The JFK Single–Bullet Theory

The case against Lee Harvey Oswald required the creation of what became known as the single–bullet hypothesis or single–bullet theory.1

Developing the Single–Bullet Theory

The single–bullet theory was developed in three stages:

Stage 1: December 1963

The FBI’s report into the assassination matched the wounds to the three bullets in the following way:

• one bullet caused all of Governor Connally’s wounds by passing through his torso and shattering his right wrist;
• one bullet caused President Kennedy’s fatal head wound;
• and one bullet caused one of Kennedy’s non–fatal wounds by entering his back, but did not cause his throat wound.2

Stage 2: March 1964

The Warren Commission modified this explanation by assuming that Kennedy’s throat wound had been caused by the same bullet that had caused his back wound.

Stage 3: June 1964

When the wounding of the bystander, James Tague, was unexpectedly made public, the commission became obliged to use the only plausible explanation that would account for all of the wounds having been inflicted by just three bullets:

• one bullet caused Tague’s wound;
• one bullet caused President Kennedy’s fatal head wound;
• and one bullet caused all of Kennedy’s and Connally’s non–fatal wounds by entering Kennedy’s back, exiting through his throat, entering Connally’s back, exiting his chest, passing through his right wrist, and lodging itself in his left thigh: the single–bullet theory.3

Evidence for the Single–Bullet Theory

Two aspects of the evidence suggested that the single–bullet theory was plausible:

• No bullets or bullet fragments were discovered in President Kennedy’s body, apart from the many small fragments associated with his head wound.
• Although the photographic evidence does not allow the horizontal alignment of the president and Governor Connally to be accurately determined, it does not rule out the possibility that a bullet fired from the south–eastern corner of the Texas School Book Depository may have passed through both men.

Objections to the Single–Bullet Theory

Although objections were raised to all of the important parts of the Warren Commission’s account, the most powerful objections were aimed at the most fundamental part, the idea that all of Kennedy’s and Connally’s non–fatal wounds were caused by one bullet.

If the single–bullet theory is false, at least one shot must have been fired by someone other than Oswald. In other words:

• either Oswald had at least one accomplice,
• or Oswald fired none of the shots himself.

Objection 1: John Connally’s Back Wound

Governor Connally testified to the Warren Commission that the bullet which struck him in the back was fired later than the bullet which caused at least one of President Kennedy’s non–fatal wounds. Connally maintained for the rest of his life that he was struck by a separate bullet, after Kennedy had already been wounded.4

Two Eye–Witnesses to a Second Bullet

Two of the closest eye–witnesses were Governor Connally’s wife, who was sitting to his left, and James Chaney, the police motorcyclist who was riding to President Kennedy’s right. Both independently claimed that Connally’s back wound was caused by a separate bullet.5

The Zapruder Film and Evidence of a Later Bullet

This was consistent with the evidence provided by the Zapruder film. The film shows President Kennedy emerging from behind a road sign at about frame 225, with his hands reaching to his throat. He has clearly been shot by this point. Indeed, the single–bullet theory demands that he has been shot by this point. The Warren Commission claimed that Kennedy had in fact been shot two–thirds of a second earlier, at frame 210, the instant at which he became visible from the easternmost sixth–floor window after being hidden behind an oak tree. Connally, however, shows no sign of being shot in the back until two–thirds of a second later, at about frame 238, when he starts to twist and fall to his left.6

This bullet arrived much too late to have been the one which wounded Kennedy, and much too early for both to have been fired from the rifle attributed to Oswald.

Objection 2: Connally’s Cowboy Hat and Shirt Cuff

The governor of Texas was holding a cowboy hat in his right hand. Both the hat and the hand are visible in the Zapruder film intermittently for several seconds after Kennedy comes into view while clutching at his throat. As late as frame 268, more than two seconds after frame 225, Connally’s hand is gripping his hat tightly, his shirt cuff white and free of blood. Clearly, he has not yet been hit by the bullet which clipped the end of his jacket sleeve, passed through his shirt cuff, then shattered the radius bone in his wrist and severed the tendon by his thumb.7

Objection 3: The Locations of President Kennedy’s Non–Fatal Wounds

President Kennedy was sitting upright until he was shot. His throat wound was far too high, or his back wound far too low, for them both to have been caused by one bullet from the Texas School Book Depository’s sixth floor, which was sixty feet above the road.8

The Location of JFK’s Throat Wound

The throat wound was located just below the Adam’s apple and just above the knot of the tie. Dr Charles Carrico, who saw Kennedy’s throat wound before it was distorted during a tracheotomy and before the president’s shirt and tie were removed, was asked to point to the location on his own throat. His questioner clarified the location for the record:

Mr Dulles :

And you put your hand right above where your tie is?

