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Lot 59
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Jacqueline Kennedy Riveting Testimony on Her Husband's Assassination, Signed by Future President Gerald Ford, Ex-Forbes
Jacqueline Kennedy Riveting Testimony on Her Husband's Assassination, Signed by Future President Gerald Ford, Ex-Forbes
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Description:

Ford Gerald

Jacqueline Kennedy Riveting Testimony on Her Husband's Assassination, Signed by Future President Gerald Ford, Ex-Forbes


GERALD R. FORD, Signed Photocopy of Typed “Report of Proceedings” for President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, June 5, 1964. Stamped “Confidential” initially, and “Classification Canceled” in January 1975. 10 pp. (cover and pages 6809-6817), 8.5" x 11". Excellent.


Excerpts

“And in the motorcade, you know, you usually— I would be waving mostly to the left side and he was waving mostly to the right, which is one reason you are not looking at each other very much. And it was terribly hot. Just blinding all of us.” (p6812)

“Mrs. Connally said, ‘We will soon be there.’ We could see a tunnel in front of us. Everything was really slow then. And I remember thinking it would be so cool under that tunnel.... Well, that is when she said to President Kennedy, ‘You certainly can’t say that the people of Dallas haven’t given you a nice welcome.’” (p6813)

“You know, there is always noise in a motorcade and there are always motorcycles beside us, a lot of them backfiring. So I was looking to the left. I guess there was a noise, but it didn’t seem like any different noise really because there is so much noise, motorcycles and things. But then suddenly Governor Connally was yelling, ‘Oh, no, no, no.’

Mr. Rankin. Did he turn towards you?

Mrs. Kennedy. No, I was looking this way, to the left, and I heard these terrible noises. You know. And my husband never made any sound. So I turned to the right. And all I remember is seeing my husband, he had this sort of quizzical look on his face, and his hand was up, it must have been his left hand. And just as I turned and looked at him, I could see a piece of his skull sort of wedge-shaped like that, and I remember it was flesh colored with little ridges at the top. I remember thinking he just looked as if he had a slight headache. And I just remember seeing that. No blood or anything.

And then he sort of did that, put his hand to his forehead and fell in my lap.

And then I just remember falling on him and saying, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’ I mean, ‘oh, my God, they have shot my husband.’ And ‘I love you, Jack,’ I remember I was shouting. And just being down in the car with his head in my lap. And just seemed an eternity.” (p6813-14)

“And finally I remember a voice behind me, or something, and then I remembered the people in the front seat finally, or somebody knew something was wrong, and a voice yelling, which must have been Mr. Hill, ‘Get to the hospital,’ or maybe it was Mr. Kellerman, in the front seat. But someone yelling. But just down holding him. I was trying to hold his hair on. But from the front there was nothing. I suppose there must have been. But from the back you could see, you know, you were trying to hold his hair on, and his skull on.” (p6815)


Historical Background

Just days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson appointed House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford to a seven-member “President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.” The commission was chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren and included two Senators, two Congressmen, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the former director of the World Bank. As a member of the Warren Commission, Congressman Ford had responsibility for preparing a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald (1939-1963), the accused assassin. Oswald was killed two days after the Kennedy assassination, leaving many questions unanswered.


The Warren Commission interviewed more than five hundred witnesses and submitted its report to President Johnson on September 24, 1964. It concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated President Kennedy.  The Commission published an 889-page report in November 1964, along with twenty-six volumes of supporting documents.


The evidence and conclusions of the Warren Commission have been the subject of intensive review and examination, and conspiracy theories abound. Some believe that Ford intentionally altered a part of the final report to support the “Single Bullet Theory,” the Commission’s conclusion that a single bullet fired by Oswald penetrated both President John F. Kennedy’s neck and Texas Governor John Connally’s torso and wrist before lodging in Connally’s thigh. Those who support a conspiracy insist that two separate bullets wounded the two men.


In describing President Kennedy’s first wound, the staff of the commission originally wrote: “'A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine.”' Ford suggested changing that statement to read: “A bullet had entered the back of his neck at a point slightly to the right of the spine.” The final report said: “A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine.” Members of the conspiracy community seized upon this change as evidence that the Commission covered up the evidence of two bullets and two assassins in their commitment to the Single Bullet Theory.


Three subsequent U.S. government investigations in the 1960s and 1970s agreed with the Warren Commission’s conclusion that two shots struck President Kennedy from the rear and were fired by Oswald. The last such investigation suggested that another unknown assassin fired at the President but missed, but this conclusion has also been disputed.


Gerald R. Ford Jr. (1913-2006) was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, but his parents divorced months after his birth, and he grew up in Michigan. His mother married Gerald Rudolff Ford in 1916, and she renamed her son after her new husband. Ford did not legally change his name until 1935. He became an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1935 and from Yale Law School in 1941. Ford served in the U.S. Naval Reserve and U.S. Navy during World War II. Returning to Michigan, he became active in Republican politics and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948. He served in Congress from 1949 to 1973, the last nine years as House Minority Leader. In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford as one of nine members of the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of John F. Kennedy. When Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in October 1973, Ford became Vice President to President Richard M. Nixon. Ten months later, Nixon resigned, and Ford became President. He narrowly lost reelection to Jimmy Carter in 1976.


Ex-Forbes Collection. Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), the American owner-publisher of Forbes magazine and a consummate collector, amassed one of the most substantial autograph collections of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences on three continents. Many of his manuscripts were sold in a series of multi-million dollar sales by Christie's in the early 2000s. The Forbes name is considered to be the apex of provenance, especially when attached to an item like the above. We are honored to have been chosen by the family to sell at auction the substantial balance of the collection. 


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.


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