Last Second in Dallas

After 50 years of following the progression of the post-Warren Commission evidence regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I can finally say I understand how it occurred. Josiah Thompson has produced a historic and scholarly account of how the visual record of the assassination, primarily the Zapruder film, tracks perfectly with the Dallas police's acoustic recording of the shots made on Nov. 22, '63.Dr. Thompson's book includes no speculation or conspiracy theories... his sole focus is the hard evidence, and the scientific analysis of the film and audio recording to reveal what they show. What the book details is confirmation of exactly what the acoustic study of the police recording revealed to the House Select Committee on Assassinations back in 1978. The original acoustics study, and a re-enactment of the assassination shooting by BB&N for sound comparison analysis, were conducted by the nation's premier acoustics firm, Bolt, Baranek and Newman, in 1978. The House Select Committee got the BB&N report with its conclusion that there had been 5 shots in total, and the 4th shot was from the right front. The acoustic evidence, later supported and confirmed by further analysis of frames of the Zapruder film, showed conclusively that JFK was hit in the head by two shots within the final second of the 8.3 seconds during which the shooting occurred... the 4th shot was fired from the right front of Kennedy, from the direction and location where eyewitnesses had seen men/smoke puffs behind the fence on the grassy knoll.The HSCA concluded that there was "probably" a conspiracy, which the Warren Commission had inadequately investigated, based upon the certainty that shots had been fired from two different locations at the same time. The HSCA said "probably" because they had no firm evidence that the two separate shooters had been acting in concert, or had any connection to each other. But they did confirm that a shot came from the grassy knoll. Neither the Warren Commission, which ignored JFK's head movement entirely, nor the HSCA report could explain why Kennedy's head moves violently back, and to the left after the 4th shot. The Z film shows Kennedy's head exploding as it is forced back, and the acoustics matches the head shot perfectly for shot #4, so it is clear that the fatal shot came from the knoll.The HSCA chose to say in its report that the 4th shot from the knoll missed, JFK, only because it gave too much credence to the inept, incomplete and erroneous original autopsy report done in 1963 by the inadequately experienced military doctors who had never before done a forensic autopsy. The original autopsy said death was the result of one shot to the head from the rear and the HSCA chose to go with that conclusion instead of believing the acoustics study report, and in spite of what they could plainly see with their own eyes from the Z-film."Last Second", IMO, is the best book ever written about the Kennedy assassination. It is extremely well documented, and footnoted. The illustrations and photo reproductions are first class. The book is very well written and provides a very interesting history of the evidence. Even more important and IMO, noteworthy, is the time Mr. Thompson spends in explaining how science, and eminent scientists, were used in questionable ways to discredit the evidence. This book is the first one that I am aware of which details the abuse or misuse of science in addressing the JFK evidence. Much of the "discrediting" "scientific" analysis of the evidence was in turn totally discredited. This use of science to discredit and cast doubt on the evidence was wide ranging and pervasive. This history is carefully laid out and documented in Mr. Thompson's work, and it is an important aspect of the case that has not received media attention. A few examples of this faux science:1. In 1967, when Thompson's first book was published and presented the thesis that analysis of the Z film showed at least 4 shots, with 2 striking the president's head. Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez, soon announced that he had done an analysis of the Z film and found that Zapruder had, while filming the assassination, flinched or had a "startle response" to the sound of the shots and his camera jerked. Alvarez announced that there were only 3 "startle responses" by Zapruder, which confirmed that only 3 shots were fired. Later analysis of the Z film by others, together with the notes and data from Alvarez's own records of his "study" reveal that there were actually 6 startle responses by Mr. Z during his filming.2. After the public actually was, after 12 years, allowed to see the Z-film on TV (Geraldo Rivera show, March, 1975) there was amazed outcry over what made the presidents head explode and suddenly move back and to the left, if the shot was fired from behind? Again, Luis Alvarez came up with his "jet effect" explanation for the backward motion. Alvarez said the force of brain, bone and other matte being blown out as the bullet exited the front of Kennedy's head, would produce a "jet effect", forcing Kennedy's head back. Alvarez had some melons taped to resemble human skulls and shot them with a high powered rifle. Some melons moved back, toward the shooter. This is bogus. The HSCA commented on Alvarez's claim by saying "melons are not human skulls."3. The HSCA relied heavily on the study of the bullets and fragments performed by Dr. Vincent Guinn. His report to the HSCA seemed to confirm the "single bullet" theory. Guinn said that comparison of the recovered "magic bullet's" composition matched the bullet fragments removed from Gov. Connally's wrist, and therefore the theory that the same bullet caused Kennedy's back/throat wound also caused Connally's injuries. Originally this "science", as it was applied to bullets, was called "neutron activation analysis", and it later evolved into an infrequently used technique for crime investigations known as "comparative bullet lead analysis" (CBLA). A single FBI lab did the CBLA tests, until the science of CBLA was itself discredited... the FBI closed its lab and the technique is no longer utilized, nor its results accepted by the courts. The authorities were forced to concede that the HSCA reliance upon Dr. Guinn's claims about the magic bullet was misplaced and that there is no scientific link between the "magic bullet" and fragments from Connally.4. After the HSCA report emphasized the acoustic study of the Dallas police recording of the assassination, the Justice Department put together a panel to study and report on the BB&N acoustics study. Norman Ramsay, a Harvard physicist, was named the head of the 7 member panel, which was known as the "Ad Hoc Committee on Bullet Acoustics". Interestingly, not a single member of the Ramsay panel was an expert in acoustics... they were physicists. In 1982, the Ramsay panel issued a report finding that the BB&N acoustic study had studied sounds that did not occur at the time of the assassination, but were recorded after the event and, therefore whatever the sounds were, they could not be assassination shots. The report of the HSCA has, essentially, been put into the trash can since the Ramsay Panel's report. Thompson's book in great detail explains why and how it has taken over 20 years since the Ramsay Panel's report, to be able to PROVE That the Ramsay Panel's conclusions were erroneous. (Yes, the math and methods of proving it are in two appendices to the book, which were written by the scientists who did it, so anyone can replicate their work... with some math/computer skills).Again, Luis Alvarez was on the Ramsay panel, and he was the driving force behind its erroneous report.IMO, Last Second in Dallas is the last word in how the event occurred. Now maybe someone can figure out who done it. But if you read this book you will conclude that there are very few organizations or groups who could have done it. And the fact that it has all been successfully covered up for 59 years should give anyone a strong hint about who could have guaranteed that.Larry Keesey

