[ written by: Julie Dunn jldunn@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU December 15, 1994 ] The Assassination of JFK The Back Wound: Thorburn's Position Since the Kennedy assassination, it seems as if every book possible has been written on the subject. Topics have ranged in scope from questioning the CIA's involvement, to believing the driver of the limousine shot the President. Two particular authors, Lattimer, author of Kennedy and Lincoln: Medical and Ballistic Comparisons of their Assassinations, and Posner, author of Case Closed, have similar theories that sympathize with the Warren Commission. Both believe that their evidence of what occurred on November 22, 1963 is accurate and indisputable. Focusing on the glaring flaws in their arguments, this paper will question Lattimer and Posner's sources and conclusions. Lattimer and Posner contend that the back wound to President Kennedy cause a reflex reaction termed Thorburn's Position. They conclude that this bullet completed its path as the "magic bullet" continuing through the President's neck and into Governor Connally causing his four wounds. While there is evidence both for and against the Thorburn reflex assertion, Lattimer and Posner blatantly ignore crucial evidence in formulating their single bullet hypothesis. Lattimer and Posner believe, based on Lattimer's background as a doctor, that the initial back wound sustained by Kennedy resulted in Thorburn's Position. In Z224, just as the limousine emerges from behind the Stemmon's Freeway sign, Kennedy's arms are rapidly moving up toward his throat1. By Z230, his arms are in a full upright position and his fists are clenched in front of his chin. At first, witnesses and experts believed this motion was a gripping response to a throat wound. Upon closer examination, however, the Zapruder film clearly shows gathered fists and no clutching of the throat. Posner, in agreement with Lattimer's finding, states that the President's reaction was indeed Thorburn's position. This neurological reflex, discovered by an English physician, "refers to a spinal injury that forces the victim's arms to jerk up into a fixed position, almost parallel with the chin, the hands gathered near the chin and the elbows pushed out to the sides. That is exactly the position the President started assuming"2. Lattimer states that in the X-ray photos, small fragments of bone lay near C-6, the sixth cervical segment. He concludes that "their presence, along with the tell tale upward, flexed movement of the President's elbows, is compelling evidence that the bullet hit (grazed or bruised) his spine"3. Trauma incurred by a bullet to C-6 as a spinal cord lesion results in the patient holding his "upper arm in abduction and his forearm in flexion. . .if bilateral it is spoken of as . . .Thorburn's sign"4. The C-6 and C-7 area of the spinal cord controls coordination in the arms, mainly the biceps and triceps. Shock to this area occurs immediately5, as seen in Z224 when the President reacted to the bullet in one to two tenths of a second6. Thorburn's position seems a viable reaction considering Kennedy's immediate response time and the location of the wound described by Lattimer, two inches below the neck crease and two inches right7, that places the bullet hole near C-6. There is also proof, however, that can cause one to question whether or not this reflex occurred. Lattimer and Posner ignore any evidence indicating that Thorburn's reaction did not result. Posner says that "once C-6 is damaged, the arms would have remained locked in a raised position indefinitely-except the destruction of the right hemisphere of the JFK'S brain by the head shot released the position"8. Posner then states that Jackie tried several times to get her husband's arms to lower but he resisted. These statements would naturally imply then that the extreme position in Z230 would correspond with Kennedy's positions in later frames Z274 and Z312 before the impact of the fatal head shot9. The later frames, however, show Kennedy's arms down near his chest and his body slumping toward Jackie. Obviously Posner is incorrect in stating that his arms were locked until the fatal shot. Lattimer captions a frame of Z312 in his book stating "elbows and shoulders are still held high up as a part of Thorburn's reflex"10. This caption, however, is under a frame in which Kennedy's elbows and shoulders are no longer flexed upward. His fists are near his neck but not firmly clenched by the throat area; this is considerably different form than seen in Z230. Lattimer and Posner fail to offer an explanation for the difference between Z230 and Z312. Instead, they simply restate Kennedy's neurological reflex. Even if Kennedy did respond to the bullet with this reaction, there is no new evidence indicated. Thorburn's position simply explains a back wound that everyone agreed existed. The most convincing case against Thorburn's position, however, comes from Dr. Jan E. Leestma, Associate Medical Director and Neuropathologist for