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Synopsis of Mortal Error

Page history last edited by Andrew Alder 2 years, 4 months ago

A page on the JFK shooting and a homework page and on a book they do not want you to read

Why this page

Sadly, most of those who critique Mortal Error freely admit that they have not read it. They are going entirely on the opinions of others.

The reason that there is a big problem with that is that it has become increasingly obvious that most of those others, including those who claim or imply that they have read the book, haven't read it either.

This page is no substitute for reading the book. Please don't read this page and then falsely claim or even imply that you have read the book.

But if you do read this page (and thank you) then you will be able to laugh at most if not all of those who criticise it without having the slightest inkling of what it says. Don't be too hard on them. They are in good company. And be particularly careful if they are your spouse or parent.

On the other hand, if you're interested in the theory, perhaps you'll even read the book. That's your call entirely. But be warned, those who do eventually read it often change their ,minds and decide that it has a lot going for it after all.

Which is I guess why some people don't want you to read it either. And for that reason, they will often be quite rude to you if you do admit to having read it and liked it. Again, you have been warned.

Synopsis of Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK

Based on the 1992 paperback, ISBN 0-283-06136-7. All page numbers are according to this edition.

Quotes from the book are in italics. The ellipsis ... is used to indicate that parts of the quote have been omitted.

Synopsis of Mortal Error: The Shot That Killed JFK
Afterword and Appendices
See also

Chapter 1. A Chance Telephone call

The events that led to Donahue's interest in the assassination, and a brief biography up until that point.

As a result, Donahue was approached later that summer... would Howard be interested in writing an article for the magazine supporting the Warren Commissions conclusions? Donahue agreed... but he told the editor he needed to do a little research first. "I just want to be sure they're right," he said. (p. 10)

Chapter 2. The Warren Report

Context and summary of the report.

Chapter 3. The Critics

A summary of Donahue's comprehensive survey of the Warren Commission critics as of 1968.

While less inclined to believe the Warren Report, he nonetheless found most of the critics work to be worthless from a ballistics standpoint. Consequently, he decided to focus solely on the ballistics and forensic aspects of the assassination. (p. 28)

Chapter 4. The Single Bullet Theory

Donahue's analysis of the shot which, according to the Warren Commission, struck both Kennedy and Connally, suggests that the "magic bullet" trajectory is only necessary because the estimated position of the Governor was wrong. One of Oswald's shots could therefore have caused both men's injuries as claimed, but there remain other unanswered questions.

Chapter 5. The Head Shot

Using the Warren Commission evidence (particularly the official autopsy report), stills from the Zapruder film and other photos, and holes drilled in a plaster skull, Donahue traces the trajectory of the shot that hit Kennedy in the head. Diagrams are given. Numerous questions arise surrounding the completeness and even accuracy of the autopsy report.

Donahue was stunned. In one afternoon, his confidence in the Warren Report was effectively destroyed. (p. 47)

...two crippling problems with the government's claim that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot that hit Kennedy in the head: 1) the apparent trajectory of the bullet did not seem to match the location of Oswald's sniper's nest, and 2) the type of bullet fired was totally at odds with the rounds that Oswald was known to have used. (p. 56)

Chapter 6. A Fortuitous Encounter

Donahue writes to the Secret Service and receives the names of the eight agents, and an assurance that none fired any shots, but no confirmation or denial that they carried any weapons other than their personal handguns.

He then by chance meets Dr. Russell Fisher, head of a medical panel which reviewed the autopsy in 1968, who provides a copy of its report and many insights into details of the autopsy report and problems with the material provided to the panel. The suspicion of an accidental discharge by a Secret Service agent grows.

Donahue telephoned the editor he'd been working with at True magazine and told him he wouldn't be able to finish the article endorsing the Warren Commission's conclusions after all. "I found a few inconsistencies and I don't know if I'll be able to resolve them", Donahue said. He added with a laugh, "I'll stay with this and figure it out. I'll be back in touch." Actually, Donahue had no plans for abandoning his work. In just eight months, working on weekends and evenings in his cluttered basement den, he had been able to construct a rebuttal to the critics of the Commission's single bullet theory that effectively destroyed their principal arguments. More important, he was sure he'd identified two serious flaws in the Government's explanation of the head wound, flaws those same critics has (sic) missed entirely. (p. 57)

"Well, you know more about guns than I do," he said. "But that would certainly explain the strange antics of the government." (p. 65, quoting Fisher)

Chapter 7. Kennedy's Unknown Wound

Material provided by Fisher resolves some problems.

