by Dave O’Brien

From his book Through The ‘Oswald’ Window:
Reveals Stunning Fresh Insights, Three Assassins,
Conspiracy & Cover-Up in the JFK Assassination!

How could it possibly be that the fatal JFK headshot either came from behind or in front of President Kennedy depending on what autopsy pictures you are viewing?

And how could it possibly be that the bullet entry wound on Kennedy’s back, as documented in the official autopsy report as being just right of the spinal column and 5 ¾ inches below the collar line, mysteriously moves all the way up to the base of the neck as shown on schematic autopsy drawings?

One of the greatest controversies of the assassination are the Kennedy autopsy photos and x-rays of his body, which were classified as top secret by President Johnson and ordered sealed from the public until 2038.

The intended 75-year cover-up was thwarted by three happenings:

• FOIA – The Freedom of Information Act of 1967 accelerated the release of classified documents, many of which contravened the official findings of the 1964 Warren Report on the assassination.

• Watergate – The 1972 break-in at the Democratic National headquarters by Republican sponsored burglars, as well as the subsequent cover-up leading all the way to the oval office, told the American people that its government could act criminally at the highest levels and try to keep it suppressed from the public.

Two of the Watergate burglars, E. Howard Hunt and Frank Sturgis, were also rebel CIA operatives tied to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion under Kennedy, which this author’s book links to the JFK assassination.

• Good Night America – In 1975, after being kept from the American public for 12 years, the Zapruder film was shown on national TV by Good Night America’s Geraldo Rivera, causing a public outcry for the truth.

The gruesome JFK images seen on Zapruder’s 26-second color film sparked outrage that eventually helped to cause the formation of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) three years later to re-examine the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

A TALE OF TWO MEDICAL ILLUSTRATORS

In a related article about medical illustrator Harold Rydberg, it was disturbing to learn how he was duped by autopsy surgeon James J. Humes into composing three schematic drawings that actually disagree with the doctor’s formal post mortem report on the President.

The Warren Commission decided that schematic renderings were a more tasteful way to illustrate the wounds on the President rather than publish the actual color or black and white photos.

However, Rydberg was not allowed to base his illustrations on the original JFK headshot photos taken as part of the autopsy procedure, instead composing the three diagrams at left four months later based on Dr. Humes’ recollections of the wounds!

Even more alarming, these illustrations were presented by the Warren Commission as definitive evidence that all three shots were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald from above and behind JFK, enabling it to conclude that there was no conspiracy, foreign or domestic.

It is disturbing to realize that the findings of the official JFK autopsy (below right), as well as the FBI autopsy report, were ignored by the Warren Commission in favor of Rydberg’s illustrations (L to R – CE 385, CE 386 & CE 388).

15 years later, it is even more troublesome to learn that medical illustrator Ida Dox also appears to have been similarly misused by the HSCA, which also presented her artwork in its report to explain what happened to the slain President on November 22, 1963.

First, it becomes clear why the HSCA didn’t employ Naval Corpsman Rydberg to be its medical illustrator, given his previous experience with the Warren Commission:

By the time the HSCA was formed, Rydberg was trying to gain access to the official JFK x-ray and photo files because he no longer believed that the drawings he did for the Commission were accurate depictions of the wounds sustained by President Kennedy.

Further, Rydberg objected to the Warren Report using his drawings as factual representations of the wounds on the President’s body.

While both Rydberg and Dox seem to have been unwitting participants in a JFK assassination cover-up by the U.S. government, Dox has kept a low profile about her role with the HSCA.

We don’t know for certain if Dox is proud of her work on behalf of the HSCA or she is troubled by it in any way as Rydberg became disillusioned with his work for the Warren Commission.

DIFFERENT DECEPTION

The one similarity connecting illustrators Dox and Rydberg is that their drawings of the back and head entry wounds on JFK point to a gunman positioned above and behind the motorcade, enabling their respective employers to name Lee Harvey Oswald as that gunman.

So, wouldn’t that suggest a high probability that their collective artwork accurately reflects the bullet wounds on the late Commander-in-Chief?

The answer, at the very least, is not necessarily.

We know that Rydberg was never allowed to see any JFK autopsy images to help him accurately craft his schematic drawings, but what about Dox?

Apparently, the HSCA did grant Ida Dox access to color photographs of President Kennedy’s body and was tasked to replicate them in illustrative form, mostly in black and white for inclusion in its published report.

