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SPEAKERS
& EXHIBITORSPHOTOSSCHOLARSHIPSDVD PRESENTATIONS
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Nearly 200 researchers of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy gathered in Dallas this past week for a research conference devoted to the presentation of discoveries about his untimely death. The meeting, which spanned three days, included lectures and symposia by some of the leading members of the assassination research community, including Peter Dale Scott, Noel Twyman, Ian Griggs, Stewart Galanor, Jim Marrs, George Michael Evica, and David W. Mantik, with a special appearance by Ronald Jones, M.D., an attending physician at Parkland.
During his presentation, Dr. Jones reported that his personal observations of the wounds the President sustained included a small round wound to the throat and a massive defect to the back of his head. It was his conclusion at that time that the wound to the throat was a wound of entry, an opinion which was shared by other Parkland physicans. At a press conference held that afternoon, for example, Malcolm Perry, M.D., asserted three times that the wound to the throat was a wound of entry. A transcript of that press conference may now be found in ASSASSINATION SCIENCE, edited by James H. Fetzer, conference co-chair.
Stewart Galanor, author of COVER-UP, elaborated some of the paradoxes of the assassination. One is that, since there is extensive evidence of the shot to the throat, while the Warren Commission concluded all the shots had been fired from behind, how could JFK have been shot from in front from behind? And since the trajectory of a head shot advanced by the Warren Commission, when properly oriented to correspond to the position of his head at the time of the shot as the Zapruder film displays, has an upward direction, how could JFK have been shot from below from above? He has elaborated these points in his recent book.
David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D., presented evidence that the official account of a shot that passed through the back of the President's neck and exited his throat without hitting any bony structures before impacting Governor John Connally and inflicting several wounds is anatomically impossible because, when the path it would have had to have taken is tracked from official point of entry to official point of exit on a scan of a neck with the dimensions of President Kennedy, it would have had to impact cervical verteba. He has discussed this finding along with studies demonstrating that the official autopsy X-rays have been fabricated by imposing a patch over the large defect to the back of the head on the lateral cranial X-ray and by adding a 6.5 mm metal object to the front-to-rear X-ray in ASSASSINATION SCIENCE, but his earlier discoveries have now been elabored further in a new book, MURDER IN DEALEY PLAZA, also edited by James H. Fetzer.
Presentations by Mantik, by Noel Twyman, author of BLOODY TREASON, and by Peter Dale Scott, Ph.D., author of THE ASSASSINATIONS: DALLAS AND BEYOND, CRIME AND COVER-UP: THE CIA, THE MAFIA, AND THE DALLAS-WATERGATE CONNECTION, COCAINE POLITICS: DRUGS, ARMIES, AND THE CIA IN CENTRAL AMERICA, and DEEP POLITICS AND THE DEATH OF JFK, discussed the difficulty of conveying discoveries about the assassination to the American people, especially via the mass media, due to media reluctance to come to grips with the case and the influence of illusion and denial in presenting evidence that the American government played a role in the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, a difficulty compounded by "the silence of the historians", in Mantik's memorable phrase.
This theme was also apparent in a symposium that included Jim Marrs, author of CROSSFIRE, a principal source for Oliver Stone's film, "JFK", and Charles Drago, who is known as "the conscience of the research community". Marrs discussed some of the policies pursued by the young American President and how poorly they were received by powerful interests in the United States, an analysis that was extended in an evening lecture by George Michael Evica, the author of AND WE ARE ALL MORTAL and former editor of THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION CHRONICLES, a leading journal devoted to the death of JFK.
Drago baldly asserted that anyone who is familiar with the evidence who does not conclude that JFK was killed as the result of a conspiracy is cognitively impaired or complicit in the crime.
A fascinating variety of other presentations included a discussion by Ian Griggs, Executive Secretary of the United Kingdom Dealey Plaza Society and Editor of THE DEALEY PLAZA ECHO, of Lee Oswald's visit to Helsinki in1959, during which he stayed at expensive hotels that raise intriguing questions about his sponsorship. A symposium concerning Chauncey Holt, who has been identified as the third of "three tramps" who were photographed beingescorted through Dealey Plaza after the killing and who has said he prepared 15 sets of forged Secret Service IDs in his role as a contract agent for the CIA, was presented by his wife, Mary Holt, his daughter, Karyn Harcourt, and friends and acquaintances, David Mollering and Gregory Burnham. Their presentations included many photographs and documents that substantiated Chauncey's role.
