Six Seconds in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the Kennedy Assassination [Hardcover]

Josiah Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1967

History, Kennedy. Edition not noted, 1/68 on the jacket flap. Red and blue covers very nice, corners and spine ends lightly bumped, tape scars and stains four spots where a previous owner had taped a mylar cover to the book. Dust jacket bright, small chip at top of spine panel, two inch tear on the rear flap fold. Glue smear stain on the rear endpaper, otherwise the interior is clean and tight, book slightly slanted. Scarce.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 323 pages
• Publisher: Bernard Geis / Random House Inc; 1st edition (January 20, 1967)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394445716
• ISBN-13: 978-0394445717
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever about the Kennedy assassination - bar none January 22, 2005

By Michael K. Beusch VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

As an American who believes in his heart that President Kennedy was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, it pains me to see so many half-baked and flat-out irresponsible studies of the assassination. These run the gamut from the ridiculous defenses of the Warren Report (Gerald Posner, in particular) to the most outlandish conspiracy books hawking absolutely ridiculous theories (James Fetzer's books claiming that the Zapruder film is a fake is the latest). Both the Warren Commission's defenders and the way-out conspiracy theorists do the search for the truth a great disservice. Both groups pick and choose whatever evidence suits their needs. Warren Commission apologists suspend the natural laws of forensics and physics and brand every anti-Commission witness as a nut and every conspiracy believer as a paranoid lunatic. The extreme conspiracy theorists see assassins in every photograph, including, they claim, James Milteer (a right wing activist of the day), Charles Harrelson, a professional hitman and the father of Cheers star Woody Harrelson, and even Watergate figure Howard Hunt.

Thankfully, in 1967, Josiah Thompson provided a study of the assassination which is, in my opinion, still the best book ever published about the assassination. Six Seconds in Dallas breaks down the evidence and, using a scientific approach to the investigation, shows conclusively that President Kennedy was fired upon by three assassins, not just Lee Harvey Oswald. Warren Commission proponents love to point to the fact that Governor John Connally defended the Warren Commission -- they just ignore the fact that the Governor testified that he was certain he was hit by a separate shot from the one that hit President Kennedy in the back.... Using the Zapruder film, however, Thompson pinpoints the exact moment when Connally was shot, showing conclusively that he and the President were struck by separate shots. Using the FBI tests of Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle, he shows conclusively that Oswald could not have possibly shot Kennedy in the back, recycled the rifle and then shot Connally. Therefore there was another shooter.

Thompson also analyzes the much studied Moorman polaroid photograph. This is the photo that allegedly shows an assassin dressed as a Dallas Police officer (Badgeman) firing on JFK. However, using the testimony of a witness, S.M. Holland who saw a puff of smoke come from the grassy knoll, Thompson concludes that the shot to President Kennedy's head was actually fired to the left of where Badgeman stood. Thompson asked Holland to stand where the smoke came from. Sure enough, when the photo is blown up, what looks like the top of a man's head appears at that exact spot -- a shape that does not appear in Thompson's re-creation of the photo.

Those are just two of the investigative threads Thompson follows in Six Seconds in Dallas. No matter what part of the assassination he investigates, however, his conclusions come as the result of exhaustive investigation and scientific analysis. He even debunks some claims made by the more extreme conspiracy theorists, like the claim that a photo shows Oswald standing in the doorway of the Texas School Book Depository at the time of the shooting or that the Nix film shows an assassin firing from the top of a station wagon. Thompson does not make the wild claims of the irresponsible conspiracy books. He does not make a claim that he cannot back up with conclusive evidence. Had every book regarding the assassination been this thorough and responsible, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Arlen Specter, Gerald Posner and other defenders of the Warren Commission would have a much tougher time dimissing the conspiracy theorists.

A friend of mine once asked me, "Why are we still talking about Kennedy's assassination? It was a long time ago." This made me livid. If there was other assassin(s) who participated in the murder of John F. Kennedy, they must be identified and brought to justice -- whether it takes 40, 50, 60, even 100 years. The American electoral process is sacred. It's flawed, it's antiquated in many ways, but it expresses the will of the people to choose the person who will lead the country. That a select few who hate the person elected could subvert the will of the people and assassinate the President should be offensive to every American. We, as Americans, have the responsibility to seek the truth and do so responsibly, no matter what skeletons the truth might shake loose. The Warren Commission's defenders continue to stick their heads in the sand. The far-out conspiracy theorists hurt the cause, exploiting, in many cases, the murder of President Kennedy for attention or monetary gain. Josiah Thompson does neither -- he seeks the truth and so should we all. Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The JFK Murder Mystery July 2, 2008

By Acute Observer

Format:Hardcover

Josiah Thompson studied at Oxford, Copenhagen, and Yale. He was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College. He worked as a member of the 'LIFE' magazine team that investigated the JFK assassination using the photographs and movie films taken at that time. The purpose of this book is to use the available evidence to investigate the unsolved assassination. Critics of the Warren Report said it could not have happened that way (a lone gunman). This 1967 book uses the evidence to answer how it happened. Lawyer Vincent Salandria was the first to list the misrepresentations and contradictions in the Warren Report (p.viii).

