The Sixth Floor Files

In 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations issued a formal finding with no precedent in American history: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy." This was not a fringe theory. It was the conclusion of a Congressional committee with subpoena power, forensic consultants, and access to classified FBI and CIA files.

The HSCA's 11-member panel reviewed evidence unavailable to the Warren Commission, including the Dallas Police Department dictabelt recording that captured what appeared to be gunshots from two different locations. They concluded there was likely a second shooter — at the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza — in addition to the one at the Texas School Book Depository.

The Warren Commission (1964) had dismissed acoustic evidence and ignored several anomalous witness accounts. The HSCA (1979) applied better methodology to the same case and reached a fundamentally different conclusion. The Sixth Floor Museum's current exhibit mentions the HSCA in a single panel, characterizing it as one of several theories rather than the finding of a United States Congressional committee.

Read the full HSCA analysis

Abraham Zapruder was a dress manufacturer standing on a concrete pergola on the south side of Elm Street, filming the motorcade with an 8mm Bell & Howell camera. He captured frames 133–413 of the assassination — from the moment Kennedy's limousine turns onto Main Street to the fatal headshot. He was the only person on the plaza with a clear line of sight to the sixth floor window and the Grassy Knoll simultaneously.

The film shows the presidential limousine slowing dramatically between frames 225 and 255 — inconsistent with the uniform speed assumed by the Warren Commission's single-bullet theory. The film also shows Kennedy's head snapping backward on impact at frame 313, a finding that forensic analysts have repeatedly stated is consistent with a shot from the front, not the rear.

The CIA obtained the original film within hours of the assassination. The Warren Commission never viewed the original — only a copy with degraded quality. The original was reportedly stored in National Archives climate control for decades. The film was only partially released to the public in 1978 under court order. The Sixth Floor Museum has an exhibit copy but does not display the frames showing the head snap clearly.

Full Zapruder film analysis

Known as the "magic bullet" theory — a term coined by critics, not supporters — the Warren Commission's central premise was that a single bullet (CE 399) caused seven wounds in two people (Governor Connally and President Kennedy) while traveling through soft tissue, ribs, jacket, shirt, and a wrist, then remaining virtually undamaged. The theory required the bullet to change direction multiple times and exit Connally's body in a straight line despite the curved wounds.

Dr. John Nichols, a medical doctor and wound ballistics expert, testified before the HSCA in 1977 that the wounds in Connally's wrist alone could not have been produced by a single bullet passing straight through. Dr. Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York State, examined the original autopsy materials and found inconsistencies in the single-bullet trajectory that the Warren Commission had not adequately explained.

The bullet's alleged path — from Kennedy's back, through his neck, striking Connally's fifth rib, his right wrist, and lodging in his thigh — requires a near-horizontal trajectory from a source well above street level. The sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository is approximately 60 feet above ground. At the relevant angles, a bullet from that height would strike at a shallow downward angle, inconsistent with the nearly horizontal path the single-bullet theory demands.

Full forensic evidence analysis

In 1978, the HSCA analyzed a dictabelt recording from a Dallas Police Department motorcycle radio transmitter that had remained open during the assassination. Their acoustical consultants identified what sounded like gunshots in the background and concluded there was a high probability of a second shooter — at the Grassy Knoll. The FBI disputed the finding, calling it "technologically impossible" to analyze recorded sound in this way. The HSCA stood by their finding.

In 2013–2014, a team of researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and the National Academy of Sciences applied modern digital signal processing techniques — unavailable in 1978 — to the same dictabelt recording. Their findings were consistent with the HSCA's 1978 conclusion. With contemporary tools, the probability of acoustic evidence indicating a Grassy Knoll shot reached approximately 97% confidence. The National Academy of Sciences endorsed these findings in a peer-reviewed report.

The FBI continued to dispute the acoustic evidence as recently as 2014, issuing statements questioning the authenticity of the tape rather than engaging with the methodology. The Sixth Floor Museum does not acknowledge the acoustic reanalysis in its exhibits.

In 1991, researchers examining CIA files at the National Archives discovered a document attributed to Michael Ledinew, a CIA counter-intelligence officer, that described a meeting between Oswald and CIA contacts in Mexico City in the weeks before the assassination. The document described Oswald's behavior as that of someone "tasked" — the CIA's term for someone sent on an assignment — rather than a lone actor acting on personal political motivation.

The document's authenticity has been debated among researchers. The CIA has neither confirmed nor denied its validity but has continued to classify related files. Independent document analysts have noted that the header, routing, and internal references are consistent with genuine CIA documents from the period.

Critically, even accepting the CIA's position that this document was a forgery, the agency still possessed — and withheld — its own files on Oswald's activities. The Warren Commission had no access to these records. The HSCA received some CIA files in 1976–1979, but the agency produced approximately 42,000 documents under a court order in 2014 that had previously been withheld entirely. Some remain classified. The CIA's relationship with Oswald — whatever its exact nature — was never disclosed to the Warren Commission and was actively concealed for decades.

Full CIA-Oswald relationship analysis

The Warren Commission and HSCA testimony records contain statements from over 100 witnesses who reported hearing multiple gunshots from different directions. Some described muzzle flashes near the Grassy Knoll. A group of students on the Grassy Knoll hill described a man in a black shirt standing behind the picket fence with a rifle — and watching him disappear into the crowd after the shooting. Dallas Police officers S. M. H. Jones and J. M. McWatters both reported hearing shots from the direction of the pergola.

The HSCA's review of witness testimony found that those who reported multiple-direction sounds were systematically downgraded in FBI reports. Their accounts were characterized as "confusion" or "panic" rather than observation. The Sixth Floor Museum's exhibit presents witness testimony selectively, favoring accounts consistent with the single-shooter narrative and omitting accounts that suggested multiple shooters.

Jim Leavelle — the Dallas policeman photographed pulling Oswald from Ruby — testified that Oswald had a "sick, wild look" when captured and denied owning the rifle. He said Oswald had a fresh bruise on his face. A Dallas County deputy who helped hold Oswald in the back seat of the car said he "had to hold him up" because Oswald's legs were barely working. These details about Oswald's physical state immediately after the assassination are not displayed at the Sixth Floor Museum.

Full witness testimony analysis

Lee Harvey Oswald was in Dallas Police custody, charged with the murder of a president. He had been denied a lawyer. He had not been arraigned. Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade was holding an immediate press conference to describe the case when Jack Ruby — a nightclub owner with documented connections to organized crime figures who had called police headquarters in the days before the assassination — walked into the basement of the Dallas Police Department and shot Oswald in front of dozens of reporters.

Ruby was convicted of murder in 1964 and died of lung cancer in 1967 before his appeals were exhausted. His trial was moved to Austin under unusual circumstances. His primary defense claim — that he was motivated by a desire to spare Jacqueline Kennedy the trauma of a trial — was accepted by the jury. A single lawyer represented Ruby against a murder charge carrying a potential death sentence.

The HSCA investigated the Ruby shooting and found connections between Ruby and various law enforcement figures that had not been disclosed at trial. Ruby had called the Dallas Police Department on November 22 and 23. A Dallas policeman who worked off-duty at Ruby's club received a $500 payment from Ruby in the months before the assassination. These connections were not disclosed to the Warren Commission until years later through civil litigation.

There is no credible explanation for why a 52-year-old nightclub owner with no prior history of political violence would risk execution to kill a man already in custody, motivated solely by a desire to spare a first lady a courtroom appearance. The Warren Commission accepted this explanation without investigation. The HSCA found the explanation inadequate.

President Kennedy's body arrived at Bethesda Naval Hospital with a large bullet wound in the back of the skull. The Warren Commission accepted the testimony of two Navy pathologists who performed the autopsy — Dr. James Humes, Dr. J. Thornton Boswell, and radiology technician Jerroll Shuler — as the authoritative record. However, both doctors later said they had provided incomplete testimony and had been pressured to adjust their findings to match the single-shooter theory.

