JFK: 60 Years of Questions

November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was shot and killed during a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

The President is taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.  By law, Dallas County Coroner Dr. Earl Rose had jurisdiction over the case and should have performed the autopsy. However, against Dr. Earl Rose's protestations, the body of President Kennedy was wrapped in a sheet, placed in a casket with a broken handle, and flown over 1,300 miles away to Washington DC, where 2 naval doctors, who had never conducted a forensic autopsy performed the autopsy on John F. Kennedy. 

Join Joseph Scott Morgan and Dave Mack as they take a close look at the autopsy that was so bad, 60years later questions are still being asked. 

Time Code Highlights

00:01:21 Discussion about the ripple effect of the assassination of JFk

00:04:31 Discussion of the moments following the shooting of JFK in Dealey Plaza

00:06:02 Talk about how autopsy "Standard Procedures" were not followed 

00:06:51 Texas state law and jurisdiction over investigation and autopsy

00:07:58 Board Certified Forensic Pathologist Doctor Earl Rose was chief medical examiner for Dallas, Texas at the time and was at Parkland Memorial Hospital

00:09:22 Discussion JFK body taken from Dallas to Washington DC for autopsy

00:10:59 Talk about Secret Service preparing for President trips.

00:11:36 Discussion of JFK physical condition after being shot.

00:12:52 Talk about injuries to JFK, at least 2 gunshot wounds. 

00:13:31 Discussion of tracheotomy that was performed to establish an airway

00:15:04 Discussion of Dr. Earl Rose and how his experience was dismissed

00:16:23 Dr. Earl Rose KNEW he was looking at a Murder Investigation.

00:17:47 Discussion Dallas County had jurisdiction over the body.

00:19:03 Talk about autopsy of JFK should have taken place in Dallas

00:20:08 Talk about previous Presidential assassination, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley and their autopsies.

00:22:10 Discussion of Dr. Earl Rose did the autopsy for Oswald, Officer Tippit, and Jack Ruby.

00:23:36  Discussion of JFK body being taken to Washington DC 

00:25:16 Comparing Bethesda Naval Hospital to Walter Reed Hospital 

00:26:04 Discussion about doctors chosen to perform JFK autopsy

00:28:42 Talk about why doctors turned bullet wound into tracheostomy

00:29:55  Presidents body wrapped in sheets. Head wrapped in gauze

00:31:09 Discussion of JFK clothing, tie changed the trajectory of round.

00:32:58  Discussion about clothing worn during the assassination

00:33:44 Talk about "magic bullet" going through JFK and Governor Connally, 

00:35:08 Discussion Secret Service agents washed interior of Presidential limo. 

00:36:03 Talk about crime scenes - bone fragments found and turned in later

00:37:02 Description of President's head, skull came apart in doctors hands.

00:38:04 Discussion of Assessment

00:40:02 Talk about x-rays that were done on body

00:41:58  Description of the Bethesda autopsy suite 

00:43:51 Ballistics expert Dr. Pierre Fink, forensic pathologist, came to Bethesda 

00:44:53  JFK brain was removed before Dr. Fink arrived

00:46:05 Description of "Brain Loafing".

00:47:22 The autopsy of JFK was not a complete autopsy

00:49:21 Discussion of "family wishes" as it applies to the murder of the president.

00:50:48 Compare autopsy of John F. Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy

00:52:36 Discussion about other pathologists available to do autopsy on JFK

00:55:09 No way to know if other injuries suffered by JFK could have been lethal

00:56:04 Commentary - no excuse for what happened with autopsy of JFK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.