Lot 139

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Kennedy John



The "Wink": The Most Famous Image Taken Aboard Air Force 1, Possibly Alluding to a Massive Conspiracy behind the Assassination of President Kennedy?

 

Original, first generation glossy, double-weight black and white photograph, 10" x 8",  personally owned by Cecil Stoughton, with his unique numbering system on verso, his own file example. This famous photo was found among his other photos within Stoughton's personal red leather binder all depicting the Inauguration of President Johnson on Air Force One. Cecil's binder was gilt stamped along the spine with his initials "CWS", "Inauguration', and "Nov 1963". An image only of the binder is included as provenance, and is shown in this listing.

A sobering bizarre scene taken by Kennedy's White House photographer. This famous scene depicts inside Air Force One at Love Field in Dallas for the swearing-in of President Johnson shortly after President Kennedy's assassination. As conspiracy theories abound on the JFK assassination, perhaps the most outstanding and prevalent is the concept of a "Coup", involving the then Vice President, the Secret Service, and numerous other politicians of the period. One of the cornerstone pieces of evidence in this theory is this Cecil Stoughton photo famously called "The Wink", which was taken aboard Air Force One while President Johnson was being sworn in just after the formal announcement of the death of JFK.  With grief stricken Jacqueline standing to LBJ's left, and Lady Bird to his right, this image, taking only seconds after being sworn in, shows President Johnson, looking back over his shoulder to US Rep Albert Thomas (D-TX) and receives a “conspiratorial wink” and a smirk, if not subtle smile. Considering the circumstances this is most troubling behavior on the part of elected officials of the US government. Whether it signifies a role in President Kennedy’s murder is another matter, open to interpretation and hopefully investigation.

 

Numerous other conflicting and disturbing elements are often discussed to corroborate and substantiate this theory:

 

  1. Two still shots of Donald Lawton – the Secret Service agent charged with personally covering President Kennedy – appearing confounded, even thowing up his arms in disbelief, that he is being ordered away from the president’s car.
  2. The picture of Congressman Albert Thomas – winking at a quickly-smiling Lyndon Johnson – taken immediately after a sober looking LBJ was sworn in as President on Air Force One. (This picture plays into the theory that LBJ was somehow in on the conspiracy.)
  3. A series of images showing almost 400 people running through Dealey Plaza toward the Grassy Knoll, while just one police officer ran towards the School Book Depository Building.

And then there are the pictures of the actual assassination.

Evidence at the scene of the crime

 

Movement of the head

There is no controversy over the fact (since it is preserved on film) that immediately following the shots Kennedy’s head was propelled backwards and slammed against the seat of the car. Those who maintain that all shots came from the back explain the backward movement of the head either as a jet propulsion phenomenon (from brain material coming out of the front of the head) or as due to a neuromuscular reaction. The jet propulsion explanation makes little sense because (among other reasons) all witnesses who observed brain material leaving the head observed it coming from the back, NOT the front of the head. With regard to the neuromuscular reaction explanation, has anyone ever seen a person’s head move forward after being punched in the front of the head? 

 

Eye-witness accounts of the movement of brain material

Three persons have offered eye-witness accounts of the movement of brain material. All three say that the brain material and blood exited the President’s head to the left and rear of the head. Two of them were motorcycle police officers and were actually splattered with the material. One account was obtained from a contemporary newspaper article, one was obtained from Warren Commission testimony, and one was obtained from a book author. 

Seeing these images in slow motion sequence, it is hard to believe that a single (or magic bullet as it has so often been called) could have inflicted a total of seven different wounds to Kennedy and Governor John Connally. It does not help the government report that four hours after the pristine “magic bullet” was found and in transit to Washington, a different bullet remained lodged in the leg of John Connally.

But perhaps the most revealing was that contrary to the government images, which show an entry hole in the back of the president’s head, 88 witnesses, including attending physicians Dr. Robert McClelland and Dr. Charles Crenshaw, all confirm that the exit wound was in the back of Kennedy’s head. Both Crenshaw and McClelland stood mere inches away from John Kennedy’s head that day in Parkland Hospital and assisted while the sadly futile lifesaving efforts were made.

“His head was macerated. One fragment of the president’s skull was found some fifty-four feet behind the point of impact,” said Groden.

 

This incredibly eerie photograph, Cecil Stoughton's own example, perhaps caught a momentary glimpse into this America’s Coup d’ etat to the extreme.


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