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

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.