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Last Second in Dallas Hardcover – January 7, 2021
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Last Second in Dallas is not a conspiracy book. No theory of who did it is offered or discussed. Among the discoveries: The test showing that all recovered bullet fragments came from Oswald’s rifle was mistaken. Several fragments could have come from bullets of any manufacturer and any caliber. The sudden two-inch forward movement of the president’s head in the Zapruder film just before his head explodes is revealed to be an optical illusion caused by the movement of Zapruder’s camera. This leaves without further challenge clear evidence that this shot came from a specific location to the right front of the limousine. Detailed analysis of film frames matched by the newly validated acoustic evidence show a second shot struck the president’s head from behind less than a second later. Result: two killing shots to the head from opposite directions in the final second of the shooting—hence the book’s title.
At once a historical detective story and a deeply personal narrative by a major figure in the field, Last Second in Dallas captures the drama and sweep of events, detailing government missteps and political bias as well as the junk science, hubris, and controversy that have dogged the investigation from the beginning. Into this account Thompson weaves his own eventful journey, that of a Yale-educated scholar who in 1976 resigned his tenured professorship in philosophy to become a private investigator in San Francisco, developing a national reputation.
Profusely illustrated, Last Second in Dallas features dozens of archive photographs, including Zapruder film frames reproduced at the highest clarity ever published.
- Print length544 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity Press of Kansas
- Publication dateJanuary 7, 2021
- Dimensions6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100700630082
- ISBN-13978-0700630080
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Editorial Reviews
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“What Thompson’s narrative contributes to the nation and the field is original forensic data, and the most comprehensive, up-to-date study ever published on both the science and the scientists behind the scene of the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy.”—M.C. Armstrong in The Brooklyn Rail
“An eminently worthwhile addition to the literature that includes some game changing research into one of the Kennedy assassination’s key pieces of evidence.”—Martin Hay in Kennedysandking.com
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : University Press of Kansas (January 7, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 544 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0700630082
- ISBN-13 : 978-0700630080
- Item Weight : 1.86 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #74,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #213 in US Presidents
- #872 in True Crime (Books)
- #1,512 in United States History (Books)
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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
Thompson is one of the most respected assassination "buffs" and wrote one of the best regarded early books on the assassination, Six Seconds in Dallas. He writes very well (a former philosophy professor with a PH.D. from Yale and a published book on Kierkegaard) and explains his reasoning and gives the impression of being fair-minded and sticking to the evidence. That is, he seems intellectually honest and has that reputation.
Many people do not know that in 1979 the House Select Committee on Assassinations issued a report finding that there was probably a conspiracy to kill JFK; this was based on acoustic evidence from Dallas Police Department dictabelts, as analyzed by a prominent Cambridge, Mass. company Bolt, Beranak & Newman (BBB) that analyzed the Kent State shootings and the missing 18.5 minutes from Nixon's tapes. BBN determined that there was a 95% plus probability that there was at least a fourth shot, from the grassy knoll, which would imply conspiracy unless there were two shootings at the same time unrelated to each other.
The BBN study posed a problem to Warren Committee supporters and it was criticized by a high-powered committee called the Ramsey Committee which included Norman Ramsey, Chair of Harvard's Physics Department, and Berkeley physicist Luis Alvarez, both of whom won the Nobel Prize. Daring to go up against that seemingly unimpeachable authority, a Texas Ph.D. in entomology (Yes, insects) named Donald Thomas wrote a very detailed and impressive book on the acoustic evidence, Hear No Evil: Politics, science and the Forensic Evidence in the Kennedy Assassination in 2001, which is a great read. I read Thomas's book about 10 years ago and he struck me as straightforward and spelled out his analysis for anyone to follow. However, the Ramsey Committee's luster so far seems to have carried the day. As Wikipedia says: "The HSCA's acoustic analysis is widely considered to be discredited."
Well, Josiah Thompson is back and has updated analysis from BBN and other highly accomplished experts which at least to me shows convincingly that BBN was right all along and the Ramsey Committee was wrong (and probably manipulated its analysis and its published data to mask its errors). Thompson tells an infuriating but telling incident where Professor Ramsey essentially threatens the lead BBN scientist with professional blackball if BBN does not endorse the Ramsey Committee's conclusion.
