Best Evidence

A detailed Summary of Best Evidence

The book, Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, would be a tedious read to a person less familiar with the JFK assassination, but offers many important revelations to those who have read other books on the subject. The author, David Lifton, gives an insightful and highly researched look into one of the most tragic events in our nation's history. Lifton brings into question the sincerity of the Warren Commission's investigation of President Kennedy's assassination, as well as the use of false evidence and autopsy reports.

The first faulty evidence described by Lifton is the Zapruder film. The Zapruder film is the only animated evidence available to help study the assassination. Lifton brings up an observation I had never noticed, in that the Zapruder film did not have the background clarity to track the president's limousine position. I was shocked to learn that the sign in the film had been removed, and later reinstalled -- perhaps at a new position. I was also surprised to read descriptions of four different versions of the film. Lifton proposes that the official locations of the bullet hits were modified twice: once to accommodate only three bullets, and the other to accom

Next, Lifton discusses the fraudulent autopsy photos and X-rays. He proposes an elaborate theory, in which the presidents body was modified before the official autopsy was performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington DC. According to Lifton, the President's body did not arrive at Bethesda in its original coffin. Therefore, he believes that Kennedy's body was altered, before the autopsy, in a way that supported the authorities' claim of the President being shot from behind. But by using photographical evidence taken while the president was at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. These photos illustrate a clear difference between the president's body at Parkland, and later at Bethesda. Lifton continues supporting his theory that the body was altered before the autopsy. He uses eyewitness accounts of people noticing the flaps of the president's coffin close up. The witnesses stated that the flaps were "popped open or worked loose during shipping." (256) I particularly liked Lifton's theory that the neck bullet and head fragments were fished out of the upper chest cavity in a pre-autopsy. Again, Lifton uses photographs taken at Parkland Memorial and Bethesda to help support this new theory. The body definitely appears to have been modified, just as Lifton had professed.

In his most convincing theory, Lifton exposes the weaknesses of the Warren Commission's investig

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Approximate Word count = 928
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English