HSCA MR. AND MRS. JOHN B. CONNALLY, DALLAS, TEX, VOL. I, September 6, 1978
... I thought the shot came from back over my right shoulder, so I turned to see if I could catch a sight of the President out of the corner of my eye because I immediately had, frankly, had fear of an assassination because I thought it was a rifle shot... I didn't see the President out of the corner of my eye, so I was in the process of, at least I was turning to look over my left shoulder into the back seat to see if I could see him. I never looked, I never made the full turn... I only heard two shots. I did not hear the shot that hit me. I wasn't conscious of it. I am sure I heard it, but I was not conscious of it at all. I heard another shot. I heard it hit. It hit with a very pronounced impact... it made a very, very strong sound.
... The shots came, in my judgment, the two shots I heard came from the same direction, back over my right shoulder, came from behind us. Very clear to me where they came from. I don't think any shots came from any other direction... I do not believe, nor will I ever believe, that I was hit with the first bullet. I don't believe that. I heard the first shot. I reacted to the first shot and I was not hit with that bullet: Now, there's a great deal of speculation that the President and I were hit with the same bullet that might well, be, but it surely wasn't the first bullet and Nelly doesn't think it's the second bullet. I don't know, I didn't hear the second bullet. I felt the second bullet. We obviously weren't hit by the third bullet. I was down reclining in her lap at the time the third bullet hit.
Mr. CORNWELL. I am sorry, I didn't understand one statement. You said Mrs. Connally doesn't agree it was the second bullet or the same bullet?
Mr. CONNALLY. The second bullet.
Mrs. CONNALLY. That what?
Mr. CONNALLY. That hit me. That hit him and me
Mrs. CONNALLY. No; I heard three shots, I had three reactions, three separate reactions. The first shot, then I looked and saw the President,the second shot,John,and third,all this matter all over us.
Mr. CORNWELL. So you agree that your recollection is it was the second shot that hit the Governor?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I know it was the second shot that hit the Governor.
Mr. CORNWELL. And, where you disagree is as to the possibility or the question of whether or not it was the same bullet that hit, is that accurate, in other words, the Governor has no knowledge on that subject matter, would that be accurate, since you didn't turn around to see the President, after the first noise, you don't know whether he was hit and Mrs. Connally's recollection is that she did turn and saw him hold his throat before you were hit, is that accurate?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I did.
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct. I never saw him. I never saw Mrs. Kennedy after the shots were fired. I never saw either one of them, and I don't know when he was hit.
Mr. CORNWELL. And you have testified that of the two shots that you have a memory of hearing, they both, your immediate impression was they came from the right rear?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. CORNWELL. And I don't believe we heard what Mrs. Connally's recollection is on that. What was your impression as to the
direction from which the three shots you heard came?
Mrs. CONNALLY. All from the right rear.
Mr. DEVINE: Relating specifically to your testimony, Mrs. Connally, you heard one shot and you turned to your right and witnessed the President grasping his throat with both hands. Was anything said by anyone at that time?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Nothing.
Mr. DEVINE. Then what is the next sound you heard? You were
still looking back at the President. Did you hear another sound?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I heard the second shot; yes.
Mr. DEVINE. The second shot. Were you looking back at that
time or were you looking forward again?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I don't know.
Mr. DEVINE. You don't recall.
That second shot is the one that you said hit your husband?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I was horror stricken when I looked back, and I may have still been just looking.
Mr. DEVINE. But at that time you heard the second shot?
Mrs. CONNALLY. A difficult thing to believe.
Mr. DEVINE. The second shot that you heard is the one that you believe hit Governor Connally?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I know it hit Governor Connally.
Mr. DEVINE. And then after you knew that he was hit, and you
pulled him over in your lap, you then heard the third shot?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DEVINE. And again from over your right shoulder?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DEVINE. Did you look back at that time?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I never looked back after John was hit.
Mr. DEVINE. Have you had any experience at all with fire arms---
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DEVINE [continuing]. Over the years?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DEVINE. Would you say in your judgment that shot you
heard, or the shots that you hear, were from a rifle or hand gun?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Oh, no, I am not that much of an---
Mr. DEVINE. You don't know?
