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The "Kennedy Lives" Theory:

Blueprint Map of Dealey Plaza and Wound Diagram

This rare blueprint map and accompanying blueprint diagram document one of the most outrageous conspiracy theories of the Kennedy assassination. Known as the George C. Thomson Theory or the Kennedy Lives Theory, the gist of it holds that John F. Kennedy survived Nov. 22, 1963, since he was being impersonated by police officer J. D. Tippit. The assassin, according to Thomson, was not Lee Harvey Oswald but Lyndon Baines Johnson who used pair of a drum-fed, fully automatic weapons to spray approximately 22 bullets (maybe 23), resulting in 5 deaths that day. Thomson, a designer of swimming pools based in Glendale, California, published a book explaining his theory, The Quest For Truth: a Quizzical look at the Warren Report, or How President Kennedy Really Was Assassinated (Glendale, CA: Thomson Engineering Company, 1964). These two blueprint sheets - a detailed map of Dealey Plaza and a diagram of Tippit's head wounds - were created by Thomson on his pool-design technical drawing template (the pool specs data table is left blank and crossed out). 

Thomson's map of Dealey Plaza is dated Jan. 10, 1967 (revised Aug. 10, 1967), and includes numerous citations to the Warren Commission Report.  While appearing to have the precision of an engineer's technical drawing, the map's densely packed annotations read like a madman's ramblings, viz:

• Tippit's Impersonation of J.F.K.
• Bullets 1, 2, 3 Tippit killed - Vol. VI 310 (Harkness)
• Point of Origin of Shots "X" / Name of Suspect Lyndon Johnson
• Total Shots 22 23
• Evidence of Three Men in Rear of Presidential Car

The companion blueprint diagram, which is copyrighted 1974, purports to depict two Dallas victims that resemble JFK: an unidentified figure and J. D. Tippit (disguised as Kennedy). The diagram identifies entrance and exit wounds on these figures. The following caption appears on the sheet:

• Please use this diagram in conjunction with "The Dallas Murder Map" in order to confirm location of street assassin by angle of wounds / Please note that the man on the right (J. D. Tippit) lost the right rear quarter of the skull. The man of the left (name unavailable) lost the right one half of the skull. 

Pool Engineer

George C. Thomson, a Southern California swimming pool engineer, claimed that 22 shots were fired at a Kennedy impersonator in Dealey Plaza. He held that five people were killed in the fusillade, including officer J. D. Tippit (who Thomson claims was riding in the presidential limousine, impersonating JFK). According to Thomson, Kennedy actually escaped and was seen more than a year later attending a private birthday party for New York author Truman Capote.

Described as "baroque" by at least one writer, Thomson's theory is surely one of the most fantastic to emerge in the wake of the JFK assassination. These two blueprint map sheets are dated 1967 and 1974, respectively. 

Rarity

Very rare. OCLC locates only a single example of Thomson's Dallas Murder Map, that held by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The companion diagram is unrecorded in OCLC.