PROBABLE CAUSE AUSTRALIA
A Continuing Inquiry into the JFK Assassination
Internet Live edition
Probable Cause Australia is the only Australian magazine dedicated to the JFK assassination.
Editorial
Welcome to the brand new "Probable Cause."
Probable Cause Internet Live has been in the planning for almost two years now and we are happy to finally be able to bring to you the world's first JFK magazine to go "live" on the internet.
Think of Probable Cause Internet Live as your up-to-the-minute news source for anything JFK related! Whether it be articles, news, reviews, or even IRC chats...you'll find it all here with Probable Cause Internet Live!
We felt it was much better to wait for as long as it took, to produce the best and most informative site, than to just stick up another same-old-same-old JFK site that you can find anywhere else on the net. It has taken 6 months to get all the back issues online (my fingers are much shorter now from all the typing) and judging by the feedback, it was worth the effort! Thanks for your support!
So, here we are and you'll find all your favorites here again:
The Ticker Tapes is back -- and Karen has no regrets; as is Walt Brown (nice to have you back on board, Walt) who told us there was no way he was going to miss writing for us again! In this first Internet Live issue we also have a home test anyone can do to prove that JFK wasn't shot by a "magic" bullet -- try this test on your Posnerian friends and see 'em squirm! We've got the latest news on the AARB and a Virtual Reality test on Dealey Plaza that proves....well you know the answer to that one.
And if that isn't enough to put your head in a spin, we've got reviews and a timeline as well! But heck, there's more! Starting on July 2, 1997, every Wednesday night at 8:30 (Australian Eastern Standard Time) we'll be holding IRC Chats on a JFK topic of the week and ANYONE can join in. We hope to be able to get researchers from the US online as well to field your questions and provide some insight into the US state-of-play.
Please note that you WILL need special IRC software to join in. Go to our IRC Chat page to grab the link that will allow you to download the software needed. If you need any help, drop us an email and we'll see if we can help.
The JFK Chatroom is called: #ProbCause -- now, there's a surprise -- remember it as you'll need it to log in!!
Well, we've been in hiding like a good sniper for two years, but now we're back, ready to tell all. Remember, we're here for you and now we're even better - we're also FREE! So come and take advantage of the site and of YOUR Centre. The credits are at the bottom of this page and we couldn't have done it without the help of those people listed. We are also after YOUR thoughts and articles - the more you send, the more current we are!
There is no higher religion than Truth.
Remember that, and we may just solve this case after all!
- Steve V. Gerlach
** Late News - E. Burton Mercer is alive and well...and living in the Carribean **
The Ticker Tapes - "Yeah, I know that...but where the hell are we???" by Karen Ticker
After the release of Oliver Stone's masterpiece of faction, "JFK" and all the hoo-haa that followed, the research community finally pulled its finger out and worked as one. Thanks mainly to the efforts of Dr. Cyril Wecht, John Judge and many others lobbying on Capitol Hill, the government finally sat up and began to take notice.
And thus, the Assassination Archives Review Board (AARB) was born.
Just about 30 years too late.
Hailed as the saviour for truth and justice, AARB has set about its task dutifully (that is, after George Bush "lost" the list of candidates to sit on the board and didn't hand that list to the incoming Prez. Clinton -- another "so-called" savour too, by the way).
And during its life the AARB has released many important and interesting documents...
Or so they tell us.
But to quote Garrison aid and Assistant D.A., Bill Broussard, from Stone's "JFK", after all this time, "what the hell do we really got?"
Has the AARB backfired on researchers and the JFK assassination community? Let's look at some facts:
* Since the film "JFK" interest in the JFK assassination has actually fallen.
* Less and less books on the assassination are being printed -- (unless your name is Posner).
* Media interest is, believe it or not, even more non-existant than before.
* And the researchers are....
...well...
...where are you guys????
The AARB, having released so many documents...so many reams of paper, enough paper to fill the grand canyon, has actually drowned the researchers! For years the reseach community has awaited...no, demanded, the release of files. Well guys, now you got 'em and heck, there's a lot of 'em. More than a truck-load, more than five truck-loads. Have fun!
So, the research community has become a "head down, bums up" affair. Which is good. This is terrific, finally some new documents that we can write new, misleading books over. New documents to find and use before anyone else grabs them and tries to write their own version of events, more documents to debate and argue about. But guys, wake up, there's nothing in them.
You hear? Nothing of importance is in those documents!!
It should be obvious that the documents that have been withheld are the documents that contain the real gold! Makes sense, huh? All the documents released so far have furthered the case in no way whatsoever. THAT'S WHY THEY WERE RELEASED!
So, where have all the researchers gone? They're too busy swimming in this paper-sea to see any conspiracy-boats sailing past them. The conspirators have managed to do what they never thought possible. They've silenced their critics! And the irony is, they've silenced the hounds by feeding them what they have been after for 30 years:
MORE WHITEWASH!
Independent research? Out the window.
Interviews of witnesses still alive? At a standstill.
Lobbying Congress? No time.
Cracking the case? Are you kiddin' - with all this paper???
Believe it or not, in a few months, the Martin Luther King assassination has come closer to being solved than the JFK case has in the last three years! Shock horror, the judge in MLK case orders alleged assassin's rifle to be test fired! Hey guys, now there's an idea! Let's look at the evidence! Why didn't we think of that?
KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Clinton said it...and he should know.
Pull your heads out of the paper-sand, concentrate on our goal and don't get sidetracked by what the establishment is feeding you. If it's important it ain't in those files released. It's like driving down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and your buddy says, "Where are we?" And you say, "In America!" Duh! He'll say, "Yeah, I know that...but where the hell are we???"
No you celebrating and patting ourselves on the back because we've got some documents released. Lobby to get the files they're still withholding. That's the goal, that's your aim. And in there, you will find the truth!
I say to researchers, "Where are we on the Kennedy Assassination?"
They say, "We've managed to get thousands of documents released!"
I sign loudly and say, "Yeah, I know that...but where the hell are we???
The Australian Connection - by Enid Gray.
Lee Harvey Oswald's journey to Mexico City has always been a contentious
issue amongst researchers investigating the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy. Was it Oswald or was it an impostor who visited the Cuban and
Russian embassies in an attempt to get a transit visa to Russia via Cuba --
two countries that were out of bounds to Americans back in 1963.
To add to the controversy, surveillance photographs of Oswald visiting an
embassy were allegedly taken but the ones produced by the C.I.A. and
printed in the Warren Report depicted a man who at six feet two inches tall
and balding was obviously not the Lee Harvey Oswald were all familiar with.
His name had also been changed to Lee Henry Oswald. Which by sheer
coincidence happened to be the name (though not known by researchers at the
time) that Lee Harvey Oswald was known by in his C.I.A. 201 file.
So the mystery deepened, thanks mainly to the antics of the C.I.A who, when
asked to explain by the commission investigating the crime, ran for cover,
suppressing all evidence and slapping security seals on everything
relating to this matter. As a result, questions of who indeed travelled to
Mexico, visited two communist embassies using the name Oswald has never
been satisfactory resolved.
Answers to these important questions seemed impossible. Then, Chris Mills
the editor of the British research magazine 'Dealy Plaza Echo' wrote me a
letter. He was wondering if I could help him find the two Australian girls
who had travelled to Mexico City on the same bus as Oswald as he wished to
interview them. Thrilled at the prospect that at last I could be of use to
the research community I agreed to his request and set off determined I
would find them regardless of where in Australia they lived.
BACKGROUND BRIEFING.
Pamela Mumford and Patricia Winston were two Australian girls on a
working holiday in America in 1963.They travelled around on a Trailways
bus, which allowed them to get on and off for three months. They crossed
the border at Laredo on September 25 where they bought a ticket to Mexico
on Bus Transporte del Norte. They had one day and one night in Monterey,
leaving at 7.30 pm on September 26th for the seven hour journey to Mexico
City.
They have no recollection of when Oswald boarded the bus, it was he who
told them he got on in Laredo. He was thin and going bald. He laughed and
joked a lot with an English couple and an elderly gentleman. On discovering
they were Australian and that they spoke English he became a bit of a
pest. He told them he was from Fort Worth so they nicknamed him "Texas"
because of his accent. He mentioned he had been stationed in Japan, before
telling them that he'd lived in Russia for two years studying and had a
Russian wife. In an effort to impress them, he showed them his passport
with Russian stamps. His passport photograph astonished them, for he had
changed from a thick set man with a full head of hair, to a thin weedy
individual with receeding hair. When they arrived in Mexico City, he
recommended they stay at the Hotel Cuba, saying it was cheap. This gave
them the impression that he'd stayed there before. The last they saw of
him was at the bus depot, standing with a duffel bag between his feet and
wearing a scruffy charcoal grey coloured wool sweater.
On November 22,1963 they were living in Los Angles when news of the
assassination was broadcast. Some hours later when watching the televisiona picture of Oswald was shown. "God that's Texas", they cried. They were
still glued to the set when Oswald was shot dead by Jack Ruby. They
recognized him straight away because of his crinkly hair. He was also
wearing the same scruffy jumper that he wore when they last saw him at the
bus depot in Mexico City.
Both girls were interviewed by the F.B.I. but only Pamela Mumford gave a
detailed deposition to the Warren Commission. She is of the opinion that
Oswald was set up, as he seemed to be a man easily manipulated.
PRESENT DAY.
Tracing someone's whereabouts after thirty two years is not an easy task
especially in a country as large as Australia. With only their single
surnames to go on, I telephoned everyone listed under those names in the
Sydney directory before trying my luck interstate. I even involved the
staff at my local library, who were delighted to help even though they
thought I was slightly mad. Every avenue I tried brought negative results.
