Up
My Debates
McADAMS DOES A FLIP-FLOP
TESTIMONY OF GLENN EMMETT SMITH
BUTCH's PAGE
JOHN SCELSO
RFK JR SPEAKS ABOUT DALLAS CONSPIRACY
WARREN REPORT
DELAYED REVIEW INFORMATION
ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY FOLKS
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
jfk jr
what kind of country
CASE OPEN
OSAMA BIN LADEN VS. FBI
MUST SEE VIDEOS
HER FATHER'S VOICE
VOLUMES PAGES
SOME CLIPS FROM YOUTUBE
TIPPIT SHOOTING
HOWARD WILLENS
3126 HARLENDALE
REASON FOR TEXAS TRIP
WALKER SHOOTING
no prints on the rifle
SAM KINNEY
CASE DISMISSED
DR. PERRYS PRESS CONFERENCE
BAY OF PIGS AND IKE
OSWALD WAS A SPY
OSWALD AND RUBY
GEORGE DEMORENDSCHILDT
witness list from dpd
THE MAGIC BULLET
DALLAS DETECTIVES
DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN
MARINA TO ARRB
COLATERAL DMAGE
BUSH AND THE S AND L SCANDAL
READNG BILL COSBY
GUY BANNISTER
CIA AND BAY OF PIGS
SENATOR SCHWEIKER
BETHESDA
DAVID ATLEE PHILLIPS
LORAN EUGENE HALL (CIA)
KEN AND DAVE
oswald connected to anticastro group
SAFE HOUSE
DALLAS DETECTIVES REPORTS
DENNIS DAVID
LEFT-RIGHT--RIGHT-LEFT
ROY TRULY
JAMES ANGLETON
THE RETURN TRIP TO D. C.
oswald never arraigned
ANN GOODPASTURE
texas theater show times
OSWALD'S HEIGHTSS
LINNIE MAE RANDALL II
JAMES TAGUE
lousy witness bad memory
GERRY PATRICK HEMMING
Z FILM
HEAR NO EVIL
RIFLE REBARRALLED
BERNARD WEISSMAN
HSCA IMMUNITY
FRANK MOTE
CIA LIES TO EVERYONE
DALLAS POLICE RADIOS
CIA MURPHY
A TOUCH OF HUMOR
THE FBI TELEX
MAUSER RFEPORTS
SYNOPSIS
WALTER REED HOSPITAL
VOODOO OF WCR SUPPORTERS
MICHAEL PAINE - OSWALD
IMPEERSONATING OSWALD
OSWALD AND THE CIA
CASTRO ASSSSINATION
RUTH PAINE
DOMESTIC SPYING COSTS
FBI ADVANCE WARNING
BILL O'REILLY II
JFK-RFK CONNECTION
FIRE DARTS THROUGH UMBRELLA
DOCTORS PERRY AND CLARK
CUBANS HATED JFK
AUTOPSY INFO
marina and demorendschildt photo
SORRELS- LAPEL PINS
JANE ROMAN
CIA WEAPONS
CIA-NOSENKO DEFECTION
CITATIONS
HELMS TO CHURCH COMMITTEE
Hickey lawsuit
TWO SIDES
OSWALD's DEFECTION
DICK RUSSELL VS. LBJ
MEXICO CITTY
DEPORT MARINA
ORDERING-RECEIVING THE WEAPONS
POPOURRI
magic bullet
CIA KILLED JFK
JFK ADVERSARIES
JACK RUBY
WHO MOVED THE BOXES Givens VI
HSCA Medical Interviews
PUT UP - shut up
brown and root, haliburtin
THE NEW DALLAS
CURTAIN RODS
RACE TO GRASSY KNOLL
Chapter 4c
TOM ALYEA FILM
free online book
FIXING THE U. S. A.
TODAY
THE ENEMY WITHIN
HUNG JURY IN DALLAS
CANNOT DUPLICATE SHOTS
ARRIVAL AT BETHESDA
Spy Stuff
DENIED LEGAL ASSISTANCE
BAY OF PIGS SECRETS - C IA
FINDING THE RIFLE
PARAFFIN TEST
Oil Depletion Allowance
Single Bullet THEORY
FIREARMS LAWS JERRY McCLEER
Lho-ferrie-marcello
MEXICO CITY
PRESSURE DR. PERRY
Frederic Whitehurst
TRAMP PHOT5OS
WARREN REPORT REJECTED
KATZENBACH MEMO
DROP LBJ IN 1964
JFK PORTRAIT
OSWALD-ODIO
DEALY PLAZA (ARIEL VIEW)
GENESIS 1.1
DALLAS POLICE WEBSITE
JOHN CONNALLY BIO
HSCA VOLUME XI
CUBAN EXHILES-CIA
EXHUMING OSWALD's BODY
CRITICAL THINKING
T F BOWLEY
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
GEORGE BUSH
KILLING CITIZENS
SECRET HISTORY OF THE U. S. A.
DETENTE WITH CUBA
MULTIPLE OSWALDS
HOOVER VS. HENRY WADE
CIA AND THE MEDIA
FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC
MARINA O N OPRAH WINFREY
NIXON AID SAYS LBJ DID IT
IN A NUTSHELL
ZAPATA OIL
LEFT- RIGHT HANDED
STRANGE FBI DEATHS
1976 SWINE FLU
LAWRENCE W CUSAK
Hint of conspiracy
July 26-nov 22
JEAN DANIEL
GRASSY KNOLL PROVEN.htm
WHO KILLED RFK
KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND
COST OF MEXICO TRIP
DELAY OSWALD'S TRANSFER
bullet from knoll
Weitzman-Labruda
RICHARD M. BISSELL
KLEIN, SCIBOR,WALDMAN,MICHAELIS
BOUNCE MIchael BADEN
CIA SAYS HUNT WAS IN DALLAS
DRIVERS LICENSE
ELIMINATE DISSEDENTS
DICTABELT UPDATE
EVILS OF NATIONAL SECURITY
DOROTHY HUNT'S DEATH
CITY OF HATE
McADAMS LOSES..."AGAIN"
TOO MANY BRAINS
JFK VS NSA
EARL WARREN
ONI-OFFICE OF NAVEL INTEKLLIGENCE
FAKE RIFLE ORDER
second killing of jfk
JACK RUBY
Halliburton Questioned on $1
OSWALD REFUSED LEGAL COUNSEL
TRUTH - JUSTICE
anna k. nelson (ARRB)
FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC
THAT DAMNED CIA AGAIN
RICHARD HELMS PERJURY
JANE ROMAN
WILLIAM COLBY
I WONDER WHAT PART THIS GEM PLAY
HOWARD BRENNAN
SALUTE TO VINCE PALAMARA
WARREN REPORT REJECTED
A MATTER OF TIMING
A MISSING CAMERA
cia lied to rfk
VIETNAM COUP
DAVID REITZES
PUNISH FBI AGENTS
SUSPECT COMPOSITE PHOTO
CIA SUPPLIED OSWALD LITERATURE
RATING JFK
MORE McADAMS
MISSING EMPLOYEES
DON'T WORRY 'BOUT THE COMMIES
COERSION
LIST OF PEOPLE FRAMED AND OVERTURNED
HSCA
RICHARD M. BISSELL
MORE INFORMANTS STILL OUT THERE
JFK ASSASSINATION POLLS
OSWALD, BANNISTER FERRIE
RICHARD CASE NAGELL
MARGUERITE OSWALD
WEST COAST JFK CONFERENCE
KANGAROO COURT
DPD DISPATCHER REMOVED
LEE HARVEY OSWALD
criminal aliases II
priscilla johnson mCmillian
HOWARD BRENNAN-IMMUNITY
NEVER DEBATE EVIDENCE-TESTIMONY
FBI JURISDICTION
LETS I D SOME CIA FOLKS
SECRET SERVICE TOLLS
CRIMINALS USE ALIASES
THE DIFFERANCES
FOUND THIS ON THE INTRNET TODAY
MULTIPLE SERIAL NUMBERS
SOUNDS PRETTY SMART TO ME
JAMES FILES PHONY
A CALL FROM JFK Jr.
WANT TO KNOW INFO
CIA, MEDIA, STURGIS
DOUG HORNE
JOE O'DONNELL
truman and the cia
NO TUMBLING BULLET
CHARACTER ASSASSINATION
CIA AND THE MOB
GEORGE AND THE CIA
POSSIBLE DIVERSION
ISSUES MISSED
SNIPERS SMOKERS NOOK
the differences
richard helms
SALUTE TO GIL JESUS
cleaned and pressed
ANTON BATEY
some w c exhibits
DOROTHY HUNT
GERALD RUDOLPH FORD
JFK AND THE DIFFERENTIALS
RICHARD HELMS-CIA
TWO DIFFERENT STORIES
SBT BORN ON -3-13-64
JANUAR 2Y EXECUTIVE SESSION 1-27-64E
preparing the body after the aut
scavengers
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
STAY AWAY FROM RUTH PAINE
MORE WARREN BULLSHIT
civil rights violated
seymour hersh
CONNECTIONS
DISASSEMBLING THE MC RIFLE
DIFFERENCE
BAD LEADERSHIP
JFK BOOKS FOR SALE
MLK CONSPIRACY PROVEN IN COURT
BAY OF PIGS.HTML
E howard hunt - frank sturgis
THAT MC 6.5 AMMO AGAIN
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
Z-FILM ALTERED
KENNEDY VS. CIA
S S BELIEVED IN CONSPIRACY
CHANGING DEALY PLAZA
scorecard
CHAIN OF CUSTODY
cover-up
PAYING THE PIPER
SOME VOLUME PAGES
HOOVER LBJ PHONE CALL
FBI SCREWED UP BADLY
FREE PRESS MY ASS
oswsald learning russian
ALYEA REPLIES TO TOMNLN
GEORGE JOANNIDES
Dr renatus hartogs
FEDERAL TAX DOLLARS
curry's book very valuable
MORE NASTY STUFF
lt. martello
GERRY FORD THE RAT
FROM DPD WEBSITE
GEORGE BUSH GUILTY
cia assassination files
STAY OFF OF LIMO
GERALD RUDOLPH FORD
A LITTLE GIRL'S MEMORIES
JFK and the Unspeakable
ANOTHER INCOMPLETE ISSUE
OFFICER M. l. BAKER
MOTORCADE OCCUPANTS
ORIGIN OF SHOTS
WORTHWHILE QUOTES
FBI INTIMIDATION
ANOTHER SHELL GAME
timmy brennan
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
WALKER PHOTO HOLE
LEE HARVEY OSWALD
D B THOMAS REPORT
FUNERAL REHEARSAL
LIMO STOPPED
RADIO DEBATE
STEVEN LOUIE WITT PHONY
POI
HOW TO FIX IT
LEMAY WAS AT AUTOPSY
JFK VS U. S. STEEL
MISSION STATEMENT
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?
ADVICE COLUMN
WESTERN UNION
THE RALEIGH CALL
RICHARD STOLLEY
LIGHTS OUT
NO RIFLE PRACTICE
REGIS BLAHUT
CHRISTOPHER DODD
RECORDS WITHHELD
BILDERBERGS
MALCOLM WALLACE
ALTGENS
SECRET SERVICE DRINKING
JOHN CARO
DISINFORMATION
I G REPORT
FIRST DICK SPRAGUE
AUDREY BELL II
ROBERT BLAKELY
ROBERT OSWALD
AUDIO PAGE
JACK RUBY
some slides
CASE OPEN
MLK CONSPIRACY
HSCA Volume VII MISSING SLIDES
500.shtml
HOSTY NOTE FROM OSWALD
INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY
ZAPRUDER fILM
SOLVED INSTANTLY
EXTRA JFK BOOKS FOR SALE
GUESS WHO WROTE
Vinnie itis Round.pdf
VIDEO PAGE
Harold Weisberg
THE AUTOPSY
CHRISTCHURCH STAR
BETHESDA
B O H
THE ARREST
alter testimony
ALTERING EVIDENCE
AUDREY BELL
INVITATION
ALL BULLETS
Altgens Photo
KAY SPENCER
B Y PHOTOS
CIA COERCION
photos
VEITNAM
FRICK n FRACK
CIA CONNECTIONS
YOU ASKED FOR IT
FAKE SECRET SERVICE AGENTS
FALSE DEFECTORS
DALLAS SPEECH
DAMAGE CONTROL
CROOKED FBI AGENT
CROFT PHOTO WITH ANAYLISIS
DALE MYERS
DALLAS PD DICTABELT
ANY COMMENTS
HENRY WADE
MEDIA PAGE
SOME WEISBERG PAGES
TRUMAN AND THE CIA
WASH OUT THE LIMO
ORIGINAL SUSPECTS
SLING MOUNTS
ONLY 2 SHELLS FOUND
ORDERS OF SILENCE
A QUESTION OF CHARACTER
11 O
JFK SCORECARD
JFK vs CIA
Dan Rather
MARK LANE vs BUGLOISI
JOHN LATTIMER
LAW SUITS
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
BUGLOISI
THE DIFFERANCE
WHAT differences
UNITED FRUIT
STRANGE CONNECTIONS
U
Who can I D these rifles
POOR TIMMY
WIKILEAKS
NEEDS COMMENT
PERJURY
RUNNERS
NEEDS EXPLANATION
Regis BLAHUT
WHY WE FIGHT
WELL
Jack Ruby
LEE J BOWERS
SECRET TESTIMONY
WALLY WORLD
doug horne
Rather Lies
GIL JESUS PAGE
Great letter sent to Prof
jfk speech
Tink Thompson
OLIVER STONE
FBI
Lee Harvey Oswald
marina
Reasonable Doubt
RECLAIMING HISTORY
EXECUTIVE ORDERS
NORTHWOODS
Rewards
Characters
AMERICA
G. H. W. BUSH
HELSINKI
here are withheld doc's that we know of
HORNE REPORT
CTKA
Critics
NOT INVESTIGATED
LOPEZ REPORT |
|
on november 29th, president issued executive order
11130 see bottom paragraph
WARREN REPORT (Complete)
REPORT OF
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT KENNEDY
REPORT OF
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE
ASSASSINATION OF
President John F. Kennedy
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964
_________________________________________________________________________________
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C., 20402
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
______________
CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN, Chairman
FRANCIS W. H. ADAMS ALBERT E. JENNER, Jr.
JOSEPH A. BALL WESLEY J. LIEBELER
DAVID W. BELIN NORMAN REDLICH
WILLIAM T. COLEMAN, Jr . W. DAVID SLAWSON
MELVIN ARON EISENBERG ARLEN SPECTER
BURT W. GRIFFIN SAMUEL A. STERN
LEON D. HUBERT, Jr. HOWARD P. WILLENS**
Staff Members
PHILLIP BARSON
EDWARD A. CONROY
JOHN HART ELY
ALFRED GOLDBERG
MURRAY J. LAULICHT
ARTHUR MARMOR
RICHARD M. MOSK
JOHN J. O'BRIEN
STUART POLLAK
ALFREDDA SCOBEY
CHARLES N. SHAFFER, Jr.
LLOYD L. WEINREB
Letter of Transmittal
Page vii
PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION
ON THE
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
200 Maryland Ave. N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002 J. LEE RANKIN
Telephone 543-1400 General Counsel
EARL WARREN
Chairman
RICHARD B. RUSSELL
JOHN SHERMAN COOPER
HALE BOGGS
GERALD R. FORD
JOHN J. McCLOY
ALLEN W. DULLES
September 24, 1964
The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. President:
Your Commission to investigate the assassination
of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, having completed
its assignment in accordance with Executive Order No. 11130
of November 29, 1963, herewith submits its final report.
Respectfully,
Earl Warren
Earl Warren, Chairman
Richard B. Russell
John Sherman Cooper
Hale Boggs
Gerald R. Ford
Allen W. Dulles
Forword
Page ix
Foreword
PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON, by Executive Order No. 11130 dated November
29, 1963,1 created this Commission to investigate the assassination on
November 22, 1963, of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the
United States. The President directed the Commission to evaluate all the
facts and circumstances surrounding the assassination and the subsequent
killing of the alleged assassin and to report its findings and
conclusions to him.2
The subject of the Commission's inquiry was a chain of events which
saddened and shocked the people of the United States and of the world.
The assassination of President Kennedy and the simultaneous wounding of
John B. Connally, Jr., Governor of Texas, had been followed within an
hour by the slaying of Patrolman J. D. Tippit of the Dallas Police
Department. In the United States and abroad, these events evoked
universal demands for an explanation.
Immediately after the assassination, State and local officials in Dallas
devoted their resources to the apprehension of the assassin. The U.S.
Secret Service, which is responsible for the protection of the
President, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began an
investigation at the direction of President Johnson. Within 35 minutes
of the killing of Patrolman Tippit, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by
the Dallas police as a suspect in that crime. Based on evidence provided
by Federal, State, and local agencies, the State of Texas arraigned
Oswald within 12 hours of his arrest, charging him with the
assassination of President Kennedy and the murder of Patrolman Tippit.
On November 24, 1963, less than 18 hours after his arrest, Oswald was
fatally shot in the basement of the Dallas Police Department by Jack
Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. This shooting took place in full view of
a national television audience.
The events of these 2 days were witnessed with shock and disbelief by a
Nation grieving the loss of its young leader. Throughout. the world,
reports on these events were disseminated in massive detail. Theories
and speculations mounted regarding the assassination. In many instances,
the intense public demand for facts was met by partial and frequently
conflicting reports from Dallas and elsewhere. After Oswald's arrest and
his denial of all guilt, public attention focused both on the extent of
the evidence against him and the possibility of a conspiracy, domestic
or foreign. His subsequent death heightened public interest and
stimulated additional suspicions and rumors.
Page x
THE COMMISSION AND ITS POWERS
After Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, it was no longer possible
to arrive at the complete story of the assassination through normal
judicial procedures during a trial of the alleged assassin. Alternative
means for instituting a complete investigation were widely discussed.
Federal and State officials conferred on the possibility of initiating a
extort of inquiry before a State magistrate in Texas. An investigation
by the grand jury of Dallas County also was considered. As speculation
about the existence of a foreign or domestic conspiracy became
widespread, committees in both Houses of Congress weighed the
desirability of congressional hearings to discover all the facts
relating to the assassination.
By his order of November 29 establishing the Commission, President
Johnson sought to avoid parallel investigations and to concentrate
factfinding in a body having the broadest national mandate. As Chairman
of the Commission, President Johnson selected Earl Warren, Chief Justice
of the United States, former Governor and attorney general of the State
of California. From the U.S. Senate, he chose Richard B. Russell,
Democratic Senator from Georgia and chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, former Governor of, and county attorney in, the
State of Georgia, and John Sherman Cooper, Republican Senator from
Kentucky, former county and circuit judge, State of Kentucky, and U.S.
Ambassador to India. Two members of the Commission were drawn from the
U.S. House of Representatives: Hale Boggs, Democratic U.S.
Representative from Louisiana and majority whip, and Gerald R. Ford,
Republican, U.S. Representative from Michigan and chairman of the House
Republican Conference. From private life, President Johnson selected two
lawyers by profession, both of whom have served in the administrations
of Democratic and Republican Presidents: Allen W. Dulles, former
Director of Central Intelligence, and John J. McCloy, former President
of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, former
U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, and during World War II, the
Assistant. Secretary of War.
From its first meeting on December 5, 1963, the Commission viewed the
Executive order as an unequivocal Presidential mandate to conduct a
thorough and independent investigation. Because of the numerous rumors
and theories, the Commission concluded that the public interest in
insuring that the truth was ascertained could not be met by merely
accepting the reports or the analyses of Federal or State agencies. Not
only were the premises and conclusions of those reports critically
re-assessed, but all assertions or rumors relating to a possible
conspiracy, or the complicity of others than Oswald, which have come to
the attention of the Commission, were investigated.
On December 13, 1963, Congress enacted Senate Joint Resolution 137
(Public Law 88 202) 3 empowering the Commission to issue subpoenas
requiring the testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence
relating to any matter under its investigation. In addition, the
Page xi
resolution authorized the Commission to compel testimony from witnesses
claiming the privilege against self- incrimination under the fifth
amendment to the U.S. Constitution by providing for the grant of
immunity to persons testifying under such compulsion. Immunity under
these provisions was not granted to any witness during the Commission's
investigation.
The Commission took steps immediately to obtain the necessary staff to
fulfill its assignment. J. Lee Rankin, former Solicitor General of the
United States, was sworn in as general counsel for the Commission on
December 16, 1963. Additional members of the legal staff were selected
during the next few weeks. The Commission has been aided by 14 assistant
counsel with high professional qualifications, selected by it from
widely separated parts of the United States. This staff undertook the
work of the Commission with a wealth of legal and investigative
experience and a total dedication to the determination of the truth. The
Commission has been assisted also by highly qualified personnel from
several Federal agencies, assigned to the Commission at its request.
This group included lawyers from the Department of Justice, agents of
the Internal Revenue Service, a senior historian from the Department of
Defense, an editor from the Department of State, and secretarial and
administrative staff supplied by the General Services Administration and
other agencies.
In addition to the assistance afforded by Federal agencies, the
Commission throughout its inquiry had the cooperation of representatives
of the city of Dallas and the State of Texas. The attorney general of
Texas, Waggoner Carr, aided by two distinguished lawyers of that State,
Robert G. Storey of Dallas, retired dean of the Southern Methodist
University Law School and former president of the Amer-jean Bar
Association, and Leon Jaworski of Houston, former president of the Texas
State Bar Association, has been fully informed at all times as to the
in-ogress of the investigation, and has advanced such suggestions as he
and his special assistants considered helpful to the accomplishment of
the Commission's assignment. Attorney General Carr has promptly supplied
the Commission with pertinent information possessed by Texas officials.
Dallas officials, particularly those from the police department, have
fully complied with all requests made by the Commission.
THE INVESTIGATION
During December and early January the Commission received an increasing
volume of reports from Federal and State investigative agencies. Of
principal importance was the five volume report of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, submitted on December 9, 1963, which summarized the
results of the investigation conducted by the Bureau immediately after
the assassination. After reviewing this report, the Commission requested
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to furnish the underlying
investigative materials relied upon in the
Page xii
summary report. The first investigative reports submitted in response to
this request were delivered to the Commission on December 20, 1963. On
December 18, the Secret Service submitted a detailed report on security
precautions taken before President Kennedy's trip to Texas and a summary
of the events of November 22, as witnessed by Secret Service agents. A
few days later the Department, of State submitted a report relating to
Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union in 1959, and his return to the
United States in 1962. On January 7 and 11~ 1964, the attorney general
of Texas submitted an extensive set of investigative materials, largely
Dallas police reports, on the assassination of President Kennedy and the
killing of Oswald.
As these investigative reports were received, the staff began analyzing
and summarizing them. The members of the legal staff, divided into
teams, proceeded to organize the facts revealed by these investigations,
determine the issues, sort out the unresolved problems, and recommend
additional investigation by the Commission. Simultaneously, to insure
that no relevant information would be overlooked, the Commission
directed requests to the 10 major departments of the Federal Government,
14 of its independent agencies or commissions, and 4 congressional
committees for all information relating to the assassination or the
background and activities of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.
After reviewing the accumulating materials, the Commission directed
numerous additional requests to Federal and State investigative
agencies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service
executed the detailed requests for statements of witnesses and
examinations of physical evidence with dispatch and thoroughness. All
these reports were reviewed and analyzed by the Commission. Additional
investigative requests, where appropriate, were handled by Internal
Revenue Service, Department of State, and the military intelligence
agencies with comparable skill. Investigative analyses of particular
significance and sensitivity in the foreign areas were contributed by
the Central Intelligence Agency. On occasion the Commission used
independent experts from State and city govern-meats to supplement or
verify information. During the investigation the Commission on several
occasions visited the scene of the assassination and other places in the
Dallas area pertinent to the inquiry.
The scope and detail of the investigative effort by the Federal and
State agencies are suggested in part by statistics from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service. Immediately after the
assassination more than 80 additional FBI personnel were transferred to
the Dallas office on a temporary basis to assist in the investigation.
Beginning November 22, 1963, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
conducted approximately 25,000 interviews and relater-views of persons
having information of possible relevance to the investigation and by
September 11, 1964, submitted over 2,300 reports totaling approximately
25,400 pages to the Commission. During the same period the Secret
Service conducted approximately 1,550 interviews and submitted 800
reports totaling some 4,600 pages.
xii
Page xiii
Because of the diligence, cooperation, and facilities of Federal
investigative agencies, it was unnecessary for the Commission to employ
investigators other than the members of the Commission's legal staff.
The Commission recognized, however, that special measures were required
whenever the facts or rumors called for an appraisal of the acts of the
agencies themselves. The staff reviewed in detail the actions of several
Federal agencies, particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
Secret Service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of
State. Initially the Commission requested the agencies to furnish all
their reports relating to the assassination and their relationships with
Oswald or Ruby. On the basis of these reports, the Commission submitted
specific questions to the agency involved. Members of the staff followed
up the answers by reviewing the relevant files of each agency for
additional information. In some instances, members of the Commission
also reviewed the files in person. Finally, the responsible officials of
these agencies were called to testify under oath. Dean Rusk, Secretary
of State; C. Douglas Dillon, Secretary of the Treasury; John A. McCone,
Director of the Central intelligence Agency; J. Edgar Hoover, Director
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and James J. Rowley, Chief of
the Secret Service, appeared as witnesses and testified fully regarding
their agencies' participation in the matters under scrutiny by the
Commission.
COMMISSION HEARINGS
In addition to the information resulting from these investigations, the
Commission has relied primarily on the facts disclosed by the sworn
testimony of the principal witnesses to the assassination and related
events. Beginning on February 3, 1964, the Commission and its staff has
taken the testimony of 552 witnesses. Of this number, 94 appeared before
members of the Commission; 395 were questioned by members of the
Commission's legal staff; 61 supplied sworn affidavits; and 2 gave
statements. 4 Under Commission procedures, all witnesses were advised
that they had the right to the presence and the advice of their lawyer
during the interrogation, with the corollary rights to raise objections
to any questions asked, to make any clarifying statement on the record
after the interrogation, and to purchase a copy of their testimony.5
Commission hearings were closed to the public unless the witness
appearing before the Commission requested an open hearing. Under these
procedures, testimony of one witness was taken in a public hearing on
two occasions. No other witness requested a public hearing. The
Commission concluded that the premature publication by it of testimony
regarding the assassination or the subsequent killing of Oswald might
interfere with Ruby's rights to a fair and impartial trial on the
charges filed against him by the State of Texas. The Commission also
recognized that testimony would be presented before it which would be
inadmissible in judicial proceedings and might
xiii
Page xiv
prejudice innocent parties if made public out of context. In addition to
the witnesses who appeared before the Commission, numerous others
provided sworn depositions, affidavits, and statements upon which the
Commission has relied. Since this testimony, as well as that taken
before the Commission, could not always be taken in logical sequence,
the Commission concluded that partial publication of testimony as the
investigation progressed was impractical and could be misleading.
THE COMMISSION'S FUNCTION
The Commission's most difficult assignments have been to uncover all the
facts concerning the assassination of President Kennedy and to determine
if it was in any way directed or encouraged by unknown persons at home
or abroad. In this process, its objective has been to identify the
person or persons responsible for both the assassination of President
Kennedy and the killing of Oswald through an examination of the
evidence. The task has demanded unceasing appraisal of the evidence by
the individual members of the Commission in their effort to discover the
whole truth.
The procedures followed by the Commission in developing and assessing
evidence necessarily differed from those of a court conducting a
criminal trial of a defendant present before it, since under our system
there is no provision for a posthumous trial. If Oswald had lived he
could have had a trial by American standards of justice where he would
have been able to exercise his full rights under the law. A judge and
jury would have presumed him innocent until proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt. He might have furnished information which could have
affected the course of his trial. He could have participated in and
guided his defense. There could have been an examination to determine
whether he was sane under prevailing legal standards. All witnesses,
including possibly the defendant, could have been subjected to searching
examination under the adversary system of American trials.
The Commission has functioned neither as a court presiding over an
adversary proceeding nor as a prosecutor determined to prove a case, but
as a factfinding agency committed to the ascertainment of the truth. In
the course of the investigation of the facts and rumors surrounding
these matters, it was necessary to explore hearsay and other sources of
information not admissible in a court proceeding obtained from persons
who saw or heard and others in a position to observe what occurred. In
fairness to the alleged assassin and his family, the Commission on
February 25, 1964, requested Walter E. Craig, president of the American
Bar Association, to participate in the investigation and to advise the
Commission whether in his opinion the proceedings conformed to the basic
principles of American justice. Mr. Craig accepted this assignment and
participated fully and with out limitation. He attended Commission
hearings in person or through his appointed assistants. All working
papers, reports, and
xiv
Page xv
other data in Commission files were made available, and Mr. Craig and
his associates were given the opportunity to cross- examine witnesses,
to recall any witness heard prior to his appointment, and to suggest
witnesses whose testimony they would like to have the Commission hear.
This procedure was agreeable to counsel for Oswald's widow.
THE COMMISSION'S REPORT
In this report the Commission submits the results of its investigation.
Each member of the Commission has given careful consideration to the
entire report and concurs in its findings and conclusions. The report
consists of an initial chapter summarizing the Commission's basic
findings and conclusions, followed by a detailed analysis of the facts
and the issues raised by the events of November 22, 1963, and the 2
following days. Individual chapters consider the trip to Dallas, the
shots from the Texas School Book Depository, the identity of the
assassin, the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald, the possibility of a
conspiracy, Oswald's background and possible motive, and arrangements
for the protection of the President. In these chapters, rather than rely
on cross references, the Commission on occasion has repeated certain
testimony in order that the reader might have the necessary information
before him while examining the conclusions of the Commission on each
important issue.
With this report the Commission is submitting the complete testimony of
all the witnesses who appeared before the Commission or gave sworn
depositions or affidavits, the accompanying documentary exhibits, and
other investigative materials which are relied upon in this report. The
Commission is committing all of its reports and working papers to the
National Archives, where they can be permanently preserved under the
rules and regulations of the National Archives and applicable Federal
law.
XV
Contents
Page xvii
Contents
Page
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL vii
FOREWORD ix
CHAPTER I. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1
Narrative of Events 1
Conclusions 18
Recommendations 25
CHAPTER II. THE ASSASSINATION 28
Planning the Texas Trip 28
Advance Preparations for the Dallas Trip 29
Preventive Intelligence Activities 29
The Luncheon Site 30
The Motorcade Route 31
Dallas Before the Visit 40
Visits to Other Texas Cities 42
Arrival at Love Field 42
Organization of the Motorcade 43
The Drive Through Dallas 46
The Assassination 48
The Time 48
Speed of the Limousine 49
In the Presidential Limousine 49
Reaction by Secret Service Agents 50
Parkland Memorial Hospital 52
The Race to the Hospital 52
Treatment of President Kennedy 53
Treatment of Governor Connally 56
Vice President Johnson at Parkland 56
Secret Service Emergency Security Arrangements 57
Removal of the Presidents Body 58
The End of the Trip 59
Swearing in of the New President 59
Return to Washington, D.C 59
The Autopsy 59
CHAPTER III. THE SHOTS FROM THE TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK
DEPOSITORY 61
The Witness 61
Near the Depository 63
On the Fifth Floor 68
At the Triple Underpass 71
The Presidential Automobile 76
xvii
Page xviii
CHAPTER III. THE SHOTS FROM THE TEXAS SCHOOL
BOOK DEPOSITORY--Continued Page
Expert Examination of Rifle, Cartridge Cases, and Bullet
Fragments 79
Discovery of Cartridge Cases and Rifle 79
Discovery of Bullet at Parkland Hospital 79
Description of Rifle 81
Expert Testimony 84
The Bullet Wounds 85
The President's Head Wounds 86
The President's Neck Wounds 87
The Governor's Wounds 92
The Trajectory 96
Films and Test 96
The First Bullet That Hit 97
The Subsequent Bullet That Hit 109
Number of Shots 110
The Shot That Missed 111
The First Shot 111
The Second Shot 115
The Third Shot 115
Time Span of Shots 117
Conclusion 117
CHAPTER IV. THE ASSASSIN 118
Ownership and Possession of Assassination Weapon 118
Purchase of Rifle by Oswald 118
Oswald's Palmprint on Rifle Barrel 122
Fibers on Rifle 124
Photograph of Oswald With Rifle 125
Rifle Among Oswald's Possessions 128
Conclusions 129
The Rifle in the Building 129
The Curtain Rod Story 129
The Missing Rifle 130
The Long and Bulky Package 131
Location of the Bag 134
Scientific Evidence Linking Rifle and Oswald to
Paper Bag 135
Conclusion 137
Oswald at the Window 137
Palmprints and Fingerprints on Cartons and Paper Bag 140
Oswald's Presence on Sixth Floor Approximately
35 Minutes Before the Assassination 143
Eyewitness Identification of Assassin 143
Oswald's Actions in Building After Assassination 149
Conclusion 156
xviii
Page xix
CHAPTER IV. THE ASSASSIN--Continued Page
The Killing of Patrolman J. D. Tippit 156
Oswald's Movements After Leaving Depository
Building 157
Description of Shooting 165
Eyewitnesses 166
Murder Weapon 171
Ownership of Revolver 172
Oswald's Jacket 175
Conclusion 176
Oswald's Arrest 176
Statements of Oswald During Detention 180
Denial of Rifle Ownership'. 180
The Revolver 181
The Aliases "Hidell" and "O. H. Lee" 181
The Curtain Rod Story 182
Actions During and After Shooting 182
Prior Attempt To Kill 183
The Attempt on the Life of Maj. Gen. Edwin A.
Walker. 183
Richard M. Nixon Incident 187
Oswald's Rifle Capability 189
The Nature of the Shots 189
Oswald's Marine Training 191
Oswald's Rifle Practice Outside the Marines 192
Accuracy of Weapon 193
Conclusion 195
Conclusion. 195
CHAPTER V. DETENTION AND DEATH OF OSWALD 196
Treatment of Oswald in Custody 196
Chronology 198
Interrogation Sessions 199
Oswald's Legal Rights 200
Activity of Newsmen 201
On the Third Floor 201
Oswald and the Press 206
The Abortive Transfer 208
Possible Assistance to Jack Ruby in Entering the Basement 216
Adequacy of Security Precautions 225
News Coverage and Police Policy 231
Responsibility of News Media 240
CHAPTER VI. INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBLE CON-
SPIRACY 243
Circumstances Surrounding the Assassination 245
Selection of Motorcade Route 245
Oswald's Presence in the Depository Building 246
Bringing Rifle Into Building 247
xix
Page xx
CHAPTER VI. INVESTIGATION OF POSSIBLE CON-
SPIRACY--Continued
Circumstances Surrounding the Assassination--Con. Page
Accomplices at the Scene of the Assassination 248
Oswald's Escape 252
Background of Lee Harvey Oswald 254
Residence in the Soviet Union 254
Associations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Community.. 280
Political Activities Upon Return to the United States. 287
Contacts With the Cuban and Soviet Embassies in
Mexico City and the Soviet Embassy in Washington,
D.C. 299
Investigation of Other Activities 312
Oswald Was Not an Agent for the U.S. Government. 325
Oswald's Finances 328
Possible Conspiracy Involving Jack Ruby 333
Ruby's Activities From November 21 to November
24, 1963 333
Ruby and Oswald Were Not Acquainted 359
Ruby's Background and Associations 365
Conclusion 374
CHAPTER VII. LEE HARVEY OSWALD: BACKGROUND
AND POSSIBLE MOTIVES 375
The Early Years 377
New York City 378
Return to New Orleans and Joining the Marine Corps... 383
Interest in Marxism 388
Defection to the Soviet Union 390
Return to the United States 394
Personal Relations 400
Employment 402
Attack on General Walker 404
Political Activities 406
Interest in Cuba 412
Possible Influence of Anti-Kennedy Sentiment in Dallas.. 415
Relationship With Wife 416
The Unanswered Questions 421
Conclusion 423
CHAPTER VIII. THE PROTECTION OF THE PRESIDENT 425
The Nature of the Protective Assignment 426
Evaluation of Presidential Protection at the Time of the
Assassination of President Kennedy 428
Intelligence Functions Relating to Presidential Pro-
tection at the Time of the Dallas Trip 429
Liaison With Other Government Agencies 444
Other Protective Measures and Aspects of Secret
Service Performance 444
xx
Page xxi
CHAPTER VIII. THE PROTECTION OF THE PRESI-
DENT---Continued Page
Recommendations 454
Assassination a Federal Crime 454
Committee of Cabinet Officers 456
Responsibilities for Presidential Protection 457
General Supervision of the Secret Service 460
Preventive Intelligence 461
Liaison With Local Law Enforcement Agencies 465
Inspection of Buildings 466
Secret Service Personnel and Facilities 466
Manpower and Technical Assistance From Other
Agencies 467
Conclusions 468
APPENDIX I. EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 11130 471
APPENDIX II. WHITE HOUSE RELEASE 472
APPENDIX III. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 137 473
APPENDIX IV. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 475
Members of Commission 475
General Counsel 476
Assistant Counsel 476
Staff Members 477
Acknowledgments 481
APPENDIX V. LIST OF WITNESSES 483
APPENDIX VI. COMMISSION PROCEDURES FOR THE
TAKING OF TESTIMONY 501
Resolution Governing Questioning of Witnesses by Mem-
bers of the Commission Staff 501
APPENDIX VII. A BRIEF HISTORY OF PRESIDENTIAL
PROTECTION 504
Before the Civil War 504
Lincoln 505
The Need for Protection Further Demonstrated 507
Development of Presidential Protection 510
APPENDIX VIII. MEDICAL REPORTS FROM DOCTORS
AT PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, DALLAS,
TEX. 516
APPENDIX IX. AUTOPSY REPORT AND SUPPLE-
MENTAL REPORT 538
xxi
Page xxii Page
APPENDIX X. EXPERT TESTIMONY 547
Firearms and Firearms Identification 547
General Principles 547
The Rifle 553
Rifle Cartridge and Cartridge Cases 555
The Rifle Bullets 557
The Revolver 558
Revolver Cartridges and Cartridge Cases 559
Revolver Bullets 559
The Struggle for the Revolver 560
The Paraffin Test 560
The Walker Bullet 562
Fingerprints and Palmprints 563
General Principles 563
Objects in the Texas School Book Depository Building 556
Questioned Documents 566
The Mail Order for the C2766 Rifle, the Related En-
velope, and the Money Order 569
Mail Order for the V510210 Revolver 570
Post Office Box Applications and Change-of-Address
Card 570
The Spurious Selective Service System Notice of
Classification and U.S. Marine Corps Certificate
of Service 571
The Hidell Notice of Classification 571
The Hidell Certificate of Service 576
The Vaccination Certificate 577
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee Card 578
The Unsigned Russian-Language Note 578
The Homemade Wrapping Paper Bag 579
Wound Ballistics Experiments 580
Purpose of the Tests 580
The Testers and Their Qualifications 580
General Testing Conditions 581
Tests on Penetration Power and Bullet Stability 581
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Neck Wound. 582
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Chest Wounds. 582
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Wrist Wounds. 583
Conclusions From Simulating the Neck, Chest, and
Wrist Wounds 584
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Head Wounds. 585
Hairs and Fibers 586
General Principles 588
Photographs 592
APPENDIX XI. REPORTS RELATING TO THE INTER-
ROGATION OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD AT THE
DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT 598
xxii
Page xxiii Page
APPENDIX XII. SPECULATIONS AND RUMORS 637
The Source of the Shots 639
The Assassin 642
Oswald's Movements Between 12:33 and 1:15 p.m. 648
Murder of Tippit . 650
Oswald After His Arrest 654
Oswald in the Soviet Union 655
Oswald's Trip to Mexico City 658
Oswald and U.S.. Government Agencies 659
Conspiratorial Relationships 661
Other Rumors and Speculations 664
APPENDIX XIII. BIOGRAPHY OF LEE HARVEY
OSWALD 669
Early Years 669
Marines 681
Soviet Union 689
Fort Worth, Dallas, New Orleans 713
Mexico City 730
Dallas 737
APPENDIX XIV. ANALYSIS OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S
FINANCES FROM JUNE 13, 1962, THROUGH
NOVEMBER 22, 1963 741
APPENDIX CV. TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN LEE
HARVEY OSWALD AND MARINA OSWALD, AND
THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND THE
IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE
OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 746
Issuance of Passport in 1959 746
Oswald's Attempts To Renounce His U.S. Citizenship 747
Return and Renewal of Oswald's 1959 Passport 752
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy 752
Legal Justification for the Return and Reissue of
Oswald's Passport 759
Authorization for Marina Oswald To Enter the United
States 761
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy 761
Legal Justification for the Decisions Affecting Marina
Oswald 766
Oswald's Letter to Senator Tower 769
The Loan From the State Department 770
Oswald's Return to the United States and Repayment of
His Loan 773
Issuance of a Passport in June 1963 773
Visit to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City 777
Conclusion 777
xxiii
APPENDIX XVI. A BIOGRAPHY OF JACK RUBY 779
Family Background 779
Childhood and Youth (1911-33) 780
Psychiatric Report 781
Placement in Foster Homes 782
Subsequent Home Life 783
Education 784
Activities 784
Temperament 785
Young Manhood (1933-43) 786
San Francisco (1933-37) 786
Occupations and Activities 786
Chicago (193743) 787
Military Activities (1943 46) 790
Postwar Chicago (1946 47) 791
Dallas (1947-63) 792
The Move to Dallas 792
The Change of Name 793
Nightclub Operations 794
Employee Relationships 796
Financial Data and Tax Problems 797
Other Business Ventures 799
Arrests and Violations 800
Police Associations 800
Underworld Ties 801
Travels 801
Character and Interests 802
Family Relationships 802
Social Relationships 803
Affection for Dogs 804
Religious Interests 804
Physical Activities and Violence 804
Generosity to Friends and the Need for Recognition. 806
APPENDIX XVII. POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION OF
JACK............................807
Preliminary Arrangements 807
Administration of the Test 809
Interpretation of the Test 813
APPENDIX XVIII. FOOTNOTES 817
xxiv
Chapter I Summary and Conclusions
Page 1
CHAPTER I
Summary and Conclusions
THE ASSASSINATION of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was a
cruel and shocking act of violence directed against a man, a family, a
nation, and against all mankind. A young and vigorous leader whose years
of public and private life stretched before him was the Victim of the
fourth Presidential assassination in the history of a country dedicated
to the concepts of reasoned argument and peaceful political change. This
Commission was created on November 29, 1963, in recognition of the right
of people everywhere to full and truthful knowledge concerning these
events. This report endeavors to fulfill that right and to appraise this
tragedy by the light of reason and the standard of fairness. It has been
prepared with a deep awareness of the Commission's responsibility to
present to the American people an objective report of the facts relating
to the assassination.
Narrative of Events
Page 1
NARRATIVE OF EVENTS
At 11:40 a.m.., c.s.t., on Friday, November '22, 1963, President John F.
Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy, and their party arrived at Love Field, Dallas,
Tex. Behind them was the first day of a Texas trip planned 5 months
before by the President, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and John B.