Donahue positioned the skull as Kennedy's head had been before the fatal bullet struck, and then inserted the wooden dowel. (See drawing 3.) This time it was clear the bullet hadn't come from the limousine trunk. Rather, the trajectory came from left to right, on a shallow, nearly flat declination. Donahue's long-held suspicions were confirmed. Oswald's shot would have had to come from right to left. In his mind, the trajectory required by Fisher's location of the wounds categorically eliminated Oswald as the source of the fatal bullet. Donahue went back to his drawing of Dealey Plaza and, based on the trajectory dictated by the wooden dowel, traced the line of the bullet from Kennedy back toward the Dallas County Records Building at the corner of Houston and Elm streets. He stared at the picture. What disturbed him most was not where the line terminated, but an intervening object along the bullet's flight. There it was. Again. The line passed directly over the Secret Service follow-up car. (p. 78)

Chapter 8. Murphy's Law

Donahue's expertise and reputation as an expert witness grows.

Chapter 9. The Discovery

If you are involved with firearms long enough,it is not if you will or will not have an accidental discharge. It is when. (p. 97)

I noticed Hickey standing up in the follow-up car with the automatic weapon and first thought he had fired at someone. (p. 105, statement by Agent Winston Lawson, riding in the lead car and assigned to watch the President from in front)

A second shot followed immediately and hit the right rear high of the President's head. I immediately hollered "he's hit" and reached for the AR-15 located on the floor of the rear seat. Special Agent Hickey had already picked up the AR-15. (p.105, statement by Agent Glenn Bennett, sitting beside Hickey)

Howard here. You're not going to believe this, and God help me if I'm wrong, but I think we can do the story. I found the gun. (p. 108)

Chapter 10. Breaking News

First publication in 1977, and attempts to contact Hickey. Questions on the cover-up. Was Robert Kennedy involved?

Chapter 11. The House Select Committee

Events leading to the establishment of the United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_Assassinations in 1976. The Rockefeller Commission of 1975. Early enquiries of the Select Committee.

According to Wecht, the commission was "perpetrating a fraud on the public" by publicizing the second part of his testimony - that he'd found no evidence of a gunman firing from the grassy knoll - while similtaneously ignoring his primary conclusion: that the single bullet theory was not supported by the evidence and therefore, two gunmen must have fired on the President from the rear. (p. 129)

Chapter 12. Katie Donahue Forces the Issue

The Donahues appear before the Select Committtee.

Now, Mrs. Donahue, can you tell me who manufactures the Pristine bullets? (Telephone call from one of the Select Committee members as recalled by Katie, p. 140)

Of course, Donahue's understanding of the fatal shot in no way precluded the possibility that Oswald was involved in some kind of conspiracy;... (p. 146)

Obviously, they had no intention of examining the evidence Howard had assembled. (p. 157)

Chapter 13. Blakey's $5 Million Folly

The Select Committee report (1978). Blakey was its Chief Counsel and Staff Director. Comments by some of its staff.

Rose informed Donahue that he'd travelled extensively around the country to interview a number of Secret Service agents and police officers about what happened in Dallas. "So, did you interview Hickey?" Donahue asked. "He was right there in Washington." "No, I did not," Rose replied. "Why not?" Donahue asked. "I really don''t know," Rose said finally. (Interview from 1983, pp. 186-187)

Chapter 14. The AR-15

Ill health and suicide of a possible author of the book. Story of the AR-15, with comparisons to the M-1, AK-47, M-14 and M-16, and unflattering assessments of army procurement.

Do you know what killed most of us? Our own rifles... (p.196)

Chapter 15. The Final Breakthough

More ballistics, especially estimating the size of the head shot entry wound and its relevance. Another possible author for the book. Howard gives up his Masters studies in forensics but becomes increasingly employed as an expert witness despite this.

...the bullet that struck Kennedy's neck had cracked one of his vertabrae... if Kennedy would have survived the trauma at all - something Lattimer doubted - it probably would have been only as a vegetable quadraplegic. (p. 199)

Chapter 16. Hope Dies Hard

Meeting with Weisberg,. The history of the Secret Service, their nightmare assignment guarding Kennedy, and their reaction to the shooting. Hickey's involvement in the Warren Commission and statements by him and other agents.

Chapter 17. Today

Recap as of spring 1991. Reactions from Secret Service agents and others to the theory. Attempts to contact Hickey.

If anything, I was trying to prove the Warren Commission right. And after I made my discovery, I tried very hard to prove it wrong... I do not believe that George Hickey is to blame for what happened. He was a brave man trying to do his job. (p. 237)

Afterword and Appendices

Note from the Publisher

More attempts to contact Hickey, and to discuss the theory with the Secret Service and others. Why the book was published.

For the first time, we began to understand Donahue's reaction over the years as he tried to get a hearing and found himself dismissed on the basis of palpable nonfacts. (p. 252)