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| source: JFK photo blog |
We remember the presidential vehicle as a modified Ford limousine. It was similar to a stock limo, but it had been cut in half lengthwise and an extra section had been added.
The modified vehicle had stock bench seats at the front and rear of the car, plus a pair of folding "jump seats" in the new middle section. These seats could be folded out of the way when they weren't needed.
On the day of the assassination, as we remember it, Secret Service Agent William Greer was driving, and Secret Service Agent Roy Kellerman sat beside him in the front seat. Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie were in the jump seats. And President and Mrs. Kennedy were the rear seat.
President Kennedy and Governor Connally sat behind Kellerman, on the right-hand side of the car, and their wives sat behind Greer on the left. This seating arrangement was a crucial to the so-called Single Bullet Theory, according to which one bullet wounded both JFK and Governor Connally.
But other people don't remember the jump seats. They remember the presidential limousine with two seats and four people. And when they see a current photograph of the car in the motorcade, they wonder: How can this be? Who changed this photograph?
They look on the Internet and find even more photos showing six people in the car. And they wonder: How can this be? Who changed all these photos?
They look in old books, and again they find photos showing six people in the car. And they wonder: How can this have happened? Who changed all these old books?
It wouldn't be difficult to suggest a possible explanation for their confusion, because there's a lot of confusing material around, such as a museum exhibit that uses wax models to represent JFK and his wife. In the exhibit, the wax models are seated in a car with fixed front and rear bench seats, but no jump seats. Photos of this exhibit are available, but they are not actual photos of the actual couple in the actual car. Nonetheless, they appear to have confused the issue.
And Life magazine produced a special issue, with stills from the Zapruder film and articles about the assassination, which showed a photo of an unmodified limo and presented it as if this were the car in which the President was killed. This photo appears to have confused the issue, as well.
Serious JFK researchers know that Life couldn't take a picture of the actual car, because immediately after the assassination the car was flown to Detroit, where it was stripped down and rebuilt. This sequence of events is controversial in some quarters because it appears to indicate deliberate destruction of evidence.
But those who don't remember six people in the car, don't remember any of this, either.
In less enlightened times, we might have suggested that those people were simply misinformed. But these are modern, well-educated people. It's difficult for them to believe that they could be wrong. They find it easier to believe that they're experiencing the Mandela Effect.
