A page on the JFK shooting
Some quotes from JFK: The Smoking Gun by Colin McLaren, ISBN 978 0 7336 3044 6.
Some or all of these may some day be copied or moved to WikiQuote, but I'm not sure whether they would be considered worthy of inclusion.
And some of the chapter headings aren't properly formatted. I have no idea why not.
See also The Howard Donahue theory on the JFK assassination, The JFK shooting seen from 2019 and Synopsis of Mortal Error.
Quotes
Quotes are in italics. My comments are in bold.
To Howard Donohue, a man who epitomised the very reason we demand dedicated and precise forensic science at the forefront of unravelling complex crime. Despite his arduous 25-year study he was snubbed and ultimately silenced by official suits and lawsuits. His ballistic expertise, his astute opinions and his skill live on through my story.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 18-20). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
No heading, but it's a dedication right at the front of the book, obviously.
Chapter 1: INTO THE WELL
A recent survey conducted in America revealed that well over 70 per cent of the nation’s citizens believe a conspiracy was behind the assassination. Only 12 per cent deem that they have been told ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ on the subject. And most don’t subscribe to the theory that lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 162-165). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
It was a discount copy due to poor sales; apparently it was too technical for most. I devoured the book on my flight to Chicago, couldn’t put it down. Donahue thought he had found the answer to the world’s greatest mystery. For 25 years he applied his technical skills, finally concluding that a second shooter had to have been at the scene of the crime. He was convincing and his science was sound; however, he was working with one hand tied behind his back. He didn’t have the opportunity to study the back-story at will. Testimony and documents on the investigation into the assassination were still being held under restrictive use provisions. Donahue was missing the purity of witness evidence. Here was a great ballistics theory but with no supportive evidence or, as detectives say, ‘all meat and no potatoes’ – no forensic analysis of the testimonies to support his premise.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 219-225). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
While stunned at my own findings, I now know why the truth has been concealed for so long; why this homicide, one of the most devastating in modern -day history, has been mired in absurd conspiracy theories for 50 years.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 346-347). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 5: THE BODYGUARD
a state-of-the-art semi-automatic rifle
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Location 808). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Not true. There have been several versions, and the version used by the Secret Service on this occasion has a fully automatic mode. That's why the Secret Service referred to it as a machine gun.
Not a fascinating observation for a bar perhaps, drunkenness is expected at times, but on this night it was newsworthy. Those being served were the men of the United States Secret Service.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 842-843). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 6: THE FULL CATASTROPHE
there was a sharp loud report, a shot … then two more shots in rapid succession …’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 939-940). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
He was just as adamant that no shots came from the expressway overpass (bridge) in front of him, the grassy knoll or any other location forward of the limousine. Each shot had come from behind.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 946-947). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Kenneth O’Donnell, the special assistant to the President, had the task of representing the White House’s interests in the organisation and smooth running of the motorcade. Seated in the left jump seat of the Secret Service vehicle immediately behind the President’s limousine, he recalled ‘two [shots] came almost instantaneously’. Mrs Kennedy, cradling her husband, who was now slumped near motionless , was heard to yell, ‘… they have killed my husband’. Oddly, the Secret Service man driving the President’s limousine, Agent Greer, thought the shots were the ‘backfire of a motorcycle’. He recalled three shots, the last two seeming to be ‘just simultaneously, one behind the other’.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 954-959). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 8: THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES
that in the half a century that has elapsed since, not one trace of solid evidence has been uncovered to support or elevate any conspiracy theory to a level above tabloid splash.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 1596-1597). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 10: THE SECRET SERVICE SECRET