the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch at Columbus Hospital. In my conversation with Dr. Leestma11, he adamantly stated that Thorburn's position does not seem a viable outcome of Kennedy's injury. Dr. Leestma says that when a sudden injury, such as a bullet wound, is withstood by a victim, the nerve cells and fibers go into neural shock. The nerves are immediately traumatized; they literally turn off and result in slumping of the victim. He adds "when you physically shock any nerve, the last thing it does is fire. It classically becomes electrically silent. Whether the spinal cord is directly hit or grazed, the nerve cords extending beyond the actual spine would be affected and fall silent."12 When presented with what Lattimer contended occurred during Thorburn's reaction, Dr. Leestma said "it seems to me a reaction as such would just never occur. I don't care if the sixth cervical segment was severed or just touched, the nerves in that area would not go into an immediate neurological reaction with arms flying up, they would fall limp."13 Dr. Leestma placed C-6 at the base of the neck, just above the hump at the bottom of the neck. In sum, Dr. Leestma does not believe that Thorburn's reaction could have occurred. He stated that he thought the back wound was found to be lower than C-6 and that the upsweep of Kennedy's arms did not seem to be a neurological reaction. In closing, Dr. Leestma added that he found it inexcuseable that no forensic pathologist was on the autopsy scene. He said that in his experience, he had never seen a more "botched job done by people that were not medically qualified to perform such an important procedure."14 In addition to ignoring evidence against Thorburn's position, Lattimer and Posner agree that the back wound that resulted in trauma had come from above and behind and exited through the President's throat. Neither book mentions the Sibert and O'Neill or FBI summary autopsy reports. Sibert and O'Neill, Secret Service agents present at the Bethesda Naval autopsy, wrote "the distance traveled by this missile was a short distance inasmuch as the end of the opening could be felt with a finger," and the wound was located "below the shoulders"15. Secret Service agent Kellerman testified that autopsy doctor Finck 16 said to him, while probing the wound, ""there are no lanes for an outlet of entry in this man's shoulder""17. Boswell, one of three autopsy doctors, initially drew a sketch placing the wound near the right shoulder and stated that "all three doctors had probed this wound with their fingers up the first or second knuckle"18. Head autopsy doctor Humes thought at first that the back wound was non-transit until he discovered he needed to describe an entry point for the throat wound. Finally, the Dallas FBI station received a wire on November 23 describing the wound as "just below the shoulders to the right... with no point of exit"19. All of these descriptions place the back wound just behind the damage to the President's clothing, 5 3/8 inches below the collar on the jacket, 5 3/4 inches on the shirt, and 1 3/4 inches to the right of the midline20. Lattimer and Posner believe the President's jacket was bunched and that this accounted for the four inch discrepancy between where they describe the wound's location and the clothing damage. Posner states that before Humes discovered the throat wound was also a bullet hole, the Bethesda staff was "conjecturing that it [the bullet] might have penetrated the back only a few inches"21. This implies that the staff only speculated on the shallow depth of the wound when in actuality the FBI, Secret Service, and the autopsy doctors had all agreed at one point that the wound was non-transit. Lattimer and Posner disregard all evidence indicating a low wound of non-transit by not even mentioning any alternative autopsy reports to the official Bethesda study and ignoring the low placement of the bullet hole. If the wound was non-transit then the explanation of Thorburn's position would be inconsistant. Not only was the wound described by Sibert and O'Neill lower than C-6, but if the depth was shallow then no neurological reaction could have occurred. Lattimer and Posner rest on their conclusion that the bullet transited through the neck and into Connally. If Lattimer, Posner, and the Warren Commission are correct, then not only was the back wound a transit wound, but the trajectory angle would have to be at a sharp downward angle to exit through the neck and into Connally. Josiah Thompson, author of Six Seconds in Dallas, places the trajectory path of the bullet through Connally at 27 degrees downward22. The Warren Commission states that the trajectory through Kennedy's body was 17 degrees and through Connally was roughly 25 degrees. This discrepancy, the Commission states, was "either a slight deflection of the bullet caused by striking the fifth rib or the Governor leaning backward at the same time he was struck"23. While the Commission attempts to account for the practically doubled trajectory