control of congress. >> 50 years ago in september of 1964, the warren commission released its report on the assassination of president john f. kennedy. next, the former u.s. senator arlen set -- arlen specter, who served as a lawyer for the commission, -- warren commission, describes the evolution of the single bullet theory. this is a 20 minute portion of an oral history interview he recorded with the pennsylvania cable network. he died in 2012 at the age of 82. >> how was the fbi and cia to work with? >> very cooperative. there was a question as to whether they had a conflict of interest. ruby had been interviewed by an fbi agent. there was a question as to whether they could do an independent job. but we had no investigators of our own.

i think it was not a good idea to have the fbi money -- fbi run the investigation because they were too much involved in it. but that decision was made and we did the best we could. the people we worked with were very able people. the secret service cooperated. elmer moore was assigned to the chief justice. roy kellerman was in the front seat. the driver, the name escapes me at the moment. a very nice young fellow. >> another person you wanted to get testimonial from was former first lady jacqueline kennedy. her testimony was only briefed for a few people. why was that? >> mrs. kennedy did not testify before the commission because the chief justice wanted to save her the experience.

it was a bad decision. she was the closest witness to the incident. she went back onto the trunk of the car. she was said to have remembered nothing about that. she was pushed back into the seat by clint hill, the secret service agent who carousing into the morning raced ahead, jumped on the car, and pushed her into the back seat. but she should have been questioned. , johnwas a report that raised the issue at a commission meeting. warren announced she would not be questioned by the commission.

the word was that mccloy objected. they called him mr. chairman, which was interpreted to be derisive and insulting. nobody called the chief justice mr. chairman. it was mr. chief justice. word was warren's wife called him c.j. >> whose testimony was most influential in developing the single bullet theory? >> commander humes. >> tell us about that. >> he testified about the path of the bullet. when i questioned him at bethesda the friday before his testimony, he told about how he looked at the bullet hole in the back of the president's head and put his finger in.

the bullet hit nothing solid. it passed between two large trap muscles. did not know what happened. there was speculation the bullet found on the stretcher was thought to be the one that went through -- speculation it may have lodged in the president's neck and with the external heart massage been pushed out onto the stretcher. it was later determined the best we could tell it was on connally's stretcher. very confusing testimony given by a fellow named jemison as i recall it. dr. humes speculated a hole in

the president's throat might have come in from the front and struck a vertebrae, glanced up, and caused tremendous damage to the top of the president's head. it was practically blown off. 13 centimeters across, five and a half inches. what humes told me, testified, told me in that interview friday afternoon and later testified that the next day he called up malcolm perry, the surgeon who did the tracheotomy and it was a wound of exit not of entry. it was jagged.

a wound of entry is regular and round. a wound of exit is different. of course, the wound was destroyed during the tracheotomy so nothing more could be done. when i listened to dr. humes and put two and two together that the bullet entered the neck and passed between the muscles -- went through the cavity. that tie was preserved. it was cut off by the doctors performing the tracheotomy to get it off, so the tie happened to be preserved. looking at the wounds on the governor's chest grazing the

rib, tumbling through his wrist, and lodging in his thigh. a strange path for the bullet to take, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. dr. humes testified he did not think the bullet could have gone through connelly's wrist. at that stage, he disputed the single bullet theory as i have just outlined it. when we had dr. gregory, the orthopedic surgeon, testify and he brought the x-rays in, he testified metallic fragments were found at various levels of the wrist. as he described them as i recollect, they were postage stamp weight. the whole bullet weighed 158 grams. they came as high as 161. that differential could have

accounted for the metallic fibers in the governor's wrist. >> how was the theory received by the members of the commission? >> i know it was in the report, so the bottom line was they accepted it. i had a chance to give chief justice warren a warrant from -- a narrative on it from the sixth floor of the school book depository building where oswald's assassin's nest was thought to be. i estimate i talked to him about eight minutes laying out the whole line. when i finished, he did not say a word.

