Don Curtis is among those who don\u2019t believe Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot that killed former President John F. Kennedy. Curtis was a 26-year-old oral surgery resident at Dallas\u2019 Parkland Memorial Hospital when Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.<\/p>\n
He was walking by the emergency room, on his way to grab a bite to eat before surgery, when a policeman grabbed him by the shoulder and asked if he was a doctor. When he said yes, the officer pulled him into a trauma room where a grievously wounded Kennedy lay on a gurney.<\/p>\n
Curtis quickly joined the futile efforts to save Kennedy\u2019s life, which ceased after another doctor declared Kennedy\u2019s head wound too serious for him to survive. \u201cNobody knew what to say,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cNobody said anything for the longest time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curtis, who lives in Amarillo, shared his recollections of the day alongside other witnesses Tuesday as they testified before the House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. The hearing focused on allegations government officials tried to block investigations into the circumstances of Kennedy\u2019s death and withhold information from the public.<\/p>\n
Curtis described Kennedy\u2019s wounds as inconsistent with the findings of the Warren Commission, which was established by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate Kennedy\u2019s killing. The commission found no evidence of conspiracy and concluded Oswald acted alone.<\/p>\n
Filmmaker Oliver Stone\u2019s controversial 1991 film JFK highlighted skepticism about the Warren Commission\u2019s findings and gave air to alternate theories about how the assassination occurred and who was responsible. President Donald Trump signed a Jan. 23 executive order for the \u201cfull and complete release\u201d of records relating to Kennedy\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n
House Republicans established the task force to delve into the JFK files and other topics. Tuesday\u2019s hearing was the task force\u2019s second session. Stone and JFK researchers testified at the first one. Curtis was deposed after the assassination by Arlen Specter, who was assistant counsel for the Warren Commission and would later serve as a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Curtis said Tuesday it was clear from Specter\u2019s questions the commission was seeking statements that would support the narrative Kennedy was killed by a bullet Oswald fired from a window in the Texas School Book Depository. \u201cThe magic bullet was a product of the Warren Commission that doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d Curtis said.<\/p>\n
Other witnesses at Tuesday\u2019s hearing included Dan Hardway, a former staffer on the Select Committee on Assassinations; John Tunheim, former head of the Assassinations Records Review Board; Douglas Horne, a former staff member of the board; and Abraham Bolden, a former U.S. Secret Service agent. The witnesses cited evidence from the assassination that has gone missing and CIA moves to obstruct official investigations.<\/p>\n
Gerald Posner is the author of Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, which concludes Oswald acted alone. Posner posted on X this week criticizing the hearing as a waste of taxpayer money and political theater.<\/p>\n
The Democrats\u2019 witness at the hearing, historian Alexis Coe, used her testimony to highlight Kennedy\u2019s legacy as he steered the country through the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement and the space race. She said Tuesday\u2019s hearing featured charged words like obfuscation and deception but nothing in the records released over the past few months has upended the Warren Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo hidden truths. No real disclosures. No shocking revelations,\u201d Coe said. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t history disrupted \u2014 it was history remastered: a 60th anniversary re-release with better resolution. The same ending.\u201d<\/p>\n
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy remains one of the most significant events in American history, with many questions still unanswered. The recent hearing and release of new records have reignited the debate about the circumstances of Kennedy\u2019s death and the role of government officials in the investigation. While some believe that Oswald acted alone, others continue to raise questions about the official narrative and the possibility of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n
A: Lee Harvey Oswald was a former Marine and employee of the Texas School Book Depository who was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963.<\/p>\n
A: The Warren Commission was a presidential commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in shooting Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building.<\/p>\n
A: There are many conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination, including claims that the CIA, FBI, or other government agencies were involved, or that there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza. Some also believe that the autopsy and other evidence were tampered with or destroyed to support the official narrative.<\/p>\n
A: The “magic bullet” theory refers to the idea that one bullet caused multiple non-fatal injuries to Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, who was riding in the car with Kennedy. Many experts have questioned the plausibility of this theory, citing inconsistencies in the evidence and autopsy reports.<\/p>\n
A: The investigation into the assassination is ongoing, with new records and evidence being released periodically. The House Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets is currently reviewing the JFK files and other topics related to the assassination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Unanswered Questions Don Curtis is among those who don\u2019t believe Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot that killed former President John F. Kennedy. Curtis was a 26-year-old oral surgery resident at Dallas\u2019 Parkland Memorial Hospital when Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. He was walking by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dmn-dallas-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/v2\/BL2HV3HUWR4MB4IAF7G7DBON7E.jpg?auth=f2c15c30b0953e8e6aabfc8c654d349dbdbf73707e80d36aa5abb90dfd0b9bce&height=630&width=1200&smart=true&quality=80","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6116,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions\/6116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/dallas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}