JFK's Death: Are We Finally Getting Closer to the Truth?

These have been stimulating days for JFK assassination buffs, myself included. This week, as we observed the 60th anniversary of that terrible day in Dallas, we have been digesting new reports containing fresh evidence — and yes, it all points to a conspiracy.

We know this is a vastly complicated murder mystery, one that quite probably will never be solved. But we can certainly dismiss the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman.

Sometimes when you’re dealing with such a complex scenario, little pieces of evidence can be key. In a new documentary, “JFK: What the Doctors Saw” we hear a chilling account from Dr. Robert McClelland, who was assistant professor of surgery at Parkland Memorial Hospital and was one of the doctors trying to save Kennedy’s life.

McClelland recalled that one of the doctors who was working with him, Dr. Malcolm Perry, now deceased, spoke to reporters in a news conference shortly after the announcement that Kennedy was dead. McClelland: “Dr. Perry, in describing the wound to the throat, said he thought that it looked like an entrance wound.” (The other doctors agreed with this).

McClelland said Perry told him that when he was leaving the news conference, an unidentified man walked up to him and said: “You must never, ever say that that was an entrance wound again — if you know what’s good for you.”

Who was that guy? How did he get access to that room? Who was he working for? Why did he say that? Clearly he didn’t want the public to believe, as the eyewitness doctors did, that Kennedy was shot by a gunman from in front of the motorcade — not from the rear, where Oswald was shooting.

The unknown man’s warning was chillingly effective. Until the documentary was released, all these years later, those doctors remained silent about seeing an entrance wound.

The documentary also notes that one of the Parkland doctors tried to stop Secret Service agents from taking Kennedy’s body out of Dallas — the autopsy should have been performed there because that’s where he was killed — but he was literally lifted up by an agent and pushed out of the way. The autopsy was instead conducted at Bethesda Naval Hospital — and Dr. Perry that night received recurring calls from autopsy doctors there who told him he needed to change his story, to say it was an exit wound, or he would lose his medical license. Unfortunately, he was so scared that he succumbed to the pressure, and told the Warren Commission that the shot could have come from behind.

I learned another new, crucial nugget of information this morning when I watched “Killing JFK: 60 Questions Answered” on the Peacock network: nine eyewitnesses standing near the motorcade as the shots were fired said they smelled gunpowder. Now ask yourself: how could they have smelled gunpowder from Oswald’s rifle, 265 feet away, in a sixth-floor window?

“60 Questions” also cites the account announced two months ago by Secret Service agent Paul Landis (which I discussed in my Substack column Sept. 15) that he found the “magic bullet” in the rear seat where Kennedy was riding. Landis said he picked up the bullet and put it on a stretcher at the hospital, where it was discovered shortly afterward.

The “magic bullet theory,” concocted by the Warren Commission, would have us believe that one of the bullets fired at the limousine passed through Kennedy, then entered Texas Gov. John Connally, who was riding in the front seat. This amazing bullet somehow struck Connally’s shoulder, then his rib, exited under his right nipple, continued trough his right wrist and into his left thigh before exiting his body. The Commission needs us all to believe this in order to stick to its story that there was just one gunman, firing from the rear of the limousine.

The Landis evidence — and much, much more — is discussed in filmmaker Rob Reiner’s new 10-part podcast on iHeart, “Who Killed JFK?” Reiner, with his co-host, the Emmy Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, this week released the third part of their investigation, focusing on forensics. They note the “magic bullet,” after supposedly passing through all of that bodily material, was in nearly pristine condition. And if it ended up in the back seat rather than the front seat, they ask: “How did it bounce back from the front seat?”

If Landis is telling the truth, Reiner notes, there would have to have been at least one other gunman; Oswald would not have had time to fire four times. (It’s been shown the first shot missed the car entirely.)

Reiner was interviewed on CNN, and elsewhere, about the podcast conclusions. “We’ll tell you what we think happened. We’ll name the shooters.”

In another interview, Reiner hedged somewhat: “Based on the forensics, we know there were four (shooters).” He says there could have been five. He added, “Exactly who did what, we make our best guess based on all the information we have.”

He’s going to name the shooters? Really? This is tremendously exciting news, if he’s truly going to tell us what happened that day 60 years ago.

But I’ve been studying and pondering this mystery for decades. I’ve seen the Zapruder film repeatedly, watching in horror as Kennedy’s head is violently propelled backward as the fatal shot strikes him. I’ve been to Dealey Plaza, twice. I’ve been to the Texas School Book Depository’s Sixth Floor Museum and seen where Oswald was crouching, his vantage point. I’ve read so many books about this that I can’t even list them all. The end result has always been frustration. Not knowing.

Reiner and O’Brien are planning to release their episodes slowly, one week at a time. Apparently we’re going to have to wait seven more weeks for them to tell us the names of the shooters.

“I think we will be making news,” he says.

He thinks he will be making news?

Stay tuned.