Living History with Dr. Phillip Williams

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza presented an interview with Dr. Phillip Williams as a Living History education program for students from George Bannerman Dealey Montessori in Dallas. As an intern at Parkland Memorial Hospital in 1963, Williams had a brief interaction with Jackie Kennedy outside of Trauma Room One. Less than two days later, he assisted in the surgery of Lee Harvey Oswald. The program was moderated by Curator Stephen Fagin.
This presentation took place at the Museum on April 28, 2016. To see related films, photos, documents and oral histories from The Sixth Floor Museum's collection, visit our online collections database (emuseum.jfk.org). Or make a research appointment to explore the books, DVDs and other materials available in the Museum's Reading Room (www.jfk.org/go/reading-room).

[@user-bu7jl6zy5d]

Dr. Williams is a very impressive gentleman. We are so grateful for his recollections of that tragic day. Lyndon Johnson telephoning Parkland when Oswald was there after being shot, and asking the surgeon about anything Oswald might have said, is very strange indeed. Especially since LBJ, at that time, was at the Capitol rotunda at the lying in state ceremony for President Kennedy.

[@peterfraser9070]

Maybe that was a pet story of Dr. Williams that LBJ called. I've never heard that there was any evidence of that phone call i.e. phone records.

[@lousekoya1803]

Stephen , I've been watching lots of those Episodes and man are you good ! really !

[@johngalt6929]

What a great guest! We need more likes for this video!

[@fuyu5979]

Dr. Williams was very interesting n provided info, especially from a medical perspective. Also he provided some humor during the video to lighten the tramatic events. Kudos for the video.

[@keithashley6298]

Thank you Dr and Stephen a very good interview.

[@beachem1]

Great interview!! Thanks very much.

[@leebest1a470]

Interesting interview !

[@shaungarratt9941]

Fascinating, so sad, but what memories!

awesome job

[@justanotherperson584]

What a sweet man. Yes LBJ, his statement is ouch!

[@glenvalley4326]

The generation of Americans who will live in the year 3000 AD will still be interested in the Kennedy assassination and these videos will be a great help for them to understand the the tragedy that happened in November in the year of our lord 1963 in Dallas.

[@nomadicgringo9312]

lbj wild pig that killed JFK

[@gerryquinn5578]

Seems fairly honest and reasonable. Did not overstate his role and admits that the photos he saw were different from the descriptions given by his colleagues who attended the President.

[@peterfraser9070]

"admits that the photos he saw were different from the descriptions given by his colleagues who attended the President.": Uh huh. Nice try, lol.

[@dannyburch4973]

We will never see his likes again not will we ever recover from the loss of this great man JFK.

[@keithshively8233]

It always amazes me how few people know what happened on Saturday Morning, 11/23/63 , and was superseded by the death of President Kennedy. I watched most of the television coverage and did not learn of the disaster that I am going to mention until about 1978. Look up the articles about the Golden Age Nursing Home Fire.

[@UMfan21]

Why would it amaze you? The nursing home fire is tragic, but it's not the same as the assassination of the most powerful man in the world. Do you know what news event happened the day after the Hindenburg disaster? What about after the day Lincoln was assassinated?

[@sandrasanders706]

I never heard of this. Thank you.

[@lindagioannazambanini]

Yes, I know about it, it was published on the front page of many of the first edition copies of newspapers on 11/22/63 (and possibley 11/23/63).

[@grit5124]

Dr Williams is a very good guest. Very interesting about how they treated the Dallas coroner. Seems a little over the top to me. The Best Evidence is a good book that explains about the autopsy.

[@richardhenry6463]

When he mentioned that the body was put in a mattress cover with a zipper I wonder what color it was. The people at Bethesda said the remains were in a black body bag. This is the first time I have heard that jfk had been put in a mattress cover so this might explain the some of the confusion over the handling of the body

[@vernpascal1531]

Nobody is going to confuse a 400-600 pound expensive ornate ceremonial coffin with a plain grey shipping casket that weighs around 60 pounds.

[@dennisddd8243]

@@vernpascal1531 I caught that too that was very interested

[@davidmoser7849]

ricky he was in a COFFIN

[@randyharris3175]

Consider who the people at Bethesda were who said he was in.a body bag we know that is not true Humes.said it was not true we know he was wrapped in sheets and extra around the head and if you think that body was ever out of the possesion of th kennedy details youre nuts

[@randyharris3175]

@@vernpascal1531 there was no shipping casket

[@cindyslavik5391]

I can’t understand how they say when they first saw him the head wound wasn’t as huge as it was later, the Zapruder film shows half his head flipped open. If they saw the wound smaller how did that happen? Was that really Kennedy?

