Who Killed Jfk Essay, Research Paper
On November 22nd, 1963 America lost its innocence. It also perhaps lost its trust, trust in the American Government. In a gallop pole in 1960, 89% of the American population trusted the government. Since then it has dropped to less than to . That means that since the early 1960 s over 70% of the population lost its trust in the Federal Government. While there may be different reasons why many people lost their trust, the most major one was probably the assassination and investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1963 and 1964 the US government told the American public about what happened that fateful day in Dallas Texas. They said that one crazy man, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone killed the President of the United States. This is not the truth. The man that was going to make peace with Russia, and put an early end to the Vietnam war was not killed by one man. JFK was killed in one of the biggest conspiracies in this countries, and perhaps the world s history.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy shocked the whole country at the time. It was the shattering of Camelot. But to understand what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963, we must first look at Kennedy s background. Where he came from, what he did, in his private life, and political life. John Kennedy, in spite of what the public may have thought was no saint, and his actions may be what angered enough people in his own country, and government to commit one of the highest crimes in the country; the assassination of the commander and chief.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917 to Joseph P Kennedy, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Kennedy, or Papa Joe as he was called was famous is his own right. After doing work for the US government assisting such people as Chamberlain, he became heavily involved in illegal liquor smuggling, and with the mob. This is also how he made most of his fortune.
John Kennedy had several siblings also, three brothers, and 5 sisters. His two brothers Robert, and Edward are probably the most famous. When it came time for JFK to get into politics, Papa Joe wanted his son to get into the White House. It is reported that he contacted his friends in organized crime to help him to get his son elected. One of these crime bosses, Sam Giancanna of Chicago claimed that he was responsible for getting Kennedy the presidency by stuffing the ballot box, and sinking the 10,000 votes for Nixon into the bottom of Lake Michigan. Needless to say organized crime felt as though the Kennedy s owed a debt. But John Kennedy, unaware of this debt that he owed decided that along with his brother Robert, the attorney general, he would fight organized crime, and try to bring an end to it. The mob was not happy with this action. Someone that they had helped had turned against them. Papa Joe appealed to his son, to try to get him to lay off, but to no avail. The moffia was disappointed with the Kennedy s, and needed to do something about their problem.
In 1955 a revolutionary leader came to power in Cuba. His name was Fediel Castro. Castro kicked out the gambling crime bosses out of Cuba, angering those in the US. Castro wanted to be friends with a major power. He first tried to talk to the US. The president at the time, Eisenhower, did not come down to Cuba though. He sent his vice president, Richard Nixon. After making Castro wait for some 6 hours the meeting inevitably failed. Castro wanted nothing to do with the US. He turned to the Soviet Union, with Khrushchev as their leader. Khrushchev was elated with Castro s offer of friend ship. Not because of who he was but because of where he was. Cuba is located not far off the southern US coast. Close enough for nuclear weapons to be launched against the US. In 1961 and 1962 spy photos revealed that Cuba indeed did have places for the launch of nuclear missiles. Kennedy decided to blockade Cuba and not let in any more Russian ships, as he negotiated with Khrushchev. Negations were not good, and the order was given that if one boot set foot on Cuba, to fire. This was the Cuban missile crisis of august 1962. Kennedy brought the country to the brink of nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis. We were literally just a push of a button away from a nuclear holocaust. At the last minute though Kennedy decided not to send in troops, angering much of the US military, and high government. Bring the country to the brink of total destruction though would be enough to get people angry, however people thought as Kennedy as a hero for getting the country out of the situation. Before that though the US wanted to do something with Castro. What they decided upon was to try to assassinate the Cuban dictator. Kennedy dealt with the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA in caring out this project. The CIA tried several attempts at doing this, such as poisoned drinks and cigars, itching powder, and moffia assassins. The Bay of Pigs invasion was one of these failing, and embarrassing actions. In the invasion, anti-Cuban refugees trained in secret CIA camps in Florida, and Louisiana were supposed to have an umbrella of cover by the military. Kennedy did not follow through on this, and he blamed the failures on the CIA vowing, to tear the CIA into a thousand little pieces. He fired two head CIA men, Allen Dulles, and Someone Else angering the agency. Kennedy also sent the FBI and local authorities into Florida and Louisiana to break up the CIA s training camps. These camps are where names like David Ferrie, Clay Shay, Guy Banister, and Lee Oswald start to fall into place.