Connally, Jr., Governor of Texas. After leaving the White House on
Thursday morning, the President had flown initially to San Antonio where
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson joined the party and the President
dedicated new research facilities at the U.S. Air Force School of
Aerospace Medicine. Following a testimonial dinner in Houston for U.S.
Representative Albert Thomas, the President flew to Fort Worth where he
spent the night and spoke at a large breakfast gathering on Friday.
Planned for later that day were a motorcade through downtown Dallas, a
luncheon speech at the Trade Mart, and a flight to Austin where the
President would attend a reception and speak at a Democratic fundraising
dinner. From Austin he would proceed to the Texas ranch of the Vice
President. Evident on this trip were the
Page 2
varied roles which an American President performs--Head of State, Chief
Executive, party leader, and, in this instance, prospective candidate
for reelection.
The Dallas motorcade, it was hoped, would evoke a demonstration of the
President's personal popularity in a city which he had lost in the 1960
election. Once it had been decided that the trip to Texas would span 2
days, those responsible for planning, primarily Governor Connally and
Kenneth O'Donnell, a special assistant to the President, agreed that a
motorcade through Dallas would be desirable. The Secret Service was told
on November 8 that 45 minutes had been allotted to a motorcade
procession from Love Field to the site of a luncheon planned by Dallas
business and civic leaders in honor of the President. After considering
the facilities and security problems of several buildings, the Trade
Mart was chosen as the luncheon site. Given this selection, and in
accordance with the customary practice of affording the greatest number
of people an opportunity to see the President, the motorcade route
selected was a natural one. The route was approved by the local host
committee and White House representatives on November 18 and publicized
in the local papers starting on November 19. This advance publicity made
it clear that the motor-cede would leave Main Street and pass the
intersection of Elm and Houston Streets as it proceeded to the Trade
Mart by way of the Stemmons Freeway.
By midmorning of November 22, clearing skies in Dallas dispelled the
threat of rain and the President greeted the crowds from his open
limousine without the "bubbletop," which was at that time a plastic
shield furnishing protection only against inclement weather. To the
left. of the President in the rear seat was Mrs. Kennedy. In the jump
seats were Governor Connally, who was in front of the President, and
Mrs. Connally at the Governor's left. Agent William R. Greer of the
Secret Service was driving, and Agent Roy H. Kellerman was sitting to
his right.
Directly behind the Presidential limousine was an open "followup" car
with eight Secret Service agents, two in the front seat, two in the
rear, and two on each running board. These agents, in accordance with
normal Secret Service procedures, were instructed to scan the crowds,
the roofs, and windows of buildings, overpasses, and crossings for signs
of trouble. Behind the "followup" car was the Vice-Presidential car
carrying the Vice President and Mrs. Johnson and Senator Ralph W.
Yarborough. Next were a Vice-Presidential "followup" car and several
cars and buses for additional dignitaries, press representatives, and
others.
The motorcade left Love Field shortly after 11:50 a.m., and proceeded
through residential neighborhoods, stopping twice at the President's
request to greet, well-wishers among the friendly crowds. Each time the
President's car halted, Secret Service agents from the "followup" car
moved forward to assume a protective stance near the President and Mrs.
Kennedy. As the motorcade reached Main Street, a principal east-west
artery in downtown Dallas, the welcome became
Page 3
tumultuous. At the extreme west end of Main Street the motorcade turned
right on Houston Street and proceeded north for one block in order to
make a left turn on Elm Street, the most direct and convenient approach
to the Stemmons Freeway and the Trade Mart. As the President's car
approached the intersection of Houston and Elm Streets, there loomed
directly ahead on the intersection's northwest corner a seven-story,
orange brick warehouse and office building, the Texas School Book
Depository. Riding in the Vice President's car, Agent Rufus W.
Youngblood of the Secret Service noticed that the clock atop the
building indicated 12:30 p.m., the scheduled arrival time at the Trade
Mart.
The President's car which had been going north made a sharp turn toward
the southwest onto Elm Street. At a. speed of about 11 miles per hour,
it started down the gradual descent toward a railroad overpass under
which the motorcade would proceed before reaching the Stemmons Freeway.
The front of the Texas School Book Depository was now on the President's
right, and he waved to the crowd assembled there as he passed the
building. Dealey Plaza--an open, landscaped area marking the western end
of downtown Dallas stretched out to the President's left. A Secret
Service agent riding in the motorcade radioed the Trade Mart that the
President would arrive in 5 minutes.
Seconds later shots resounded in rapid succession. The President's hands
moved to his fleck. He appeared to stiffen momentarily and lurch
slightly forward in his seat. A bullet had entered the base of the back
of his neck slightly to the right of the spine. It traveled downward and
exited from the front of the neck, causing a nick in the left lower
portion Of the knot in the President's necktie. Before the shooting
started, Governor Connally had been facing toward the crowd on the
right. He started to turn toward the left and suddenly felt a blow on
his back. The Governor had been hit by a bullet which entered at the
extreme right side of his back at a point below his right armpit. The
bullet traveled through his chest in a downward and forward direction,
exited below his right nipple, passed through his right wrist which had
been in his lap, and then caused a wound to his left thigh. The force of
the bullet's impact appeared to spin the Governor to his right, and Mrs.
Connally pulled him down into her lap. Another bullet then struck
President Kennedy in the rear portion of his head, causing a massive and
fatal wound. The President fell to the left into Mrs. Kennedy's lap.
Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, riding on the left running board
of the "followup" car, heard a noise which sounded like a firecracker
and saw the President suddenly lean forward and to the left. Hill jumped
off the car and raced toward the President's limousine. In the front
seat of the Vice-Presidential car, Agent Youngblood heard an explosion
and noticed unusual movements in the crowd. He vaulted into the rear
seat and sat on the Vice President in order to protect him. At the same
time Agent Kellerman in the front seat of the Presidential limousine
turned to observe the President. Seeing
Page 4
that the President was struck, Kellerman instructed the driver, "Let's
get out of here; we are hit." He radioed ahead to the lead car, "Get us
to the hospital immediately." Agent Greer immediately accelerated the
Presidential car. As it gained speed, Agent Hill ma-aged to pull himself
onto the back of the car where Mrs. Kennedy had climbed. Hill pushed her
back into the rear seat and shielded the stricken President and Mrs.
Kennedy as the President's car proceeded at high speed to Parkland
Memorial Hospital, 4 miles away.
At Parkland, the President was immediately treated by a team of
physicians who had been alerted for the President's arrival by the
Dallas Police Department as the result of a radio message from the
motorcade after the shooting. The doctors noted irregular breathing
movements and a possible heartbeat, although they could not detect a
pulsebeat. They observed the extensive wound in the President's head and
a small wound approximately one-fourth inch in diameter in the lower
third of his neck. In act effort to facilitate breathing, the physicians
performed a tracheotomy by enlarging the throat wound and inserting a
tube. Totally absorbed in the immediate task of trying to preserve the
President's life, the attending doctors never turned the president over
for an examination of his back. At l p.m., after all heart activity
ceased and the Last Rites were administered by a priest, President
Kennedy was pronounced dead. Governor Connally underwent surgery and
ultimately recovered from his serious wounds.
Upon learning of the President's death, Vice President Johnson left
Parkland Hospital under close guard and proceeded to the Presidential
plane at Love Field. Mrs. Kennedy, accompanying her husband's body,
boarded the plane shortly thereafter. At 2:38 p.m., in the central
compartment of the plane, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th
President of the United States by Federal District Court Judge Sarah T.
Hughes. The plane left immediately for Washington, D.C., arriving at
Andrews AFB, Md., at 5:58 p.m., e.s.t.. The President's body was taken
to the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., where it was given
a complete pathological examination. The autopsy disclosed the large
bead wound observed at Parkland and the wound in the front of the neck
which had been enlarged by the Parkland doctors when they performed the
tracheotomy. Both of these wounds were described in the autopsy report
as being "presumably of exit." In addition the autopsy revealed a small
wound of entry in the rear of the President's skull and another wound of
entry near the base of the back of the neck. The autopsy report stated
the cause of death as "Gunshot wound, head" and the bullets which struck
the President were described as having been fired "from a point behind
and somewhat above the level of the deceased."
At the scene of the shooting, there was evident confusion at the outset
concerning the point of origin of the shots. Witnesses differed in their
accounts of the direction from which the sound of the shots emanated.
Within a few minutes, however, attention centered on the Texas School
Book Depository Building as the source of the shots. 'the building was
occupied by a private corporation, the Texas School
Page 5
Book Depository Co., which distributed school textbooks of several
publishers and leased space to representatives of the publishers. Most
of the employees in the building worked for these publishers. The
balance, including a 15-man warehousing crew, were employees of the
Texas School Book Depository Co. itself.
Several eyewitnesses in front of the building reported that they saw a
rifle being fired from the southeast corner window on the sixth floor of
the Texas School Book Depository. One eyewitness, Howard L. Brennan, had
been watching the parade from a point on Elm Street directly opposite
and facing the building. He promptly told a policeman that he had seen a
slender man, about 5 feet 10 inches, in his early thirties, take
deliberate aim from the sixth-floor corner window and fire a rifle in
the direction of the President's car. Brennan thought he might be able
to identify the man since he had noticed him in the window a few minutes
before the motorcade made the turn onto Elm Street.. At 12 :34 p.m., the
Dallas police radio mentioned the Depository Building as a possible
source of the shots, and at 12 :45 p.m., the police radio broadcast a
description of the suspected assassin based primarily on Brennan's
observations.
When the shots were fired, a Dallas motorcycle patrolman, Marrion L.
Baker, was riding in the motorcade at a point several cars behind the
President. He had turned right from Main Street onto Houston Street and
was about 200 feet south of Elm Street when he heard a shot. Baker,
having recently returned from a week of deer hunting, was certain the
shot came from a high-powered rifle. He looked up and saw pigeons
scattering in the air from their perches on the Texas School Book
Depository Building. He raced his motorcycle to the building,
dismounted, scanned the area to the west and pushed his way through the
spectators toward the entrance. There he encountered Roy Truly, the
building superintendent, who offered Baker his help. They entered the
building, and ran toward the two elevators in the rear. Finding that
both elevators were on an upper floor, they dashed up the stairs. Not
more than 2 minutes had elapsed since the
shooting.
When they reached the second-floor landing on their way up to the top of
the building, Patrolman Baker thought he caught a glimpse of someone
through the small glass window in the door separating the hall area near
the stairs from the small vestibule leading into the lunchroom. Gun in
hand, he rushed to the door and saw a man about 20 feet away walking
toward the other end of the lunchroom. The man was empty handed. At
Baker's command, the man turned and approached him. Truly, who had
started up the stairs to the third floor ahead of Baker, returned to see
what had delayed the patrolman. Baker asked Truly whether he knew the
man in the lunchroom. Truly replied that the man worked in the building,
whereupon Baker turned from the man and proceeded, with Truly, up the
stairs. The man they encountered had started working in the Texas School
Book Depository Building on October 16, 1963. His fellow workers
described
Page 6
him as very quiet--a "loner."His name was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Within about 1 minute after his encounter with Baker and Truly, Oswald
was seen passing through the second-floor offices. In his hand was a
full "Coke" bottle which he had purchased from a rending machine in the
lunchroom. He was walking toward the front of the building where a
passenger elevator and a short flight of stairs provided access to the
main entrance of the building on the first floor. Approximately 7
minutes later, at about 12:40 p.m., Oswald boarded a bus at a point on
Elm Street seven short blocks east of the Depository Building. The bus
was traveling west toward the very building from which Oswald had come.
Its route lay through the Oak Cliff section in southwest Dallas, where
it would pass seven blocks east of the roominghouse in which Oswald was
living, at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. On the bus was Mrs. Mary Bledsoe
one of Oswald's former landladies who immediately recognized him. Oswald
stayed on the bus approximately 3 or 4 minutes, during which time it
proceeded only two blocks because of the traffic jam created by the
motorcade and the assassination. Oswald then left the bus. A few minutes
later he entered a vacant taxi four blocks away and asked the driver to
take him to a point on North Beckley Avenue several blocks beyond his
roominghouse. The trip required 5 or 6 minutes. At about 1 p.m. Oswald
arrived at the roominghouse. The housekeeper, Mrs. Earlene Roberts, was
surprised to see Oswald at midday and remarked to him that he seemed to
be in quite a hurry. He made no reply. A few minutes later Oswald
emerged from his room zipping up his jacket and rushed out of the house.
Approximately 14 Minutes later, and just 45 minutes after the
assassination, another violent shooting occurred in Dallas. The victim
was Patrolman J. D. Tippit of the Dallas police, an officer with a good
record during his more than 11 years with the police force. He was shot
near the intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue, about
nine-tenths of a mile from Oswald's roominghouse. At the time of the
assassination, Tippit was alone in his patrol car, the routine practice
for most police patrol officers at this time of day. He had been ordered
by radio at 12:45 p.m. to proceed to the central Oak Cliff area as part
of a concentration of patrol car activity around the center of the city
following the assassination. At 12:54 Tippit radioed that he had moved
as directed and would be available for any emergency. By this time the
police radio had broadcast several messages alerting the police to the
suspect described by Brennan at the scene of the assassination --
slender white male, about 30 years old, 5 feet 10 inches and weighing
about 165 pounds.
At approximately 1:15 p.m., Tippit was driving slowly in an easterly
direction on East. 10th Street in Oak Cliff. About 100 feet past the
intersection of 10th Street and Patton Avenue, Tippit pulled up
alongside a man walking in the same direction. The man met the general
description of the suspect wanted in connection with the assassination.
He walked over to Tippit's car, rested his arms on the door on the
right-
Page 7
hand side of the car, and apparently exchanged words with Tippit through
the window. Tippit opened the door on the left. side and started to walk
around the front of his car. As he reached the trout wheel on the
driver's side, the man on the sidewalk drew a revolver and fired several
shots in rapid succession, hitting Tippit four times and killing him
instantly. An automobile repairman, Domingo Benavides, heard the shots
and stopped his pickup truck on the opposite side of the street about 25
feet in front of Tippit's car. He observed the gunman start back toward
Patton Avenue, removing the empty cartridge cases from the gun as he
went. Benavides rushed to Tippit's side. The patrolman, apparently dead,
was lying on his revolver, which was out of its holster. Benavides
promptly reported the shooting to police headquarters over the radio in
Tippit's car. The message was received shortly after 1:16 p.m.
As the gunman left the scene, he walked hurriedly back toward Patton
Avenue and turned left, heading south. Standing on the northwest corner
of 10th Street and Patton Avenue was Helen Markham, who had been walking
south on Patton Avenue and had seen both the killer and Tippit cross the
intersection in front of her as she waited on the curb for traffic to
pass. She witnessed the shooting and then saw the man with a gun in his
hand walk back toward the corner and cut across the lawn of the corner
house as he started south on Patton Avenue.
In the corner house itself, Mrs. Barbara Jeanette Davis and her
sis-ter-in-law, Mrs. Virginia Davis, heard the shots and rushed to the
door in time to see the man walk rapidly across the lawn shaking a
revolver as if be were emptying it of cartridge cases. Later that day
each woman found a cartridge case near the home. As the gunman turned
the corner he passed alongside a taxicab which was parked on Patton
Avenue a few feet from 10th Street. The driver, William W. Scoggins, had
seen the slaying and was now crouched behind his cab on the street side.
As the gunman cut through the shrubbery on the lawn, Scoggins looked up
and saw the man approximately 12 feet away. In his hand was a pistol and
he muttered words which sounded to Scoggins like "poor dumb cop" or
"poor damn cop."
After passing Scoggins, the gunman crossed to the West side or Patton
Avenue and ran south toward Jefferson Boulevard, a main Oak Cliff
thoroughfare. On the east side of Patton, between l0th Street and
Jefferson Boulevard, Ted Callaway, a used car salesman, heard the shots
and ran to the sidewalk. As the man with the gun rushed past, Callaway
shouted "What's going on?" The man merely shrugged, ran on to Jefferson
Boulevard and turned right . On the next corner was a gas station with a
parking lot in the rear. The assailant ran into the lot, discarded his
jacket and then continued his flight west on Jefferson.
In a shoe store a few blocks farther west on Jefferson, the manager,
Johnny Calvin Brewer, heard the siren of a police car moments after the
radio in his store announced the shooting of the police officer in Oak
Cliff. Brewer saw a man step quickly into the entranceway of the
Page 8
store and stand there with his back toward the street. When the police
car made a U-turn and headed back in the direction of the Tippit
shooting, the man left and Brewer followed him. fie saw the man enter
the Texas Theatre, a motion picture house about 60 feet away, without
buying' a ticket. Brewer pointed this out to the cashier, Mrs. Julia
Postal, who called the police. The time was shortly after 1 :40 p.m. At
1:29 p.m., the police radio had noted the similarity in the descriptions
of the suspects in the Tippit shooting and the assassination. At 1:45
p.m., in response to Mrs. Postal's call, the police radio sounded the
alarm: "Have information a suspect just went in the Texas Theatre on
West. Jefferson." Within minutes the theater was surrounded. The house
lights were then turned up. Patrolman M. N. McDonald and several other
policemen approached the man, who had been pointed out to them by
Brewer.
McDonald ordered the man to his feet and heard him say, "Well, it's all
over now." The man drew a gun from his waist with one hand and struck
the officer with the other. McDonald struck out with his right hand and
grabbed the gun with his left hand. After a brief struggle McDonald and
several other police officers disarmed and handcuffed the suspect and
drove him to police headquarters, arriving at approximately 2 p.m.
Following the assassination, police cars had rushed to the Texas School
Book Depository in response to the many radio messages reporting that
the shots had been fired from the Depository Building. Inspector J.
Herbert Sawyer of the Dallas Police Department arrived at the scene
shortly after hearing the first of these police radio messages at 12:34
p.m. Some of the officers who had been assigned to the area of Elm and
Houston Streets for the motorcade were talking to witnesses and watching
the building when Sawyer arrived. Sawyer entered the building and rode a
passenger elevator to the fourth floor,
which was the top floor for this elevator. He conducted a quick search,
returned to the main floor and, between approximately 12:37 and 12:40
p.m., ordered that no one be permitted to leave the building.
Shortly before 1 p.m. Capt. J. Will Fritz, chief of the homicide and
robbery bureau of the Dallas Police Department, arrived to take charge
of the investigation. Searching the sixth floor, Deputy Sheriff Luke
Mooney noticed a pile of cartons in the southeast corner. He squeezed
through the boxes and realized immediately that he had discovered the
point from which the shots had been fired. On the floor were three empty
cartridge cases. A carton had apparently been placed on the floor at;
the side of the window so that a person sitting on the carton could look
down Elm Street toward the overpass and scarcely be noticed from the
outside. Between this carton and the half-open window were three
additional cartons arranged at such an angle that a rifle resting on the
top carton would be aimed directly at the motorcade as it moved away
from the building. The high stack of boxes, which first attracted
Mooney's attention effectively screened a person at the window from the
view of anyone else on the floor.
Page 9
Mooney's discovery intensified the search for additional evidence on the
sixth floor, and at 1:22 p.m. approximately 10 minutes after the
cartridge cases were found, Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone turned his
flashlight in the direction of two rows of boxes in the northwest corner
near the staircase. Stuffed between the two rows was a bolt-action rifle
with a telescopic sight. The rifle was not touched until it could be
photographed. When Lt. J. O. Day of the police identification bureau
decided that the wooden stock and the metal knob at the end of the bolt
contained no prints, he held the rifle by the stock while Captain Fritz
ejected a live shell by operating the bolt. Lieutenant Day promptly
noted that stamped on the rifle itself was the serial number "C2766" as
well as the markings "1940" "MADE ITALY" and "CAL. 6.5." The rifle was
about 40 inches long and when disassembled it could fit into a handmade
paper sack which after the assassination, was found in the southeast
corner of the building within a few feet of the cartridge cases.
As Fritz and Day were completing their examination of this rifle on the
sixth floor, Roy Truly, the building superintendent, approached with
information which he felt should be brought to the attention of the
police. Earlier, while the police were questioning the employees, Truly
had observed that Lee Harvey Oswald, 1 of the 15 men who worked in the
warehouse, was missing. After Truly provided Oswald's name, address, and
general description, Fritz left for police headquarters. He arrived at
headquarters shortly after 2 p.m. and asked two detectives to pick up
the employee who was missing from the Texas School Book Depository.
Standing nearby were the police officers who had just arrived with the
man arrested in the Texas Theatre. When Fritz mentioned the name of the
missing employee, he learned that the man was already in the
interrogation room. The missing School Book Depository employee and the
suspect who had been apprehended in the Texas Theatre were one and the
same--Lee Harvey Oswald.
The suspect Fritz was about to question in connection with the
assassination of the President and the murder of a policeman was born in
New Orleans on October 18, 1939, 2 months after the death of his father.
His mother, Marguerite Claverie Oswald, had two older children. One,
John Pie, was a half-brother to Lee from an earlier marriage which had
ended in divorce. The other was Robert Oswald, a full brother to Lee and
5 years older. When Lee Oswald was Mrs. Oswald placed him in an
orphanage where his brother and half-brother were already living,
primarily because she had to work.
In January 1944, when Lee was 4, he was taken out of the orphanage, and
shortly thereafter his mother moved with him to Dallas, Tex., where the
older boys joined them at the end of the school year. In May of 1945
Marguerite Oswald married her third husband, Edwin A. Ekdahl. While the
two older boys attended a military boarding school, Lee lived at home
and developed a warm attachment to Ekdahl, occasionally accompanying his
mother and stepfather on business trips around the country. Lee started
school in Benbrook, Tex., but in the fall of 1946, after a separation
from Ekdahl, Marguerite Oswald
Page 10
reentered Lee in the first grade in Covington, La. In January 1917,
while Lee was still in the first grade, the family moved to Fort Worth,
Tex., as the result of an attempted reconciliation between Ekdahl and
Lee's mother. A year and a half later, before Lee was 9, his mother was
divorced from her third husband as the result of a divorce action
instituted by Ekdahl. Lee's school record during the next 5 and a half
years in Fort Worth was average, although generally it grew poorer each
year. The comments of teachers and others who knew him at that time do
not reveal any unusual personality traits or characteristics.
Another change for Lee Oswald occurred in August 1952, a few months
after he completed the sixth grade. Marguerite Oswald and her
12-year-old son moved to New York City where Marguerite's oldest son,
John Pie, was stationed with the Coast Guard. The ensuing year and
one-half in New York was marked by Lee's refusals to attend school and
by emotional and psychological problems of a seemingly serious nature.
Because he had become a chronic school truant, Lee underwent psychiatric
study at Youth House, an institution in New York for juveniles who have
had truancy problems or difficulties with the law, and who appear to
require psychiatric observation, or other types of guidance. The social
worker assigned to his case described him as "seriously detached" and
"withdrawn" and noted "a rather pleasant, appealing quality about this
emotionally starved, affectionless youngster." Ice expressed the feeling
to the social worker that his mother did not care for him and regarded
him as a burden. He experienced fantasies about being all powerful and
hurting people, but during his stay at Youth House he was apparently not
a behavior problem. He appeared withdrawn and evasive, a boy who
preferred to spend his time alone, reading and watching television. His
tests indicated that he was above average in intelligence for his age
group. The chief psychiatrist of Youth House diag nosed Lee's problem as
a "personality pattern disturbance with schizoid features and
passive-aggressive tendencies." He concluded that the boy was "an
emotionally, quite disturbed youngster" and recommended psychiatric
treatment.
In May 1953, after having been at Youth House for 3 weeks, Lee Oswald
returned to school where his attendance and grades temporarily improved.
By the following fall, however, the probation officer reported that
virtually every teacher complained about. the boy's behavior. His mother
insisted that he did not need psychiatric assistance. Although there was
apparently some improvement in Lee's behavior during the next few
months, the court recommended further treatment. In January 1954, while
Lee's case was still pending, Marguerite and Lee left for New Orleans,
the city of Lee's birth.
Upon his return to New Orleans, Lee maintained mediocre grades but had
no obvious behavior problems. Neighbors and others who knew him outside
of school remembered him as a quiet, solitary and introverted boy who
read a great deal and whose vocabulary made him
Page 11
quite articulate. About l month after he started the l0th grade and 11
days before his 16th birthday in October 1955, he brought to school a
note purportedly written by his mother, stating that the family was
moving to California. The note was written by Lee. A few days latex' he
dropped out of school and almost immediately tried to join the Marine
Corps. Because he was only 16, he was rejected. After leaving school Lee
worked for the next 10 months at several jobs in New Orleans as an
office messenger or clerk. It was during this period that he started to
read communist literature. Occasionally, in conversations with others,
he praised communism and expressed to his fellow employees a desire to
join the Communist Party. At about this time, when he was not yet 17, he
wrote to the Socialist Party of America, professing his belief in
Marxism.
Another move followed in July 1956 when Lee and his mother returned to
Fort Worth. He reentered high school but again dropped out after a few
weeks and enlisted in the Marine Corps on October 1956, 6 days after his
17th birthday. On December 21, 1956, during boot camp in San Diego,
Oswald fired a score of 212 for record with the M-1 rifle--2 points over
the minimum for a rating of "sharpshooter" on a
marksman/sharpshooter/expert scale. After his basic training, Oswald
received training in aviation fundamentals and then in radar scanning.
Most people who knew Oswald in the Marines described him as "loner" who
resented the exercise of authority by others. He spent much of his free
time reading. He was court-martialed once for possessing an unregistered
privately owned weapon and, on another occasion, for using provocative
language to a noncommissioned officer. He was, however, generally able
to comply with Marine discipline, even though his experiences in the
Marine Corps did not live up to his expectations,
Oswald served 15 months overseas until November 1958, most of it in
Japan. During his final year in the Marine Corps he was stationed for
the most part in Santa Ana, Calif., where he showed marked interest in
the Soviet Union and sometimes expressed politically radical views with
dogmatic conviction. Oswald again fired the M-1 rifle for record on May
6, 1959, and this time he shot a score of 191 on a shorter course than
before, only 1 point over the minimum required to be a "marksman."
According to one of his fellow marines, Oswald was not particularly
interested in his rifle performance, and his unit was not expected to
exhibit the usual rifle proficiency. During this period he expressed
strong admiration for Fidel Castro and an interest in joining the Cuban
army. He tried to impress those around him as an intellectual, but his
thinking appeared to some as shallow and rigid.
Oswald's Marine service terminated on September 11, 1959, when at his
own request he was released from active service a few months ahead of
his scheduled release. He offered as the reason for his release the ill
health and economic plight of his mother. He returned to Fort Worth,
remained with his mother only 3 days and left for New
Page 12
Orleans, telling his mother he planned to get work there in the shipping
or import-export business. In New Orleans he booked passage on the
freighter SS Marion Lykes, which sailed from New Orleans to Le Havre,
France, on September 20, 1959.
Lee Harvey Oswald had presumably planned this step in his life for quite
some time. In March of 1959 he had applied to the Albert Schweitzer
College in Switzerland for admission to the Spring 1960 term. His letter
of application contained many blatant falsehoods concerning his
qualifications and background. A few weeks before his discharge he had
applied for and obtained a passport, listing the Soviet Union as one of
the countries which he planned to visit. During his service in the
Marines he had saved a comparatively large sum of money, possibly as
much as $1,500, which would appear to have been accomplished by
considerable frugality and apparently for a specific purpose.
The purpose of the accumulated fund soon became known. On October 16,
1959, Oswald arrived in Moscow by train after crossing the border from
Finland, where he had secured a visa for a 6-day stay in the Soviet
Union. He immediately applied for Soviet citizenship. On the afternoon
of October 21, 1959, Oswald was ordered to leave the Soviet Union by 8
p.m. that evening. That same afternoon in his hotel room Oswald, in an
apparent suicide attempt, slashed his left wrist. He was hospitalized
immediately. On October 31, 3 days after his release from the hospital,
Oswald appeared at the American Embassy, announced that he wished to
renounce his U.S. citizenship and become a Russian citizen, and handed
the Embassy officer a written statement he had prepared for the
occasion. When asked his reasons, Oswald replied, "I am a Marxist."
Oswald never formally complied with the legal steps necessary to
renounce his American citizenship. The Soviet Government did not grant.
his request for citizenship, but. in January 1960 he was given
permission to remain in the Soviet Union on a year to year basis. At the
same time Oswald was sent to Minsk where he worked in radio factory as
an unskilled laborer. In January 1961 his permission to remain in the
Soviet Union was extended for another year. A few weeks later, in
February 1961, he wrote to the American Embassy in Moscow expressing a
desire to return to the United States.
The following month Oswald met a 19-year-old Russian girl, Marina
Nikolaevna Prusakova, a pharmacist, who Had been brought up in Leningrad
but was then living with an aunt and uncle in Minsk. They were married
on April 30, 1961. Throughout the following year he carried on a
correspondence with American and Soviet. authorities seeking approval
for the departure of himself and his wife to the United States. In the
course of this effort, Oswald and his wife visited the U.S. Embassy in
Moscow in July of 1961. Primarily on the basis of an interview and
questionnaire completed there, the Embassy concluded that Oswald had
not. lost his citizenship, a decision subsequently ratified by the
Department of State in Washington, D.C. Upon their return to Minsk,
'Oswald and his wife filed
Page 13
with the Soviet authorities for permission to leave together. Their
formal application was made in July 1961, and on December 25, 1961,
Marina Oswald was advised it would be granted.
A daughter was born to the Oswalds in February 1962. In the months that
followed they prepared for their return to the United States. On May 9,
1962 the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, at the request of
the Department of State, agreed to waive a restriction under the law
which would have prevented the issuance of a United States visa. to
Oswald's Russian wife until she had left the Soviet Union. They finally
left Moscow on June 1, 1962, and were assisted in meeting their travel
expenses by a loan of $435.71 from the U.S. Department of State. Two
weeks later they arrived in Fort Worth, Tex.
For a few weeks Oswald, his wife and child lived with Oswald's brother
Robert. After a similar stay with Oswald's mother, they moved into their
own apartment in early August. Oswald obtained a job on July 16 as a
sheet metal worker. During this period in Fort Worth, Oswald was
interviewed twice by agents of the FBI. The report of the first
interview, which occurred on June 26, described him as arrogant and
unwilling to discuss the reasons why he had gone to the Soviet Union.
Oswald denied that he was involved in Soviet intelligence activities and
promised to advise the FBI if Soviet representatives ever communicated
with him. He was interviewed again on August 16, when he displayed a
less belligerent attitude and once again agreed to inform the FBI of any
attempt to enlist him in intelligence activities.
In early October 1962 Oswald quit his job at the sheet metal plant and
moved to Dallas. While living in Forth Worth the Oswalds had been
introduced to a group of Russian-speaking people in the Dallas Fort
Worth area. Many of them assisted the Oswalds by providing small amounts
of food, clothing, and household items. Oswald himself was disliked by
almost all of this group whose help to the family was prompted primarily
by sympathy for Marina Oswald and the child. Despite the fact that he
had left the Soviet Union, disillusioned with its Government, Oswald
seemed more firmly committed than ever to his concepts of Marxism. He
showed disdain for democracy, capitalism, and American society in
general. He was highly critical of the Russian-speaking group because
they seemed devoted to American concepts of democracy and capitalism and
were ambitious to improve themselves economically.
In February 1963 the Oswalds met Ruth Paine at a social gathering. Ruth
Paine was temporarily separated from her husband and living with her two
children in their home in Irving, Tex., a suburb of Dallas. because of
an interest in the Russian language and sympathy for Marina Oswald, who
spoke no English and had little funds, Ruth Paine befriended Marina and,
during the next 2 months, visited her on several occasions.
On April 6, 1963, Oswald lost his job with a photography firm. A few
days later, on April 10, he attempted to kill Maj. Gen. Edwin
Page 14
A. Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army), using a rifle which he had ordered by
mail 1 month previously under an assumed name. Marina Oswald learned of
her husband's act when she confronted him with a note which he had left,
giving her instructions in the event he did not return. That incident,
and their general economic difficulties impelled Marina Oswald to
suggest that her husband leave Dallas and go to New Orleans to look for
work.
Oswald left for New Orleans on April 24, 1963. Ruth Paine, who knew
nothing of the Walker shooting, invited Marina Oswald and the baby to
stay with her in the Paines' modest. home while Oswald sought work in
New Orleans. Early in May, upon receiving word from Oswald that he had
found a job, Ruth Paine drove Marina Oswald and the baby to New Orleans
to rejoin Oswald.
During the stay in New Orleans, Oswald formed a fictitious New Orleans
Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. lie posed as secretary of
this organization and represented that the president was A. J. Hidell.
In reality, Hidell was a completely fictitious person created by Oswald,
the organization's only member. Oswald was arrested on August 9 in
connection with a scuffle which occurred while he was distributing
pro-Castro leaflets. The next day, while at the police station, he was
interviewed by an FBI agent after Oswald requested the police to arrange
such an interview. Oswald gave the agent false information about his own
background and was evasive in his replies concerning Fair Play for Cuba
activities. During the next 2 weeks Oswald appeared on radio programs
twice, claiming to be the spokesman for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
in New Orleans.
On July 19, 1963, Oswald lost his job as a greaser of coffee processing
machinery. In September, after an exchange of correspondence with Marina
Oswald, Ruth Paine drove to New Orleans and on September 23, transported
Marina, the child, and the family belongings to Irving, Tex. Ruth Paine
suggested that Marina Oswald, who was expecting her second child in
October, live at the Paine house until after the baby was born. Oswald
remained behind, ostensibly to find work either in Houston or some other
city. Instead, he departed by bus for Mexico, arriving in Mexico City on
September 27, where he promptly visited the Cuban and Russian Embassies.
His stated objective was to obtain official permission to visit Cuba, on
his way to the Soviet Union. The Cuban Government would not grant his
visa unless the Soviet Government would also issue a visa permitting his
entry into Russia. Oswald's efforts to secure these visas failed, and he
left for Dallas, where he arrived on October 3, 1968.
When he saw his wife the next day, it was decided that Oswald would rent
a room in Dallas and visit his family on weekends. For 1 week he rented
a room from Mrs. Bledsoe, the woman who later saw him on the bus shortly
after the assassination. On October 14, 1968, he rented the Beckley
Avenue room and listed his name as O. H. Lee. On the same day, at the
suggestion of a neighbor, Mrs. Paine phoned the Texas School Book
Depository and was told that there was a job
Page 15
opening. She informed Oswald who was interviewed the following day at
the Depository and started to work there on October 16, 1963.
On October 20 the Oswalds' second daughter was born. During October and
November Oswald established a general pattern of weekend visits to
Irving, arriving on Friday afternoon and returning to Dallas Monday
morning with a fellow employee, Buell Wesley Frazier, who lived near the
Paines. On Friday, November 15, Oswald remained in Dallas at the
suggestion of his wife who told him that the house would be crowded
because of a birthday party for Ruth Paine's daughter. On Monday,
November 18, Oswald and his wife quarreled bitterly during a telephone
conversation, because she learned for the first time that he was living
at the roominghouse under an assumed name. On Thursday, November 21,
Oswald told Frazier that he would like to drive to Irving to pick up
some curtain rods for an apartment in Dallas. His wife and Mrs. Paine
were quite surprised to see him since it was a Thursday night. They
thought he had returned to make up after Monday's quarrel. He was
conciliatory, but Marina Oswald was still angry.
Later that evening, when Mrs. Paine had finished cleaning the kitchen,
she went into the garage and noticed that the light was burning. She was
certain that she had not left it on, although the incident appeared
unimportant at the time. In the garage were most of the Oswalds'
personal possessions. The following morning Oswald left while his wife
was still in bed feeding the baby. She did not see him leave the house,
nor did Ruth Paine. On the dresser in their room he left his wedding
ring which he had never done before. His wallet containing $170 was left
intact in a dresser-drawer.
Oswald walked to Frazier's house about half a block away and placed a
long bulky package, made out of wrapping paper and tape, into the rear
seat of the car. He told Frazier that. the package contained curtain
rods. When they reached the Depository parking lot, Oswald walked
quickly ahead. Frazier followed and saw Oswald enter the Depository
Building carrying the long bulky package with him.
During the morning of November 22, Marina Oswald followed President
Kennedy's activities on television. She and Ruth Paine cried when they
heard that the President had been shot. Ruth Paine translated the news
of the shooting to Marina Oswald as it came over television, including
the report that the shots were probably fired from the building where
Oswald worked. When Marina Oswald heard this, she recalled the Walker
episode and the fact that her husband still owned the rifle. She went
quietly to the Paine's garage where the rifle had been concealed in a
blanket among their other belongings. It appeared to her that the rifle
was still there, although she did not actually open the blanket.
At about 3 p.m. the police arrived at the Paine house and asked Marina
Oswald whether her husband owned a rifle. She said that he did and then
led them into the garage and pointed to the rolled up blanket. As a
police officer lifted it, the blanket hung limply over either side of
his arm. The rifle was not there.
Page 16
Meanwhile, at police headquarters Captain Fritz had begun questioning
Oswald. Soon after the start of the first interrogation, agents of the
FBI and the U.S. Secret Service arrived and participated in the
questioning. Oswald denied having anything to do with the assassination
of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman Tippit. He claimed that
he was eating lunch at the time of the assassination, and that he then
spoke with his foreman for 5 to 10 minutes before going home. He denied
that he owned a rifle and when confronted, in a subsequent interview,
with a picture showing him holding a rifle and pistol, he claimed that
his face had been superimposed on someone else's body. He refused to
answer any questions about the presence in his wallet of a selective
service card with his picture and the name "Alek J. Hidell."
During the questioning of Oswald on the third floor of the police
department, more than 100 representatives of the press, radio, and
television were crowded into the hallway through which Oswald had to
pass when being taken from his cell to Captain Fritz' office for
interrogation. Reporters tried to interview Oswald during these trips.
Between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning he appeared in the hallway
at least 16 times. The generally confused conditions outside and inside
Captain Fritz' office increased the difficulty of police questioning.
Advised by the police that he could communicate with an attorney, Oswald
made several telephone calls on Saturday in an effort to procure
representation of his own choice and discussed the matter with the
president of the local bar association, who offered to obtain counsel
Oswald declined the offer saying that he would first try to obtain
counsel by himself. By Sunday morning he had not yet
engaged an attorney.
At 7:10 p.m. on November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was formally
advised that he had been charged with the murder of Patrolman J. D.
Tippit Several witnesses to the Tippit slaying and to the subsequent
flight of the gunman had positively identified Oswald in police lineups.
While positive firearm identification evidence was not available at the
time, the revolver in Oswald's possession at the time of his arrest was
of a type which could have fired the shots that killed Tippit.
The formal charge against Oswald for the assassination of President
Kennedy was lodged shortly after 1:30 a..m., on Saturday, November 28.
By 10 p.m. of the day of the assassination, the FBI had traced the rifle
found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository to a mail
order house in Chicago which had purchased it from a distributor in New
York Approximately 6 hours later the Chicago firm advised that this
rifle had been ordered in March 1968 by an A. Hidel for shipment to post
office box 2915, in Dallas, Tex., box rented by Oswald. Payment for the
rifle was remitted by a money order signed by A. Hidell. By 6:45 p.m. on
November 23, the FBI was able to advise the Dallas police that,, as a
result of handwriting analysis of the documents used to purchase the
rifle, it had concluded that the rifle had been ordered by Lee Harvey
Oswald.
Page 17
Throughout Friday and Saturday, the Dallas police released to the public
many of the details concerning the alleged evidence against Oswald.
Police officials discussed important aspects of the case, usually in the
course. of impromptu and confused press conferences in the third-floor
corridor. Some of the information divulged was erroneous. Efforts by the
news media representatives to reconstruct the crime and promptly report
details frequently led to erroneous and often conflicting reports. At
the urgings of the newsmen, Chief of Police Jesse E. Curry, brought
Oswald to a press conference in the police assembly room shortly after
midnight of the day Oswald was arrested. The assembly room was crowded
with newsmen who had come to Dallas from all over the country. They
shouted questions at Oswald and flashed cameras at him. Among this group
was a 52-year-old Dallas nightclub operator--Jack Ruby.
On Sunday morning, November 24, arrangements were made for Oswald's
transfer from the city jail to the Dallas County jail, about 1 mile
away. The news media had been informed on Saturday night that the
transfer of Oswald would not take place until after 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, between 2:80 and 3 a.m., anonymous telephone calls
threatening Oswald's life had been received by the Dallas office of the
FBI and by the office of the county sheriff. Never- the less, on Sunday
morning, television, radio, and newspaper representatives crowded into
the basement to record the transfer. As viewed through television
cameras, Oswald would emerge from a door in front of the cameras and
proceed to the transfer vehicle. To the right of the cameras was a
"down" ramp from Main Street on the north. To the left was an %p" ramp
leading to Commerce Street. on the south.
The armored truck in which Oswald was to be transferred arrived shortly
after 11 a.m. Police officials then decided, however, that an unmarked
police car would be preferable for the trip because of its greater speed
and maneuverability. At approximately 11:20 a.m. Oswald emerged from the
basement jail office flanked by detectives on either side and at his
rear. He took a few steps toward the car and was in the glaring light of
the television cameras when a man suddenly darted out from an area on
the right of the cameras where newsmen had been assembled. The man was
carrying a Colt..38 revolver in his right hand and, while millions
watched on television, he moved quickly to within a few feet of Oswald
and fired one shot into Oswald's abdomen. Oswald groaned with pain as he
fell to the ground and quickly lost consciousness. Within 7 minutes
Oswald was at Parkland Hospital where, without having regained
consciousness, he was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m.
The man who killed Oswald was Jack Ruby. He was instantly arrested and,
minutes later, confined in a cell on the fifth floor of the Dallas
police jail. Under interrogation, he denied that the killing of Oswald
was in any way connected with a conspiracy involving the assassination
of President Kennedy. He maintained that he had killed Oswald in a
temporary fit of depression and rage over the
Page 18
President's death. Ruby was transferred the following day to the county
jail without notice to the press or to police officers not directly
involved in the transfer. Indicted for the murder of Oswald by the State
of Texas on November 26, 1963, Ruby was found guilty on March 14, 1964,
and sentenced to death. As of September 1964, his case was pending on
appeal.
Conclusions
Page 18
CONCLUSIONS
This Commission was created to ascertain the facts relating to the
preceding summary of events and to consider the important questions
which they raised. The Commission has addressed itself to this task and
has reached certain conclusions based on all the available evidence. No
limitations have been placed on the Commission's inquiry; it has
conducted its own investigation, and all Government agencies have fully
discharged their responsibility to cooperate with the Commission in its
investigation. These conclusions represent the reasoned judgment of all
members of the Commission and are presented after an investigation which
has satisfied the Commission that it: has ascertained the truth
concerning the assassination of President Kennedy to the extent that a
prolonged and thorough search makes this possible.
1. The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor
Connally were fired from the sixth floor window at the south-
east corner of the Texas School Book Depository. This determination is
based upon the following:
(a) Witnesses at the scene of the assassination saw a rifle being fired
from the sixth floor window of the
Depository Building, and some witnesses saw a rifle in the window
immediately after the shots were fired.
(b) The nearly whole bullet found on Governor Connally's stretcher at
Parkland Memorial Hospital and
the two bullet fragments found in the front seat of the Presidential
limousine were fired from the 6.5-
millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Depository Building to the exclusion of
all other weapons.
