After 50 years of following the progression of the post-Warren Commission evidence regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I can finally say I understand how it occurred. Josiah Thompson has produced a historic and scholarly account of how the visual record of the assassination, primarily the Zapruder film, tracks perfectly with the Dallas police's acoustic recording of the shots made on Nov. 22, '63.
Dr. Thompson's book includes no speculation or conspiracy theories... his sole focus is the hard evidence, and the scientific analysis of the film and audio recording to reveal what they show. What the book details is confirmation of exactly what the acoustic study of the police recording revealed to the House Select Committee on Assassinations back in 1978. The original acoustics study, and a re-enactment of the assassination shooting by BB&N for sound comparison analysis, were conducted by the nation's premier acoustics firm, Bolt, Baranek and Newman, in 1978. The House Select Committee got the BB&N report with its conclusion that there had been 5 shots in total, and the 4th shot was from the right front. The acoustic evidence, later supported and confirmed by further analysis of frames of the Zapruder film, showed conclusively that JFK was hit in the head by two shots within the final second of the 8.3 seconds during which the shooting occurred... the 4th shot was fired from the right front of Kennedy, from the direction and location where eyewitnesses had seen men/smoke puffs behind the fence on the grassy knoll.
The HSCA concluded that there was "probably" a conspiracy, which the Warren Commission had inadequately investigated, based upon the certainty that shots had been fired from two different locations at the same time. The HSCA said "probably" because they had no firm evidence that the two separate shooters had been acting in concert, or had any connection to each other. But they did confirm that a shot came from the grassy knoll. Neither the Warren Commission, which ignored JFK's head movement entirely, nor the HSCA report could explain why Kennedy's head moves violently back, and to the left after the 4th shot. The Z film shows Kennedy's head exploding as it is forced back, and the acoustics matches the head shot perfectly for shot #4, so it is clear that the fatal shot came from the knoll.
The HSCA chose to say in its report that the 4th shot from the knoll missed, JFK, only because it gave too much credence to the inept, incomplete and erroneous original autopsy report done in 1963 by the inadequately experienced military doctors who had never before done a forensic autopsy. The original autopsy said death was the result of one shot to the head from the rear and the HSCA chose to go with that conclusion instead of believing the acoustics study report, and in spite of what they could plainly see with their own eyes from the Z-film.
"Last Second", IMO, is the best book ever written about the Kennedy assassination. It is extremely well documented, and footnoted. The illustrations and photo reproductions are first class. The book is very well written and provides a very interesting history of the evidence. Even more important and IMO, noteworthy, is the time Mr. Thompson spends in explaining how science, and eminent scientists, were used in questionable ways to discredit the evidence. This book is the first one that I am aware of which details the abuse or misuse of science in addressing the JFK evidence. Much of the "discrediting" "scientific" analysis of the evidence was in turn totally discredited. This use of science to discredit and cast doubt on the evidence was wide ranging and pervasive. This history is carefully laid out and documented in Mr. Thompson's work, and it is an important aspect of the case that has not received media attention. A few examples of this faux science:
1. In 1967, when Thompson's first book was published and presented the thesis that analysis of the Z film showed at least 4 shots, with 2 striking the president's head. Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez, soon announced that he had done an analysis of the Z film and found that Zapruder had, while filming the assassination, flinched or had a "startle response" to the sound of the shots and his camera jerked. Alvarez announced that there were only 3 "startle responses" by Zapruder, which confirmed that only 3 shots were fired. Later analysis of the Z film by others, together with the notes and data from Alvarez's own records of his "study" reveal that there were actually 6 startle responses by Mr. Z during his filming.
2. After the public actually was, after 12 years, allowed to see the Z-film on TV (Geraldo Rivera show, March, 1975) there was amazed outcry over what made the presidents head explode and suddenly move back and to the left, if the shot was fired from behind? Again, Luis Alvarez came up with his "jet effect" explanation for the backward motion. Alvarez said the force of brain, bone and other matte being blown out as the bullet exited the front of Kennedy's head, would produce a "jet effect", forcing Kennedy's head back. Alvarez had some melons taped to resemble human skulls and shot them with a high powered rifle. Some melons moved back, toward the shooter. This is bogus. The HSCA commented on Alvarez's claim by saying "melons are not human skulls."
3. The HSCA relied heavily on the study of the bullets and fragments performed by Dr. Vincent Guinn. His report to the HSCA seemed to confirm the "single bullet" theory. Guinn said that comparison of the recovered "magic bullet's" composition matched the bullet fragments removed from Gov. Connally's wrist, and therefore the theory that the same bullet caused Kennedy's back/throat wound also caused Connally's injuries. Originally this "science", as it was applied to bullets, was called "neutron activation analysis", and it later evolved into an infrequently used technique for crime investigations known as "comparative bullet lead analysis" (CBLA). A single FBI lab did the CBLA tests, until the science of CBLA was itself discredited... the FBI closed its lab and the technique is no longer utilized, nor its results accepted by the courts. The authorities were forced to concede that the HSCA reliance upon Dr. Guinn's claims about the magic bullet was misplaced and that there is no scientific link between the "magic bullet" and fragments from Connally.
4. After the HSCA report emphasized the acoustic study of the Dallas police recording of the assassination, the Justice Department put together a panel to study and report on the BB&N acoustics study. Norman Ramsay, a Harvard physicist, was named the head of the 7 member panel, which was known as the "Ad Hoc Committee on Bullet Acoustics". Interestingly, not a single member of the Ramsay panel was an expert in acoustics... they were physicists. In 1982, the Ramsay panel issued a report finding that the BB&N acoustic study had studied sounds that did not occur at the time of the assassination, but were recorded after the event and, therefore whatever the sounds were, they could not be assassination shots. The report of the HSCA has, essentially, been put into the trash can since the Ramsay Panel's report. Thompson's book in great detail explains why and how it has taken over 20 years since the Ramsay Panel's report, to be able to PROVE That the Ramsay Panel's conclusions were erroneous. (Yes, the math and methods of proving it are in two appendices to the book, which were written by the scientists who did it, so anyone can replicate their work... with some math/computer skills).
Again, Luis Alvarez was on the Ramsay panel, and he was the driving force behind its erroneous report.
IMO, Last Second in Dallas is the last word in how the event occurred. Now maybe someone can figure out who done it. But if you read this book you will conclude that there are very few organizations or groups who could have done it. And the fact that it has all been successfully covered up for 59 years should give anyone a strong hint about who could have guaranteed that.
Larry Keesey
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Reviews with images
The Science is Clear. Thompson proves the science is reliable and discloses multiple shooters
The Kennedy Assassination is the crime of the 20th Century and is not only unsolved, but the facts known have been hidden from us for 58 years. Thompson validates the acoustic evidence discovered to exist in the 1970s within the Dallas Police Department. The single shooter advocates had to trash the acoustic evidence to keep their theory alive. It worked until several years ago. Thompson proves the acoustic evidence was valid and when matched to the Zagruder film provides an indisputable picture of a professional hit with at least 3 shooters. The book addresses only one question: Was there more than Oswald shooting at JFK. Thompson proves (at least to my satisfaction) yes; therefore the crime of the 20th century was a conspiracy to assassinate JFK.
Top reviews from other countries
Martin Hay
Finally, a new JFK book worth reading!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2021
Allen Peppitt
Calm, concise, and clear.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 24, 2021