indeed shots, then there were at least 3 and possibly 4 gunmen! Interestingly, there is very possibly a seventh shot on the tape. At one point another mike was keyed and caused a heterodyning on the tape. This is at the point that the Zapruder film shows Kennedy react to a possible hit to his back.

Of the four impulses that the Committee accepted as gunshots, the third matched gunfire from the grassy knoll. Because of the echo patterns, it had to come from the grassy knoll and not from elsewhere, such as an engine backfiring. The grassy knoll shot was also pre- ceeded by an N-wave (supersonic shock wave) which proved it was a gunshot (bullets are supersonic). Experts stated that there was better than a 95 percent chance that there was a shot from the grassy knoll.

Although Chairman Stokes privately admitted that they knew the head shot came from the front, no one on the Committee was willing to admit publically that the fatal shot had been fired by someone other than Oswald. They decided to claim that the third shot (the grassy knoll shot) was a miss and that Oswald had fired the fatal head shot. When the recording was synchronized with the Zapruder film, though, this claim did not match perfectly with the other shots. When the grassy knoll shot was synchronized with the head shot everything fell into place. Still, the Committee would not admit that the third shot was the head shot.

Even when the third shot is considered to be a miss and that the other three were hits, then another problem arises: the first and second shots are only 1.66 seconds apart. Therefore, Oswald couldn't have fired the first two because of the speed required. Of course, much evidence shows that Oswald wasn't even on the sixth floor of the Depository and various guns seem to have been spotted by people that day. Was another man firing a quicker rifle from the sixth floor?


ODDITIES
A very strange and suspicious sound also appears just before the end of the tape: an electronic beeping in Morse code for "victory." Where did this originate? We'll probably never know for sure but Jim Hicks appears in Dealey Plaza photos with a radio and admitted his role in the assassination to Jim Garrison. Possibly he was the com- munications man for the snipers as some researchers believe. He certainly resembles the man who the CIA supposedly photographed at the Soviet embassy in Mexico City two months BEFORE the murder using Oswald's name. Not long after talking to Garrison, Hicks was locked away in a military hospital for the insane.

Evaluations of the tape show that more than one microphone was open during the shooting. Actually, four may have been keyed which leads one to wonder if there was an attempt to disrupt police communications at the crucial time.


PROBLEMS WITH THE RECORDING
Dr. Barger's examination of the tape found two 60 hertz hums on the recording. The original copy should have had one hum. Two hums show that it is a copy of the original. Where did the original recording disappear to? Researchers believe the tape was tampered with which unfortunately gives critics reason to question the authenticity of the recording. There is a second police department recording of a second channel. A policeman's voice can be heard on both tapes saying the same thing. On the second tape it is apparent that he didn't say it until about one minute after the shooting. On the first (and im- portant tape) it appears just after the shooting. Critics claim this proves the tape is not a recording of shots at all but of some other noise. The problem with this is that the shots scientifically match the shots fired for the Committee's test. They can be nothing but shots and can not have been fired from anywhere except the Depository and grassy knoll. They also can not have been recorded anywhere but the motorcycle following the president' car.

Why does the statement appear at the wrong place on the tape? The secret probably lies in the two 60 hertz hums. In the CIA's cover-up, the tape was taken and something was removed that was incriminating. A new copy was made which resulted in the second hum and the timing descrepancy. The CIA didn't realize that the tape contained the shots since they apparently don't stand out if you're not looking for them. They most likely edited out a policeman saying something about one of the other gunmen.

Critics have also been quick to point out the sound of a carillon bell on the recording about seven seconds after the final shot. When the Committee looked for such a bell in 1978 they couldn't find one. The FBI even pointed this out in a report. Of course, just because the bell couldn't be found in 1978 doesn't mean it wasn't there in 1963. A news broadcast from Dealey Plaza on the first anniversary of the murder picked up the bell. Also, a tape still exists of a carillon bell which a bank twelve blocks from Dealey Plaza was using to play "Hail to the Chief" as Kennedy was driven through Dallas. The bell could be heard all over Dallas, including at Dealey Plaza.


