If you ever want to witness a crime with your own eyes, you need only look at certain pages of the official record on the murder of John F. Kennedy. The crime is perjury. But unless you know a great deal about the case, you may not recognize it. There is, however, another crime scene you can visit that is easier to evaluate. Here, the crime is fraud, six pounds of it: Reclaiming History, by Vincent Bugliosi.

This book is infested with fraud from cover to cover, but you might never know it unless you were to compare (a) the actual record with (b) what Bugliosi says is on record. You would also need to know (a) what else is on record that is relevant and significant, and (b) whether Bugliosi included this information.

This essay contains just a few examples -- picked at random -- of Bugliosi's highly selective, and sometimes outright false reporting on the medical-ballistics in this case. (All of the quotes from the book are introduced as numbered "specimens" and are in smaller type. Quotes from other sources are regular size, and in italics.)

If this is how Bugliosi reports simple, physical information, imagine what he does with more complex issues.

Misrepresenting Parkland

Was the wound in Kennedy's throat an entrance or an exit? The wound itself can no longer tell us. No samples of the perimeter of the wound in the skin were preserved on slides. The only known photos of the wound were taken from too far away and are of poor quality. Words describing the wound have been preserved, but often they can be used to fit either situation.

All of the doctors at Parkland Hospital agreed the wound was relatively small. Four of six doctors who saw the wound said the edges were not ragged. Two other doctors and one nurse said the opposite. (See below for actual quotes and references.) All of these words are suggestive but not definitive. The problem:

Exit wounds can be small.

Entrance wounds can be slightly ragged, or show "tattering" (Journal of Trauma 1963 (March) 3(2):120-128.) But words describing the little irregularities along the border of a round wound should not be confused with words indicating a jagged or star-shaped (stellate) wound - i.e., a typical exit wound.

You will never learn of these ambiguities in Vincent Bugliosi's book. Bugliosi wants you to believe that (a) the wound was "ragged," and (b) this proves it was an exit.

You will not learn from Bugliosi that the majority of Parkland doctors said the wound was not ragged. What is more seriously deceptive is that Bugliosi put these words -- "ragged edges" -- into the mouths of doctors who in fact said the opposite.

Specimen 1:

The light flashes on for Humes when Dr. Perry tells him that he performed his surgery on an existing wound there, a small, round perforation with ragged edges. "Of course," Humes realizes, "that explains it." 1069 (Bugliosi, p.207)

Reference 1069 only documents Humes's questionable claim that, from Malcolm O. Perry, he learned for the first time JFK had a bullet wound in his throat. But Perry never told Humes or anyone else that the wound had "ragged edges."

Significant omission: Perry implied the wound was definitely not ragged:

"I indicated that the neck wound appeared like an entrance wound. And I based this mainly on its size and the fact that exit wounds in general tend to be somewhat ragged..." (ARRB MD 58, page 15)

Specimen 2:

Although Carrico was unable to determine whether the throat wound was an entrance or exit wound, he did observe that the wound was "ragged,"202 virtually a sure sign of an exit wound as opposed to an entrance wound, which is usually round and devoid of ragged edges." (Bugliosi, p.413)

Bugliosi's reference for the above is page 517 of the Warren Report where Charles J. Carrico described a "ragged wound of the trachea," (emphasis mine). Yet, in the above context, Bugliosi seems to want the reader to assume "the wound" refers to the one in the skin -- the only kind that counts in the context of entrance versus exit. (Almost any wound in a trachea would be ragged because of the stiffness of cartilage.) Elsewhere, in a different context, Bugliosi mentions Carrico's description of the raggedness of the trachea (Bugliosi, p.60), and so it is unlikely that he has confused this with the wound in the skin.