he did not ask a question. he turned and walked away. a little difficult to read him. later i heard rumors there was a 4-3 vote. later i heard rumors senator russell did not agree with that and wanted to write a dissent, but all of that was in the rumor stage. that is about as much as i know about what the commissioners did. >> what did you learn when you visited the hospital in dallas where the president was taken as well as governor connally? >> i learned a lot. i took depositions. i took about 18 of them back-to-back. they were all set up for me. i talked to nurses. i talked to everybody there. one of the nurses testified. it is all on the record. it is all there.

that when they knew the president was in town, they were speculating that it would be interesting if he was in an auto accident and had to come to the emergency room. when the president arrived, from the intracranial pressure, he was popeyed, whatever that means. they saw him and they did not think it was the president. he did not look like the president. they thought maybe it was a stand-in for the president. they must have a double for protection. i talked to the witness jemison who testified about the stretcher. he was a very difficult witness because i would not put words in his mouth. he was very confused about who's -- whose stretcher it was. it is all there on the record exactly how it happened. all verbatim for people to read and come to their own conclusions.

>> governor connally's clothes were laundered after he was shot affecting the investigation. , why was that? >> you'll have to talk to his laundress about that. people did not recognize the importance of that. we should have talked to connally a lot sooner. i remember the day. it was april 22 when his deposition was taken in the commission. his clothes had been cleaned and pressed. they were important because of which way the fibers were. we had kennedy's jacket. the fibers went in. the shirt went in. with connally, they cleaned and pressed his suit. >> you found the maker of kennedy's shirt. is that correct? >> i went back and looked at them. >> on a separate trip with your

wife in new york, you found the maker of the same material, the same shirt kennedy had worn? >> he had a label in his shirt , like shirts have labels, that said the address, i think on madison avenue. joan and i were walking in new york. i recollect it was november 9, 1964, the day my parents sailed for israel. i said, this is the place kennedy bought his shirt. i went in and they were tailor-made shirts. i found the bolt of cloth from kennedy's shirt. it was $24.95 as i recollect. i was tempted to have a shirt made, but it was a little beyond my reach.

i said to the salesman, senator -- president kennedy bought his shirts here, didn't he? he rose and said, we never disclose our clientele. how did you find out? i gave him a snappy response and said we never disclose our sources. >> is there anything you would have done differently looking back on the investigation? >> i would have liked to have had the x-rays and photos. i made a big fuss about that. i wrote a memorandum dated april 30 raising hell with the commission. they would not let us see them. they were afraid they would get into the public domain. i think the kennedy family made the decision on that. robert kennedy probably made the decision, and the chief justice protected them.

we had testimony from the autopsy surgeons. it did not diminish the importance of seeing the photos and x-rays. i was very unhappy about that. one reporter wrote i left the room in tears, which is not true. the house conducted an investigation on the assassination investigation. they investigated the investigators. i was in the middle of the campaign in pennsylvania in 1978. it might have been 1977. the governor's primary that year. i was actually i think i was , subpoenaed or threatened with a subpoena. i went to washington.

the general counsel, who was not very professional, reduced this -- produced this memo. a-ha, april 30. you did not see the clothes an -- or the x-ray, is that true? yes. that is me. that is my memo. i sent it then and i meant it. i would repeat it. >> how would you rate the media coverage of warren commission investigation as well as the report? >> what do i think of the media coverage? well, the media coverage was pretty dry. they reported on the report. i thought the hearing should have been public. the commission decided not to.

i think had the public seen the investigation and how it unfolded, there would have been a lot more public confidence in it. the testimony of marina oswald was public because she was represented by earl lane, and she asked for public testimony. the commission agreed to do that. >> was it difficult to maintain an open mind with media coverage as well as the fbi findings being publicized? >> no. the initial fbi and secret service conclusions were the first bullet hit the president through his neck. the second bullet hit the governor. the third hit the president's head. it was not hard to keep an open mind. i was looking at the evidence. keeping an open mind is never a problem. you look at the evidence and go where the facts lead you. i had no preconceived notions.

i had no interest in doing anything but finding the truth. earl warren said to us, the truth is our client. >> was there anything in the final report you disagreed with? >> i don't think so. i don't believe so. >> that was the portion of an interview senator specter recorded with the pennsylvania cable network. he served as a lawyer for the warren commission in the year following the assassination of president kennedy. senator specter died in 2012 at the age of 82. this is the 50th anniversary of the war in commission report. -- warren commission report.

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