The footage is grainy. It’s shaky, silent, and arguably the most analyzed 486 frames in the history of cinema. You’ve probably seen the Zapruder film a hundred times. But if you hang out in the darker corners of the internet long enough, someone will inevitably tell you to look closer. They’ll point to William Greer, the Secret Service agent behind the wheel of the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963. They’ll claim that if you squint just right, you can see Greer turn around and fire a nickel-plated revolver directly into John F. Kennedy’s head.
It’s a wild claim. Honestly, it’s one of the most durable "alternative" theories in the JFK assassination canon.
But did the driver shoot JFK? No. He didn't.
I’ve spent years digging through the Warren Commission logs, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) files, and the digitized archives of the Mary Ferrell Foundation. When you strip away the low-resolution YouTube clips and the breathless narration of conspiracy authors like William Cooper, the "driver as assassin" theory falls apart under the weight of basic physics and historical record. Yet, it’s a fascinating case study in how our eyes can play tricks on us—and how a specific brand of paranoia can turn a tragic mistake into a sinister plot.
The Zapruder Optical Illusion
The backbone of the "Greer did it" theory is a visual artifact. In many low-quality copies of the Zapruder film—specifically frames 312 through 317—there is a bright flash near the driver's head. To the untrained eye or a mind already looking for a smoking gun, it looks like a pistol.
It isn't a gun. It's the sun.
Roy Kellerman, the agent in the passenger seat, had a very distinct hairstyle that day. It was slicked back with plenty of hair product. When Greer turns his head to check on the President after the first shots rang out, the Texas sun hit the top of Kellerman's head and the chrome reflections of the limousine’s interior. Because the film was 8mm and the shutter speed was relatively slow for the movement of the car, these reflections "bloom" on the film.
Basically, you're looking at a lens flare.
If you watch a high-definition, digitally restored version of the Zapruder film—like the ones scanned directly from the original Kodak Safety Film—the "gun" disappears. It becomes clearly identifiable as the sun reflecting off the back of Kellerman's head and the dashboard. You can see Greer’s hands. Both of them. They are on the steering wheel during the moment of the fatal headshot. He doesn't let go until the car begins to accelerate toward Parkland Memorial Hospital.
William Greer's Real Failure
The irony of the "did the driver shoot JFK" question is that William Greer did play a role in the tragedy, but it wasn't as a killer. It was as a man who froze.
Greer was 54 years old at the time. He was a veteran driver, but in the seconds after the first shot hit the pavement or the President's back, he didn't floor the gas. He did the exact opposite. He slowed down. According to several witnesses on the Triple Underpass and even some of the motorcycle outriders like Bobby Hargis, the limousine slowed to a crawl, or even a near-stop, for a split second.
This was a massive breach of Secret Service protocol.
The HSCA later criticized Greer heavily for this. Had he accelerated immediately after the first shot, the third shot—the one that caused the fatal wound—would have been significantly harder for Lee Harvey Oswald (or anyone else) to land. Greer’s hesitation was human. It was a "startle response." But in the world of high-stakes conspiracy, a mistake is never just a mistake. It has to be intentional.
People saw the car slow down and saw Greer turn around. In their minds, they linked those actions to the shot. But the timing doesn't work. The shot that killed the President happened while Greer was looking back over his shoulder, yes, but his hands were visible to the thousands of people lining Dealey Plaza. Not one of those witnesses—not Mary Moorman, not the Newmans, not even the skeptical Jean Hill—ever claimed they saw the driver pull a weapon.
The Problem with the Weapon
Let’s talk ballistics for a second. If Greer had fired a weapon, he would have done it in front of Roy Kellerman, who was sitting inches away from him. He would have done it in front of Governor John Connally and Nellie Connally, who were in the jump seats directly behind him.
The sound of a .38 or a .45 caliber handgun going off inside the cabin of a car is deafening. It produces muzzle flash and smoke. Yet, the Connallys, who were both wounded and highly attuned to the sounds of gunfire that day, never suggested the shots came from inside the car. In her later years, Nellie Connally was quite vocal about her disdain for conspiracy theories that implicated the Secret Service.