Vietnam was another situation that the president faced when he took office. Communism was moving into northern Vietnam and Laos. The US military had been there since the late forties to help the French with their fight. As the end of Kennedy s first term approached, he decided that the war had gone on long enough. He issued National Security Action Memorandum No. 263. Which made plans to bring home 1,000 troops by the end of 1963. This angered the military who wanted the war to go on. War is a business. Armies need boats, ammunition, and planes, and that means contracts to big name companies that produced these items. The Memorandum never went through. Four days after the assassination President Johnson reversed the order in memorandum 273.
By the time that most of these events took place John F Kennedy may have been popular with the voters, who did not know of all of these events, but he was not popular with the people that he had turned upon, broken promises to, or hurt. People like the CIA, the military, the FBI, the moffia, and the communists. For them Kennedy was a problem, and something had to be done, the problem had to be eliminated, or assassinated.
Presidents have always had people that disliked, but none of them had this much hatred from within their own government like Kennedy did. In 1964, Kennedy was up for reelection. And in late 1963 he was making a major trip to the south, visiting Florida, and Texas. While in Texas he was to visit Houston, and then Dallas to give a speech at the Trade Mart. There had been worries that violence would erupt there because of a previous trip by Adali Stevenson, a US ambassador. . But they had been received good in Fort Worth, so they thought that it would be fine in Dallas. During this trip he was to make his way through Dallas in a motorcade. This would be the perfect opportunity for everyone to act. But they decided to perhaps give Kennedy a chance to change. According to SOURCES a telex was sent to FBI offices before Kennedy s trip warning of a possible assassination by a militant revolutionary group in Dallas. This teletype was ignored though, and then ordered to be removed from all the offices as an obvious embarrassment to the beareu, according to Jim Garrison, New Orleans District Attorney. J. Edgar Hoover also knew of a memo which stated that an attempt would be made on the presidents life, but this memo ever made it to the secret service. Many supporters of the one man theory in the assassination say that Oswald also delivered a note to SOMEONE warning of a assassination. However according to the FBI agent who received the note, NAME the note was just expressing anger to his questioning of Oswald s wife, not a threat on the president.
When a president travels, security of him, his family, and guests is a priority. The secret service is in charge of this security. They plan out routs of travel, precautions, etc. In fact in a parade of the type that the president was going to be in evolved in, there are three zones of security that the secret service is to be involved in. they are The President, the people or crowd, and the general area which would include buildings, and open areas along the route. Also in a public appearance local law officials, and military units will be on alert, and available. However Colonel Reich of the 112th Military Intelligence Group was asked to stand down that day. His group would have normally been there ready to assist the secret service , and local law officials in things such as security and crowd control. All of these zones were totally ignored, if they were, the assassination probably would not have happened, and it is doubtful that the ignoring was by accident. It left the president very unprotected. It was deliberate.
Kennedy was the type of president who liked the people. He often wanted to talk to them, shake hands, etc., obvious security problems. When riding in his limo, he would often want to ride with out the bubble top, to provide the people a better chance to see him, but this also provided assassins a better chance to shoot him. Although it may be believed that secret service was cut back in Dallas at the president s request it is very doubtful. When it comes to security, the president usually has little choice in the matter. The secret service decides what is to be done, and how it is to be done. They also decided the route that the president would take through the city of Dallas that day.
Figure 1 Areal photo of Dealy Plaza From the Assassination Home Page
Originally the route was scheduled to go right down Main Street, and was published in the paper, so that people would know, and could see him. This route would have gone right through the center of Dealey plaza. However due to what might have been poor research, or a deliberate action, the route was changed. The official reason was that Secret Service agents said the motorcade could not get to the express way that lead the trade center from Main Street. It had to go down Houston, to Elm. However the truth, as pointed out by Robert Groden in the book The Killing of the President, is that you can get the highway from Main Street, and if it some how missed, it could still go to Industrial Road which would lead right to the Trade Center. Another option would have been to go straight down elm from start to finish, and not make any zig zag sharp turns, there by not allowing the motorcade to slow down as much as it did. This last minute route change was not announced until the day of the parade its self, allowing anyone with desire to cause harm at this location very short planing time. If they knew of the route before hand though from a source inside the secret service they would have plenty of time to plan.
