Richard Sprague - Researches

Researches

In his article "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: The Application of Computers to the Photographic Evidence" (Computers and Automation, May 1970) Sprague wrote that the Warren Commission examined only five percent of 510 known still photos and films of the assassination and aftermath. For the tenth anniversary of assassination, Sprague contributed an article "The Framing of Lee Harvey Oswald" (Computers and Automation, October 1973) that examined some of the photographic evidence against Oswald and featured several photos at the time not generally available. Sprague was able to obtain a copy of the full original photo, showing the floor beneath the one from where Oswald supposedly fired, which was cropped by the Warren Commission before merging into the report.

Much of the information in The Taking of America had been published by Sprague before in the magazines Computer and Automation and People and The Pursuit of Truth. According to Sprague's research, because of great oak with dense crown that crossed the trajectory of the shot it is unlikely that Oswald could fire from the window where the rifle was subsequently found. Sprague holds that there were six shots towards Kennedy, but he was hit only by four.

Sprague's analysis of Zapruder's film was used in "The Guns of Dallas" article by L. Fletcher Prouty.