Exactly 60 years ago, on November 22, 1963, American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. In a just-published book, one of the final witnesses, a bodyguard who was part of the presidential procession, called into question the “miracle bullet” theory. TF1 News visited him at his home in Cleveland, Ohio.
On November 22, 1963, the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Paul Landis was part of the presidential motorcade. At the time of the tragedy, he was standing on the step of a limousine that was following the American president’s Lincoln convertible less than five meters away. Without knowing it, he witnessed one of the greatest events of the 20th century.
Sixty years later, the 88-year-old man whom TF1 News met in Cleveland, Ohio, decided to present his version of the facts on the matter that continues to fascinate America. This late story, supported in a book: The Last Witness (Éditions Flammarion), differs from the official version in one particular point that underlay all the storylines, namely that of the so-called “miracle weapon”.
There was a pool of blood and that’s when I saw this bullet
There was a pool of blood and that’s when I saw this bullet
Paul Landis
At 28, Paul Landis was one of the youngest members of the Secret Service, the famed agency responsible for the security of the President of the United States and his family. His mission in Dallas: to watch over First Lady Jacky Kennedy. When suddenly, “I heard the first shot right over my right shoulder, so I turned around and started scanning the crowd,” he recalls in the video at the top of this article. Next came the race to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where the president was pronounced dead at 1 p.m.
According to doctors and ballistics experts, one of the bullets hit JFK in the shoulder before exiting through his throat and wounding the Texas governor in the back, chest, wrist and thigh in front of him. How is it possible ? Because this projectile was found on the governor’s stretcher. However, Paul Landis claims to have picked him up in the car where John Kennedy was sitting and left him at the hospital without telling anyone.
He points to a black and white photo and explains: “I walked around the car to the back door on the side where Mrs. Kennedy was sitting. The vehicle was empty. When I got in there was a pool of blood and that was it.” When I saw that bullet. I picked her up and then left her on Mr. Kennedy’s examination table at the hospital. And I hoped that someone would find her and that would help the doctors with the autopsy. It was such chaos in the hospital and when I heard this story about the magic ball flying in zigzags and hitting everyone, “I thought it was crazy,” he says.
also read
Kennedy assassination: Are there still secret documents 60 years later?
This version suggests that two bullets were fired at the same time, making it a second shooter. A hypothesis that the official investigation still excludes. However, Paul Landis was never interviewed by the Warren Commission that investigated the tragedy. And today, former colleagues and historians doubt his memories. Not him. “I have preserved an important piece of evidence. I will never forget this moment. My memories are intact. I was less than five meters from the president when he was shot in the head. Very few people can say the same,” he claims.
Traumatized and angered by the dysfunctional Kennedy family that he had come to know up close, Paul Landis decided to leave the Secret Service six months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in order to forget that tragic day. Until today, when he finally tells his truth.
Virginie FAUROUX | TF1 report: Axel Monnier, Alexandra Poupon and Julie Asher