JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell introduces three photographs as exhibits, enlarged.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T Cornwell explains that the three photographic exhibits were taken from a motion picture. Cornwell confirms that H.B. McClain, police motorcyclist on U.S. President John F. Kennedy's motorcade, saw the motion picture yesterday.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell asks if H.B. McClain heard any shots. McClain says he heard one, gives his location at that time and describes what he saw, which was a flock of pigeons taking off in flight around the schoolbook depository. McClain says he then got the order on the radio to go to Parkland hospital. Cornwell asks McClain about his radio use and channel that day, and McClain states he had no occasion to use it, talk through it. He also states the radio's usual channel is one.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell asks H.B. McClain about what happened after he received the order to go to the hospital and how long it took him to catch up with the limousine. McClain explains. Cornwell has McClain describe the distinguishing characteristics of his motorcycle.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T Cornwell confirms with H.B. McClain had the chance to review photographs during the motorcade and at Parkland Hospital. Cornwell introduces three photographs into the committee record; an adult Caucasian female hands them to McClain. McClain describes photographs that have motorcycles similar to his.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T Cornwell has H.B. McClain identify the streets shown in the photographs and identify himself in the photographs. Cornwell asks McClain if, based on his proximity to a fellow officer's motorcycle during the motorcade, as revealed in a photo, it was possible he could have heard the order to go to Parkland Hospital from this other officer's radio. McClain says it is possible.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell then moves that the photographs be taken into consideration, within a limited scope, by the committee until further analysis can be done to corroborate and confirm the testimony provided by H.B. McClain. McClain clarifies how it could be identified whether the radio was set to Channel 1 or 2.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell clarifies a question from Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) that he is simply asking the committee that the photographs be taken into consideration, within a limited scope until further analysis can be done. He is not requesting they be taken into the record. Cornwell asks H.B. McClain if knows what channel his radio was set to. McClain is not certain, but acknowledges it was possible the channel could have been changed during the motorcade or while it was at Parkland Hospital. Cornwall asks if McClain's microphone was stuck that day. McClain says not to his knowledge, but it is possible for the microphone to stuck on without his knowledge. McClain and Cornwell speculate as to the cause of microphone being stuck on.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) asks Chief Counsel, Professor Robert Blakey to establish the chain of evidence for the Dallas Police tape. Blakey can only verify that the tape is of the police transmissions for the day of the assassination. He cannot trace it to McClain's motorcycle.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) recognizes Rep. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) who asks Chief Counsel, Professor Robert Blakey if any effort was made to compare the brand of tape disc with the brand the Dallas Police Department used. Blakely responds that the "Dictabelt that was found among this material is the same kind of Dictabelt that the Dallas Police Department was using at that time," and that "what appears on the Dictabelt and the tape recording of the Dictabelt are indeed the same sounds, the same information that we have based on the transcripts that we had of channel one and channel two that go back to 1963-64." Rep. Dodd asks whether other voices on the tape identified or confirmed, and Blakey says: "No". Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell adds that the transmissions on the tapes do correspond with Warren Commission testimony of various officers.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) recognizes Rep. Samuel Devine (R-OH) who asks H.B. McClain a couple questions about his microphone and motorcycle, focusing on whether he could receive any messages if his microphone/receiver was stuck on.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) recognizes Rep. Robert Edgar (D-PA) who asks H.B. McClain a couple of questions about McClain's radio use and functions. Chairman Stokes recognizes Rep. Floyd Fithian (D-IN) confirms that McClain only heard one shot and the street he was on. Rep. Fithian asks if he saw any activity around the grassy knoll. McClain responds that he saw Officer Hargis going up the knoll.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
Committee Chairman, U.S. House Representative Louis Stokes (D-OH) recognizes Rep. Christopher Dodd, who asks how H.B. McClain can identify himself in the blown up photographs of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
H.B. McClain says he can identify himself by the way he is sitting on the motorcycle. U.S. House Representative Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Washington D.C. Delegate Walter Fauntroy (D) joke playfully with McClain about how he sits that he can distinguish himself 15 years later in a photograph and Fauntroy asked him to describe the manner in which McClain is sitting.
JFK Assassination Hearings - H.B. McClain
U.S. House Representative Christopher Dodd (D-CT) asks H.B. McClain: "...if you were in the Dallas Police Department receiving calls, if one person were on that channel transmitting, would it be possible for other people to transmit on that same channel at the same time and also be received by the headquarters?" McClain says it would be possible and answers a follow-up question by saying that more than one transmission would be hard to understand. There would be overlapping voices and the dispatcher would have to let people know that too many are speaking at once. Rep. Dodd also asks if McClain was familiar with "carillon bells or church bells in the vicinity of Dealey Plaza." McClain says he was not. Committee Chairman, Rep. Louis Stokes (D-OH) asks if anyone else wishes to be recognized, then belatedly recognizing Deputy Chief Counsel Gary T. Cornwell. Cornwell begins to ask a clarifying question regarding the position of McClain in the photographs.