jfkshirtandtiedestroysbt

Why JFK's Tie and Shirt Slits Destroy the Single-Bullet Theory

2025

The single-bullet theory (SBT) says that a bullet, known officially as CE 399, struck Kennedy in the back, transited his neck without leaving any metal fragments, exited his neck just below the larynx, created two slits just below the inside collar band when it exited the shirt, hit Governor John Connally near his right armpit, tore through his chest, smashing five inches of rib bone in the process, exited his chest, struck his right wrist and shattered a tough radius bone, exited the wrist, and then stuck itself halfway into Connally's left thigh.

Photos of JFK’s tie prove there was no hole through the tie. This fact destroys the SBT. We have ample photographic evidence, presented below, that JFK’s tie knot was neatly centered in the middle of his collar band, and that at least half of the knot was directly over the alleged exit hole in JFK’s shirt.

The supposed exit hole in JFK’s shirt is actually two narrow and irregular slits. Any bullet exiting those slits would have had to tear through JFK’s tie knot to continue toward Governor John Connally, as required by the SBT, but there was no hole through JFK’s tie.

There was a nick on the surface of the tie knot near the knot’s left edge on the bottom lefthand side of the knot, but the nick could not have been made by a bullet exiting the throat wound or the slits, since it was not on the edge of the knot, even assuming the throat wound was directly behind the shirt slits. No bullet exiting the shirt slits could have magically weaved around the body of the knot and nicked the top of the knot.

The most logical, plausible explanation for the nick is that it was made by the nurses in the emergency room when they hurriedly cut away JFK’s clothing. Dr. Charles Carrico, who was one of the first doctors to see JFK in the emergency room, told researcher Harold Weisberg that he saw no nick in the tie and no slits in the shirt until the nurses began cutting away JFK’s clothing. One of the Parkland Hospital nurses confirmed to Rockefeller Foundation fellow and investigative journalist Henry Hurt that nurses made the nick in the tie and made the shirt slits.

JFK's Tie Was Centered in the Middle of His Shirt Collar

JFK's Tie Knot Was Centered in the Middle of His Collar

The Slits in the Front of JFK's Shirt

Notice that the slits are right under the inside collar band, and that the slit on the right (viewer's right) extends into the inside collar band. This photo shows that much of JFK's tie knot would have been lying directly over the slits and would have been virtually centered over them.

The Nick in JFK's Tie Knot

This is a digitized and enhanced version of CE 395 that was done for Harold Weisberg. Notice that the nick is not on the edge and that it is in the bottom half of the tie knot.

This is part of FBI Exhibit 60. This photo was apparently deemed so problematic by Warren Commission staffers that they did not include it in the Commission's published volumes, even though the FBI twisted the tie knot for this picture to give the false impression that there was a hole in the center of the knot.

CE 395: JFK's tie

CE 394: Another photo of JFK's tie.

For photos of JFK wearing a tie on other occasions, see my page More Photos of JFK Wearing a Tie.

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