(c) The three used cartridge cases found near the window on the sixth
floor at the southeast corner of
the building were fired from the same rifle which fired the
above-described bullet and fragments, to the
exclusion of all other weapons.
(d) The windshield in the Presidential limousine was struck by a bullet
fragment on the inside surface of
the glass, but was not penetrated.
(e) The nature of the bullet wounds suffered by President Kennedy and
Governor Connally and the
location of the car at the time of the shots establish that the bullets
were fired from above and behind the
Presidential limousine, striking the President and the Governor as
follows:
Page 19
(1) President Kennedy was first struck by a bullet which entered at the
back of his neck and exited through the lower front portion of his neck,
causing a wound which would not necessarily have been lethal. The
President was struck a second time by a bullet which entered the
right-rear portion of his head, causing a massive and fatal wound.
(2) Governor Connally was struck by a bullet which entered on the right
side of his back and traveled downward through the right side of his
chest, exiting below his right nipple. This bullet then passed through
his right wrist and entered his left thigh where it caused a superficial
wound.
(f) There is no credible evidence that the shots were fired from the
Triple Underpass, ahead of the motorcade, or from any other location.
2. The weight of the evidence indicates that there were three shots
fired.
3. Although it is not necessary to any essential findings of the
Commission to determine just which shot hit Governor Connally, there is
very persuasive evidence from the experts to indicate that the same
bullet which pierced the President's throat also caused Governor
Connally's wounds. However, Governor Connally's testimony and certain
other factors have given rise to some difference of opinion as to this
probability but there is no question in the mind of any member of the
Commission that all the shots which caused the President's and Governor
Connally's wounds were fired from the sixth floor window of the Texas
School Book Depository.
4. The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor
Connally were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. This conclusion is based upon
the following:
(a) The Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter Italian rifle from which the
shots were fired was owned by and in the possession of Oswald.
(b) Oswald carried this rifle into the Depository Building on the
morning of November 22, 1963.
(c) Oswald, at the time of the assassination, was present at the Window
from which the shots were fired.
(d) Shortly after the assassination, the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
belonging to Oswald was found partially hidden between some cartons on
the sixth floor and the improvised paper bag in which Oswald brought the
rifle to the Depository was found dose by the window from which the
shots were fired.
(e) Based on testimony of the experts and their analysis of films of the
assassination, the Commission has concluded that a rifleman of Lee
Harvey Oswald's capabilities could have fired the shots from the rifle
used in the assassination within the elapsed time of the shooting. The
Commission has concluded further that Oswald possessed the capability
with a rifle which enabled him to commit the assassination.
Page 20
(f) Oswald lied to the police after his arrest concerning important
substantive matters.
(g) Oswald had attempted to kill Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned,
U.S. Army) on April 10, 1963, thereby demonstrating his disposition to
take human life.
5. Oswald killed Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit approximately 45
minutes after the assassination. This conclusion upholds the finding
that Oswald fired the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded
Governor Connally and is supported by the following:
(a) Two eyewitnesses saw the Tippit shooting and seven eyewitnesses
heard the shots and saw the gunman leave the scene with revolver in
hand. These nine eyewitnesses positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as
the man they saw.
(b) The cartridge cases found at the scene of the shooting were fired
from the revolver in the possession of Oswald at the time of his arrest
to the exclusion of all other weapons.
(c) The revolver in Oswald's possession at the time of his arrest was
purchased by and belonged to Oswald.
(d) Oswald's jacket was found along the path of flight taken by the
gunman as he fled from the scene of the killing.
6. Within 80 minutes of the assassination and 35 minutes of the Tippit
killing Oswald resisted arrest at the theatre by attempting to shoot
another Dallas police officer.
7. The Commission has reached the following conclusions concerning
Oswald's interrogation and detention by the Dallas police:
(a) Except for the force required to effect his arrest, Oswald was not
subjected to any physical coercion by any law enforcement officials. He
was advised that he could not be compelled to give any information and
that any statements made by him might be used against him in court. He
was advised of his right to counsel. He was given the opportunity to
obtain counsel of his own choice and was offered legal assistance by the
Dallas Bar Association, which he rejected at that time.
(b) Newspaper, radio, and television reporters were allowed uninhibited
access to the area through which Oswald had to pass when he was moved
from his cell to the interrogation room and other sections of the
building, thereby subjecting Oswald to harassment and creating chaotic
conditions which were not conducive to orderly interrogation or the
protection of the rights of the prisoner.
(c) The numerous statements, sometimes erroneous, made to the press by
various local law enforcement officials, during this period of confusion
and disorder in the police station, would have presented serious
obstacles to the obtaining of a fair trial for Oswald. To the extent
that the information was erroneous or misleading, it helped to create
doubts, speculations, and fears in the mind of the public which might
otherwise not have arisen.
Page 21
8. The Commission has reached the following conclusions concerning the
killing of Oswald by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963:
(a) Ruby entered the basement of the Dallas Police Department shortly
after 11:17 a.m. and killed Lee Harvey Oswald at 11:21 a.m.
(b) Although the evidence on Ruby's means of entry is not conclusive,
the weight of the evidence indicates that he walked down the ramp
leading from Main Street to the basement of the police department.
(c) There is no evidence to support the rumor that Ruby may have been
assisted by any members of the Dallas Police Department in the killing
of Oswald.
(d) The Dallas Police Department's decision to transfer Oswald to the
county jail in full public view was unsound. The arrangements made by
the police department on Sunday morning, only a few hours before the
attempted transfer, were inadequate. Of critical importance was the fact
that news media representatives and others were not excluded from the
basement even after the police were notified of threats to Oswald's
life. These deficiencies contributed to the death of Lee Harvey Oswald.
9. The Commission has found no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or
Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign, to
assassinate President Kennedy. The reasons for this conclusion are:
(a) The Commission has found no evidence that anyone assisted Oswald in
planning or carrying out the assassination. In this connection it has
thoroughly investigated, among other factors, the circumstances
surrounding the planning of the motorcade route through Dallas, the
hiring of Oswald by the Texas School Book Depository Co. on October 15,
1963, the method by which the rifle was brought into the building, the
placing of cartons of books at the window, Oswald's escape from the
building, and the testimony of eyewitnesses to the shooting.
(b) The Commission has found no evidence that Oswald was involved with
any person or group in a conspiracy to assassinate the President,
although it has thoroughly investigated, in addition to other possible
leads, all facets of Oswald's associations, finances, and personal
habits, particularly during the period following his return from the
Soviet. Union in June 1962.
(c) The Commission has found no evidence to show that Oswald was
employed, persuaded, or encouraged by any foreign government to
assassinate President Kennedy or that he was an agent of any foreign
government, although the Commission has reviewed the circumstances
surrounding Oswald's defection to the Soviet Union, his life there from
October of 1959 to June of 1962 so far as it can be reconstructed, his
known contacts with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee~ and his visits to
the Cuban and Soviet Embassies in Mexico City during his trip to Mexico
from
Page 22
September 26 to October 3, 1963, and his known contacts with the Soviet
Embassy in the United States.
(d) The Commission has explored all attempts of Oswald to identify
himself with various political groups, including the Communist Party,
U.S.A., the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and the Socialist Workers
Party, and has been unable to find any evidence that the contacts which
he initiated were related to Oswald's subsequent. assassination of the
President.
(e) All of the evidence before the Commission established that there was
nothing to support the speculation that Oswald was an agent, employee,
or informant of the FBI, the CIA, or any other governmental agency. It
has thoroughly investigated Oswald's relationships prior to the
assassination with all agencies of the U.S. Government. All contacts
with Oswald by any of these agencies were made in the regular exercise
of their different responsibilities.
(f) No direct or indirect relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and
Jack Ruby has been discovered by the Commission, nor has it been able to
find any credible evidence that either knew the other, although a
thorough investigation was made of the many rumors and speculations of
such a relationship.
(g) The Commission has found no evidence that Jack Ruby acted with any
other person in the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald.
(h) After careful investigation the Commission has found no credible
evidence either that Ruby and Officer Tippit, who was killed by Oswald,
knew each other or that Oswald and Tippit knew each other.
Because of the difficulty of proving negatives to a certainty the
possibility of others being involved with either Oswald or Ruby cannot
be established categorically, but if there is any such evidence it has
been beyond the reach of all the investigative agencies and resources of
the United States and has not come to the attention of this Commission.
10. In its entire investigation the Commission has found no evidence of
conspiracy, subversion, or disloyalty to the U.S. Government by any
Federal, State, or local official.
11. On the basis of the evidence before the Commission it concludes
that, Oswald acted alone. Therefore, to determine the motives for the
assassination of President Kennedy, one must look to the assassin
himself. Clues to Oswald's motives can be found in his family history,
his education or lack of it, his acts, his writings, and the
recollections of those who had close contacts with him throughout his
life. The Commission has presented with this report all of the
background information bearing on motivation which it could discover.
Thus, others may study Lee Oswald's life and arrive at their own
conclusions as to his possible motives.
The Commission could not make any definitive determination of Oswald's
motives. It has endeavored to isolate factors which contributed
Page 23
to his character and which might have influenced his decision to
assassinate President Kennedy. These factors were:
(a) His deep-rooted resentment. of all authority which, was expressed in
a hostility toward every society in which he lived;
(b) His inability to enter into meaningful relationships with people,
and a continuous pattern of rejecting his environment favor of new
surrounding;
(c) His urge to try to find a place in history and despair at times over
failures in his various undertakings;
(d) His capacity for violence as evidenced by his attempt to kill
General Walker;
(e) His avowed commitment to Marxism and communism, as he understood the
terms and developed his own interpretation of them; this was expressed
by his antagonism toward the United States, by his defection to the
Soviet Union, by his failure to be reconciled with life in the United
States even after his disenchantment with the Soviet Union, and by his
efforts, though frustrated,
to go to Cuba.
Each of these contributed to his capacity to risk all in cruel and
irresponsible actions.
12. The Commission recognizes that the varied responsibilities of the
President require that he make frequent trips to all parts of the United
States and abroad. Consistent with their high responsibilities
Presidents can never be protected from every potential threat. The
Secret Service's difficulty in meeting its protective responsibility
varies with the activities and the nature of the occupant of the Office
of President and his willingness to conform to plans for his safety. In
ap praising the performance of the Secret Service it should be
understood that it has to do its work within such limitations.
Nevertheless, the
Commission believes that recommendations for improvements in
Presidential protection are compelled by the facts disclosed in this
investigation.
(a) The complexities of the Presidency have increased so rapidly in
recent years that the Secret Service has not been able to develop or to
secure adequate resources of personnel and facilities to fulfill its
important assignment. This situation should be promptly remedied.
(b) The Commission has concluded that the criteria and procedures of the
Secret Service designed to identify and protect against persons
considered threats to the president, were not adequate prior to the
assassination.
(1) The Protective Research Section of the Secret Service, which is
responsible for its preventive work, lacked sufficient trained personnel
and the mechanical and technical assistance needed to fulfill its
responsibility.
(2) Prior to the assassination the Secret Service's criteria dealt with
direct threats against the President. Although the Secret Service
treated the direct threats against the President adequately, it failed
to recognize the necessity of identifying
Page 24
other potential sources of danger to his security. The Secret Service
did not develop adequate and specific criteria defining those persons or
groups who might present a danger to the President. In effect, the
Secret Service largely relied upon other Federal or State agencies to
supply the information necessary for it to fulfill its preventive
responsibilities, al though it did ask for information about direct
threats to the President.
(c) The Commission has concluded that there was insufficient liaison and
coordination of information between the Secret Service and other Federal
agencies necessarily concerned with Presidential protection. Although
the FBI, in the normal exercise of its responsibility, had secured
considerable information about Lee Harvey Oswald, it had no official
responsibility, under the Secret Service criteria existing at the time
of the President's trip to Dallas, to refer to the Secret Service the
information it had about Oswald. The Commission has concluded, however,
that the FBI took an unduly restrictive view of its role in preventive
intelligence work prior to the assassination. A more carefully
coordinated treatment of the Oswald case by the FBI might well have
resulted in bringing Oswald's activities to the attention of the Secret
Service.
(d) The Commission has concluded that some of the advance preparations
in Dallas made by the Secret Service, such as the detailed security
measures taken at Love Field and the Trade Mart, were thorough and well
executed. In other respects, however, the Commission has concluded that
the advance preparations for the President's trip were deficient.
(1) Although the Secret Service is compelled to rely to a great extent
on local law enforcement officials, its procedures at the time of the
Dallas trip did not call for well-defined instructions as to the
respective responsibilities of the police officials and others assisting
in the protection of the President.
(2) The procedures relied upon by the Secret Service for detecting the
presence of an assassin located in a building along a motorcade route
were inadequate. At the time of the trip to Dallas, the Secret Service
as a matter of practice did not investigate, or cause to be checked, any
building located along the motorcade route to be taken by the President.
The responsibility for observing windows in these buildings during the
motorcade was divided between local police personnel stationed on the
streets to regulate crowds and Secret Service agents riding in the
motorcade. Based on its investigation the Commission has concluded that
these arrangements during the trip to Dallas were clearly not
sufficient.
(e) The configuration of the Presidential car and the seating
arrangements of the Secret Service agents in the car did not afford
Page 25
the Secret Service agents the opportunity they should have had to be of
immediate assistance to the President at the first. sign of danger.
(f) Within these limitations, however, the Commission finds that. the
agents most immediately responsible for the President's safety reacted
promptly at the time the shots were fired from the Texas School Book
Depository Building.
Recommendations
Page 25
RECOMMENDATIONS
Prompted by the assassination of President Kennedy, the Secret Service
has initiated a. comprehensive and critical review of its total
operations. As a result of studies conducted during the past, several
months, and in cooperation with this Commission, the Secret Service has
prepared a planning document dated August 27, 1964, which recommends
various programs considered necessary by the Service to improve its
techniques and enlarge its resources. The Commission is encouraged by
the efforts taken by the Secret Service since the assassination and
suggests the following recommendations.
1. A committee of Cabinet members including the Secretary of the
Treasury and the Attorney General, or the National Security Council,
should be assigned the responsibility of reviewing and overseeing the
protective activities of the Secret Service and the other Federal
agencies that assist in safeguarding the President. Once given this
responsibility, such a committee would insure that the maximum resources
of the Federal Government are fully engaged in the task of protecting
the President, and would provide guidance in defining the general nature
of domestic and foreign dangers to Presidential security.
2. Suggestions have been advanced to the Commission for the transfer of
all or parts of the Presidential protective responsibilities of the
Secret Service to some other department or agency. The Commission
believes that if there is to be any determination of whether or not to
relocate these responsibilities and functions, it ought to be made by
the Executive and the Congress, perhaps upon recommendations based on
studies by the previously suggested committee.
3. Meanwhile, in order to improve daily supervision of the Secret
Service within the Department of the Treasury, the Commission recommends
that the Secretary of the Treasury appoint a special assistant with the
responsibility of supervising the Secret Service. This special assistant
should have sufficient stature and experience in law enforcement,
intelligence, and allied fields to provide effective continuing
supervision, and to keep the Secretary fully informed regarding the
performance of the Secret Service. One of the initial assignments of
this special assistant should be the supervision of the current effort
by the Secret Service to revise and modernize its basic operating
procedures.
Page 26
4. The Commission recommends that the Secret Service completely overhaul
its facilities devoted to the advance detection of potential threats
against the President. The Commission suggests the following measures.
(a) The Secret Service should develop as quickly as possible more useful
and precise criteria defining those potential threats to the President
which should be brought to its attention by other agencies. The criteria
should, among other additions, provide for prompt notice to the Secret
Service of all returned defectors.
(b) The Secret Service should expedite its current plans to utilize the
most efficient data-processing techniques.
(c) Once the Secret Service has formulated new criteria delineating the
information it desires, it should enter into agreements with each
Federal agency to insure its receipt of such information.
5. The Commission recommends that the Secret Service improve the
protective measures followed in the planning, and conducting of
Presidential motorcades. In particular~ the Secret Service should
continue its current efforts to increase the precautionary attention
given to buildings along the motorcade route.
6. The Commission recommends that the Secret Service continue its recent
efforts to improve and formalize its relationships with local police
departments in areas to be visited by the President.
7. The Commission believes that when the new criteria and procedures are
established, the Secret Service will not have sufficient personnel or
adequate facilities. The Commission recommends that the Secret Service
be provided with the personnel and resources which the Service and the
Department of the Treasury may be able to demonstrate are needed to
fulfill its important mission.
8. Even with an increase in Secret Service personnel, the protection of
the President will continue to require the resources and cooperation of
many Federal agencies. The Commission recommends that these agencies,
specifically the FBI, continue the practice as it has developed,
particularly since the assassination, of assisting the Secret Service
upon request by providing personnel or other aid, and that there be a
closer association and liaison between the Secret Service and all
Federal agencies.
9. The Commission recommends that the President's physician always
accompany him during his travels and occupy a position near the
President where he can be immediately available in case of any
emergency.
10. The Commission recommends to Congress that it adopt legislation
which would make the assassination of the President and Vice President a
Federal crime. A state of affairs where U.S. authorities have no clearly
defined jurisdiction to investigate the assassination of a President is
anomalous.
11. The Commission has examined the Department of State's handling of
the Oswald matters and finds that it followed the law
Page 27
throughout. However, the Commission believes that the Department in
accordance with its own regulations should in all cases exercise great
care in the return to this country of defectors who have evidenced
disloyalty or hostility to this country or who have expressed a desire
to renounce their American citizenship and that when such persons are so
returned, procedures should be adopted for the better dissemination of
information concerning them to the intelligence agencies of the
Government.
12. The Commission recommends that the representatives of the bar, law
enforcement associations, and the news media work together to establish
ethical standards concerning the collection and presentation of
information to the public so that there will be no interference with
pending criminal investigations, court proceedings, or the right of
individuals to a fair trial.
Chapter II The Assassination
Page 28
CHAPTER II
The Assassination
THIS CHAPTER describes President Kennedy's trip to Dallas, from its
origin through its tragic conclusion. The narrative of these events is
based largely on the recollections of the participants, although in many
instances documentary or other evidence has also been used by the
Commission. Beginning with the advance plans and Secret Service
preparations for the trip, this chapter reviews the motorcade through
Dallas, the fleeting moments of the assassination, the activities at
Parkland Memorial Hospital, and the return of the Presidential party to
Washington. An evaluation of the procedures employed to safeguard the
President, with recommendations for improving these procedures, appears
in Chapter VIII of the report..
Planning the Texas Trip
Page 28
PLANNING THE TEXAS TRIP
President Kennedy's visit to Texas in November 1963 had been under
consideration for almost a year before it occurred. He had made only a
few brief visits to the State since the 1960 Presidential campaign and
in 1962 he began to consider a formal visit.1 During 1963, the reasons
for making the trip became more persuasive. As a political leader, the
President wished to resolve the factional controversy within the
Democratic Party in Texas before the election of 1964. 2 The party
itself saw an opportunity to raise funds by having the President speak
at a political dinner eventually planned for Austin. 3 As Chief of
State, the President always welcomed the opportunity to learn,
firsthand, about the problems which concerned the American people.4
Moreover, he looked forward to the public appearances which he
personally enjoyed.
The basic decision on the November trip to Texas was made at a meeting
of President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and Governor Connally on
June 5, 1963, at the Cortez Hotel in El Paso, Tex.6 The President had
spoken earlier that day at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
Colo., and had stopped in El Paso to discuss the proposed visit and
other matters with the Vice President and the Governor.7 The three
agreed that the President would come to Texas
Page 29
in late November 1963.8 The original plan called for the President to
spend only 1 day in the State, making whirlwind visits to Dallas, Fort
Worth, San Antonio, and Houston.9 In September, the White House decided
to permit further visits by the President and extended the trip to run
from the afternoon of November 21 through the evening of Friday,
November 22. When Governor Connally called at the White House on October
4 to discuss the details of the visit, it was agreed that the planning
of events in Texas would be left largely to the Governor. At the White
House, Kenneth O'Donnell, special assistant to the President, acted as
coordinator for the trip.12
Everyone agreed that, if there was sufficient time, a motorcade through
downtown Dallas would be the best way for the people to see their
President. When the trip was planned for only 1 day, Governor Connally
had opposed the motorcade because there was not enough time. The
Governor stated, however, that "once we got San Antonio moved from
Friday to Thursday afternoon, where that was his initial stop in Texas,
then we had the time, and I withdrew my objections to a motorcade."
According to O'Donnell, had a motorcade wherever we went," particularly
in large cities where the purpose was to let the President be seen by as
many people as possible.16 In his experience, "it would be automatic"
for the Secret Service to arrange a route which would, within the time
allotted, bring the President "through an area which exposes him to the
greatest number of people."
Advance Preparations for the Dallas Trip
Page 29
ADVANCE PREPARATIONS FOR THE DALLAS TRIP
Advance preparations for President Kennedy's visit to Dallas were
primarily the responsibility of two Secret Service agents: Special Agent
Winston G. Lawson, a member of the White House detail who acted as the
advance agent, and Forrest V. Sorrels, special agent in charge of the
Dallas office. Both agents were advised of the trip on November 4.18
Lawson received a tentative schedule of the Texas trip on November 8
from Roy H. Kellerman, assistant special agent in charge of the White
House detail, who was the Secret. Service official responsible for the
entire Texas journey.19 As advance agent working closely with Sorrels,
Lawson had responsibility for arranging the timetable for the
President's visit to Dallas and coordinating local activities with the
White House staff, the organizations directly concerned with the visit,
and local law enforcement officials.20 Lawson's most important
responsibilities were to take preventive action against anyone in Dallas
considered a threat to the President, to select the luncheon site and
motorcade route, and to plan security measures for the luncheon and the
motorcade.
Preventive Intelligence Activities
The Protective Research Section (PRS) of the Secret Service maintains
records of people who have threatened the President or so conducted
Page 30
themselves as to be deemed a potential danger to him. On November 8,
1963, after undertaking the responsibility for advance preparations for
the visit to Dallas, Agent Lawson went to the PRS offices in Washington.
A check of the geographic indexes there revealed no listing for any
individual deemed to be a potential danger to the President in the
territory of the Secret Service regional office which includes Dallas
and Fort Worth.21
To supplement the PRS files, the Secret Service depends largely on local
police departments and local offices of other Federal agencies which
advise it of potential threats immediately before the visit of the
President to their community. Upon his arrival in Dallas on November 12
Lawson conferred with the local police and the local office of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation about potential dangers to the
President. Although there was no mention in PRS files of the
demonstration in Dallas against Ambassador Adlai Stevenson on October
24, 1963, Lawson inquired about the incident and obtained through the
local police photographs of some of the persons involved.22 On November
22 a Secret Service agent stood at the entrance to the Trade Mart, where
the President was scheduled to speak, with copies of these photographs.
Dallas detectives in the lobby of the Trade Mart and in the luncheon
area also had copies of these photographs. A number of people who
resembled some of those in the photographs were placed under
surveillance at the Trade Mart.25
The FBI office in Dallas gave the local Secret Service representatives
the name of a possibly dangerous individual in the Dallas area who was
investigated. It also advised the Secret Service of the circulation on
November 21 of a handbill sharply critical of President Kennedy,24
discussed in chapter VI of this report. Shortly before, the Dallas
police had reported to the Secret Service that the handbill had appeared
on the streets of Dallas. Neither the Dallas police nor the FBI had yet
learned the source of the handbill.25 No one else was identified to the
Secret Service through local inquiry as potentially dangerous, nor did
PRS develop any additional information between November 12, when Lawson
left Washington, and November 22. The adequacy of the intelligence
system maintained by the Secret Service at the time of the
assassination, including a detailed description of the available data on
Lee Harvey Oswald and the reasons why his name had not been furnished to
the Secret Service, is discussed in chapter VIII.
The Luncheon Site
An important purpose of the President's visit to Dallas was to speak at
a luncheon given by business and civic leaders. The White House staff
informed the Secret Service that the President would arrive and depart
from Dallas' Love Field; that a motorcade through the downtown area of
Dallas to the luncheon site should be arranged; and that following the
luncheon the President would return to the airport by the most direct
route. Accordingly, it was important to
Page 31
determine the luncheon site as quickly as possible, so that security
could be established at the site and the motorcade route selected.
On November 4, Gerald A. Behn, agent in charge of the White House
detail, asked Sorrels to examine three potential sites for the luncheon.
One building, Market Hall, was unavailable for November 22. The second,
the Women's Building at the State Fair Grounds, was a one-story building
with few entrances and easy to make secure, but it lacked necessary
food-handling facilities and had certain unattractive features,
including a low ceiling with exposed conduits and beams. The third
possibility, the Trade Mart, a handsome new building with all the
necessary facilities, presented security problems. It had numerous
entrances, several tiers of balconies surrounding the central court
where the luncheon would be held, and several catwalks crossing the
court at each level. On November 4, Sorrels told Behn he believed
security difficulties at the Trade Mart could be overcome by special
precautions. Lawson also evaluated the security hazards at the Trade
Mart on November 13.28 Kenneth O'Donnell made the final decision to hold
the luncheon at the Trade Mart; Behn so notified Lawson on November 14.
Once the Trade Mart had been selected, Sorrels and Lawson worked out
detailed arrangements for security at the building. In addition to the
preventive measures already mentioned, they provided for controlling
access to the building, closing off and policing areas around it,
securing the roof and insuring the presence of numerous police officers
inside and around the building. Ultimately more than 200 law enforcement
officers, mainly Dallas police but including 8 Secret Service agents,
were deployed in and around the Trade Mart.30
The Motorcade Route
On November 8, when Lawson was briefed on the itinerary for the trip to
Dallas, he was told that 45 minutes had been allotted for a motorcade
procession from Love Field to the luncheon site.31 Lawson was not
specifically instructed to select the parade route, but he understood
that this was one of his functions.32 Even before the Trade Mart had
been definitely selected, Lawson and Sorrels began to consider the best
motorcade route from Love Field to the Trade Mart. On November 14,
Lawson and Sorrels attended a meeting at Love Field and on their return
to Dallas drove over the route which Sorrels believed best suited for
the proposed motorcade.33 This route, eventually selected for the
motorcade from the airport to the Trade Mart, measured 10 miles and
could be driven easily within the allotted 45 minutes.34 From Love Field
the route passed through a portion of suburban Dallas, through the
downtown area along Main Street and then to the Trade Mart via Stemmons
Freeway. For the President's return to Love Field following the
luncheon, the agents selected the most direct route, which was
approximately 4 miles.
After the selection of the Trade Mart as the luncheon site, Lawson and
Sorrels met with Dallas Chief of Police Jesse E. Curry, Assistant
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Chief Charles Batchelor, Deputy Chief N. T. Fisher, and several other
command officers to discuss details of the motorcade and possible
routes. The route was further reviewed by Lawson and Sorrels with
Assistant Chief Batchelor and members of the local host committee on
November 15. The police officials agreed that the route recommended by
Sorrels was the proper one and did not express a belief that any other
route might be better.37 On November 18, Sorrels and Lawson drove over
the selected route with Batchelor and other police officers, verifying
that it could be traversed within 45 minutes. Representatives of the
local host committee and the White House staff were advised by the
Secret Service of the actual route on the afternoon of November 18.38
The route impressed the agents as a natural and desirable one. Sorrels,
who had participated in Presidential protection assignments in Dallas
since a visit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936,as testified
that the traditional parade route in Dallas was along Main Street, since
the tall buildings along the street gave more people an opportunity to
participate. The route chosen from the airport to Main Street was the
normal one, except where Harwood Street was selected as the means of
access to Main Street in preference to a short stretch of the Central
Expressway, which presented a minor safety hazard and could not
accommodate spectators as conveniently as Harwood Street.41 According to
Lawson, the chosen route seemed to be
the best.
It afforded us wide streets most of the way, because of the buses that
were in the motorcade. It
afforded us a chance to have alternative routes if something happened on
the motorcade route. It was
the type of suburban area a good part of the way where the crowds would
be able to be controlled for a
great distance, and we figured that the largest crowds would be
downtown, which they were, and that
the wide streets that we would use downtown would be of sufficient width
to keep the public out of our
way.
Elm Street, parallel to Main Street and one block north, was not used
for the main portion of the downtown part of the motorcade because Main
Street offered better vantage points for spectators.
To reach the Trade Mart from Main Street the agents decided to use the
Stemmons Freeway (Route No. 77), the most direct route. The only
practical way for westbound traffic on Main Street to reach the
northbound lanes of the Stemmons Freeway is via Elm Street, which Route
No. 77 traffic is instructed to follow in this part of the city. ( See
Commission Exhibit No. 2113, p. 34.) Elm Street was to be reached from
Main by turning right at Houston, going one block north and then turning
left onto Elm. On this last portion of the journey, only 5 minutes from
the Trade Mart, the President's motorcade would pass the Texas School
Book Depository Building on the northwest corner of Houston and Elm
Streets. The building overlooks Dealey Plaza,
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an attractively landscaped triangle of 3 acres. (See Commission Exhibit
No. 876, p. 33.) From Houston Street, which forms the base of the
triangle, three streets--Commerce, Main, and Elm--trisect the plaza,
converging at the apex of the triangle to form a triple underpass
beneath a multiple railroad bridge almost 500 feet from Houston
Street.48 Elm Street, the northernmost of the three, after intersecting
Houston curves in a southwesterly arc through the underpass and leads
into an access road, which branches off to the right and is used by
traffic going to the Stemmons Freeway and the Dallas-Fort Worth
Turnpike. (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 2113-2116, pp. 34-37.)
The Elm Street approach to the Stemmons Freeway is necessary in order to
avoid the traffic hazards which would otherwise exist if right turns
were permitted from both Main and Elm into the freeway. To create this
traffic pattern, a concrete barrier between Main and Elm Streets
presents an obstacle to a right turn from Main across Elm to the access
road to Stemmons Freeway and the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike. This
concrete barrier extends far enough beyond the access road to make it
impracticable for vehicles to turn right from Main directly to the
access road. A sign located on this barrier instructs Main Street
traffic not to make any turns.45 (See Commission Exhibits Nos.
2114-2116, pp. 35-37.) In conformity with these arrangements, traffic
proceeding west on Main is directed to turn right at Houston in order to
reach the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, which has the same access road
from Elm Street as does the Stemmons Freeway.46 (See Commission Exhibit
No. 2967, p. 38.)
The planning for the motorcade also included advance preparations for
security arrangements along the route. Sorrels and Lawson reviewed the
route in cooperation with Assistant Chief Bachelor and other Dallas
police officials who took notes on the requirements for controlling the
crowds and traffic, watching the overpasses, and providing motorcycle
escort.47 To control traffic, arrangements were made for the deployment
of foot patrolmen and motorcycle police at various positions along the
route.48 Police were assigned to each overpass on the route and
instructed to keep them clear of unauthorized persons. No arrangements
were made for police or building custodians to inspect buildings along
the motorcade route since the Secret Service did not normally request or
make such a check? Under standard procedures, the responsibility for
watching the windows of buildings was shared by local police stationed
along the route and Secret Service agents riding in the motorcade.51
As the date for the President's visit approached, the two Dallas
newspapers carried several reports of his motorcade route. The selection
of the Trade Mart as the possible site for the luncheon first appeared
in the Dallas Times-Herald on November 15, 1963. The following day, the
newspaper reported that the Presidential party "apparently will loop
through the downtown area, probably on Main Street, en route from Dallas
Love Field" on its way to the Trade
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Mart. On November 19, the Times-Herald afternoon paper detailed the
precise route:
From the airport, the President's party will proceed to Mockingbird Lane
to Lemmon and then to Turtle Creek, turning south to Cedar Springs.
The motorcade will then pass through downtown on Harwood and then west
on Main, turning back to Elm at Houston and then out Stemmons Freeway to
the Trade Mart.
Also on November 19, the Morning News reported that the President's
motorcade would travel from Love Field along specified streets, then
"Harwood to Main, Main to Houston, Houston to Elm, Elm under the Triple
Underpass to Stemmons Freeway, and on to the Trade Mart." On November 20
a front page story reported that the streets on which the Presidential
motorcade would travel included "Main and Stemmons Freeway." On the
morning of the President's arrival, the Morning News noted that the
motorcade would travel through downtown Dallas onto the Stemmons
Freeway, and reported that "the motorcade will move slowly so that
crowds can 'get a good view' of President Kennedy and his wife." 57
Dallas Before the Visit
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DALLAS BEFORE THE VISIT
The President's intention to pay a visit to Texas in the fall of 1963
aroused interest throughout the State. The two Dallas newspapers
provided their readers with a steady stream of information and
speculation about the trip, beginning on September 13, when the
Times-Herald announced in a front page article that President Kennedy
was planning a brief l-day tour of four Texas cities--Dallas, Fort
Worth, San Antonio, and Houston.58 Both Dallas papers cited White House
sources on September 26 as confirming the President's intention to visit
Texas on November 21 and 22, with Dallas scheduled as one of the stops.
Articles, editorials, and letters to the editor in the Dallas Morning
News and the Dallas Times-Herald after September 13 reflected the
feeling in the community toward the forthcoming Presidential visit.
Although there were critical editorials and letters to the editors, the
news stories reflected the desire of Dallas officials to welcome the
President with dignity and courtesy. An editorial in the Times-Herald of
September 17 called on the people of Dallas to be "congenial hosts" even
though "Dallas didn't vote for Mr. Kennedy in 1960, may not endorse him
in '64." On October 3 the Dallas Morning News quoted U.S. Representative
Joe Pool's hope that President Kennedy would receive a "good welcome"
and would not face demonstrations like those encountered by Vice
President Johnson during the 1960 campaign.61
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Increased concern about the President's visit was aroused by the
incident involving the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai E.
Stevenson. On the evening of October 24, 1963, after addressing a
meeting in Dallas, Stevenson was jeered, jostled, and spat upon by
hostile demonstrators outside the Dallas Memorial Auditorium Theater.62
The local, national, and international reaction to this incident evoked
from Dallas officials and newspapers strong condemnations of the
demonstrators. Mayor Earle Cabell called on the city to redeem itself
during President Kennedy's visit.63 He asserted that Dallas had shed its
reputation of the twenties as the "Southwest hate capital of Dixie." 64
On October 26 the press reported Chief of Police Curry's plans to call
in 100 extra off-duty officers to help protect President Kennedy.65 Any
thought that the President might cancel his visit to Dallas was ended
when Governor Connally confirmed on November 8 that the President would
come to Texas on November 21-22, and that he would visit San Antonio,
Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin.66
During November the Dallas papers reported frequently on the plans for
protecting the President, stressing the thoroughness of the
preparations. They conveyed the pleas of Dallas leaders that citizens
not demonstrate or create disturbances during the President's visit. On
November 18 the Dallas City Council adopted a new city ordinance
prohibiting interference with attendance at lawful assemblies.67 Two
days before the President's arrival Chief Curry warned that the Dallas
police would not permit improper conduct during the President's visit.68
Meanwhile, on November 17 the president of the Dallas Chamber of
Commerce referred to the city's reputation for being the friendliest
town in America and asserted that citizens would "greet the President of
the United States with the warmth and pride that keep the Dallas spirit
famous the world over." 69 Two days later, a local Republican leader
called for a "civilized nonpartisan" welcome for President Kennedy,
stating that "in many respects Dallas County has isolated itself from
the main stream of life in the world in this decade." 70
Another reaction to the impending visit -- hostile to the President
--came to a head shortly before his arrival. On November 21 there
appeared on the streets of Dallas the anonymous handbill mentioned
above. It was fashioned after the "wanted" circulars issued by law
enforcement agencies. Beneath two photographs of President Kennedy, one
full- face and one profile, appeared the caption, "Wanted for Treason,"
followed by a scurrilous bill of particulars that constituted a
vilification of the President.71 And on the morning of the President's
arrival, there appeared in the Morning News a full , black-bordered
advertisement headed "Welcome Mr. Kennedy to Dallas," sponsored by the
American Factfinding Committee, which the sponsor later testified was an
ad hoc committee "formed strictly for the purpose of having a name to
put in the paper." The "welcome" consisted of a series of statements and
questions critical of the
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President and his administration. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1031, p.
294.)
Visits To Other Texas Cities
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VISITS TO OTHER TEXAS CITIES
The trip to Texas began with the departure of President and Mrs. Kennedy
from the White House by helicopter at 10:45 a.m., e.s.t., on November
21, 1963, for Andrews AFB. They took off in the Presidential plane, Air
Force One, at 11 a.m., arriving at San Antonio at 1:30 p.m., e.s.t. They
were greeted by Vice President Johnson and Governor Connally, who joined
the Presidential party in a motorcade through San Antonio.74 During the
afternoon, President Kennedy dedicated the U.S. Air Force School of
Aerospace Medicine at Brooks AFB.75 Late in the afternoon he flew to
Houston where he rode through the city in a motorcade, spoke at the Rice
University Stadium, and attended a dinner in honor of U.S.
Representative Albert Thomas.76
At Rice Stadium a very large, enthusiastic crowd greeted the President.
In Houston, as elsewhere during the trip, the crowds showed much
interest in Mrs. Kennedy. David F. Powers of the President's staff later
stated that when the President asked for his assessment of the day's
activities, Powers replied "that the crowd was about the same as the one
which came to see him before but there were 100,000 extra people on hand
who came to see Mrs. Kennedy." 78 Late in the evening, the Presidential
party flew to Fort Worth where they spent the night at the Texas Hotel.
On the morning of November 22, President Kennedy attended a breakfast at
the hotel and afterward addressed a crowd at an open parking lot.80 The
President liked outdoor appearances because more people could see and
hear him.81 Before leaving the hotel, the President, Mrs. Kennedy, and
Kenneth O'Donnell talked about the risks inherent in Presidential public
appearances. According to O'Donnell, the President commented that "if
anybody really wanted to shoot the President of the United States, it
was not a very difficult job--all one had to do was get a high building
someday with a telescopic rifle, and there was nothing anybody could do
to defend against such an attempt." Upon concluding the conversation,
the President prepared to depart for Dallas.
Arrival At Love Field
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ARRIVAL AT LOVE FIELD
In Dallas the rain had stopped, and by midmorning a gloomy overcast sky
had given way to the bright. sunshine that greeted the Presidential
party when Air Force One touched down at Love Field at 11:40 a.m.,
e.s.t. Governor and Mrs. Connally and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough had
come with the President from Fort Worth.85 Vice President Johnson's
airplane, Air Force Two, had arrived at Love
Page 43
Field at approximately 11:35 a.m., and the Vice President and Mrs.
Johnson were in the receiving line to greet President and Mrs.
Kennedy.86
After a welcome from the Dallas reception committee, President and Mrs.
Kennedy walked along a chain-link fence at the reception area greeting a
large crowd of spectators that had gathered behind it.87 Secret Service
agents formed a cordon to keep the press and photographers from impeding
their passage and scanned the crowd for threatening movements.88 Dallas
police stood at intervals along the fence and Dallas plain clothes men
mixed in the crowd.89 Vice President and Mrs. Johnson followed along the
fence, guarded by four members of the Vice-Presidential detail.90
Approximately 10 minutes after the arrival at Love Field, the President
and Mrs. Kennedy went to the Presidential automobile to begin the
motorcade.91
Organization of the Motorcade
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ORGANIZATION OF THE MOTORCADE
Secret Service arrangements for Presidential trips, which were followed
in the Dallas motorcade, are designed to provide protection while
permitting large numbers of people to see the President. Every effort is
made to prevent unscheduled stops, although the President may, and in
Dallas did, order stops in order to greet the public.93 Men the
motorcade slows or stops, agents take positions between the President
and the crowd.94 The order of vehicles in the Dallas motorcade was as
follows:
Motorcycles.--Dallas police motorcycles preceded the pilot car.95'
The pilot car.--Manned by officers of the Dallas Police Department, this
automobile preceded the main party by approximately quarter of a mile.
Its function was to alert police along the route that the motorcade was
approaching and to check for signs of trouble.96
Motorcycles.--Next came four to six motorcycle policemen whose main
purpose was to keep the crowd back.
The lead car.--Described as a "rolling command car," this was an
unmarked Dallas police car, driven by Chief of Police Curry and occupied
by Secret Service Agents Sorrels and Lawson and by Dallas County Sheriff
J. E. Decker. The occupants scanned the crowd and the buildings along
the route. Their main function was to spot trouble in advance and to
direct any necessary steps to meet the trouble. Following normal
practice, the lead automobile stayed proximately four to five car
lengths ahead of the President's limousine.98
The Presidential limousine.--The President's automobile was specially
designed 1961 Lincoln convertible with two collapsible jump seats
between the front and rear seats. (See Commission Exhibit No. 346, p.
44.) It was outfitted with a clear plastic bubbletop which was neither
bulletproof nor bullet resistant.100 Because the skies had cleared in
Dallas, Lawson directed that the top not be used for the day's
activities. He acted on instructions he had received
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earlier from Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy H. Kellerman, who was
in Fort Worth with the President.101 Kellerman had discussed the matter
with O'Donnell, whose instructions were, "If the weather is clear and it
is not raining, have that bubbletop off." Elevated approximately 15
inches above the back of the front seat was a metallic frame with four
handholds that riders in the car could grip while standing in the rear
seat during parades.103 At the rear on each side of the automobile were
small running boards, each designed to hold a Secret Service agent, with
a metallic handle for the rider to grasp.104 The President had
frequently stated that he did not want agents to ride on these steps
during a motorcade except when necessary. He had repeated this wish only
a few days before, during his visit to Tampa, Fla.105
President Kennedy rode on the right-hand side of the rear seat with Mrs.
Kennedy on his left.106 Governor Connally occupied the right jump seat,
Mrs. Connally the left.107 Driving the Presidential limousine was
Special Agent William R. Greer of the Secret Service; on his right sat
Kellerman.108 Kellerman's responsibilities included maintaining radio
communications with the lead and followup cars, scanning the route, and
getting out and standing near the President when the cars stopped.
Motorcycles.--Four motorcycles, two on each side, flanked the rear of
the Presidential car. They provided some cover for the President, but
their main purpose was to keep back the crowd.109 On previous occasions,
the President had requested that, to the extent possible, these flanking
motorcycles keep back from the sides of his car.110
Presidential followup car.--This vehicle, a 1955 Cadillac
eight-passenger convertible especially outfitted for the Secret Service,
followed closely behind the President's automobile.111 It carried eight
Secret Service agents--two in the front seat, two in the rear, and two
on each of the right and left running boards.112 Each agent carried a
.38-caliber pistol, and a shotgun and automatic rifle were also
available.113 Presidential Assistants David F. Powers and Kenneth
O'Donnell sat in the right and left jump seats, respectively.114
The agents in this car, under established procedure, had instructions to
watch the route for signs of trouble, scanning not only the crowds but
the windows and roofs of buildings, overpasses, and crossings. They were
instructed to watch particularly for thrown objects, sudden actions in
the crowd, and any movements toward the Presidential car. The agents on
the front of the running boards had directions to move immediately to
positions just to the rear of the President and Mrs. Kennedy when the
President's car slowed to a walking pace or stopped, or when the press
of the crowd made it impossible for the escort motorcycles to stay in
position on the car's rear flanks.' The two agents on the rear of the
running boards were to advance toward the front of the President's car
whenever it stopped or slowed down sufficiently for them to do so.118
Vice-Presidential car.--The Vice-Presidential automobile, a four-door
Lincoln convertible obtained locally for use in the motor-
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cade, proceeded approximately two to three car lengths behind the
President's followup car.119 This distance was maintained so that
spectators would normally turn their gaze from the President's
automobile by the time the Vice President came into view.120 Vice
President Johnson sat on the right-hand side of the rear seat, Mrs.