Dr Carrico :

Yes, sir.9

The Warren Commission preferred to place the bullet wound about one inch lower, just below the level of Kennedy’s collar button. This location is contradicted by:

• the lack of an obvious bullet hole in the front of Kennedy’s shirt,
• and by the absence of bullet damage to his tie.

There were several slits in the president’s jacket, tie and shirt, but all of them are consistent with having been made in the hospital’s emergency room by nurses using scalpels or scissors to free the patient’s clothing. The two cuts close to the collar of the shirt did not match each other, as those caused by a bullet would have done.10

The cuts in the president’s shirt lay directly underneath the knot of the tie, but there was no damage to the knot of the tie apart from a tiny nick on the front of the knot, to the wearer’s left. Material surrounding the nick was removed in order to obtain a sample for testing, to see whether a bullet had deposited traces of copper. Although there were traces of copper around the bullet hole in the back of the shirt, there were none on the tie or on the front of the shirt.11 The damage to the tie, just like the damage to the front of the shirt, was evidently made by a surgical instrument, not by a bullet.

JFK’s Back Wound was too Low

It makes no practical difference whether President Kennedy’s throat wound was located at or just above the knot of his tie. The balance of the evidence places his back wound several inches lower than either location.12

• The death certificate signed by Dr George Burkley, the president's personal doctor, who was present both in the emergency room at the hospital in Dallas and at the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, located the back wound “at about the level of the third thoracic vertebra,” which is typically four to six inches, or 10 to 15 centimetres, below the top of the shirt collar.13
• The only surviving contemporary report of the autopsy supported this location.14
• The autopsy descriptive sheet, made by one of the pathologists during the autopsy, was the official diagram of the wounds to the body. It, too, placed the back wound in this location.15
• The backs of Kennedy’s jacket and shirt each contained a bullet hole located between five and six inches below the top of the collar, which matched this location.16 Although the jacket had bunched up slightly from time to time during the motorcade as Kennedy waved to the crowd, it had never bunched up sufficiently to allow a bullet to enter at the required angle. In a photograph taken no more than 1.2 seconds before any non–fatal shot from the sixth floor could have been fired, the jacket can clearly be seen to be at or very close to its normal position.17 Buttoned–up shirts tend to be much less flexible than jackets. President Kennedy’s shirt in particular could not have bunched up significantly: it had been made to measure; it was held in place by a belt; it had a long tail, on which Kennedy was sitting; and the hot weather would have caused the shirt to stick to the president’s back. The hole in the shirt lined up almost exactly with the hole in the jacket.

The Back Wound was Lower than the Throat Wound

Because bullets can sometimes veer off in unexpected directions on striking an internal object after entering a body, it is conceivable, though unlikely, that a bullet from the sixth floor of the TSBD hit President Kennedy in the back, veered upward, and passed out of his throat.

Unfortunately, a bullet following an upward trajectory could not have caused any of Governor Connally’s injuries, as the single–bullet theory demanded. The unavoidable implication is that Kennedy’s back and throat wounds were caused:

• either by separate bullets
• or by one bullet fired from somewhere other than the sixth–floor window.

It also follows that at least one further bullet is required in order to account for Connally’s wounds.

The Status of the Single–Bullet Theory

Although some of the incontrovertible facts of the case appeared to implicate Oswald, other incontrovertible facts appeared to exculpate him:

• the time available for the shooting,
• the capabilities of the alleged weapon,
• and the nature of the injuries.

These three factors came together to suggest strongly that the essential part of the Warren Commission’s case, the single–bullet hypothesis or theory, was not only unsupported by the evidence but was actively contradicted by the evidence.

The failure of the single–bullet theory proved that Oswald could not have committed the crime alone.

• Oswald’s Rifle and Paraffin Tests
• How Did Oswald Kill President Kennedy?

• The Sixth–Floor Rifle and Oswald’s Paraffin Tests
• How Did Oswald Kill President Kennedy?