For those of us old enough to remember November 22, 1963, there is nothing in contemporary American history which 'like a mackerel in the moonlight on the shore both shone and stank' more than the Kennedy assassination in Dallas. The collection of books written on it would fill a good size library and have ranged from serious studies to whitewashes of the official government version to the outright ludicrous fantasms. Thompson's first book on JFK, Six Seconds in Dallas, Random House:New York 1967, concentrated on the 'How' of the assassination in Dealey Plaza. Widely respected, long out of print, Thompson's book pretty much discredited the Warren Commission Report. The author put forth the argument no one could have fired the four or five shots witnesses reported, in the time frame allotted to a shooter in the Texas School Book Depository. His thesis was there were 3 shooters, including one from the Grassy Knoll, and that Governor Connally was hit by two bullets, neither of which struck JFK, unlike the 'Magic Bullet' theory put forth by ambitious WC counsel Arlen Spector, later US Senator from Pennsylvania. 'Last Second' traces Thompson's personal life as a college professor teaching philosophy at a small liberal arts institution, work with Life magazine on the assassination, to becoming a private investigator working on such high profile cases as the Oklahoma City bombing defense team with Stephen Jones. Living in Denmark for a time, writing books on a Danish philosopher, being a private investigator; Thompson was never too far out of the loop of assassination researchers. Friends with Robert Groden (Search for Lee Harvey Oswald), Sylvia Meagher (Accessories After the Fact), Mary Ferrell, Gary Shaw, Gary Mack, Thompson was invited by Chief Counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), Robert Blakey to participate in a critics conclave to suggest areas of investigation for the Committee. This current book traces Thompson's path from initial interviews with eye witnesses, work with Life on the Zapruder film, to analyzing the acoustical evidence discovered by James E. Barger of BBN for HSCA to 21st century technology brought to bear on the evidence (bullet composition, sound recordings of Dallas Police Department). There are interesting sketches of eye witnesses, S.M. Holland, Lee Bowers and fellow assassination researchers such as Vincent Salandria who accused Thompson of being undercover CIA operative. Late in HSCA's life complicated sound tests were concluded by BBN in Dealey Plaza, pointing to 5 probable shots being fired, one of which was from the Grassy Knoll, confirming Thompson's 1967 postulate of more than one shooter, including a shot from in front of the motorcade. Within a couple years the Justice Department, following the HSCA's direction, commissioned a 'blue ribbon' committee to review the acoustical evidence. Known as the Ramsey Panel, after the lead scientist, it rejected evidence found by BBN for the committee, essentially parroting the Warren Commission Report's conclusions. While the label of 'blue ribbon commission' ought to be enough to recognize a dead mackerel on arrival, the Ramsey Panel was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), amounting to slightly more than $26,000. This pocket change (for government) allotted to the Panel would rule out any replication of BBN's tests in Dealey Plaza; it was confined to reviewing the findings and report of BBN. The money was basically spent to rent names of prominent physicists for the final report and gallons of whitewash. Sketchy as the medical evidence is, Thompson dissects the autopsy to a rather gory degree. Profuse with photographs, sketches, graphs and data, the book delves into the physical evidence of the Zapruder film, matching it as a time stamp with sound recordings of the Dallas Police Department, co-ordinating the shots with the film. At a depth too deep to probe in a review, the proof of Thompson's original thesis is proven beyond the proverbial reasonable doubt. None of us in the gun cultural who have ever shot a Carcano rifle, or shot a running deer, have ever believed the skill attributed to Lee Harvey Oswald was more than fiction into transmuted to pure science fiction. If the Warren Commission can stretch imaginations to conclude LHO 'could' have fired 3 shots in the allotted time frame, it must snap at 4 or more likely, 5 shots which were fired that day. Regicide, death of a head of state, cannot be left to chance. If such plan moves forward, it must be assured of the successful outcome, nothing can be left to chance. A single shooter armed with a World War II surplus rifle with a cheap scope is a prescription for failure even with a crack marksman behind the trigger, which LHO was most certainly not. If there are more than 3 shots, more than one shooter was involved. That is a physical fact, others can infinitely debate if it was Mack Wallace, James Files, or Richard Nixon firing from the sewer or Grassy Knoll. Thompson has proven the 'How' of the crime of the 20th century, he does not delve into the 'Who' or 'Why'. By bringing modern technology to the evidence he has approached the jig saw puzzle rationally, scientifically and logically. At almost 500 pages, profusely illustrated, copious footnotes, and thorough indexed, 'Last Second' is not light reading nor for the faint of heart. The medical chapters are particularly unsettling, the statistical calculations will fly over casual reader's heads, this is a serious book on a crucially important crime, one which can arguably said to continue to effect Americans to the current day.