Johnson in the center, and Senator Yarborough on the left. 121 Rufus W.
Youngblood, special agent in charge of the Vice President's detail,
occupied the right-hand side of the front seat, and Hurchel Jacks of the
Texas State Highway patrol was the driver.122
Vice-Presidential followup car.--Driven by an officer of the Dallas
Police Department, this vehicle was occupied by three Secret Service
agents and Clifton C. Garter, assistant to the Vice President.123 These
agents performed for the Vice President the same functions that the
agents in the Presidential followup car performed for the President.
Remainder of motorcade.--The remainder of the motorcade consisted of
five cars for other dignitaries, including the mayor of Dallas and Texas
Congressmen, telephone and Western Union vehicles, a White House
communications car, three cars for press photographers, an official
party bus for White House staff members and others, and two press buses.
Admiral George G. Burkley, physician to the President, was in a car
following those "containing the local and national representatives." 124
Police car and motorcycles. 125 --A Dallas police car and several
motorcycles at the rear kept the motorcade together and prevented
unauthorized vehicles from joining the motorcade.
Communications in the motorcade. 126 --A base station at a fixed
location in Dallas operated a radio network which linked together the
lead car, Presidential car, Presidential followup car, White House
communications car, Trade Mart, Love Field, and the Presidential and
Vice-Presidential airplanes. The Vice-Presidential car and
Vice-Presidential followup car used portable sets with a separate
frequency for their own car-to-car communication.
The Drive Through Dallas
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THE DRIVE THROUGH DALLAS
The motorcade left Love Field shortly after 11:50 a.m. and drove at
speeds up to 25 to 30 miles an hour through thinly populated areas on
the outskirts of Dallas.127 At the President's direction, his automobile
stopped twice, the first time to permit him to respond to a sign asking
him to shake hands.128 During this brief stop, agents in the front
positions on the running boards of the Presidential followup car came
forward and stood beside the President's car, looking out toward the
crowd, and Special Agent Kellerman assumed his position next to the
car.129 On the other occasion, the President halted the motorcade to
speak to a Catholic nun and a group of small children.130
In the downtown area, large crowds of spectators gave the President a
tremendous reception.131 The crowds were so dense
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 698
Presidential limousine in Dallas motorcade.
Page 48
that Special Agent Clinton J. Hill had to leave the left front running
board of the President's followup car four times to ride on the rear of
the President's limousine.132 (See Commission Exhibit No. 698, p. 47.)
Several times Special Agent John D. Ready came forward from the right
front running board of the Presidential followup car to the right side
of the President's car.133 Special Agent. Glen A. Bennett once left his
place inside the followup car to help keep the crowd away from the
President's car. When a teenage boy ran toward the rear of the
President's ear,184 Ready left the running board to chase the boy back
into the crowd. On several occasions when the Vice President's car was
slowed down by the throng, Special Agent Youngblood stepped out to hold
the crowd back.135
According to plan, the President's motorcade proceeded west through
downtown Dallas on Main Street to the intersection of Houston Street,
which marks the beginning of Dealey Plaza.136 From Main Street the
motorcade turned right and went north on Houston Street, passing tall
buildings on the right, and headed toward the Texas School Book
Depository Building.137 The spectators were still thickly congregated in
front of the buildings which lined the east side of Houston Street, but
the crowd thinned abruptly along Elm Street, which curves in a
southwesterly direction as it proceeds downgrade toward the Triple
Underpass and the Stemmons Freeway.138
As the motorcade approached the intersection of Houston and Elm Streets,
there was general gratification in the Presidential party about the
enthusiastic reception. Evaluating the political overtones, Kenneth
O'Donnell was especially pleased because it convinced him that the
average Dallas resident was like other American citizens in respecting
and admiring the President. 139 Mrs. Connally, elated by the reception,
turned to President Kennedy and said, "Mr. President, you can't say
Dallas doesn't love you." The President replied, "That is very obvious."
The Assassination
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THE ASSASSINATION
At 12:30 p.m., e.s.t., as the President's open limousine proceeded at
approximately 11 miles per hour along Elm Street toward the Triple
Underpass, shots fired from a rifle mortally wounded President Kennedy
and seriously injured Governor Connally. One bullet passed through the
President's neck; a subsequent bullet., which was lethal, shattered the
right side of his skull. Governor Connally sustained bullet wounds in
his back, the fight side of his chest, right wrist, and left thigh.
The Time
The exact time of the assassination was fixed by the testimony of four
witnesses. Special Agent Rufus W. Youngblood observed that the large
electric sign clock atop the Texas School Book Depository Building
showed the numerals "12:30" as the Vice-Presidential automobile
proceeded north on Houston Street, a few seconds before the
Page 49
shots were fired.141 Just prior to the shooting, David F. Powers, riding
in the Secret Service followup car, remarked to Kenneth O'Donnell that
it was 12:30 p.m., the time they were due at the Trade Mart.142 Seconds
after the shooting, Roy Kellerman, riding in the front seat of the
Presidential limousine, looked at his watch and said "12:30" to the
driver, Special Agent Greer.143 The Dallas police radio log re-fleets
that Chief of Police Curry reported the shooting of the President and
issued his initial orders at 12:30 p.m.144
Speed of the Limousine
William Greet, operator of the Presidential limousine, estimated the
car's speed at the time of the first shot as 12 to 15 miles per hour.
144 Other witnesses in the motorcade estimated the speed of the
President's limousine from 7 to 22 miles per hour.146 A more precise
determination has been made from motion pictures taken on the scene by
an amateur photographer, Abraham Zapruder. Based on these films, the
speed of the President's automobile is computed at an average speed of
11.2 miles per hour. The car maintained this average speed over a
distance of approximately 186 feet immediately preceding the shot which
struck the President in the head. While the car traveled this distance,
the Zapruder camera ran 152 frames. Since the camera operates at a speed
of 18.3 frames per second, it was calculated that the car required 8.3
seconds to cover the 136 feet. This represents a speed of 11.2 miles per
hour.147
In the Presidential Limousine
Mrs. John F. Kennedy, on the left of the rear seat of the limousine,
looked toward her left and waved to the crowds along the route. Soon
after the motorcade turned onto Elm Street., she heard a sound similar
to a motorcycle noise and a cry from Governor Connally, which caused her
to look to her right. On turning she saw a quizzical look on her
husband's face as he raised his left hand to his throat. Mrs. Kennedy
then heard a second shot and saw the President's skull torn open under
the impact of the bullet. As she cradled her mortally wounded husband,
Mrs. Kennedy cried, "Oh, my God, they have shot my husband. I love you,
Jack." 148
Governor Connally testified that he recognized the first noise as a
rifle shot and the thought immediately crossed his mind that it was an
assassination attempt. From his position in the right jump seat
immediately in front of the President, he instinctively turned to his
right because the shot appeared to come from over his right shoulder.
Unable to see the President as he turned to the right, the Governor
started to look back over his left shoulder, but he never completed the
turn because he felt something strike him in the back.149 n his
testimony before the Commission, Governor Connally was certain that he
was hit by the second shot, which he stated he did not hear.150
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Mrs. Connally, too, heard a frightening noise from her right. Looking
over her right shoulder, she saw that the President had both hands at
his neck but she observed no blood and heard nothing. She watched as he
slumped down with an empty expression on his face.151 Roy Kellerman, in
the right front seat of the limousine, heard a report like a firecracker
pop. Turning to his right in the direction of the noise, Kellerman heard
the President say "My God, I am hit," and saw both of the President's
hands move up toward his neck. As he told the driver, "Let's get out of
here; we are hit," Kellerman grabbed
his microphone and radioed ahead to the lead car, "We are hit. Get us to
the hospital immediately." 152
The driver, William Greer, heard a noise which he took to be a backfire
from one of the motorcycles flanking the Presidential car. When he heard
the same noise again, Greer glanced over his shoulder and saw Governor
Connally fall. At the-sound of the second shot he realized that
something was wrong, and he pressed down on the accelerator as Kellerman
said, "Get out of here fast." 153 As he issued his instructions to Greet
and to the lead car, Kellerman heard a "flurry of shots" Within 5
seconds of the first noise. According to Kellerman, Mrs. Kennedy then
cried out: "What are they doing to you!" Looking back from the front
seat, Kellerman saw Governor Connally in his wife's lap and Special
Agent Clinton J. Hill lying across the trunk of the car.154
Mrs. Connally heard a second shot fired and pulled her husband down into
her lap. 155 Observing his blood- covered chest as he was pulled into
his wife's lap, Governor Connally believed himself mortally wounded. He
cried out, "Oh, no, no, no. My God, they are going to kill us all." 156
At first Mrs. Connally thought that her husband had been killed, but
then she noticed an almost imperceptible movement and knew that he was
still alive. She said, "It's all right. Be still." 157 The Governor was
lying with his head on his wife's lap when he heard a shot hit the
President.158 At that point, both Governor and Mrs. Connally observed
brain tissue splattered over the interior of the car.159 According to
Governor and Mrs. Connally, it was after this shot that Kellerman issued
his emergency instructions and the car accelerated. 160
Reaction by Secret Service Agents
From the left front running board of the President's followup car,
Special Agent Hill was scanning the few people standing on the south
side of Elm Street after the motorcade had turned off Houston Street. He
estimated that the motorcade had slowed down to approximately 9 or 10
miles per hour on the turn at the intersection of Houston and Elm
Streets and then proceeded at a rate of 12 to 15 miles per hour with the
followup car trailing the President's automobile by approximately 5
feet. 161 Hill heard a noise, which seemed to be a firecracker, coming
from his right rear. He immediately looked to his right, "and, in so
doing, my eyes had to cross the Presidential limousine and I saw
President Kennedy grab at himself and lurch forward and to the
Page 51
left." 162 Hill jumped from the followup car and ran to the President's
automobile. At about the time he reached the President's automobile,
Hill heard a second shot, approximately 5 seconds after the first, which
removed a portion of the President's head.163
At the instant that Hill stepped onto the left rear step of the
President's automobile and grasped the handhold, the car lurched
forward, causing him to lose his footing. He ran three or four steps,
regained his position and mounted the car. Between the time he
originally seized the handhold and the time he mounted the car, Hill
recalled:
Mrs. Kennedy had jumped up from the seat and was, it appeared to me,
reaching for something coming off the fight rear bumper of the car, the
right rear tail, when she noticed that I was trying to climb on the car.
She turned toward me and I grabbed her and put her back in the back
seat, crawled up on top of the back seat and lay there.
David Powers, who witnessed the scene from the President's followup car,
stated that Mrs. Kennedy would probably have fallen off the rear end of
the car and been killed if Hill had not pushed her back into the
Presidential automobile.165 Mrs. Kennedy had no recollection of climbing
onto the back of the car.166
Special Agent Ready, on the right front running board of the
Presidential followup car, heard noises that sounded like firecrackers
and ran toward the President's limousine. But he was immediately called
back by Special Agent Emory P. Roberts, in charge of the followup car,
who did not believe that he could reach, the President's car at the
speed it was then traveling.167 Special Agent George W. Hickey, Jr., in
the rear seat of the Presidential followup car, picked up and cocked an
automatic rifle as he heard the last shot. At this point. the cars were
speeding through the underpass and had left the scene of the shooting,
but Hickey kept the automatic weapon ready as the car raced to the
hospital.168 Most of the other Secret Service agents in the motorcade
had drawn their sidearms.169 Roberts noticed that the Vice President's
car was approximately one-half block behind the Presidential followup
car at the time of the shooting and signaled for it to move in
closer.170
Directing the security detail for the Vice President from the right
front seat of the Vice-Presidential car, Special Agent Youngblood
recalled:
As we were beginning to go down this incline, all of a sudden there was
an explosive noise. I quickly observed unnatural movement of crowds,
like ducking or scattering, and quick movements in the Presidential
followup car. So I turned around and hit the Vice President on the
shoulder and hollered, get. down, and then looked around again and saw
more of this movement, and so I proceeded to go to the back seat and get
on top of him. 171
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Youngblood was not positive that he was in the rear seat before the
second shot, but thought it probable because of President Johnson's
statement to that effect immediately after the assassination.172
President Johnson emphasized Youngblood's instantaneous reaction after
the first shot:
I was startled by the sharp report or explosion, but I had no time to
speculate as to its origin
because Agent Youngblood turned in a flash, immediately after the first
explosion, hitting me on the
shoulder, and shouted to all of us in the back seat to get down. I was
pushed down by Agent
Youngblood. Almost in the same moment in which he hit or pushed me, he
vaulted over the back seat
and sat on me. I was bent over under the weight of Agent Youngblood's
body, toward Mrs. Johnson
and Senator Yarborough.178
Clifton C. Carter, riding in the Vice President's followup car a short
distance behind, reported that Youngblood was in the rear seat using his
body to shield the Vice President before the second and third shots were
fired.174
Other Secret Service agents assigned to the motorcade remained at their
posts during the race to the hospital. None stayed at the scene of the
shooting, and none entered the Texas School Book Depository Building at
or immediately after the shooting. Secret Service procedure requires
that each agent stay with the person being protected and not be diverted
unless it is necessary to accomplish the protective assignment.175
Forrest V. Sorrels, special agent in charge of the Dallas office, was
the first Secret Service agent to return to the scene of the
assassination, approximately 20 or 25 minutes after the shots were
fired.176
Parkland Memorial Hospital
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PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
The Race to the Hospital
In the final instant of the assassination, the Presidential motorcade
began a race to Parkland Memorial Hospital, approximately 4 miles from
the Texas School Book Depository Building.177 On receipt of the radio
message from Kellerman to the lead car that the President had been hit,
Chief of Police Curry and police motorcyclists at the head of the
motorcade led the way to the hospital.178 Meanwhile, Chief Curry ordered
the police base station to notify Parkland Hospital that the wounded
President was en route.170 The radio log of the Dallas Police Department
shows that at 12:30 p.m. on November 22 Chief Curry radioed, "Go to the
hospital--Parkland Hospital. Have them stand by." A moment later Curry
added, "Looks like the President has been hit. Have Parkland stand by."
The base station replied, "They have been notified." 180 Traveling at
speeds estimated at times to be up to 70 or 80 miles per hour down the
Stemmons Freeway and Harry Hines
Page 53
Boulevard, the Presidential limousine arrived at the emergency entrance
of the Parkland Hospital at about 12:35 p.m.181 Arriving almost
simultaneously were the President's followup car, the Vice President's
automobile, and the Vice President's followup car. Admiral Burkley, the
President's physician, arrived at the hospital "between 3 and 5 minutes
following the arrival of the President," since the riders in his car
"were not exactly aware what had happened" and the car went on to the
Trade Mart first.182
When Parkland Hospital received the notification, the staff in the
emergency area was alerted and trauma rooms 1 and 2 were prepared.183
These rooms were for the emergency treatment of acutely ill or injured
patients.184 Although the first message mentioned an injury only to
President Kennedy, two rooms were prepared.185 As the President's
limousine sped toward the hospital, 12 doctors to the emergency area:
surgeons, Drs. Malcolm O. Perry, Charles R. Baxter, Robert N.
McClelland, Ronald C. Jones; the chief neurologist, Dr. William Kemp
Clark; 4 anesthesiologists, Drs. Marion T. Jenkins, Adolph H. Giesecke,
Jr., Jackie H. Hunt, Gene C. Akin; urological surgeon, Dr Paul C.
Peters; an oral surgeon, Dr. Don T. Curtis; and a heart. specialist, Dr.
Fouad A. Bashour.186
Upon arriving at Parkland Hospital, Lawson jumped from the lead car and
rushed into the emergency entrance, where he was met by hospital staff
members wheeling stretchers out to the automobile. 187 Special Agent
Hill removed his suit jacket and covered the President's head and upper
chest to prevent the taking of photographs.188 Governor Connally, who
had lost consciousness on the ride to the hospital, regained
consciousness when the limousine stopped abruptly at the emergency
entrance. Despite his serious wounds, Governor Con-natty tried to get
out of the way so that medical help could reach the President. Although
he was reclining in his wife's arms, he lurched forward in an effort to
stand upright and get out of the car, but he collapsed again. Then he
experienced his first sensation of pain, which became excruciating.189
The Governor was lifted onto a stretcher and taken into trauma room 2.
190 For a moment, Mrs. Kennedy refused to release the President, whom
she held in her lap, but then Kellerman, Greer, and Lawson lifted the
President onto a stretcher and pushed it into trauma room 1. 191
Treatment of President Kennedy
The first physician to see the President at Parkland Hospital was Dr.
Charles J. Carrico, a resident in general surgery.192 Dr. Carrico was in
the emergency area, examining another patient, when he was notified that
President Kennedy was en route to the hospital. 193 Approximately 2
minutes later, Dr. Carrico saw the President on his back, being wheeled
into the emergency area.194 He noted that the President was blue-white
or ashen in color; had slow, spasmodic, agonal respiration without any
coordination; made no voluntary movements; had his eyes open with the
pupils dilated without any reaction
Page 54
to light; evidenced no palpable pulse; and had a few chest sounds which
were thought to be heart beats.195 On the basis of these findings, Dr.
Carrico concluded that President Kennedy was still alive.196
Dr. Carrico noted two wounds: a small bullet wound in the front lower
neck, and an extensive wound in the President's head where a sizable
portion of the skull was missing.197 He observed shredded brain tissue
and "considerable slow oozing" from the latter wound, followed by "more
profuse bleeding" after some circulation was established.198 Dr. Carrico
felt the President's back and determined that there was no large wound
there which would be an immediate threat to life.199 Observing the
serious problems presented by the head wound and inadequate respiration,
Dr. Carrico directed his attention to improving the President's
breathing.200 He noted contusions, hematoma to the right of the larynx,
which was deviated slightly to the left, and also ragged tissue which
indicated a tracheal injury.201 Dr. Carrico inserted a cuffed
endotracheal tube past the injury, inflated the cuff, and connected it
to a Bennett machine to assist in respiration.202
At that point, direction of the President's treatment was undertaken by
Dr. Malcolm O. Perry, who arrived at trauma room 1 a few moments after
the President.203 Dr. Perry noted the President's back brace as he felt
for a femoral pulse, which he did not find.0204 Observing that an
effective airway had to be established if treatment was to be effective,
Dr. Perry performed a tracheotomy, which required 3 to 5 minutes.205
While Dr. Perry was performing the tracheotomy, Drs. Carrico and Ronald
Jones made cutdowns on the President's right leg and left arm,
respectively, to infuse blood and fluids into the circulatory system.206
Dr. Carrico treated the President's known ad-renal insufficiency by
administering hydrocortisone.207 Dr. Robert N. McClelland entered at
that point and assisted Dr. Perry with the tracheotomy.208
Dr. Fouad Bashour, chief of cardiology, Dr. M. T. Jenkins, chief of
anesthesiology, and Dr. A. H. Giesecke, Jr., then joined in the effort
to revive the President.0209 When Dr. Perry noted free air and blood in
the President's chest cavity, he asked that chest tubes be inserted to
allow for drainage of blood and air. Drs. Paul C. Peters and Charles R.
Baxter initiated these procedures.210 As a result of the infusion of
liquids through the cutdowns, the cardiac massage, and the airway, the
doctors were able to maintain peripheral circulation as monitored at the
neck (carotid) artery and at the wrist (radial) pulse. A femoral pulse
was also detected in the President's leg.211 While these medical efforts
were in progress, Dr. Clark noted some electrical activity on the
cardiotachyscope attached to monitor the President's heart responses.212
Dr. Clark, who most closely observed the head wound, described a large,
gaping wound in the right rear part of the head, with substantial damage
and exposure of brain tissue, and a considerable loss of blood.213 Dr.
Clark did not see any other hole or wound on the President's head.
According to Dr. Clark,
Page 55
the small bullet hole on the right rear. of the President's head
discovered during the subsequent autopsy "could have easily been hidden
in the blood and hair"
In the absence of any neurological, muscular, or heart response, the
doctors concluded that efforts to revive the President were hopeless.215
This was verified by Admiral Burkley, the President's physician, who
arrived at the hospital after emergency treatment was under-way and
concluded that "my direct services to him at that moment would have
interfered with the action of the team which was in progress." 216 At
approximately 1 p.m., after last rites were administered to the
President by Father Oscar L. Huber, Dr. Clark pronounced the President
dead. He made the official determination because the ultimate cause of
death, the severe head injury, was within his sphere of
specialization.217 The time was fixed at 1 p.m., as an approximation,
since it was impossible to determine the precise moment when life left
the President.218 President Kennedy could have survived the neck injury,
but the head wound was fatal.219 From a medical viewpoint, President
Kennedy was alive when he arrived at Parkland Hospital; the doctors
observed that he had a heart beat and was making some respiratory
efforts.220 But his condition was hopeless, and the extraordinary
efforts of the doctors to save him could not help but to have been
unavailing.
Since the Dallas doctors directed all their efforts to controlling the
massive bleeding caused by the head wound, and to reconstructing an
airway to his lungs, the President remained on his back throughout his
medical treatment at Parkland.221 When asked why he did not turn the
President over, Dr. Carrico testified as follows:
A. This man was in obvious extreme distress and any more thorough
inspection would have involved several minutes--well,
several--considerable time which at this juncture was not available. A
thorough inspection would have involved washing and cleansing the back,
and this is not practical in treating an acutely injured patient. You
have to determine which things, which are immediately life threatening
and cope with them, before attempting to evaluate the full extent of the
injuries.
Q. Did you ever have occasion to look at the President's back A. No,
sir. Before--well, in trying to treat an acutely injured patient, you
have to establish an airway, adequate ventilation and you have to
establish adequate circulation. Before this was accomplished the
President's cardiac activity had ceased and closed cardiac massage was
instituted, which made it impossible to inspect his back.
Q. Was any effort made to inspect the President's back after
he had expired
A. No, sir.
Q. And why was no effort made at that time to inspect his back
A. I suppose nobody really had the heart to do it. 222
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Moreover, the Parkland doctors took no further action after the
President had expired because they concluded that. it was beyond the
scope of their permissible duties.223
Treatment of Governor Connally
While one medical team tried to revive President Kennedy, a second
performed a series of operations on the bullet wounds sustained by
Governor Connally. 224 Governor Connally was originally seen by Dr.
Carrico and Dr. Richard Dulany.225 While Dr. Carrico went on to attend
the President, Dr. Dulany stayed with the Governor and was soon joined
by several other doctors.226 At approximately 12: 45 p.m., Dr. Robert
Shaw, chief of thoracic surgery, arrived at trauma room 2, to take
charge of the care of Governor Connally, whose major wound fell within
Dr. Shaw's area 'of specialization.227
Governor Connally had a large sucking wound in the front of the right
chest which caused extreme pain and difficulty in breathing. Rubber
tubes were inserted between the second and third ribs to reexpand the
right lung, which had collapsed because of the opening in the chest
wall. 228 At 1: 35 p.m., after Governor Connally had been moved to the
operating room, Dr. Shaw started the first operation by cutting away the
edges of the wound on the front of the Governor's chest and suturing the
damaged lung and lacerated muscles.229 The elliptical wound in the
Governor's back, located slightly to the left of the Governor's right
armpit approximately five-eighths inch (a centimeter and a half) in its
greatest diameter, was treated by cutting away the damaged skin and
suturing the back muscle and skin.230 This operation was concluded at 3:
20 p.m.231
Two additional operations were performed on Governor Connally for wounds
which he had not realized he had sustained until he regained
consciousness the following day.232 From approximately 4 p.m. to 4:50
p.m. on November 22, Dr. Charles F. Gregory, chief of orthopedic
surgery, operated on the wounds of Governor Connally's right
wrist, assisted by Drs. William Osborne and John Parker.233 The wound on
the back of the wrist was left partially open for draining, and the
wound on the palm side was enlarged, cleansed, and closed. The fracture
was set., and a east was applied with some traction utilized.234 While
the second operation was in progress, Dr. George T. Shires, assisted by
Drs. Robert McClelland, Charles Baxter, and Ralph Don Patman, treated
the gunshot wound in the left thigh.235 This punctuate missile wound,
about two-fifths inch in diameter (1 centimeter) and located
approximately 5 inches above the left knee, was cleansed and closed with
sutures; but a small metallic fragment remained in the Governor's
leg.236
Vice President Johnson at Parkland
As President Kennedy and Governor Connally were being removed from the
limousine onto stretchers, a protective circle of Secret Service agents
surrounded Vice President and Mrs. Johnson and escorted
Page 57
them into Parkland Hospital through the emergency entrance.237 The
agents moved a nurse and patient out of a nearby room, lowered the
shades, and took emergency security measures to protect the Vice
President.238 Two men from the President's followup car were detailed to
help protect the Vice President. An agent was stationed at the entrance
to stop anyone who was not a member of the Presidential party. U.S.
Representatives Henry B. Gonzalez, Jack Brooks, Homer Thornberry, and
Albert Thomas joined Clifton C. Carter and the group of special agents
protecting the Vice President.239 On one occasion Mrs. Johnson,
accompanied by two Secret Service agents, left the room to see Mrs.
Kennedy and Mrs. Connally.240
Concern that the Vice President might also be a target for assassination
prompted the Secret Service agents to urge him to leave the hospital and
return to Washington immediately.241 The Vice President decided to wait
until he received definitive word of the President's condition.242 At
approximately 1:20 p.m., Vice President Johnson was notified by
O'Donnell that President Kennedy was dead.243 Special Agent Youngblood
learned from Mrs. Johnson the location of her two daughters and made
arrangements through Secret Service headquarters in Washington to
provide them with protection immediately.244
When consulted by the Vice President, O'Donnell advised him to go to the
airfield immediately and return to Washington.245 It was decided that
the Vice President should return on the Presidential plane rather than
on the Vice- Presidential plane because it had better communication
equipment.246 The Vice President conferred with White House Assistant
Press Secretary Malcolm Kilduff and decided that there would be no
release of the news of the President's death until the Vice President
had left the hospital.247 When told that Mrs. Kennedy refused to leave
without the President's body, the Vice President said that he would not
leave Dallas without her.248 On the recommendation of the Secret Service
agents, Vice President Johnson decided to board the Presidential
airplane, Air Force One, and wait for Mrs. Kennedy and the President's
body.249
Secret Service Emergency Security Arrangements
Immediately after President Kennedy's stretcher was wheeled into trauma
room 1, Secret Service agents took positions at the door of the small
emergency room. A nurse was asked to identify hospital personnel and to
tell everyone, except necessary medical staff members, to leave the
emergency room. Other Secret Service agents posted themselves in the
corridors and other areas near the emergency room. Special Agent Lawson
made certain that the Dallas police kept the public and press away from
the immediate area of the hospital.250 Agents Kellerman and Hill
telephoned the head of the White House detail, Gerald A. Behn, to advise
him of the assassination. The telephone line to Washington was kept open
throughout the remainder of the stay at the hospital.251
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Secret Service agents stationed at later stops on the President's
itinerary of November 22 were redeployed. Men at the Trade Mart were
driven to Parkland Hospital in Dallas police cars.252 The Secret Service
group awaiting the President in Austin were instructed to return to
Washington.253 Meanwhile, the Secret Service agents in charge of
security at Love Field started to make arrangements for departure. As
soon as one of the agents learned of the shooting, he asked the officer
in charge of the police detail at the airport to institute strict
security measures for the Presidential aircraft, the airport terminal,
and the surrounding area. The police were cautioned to prevent picture
taking. Secret Service agents working with police cleared the areas
adjacent to the aircraft, including warehouses, other terminal buildings
and the neighboring parking lots, of all people.254 The agents decided
not to shift the Presidential aircraft to the far side of the airport
because the original landing area was secure and a move would require
new measures.255
When security arrangements at the airport were complete, the Secret
Service made the necessary arrangements for the Vice President to leave
the hospital. Unmarked police cars took the Vice President and Mrs.
Johnson from Parkland Hospital to Love Field. Chief Curry drove one
automobile occupied by Vice President Johnson, U.S. Representatives
Thomas and Thornberry, and Special Agent Youngblood. In another car Mrs.
Johnson was driven to the airport ac companied by Secret Service agents
and Representative Brooks. Motorcade policemen who escorted the
automobiles were requested by the Vice President and Agent Youngblood
not to use sirens. During the drive Vice President Johnson, at
Youngblood's instruction, kept below window level.256
Removal of the President's Body
While the team of doctors at Parkland Hospital tried desperately to save
the life of President Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy alternated between watching
them and waiting outside.257 After the President was pronounced dead,
O'Donnell tried to persuade Mrs. Kennedy to leave the area, but she
refused. She said that she intended to stay with her husband.258 A
casket was obtained and the President's body was prepared for
removal.259 Before the body could be taken from the hospital, two Dallas
officials informed members of the President's start that the body could
not be removed from the city until an autopsy was performed. Despite the
protests of these officials, the casket was wheeled out of the hospital,
placed in an ambulance, and transported to the airport shortly after 2
p.m.260 At approximately 2:15 p.m. the casket was loaded, with some
difficulty because of the narrow airplane door, onto the rear of the
Presidential plane where seats had been removed to make room.261
Concerned that the local officials might try to prevent the plane's
departure, O'Donnell asked that the pilot take off immediately. He was
informed that takeoff would be delayed until Vice President Johnson was
sworn in.262
The End of the Trip
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THE END OF THE TRIP
Swearing in of the New President
From the Presidential airplane, the Vice President telephoned Attorney
General Robert F. Kennedy, who advised that Mr. Johnson take the
Presidential oath of office before the plane left Dallas.263 Federal
Judge Sarah T. Hughes hastened to the plane to administer the oath.264
Members of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential parties filled the
central compartment of the plane to witness the swearing in. At 2:38
p.m., e.s.t.., Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office as the 36th
President of the United States.265 Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Johnson stood
at the side of the new President as he took the oath of office.266 Nine
minutes later, the Presidential airplane departed for Washington,
D.C.267
Return to Washington, D.C.
On the return flight, Mrs. Kennedy sat with David Powers, Kenneth
O'Donnell, and Lawrence O'Brien.268 At 5:58 p.m., e.s.t., Air Force One
landed at Andrews AFB, where President Kennedy had begun his last trip
only 31 hours before.269 Detailed security arrangements had been made by
radio from the President's plane on tile return flight.270 The public
had been excluded from the base, and only Government officials and the
press were permitted near the landing area. Upon arrival, President
Johnson made a brief statement over television and radio. President and
Mrs. Johnson were flown by helicopter to the White House, from where
Mrs. Johnson was driven to her residence under Secret Service escort.
The President then walked to the Executive Office Building, where he
worked until 9 p.m.271
The Autopsy
Given a choice between the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda,
Md., and the Army's Walter Reed Hospital, Mrs. Kennedy chose the
hospital in Bethesda for the autopsy because the President had served in
the Navy.272 Mrs. Kennedy and the Attorney General, with three Secret
Service agents, accompanied President Kennedy's body on the 45-minute
automobile trip from Andrews AFB to the Hospital.273 On the 17th floor
of the Hospital, Mrs. Kennedy and the Attorney General joined other
members of the Kennedy family to await the conclusion of the autopsy.274
Mrs. Kennedy was guarded by Secret Service agents in quarters assigned
to her in the naval hospital.275 The Secret Service established a
communication system with the White House and screened all telephone
calls and visitors.276
The hospital received the President's body for autopsy at approximately
7:85 p.m.277 X-rays and photographs were taken preliminarily and the
pathological examination began at about 8 p.m.278 The autopsy report
noted that President Kennedy was 46 years of
Page 60
age, 72½ inches tall, weighed 170 pounds, had blue eyes and
reddish-brown hair. The body was muscular and well developed with no
gross skeletal abnormalities except for those caused by the gunshot
wounds. Under "Pathological Diagnosis" the cause of death was set forth
as "Gunshot wound, head." 279 ( See app. IX. )
The autopsy examination revealed two wounds in the President's head. One
wound, approximately one-fourth of an inch by five-eighths of an inch (6
by 15 millimeters), was located about an inch (2.5 centimeters) to the
right and slightly above the large bony protrusion (external occipital
protuberance) which juts out at the center of the lower part of the back
of the skull. The second head wound measured approximately 5 inches (13
centimeters) in its greatest diameter, but it was difficult to measure
accurately because multiple crisscross fractures radiated from the large
defect.280 During the autopsy examination, Federal agents brought the
surgeons three pieces of bone recovered from Elm Street and the
Presidential automobile. When put together, these fragments accounted
for approximately three-quarters of the missing portion of the skull.281
The surgeons observed, through X-ray analysis, 30 or 40 tiny dustlike
fragments of metal running in a line from the wound in the rear of the
President's head toward the front part of the skull, with a sizable
metal fragment lying just above the right eye.282 From this head wound
two small irregularly shaped fragments of metal were recovered and
turned over to the FBI.283
The autopsy also disclosed a wound near the base of the back of
President Kennedy's neck slightly to the right of his spine. The doctors
traced the course of the bullet through the body and, as information was
received from Parkland Hospital, concluded that the bullet had emerged
from the front portion of the President's neck that had been cut away by
the tracheotomy at Parkland. 284 The nature and characteristics of this
neck wound and the two head wounds are discussed fully in the next
chapter.
After the autopsy was concluded at approximately 11 p.m., the
President's body was prepared for burial. This was finished at
approximately 4 a.m.285 Shortly thereafter, the President's wife, family
and aides left Bethesda Naval Hospital.286 The President's body was
taken to the East Room of the White House where it was placed under
ceremonial military guard.
Chapter III The Shots From the Texas School Book Depository
Page 61
CHAPTER III
The Shots From the Texas School
Book Depository
IN THIS chapter the Commission analyzes the evidence and sets forth its
conclusions concerning the source, effect, number and timing of the
shots that killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally. In
that connection the Commission has evaluated (1) the testimony of
eyewitnesses present at the scene of the assassination; (2) the damage
to the Presidential limousine; (3) the examination by qualified experts
of the rifle and cartridge cases found on the sixth floor of the Texas
School Book Depository and the bullet fragments found in the
Presidential limousine and at Parkland Hospital; (4) the wounds suffered
by President. Kennedy and Governor Connally; (5) wound ballistics tests;
(6) the examination by qualified experts of the clothing worn by
President Kennedy and Governor Connally; and (7) motion- picture films
and still photographs taken at the time of the assassination.
The Witnesses
Page 61
THE WITNESSES
As reflected in the previous chapter, passengers in the first few cars
of the motorcade had the impression that the shots came from the rear
and from the right, the general direction of the Texas School Book
Depository Building, although none of these passengers saw anyone fire
the shots. Some spectators at Houston and Elm Streets, however, did see
a rifle being fired in the direction of the President's car from the
easternmost window of the sixth floor on the south side of the building.
Other witnesses saw a rifle in this window immediately after the
assassination. Three employees of the Depository, observing the parade
from the fifth floor, heard the shots fired from the floor immediately
above them. No credible evidence suggests that the shots were fired from
the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass, the nearby railroad yards
or any place other than the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Page 62
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 477
Page 63
Near the Depository
Eyewitnesses testified that they saw a man fire a weapon from the
sixth-floor window. Howard L. Brennan, a 45- year-old steamfitter,
watched the motorcade from a concrete retaining wall at the southwest
corner of Elm and Houston, where he had a clear view of the south side
of the Depository Building.1 (See Commission Exhibit No. 477, p. 62.) He
was approximately 107 feet from the Depository entrance and 120 feet
from the southeast corner window of the sixth floor.2 Brennan's presence
and vantage point are corroborated by a motion picture of the motorcade
taken by amateur photographer Abraham Zapruder, which shows Brennan,
wearing gray khaki work clothes and a gray work helmet, seated on the
retaining wall. 3 Brennan later identified himself in the Zapruder
movie.4 While waiting about 7 minutes for the President to arrive, he
observed the crowd on the street and the people at the windows of the
Depository Building.5 He noticed a man at the southeast corner window of
the sixth floor, and observed him leave the window "a couple of times."
6
Brennan watched the President's car as it turned the corner at Houston
and Elm and moved down the incline toward the Triple Underpass. Soon
after the President's car passed, he heard an explosion like the
backfire of a motorcycle. 7 Brennan recalled:
Well, then something, just right after this explosion, made me think
that it was a firecracker being thrown from the Texas Book Store. And I
glanced up. And this man that I saw previous was aiming for his last
shot.
* * * * * *
Well, as it appeared to me he was standing up. and resting against the
left window sill, with gun shouldered to his right shoulder, holding the
gun with his left hand and taking positive aim and fired his last shot.
As I calculate a couple of seconds. He drew the gun back from the window
as though he was drawing it back to his side and maybe paused for
another second as though to assure himself that he hit his mark, and
then he disappeared.8
Brennan stated that he saw 70 to 85 percent of the gun when it was fired
and the body of the man from the waist up." The rifle was aimed
southwesterly down Elm Street toward the underpass.10 Brennan saw the
man fire one shot and he remembered hearing a total of only two shots.
When questioned about the number of shots, Brennan testified:
I don't know what made me think that there was firecrackers throwed out
of the Book Store unless I did hear the second shot, ,because I
positively thought the first shot was a backfire, and subconsciously I
must have heard a second shot, .but I do not recall it. I could not
swear to it. 11
Page 64
Brennan quickly reported his observations to police officers.12
Brennan's description of the man he saw is discussed in the next
chapter.
Amos Lee Euins, a 15-year-old ninth grade student, stated that he was
facing the Depository as the motorcade turned the corner at Elm and
Houston. He recalled:
Then I was standing here, and as the motorcade turned the corner, I was
facing, looking dead at the building. And so I seen this pipe thing
sticking out the window. I wasn't paying too much attention to it. Then
when the first shot was fired, I started looking around, thinking it was
a backfire. Everybody else started looking around. Then I looked up at
the window, and he shot again.13
After witnessing the first shots, Euins hid behind a fountain bench and
saw the man shoot again from the window in the southeast corner of the
Depository's sixth floor.14 According to Euins, the man had one hand on
the barrel and the other on the trigger. Euins believed that there were
four shots.15 Immediately after the assassination, he reported his
observations to Sgt. D. V. Harkness of the Dallas Police Department and
also to James Underwood of station KRLD-TV of Dallas.16 Sergeant
Harkness testified that Euins told him that the shots came from the last
window of the floor "under the ledge" on the side of the building they
were facing.17 Based on Euins' statements, Harkness radioed to
headquarters at 12:36 p.m. that "I have a witness that says that it came
from the fifth floor of the Texas Book Depository Store." 18 Euins
accurately described the sixth floor as the floor "under the ledge."
Harkness testified that the error in the radio message was due to his
own "hasty count of the floors." 19
Other witnesses saw a rifle in the window after the shots were fired.
Robert H. Jackson, staff photographer, Dallas Times Herald, was in a
press car in the Presidential motorcade, eight or nine cars from the
front. On Houston Street about halfway between Main and Elm, Jackson
heard the first shot.20 As someone in the car commented that it sounded
like a firecracker, Jackson heard two more shots.21 He
testified:
Then we realized or we thought that it was gunfire, and then we could
not at that point see the President's car. We were still moving slowly,
and after the third shot the second two shots seemed much closer
together than the first shot, than they were to the first shot. Then
after the last shot, I guess all of us were just looking all around and
I just looked straight up ahead of me which would have been looking at
the School Book Depository and I noticed two Negro men in a window
straining to see directly above them, and my eyes followed right on up
to the window above them and I saw the rifle or what looked like a rifle
approximately half of the weapon, I guess I saw, and just as I looked
Page 65
at it, it was drawn fairly slowly back into the building, and I saw no
one in the window with it. I didn't even see a form in the window.22
In the car with Jackson were James Underwood, television station
KRLD-TV; Thomas Dillard, chief photographer, Dallas Morning News;
Malcolm O. Couch and James Darnell, television newsreel cameramen.
Dillard, Underwood, and the driver were in the. front seat, Couch and
Darnell were sitting on top of the back seat of the convertible with
Jackson. Dillard, Couch, and Underwood confirmed that Jackson
spontaneously exclaimed that he saw a rifle in the window.23 According
to Dillard, at the time the shots were fired he and his fellow
passengers "had an absolutely perfect view of the School Depository from
our position in the open ear." 24 Dillard immediately took two pictures
of the building: one of the east two-thirds of the south side and the
other of the southeast corner, particularly the fifth- and sixth-floor
windows.25 These pictures show three Negro men in windows on the fifth
floor and the partially open window on the sixth floor directly above
them. (See Dillard Exhibits C and D, pp. 66-67.) 'Couch also saw the
rifle in the window, and testified :'
And after the third shot, Bob Jackson, who was, as I recall, on my
fight, yelled something like, "Look up in the window! There's the
rifle!" And I remember glancing up to a window on the far right, which
at the time impressed me as the sixth or seventh floor, and seeing about
a foot of a rifle being--the barrel brought into the window.26
Couch testified he saw people standing in other windows on the third or
fourth floor in the middle of the south side, one of them being a Negro
in a white T-shirt leaning out to. look up at the windows above him.27
Mayor and Mrs. Earle Cabell rode in the motorcade immediately behind the
Vice-Presidential followup car.28 Mrs. Cabell was seated in the back
seat behind the driver and was facing U.S. Representative Ray Roberts on
her right as the ear made the turn at Elm and Houston. In this position
Mrs. Cabell "was actually facing" the seven-story Depository when the
first shot rang out.29 She "jerked" her head up immediately and saw a
"projection" in the first group of windows on a floor which she
described both as the sixth floor and the top floor.30 According to Mrs.
Cabell, the object was "rather long looking," but she was unable to
determine whether it was a mechanical object or a person's arm.31 She
turned away from the window to tell her husband that the noise was a
shot, and "just as I got the words out * * * the second two shots rang
out." 32 Mrs. Cabell did not look at the sixth-floor window when the
second and third shots were fired.33
Page 66
DILLARD EXHIBIT C
Enlargement of photograph taken by Thomas C. Dillard on November 22,
1963
Page 67
DILLARD EXHIBIT D
Photograph taken by Thomas C. Dillard on November 22, 1963
Page 68
James N. Crawford and Mary Ann Mitchell, two deputy district clerks for
Dallas County, watched the motorcade at the southeast corner of Elm and
Houston. After the President's car turned the corner, Crawford heard a
loud report which he thought was backfire coming from the direction of
the Triple Underpass.34 He heard a second shot seconds later, followed
quickly by a third. At the third shot, he looked up and saw a "movement"
in the far east corner of the sixth floor of the Depository, the only
open window on that floor.35 He told Miss Mitchell "that if those were
shots they came from that window." When asked to describe the movement
more exactly, he said,
* * * I would say that it was a profile, somewhat from the waist up, but
it was a very quick movement. and rather indistinct and it was very
light colored. * * *
* * * * * * *
When I saw it, I automatically in my mind came to the conclusion that it
was a person having moved out of the window. * * * 36
He could not state whether the person was a man or a woman.37 Miss
Mitchell confirmed that after the third shot Crawford told her, "Those
shots came from that building." 38 She saw Crawford pointing at a window
but was not sure at which window he was pointing.39
On the Fifth Floor
Three Depository employees shown in the picture taken by Dillard were on
the fifth floor of the building when the shots were fired: James Jarman,
Jr., age 34, a wrapper in the shipping department; Bonnie Ray Williams,
age 20, a warehouseman temporarily assigned to laying a plywood floor on
the sixth floor; and Harold Norman, age 26, an "order filler." Norman
and Jarman decided to watch the parade during the lunch hour from the
fifth-floor windows.40 From the ground floor they took the west
elevator, which operates with pushbutton controls, to the fifth floor.41
Meanwhile, Williams had gone up to the sixth floor where he had been
.working and ate his lunch on the south side of that floor. Since he saw
no one around when he finished his lunch, he started down on the east
elevator, looking for company. He left behind his paper lunch sack,
chicken bones and an empty pop bottle.42 Williams went down to the fifth
floor, where he joined Norman and Jarman at approximately 12:20 p.m.43
Harold Norman was in the fifth-floor window in the southeast corner,
directly under the window where witnesses saw the rifle. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 485, p. 69.) He could see light through the ceiling cracks
between the fifth and sixth floors.44 As the motorcade went by, Norman
thought that the President was saluting with his right arm,
Page 69
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 485
Positions occupied by Depository employees on fifth floor on November
22, 1963.
