We Were There

July 1, 2013
While most of the reminiscences from doctors and medical students present at Parkland Hospital on that fateful day in Dallas aren’t really revelations, Childs does offer up two that lend weight to conspiracy theories. Dr. Ron Jones was the surgeon who inserted an IV line and a chest tube in the president as soon as he was brought into the trauma room. In March 1964, he was asked by Warren Commission counsel Arlen Specter not to mention anything about the possibility of a gunman in front of the motorcade; the commission was aware of witnesses who would testify to such a second shooter, but didn’t want to interview them. More significantly, doctors who saw the president’s neck wound before it was obscured by a tracheotomy were convinced at the time that it was an entry wound, a detail incompatible with reports claiming Oswald was the lone assassin. Nonconspiracy theorists will be interested in recollections of Jacqueline Kennedy’s grace during the worst moments of her life. Though some anecdotes feel superfluous, this is still a unique addition to the oral history of the tragedy. 24 b&w photos. Agent: Ronald Goldfarb, Goldfarb and Associates.