Mr. SPECTER. What doctors, if any, were present when you arrived?
Dr. HUNT. Red Duke--I'm sorry, I just don't remember who the others
were. There were three or four.
Mr. SPECTER. What action was being taken with respect to Governor
Connally upon your arrival there?
Dr. HUNT. They were placing chest tubes, as a matter of fact, they had
one in and were putting the other one in, and were--they had an I.V.
going, I believe someone had done a cutdown, and they were checking
other wounds. He had a wound on his arm and another wound down on his
leg, I think, and that was about it--preparing to take him promptly up
to surgery.
Mr. SPECTER. And what did you do on that occasion?
Dr. HUNT. I walked in and Dr. Duke looked up and the first thing I did
was to look at the Governor--I took his pulse and he spoke to me and
said something, and noted his color.
Mr. SPECTER. What did the Governor say to you?
Dr. HUNT. He said something like, "It hurts," not anything real
specific, but he did at least speak, and it was a conscious thought
type of thing, so that he was more or less alert, responding, so then I
stepped back into the hall and signaled a fellow, a medical student who
has been in our department, that is rotating through anesthesia, and I
happened to see him just outside the door, and I asked him to please go
upstairs and bring me another unit of equipment and then came back in
and told Dr. Duke I had sent for equipment, although I didn't believe
the Governor was going to need it, and he said that he was very glad
that I had and he, too, didn't think he would need it, but he should
have it as a standby, and then they brought me a machine and my table
down and I stayed with the Governor until he was ready to go upstairs,
but he did not require any respiratory aid because he was not that
critical.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you participate any further with the treatment of
Governor Connally?
Dr. HUNT. When we were ready to go upstairs, I went back to the room
where the President was and Dr. Giesecke, who is a staff member from
our department, appeared relatively free and I asked him if he would
come and go upstairs with the Governor and I came on upstairs in a
different route. I didn't go in the elevator with the Governor--Dr.
Giesecke went with him, and helped Dr. Giesecke get under way with the
surgery.
Mr. SPECTER. How did you go upstairs, by what route?
Dr. HUNT. I don't know--I don't remember.
Mr. SPECTER. Is there any other elevator going up to the operating
rooms?
Dr. HUNT. Yes; there are four elevators.
Mr. SPECTER. But do those lead from the emergency rooms?
Dr. HUNT. No; you come down this long hallway up to those of the ground
floor.
Mr. SPECTER. Is there more than one elevator for the stretcher to go
through from the emergency room up to the second floor operating rooms?
Dr. HUNT. Yes; they can--they come up to these.
Mr. SPECTER. What route would they have to take to do this?
Dr. HUNT. They would have to come directly out of the emergency room
and down this main hallway to this front bank of elevators.
Mr. SPECTER. That would be a pretty long route, would it not?
Dr. HUNT. Actually, it isn't very long. I don't know in yards or paces
even, but there are three elevators there.
Mr. SPECTER. What route did Governor Connally use?
Dr. HUNT. I think they took him by the back elevator, the one that
comes down into the emergency room.
Mr. SPECTER. Is that the one they customarily use to take people from
the emergency area into the operating room?
Dr. HUNT. Yes; if there is an emergency it goes straight up--they
usually use that one.
Mr. SPECTER. You say you went back to President Kennedy's room?
Dr. HUNT. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And what did you observe there at that time?
Dr. HUNT. At that time I did notice, and possibly this was there
earlier, I noticed that they had gotten more monitoring equipment
in and connected the electronic equipment for monitoring the
electrocardiogram.
Mr. SPECTER. At what time did you return to President Kennedy's room?
Dr. HUNT. I don't know--it would probably have been maybe 3 or 4 or 5
minutes from the time I stepped out, because I went across the hall--I
didn't know the Governor was there, and someone told me and I went in
and just took a brief look at him to sort of size up his condition, and
stepped out and sent for my equipment and went back in and stayed until
they brought my equipment. It would have been a little longer than 4 or
5 minutes because they had to bring the equipment down the elevator and
it had arrived and been there a few minutes--3 or 4 minutes before we
were ready to take him upstairs.
Mr. SPECTER. And what was going on in the President's room when you
returned there?
Dr. HUNT. Well, there were still a goodly number of people, oh, at
least 10 people, possibly there were more--I'm not real sure, but
there were still--at that time there were, I know, at least three
anesthesiologists in there--Dr. Jenkins, Dr. Akin, and Dr. Giesecke,
and I believe Dr. Baxter was in there, and Dr. Perry was still there.
Mr. SPECTER. Were they still working on the President at that time?
Dr. HUNT. Yes, sir; I don't know what they were doing.
Mr. SPECTER. How long did you stay on that occasion?
Dr. HUNT. Just, oh, a minute--just long enough to catch Dr. Giesecke's
eye and let him know I was there and going out.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you ever return to the President's room?
Dr. HUNT. No; I don't believe I did--no; I'm sure I didn't, because I
came on upstairs with Governor Connally.
Mr. SPECTER. And did you participate then with Governor Connally's
operation?
Dr. HUNT. I helped Dr. Giesecke during the induction of anesthesia.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you talked to any representative of the Federal
Government prior to today?
Dr. HUNT. No; I haven't.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you make any written report of your participation in
the care of Governor Connally and President Kennedy?
Dr. HUNT. Not directly. Dr. Giesecke called me one day and said that, I
think it was the A.M.A. was here and just wanted to verify my movements
for the day, which I told him and he in turn told them that--I did not
appear before them.
Mr. SPECTER. Did you make any written reports yourself?
Dr. HUNT. No.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have any notes of any sort concerning your
participation?
Dr. HUNT. None whatsoever.
Mr. SPECTER. Prior to the time the court reporter started to take down
the transcript of my questions and your answers, did you and I have a
brief discussion about the purpose of this deposition?
Dr. HUNT. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And the questions I would ask you?
Dr. HUNT. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. And is the information which you have provided on the
record the same as you told me before the written deposition started?
Dr. HUNT. Elaborated somewhat.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have anything to add which you think might be of
aid to the Commission in its investigation?
Dr. HUNT. No, sir; I don't.
Mr. SPECTER. Thank you very much for appearing, Dr. Hunt.
Dr. HUNT. Thank you.