Significant omission: Carrico testified in at least two places the wound was "rather round and there were no jagged edges or stellate lacerations." (6 WCH 3); "fairly round, had no jagged edges." (3 WCH 362)

Specimen 3:

We ... did not determine at that time whether this represented an entry or an exit wound. Judging from the caliber of the rifle that [was] later found ... this would more resemble a wound of entry. However ... depending upon what a bullet of such caliber would pass through, the tissues it would pass through on the way to the [throat], I think that the wound could well represent either an exit or an entry wound. 212 (Bugliosi, p. 414)

Significant omission: The statement, by Charles R. Baxter, that came immediately before the above selection: "It did not appear to be a jagged wound such as one would expect with a very high velocity rifle bullet." (Emphasis mine.) (6 WCH 42)

Specimen 4:

[The] small hole in anterior midline of neck [was] thought to be a bullet entrance wound.215 (Bugliosi, p.414)

Significant omission: The reason given by Ronald C. Jones, quoted above, for believing it to be an entrance wound: "relatively smooth edges." (6 WCH 54) After discrediting the ability of these doctors to determine whether the wound was an entrance, it does no good to provide their opinions without the reasons underlying those opinions.

When it came to reporting physical details of the wound, Bugliosi omitted what the majority -- four of six doctors -- had to say, the same four whose words could not be used to suggest the wound was an exit.

On the other hand, he did report physical details if they fit Bugliosi's ignorant idea of an exit wound: from one doctor who only saw the wound after it had been deformed by the tracheotomy, Gene C. Akin, who said its edges were "slightly ragged" (6 WCH 65), and from another doctor, the late Marion T. Jenkins, a well-known confabulator who has said just about everything he could to promote the findings of the Warren Commission, and stopped just short of claiming to have seen Oswald fire the shots. (For details, please see my essay, The Wandering Wounds, (http://www.assassinationweb.com/cranrev.htm). Jenkins said the throat wound was "not ... clearly demarcated, round [or] punctate." (6 WCH 48) Malcolm Perry, who seemed to doubt Jenkins had arrived early enough to see the wound untouched, even went so far as to say, "I know he did not examine the wound per se." (3 WCH 381) [Bugliosi did not mention Margaret M. Henchcliffe, a nurse who said the wound was "jagged a little bit." (6 WCH 141)]

The only definitive way to determine the nature of an ambiguous wound is to examine it under magnification. Bullet holes in the skin, as in the skull, have a pattern of "cratering" that reveals their nature; the dermis and epidermis tell the same tales as the inner and outer tables of the skull. (Jones, Nancy L. Atlas of Forensic Pathology, New York: Igaku-Shoin, 1966, p.77) And there are other microscopic signs. The pathologists who performed JFK's autopsy claimed they were unaware of a wound in the throat until the next day, after the body was taken away. Consequently, as far as we know, they never looked at this wound under magnification.

Bugliosi has, however, put the word "ragged" under great magnification and declares it "a sure sign of an exit."

Divining the Truth
from Bad Photographs
The Clark Panel and HSCA claimed they could determine -- from poor quality photographs taken at a distance -- the nature of Kennedy's throat wound.

Specimen 5:

Looking at black-and-white photographs of the wound to the throat (which were sharper and clearer than similar color photographs), the nine-member panel of forensic pathologists for the HSCA noticed "a semicircular missile defect near the center of the lower margin of the tracheotomy incision." The committee said it was an "exit defect."188 Dr. Baden, who headed up the HSCA panel, said, "The semicircular defect was caused by the exiting bullet. I saw it right away in the photographs, even though they weren't of the best quality." 189 The four-member Clark Panel of physicians and pathologists also saw a portion of the exit wound that was not obliterated by the tracheotomy.190 (Bugliosi, p.411)

Although Bugliosi is a layman, one would think he would notice an absolutely stunning omission from the reports of both of these investigations: reasons for their conclusion that this small wound, so typical of an entrance even to the naked eye, was an exit. Those reasons would necessarily have to be subtle.

Where is the requisite list of details that distinguished this "exit" wound from an entrance? Not one of the specialists on either medical panel followed the principles as stated by the most prominent member of the Clark Panel, Alan R. Moritz, M.D. From his article, "Classical Mistakes in Forensic Pathology," American Journal of Clinical Pathology 1956; vol.26, p.1383.