As mentioned before there are several zones of security. One of these is the people that will be in the area, the crowd. Crowd control is very important in the public appearance of celebrity, especially the president. Earlier in October there had been a hostile welcome of the US ambassador to the united nations, Adlai Stevenson and there was worries that Kennedy would not be welcomed either. This should have made the secret service wish to transport the president right to the Trade Center with out the fancy parade. Instead they went ahead with the motorcade, with decreased security, a total opposite of what should have been done. At approximately noon on the 22nd, a man had a apparent epileptic seizure on Main street, between Houston and the triple over pass. According to an article entitled, The Man Who Wasn t There written by Conspiracy researcher Chris Mills, Officer Joe Smith, a member of the Dallas police force, was stationed on front of the school book depository. When the unidentified man had the seizure Officer Smith went to assist. He stayed there until an ambulance arrived, an ambulance that could have been used by the president. During this time that the officer was not at his post, the school book depository was open for anyone to get in, and setup in one of the higher up windows. In the mayhem after the shooting Officer Smith saw a man in a suite snooping around. When seen the man showed Secret Service identification. Later at the Warren Commission hearings, Winston Lawson, one of those agents in charge of the trip said that there was no extra agents in the area. Smith did not see a marriage. This man either was a secret service agent that was not supposed to be there, or an impostor, either way part of a conspiracy.
Along with this one incident security along the parade route was very poor. Building windows were open, very few officers were in the plaza its self to help in crowd control, and the presidental limo, which should have been surounded by men, was in the wide open. The men were riding on a follow up car. Of course who would expect men who were drunk and hung over to keep upm with a moving limousine.
According to Groden s book, the night on November 21, the secret service had a party in a small bar in fort worth. The small bar called The Cellar was owned by Pat Kirkwood, friend of mobster, and fellow bar owner, Jack Ruby. Shouldn t the secret service be providing security for the president around the clock? Well apparently they thought the two unarmed firemen from Fort Worth were enough security at the hotel(9). The men were also supposed to have reported to have drank pure grain alcohol, although this is unlikely (Hansen).
On the day of the assassination, the people in Dallas were ready to see the president. So were the people that didn t like him. That day in Dallas, a handbill was distributed. It read the following:
WANTED
FOR
TREASON
THIS MAN is wanted for treasonous 3. He has been lax on enforcing Com-
activities against the United States: munist Registra7tion laws.
4. He has given support and encour-
1. Betraying the Constitution (which agement to the Communist insp-
he swore to uphold): ired racial riots.
He is turning the sovereignty of 5. He has illegal invaded a sover-
the U.S. over to the communist eign State with federal troops.
controlled United Nations. 6. He has consistently appointed
He is betraying our friends (Cuba, Anti-Christians to Federal office:
Katanga, Portugal) and befriend- Upholds the Supreme Court in
ing our enemies (Russia, Yugosla- its Anti-Christian rulings.
via, Poland). Aliens and known Communists
2. He has been WRONG on innnu- abound in federal offices.
merable issues affecting the se- 7. He has been caught in fantastic
curity of the U.S.(United Nations- Lies to the American people(in-
Berlin wall-Missile removal-Cuba- cluding personal ones like his
Wheat deals-Test Ban Treaty, etc.) previous marriage and divorce.
According to Groden s book, that hand bill was the work of a right-wind American fact-finding Committee. (4) It was though probably created by the help of influence such as the CIA, and the FBI to give the American people a distrust of the president. If Oswald did shoot the president, and he was a communist as the warren commission suggested, what is the meaning of this note then. Was there another group of anti-Communists in Dallas the same day as the communist Oswald? Doubtful.
