[[ posted on alt.conspiracy.jfk in June '96 by bhart@cyberramp.net (Michael Parks) ]] ====================================================================== -------------------- A CBS INVESTIGATION -------------------------- On Sunday, 6/25/67, CBS aired a four part special on the assassination of JFK titled 'A CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report.' The one hour shows ran for four consecutive nights. It was hosted by Walter Cronkite with Dan Rather and Eric Sevareid. The first show, Sunday 6/25/67 tried to answer the question: "Did Lee Harvey Oswald shoot President Kennedy?" FBI photo expert, L.L. Shaneyfelt had told the Warren Commission (WC) that he could not identify the Mannlicher-Carcano (M-C) rifle that Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy with from the famous backyard photographs that depicted Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) holding this weapon. But, on the CBS special, Walter Cronkite said an independent "professional photographer and photo analyst" had studied the backyard picture originals and the negative. He felt the rifle belonged to LHO by identifying it as the same rifle in the pictures. This expert used by CBS was Lawrence Schiller, a former business agent of Jack Ruby. CBS tried to prove LHO had carried this rifle into the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) within a brown paper bag. There were only two witnesses to this event and both claimed the bag was too small to carry the disassemble rifle. This bag was made from brown wrapping paper found in the TSBD. One of these witnesses, Linnie May Randle, said she had seen LHO with a bag made of "heavy brown paper." Both CBS and the WC said she had stated LHO carried "a heavy brown bag." To prove that LHO was on the sixth floor during the time of the shooting, CBS used the testimony of Charles Givens. They said he was "The last man known to see Lee Harvey Oswald before the assassination." CBS made no mention of Carolyn Arnold who stated she had seen LHO on the first floor only minutes before the assassination. This was at a time the WC had witnesses who saw the shooter already on the sixth floor. CBS then concluded that Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman, (who along with Deputies Eugene L. Boone and Roger Craig, found a rifle on the sixth floor and identified it as a 7.65mm Mauser), had been mistaken about the type and make of the weapon. All three officers had a long look at the rifle and Weitzman had read the name that was stamped into the metal. Several other lawmen also saw this rifle as a Mauser. To wrap up the first night's showing, CBS concluded LHO could have shot JFK. The second night, CBS went over the autopsy and where the shots came from. The third night, Tuesday, 6/27/67, CBS looked into the killing of Dallas policeman, Jefferson Davis Tippit. They interviewed police dispatcher, Murray Jackson. He had supposedly sent Tippit to central Oak Cliff, on 11/22/63. Jackson also said he had sent another patrol car there too. This was driven by officer R.C. Nelson. What CBS did not state has more impact than what they did say. They did not tell the audience that no other police cars were given specific orders at that time and that Nelson was really in Dealey Plaza. This casts doubts on the police broadcast that sent Tippit to Oak Cliff. CBS also failed to tell the audience that Jackson ignored two calls from Tippit at 1:08, only seconds before he was killed. CBS presented two witnesses to the Tippit shooting, Ted Callaway and Domingo Benavides. When Benavides testified before the WC, he stated he had told the police on 11/22/63 that he could not identify LHO as the killer. When the WC asked him if he had anything else to add, "He testified that the picture of Oswald which he saw on television bore a resemblance to the man that shot officer Tippit." While on the CBS program, Benavides now identified LHO with "No doubt at all." The WC had presented the testimony of FBI firearms expert Cortlandt Cummingham in which he stated the bullets recovered from the body of Tippit and other bullets he had test fired, could not be traced back to the alleged revolver LHO was arrested with. The WC then used the testimony of an Illinois police expert who stated one of the Tippit bullets could possible be traced back to the revolver. CBS only told the audience about the police expert and not the FBI expert. To close out the third program, Dan Rather said of the shots LHO supposedly made from the sixth floor, "It was an easy shot...a much easier shot than even it looks in our pictures." The fourth and final segment of the CBS special was "Could America Believe the Warren Report." They presented several witnesses that tried to show the American public as conspiracy-minded and tried to lay a guilt trip on anyone who had doubts about the government's findings. The heart of the CBS special was four tests they ran. Test One was of the single bullet theory (sbt) which yeilded the Magic Bullet. The WC tests were done by Dr. Alfred G. Oliver. He fired through substances that represented JFK's neck, Connally's chest, wrist and thigh. The magic bullet supposedly passed through the first three body parts to become lodged in the last, Connally's thigh. Oliver found that no one bullet could pass through more than one of the substances. Also, each test left the test bullet more damaged than the magic bullet was. Now, CBS fired through four substances that were of the same thickness and density as the human body parts. JFK's neck was a block of gelatin with 20% solution. Connally's chest was also a block of gelatin with nothing in it to represent his broken rib. A block of gelatin with a piece of masonite of the same thickness and density of Connally's wrist and another block of gelatin for his thigh were also