ケネディ暗殺事件について、暗殺が起こった瞬間、事件現場のダラスのデイリープラザでは、一体何が起こったのかを解明しようとした作品です。暗殺犯として逮捕されたオズワルドの素性とか、ケネディとマフィアの関係、あるいはCIAが関与していたのかとか、他のケネディ暗殺本でよく取り上げられるテーマについては、本書では全く触れられていません。著者のトンプソン氏は、事件当時は哲学の研究者で、ライフ社とケネディ暗殺事件についての調査員として契約関係にあったようです。そのため、ライフ社の社員と共に事件の目撃者や遺体解剖に当たった医師に、直接インタビューする機会が持てたようです。また、ライフ社の保管していた事件の瞬間を捉えた有名なザブルーダーフイルムのオリジナルからの直接のコピーに接近する機会もあり、それをライフ社に内緒で自分のカメラに納めたりもしたようです。これは極めて鮮明な画像で、ケネディの体の動きなどもかなり正確に測定できたようです。それらの結果をまとめた書籍が、1967年発行の「Six Seconds in Dallas」となったようで、この著作はケネディ暗殺事件研究者の間では、バイブル的存在だったようです。（著者に言わせると、ライフ社の社員たちは、毎週毎週、様々な特集の編集作業に追われて、ケネディ暗殺事件に絞って勉強する時間がない。また、遺体解剖に当たったベセスダ海軍病院の医師たちも、専門は病理学で、当時、既に部長などの管理職的地位に就いていた人であり、ケネディの遺体を前にどうすれば良いのか分からなかった人たちであった。彼らが陰謀の一味に所属していたというようなことはない、との見解です。）トンプソン氏は、その後、大学の哲学准教授としての地位を投げうって私立探偵を職業とする傍ら、ケネディ暗殺事件の調査を続けられたようです。前著から50年以上の月日を経て、研究結果をまとめられたのが今回の本書です。デイリープラザで当日発射された銃弾は合計5発、その内、ケネディに命中したのは3発で、最後の2発がほぼ同時に頭部に命中したなどの、新しい見解を示されています。きわめて論理的で、冷静な筆致で書かれた書物で、ケネディ暗殺事件に関心を持つ人にとっては、是非、手元に置きたい一冊です。付属資料の部分も含めて、日本語訳が発行されることを切に希望します。