Then I enlisted the help of Philip Hopley, an avid assassination buff, who
works as a fraud investigator for a very large insurance company. Thankfully
he remembered that they were interviewed back in the 80's, and yes he did
have the article somewhere. When the 1988 article arrived it contained
several clues. Although Pam Mumford was married, Pat Winston remained
single. The article mentioned that she worked at a hospital not too far
from where I lived. Was she still there? Taking pot luck. I telephoned the
hospital and asked to be put through to the department where I hoped she
still worked. It must have been my lucky day, for I was told by the person
who answered the phone that Pat Winston still worked there but was on
holiday.
Oh Joy, Oh Joy! I'd found her. My next step was to write her a letter
containing a few personal details about myself and outlining Chris's
request for an interview. I also enclosed my telephone number and prayed
fervently that she would contact me. My prayers were answered by a phone
call one week later.
THE PHONE CALL.
On November 16th Pat Winston rang and introduced herself. Her voice was
warm and friendly but very determined that they were not interested in
doing interviews now or in the future.
"For we have nothing new to tell and what we've said in the past
stands today...Its over 30 years", she kept repeating. "Over the years
we have given interviews---Anthony Summers was the last". Before I could
utter a word she inquired if I knew who he was, I told her I was familiar
with his books on the assassination as well as corresponding with him on
the subject. The lady continued.
"Well, it took a lot of his charm and persuasion for us to
agree. We went to a lot of trouble to accommodate him, then, when it was
shown on the television, we only appeared for seconds".
Pat Winston sounded quite miffed. She also sounded bored by the whole
subject. I had not seen the program she was referring to, neither had I
known that Anthony Summers had spoken to them. My persuading her to be
interviewed for the research magazine only raised more of her objections.
"Besides, we don't want our names published anywhere. We have
deliberately kept a low profile due to what seems to be happening to other
witnesses". I tried to explain that all the deaths were not sinister, but
she was not convinced, saying "That doctor in England refuses to be
interviewed because of that." (Presumably Dr McFarlane who was also on the
bus.) Her fear was understandable. I suggested her place in history was
important and was told this is what they all say. When I asked her if it
was Oswald they met, she answered, "Yes, it certainly was". There was no
hesitancy. I believed the lady. Ms Winston then inquired how had I found
her. I gave her the details and thanked her for her time. We parted on
friendly terms. I also promised to respect her privacy and am therefore
unable to reveal her current address or telephone number.
So there you have it, details straight from a very important eyewitness
who actually met and spoke to the real Lee Harvey Oswald. Her story
certainly convinced me.
So what was Oswald up to? One unavoidable assessment comes from Oleg
Nechiperenko a K.G.B. agent who interviewed him at the Russian embassy
whilst trying to obtain a visa to return to the U.S.S.R. The agent
described him as a neurotic individual who waved a gun and became extremely
agitated about being followed by the F.B.I. Nevertheless, a lot of
researchers including myself believe he acted as if he was on an undercover
mission and was possibly used by David Attlee Phillips an agent for the
C.I.A. to infiltrate the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Phillips, the
former chief of the Western Hemisphere Division who operated out of the
Mexico city station is a familiar name to all conspiracy theorists. He is
suspected by many to be the CIA's case officer Maurice Bishop who was
sighted by Antonio Vecian a Cuban exile leader in Oswald's company in
Dallas shortly before the Mexican episode. Duping Oswald into believing his
importance as an agent for Uncle Sam would have been easy for a man with
Phillips's experience. During the last investigation into Kennedy's death
it was Phillips who stepped forward to defend the agency's woeful
performance in solving the crime. In addition to committing perjury by
denying he ever used the name Maurice Bishop, his lame excuses only proved
to assassination theorists that a C.I.A. cover up was still in operation.
Is there any explanation for the dramatic change between Lee Oswald's
appearance which the Australian girls described and the passport photo
which he displayed to them, for the disparity is profound? Well the most
logical reason in my opinion would be one of malnutrition brought about by
food shortages which are still prevalent in Russia today. After spending
one month visiting that country and eating food of such poor quality that
we in the west would only throw in the garbage, I can defiantly attest to
that.
Although Oswald's lack of nutrition would not be severe enough to manifest
itself like we see in some pot bellied waifs, it would be bad enough that
symptoms of muscle wasting along with thinning crinkly hair would be
apparent to a medical doctor. Incidentally the incredible shrinking man
syndrome is not unique to Lee Harvey Oswald. It also happens to people who
in an effort to loose weight, place themselves on such a stringent low
calorie diet that along with losing pounds in weight they also lose
inches in height.
There may also be an answer to the identity of the man photographed
visiting an embassy and calling himself Oswald. On reading Open Secrets,
Vol. 1. No 3, printed in April 1995, I came across this very intriguing
report:
'Mary Ferrel directed the review board to C.I.A. documents
concerning SVATAPLK OSVALD, a Czech national reported on in Oct.1963 by the
Mexico City station to other C.I.A. divisions, and who Ferrel believes is
the Oswald photographed at the Soviet embassy'.
With the name Oswald spelt with a V, in the European style, it also fits
the person who visited the embassy speaking broken Russian. If there are
documents identifying him lets hope the review board will make the C.I.A.
release them very soon.
The Second Skin -- A Home Test to Prove Conspiracy Against JFK by Nick Sylene
Wear a dark suit on a sunny day, sit in the back of a rag-top limo,
and have someone drive you around with the top down while you wave to
people on the sidewalk. Also pretend you have a bad back.
Smile and wave to the adoring crowds. Waving your arm for 40
minutes gets to be a real physical chore (damn back brace). Your body temp
rises and you work up a sweat.
Now imagine you ride thru the hometown of powerful enemies who hate
you with a black passion. Imagine a full-page ad in the morning paper that
accuses you of treason. Imagine you can sense the possibility of your own
impending murder.
4 triggers of the human sweat response are: physical labor,
emotional stress, medication, and weather (sunlight, heat, humidity).
Do 40 minutes of this "Home Test," and your custom-tailored white
cotton dress shirt with the blue stripes will cling to your back like a
second skin.
That sweaty shirt destroys the Single Bullet Theory and proves
conspiracy in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The Warren Commission claimed that 1 bullet blew a hole in the base
of Kennedy's neck and a hole in his throat, then hit John Connally's back,
shattered four inches of the Guv's right rib, exited below his right
nipple, busted up his right wrist, then stuck in his left thigh. [1] One
lone bullet caused 7 wounds in 2 men -- the "Magic Bullet" -- the star of
the Single Bullet Theory.
But JFK's shirt has a bullet hole 5 & 3/4 inches below the top of
the collar. [2] The final autopsy report and the Warren Report locate
JFK's back wound at least 4 inches (10cm) higher, at the base of his neck,
less than 5 & 1/2 inches (14cm) below his right ear. [3]
This discrepancy of 4+ inches is roughly the distance between JFK's
right ear and the collar-line directly below his ear. [4]
For the sake of argument, say the Magic Bullet hit bone in JFK,
took an upward path in his body, and left the small throat wound found by
the doctors at Parkland Hospital. [5] No way that bullet could "magically"
change course downward and blast a bunch of holes in Connally. [6]
Impossible.
The Single Bullet Theory is (barely) credible only if JFK's shirt
"rode up" over 4 inches as he waved to the crowd.
John F. Kennedy was an Icon of Elegance, notoriously conscious of
his photo-image. [7] "An immaculate dresser." [8] But he had a bad back
and wore a back brace. His thin cotton shirts were custom-tailored [9] to
fit snugly and reduce the bulge of his brace. Since under-shirts enhanced
the bulge, he didn't wear a T-shirt in Dallas. [10]
Arlen Specter invented the Magic Bullet for the Warren Report, then
he invented the Magic Shirt Theory needed to support the Magic Bullet
Theory.
The Magic Shirt Theory says JFK's shirt crept 4+ inches up from his
upper back to the base of his neck. That's the ONLY way to reconcile the
bullet hole in JFK's shirt with the neck wound alleged by the WC.
But JFK's shirt was tailored NOT to "ride up." His knotted tie,
buttons, and belted trousers all kept the shirt close around his torso.
And the most crucial fact of all: all 4 triggers of the human
sweat response kicked in for Kennedy on Nov. 22 '63, and, as proven below,
his back was drenched with sweat.
The well-cooked final autopsy report was hashed out by Dr. James
Humes and Arlen Spector during the first weeks of the WC. [11] This final
"report" wasn't submitted until 4 weeks after JFK's death. It contradicted
a "huge body of testimony and evidence" in the autopsy that proved a bullet
hole further down the man's back. [12]
Check out Humes' WC testimony:
Specter: "What effect would [JFK's musculature] have on the
positioning of the shirt and coat...?"
Humes: "I believe this would have a tendency to push the portions
of the coat which show the defects here somewhat higher on the back of the
President than on a man with less muscular developement...
"I believe that this action [of JFK waving his arm] would further
accentuate the elevation of the coat and shirt with respect to the back of
the President." [13]
JFK's muscles pushed his shirt "somewhat higher on the back"?
Waving his arm "would accentuate the elevation of the coat and shirt"?
JFK's Park Ave. tailors had to be ticked off to read all that!
A 4+ inch doubled-up fold in the shirt and coat means that 8+ inches
of slack material had to be custom-tailored into his clothing around his
shoulders. Absurd in the extreme.