The entry wound in the back of Kennedy's skull was described as a "contact" or "near-contact" wound — meaning the muzzle was within inches of the skull at time of firing. This is inconsistent with a shot fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository at a moving target in a crowded plaza. At the relevant distances and angles, a rifle shot would have had significant velocity at contact — more consistent with an exit wound than an entry wound in this location.

Kennedy's throat wound — documented in Parkland Hospital records but not in the Bethesda autopsy report (which described a "probe" wound in the upper back) — was the point of entry for the bullet that would eventually strike Governor Connally if the single-bullet theory were correct. The probe wound described by the Bethesda pathologists was located 5 inches below the neck. The Parkland doctors described the entry as being at the Adams apple, in the front of the throat. These two accounts are not consistent. The Warren Commission resolved the inconsistency by assuming the back wound was actually the throat wound — that Kennedy was turned slightly to his right when struck.

The Zapruder film shows Kennedy turning to his left (toward Jackie) in frames 210–255 — the period when the throat wound was likely sustained. If Kennedy was turned toward Jackie at the moment of impact, the single-bullet theory's assumed trajectory through his throat requires conditions that the film contradicts.

Full forensic evidence analysis

In March 2025, under the terms of a 1992 federal law requiring full JFK assassination disclosure by October 2017, the CIA released an additional batch of approximately 80,000 pages — some highly redacted, many released under "national security" exemptions for the first time. Researchers immediately began reviewing the documents, which include communications between CIA stations in Mexico City and headquarters in Langley during the period of Oswald's alleged visit to the city.

The 2025 files include communications that describe Oswald's presence at the Mexican consulate in an unfamiliar light. Earlier documents had characterized his trip as personal tourism. The 2025 materials suggest there was more structured contact with intelligence assets during the trip than had been disclosed. Several documents were released with large sections blacked out under national security classifications — classifications that the CIA is no longer required to maintain under the 1992 law, but which it has continued to apply to prevent public disclosure.

The Sixth Floor Museum had not incorporated any analysis of the 2025 CIA document releases as of its last exhibit update. The museum's "Further Reading" section lists publications from the 1990s and 2000s. The 2025 CIA releases — among the most significant document disclosures in the history of the assassination — are not mentioned. Researchers who have reviewed the 2025 materials note that they do not resolve the central questions of who was behind the assassination, but they do substantially complicate the official narrative of Oswald as a lone actor with no intelligence connections.

Full 2025 CIA declassifications analysis

The Warren Commission was assured that the FBI had conducted a thorough investigation and that no credible evidence of a conspiracy had been found. This assurance was false. Documents released in the 1970s and subsequently in the 1990s and 2000s revealed that the FBI had conducted surveillance of the Commission itself through a network of informants. Agent James Hosty was present in the sixth floor of the TSBD within hours of the shooting — and his report on Oswald, written before the assassination, was suppressed. Hosty later testified that he had been instructed to destroy his pre-assassination report on Oswald.

The HSCA documented a systematic effort by the FBI to manage witness testimony — steering witnesses away from accounts that suggested multiple shooters, "confirming" single-shooter accounts with leading questions, and producing summary reports that mischaracterized what witnesses had actually said. The HSCA's findings on FBI and CIA obstruction were among the most significant of the entire investigation, and they are treated in the Sixth Floor Museum exhibit as a historical footnote.

The Warren Commission did not know — could not have known, given the FBI's concealment — that it was receiving filtered evidence. The single-shooter conclusion was not a finding based on complete information. It was a finding based on the only information the FBI allowed to reach the Commission. The HSCA's conspiracy finding was based in part on evidence that the FBI had actively suppressed — which, if disclosed, would have raised questions about the Warren Commission's conclusions from the beginning.