"Although it would seem to be obvious that the location, dimensions, shape, depth, and special features of every wound should be described, such information is frequently inadequately recorded on protocols that are prepared by pathologists who perform only occasional medicolegal autopsies."

NOTE: Many of the doctors on the Clark and HSCA panels, including the head of the latter, Michael Baden, are not among the pathologists who perform "only occasional medicolegal autopsies." And while these doctors did not perform Kennedy's autopsy itself, the principles described are conspicuously relevant to a review of autopsy materials: give reasons for making conclusions. Continuing with Dr. Moritz's cogent remarks:

" In the protocol of a medicolegal autopsy, it is better to describe 10 findings that prove to be of no significance than to omit one that might be critical ...

"The purpose of a protocol is twofold. One is to record a sufficiently detailed, factual, and noninterpretive description of the observed conditions, in order that a competent reader may form his own opinions in regard to the significance of the changes described. (Emphasis mine.) Thus, a region of dark blue discoloration in the ... may or may not be a bruise. To refer to it as a contusion in the descriptive part of the protocol is to substitute an interpretation for a description, and this is as unwarranted as it may be misleading ... (Emphasis mine.)

And this is exactly what the Clark Panel and HSCA did with respect to the throat wound: "substituted an interpretation for a description."

Ah, but when it comes to the interpretation of the throat wound, it is enough that Michael Baden "saw it right away." (Further below, you can watch Michael Baden stretch a lie.)

Specimen 6:

Lattimer knew from his previous experiments that the test bullet would almost certainly 'tumble" after passing through the simulated neck (just as the bullet did during the assassination) and strike the mock-up of the governor's "back" ... The flying fragments of rib and soft tissue, which were blown out by the tumbling bullet, ripped a large ragged hole in both the shirt and the jacket, just as Oswald's bullet had done in Dealey Plaza." (Bugliosi, Endnotes, p.326) (Emphases mine.)

In fact, the hole in the lapel of Governor John Connally's jacket was small (3/8ths of an inch in diameter) and "circular." (5 WCH 63)

The hole in the front of the governor's shirt was large, no doubt due to exiting rib fragments, but the hole in the front of the jacket was created only by the bullet, and the small size of this hole indicates the bullet exited straight on, i.e., not sideways, and thus it was not tumbling.

Why would Bugliosi lie about the hole in Connally's jacket? Why would he want it to appear as though the bullet had exited tumbling?

1. The alleged tumbling is allegedly caused by the bullet's alleged journey through JFK.

2. The alleged tumbling is allegedly associated with the outward movement of Connally's jacket lapel.

On the Zapruder film, at a moment when lone assassin theorists claim Kennedy and Connally both are being struck by the same bullet, Connally's lapel appears to bulge outward. (Never mind the correlation between the lapel bulge and the movement of Connally's right arm, and never mind Connally reaction to a bullet several seconds after JFK's.)

According to the questionable experiments described below (and referenced in the Bugliosi quote above), only a tumbling bullet can push out rib fragments to the extent that they cause the lapel to flare outward.

Background. The false evidence concerning the actual size of the hole in Connally's jacket was manufactured by the late John K. Lattimer, M.D., a well known urologist with powerful connections who wrote several articles, all hard sell and soft science - informercials, really -- that promoted the many aspects of the lone assassin theory. Lattimer's disinformation on the ballistics of the single bullet theory was based on experiments using mock-ups of Kennedy and Connally (reference #4 below). Lattimer presumably shot Carcano bullets through these mock-ups, then presented various bits of data from the experiments, including the size of the mock torso's back wound, and the experiment's jacket lapel -- both used to prove the bullet was tumbling.