Failure Analysis Associates fed this WC garbage into a computer and
out came the nifty graphic Gerald Posner used to "prove" the Single Bullet
Theory in his Pulitzer Prize-nominated, "Case Closed." [14]
Gaeton Fonzi (the House Select Committee on Assassinations field
investigator) describes how he nailed Arlen Specter cold, a year after the
release of the Warren Report. Specter lamely tried to demonstrate how suit
coats "ride up." He had Fonzi wave his arm like JFK in Dallas, only more
exaggerated. Fonzi's coat barely "rode up" at all. [15]
"Kennedy was one of the best tailored Presidents ever to occupy the
White House," Fonzi wrote, "and if it is possible -- but not probable --
that he was wearing a suit jacket baggy enough to ride up 5 or 6 inches in
the back when he waved his arm, it is inconceivable that a tightly buttoned
shirt could have done the same thing." [16]
And it's flat-out impossible for a sweaty fitted shirt to "ride up"
4+ inches on it's own power. Jack Kennedy was sweatin' like a pig by the
time he got to Dealey Plaza. This is a verifiable medical fact, as
follows:
JFK self-injected corticosteroids almost daily to alleviate his
life-threatening Addison's disease. [17] He also had a "speed" doctor
who'd jack him up with amphetamine injections a couple of times a week.
[18]
"In a lifetime of medical torment, Kennedy was more promiscuous
with physicians and drugs than he was with women." [19]
A side-effect of cortisone-steroids: INCREASED SWEATING. [20]
Drug-induced perspiration explains JFK's habit of "changing clothes from
the skin out as often as 4 times a day, sometimes using 6 shirts." [21]
On the day of his death, JFK spent 40 minutes in a dark suit and a
dark blue '61 Continental while working the crowds in perfect Texas
sunshine. Thousands of friendly folks massed along the roadsides, and
their body heat enhanced the effects of the humidity. [22] When JFK
stopped twice in sparse areas to get out and shake hands, an excited throng
surged around the limo. [23] A bunch of happy Texans enjoyed the thrill of
a lifetime.
Meantime, JFK's shirt clung to his back like a second skin.
On the morning of November 22 '63, Jack said to Jackie, "We're
heading into nut country today. But, Jackie, if somebody wants to shoot me
from a window with a rifle, nobody can stop it, so why worry about it?"
[24]
Kennedy to an aide that morning, in Fort Worth: "Last night would
have been a Hell of a night to assassinate a President...Anyone perched
above the crowd with a rifle could do it." JFK then struck a sniper's pose
to demonstrate. [25]
According to aides, Kennedy "often talked about how easy it would
be for somebody to shoot at him with a rifle from a high building." [26]
U.N. Amb. Adlai Stevenson was attacked in Dallas a month earlier.
7 weeks before the assassination, speculation about the impending
coup d'etat appeared on the front page of the New York Times. [27]
Under his heroic "no sweat" attitude-- JFK was sweatin' bullets.
At about 11:35 AM, during the 13 minute plane flight from Fort
Worth to Dallas, "the President excused himself to change into a fresh
shirt." [28]
Had he lived, it shaped up to be a 6-shirt day for JFK.
Check out Jackie's Warren Commission testimony on the heat and
emotional intensity of the noon-time motorcade:
"We got off the plane...[T]here was a big crowd there, all yelling,
with banners and everything. And we went to shake hands with them.
"It was a very hot day. And you went all along a long line. I tried
to stay close to my husband and lots of times you get pushed away, you
know, people leaning over and pulling your hand. They were very friendly.
"And finally, I don't know how we got back in the car...There was
lots of confusion...
"And in the motorcade, you know, I would usually be waving to the
left side and he was waving mostly to the right...And it was terribly hot.
Just blinding all of us...
"Mrs. Connally said, 'We will soon be there.' We could see a
tunnel in front of us. Everything was really slow then. And I remember
thinking it would be so cool under that tunnel." [29]
"That tunnel" was the Triple-Underpass, at the western corner of
Dealey Plaza. Jackie soon scrambled in the opposite direction, onto the
trunk of the limosine in mind-numbing panic.
The drama of great tragedy is not required for the "Home Test."
Just work up a sweat then take a seat on hot leather upholstery. Your
cotton shirt clings no matter if it's fit for a god-king President, or if
you picked it up at the flea market.
From the get-go in the limo Jack's shirt stuck to his back like an
iron-on patch. There it stayed -- stuck in place -- until nurses at
Parkland peeled it off his cold, dead body.
Kennedy's bloody shirt is now in the National Archives. The hole
in the shirt matches the location of his back wound. This isn't
"speculation," nor is it merely "highly probable." The location of JFK's
back wound is an absolute certainty proven by the simple facts of custom
tailoring, sweat, flesh, and hot leather upholstery.
A photo of the motorcade on Main St.--minutes before the murder--
shows a foot-long (30cm) diagonal fold in JFK's coat right below his
collar. [30] Lone Nut advocates say this photo proves JFK's clothes
"bunched up." But a diagonal fold moves the cloth side-ways as much as
up-and-down. And the edges of the fold here are smooth. If JFK's shirt
"rode up" around his shoulders, the trough of the indentation in his coat
would be irregular, to match the irregular lie of the shirt. The smooth
fold proves the shirt is flat against his back.
Indeed, the debonair Mr. John F. Kennedy wore shirts tailored not
to "ride up." A sweaty cotton shirt on any Joe Shmoe will not "ride up."
Since there was no "ride up" of JFK's shirt-- a lone nut assassin was
IMPOSSIBLE.
Dr. J. Thornton Boswell's autopsy diagram [31] confirms the true
location of the back wound. So does the O'Neill-Sibert FBI report on the
autopsy. [32] So do the statements of a half dozen other autopsy witnesses
[33] and Nurse Diana Bowron (who washed JFK's body at Parkland). [34]
Secret Service hero Clint Hill (who jumped on the back of the limo
to save Jackie) was summoned to the morgue to view JFK's wounds. He
described the back wound as "about 6 inches below the neckline to the right
hand side of the spinal column." [35]
The FBI re-enactment of the hit shows a bullet path level with the
second floor of the Dal-Tex building, and an entrance wound a good 6 inches
below JFK's collar line. [36] A brief moment of Official Truth!
Another fleeting ray of truth during Dr. Humes WC testimony:
Humes: "In private conversation amoung ourselves before this
opportunity, we predicted we would find defects in the clothing
corresponding with the defects which were found, of course, on the body of
the late President." [37]
"Of course"! A matter of routine forensics: the bullet hole in Jack
Kennedy's shirt corresponds to the wound in his back.
Of course! It's the shirt, stupid!
JFK's sweaty shirt kills the Single Bullet Theory and proves that a
conspiracy in his murder is a matter of fact-- a fact in truth, if not a
fact of "history."
[1] THE OFFICIAL WARREN COMMISSION REPORT, pgs. 85-96
[2] ibid., pg. 92
[3] ibid., pgs 87-88
[4] Robert Groden, THE KILLING OF A PRESIDENT, pgs. 14-15, 18. Taken
moments before the assassination, these pictures show JFK's shirt collar a
good 4 inches below his ears. The Zapruder film shows him in the same
posture. After all, JFK didn't have time to do a handstand on top of the
trunk, the only way his shirt might "ride up" on its own.
[5] HEARINGS BEFORE THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT KENNEDY, Vol. 6, pg. 3 (Dr. Charles Carrico); pg. 9 (Dr. Malcolm
Perry). The Parkland doctors considered this an entrance wound, anyway.
[6] This violates Newton's First Law of Motion: a body in motion will
stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. There was no outside
force that could re-direct an upward moving bullet downward into Connally.
[7] Richard Reeves, PRESIDENT KENNEDY - PROFILE OF POWER, pgs. 64, 509, 672n
[8] Ralph G. Martin, A HERO FOR OUR TIME, pg 103. Quotes JFK's
personal secretary Evelyn Lincoln.
[9] According to the National Archives access staff, the label on JFK's
cotton shirt reads: "Charles Dillon, Shirt Maker, 444 Park Ave NY NY"
[10] WC HEARINGS, Vol. 2, pg. 112 (Will Greer, Secret Service limo driver,
who received JFK's clothes at Parkland: "I am sure there was no
under-shirt")
[11] Gaeton Fonzi, THE LAST INVESTIGATION, pg. 25
[12] ibid.
[13] WCH, Vol. 2, pg. 366
[14] Gerald Posner, CASE CLOSED, pgs. 478-79
[15] Fonzi, ibid., pg. 26
[16] ibid., pg. 27
[17] Reeves, ibid., pgs. 242-243
[18] ibid. pgs. 158-159, 243
[19] ibid, pg. 36
[20] PHYSICIANS DESK REFERENCE (1996), pg. 1624
[21] Reeves, ibid., pg. 314
[22] According to the U.S. Dept. of Commerce Weather Bureau the relative
humidity at Love Field at 11:55am 11/22/63 was 65% (90% an hour earlier)
the temperature was 63 degrees, with 1% cloud cover. The temp in Dealey at
the time of the assassination was 68 degrees. A beautiful autumn day. But
if Jackie's testimony is to be believed, the experience in the motorcade
was far more intense than these numbers reveal
[23] Herbert S. Parmet, JFK, pg. 345
[24] Kenneth O'Donnell and David Powers, JOHNNY WE HARDLY KNEW YE, pg. 25
[25] Anthony Summers, THE KENNEDY CONSPIRACY, pg. 2
[26] O'Donnell and Powers, ibid., pg. 19
[27] Arthur Krock, NY Times, Oct. 3, 1963, "Intra-Administration War
in Vietnam." Article quotes "a very high American official" and reads:
"The C.I.A.'s growth was 'likened to a malignancy' which the 'very high
official was not sure even the White House could control...any longer.' 'If
the United States ever experiences (an attempt at a coup to overthrow the
government) it will come from the C.I.A. and not the Pentagon.' The Agency
'represents a tremendous power and total unaccountability to anyone.'"