Page 70
* * * and I can't remember what the exact time was but I know I heard a
shot, and then after I heard the shot, well, it seems as though the
President, you know, slumped or something, and then another shot and I
believe Jarman or someone told me, he said, "I believe someone is
shooting at the President," and I think I made a statement "It is
someone shooting at the President, and I believe it came from up above
us."
Well, I couldn't see at all during the time but I know I heard a third
shot fired, and I could also hear something sounded like the shell hulls
hitting the floor and the ejecting of the rifle * * * 45
Williams said that he "really did not pay any attention" to the first
shot---
* * * because I did not know what was happening. The second shot, it
sounded like it was right in the building, the second and third shot.
And it sounded--it even shook the building, the side we were on. Cement
fell on my head.
Q. You say cement fell on your head ?
A. Cement, gravel, dirt, or something, from the old building, because it
shook the windows and everything. Harold was sitting next to me, and he
said it came right from over our head.46
Williams testified Norman said "I can even hear the shell being ejected
from the gun hitting the floor." 47
When Jarman heard the first sound, he thought that it was either a
backfire--
* * * or an officer giving a salute to the President. And then at that
time I didn't, you know, think too much about it. * * *
* * * * * * *
Well, after the third shot was fired, I think I got up and I run over to
Harold Norman and Bonnie Ray Williams, and told them, I said, I told
them that it wasn't .a backfire or anything, that somebody was shooting
at the President.48
Jarman testified that Norman .said "that he thought the shots had come
from above us, and I noticed that Bonnie Ray had a few debris in his
head. It was sort of white stuff, or something." 49 Jarman stated that
Norman said "that he was sure that the shot came from inside the
building because he had been used to guns and all that, and he said it
didn't sound like it was too far off anyway."50 The three men ran to the
west side of the building, where they could look toward the Triple
Underpass to see what had happened to the motorcade.51
After the men had gone to the window on the west side of the building,
Jarman "got to thinking about all the debris on Bonnie Ray's head" and
said, "That shot probably did come from upstairs, up over us."52 He
testified that Norman said, "I know it did, because I could
Page 71
hear the action of the bolt, and I could hear the cartridges drop on the
floor."53 After pausing for a few minutes, the three men ran downstairs.
Norman and Jarman ran out of the front entrance of the building, where
they saw Brennan, the construction worker who had seen the man in the
window firing the gun, talking to a police officer, and they then
reported their own experience.54
On March 20, 1964, preceding their appearance before the Commission,
these witnesses were interviewed in Dallas. At that time members of the
Commission's legal staff conducted an experiment. Norman, Williams, and
Jarman placed themselves at the windows of the fifth floor as they had
been on November 22. A Secret Service agent operated the bolt of a rifle
directly above them at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor.
At the same time, three cartridge shells were dropped to the floor at
intervals of about 3 seconds. According to Norman, the noise outside was
less on the day of the assassination than on the day of the test.55 He
testified, "Well, I heard the same sound, the sound similar. I heard
three something that he dropped on the floor and then I could hear the
rifle or whatever he had up there."56 The experiment with the shells and
rifle was repeated for members of the Commission on May 9, 1964, on June
7, 1964, and again' on September 6, 1964. All seven of the Commissioners
clearly heard the shells drop to the floor.
At the Triple Underpass
In contrast to the testimony of the witnesses who heard and observed
shots fired from the Depository, the Commission's investigation has
disclosed no credible evidence that any shots were fired from anywhere
else. When the shots were fired, many people near the Depository
believed that the shots came from the railroad bridge over the Triple
Underpass or from the area to the west of the Depository.57 In the
hectic moments after the assassination, many spectators ran in the
general .direction of the Triple Underpass or the railroad yards
northwest of the building. Some were running toward the place from which
the sound of the rifle fire appeared to come, others were fleeing the
scene of the shooting.58 None of these people saw anyone with a rifle,
and the Commission's inquiry has yielded no evidence that shots were
fired from the bridge over the Triple Underpass or from the railroad
yards.
On the day of the motorcade, Patrolman J. W. Foster stood on the east
side of the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass and Patrolman J.
C. White stood on the west side.59 Patrolman Joe E. Murphy was standing
over Elm Street on the Stemmons Freeway overpass, west of the railroad
bridge farther away from the Depository.60 Two other officers were
stationed on Stemmons Freeway to control traffic as the motorcade
entered the Freeway.61 Under the advance preparations worked out between
the Secret Service and the Dallas Police Department, the policemen were
under instructions to keep "unauthorized" people away from these
locations.62 When the
Page 72
motorcade reached the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets, there
were no spectators on Stemmons Freeway where Patrolman Murphy was
stationed.63 Patrolman Foster estimated that there were 10 or 11 people
on the railroad bridge where he was assigned;64 another witness
testified that there were between 14 and 18 people there as the
motorcade came into view.65 Investigation has disclosed 15 persons who
were on the railroad bridge at this time, including 2 police men, 2
employees of the Texas-Louisiana Freight Bureau and 11 employees of the
Union Terminal Co.66 In the absence of any explicit definition of
"unauthorized" persons, the policemen permitted these employees to
remain on the railroad bridge to. watch the motorcade. (See chapter
VIII, pp. 446-447.) At the request. of the policemen, S. M. Holland,
signal supervisor for Union Terminal Co., came to the railroad bridge at
about 11:45 a.m. and remained to identify those persons who were
railroad employees.67 In addition, Patrolman Foster checked credentials
to determine if persons seeking access to the bridge were railroad
employees.68 Persons who were not railroad employees were ordered away,
including one news photographer who wished only to take a picture of the
motorcade.69
Another employee of the Union Terminal Co., Lee E. Bowers, Jr., was at
work in a railroad tower about 14 feet above the tracks to the north of
the railroad bridge and northwest of the corner of Elm and Houston,
approximately 50 yards from the back of the Depository.70 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 2218, p. 73.) From the tower he could view people
moving in the railroad yards and at the rear of the Depository.
According to Bowers, "Since approximately 10 o'clock in the morning
traffic had been cut off into the area so that anyone moving around
could actually be observed."71 During the 20 minutes prior to the
arrival of the motorcade, Bowers noticed three automobiles which entered
his immediate. area; two left without discharging any passengers and the
third was apparently on its way out when last observed by Bowers.72
Bowers observed only three or four people in the general area, as well
as a few bystanders on the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass.73
As the motorcade proceeded toward the Triple Underpass, the spectators
were clustered together along the east concrete wall of the railroad
bridge facing the oncoming procession.74 (See Commission Exhibit No.
2215, p. 75.) Patrolman Foster stood immediately behind them and could
observe all of them.75 Secret Service agents in the lead car of the
motorcade observed the bystanders and the police officer on the
bridge.76 Special Agent Winston G. Lawson motioned through the
windshield in an unsuccessful attempt to instruct Patrolman Foster to
move the people away from their position directly over the path of the
motorcade.77 Some distance away, on the Stemmons Freeway overpass above
Elm Street, Patrolman Murphy also had the group on the railroad bridge
within view.78 When he heard the shots, Foster rushed to the wall of the
railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass and looked toward the
street.79 After the third shot, Foster ran toward the Depository and
shortly thereafter informed
Page 73
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2118
Page 74
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2214
Page 75
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2215
Page 76
Inspector Herbert J. Sawyer of the Dallas Police Department that he
thought the shots came from the vicinity of Elm and Houston.80
Other witnesses on the railroad bridge had varying views concerning the
source and number of the shots. Austin L. Miller, employed by the
Texas-Louisiana Freight Bureau, heard three shots and thought that they
came from the area of the Presidential limousine itself.81 One of his
coworkers, Royce G. Skelton, thought he heard four shots, but could not
tell their exact source.82 Frank E. Reilly, an electrician at Union
Terminal, heard three shots which seemed to come from the trees "On the
north side of Elm Street at the corner up there."83 According to S. M.
Holland, there were four shots which sounded as though they came from
the trees on the north side of Elm Street where he saw a puff of
smoke.84 Thomas 5. Murphy, a mail foreman at Union Terminal Co., heard
two shots and said that they came from a spot just west of the
Depository.85 In the railroad tower, Bowers heard three shots, which
sounded as though they came either from the Depository Building or near
the mouth of the Triple Underpass. Prior to November 22, 1963, Bowers
had noted the similarity of the sounds coming from the vicinity of the
Depository and those from the Triple Underpass, which he attributed to
"a reverberation which takes place from either location."86
Immediately after the shots were fired, neither the policemen the
spectators on the railroad bridge over the Triple Underpass saw anything
suspicious on the bridge in their vicinity. (See Commission Exhibit No.
2214, p. 74.) No one saw anyone with a rifle. As he ran around through
the railroad yards to the Depository, Patrolman Foster saw no suspicious
activity.87 The same was true of the other bystanders, many of whom made
an effort after the shooting to observe any unusual activity. Holland,
for example, immediately after the shots, ran off the overpass to see if
there was anyone behind the picket fence on the north side of Elm
Street, but he did not see anyone among the parked cars.88 Miller did
not see anyone running across the railroad tracks or on the plaza west
of the Depository.89 Bowers and others saw a motorcycle officer dismount
hurriedly and come running up the incline on the north side of Elm
Street.90 The motorcycle officer, Clyde A. Haygood, saw no one running
from the railroad yards.91
The Presidential Automobile
Page 76
THE PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE
After the Presidential car was returned to Washington on November 22,
19.63, Secret Service agents found two bullet fragments in the front
seat. One fragment, found on the seat beside the driver, weighed 44.6
grains and consisted of the nose portion of a bullet.92 The other
fragment, found along the right side of the front seat, weighed 21.0
grains and consisted of the base portion of a bullet.93 During the
course of an examination on November 23, agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation found three small lead particles, weighing
Page 77
between seven-tenths and nine-tenths of a grain each, on the rug
underneath the left jump seat which had been occupied by Mrs.
Connally.94 During this examination, the Bureau agents noted a small
residue of lead on the inside surface of the laminated windshield and a
very small pattern of cracks on the outer layer of the windshield
immediately behind the lead residue.95 There was a minute particle of
glass missing from the outside surface, but no penetration. The inside
layer of glass was not broken.96 The agents also observed a dent in the
strip of chrome across the top of the windshield, located to the left of
the rear view mirror support.97
The lead residue on the inside of the windshield was compared under
spectrographic analysis by FBI experts with the bullet fragments found
on and alongside the front seat and with the fragments under the left
jump seat. It was also compared with bullet fragments found at Parkland
Hospital. All these bullet fragments were found to be similar in
metallic composition, but it was not possible to determine whether two
or more of the fragments came from the same bullet.98 It is possible for
the fragments from the front seat to have been a part of the same bullet
as the three fragments found near the left jump seat,99 since a whole
bullet of this type weighs 160-161, grains.100 (See app. X, pp.
555-558.)
The physical characteristics of the windshield after the assassination
demonstrate that the windshield was struck on the inside surface. The
windshield is composed of two layers of glass with a very thin layer of
plastic in the middle "which bonds them together in the form of safety
glass."101 The windshield was extracted from the automobile and was
examined during a Commission hearing.102 (See Commission Exhibit No.
350, p. 78.) According to Robert A. Frazier, FBI firearms expert, the
fact that cracks were present on the outer layer of glass showed that
the glass had been struck from the inside. He testified that the
windshield
could not have been struck on the outside surface because of the manner
in which the glass broke
and further because of the lead residue on the inside surface. The
cracks appear in the outer layer
of the glass because the glass is bent outward at the time of impact
which stretches the outer layer
of the glass to the point where these small radial or wagon spoke, wagon
wheel spoke-type cracks
appear on the outer surface.103
Although there is some uncertainty whether the dent in the chrome on the
windshield was present prior to the assassination,104 Frazier testified
that the dent "had been caused by some projectile which struck the
chrome on the inside surface."105 If it was caused by a shot during the
assassination, Frazier stated that it would not have been caused by a
bullet traveling at full velocity, but rather by a fragment traveling at
"fairly high velocity."106 It could have been caused by either fragment
found in the front seat of the limousine.107
Page 78
Page 78
Expert Examination of Rifle, Cartridge Cases, and Bullet Fragments
Page 79
EXPERT EXAMINATION OF RIFLE, CARTRIDGE CASES,
AND BULLET FRAGMENTS
On the sixth floor of the Depository Building, the Dallas police found
three spent cartridges and a rifle. A nearly whole bullet was discovered
on the stretcher used to carry Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital.
As described in the preceding section, five bullet fragments were found
in the President's limousine. The cartridge cases, the nearly whole
bullet and the bullet fragments were all subjected to firearms
identification analysis by qualified experts. It was the unanimous
opinion of the experts that the nearly whole bullet, the two largest.
bullet fragments. and the three cartridge cases were definitely fired in
the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building to the
exclusion of all other weapons.
Discovery of Cartridge Cases and Rifle
Shortly after the assassination, police officers arrived at the
Depository Building and began a search for the assassin and evidence.108
Around 1 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Luke Mooney noticed a pile of cartons in
front of the window in the southeast corner of the sixth floor.109 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 723, p. 80.) Searching that area he found at
approximately 1:12 p.m. three empty cartridge cases on the floor near
the window.110 When he was notified of Mooney's discovery, Capt. J. W.
Fritz, chief of the homicide bureau of the Dallas Police Department,
issued instructions that nothing be moved or touched until technicians
from the police crime laboratory could take photographs and check for
fingerprints.111 Mooney stood guard to see that nothing was
disturbed.112 A few minutes later, Lt. J. C. Day of the Dallas Police
Department arrived and took photographs of the cartridge cases before
anything had been moved.113
At 1:22 p.m. Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone and Deputy Constable Seymour
Weitzman found a bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight between two
rows of boxes in the northwest corner near the staircase on the sixth
floor.114 No one touched the weapon or otherwise disturbed the scene
until Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Day arrived and the weapon was
photographed as it lay on the floor.115 After Lieutenant Day determined
that there were no fingerprints on the knob of the bolt and that the
wooden stock was too rough to take fingerprints, he picked the rifle up
by the stock and held it that way while Captain Fritz opened the bolt
and ejected a live round.116 Lieutenant Day retained possession of the
weapon and took it back to the police department for examination.117
Neither Boone nor Weitzman handled the rifle.118
Discovery of Bullet at Parkland Hospital
A nearly whole bullet was found on Governor Connally's stretcher at
Parkland Hospital after the assassination. After his arrival at the
hospital the Governor was brought into trauma room No. 2 on a
Page 80
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 723
Shield of cartons around sixth floor southeast corner window.
Page 81
stretcher, removed from the room on that stretcher a short time later,
and taken on an elevator to the second-floor operating room.119 On the
second floor he was transferred from the stretcher to an operating table
which was then moved into the operating room, and a hospital attendant
wheeled the empty stretcher into an elevator.120 Shortly afterward,
Darrell C. Tomlinson, the hospital's senior engineer, removed this
stretcher from the elevator and placed it in the corridor on the ground
floor, alongside another stretcher wholly unconnected with the care of
Governor Connally.121 A few minutes later, he bumped one of the
stretchers against the wall and a bullet rolled out.122
Although Tomlinson was not certain whether the bullet came from the
Connally stretcher or the adjacent one, the Commission has concluded
that the bullet came from the Governor's stretcher. That conclusion is
buttressed by evidence which eliminated President Kennedy's stretcher as
a source of the bullet. President Kennedy remained on the stretcher on
which he was carried into the hospital while the doctors tried to save
his life.123 He was never removed from the stretcher from the time he
was taken into the emergency room until his body was placed in a casket
in that same room.124 After the President's body was removed from that
stretcher, the linen was taken off and placed in a hamper and the
stretcher was pushed into trauma room No. 2, a completely different
location from the site where the nearly whole bullet was found.125
Description of Rifle
The bolt-action, clip-fed rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Depository, described more fully in appendix X, is inscribed with
various markings, including "MADE ITALY," "CAL. 6.5," "1940" and the
number C2766.126 (See Commission Exhibit Nos. 1303, 541(2) and 541 (3),
pp. 82-83.) These markings have been explained as follows: "MADE ITALY"
refers to its origin; "CAL. 6.5" refers to the rifle's caliber; "1940"
refers to the year of manufacture; and the number C2766 is the serial
number. This rifle is the only one of its type bearing that serial
number.127 After review of standard reference works and the markings on
the rifle, it was identified by the FBI as a 6.5-millimeter model. 91/38
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.128 Experts from the FBI made an independent
determination of the caliber by inserting a Mannlicher-Carcano
6.5-millimeter cartridge into the weapon for fit, and by making a sulfur
cast of the inside of the weapon's barrel and measuring the cast with a
micrometer.129 From outward appearance, the weapon would appear to be a
7.35-millimeter rifle, but its mechanism had been rebarreled with a
6.5-millimeter barrel.130 Constable Deputy Sheriff Weitzman, who only
saw the rifle at a glance and did not handle it, thought the weapon
looked like a 7.65 Mauser bolt- action rifle.131 (See chapter V, p.
235.)
The rifle is 40.2 inches long and weighs 8 pounds.132 The minimum length
broken down is 34.8 inches, the length of the wooden stock.133
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1303
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COMMISSION EXHIBITS Nos. 541(2) AND 541(3)
Photograph of markings on C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.
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(See Commission Exhibit No. 1304, p. 132.) Attached to the weapon is an
inexpensive four-power telescopic sight, stamped "Optics Ordnance
Inc./Hollywood California," and "Made in Japan."134 The weapon also
bears a sling consisting of two leather straps. The sling is not a
standard rifle sling but appears to be a musical instrument strap or a
sling from a carrying case or camera bag.135
Expert Testimony
Four experts in the field of firearms identification analyzed the nearly
whole bullet, the two largest fragments and the three cartridge cases to
determine whether they had been fired from the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository. Two of these experts
testified before the Commission. One was Robert A. Frazier, a special
agent of the FBI assigned to the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
Frazier has worked generally in the field of firearms identification for
23 years, examining firearms of various types for the purpose of
identifying the caliber and other characteristics of the weapons and
making comparisons of bullets and cartridge cases for the purpose of
determining whether or not they were fired in a particular weapon.136 He
estimated that he has made "in the neighborhood of 50,000 to 60,000"
firearms comparisons and has testified in court on about 400
occasions.137 The second witness who testified on this subject was
Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the bureau of criminal identification
and investigation for the State of Illinois. Nicol also has had long and
substantial experience since 1941 in firearms identification, and
estimated that he has made thousands of bullet and cartridge case
examinations.138
In examining the bullet fragments and cartridge cases, these experts
applied the general principles accepted in the field of firearms
identification, which are discussed in more detail in appendix X at s
547-553. In brief, a determination that a particular bullet or cartridge
case has been fired in a particular weapon is based upon a comparison of
the bullet or case under examination with one or more bullets or cases
known to have been fired in that weapon. When a bullet is fired in any
given weapon, it is engraved with the characteristics of the weapon. In
addition to the rifling characteristics of the barrel which are common
to all weapons of a given make and model, every weapon bears distinctive
microscopic markings on its barrel, firing pin and bolt face.139 These
markings arise initially during manufacture, since the action of the
manufacturing tools differs microscopically from weapon to weapon and
since, in addition, the tools change microscopically while being used.
As a weapon is used further distinctive markings are introduced. Under
microscopic examination a qualified expert may be able to determine
whether the markings on a bullet known to have been fired in a
particular weapon and the markings on a suspect bullet are the same and,
therefore, whether both bullets were fired in the same weapon
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to the exclusion of all other weapons. Similarly, firearms
identification experts are able to compare the markings left upon the
base of cartridge cases and thereby determine whether both cartridges
were fired by the same weapon to the exclusion of all other weapons.
According to Frazier, such an identification "is made on the presence of
sufficient individual microscopic characteristics so that a very
definite pattern is formed and visualized on the two surfaces."140 Under
some circumstances, as where the bullet or cartridge case is seriously
mutilated, there are not sufficient individual characteristics to enable
the expert to make a firm identification.141
After making independent examinations, both Frazier and Nicol positively
identified the nearly whole bullet from the stretcher and the two larger
bullet fragments found in the Presidential limousine as having been
fired in the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Depository to
the exclusion of all other weapons.142 Each of the two bullet fragments
had sufficient unmutilated area to provide the basis for an
identification.143 However, it was not possible to determine whether the
two bullet fragments were from the same bullet or from two different
bullets.144 With regard to the other bullet fragments discovered in the
limousine and in the course of treating President Kennedy and Governor
Connally, however, expert examination could demonstrate only that the
fragments were "similar in metallic composition" to each other, to the
two larger fragments and to the nearly whole bullet.145 After
examination of the three cartridge cases found on the sixth floor of the
Depository, Frazier and Nicol concluded that they had been fired in the
C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle to the exclusion of all other weapons.146
Two other experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who made
independent examinations of the nearly whole bullet, bullet fragments
and cartridge cases, reached the identical conclusions.147
The Bullet Wounds
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THE BULLET WOUNDS
In considering the question of the source of the shots fired at
President Kennedy and Governor Connally, the Commission has also
evaluated the expert medical testimony of the doctors who observed the
wounds during the emergency treatment at Parkland Hospital and during
the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital. It paid particular attention to
any wound characteristics which would be of assistance in identifying a
wound as the entrance or exit point of a missile. Additional information
regarding the source and nature of the injuries was obtained by expert
examination of the clothes worn by the two men, particularly those worn
by President Kennedy, and from the results of special wound ballistics
tests conducted at the Commission's request, using the C2766
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle with ammunition of the same type as that used
and found on November 22, 1963.
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The President's Head Wounds
The detailed autopsy of President Kennedy performed on the night of
November 22 at the Bethesda Naval Hospital led the three examining
pathologists to conclude that the smaller hole in the rear of the
President's skull was the point of entry and that the large opening on
the right side of his head was the wound of exit.148 The smaller hole on
the back of the President's head measured one-fourth of an inch by
five-eighths of an inch (6 by 15 millimeters).149 The dimensions of that
wound were consistent with having been caused by a 6.5-millimeter bullet
fired from behind and above which struck at a tangent or an angle
causing a 15-millimeter cut. The cut reflected a larger dimension of
entry than the bullet's diameter of 6.5 millimeters, since the missile,
in effect, sliced along the skull for a fractional distance until it
entered.150 The dimension of 6 millimeters, somewhat smaller than the
diameter of a 6.5-millimeter bullet, was caused by the elastic recoil of
the skull which shrinks the size of an opening after a missile passes
through it.151
Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck, Chief of the Wound Ballistics Pathology Branch
of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, who has had extensive
experience with bullet wounds, illustrated the characteristics which led
to his conclusions about the head wound by a chart prepared by him. This
chart, based on Colonel Finck's studies of more than 400 cases, depicted
the effect of a perforating missile wound on the human skull.152 When a
bullet enters the skull (cranial vault) at one point and exits at
another, it causes a beveling or cratering effect where the diameter of
the hole is smaller on the impact side than on the exit side. Based on
his observations of that beveling effect on the President's skull,
Colonel Finck testified: "President Kennedy was, in my opinion, shot
from the rear. The bullet entered in the back of the head and went out
on the right side of his skull * * * he was shot from above and
behind."153
Comdr. James J. Humes, senior pathologist and director of laboratories
at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, who acted as chief autopsy surgeon,
concurred in Colonel Finck's analysis. He compared the beveling or
coning effect to that caused by a BB shot which strikes a pane of glass,
causing a round or oval defect on the side of the glass where the
missile strikes and a belled-out or coned-out surface on the opposite
side of the glass.154 Referring to the bullet hole on the back of
President Kennedy's head, Commander Humes testified: "The wound on the
inner table, however, was larger and had what in the field of wound
ballistics is described as a shelving Or coning effect."155 After
studying the other hole in the President's skull, Commander Humes
stated: "* * * we concluded that the large defect to the upper right
side of the skull, in fact, would represent a wound of exit."156 Those
characteristics led Commander Humes and Comdr. J. Thornton Boswell,
chief of pathology at Bethesda Naval Hospital, who assisted in the
autopsy, to conclude that the bullet
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penetrated the rear of the President's head and exited through a large
wound on the right side of his head.157
Ballistics experiments (discussed more fully in app. X, pp. 585-586)
showed that the rifle and bullets identified above were capable of
producing the President's head wound. The Wound Ballistics Branch of the
U.S. Army laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Md., conducted an extensive
series of experiments to test the effect of Western Cartridge Co.
6.5-millimeter bullets, the type found on Governor Connally's stretcher
and in the Presidential limousine, fired from the C2766
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the Depository. The Edgewood Arsenal
tests were performed under the immediate supervision of Alfred G.
Olivier, a doctor who had spent 7 years in wounds ballistics research
for the U.S. Army.158
One series of tests, performed on reconstructed inert human skulls,
demonstrated that the President's head wound could have been caused by
the rifle and bullets fired by the assassin from the sixth-floor window.
The results of this series were illustrated by the findings on one skull
which was struck at a point closely approximating the wound of entry on
President Kennedy's head. That bullet blew out the right side of the
reconstructed skull in a manner very similar to the head wound of the
President.159 As a result of these tests, Dr. Olivier concluded that a
Western Cartridge Co. 6.5 bullet fired from the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle at a distance of 90 yards would make the same type of wound as
that found on the President's head. Referring to the series of tests,
Dr. Olivier testified:
It disclosed that the type of head wounds that the President received
could be done by this type of
bullet. This surprised me very much, because this type of stable bullet
I didn't think would cause a
massive head wound, I thought it would go through making a small
entrance and exit, but the bones of
the skull are enough to. deform the end of this bullet causing it to
expend a lot of energy and blowing
out the side of the skull or blowing out fragments of the skull.160
After examining the fragments of the bullet which struck the
reconstructed skull, Dr. Olivier stated that--
the recovered fragments were very similar to the ones recovered on the
front seat and on the floor of
the car. This, to me, indicates that those fragments did come from the
bullet that wounded the
President in the head.161
The President's Neck Wounds
During the autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital another bullet wound was
observed near the base of the back of President Kennedy's neck slightly
to the right of his spine which provides further enlightenment as to the
source of the shots. The hole was located approximately
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51/2 inches (14 centimeters) from the tip of the right shoulder joint
and approximately the same distance below the tip of the right mastoid
process, the bony point immediately behind the ear.162 The wound was
approximately one-fourth by one-seventh of an inch (7 by 4 millimeters),
had clean edges, was sharply delineated, and had margins similar in all
respects to those of the entry wound in the skull.163 Commanders Humes
and Boswell agreed with Colonel Finck's testimony that this hole..
* * * is a wound of entrance. * * * The basis for that conclusion is
that this wound was relatively small with clean edges. It was not a
jagged wound, and that is what we see in wound of entrance at a long
range.164
The autopsy examination further disclosed that, after entering the
President, the bullet passed between two large muscles, produced a
contusion on the upper part of the pleural cavity (without penetrating
that cavity), bruised the top portion of the right lung and ripped the
windpipe (trachea) in its path through the President's neck.165 The
examining surgeons concluded that the wounds were caused by the bullet
rather than the tracheotomy performed at Parkland Hospital. The nature
of the bruises indicated that the President's heart and lungs were
functioning when the bruises were caused, whereas there was very little
circulation in the President's body when incisions on the President's
chest were made to insert tubes during the tracheotomy.166 No bone was
struck by the bullet which passed through the President's body.167 By
projecting from a point of entry on the rear of the neck and proceeding
at a slight downward angle through the bruised interior portions, the
doctors concluded that the bullet exited from the front portion of the
President's neck that had been cut away by the tracheotomy.168
Concluding that a bullet passed through the President's neck, the
doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital rejected a theory that the bullet
lodged in the large muscles in the back of his neck and fell out through
the point of entry when external heart massage was applied at Parkland
Hospital. In the earlier stages of the autopsy, the surgeons were unable
to find a path into any large muscle in the back of the neck. At that
time they did not know that there had been a bullet hole in the front of
the President's neck when he arrived at Parkland Hospital because the
tracheotomy incision had completely eliminated that evidence.169 While
the autopsy was being performed, surgeons learned that a whole bullet
had been found at Parkland Hospital on a stretcher which, at that time,
was thought to be the stretcher occupied by the President. This led to
speculation that the bullet might have penetrated a short distance into
the back of the neck and then dropped out onto the stretcher as a result
of the external heart massage.170
Further exploration during the autopsy disproved that theory. The
surgeons determined that the bullet had passed between two large strap
muscles and bruised them without leaving any channel, since the bullet
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merely passed between them.171 Commander Humes, who believed that a
tracheotomy had been performed from his observations at the autopsy,
talked by telephone with Dr. Perry early on the morning of November 23,
and learned that his assumption was correct and that Dr. Perry had used
the missile wound in the neck as the point to make the incision.172 This
confirmed the Bethesda surgeons' conclusion that the bullet had exited
from the front part of the neck.
The findings of the doctors who conducted the autopsy were consistent
with the observations of the doctors who treated the President. at
Parkland Hospital. Dr. Charles S. Carrico, a. resident surgeon at
Parkland, noted a small wound approximately one-fourth of an inch in
diameter (5 to 8 millimeters) in the lower third of the neck below the
Adam's apple.173 Dr. Malcolm O. Perry, who performed the tracheotomy,
described the wound as approximately one-fifth of an inch in diameter (5
millimeters) and exuding blood which partially hid edges that were
"neither cleancut, that is, punched out, nor were they very ragged."174
Dr. Carrico testified as follows:
Q. Based on your observations on the neck wound alone did have a
sufficient basis to form an opinion as to whether it was entrance or an
exit wound ?
A. No, sir; we did not. Not having completely evaluated all the wounds,
traced out the course of the bullets, this wound would have been
compatible with either entrance or exit wound depending upon the size,
the velocity, the tissue structure and so forth.175
The same response was made by Dr. Perry to a similar query:
Q. Based on the appearance of the neck wound alone, could it have been
either an entrance or an exit wound ?
A. It could have been either.176
Then each doctor was asked to take into account the other known facts,
such as the autopsy findings, the approximate distance the bullet
traveled and tested muzzle velocity-of the assassination weapon. With
these additional factors, the doctors commented on the wound on the
front of the President's neck as follows:
Dr. CARRICO. With those facts and the fact. as I understand it no other
bullet was found this would be, this was, I believe, was an exit
wound.177
Dr. PERRY. A full jacketed bullet without deformation passing through
skin would leave a similar wound for an exit and entrance wound and with
the facts which yon have made available and with these assumptions, I
believe that it was an exit wound.178
Other doctors at Parkland Hospital who observed the wound prior to the
tracheotomy agreed with the observations of Drs. Perry and Carrico.179
The bullet wound in the neck could be seen for only a short time, since
Dr. Perry eliminated evidence of it when he performed
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the tracheotomy. He selected that spot since it was the point where such
an operation was customarily performed, and it was one of the safest and
easiest spots from which to reach the trachea. In addition, there was
possibly an underlying wound to the muscles in the neck, the carotid
artery or the jugular vein, and Dr. Perry concluded that the incision,
therefore, had to be low in order to maintain respiration.180
Considerable confusion has arisen because of comments attributed to Dr.
Perry concerning the nature of the neck wound. Immediately after the
assassination, many people reached erroneous conclusions about the
source of the shots because of Dr. Perry's observations to the press. On
the afternoon of November 22, a press conference was organized at
Parkland Hospital by members of the White House press staff and a
hospital administrator. Newsmen with microphones and cameras were
crowded into a room to hear statements by Drs. Perry and William Kemp
Clark, chief neurosurgeon at Parkland, who had attended to President
Kennedy's head injury. Dr. Perry described the situation as "bedlam."181
The confusion was compounded by the fact that some questions were only
partially answered before other questions were asked.182
At the news conference, Dr. Perry answered a series of hypothetical
questions and stated to the press that a variety of possibilities could
account for the President's wounds. He stated that a single bullet could
have caused the President's wounds by entering through the throat,
striking the spine, and being deflected upward with the point of exit
being through the head.183 This would have accounted for the two wounds
he observed, the hole in the front of the neck and the large opening in
the skull. At that time, Dr. Perry did not know about either the wound
on the back of the President's neck or the small bullet-hole wound in
the back of the head. As described in chapter II, the President was
lying on his back during his entire time at Parkland. The small hole in
the head was also hidden from view by the large quantity of blood which
covered the President's head. Dr. Perry said his answers at the press
conference were intended to convey his theory about what could have
happened, based on his limited knowledge at the time, rather than his
professional opinion about what did happen.184 Commenting on his answers
at the press conference, Dr. Perry testified before the Commission:
I expressed it [his answers] as a matter of speculation that this was
conceivable. But, again, Dr. Clark [who also answered questions at the
conference] and I emphasized that we had no way of knowing.185
Dr. Perry's recollection of his comments is corroborated by some of the
news stories after the press conference. The New York Herald Tribune on
November 23, 1963, reported as follows:
Dr. Malcolm Perry, 34, attendant surgeon at Parkland Hospital who
attended the President, said he saw two wounds--
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one below the Adam's apple, the other at the back of the head. He said
he did not know if two bullets were involved. It is possible, he said,
that the neck wound was the entrance and the other the exit of the
missile.186
According to this report, Dr. Perry stated merely that it was "possible"
that the neck wound was a wound of entrance. This conforms with his
testimony before the Commission, where he stated that by themselves the
characteristics of the neck wound were consistent with being either a
point of entry or exit.
Wound ballistics tests.--Experiments performed by the Army Wound
Ballistics experts at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. (discussed in app. X, p.
582) showed that under simulated conditions entry and exit wounds are
very similar in appearance. After reviewing the path of the bullet
through the President's neck, as disclosed in the autopsy report, the
experts simulated the neck by using comparable material with a thickness
of approximately 5½ inches (13½ to 14½ centimeters), which was the
distance traversed by the bullet. Animal skin was placed on each side,
and Western Cartridge Co. 6.5 bullets were fired from the C2766
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle from a distance of 180 feet.. The animal skin
on the entry side showed holes which were regular and round. On the exit
side two holes were only slightly elongated, indicating that the bullet
had become only a little unstable at the point of exit.187 A third exit
hole was round, although not quite as regular as the entry holes.188 The
exit holes, especially the one most nearly round, appeared similar to
the descriptions given by Drs. Perry and Carrico of the hole in the
front of the President's neck.189
The autopsy disclosed that the bullet which entered the back of the
President's neck hit no bony structure and proceeded in a slightly
downward angle. The markings on the President's clothing indicate that
the bullet moved in a slight right to left lateral direction as it
passed through the President's body.190 After the examining doctors
expressed the thought that a bullet would have lost very little velocity
in passing through the soft tissue of the neck, wound ballistics experts
conducted tests to measure the exit velocity of the bullet.191 The tests
were the same as those used to create entry and exit holes, supplemented
by the use of break-type screens which measured the velocity of bullets.
The entrance velocity of the bullet fired from the rifle averaged 1,904
feet per second after it traveled 180 feet. The exit velocity averaged
1,772 to 1,798 feet per second, depending upon the substance through
which the bullet passed. A photograph of the path of the bullet
traveling through the simulated neck showed that it proceeded in a
straight line and was stable.192
Examination of clothing.--The clothing worn by President Kennedy on
November 22 had holes and tears which showed that a missile entered the
back of his clothing in the vicinity of his lower neck and exited
through the front of his shirt immediately behind his tie, nicking the
knot of his tie in its forward flight.193 Although the caliber of the
bullet could not be determined and some of the clothing items
Page 92
precluded a positive determination that some tears were made by a
bullet, all the defects could have been caused by a 6.5-millimeter
bullet entering the back of the President's lower neck and exiting in
the area of the knot of his tie.194
An examination of the suit jacket worn by the President by FBI Agent
Frazier revealed a roughly circular hole approximately one-fourth of an
inch in diameter on the rear of the coat, 5 3/8 inches below the top of
the collar and 1 3/4 inches to the right of the center back seam of the
coat.195 The hole was visible on the upper rear of the coat slightly to
the right of center. Traces of copper were found in the margins of the
hole and the cloth fibers around the margins were pushed inward.196
Those characteristics established that the hole was caused by an
entering bullet.197 Although the precise size of the bullet could not be
determined from the hole, it was consistent with having been made by a
6.5- millimeter bullet.198
The shirt worn by the President contained a hole on the back side 5 3/4
inches below the top of the collar and 1 1/8 inches to the right of the
middle of the back of the shirt.199 The hole on the rear of the shirt
was approximately circular in shape and about one-fourth of an inch in
diameter, with the fibers pressed inward.200 These factors established
it as a bullet entrance hole.201 The relative position of the hole in
the back of the suit jacket to the hole in the back of the shirt
indicated that both were caused by the same penetrating missile.202
On the front of the shirt, examination revealed a hole seven-eighths of
an inch below the collar button and a similar opening seven-eighths of
an inch below the buttonhole. These two holes fell into alinement on
overlapping positions when the shirt was buttoned.203 Each hole was a
vertical, ragged slit approximately one-half of an inch in height, with
the cloth fibers protruding outward. Although the characteristics of the
slit established that the missile had exited to the front, the irregular
nature of the slit precluded a positive determination that it was a
bullet hole.204 However, the hole could have been caused by a round
bullet although the characteristics were not sufficiently clear to
enable the examining expert to render a conclusive opinion.205
When the President's clothing was removed at Parkland Hospital, his tie
was cut. off by severing the loop immediately to the wearer's left of
the knot, leaving the knot in its original condition.206 The tie had a
nick on the left side of the knot.207 The nick was elongated
horizontally, indicating that the tear was made by some object moving
horizontally, but the fibers were not affected in a manner which would
shed light on the direction or the nature of the missile.208
The Governor's Wounds
While riding in the right jump seat of the Presidential limousine on
November 22, Governor Connally sustained wounds of the back, chest,
right wrist and left thigh. Because of the small size and dean-cut edges
of the wound on the Governor's back, Dr. Robert Shaw concluded that it
was an entry wound.209 The bullet traversed the Governor's
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chest in a downward angle, shattering his fifth rib, and exited below
the right nipple.210 The ragged edges of the 2-inch (5 centimeters)
opening on the front of the chest led Dr. Shaw to conclude that it was
the exit point of the bullet.211 When Governor Connally testified before
the Commission 5 months after the assassination, on April 21, 1964, the
Commission observed the Governor's chest wounds, as well as the injuries
to his wrist and thigh and watched Dr. Shaw measure with a caliper an
angle of declination of 25° from the point of entry on the back to the
point of exit on the front of the Governor's chest.212
At the time of the shooting, Governor Connally was unaware that he had
sustained any injuries other than his chest wounds.213 On the back of
his arm, about 2 inches (5 centimeters) above the wrist .joint on the
thumb side, Dr. Charles F. Gregory observed a linear perforating wound
approximately one-fifth of an inch (one-half centimeter) wide and 1 inch
(2 1/2 centimeters) long.214 During his operation on this injury, the
doctor concluded that this ragged wound was the point of entry because
thread and cloth had been carried into the wound to the region of the
bone.215 Dr. Gregory's conclusions were also based upon the location in
the Governor's wrist, as revealed by X-ray, of small fragments of metal
shed by the missile upon striking the firm surface of the bone.216
Evidence of different amounts of air in the tissues of the wrist gave
further indication that the bullet passed from the back to the front of
the wrist.217 An examination of the palm surface of the wrist showed a
wound approximately one-fifth of an inch (one-half centimeter) long and
approximately three-fourths of an inch (2 centimeters) above the crease
of the right wrist.218 Dr. Shaw had initially believed that the missile
entered on the palm side of the Governor's wrist and exited on the back
side.219 After reviewing the factors considered by Dr. Gregory, however,
Dr. Shaw withdrew his earlier opinion. He deferred to the judgment of
Dr. Gregory, who had more closely examined that wound during the wrist
operation.220
In addition, Governor Connally suffered a puncture wound in the left
thigh that was approximately two-fifths of an inch (1 centimeter) in
diameter and located approximately 5 or 6 inches above the Governor's
left knee.221 On the Governor's leg, very little soft-tissue damage was
noted, which indicated a tangential wound or the penetration of a larger
missile entering at low velocity and stopping after entering the
skin.222 X-ray examination disclosed a tiny metallic fragment embedded
in the Governor's leg.223 The surgeons who attended the Governor
concluded that the thigh wound was not caused by the small fragment in
the thigh but resulted from the impact of a larger missile.224
Examination of clothing.--The clothing worn by Governor Connally on
November 22, 1963, contained holes which matched his wounds. On the back
of the Governor's coat, a hole was found 1 1/8 inches from the seam
where the right sleeve attached to the coat and 7 1/4 inches to the
right of the midline.225 This hole was elongated in a horizontal
direction approximately five-eighths of an inch in length
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and one-fourth of an inch in height.226 The front side of the Governor's
coat contained a circular hole three-eighths of an inch in diameter,
located 5 inches to the right of the front right edge of the coat
slightly above the top button.227 A rough hole approximately
five-eighths of an inch in length and three-eighths of an inch in width
was found near the end of the right sleeve.228 Each of these holes could
have been caused by a bullet, but a positive determination of this fact
or the direction of the missile was not possible because the garment had
been cleaned and pressed prior to any opportunity for a scientific
examination.229
An examination of the Governor's shirt disclosed a very ragged tear
five-eighths of an inch long horizontally and one-half of an inch
vertically on the back of the shirt near the right sleeve 2 inches from
the line where the sleeve attaches.230 Immediately to the right was
another small tear, approximately three-sixteenths of an inch long.231
The two holes corresponded in position to the hole in the back of the
Governor's coat.232 A very irregular tear in the form of an "H" was
observed on the front side of the Governor's shirt, approximately 1 1/2
inches high, with a crossbar tear approximately 1 inch wide, located 5
inches from the right side seam and 9 inches from the top of the right
sleeve.233 Because the shirt had been laundered, there were insufficient
characteristics for the expert examiner to form a conclusive opinion on
the direction or nature of the object causing the holes.234 The rear
hole could have been caused by the entrance of a 6.5-millimeter bullet
and the front hole by the exit of such a bullet.235
On the French cuff of the right sleeve of the Governor's shirt was a
ragged, irregularly shaped hole located 1 1/2 inches from the end of the
sleeve and 5 1/2 inches from the outside cuff-link hole.236 The
characteristics after laundering did not permit positive conclusions but
these holes could have been caused by a bullet passing through the
Governor's right wrist from the back to the front sides.237 The
Governor's trousers contained a hole approximately one-fourth of an inch
in diameter in the region of the left knee.238 The roughly circular
shape of the hole and the slight tearing away from the edges gave the
hole the general appearance of a bullet hole but it was not possible to
determine the direction of the missile which caused the hole.239
Course of bullet.--Ballistics experiments and medical findings
established that the missile which passed through the Governor's wrist
and penetrated his thigh had first traversed his chest. The Army Wound
Ballistics experts conducted tests which proved that the Governor's
wrist wound was not caused by a pristine bullet. (See app. X, pp.
