Mr. SPECTER. Dr. Dziemian.
Mr. DULLES. Doctor, will you raise your right hand, please? Do you
solemnly swear the testimony you give in this proceeding is the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes, sir.
Mr. SPECTER. Dr. Dziemian, as you know, the purpose of the proceeding
is to question you concerning the experiments which were performed at
Edgewood Arsenal which may shed light on the assassination of President
Kennedy. With that brief statement of purpose, will you state your full
name for the record, please?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Arthur J. Dziemian.
Mr. SPECTER. What is your profession or occupation, sir?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. I am a physiologist at the U.S. Army Chemical Research
and Development Laboratories, and am chief of the Biophysics Division.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you outline your educational background briefly,
please?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; A.B. and Ph. D. from Princeton, Ph. D. in 1939. I
was national research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in the
physiology department of the medical school and fellow in anatomy at
Johns Hopkins University Medical School.
Mr. SPECTER. In a general way, what have your professional activities
been since 1939?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Since 1939?
Well, these fellowships that I had. Then I went to Edgewood Arsenal,
was there for a few months and then went into the Army, was in the Army
for 3 years, in the sanitary corps, officer in the sanitary corps, and
then I returned to Edgewood Arsenal in 1947 and in 1947 I went into
wound ballistics work and have been in it since 1947.
Mr. SPECTER. And how long have you been chief of the Biophysics
Division?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Since November of 1959.
Mr. DULLES. Where is this Biophysics Division?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. U.S. Army Chemical Research and Development Laboratories,
Edgewood Arsenal, Md.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you describe in a general way the tests which are
performed at the Edgewood Arsenal, please?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; well, our mission, the division's mission is to
study the antipersonnel effects of munitions, including kinetic energy
munitions, incendiary, and some chemical munitions.
Mr. SPECTER. Is it the regular function of your unit then to test the
effects of bullet wounds on various parts of the human body?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; it is.
Mr. SPECTER. And does Dr. Olivier function under your direction in his
capacity as chief of the Wounds Ballistics Branch?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; his branch is one of the branches of the Biophysics
Division.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you been present today to hear the full testimony of
Dr. Olivier?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; I have.
Mr. SPECTER. Were the tests which he described, performed under your
general supervision and direction as his superior?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes; they were.
Mr. SPECTER. As to the underlying facts which those tests disclosed,
do you have any details to add as to results which you think would be
helpful or significant for the Commission to know?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Well, I think that Dr. Olivier described them pretty well
on the whole, got all the details in.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you agree with the recitation of the detailed findings,
then, as described by Dr. Olivier?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. I do, yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Then moving to the general topic of reconstructing the
events in terms of what professional opinion you may have as to what
actually occurred at Dallas, permit me to ask you some questions in
terms of the known medical facts, and in the light of the results of
this series of tests which you have performed. First of all, have you
had access to the autopsy report on President Kennedy?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes, I have.
Mr. SPECTER. And have you had access to the same general information
described by Dr. Olivier on the wounds inflicted on Governor Connally?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Yes, I have. I did not speak to the surgeons. I was not
here at that time. My information on Dr. Connally's wounds----
Mr. DULLES. Governor Connally.
Dr. DZIEMIAN. Governor Connally, are from the reports and from
discussions with Dr. Light or Dr. Olivier.
Mr. SPECTER. So that all of the information available to Dr. Light and
Dr. Olivier obtained through consultations with Governor Connally's
doctors, Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gregory, have been passed on to you? In
addition, you have had access to the records of Parkland Hospital on
Governor Connally's treatment there?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. That is right.
Mr. SPECTER. And have you had an opportunity to observe certain films
known as the Zapruder films showing the assassination?
Dr. DZIEMIAN. No; I did not see those.
Mr. SPECTER. Have you had, then, brought to your attention the
approximate distances involved from the situation here, to wit;
that the shots were fired from a 6th floor window at a distance of
approximately 160 to 250 feet at a moving vehicle, striking the
Governor and the President at angles estimated from 25 to 45 degrees,
the angle of impact on President Kennedy being given by the autopsy
surgeon as a 45-degree angle of declination, and the angle on Governor
Connally being described as 25 to 27 degrees?