Arthur Krock had close personal and family ties to JFK, and the journalist
was an insider of the governing elite (see Reeves)
[28] O'Donnell and Powers, ibid., pg. 26
[29] WCH, Vol. 5, pg. 179. Jackie's WC testimony can also be found at
Pamela McElwain's website: http://www.primenet.com/~pamelam/jfk.html
[30] Groden, ibid., pg. 9
[31] ibid., pg.86
[32] David Lifton, BEST EVIDENCE, pg. 102
[33] Harrison Edward Livingstone: HIGH TREASON 2, pgs. 162-163, 206, 260,
262, 302-303; and KILLING THE TRUTH, pgs. 720-721. Witness cited in these
pages are: Dr. John Ebersole, attending physician; Floyd Riebe, autopsy
photographer; James Jenkins, Paul O'Connor, Edward Reed, technicians; Jan
Gail Rudnicki, lab assistant
[34] Livingstone, ibid., pg. 183
[35] Lifton, ibid., pgs. 77-78
[36] Photo #12 in the photo supplement of the Doubleday edition of the
WARREN REPORT. Photo credited to: "KRLD News, Dallas, Texas"
[37] WCH, Vol. 2,pg. 364
Nick Sylene @ All Rights Reserved
Thanks to Walt Brown, and to the Weberman and jfk.moderated groups
for their research and critiques (especially Bennett Sims, Jack White, Alec
Hidell, Anna Marie Kuhns-Walko, Redurpaz-- and on the Lone Nut side, Ron
Judge).
A tip o' my Giants cap to Michael T. Griffith and Steve Gerlach.
VR Ditches Kennedy Theory by Robert Uhling
3D computer model traces killer shot and dismisses commission findings.
New "evidence" in the J.F. Kennedy assassination saga has been
delivered by an Anglo-German team who used a computer to recreate the scene
and trace the path of "the magic bullet".
The Warren Commission, set up to investigate Kennedy's assassination,
concluded that the president was shot by a single marksman positioned on the
sixth floor of the Dallas book depository, and that one bullet caused seven
wounds, including injuries to Governor Connally, sitting in front of Kennedy
in the presidential Lincoln car.
Detractors argue that this would have required the bullet to twist and
turn in mid-air, leading to several dozen conspiracy theories involving
variously the CIA, Mafia, Cuban exiles and Union Teamsters - most of which
are detailed in depth on the Internet.
Joachim Marks, a German computer scientist, and Matthew Smith,
Sheffield-based author of "JFK - The Second Plot", have combined
photogrammetry and virtual reality techniques to build a 3D computer model
of the Dallas scene on November 22, 1963.
Photogrammetry is usually used to make architectural plans from
photographs, or 3D models from aerial immages, but Marks and smith used it
to make maps, photographs and stills from the world's most famous cine film:
Dallas clothing manufacturers Abraham Zapruder's 30 grainy seconds of the
bullets hitting the president.
The resulting 3D animated model includes the Lincoln, the grassy knoll,
book depository, all the bodyguards and police motorcyclists, and many of
the bystanders.
On next Sunday's "Correspondent" on BBC2 (actually screened Sat. May 17), Marks and Smith demonstrate
the software that lets them position themselves anywhere in the
assassination arena, and even follow the trajectory of the bullets, from a
"bullet's eye view".
"When the bullet leaves Kennedy's throat, there is no reason it should
change direction," said Marks.
The Marks-Smith theory suggests the fatal bullet could only have come
from in front of the car, probably from a marksman standing beside a nearby
picket fence - a location suspected in previous re-enactments.
Gerald Ford, the former US president who served on the Warren
Commission, said: "Those diagrams in theory I can understand ," but added
that he still believes the findings of the commission.
So why should the Marks-Smith theory be considered?
"It's better than one answer," Smith answered, "the Warren Commission
answer."
The Incredible Story of Mike Robinson by Walt Brown, Ph.D
Reprinted from "Treachery in Dallas."
Anyone who does not believe strongly in either irony or coincidence will have to rethink their attitudes when they hear the revelations given to me by Mike Robinson.
As it is the central thesis of my work that elements within the
Dallas Police Department had a far greater involvement in the JFK
assassination than heretofore considered, it seems odd that the same
police department "gave" me Mike Robinson.
November 22, 1993, was the thirtieth anniversary of the tragedy
in Dealey Plaza, and, as such, was the occasion for the dedication of
that area as an historic landmark. I arrived there with my wife and
Texas researcher Russ McLean early enough to be close enough to
be able to see the goings-on. But the local blues were forcing people
out of the plaza until all was ready. I was thus manhandled from the
reflecting pool across the street to the TSBD, then around the corner
to a point on Houston between the TSBD and the former Dal-Tex
building. When I met resistance indicating I could be pushed no
farther, I found myself next to Mike, who was giving an interview
to a local television network.
What he had to say was incredible, and the TV anchorperson was
lost for the right questions to ask. She did ask, however, if Mike was
willing to take his story to the FBI, and he said he would--if the film
crew would come with him to document the event. They declined.
I subsequently contacted Mike, as I had copied his name and phone
number from the reporter's notes (Woodward or Bernstein I'm not).
I explained that I had been standing next to him for the interview
and that I had heard most of his comments, but that I just wanted
to make sure I had heard them correctly. Mr. Robinson, not knowing
my voice over the phone from Adam's, checked me out through
people in Texas and only then shared his story.
Mike Robinson was fourteen years old the day the president was
killed. Since I had been sixteen at the time, I felt I could relate to
the emotions he told of.
He had watched the motorcade at Main and Harwood, the corner where Dallas police headquarters was located, with a friend
whose father was a higher-up in the police. I have since been able
to confirm the existence of both the friend, his father's rank, and
his father's perhaps too-deep curiosity as to the events of November 22.
After the motorcade passed, the boys went to a theater, bought
their tickets and popcorn, and then heard the rapidly spreading news
that the president had been shot. Figuring that headquarters would
be the center of subsequent action, he and his friend hastened back
there in time to get to the third floor, check in with the friend's
father, and then see Lee Oswald being led out of the elevator. Since
this was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for a young boy, and since
the media were mobbing the area anyway, they stayed and observed
the goings-on.
Mike indicated that he overheard in conversation that it was
clear to anyone who was talking that the police were convinced
beyond all reasonable doubt, even as early as 2:30 P.M., that Oswald was the culprit on both counts. He also learned that J. D.
Tippit had been killed. That event, while tragic, was not overly
troubling to Mike, as many neighborhood kids knew Tippit from
his comings and goings at Austin's Barbeque, and Tippit had arrested Mike's brother for drinking beer in public. The local teenagers, it was noted, had no use for Tippit, whom they viewed as your garden-variety asshole.
Putting that aside, Mike and his friend saw Oswald moved from
the various places he was shunted to, and also saw him inside one of
the glass homicide cubicles, until such time as newspaper was taped
up to keep out the curious. Mike also saw Bobby Hargis, the motorcycle officer splattered by particulate matter from the president, return
to headquarters with blood and brain matter on him and his helmet,
and when the realization of events hit Hargis, he violently slammed
the helmet into a wall and literally went berserk, requiring a number
of other officers to restrain him (an event unknown to--or unreported by -- the Warren Commission).
As afternoon approached evening, a trip to the rest room became
an absolute necessity, but with extra police and media on the third
floor, that was impossible. So Mike was taken, by the ranking officer
whose son he was with, down to the lowest level of the building,
where the officers had their lockers, and told that the rest room was
just past the locker room.
While in a toilet/stall, the enormity of events hit Mike hard and
he became emotional about them now that he found himself literally
alone with the knowledge that the president he had waved to just a
few hours earlier was now in a coffin. As this emotional turmoilcame upon him, the rest room serenity was broken by the arrival of
three individuals. Not to appear a sissy or be embarrassed, Mike lifted
his feet and "hid" in the stall so that anyone observing would think
that only the three men who had just entered were present.
Their brief conversation forever changed Mike Robinson's life.
Initially there were whispers, but eventually one individual--and
these people were police or police-related in the officers' rest
room--vented some anger through gritted teeth, with appropriate
profanity, to make statements that add great credence to the thesis
enunciated herein.
As Mike Robinson reconstructs the statements, their order was:
(angrily) "You knew you were supposed to kill Lee," followed by
icy silence, then the same voice in the same nasty tone, "then,
you stupid son of a bitch, you go kill a cop .... " At this point,
another individual entered the room, and the first three fell silent.
The newcomer, whom Mike could identify as wearing blue, "did
his business, flushed the urinal, and left." The original three then
concluded, "Lee will have to be killed before they take him to
Washington."
Naturally uncomfortable with what he had heard, Mike remained
in his hideout for a decent span of time after the three men left the
room, then left. As he passed through the police locker room, one
officer, in the process of changing his clothes, stared at Mike, as if
to say, "Were you in there when we were?" Having been shown
every available photo of officers on the Dallas police force at that
time, Mike Robinson believes that the man who stared at him in a
menacing way was Roscoe White.
Caveat emptor: Some of the narrative cited above came to light
as a result of hypnosis. This is not uncommon police procedure, as
witnesses to crimes can often be hypnotized and reveal details--from
clothing to license plates--that they seemed totally unaware of in a
conscious state. I was hypnotized in 1984 to begin the cure of a
phobic concern, and I can personally report the success of the hypnosis. So if one chooses to see Mike as an opportunist, the obvious
criticism is that he did not recall the entire story, although to this
day, when he sees the ominous photo of Roscoe White in the Dallas
Assassination Information Center, he admits that it scares the living
hell out of him.