582-585.) A bullet is pristine immediately on exiting from a rifle
muzzle when it moves in a straight line with a spinning motion and
maintains its uniform trajectory with but a minimum of nose surface
striking the air through which it passes.240 When the straight line of
flight of a bullet is deflected by striking some object, it starts to
wobble or become irregular in flight, a condition called yaw.241 A
bullet with yaw has a greater surface exposed to the striking material
or air, since the target or air is struck not only by the nose of the
bullet, its smallest striking surface, but also by the bullet's
sides.242
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The ballistics experts learned the exact nature of the Governor's wrist
wound by examining Parkland Hospital records and X-rays and conferring
with Dr. Gregory. The C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found in the
Depository was fired with bullets of the same type as the bullet found
on the Governor's stretcher and the fragments found in the Presidential
limousine. Shots were fired from a distance of 70 yards at comparable
flesh and bone protected by material similar to the clothing worn by the
Governor.243 One of the test shots wounded the comparable flesh and bone
structure in virtually the same place and from the same angle as the
wound inflicted on Governor Connally's wrist. An X-ray and photograph of
the simulated wrist confirmed the similarity.244 The bullet which
inflicted that injury during the tests had a nose which was
substantially flattened from striking the material.245 The striking
velocity at 70 yards of seven shots fired during the tests averaged
1,858 feet per second; the average exit velocity of five shots was 1,776
feet per second.246
The conclusion that the Governor's wrist was not struck by a pristine
bullet was based upon the following: ( 1 ) greater damage was inflicted
on the test material than on the Governor's wrist; 247 (2) the test
material had a smaller entry wound and a larger exit wound,
characteristic of a pristine bullet, while the Governor's wrist had a
larger entry wound as compared with its exit wound, indicating a bullet
which was tumbling;248 (3) cloth was carried into the wrist wound, which
is characteristic of an irregular missile;249 (4) the partial cutting of
a radial nerve and tendon leading to the Governor's thumb further
suggested that the bullet which struck him was not pristine, since such
a bullet would merely push aside a tendon and nerve rather than catch
and tear them;250 (5) the bullet found on the Governor's stretcher
probably did not pass through the wrist as a pristine bullet because its
nose was not considerably flattened, as was the case with the pristine
bullet which struck the simulated wrist;251 and (6) the bullet which
caused the Governor's thigh injury and then fell out of the wound had a
"very low velocity," whereas the pristine bullets fired during the tests
possessed a very high exit velocity.252
All the evidence indicated that the bullet found on the Governor's
stretcher could have caused all his wounds. The weight of the whole
bullet prior to firing was approximately 160-161 grains and that of the
recovered bullet was 158.6 grains.253 An X-ray of the Governor's wrist
showed very minute metallic fragments, and two or three of these
fragments were removed from his wrist.254 All these fragments were
sufficiently small and light so that the nearly whole bullet found on
the stretcher could have deposited those pieces of metal as it tumbled
through his wrist.255 In their testimony, the three doctors who attended
Governor Connally at Parkland Hospital expressed independently their
opinion that a single bullet had passed through his chest; tumbled
through his wrist with very little exit velocity, leaving small metallic
fragments from the rear portion of the bullet; punctured his left thigh
after the bullet had lost virtually all of its velocity; and had fallen
out of the thigh wound.256
Page 96
Governor Connally himself thought it likely that all his wounds were
caused by a single bullet. In his testimony before the Commission, he
repositioned himself as he recalled his position on the jump seat, with
his right palm on his left thigh, and said:
I * * * wound up the next day realizing I was hit in three places, and I
was not conscious of having been hit but by one bullet, so I tried to
reconstruct how I could have been hit in three places by the same
bullet, and I merely, I know it penetrated from the back through the
chest first.
I assumed that I had turned as I described a moment ago, placing my
right hand on my left leg, that it hit my wrist, went out the center of
the wrist, the underside, and then into my leg, but it might not have
happened that way at all.257
The Governor's posture explained how a single missile through his body
would cause all his wounds. His doctors at Parkland Hospital had
recreated his position, also, but they placed his right arm somewhat
higher than his left thigh although in the same alinement.258 The wound
ballistics experts concurred in the opinion that a single bullet caused
all the Governor's wounds.259
The Trajectory
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THE TRAJECTORY
The cumulative evidence of eyewitnesses, firearms and ballistic experts
and medical authorities demonstrated that the shots were fired from
above and behind President Kennedy and Governor Connally, more
particularly, from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository
Building. In order to determine the facts with as much precision as
possible and to insure that all data were consistent with the shots
having been fired from the sixth floor window, the Commission requested
additional investigation, including the analysis of motion picture films
of the assassination and onsite tests. The facts developed through this.
investigation by the FBI and Secret Service confirmed the conclusions
reached by the Commission regarding the source and trajectory of the
shots which hit the President and the Governor. Moreover, these facts
enabled the Commission to make certain approximations regarding the
locations of the Presidential limousine at the time of the shots and the
relevant time intervals.
Films and Tests
When the shots rang out the Presidential limousine was moving beyond the
Texas School Book Depository Building in a southwesterly direction on
Elm Street between Houston Street and the Triple Underpass.260 The
general location of the car was described and marked on maps by
eyewitnesses as precisely as their observations and recollections
permitted.261 More exact information was provided by motion
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pictures taken by Abraham Zapruder, Orville O. Nix and Mary Muchmore,
who were spectators at the scene.262 Substantial light has been shed on
the assassination sequence by viewing these motion pictures,
particularly the Zapruder film, which was the most complete and from
which individual 35-millimeter slides were made of each motion picture
frame.263
Examination of the Zapruder motion picture camera by the FBI established
that 18.8 pictures or frames were taken each second, and therefore, the
timing of certain events could be calculated by allowing 1/18.8 seconds
for the action depicted from one frame to the next.264 The films and
slides made from individual frames were viewed by Governor and Mrs.
Connally, the Governor's doctors, the autopsy surgeons, and the Army
wound ballistics scientists in order to apply the knowledge of each to
determine the precise course of events.265 Tests of the assassin's rifle
disclosed that at least 2.8 seconds were required between shots.266 In
evaluating the films in the light of these timing guides, it was kept in
mind that a victim of a bullet wound may not react immediately and, in
some situations, according to experts, the victim may not even know
where he has been hit, or when.267
On May 24, 1964, agents of the FBI and Secret Service conducted a series
of tests to determine as precisely as possible what happened on November
22, 1968. Since the Presidential limousine was being remodeled and was
therefore unavailable, it was simulated by using the Secret Service
followup car, which is similar in design.268 Any differences were taken
into account. Two Bureau agents with approximately the same physical
characteristics sat in the car in the same relative positions as
President Kennedy and Governor Connally had occupied. The back of the
stand-in for the President was marked with chalk at the point where the
bullet entered. The Governor's model had on the same coat worn by'
Governor Connally when he was shot, with the hole in the back circled in
chalk.269
To simulate the conditions which existed at the assassination scene on
November 22, the lower part of the sixth- floor window at the southeast
corner of the Depository Building was raised halfway, the cardboard
boxes were repositioned, the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the
sixth floor of the Depository was used, and mounted on that rifle was a
camera which recorded the view as was seen by the assassin.270 In
addition, the Zapruder, Nix, and Muchmore cameras were on hand so that
photographs taken by these cameras from the same locations where they
were used on November 22, 1963, could be compared with the films of that
date.271 The agents ascertained that the foliage of an oak tree that
came between the gunman and his target along the motorcade route on Elm
Street was approximately the same as on the day of the assassination.272
The First Bullet That Hit
The position of President Kennedy's car when he was struck in the neck
was determined with substantial precision from the films and
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onsite tests. The pictures or frames in the Zapruder film were marked by
the agents, with the number "1" given to the first frame where the
motorcycles leading the motorcade came into view on Houston Street.273
The numbers continue in sequence as Zapruder filmed the Presidential
limousine as it came around the corner and proceeded down Elm. The
President was in clear view of the assassin as he rode up Houston Street
and for 100 feet as he proceeded down Elm Street, until he came to a
point denoted as frame 166 on the Zapruder film.274 These facts were
determined in the test by placing the car and men on Elm Street in the
exact spot where they were when each frame of the Zapruder film was
photographed. To pinpoint their locations, a man stood at Zapruder's
position and directed the automobile and both models to the positions
shown on each frame, after which a Bureau photographer crouched at the
sixth-floor window and looked through a camera whose lens recorded the
view through the telescopic sight of the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle.275 (See Commission Exhibit No. 887, p. 99.) Each position was
measured to determine how far President Kennedy had gone down Elm from a
point, which was designated as station C, on a line drawn along the west
curbline of Houston Street.276
Based on these calculations, the agents concluded that at frame 166 of
the Zapruder film the President passed beneath the foliage of the large
oak tree and the point of impact on the President's back disappeared
from the gunman's view as seen through the telescopic lens.277 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 889, p. 100.) For a fleeting instant, the
President came back into view in the telescopic lens at frame 186 as he
appeared in an opening among the leaves.278 (See Commission Exhibit No.
891, p. 101.) The test revealed that the next point at which the
rifleman had a clear view through the telescopic sight of the point
where the bullet entered the President's back was when the car emerged
from behind the tree at frame 210.279 (See Commission Exhibit No. 893,
p. 102.) According to FBI Agent Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt, "There is no
obstruction from the sixth floor window from the time they leave the
tree until they disappear down toward the triple overpass."
As the President rode along Elm Street for a distance of about 140 feet,
he was waving to the crowd.281 Shaneyfelt testified that the waving is
seen on the Zapruder movie until around frame 205, when road sign
blocked out most of the President's body from Zapruder's view through
the lens of his camera. However, the assassin continued to have a clear
view of the President as he proceeded down Elm.282 When President
Kennedy again came fully into view in the Zapruder film at frame 225, he
seemed to be reacting to his neck wound by raising his hands to his
throat.283 (See Commission Exhibit No. 895, p. 103.) According to
Shaneyfelt the reaction was "clearly apparent in 226 and barely apparent
in 225."284 It is probable that the President. was not shot. before
frame 210, since it is unlikely that the assassin would deliberately
have shot at him with a view obstructed by the oak tree when he was
about to have a clear opportunity. It is
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 887
Photograph taken during reenactment showing C2766 rifle with camera
attached.
Page 100
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 889
Page 101
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 891
Page 102
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 893
Page 103
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 895
Page 104
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 697
Photograph of Presidential limousine taken during motorcade.
Page 105
also doubtful that even the most proficient marksman would have hit him
through the oak tree. In addition, the President's reaction is "barely
apparent" in frame 225, which is 15 frames or approximately eight-tenths
second after frame 210, and a shot much before 210 would assume a longer
reaction time than was recalled by eyewitnesses at the scene. Thus, the
evidence indicated that the President was not hit until at least frame
210 and that he was probably hit by frame 225. The possibility of
variations in reaction time in addition to the obstruction of Zapruder's
view by the sign precluded a more specific determination than that the
President was probably shot through the neck between frames 210 and 225,
which marked his position between 138.9 and 153.8 feet west of station
C.285
According to Special Agent Robert. A. Frazier, who occupied the position
of the assassin in the sixth-floor window during the reenactment, it is
likely that the bullet which passed through the President's neck, as
described previously, then struck the automobile or someone else in the
automobile.286 The minute examination by the FBI inspection team,
conducted in Washington between 14 and 16 hours after the assassination,
revealed no damage indicating that a bullet struck any part of the
interior of the Presidential limousine, with the exception of the
cracking of the windshield and the dent on the windshield chrome.287
Neither of these points of damage to the car could have been caused by
the bullet which exited from the President's neck at a velocity of 1,772
to 1,779 feet per second.288 If the trajectory had permitted the bullet
to strike the windshield, the bullet would have penetrated it and
traveled a substantial distance down the road unless it struck some
other object en route.289 Had that bullet struck the metal framing,
which was dented, it would have torn a hole in the chrome and penetrated
the framing, both inside and outside the car.290 At that exit velocity,
the bullet would have penetrated any other metal or upholstery surface
of the interior of the automobile.291
The bullet that hit President Kennedy in the back and exited through his
throat most likely could not have missed both the automobile and its
occupants. Since it did not hit the automobile, Frazier testified that
it probably struck Governor Connally.292 The relative positions of
President Kennedy and Governor Connally at the time when the President
was struck in the neck confirm that the same bullet probably passed
through both men. Pictures taken of the President's limousine on
November 22, 1963, showed that the Governor sat immediately in front of
the President.293 Even though the precise distance cannot be
ascertained, it is apparent that President Kennedy was somewhat to the
Governor's right. The President sat on the extreme right, as noted in
the films and by eyewitnesses, while the right edge of the jump seat in
which the Governor sat is 6 inches from the right door.294 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 697 p. 104.) The President wore a back brace
which tended to make him sit up straight, and the Governor also sat
erect since the jump seat gave him little leg room.295
Based on his observations during the reenactment and the position of
Governor Connally shown in the Zapruder film after the car
Page 106
emerged from behind the sign, Frazier testified that Governor Connally
was in a position during the span from frame 207 to frame 225 to receive
a bullet which would have caused the wounds he actually suffered.296
Governor Connally viewed the film and testified that he was hit between
frames 231 and 234.297 According to Frazier, between frames 235 and 240
the Governor turned sharply to his right, so that by frame 240 he was
too far to the right to have received his injuries at that time.298 At
some point between frames 235 and 240, therefore, is the last occasion
when Governor Connally could have received his injuries, since in the
frames following 240 he remained turned too far to his right.299 If
Governor Connally was hit by a separate shot between frames 235 and 240
which followed the shot which hit the President's neck, it would follow
that: (1) the assassin's first shot, assuming a minimum firing time of
2.3 seconds (or 42 frames), was fired between frames 193 and 198 when
his view was obscured by the oak tree; (2) President Kennedy continued
waving to the crowd after he was hit and did not begin to react for
about 1 1/2 seconds; and (3) the first shot, although hitting no bones
in the President's body, was deflected after its exit from the
President's neck in such a way that it failed to hit either the
automobile or any of the other occupants.
Viewed through the telescopic sight of the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle from the sixth-floor window during the test, the marks that
simulated the entry wounds on the stand-ins for the President and the
Governor were generally in a straight line. That alinement became
obvious to the viewer through the scope as the Governor's model turned
slightly to his right and assumed the position which Governor Connally
had described as his position when he was struck. Viewing the stand-ins
for the President and the Governor in the sight of the C2766
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle at the location depicted in frames 207 and 210,
Frazier testified: "They both are in direct alinement with the
telescopic sight at the window. The Governor is immediately behind the
President in the field of view."300 (See Commission Exhibit No. 893, p.
102.) A surveyor then placed his sighting equipment at the precise point
of entry on the back of the President's neck, assuming that the
President was struck at frame 210, and measured the angle to the end of
the muzzle of the rifle positioned where it was believed to have been
held by the assassin.301 That angle measured 21°34'.302 From the same
points of reference, the angle at frame 225 was measured at 20°11,
giving an average angle of 20°52'30'' from frame 210 to frame 225.303
Allowing for a downward street grade of 309', the probable angle through
the President's body was calculated at 17°43'30'', assuming that he was
sitting in a vertical position.304
That angle was consistent with the trajectory of a bullet passing
through the President's neck and then striking Governor Connally's back,
causing the wounds which were discussed above. Shortly after that angle
was ascertained, the open car and the stand-ins were taken by the agents
to a nearby garage where a photograph was taken to determine through
closer study whether the angle of that shot could have accounted for the
wounds in the President's neck and the Governor's
Page 107
back.305 A rod was placed at an angle of 17º43'30" next to the stand-ins
for the President and the Governor, who were seated in the same relative
positions.306 The wounds of entry and exit on the President were
approximated based on information gained from the autopsy reports and
photographs.307 The hole in the back of the jacket worn by the Governor
and the medical description of the wound on his back marked that entry
point.308 That line of fire from the sixth floor of the Depository would
have caused the bullet to exit under the Governor's right nipple just as
the bullet did. Governor Connally's doctors measured an angle of
declination on his body from the entry wound on his hack to the exit on
the front of his chest at about 25°when he sat erect.309 That difference
was explained by either a slight deflection of the bullet caused by
striking the fifth rib or the Governor's leaning slightly backward at
the time he was struck. In addition, the angle could not be fixed with
absolute precision, since the large wound on the front of his chest
precluded an exact determination of the point of exit.310
The alinement of the points of entry was only indicative and not
conclusive that one bullet hit both men. The exact positions of the men
could not be re-created; thus, the angle could only be approximated.311
Had President Kennedy been leaning forward or backward, the angle of
declination of the shot to a perpendicular target would have varied. The
angle of 17º43'30" was approximately the angle of declination reproduced
in an artist's drawing.312 That drawing, made from data provided by the
autopsy surgeons, could not reproduce the exact line of the bullet,
since the exit wound was obliterated by the tracheotomy. Similarly, if
the President or the Governor had been sitting in a different lateral
position, the conclusion might have varied. Or if the Governor had not
turned in exactly the way calculated, the alinement would have been
destroyed.
Additional experiments by the Army Wound Ballistics Branch further
suggested that the same bullet probably passed through both President
Kennedy and Governor Connally. (See app. X, pp. 582-585. ) Correlation
of a test simulating the Governor's chest wound with the neck and wrist
experiments.' indicated that course. After reviewing the Parkland
Hospital medical records and X-rays of the Governor and discussing his
chest injury with the attending surgeon, the Army ballistics experts
virtually duplicated the wound using the assassination weapon and animal
flesh covered by cloth.313 The bullet that struck the animal flesh
displayed characteristics similar to the bullet found on Governor
Connally's stretcher.314 Moreover, the imprint on the velocity screen
immediately behind the animal flesh showed that the bullet was tumbling
after exiting from the flesh, having lost a total average of 265 feet
per second.315 Taking into consideration the Governor's size, the
reduction in velocity of a bullet passing through his body would be
approximately 400 feet per second.316
Based upon the medical evidence on the wounds of the Governor and the
President and the wound ballistics tests performed at Edgewood
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 902
Page 109
Arsenal, Drs. Olivier and Arthur J. Dziemian, chief of the Army Wound
Ballistics Branch, who had spent 17 years in that area of
specialization, concluded that it was probable that the same bullet
passed through the President's neck and then inflicted all the wounds on
the Governor.317 Referring to the President's neck wound and all the
Governor's wounds, Dr. Dziemian testified: "I think the probability is
very good that it is, that all the wounds were caused by one bullet."318
Both Drs. Dziemian and Olivier believed that the wound on the Governor's
wrist would have been more extensive had the bullet which inflicted that
injury merely passed through the Governor's chest, exiting at a velocity
of approximately 1,500 feet per second.319 Thus, the Governor's wrist
wound suggested that the bullet passed through the President's neck,
began to yaw in the air between the President and the Governor, and then
lost more velocity than 400 feet per second in passing through the
Governor's chest. A bullet which was yawing on entering into the
Governor's back would lose substantially more velocity in passing
through his body than a pristine bullet.320 In addition, the bullet that
struck the animal flesh was flattened to a greater extent than the
bullet which presumably struck the Governor's rib,321 which suggests
that the bullet which entered the Governor's chest had already lost
velocity by passing through the President's neck. Moreover, the large
wound on the Governor's back would be explained by a bullet which was
yawing, although that type of wound might also be accounted for by a
tangential striking.322
Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr., the third of the wound ballistics experts,
who. has been engaged in that specialty at Edgewood Arsenal since 1951,
testified that the anatomical findings were insufficient for him to
formulate a firm opinion as to whether the same bullet did or did not
pass through the President's neck first before inflicting all the wounds
on Governor Connally.323 Based on the other circumstances, such as the
relative positions of the President and the Governor in the automobile,
Dr. Light concluded that it was probable that the same bullet traversed
the President's neck and inflicted all the wounds on Governor
Connally.324
The Subsequent Bullet That Hit
After a bullet penetrated President Kennedy's neck, a subsequent shot
entered the back of his head and exited through the upper right portion
of his skull. The Zapruder, Nix and Muchmore films show the instant in
the sequence when that bullet struck. ( See Commission Exhibit No. 902,
p. 108.) That impact was evident from the explosion of the President's
brain tissues from the right side of his head. The immediately preceding
frame from the Zapruder film shows the President slumped to his left,
clutching at his throat, with his chin close to his chest and his head
tilted forward at an angle.325 Based upon information provided by the
doctors who conducted the autopsy, an artist's drawing depicted the path
of the bullet through the President's head, with his head being in the
same approximate position.326
Page 110
By using the Zapruder, Nix and Muchmore motion pictures, the President's
location at the time the bullet penetrated his head was fixed with
reasonable precision. A careful analysis of the Nix and Muchmore films
led to fixing the exact location of these cameramen. The point of impact
of the bullet on the President's head was apparent in all of the movies.
At that point in the Nix film a straight line was plotted from the
camera position to a fixed point in the background and the President's
location along this line was marked on a plat map.327 A similar process
was followed with the Muchmore film. The President's location on the
plat map was identical to that determined from the Nix film.328 The
President's location, established through the Nix and Muchmore films,
was confirmed by comparing his position on the Zapruder film. This
location had hitherto only been approximated, since there were no
landmarks in the background of the Zapruder frame for alinement purposes
other than a portion of a painted line on the curb.329 Through these
procedures, it was determined that President Kennedy was shot in the
head when he was 230.8 feet from a point on the west curbline on Houston
Street where it intersected with Elm Street.330 The President was 265.3
feet from the rifle in the sixth-floor window and at that position the
approximate angle of declination was 15°21'.331
Number of Shots
Page 110
NUMBER OF SHOTS
The consensus among the witnesses at the scene was that three shots were
fired.332 However, some heard only two shots,333 while others testified
that they heard four and perhaps as many as five or six shots.334 The
difficulty of accurate perception of the sound of gunshots required
careful scrutiny of all of this testimony regarding the number of shots.
The firing of a bullet causes a number of noises: the muzzle blast,
caused by the smashing of the hot gases which propel the bullet into the
relatively stable air at the gun's muzzle; the noise of the bullet,
caused by the shock wave built up ahead of the bullet's nose as it
travels through the air; and the noise caused by the impact of the
bullet on its target.335 Each noise can be quite sharp and may be
perceived as a separate shot. The tall buildings in the area might have
further distorted the sound.
The physical and other evidence examined by the Commission compels the
conclusion that at least two shots were fired. As discussed previously,
the nearly whole bullet discovered at Parkland Hospital and the two
larger fragments found in the Presidential automobile, which were
identified as coming from the assassination rifle, came from at least
two separate bullets and possibly from three.336 The most convincing
evidence relating to the number of shots was provided by the presence on
the sixth floor of three spent cartridges which were demonstrated to
have been fired by the same rifle that fired the bullets which caused
the wounds. It is possible that the assassin carried an empty shell in
the rifle and fired only two shots, with the witnesses hearing multiple
noises made by the same shot. Soon after the three
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empty cartridges were found, officials at the scene decided that three
shots were fired, and that conclusion was widely circulated by the
press. The eyewitness testimony may be subconsciously colored by the
extensive publicity given the conclusion that three shots were fired.
Nevertheless, the preponderance of the evidence, in particular the three
spent cartridges, led the Commission to conclude that there were three
shots fired.
The Shot that Missed
Page 111
THE SHOT THAT MISSED
From the initial findings that (a) one shot passed through the
President's neck and then most probably passed through the Governor's
body, (b) a subsequent shot penetrated the President's head, (c) no
other shot struck any part of the automobile, and (d) three shots were
fired, it follows that one shot probably missed the car and its
occupants. The evidence is inconclusive as to whether it was the first,
second, or third shot which missed.
The First Shot
If the first shot missed, the assassin perhaps missed in an effort to
fire a hurried shot before the President passed under the oak tree, or
possibly he fired as the President passed under the tree and the tree
obstructed his view. The bullet might have struck a portion of the tree
and been completely deflected. On the other hand, the greatest cause for
doubt that the first shot missed is the improbability that the same
marksman who twice hit a moving target would be so inaccurate on the
first and closest of his shots as to miss completely, not only the
target, but the large automobile.
Some support for the contention that the first shot missed is found in
the statement of Secret Service Agent Glen A. Bennett, stationed in the
right rear seat of the President's followup car, who heard a sound like
a firecracker as the motorcade proceeded down Elm Street. At that
moment, Agent Bennett stated:
* * * I looked at the back of the President. I heard another firecracker
noise and saw that shot hit the President about four inches down from
the right shoulder. A second shot followed immediately and hit the right
rear high of the President's head.337
Substantial weight may be given Bennett's observations. Although his
formal statement was dated November 23, 1963, his notes indicate that he
recorded what he saw and heard at 5:30 p.m., November 1963, on the
airplane en route back to Washington, prior to the autopsy, when it was
not yet. known that the President had been hit in the back.338 It is
possible, of course, that Bennett did not observe the hole in the
President's back, which might have been there immediately after the
first noise.
Page 112
Governor Connally's testimony supports the view that the first shot
missed, because he stated that he heard a shot, turned slightly to his
right, and, as he started to turn back toward his left, was struck by
the second bullet.339 He never saw the President during the shooting
sequence, and it is entirely possible that he heard the missed shot and
that both men were struck by the second bullet. Mrs. Connally testified
that after the first shot she turned and saw the President's hands
moving toward his throat, as seen in the films at frame 225.340 However,
Mrs. Connally further stated that she thought her husband was hit
immediately thereafter by the second bullet.341 If the same bullet
struck both the President and the Governor, it is entirely possible that
she saw the President's movements at. the same time as she heard the
second shot. Her testimony, therefore, does not preclude the possibility
of the first shot having missed.
Other eyewitness testimony, however, supports the conclusion that the
first of the shots fired hit the President. As discussed in chapter II,
Special Agent Hill's testimony indicates that the President was hit by
the first shot and that the head injury was caused by a second shot
which followed about 5 seconds later. James W. Altgens, a photographer
in Dallas for the Associated Press, had stationed himself on Elm Street
opposite the Depository to take pictures of the passing motorcade.
Altgens took a widely circulated photograph which showed President
Kennedy reacting to the first of the two shots which hit him. (See
Commission Exhibit No. 900, p. 113.) According to Altgens, he snapped
the picture "almost simultaneously" with a shot which he is confident
was the first one fired.342 Comparison of his photograph with the
Zapruder film, however, revealed that Altgens took his picture at
approximately the same moment as frame 255 of the movie, 30 to 45 frames
(approximately 2 seconds) later than the point at which the President
was shot in the neck.343 (See Commission Exhibit No. 901, p. 114.)
Another photographer, Phillip L. Willis, snapped a picture at a time
which he also asserts was simultaneous with the first shot. Analysis of
his photograph revealed that it was taken at approximately frame 210 of
the Zapruder film, which was the approximate time of the shot that
probably hit the President and the Governor. If Willis accurately
recalled that there were no previous shots, this would be strong
evidence that the first shot did not miss.344
If the first shot did not miss, there must be an explanation for
Governor Connally's recollection that he was not hit by it. There was,
conceivably, a delayed reaction between the time the bullet struck him
and the time he realized that he was hit, despite the fact that the
bullet struck a glancing blow to a rib and penetrated his wrist bone.
The Governor did not even know that he had been struck in the wrist or
in the thigh until he regained consciousness in the hospital the next
day. Moreover, he testified that he did not hear what he thought was the
second shot, although he did hear a subsequent shot which coincided with
the shattering of the President's head.345 One possibility, therefore,
would be a sequence in which the Governor heard the first shot, did not.
immediately feel the penetration of the bullet,
Page 113
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 900
Page 114
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 901
Page 115
then felt the delayed reaction of the impact on his back, later heard
the shot which shattered the President's head, and then lost
consciousness without hearing a third shot which might have occurred
later.
The Second Shot
The possibility that the second shot missed is consistent with the
elapsed time between the two shots that hit their mark. From the timing
evidenced by the Zapruder films, there was an interval of from 4.8 to
5.6 seconds between the shot which .struck President Kennedy's neck
(between frames 210 to 225) and the shot which struck his head at frame
813.346 Since a minimum of 2.3 seconds must elapse between shots, a
bullet could have been fired from the rifle and missed during this
interval.347 This possibility was buttressed by the testimony of
witnesses who claimed that the shots were evenly spaced, since a second
shot occurring within an interval of approximately 5 seconds would have
to be almost exactly midway in this period. If Altgens' recollection is
correct that he snapped his picture at the same moment as he heard a
shot, then it is possible that he heard a second shot which missed,
since a shot fired 2.3 seconds before he took his picture at frame 255
could have hit the President at about frame 213. On the other hand, a
substantial majority of the witnesses stated that the shots were not
evenly spaced. Most witnesses recalled that the second and third shots
were bunched together, although some believed that it was the first and
second which were bunched.348 To the extent that reliance can be placed
on recollection of witnesses as to the spacing of the shots, the
testimony that the shots were not evenly spaced would militate against a
second shot missing. Another factor arguing against the second shot
missing is that the gunman would have been shooting at very near the
minimum allowable time to have fired the three shots within 4.8 to 5.6
seconds, although it was entirely possible for him to have done so. (See
ch. IV, pp. 188-194.)
The Third Shot
The last possibility, of course, is that it was the third shot which
missed. This conclusion conforms most easily with the probability that
the assassin would most likely have missed the farthest shot,
particularly since there was an acceleration of the automobile after the
shot which struck the President's head. The limousine also changed
direction by following the curve to the right, whereas previously it had
been proceeding in almost a straight line with a rifle protruding from
the sixth-floor window of the Depository Building.
One must consider, however, the testimony of the witnesses who described
the head shot as the concluding event in the assassination sequence.
Illustrative is the testimony of Associated Press photographer Altgens,
who had an excellent vantage point near the President's car. He recalled
that the shot which hit the President's head "was the last shot--that
much I will say with a great degree
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of certainty."349 On the other hand, Emmett J. Hudson, the
grounds-keeper of Dealey Plaza, testified that from his position on Elm
Street, midway between Houston Street and the Triple Underpass, he heard
a third shot after the shot which hit the President in the head.350 In
addition, Mrs. Kennedy's testimony indicated that neither the first nor
the second shot missed. Immediately after the first noise she turned,
because of the Governor's yell, and saw her husband raise his hand to
his forehead. Then the second shot struck the President's head.351
Some evidence suggested that a third shot may have entirely missed and
hit the turf or street by the Triple Underpass. Royce G. Skelton, who
watched the motorcade from the railroad bridge., testified that after
two shots "the car came on down close to the Triple Underpass" and an
additional shot "hit in the left front of the President's car on the
cement."352 Skelton thought that there had been a total of four shots,
either the third or fourth of which hit in the vicinity of the
underpass.353 Dallas Patrolman J. W. Foster, who was also on the Triple
Underpass, testified that a shot hit the turf near a manhole cover in
the vicinity of the underpass.354 Examination of this area, however,
disclosed no indication that a bullet struck at the locations indicated
by Skelton or Foster.355
At a different location in Dealey Plaza, the evidence indicated that a
bullet fragment did hit the street. James T. Tague, who got out of his
car to watch the motorcade from a position between Commerce and Main
Streets near the Triple Underpass, was hit on the cheek by an object
during the shooting.356 Within a few minutes Tague reported this to
Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers, who was examining the area to see if
any bullets had struck the turf.357 Walthers immediately started to
search where Tague had been standing and located a place on the south
curb of Main Street where it appeared a bullet had hit the cement.358
According to Tague, "There was a mark quite obviously . that was a
bullet, and it was very fresh."359 In Tague's opinion, it was the second
shot which caused the mark, since he thinks he heard the third shot
after he was hit in the face.360 This incident appears to have been
recorded in the contemporaneous report of Dallas Patrolman L. L. Hill,
who radioed in around 12:40 p.m.: "I have one guy that was possibly hit
by a richochet from the bullet off the concrete."361 Scientific
examination of the mark on the south curb of Main Street by FBI experts
disclosed metal smears which, "were spectrographically determined to be
essentially lead with a trace of antimony."362 The mark on the curb
could have originated from the lead core of a bullet but the absence of
copper precluded "the possibility that the mark on the curbing section
was made by an unmutilated military full metal-jacketed bullet such as
the bullet from Governor Connally's stretcher."363
It is true that the noise of a subsequent shot might have been drowned
out by the siren on the Secret Service followup car immediately after
the head shot, or the dramatic effect of the head shot might have caused
so much confusion that the memory of subsequent events was blurred.
Page 117
Nevertheless, the preponderance of the eyewitness testimony that the
head shot was the final shot must be weighed in any determination as to
whether it was the third shot that missed. Even if it were caused by a
bullet fragment, the mark on the south curb of Main Street cannot be
identified conclusively with any of the three shots fired. Under the
circumstances it might have come from the bullet which hit the
President's head, or it might have been a product of the fragmentation
of the missed shot upon hitting some other object in the area.364 Since
he did not observe any of the shots striking the President, Tague's
testimony that the second shot, rather than the third, caused the
scratch on his cheek, does not assist in limiting the possibilities.
The wide range of possibilities and the existence of conflicting
testimony, when coupled with the impossibility of scientific
verification, precludes a conclusive finding by the Commission as to
which shot missed.
Time Span of Shots
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TIME SPAN OF SHOTS
Witnesses at the assassination scene said that the shots were fired
within a few seconds, with the general estimate being 5 to 6 seconds.365
That approximation was most probably based on the earlier publicized
reports that the first shot struck the President in the neck, the second
wounded the Governor and the third shattered the President's head, with
the time span from the neck to the head shots on the President being
approximately 5 seconds. As previously indicated, the time span between
the shot entering the back of the President's neck and the bullet which
shattered his skull was 4.8 to 5.6 seconds. If the second shot missed,
then 4.8 to 5.6 seconds was the total time span of the shots. If either
the first or third shots missed, then a minimum of 2.3 seconds
(necessary to operate the rifle) must be added to the time span of the
shots which hit, giving a minimum time of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds for the
three shots. If more than 2.3 seconds elapsed between a shot that missed
and one that hit, then the time span would be correspondingly increased.
Conclusion
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CONCLUSION
Based on the evidence analyzed in this chapter, the Commission has
concluded that the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded
Governor Connally were fired from the sixth-floor window at the
southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Two
bullets probably caused all the wounds suffered by President Kennedy and
Governor Connally. Since the preponderance of the evidence indicated
that three shots were fired, the Commission concluded that one shot
probably missed the Presidential limousine and its occupants, and that
the three shots were fired in a time period ranging from approximately
4.8 to in excess of 7 seconds.
Chapter IV The Assassin
Page 118
CHAPTER IV
The Assassin
THE PRECEDING chapter has established that the bullets which killed
President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the
southeast corner window of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book
Depository Building and that the weapon which fired these bullets was a
Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5-millimeter Italian rifle bearing the serial
number C2766. In this chapter the Commission evaluates the evidence upon
which it has based its conclusion concerning the identity of the
assassin. This evidence includes (1) the ownership and possession of the
weapon used to commit the assassination, (2) the means by which the
weapon was brought into the Depository Building, (3) the identity of the
person present at the window from which the shots were fired, (4) the
killing of Dallas Patrolman J. D. Tippit within 45 minutes after the
assassination, (5) the resistance to arrest and the attempted shooting
of another police officer by the man (Lee Harvey Oswald) subsequently
accused of assassinating President Kennedy and killing Patrolman Tippit,
(6) the lies told to the police by Oswald, (7) the evidence linking
Oswald to the attempted killing of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned,
U.S. Army) on April 10, 1963, and (8) Oswald's capability with a rifle.
Ownership and Possession of Assassination Weapon
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OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION OF
ASSASSINATION WEAPON
Purchase of Rifle by Oswald
Shortly after the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle was found on the sixth floor
of the Texas School Book Depository Building,1 agents of the FBI learned
from retail outlets in Dallas that Crescent Firearms, Inc., of New York
City, was a distributor of surplus Italian 6.5-millimeter military
rifles.2 During the evening of November 22, 1963, a review of the
records of Crescent Firearms revealed that the firm had shipped an
Italian carbine, serial number C2766, to Klein's Sporting Goods Co., of
Chicago, Ill.3 After searching their records from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. the
officers of Klein's discovered that a rifle bearing serial number C2766
had been shipped to one A. Hidell,
Page 119
Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex., on March 20, 1963.4 (See Waldman
Exhibit No. 7, p. 120.)
According to its microfilm records, Klein's received an order for a
rifle on March 13, 1963, on a coupon clipped from the February 1963
issue of the American Rifleman magazine. The order coupon was signed, in
handprinting, "A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915, Dallas, Texas." (See Commission
Exhibit No. 773, p. 120.) It was sent in an envelope bearing the same
name and return address in handwriting. Document examiners for the
Treasury Department and the FBI testified unequivocally that the bold
printing on the face of the mail-order coupon was in the handprinting of
Lee Harvey Oswald and that the writing on the envelope was also his. 5
Oswald's writing on these and other documents was identified by
comparing the writing and printing on the documents in question with
that appearing on documents known to have been written by Oswald, such
as his letters, passport application, and endorsements of checks.6 (See
app. X, p. 568-569.)
In addition to the order coupon the envelope contained a. U.S. postal
money order for $21.45, purchased as No. 2,202,130,462 in Dallas, Tex.,
on March 12, 1963.7 The canceled money order was obtained from the Post
Office Department. Opposite the printed words "Pay To" were written the
words "Kleins Sporting Goods," and opposite the printed word "From" were
written the words "A. Hidell, P.O. Box 2915 Dallas, Texas." These words
were also in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald. 8 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 788, p. 120.)
From Klein's records it was possible to trace the processing of the
order after its receipt. A bank deposit made on March 13, 1963, included
an item of $21.45. Klein's shipping order form shows an imprint made by
the cash register which recorded the receipt of $21.45 on March 13,
1963. This price included $19.95 for the rifle and the scope, and $1.50
for postage and handling. The rifle without the scope cost only $12.78.9
According to the vice president of Klein's, William Waldman, the scope
was mounted on the rifle by a gunsmith employed by Klein's, and the
rifle was shipped fully assembled in accordance with customary company
procedures. 10 The specific rifle shipped against the order had been
received by Klein's from Crescent on February 21, 1963. It bore the
manufacturer's serial number C2766. On that date, Klein's placed an
internal control number VC836 on this rifle. 11 According to Klein's
shipping order form, one Italian carbine 6.5 X-4 x scope, control number
VC836, serial number C2766, was shipped parcel post to "A. Hidell, P.O.
Box 2915, Dallas, Texas," on March 20, 1963. 12 Information received
from the Italian Armed Forces Intelligence Service has established that
this particular rifle was the only rifle of its type bearing serial
number C2766.13 (See app. X, p. 554.)
The post office box to which the rifle was shipped was rented to "Lee H.
Oswald" from October 9, 1962, to May 14, 1963.14 Experts on handwriting
identification from 'the Treasury Department and the
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DOCUMENTS ESTABLISHING PURCHASE OF RIFLE BY LEE HARVEY OSWALD
Page 121
FBI testified that the signature and other writing on the application
for that box were in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald,15 as was a
change-of-address card dated May 12, 1963,16 by which Oswald requested
that mail addressed to that box be forwarded to him in New Orleans,
where he had moved on April 24.17 Since the rifle was shipped from
Chicago on March 20, 1963, it was received in Dallas during the period
when Oswald rented and used the box. (See Commission Exhibit No. 791, p.
120.)
It is not known whether the application for post office box 2915 listed
"A. Hidell" as a person entitled to receive mail at this box. In
accordance with postal regulations, the portion of the application which
lists names of persons, other than the applicant, entitled to receive
mail was thrown away after the box was closed on May 1963. 18 Postal
Inspector Harry D. Holmes of the Dallas Post Office testified, however,
that when a package is received for a certain box, a notice is placed in
that box regardless of whether the name on the package is listed on the
application as a person entitled to receive mail through that box. The
person having access to the box then takes the notice to the window and
is given the package. Ordinarily, Inspector
Holmes testified, identification is not requested because it is assumed
that the person with the notice is entitled to the package.19
Oswald's use of the name "Hidell" to purchase the assassination weapon
was one of several instances in which he used this name as an alias.
When arrested on the day of the assassination, he had in his possession
a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver purchased by mail-order coupon
from Seaport-Traders, Inc., a mail-order division of George Rose & Co.,
Los Angeles. The mail-order coupon listed the purchaser as "A. J. Hidell
Age 28" with the address of post office box 2915 in Dallas. 21
Handwriting experts from the FBI and the Treasury Department testified
that the writing on the mail-order form was that of Lee Harvey Oswald.22
Among other identification cards in Oswald's wallet at the time of his
arrest were a Selective Service notice of classification, a Selective
Service registration certificate,23 and a certificate of service in the
U.S. Marine Corps,24 all three cards being in his own name. Also in his
wallet at that time were a Selective Service notice of classification
and a Marine certificate of service in the name of Alek James Hidell.25
On the Hidell Selective Service card there appeared a signature, "Alek
J. Hidell," and the photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald.26 Experts on
questioned documents from the Treasury Department and the FBI testified
that the Hidell cards were counterfeit photographic reproductions made
by photographing the Oswald cards, retouching the resulting negatives,
and producing prints from the retouched negatives. The Hidell signature
on the notice of classification was in the handwriting of Oswald. (See
app. X, p. 572.)
In Oswald's personal effects found in his room at 1026 North Beckley
Avenue in Dallas was a purported international certificate of
vaccination signed by "Dr. A. J. Hideel," Post Office Box 30016, New
Page 122
Orleans. 28 It certified that Lee Harvey Oswald had been vaccinated for
smallpox on June 8, 1963. This, too, was a forgery. The signature of "A.
J. Hideel" was in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald. 29 There is no
"Dr. Hideel" licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana.30 There is no
post office box 30016 in the New Orleans Post Office but Oswald had
rented post office box 30061 in New Orleans on June 3, 1963, listing
Marina Oswald and A. J. Hidell as additional persons entitled to receive
mail in the box.32 The New Orleans postal authorities had not discarded
the portion of the application listing the names of those, other than
the owner of the box, entitled to receive mail through the box. Expert
testimony confirmed that the writing on this application was that of Lee
Harvey Oswald. 33
Hidell's name on the post office box application was part of Oswald's
use of a nonexistent Hidell to serve as president of the so-called New
Orleans Chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. (As discussed below
in ch.VI, p. 292.) Marina Oswald testified that she first learned of
Oswald's use of the fictitious name "Hidell" in connection with his
pro-Castro activities in New Orleans.34 According to her testimony, he
compelled her to write the name "Hidell" on membership cards in the
space designated for the signature of the "Chapter President." 35 The
name "Hidell" was stamped on some of the "Chapter's" printed literature
and on the membership application blanks.36 Marina Oswald testified, "I
knew there was no such organization. And I know Hidell is merely an
altered Fidel, and I laughed at such foolishness." 37 Hidell was a
fictitious president of an organization of which Oswald was the only
member.38
When seeking employment in New Orleans, Oswald listed a "Sgt. Robt.