used. Many of the bullets fired into this mix became lodged in the masonite. None made it through to the fourth block, Connally's thigh. Then, CBS said this proved the sbt. What CBS failed to tell the audience was from how far away they had fired into the gelatin blocks. Later, one CBS official said this distance was 50 feet. The WC felt the distance traveled by the shot from the sixth floor was 180 feet. The FBI had noticed from their tests that more velocity was lost by the bullet just traveling this 180 feet than was lost going through the gelatin blocks and goat meat they used to represent JFK's neck. Furthermore, they saw the bullet loose more velocity in the 180 foot trip than it did going through both JFK's neck and Connally's wrist combined!!! Also, CBS failed to show the audience the shape the bullets were in after their test firings. The FBI tests for the WC showed their bullets coming out flattened on the nose. The magic bullet had no such damage. Test Two was on the rifle. This was held at the H.P. White Ballistics Laboratory near Belaire, Maryland. They had 11 expert riflemen fire from a tower that was about the same height as the sixth floor of the TSBD. They fired at a moving target that was on a narrow gauge rail car. The target traveled away from the marksmen at a steady 11 mph. It should be noted that the WC said the limousine was going 11.2 mph and its driver said 12 to 15 mph. Also, the WC said the limousine, once on Elm Street went as slow as 2.5 mph and up to 17 mph just before the head shot. CBS did not say where they came up with the slower speed, but it went to the advantage of the shooters. CBS did state their course matched Dealey Plaza but failed to tell the audience that their rail track was a straight path while Elm Street curved through the plaza. This was another plus for their marksmen. The 11 marksmen (3 Maryland state policemen, 3 White lab employees, a weapons engineer named Howard Donahue, a ballistics technician, 2 sportsmen and an ex-paratrooper just back from Vietnam) were allowed to test fire the rifle before the tower shooting in an underground 150 foot range. Then, CBS stated none of their marksmen were familiar with the rifle. The marksmen took turns firing clips of 3 shells each from the tower. CBS did not use the same rifle LHO supposedly used and it appears they used a better rifle than he had. This can be seen by the 11/27/63 tests of FBI expert Robert Frazier. In the FBI re-enactment for the WC, he and two other experts, Charles Killion and Courtland Cummingham each fire the REAL rifle at a target 15 feet away. Each placed their shots high and to the right on the stationary target. The same day, Frazier tried a speed test without aiming at the stationary target and managed to get off 3 shots in 4.8 seconds and in 4.6 seconds. Later, in March, 1964, Frazier helped the army run their test at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. This test was supervised by Roland Simmons and used three marksmen, Miller, Stanley and Hendrix. They fired the real rifle from a 30 foot tower, half that of the sixth floor and at a stationary target. Miller got off three shots with 2.3 seconds between shots. Frazier said, "4.6 seconds is firing this weapon as fast as this bolt will operate" at a stationary target. This time allowed for no aiming of the weapon, controlled breathing and slowly squeezing the trigger. This test was load, fire, load, fire, load fire. Now, when CBS tested their weapon, one marksman got off 3 shots in 4.1 seconds. It appears their rifle was not as worn as the one LHO had because of the better times. Hoover said the "telescopic sight could not be properly aligned with the target, since the sight reached the limit of its adjustment before reaching accurate alignment." CBS said they used the same make/model of scope and had it only "slightly off." To make the CBS test even more inaccurate, their marksmen were allowed to test fire the weapon with the non-aligned scope. They, therefore could see how to compensate for this error. LHO was not allowed this luxury before he supposedly killed JFK. What CBS did not tell the audience was that they had test fired their weapon before the TV special. On 1/31/67, at the same White range, they had rifle expert Col. Edward B. Crossman fire six times, three shots each. This test proved no match for the times and accuracy attributed to LHO. Then, CBS set up the 11 man crew. All they had to do was find one man out of the 12 tested to meet the requirements and prove it could be done. In other words, if one person in the world could do it, LHO could also. To recap all this, the CBS marksmen had: 1) a rifle with a quicker action 2) a better sighted scope 3) a target traveling in a straight line 4) practice firing with the weapon 5) a target on a steady speed 6) a somewhat larger target due to the slower speed of the target 7) no half window to fire out of like on the sixth floor 8) no thick window sill to lean out over to fire 9) most importantly, time to sight in on the first short before taking it. CBS also gave their marksmen more time, as we shall see in their Test #3. CBS then reported: "Altogether the 11 volunteer marksmen made 37 attempts to fire 3 shots at a moving target. Seventeen of those attempts had to be called 'no time', because of trouble with the rifle." (No time meant that the target went outside the shooting area before all the shots were fired.) These 17 'no time' shots were not figured into their average time for 3 shots. CBS never even said where the shots that hit the target were placed on this target. But, they went on to claim 3 shots in 5.6 seconds could be achieved with a moving target. The best of their marksmen was Howard Donahue. He got off 3 hits within 4.8 seconds on his third try. He alone got three hits in one