The hypnosis, which I asked a number of skeptical questions
about and which will be well covered in Coke Buchanan's writings
about Mike, was done by an expert with a Ph.D. in hypnotherapy.
It revealed that it was Mike's deep-seated belief that one of the
three bathroom individuals had something to do with an "agency."
He also believes "100 percent" that Roscoe White killed J. D.
Tippit.
I have checked with sources to see if it was in any way possible
that Oswald could have been in that bathroom, or if media people
had made statements that could have been confused. I was assured
that Oswald did "his business" in his cell, or in the third-floor rest
room, and that the one place that would have been off-limits to
press, and thus private to officers, was the area in question.
** UPDATE **
I promised Mike I would be in contact with him at the time of publication
(whenever that was, as it was unclear in November, 1993, although the
original completed book had been submitted in August, 1993); so in the
summer of 1995, I got in touch with Mike, and he became slightly concerned
about the publication. Taking steps to protect himself, he visited the
barracks of the "Texas Rangers" (the state police), and gave a statement very
similar to that which I described in Treachery in Dallas. He told the
officer that he was concerned for his safety once my publication of his
observations came to pass. The officer told him, among other things, that
not too many people in the Texas law enforcement community believed the
"official version" of Oswald alone, although they didn't comment for the
record about the possibility of law-enforcement people being involved.
Mike has also been "driven" by something else he saw that day... on several
occasions, he saw someone, approximately 17-18 years of age and wearing some
kind of uniform--ROTC, Scouts, whatever, being taken around through the third
floor, and the story was that this person had been arrested with a weapon on
the motorcade route. [There is a record of a "boy scout" with a fake
pistol, but that is as far as the record goes.] Yet Mike Robinson recalls
the incident vividly, and is convinced there is more to it. He has since
visited as many local high schools in the area as possible, and has combed
yearbooks from the classes of 1962-1964 to try and get a visual on the person
he saw, with no luck.
But he insisted to me, both on the phone and when we
met at Dallas COPA '96, (a wonderfully surprising reunion), that if it were
possible to find the media coverage of the third floor on Friday, November 22
afternoon, you could see the individual, and more than once, as he was taken
right past the camera during his detention.
Mike still stands by the story I added to Treachery in Dallas in 1993
(published 1995), and still has a keen pedestrian interest in the
assassination of JFK.
Lee Harvey Oswald: "Read My Lips...I'm Just a Patsy" by Steve Gerlach
Lee Harvey Oswald was a very smart man.
Don't believe everything they tell you. Our man Lee was certainly au courant on the
assassination weekend!
His life was a hall of mirrors. One minute he's pro-Castro, the next he's anti-. He can
drive a car, but he can't. He's a terrific marksman, but he isn't really. He loves Russia, but he
doesn't, of course. Need we go on? If one thing is certain, it is that he was a man of
contradictions, a man smart enough to be a spy, smart enough to learn Russian and smart
enough to play with an ace up his sleeve.
Is it any wonder, then, that his words also have a double meaning? Is this dumb-no-good-
killer-Commie smart enough to leave evidence right in front of the police and the media
throng that surrounded him over that fateful weekend in Dallas in 1963? Given his record...of
course he is. And his comments were not only insightful, but also fact-ridden.
I use for the basis of this thesis an article compiled by Mae Brussell (reprinted in Probable
Cause 11&12) that lists all known statements made by Oswald between his arrest and death.
Now, these quotes are based on the recollections of a variety of witnesses present at
different times and are not verbatim transcripts. But you will find that the quotes have the
ring of truth about them and, if we all put out thinking caps on and look for double meanings,
are very illuminating.
12:40-12:45 PM, November 22, 1963: After the assassination, Oswald grabs a
cab.
"May I have this cab?"
Now here's a man in a hurry, but he's polite and does not seem rushed.
"I will let you have this one...
He gives the cab to a woman, also wanting a cab. Cool, calm and polite. Hardly your mad
assassin in flight. In fact, most of the comments attributed to Oswald over that weekend are
all very calm. No fear, no worry. He presents himself as a man with nothing to fear.
After going home, grabbing his handgun, and hiding out in the Texas theater (for a possible
contact?) the police move in for the arrest.
"This is it" or "Well, it's all over now."
Both statements have been reported and both have interesting connotations. Both seem to
have a defeated feel to them. "The Game's Up" as they used to say. Here is the only time
Oswald is violent, lunging at a police officer and making sure that the Dallas Police Department (DPD) don't decide to
shoot him dead on the spot before he has a chance to be saved by those in control.
Shrewdly, this tactic works and Oswald, suddenly yelling, "I'm not resisting arrest!" is
carted from the theater alive, not dead.
2:00-2:15PM: On the way to the Police Department, Oswald drops a bombshell:
"I have been in the Marine Corps., have a dishonorable discharge, and went to
Russia."
Okay, now you'll find through this article that Oswald frequently alludes to his past,
his background, what he's done and where he's been. He volunteers this information and it is
almost as if he is trying to lead the DPD into investigating certain areas. In this case:
LOOK: into my Marine record, find out why I have a dishonorable discharge,
research my stay in Russia.
These specific "look" statements will now be labelled "LOOK:" by way of an
explanation as there are many to come!
There's more:
"I had some trouble with police in New Orleans for passing out pro-Castro literature...I am
not being handled right."
Here again, he's telling them more than they know!
LOOK: into my New Orleans arrest.
If the DPD had done this, they would have found why he was arrested, what he was doing
there, his address, the office address and his interview with FBI agent John Quigley after his
arrest.
"I am not being handled right," is a sign of either two things. Certainly, through the rest of his
time in DPD custody, he complained loudly about his rights being abused, but could it also be
a sign that "not being handled right" was because his escape plan had gone wrong or
because this is not the way you handle a secret agent. (More on Oswald's "Escape" to
come!)
2:25-4:04 PM: In Capt. Fritz's Office:
"My name is Lee Harvey Oswald...I work at the Texas School Book Depository
Building....I lived in Minsk and in Moscow."
LOOK: into my defection...
Wouldn't the DPD be asking themselves, "If he defected, why is he here??"
"I observed a rifle in the TSBD, where I work, on November 20, 1963...Mr. Roy Truly, the
supervisor, displayed the rifle...I never owned a rifle myself."
Oswald hints here that there was more than one rifle in the building at the time of the
assassination. An interesting fact that would soon be proven correct as a Mauser, as well as
the Mannlicher, were found. We will come back to Oswald's denial of owning a rifle as this is
a story he sticks with, even with mounting evidence to the contrary.
"I was secretary of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans a few months
ago..."
LOOK: Examine the FPCC...you'll find it's a front (more statements to confirm this
soon.)
"I changed my clothing and went to a movie...I carried a pistol with me to the movie
because I felt like it, for no other reason...I didn't shoot Pres. John F. Kennedy or Officer J.
D. Tippit..."
Some interesting statements here. Going home, changing clothes and grabbing a pistol is not
the sign of a man on a stroll "for no other reason", but more like the actions of a man
aware of the situation and taking precautions...change appearance, grab some protection, go to a pre-determined
destination. These statements should be viewed with others below that Oswald will make to
Marina that indicate that, one way or another, we was not going to be around much
longer.
Oswald emphatically denies shooting both Tippit and Kennedy at this point.
4:45 PM: Lineup #1
"It isn't right to put me in line with these teenagers...You know what you are doing, and
you are trying to railroad me...I want my lawyer...I desire to put on a jacket similar to those
worn by some of the other individuals in the lineup..."
These statements are good indications that Oswald is of sound mind and knows exactly
what's going on. He knows his rights and complains to no avail. How many other people,
thrust into a lineup, would know the technicalities about what can and can't be
done?
4:45-6:30 PM: Second Interrogation in Fritz's Office
To FBI Agent James Hosty, Oswald states:
"I know you"
LOOK: I know him!
Shouldn't the DPD be questioning Hosty? How do you know Lee? What contact have you
had with Lee? Why are you keeping close tabs on Lee? The list is endless.
"I support the Castro revolution...I never had a card to the Communist party...I am a
Marxist, but not a Leninist-Marxist."
Enough information here to send any DPD detective into a spin. A good explanation here,
though, is that, as far as the DPD were concerned, "Castro", "Communist", "Marxist",
"Leninist-Marxist" were all the same thing -- read "Commie-pinko-bastard"!
"The only package I brought to work was my lunch."
And interesting comment in light of Buell Wesley Frazier's evidence of the mysterious
"curtain rods." Anyone ever think that Frazier might be lying? He was arrested on the
day in question on a "conspiracy" charge in relation to JFK's death. If you were charged with
something like that, wouldn't you turn yellow, roll over and submit? Or at least make up a
story about Lee and a package if they ask you to?
"I never ordered any guns...nothing irritated me about the President."
It's all in the reading, it's all how you say it. "I never ordered any guns." Or, more
likely, "I never ordered any guns." Oswald always answers with intelligence. He never
denies anything or agrees with anything. He just keeps the gates wide open in case his story
has to change. Yeah, the guns were ordered, but I didn't order them...there's more like
this, soon!
The President didn't irritate him. So why shoot him? Oswald shows no sign of being angry
with the JFK, but also no sign of thinking he was a great man. Just a balanced, "I don't care
either way" attitude.
