March 2012 Auction Ends Wednesday, March 28th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/28/2012
Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough typed letter signed, dated 13 July 1964 on official U.S. Senate stationery. Yarborough was in President Kennedy's Dallas motorcade at the time of the President's assassination, and stresses in this letter that he heard three shots, rather than the conspiratorial four shots proposed by the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979. Replying to a request from Herman Herst Jr. for information on ''the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas,'' the senator writes, ''I was in the second car behind President and Mrs. Kennedy at the time of the assassination, with then Vice-President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson...distinctly heard three shots, and believed and so told the press then before the weapons and the assassin were found, that they were rifle shots...I took them to be rifle shots. I felt that I knew they were rifle shots and so proved to be. In my opinion three shots and three shots only were fired. I think the speculation that additional shots were fired from the front from the railroad overpass were fantastic. I distinctly heard the three rifle shots with loud blasts and knew that they were to the right rear of the car in which I was riding. Since much of the speculation hinges on the contention that shots were fired from the front, I feel that this definitely did not happen, and I know something about firearms...'' Letter measures 8'' x 10.5'' on two pages, with minor toning and folds. Includes original envelope. Near fine.
Eyewitness Letter Recounting JFK's Assassination by Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough -- ''...I distinctly heard the three rifle shots with loud blasts...''
Click above for larger image.