Later that day Jean made a sworn statement to the Sheriff’s department, stating, ‘I thought I saw some men in plain clothes shooting back …’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 1872-1873). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Motorcycle cop Bobby Hargis, who was riding alongside the President’s car, said ‘… I was staying pretty well right up with the car ,’ which puts the police officer among the closest persons to the President at the time of the assassination attempt. Hargis believed the shots had come from ‘behind’ him, ‘… sounded like the shots were right next to me …’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 1891-1893). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 11: LET'S GET OUT OF TOWN
As Dr Charles Crenshaw recalled in his memoir, ‘… a phalanx of guards poured into Trauma Room 1 just as the coffin was being rolled out. They looked like a swarm of locusts descending upon a cornfield. Without any discussion, they encircled the casket and began escorting the President’s body down the hall towards the emergency exit. A man in a suit, leading the group, holding a submachine gun, left little doubt in my mind who was in charge … Dr Earl Rose, chief of forensic pathology, confronted the men in suits. Roy Kellerman, the man leading the group, looked sternly at Dr Rose and continued, “My friend, this is the body of the President of the United States and we are going to take it back to Washington.” Dr Rose said with equal poignancy, “The body stays.” The Secret Service managers and White House staffers offered no logic or rationale with their demands.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2234-2240). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 13 : THE TRUTH HAS MANY FACES
A good portion of the entire 8000-plus pages of transcript material known as the twenty-six volumes of the Warren Commission is nothing more than twaddle created by ineffectual lawyers who seemed to have forgotten how to dig for gold.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2673-2674). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Records within the Warren Commission concerning Specter’s unorthodox discussion are clear, stating in Specter’s own notes that Sibert and O’Neill ‘made no notes during the autopsy’. Was this a misunderstanding or an outright lie? And of course, after their meeting with Specter, FBI agents James Sibert and Francis O’Neill were not called to give evidence before the Warren Commission.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2715-2718). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
In breaking news the morning after the assassination , the New York Times quoted Yarborough: ‘… the shots seemed to have come from the right and the rear of the car in which he was riding, the third in the motorcade.’ The third car of the motorcade was the follow-up car containing the Secret Service agents.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2728-2730). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Yarborough was quoted as saying to the Chicago Sun-Times reporter Carleton Kent, printed the day after the killing: ‘The third shot [ Yarborough] heard might even have been a Secret Service man returning the fire.’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2774-2775). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Oswald could not have fired the third and fatal shot from where he crouched. The line of the trajectory was all wrong.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2909-2910). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
He found three lead particles on a rug near where JFK had been seated and performed a spectrographic analysis of the particles. They failed to match the rounds attributed to Lee Harvey Oswald’s Carcano rifle.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2944-2945). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Frazier then explained that the two fragments had a ‘similar lead composition’ to those fragments found on the rug near where JFK had been seated, and that they had a ‘similar lead composition’ as fragments found on the inside of the President’s car. At that very moment, 1.30pm on 13 May, 1964, the Warren Commission became undeniably aware of the presence of a different type of bullet. One that had disintegrated on impact, one that was not fired from a Carcano rifle and, therefore, not one of Lee Harvey Oswald’s rounds. Specter’s reaction to this shattering revelation was to instantly excuse the witness. Ballistics expert FBI Agent Frazier stood down and left the courtroom.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 2949-2954). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
And, more importantly, no one asked why a ballistics expert wasn’t overseeing the tests, and why a team led by a vet had no independent expert assessing the procedure. Or, most troubling, why FBI ballistics expert Robert Frazier wasn’t involved.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3007-3009). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Dr Light went on to say that Olivier’s theory relating to JFK’s head wound and Connally’s wrist wound was ‘barely conceivable’.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3036-3037). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Fascinating. The only one of the three who conducted the tests who knew anything about gunshot wounds, and he disagreed with the conclusions, but his minority verdict was completely ignored.