Hidell" as a reference on one job application 39 and "George Hidell" as
a reference on another.40 Both names were found to be fictitious.41
Moreover, the use of "Alek" as a first name for Hidell is a further link
to Oswald because "Alek" was Oswald's nickname in Russia.42 Letters
received by Marina Oswald from her husband signed "Alek" were given to
the Commission.43
Oswald's Palmprint on Rifle Barrel
Based on the above evidence, the Commission concluded that Oswald
purchased the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building.
Additional evidence of ownership was provided in the form of palmprint
identification which indicated that Oswald had possession of the rifle
he had purchased.
A few minutes after the rifle was discovered on the sixth floor of the
Depository Building 44 it was examined by Lt. J. C. Day of the
identification bureau of the Dallas police. He lifted the rifle by the
wooden stock after his examination convinced him that the wood was too
rough to take fingerprints. Capt. J. W. Fritz then ejected a cartridge
by operating the bolt, but only after Day viewed the knob on the bolt
through a magnifying glass and found no prints.45 Day continued to
examine the rifle with the magnifying glass, looking for
Page 123
possible fingerprints. He applied fingerprint powder to the side of the
metal housing near the trigger, and noticed traces of two prints.46 At
11:45 p.m. on November 22, the rifle was released to the FBI and
forwarded to Washington where it was examined on the morning of November
23 by Sebastian F. Latona, supervisor of the Latent Fingerprint Section
of the FBI's Identification Division.47
In his testimony before the Commission, Latona stated that when he
received the rifle, the area where prints were visible was protected by
cellophane.48 He examined these prints, as well as photographs of them
which the Dallas police had made, and concluded that:
* * * the formations, the ridge formations and characteristics, were
insufficient for purposes of either effecting identification or a
determination that the print was not identical with the prints of
people. Accordingly, my opinion simply was that the latent prints which
were there were of no value.49
Latona then processed the complete weapon but developed no identifiable
prints.50 He stated that the poor quality of the wood and the metal
would cause the rifle to absorb moisture from the skin, thereby making a
clear print unlikely. 51
On November 22, however, before surrendering possession of the rifle to
the FBI Laboratory, Lieutenant Day of the Dallas Police Department had
"lifted" a palmprint from the underside of the gun barrel "near the
firing end of the barrel about 3 inches under the woodstock when I took
the woodstock loose." 52 "Lifting" a print involves the use of adhesive
material to remove the fingerprint powder which adheres to the original
print. In this way the powdered impression is actually removed from the
object.53 The lifting had been so complete in this case that there was
no trace of the print on the rifle itself when it was examined by
Latona. Nor was there any indication that the lift had been performed.
54 Day, on the other hand, believed that sufficient traces of the print
had been left on the rifle barrel, because he did not release the lifted
print until November 26, when he received instructions to send
"everything that we had" to the FBI.55 The print arrived in the FBI
Laboratory in Washington on November 29, mounted on a card on which
Lieutenant Day had written the words "off underside gun barrel near end
of grip C2766." 56 The print's positive identity as having been lifted
from the rifle was confirmed by FBI Laboratory tests which established
that the adhesive material bearing the print also bore impressions of
the same irregularities that appeared on the barrel of the rifle. 57
Latona testified that this palmprint was the right palmprint of Lee
Harvey Oswald.58 At the request of the Commission, Arthur Mandella,
fingerprint expert with the New York City Police Department, conducted
an independent examination and also determined that this was the right
palmprint of Oswald.59 Latona's findings were also confirmed by Ronald
G. Wittmus, another FBI fingerprint
Page 124
expert.60 In the opinion of these experts, it was not possible to
estimate the time which elapsed between the placing of the print on the
rifle and the date of the lift.61
Experts testifying before the Commission agreed that palmprints are as
unique as fingerprints for purposes of establishing identification.62
Oswald's palmprint on the underside of the barrel demonstrates that he
handled the rifle when it was disassembled. A palmprint could not be
placed on this portion of the rifle, when assembled, because the wooden
foregrip covers the barrel at this point.63 The print is additional
proof that the rifle was in Oswald's possession.
Fibers on Rifle
In a crevice between the butt plate of the rifle and the wooden stock
was a tuft of several cotton fibers of dark blue, gray-black, and
orange-yellow shades.64 On November 23, 1963, these fibers were examined
by Paul M. Stombaugh, a special agent assigned to the Hair and Fiber
Unit of the FBI Laboratory.65 He compared them with the fibers found in
the shirt which Oswald was wearing when arrested in the Texas Theatre.66
This shirt was also composed of dark blue, gray- black and orange-yellow
cotton fibers. Stombaugh testified that the colors, shades, and twist of
the fibers found in the tuft on the rifle matched those in Oswald's
shirt.67 (See app. X, p. 592.) Stombaugh explained in his testimony that
in fiber analysis, as distinct from fingerprint or firearms
identification, it is not. possible to state with scientific certainty
that a particular small group of fibers come from a certain piece of
clothing to the exclusion of all others because there are not enough
microscopic characteristics present in fibers.68 Judgments as to
probability will depend on the number and types of matches.69 He
concluded, "There is no doubt in my mind that these fibers could have
come from this shirt. There is no way, however, to eliminate the
possibility of the fibers having come from another identical shirt." 70
Having considered the probabilities as explained in Stombaugh's
testimony, the Commission has concluded that the fibers in the tuft on
the rifle most probably came from the shirt worn by Oswald when he was
arrested, and that. this was the same shirt which Oswald wore on the
morning of the assassination. Marina Oswald testified that she thought
her husband wore this shirt to work on that day. The testimony of those
who saw him after the assassination was inconclusive about the color of
Oswald's shirt,72 but Mary Bledsoe, a former landlady of Oswald, saw him
on a bus approximately 10 minutes after the assassination and identified
the shirt as being the one worn by Oswald primarily because of a
distinctive hole in the shirt's right elbow. 73 Moreover, the bus
transfer which he obtained as he left. the bus was still in the pocket
when he was arrested.74 Although Oswald returned to his roominghouse
after the assassination and when questioned by the police, claimed to
have changed his shirt,75 the evidence
Page 125
indicates that he continued wearing the same shirt which he was wearing
all morning and which he was still wearing when arrested.
In light of these findings the Commission evaluated the additional
testimony of Stombaugh that the fibers were caught in the crevice of the
rifle's butt plate "in the recent past."76 Although Stombaugh was unable
to estimate the period of time the fibers were on the rifle he said that
the fibers "were clean, they had good color to them, there was no grease
on them and they were not fragmented. They looked as if they had just
been picked up." 77 The relative freshness of the fibers is strong
evidence that they were caught on the rifle on the morning of the
assassination or during the preceding evening. For 10 days prior to the
eve of the assassination Oswald had not been present at Ruth Paine's
house in Irving, Tex.,78 where the rifle was kept. 79 Moreover, the
Commission found no reliable evidence that Oswald used the rifle at any
time between September 23, when it was transported from New Orleans, and
November 22, the day of the assassination.80 The fact that on the
morning of the assassination Oswald was wearing the shirt from which
these relatively fresh fibers most probably originated, provides some
evidence that they were placed on the rifle that day since there was
limited, if any, opportunity for Oswald to handle the weapon during the
2 months prior to November 22.
On the other hand Stombaugh pointed out that fibers might retain their
freshness if the rifle had been "put aside" after catching the fibers.
The rifle used in the assassination probably had been wrapped in a
blanket for about 8 weeks prior to November 22.81 Because the relative
freshness of these fibers might be explained by the continuous storage
of the rifle in the blanket, the Commission was unable to reach any firm
conclusion as to when the fibers were caught in the rifle. The
Commission was able to conclude, however, that the fibers most probably
came from Oswald's shirt. This adds to the conviction of the Commission
that Oswald owned and handled the weapon used in the assassination.
Photograph of Oswald With Rifle
During the period from March 2, 1963, to April 24, 1963, the Oswalds
lived on Neely Street in Dallas in a rented house which had a small back
yard.32 One Sunday, while his wife was hanging diapers, Oswald asked her
to take a picture of him holding a rifle, a pistol and issues of two
newspapers later identified as the Worker and the Militant.83 Two
pictures were taken. The Commission has concluded that the rifle shown
in these pictures is the same rifle which was found on the sixth floor
of the Depository Building on November 22, 1963. (See Commission
Exhibits Nos. 133-A and 133-B, p.. 126.)
One of these pictures, Exhibit No. 133-A, shows most of the rifle's
configuration.84 Special Agent Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt, a photography
expert with the FBI, photographed the rifle used in the assassination,
attempting to duplicate the position of the rifle and the lighting in
Exhibit No. 133-A.85 After comparing the rifle in the simulated
Page 126
PHOTOGRAPHS OF OSWALD HOLDING RIFLE
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 133-A
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 133-B
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 134
(Enlargement of Commission Exhibit No. 133-A)
Page 127
photograph with the rifle in Exhibit No. 133-A, Shaneyfelt testified, "I
found it to be the same general configuration. All appearances were the
same." He found "one notch in the stock at this point that appears very
faintly in the photograph." He stated, however, that while he "found no
differences" between the rifles in the two photographs, he could not
make a "positive identification to the exclusion of all other rifles of
the same general configuration." 86
The authenticity of these pictures has been established by expert
testimony which links the second picture, Commission Exhibit No. 133-B,
to Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera, with which Marina Oswald testified
she took the pictures.87 The negative of that picture, Commission
Exhibit No. 133-B, was found among Oswald's possessions.88 Using a
recognized technique of determining whether a picture was taken with a
particular camera, Shaneyfelt compared this negative with a negative
which he made by taking a new picture with Oswald's camera.89 He
concluded that the negative of Exhibit No. 133-B was exposed in Oswald's
Imperial Reflex camera to the exclusion of all other cameras. 90 He
could not test Exhibit No. 133-A in the same way because the negative
was never recovered. 91 Both pictures, however, have identical
backgrounds and lighting and, judging from the shadows, were taken at
the same angle. They are photographs of the same scene.92 Since Exhibit
No. 133-B was taken with Oswald's camera, it is reasonably certain that
Exhibit No. 133-A was taken by the same camera at the same time, as
Marina Oswald testified. Moreover, Shaneyfelt testified that in his
opinion the photographs were not composites of two different photographs
and that Oswald's face had not been superimposed on another body.93
One of the photographs taken by Marina Oswald was widely published in
newspapers and magazines, and in many instances the details of these
pictures differed from the original, and even from each other,
particularly as to the configuration of the rifle. The Commission sought
to determine whether these photographs were touched prior to
publication. Shaneyfelt testified that the published photographs
appeared to be based on a copy of the original which the publications
had each retouched differently.94 Several of the publications furnished
the Commission with the prints they had used, or described by
correspondence the retouching they had done. This information enabled
the Commission to conclude that the published pictures were the same as
the original except for retouching done by these publications,
apparently for the purpose of clarifying the lines of the rifle and
other details in the picture.95
The dates surrounding the taking of this picture and the purchase of the
rifle reinforce the belief that the rifle in the photograph is the rifle
which Oswald bought from Klein's. The rifle was shipped from Klein's in
Chicago on March 20, 1963, at a time when the Oswalds were living on
Neely Street.96 From an examination of one of the photographs, the
Commission determined the dates of the issues of the Militant and the
Worker which Oswald was holding in his hand.
Page 128
By checking the actual mailing dates of these issues and the time
usually takes to effect. delivery to Dallas, it was established that the
photographs must have been taken sometime after March 27.97 Marina
Oswald testified that the photographs were taken on a Sunday about 2
weeks before the attempted shooting of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker on
April 10, 1968.98 By Sunday, March 31, 1963, 10 days prior to the Walker
attempt, Oswald had undoubtedly received the rifle shipped from Chicago
on March 20, the revolver shipped from Los Angeles on the same date,99
and the two newspapers which he was holding in the picture.
Rifle Among Oswald's Possessions
Marina Oswald testified that the rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Depository Building was the "fateful rifle of Lee Oswald." Moreover, it
was the only rifle owned by her husband following his return from the
Soviet Union in June 1962.101 It had been purchased in March 1963, and
taken to New Orleans where Marina Oswald saw it in their rented
apartment during the summer' of 1963.102 It appears from his wife's
testimony that. Oswald may have sat on the screened-in porch at night
practicing with the rifle by looking through the telescopic sight and
operating the bolt.103 In September 1963, Oswald loaded their
possessions into a station wagon owned by Ruth Paine, who had invited
Marina Oswald and the baby to live at her home in Irving,104 Tex.
Marina. Oswald has stated that the rifle was among these possessions,105
although Ruth Paine testified that she was not aware of it.106
From September 24, 1963, when Marina Oswald arrived in Irving from New
Orleans, until the morning of the assassination, the rifle was,
according to the evidence, stored in a green and brown blanket in the
Paines' garage among the Oswalds' other possessions.107 About 1 week
after the return from New Orleans, Marina Oswald was looking in the
garage for parts to the baby's crib and thought that the parts might be
in the blanket. When she started to open the blanket, she saw the stock
of the rifle.108 Ruth and Michael Paine both noticed the rolled-up
blanket in the garage during the time that Marina Oswald was living in
their home.109 On several occasions, Michael Paine moved the blanket in
the garage.110 He thought it contained tent poles, or possibly other
camping equipment such as a folding shovel.111 When he appeared before
the Commission, Michael Paine lifted the blanket with the rifle wrapped
inside and testified that it appeared to be the same approximate weight
and shape as the package in his garage.112
About 3 hours after the assassination, a detective and deputy sheriff
saw the blanket-roll, tied with a string, lying on the floor of the
Paines' garage. Each man testified that he thought he could detect the
outline of a rifle in the blanket, even though the blanket was empty.113
Paul M. Stombaugh, of the FBI Laboratory, examined the blanket and
discovered a bulge approximately 10 inches long midway in the blanket.
This bulge was apparently caused by a hard protruding
Page 129
object which had stretched the blanket's fibers. It could have been
caused by the telescopic sight of the rifle which was approximately 11
inches long.114 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1304 p. 132.)
Conclusion
Having reviewed the evidence that (1) Lee Harvey Oswald purchased the
rifle used in the assassination, (2) Oswald's palmprint was on the rifle
in a position which shows that he had handled it while it was
disassembled, (3) fibers found on the rifle most probably came from the
shirt Oswald was wearing on the day of the assassination, (4) a
photograph taken in the yard of Oswald's apartment showed him holding
this rifle, and (5) the rifle was kept among Oswald's possessions from
the time of its purchase until the day of the assassination, the
Commission concluded that the rifle used to assassinate President
Kennedy and wound Governor Connally was owned and possessed by Lee
Harvey Oswald.
The Rifle in the Building
Page 129
THE RIFLE IN THE BUILDING
The Commission has evaluated the evidence tending to show how Lee Harvey
Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, serial number C2766, was brought into
the Depository Building, where it was found on the sixth floor shortly
after the assassination. In this connection the Commission considered
(1) the circumstances surrounding Oswald's return to Irving, Tex., on
Thursday, November 21, 1963, (2) the disappearance of the rifle from its
normal place of storage, (3) Oswald's arrival at the Depository Building
on November 22, carrying a long and bulky brown paper package, (4) the
presence of a long handmade brown paper bag near the point from which
the shots were fired, and (5) the palmprint, fiber, and paper analyses
linking Oswald and the assassination weapon to this bag.
The Curtain Rod Story
During October and November of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald lived in a
roominghouse in Dallas while his wife and children lived in Irving, at
the home of Ruth Paine,113 approximately 15 miles from Oswald's place of
work at the Texas School Book Depository. Oswald traveled between Dallas
and Irving on weekends in a car driven by a neighbor of the Paines,
Buell Wesley Frazier, who also worked at the Depository.116 Oswald
generally would go to Irving on Friday afternoon and return to Dallas
Monday morning. According to the testimony of Frazier, Marina Oswald,
and Ruth Paine, it appears that Oswald never returned to Irving in
midweek prior to November 21, 1963, except on Monday, October 21, when
he visited his wife in the hospital after the birth of their second
child.117
During the morning of November 21, Oswald asked Frazier whether he could
ride home with him that afternoon. Frazier, surprised, asked
Page 130
him why he was going to Irving on Thursday night rather than Friday.
Oswald replied, "I'm going home to get some curtain rods * * * [to] put
in an apartment." 118 The two men left work at 4: 40 p.m. and drove to
Irving. There was little conversation between them on the way home.119
Mrs. Linnie Mac Randle, Frazier's sister, commented to her brother about
Oswald's unusual midweek return to Irving. Frazier told her that Oswald
had come home to get curtain rods,120
It would appear, however, that obtaining curtain rods was not the
purpose of Oswald's trip to Irving on November 21. Mrs. A. C. Johnson,
his landlady, testified that Oswald's room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue
had curtains and curtain rods,121 and that Oswald had never discussed
the subject with her.122 In the Paines' garage, along with many other
objects of a household character, there were two flat lightweight
curtain rods belonging to Ruth Paine but they were still there on Friday
afternoon after Oswald's arrest.123 Oswald never asked Mrs. Paine about
the use of curtain rods,124 and Marina. Oswald testified that Oswald did
not say anything about curtain rods on the day before the
assassination.125 No curtain rods were known to have been discovered in
the Depository Building after the assassination.126 In deciding whether
Oswald carried a rifle to work in a long paper bag on November 22, the
Commission gave weight to the fact that Oswald gave a false reason for
returning home on November 21, and one which provided an excuse for the
carrying of a bulky package the following morning.
The Missing Rifle
Before dinner on November 21, Oswald played on the lawn of the Paines'
home with his daughter June.127 After dinner Ruth Paine and Marina
Oswald were busy cleaning house and preparing their children for bed.128
Between the hours of 8 and 9 p.m. they were occupied with the children
in the bedrooms located at the extreme east end of the house.129 On the
west end of the house is the attached garage, which can be reached from
the kitchen or from the outside.130 In the garage were the personal
belongings of the Oswald family including, as the evidence has shown.,
the rifle wrapped in the old brown and green blanket.131
At approximately 9 p.m., after the children had been put to bed, Mrs.
Paine, according to her testimony before the Commission, "went out to
the garage to paint some children's blocks, and worked in the garage for
half an hour or so. I noticed when I went out that the light was on."
132 Mrs. Paine was certain that she had not left the light on in the
garage after dinner.138 According to Mrs. Paine, Oswald had gone to bed
by 9 p.m.; 134 Marina Oswald testified that it was between 9 and 10
p.m.135 Neither Marina Oswald nor Ruth Paine saw Oswald in the
garage.136 The period between 8 and 9 p.m., however, provided ample
opportunity for Oswald to prepare the rifle for his departure the next.
morning. Only if disassembled could
Page 131
the rifle fit into the paper bag found near the window 137 from which
the shots were fired. A firearms expert with the FBI assembled the rifle
in 6 minutes using a 10-cent coin as a tool, and he could disassemble it
more rapidly.138 While the rifle may have already been disassembled when
Oswald arrived home on Thursday, he had ample time that evening to
disassemble the rifle and insert it into the paper bag.
On the day of the assassination, Marina Oswald was watching television
when she learned of the shooting. A short time later Mrs. Paine told her
that someone had shot the President "from the building in which Lee is
working." Marina Oswald testified that at that time "My heart dropped. I
then went to the garage to see whether the rifle was there and I saw
that the blanket was still there and I said 'Thank God.'" She did not
unroll the blanket. She saw that it was in its usual position and it
appeared to her to have something inside.139
Soon afterward, at about 3 p.m., police officers arrived and searched
the house. Mrs. Paine pointed out that most of the Oswalds' possessions
were in the garage.140 With Ruth Paine acting as an interpreter,
Detective Rose asked Marina whether her husband had a rifle. Mrs. Paine,
who had no knowledge of the rifle, first said "No," but when the
question was translated, Marina Oswald replied "Yes." 141 She pointed to
the blanket which was on the floor very close to where Ruth Paine was
standing. Mrs. Paine testified:
As she [Marina] told me about it I stepped onto the blanket roll. * * *
And she indicated to me that she had peered into this roll and saw a
portion of what she took to be a gun she knew her husband to have, a
rifle. And I then translated this to the officers that she knew that her
husband had a gun that he had stored in here. * * * I then stepped off
of it and the officer picked it up in the middle and it bent so. * * *
142
Mrs. Paine had the actual blanket before her as she testified and she
indicated that the blanket. hung limp in the officer's hand.143 Marina
Oswald testified that this was her first knowledge that the rifle was
not in its accustomed place.144
The Long and Bulky Package
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald left the Paine
house in Irving at approximately 7:15 a.m., while Marina Oswald was
still in bed.145 Neither she nor Mrs. Paine saw him leave the house.146
About half-a- block away from the Paine house was the residence of Mrs.
Linnie Mac Randle, the sister of the man with whom Oswald drove to
work--Buell Wesley Frazier. Mrs. Randle stated that on the morning of
November 22, while her brother was eating breakfast, she looked out the
breakfast-room window and saw Oswald cross the street and walk toward
the driveway where her brother parked his car near the carport. He
carried a "heavy brown bag." 147 Oswald
Page 132
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1304
C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and paper bag found on the sixth floor of
the Texas
School Book Depository.
Page 133
gripped the bag in his right hand near the top. "It tapered like this as
he hugged it. in his hand. It was * * * more bulky toward the bottom"
than toward the top.148 She then opened the kitchen door and saw Oswald
open the right rear door of her brother's car and place the package in
the back of the car.149 Mrs. Randle estimated that the package was
approximately 28 inches long and about 8 inches wide.150 She thought.
that its color was similar to that of the bag found on the sixth floor
of the School Book Depository after the assassination.151
Frazier met Oswald at. the kitchen door and together they walked to the
car.152 After entering the car, Frazier glanced over his shoulder and
noticed a brown paper package on the back seat. He asked, "What's the
package, Lee?" Oswald replied, "curtain rods."153 Frazier told the
Commission "* * * the main reason he was going over there that Thursday
afternoon when he was to bring back some curtain rods, so I didn't think
any more about it when he told me that."154 Frazier estimated that the
bag was 2 feet long "give and take a few inches," and about 5 or 6
inches wide.155 As they sat in the car, Frazier asked Oswald where his
lunch was, and Oswald replied that he was going to buy his lunch that
day.156 Frazier testified that Oswald carried no lunch bag that day.
"When he rode with me, I say he always brought lunch except that one day
on November 22 he didn't bring his lunch that day." 157
Frazier parked the car in the company parking lot about 2 blocks north
of the Depository Building. Oswald left the car first, picked up the
brown paper bag, and proceeded toward the building ahead of Frazier.
Frazier walked behind and as they crossed the railroad tracks he watched
the switching of the cars. Frazier recalled that one end of the package
was under Oswald's armpit and the lower part was held with his right
hand so that it was carried straight and parallel to his body. When
Oswald entered the rear door of the Depository Building, he was about 50
feet ahead of Frazier. It was the first time that Oswald had not walked
with Frazier from the parking lot to the building entrance.158 When
Frazier entered the building, he did not see Oswald.159 One employee,
Jack Dougherty, believed that he saw Oswald coming to work, but he does
not remember that Oswald had anything in his hands as he entered the
door.160 No other employee has been found who saw Oswald enter that
morning.161
In deciding whether Oswald carried the assassination weapon in the bag
which Frazier and Mrs. Randle saw, the Commission has carefully
considered the testimony of these two witnesses with regard to the
length of the bag. Frazier and Mrs. Randle testified that the bag which
Oswald was carrying was approximately 27 or 28 inches long,162 whereas
the wooden stock of the rifle, which is its largest component, measured
34.8 inches.163 The bag found on the sixth floor was 88 inches long.164
(See Commission Exhibit No. 1304, p. 132.) When Frazier appeared before
the Commission and was asked to demonstrate how Oswald carried the
package, he said, "Like I said, I remember that I didn't look at the
package very much ***
Page 134
but when I did look at it he did have his hands on the package like
that," 165 and at this point Frazier placed the upper part of the
package under his armpit and attempted to cup his right hand beneath the
bottom of the bag. The disassembled rifle was too long to be carried in
this manner. Similarly, when the butt of the rifle was placed in
Frazier's hand, it extended above his shoulder to ear level. 1 Moreover,
in an interview on December 1, 1963, with agents of the FBI, Frazier had
marked the point on the back seat of his car which he believed was where
the bag reached when it was laid on the seat with one edge against the
door. The distance between the point on the seat and the door was 27
inches.167
Mrs. Randle said, when shown the paper bag, that the bag she saw Oswald
carrying "wasn't that long, I mean it was folded down at the top as I
told you. It definitely wasn't that long." 168 And she folded the bag to
length of about 28½ inches. Frazier doubted whether the bag that Oswald
carried was as wide as the bag found on the sixth floor,169 although
Mrs. Randle testified that the width was approximately the same.170
The Commission has weighed the visual recollection of Frazier and Mrs.
Randle against the evidence here presented that the bag Oswald carried
contained the assassination weapon and has concluded that Frazier and
Randle are mistaken as to the length of the bag. Mrs. Randle saw the bag
fleetingly and her first remembrance is that it was held in Oswald's
right hand "and it almost touched the ground as he carried it." 171
Frazier's view of the bag was from the rear. He continually advised that
he was not paying close attention.172 For example, he said,
* * * I didn't pay too much attention the way he was walking because I
was walking along there looking at the railroad cars and watching the
men on the diesel switch them cars and I didn't pay too much attention
on how he carried the package at all.173
Frazier could easily have been mistaken when he slated that Oswald held
the bottom of the bag cupped in his hand with the upper end tucked into
his armpit.
Location of Bag
A handmade bag of wrapping paper and tape 174 was found in the southeast
corner of the sixth floor alongside the window from which the shots were
fired.175 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2707, p. 142.) It was not a
standard type bag which could be. obtained in a store and it was
presumably made for a particular purpose. It was the appropriate size to
contain, in disassembled form, Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, serial
No. CS2766, which was also found on the sixth floor.176 Three cartons
had been placed at the window apparently to act as a gun rest and a
fourth carton was placed behind those at the window.177 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 1301,
Page 135
p. 138.) A person seated on the fourth carton could assemble the rifle
without being seen from the rest of the sixth floor because the cartons
stacked around the southeast corner would shield him.178 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 723, p. 80.) The presence of the bag in this corner is
cogent evidence that it was used as the container for the rifle. At the
time the bag was found, Lieutenant Day of the Dallas police wrote on it,
"Found next to the sixth floor window gun fired from. May have been used
to carry gun. Lt. J. C. Day." 179
Scientific Evidence Linking Rifle and Oswald to Paper Bag
Oswald's fingerprint and palmprint found on bag.--Using a standard
chemical method involving silver nitrates 180 the FBI Laboratory
developed a latent palmprint and latent fingerprint on the bag. (See
app. X, p. 565.) .Sebastian F. Latona, supervisor of the FBI's Latent
Fingerprint Section, identified these prints as the left index
fingerprint and right palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald.181 The portion of
the palm which was identified was the heel of the right palm, i.e., the
area near the wrist, on the little finger side.182 These prints were
examined independently by Ronald G. Wittmus of the FBI,183 and by Arthur
Mandella, a fingerprint expert with the New York City Police Department.
184 Both concluded that the prints were the right palm and left index
finger of Lee Oswald. No other identifiable prints were found on the
bag.185
Oswald's palmprint on the bottom of the paper bag indicated, of course,
that he had handled the bag. Furthermore, it was consistent with the bag
having contained a heavy or bulky object when he handled it since a
light object is usually held by the fingers.186 The palmprint was found
on the closed end of the bag. It was from Oswald's right hand, in which
he carried the long package as he walked from Frazier's car to the
building.187
Materials used to make bag.--On the day of the assassination, the Dallas
police obtained a sample of wrapping paper and tape from the shipping
room of the Depository and forwarded it to the FBI Laboratory in
Washington.188 James C. Cadigan, a questioned-documents expert with the
Bureau, compared the samples with the paper and tape in the actual bag.
He testified, "In all of the observations and physical tests that I made
I found * * * the bag * * * and the paper sample * * * were the same."
189
Among other tests, the paper and tape were submitted to fiber analysis
and spectrographic examination.190 In addition the tape was compared to
determine whether the sample tape and the tape on the bag had been taken
from the tape dispensing machine at the Depository. When asked to
explain the similarity of characteristics, Cadigan stated: 191
Well, briefly, it would be the thickness of both the paper and the tape,
the color under various lighting conditions of both the paper and the
tape, the width of the tape, the knurled markings
Page 136
on the surface of the fiber, the texture of the fiber, the letting
pattern * * *
* * * * * * *
I found that the paper sack found on the sixth floor * * * and the
sample * * * had the same observable characteristics both under the
microscope and all the visual tests that I could conduct.
* * * * * * *
The papers I also found were similar in fiber composition, therefore, in
addition to the visual characteristics, microscopic and UV [ultra
violet] characteristics.
Mr. Cadigan concluded that the paper and tape from the bag were
identical in all respects to the sample paper and tape taken from the
Texas School Book Depository shipping room on November 22, 1963.192
On December l, 1963, a replica bag was made from materials found on that
date in the shipping room. This was done as an investigatory aid since
the original bag had been discolored during various laboratory
examinations and could not be used for valid identification by
witnesses.193 Cadigan found that the paper used to make this replica
sack had different characteristics from the paper in the original
bag.194 The science of paper analysis enabled him to distinguish between
different rolls of paper even though they were produced by the same
manufacturer.125
Since the Depository normally used approximately one roll of paper every
3 working days,196 it was not surprising that the replica sack made on
December 1, 1963, had different characteristics from both the actual bag
and the sample taken on November 22. On the other hand, since two rolls
could be made from the same batch of paper, one cannot estimate when,
prior to November 22, Oswald made the paper bag. However, the complete
identity of characteristics between the paper and tape in the bag found
on the sixth floor and the paper and tape found in the shipping room of
the Depository on November 22 enabled the Commission to conclude that
the bag was made from these materials. The Depository shipping
department was on the first floor to. which Oswald had access in the
normal performance of his duties filling orders.197
Fibers in paper bag matched fibers in blanket.--When Paul M. Stombaugh
of the FBI Laboratory examined the paper bag, he found, on the inside, a
single brown delustered viscose fiber and several light green cotton
fibers.198 'The blanket in which the rifle was stored was composed of
brown and green cotton, viscose and woolen fibers.199
The single brown viscose fiber found in the bag matched some of the
brown viscose fibers from the blanket in all observable
characteristics.200 The green cotton fibers found in the paper bag
matched 'some of the green cotton fibers in the blanket "in all
observable microscopic
Page 137
characteristics." 201 Despite these matches, however, Stombaugh was
unable to render on opinion that the fibers which he found in the bag
had probably come from the blanket, because other types of fibers
present in the blanket were not found in the bag. He concluded:
All I would say here is that it is possible that these fibers could have
come from this blanket., because this blanket is composed of brown and
green woolen fibers, brown and green delustered viscose fibers, and
brown and green cotton fibers. * * * We found no brown cotton fibers, no
green viscose fibers, and no woolen fibers.
So if I found all of these then I would have been able to say these
fibers probably had come from this blanket. But since I found so few,
then I would say the possibility exists, these fibers could have come
from this blanket.202
Stombaugh confirmed that the rifle could have picked up fibers from the
blanket and transferred them to the paper bag.203 In light of the other
evidence linking Lee Harvey Oswald, the blanket, and the rifle to the
paper bag found on the sixth floor, the Commission considered
Stombaugh's testimony of probative value in deciding whether Oswald'
carried the rifle into the building in the paper bag.
Conclusion
The preponderance of the evidence supports the conclusion that Lee
Harvey Oswald (1) told the curtain rod story to Frazier to explain both
the return to Irving on a Thursday and the obvious bulk of the package
which he intended to bring to work the next day; (2) took paper and tape
from the wrapping bench of the Depository and fashioned a bag large
enough to carry the disassembled rifle; (3) removed the rifle from the
blanket in the Paines' garage on Thursday evening; (4) carried the rifle
into the Depository Building, concealed in the bag; and, (5) left the
bag alongside the window from which the shots were fired.
Oswald At Window
Page 137
OSWALD AT WINDOW
Lee Harvey Oswald was hired on October 15, 1963, by the Texas School
Book Depository as an "order filler." 204 He worked principally on the
first and sixth floors of the building, gathering books listed on orders
and delivering them to the shipping room on the first floor.205 He had
ready access to the sixth floor, 208 from the southeast corner window of
which the shots were fired. 207 The Commission evaluated the physical
evidence found near the window after the assassination and the testimony
of eyewitnesses in deciding whether Lee Harvey Oswald was present at
this window at the time of the assassination.
Page 138
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1301
Page 139
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1302
Page 140
Palmprints and Fingerprints on Cartons and Paper Bag
Below the southeast corner window on the sixth floor was a large carton
of books measuring approximately 18 by 12 by 14 inches which had been
moved from a stack along the south wall.208 Atop this carton was a small
carton marked "Rolling Readers," measuring approximately 13 by 9 by 8
inches.209 In front of this small carton and resting partially on the
windowsill was another small "Rolling Readers" carton.210 These two
small cartons had been moved from a stack about three aisles away. 211
The boxes in the window appeared to have been arranged as a convenient
gun rest.212 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1301, p. 138.) Behind these
boxes was another carton placed on the floor on which a man sitting
could look southwesterly down Elm Street over the top of the "Rolling
Readers" cartons.213 Next to these cartons was the handmade paper bag,
previously discussed, on which appeared the print of the left index
finger and right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.214 (See Commission Exhibit
No. 1302, p. 139.)
The cartons were forwarded to the FBI in Washington. Sebastian F.
Latona, supervisor of the Latent Fingerprint Section, testified that 20
identifiable fingerprints and 8 palmprints were developed on these
cartons.205 The carton on the windowsill and the large carton below the
window contained no prints which could be identified as being those of
Lee Harvey Oswald.216 The other "Rolling Readers" carton, however,
contained a palmprint and a fingerprint which were identified by Latona
as being the left palmprint and right index fingerprint of Lee Harvey
Oswald.217 (See app. X, p. 566.)
The Commission has considered the possibility that the cartons might
have been moved in connection with the work that was being performed on
the sixth floor on November 22. Depository employees were laying a new
floor at the west end and transferring books from the west to the east
end of the building.218 The "Rolling Readers" cartons, however, had not
been moved by the floor layers and had apparently been taken to the
window from their regular position for some particular purpose.219 The
"Rolling Readers" boxes contained, instead of books, light blocks used
as reading aids.220 They could be easily adjusted and were still solid
enough to serve as a gun rest.
The box on the floor, behind the three near the window, had been one of
these moved by the floor layers from the west wall to near the east side
of the building in preparation for the laying of the floor.221 During
the afternoon of November 22, Lieutenant Day of the Dallas police dusted
this carton with powder and developed a palmprint on the top edge of the
carton on the side nearest the window.222 The position of this palmprint
on the carton was parallel with the long axis of the box, and at right
angles with the short axis; the bottom of the palm rested on the box.223
Someone sitting on the box facing the window would have his palm in this
position if he placed his hand alongside his right hip. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 1302, p. 139.) This print
Page 141
which had been cut out of the box was also forwarded to the FBI and
Latona identified it as Oswald's right palmprint.224 In Latona's opinion
"not too long" a time had elapsed between the time that the print was
placed on the carton and the time that it had been developed by the
Dallas police.225 Although Bureau experiments had shown that 24 hours
was a likely maximum time, Latona stated that he could only testify with
certainty that the print was less than 3 days old.226
The print, therefore, .could have been placed on the carton at any time
within this period. The freshness of this print could be estimated only
because the Dallas police developed it through the use of powder. Since
cartons absorb perspiration, powder can successfully develop a print on
such material 227 only within a limited time. When the FBI in Washington
received the cartons, the remaining prints, including Oswald's on the
Rolling Readers carton, were developed by chemical processes. The
freshness of prints developed in this manner 228 cannot be estimated, so
no conclusions can be drawn as to whether these remaining prints
preceded or followed the print developed in Dallas by powder. Most of
the prints were found to have been placed on the cartons by an FBI clerk
and a Dallas police officer after the cartons had been processed with
powder by the Dallas Police.229 (See ch. VI, p. 249; .app. X, p. 566.)
In his independent investigation, Arthur Mandella of the New York City
Police Department reached the same conclusion as Latona that the prints
found on the cartons were those of Lee Harvey Oswald.229 In addition,
Mandella was of the opinion that the print taken from the carton on the
floor was probably made within a day or a day and a half of the
examination on November 22.230 Moreover, another expert with the FBI,
Ronald G. Wittmus, conducted a separate examination and also agreed with
Latona that the prints were Oswald's.231
In evaluating the significance of these fingerprint and palmprint
identifications, the Commission considered the possibility that Oswald
handled these cartons as part of his normal duties. Since other
identifiable prints were developed on the cartons, the Commission
requested that they be compared with the prints of the 12 warehouse
employs who, like Oswald, might have handled the cartons. They were also
compared with the prints of those law enforcement officials who might
have handled the cartons. The results of this investigation are fully
discussed in chapter VI, page 249. Although a. person could handle a
carton and not leave identifiable prints, none of these employees except
Oswald left identifiable prints on the cartons.232 This finding, in
addition to the freshness of one of the prints and the presence of
Oswald's prints on two of the four cartons and the paper bag led the
Commission to attach some probative value to the fingerprint and
palmprint identifications in reaching the conclusion that Oswald was at
the window from which the shots were fired, although the prints do not
establish the exact time he was there.
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2707
Page 143
Oswald's Presence on Sixth Floor Approximately 35 Minutes Before
the Assassination
Additional testimony linking Oswald with the point from which the shots
were fired was provided by the testimony of Charles Givens, who was the
last known employee to see Oswald inside the building prior to the
assassination. During the morning of November 22, Givens was working
with the floor-laying crew in the southwest section of the sixth
floor.233 At about. 11:45 a.m. the. floor-laying crew used both
elevators to come down from the sixth floor. The employees raced the
elevators to the first floor.234 Givens saw Oswald standing at the gate
on the fifth floor as the elevator went by.235 Givens testified that
after reaching the first floor, "I discovered I left my cigarettes in my
jacket pocket upstairs, and I took the elevator back upstairs to get my
jacket with my cigarettes in it." 236 He saw Oswald, a clipboard in
hand, walking from the southeast corner of the sixth floor toward the
elevator.237 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2707, p. 142.) Givens said to
Oswald, "Boy are you going downstairs? * * * It's near lunch time."
Oswald said, "No, sir. When you get downstairs, close the gate to the
elevator." 238 Oswald was referring to the west elevator which operates
by pushbutton and only with the gate closed.239 Givens said, "Okay," and
rode down in the east elevator. When he reached the first floor, the
west elevator--the one with the gate was not there. Givens thought this
was about 11:55 a.m.240 None of the Depository employees is known to
have seen Oswald again until after the shooting.241
The significance of Givens' observation that Oswald was carrying his
clipboard became apparent on December 2, 1963, when an employee, Frankie
Kaiser, found a clipboard hidden by book cartons in the northwest corner
of the sixth floor at the west wall a few feet from where the rifle had
been found.242 This clipboard had been made by Kaiser and had his name
on it.243 Kaiser identified it as the clipboard which Oswald had
appropriated from him when Oswald came to work at the Depository.244
Three invoices on this clipboard, each dated November 22, were for
Scott-Foresman books, located on the first and sixth floors.245 Oswald
had not filled any of the three orders.246
Eyewitness Identification of Assassin
Howard L. Brennan was an eyewitness to the shooting. As indicated
previously the Commission considered his testimony as probative in
reaching the conclusion that the shots came from the sixth floor,
southeast corner window of the Depository Building.247 (See ch. III, pp.
61-68.) Brennan also testified that Lee Harvey Oswald, whom he viewed in
a police lineup on the night. of the assassination, was the man he saw
fire the shots from the sixth-floor window of the Depository
Building.248 When the shots were fired, Brennan was in an excellent
position to observe anyone in the window. He was sitting
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on a concrete wall on the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets,
looking north at the Depository Building which was directly in front of
him.249 The window was approximately 120 feet away.250 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 477, p. 62.)
In the 6- to 8-minute period before the motorcade arrived,251 Brennan
saw a man leave and return to the window "a couple of times." 253 After
hearing the first shot, which he thought was a motorcycle backfire,
Brennan glanced up at the window. He testified that "this man I saw
previously was aiming for his last shot * * * as it appeared to me he
was standing up and resting against the left window sill * * *252
Brennan saw the man fire the last shot and disappear from the window.
Within minutes of the assassination, Brennan described the man to the
police.254 This description most probably led to the radio alert sent to
police cars at approximately 12:45 p.m., which described the suspect as
white, slender, weighing about 165 pounds, about 5'10" tall, and in his
early thirties.255 In his sworn statement to the police later that day,
Brennan described the man in similar terms, except that he gave the
weight as between 165 and 175 pounds and the height was omitted.256 In
his testimony before the Commission, Brennan described the person he saw
as "* * * a man in his early thirties, fair complexion, slender, but
neat, neat slender, possible 5 foot 10 * * * 160 to 170 pounds." 257
Oswald was 5'9'' slender and 24 years old. When arrested, he gave his
weight as 140 pounds.258 On other occasions he gave weights of both 140
and 150 pounds.259 The New Orleans police records of his arrest in
August of 1963 show a weight of 136 pounds.260 The autopsy report
indicated an estimated weight of 150 pounds.261
Brennan's description should also be compared with the eyewitness
description broadcast over the Dallas police radio at 1:22 p.m. of the
man who shot Patrolman J. D. Tippit. The suspect was described as "a
white male about 30, 5'8", black hair, slender. * * *" 262 At 1:29 p.m.
the police radio reported that the description of the suspect in the
Tippit shooting was similar to the description which had been given by
Brennan in connection with the assassination.263 Approximately 7 or 8
minutes later the police radio reported that "an eyeball witness"
described the suspect in the Tippit shooting as "a white male, 27,
5'11", 165 pounds, black wavy hair." 264 As will be discussed fully
below, the Commission has concluded that this suspect was Lee Harvey
Oswald.
Although Brennan testified that the man in the window was standing when
he fired the shots,265 most probably he was either sitting or kneeling.
The half-open window,266 the arrangement of the boxes,267 and the angle
of the shots virtually preclude a standing position.268 It is
understandable, however, for Brennan to have believed that the man with
the rifle was standing. A photograph of the building taken seconds after
the assassination shows three employees looking out of the fifth-floor
window directly below the window from which the shots were fired.
Brennan testified that they were standing,269 which is their apparent
position in the photograph.270
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(See Dillard Exhibits Nos. C and D, pp. 66-67.) But the testimony of
these employees,271 together with photographs subsequently taken of them
at the scene of the assassination,272 establishes that they were either
squatting or kneeling. (See Commission Exhibit No. 485, p. 69.) Since
the window ledges in the Depository Building are lower than in most
buildings,273 a person squatting or kneeling exposes more of his body
than would normally be the case. From the street, this creates the
impression that the person is standing. Brennan could have seen enough
of the body of a kneeling or squatting person to estimate his height.