[@davidmoser7849]

cindy really

[@randyharris3175]

Possibly because the shot had came from the rear and the part where the bullet went through could collapse

[@grit5124]

I read a book entitled THE BEST EVIDENCE and it said that they changed the wounds at the autopsy to make it look as though the shots came from the direction they needed them to. Very interesting book. It’s not the only book I’ve read that said that.

[@jdunn101ify]

@@randyharris3175 you should be a comedian

[@curbozerboomer1773]

@@randyharris3175 There was a large flap of skin and bone hanging down from the area of the ear...Jackie, in her secret testimony to the Warren Commission, stated that she "was trying to old his hair on, and his skull together"....so it is likely that the large flap was pushed back into some sort of shape, at least temporarily...the autopsy docs said that the wound was fragile in the margins of it, and pieces were breaking off while the doctors were doing their work...grisly stuff.

[@keithshively8233]

I submitted a file of information to the History channel, re: the fire and, received no response,

[@Brian_J_Dickson]

What was the file you submitted?

[@keithshively8233]

@@Brian_J_Dickson I copied some newspaper articles about the fire. I also told "The History Guy" that I had more articles and, directed him to a video that was made by an Ohio State student.

[@Brian_J_Dickson]

@@keithshively8233 interesting, what was on the video?

[@keithshively8233]

@@Brian_J_Dickson Views of the fire scene, interviews with Firefighters and families, details of mass burial in Norwalk, Ohio, picture of governor Rhodes at the scene.

[@keithshively8233]

@@Brian_J_Dickson "Fireland" is the name of the video. It had been edited some when I watched it last time.

[@jerrymarbury9365]

Dr.was pretty funny in a grandfatherly way

[@williammorris584]

When your weekend on call turns into forever.

[@jimbo16720]

They ask these people the same old questions.

[@ogs1mpson609]

jimbo16720 so what questions would you ask?

[@gretagroce9072]

jimbo16720 Have to keep the dialogue going - to keep their museum funded, indefinitely. Sad to say, but it’s a cottage industry to the tune of a million a year in revenue, so I heard. Though this doctor is relevant - the most obscure connections to that day are game. And they won’t be asking any new questions because the whole museum would have to be redone to include certain truths that are not represented. Well, anyway, there’s the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas - kinda like Graceland in Memphis - to bring in revenue.

[@randyharris3175]

Oswald got hit at a angle because he was pulled .

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Yup...the Mafia would never hire a flake like Ruby to shoot anyone!...that shot was fatal, because it hit a number of vital organs/arteries...it was not a professional way to shoot someone....just a freaky, fatal shot.

[@randyharris3175]

There is no way he can say that the wound connally had in dallas brought on a early death.

[@serpent645]

Really? Well let's just take a look at your license to practice medicine.

[@randyharris3175]

@@serpent645 Its just an opinion you know what to say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

@@randyharris3175 Well...The governor was in his mid-forties when shot...and he lived at least another 30 years, which was a typical lifespan at that time...I do not know why the doctor said that remark...maybe Connally died from complications from pneumonia, which is a common way to go--and of course, his lungs of course were damaged by that shot...whatever.

[@randyharris3175]

It would be a stretch to say the bullet that struck him, cost him his life 30 years later.

[@peterfraser9070]

Dr. Williams also said he thought Jackie was in shock; but very calm and collected and prepared for this kind of event. Now that's a stretch to say anyone could be prepared for a thing like that.

[@dannyburch4973]

I disagree with the good doctor She was in shock I'm sorry but when you're husband got his head blown out ahhh....

[@charlesmaeger6162]

I agree with your comment. Give Jackie credit for having the natural instinct for self preservation.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

A great opportunity to ask a major question of this gentleman was lost here!...He was a future neurosurgeon....I would have asked him, as to why Dr. Kemp Clark, the neurosurgeon who declared JFK dead, said that the President suffered a large wound to the BACK of his head, when the Z film, and many future panels of doctors have pointed out that the massive head wound was on the upper, right side of the head....even Dr. Williams says in this intewrvieww that the wound was located on the right side of the head!...So why would Dr. Clark say that the head wound was in the back of the head?....I mean, neurosurgeons know all about that area of the body!....No one ever seemed to challenge Dr. Clark's findings that day....very weird!....as far as I can tell, Dr. Clark repeated his findings to the Warren Commission...and then refrained from talking about his findings for the rest of his life...If he somehow made such a huge mistake, he should have admitted to it!

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Interesting too...to see that nobody on this comment section even cares about the salient point I have made about Dr. Kemp Clark!