Thompson thinks there was a shot from the Dal-Tex building in addition to the Texas State Book Depository, based on timing of the shots, but he does not try to prove this in any detail and I regard that as speculation and not the real point of his book. His main point is that there definitely was a shot from the grassy knoll, which of course is plenty interesting in itself. I can come up with many questions he does not address, such as where did the bullet from the grassy knoll go. But that would be a different book, this one is largely focused on the acoustic evidence which is powerful. Thompson also shows how there is very little reason to believe that a shot from the back would result in driving JFK's head to the left and back; the "jet effect" explanation is not supported by real-life tests of shooting melons, gelatine filled containers, coconuts, etc.
That said, I look forward to any competent analysis rebutting Thompson's conclusions.
Top reviews from other countries
As most readers will no doubt be aware, Thompson is the author of one of the most influential books ever written about President Kennedy’s tragic murder, Six Seconds in Dallas. First published in 1967, Six Seconds in Dallas was a rare gem that managed to garner the respect of both Warren Commission zealots and critics alike. Even the late Vincent Bugliosi―who went to great lengths in his own tediously massive tome to denigrate virtually anyone and everyone who dared disagree with the Warren Commission’s conclusions―was compelled to refer to Thompson’s first book as a “serious and scholarly” work. In Six Seconds, Thompson presented readers with a meticulous study of the facts and evidence available to him at the time, leading to the almost inescapable conclusion that JFK had been shot by three different gunmen firing from three separate locations. While some of the precise details of his reconstruction of the shooting have since proven to be in error, Thompson’s overarching thesis has been entirely validated by later revelations and stands to this day as the most viable explanation of events.
Based on both the quality of Six Seconds In Dallas and my own pleasant exchanges with Thompson―during one of which he was kind enough to state that he felt my critique of Lucien Haag had the “depth and scholarly backup” to appear in a peer-reviewed journal―I was hoping for and, indeed, expecting big things from his follow-up work. It gives me great pleasure to be able to report that I was not disappointed. Last Second in Dallas is an eminently worthwhile addition to the literature that includes some game changing new research into one of the Kennedy assassination’s key pieces of evidence.
One remarkable facet of Last Second in Dallas is that it manages to present readers with a sizeable amount of detail while remaining, for the most part, eminently readable. This is perhaps largely due to the author’s decision to structure the book as a memoir of his time studying and investigating the case rather than as simply another dry recitation of facts.
Last Second in Dallas is likely to be criticised, or outright dismissed, by those who cling to outdated arguments or unfounded beliefs, such as the inexplicably popular theory that the Zapruder film is a forgery, or that the X-rays have been altered to hide a blowout in the back of the head. In some ways I would have liked to have seen Thompson pre-empt these arguments by providing the details that establish the authenticity of the evidence. But then, in so doing, not only would he have taken casual readers down the rabbit hole unnecessarily, but he would also have given such arguments a legitimacy they do not deserve.
In my own two decades as a student of the Kennedy assassination I have heard many silly arguments, one of them being that the acoustics evidence was “designed to fall apart.” I am sure that there are readers out there who are familiar with the intricacies of the acoustic data and, like myself, are scratching their heads wondering how on earth such a feat could possibly be achieved. In any case, I do not doubt that the type of person capable of subscribing to such nonsensical ideas will have no problem disregarding Thompson’s impressive achievement in this area, or otherwise failing to grasp its significance. But I also do not doubt that history will thank him for his efforts.
Just as I am sure history will thank him for owning up to and correcting his own error regarding the forward movement of Kennedy’s head and, in so doing, demonstrating how perfectly the audio and visual evidence fits together. It may well be, as Thompson suggests, that the gaps and contradictions that still exist in the evidence today preclude a definitive reconstruction of the entire assassination sequence. However, I do believe it can rightly be said that Last Second in Dallas lives up to the promise of its title and establishes to a high degree of probability exactly how that final second went down. Once again, I am confident that history will thank him for it.
And that is precisely what I intend to do.
トンプソン氏は、その後、大学の哲学准教授としての地位を投げうって私立探偵を職業とする傍ら、ケネディ暗殺事件の調査を続けられたようです。前著から50年以上の月日を経て、研究結果をまとめられたのが今回の本書です。デイリープラザで当日発射された銃弾は合計5発、その内、ケネディに命中したのは3発で、最後の2発がほぼ同時に頭部に命中したなどの、新しい見解を示されています。きわめて論理的で、冷静な筆致で書かれた書物で、ケネディ暗殺事件に関心を持つ人にとっては、是非、手元に置きたい一冊です。付属資料の部分も含めて、日本語訳が発行されることを切に希望します。