In 1993 Bill Clinton signed the JFK Assassination Records Act, ordering all related records to be sent to the National Archives and made available for public viewing, and any US citizen can make an appointment and rummage through what must be millions of files and artifacts. Separating the wheat from the chaff could take a lifetime, and the best stuff was doubtlessly destroyed right after the assassination. The law also formally absolved the government from any responsibility to further investigate the assassination, which sounds like another Clinton solution - not a good trade-off. The law created the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), and Douglas Horne, a career navy man and lifetime assassination bug, accepted a 40% pay cut to work there, becoming Chief Analyst for Military records, most of which dealt with the medical evidence. He eventually wrote "Inside the Assassination Records Review Board" and I bought Volume One (of five). So what does he say? Well, quite a bit, since it looks like he was trying to milk the project for all it was worth. The book is not a rip-off - it is a large, quality product with 90 B&W prints, taken from the first generation, original evidence. It included the best print of the Moorman photo I have ever seen, taken off the vehicle left rear quarter at the moment of the head wound. Most prints show an odd rumple in the president's suit coat around the right shoulder, but in Horne's photo it is clearly a separate lighter color object, most likely the occipital bone fragment, which Jackie scrambled after as it clattered down the trunk deck. The photo shows the retaining wall behind the grassy knoll, and some say they see the gunman's face, but all I see are the light and dark splotches of leafy vegetation.
The ARRB was not tasked with "solving" the Kennedy Assassination, but it quickly became clear that too properly organize the medical records, a number of contradictions would have to be resolved. Horne and the General Counsel took sworn testimony from a number of people, including Humes and Boswell, the autopsy doctors. As usual, Humes was gruff and arrogant while Boswell was folksy and helpful, but neither moved the needle very much, since everyone at the autopsy signed a gag order leaving them in fear for their pensions. A copy of the order is presented as Horne's Appendix 26. The appendices are not in the book but are posted on the Mary Farrell Foundation website. I checked and they are there under Resources. They used the one signed by Cdr. John Ebersole, the X-Ray man at Bethesda. He went off script during the 1978 congressional hearings (HSCA), saying some occipital bones had been delivered to Dallas and he X-Rayed them and found some bits of metal. The occipital is the skull section behind the ear, where many people, but not Warren, say there was a huge exit wound. The brain situation is quite bizarre, as two brains were clearly used in the examination. The pictures in the National Archives are of someone else's brain. A set of bootleg photos are in circulation, but the ARRB used high quality original prints and saw more of them. They still don't make a complete set, they are not numbered as they should have been, and they show the body in confusing poses. Some similar poses show completely different wound characteristics. The X-Rays resemble no others known to man, with some areas showing almost nothing and other areas bright white. A radiology expert called them forgeries. The area that looks like it had a lead plate put in front of it is of course the occipital. What materials were delivered to the archives were further ransacked by Kennedy family representatives, who were seen fleeing the building with the brain and other medical records. Again, this is what a government agency concluded in the mid-90s.
The ARRB also had fun with the photographers. This gets very confusing, as two men (who knew each other) took pictures of the autopsy, but never saw each other that night and their pictures look completely different. Both had their pictures taken away and were ordered never to discuss the matter. Horne plays this pretty close to the vest - I think he wants you to buy Volume Two, which I have declined to do, but it seems clear that one man took pictures before the wounds were modified. This all happened Friday night, while things were still in an uproar, so the government wanted as many pictures as possible to support whatever story they eventually settled on. The official Bethesda photographer was Springer, who had retired by the 90's. He spoke to the ARRB but was clearly not comfortable and couldn't remember much. Kennedy's official photographer, Knudsen, was deceased but his widow and grown children eagerly came in. His family said he had served every president since Truman and was involved with the Warren Commission and a small probe in 1988 that was not publicized. He was very unhappy with his treatment by HSCA, who took his testimony, made no mention of it in their report and sealed it for 50 years. He told them probes had been inserted into the wounds and photographed, but these pictures have never surfaced. He saw the occipital wound. He never read any assassination books but told his family he didn't believe Warren. He woulds sometimes become pensive and speak in a general way about the terrible burden carried by an officer under an oath of secrecy.
None of this is terribly controversial, but Horne goes on to conclusively prove that the Zapruder film was doctored. He has the best print to work with and he convinced me, but I'm plum wore out from typing, making about 10% typos at this point, so the discussion will have to wait, maybe tomorrow or early next week. Ha, I'm just like Horne, stringing it out, but stay tuned.