Many other aspects of the assassination were covered during the meeting, now an annual event sponsored by JFK Lancer Productions.Co-chair Debra Conway expressed pleasure at the quality of the contributions. During the Awards Banquet, Peter Dale Scott, the featured speaker, and Jerry Rose, the editor of THE FOURTH DECADE, another leading assassination journal, were introduced by Kerry McCarthy, a relative of John F. Kennedy and a family historian, who expressed appreciation on behalf of the family for the efforts being expended to discover the truth about the death of her cousin. Conway explained that a new conference was already in the planning stages for presentation next year.
Award Winners:
DAVID
MANTIK
We, as a research community have been fortunate and indeed privileged
to have this man join us in our search for the truth David's
contribution to us of his skill as both a medical doctor and
in physics has led to his pioneering work in studying the autopsy
materials of President Kennedy and also his extensive study of
the Zapruder film. His courageous stand, risking professional
ridicule, in presenting his findings at the JFK assassination
conferences make him the man to watch and learn from. His contributions
to the books "Assassination Science" and the recent
"Murder in Dealey Plaza" the former containing his
step-by-step article on the medical evidence brings us to our
greatest understanding of the medical evidence. He is one of
the very few persons allowed to view the original autopsy photos
and X-rays at the national archives and possibly one of the few
to be on the side of conspiracy.
MICHAEL
PARKS
Michael's contributions to the JFK assassination research includes
his original work in Dealey Plaza--as an engineer he uses his
skills to compare previous measurements and photographs giving
us new and correct views of this crucial crime scene.He has presented
his findings comparing the Zapruder film and also the view from
the sewer drain at previous November In Dallas conferences and
also in the Kennedy Assassination Chronicles magazine. Michael
has also contributed to the written record with his willingness
to search for and share primary source documents. Many of his
findings have led to substantial additions to the record. Michael
also participates each year in "Project JFK," JFK Lancer's
annual conference for high school students held each January,
impressing them with his treasure trove of rarely seen documents.
NOEL
TWYMAN
Noel's contribution to the JFK assassination case is tremendous.
From his pioneering work with the Zapruder film to his personal
interviews with key people, he has become a standard of excellence
for other researchers to follow. His attention to detail and
perseverance led to his outstanding book, "Bloody Treason,"
a book many have said has led us closer to the truth than we
have ever gone before. Many of the prime suspects and their actions
that we've only had a glimpse of are fully fleshed out in Noel's
book: William Harvey, David Morales, and John Roselli, to name
just a few. Other researchers know they can depend on Noel's
work as a foundation to their own and his willingness to share
is materials is an inspiration to us all. For instance, it was
Noel's essay on "Denial and Disillusionment" that led
to the fascinating panel discussion held at this year's conference.
LARRY
HANCOCK
Larry's contribution to the case is in an area that many of us
shy away from: the intelligence agencies. While this part of
the assassination research is fascinating to us all, and most
believe the intelligence community was complicit in the assassination
and coverup, few are willing to study the wilderness of mirrors
involved. Larry not only has delved intot he motley crew of characters,
he finds the documentation to separate their claims from the
facts. Larry has presented new and illuminating information on
this subject at past NID conferences. For instance, his presentation
in 1999 on Richard Case Nagell was one of the outstanding ones
of that conference and was instrumental in our understanding
of that enigmatic figure. And each year, in addition to his presentation,
Larry donates a stack of documents for distribution.
PIONEER
AWARD: JERRY ROSE
A retired professor of Sociology from SUNY Fredonia, where he
published 6 textbooks in this field; began publication of "The
Third Decade" journal for JFK assassination research in
Nov. '84 and continues today as "The Fourth Decade"
beginning in '94; besides over 100 contributors to these journals,
he has personally authored some 70 articles.
In 1996, Jerry presented a compliation of his published studies over the past twelve years called "TWENTY QESTIONS: Loose Ends In The JFK Assassination" where he explained, "Assassination research is replete with unresolved issues of fact raised by various investigations. These are not simply a cluster of "loose ends" which prevent a "tidy" or well-wrapped" factual account of the assassination and its aftermath. Rather, they are more in the nature of threads emanating from the main body of the case. To follow them toward a resolution is, hopefully, to take us toward a more satisfactory solution of the case." Most recently Jerry has published a series of articles in his "Fourth Decade" called "Notes From the Last Millennium" that are required reading for any serious student of the JFK assassination.