Representative FORD. To 210?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes.
Representative FORD. But there at frame 210, that is the first point at
which the marksman had a clear shot after the President passed out from
under the tree.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Representative FORM. Then you select frame 225 as the outside limit of
the shot which struck the President because that is where you first
observe a reaction by the President when he comes out from behind the
sign.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. DULLES. What frames are blanked out because of the sign?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. The President, the last we get any scene of him at all,
and this is just the very top of his head is 210.
Mr. DULLES. 210 to what is blanked out?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. 225.
Mr. DULLES. To 225 is blanked out?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes, that is 15 frames.
Mr. McCLOY. 224 he just begins to appear.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes.
Mr. McCLOY. I don't think if you assume the President was hit at 225
and I don't think that is clear at all. I think it begins to get clear
about 227 that he had been hit, that the reaction really develops. But
I think that 225 it may very well be that he has not been hit because
his hand isn't at his throat, he may be just moving from the position
of waving.
Mr. DULLES. But that is about a tenth of a second.
Mr. McCLOY. Yes; it is a very short time entirely, but I don't think
the frame unequivocally shows the reaction to the bullet at 225. I
think it does unequivocally show it at 226 and 227.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. Perhaps an additional question on the clarity of the slide
itself as a point of reaction would be in order for Mr. Shaneyfelt, and
then, may I say parenthetically, we want to have the Commission see
these slides this afternoon.
We have prepared them to show to you so that you can observe for
yourself what we are bringing to you through the witness to give you a
frame of reference and an orientation.
Mr. Shaneyfelt, then what was your impression by frame 225, as you
viewed it most recently this morning, with respect to a possible
reaction on that frame made from the original Zapruder film?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. It is my feeling that at frames 225, 226 and 227 you
are having a reaction. You have a split second there, and at 225 the
reaction is barely discernible, more discernible on the film and the
slides than the reproduction you have here but it has to be considered
in the light of the motion picture you see as he starts this reaction,
and the reaction is by frame--in either the slides or pictures--is
clearly apparent in 226, and barely apparent in 225.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, was frame 249 selected as a situs for calculations
on the possible construction that President Kennedy was struck in the
back at the first point unadjusted at which he emerged from the tree,
to wit: frame 207, with an additional calculation of 42 frames giving
the approximately two and a quarter seconds for the firing of a second
shot to determine through this one means whether there was time for the
rifleman to have operated the bolt, assuming he made a shot at 207, and
to have made another shot at the earliest possible time at 249.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That was the basis for the selection of frame 249, yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Now, going back just a moment, was frame 231 selected as
a basis for analysis as the first frame after 225 because Governor
Connally expressed the opinion when he viewed the frames that he
thought he was hit by or at frame 231.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. And was frame 235 selected as a basis of analysis because
that was one point at which a number of the viewers, including staff
and agents of the FBI and Secret Service thought that might be the last
frame at which Governor Connally had turned enough to the right to
still take a shot and have the bullet pass through his body from the
sixth floor window at the angle described in the medical reports and by
his doctors.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct on the basis of an undeflected path.
That is the frame that the doctors selected as the frame beyond which
he could not have received this shot and have it travel in the path
that it reportedly traveled.
Mr. SPECTER. Was frame 240 selected for analysis as being the
absolutely last time, based on the observations of those whom you have
described as seeing the films, that the Governor could have conceivably
taken a shot from the sixth floor window and have it pass through the
body of the Governor in the way described in the medical reports and by
the Governor's doctors?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. Was the analysis, made on the ability of the Governor to
take the shot at each of the positions, based on the position he had
at that particular frame in accordance with the amount of turn to the
right which he had made at that particular time?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Was there a still photograph known as AP photograph,
which was taken at the time of the assassination or a view seconds
thereafter, studied by you and others in connection with the analysis
that you have been describing?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes; there was.
Mr. SPECTER. Was the simulated automobile placed in the same position
that the Presidential automobile was in when the photograph was made by
the AP photographer, as closely as it could be positioned at the time
of the reenactment?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. What Commission exhibit number is attached to the
photographs of that AP shot and the reenactment picture?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is Commission Exhibit No. 900.
Mr. SPECTER. Would you describe what photographs appear then on
Commission Exhibit No. 900?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. On Commission Exhibit No. 900, the top photograph is a
photograph purportedly made by an AP photographer shortly after one of
the shots. It depicts the side of the Governor's head, the left side of
the Governor's head, his ear is visible, he has turned considerably. It
depicts the President's hand touching his lapels, and a portion of the
President's face.
Secret Service agents on the followup car are seen also. The Texas
School Book Building in the background.
The reenactment photograph was made after positioning the car by
looking at the photograph, based on the position of the car as related
to the lane line in the street, as related to the position of the
building, the column of the building and so on to reestablish the
location.
We also reestablish in reenactment the position of the agent taking
Governor Connally's position in the car used in the reenactment and
the position of President Kennedy to closely approximate the actual
photograph made by the AP, Associated Press. This was then studied, the
car in this position was then studied, from the Zapruder position, and
was determined to be frame 255.
Mr. SPECTER. Was an exhibit prepared then on frame 255?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. What Commission exhibit number is affixed to frame 255?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Exhibit No. 901.
Mr. SPECTER. Does that have the same layout of photographs and
measurements as on frames 225, 222 and those which preceded them.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes; it has. It has the Zapruder photographs, the
matching reenactment photograph, and the photograph through the rifle
scope along with the measurements and the angles.
Mr. SPECTER. On the AP photograph shown on Commission Exhibit No. 900,
what reaction, if any, do you observe by the Secret Service agents on
the followup car?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. The Secret Service agents on the right-hand side of
the followup car are looking back and to their right. The one to the
front on the left-hand side of the car is looking generally toward the
President.
The one in back of him on the left fender is looking slightly to his
right.
Representative FORD. What is the distance on frame 255 between the
President and the rifle?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. The distance to the rifle in the window is 218 feet.
This is frame 255, which is well past the signboard, well past 249
which is the last frame we considered.
Mr. McCLOY. Well past the first evidence of reaction?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes.
Mr. McCLOY. On the part of the President to a shot.
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Well past, and past the point in the film where
Governor Connally states he has been hit.
Mr. SPECTER. Was that simulated car placed in any other position to
duplicate still a subsequent frame?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes; the frame No. 313, which is the frame that records
the shot to the President's head, was recorded as frame 313 and was
reestablished during reenactment.
Mr. SPECTER. What Commission number has been affixed to frame 313?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Commission Exhibit No. 902.
Mr. SPECTER. Is this exhibit organized in a somewhat different fashion
from the prior frame exhibits?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. That is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. Will you start with the photograph in the upper left-hand
corner and describe for the Commissioners, please, each photograph or
picture which appears thereon and what it represents?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Yes; I might state first that all of the other
photographs were reestablished on the basis of the Zapruder film using
reference points in the background of the pictures.
As is apparent here from the photograph of the Zapruder frame 313 there
are no reference points. There is just a grassy plot. So there is no
reference point on which we can reestablish the position of the car in
the roadway.
For this reason it was necessary to use the Nix film of the head shot
and the Muchmore film of the head shot to establish this position in
the road.
The right-hand photograph represents frame 24 from the Nix film, and is
the frame that depicts the shot to the head. We used Mr. Nix's camera
and a print of this picture and stood in the previously determined
position of Mr. Nix when he took his photographs, and had them roll the
car down to a position so that the President's head was directly under
the point where Mr. Zapruder is standing on the projection.