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

Examination of Governor Connally’s Clothing

Examination of Governor Connally’s November 22, 1963 clothing found holes matching his wounds, though many garments had been cleaned and pressed prior to testing, limiting the ability to confirm bullet cause or direction definitively. The back of his coat had a horizontal ~5/8 inch long, 1/4 inch high hole 1 1/8 inches from the right sleeve seam and 7 1/4 inches right of the midline. The front of the coat had a 3/8 inch diameter circular hole 5 inches right of the front right edge, slightly above the top button, and the end of the right sleeve had a rough ~5/8 inch long, 3/8 inch wide hole; all three could have been caused by a bullet, but direction could not be confirmed. The back of his shirt had a ragged horizontal ~5/8 inch long, 1/2 inch high tear near the right sleeve attachment, plus a smaller ~3/16 inch tear adjacent to it, matching the coat’s back hole. The front of the shirt had an irregular H-shaped tear ~1.5 inches high with a 1-inch wide crossbar, located 5 inches from the right seam and 9 inches from the top of the right sleeve; laundering left insufficient characteristics to confirm direction or cause, but the rear hole could be a 6.5mm entry wound and the front hole the corresponding exit. The right sleeve French cuff had a ragged hole 1.5 inches from the sleeve end and 5.5 inches from the outer cuff-link hole; post-laundering characteristics were insufficient for positive conclusions, but the hole could have been caused by a bullet passing through the wrist from back to front. His trousers had a ~1/4 inch diameter roughly circular hole near the left knee, with slight edge tearing giving it a general bullet hole appearance, but the missile’s direction could not be determined.