However, Dr. Cyril Wecht, a leading forensic pathologist asked by the HSCA to review the medical evidence, was surprised to see that the Dox diagrams in the HSCA Report do not reflect the wounds appearing in the sealed images stored in the National Archives nor the testimony of more than a dozen expert medical witnesses.

In this author’s book, Dr. Wecht, in support of this diagram of the President’s head wound (lower right) called the report “salacious” and had this to add:

O’Brien – “Dr. Wecht, the actual autopsy photos show a massive blow-out wound at the rear of the President’s head, yet the medical illustrations depict a side exit wound above the right ear. How do we explain this discrepancy?”

Dr. Wecht (page 249) – “There’s no doubt there was damage to the brain and the occipital area (right rear) with damage to the cerebellum. This was described by all the doctors at Parkland and they even demonstrated with their hands pointing to the area of damage.

“Keep in mind that some of the doctors were not only experienced trauma surgeons, one was chairman of neuro-surgery (Dr. Robert McClelland). These guys couldn’t be part of any kind of plot. They describe what they saw.

“So, who do you believe? These guys at Parkland who describe what they saw or the bullshit that emanates later on after who knows what’s been done to the body? And you’ve got these two guys, Humes and Boswell, who have never before done a single gunshot wound autopsy!”

Dr. Wecht’s intimation that something may have been done to the President’s body post autopsy is frightening in of itself, but it gives us a possible insight into how Ida Dox was manipulated, without her knowledge, into creating her diagrams for the HSCA.

HOW TO DUPE AN ARTIST

David Lifton’s book Best Evidence asserts that wounds on the President’s body were physically altered to remove any evidence of a shot coming from in front of the limousine.

This was necessary, he argues, in order for the Warren Commission to avoid evidence of a second gunman, thereby enabling Oswald to be named as the ‘lone’ assassin of President Kennedy.

To Dr. Wecht, this is pure poppycock! “You can’t physically make a head wound of this type smaller,” he claims.

Another argument against Lifton’s hypothesis is that even physically altering wounds to make them bigger, particularly involving scattered bones and fragments, is extremely difficult to do.

There is a much easier way to alter wounds on a body, especially if there is no chance of the victim ever being exhumed to one day possibly expose the misdeed – alter photographs of the body instead of the body itself!

It is much more probable that the glaring differences between the actual color autopsy photos and the black and white Dox drawings can be attributed to her never seeing the original post mortem photographs just like Rydberg 15 years earlier.

Instead, Ida Dox can rightfully claim that the illustrations she drew for the HSCA were accurate depictions of the photos she was given to work with. And since any doctoring of photos likely took place soon after the assassination, the HSCA can likewise claim that it had no nefarious role in the images provided to Ms. Dox.

She testified before the HSCA panel that her first step in recreating the wounds she saw was to overlay a piece of paper on the photo she was given to trace the main features of the image. She then filled in the balance of the diagram using her eyesight and obvious skills as an artist.

It becomes apparent that Harold Rydberg’s three color illustrations above, based on the memory of Dr. Humes rather than seeing any authentic images of the wounds, formed the foundation for the photographic trickery to follow:

With these renditions presented as the factually correct accounting of the President’s wounds by the Warren Report, as well as the belief at the time that the actual photos and x-rays would not be made public for 75 years, it is entirely possible that photographs were doctored to purposely reflect the Rydberg drawings.

That way, whenever necessary to keep the public believing in Oswald as the lone assassin, the Rydberg diagrams would match the released altered photographs in place of the actual suppressed autopsy photos.

That necessity arose in 1978 with the formation of the HSCA investigation amid the public’s growing belief in a conspiracy. This causes us to contemplate these questions:

1. Political Pawns? – Did the HSCA panel willingly partake in this medical evidence transgression or was it also duped by the orchestrators of the cover-up?

2. Cover-Up Extended? – Was Ida Dox purposely given the doctored photographs to provide illustrations that would allow the HSCA to affirm the essential findings of the Warren Commission?

History has demonstrated that the U.S. government believes it can suppress what it wants from the American people.

In this instance, it comes down to whether or not the government of the time believed it could and needed to bury the original autopsy photos and x-rays until 2038.

To do so, the doctored JFK headshot photos, supported by two sets of matching drawings by non-complicit respected medical illustrators, are essential in the continuing cover-up of America’s ultimate cold case!