CONCLUSION
So, in the end we are left with four impulses that are definitely shots. In addition there are possibly three more. The four proven shots breakdown as follows:


Shot 1 - School Book Depository
Shot 2 - School Book Depository
Shot 3 - Grassy Knoll
Shot 4 - School Book Depository

Although it is still not known by the average man on the street, the Assassinations Committee decided that there was a second gunman and that he did indeed fire from the grassy knoll. It's apparent that this unknown gunman fired the fatal head shot which the government still wants us to believe Oswald fired. Of course, Oswald may have been involved, but then again maybe he was just a patsy like he claimed. Whatever his role was, it's time for the government to help track down the others that were involved.

[jobycom]

7. Over three fourths of the witnesses heard three shots. Less than one-tenth

of the witnesses claimed there were more than three. More people claimed there were two shots than claimed there were more than three.

[papau]

11. The tape is what was at issue. Indeed one policeman one block away

only heard one shot.

I agree that what you say is true, but I do not see how it is on point relative to the question of the tape.

In its later investigation, the Congress itself wrote that there were most likely 4 shots.

[jobycom]

13. Because the tape reveals three shots

Even Congress has since admitted they misunderstood the fourth sound, and there were only three shots on the tape. So, most witnesses heard three shots, the tape heard three shots, there were three empty cartridges found in the sniper's nest.... surely if someone was going to frame Oswald they would have known how many shots were fired and put that number of cartridges in the window, wouldn't they?

[papau]

16. Looks like I need to get up to speed - any links to Congress rejects 4th

sound on tape as a shot?

thanks,

:-)

[jobycom]

20. Nah, I think it's my bad.

I can't find what I remember, so I'm probably wrong. I have a clear memory of members of the committee later admitting that the tape did not have four shots on it, but I can't find any reference to that now, in my casual googling.

Still, the tape is not nearly as universally accepted as the passage you quote implies, and I did find that while googling. Scientists and ballistic experts have analyzed all the data and come up with conclusions ranging from "there were no shots on the tape" (they aren't really sounds, they are just pulses) to "there were three shots on the tape," to "the sounds come from the wrong time frame to be shots" to "the motorcylce that supposedly gave all this wonderful accoustical evidence was really over a hundred feet from where the scientific experiments said it had to be."

A link to summarize the evidence: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/acoustic.htm#science

That tape is just not nearly conclusive enough to over-ride the witnesses on the scene, or the other evidence. I guess if you believe the Warren Commission was a cover-up from the beginning, then you can use the tape to argue your case. I don't give weight to either argument, so I look at the evidence as it stands on its own. The most complete explanation is Oswald. Once you discount him, you have to have shooters, you have to discount the majority of witnesses, you have to have secret CIA transplant identities, you have to have a brother of the murder victim in on a cover-up, not to mention the Pentagon, the CIA, the coroners--it just gets too ridiculous. If there were conclusive scientific evidence I could buy it. But there are just a lot of theories based on assumptions and misinterpretations and outright ignorance (the whole idea that the bullet had to zig-zag to create the wounds in JFK and Connally, for instance. It's easy to see from even a casual viewing of the tape that Connaly was aligned perfectly for the bullet to go where it did. You've seen the Nova computer simulation, I'm sure).

New wrinkles and conspiracies and cover-ups and questionable evidence are continually introduced to the old theories to try to plug up fatal holes in those theories. At some point it has to be accepted that either everyone in America shot Kennedy and kept it from you, or that Oswald did. When I see evidence otherwise, I'll gladly accept it. But the tape ain't it.

[papau]

22. At least we all agree as to the facts - the interpretation of "pulse" is

up to the reader!

There are answers to the objections to the tape, but as your mu.edu quote notes - it does get complicated (not quite requiring a Kennedy brother to be in on the game plan - but close).

[applegrove]

8. Please. John Lennon was killed by a wako and nobody wonders

about that. It happens. Robert McNeil heard the shots, ran to the payphones at the TSD and saw that skinny little idiot leaving the building from the lobby.

Why would Robert McNeil lie? He was a young reporter?

[jobycom]

14. There are theories about John Lennon's murder, too

Everything from Bush Daddy or the CIA or FBI knocking him off because they feared a resurgency of his liberal influence to Stephen King knocked him off and framed Mark David Chapman (No, I did not make that up).

Oh yeah, and all conspiracies have to tie to George HW Bush, the DLC, and Skull and Bones. Even Lincoln's. We're still working out the timeline.