"How can I afford a rifle on the TSBD salary of $1.25 an hour?...John Kennedy had a nice
family..."
Good question! Oswald couldn't afford the gun, but then again, his tax returns are
classified. John Kennedy was a family man, as was Oswald. Again, Lee shows no sign of
hatred towards the President.
Roger Craig states in "When They Kill A President" (reprinted in Probable Cause 9, 10, 11 &
12) that he saw Oswald getting into a stationwagon just after the shooting in Dealey Plaza.
When Oswald is confronted with this question:
"Tell us about the CAR Lee."
Lee replied:
"That STATION WAGON belongs to Mrs. Ruth Paine. Don't try to bring her into this. She
had nothing to do with it."
LOOK: That station wagon belongs to Mrs. Ruth Paine. Now, don't you drag her into
this because she had absolutely nothing to do with it, so you leave her alone.
If I was DPD detective on the ball, I'd be dragging Mrs. Paine into this, pronto! It's a classic
example of double-speak: deny, deny, deny, but at the same time lay the ground-work for
someone smart enough to, outside the ordinary channels, find out everything they need to
know. Lee can't tell them straight out, it's not his job, what he's doing for his country is
classified, they have to stumble around and find these things out until someone steps in front
of them and says, "Son, you've seen enough." Oswald is counting on such statements as this
one above to get him off the hook. GO TO Ruth Paine, ASK HER about the station wagon,
then I can go free.
"Everybody will know who I am now."
This statement was, like the Zapruder film, misprinted in the Warren Commission. They say
that Oswald actually said, "Now, everybody will know who I am." There is a vast difference
between thumping ones chest and yelling, "Now, everyone will know who I am." and
"Everybody will know who I am now." Far from sounding thrilled at the prospect of
great notoriety, Oswald is actually upset that his cover is blown. EVERYBODY will know he's
Oswald. EVERYBODY will know he's Hidell. The game is at an end, he has been flushed
out.
"The Fair Play for Cuba Committee has definitely been investigated."
LOOK: hint...hint...Find out who / where / why the FPCC was investigated. Leads to
Bannister and the others and gun-running and CIA and FBI activities.
6:30 PM: Lineup #2
"I didn't shoot anyone...I never killed anybody."
That's our Lee. Never innocent, never wrongly charged. Just that he never killed
anyone. He never shot anyone. Someone did, and Lee might know who, but it
was never Lee who shot anyone. Nowhere is it reported that Lee ever said that
he was innocent!
7:50 PM: Lineup #3
"I am only a patsy."
The first time Oswald used those immortal words. Once again, not that Oswald was innocent,
not that he has no idea what's happening, just that he was set up. Could Shakespeare have
said it any better?
7:55 PM: Fritz's office:
"I think I have talked long enough. I don't have anything else to say...I don't care to talk
anymore...I am waiting for someone to come forward to be me legal assistance..."
Finally, Oswald decides to clam-up. He decides to wait until "someone" comes forward to
give him some help. Little did he know that the only person who would come forward to give
him assistance that weekend would be "Sparky" Rubenstein.
11:00-11:20 PM: Conversation with Officer John Adamcik and FBI Agent M.
Clements:
"I have no tattoos or permanent scars."
Interesting, considering Oswald had mastoidectomy scars and left upper-arm scars.
11:20-11:25 PM: Lineup #4 - The Press Conference:
Paraded out in front of the cameras and, therefore, the world, Oswald, now the sacrificial
lamb being led to the slaughter shows an insight into just how calm and rational he was at the
time. His quote, the famous one, we all know it, could easily have been spoken by a defence
attorney in any courtroom in the world. He is asked, "Did you kill the President?"
"No. I have not been charged with that. In fact, nobody has said that to me yet. The first
thing I heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question...I
did not do it. I did not do it. I did not shoot anyone."
But he never says that he is innocent! Remember, at this stage, Oswald had only been
charged with murdering Tippit and he does indeed look shaken when confronted with the
question of killing the President.
1:35 AM, Saturday 23rd November: Oswald is charged with the murder with
malice of JFK:
"Well, sir, I guess this is the trial..."
I think this speaks for itself. Did he already know that those "others" who should set out to
clear him, to tell those in charge that they had the wrong man, had already flown the coop?
That he was taking the fall for this tragedy? That the government he served was going to
hang him out to dry? Did he know that this would be his only trial?
10:30 AM-1:10 PM: Fritz's Office:
After some sleep, Oswald is interrogated again and once more he puts the basic facts (read:
hints) of the case forward.
"...I never owned a rifle..."
LOOK: But perhaps Hidell did...
"...Michael Paine owned a car..."
LOOK: question Michael Paine.
"...Ruth Paine owned two cars..."
LOOK: question Ruth Paine.
"...The FBI has thoroughly investigated me at various other times..."
LOOK: Ask the FBI to tell you who I am
"...I am familiar with all types of questioning and have no intention of making any
statements..."
LOOK: Get it, guys? Come oooonnnnn! I'm an agent of the government "familiar
with all types of questioning" and I won't be "making any statements".
"...I was arrested in New Orleans for disturbing the peace and paid a $10 fine for
demonstrating for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. I had a fight with some anti-Castro
refugees and they were released while I was fined..."
LOOK: into this incident...contact the FBI who will tell you I was interviewed by one
of them. Find out about Camp Street and my intelligence links.
"...I didn't shoot John Kennedy...I don't own a rifle....I didn't tell Buell Wesley Frazier
anything about bringing back some curtain rods..."
Oswald, once again, denies that he was the one who shot Kennedy, and that
he doesn't own a rifle - but someone else does. Buell Wesley Frazier is again
mentioned and again Oswald's story is at odds with Fraziers...
LOOK: Into Buell Wesley Frazier.
"My wife lives with Mrs. Ruth Paine....I don't know Mrs. Paine very well, but Mr. Paine and
his wife were separated a great deal of the time...the garage at the Paines' house has some
seabags that have a lot of my personal belongings."
LOOK: Into the Paine's background [their tax returns are classified]. Michael works
for Bell Aerospace [the "tip off" call about Oswald came from Bell Aerospace] check out the
garage and find my "personal belongings" that will clear my name and prove I am an agent
for the government. Minox spy camera etc. etc. The DPD ignored this.
"The name Alek Hidell was picked up while working in New Orleans in the Fair Play for
Cuba organization."
LOOK: Once again, look into the FPCC....note that Oswald didn't "assume" the
name or "change his name" but that the name "Alek Hidell was picked up" while
working with the FPCC in New Orleans...follow those leads, my men in blue....
1:10-1:30 PM: Lee is visited by Marguerite Oswald and Marina Oswald:
To his mother: "There is nothing you can do. Everything is fine."
Marvellously calm for someone who's charged with murdering the President.
To his wife: "It's a mistake. I'm not guilty. There are people who will help me. You have
friends. They'll help you...be sure to buy shoes for June..."
Lee, still calm, reassures his wife that there are "people who will help me" and that Marina's
friends will "help you." Lee also wants to make sure his daughter, June, will get new shoes.
This is of importance and shows that Lee is certain that he will not be in Texas (and maybe
the USA) much longer. There would be plenty of time for him to ask about his daughter in the
days / weeks / months leading up to his trial, but he seems to know that his time is limited -
more on this below.
3:30-3:40 PM: Oswald is visited by his brother:
"I don't know what is going on. I just don't know what they are talking about...Don't believe
all the so-called evidence."
Lee makes it clear that the evidence is a sham and that he doesn't know what is happening.
When his brother, Robert, looks into Lee's eyes for some clue as to what is happening, Lee
states:
"Brother, you won't find anything there..."
A sign that Lee is part of a need-to-know hierachy? And that Lee knows nothing more than
what he was told?
Robert shows some unique insight during this conversation and comments that he didn't
believe that Paines were friends of Lee's. Lee answered back, "Yes they are." Does this draw
them into the events as agents? As minders? The Paines become more and more suspicious
in the events that follow.
Robert Oswald would tell the Warren Commission, "To me his answers were mechanical,
and I was not talking to the Lee I knew." An interesting statement indeed, knowing Lee's
background! It seems he is just playing for time, waiting for the one piece of evidence (or one
witness) to give him the all clear.
3:40 PM: Lee rings Ruth Paine:
"This is Lee. Would you please call John Abt in New York for me after 6:00pm. The
number for his office is___________, and his residence is_________...Thank you for your
concern."
Oswald has, throughout the whole time he has been in police custody, been asking for John
Abt. While asking this, he has been stating that he has no idea where Abt is or how to contact
him. But he manages to ring Ruth Paine and give her Abt's details. It also seems that Ruth
Paine never made the call!
At 5:30pm Oswald is visited my H. Louis Nichols, President of the Dallas Bar Association. He
asks Nichols whether he knows John Abt. Mr. Nichols did not, but offered to help find a lawyer
for Oswald's defence. Oswald replied:
"No, not now. You might come back next week, and if I don't get some of these other
people to assist me, I might ask you to get somebody to represent me."
IF I DON'T GET SOME OF THESE OTHER PEOPLE TO ASSIST ME. Who is he talking
about? Once again, it seems he is playing the waiting game, knowing that someone will be
coming to save him soon.
6:00-6:30 PM - Captain Fritz's office...another interrogation:
Oswald is confronted for the first time with the infamous "backyard" photographs.
"In time I will be able to show you that this is not my picture, but I don't want to answer
any more questions...I will not discuss this photograph...I understand photography real well,
and that, in time, I will be able to show you that is not my picture and that it has been made
by someone else..."
Once again, Oswald shows a remarkable grip on the situation noting facts that would later
turn out to be true. Of further interest, however, is Lee's views on when the
photographs were made and who made them.