Oswald was in Dallas the day of the shooting, and he was in the School Book Depository, but was he on the sixth floor? Evidence that was not looked at suggests other wise. A secretary at the book depository, Carolyn Aronld saw Oswald in the lunch room on the second floor at approximately 12:25 PM, the time when the motorcade was supposed to arrive at Daily Plaza. He was perhaps waiting for a call from his contact. Then at
12:30 p.m. The Assassination. Before that the motorcade turns right from Main street onto Houston street, heading directly towards the school book depository. It then turns left onto Elm, and slows down to about 11 miles per hour or so. It is here where the famous Zepruder film begins. Dozens of people watch the motorcade. People shout, and yell saying things like Mr. President, Look here Mr. President trying to get photos, and film of the procession. Then, according to the official report three shots ring out. The first, missed the motorcade completely hitting a curb by the triple overpass and causing concrete to fly up hitting James Tague. Then with two other shots, the president gets killed and wounded. The second shot enters the President s back and exits through his throat. It then enters governors Conally s back, clasps his lung, exits by his right nipple. Goes through his wrist, and lodges in his left thigh. This is the so called magic bullet . It is magic for reasons that will be discussed later. Then the third and fatal head shot fired from the same location as the other two hits Kennedy in the head, exploding the right side, and instantly killing him. Three shots all with in about 6 seconds. An average of two seconds per shot. Note that the gun must be re-loaded each time, and re-aimed. Assuming it was already loaded and ready to go for the first shot, it would still have to be unloaded, and re loaded twice, and re-aimed twice. This is a true feat of great skill for someone who is not that good a shot.
Immediately after the shooting, the assassin hides the rifle in the opposite corner of the sixth floor, wipes it clean of prints, and runs down 4 flights of stairs to the lunch room to grab a coke and take a rest. This is when officer Baker sees him standing with a coke in his hand. Oswald then leaves the building to go kill a police officer, J.D. Tibbit. Police later arrest him at a movie theater, and charge him with the two shootings. Three days later Oswald is killed by the patriotic Jack Ruby.
The above two paragraphs are the main lie that the government told the people of this country. Lets first look at the magic bullet story, probably the biggest exaggeration. This bullet, which was fired at an angle of 17 degrees from the sixth floor of the school book depository. The bullet entered the rear of the president and was supposed to exit though the neck, slightly below the Adam s apple. The back wound though is not in the neck, but is to the lower right of the back bone, not in line with the neck wound. Which was higher, and in the center. This shot is also to have hit Gov. Connely. It entered him in the back, went through his lung, exited below his right nipple, went through his right wrist, which was holding his Stetson hat at the time, and lodged in his thigh. If Conally was sitting directly in front of Kennedy the shot would have had to do a lot of zig zagging. But according to the warren commission Connely was sitting slightly to the left of the president. The shot still has to turn. Upon entering the back, it would have to travel up and to the right to exit at the neck. It would then have to turn right, and travel into Connely s back. After entering the back, it would exit, turn to the left and head down into Connely s right wrist, and left thigh. Needless to say this bullet truly magic if it can do all that, and then emerge rather clean, and pristine. Connely was not sitting off to the right or left of Kennedy. He was sitting directly, and straight in front. If the bullet really did enter Kennedy s back where the wound is, it would have to entered Connely in the left shoulder, not the right like it did.
The bullet that entered Kennedy s back did not hit Connally. Connely s testimony to the Warren Commission helps prove it along with the Zepruder film.
We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot. I heard this
noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right
because the sound appeared to come from over my right shoulder, so I turned to look
back over my right shoulder, and I saw nothing unusual except just people in the
crowd, but I did not catch the President in the corner of my eye, and I was interested,
because once I heard the shot in my own mind I identified it as a rifle shot, and I
immediately–the only thought that crossed my mind was that this is an assassination
attempt.
So I looked, failing to see him, I was turning to look back over my left shoulder into
the back seat, but I never got that far in my turn. I got about in the position I am in
now facing you, looking a little bit to the left of center, and then I felt like someone
had hit me in the back.