[@jude999]

Watch the PBS Nova episode on youtube. The forensics, neuroscience and ballistics are presented--they make it clear he was hit in the back of the head. Unfortunately, it was the ignorance from Geraldo Rivera--who was the first to air the film in 1975--and the public that cost taxpayers millions when Congress reopened the case after that Geraldo TV episode. They came to the same conclusion as the Warren Commission.

[@peterfraser9070]

"Interesting too...to see that nobody on this comment section even cares about the salient point I have made about Dr. Kemp Clark!": Wait, I care! I just saw your post just now...let's see....I'm a year late, sorry. Anyway, interesting point. I like Dr. Carrico here specifying the correct location. Carrico clarifies that with Kennedy lying flat on his back with the back of his head on the gurney, he could look down into the entire wound. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHSynqKjbZykqrM Watch, if you want, from 17:30 and from around 45:00 or so. He states they mistakenly wrote afterwards - trying to remember - "occipital-parietal" - and he says they should have written "Temporal-parietal". Also, in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIWzcoyMetFngrs where doctors are asked to remember to the best of their abilities where the exit wound was, several doctors point to the back of their heads. Yet, 2 or 3 doctors do explain that they saw pieces of brain that they mistook for cerebellum, which could maybe further make them think the hole had to have been lower than it was. I've tried in vain to explain this to conspiracy people; that as shown in the autopsy photos, the skin and hair was blown or crumpled back (and not by a front shot, but simply by the explosion), and it means that that bloody mess of hair and brains (what a gross topic!) extending back towards the back of his head could be deceiving. Maybe there was even parts of brain normally low on the back of the skull that were blown out and stuck in his hair, which had been crumpled or peeled back and was hanging down toward the back of his head. I suppose the scalp and hair peeled back like it was could've further given the impression of a front shot. It seems like those things could explain why the doctors thought the hole must have been lower than it really was. The funny thing is the doctors did say - even McLelland - that they were standing above him and could look down into the entire wound, which - as Carrico says - wouldn't have been possible with the back of Kennedy's head flat on the gurney.

[@guyveloz4382]

So...it wasn't just goons from the Secret Service but also goons from the FBI that tossed Dallas coroner, Earl Rose, against the wall of emergency room one that fateful afternoon An interesting detail to me.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Dr. Rose himself never stated that he was physically abused like that!....and Rose, years later stated that he agreed with the findings of the official autopsy.

[@franklinbolander1916]

@@curbozerboomer1773 YA YEARS LATER!!

[@peterfraser9070]

It doesn't mean that he ever did actually disagree with the autopsy findings. It was the 3 stooges doing the autopsy and there's no reason to believe the fairytale that those doctors, etc were recruited before hand to participate in a conspiracy. That's a joke.

[@redawson001]

Oswald was accused, not convicted. Maybe someday the entire truth will come to light

[@jrnumex9286]

it has lee harvey oddball did the deed and by jis lame a... self

[@davemojarra2666]

Dude is in "sterile" dress.😂

[@ddivincenzo1194]

He is in scrubs and a white lab coat, not sterile.

[@d.slawson4550]

Don't split hairs....It's funny.

[@arricammarques1955]

Slightly, over the top for a lecture.

[@jude999]

Oswald was a chronic liar, so for him to say he was a patsy does not mean very much.

[@peterfraser9070]

"Oswald was a chronic liar, so for him to say he was a patsy does not mean very much.": Yes, and Oswald said the cops had taken him in because he'd lived in the Soviet Union and he was just a patsy. He simply stated right there that he was supposedly a patsy of the cops. I don't see the slightest indication he meant he was a patsy of anyone else. That's a fairytale on the part of the conspiracy crowd.

[@tommytomtime3345]

When you wear that white jacket, all that one says is as if from a god.

[@davidaames1624]

Lee harvey Oswald wouldn't have lived long...i think he was supposed to be killed in the Texas school depository but walked out. So things didn't go to plan for people who planned this when he left TSD even if Rudy hadn't killed him, he would have killed in jail. It was very important that he didn't make it to trial.

[@76reliant]

last rights......sorry that doesn't do squat....

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Gotta say...they should stop recruiting various levels of young students to be there. One can tell that they are being mostly bored by this topic...so sad, but that is typical of young people these days...You cannot teach someone who is not interested in the topic...I have a younger sister, who is 60 or so...she teases me constantly about caring about this subject...she does not care much at all...Imagine how bored these much younger people are, in the audience.

[@randyharris3175]

Its clear he does not have a clue

[@mikeivey7167]

Me thinks you are the one who doesn’t have a clue!

[@davidmoser7849]

Dude, dont wear scrubs, your not at work.....

[@mikeivey7167]

LOL! You are worried about this Doctor wearing what he normally wears to work.? What a douche!