Then there’s the physical evidence. The fragments recovered from the President’s brain and the limousine were consistent with a high-velocity, 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle bullet. A handgun fired at point-blank range would leave entirely different ballistic signatures—different copper jacketing, different deformation, and a different entry wound size.
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The medical staff at Parkland, while they disagreed on many things regarding the "entry and exit" locations, never described a wound consistent with a close-range pistol shot.
Why This Theory Still Circulates
The "Driver Shot JFK" theory gained a lot of traction in the 1990s, largely thanks to William Cooper’s book Behold a Pale Horse. Cooper was a conspiracy theorist who claimed he saw "classified documents" proving Greer was a CIA plant ordered to finish the job. He used a very blurry, multi-generation copy of the Zapruder film to "prove" his point.
This is a classic example of "Pareidolia." That’s the psychological phenomenon where the human brain sees familiar patterns in random data. It’s why we see faces in clouds or Jesus on a piece of toast. When you take a grainy, low-res 1960s film and tell someone, "Watch the driver, he has a gun," their brain will work overtime to make that true. It will interpret a blur of light as a barrel and a shadow as a hand.
Also, honestly, it’s a more "satisfying" story for some. The idea that the very people sworn to protect the President were the ones who killed him adds a layer of Shakespearean betrayal that makes the event feel more meaningful. The reality—that a lone, disturbed man with a $20 rifle got lucky because of a series of security lapses—is much more depressing and harder to wrap your head around.
Checking the Sources
If you want to verify this for yourself, you don't have to take my word for it. The evidence is public.
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- The Zapruder Film (High Resolution): Look for the versions released by the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Watch frames 312 to 315. Focus on Greer’s left hand. It never leaves the wheel. His right hand is seen on the steering wheel or near the gear shift.
- The HSCA Report (1979): Volume XI of the House Select Committee on Assassinations specifically deals with the performance of the Secret Service. They were brutal about Greer's failure to accelerate, but they found zero evidence of foul play by the agents.
- Witness Testimony: Read the Warren Commission testimony of Clint Hill—the agent who actually ran and jumped on the back of the car. He was looking directly into the car. If Greer had a gun out, Hill would have been staring down the barrel. He never mentioned it.
The Reality of November 22nd
William Greer died in 1985. According to his family and colleagues, he was haunted by that day until his final breath. He didn't feel like a conspirator; he felt like a failure. He carried the weight of knowing that his slow reaction time might have cost the President his life. That’s a heavy enough burden without the internet claiming he was the executioner.
When we ask, "did the driver shoot JFK," we are usually looking for a way to make sense of the senseless. But the geography of Dealey Plaza, the physics of the 6.5mm round, and the visual evidence of the high-res film all point away from the front seat. The shots came from behind and above.
Actionable Insights for Researching JFK
If you're diving into JFK research, the "Driver Theory" is a great lesson in media literacy. Here is how to evaluate these claims:
- Always find the highest-generation source. If someone shows you a blurry video as "proof," find the original. In the case of JFK, the digital scans of the Zapruder film available today are lightyears ahead of what was available in the 80s and 90s.
- Check the "Line of Sight." For Greer to have shot JFK, he would have had to reach across his body, aim backward while the car was moving, and fire, all without Roy Kellerman noticing. It is physically nearly impossible given the layout of the 1961 Lincoln Continental.
- Look for corroboration. No one in the crowd of hundreds claimed the driver fired. In an era where everyone was looking at the motorcade, a Secret Service agent pulling a gun would have been noticed by more than just a grainy film camera.
- Separate incompetence from malice. This is the biggest takeaway. Greer's failure was one of training and reflex. In the heat of the moment, he didn't do his job well. But there is a massive chasm between "bad at driving under fire" and "active assassin."
The JFK assassination remains a "choose your own adventure" of history because of the genuine anomalies that exist—the magic bullet, the grassy knoll, the Oswald/CIA connections. But the driver shooting the President isn't an anomaly. It’s an optical illusion that has been thoroughly debunked by the very technology that originally gave it life. For those looking for the truth, focus on the ballistics and the declassified files, rather than the reflections on a Secret Service agent's hair.