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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. VI - Page 94« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of Dr. Robert Shaw)

Mr. Specter.
But I don't think that that is necessarily as to scale in this situation. Would it be possible from your knowledge of the facts here, Dr. Shaw, that President Kennedy might have been struck by the bullet passing through him, hitting nothing but soft tissues, and that bullet could have passed through Governor Connally's chest and a second bullet might have struck Governor Connally's wrist?
Dr. SHAW. Yes; this is a perfectly tenable theory.

Mr. SPECTER. And, then, the damage to Governor Connally's thigh might have come from either of the bullets which passed through the chest or a second bullet which struck the wrist?
Dr. SHAW. That is true as far as the wounds are concerned, this theory, I feel, is tenable. It doesn't conform to the description of the sequence of the events as described by Mrs. Connally.
Mr. Specter.
In what respect Dr. Shaw?
Dr. SHAW. Well she feels that the Governor was only struck by one bullet.
Mr. Specter.
Why does she feel that way; do you know, sir?

Dr. SHAW. As soon as he was struck she pushed him to the bottom of the car and got on top of him and it would mean that there would be a period well if there were 5 1/2 seconds between the three shots, there would be a couple seconds there that would have given her time to get him down into the car, and as she describes the sequence, it is hard to see how he could have been struck by a second bullet.
Mr. SPECTER. If she pushed him down immediately after he was shot on the first occasion?
Dr. SHAW. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. But if her reaction was not that fast so that he was struck twice, of course then there would be a different situation, depending entirely on how fast she reacted.
Dr. SHAW. I think if he had been struck first in the wrist and not struck in the chest, he would have known that. He only remembers the hard blow to the back of his chest and doesn't remember being struck in the wrist at all.
Mr. SPECTER. Might he not have been struck in the chest first and struck by a subsequent shot in the wrist?
Dr. SHAW. Yes; but that's hard to postulate if he was down in the bottom of the car.
Mr. Specter.
Dr. Shaw, have you been interviewed by any representatives of
the Federal Government prior to today?
Dr. SHAW. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And who talked to you about this case?
Dr. SHAW. I don't have his name. I perhaps could find it. It was a member of the Secret Service.

Mr. SPECTER. On how many occasions were you talked to by a Secret Service man?
Dr. SHAW. Once.
Mr. Specter.
And what did you tell him?

Dr. SHAW. I told him approximately the same that has been told in this transcript.
Mr. SPECTER. And prior to the time we started to go on the record with the court reporter taking this down verbatim, did you and I have a discussion bout the purpose of the deposition and the questions that I would ask you?
Dr. SHAW. Yes.
Mr. Specter.
And were the answers which you provided me at that time the same as those which you have testified to on the record here this afternoon?
Dr. SHAW. Yes.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have any other written record of the operation on Governor Connally other than that which has been identified here in Commission Exhibit No. 392?
Dr. SHAW. No; this is a copy of the operative record that went on to the chart of Governor Connally which is in the possession of the record room of Parkland Hospital.
Mr. SPECTER. Do you have anything else which you could tell us which you think might be helpful to the Commission in any way, Dr. Shaw?
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