[applegrove]

19. Oh good grief.

[jobycom]

21. Yeah

http://home.pacifier.com/~dkossy/lightfoot.html

"Steve Lightfoot is one of the first kooks that I became aware of during my stint in San Francisco during the mid-eighties. I would occasionally spot Lightfoot in downtown SF, with his signs and his guitar, singing tuneless, but heartfelt renditions of old John Lennon songs. He sometimes passed out flyers to passersby. Lightfoot is the guy who thinks that there was a conspiracy to kill John Lennon, involving Nixon, Reagan, various police departments, and Stephen King. King, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mark David Chapman, supposedly pulled the trigger."


http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/introduction.asp

Contrary to all reports about a lone drifter named Mark David Chapman who allegedly shot John Lennon in the back December 8, 1980 you’ll find ample evidence in the back issues of Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report magazines to suggest otherwise. Namely, that John Lennon was, not only politically assassinated, but that Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and, you’d better sit down, horror novelist Stephen King are the three people who can be proven guilty of the crime. King being the real murderer and Chapman but a look-alike, paid actor misleading you with an absolute hoax, the media in tow.

In case you want to buy his book:
http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp
--------------------

Hey, it's no wierder than the "Oswald was a patsy" stuff, just not as well funded.

[applegrove]

23. No I'm sorry. I should have stayed away from this topic. I am loosing

patience.

[jobycom]

24. I once started a thread here

claiming Oswald shot Kennedy. It was over 200 posts long and almost every one of the posts was someone repeating the same four or five points, which I had shown evidence against in the OP. It seemed like no one had even read the OP or any of the other posts where I had responded.

So yeah, this is one topic where DUers aren't at their best. DUers can usually cite chapter and verse on why Vince Foster killed himself, on Plamegate, and on everything else that requires evidence to back it up, but when it comes to JFK, the argument is practically religious.

[applegrove]

25. I should know better. I just want us on the same page.

[SheilaT]

9. I think everyone who wants to

"investigate" the JFK assassination should start with The Death of a President by William Manchester. It absolutely captures exactly what we went through during those four terrible days.

And, oddly enough, there's no suggestion of conspiracy or extra shots from the Grassy Knoll or any such nonsense. Virtually all of the supposed evidence of additional shooters crops up later, much later. Why should we believe people who suddenly, ten, twenty, or more years after the event "remember" something significant?

[papau]

12. We are referring to audio tape - not memory - and a Congressional

investigation.


As to "is it something significant?" - I do not have a clue.

[SheilaT]

15. The audio tape that

has three shots on it?

The real problem is that it seems banal and sad that JFK could have been killed by a lone wacko, but that's what happened. If instead there was some kind of complex conspiracy with several shooters in place -- all of whom got away cleanly, none of whom have confessed or left any clues to their participation -- if it really were like that then maybe JFK's death was inevitable, and maybe the Secret Service and all the other intelligence agencies weren't so incompetent.

But they were. And Oswald was a strange young man determined to find a perverted place in history. Keep in mind he'd fired shots at someone else, a right-wing general or former general if I recall correctly, not long before he killed JFK.

[papau]

17. Sorry, SheilaT, but I am behind the curve on this one - any links to

a post Congress investigation that said there were only 3 shots and that the prior 4 shot interpretation was wrong?

In my post, the info I included I thought was up to date through 1995 - and it indeed mentioned the claims by those who do not accept the tape.

But I Had not heard a claim that 4th impluse on the tape identified as a shot was someting else.

If you have any links or keywords for me to use to start my search, I'd sure appreciate your posting same.

Thanks

:-)

[OneBlueSky]

10. Thom Hartman's new book about the case . . .

is getting good reviews . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5412212

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2266595

[Octafish]

18. Poppy Bush told FBI he was in Dallas the day JFK was killed.

Here's the FBI memo dated 22 November 1963:



Read and learn:

http://www.internetpirate.com/bush.htm

A few questions:

1. Why didn't George Herbert Walker Bush report his suspicions before the assassination?

2. Why has Poppy failed to mention where he was that day?

3. Why hasn't he been asked to testify about this before any government body?

4. What was his reason for being in Dallas that day?

5. Was he working in the CIA then?

[Matilda]

27. I suspected something was up when Ruby shot Oswald.

Truly, I swear I did. How could anyone believe that such a sleaze
cared a fig for Jackie Kennedy? It was so clearly done to shut
Oswald up. Until then I was in too much of a daze to think anything,
but that woke me up.

And everything I've read since then adds to my certainty there was
a conspiracy.

[Thom Little]

28. Why are so many people still obsessed with this?