Leading a witness is prone to interjection from the judge. Strangely, this was not the case at the Warren Commission, where leading questions were commonplace.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3072-3073). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Of the critical mass of the people who heard the shots – at least those who gave sworn evidence – it is undeniably clear that shots two and three occurred too close together in time to have been from the same weapon. Yet no one explored the possibility of another shooter.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3091-3093). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Hickey was a newish member to the staff of the Secret Service, that he was actually a ‘driver’, not one of the Secret Service agents, the men who watched over the President and Vice President. Blaine tells of Hickey’s job description as being attached to the garage, and how the driver team were trained strictly as ‘drivers’. The small team of drivers was under the control of a separate unit, nothing to do with the field agents. In fact, they were not updated on threat subjects and did not travel with the field agents. The drivers would be responsible for maintaining the cars, getting them to and from the appointments in the various cities and washing and cleaning the cars before being used. Also, that the motorcade on the 22nd day of November was Hickey’s first ever ride in the follow-up car and that the only duties Hickey seemed to undertake prior to his actual presence in the follow-up car (holding the AR-15) were to wash and polish the President’s car hours earlier.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3180-3187). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 14: KILL FOR AN ANALYST
Of the ninety-five persons who gave evidence at the hearings regarding the number of shots fired, over forty stated that two of the shots were close together, almost simultaneous.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3246-3248). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
On her original Sheriff’s statement, Jean said, ‘I saw the President grab his chest and fall forward … I thought I saw some men in plain clothes shooting back …’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3274-3275). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 15: THE SMOKING GUN
Jerrol Custer’s name was not on the witness list, neither was FBI agent Sibert nor O’Neill, nor photographer John Stringer nor Floyd Reibe, and on it went. These forgotten men formed the core of a group of more than a dozen professionals gagged by silence orders. Some suffered threats of incarceration, others were left in fear of court-martial should they speak of what they knew or what they saw. And what was it that they knew? Each of these professionals bore witness to between thirty and forty metal fragments located in the brain of the President , a veritable ‘Milky Way’ of metal specks within the brain and skull. They were aware of the unanimous agreement of those within the autopsy suite that the head shot to JFK was initiated from the rear. They had knowledge pertaining to the disappearance and doctoring of X-rays and photographs, to the extreme pressure to hasten the procedure by worried men in suits and military uniforms, to a secret debriefing at the White House
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3464-3471). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
In 1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations launched an investigation to find out where the brain was and who last had custody of it. It was determined that Dr Burkley transferred the brain in the pail on 26 April 1965 but to where is unclear. The brain was then locked in a footlocker and never seen again. The enquiry was told that JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy took possession of the contents of the locker (the pail and brain and other exhibits) and as the brain has never been seen since, the conclusion was drawn that it was he who had disposed of same. At the time, Robert Kennedy was Attorney General, the most powerful legal man in the country. Yet he took possession of an exhibit crucial to understanding the cause of his brother’s death. Why? Was it his knowledge that the brain was speckled with metal fragments
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3473-3478). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
The autopsy didn’t appear to be the work of a group of people striving to see justice served. And definitely not what one would expect from the highest level of officialdom charged with responding to a nation’s outcry . The Commission was never to hear what really went on behind those closed doors despite its star counsel, Arlen Specter, having a fair inkling via his knowledge of facts from Jerrol Castor, FBI agents Silbert and O’Neill, and the Secret Service agents. With so much evidence going missing and the threats of incarceration and court-martial , the only conclusion that can be drawn is that someone was filtering the witnesses, ensuring that only certain evidence entered the Warren Commission hearing room.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3479-3484). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Maybe it was the relentless pressure of the Commission itself and the constant media scrutiny that affected their individual performances? Perhaps they held an unshakeable belief that the atrocity on 22 November, 1963, was the work of a lone gunman and they simply stopped looking for the gold strike. Or, as I came to believe as I read the material, perhaps they were blinded by patriotism, not wanting the truth of the real tragedy to blow away America’s global prestige.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3521-3524). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Forensic science , microscopes, latex gloves, dust-proof suits, exhibit logs, fingerprint powder and ultraviolet lights are all useful when gathering exhibits, but the old-fashioned witness remains the investigator’s best friend. Invariably , the critical mass of witness accounts is an accurate summation of what occurred at a crime scene. At the very least, it’s a damn good place to start looking. And the more witnesses you have saying and hearing the same things, the greater the likelihood that yes, indeed, that is what actually happened.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3541-3544). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
To ignore the evidence of witnesses is to throw crime scene principles to the wind. No detective is that foolhardy. Yet that is exactly what seems to have occurred. It almost seemed that one or more persons within the Commission was vigilantly making sure that any needles of truth stayed well and truly buried in the haystack.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3602-3605). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
The answer is that simple, and Howard Donahue knew it. From 1969 to 1992 he was onto it, but no one listened, no one encouraged his work.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3616-3617). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Almost true. His wife Katie and daughter Colleen, Ralph Reppert, Bonar Menninger and his publisher St Martin's Press, were all very supportive.
