From - Thu Mar 21 22:01:06 2002 From: john.mcadams@marquette.edu (John McAdams) Newsgroups: alt.assassination.jfk Approved: jmcadams@shell.core.com Subject: Robert Knudsen -- One of Aguilar's witnesses Followup-To: alt.assassination.jfk Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 05:34:33 GMT Organization: Marquette University Message-ID: <3c7729c5.19044418@mcadams.posc.mu.edu> X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.21/32.243 NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.207.69.28 X-Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 169.207.69.28 X-Trace: 22 Feb 2002 23:41:39 -0600, 169.207.69.28 Lines: 69 Path: mcadams.posc.mu.edu!169.207.69.28 Xref: mcadams.posc.mu.edu alt.assassination.jfk:130174 Late White House photographer Robert Knudsen was the source of much of the recent spate of stories about a "second set of autopsy photos" and "faked autopsy photos." His family, talking to the ARRB, quoted him telling a variety of interesting stories, which unfortunately were at odds with his sworn testimony to the House Select Committee. The most significant difference between his ARRB "testimony" and his HSCA testimony is that the former had him actually *photographing* the autopsy, while in the latter he said he first became aware of autopsy photos the morning after the autopsy. But in 1977, Knudsen apparently told his "I was at the autopsy" story to POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY. That journal ran a story titled (in rather dubious taste) "'Shooting' the Presidents" in the August 1977 number. Quoting from page 81: The one Presidential trip which Bob Knudsen did *not* make was the one to Texas in November, 1963. Scheduled to go, he was hospitalized at the last moment with steel slivers in his eye. Cecil Stoughton went instead, and wound up making the most famous of all Presidential succession pictures: Lyndon Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force One following the Kennedy assassination. When the news of the assassination came from Dallas, Kundsen left the hospital to meet Air Force One at Andrews Field. He was the only photographer to record the autopsy -- "the hardest assignment in my life." John Stringer, who actually photographed the autopsy, would doubtless be surprised to learn that Kundsen was the "only" photographer there. But one year later, on 8/11/78, Kundsen testified under oath to the HSCA. This is how the questioning went (from page 5 of the transcript): MR. PURDY. Your responsibilities were for the President and not for the First Lady? MR. KUNDSEN. That is correct. I photographed the President's activities and appointments and social functions. MR. PURDY. When did you first become aware of the existence of photographs of the autopsy of President Kennedy? MR. KUNDSEN. The morning following the autopsy, Dr. Berkley -- to the best of my knowledge, Dr. Berkley had the film holders in a brown paper bag and handed them to me. Jim Fox, the Secret Service photographic expert, was told to go over and develop them and see that they were secure at all times. So it seems that Kundsen had one story when he was under oath and talking to people likely to know the details of the autopsy and the photographs, and a different one for POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY and for his family. .John The Kennedy Assassination Home Page http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm