Richard E. Sprague (August 27, 1921 – January 27, 1996) was an American computer technician, researcher and author. According to American journalist Richard Russell, who dedicated seventeen years to the investigation of John Kennedy assassination, Sprague was "the leading gatherer of photographic evidence about the Kennedy assassination". Sprague published his investigation in 1976-1985 as three editions of ''The Taking of America, 1-2-3''.

Career

Born in Philadelphia on August 27, 1921, Richard E. Sprague graduated from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

in 1942. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served with the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, finishing with the rank of Lieutenant (Junior Grade). After the war, he was employed as an engineer at Northrup Aircraft. By 1950, he had left Northrup to help co-found the Computer Research Corporation located in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

. By 1960, he had moved on to become the Director of Computer Systems Consulting for Touche, Ross, Bailey And Smart which would later be simply known as

Touche Ross Touché or Touche may refer to: Sports * Touché (fencing), French for "touched", a term used to acknowledge a hit Arts and entertainment * ''Touché'' (Hush album), by Australian band Hush, 1977 * ''Touché'' (Ryan Stout album), by comedian ...

until 1989. Appeared as a contestant on the

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

radio quiz program "

You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radioJohn F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

took place on November 22, 1963, Sprague began investigating the deed on his own in 1966 upon seeing the

Abraham Zapruder Abraham Zapruder (May 15, 1905 – August 30, 1970) was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer who witnessed the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He unexpectedly captured ...

produced

Zapruder film The Zapruder film is a silent 8 mm film, 8mm color motion picture sequence shot by Abraham Zapruder with a Bell & Howell home-movie camera, as United States President John F. Kennedy's motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on N ...

. Sprague served a year as photographic expert in the 1966-1969 investigations conducted by

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Jim Garrison James Carothers Garrison (born Earling Carothers Garrison; November 20, 1921 – October 21, 1992) was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, from 1962 to 1973 and later a state appellate court judge. A member of the Democratic Pa ...

. In 1968 he co-founded the

Committee to Investigate Assassinations A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

with Bernard Fensterwald. That same year, he also set up Sprague Research And Consulting. Sprague later worked as a full-time consultant to

Battelle Memorial Institute Battelle Memorial Institute (or simply Battelle) is an American private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. History The institute was founded in 1929 by Gordon Battelle. Originall ...

Frankfurt, Germany Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the foreland of the Taunus on its namesake Main, it forms a contin ...

. Richard E. Sprague died on January 27, 1996, with his last known address in Virginia. He was interred at Washington Park East Cemetery in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Research on the Kennedy assassination

In the May 1970 issue of '' Computers And Automation'', Sprague said that he used computer analysis of still photographs and movie film from Dealey Plaza to determine that at least four gunmen and fifty conspirators were involved in Kennedy's assassination. Sprague stated that the evidence indicated six shots were fired at John F. Kennedy. According to Sprague, President Kennedy was hit by four shots, Connally was hit by another, and one missed. Five years later in September 1975, Sprague and L. Fletcher Prouty stated that their study of still photographs and film of the assassination revealed that no shots were fired from the

Texas School Book Depository The Texas School Book Depository, later known as the Dallas County Administration Building and now "The Sixth Floor Museum", is a seven-floor building facing Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The building was Lee Harvey Oswald's vantage point du ...

's sixth floor window and that

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...

was framed by planted and altered evidence. Much of Sprague's information and conclusions had already been published in the magazines ''Computers And Automation'' and ''People and The Pursuit of Truth'' before Sprague wrote ''The Taking of America, 1-2-3''. According to Sprague's research, because of the location of the great

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

tree with dense

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

that crossed the

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

of the shot from the 6th Floor of the building onto Elm Street, it is unlikely that

could fire from the window near where the rifle was subsequently found. Sprague's analysis of

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

Notes

External links

"Richard E. Sprague (ie: From where much of this material is drawn)"

* ttps://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/ToA/ToA.html#TOC "The Taking Of America, 1-2-3" 3rd Edition by Richard E. Sprague
"FindAGrave for Richard E. Sprague"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague, Richard Researchers of the assassination of John F. Kennedy American non-fiction crime writers Purdue University alumni 20th-century American writers 1921 births 1996 deaths Military personnel from Philadelphia Writers from Philadelphia John F. Kennedy conspiracy theorists American conspiracy theorists