It has been quite some time since a new book about the assassination of President Kennedy has piqued my interest enough for me to want to even read it, let alone write a review. Over recent years, I have grown increasingly tired of what I have come to see as an endless, false debate over the existence or non-existence of a conspiracy. More to the point, I have lost all patience for the ever-growing list of ill-supported theories, baseless claims of fakery/alteration of evidence, and the apocryphal stories that sadly appear to be firmly planted in the bedrock of most conspiracy thinking. Nonetheless, when I saw that Josiah Thompson’s long-awaited Last Second in Dallas was finally making its way into print, I immediately placed my order.As most readers will no doubt be aware, Thompson is the author of one of the most influential books ever written about President Kennedy’s tragic murder, Six Seconds in Dallas. First published in 1967, Six Seconds in Dallas was a rare gem that managed to garner the respect of both Warren Commission zealots and critics alike. Even the late Vincent Bugliosi―who went to great lengths in his own tediously massive tome to denigrate virtually anyone and everyone who dared disagree with the Warren Commission’s conclusions―was compelled to refer to Thompson’s first book as a “serious and scholarly” work. In Six Seconds, Thompson presented readers with a meticulous study of the facts and evidence available to him at the time, leading to the almost inescapable conclusion that JFK had been shot by three different gunmen firing from three separate locations. While some of the precise details of his reconstruction of the shooting have since proven to be in error, Thompson’s overarching thesis has been entirely validated by later revelations and stands to this day as the most viable explanation of events.Based on both the quality of Six Seconds In Dallas and my own pleasant exchanges with Thompson―during one of which he was kind enough to state that he felt my critique of Lucien Haag had the “depth and scholarly backup” to appear in a peer-reviewed journal―I was hoping for and, indeed, expecting big things from his follow-up work. It gives me great pleasure to be able to report that I was not disappointed. Last Second in Dallas is an eminently worthwhile addition to the literature that includes some game changing new research into one of the Kennedy assassination’s key pieces of evidence.One remarkable facet of Last Second in Dallas is that it manages to present readers with a sizeable amount of detail while remaining, for the most part, eminently readable. This is perhaps largely due to the author’s decision to structure the book as a memoir of his time studying and investigating the case rather than as simply another dry recitation of facts.Last Second in Dallas is likely to be criticised, or outright dismissed, by those who cling to outdated arguments or unfounded beliefs, such as the inexplicably popular theory that the Zapruder film is a forgery, or that the X-rays have been altered to hide a blowout in the back of the head. In some ways I would have liked to have seen Thompson pre-empt these arguments by providing the details that establish the authenticity of the evidence. But then, in so doing, not only would he have taken casual readers down the rabbit hole unnecessarily, but he would also have given such arguments a legitimacy they do not deserve.In my own two decades as a student of the Kennedy assassination I have heard many silly arguments, one of them being that the acoustics evidence was “designed to fall apart.” I am sure that there are readers out there who are familiar with the intricacies of the acoustic data and, like myself, are scratching their heads wondering how on earth such a feat could possibly be achieved. In any case, I do not doubt that the type of person capable of subscribing to such nonsensical ideas will have no problem disregarding Thompson’s impressive achievement in this area, or otherwise failing to grasp its significance. But I also do not doubt that history will thank him for his efforts.Just as I am sure history will thank him for owning up to and correcting his own error regarding the forward movement of Kennedy’s head and, in so doing, demonstrating how perfectly the audio and visual evidence fits together. It may well be, as Thompson suggests, that the gaps and contradictions that still exist in the evidence today preclude a definitive reconstruction of the entire assassination sequence. However, I do believe it can rightly be said that Last Second in Dallas lives up to the promise of its title and establishes to a high degree of probability exactly how that final second went down. Once again, I am confident that history will thank him for it.And that is precisely what I intend to do.

Boring and totally disappointing - The second it’s finished, it’s going on eBay

Very insightful book on JFK assassination. Never solved but this book asks and answers the question of what really happened. Many books on this subject but to date this one is as near to the truth as possible regarding how many assassins in Dealy Plaza

Six seconds in Dallas was the best of the books I read from the sixties. This marks the end of the beginning in JFK research. Josiah Thompson documents the evidence that there were at least two gunmen in Dealey Plaza, one of whom was in a high building, and the other at ground level.