shooting from the tower. When he achieved this time, he had 2.5 seconds between the second and third shots. Several other of the CBS marksmen got 3 shots within 5.6 seconds, but none with the 2.5 seconds between shots 2 and 3. Furthermore, none of the other marksmen that got the 3 shots in at 5.6 seconds did so on their first attempt. But, they claimed LHO did just that. Test Three was of the camera Zapruder made his now famous film of the assassination. CBS used the work of University of California physicist Luis Alvarez and "expert photo analyst" Charles Wyckoff to tell when the shots were fired on 11/22/63 through studying the Z-film. Wyckoff saw blurring at frames 190, 227 and 318 and felt these were from Zapruder jerking his camera as a response to the sound of gunfire. He then concluded that shots were fired at frames 185/186, 222/223 and 313. Frame 186 was where the FBI and Secret Service had determined a 1/18 second break in the foliage of the oak tree in front of the TSBD could have allowed a shot to be taken. They discovered this during their 5/24/64 Dealey Plaza re- enactment. They noted that from frames 166 to 209 this same tree blocked a sixth floor view of Elm Street.. CBS agreed with Wyckoff's findings and said the first shot was at frame 186 whereas the WC felt it was more likely at frame 210 when the limousine came out from under the tree. So, they concluded the shots were fired at frames 186, (a miss), 222/223, (the magic bullet) and 313, (the head shot). What they failed to tell the audience was that this same blurring could be seen at frames 195, 203, 290, 331 and not as pronounced in several other frames. The big thing CBS missed (?) was that as Zapruder was panning out to keep the camera focused on JFK, he had to turn to his right. This movement may have caused blurring of the film. Also, he was not a young man and had Marilyn Sitzman, his receptionist standing behind him for support. (It seemed he had a fear of heights.) Any jerking she did could also be reflected on the film. A shot at frame 186 causes timing problems because there was no time allowed for aiming, controlling the breath and slowly squeezing the trigger. ALSO, THE ASSASSIN WOULD HAVE TO KNOW FOR SURE THAT JFK WOULD APPEAR IN THIS TINY OPENING. Odds are, JFK would not appear in this 1/18 second opening. Even the WC rejected this 186 shot. They reasoned the assassin would not take it because in a few seconds the limousine would be in the open. But, CBS liked the 186 shot because it gave their marksmen more time for all three shots. They now had "seven or eight seconds" and not the "5.6 seconds" they felt the WC sat in stone. This assumption that the WC settled on 5.6 seconds was incorrect as can be seen in the last sentence of Chapter Three of the WC Report.. There, it is stated "that the 3 shots were fired in a time period ranging from approximately 4.8 to in excess of 7 seconds." Elsewhere, the Report said: "If either the first or the third shot missed,....then (there would have been)...a minimum of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds for the three shots." The 5.6 second figure was set only if the first shot was at frame 210, where the limousine first clears the oak tree. Frazier said the fastest the rifle bolt could be operated was 2.3 seconds. So, if JFK was fired at at frame 186, the earliest the next shot could have been was at 228. CBS felt the second shot was at 222/223, an impossibility. To get around this, CBS then stated the Zapruder camera was really going slower than 18.3 frames a second. This 18.3 figure came from the FBI and there is no proof that they were incorrect on the calculations. How CBS determined the camera was slower than suspected was by testing similar cameras. Wyckoff ran 5 cameras against a clock and found 3 were faster than the Zapruder camera and 2 were slower. CBS did not test the REAL camera but still concluded the Zapruder camera had to be slower!!! FBI photo expert, L.L Shaneyfelt said he had come up with the 18.3 frames per second by shooting the sweep second hand of a large clock. Three years after this test, Bell and Howell tested the Zapruder camera in their engineering lab and agreed with the FBI's figure of 18.3. So, CBS, using a different rifle under different conditions, and with more time to fire, said Oswald acted alone to kill JFK. CBS ran one other test where they shot a light bulb. When the bulb exploded, the fragments flew in the same direction of the bullet's path. They said this proved that JFK could be shot from the rear and have his head fly towards the shooter. By this test, Wyckoff disproved the rearward head shot because the only policemen to be splattered by blood and tissue were the ones to JFK's left rear. Of course, CBS did not tell the audience this fact. CBS then interviewed a pathologist who said in his opinion, the shot came from the knoll. To this, CBS said the "experts (were) in disagreement." It should be noted that in the third program, Dan Rather said, "I am not content with the findings on Oswald's possible connections with government agencies, particularly with the CIA." In the last program, Walter Cronkite said that "...there remains disturbing indications.." that there may have been "..some kind of link between Oswald and various intelligence agencies of the United States." So ended the four part 'CBS News Inquiry: The Warren Report.' They said that "certainly all objections that go to the heart of the Report vanish when they are exposed to the light of honest inquiry." This holds true in this, the best test yet of the Report and SBT. Some people felt this television special was another whitewash but, when analyzed correctly, the CBS special only strengthened their case for a conspiracy and the following cover-up. Thank you CBS for proving us correct. Michael Parks