Murder in Dealey Plaza: What We Know Now that We Didn't Know Then (Paperback)

by James H. Fetzer (Author) "Editor's note: Ira David Wood III began a chronology of events before, during, and after the murder of JFK as background for a dramatic work..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dealey Plaza, President Kennedy, Elm Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A compendium of recent thought and discovery about the Kennedy assassination, this volume makes a case for official malfeasance and against the "lone gunman" explanation. Fetzer (Assassination Science), a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, sets the tone for an in-depth revisionist history in his prologue, in which he makes note of what he views as 16 "smoking guns" in the Warren Report and questions the veracity of the JFK autopsy photographs and tissue samples, and even the Zapruder film. Most contributors explore these topics in detail, aided by Ira Wood's precisely detailed "November 22, 1963: A Chronology." In provocative essays, Douglas Weldon explores tangled vehicle-related evidence that he concludes indicates that JFK was shot through the throat from in front of the car rather than from behind; Vincent Palamara names several Secret Service agents who he believes may have been compromised; and Fetzer discusses the little-seen "Assassination File" of former Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry. Also included is Bertrand Russell's acid 1964 assessment of what he viewed as a nascent coverup. With much discussion of alleged manipulation of forensic and photographic evidence, the book's overall focus is primarily technical, on what the contributors see as the wealth of evidence of a multiple-shooter assassination, with likely complicity of the Secret Service and other government agencies. This coolly angry dismantling of the theories of the Warren commission and lone-gunman supporters like Gerald Posner will be fodder for conspiracy theorists.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
In its publisher's words, on the basis of the findings presented in MURDER IN DEALEY PLAZA, "it is possible to say with moral certainty and with considerable scientific authority that the murder of President Kennedy was committed by a meticulously executed conspiracy which was then obscured by an extensive cover-up." The progress we have made in sorting out what happened to this country on 22 November 1963 has resulted from the application of scientific, technical, and scholarly expertise in a systematic effort to take rumor and speculation out and place the study of the assassination on an objective and scientific foundation. This work extends previous studies pubished in ASSASSINATION SCIENCE, especially by taking into account more than 60,000 documents and records recently released by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB). The results of these efforts have been remarkable.

The contributors whose work has been brought together in this volume include the leading authority on the Secret Service (Vincent Palamara); the most knowledgeable student of the Presidential limousine (Douglas Weldon, J.D.); a leading expert on the medical evidence at Parkland and at Bethesda (Gary Aguilar, M.D.); the single most highly qualified person to ever study this case (David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D.); the Senior Analyst for Military Records for the ARRB (Douglas Horne); a legendary photoanalyst who advised the House Select Committee during its reinvestigation (Jack White); a world-famous philosopher who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950 (Bertrand Russell); a prize-winning director and playwright, who has produced a brilliant chronology (Ira David Wood III); and a philosopher of science who has published more than 20 books and 100 articles in his fields of expertise (James H. Fetzer, Ph.D.).

The evidence presented in this volume demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt:

* that JFK was hit at least four times (once in the back from behind; once in the throat from in front; and twice in the head, once from behind and once from in front);

* that the wound to his throat was caused by a shot that penetrated the limousine windshield, which was subsequently destroyed and replaced by a substitute windshield;

* that the shot to the back was well below the collar, entered only about as far as the second knuckle on your little finger, and evinced no point of exit from the body;

* that no bullet transited the President's neck without hitting any bony structures and exited at the level of his tie, a trajectory that in fact turns out to be anatomically impossible;

* that, as a consequence, no bullet passed through the President and hit the Governor, who was hit by at least one and perhaps as many as two or even three separate shots;

* that, including the shot that missed and injured James Tague, an absolute minimum of six shots had to have been fired during the assassination, where the total was more likely eight, nine, or even ten;

* that at least 59 witnesses reported that the limousine slowed dramatically or came to a complete halt after bullets began to be fired, which supports the conclusion that it slowed dramatically as it came to a complete halt;

* that the first shot to the head was fired from behind and entered in the vicinity of the external occipital protuberance at the back of the head;

* that the second shot to the head was fired from in front and entered in the vicinity of the right temple;

* that the second shot was fired with a frangible or "exploding" bullet that transmitted shockwaves through the brain;

* that the impact of this bullet combined with the weakening of the skull by the first shot to the head caused 1/3 to 1/2 of his brains to be blown out in Dealey Plaza at the time;

* that the massive blow-out to the back of the head was concealed by imposing a "patch" to the right lateral cranial X-ray (of the skull taken from the right side);

* that the brain had to be reconsititued since, once the defect to the skull had been "patched", there was no place for that brain matter to have gone;

* that the brain shown in diagrams and photographs in the National Archives cannot be the brain of John Fitzgerald Kennedy;

* that two brain examinations were conducted, the first of which was with the President's brain, the second with a substitute;

* that the autopsy report was prepared without the benefit of the autopsy photographs, which were removed by the Secret Service;

* that the photographs were subsequently altered and reshot in various ways to conceal evidence of the cause of death;

* that the Zapruder film of the assassination was in the hands of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) run by the CIA already the weekend of the assassination;

* that the extant "Zapruder film" has been massively edited to remove evidence of the actual cause of death, including the limousine having been brought to a halt in order to insure that the target would be killed.

