Poppy Bush wasn't the only one to "earn his bones" on November 22, 1963. He and his assassination co-conspirators had several major problems to deal with in the hours and immediate days following the murder of JFK. The most pressing being the fact that LHO was still alive.
Another problem was the ever spreading accounts of eye-witnesses who had a clear and unobstructed view of JFK as the shots were fired. Witness after witness corroborated the fact that the President's head and body were thrown forcibly towards the rear of the limo indicating that the fatal shot came from the FRONT of the motorcade. In fact, the official who was charged with reporting JFK's death to the reporters at Parkland Hospital, assistant press secretary Malcolm Kilduff, is shown on film pointing to the right side of his own forehead/temple area indicating the spot where the bullet struck the President.
The conspirators were in a bind as the pre-staged "lone gunman's" sniper's "nest" was located above and BEHIND the Presidential limo on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository. How could they ever reconcile this potentially damning SNAFU caused by the rearward shooters failing to deliver the fatal head shot?
Well, a quick-thinking conspirator came up with a plan to co-opt and use a credible-looking young Texan reporter, Dan Rather, and "secretly" show him, allegedly on the following Monday, November 25, 1963, the pristine, still un-tampered with (no time to fix it) film taken by Abraham Zapruder as he stood on the "Grassy Knoll" area to the right of the motorcade.
It was in the attached 3 minutes before a camera that Dan Rather's career was launched. Watch this young rookie's superb acting job as he describes what he allegedly saw on that ghastly film. Most of the interview was just setting the scene for the most important line he would deliver, so necessary for keeping the conspiracy from blowing wide open. Rather describes what he "saw" when the third and final shot hit JFK:
…"His head can be seen moving violently forward"….
Voila! All the other swirling accounts and rumors could be put to rest, at least for the time being. [BTW, any true researcher will see that Rather's account is in direct contrast with the necessary "three shots only" eventual official finding as he claims that he saw Governor Connolly hit by a "second" shot in the front chest area after JFK was hit in the upper back. The Warren Commission's Arlen Specter would later come up with the "magic bullet theory" which linked JFK's back wound and Connolly's wounds to one "Pristine" bullet. I guess Specter "earned his bones" as well].
So here you have perhaps the first real important co-option of the MSM by the fledgling Deep State courtesy of Dan Rather who was disgraced for different reasons.