Paul Landis, standing feet away from President John F. Kennedy in 1963, raises the possibility of at least two gunmen in his account of the JFK assassination.
November 22, 1963, is etched into the soul of a grieving nation. Secret Service Agent Paul Landis was standing on the running board of the car directly behind President John F. Kennedy in Dallas when he heard gunshots. The President keeled over.
Landis, author of The Final Witness (2023), tried to escape his haunting memory for six decades but has now come forth to challenge the Warren Commission's single-bullet theory in an interview with The New York Times. Landis previously believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in Kennedy’s assassination, but now: "At this point, I'm beginning to doubt myself. Now I begin to wonder."
Landis claims he retrieved a bullet from JFK's car and put it on the president's hospital stretcher, casting doubt on the official 'magic bullet' theory and raising the possibility of multiple shooters.
James Robenalt, a Cleveland lawyer and author of several history books, helped Landis process his memories: “If what he says is true, which I tend to believe, it is likely to reopen the question of a second shooter, if not even more,” Robenalt told The Times. “If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy’s back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong.”
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Paul Landis, standing feet away from President John F. Kennedy in 1963, raises the possibility of at least two gunmen in his account of the JFK assassination.
November 22, 1963, is etched into the soul of a grieving nation. Secret Service Agent Paul Landis was standing on the running board of the car directly behind President John F. Kennedy in Dallas when he heard gunshots. The President keeled over.
Landis, author of The Final Witness (2023), tried to escape his haunting memory for six decades but has now come forth to challenge the Warren Commission's single-bullet theory in an interview with The New York Times. Landis previously believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in Kennedy’s assassination, but now: "At this point, I'm beginning to doubt myself. Now I begin to wonder."
Landis claims he retrieved a bullet from JFK's car and put it on the president's hospital stretcher, casting doubt on the official 'magic bullet' theory and raising the possibility of multiple shooters.
James Robenalt, a Cleveland lawyer and author of several history books, helped Landis process his memories: “If what he says is true, which I tend to believe, it is likely to reopen the question of a second shooter, if not even more,” Robenalt told The Times. “If the bullet we know as the magic or pristine bullet stopped in President Kennedy’s back, it means that the central thesis of the Warren Report, the single-bullet theory, is wrong.”
In the official account, Dallas police found three spent cartridges and a rifle on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. The Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was killed by lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald.
According to the Commission, one of the three bullets missed the presidential car. Another bullet shot President Kennedy in the head. The third bullet hit both Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, who was seated in front of JFK. The ‘magic bullet’- as it came to be known - is said to have passed through Kennedy from behind and exited through his throat, then entered Connally's right shoulder, struck his rib, passed through his right wrist and hit his left thigh. (Seven entry/exit wounds in both men.)
Many believe that the single-bullet theory is essential to the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The ‘magic bullet’ explanation and its zig-zag trajectory have long been challenged by critics, however. Landis says he found the ‘magic bullet’ in the presidential car. He told The Times it was lodged in the seat behind where Kennedy was sitting. His theory is that the bullet struck Kennedy in the back but was undercharged and did not penetrate deeply, popping out before the president’s body was removed from the open-top car.
“Then, for reasons that still seem fuzzy even to him,” The Times reports, Landis said he entered the hospital and placed the bullet next to Kennedy on the president’s stretcher, “assuming it could somehow help doctors figure out what happened”. He speculates that at some point the stretchers must have been pushed together and the bullet was shaken from one to another, which would explain why a bullet was found on Connally’s stretcher.
If Connally was shot by a separate bullet, however, it raises the possibility there was a separate shooter as Robenalt doesn’t believe Oswald could have reloaded the 6.5mm Carcano rifle fast enough.
JFK: Dealing with trauma
Landis, 88 at the time of his book’s publication in 2023, said he initially wanted to forget the explosion of violence. Eventually, as the nightmares faded, Landis was drawn back to November 22, 1963, and decided it was time to tell his story in full.
Landis’ long silence raises its own set of questions, however. Memories can fade or change. His partner, Clint Hill cast doubt on Landis' version. Some elements of Landis’ account don't align with statements he filed immediately after the shooting. Initially, Landis reported hearing only two shots and said he remained outside the door of the trauma room where Kennedy was taken.
He's not advocating conspiracy theories, however; he is sharing his memories. Landis' story presents a unique perspective, a first-hand account of one of the most pivotal moments in American history. Whether or not it alters the course of the Kennedy assassination debate remains to be seen.
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