"The Dallas Police were the culprits...The small picture was reduced from the larger one,
made by some persons unknown to me...Since I have been photographed at City Hall, with
people taking my picture while being transferred from the office to the jail door, someone has
been able to get a picture of my face, and with that, they have made this picture."
This would explain why, on the Friday, police had searched the Paine's house and found
nothing, but, on the Saturday were able to return to the Paine's house and find the
damning photos of Lee with the rifle. This makes more sense than the theory that the photos
were made weeks, maybe months, before by someone else, or that they were taken by
Marina. Marina took some photos, but not these photos.
"There was another rifle in the building. I have seen it. Warren Caster had two rifles, a
30.06 Mauser and a .22 for his son...I never kept a rifle at Mrs. Paine's garage at Irving....I
have no receipts for purchase of any gun, and I have never ordered any guns. I do not own a
rifle, never possessed a rifle...I will not say who wrote A.J. Hidell on my Selective Service
card...I will not tell you the purpose of carrying the card or the use I made of it."
LOOK: for the other rifles.
LOOK: into Warren Caster.
LOOK: into the Paine's garage.
Once again, read the statement above out loud and place the emphasis on the I.
I never kept a rifle...I have no receipts...I have never ordered any
guns...I do not own a rifle....
Oswald is not denying the purchase of a gun, only that he never ordered or purchased
it. The same can be made for the Selective Service card with Hidell on it.
9:30 PM: Lee rings Ruth Paine to speak with Marina:
"Marina, please. Would you try to locate her?" [Marina has already moved.]
Huh?? Let's all do a big double-take on that one! Huh? Marina has already moved.
Marina has already moved! Already? This is the first sign of the split between Marina
and Ruth. Oswald seems upset by this. Marina, of course, has refused to speak with Ruth
Paine from that day onwards. Does she already know that her husband is the sacrificial
patsy? This is the last chance Lee gets to try and communicate with his wife. Did Ruth Paine
try and contact Marina? No.
9:30-11:15 AM, Sunday 24th November. Fritz's Office final interrogation:
"If you ask me about the shooting of Tippit, I don't know what you are talking about...The
only thing I am here for is because I popped a policeman in the nose in the theater, which I
readily admit I did, because I was protecting myself."
No argument here. Lee sums up his case very simply. He'll admit to what he did, but
can't talk on anything else like the Tippit killing as he has no idea what happened as he was
already in the theatre at the time of the shooting, waiting to be collected by those who placed
him in this situation in the first place.
"I learned about the job vacancy at the TSBD from people in Mrs. Paine's
neighborhood..."
Once again Lee is at pains (no pun intended) to drag Ruth and Michael Paine into this. Now,
wouldn't you, as a proper, upstanding Policeman go and interrogate the Paines?? You
betcha!
"I visited my wife Thursday night, Nov. 21, whereas I normally visited her over the
weekend, because Mrs. Paine was giving a party for the children on the weekend. They were
having a housefull of neighborhood children. I didn't want to be around at such a
time..."
This comment just doesn't rub. It makes no sense at all....unless we look at it from the point
of view that Lee knew he wouldn't be around after Friday. That's why he visited
earlier in the week, the only time he ever did this. Because he knew that come
Friday afternoon he's be out of Dallas, and most possibly out of the country. When this
statement is considered along with Oswald's comment to Marina to remember to buy June
new shoes, the pieces begin to fall into place.
"It was not on the back seat. Mr. Frazier must have been mistaken or else thinking about
the other time when he picked me up."
Once again, Oswald calls attention to the fact that he had no package and that Frazier is
lying.
"The rental application said Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the American Civil
Liberties Union...Maybe I put them on there...I never ordered a rifle under the name of Hidell,
Oswald, or any other name...I never permitted anyone else to order a rifle to be received in
this box...I never ordered any rifle by mail order or bought any money order for the purpose
of paying for such a rifle..."
Yet again, Lee is imparting information to the DPD, but they just can't see it for what it is.
I didn't order a rifle under the name Hidell or Oswald -- someone else did.
I never ordered any rifle by mail order or bought a money order -- someone else
did.
Open your eyes guys...he's giving it to you on a plate!
And again, "I don't recall anything about the A.J. Hidell being on the post office card...I
never received a package sent to me through the mailbox in Dallas, Box No. 2915, under the
name of Alek Hidell, absolutely not..."
I didn't receive it -- someone else did.
"American people will soon forget the President was shot, but I didn't shoot him..."
Is Oswald foreshadowing events to come? Not his shooting, but war with Cuba? With the
original plan being for the trail of the assassin to lead to a Hidell in New Orleans, then to the
Fair Play For Cuba Committee, then to Cuba - was war with Cuba the ultimate goal? Is that
why Oswald says no one will remember Kennedy being shot? Because even bigger events
were to come? Even as he says this, he makes sure to, once again, state that he didn't shoot
the president.
Finally, we'll let the last words Oswald spoke in Fritz's office stand for themselves. Nothing
needs to be read into these lines. Just read them for what they are, the stark truth:
"...I did not kill President Kennedy or Officer Tippit. If you want me to cop out to hitting or
pleading guilty to hitting a cop in the mouth when I was arrested, yeah, I plead guilty to that.
But I do deny shooting both the President and Tippit."
Any hope of Oswald elaborating on his evidence in the future and giving evidence to point
the finger at those who were really in charge of killing President Kennedy was lost sixminutes later when Jack Ruby silenced him forever.
While Oswald was on the operating table at Parkland hospital with doctors trying to save his
life, FBI agents stood over Oswald trying to get him to tell them whatever he knew.
The irony is that he had been trying to do just that for the past two days, but no one was
listening.
The last questions to ask have to be: were the Dallas police too stupid to pick up on all this
evidence? Were they pressured not to follow it up? Or did they just ignore it anyway? Lee
gave them all the clues they needed. The tragedy is that they didn't use them.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy - We Remember You by Mary D.
When we look back at the Presidency of John F Kennedy, it is usually with sadness because of its' tragic end, and although the thing which brings us together as a group are the questions surrounding the how, where and why of the assassination, with regard to the long held wishes of the Kennedy Family, we celebrate here the day of his birth, rather than the anniversary of his death. To quote William Manchester, from ‘Remembering Kennedy - One Brief Shining Moment’:
‘The President’s death was tragic, but his life had been a triumph, and that is how he should be remembered and celebrated now.’
As we mark the anniversary of what would have been JFK's 80th Birthday (hard to believe, isn’t it?), perhaps we should spend some time remembering what JFK was offering the world in the 60’s, thinking about what the world might have been like now had he lived and succeeded, and to celebrate his life, the things he achieved, and the things he hoped to achieve.
To understand the life of John F Kennedy, his Presidential Administration and indeed, his whole career as both a Congressman and Senator, his dream of a free and peaceful world, the sharing of that dream and the esteem with which the people of not only the United States, but the whole world held this man, we must look to his death. Not the ‘what, who, how’ of it, but the profound effect it had on people all over the world.
As news of the assassination spread, stunned disbelief took hold of the world for those four terrible days in November 1963. People openly cried in the streets all over America and in countries around the world. In Berlin, where Kennedy had delivered his now famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech only five months before his death, 60,000 people took part in a candlelight procession to the square where he made the speech. In London’s Westminster, Big Ben tolled every minute....an honour reserved for the death of Kings and Queens. The world’s media headlined with dismay, astonishment and grief. The taxi drivers of Rome parked an empty cab with a huge black wreath propped against it outside the U.S. Embassy. Even the so called "enemy" also suffered at this terrible loss, with the radio waves of the Soviet Union constantly emitting Slavic dirges, Russian children laying flowers in front of the Presidents’ photograph, and the toughest of Soviet chiefs were seen crying at this tragic and senseless killing.
Altogether, 92 Nations were sending delegations to attend the Funeral. Some leaders, like de Gaulle, even risking their lives to pay tribute and bid a final farewell to a man perceived as one of the world’s greatest Statesmen of his time. In other countries, whose leaders could not leave without Legislative approval, the populations were outraged that they would not be represented.
In reading William Manchester’s ‘Death of a President’, I found an extraordinary anecdote which originated in State Department files:
“Probably the most poignant tribute of all came via a consul, who reported that an African Native had walked 10 miles through the bush to say ‘I have lost a friend and I am so sorry’. The consul was bewildered. How could a nomadic bushman be a Kennedy friend? ..... What had the President ever done for the Kalahari's? .....Why should this one grieve? ‘Not even President Kennedy and his immediate associates’ Dean Rusk subsequently explained ‘had understood the extent to which ordinary people around the world had read his speeches and become involved with him’.”
It is very important that we remember that whatever happened in Dallas, the result was that the whole world was violated, its positive and promising future course irrevocably changed, and its citizens were stunned and grief stricken that the elected President of the American people and indeed the nominal head of the free world should be murdered in such a violent, despicable and cowardly fashion in an age which we dared to call civilised!
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a well educated, well read man. Intelligent, charming and witty, impeccably presented, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, a war hero, full of youthful vigour. A sharp contrast to those recent presidents whom he succeeded. He came from a family steeped in political tradition on both sides, which was also one of the richest in the United States. But his ancestors, although reasonably prosperous compared to those around them, were oppressed Irishmen who came to America to escape that oppression, and according to JFK’s mother Rose:
“...arrived with scarcely more than determination and faith. They worked hard, and raised their children in the love and care of God”.
Jack never forgot his ancestry, and throughout his administration he tried hard to reflect this, through his constant pledges and actions of support for the ‘common man’, relief from poverty and the subjugation of oppressors.
