Jane Porson McMichaels: Difference between revisions

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|birth_name = Howard Leslie Brennan

|birth_date = {{birth date|1919|3|20}}

|birth_place = [[Texas]], United States

|caption = Howard Brennan sitting across from the [[Texas School Book Depository]] in Dallas. Circle "A" indicates where he saw a man fire a gun at President Kennedy's motorcade. Circle "B" indicates the window in which he saw "colored guys" watching the [[motorcade]].<ref name="Testimony of Howard L. Brennan">[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh3/html/WC_Vol3_0076a.htm Testimony of Howard L. Brennan], Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 3, p. 143.</ref>

|known = Witnessing the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]]

'''Howard Leslie Brennan''' (March 20, 1919 – December 22, 1983)<ref>U.S. Census, 1920, State of Oklahoma, County of Marshall, enumeration district 167, p. 3-B, family 51.</ref> was an American memoirist and steamfitter who was witness to the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of]] [[President of the United States|United States President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] in [[Dallas, Texas]] on November 22, 1963. According to the [[Warren Commission]], Brennan's description of a [[sniper]] he saw was probative in reaching the conclusion that the shots came from the sixth floor, southeast corner window of the [[Texas School Book Depository]] Building.<ref name="WCR-C4">{{cite book |title=Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/ |year=1964 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=143–144 |chapter=Chapter 4: The Assassin |chapter-url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-4.html |ref={{harvid |Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Chapter 4 |1964}}}}</ref>

==Brennan's voluntary statement after the assassination==

Minutes after the JFK Assassination, Howard Brennan quickly reported his observations to Dallas County Sheriff's Deputies.  He said he sat across from the red brick School Book Depository, seven stories high, waiting for the JFK parade.  As he waited he saw a man at the east end of the building, one story from the top.  The man was simply sitting in that window and looking down at the parade route.

<ref>{{cite book |last=Bugliosi |first=Vincent |title=Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy |publisher=Norton |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-393-04525-3 |page=159-160}}</ref>

Brennan identified himself as a 45-year-old [[steamfitter]].<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh3/html/WC_Vol3_0075a.htm Testimony of Howard L. Brennan], Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 3, p. 141.</ref> In his testimony, he spoke about how he watched the presidential motorcade from a concrete retaining wall at the southwest corner of Elm and Houston streets in [[Dealey Plaza]], where he had a clear view of the south side of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Brennan arrived at about 12:22&nbsp;p.m.<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh3/html/WC_Vol3_0075b.htm Testimony of Howard L. Brennan], Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 3, p. 142.</ref> While he was waiting for the motorcade, he observed the others in the crowd. Brennan watched several people in and around the Texas School Book Depository and made special note of a man he saw appear at an open window at the southeast corner of the sixth floor, which was 120 feet (37 m) from where he was standing.<ref>[http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/html/WH_Vol22_0438b.htm Letter from FBI to Commission dated August 3, 1964, re distance from eyewitness Howard Brennan's location], CE 1437, Warren Commission Hearings, vol. 12, p. 846–847.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Curry |first=Jesse E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iopAAAAAIAAJ&q=brennan |title=Retired Dallas police chief, Jesse Curry reveals his personal JFK assassination file |date=1969 |language=en}}</ref> He observed the man leave the window "a couple of times."<ref name="Testimony of Howard L. Brennan" /> Some critics questioned whether Brennan could have seen clearly and accurately at that distance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMIDrggs8TsC&q=howard+brennan&pg=PA391 |title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia |date=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-812-9 |pages=391 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=1967-06-25 |title=Clipped From The Cincinnati Enquirer |pages=79 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53229395/the-cincinnati-enquirer/ |access-date=2020-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1967-06-28 |title=Clipped From Oakland Tribune |pages=8 |work=Oakland Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53229813/oakland-tribune/ |access-date=2020-06-11}}</ref>

Brennan's memoir ''Eyewitness to History: The Kennedy Assassination as Seen by Howard L. Brennan'', written with J. Edward Cherryholmes, was published posthumously in 1987 by Texian Press. ({{ISBN|0872440761}})

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