Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Autopsy Report and Supplemental Report

Appendix IX introduces the Autopsy Report and Supplemental Report under Clinical Record Autopsy Protocol A63-272 (JJH:ec). The President died on 22 November 1963 at 1300 (CST) and the full autopsy was performed the same day at 2000 (EST) at the Naval Medical School. The document identifies CDR J.J. Humes, MC, USN (497831) as the prosector, with CDR “J” Thornton Boswell, MC, USN (439878) and Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck, MC, USA (04 043 322) as assistants. The record is approved and signed by CDR J.J. Humes, MC, USN, with the military organization noted as “President, United States.” It also begins the physical and demographic descriptors of the body, recording height at 72½ inches, weight at 170 pounds, blue eyes, and reddish brown hair.

Pathological Diagnoses

The Pathological Diagnoses section states the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. The section carries the approved signature of CDR J.J. Humes, MC, USN, and notes the autopsy number A63-272 for the 46-year-old Caucasian male.

Patient Identification

The Patient’s Identification section identifies the deceased as Kennedy, John F., examined at the Naval Medical School, with autopsy number A63-272.

Clinical Summary

The Clinical Summary describes the circumstances of the wounding: President John F. Kennedy was riding in an open car in a motorcade during an official visit to Dallas, Texas, on 22 November 1963. The President sat in the right rear seat with Mrs. Kennedy to his left, Governor John B. Connally sat directly in front of the President, and Mrs. Connally sat directly in front of Mrs. Kennedy. The vehicle moved at a slow rate of speed down an incline into an underpass leading to a freeway route to the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President was to speak. Three shots were heard, and the President fell forward bleeding from the head. Governor Connally was seriously wounded by the same gunfire. A Dallas “Times Herald” photographer, Bob Jackson, reported seeing a rifle barrel disappearing into a window on an upper floor of the nearby Texas School Book Depository Building (as reported in the “Washington Post” of 23 November 1963). The car was driven to Parkland Hospital, where Dr. Malcolm Perry attended the President in the emergency room. In a telephone communication on 23 November 1963, Dr. Perry described a massive head wound and a second smaller wound of the low anterior neck in approximately the midline; a tracheostomy was performed by extending the latter wound, revealing an injury to the right lateral tracheal wall with bubbling bloody air. Bilateral upper anterior chest wall incisions were made to address possible subcutaneous emphysema, and intravenous blood and saline were administered with oxygen. Despite these measures, cardiac arrest occurred and closed chest cardiac massage failed to restore cardiac action. The President was pronounced dead approximately thirty to forty minutes after receiving his wounds. The remains were transported via the Presidential plane to Washington, D.C., and then to the Naval Medical School, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, for postmortem examination.

General Body Description

The General Description of the Body records that the body was that of a muscular, well-developed, well-nourished adult Caucasian male, measuring 72½ inches and weighing approximately 170 pounds. There was beginning rigor mortis, minimal dependent livor mortis of the dorsum, and early algor mortis. The hair was reddish brown and abundant; the eyes were blue, with the right pupil measuring 8 mm in diameter and the left 4 mm. There was edema and ecchymosis of the inner canthus of the left eyelid measuring approximately 1.5 cm in greatest diameter, and diffuse edema and ecchymosis over the right supra-orbital ridge with abnormal mobility of the underlying bone. The scalp was to be described in more detail with the skull. The external ears contained clotted blood; the ears, nares, and mouth were otherwise unremarkable. The teeth were in excellent repair, with pallor of the oral mucous membrane. A 7 × 4 mm oval wound was situated on the upper right posterior thorax just above the upper border of the scapula, measured 14 cm from the tip of the right acromion process and 14 cm below the tip of the right mastoid process. A 6.5 cm transverse wound with widely gaping irregular edges was situated in the low anterior neck at approximately the level of the third and fourth tracheal rings. Bilateral 2 cm transverse recent surgical incisions into the subcutaneous tissue were situated on the anterior chest wall in the nipple line, with the left 11 cm cephalad to the nipple and the right 8 cm cephalad to the nipple, without associated hemorrhage or ecchymosis. A similar clean 2 cm wound was on the antero-lateral aspect of the left mid arm, and 2 cm transverse incisions into subcutaneous tissue were on the antero-lateral aspect of each ankle. An old well-healed 8 cm McBurney abdominal incision was present, a 15 cm well-healed midline scar was over the lumbar spine, and an 8 cm well-healed scar was on the upper antero-lateral aspect of the right thigh.