Chapter 2 notes the differences among witnesses as to the number, direction, and quality of the shots heard. [Years later a discovered recording would present objective evidence.] If two shots were "bunched" there were two shooters. Chapter 3 explains why the first shot hit JFK in the back (p.35). The Bethesda autopsy said this had a downward trajectory of 45-60 degrees downward (p.41). Chapter 4 explains why the second shot hit Governor Connally (p.67). Chapter 5 tells about the third and fourth shots that hit JFK (p.87). A piece of skull was found 10 to 15 feet to the left of the car's path (p.100). This suggests a shot from the right front of the car (p.101). A neurosurgeon said the head injury was a tangential wound (p.106). Note the difference between the head wound observed at Parkland (p.107). And that at Bethesda (p.111). It is as if two different bodies were observed!

Who was that man with Secret Service credentials (p.125)? The bullet that struck Governor Connally likely came from the roof of the Dallas County Records Building (p.130). Two shots came from the School Book Depository (p.136).... Pages 143-145 tell of the problems with the four shells found in the TBSD. There is a problem with CE 399 (p.147). What bullet was found in the hospital (p.156)? CE 399 could not have come from Kennedy or Connally (p.158). Chapter 8 has a reconstruction of the assassination: 4 shots, 3 shooters (p.178). Note the comments on page 190. The Warren Commission went wrong because of uncritical acceptance of the single bullet theory (p.196). [But if they said more than one assassin that would be proof of the conspiracy they said did not exist!] Pages 203-204 analyze the "ramshackle case". Experts said Connally was hit by "two different bullets" (p.206). The Warren Report was "hearsay and contradiction" (p.209). There was "contradictory
evidence" buried in the Warren Report (p.213). Who was in the doorway (pp.226-227)? Who owned the jacket discarded by Tippit's assailant (p.229)? Did Oswald shoot the President (p.233)? That can't be proved or disproved.

Appendix D has a critique of the Autopsy by Cyril H. Wecht M.D., L.L.B. They did not use an experienced forensic pathologist as they had mistakes of procedure and technique. There was not mention of the adrenal glands, and a failure to adequately inspect the brain. The body was not X-rayed and the films inspected before the autopsy. The entrance wound in the back is substantially lower than the purported exit in the throat. Wecht does not agree with the essential findings of the Warren Report or the autopsy on which it was based (p.283). Another problem is CE 399.

In 1974 George O'Toole's book "The Assassination Tapes" provided the physical evidence to question Oswald's guilt. A Congressional committee concluded in two shooters. More books were published afterwards. The majority of Americans today do not believe the Warren Report. Read more ›

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bring this book back in print August 20, 2004

By Rocco Dormarunno

Format:Hardcover

With dozens upon dozens of far-fetched theories about the JFK assassination, this book above all others is the most sane, the most rational, and the most logical. Using eye- and ear-witness testimony, drawings made from stills of the Zapruder film (which may have been tampered with but is NOT a fabrication, puh-LEEZE, Mr. Fetzer!), and expert analysis, Josiah Thompson's SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS remains the best study of the assassination--and the best proof of a conspiracy--to have emerged from the 60s, or any other decade for that matter.

Don't look for Cuban-exile/CIA/FBI/KGB/Vinnie-Goombatza-crime-family conspiracy theories here. This book is not interested in the whodunnit aspect of the case. It is solely interested in those moments--those six seconds--between the first and last shots that murdered President John F. Kennedy. And in his analysis of them, Josiah Thompson proves beyond a reasonable doubt that a second shooter, and probably a third, took part in the assassination.

Sometimes, after reading some of the more disappointing books about the JFK assassination (and there are TONS of them), I shake my head and really wonder if anything beyond the Warren Commisssion's conclusions had really occurred. Then I pick up SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS and turn to any page. And there is no longer any doubt that a conspiracy murdered our president. It's a shame that this book is out of print. I hope that some of the publishers who have made a fortune out of the glut of conspiracy books--like Thunder's Mouth Press or Carroll & Graf--will pick up the rights to this great book and publish it for a new generation of JFK assassination researchers. That new generation will need it!