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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. III - Page 375« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Malcolm Perry)

Mr. Specter.
Dr. PERRY. I did.
Mr. Specter.
Would you state as specifically as you can the questions which were asked of you at that time and the answers which you gave?
Dr. PERRY. Mr. Specter, I would preface this by saying that, as you know, I have been interviewed on numerous occasions subsequent to that time, and I cannot recall with accuracy the questions that were asked. They, in general, were similar to the questions that were asked here. The press were given essentially the same, but in no detail such as have been given here. I was asked, for example, what I felt caused the President's death, the nature of the wound, from whence they came, what measures were taken for resuscitation, who were the people in attendance, at what time was it determined that he was beyond our help.
Mr. Specter.
What responses did you give to questions relating to the source of the bullets, if such questions were asked?
Dr. PERRY. I could not. I pointed out that both Dr. Clark and I had no way of knowing from whence the bullets came.
Mr. Specter.
Were you asked how many bullets there were?
Dr. PERRY. We were, and our reply was it was impossible with the knowledge we had at hand to ascertain if there were 1 or 2 bullets, or more. We were given, similarly to the discussion here today, hypothetical situations. "Is it possible that such would have been the case, or such and such?" If it was possible that there was one bullet. To this, I replied in the affirmative, it was possible and conceivable that it was only one bullet, but I did not know.
Mr. Specter.
What would the trajectory, or conceivable course of one bullet have been, Dr. Perry, to account for the injuries which you observed in the President, as you stated it?
Dr. PERRY. Since I observed only two wounds in my cursory examination, it would have necessitated the missile striking probably a bony structure and being deviated in its course in order to account for these two wounds.
Mr. Specter.
What bony structure was it conceivably?
Dr. PERRY. It required striking the spine.
Mr. Specter.
Did you express a professional opinion that that did, in fact, happen or it was a matter of speculation that it could have happened?
Dr. PERRY. I expressed it as a matter of speculation that this was conceivable. But, again, Dr. Clark and I emphasize that we had no way of knowing.
Mr. Specter.
Have you now recounted as specifically as you can recollect what occurred at that first press conference or is it practical for you to give any further detail to the contents of that press conference?
Dr. PERRY. I do not recall any specific details any further than that--
Representative Ford.
Mr. Specter was there ever a recording kept of the questions and answers at that interview, Dr. Perry?
Dr. PERRY. This was one of the things I was mad about, Mr. Ford. There were microphones, and cameras, and the whole bit, as you know, and during the course of it a lot of these hypothetical situations and questions that were asked to us would often be asked by someone on this side and recorded by some one on this, and I don't know who was recorded and whether they were broadcasting it directly. There were tape recorders there and there were television cameras with their microphones. I know there were recordings made but who made them I don't know and, of course, portions of it would be given to this group and questions answered here and, as a result, considerable questions were not answered in their entirety and even some of them that were asked, I am sure were misunderstood. It was bedlam.
Representative Ford.
I was thinking, was there an official recording either made by the hospital officials or by the White House people or by any government agency?
Dr. PERRY. Not to my knowledge.
Representative Ford.
A true recording of everything that was said, the questions asked, and the answers given?
Dr. PERRY. Not to my knowledge.
Mr. Dulles.
Was there any reasonably good account in any of the press of this interview?
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