Eyewitness to history: North Augusta retiree ponders JFK quandary

Nov. 13—NORTH AUGUSTA — Robert Davison, at age 90, has vivid memories from 58 years ago this month, when he was a businessman working in Dallas and became an eyewitness to a pivotal event in modern American history.

Davison, an Illinois native whose career was in management and sales in the fuel industry, spoke Nov. 9 to an audience of local residents, sharing some of his recollections of being about 15 yards away from President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas.

His presentation, to a monthly gathering of senior adults at First Baptist Church of North Augusta, included emphasis on the role of organized crime throughout the U.S., and an overview of the layout of Dealey Plaza, where the killing occurred as Kennedy was visiting a state that loomed large in his drive for reelection in 1964.

Davison, arriving in Dealey Plaza a few minutes before the motorcade, recalled exercising some creativity to find a place where he would have a good view of the procession. He found a parking place and stood on a railway bridge ("the Elm Street bridge") near a policeman who allowed Davison to remain there as the crowd continued to build.

"Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill Kennedy," Davison said, claiming to have been looking down directly at Kennedy when shots were fired and the president lurched forward, as if hit from behind, having been hit by a bullet from Oswald. A moment later, "a big puff of smoke came out from the bushes behind the grassy knoll," he added, referring to a geographic feature that has been central in a variety of conspiracy theories.

"I was about, I'm guessing, 15 yards from Kennedy when he got shot, and the shot that came out of the bushes tore off the back of his head, and he was killed instantly."

He added, "My biggest regret is, I was a fool not to take my camera," he said, acknowledging that he had a direct view of the critical seconds.

"My question is, doesn't there have to be a coroner's report when somebody dies? It gives a cause of death. Have we ever heard about a coroner's report? Have we ever seen one? Nope, not a thing," he said.

Davison submitted a variety of photos, including a press picture that he said showed both himself and the police officer who was standing near him on the railway bridge. The officer, Davison said, "disappeared," having apparently headed for the grassy knoll — the only place where he could have gone so quickly, in Davison's assessment.

Davison also cited a White House statement from Oct. 25, indicating that "the JFK records shall be withheld from public disclosure until Dec. 15, 2022." Contents of the National Archives, he said, include 520 such files, mostly from the Warren Commission or from reports assembled by special agents working for Bobby Kennedy, who was the attorney general (and a younger brother of the deceased president), intensely focusing on a fight against organized crime.