angle, David Lifton, author of Best Evidence, states that the angle through Kennedy to result in a throat exit wound have placed the bullet entrance at a high neck level, which is inaccurate according to the alternative autopsy reports. In addition, if Kennedy and Connally were shot by the same bullet then why are the angles so different? Lifton concludes "any bullet entering at that "low" location and traveling downward would have exited-if it exited at all-below the breastline"24. Lattimer does not mention any trajectory angle evidence to back up his single bullet theory. Though the wound's placement at C-6 exiting just under the Adam's Apple could produce a downward angle, the evidence of a high wound placement is questionable. Likewise, Posner does not discuss trajectory angles in his book leading to the conclusion that Lattimer and Posner refuse to acknowledge any evidence contrary to their findings. While Lattimer and Posner maintain their single bullet theory, they refuse to place any confidence in the testimony of Governor Connally who indicates that a single bullet could not have struck both he and the President. Connally testified to the Warren Commission that he heard the first shot and then felt himself being hit. Since bullets travel faster than the speed of sound, Connally concluded that he had been struck with a second bullet. Connally said "after I heard that [first] shot, I had the time to turn to my right, and start to turn to my left before I felt anything"25. Connally said that this was a clear memory and despite the conclusion of the Warren Commission, he firmly stated "I'll never change my mind"26. In conjunction with his testimony, Mrs. Connally stated that "as the first shot was hit, and I turned to look at the same time [as John], I recall John saying "Oh no, no, no." Then there was a second shot, and it hit John"27. If Connally had been hit at the same time as Kennedy, he would not have been able to say anything since his lung collapsed from his wounds. If Connally did speak, as Mrs. Connally indicates, he must have been hit second. Connally believes, as do most experts, that he was hit at or near frame Z236. At frame Z238, the air is forced out of Connally as the bullet goes through him with his cheeks puffed and his right shoulder dropping down. If Connally is correct that he was hit by a second bullet then not only is the single bullet theory proven wrong, but there must have been a second gunman since Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano could not fire two consecutive shots in less than 2.3 seconds. Lattimer and Posner arrive at different accounts than Connally's testimony. Lattimer decides not to believe Connally, an obvious eyewitness to the assassination, but rather formulates his own hypothesis. Lattimer says that by Z221, Connally had been hit and that when he and Kennedy emerge from behind the sign at Z224, Connally has not reacted since he is yet to take a full breath feeling his rib had been hit. Upon closer examination of Z224 to Z235, however, Connally is clearly holding his Stetson hat. If he had been hit, surely the wrist that was struck would not be still clutching his hat. In addition, Lattimer says that in Z225, Connally is "only beginning to react to the bullet"28. In Z225, however, Connally can be seen turning to his right which, according to his testimony, was done before he turned left and then was hit. Lattimer states that in Z230, after he maintains Connally has been hit, he is "clamping his right elbow over his torn chest wall and pulling up his right wrist. . .now out of the course of the bullet [that]. . .obviously struck well before this frame"29. If Lattimer is correct that Connally's wrist had been struck in frame Z230, then why is he still gripping his hat and facing forward in that frame? In Z230, Connally has not been hit and is about to turn left. The Zapruder film clearly disproves Lattimer's theory by showing Connally holding his hat before he violently reacts to a bullet at Z238. While the film remains true to Connally's testimony, Posner also concludes that Connally was hit almost simultaneously with Kennedy. Posner states, in conjunction with the Warren Commission's missed shot, that the first shot missed both people. He states that Connally's testimony of hearing a shot and then feeling it, correlates to the "missed shot fired near frame 160"30. Posner maintains that "if Governor Connally had continued to turn to see the President, he would have seen Kennedy waving to the crowd"31. Connally's injuries were sustained by the second shot, the so- called 'magic bullet,' which he felt at Z224. Posner says that Connally reacted slowly to the bullet since he needed to take his next breath to feel the damage. If one examines the Zapruder film, however, Connally can be seen calmly holding his hat until around Z236. Lattimer and Posner both chose to ignore the testimony of the eyewitness and his wife in order to time their magic bullet theory correctly. Since Connally needs to be hit almost