Connely states that he had turned to his right upon hearing shots. Then as he was going to turn to his left, he was hit in the back, when he was about midway in his turn, or facing forward again. When Connely turned to his right though, the president had already been injured and was grabbing at his throat. Then Connally turned back and was hit. This is shown by Zepruder frames XX through XX. This was probably the third shot. The first shot from a place other than the School book depository, some place like the Dal-Tex building. The second shot was from the front, which hit Kennedy in the neck. It either came from the grassy knoll, or perhaps a recent development, but less publicized theory, a shot of a paralyzing dart from a weapon that looks like an ordinary umbrella. The CIA admitted that such a weapon had been created, and that it had several in its possession. However when this idea was introduced before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the umbrella that was supposed to be the same one in Dallas that day opened inside out. It was probably a bullet. The second shot entered the president in the throat, and did not exit. Doctors at Parkland confirmed that this was an entrance wound. In the November 23rd , 1963 issue of the New York Times, Dr. Malcolm Perry and Dr. Kemp Clark, attending physicians at Parkland gave the following details. Mr. Kennedy was hit by a bullet in the throat just below the Adam s apple, they said. This wound had the appearance of a bullet s entry. If this wound was an entry, it had to come from the grassy knoll.
While the president was reacting to the second shot which was from the front, Governor Connally was hit from behind. This went through his back, and exited below his right nipple. This shot is also to have hit his wrist and thigh too, but there is the possibility that that was another shot, the same shot which damaged the windshield of the limousine. Also while the president is reacting from the neck shot, he is shot in the back, pushing him slightly forward. This is shot number 4. The presidents coat, and autopsy confirms the location of the wound, and that fact that it does not line up with the neck wound. The fifth shot is the shot that may have injured Connally s wrist and fragmented, hitting the windshield at the same time. Assuming that this is the fifth shot, the sixth shot was the fatal head shot. This shot in all probability came from the front, the grassy knoll. This was the last significant shot. Now, a review of the shots:
Shot 1: firing from behind, either the Dal-Tex building or the school book depository, more than likely the Dal-Tex, misses completely and causes the Tague injury at the triple over pass.
Shot 2: Hits Kennedy in the next from the front. This did not exit the body. It was fired from probably the grassy knoll.
Shot 3: This shot is fired from the rear, misses Kennedy and hits Connely. Assume that it does not do the damage to the wrist.
Shot 4: As Kennedy is reacting to his neck wound, he his hit in the back, propelling him slightly forward. This bullet does not exit either.
Shot 5: Hits Connely in the wrist and thigh. It probably comes from the rear in the School Book Depository.
Shot 6: Hits Kennedy in the head from the front, and kills him.
The last two shots have been said to be reversed, Connely getting hit less than a second after the fatal head wound, and from the back. There is evidence of other shots, but they are misses. There is the dent in the center of the chrome around the windshield. There is also several reported bullet marks on the pavement in the area. Although that this is what happened, more probably than the one man theory, the government decided that this not what they will say will happen.
Hitler said, The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.
In the aftermath of the assassination the assassins tried to escape. Those responsible for the assassination pinned it all on Lee Harvey Oswald. After the assassination the true assassins got away, taking their weapons with them, or at least most of their weapons. Michael Giffith wrote a paper in 1996 discussing the Extra Bullets and Missed Shots in Dealy Plaza. He stated that in the documents released by the ARRB (Assassination Records Review Board) there was an empty FBI evidence envelope. Although it contained nothing, the label on the outside indicated it had contained a 7.65 mm rifle shell that had been found in Dealey plaza after the shooting. He further states that the AARB released FBI documents that discuss a Johnson 30.06 rifle found in Dealy plaza soon after the shooting. He also notes that
in 1975 a maintenance man named Morgan, while working on the roof of the County Records Building in Dealey Plaza, found a 30.06 shell casing lying under a lip of roofing tar at the base of the roof s parapet on the side facing the plaza, according to his son dean Morgan. The shell casing is dated 1953, and marks on it indicate it was made at the Twin Cities Arsenal. One side of the casing had been pitted by exposure to the weather, suggesting it was exposed on the roof for some time. According to some researchers this shell casing is evidence that a sabot may have been used to fire ammunition from a 30.06 rifle during the assassination. A sabot is a plastic sleeve that enables a larger caliber weapon to fire a smaller caliber missile, even one that has been fired previously.
The Records Building is right across the street from the Dal-Tex building, and would offer a perfect shooting point from its roof.