Mrs. CONNALLY. And, I'm not expert at all.
Mr. DEVINE. All right.
Mrs. CONNALLY [continuing]. In shooting.
Mr. DEVINE. Governor, I think you testified that you heard but two shots and that you don't think that you heard the shot that struck you; is that accurate?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DEVINE. Both of these came from over your right shoulder?
Mr. CONNALLY. Yes, sir, from behind me and over my--back behind me over my right shoulder, that is correct.
Mr. DEVINE. The first shot that you hear which caused you to look to your right, I think you said you didn't get far enough around to see the President, is that accurate?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DEVINE. Did you recognize any of the sound as being a rifle shot or hand gun shot?
Mr. CONNALLY. I thought it was a rifle shot.
Mr. DEVINE. Then you turned around and started to turn back around to look over your left shoulder to see what?
Mr. CONNALLY. To see if the President was all right, because immediately the thought flashed through my mind that if this was a rifle shot, which I believed it to be, that it was probably an assassination attempt and I was trying to see if anything had happened in the automobile.
Mr. DEVINE. Is that the time that you exclaimed, no, no, or was it later?
Mr. CONNALLY. No, it was a bit later, because I wasn't sure at that point in time that anything had happened, so it was a bit later when I said oh, no, no, no. This was after I realized I had been hit and, then I said my God, they are going to kill us all.
Mr. DEVINE. As you turned from looking over you right shoulder, you are about facing forward, in the process of turning to look over
your left shoulder, when you were hit?
Mr. CONNALLY. Yes, sir.
Mr. DEVINE. But you heard no shot?
Mr. CONNALLY. NO, SIR, I DID NOT.
Mr. DEVINE. That caused you to pitch forward?
Mr. CONNALLY. Yes, sir.
Mr. DEVINE. And you said you saw a great deal of blood?
Mr. CONNALLY. Yes, sir.
Mr. DEVINE. Were you aware at that time that you were hit in the hand and leg also?
Mr. CONNALLY. NO, SIR, I WAS NOT.
Mr. DEVINE. When did you first become aware of that, in the emergency room or elsewhere?
Mr. CONNALLY. NO, I became aware of that when I regained consciousness on Sunday, I guess. On Sunday morning I woke up and regained consciousness to see my arm tied up in a sling and leg bandaged and I said what happened to my arm, and that is when I first learned that the bullet had gone through my chest and through my wrist and had broken all the bones in my wrist.
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Mr. DEVINE. I believe you testified in response to Mr. Cornwell that you heard only two shots, they came from behind, there was not any from any other direction, is that accurate?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DEVINE. Mrs. Connally, would you also make the same statement?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Except that I heard all three.
Mr. DEVINE. Is it possible that there could have been more than three shots, as far as you recollection is concerned?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I guess anything is possible, but I heard three shots.
Mr. DEVINE. You heard three definitely, no less, and probably no more, is that right?
Mrs. CONNALLY. That is all I heard.
Mr. DEVINE. Governor Connally, you said you heard two shots?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is right.
Mr. DEVINE. The one that hit you you apparently did not hear?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DEVINE. I would take it then by negative implication that
you heard no shots coming from your right front?
Mr. CONNALLY. No, sir, I did not.
Mr. DEVINE. In the area that has often been described as the grassy knoll?
Mr. CONNALLY. NO, SIR. AND I DON'T BELIEVE ANY CAME FROM THERE.
Mrs. CONNALLY. We responded to all these shots, so if something came from the front we certainly would have responded to it, a noise from the front, I would think.
Mr. DODD: You heard a shot, what appeared or sounded like a shot, a sharp noise, to you? You turned to your left or your right?
Mrs. CONNALLY. My right.
Mr. DODD. You turned to your right. As you turned around and
saw the President, you saw him clutching his throat?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I saw him reach up to his throat.
Mr. DODD. Both hands were on his throat?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes, sir.
