THE SHOT THAT MISSED

November 30, 2011


THE SHOT THAT MISSED


The recent National Geographic Channel documentary "JFK: The Lost Bullet" reawakened my interest in the shot that missed in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.


In response to a question about that bullet from a visitor to this blog, I said that I would have to do a little more research before responding.


I have looked back at some of my JFK assassination books & will try to discuss the issue today.


I must say that I think most assassination researchers have concentrated on the shots that hit JFK in the throat, back & head & John Connally in the  back, chest, wrist & thigh.


Since the Warren Commission determined that the 1st shot missed, we have either accepted that or viewed a missed shot as not an important issue other than it marks when the shooting sequence began & tells us, through the Zapruder film, the time between the 1st & last shots.


In discussing the claim that only 3 shots were fired, the Warren Report simply says "another shot missed."


Conspiracy theorists Robert Groden & Harrison E. Livingstone, in "High Treason", published in 1989, revisit that conclusion by saying:


"The terrible shots began to ring out, one after another.  The first bullet missed."


In the recent National Geographic documentary, historian Max Holland claims that the 1st shot hit a traffic light & then went on down the plaza to strike a curbstone on the south side of Elm Street & a fragment of that bullet hit bystander James Tague.

Robert Groden, in his 1993 book "The Killing of a President", discusses 6 shots but then adds 2 additional shots, "one that hit the south curb on Elm Street...".


Thus, Groden does not link the 1st shot with the Tague fragment.


Groden is supported in that view by Dallas County Deputy Sheriff Eddy Walthers' report of 11/22/63.


Walthers wrote:


"Upon examining the curb & pavement in this vicinity, I found where a bullet had splattered on the top edge of the curb on Main Street.  Due to the fact that the projectile struck so near the underpass, it was, in my opinion, probably the last shot that was fired & had apparently went high & above...."


Witness Charles Brehm stated in a recorded interview that, in his opinion, "the last shot came nowhere near the motorcade.  I thought that was the hurried shot."

JFK ASSASSINATION COMMENT


While there remains some confusion about just which shot hit the curb & caused the wounding of Tague, we can accept the Warren Commission's statement that the first shot missed. 


But when we do that & do not link it to the Tague bullet, what happened to that particular bullet?


Does anyone out there on the world wide web have more information or other views on this "missed shot"?


If so, please share it with us.*


John White


*David Von Pein writes on his blog "DVP's JFK Archives" that "James T. Tague's wounding is an unsolvable portion of the JFK murder case...because that bullet was never recovered, & Tague's memory of the exact timing of the event is murky."


If the Tague bullet was never recovered & the Warren Commission's 1st missed bullet was never recovered, then we have 2 bullets which apparently just disappeared "into thin air."