simultaneously with Kennedy for the theory to hold, Lattimer and Posner do not accurately assess the Zapruder film and conclude that Connally's account is mistaken. Lattimer and Posner support the conclusion of the Warren Commission by ignoring crucial evidence raised by experts. Lattimer believes that the back wound, located two inches below the neck, resulted in trauma to the spinal cord causing Thorburn's reaction. While this neurological reflex subsides in the Zapruder film, Lattimer and Posner contend it lasted until the fatal head shot. Dr. Leestma, an esteemed neuropathologist, doubts that Thorburn's position occurred at all. His medical opinion led to the conclusion that if the back shot had been in the neck and had transited, it still would not have produced an abrupt neurological reflex. Instead, he contends, the nerves would have stopped firing resulting in a limp body. Regardless, the Thorburn reaction conclusion on the part of Lattimer does not prove anything new about the assassination. While it explains a reaction by the President, it does not lend any new information about the obvious back wound. Lattimer and Posner neglect to examine the depth of this back wound and do not mention any alternative autopsy reports in their respective books. By ignoring these reports, they not only fail to recognize the consensus for a non-transit wound, but dodge an explanation of the trajectory the magic bullet took through Kennedy and Connally. Finally, Lattimer and Posner completely discount the testimony of Connally and his wife to maintain their single bullet theory. Lattimer and Posner poorly examine the occurrences during the assassination by ignoring crucial evidence to lend more weight to their own hypotheses. Endnotes 1. Thompson, Josiah. Six Seconds in Dallas. (New York: Random House, 1967), pg. 31. 2. Posner, Gerald L. Case Closed. (New York: Random House, 1993), pg. 328. 3. Lattimer, Dr. John K. Kennedy and Lincoln: Medical & Ballistic Comparisons of Their Assassinations. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980), pg. 246. 4. DeJong, Russell N. The Neurologic Examination. Third Edition. (New York: Harper and Row, 1967), pg. 793. 5. Ibid, pg. 798. 6. Posner, pg. 329. 7. Lattimer, pg. 181. 8. Posner, pg. 329. 9. Groden, Robert J. The Killing of a President. (New York: Penguin, 1994), pg. 26, 32. 10. Lattimer, pg. 174. 11. Interview with Dr. Jan E. Leestma. December 13, 1994. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. Incidently, Dr. Leestma said that he knew many of the doctors involved in the Kennedy case. He said that had a forensic pathologist been on the autopsy scene in Bethesda, the throat wound would have been obvious and there would have been no question as to where the back wound was or how shallow it was. He said "the military is crazy- ranking dictates everything. I think there is a lot of covering up going on since no real doctors were there. Those were military doctors, they hadn't performed autopsies in years, that isn't their job. That body never should have left Dallas." 15. Thompson, pg. 43. 16. Dr. Leestma said that he personally knew Dr. Finck and that he was "a kind of short, funny looking guy" who was from Switzerland and had a career in the U.S. military and then retired in Switzerland. He said that about two years ago, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an exclusive interview with Finck who finally discussed the autopsy. I did not have a chance to look this up. He added that Finck knew the autopsy was poorly done. Leestma indicated that the autopsy team was not in on a conspiracy, but rather was ill trained and unprepared. Then he added "don't ascribe to malice that which can be attributed to stupidity. Does that clear up how I feel about the autopsy?" 17. Ibid, pg. 44. 18. Ibid, pg. 43. 19. Ibid, pg. 40. 20. Ibid, pg. 48. 21. Posner, pg. 304. 22. Thompson, pg. 130 23. The Warren Commission. Report of the President's Commission of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Washington D.C.: United States Printing Office, 1964), pg. 107. 24. Lifton, David S. Best Evidence. (New York: Penguin, 1992), pg. 90. 25. Thompson, pg. 68. 26. Ibid. 27. Ibid, pg. 22. 28. Lattimer, pg. 169. 29. Ibid. 30. Posner, pg. 331. 31. Ibid, pg. 332. Bibliography 1. DeJong, Russell N. The Neurologic Examination. Third Edition. (New York: Harper and Row, 1967). 2. Groden, Robert J. The Killing of a President. (New York: Penguin, 1994). 3. Lattimer, Dr. John K. Kennedy and Lincoln: Medical & Ballistic Comparisons of Their Assassinations. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1980). 4. Lifton, David S. Best Evidence. (New York: Penguin, 1992). 5. Posner, Gerald L. Case Closed. (New York: Random House, 1993). 6. Thompson, Josiah. Six Seconds in Dallas. (New York: Random House, 1967). 7. The Warren Commission. Report of the President's Commission of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Washington D.C.: United States Printing Office, 1964). 8. Interview with Dr. Jan E. Leestma. December 13, 1994. .