Figure 2 possible assassin (circled area)
All this proof would lead almost anyone to assume that something was afoot that day, and that the one man assassin story was bogus. The government however decided to try to the best of its ability to cover everything up. It has not worked though. There were many things that the assassins didn t count on. One is that people like to take pictures, and film of events like presidents coming through town. Many people were doing this that day. Just about everyone in the country has some of if not all of the famous 8mm Zapruder film on the procession. While it is not the highest quality film, it offers execleent visual proof of what happened that day. Proof of people s locations, movements, etc. In fact at the end of the film, there is a glimps of the grassy knoll, and a glimpse of what might be the silhouette of a man.(fig. 2) Zapruder s film also captured more proof in the case. The frame showing the limousine emerging from behind the highway sign proves that Connally was not injured at the time Kennedy s neck wound occurred. This is frame number 224(fig 3). It also shows the umbrella, mentioned earlier.
Abraham Zapruder was not the only one recording the day s activities. Mary Mooreman was standing on the south side if elm (opposite from the knoll) with her camera. She took what is not known as the Mooreman photo. In this photo there is the silhouette of something behind the picket fence. The same thing that was on the Zepruder film. It was known as the black dog man because in a photo of the same area, taken at about the same moment by Phil Willis, and in a film by Oliver Nix it looks like a dog. In fact that s what the Warren Commission said it was, a dog. However when the Mooreman photo is enhanced, a figure that looks like a police man with a rifle firing appears. Well if this is a man who is it? one theory is that it is Lucien Sartis, a French moffia hit man. When Kennedy decided to pull out of Vietnam, he would have left the French there to fight by themselves. It is reported that Satri s MO was to dress up as a local law official, commit the act, and then blend into the crowd. He blended in when after shooting he came into the crowd, and kicked a man by the name of Gorden Arnold who was filming in the area. Sartis took the camera and film, and vanished. Although Arnold only came forward once, when he did, he was shown the enhanced picture, and said that that was the man who killed the president.
Ike Altgens took a famous photo also. His photo is of the motorcade coming towards him with the School Book Depository , and the Dal-Tex building in the background. This photo is very interesting, and it is understood why when the warren commission published it, it was severely cropped. It shows a man sitting on the fire escape of the Dal-Tex building holding what appears to be a phone or radio to his face. In the window below him, there appears to be a man with a rifle. This is perhaps a radio/shooter team. This photo also shows a figure that appears to be Oswald standing in the door way of the school book depository. If this id indeed Oswald, then he could not have fired the rifle from the second floor. These two photos, the Mooreman, and the Altgens show the other two assassins, with make up the triangulation of fire.
The Warren Commission had explanations for all these, and said that Oswald was the only assassin. He was arrested by the Dallas police after shooting Dallas police officer Tibbit. He is then charged with the assassination, although the evidence is little. The rifle found in the sixth floor on the book depository is supposed to be a Manlicker- Carcano. However when first recovered it was described as a Mauser. While a Mauser and the Carcano have some similar features, anyone with some firearms experience should be able to tell the difference. (PICTURE). And then in trying to make Oswald look even more guilty to the public the government releases the famous backyard photos. The photos which show Oswald holding a gun, and a copy of the Worker , a communist paper have long said to be faked. They were. While one can look at shadows, etc., just look at the picture of Oswald when he was arrested. Do they look alike? The chin in the mug shot is a pointy type of chin where as the chin in the backyard photos is a square type of jaw and chin. While Oswald was no saint, he didn t kill the president. He was drinking a coke in the cafeteria at the time.
The people who killed the president were part of a great conspiracy involving the government, CIA, and crime. They all had gains to make in getting rid of the President. The president had made too many mistakes as far as they were concerned. IT has been said that if someone wants to see a giraffe in a picture, they will. No one wanted to see a conspiracy. People didn t want to see that their government could not be trusted, and would murder their own president. The proof was their however. While no one may know what really happened that day in Dallas. Many people have taken what they knew to their grave. Oswald was killed in the Dallas police station by famed mobster Jack Ruby. Dozens of other witnesses mysteriously died when the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and Garrison investigations started. If Oswald did it, and there was no conspiracy, why is it tried to be covered up so much. Even the HSCA said that the committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that president John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. Even people on the Warren commission itself knew it was a lie. Arlen Specter said that the back wound had always bothered him. There were memos that hinted of the fact that the commission was going to lie, and that it needed to be covered up.
324