Mr. DODD. Did you see any blood at all?
Mrs. CONNALLY. No.
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Mr. DODD. So, you are still looking at the President and it is your
recollection that you then heard what sounded like a second shot?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DODD. Is that correct?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes. What was a second shot.
Mr. DODD. At that point your husband, Governor Connally, slumped over in your direction?
Mrs. CONNALLY. No, he lunged forward and then just kind of collapsed
Mr. DODD. And, then collapsed.
Mrs. CONNALLY. But not just straight up.
Mr. DODD. And then you heard a third shot or what appeared to be a third shot?
Mrs. CONNALLY. After I pulled him down.
Mr. DODD. You did hear--
Mrs. CONNALLY. I did hear a third shot.
Mr. DODD. At that point you then noticed the material?
Mrs. CONNALLY. All over.
Mr. DODD. The blood and so forth?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. DODD. When you turned and saw the President holding his throat, as I understood your testimony, the President didn't utter any sound or any word at all, to your recollection?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Nothing.
Mr. DODD. Now. Governor, as I understood it from what your
testimony was, you heard what sounded like a shot?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is correct.
Mr. DODD. And you turned to your right?
Mr. CONNALLY. Right.
Mr. DODD. But you did not see the President when you turned around?
Mr. CONNALLY. THAT IS CORRECT, I didn't turn all the way around, I was sitting, basically facing forward. I heard the shot, I looked over my right shoulder, I DID NOT SEE THE PRESIDENT out of the corner of my eye, and I mentally said I will turn to my left and see if I can see him, and I never made that full turn, I got halfway back facing forward when I was hit.
Mr. DODD. And did I understand your testimony correctly when you stated that you didn't actually hear a second shot but rather you felt the impact as if someone had punched you almost in the back, a sharp blow to your back?
Mr. CONNALLY. That is absolutely correct.
Mr. DODD. But you did not hear that?
Mr. CONNALLY. I WAS NOT CONSCIOUS OF HEARING THE SECOND SHOT
Mr. DODD. Did you hear what could have been a second or a third shot? That was the only shot you heard, was the one that caused you to turn to your right?
Mr. CONNALLY. No, I heard another shot which was the shot that was fired after Nellie had pulled me down into her lap. It was the second shot I heard, the third shot she heard. The second shot I heard was the one that hit the President in the head.
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Mr. DODD. Recognizing, of course, we are now asking you to recall something that occurred this many years ago, but if I could ask you to quantify in a frame of time, how long a period would it have been between the time you heard that first noise, that sounded to you as if it were a shot, you turned right, and the period in which you felt the impact in your back?
Mr. CONNALLY. Congressman, you know, I think it is impossible for me to say with precision, but obviously a very short period of time, a matter of seconds, because it was, you know, I think undoubtedly a fairly fluid movement. I heard the shot, I reacted by looking, I saw nothing, and I was in the process of turning when I felt the impact. I guess 6, 8, or 10 seconds, in that range, but I certainly couldn't be more precise than that, but it wasn't long.
Mr. DODD. Could it have been a second? What you are telling me it is more like 2, 3, 4 seconds. It wasn't something that happened almost instantaneously?
Mr. CONNALLY. No, it was not. It could not have been 1 second.
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Mr. FITHIAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Governor and Mrs. Connally, welcome; under the circumstances, we deeply appreciate your help.
Governor, the two shots you heard, did they sound exactly alike, as nearly as you can remember?
Mr. CONNALLY. Did they sound exactly--
Mr. FITHIAN. Exactly alike?
Mr. CONNALLY. Yes. I found, I remember no distinction, Congressman Fithian, between the two shots.
Mr. FITHIAN. And the shot that struck you, just in that split second, before you heard that or felt that impact, did you hear any other impact like the third shot made? Was there any sound in the split second before impact somewhere else before it hit you?
Mr. CONNALLY. No.
Mr. FITHIAN. Now, if I understand your summary, Mrs. Connally, the first shot would have come through the President's throat, and that was, you said---
Mrs. CONNALLY. I assumed when I saw him.
Mr. FITHIAN. And it was the second shot that hit the Governor?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes.
Mr. FITHIAN. And it wasn't until after the third shot that you saw the brain matter, and so forth?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Instantly, the shot, the car was covered, it was like buckshot falling all over us.
Mr. FITHIAN. So your clear recollection is that you can account for something happening with each of the three shots that you heard fired?
Mrs. CONNALLY. Yes, sir.
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Mr. SAWYER. I suppose, too, that... I have just been thinking since I heard your testimony and I am sure you have thought about it, many, many more times, and without either being a medical expert or a ballistic expert, I presume it is reasonable to assume that with a Mannlicher/Carcano traveling at least twice the speed of sound, the projectile must be 2,200 feet per second, or more, I assume, that the bullet would reach you before the sound would reach you, and with that kind of an impact on your nervous system, whether conscious or not, YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE REGISTERED THE SOUND, IF THERE WAS ONE, OF THE BULLET THAT HIT YOU?
Mrs. CONNALLY. I THINK THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT HAPPENED, CONGRESSMAN. NO QUESTION ABOUT IT. That is why I don't think there is anyway the first bullet hit me. I heard that sound. And I had not been hit, I heard the first rifle shot, and I did not hear, WAS NOT CONSCIOUS OF THE SHOT THAT HIT ME, AND OBVIOUSLY THE BULLET REACHED ME BEFORE THE SOUND DID. So the shock of the hit that I took, I was just totally unconscious of the sound, yet by the third shot, when Mrs. Connally pulled me down in her lap, I was awake, my eyes were open, I heard the shot fired, I heard it hit, and I saw the results, very clearly and you know--you have a lot of expert testimony, and I am delighted with the work of this committee, because hopefully we can clear up some of the speculation and the questions that have been asked over the years, but let me assure you that we may be wrong in what we say, we may be wrong in our impression, we may be wrong when asked precise questions about time, whether it is 2 seconds or 10 seconds under those circumstances I can't say with certainty the precise second that things happen, but the things that we do remember, and the things that we are testifying to here today, Congressman, are as indelibly etched in our minds as anything could ever be, and I will merely ask you to give yourselves the test, ask any adult person, over the age of 30, in this country, or over the age of 35 we will say, where they were when they first heard the news of the assassination. They can tell you where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with. I have not asked one human being in the world, not anywhere in the world, that hasn't been able to tell me where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with at the time they first heard the news.
The only point I am making is that there are certain impacts on human consciousness, on the human mind, that are indelibly etched there, now, and these things are engraved in our minds, beyond any doubt.
I can't, I am not going to argue with a ballistic expert or acoustics expert about the precise time or the frame of the Zapruder films, I can't tell you precisely whether it is frame 231 or 234, when the first evidence shows that I am reacting to the shot, but what we are saying to you, the things that we say to you with certain definiteness, it is because we are absolutely sure, at least in our own minds, that that is what happened and that is what we remember.
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Mr. FAUNTROY. Yes sir, Mr. Chairman, thank you.
I just have one question on the firing. Governor, and Mrs. Connally, both of you are familiar with the single bullet theory, are you not? My question, Governor Connally, is, given Mrs. Connally's recollection that there were three shots: The first of which hit the President, the second of which hit you, and the third of which hit the President; I wonder if it is your impression that the first shot that you heard missed, or whether it is your impression that the first shot which you heard was the first shot which Mrs. Connally heard, which in her view caused the President to grab his throat?
Mr. CONNALLY. Do you want to answer that?
Mrs. CONNALLY. No.
Mr. CONNALLY. I will answer it. I don't know what the first shot did. All I know, all I am certain of in my own mind is that the first shot did not hit me. Now, according to Mrs. Connally's testimony, the first shot did hit the President and that is when she turned around and saw him grasp his throat.
Mrs. CONNALLY. And later, the doctors said that there was a bullet that went through the fleshy part of his neck, that would not have killed the President, had that been the only shot he took.
So obviously that is why he was reaching up for his throat.