Lattimer then falsely claimed that the bullet holes in the experiments matched those in the actual case. The similarity of these lies is interesting, expressed here in millimeters for easy comparison:

Lattimer put together crudely deceptive exhibits designed to sell the public on the size of Connally's back wound. Please see my illustrated essay "Big Lie About a Small Wound" at www.historymatters.com. You will not find this particular lie in Reclaiming History. Bugliosi and I have a mutual acquaintance who quietly implied that people working for him have seen the article and, for that reason, stayed away from this more obvious fraud. I have no way of verifying this behind-the-scenes story.

Getting back to the fraud concerning the hole in the lapel, Bugliosi carefully avoided repeating Lattimer's lie that the hole in the experiment's lapel was 30mm - the exact length of the Carcano bullet. Instead he was vague, calling it "large," and, apparently in an effort to nail it down as an exit, even though this is not in dispute, he add the word "ragged" to its description. (See Specimen #5.)

Bugliosi was also very careful in the way he reported a second set of experiments performed by Lattimer to complement the first. When Lattimer fired directly at the simulated torso alone, with no intervening target representing Kennedy's neck, the mock-up ribs did not push out the lapel, the bullet did not exit tumbling - it came out straight, and the hole in the experimental jacket lapel was small. In Lattimer's own words, "The jacket did not bulge out and the lapel did not turn over...With the bullet going straight ahead, wounds to the rib, shirt and jacket were punctate ... " But look how Bugliosi avoids the significant details of this experiment:

Specimen 6:

Of particular importance is the fact that subsequent test rounds that were fired directly into the mock-up of the governor without first passing through the mock-up of Kennedy's neck produced no bulge of the jacket. Without the tumble caused by the bullet's passage through the simulated neck, there was no billowing of the jacket. (Bugliosi, Endnotes, p. 327)

Significant omission: Not one word from Bugliosi on the size of the hole in the front of the jacket used in the experiment.

Another table, though redundant, may make all this easier to digest:

Readers of Reclaiming History would have to do a lot of digging into primary source material to discover Bugliosi lies, revisions, and omissions. It's interesting that the facts that Bugliosi tried to hide could actually be used to show that Connally was shot by a separate bullet, but there is glaring evidence the experiments were rigged: How could Lattimer's mock-up of a "neck" cause a bullet to tumble, while the thicker "torso," complete with ribs (one of which was hit by the bullet) did not interfere with the bullet's flight at all?

Michael Baden
Another Unsanitary Source
Michael M. Baden, M.D., at the time, Chief Medical Examiner, New York City, and Chairman of the HSCA Medical Panel, was one of Bugliosi's main sources of interpretation of the medical evidence, mentioned in the book no fewer than 92 times, including references -- and is himself a specimen.

Before you take what he says seriously, no matter how authoritative it sounds, you should take a good look at what he is capable of. You have heard the expression "stretching the truth," but here is an instance of stretching a lie. In this case, the lie he stretches came from John Lattimer. (See above section, and, for more details, see "Big Lie about a Small Wound" at www.historymatters.com.

As mentioned earlier, Lattimer doubled the length of the back wound (from 15 to 30mm) so that it matched the length of a Carcano bullet. Baden, knowing that the wound's scar had to be larger than the wound itself, revised what he reported earlier - and doubled the size of the scar!

Baden's report to the HSCA:

On removing his shirt, it was readily apparent that at the site of gunshot perforation of the upper right back there is now a 1 1/8-inch long horizontal pale well healed ... " (7 HSCA 143-144; 240) (Emphasis added.)

Baden's report to the Public:

According to Connally's medical records, the bullet struck him nose first in the back and left a vertical scar. I thought the records were wrong. If it was the same magic bullet, it would have gone in sideways ... I needed to examine Connally ...

"He removed his shirt. There it was - a two-inch long sideways entrance scar in the back. He had not been shot by a second shooter but by the same flattened bullet that went through Kennedy. (Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, Random House 1989, p.20) (Emphasis added.)

Two inches versus one and one-eighth. Quite a contribution to the single bullet theory. How could Bugliosi trust anything Michael Baden says about anything?

[Coming soon: Part II, The Head Wounds, and more fun with Michael Baden]