The evidence that substantiates these conclusions is abundant and compelling. None of the findings presented here has the status of rumor or speculation. If the American government had wanted the American people to know the truth about the death of their 35th President, it would have been easy to have shown them. Because of its intransigence, fabrication, and manipulation of evidence--which appears to continue to this day--however, the American government has denied, concealed, or ignored evidence of all the kinds that we have discovered. And it is not alone in wanting to keep the truth about the death of JFK from the American people. There are many individuals who, for reasons of their own, do not want you to read this book and to learn the truth. Some may be motivated by vanity, because their own theories have been proven to be wrong; some may be motivated by ignorance, because their own preconceptions blind them to the truth; and some may be motived by money, because they work as operatives for shadowy government agencies. Their attempts to conceal the truth are separate from their motives.

Even a forum of such as this, which might be presumed to be dedicated to open and public discussion or even debate of published work, can be subject to abuse by those who want to deny your access to the truth about the death of JFK by one means or another, typically by making false, distorted, and misleading claims about the content and the quality of books. MURDER IN DEALEY PLAZA, however, satisfies exceptional standards of scholarly research. The conclusions enumerated above are fully substantiated in the chapters of this book. These authors were selected for their expertise with respect to the subjects they addressed. The authors of reader's reviews are not. So when you see a trash review suggesting that nine contributors have nothing of value to say, consider its implausbility and judge for yourself. Read the excerpts and prepublication reviews provided here. You have the right to know the truth about your nation's history. No one should deprive you of that.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Open Court (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812694228
• ISBN-13: 978-0812694222
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #197,444 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Contribution to the Truth, February 7, 2001

By	Steven G. Jones (Landisville, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the best book ever written about the assassination of President Kennedy. And that is saying a lot since there have been some very good ones lately such as Bill Davy's new book on the Garrison case. Once I started reading MIDP I couldn't put it down. The reason this is the best book ever written is because there is absolutely no speculation here. The book is about what we now know about the hard physical evidence of the case. And what we now know is that much of the hard evidence such as the autopsy photographs and x-rays have been tampered with to give the false impression that Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman. The medical evidence is presented in a clear,concise and easy to understand manner for a non-medical person like myself. I found parts of a previous work edited by Dr. Fetzer, Assassiantion Science, to be a bit too technical. But this new book is more accesible for people like myself, which I believe should be a big plus for the general population. A big strength of the book was coming right out at the beginning and listing in a very direct point by point manner the "smoking guns" of the assassination. This proves to the reader right off the bat that there was a conspiracy. No ifs ands or buts. No room to put a spin on the fact of conspiracy no matter how hard one may try. This whets the appetite of the reader to continue further. Next comes a lengthy assassination chronology that helps the reader see what was really happening hour by hour on that fateful November day. Sort of like what Jim Bishop did in his book "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" only much more historically factual. There is a lengthy section giving evidence that the Zapruder film was tampered with. This adds a whole new dimension to the case. Perhaps the most interesting(for me)part of the book was Doug Weldon's excellent chapter on the limo that was used in the motorcade. When you think of it, it is amazing that it took so long for someone to trace the history of this very important piece of physical evidence. Weldon, an attorney, needs to be congratulated on an excellent job. The book concludes with Dr. David Mantik's justifiably scathing citicism of professional historians. Mantik explains why taking the assassination seriously has been politically incorrect in academia. With so much overwhelming evidence proving both a conspiracy and a high-level U.S. government cover-up, future historians will no longer be able to hide from the truth. I'll make sure that my son-in-law, who is working on his doctorate in history, reads this. The sequential order of the chapters is very well thought out going from intro, to the meat of the evidence, to what does this all mean. All in all, this is an outstanding contribution to our nation's true history.

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading this will help you know what your missing., May 13, 2001

By	Michael J Woznicki "Michael J Woznicki" (Holland, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Over the past 20 years I have been reading over 35 books on the JFK assassination and the information presented has basically been the same in each book. That was until now, James Fetzer has written a book that brings to light new evidence and new ideas and this book is certainly one to have.

Over 465 page updated with the most current information available the author takes you back to that fateful day in Dallas and brings to life one of the most tragic and horrific murders in American history.

The book makes you see things differently and is very eye opening in the approach to the evidence. The author's breakdown of the day of the shooting is nothing short of amazing and his attention to the details makes the reading go very fast, I finished the book in just over 3 hours.

There is complete examination of the medical evidence and the roll of the Secrete Service and well as a comprehensive assessment of the Zapruder film, frame by frame. Also the author's inspection of photographs, medical reports and other evidence makes this one of the most complete works around.

After sifting through the entire manuscript and objectively examining what you read you may be able to put to rest the mystery once and for all. Overall one the best book on the subject I have ever read.

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EASILY ONE OF THE TOP 5 BEST JFK CASE BOOKS OF ALL TIME!, August 26, 2000

By	Vince Palamara (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

I am very, very impressed with this book---easily in my top 5 of all time on this important case (along with "Bloody Treason", "Cover Up" by Galanor, "Treachery In Dallas", & "The Warren Omission"); perhaps THE best single volume to deal with the JFK assassination (ALL the hard evidence of conspiracy from the newly-released ARRB government documents & testimony, especially as it relates to the medical evidence)! Fetzer's first volume ("Assassination Science") was good but this is light years ahead of that tome. For starters, this volume appeals to the novice and the jaded expert, complete with a fantastic chronology of November 22, 1963 that succeeds in bringing everyone up to speed while providing fascinating new and/ or overlooked details of the crime. There are three MAJOR medical evidence sections of this book [by Drs. Aguilar & Mantik, as well as Horne from the ARRB]that contain the HARD evidence of conspiracy and coverup (comprehensive and amazing in every detail), as well as a very thoughtful analysis of the state of the case in the (blinded)eyes of history (and historians). Finally, there are powerful chapters dealing with the limousine and the role of the Secret Service that will truly enlighten and inform (and they make appropriate companions to the medical evidence chapters), along with a couple other surprises. Highly recommended reading: buy it asap!