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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. III - Page 365« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Charles James Carrico)

Mr. Dulles.
You spoke of a letter to your children. I don't want to invade your privacy in this respect in any way, but is there anything in that letter that you think would bear on our considerations here by this Commission?
Dr. CARRICO. No; I don't believe so. This thing doesn't mention the treatment other than to say probably by the time they read the letter it will be archaic.
Mr. Dulles.
You spoke about the causes of it all, I don't know whether--
Dr. CARRICO. Just a little homespun philosophy. I just said that there was a lot of extremism both in Dallas and in the Nation as a whole, and in an attitude of extremism a warped mind can flourish much better than in a more stable atmosphere.
Mr. Dulles.
Thank you.
Mr. Specter.
Dr. Carrico, was the nature of the treatment affected, in your opinion, in any way by the fact that you were working on the President of the United States?
Dr. CARRICO. I don't believe so, sir. We have seen a large number of acutely injured people, and acutely ill people, and the treatment has been carried out enough that this is almost reflex, if you will. Certainly everyone was emotionally affected. I think, if anything, the emotional aspect made us think faster, work faster and better.
Mr. Specter.
Do you have anything to add which you think would be helpful to the Commission in its inquiry on the assassination of President Kennedy?
Dr. CARRICO. No, sir.
Mr. Specter.
Those conclude my questions, Mr. Chief Justice.
The Chairman.
Mr. Dulles, have you any questions to ask of the Doctor?
Mr. Dulles.
Looking back on it, do you think it was probable that death followed almost immediately after this shot in the head?
Dr. CARRICO. Yes, sir; as I said--
Mr. Dulles.
I was absent, I am sorry, at that time.
Dr. CARRICO. Yes, sir. Medically, I suppose you would have to say he was alive when he came to Parkland. From a practical standpoint, I think he was dead then.
The Chairman.
Congressman Ford?
Representative Ford.
When did you say that he arrived, when you first started working on the President?
Dr. CARRICO. It would only be a guess. Probably about 12:35. It was about 12:30 when I got in the emergency room, and I was there 2 or 3 minutes when we were called, and he was there within 2 or 3 minutes.
Representative Ford.
So approximately from 12:35 until 1 the President was examined and treatment was given by you and others?
Dr. CARRICO. Yes.
Representative Ford.
Have you read and analyzed the autopsy performed by the authorities at Bethesda?
Dr. CARRICO. I have not read it carefully. I have seen it. Mr. Specter showed me parts of it, and I had seen a copy of it earlier, briefly.
Representative Ford.
Is there anything in it that you have read that would be in conflict with your observation?
Dr. CARRICO. Nothing at all in conflict. It certainly adds to the observations that we made.
Representative Ford.
Have you been interviewed by the press and, if so, when?
Dr. CARRICO. I think I have talked to the press twice.
Mr. Burrus, a reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, talked to me about 5 minutes, probably 3 or 4 days after the President's death, and then a reporter from Time called about 3 or 4 weeks after the President's death, and I talked to him for a very few minutes.
Representative Ford.
Did you make any statements in either of these interviews that are different from the observations you have made here this morning?
Dr. CARRICO. Not that I recall.
Representative Ford.
That is all.
Mr. Dulles.
Mr. Chief Justice, could I--off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)
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