The throat shot: From the front?

It is well known that the majority of JFK assassination conspiracy advocates believe the wound to President Kennedy’s throat was caused by a bullet fired from in front of the President’s limousine. Although I had briefly discussed this issue here, I believe it deserves a separate discussion.

Just as virtually all lone gunman zealots and Warren Commission defenders believe the single bullet theory is in reality a fact (an utterly absurd notion as I explained previously), there are many conspiracy advocates whom wholeheartedly believe that the small neat wound to President Kennedy’s throat was caused by a bullet fired from the front.

Now believe me, for quite a while, I was also of the firm belief that the wound to the throat was caused by a shot from the front. However, after reading through the highly illuminating and thorough work by researcher Pat Speer on this issue, I have since changed my mind. I am now of the firm opinion that the small neat wound to the throat was caused by either a bullet or bullet fragment from the shot which struck near the President’s EOP (See here for a discussion of the wound near the EOP).

Let’s bear in mind that Dr Malcolm Perry, who had performed a tracheostomy on the President at Parkland Memorial hospital in an attempt to save his life, informed the chief autopsy pathologist, Dr James Joseph Humes, that the throat wound was approximately 3 to 5 mm in diameter. There has been much debate on whether this information was provided to Dr Humes on the night of the assassination or the following morning. However, the important point is that the size of the wound observed by Dr Perry (and other Parkland Doctors and nurses) was too small to have been caused by a 6.5 mm bullet allegedly exiting from President Kennedy’s back – as per the single bullet theory.

Despite the utter bullshit and lies by lone gunman kooks, the most credible evidence indicates the throat wound was caused by the bullet or bullet fragment from the shot near the President’s EOP. Keep in mind that Dr Humes’ report on the President’s autopsy contains the following crucial piece of information (obtained from the JFK Lancer website).

“Dr. Perry noted the massive wound of the head and a second much smaller wound of the low anterior neck in approximately the midline. A tracheostomy was performed by extending the latter wound. At this point bloody air was noted bubbling from the wound and an injury to the right lateral wall of the trachea was observed.”

As we can see, Dr Humes received information from Dr Perry that “bloody air” was observed bubbling from the wound as the tracheostomy was performed. For those of you who wish to learn exactly what a tracheostomy is, I recommend you read through this article.

Now although the wound from which bloody air was observed “bubbling from” could have been the throat wound, there is evidence that the wound in question was in fact the head wound. As Pat Speer explains on his website, the Parkland hospital Doctors and Nurses involved in the desperate attempt to save the President’s life believed the throat wound and the head wound were connected. In fact, one of the Doctors, Robert McClelland, expressed the belief that the throat wound was caused by a bullet fragment.

Furthermore, Speer provided information concerning a video presentation of former Parkland hospital Doctor, Marion Jenkins, who had administered the oxygen to President Kennedy following Dr Perry’s tracheostomy incision. The presentation was provided by Jenkins’ daughter, Christine Jenkins, in 2008. The late Jack White was one of the witnesses to the presentation, and provided the following information.

"Each time he [Jenkins] squeezed on his air bag, bubbles of blood came out the brain wound."

Jack White’s observation from the presentation corroborates that the wound “bloody air was noted bubbling from” was the head wound – although Speer claims White was mistaken about his observation. Speer also explains that the X-ray of President Kennedy’s neck indicates the presence of air bubbles – which would result from the oxygen supplied from the tracheostomy procedure. For more information, I strongly encourage you to read through Speer’s impressive work on his website here. The bottom line is the evidence indicates the wound to the President’s throat was not caused by a shot fired from the front.

In my opinion, one of the most ridiculous conspiracy theories concerning the assassination is that the throat wound was inflicted by a poison/paralysing fletchette fired from the umbrella of the so-called umbrella man. The umbrella man can be clearly seen in films and photographs of the assassination holding up an open umbrella as the President’s motorcade goes by him.

During the HSCA’s investigation of the assassinations of President Kennedy, a man named Louis Steven Witt informed the committee that he was the infamous umbrella man. Although I am not entirely satisfied that Witt was the umbrella man, I don’t believe for even a microsecond that the umbrella man fired a fletchette of any kind into the President’s throat.

The conspiracy advocates who support this absurd theory are apparently more concerned about their own agenda than the evidence provided by Pat Speer. Furthermore, by all likelihood the assassins would be highly skilled marksman, and would be shooting at the President using the telescopic sight of their rifles. So why the heck would the conspirators require the umbrella man to fire a fletchette to paralyse/poison the President? I honestly shake my head in disbelief at utter non-sense such as this.

As “proof” that a paralysing fletchette was fired into the President’s throat, these theorists cite the reaction of the President between frames 224 and 313 of the Zapruder film – as he clutches at his throat and slumps forward and to the left, becoming motionless. It certainly does appear that he had been paralysed. However, after just having received an injury to his throat (and most likely to his cerebellum as I explained previously), his reaction is perfectly understandable.

Others have claimed that the umbrella man was using the umbrella to signal the assassins that the President had not yet been killed. Although I wouldn’t call this an absurd notion, why would the assassins need to be signalled that the President had not been killed, when they could see that he wasn’t killed through the telescopic sight of their rifles? It frankly makes no sense at all to me. Besides, it is highly unlikely that the conspirators would want the assassins to focus their attention on the umbrella man rather than on shooting the President.

In my opinion, the most reasonable explanation for the umbrella man’s actions is that he was sending a message to the President with the umbrella. This issue has been discussed extensively at both the JFK Lancer forum, and on John Simkin’s Spartacus education forum. On a final note, let me reiterate that the most credible evidence indicates the wound to the President’s throat was caused by a bullet or bullet fragment from the shot near the EOP.