Howard, too, like the truth, was lost in a mountain of ‘declined to be interviewed’ letters and he eventually gave up .
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Location 3618). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Not true. He was working on a new book when he died, in fact.
I am not looking to blame, just to know. Indeed, no one is trying to blacken the name of any individual or organisation. It’s just about the truth, and a definitive answer into who killed JFK. An answer no more complex than a tragic accident colliding with a foolhardy assassination attempt. What we have been left with is one massive internal conspiracy, a set of lies and omissions to cover up a truth. Lies that gained momentum a short time after JFK arrived at the Parkland Hospital and went on to create a life of their own after his death. Certainly it was an unplanned conspiracy; its birth was as simple (for a time) as the shocking error itself. But entwined in an assassin’s attempt to kill, that simple mistake created a train of actions, manoeuvres, twists and turns by a select gathering of like-minded individuals.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3703-3709). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
These people are quiet achievers, the type you could easily pass in the street, perhaps on their way to the murder of a century. Ballistics expert Howard Donahue was one such character, happy to idle away years in his workshop cellar, with just his reference books, instruments and calculations, all in a search for the truth ; a man big on facts and low on rumour. Donahue spent years researching his theory; as a ballistics man his mission was to prove forensically that a second gunman was at the scene. He went to the US National Archives to read the Warren Commission back volumes, hours at a time, until the closing bell went and he was sent home. One could only wonder what he might have achieved had he been issued with a full set of the Warren Commission documents to study in his own time, and if his mind had been more crime-scene oriented than ballistics oriented. Regardless, his ballistic analysis and presentation is without fault.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3744-3750). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
While I was riveted by its forensic science and Donahue’s tenacity, the book came and went without fanfare and the American people remained largely unaware of an explanation for the death of a President that still hangs.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3754-3755). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
One of Kellerman’s daughters has also been quoted in the press as saying, ‘I hope the day will come when these men [her father and other Secret Service agents] will be able to say what they’ve told their families …’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3762-3763). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
As the years ticked on, Agent Kinney, also in the follow-up car, was reported as saying something similar, but no elaboration has ever been offered. What they knew and what they wanted to say has gone with them to their graves.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3763-3765). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Were they under the threat of incarceration, the same threats directed at the autopsy crew, should they speak out?
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3765-3766). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
By the 1970s a good portion of the lawyers attached to the Warren Commission, including Earl Warren himself, are recorded in the media as saying that they believe they did not uncover all the evidence available and that some of them held reservations about their own conclusions . The man who set up the Warren Commission, President Lyndon Johnson, had no faith in the outcome, publically denouncing the result of the Commission hearings during the later years of his life.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3766-3769). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Chapter 16: CLOSURE
Unbelievably, the Secret Service had begun cleaning the car. A car that was the primary crime scene to what seemed the attempted assassination of the President of the United States. Without doubt there would have been crucial evidence in the car, with blood splatters, possible gunshot residue and, more importantly , the probability of bullet fragments . All this could prove key evidence in tracing a suspect and assist the FBI on the vital information of what type of round was responsible for the devastating head shot to JFK. Yet all was on the path of being destroyed, mopped up by an unknown hand.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3776-3780). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
The second issue that hovers loud and clear over the Presidential limousine relates to the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. A state-of-the-art weapon, that day was the first time it was used by the Secret Service. And yet it was placed in the hands of the newest member of the team, the ‘driver’, non-field agent George Hickey. As it turns out, it would be the first and the last time that weapon was ever used by the Secret Service, as it was retired from their arsenal.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3780-3784). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Again, note that this particular model of AR-15 was capable of fully automatic fire.
Mortal Error: The Shot that Killed JFK, the too technical, yet wonderfully detailed paperback about Donahue, an unassuming expert , was certainly the catalyst for my research journey.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 3860-3861). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
‘I want them to see what they have done.’
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Location 3877). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
Jackie Kennedy refusing to change out of her bloodstained clothes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE DOYENS
The autopsy summary notes concluded that the President died from ‘gunshot wounds inflicted by high velocity projectiles fired by a person’.
McLaren, Colin (2013-10-23). JFK: The Smoking Gun (Kindle Locations 4427-4428). Hachette Australia. Kindle Edition.
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