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

CHAPITRE III.

This is Chapter III of the Warren Commission report, focused on verifying the trajectory of the shots fired at President John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally during the 1963 assassination. Initial cumulative evidence from eyewitnesses, ballistics experts, and medical authorities indicated the shots originated from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building; the Commission launched supplementary investigation including analysis of motion picture footage of the event and onsite reenactment tests to confirm all findings aligned with this conclusion and to establish precise details of the limousine’s position, shot timing, and bullet paths.

THE TRAJECTORY

The cumulative body of evidence from eyewitnesses, firearms and ballistic experts, and medical authorities confirmed that the shots which struck President Kennedy and Governor Connally were fired from above and behind the two men, specifically from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. To validate this conclusion and map precise details of the event, the Commission requested additional investigation including analysis of motion picture footage of the assassination and onsite reenactment tests. Findings from FBI and Secret Service investigations confirmed the Commission’s initial determinations about the source and trajectory of the shots, and also enabled approximations of the Presidential limousine’s location at the time each shot was fired and the time intervals between shots.

Films and Tests

Motion picture footage captured by spectators Abraham Zapruder, Orville O. Nix, and Mary Muchmore provided critical context for the assassination sequence, with the Zapruder film serving as the most complete record of the event. FBI examination of the Zapruder camera confirmed it captured 18.3 frames per second, allowing researchers to calculate timing of events by assigning 1/18.3 seconds to the action between each consecutive frame. The footage and individual frame slides were reviewed by Governor and Mrs. Connally, the Governor’s medical team, autopsy surgeons, and Army wound ballistics scientists to map the precise sequence of events. Testing of the assassin’s Mannlicher-Carcano rifle determined a minimum of 2.3 seconds was required between successive shots. On May 24, 1964, the FBI and Secret Service conducted a full reenactment of the assassination: since the Presidential limousine was unavailable for remodeling, the Secret Service follow-up car (a similar vehicle) was used as a substitute, with agents of matching physical build seated in the same relative positions as Kennedy and Connally. The sixth-floor sniper’s nest was replicated using the recovered assassination rifle, which was mounted with a camera to record the view from the assassin’s position, and the original spectator camera positions were used to capture comparative footage of the reenactment. Agents confirmed the oak tree foliage along the motorcade route matched conditions on the day of the assassination.

The First Bullet That Hit

Analysis of the Zapruder film and reenactment results established that President Kennedy was most likely struck in the neck between Zapruder frames 210 and 225, when his limousine was between 138.9 and 153.8 feet west of station C (a marked reference point on Houston Street’s west curbline). The President was visible to the assassin starting at frame 210, when the car cleared the obstruction of a large oak tree, and his visible reaction to the neck wound became clearly apparent by frame 226. FBI inspection of the Presidential limousine found no interior damage consistent with a bullet exiting the President’s neck, ruling out the possibility the bullet struck the vehicle. Given the close seating arrangement of Kennedy and Governor Connally (with Kennedy seated to Connally’s right on the extreme right of the limousine), the bullet that passed through Kennedy’s neck most likely struck Connally next. Reenactment tests confirmed the entry points of the two men were aligned in the assassin’s rifle scope between frames 207 and 210, and trajectory measurements calculated an average angle of declination of 20°52’30“ for the shot, adjusted to 17°43’30“ when accounting for the 3°9’ downward grade of Elm Street, a trajectory consistent with a bullet passing through Kennedy’s neck and into Connally’s back. Army Wound Ballistics Branch experiments further supported this single-bullet theory: test firings using animal flesh covered in cloth to simulate clothing produced a bullet with matching velocity loss and tumbling behavior to the bullet found on Connally’s stretcher, consistent with the projectile passing through both men’s bodies. Trajectory alignment was approximate rather than conclusive, as exact recreation of the men’s positions was impossible, and variations in their posture or seating position could have altered the calculated angle.