John F Kennedy was a man of great understanding and compassion for his fellow man. Again quoting Manchester:
“.....his most appealing legacy lies in his compassion. He belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the United States, and had not seen the misery of rock-bottom American poverty until the West Virginia Democratic primary in the spring of 1960. Deeply moved, he made his first official act as President the issuance of an Executive Order doubling the food rations for 4 million needy Americans. Later he launched Medicare and strengthened Social Security.”
It is no secret that John Kennedy was pushed into politics by his overbearing, politically ambitious father, in fact, it was an act of fate. Had his older brother, Joe Kennedy Jr. lived through WWII, JFK would probably never have run for office. After a slow, reluctant beginning, Kennedy threw himself body and soul into the Senate and later into becoming President, and one of the worlds’ great leaders. He worked hard for the presidential nomination and even harder to win the Presidency by the narrowest of margins. Still he was not satisfied. More and harder work had to be done and he expected the help he needed from every man, woman and child in the United States, and he asked for it from every citizen of the world. According to Manchester, British Prime Minister Harold McMillan once described Kennedy as “...a ruthless politician” and yet this same man was also a man of great compassion. John Kennedy made people sit up and take notice of what was happening around them, and always gave them - and himself cause to re-evaluate attitudes and considerations.
In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President, Kennedy introduced the idea of a New Frontier beyond which, he said, “are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus”. A frontier which “would be easier to shrink back from.....to look at the safe mediocrity of the past.” But he believed that “....the times demand innovation, imagination and decision” and asked everyone to be pioneers on that New Frontier.
In his Inaugural speech, President Kennedy carried this idea further when he uttered those immortal words:
“We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom - symbolising an end as well as a beginning - signifying renewal as well as change.
.....Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world......To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right......
.....Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction......So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.........In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation.
The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
John Kennedy did not hide the truth of the challenges ahead from the American people or the people of the world. From the announcement of his nomination for the Presidency, he told all that there would be challenges to be met and sacrifices to be made...that he could only achieve what he set out to do with the help and support of the people of America and the rest of the world. He asked them to find the courage. He offered them leadership. He showed them that they could still have pride in themselves, their country and the world. In establishing the Peace Corps under the guidance of Sergeant Shriver, he inspired the youth of America and the world and gave them the opportunity to explore the belief that one individual could change the world for the better. He stated, then proved to sceptical Americans, that even with a Catholic President, the United States would not be ruled by the Vatican and began to break down religious barriers. He showed the people of the world that America was a friend and ally of all free men and foe of all oppressors. He also offered the opportunity to negotiate to any who would oppose or threaten, and above all, showed that he was human, humane and shouldered responsibility when things went wrong.
He was a strong leader. He vowed to pursue peace and disarmament and the abolition of the ‘Cold War’ - things which have been realised in the last few years - Jack Kennedy tried to do in the early 60’s.....had he succeeded, who knows? ‘Glasnost’ and ‘Perestroika’ may have been words of the 60's and 70's, instead of the 80's and 90's. John F Kennedy's ‘New Frontier’ and ‘New Generation’ were, unfortunately, a generation too soon. Too many had not yet put aside the memories of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Hirohito....and many of us today believe it got him killed.
Since childhood, JFK had not enjoyed good health. He had endured illnesses, diseases and a severe back problem for almost all his life. None of this affected his drive, vigour and determination to make the mark he did upon the world. As one aide put it “...pain was like a friend to him, it never left him, it was with him all the time...” It never stopped him or slowed him in his bid for excellence in everything he took on. He was and still is an inspiration to many who struggle through physical infirmity.
JFK had courage - and the courage of his convictions. The courage Kennedy showed as a young P.T. boat skipper who uplifted and reassured his stricken crew through his brave efforts to effect a rescue, carried on through the rest of his life. Probably no more so than during the Cuban Missile Crisis when he stood firm against Khrushchev, and the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war.
Many still criticise Kennedy for pushing the Russians to the limit, but it must never be forgotten that his basic belief and reason for forcing the issue was the defence of the United States. For, as he said in his inaugural speech:
“We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed”.
Kennedy took great pride in his country, its achievements and its potential. He also took pride in himself. He challenged himself and those around him to attain the highest levels of achievement. He pledged to uphold the law. By making his brother Robert Kennedy the Attorney General, he hoped to clean up Organised Crime. Where laws were outdated and inappropriate to the present and the future of his country he sought to have them changed. Where laws which were needed were non-existent, he sought to have them introduced. Kennedy had developed comprehensive and far-reaching civil rights and tax bills which were sent to Congress in 1963. President Johnson had these passed while the nation still mourned JFK’s death in early 1964, thus finally giving hope to all blacks and other oppressed and underprivileged groups in the U.S.
One of Kennedy’s prime goals was world peace. He advocated nuclear disarmament and successfully negotiated the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and began the thawing of the ‘Cold War’. For these and other overtures toward world peace and peace with the Russians, he was called a Communist by those who would rather he did not succeed. John Kennedy did not want to go out and fight the world’s battles for them. Viet Nam was the thorn in his side. He wanted to help people to help themselves - not do their dirty work for them! And what a different world this would be but for that terrible disaster, which Kennedy was trying to get the U.S. out of at the time of his death, the Viet Nam War. How many of us today would be different people, had Kennedy achieved this?
Even today, in his absence and in our living memories, John Fitzgerald Kennedy is a symbol of hope and of change, of a simpler way of life, of strong beliefs and values, of courage, of promise and of peace.
Charles Bartlett, a newspaperman and family friend, wrote on the weekend after the assassination:
“.....He had uncommon courage, unfailing humour, ever curious intelligence, and over all a matchless grace. He was our best. He will not be replaced, nor will he be forgotten, for in truth he was a kind of cheerful lightning who touched us all. We will remember him always with love and sometimes, as the years pass and the story is retold, with a little wonder”.
ARRB Acquires Personal Papers of Clay Shaw by Eileen Sullivan
(June 4, 1997)
The Assassination Records Review Board, the independent federal agency
overseeing the identification and release of records related to the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy, announced today that it has
acquired the original personal papers of the late Clay Shaw, the New
Orleans businessman charged with conspiracy to murder President Kennedy.
Shaw was acquitted after a jury trial in 1969.
Shaw, who died in 1974, was charged as part of the Kennedy assassination
investigation conducted by the late New Orleans District Attorney Jim
Garrison. The papers were kept by one of Shaws friends until two weeks ago
when he donated the seven boxes of materials to the Review Board.
The Shaw papers will surely add another dimension to this particular
chapter of the assassination story, said Judge John R. Tunheim, Board
chair. Because we had previously acquired records from District Attorney
Garrisons office and one of Clay Shaws defense attorney, the addition of
the Shaw personal papers means we now have an even more complete picture of
events that relate to New Orleans. All of these materials will enrich the
historical record of the assassination for future generations.
Judge Tunheim made the announcement of the acquisition of the Shaw papers
today at a hearing on H.R. 1553, which would authorize a one year extension
for the Board, before the National Security, International Affairs and
Criminal Justice Subcommittee, of the House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee. Tunheim highlighted for the Subcommittee an excerpt from Shaws
diary in which he recounted a pre-arrest interview with a prosecutor from
Garrisons office. Shaw wrote:
I explained to Sciambra that I had not at any time had an opportunity
to see Oswald, and had never met him under any other circumstances and
added what turned out to be a very ironic remark that it was perhaps
unfortunate that I did not because then I might possibly have been a
tiny footnote in history.
A copy of the page from the Shaw diary released by the Review Board today
is available from the Assassination Records Review Board, 600 E Street, NW,
Second Floor, Washington, DC 20530; telephone number: (202) 724-0088.
The entire collection of Shaw materials, which includes the diary, records
from his criminal case, correspondence, business records, his passports,
personal records and photographs, will eventually be available to the
public as part of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records
Collection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
facility in College Park, Maryland, after it has been processed by a NARA
archivist.
The Assassination Records Review Board was established by the JFK Act,
which was signed into law by President George Bush. The five members of
the Board were appointed by President Clinton, confirmed by the U.S.
Senate, and sworn in on April
11, 1994. The law gives the Review Board the mandate and the authority to
identify, secure, and make available all records related to the
assassination of President Kennedy. It is the responsibility of the Board
to determine which records are to be made public immediately and which ones
will have postponed release dates.
The Review Board consists of the following members:
Honorable John R. Tunheim, Chair; U.S. District Court Judge, District of
Minnesota.
Dr. Henry F. Graff; Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University.
Dr. Kermit L. Hall; Dean, College of Humanities, and Professor of History
at The Ohio State University.
Dr. William L. Joyce; Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and
Special Collections at Princeton University.
Dr. Anna K. Nelson; Distinguished Adjunct Historian in Residence at The
American University.
Why not continue and read the back issues of Probable Cause Australia?
Copies of all back issues, including all photographs, are still available. Just contact the editor via the Feedback link on the Probable Cause Australia welcome page.
N.B. The opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of the editor but all comments will be passed on to the relevant authors.
Credits
Editor-in-Chief : Steve Gerlach
Art Editor (Internet Live) : Steve Gerlach
Managing Editor : Paul Jones
Contributing Editor : Stephen Webb
Photographic Analysis : Tony Skomina
Internet : Steve Gerlach
Contributors : Karen Ticker, Enid Gray, Nick Sylene, Walt Brown, Dallas JFK-AIC, Steve Gerlach, Paul Jones, Tony Skomina, Eileen Sullivan, Steve Webb, Mary D., Robert Uhling.
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