Shortly after the assassination Brennan noticed two of these employees
leaving the building and immediately identified them as having been in
the fifth-floor windows.274 When the three employees appeared before the
Commission, Brennan identified the two whom he saw leave the
building.275 The two men, Harold Norman and James Jarman, Jr., each
confirmed that when they came out of the building, they saw and heard
Brennan describing what he had seen.276 Norman stated, "* * * I remember
him talking and I believe I remember seeing him saying that he saw us
when we first went up to the fifth-floor window, he saw us then." 277
Jarman heard Brennan "talking to this officer about that he had heard
these shots and he had seen the barrel of the gun sticking out the
window, and he said that the shots came from inside the building." 278
During the evening of November 22, Brennan identified Oswald as the
person in the lineup who bore the closest resemblance to the man in the
window but he said he was unable to make a positive identification.279
Prior to the lineup, Brennan had seen Oswald's picture on television and
he told the Commission that whether this affected his identification "is
something I do not know." 238 In an interview with FBI agents on
December 17, 1963, Brennan stated that he was sure that the person
firing the rifle was Oswald.281 In another interview with FBI agents on
January 7, 1964, Brennan appeared to revert to his earlier inability to
make a positive identification,282 but, in his testimony before the
Commission, Brennan stated that his remarks of January 7 were intended
by him merely as an accurate report of what he said on November 22.283
Brennan told the Commission that he could have made a positive
identification in the lineup on November 22 but did not do so because he
felt that the assassination was "a Communist activity, and I felt like
there hadn't been more than one eyewitness, and if it got to be a known
fact that I was an eyewitness, my family or I, either one, might not be
safe." 284 When specifically asked before the Commission whether or not
he could positively identify the man he saw in the sixth-floor window as
the same man he saw in the police station, Brennan stated, "I could at
that time--I could, with all sincerity, identify him as being the same
man." 285
Although the record indicates that Brennan was an accurate observer, he
declined to make a positive identification of Oswald when he first saw
him in the police lineup.286 The Commission, therefore,
Page 146
does not base its conclusion concerning the identity of the assassin on
Brennan's subsequent certain identification of Lee Harvey Oswald as the
man he saw fire the rifle. Immediately after the assassination, however,
Brennan described to the police the man he saw in the window and then
identified Oswald as the person who most nearly resembled the man he
saw. The Commission is satisfied that, at the least, Brennan saw a man
in the window who closely resembled Lee Harvey Oswald, and that Brennan
believes the man he saw was in fact Lee Harvey Oswald.
Two other witnesses were able to offer partial descriptions of a man
they saw in the southeast corner window of the sixth floor approximately
1 minute before the assassination, although neither witness saw the
shots being fired.287 Ronald Fischer and Robert Edwards were standing on
the curb at the southwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets,288 the same
corner where Brennan was sitting on a concrete wall. 289 Fischer
testified that about 10 or 15 seconds before the motorcade turned onto
Houston Street from Main Street, Edwards said, "Look at that guy there
in that window." 290
Fischer looked up and watched the man in the window for 10 or 15 seconds
and then started watching the motorcade, which came into view on Houston
Street.291 He said that the man held his attention until the motorcade
came because the man:
* * * appeared uncomfortable for one, and secondly, he wasn't watching *
* * he didn't look like he was watching for the parade. He looked like
he was looking down toward the Trinity River and the Triple Underpass
down at the end- -toward the end of Elm Street. And * * * all the time I
watched him, he never moved his head, he never--he never moved anything.
Just was there transfixed.292
Fischer placed the man in the easternmost window on the south side of
the Depository Building on either the fifth or the sixth floor.293 He
said that he could see the man from the middle of his chest to the top
of his head, and that as he was facing the window the man was in the
lower right-hand portion of the window and "seemed to be sitting a
little forward." 294 The man was dressed in a light-colored, open-neck
shirt which could have been either a sports shirt or a T-shirt, and he
had brown hair, a slender face and neck with light complexion, and
looked to be 22 or 24 years old.295 The person in the window was a white
man and "looked to me like he was looking straight at the Triple
Underpass" down Elm Street.296 Boxes and cases were stacked behind
him.287
Approximately 1 week after the assassination, according to Fisher,
policemen showed him a picture of Oswald.298 In his testimony he said,
"I told them that that could have been the man. * * * That that could
have been the man that I Saw in the window in the School Book Depository
Building, but that I was not sure." 299 Fischer described the man's hair
as some shade of brown--"it wasn't dark
Page 147
and it wasn't light." 300 On November 22, Fischer had apparently
described the man as "light-headed." 301 Fischer explained that he did
not mean by the earlier statement. that the man was blond, but rather
that his hair was not black.302
Robert Edwards said that, while looking at the south side of the
Depository Building shortly before the motorcade, he saw nothing of
importance "except maybe one individual who was up there in the corner
room of the sixth floor which was crowded in among boxes." 303 He said
that this was a white man about average in size, "possibly thin," and
that he thought the man had light-brown hair.304 Fischer and Edwards did
not see the man clearly enough or long enough to identify him. Their
testimony is of probative value, however, because their limited
description is consistent with that of the man who has been found by the
Commission, based on other evidence, to have fired the shots from the
window.
Another person who saw the assassin as the shots were fired was Amos L.
Euins, age 15, who was one of the first. witnesses to alert the police
to the Depository as the source of the shots, as has been discussed in
chapter III.305 Euins, who was on the southwest corner of Elm and
Houston Streets 306 testified that he could not describe the man he saw
in the window. According to Euins, however, as the man lowered his head
in order to aim the rifle down Elm Street, he appeared to have a white
bald spot, on his head.307 Shortly after the assassination, Euins signed
an affidavit describing the man as "white," 308 but a radio reporter
testified that Euins described the man to him as "colored." 309 In his
Commission testimony, Euins stated that he could not ascertain the man's
race and that the statement in the affidavit was intended to refer only
to the white spot on the man's head and not to his race.310 A Secret
Service agent who spoke to Euins approximately 20 to 30 minutes after
the assassination confirmed that Euins could neither describe the man in
the window nor indicate his race.311 Accordingly, Euins' testimony is
considered probative as to the source of the shots but is inconclusive
as to the identity of the man in the window.
In evaluating the evidence that Oswald was at the southeast corner
window of the sixth floor at the time of the shooting, the Commission
has considered the allegation that Oswald was photographed standing in
front of the building when the shots were fired. The picture which gave
rise to these allegations was taken by Associated Press Photographer
James W. Altgens, who was standing on the south side of Elm Street
between the Triple Underpass and the Depository Building.312 As the
motorcade started its descent down Elm Street., Altgens snapped a
picture of the Presidential limousine with the entrance to the
Depository Building in the background.313 Just before snapping the
picture Altgens heard a noise which sounded like the popping of a
firecracker. Investigation has established that Altgens' picture was
taken approximately 2 seconds after the firing of the shot which entered
the back of the President's neck.314
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1061
Page 149
In the background of this picture were several employees watching the
parade from the steps of the Depository Building. One of these employees
was alleged to resemble Lee Harvey Oswald. 315 The Commission has
determined that the employee was in fact Billy Lovelady, who identified
himself in the picture.316 Standing alongside him were Buell Wesley
Frazier 317 and William Shelley,318 who also identified Lovelady. The
Commission is satisfied that Oswald does not appear in this photograph.
(See Commission Exhibit. No. 900, p. 113.)
Oswald's Actions in Building After Assassination
In considering whether Oswald was at the southeast corner window at the
time the shots were fired, the Commission has reviewed the testimony of
witnesses who saw Oswald in the building within minutes after the
assassination. The Commission has found that Oswald's movements, as
described by these witnesses, are consistent with his having been at the
window at 12:30 p.m.
The encounter in the lunchroom.--The first person to see Oswald after
the assassination was Patrolman M. L. Baker of the Dallas Police
Department. Baker was riding a two-wheeled motorcycle behind the last
press car of the motorcade.319 As he turned the corner from Main onto
Houston .at a speed of about 5 to 10 miles per hour,320 a strong wind
blowing from the north almost unseated him.321 At about this time he
heard the first shot.322 Having recently Heard the sounds of rifles
while on a hunting trip, Baker recognized the shots as that of a
high-powered rifle; "it sounded high and I immediately kind of looked
up, and I had a feeling that it came from the building, either right in
front of me [the Depository Building] or of the one across to the right
of it." 323 He saw pigeons flutter upward. He was not certain, "but I am
pretty sure they came from the building right on the northwest corner."
324 He heard two more shots spaced "pretty well even to me." 325 After
the third shot, he "revved that motorcycle up," drove to the northwest
corner of Elm and Houston, and parked approximately 10 feet from the
traffic signal.326 As he was parking he noted that people were "falling,
and they were rolling around down there * * * grabbing their children"
and rushing about.327 A woman screamed, "Oh, they have shot that man,
they have shot that man." 328 Baker "had it in mind that the shots came
from the top of this building here," so he ran straight to the entrance
of the Depository Building.329
Baker testified that he entered the lobby of the building and "spoke out
and asked where the stairs or elevator was * * * and this man, ,Mr.
Truly, spoke up and says, it seems to me like he says, 'I am a building
manager. Follow me, officer, and I will show you.' "330 Baker and
building superintendent Roy Truly went through a second set of doors 331
and stopped at a swinging door where Baker bumped into Truly's back.332
They went through the swinging door and continued at "a good trot" to
the northwest corner of the floor where Truly hoped to find one of the
two freight elevators.
Page 150
TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY
DIAGRAM OF SECOND FLOOR
SHOWING ROUTE OF OSWALD
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1118
Page 151
(See Commission Exhibit No. 1061, p. 148.) Neither elevator was
there.333 Truly pushed the button for the west elevator which operates
automatically if the gate is closed.334 He shouted twice, "Turn loose
the elevator."335 When the elevator failed to come, Baker said, "let's
take the stairs," and he followed Truly up the stairway, which is to the
west of the elevator.336
The stairway is located in the northwest corner of the Depository
Building. The stairs from one floor to the next are "L-shaped," with
both legs of the "L" approximately the same length. Because the stairway
itself is enclosed, neither Baker nor Truly could see anything on the
second-floor hallway until they reached the landing at the top of the
stairs.337 On the second-floor landing there is a small open area with a
door at the east end. This door leads into a small vestibule, and
another door leads from the vestibule into the second-floor
lunchroom.338 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1118, p. 150. ) The lunchroom
door is usually open, but the first door is kept shut by a closing
mechanism on the door.339 This vestibule door is solid except for a
small glass window in the upper part of the door.340 As Baker reached
the second floor, he was about 20 feet from the vestibule door.341 He
intended to continue around to his left toward the stairway going up but
through the window in the door he caught a fleeting glimpse of a man
walking in the vestibule toward the lunchroom.342
Since the vestibule door is only a few feet from the lunchroom door,343
the man must. have entered the vestibule only a second or two before
Baker arrived at the top of the stairwell. Yet he must have entered the
vestibule door before Truly reached the top of the stairwell, since
Truly did not see him.344 If the man had passed from the vestibule into
the lunchroom, Baker could not have seen him. Baker
said:
He [Truly] had already started around the bend to come to the next
elevator going up, I was coming out this one on the second floor, and I
don't know, I was kind of sweeping this area as I come up, I was looking
from right to left and as I got. to this door here I caught a glimpse of
this man, just, you know, a sudden glimpse * * * and it looked to me
like he was going away from me.***
I can't say whether he had gone on through that door [the lunchroom
door] or not. All I did was catch a glance at him, and evidently he
was--this door might have been, you know, closing and almost shut at
that time.345
With his revolver drawn, Baker opened the vestibule door and ran into
the vestibule. He saw a man walking away from him in the lunchroom.
Baker stopped at the door of the lunchroom and commanded, "Come
here."346 The man turned and walked back toward Baker.347 He had been
proceeding toward the rear of the lunchroom.348 Along a side wall of the
lunchroom was a soft drink rending machine,349 but at that time the man
had nothing in his hands.350
Page 152
Meanwhile, Truly had run up several steps toward the third floor.
Missing Baker, he came back to find the officer in the doorway to the
lunchroom "facing Lee Harvey Oswald.351 Baker turned to Truly and said,
"Do you know this man, does he work here?"352 Truly replied, "Yes."353
Baker stated later that the man did not seem to be out of breath; he
seemed calm. "He never did say a word or nothing. In fact, he didn't
change his expression one bit." 352 Truly said of Oswald: "He didn't
seem to be excited or overly afraid or anything. He might have been a
bit startled, like I might have. been if somebody confronted me. But I
cannot recall any change in expression of any kind on his face." 355
Truly thought that the officer's gun at that time appeared to be almost
touching the middle portion of Oswald's body. Truly also noted at this
time that Oswald's hands were empty. 356
In an effort to determine whether Oswald could have descended to the
lunchroom from the sixth floor by the time Baker and Truly arrived,
Commission counsel asked Baker and Truly to repeat their movements from
the time of the shot until Baker came upon Oswald in the lunchroom.
Baker placed himself on a motorcycle about 200 feet from the corner of
Elm and Houston Streets where he said he heard the shots.357 Truly stood
in front of the building. 358 At a given signal, they reenacted the
event. Baker's movements were timed with a stopwatch. On the first test,
the elapsed time between the simulated first shot and Baker's arrival on
the second-floor stair landing was 1 minute and 30 seconds. The second
test run required 1 minute and 15 seconds. 359
A test was also conducted to determine the time required to walk from
the southeast corner of the sixth floor to the second-floor lunchroom by
stairway. Special Agent John Howlett of the Secret Service carried a
rifle from the southeast corner of the sixth floor along the east aisle
to the northeast corner. He placed the rifle on the floor near the site
where Oswald's rifle was actually found after the shooting. Then Howlett
walked down the stairway to the second-floor landing and entered the
lunchroom. The first test, run at normal walking pace, required 1
minute, 18 seconds; 360 the second test, at a "fast walk" took 1 minute,
14 seconds. 361 The second test. followed immediately after the first.
The only interval was the time necessary to ride in the elevator from
the second to the sixth floor and walk back to the southeast corner.
Howlett was not short winded at the end of either test run. 362
The minimum time required by Baker to park his motorcycle and reach the
second-floor lunchroom was within 3 seconds of the time needed to walk
from the southeast corner of the sixth floor down the stairway to the
lunchroom. The time actually required for Baker and Truly to reach the
second floor on November 22 was probably longer than in the test runs.
For example, Baker required 15 seconds after the simulated shot to ride
his motorcycle 180 to 200 feet, park it, and run 45 feet to the
building. 363 No allowance was made for the special conditions which
existed on the day of the assassination--possible delayed reaction to
the shot, jostling with the crowd of people on
Page 153
the steps and scanning the area along Elm Street and the parkway.364
Baker said, "We simulated the shots and by the time we got there, we did
everything that I did that day, and this would be the minimum, because I
am sure that I, you know, it took me a little longer." 365 On the basis
of this time test, therefore, the Commission concluded that Oswald could
have fired the shots and still have been present in the second-floor
lunchroom when seen by Baker and Truly.
That Oswald descended by stairway from the sixth floor to the
second-floor lunchroom is consistent with the movements of the two
elevators, which would have provided the other possible means of
descent. When Truly, accompanied by Baker, ran to the rear of the first
floor, he was certain that both elevators, which occupy the same shaft,
366 were on the fifth floor. 367 Baker, not realizing that there were
two elevators, thought that only one elevator was in the shaft and that
it was two or three floors above the second floor. 368 In the few
seconds which elapsed while Baker and Truly ran from the. first to the
second floor, neither of these slow elevators could have descended from
the fifth to the second floor. Furthermore, no elevator was at the
second floor when they arrived there. 369 Truly and Baker continued up
the stairs after the encounter with Oswald in the lunchroom. There was
no elevator on the third or fourth floor. The east elevator was on the
fifth floor when they arrived; the west elevator was not. They took the
east elevator to the seventh floor and ran up a stairway to the roof
where they searched for several minutes. 370
Jack Dougherty, an employee working on the fifth floor, testified that
he took the west elevator to the first floor after hearing a noise which
sounded like a backfire. 370 Eddie Piper, the janitor, told Dougherty
that the President had been shot, 372 but in his testimony Piper did not
mention either seeing or talking with Dougherty during these moments of
excitement. 373 Both Dougherty and Piper were confused witnesses. They
had no exact memory of the events of that afternoon. Truly was probably
correct in stating that the west elevator was on the fifth floor when he
looked up the elevator shaft from the first floor. The west elevator was
not on the fifth floor when Baker and Truly reached that floor, probably
because Jack Dougherty took it to the first floor while Baker and Truly
were running up the stairs or in the lunchroom with Oswald. Neither
elevator could have been used by Oswald as a means of descent.
Oswald's use of the stairway is consistent with the testimony of other
employees in the building. Three employees-- James Jarman, Jr., Harold
Norman, and Bonnie Ray Williams--were watching the parade from the fifth
floor, directly below the window from which the shots were fired. They
rushed to the west windows after the shots were fired and remained there
until after they saw Patrolman Baker's white helmet on the fifth floor
moving toward the elevator. 374 While they were at the west windows
their view of the stairwell was completely blocked by shelves and boxes.
375 This is the period during which Oswald would have descended the
stairs. In all likelihood Dougherty took the elevator down from the
fifth floor after Jarman,
Page 154
Norman, and Williams ran to the west windows and were deciding what to
do. None of these three men saw Dougherty, probably because of the
anxiety of the moment and because of the books which may have blocked
the view. 376 Neither Jarman, Norman, Williams, or Dougherty saw Oswald.
377
Victoria Adams, who worked on the fourth floor of the Depository
Building, claimed that within about 1 minute following the shots she ran
from a window on the south side of the fourth floor, 378 down the rear
stairs to the first floor, where she encountered two Depository
employees--William Shelley and Billy Lovelady. 379 If her estimate of
time is correct, she reached the bottom of the stairs before Truly and
Baker started up, and she must have run down the stairs ahead of Oswald
and would probably have seen or heard him. Actually she noticed no one
on the back stairs. If she descended from the fourth to the first floor
as fast as she claimed in her testimony, she would have seen Baker or
Truly on the first floor or on the stairs, unless they were already in
the second-floor lunchroom talking to Oswald. When she reached the first
floor, she actually saw Shelley and Lovelady slightly east of the east
elevator.
Shelley and Lovelady, however, have testified that they were watching
the parade from the top step of the building entrance when Gloria
Calverly, who works in the Depository Building, ran up and said that the
President had been shot. 380 Lovelady and Shelley moved out into the
street. 381 About this time Shelley saw Truly and Patrolman Baker go
into the building Shelley and Lovelady, at a fast walk or trot, turned
west into the railroad yards and then to the west side of the Depository
Building. They reentered the building by the rear door several minutes
after Baker and Truly rushed through the front entrance? 382 On
entering, Lovelady saw a girl on the first floor who he believes was
Victoria Adams. 384 If Miss Adams accurately recalled meeting Shelley
and Lovelady when she reached the bottom of the stairs, then her
estimate of the time when she descended from the fourth floor is
incorrect, and she actually came down the stairs several minutes after
Oswald and after Truly and Baker as well.
Oswald's departure from building.--Within a minute after Baker and Truly
left Oswald in the lunchroom, Mrs. R. A. Reid, clerical supervisor for
the Texas School Book Depository, saw him walk through the clerical
office on the second floor toward the door leading to the front
stairway. Mrs. Reid had watched the parade from the sidewalk in front of
the building with Truly and Mr. O. V. Campbell, vice president of the
Depository. 385 She testified that she heard three shots which she
thought came from the building. 386 She ran inside and up the front
stairs into the large open office reserved for clerical employees. As
she approached her desk, she saw Oswald. 387 He was walking into the
office from the back hallway, carrying a full bottle of Coca-Cola in his
hand, 388 presumably purchased after the encounter with Baker and Truly.
As Oswald passed Mrs. Reid she said, ''Oh, the President has been shot,
but maybe they didn't hit him." 389 Oswald mumbled something and walked
by. 390 She paid
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no more attention to him. The only exit from the office in the direction
Oswald was moving was through the door to the front stairway. 391 (See
Commission Exhibit 1118, p. 150.) Mrs. Reid testified that when she saw
Oswald, he was wearing a T-shirt and no jacket. 392 When he left home
that morning, Marina Oswald, who was still in bed, suggested that he
wear a jacket. 393 A blue jacket, later identified by Marina Oswald as
her husband's, 394 was subsequently found in the building, 395
apparently left behind by Oswald.
Mrs. Reid believes that she returned to her desk from the street about 2
minutes after the shooting. 396 Reconstructing her movements, Mrs. Reid
ran the distance three times and was timed in 2 minutes by stopwatch.
397 The reconstruction was the minimum time. 398 Accordingly, she
probably met Oswald at about 12:32, approximately 30-45 seconds after
Oswald's lunchroom encounter with Baker and Truly. After leaving Mrs.
Reid in the front office, Oswald could have gone down the stairs and out
the front door by 12:33 p.m.399--3 minutes after the shooting. At that
time the building had not yet been sealed off by the police.
While it was difficult to determine exactly when the police sealed off
the building, the earliest estimates would still have permitted Oswald
to leave the building by 12:33. One of the police officers assigned to
the corner of Elm and Houston Streets for the Presidential motorcade, W.
E. Barnett, testified that immediately after the shots he went to the
rear of the building to check the fire escape. He then returned to the
corner of Elm and Houston where he met a sergeant who instructed him to
find out the name of the building. Barnett ran to the building, noted
its name, and then returned to the corner. 400 There he was met by a
construction worker--in all likelihood Howard Brennan, who was wearing
his work helmet. 401 This worker told Barnett that the shots had been
fired from a window in the Depository Building, where upon Barnett.
posted himself at the front door to make certain that no one left the
building. The sergeant did the same thing at the rear of the building.
402 Barnett estimated that approximately 3 minutes elapsed between the
time he heard the last of the shots and the time he started guarding the
front door. According to Barnett, ''there were people going in and out"
during this period. 403
Sgt. D. V. Harkness of the Dallas police said that to his knowledge the
building was not sealed off at 12:36 p.m. when he called in on police
radio that a witness (Amos Euins) had seen shots fired from a window of
the building. 404 At that time, Inspector Herbert V. Sawyer's car was
parked in front of the building. 405 Harkness did not know whether or
not two officers with Sawyer were guarding the doors. 406 At 12:34 p.m.
Sawyer heard a call over the police radio that the shots had come from
the Depository Building. 407 He then entered the building and took the
front passenger elevator as far as it would go--the fourth floor. 408
After inspecting this floor, Sawyer returned to the street about 3
minutes after he entered the building. 409 After he returned to the
street he directed Sergeant Harkness to station two patrolmen at the
front door and not let anyone in or out;
Page 156
he also directed that the back door be sealed off. 410 This was no
earlier than 12:37 p.m. 411 and may have been later. Special Agent
Forrest V. Sorrels of the Secret Service, who had been in the motorcade,
testified that after driving to Parkland Hospital, he returned to the
Depository Building about 20 minutes after the shooting, found no police
officers at the rear door and was able to enter through this door
without identifying himself.412
Although Oswald probably left the building at about 12:33 p.m., his
absence was not noticed until at least. one-half hour later. Truly, who
had returned with Patrolman Baker from the roof, saw the police
questioning the warehouse employees. Approximately 15 men worked in the
warehouse 413 and Truly noticed that Oswald was not among those being
questioned. 414 Satisfying himself that Oswald was missing, Truly
obtained Oswald's address, phone number, and description from his
employment application card. The address listed was for the Paine home
in Irving. Truly gave this information to Captain Fritz who was on the
sixth floor at the time. 415 Truly estimated that he gave this
information to Fritz about 15 or 20 minutes after the shots,416 but it
was probably no earlier than 1:22 p.m., the time when the rifle was
found. Fritz believed that he learned of Oswald's absence after the
rifle was found.417 The fact that Truly found Fritz in the northwest
corner of the floor, near the point where the rifle was found, supports
Fritz' recollection.
Conclusion
Fingerprint and palmprint evidence establishes that Oswald handled two
of the four cartons next to the window and also handled a paper bag
which was found near the cartons. Oswald was seen in the vicinity of the
southeast corner of the sixth floor approximately 35 minutes before the
assassination and no one could be found who saw Oswald anywhere else in
the building until after the shooting. An eyewitness to the shooting
immediately provided a description of the man in the window which was
similar to Oswald's actual appearance. This witness identified Oswald in
a lineup as the man most nearly resembling the man he saw and later
identified Oswald as the man he observed. Oswald's known actions in the
building immediately after the assassination are consistent with his
having been at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor at 12:30
p.m. On the basis of these findings the Commission has concluded that.
Oswald, at the time of the assassination, was present at the window from
which the shots were fired.
The Killing of Patrolman J. D. Tippit
Page 156
THE KILLING OF PATROLMAN J. D. TIPPIT
After leaving the Depository Building at. approximately 12:33 p.m., Lee
Harvey Oswald proceeded to his roominghouse by bus and taxi. He arrived
at approximately 1 p.m. and left a few minutes later. At
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about 1:16 p.m., a Dallas police officer, J. D. Tippit, was shot less
than 1 mile from Oswald's roominghouse. In deciding whether Oswald
killed Patrolman Tippit the Commission considered the following: (1)
positive identification of the killer by two eyewitnesses who saw the
shooting and seven eyewitnesses who heard the shots and saw the gunman
flee the scene with the revolver in his hand, (2) testimony of firearms
identification experts establishing the identity of the murder weapon,
(3) evidence establishing the ownership of the murder weapon, (4)
evidence establishing the ownership of a zipper jacket found along the
path of flight taken by the gunman from the scene of the shooting to the
place of arrest.
Oswald's Movements After Leaving Depository Building
The bus ride.--According to the reconstruction of time and events which
the Commission found most credible, Lee Harvey Oswald left the building
approximately 3 minutes after the assassination. probably walked east on
Elm Street for seven blocks to the corner of Elm and Murphy where he
boarded a bus which was heading back in the direction of the Depository
Building, on its way to the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. (See Commission
Exhibit 1119-A, p. 158.)
When Oswald was apprehended, a bus transfer marked for the
Lakewood-Marsalis route was found in his shirt pocket. 476 The transfer
was dated "Fri. Nov. 22, '63" and was punched in two places by the
busdriver. On the basis of this punchmark, which was distinctive to each
Dallas driver, the transfer was conclusively identified as having been
issued by Cecil J. McWatters, a busdriver for the Dallas Transit Co. 419
On the basis of the date and time on the transfer, McWatters was able to
testify that the transfer had been issued by him on a trip which passed
a check point at St. Paul and Elm Streets at 12:36 p.m., November 22,
1963. 420
McWatters was sure that he left the checkpoint on time and he estimated
that it took him 3 to 4 minutes to drive three blocks west from the
checkpoint to Field Street, which he reached at about 12:40 p.m. 421
McWatters' recollection is that he issued this transfer to a man who
entered his bus just beyond Field Street~ where a man beat. on the front
door of the bus, boarded it and paid his fare. 422 About two blocks
later, a woman asked to get off to make a 1 o'clock train at Union
Station and requested a transfer which she might use if she got through
the traffic.
* * * So I gave her a transfer and opened the door and she was going out
the gentleman I had picked up about two blocks [back] asked for a
transfer and got off at the same place in the middle of the block where
the lady did.
* * * It was the intersection near Lamar Street, it was near Poydras and
Lamar Street. 423
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1119-A
Page 159
The man was on the bus approximately 4 minutes.424
At about 6:30 p.m. on the day of the assassination, McWatters viewed
four men in a police lineup. He picked Oswald from the lineup as the man
who had boarded the bus at the "lower end of town on Elm around
Houston," and who, during the ride south on Marsalis, had an argument
with a woman passenger.425 In his Commission testimony, McWatters said
he had been in error and that a teenager named Milton Jones was the
passenger he had in mind.425 In a later interview, Jones confirmed that
he had exchanged words with a woman passenger on the bus during the ride
south on Marsalis.427 McWatters also remembered that a man received a
transfer at Lamar and Elm Streets and that a man in the lineup. was
about the size of this man.428 However, McWatters' recollection alone
was too vague to be a basis for placing Oswald on the bus.
Riding on the bus was an elderly woman, Mary Bledsoe, who confirmed the
mute evidence of the transfer. Oswald had rented a room from Mrs.
Bledsoe about 6 weeks before, on October 7,429 but she had asked him to
leave at the end of a week. Mrs. Bledsoe told him "I am not going to
rent to you any more." 430 She testified, "I didn't like his attitude. *
* * There was just something about him I didn't like or want him. * * *
Just didn't want him around me." 481 On November 22, Mrs. Bledsoe came
downtown to watch the Presidential motorcade. She boarded the Marsalis
bus at St. Paul and Elm Streets to return home.432 She testified
further:
And, after we got past Akard, at Murphy--I figured it out. Let's see. I
don't know for sure. Oswald got on. He looks like a maniac. His sleeve
was out here. * * * His shirt was undone.
* * * * * * *
Was a hole in it, hole, and he was dirty, and I didn't look at him. I
didn't want to know I even seen him * * *
* * * * * * *
* * * he looked so bad in his face, and his face was so distorted.
* * * * * * *
* * * Hole in his sleeve right here.433
As Mrs. Bledsoe said these words, she pointed to her fight elbow.434
When Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theatre, he was wearing a brown
sport shirt with a hole in the right sleeve at the elbow.435 Mrs.
Bledsoe identified the shirt as the one Oswald was wearing and she
stated she was certain that it was Oswald who boarded the bus.436 Mrs.
Bledsoe recalled that Oswald sat halfway to the rear of the bus which
moved slowly and intermittently as traffic became heavy.437 She heard a
passing motorist tell the driver that the President
Page 160
had been shot.438 People on the bus began talking about it. As the bus
neared Lamar Street, Oswald left the bus and disappeared into the
crowd.439
The Marsalis bus which Oswald boarded traveled a route west on Elm,
south on Houston, and southwest across the Houston viaduct to service
the Oak Cliff area along Marsalis.440 A Beckley bus which also served
the Oak Cliff area, followed the same route as the Marsalis bus through
downtown Dallas, except that it continued west on Elm, across Houston in
front of the Depository Building, past the Triple Underpass into west
Dallas, and south on Beckley.441 Marsalis Street is seven blocks from
Beckley.442 Oswald lived at 1026 North Beckley.443 He could not reach
his roominghouse on the Marsalis bus, but the Beckley bus stopped across
the street.444 According to McWatters, the Beckley bus was behind the
Marsalis bus, but he did not actually see it.445 Both buses stopped
within one block of the Depository Building. Instead of waiting there,
Oswald apparently went as far away as he could and boarded the first Oak
Cliff bus which came along rather than wait for one which stopped across
the street from his roominghouse.
In a reconstruction of this bus trip, agents of the Secret Service and
the FBI walked the seven blocks from the front entrance of the
Depository Building to Murphy and Elm three times, averaging 6.5 minutes
for the three trips.446 A bus moving through heavy traffic on Elm from
Murphy to Lamar was timed at. 4 minutes.447 If Oswald left the
Depository Building at 12:33 p.m., walked seven blocks directly to
Murphy and Elm, and boarded a bus almost immediately, he would have
boarded the bus at approximately 12:40 p.m. and left it at approximately
12:44 p.m. (See Commission Exhibit No.1119-A, p. 158.)
Roger D. Craig, a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, claimed that about 15
minutes after the assassination he saw a man, whom he later identified
as Oswald,448 coming from the direction of the Depository Building' and
running down the hill north of Elm Street toward a light-colored Rambler
station wagon, which was moving slowly along Elm toward the
underpass:449 The station wagon stopped to pick up the man and then
drove off.450 Craig testified that later in the- afternoon he saw Oswald
in the police interrogation room and told Captain Fritz that Oswald was
the man he saw.451 Craig also claimed that when Fritz pointed out to
Oswald that Craig had identified him, Oswald rose from his chair, looked
directly at Fritz, and said, "Everybody will know who I am now." 452
The Commission could not accept important elements of Craig's testimony.
Captain Fritz stated that a deputy sheriff whom he could not identify
did ask to see him that afternoon and told him a similar story to
Craig's.453 Fritz did not bring him into his office to identify Oswald
but turned him over to Lieutenant Baker for questioning. If Craig saw
Oswald that afternoon, he saw him through the glass windows of the
office. And neither Captain Fritz nor any other officer can remember
that Oswald dramatically arose from his chair and said,
Page 161
"Everybody will know who I am now." '454 If Oswald had made such a
statement, Captain Fritz and others present would probably have
remembered it. Craig may have seen a person enter a white Rambler
station wagon 15 or 20 minutes after the shooting and travel west on Elm
Street, but the Commission concluded that this man was not Lee Harvey
Oswald, because of the overwhelming evidence that Oswald was far away
from the building by that time.
The taxicab ride.--William Whaley, a taxicab driver, told his employer
on Saturday morning, November 23, that he recognized Oswald from a
newspaper photograph as a man whom he had driven to the Oak Cliff area
the day before.455 Notified of Whaley's statement, the police brought
him to the police station that afternoon. He was taken to the lineup
room where, according to Whaley, five young teenagers, all handcuffed
together, were displayed with Oswald.456 He testified that Oswald looked
older than the other boys.457 The police asked him whether he could pick
out his passenger from the lineup. Whaley picked Oswald. He said,
* * * you could have picked him out without identifying him by just
listening to him because he was bawling out the policeman, telling them
it wasn't right to put him in line with these teenagers and all of that
and they asked me which one and I told them. It was him all right, the
same man.
* * * * * * *
He showed no respect for the policemen, he told them what he thought
about them. They knew what. they were doing and they were trying to
railroad him and he wanted his lawyer.458
Whaley believes that Oswald's conduct did not aid him in his
identification "because I knew he was the right one as soon as I saw
him." 459
Whaley's memory of the lineup is inaccurate. There were four men
altogether, not six men, in the lineup with Oswald.460 Whaley said that
Oswald was the man under No. 2.461 Actually Oswald was under No. 3. Only
two of the men in the lineup with Oswald were teenagers: John T. Horn,
aged 18, was No. 1; David Knapp, aged 18, was No. 2; Lee Oswald was No.
3; and Daniel Lujan, aged 26, was No. 4. 462
When he first testified before the Commission, Whaley displayed a trip
manifest 463 which showed a 12 o'clock trip from Travis Hotel to the
Continental bus station, unloaded at 12:15 p.m., a 12:15 p.m. pickup at
Continental to Greyhound, unloaded at 12:30 p.m., and a pickup from
Greyhound (bus station) at 12:30 p.m., unloaded at 500 North Beckley at
12:45 p.m. Whaley testified that he did not keep an accurate time record
of his trips but recorded them by the quarter hour, and that sometimes
he made his entry right after a trip while at other times he waited to
record three or four trips.464 As he unloaded his Continental bus
station passenger in front of Greyhound,
Page 162
he started to get out to buy a package of cigarettes.465 He saw a man
walking south on Lamar from Commerce. The man was dressed in faded blue
color khaki work clothes, a brown shirt, and some kind of work jacket
that almost matched his pants.466 The man asked, "May I have the cab?",
and got into the front seat.467 Whaley described the ensuing events as
follows:
And about that time an old lady, I think she was an old lady, I don't
remember nothing but her sticking her head down past him in the door and
said, "Driver, will you call me a cab down here ?"
She had seen him get this cab and she wanted one, too, and he opened the
door a little bit like he was going to get out and he said, "I will let
you have this one," and she says, "No, the driver can call me one."
* * * * *
* * * I asked him where he wanted to go. And he said, "500 North
Beckley."
Well, I started up, I started to that address, and the police cars, the
sirens was going, running crisscrossing everywhere, just a big uproar in
that end of town and I said, "What the hell. I wonder what the hell is
the uproar ?"
And he never said anything. So I figured he was one of these people that
don't like to talk so I never said any more to him.
But when I got pretty close to 500 block at Neches and North Beckley
which is the 500 block, he said, "This will do fine," and I pulled over
to the curb right. there. He gave me a dollar bill, the trip was 95
cents. He gave me a dollar bill and didn't say anything, just got out
and closed the door and walked around the front of the cab over to the
other side of the street [east side of the street]. Of course, the
traffic was moving through there and I put it in gear and moved on, that
is the last I saw of him.468
Whaley was somewhat imprecise as to where he unloaded his passenger. He
marked what, he thought was the intersection of Neches and Beckley on a
map of Dallas with a large "X." 469 He said, "Yes, sir; that is right,
because that is the 500 block of North Beckley." However, Neches and
Beckley do not intersect. Neches is within one-half block of the
roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley where Oswald was living. The 500
block of North Beckley is five blocks south of the roominghouse.471
After a review of these inconsistencies in his testimony before the
Commission, Whaley was interviewed again in Dallas. The route of the
taxicab was retraced under the direction of Whaley.472 He directed the
driver of the car to a point 20 feet north of the northwest corner of
the intersection of Beckley and Neely, the point at. which he said his
passenger alighted.473 This was the 700 block of North
Page 163
Beckley.474 The elapsed time of the reconstructed run from the Greyhound
Bus Station to Neely and Beckley was 5 minutes and 30 seconds by
stopwatch.475 The walk from Beckley and Neely to 1026 North Beckley was
timed by Commission counsel at 5 minutes and 45 seconds.476
Whaley testified that Oswald was wearing either the gray zippered jacket
or the heavy blue jacket.477 He was in error, however. Oswald could not
possibly have been wearing the blue jacket during the trip with Whaley,
since it was found in the "domino" room of the Depository late in
November. 478 Moreover, Mrs. Bledsoe saw Oswald in the bus without a
jacket and wearing a shirt with a hole at the elbow.479 On the other
hand, Whaley identified Commission Exhibit No. 150 (the shirt taken from
Oswald upon arrest) as the shirt his passenger was wearing.480 He also
stated he saw a silver identification bracelet on his passenger's left
wrist.481 Oswald was wearing such a bracelet when he was arrested.482 On
November 22, Oswald told Captain Fritz that he rode a bus to a stop near
his home and then walked to his roominghouse.483 When queried the
following morning concerning a bus transfer found in his .possession at
the time of his arrest, he admitted receiving it.484 And when
interrogated about a cab ride, Oswald also admitted that he left the
slow-moving bus and took a cab to his roominghouse.485
The Greyhound Bus Station at Lamar and Jackson Streets, where Oswald
entered Whaley's cab, is three to four short blocks south of Lamar and
Elm.486 If Oswald left the bus at 12:44 p.m. and walked directly to the
terminal, he would have entered the cab at 12:47 or 12:48 p.m. If the
cab ride was approximately 6 minutes, as was the reconstructed ride, he
would have reached his destination at approximately 12:54 p.m. If he was
discharged at Neely and Beckley and walked directly to his roominghouse,
he would have arrived there about 12:59 to 1 p.m. From the 500 block of
North Beckley, the walk would be a few minutes longer, but in either
event he would have been in the roominghouse at about 1 p.m. This is the
approximate time he entered the roominghouse, according to Earlene
Roberts, the housekeeper there.487 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A,
p. 158.)
Arrival and departure from roominghouse.---Earlene Roberts, housekeeper
for Mrs. A. C. Johnson at 1026 North Beckley, knew Lee Harvey Oswald
under the alias of O. II. Lee. She first saw him the day he rented a
room at that address on October 14, 1963.488 signed his name as O. II.
Lee on the roominghouse register.489
Mrs. Roberts testified that on Thursday, November 21, Oswald did not
come home. On Friday, November 22, about 1 p.m., he entered the house in
unusual haste. She recalled that it was subsequent to the time the
President had been shot. After a friend had called and told her,
"President Kennedy has been shot," she turned on the television. When
Oswald came in she said, "Oh, you are in a hurry," but Oswald did not
respond. He hurried to his room and stayed no longer than 3 or 4
minutes. Oswald had entered the house in his shirt sleeves,
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1968
Page 165
but when he left, he was zipping up a jacket. Mrs. Roberts saw him a few
seconds later standing near the bus stop in front of the house on the
east side of Beckley.490
Oswald was next seen about nine-tenths of a mile away at the southeast
corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue, moments before the Tippit
shooting. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A, p. 158.) If Oswald left.
his roominghouse shortly after 1 p.m. and walked at a brisk pace, he
would have reached 10th and Patton shortly after 1:15 p.m.491 Tippit's
murder was recorded on the police radio tape at about 1:16 p.m.492
Description of Shooting
Patrolman J. D. Tippit joined the Dallas Police Department in July
1952.493 He was described by Chief Curry as having the reputation of
being "a very free, dedicated officer." 494 Tippit patroled district No.
78 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas during daylight hours. tic drove a
police car' painted distinctive colors with No. 10 prominently displayed
on each side. Tippit rode alone, as only one man was normally assigned
to a patrol car in residential areas during daylight shifts.495
At about 12:44 p.m. on November 22, the radio dispatcher on channel 1
ordered all downtown patrol squads to report to Elm and Houston, code 3
(emergency).496 At 12:45 p.m. the dispatcher ordered No. 78 (Tippit.) to
"move into central Oak Cliff area."497 At 12:54 p.m., Tippit reported
that he was in the central Oak Cliff area at Lancaster and Eighth. The
dispatcher ordered Tippit to be: "* * * at large for any emergency that
comes in." 498 According to Chief Curry, Tippit. was free to patrol the
central Oak Cliff area.499 Tippit must have heard the description of the
suspect wanted for the President's shooting; it was broadcast over
channel 1 at 12:45 p.m., again at 12:48 p.m., and again at 12:55 p.m.500
The suspect was described as a "white male, approximately 30, slender
build, height 5 foot 10 inches, weight 165 pounds." 501 A similar
description was given on channel 2 at 12:45 p.m.502
At approximately 1:15 p.m., Tippit, who was cruising east on 10th
Street, passed the intersection of 10th and Patton, about eight blocks
from where he had reported at 12:54 p.m. About 100 feet past the
intersection Tippit stopped a man walking east along the south side of
Patton. (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.) The man's general
description was similar to the one broadcast over the police radio.
Tippit stopped the man and called him to his car. He approached the car
and apparently exchanged words with Tippit through the right front or
vent window. Tippit got out and started to walk around the front of the
car As Tippit reached the left front wheel the man pulled out a revolver
and fired several shots. Four bullets hit Tippit and killed him
instantly. The gunman started back toward Patton Avenue, ejecting the
empty cartridge cases before reloading with fresh bullets.
Page 166
Eyewitnesses
At least 12 persons saw the man with the revolver in the vicinity of the
Tippit crime scene at or immediately after the shooting. By the evening
of November 22, five of them had identified Lee Harvey Oswald in police
lineups as the man they saw. A sixth did so the next day. Three others
subsequently identified Oswald from a photograph. Two witnesses
testified that Oswald resembled the man they had seen. One witness felt
he was too distant from the gunman to make a positive identification.
(See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)
A taxi driver, William Scoggins, was eating lunch in his cab which was
parked on Patton facing the southeast corner of 10th Street and Patton
Avenue a few feet to the north. 503 A police car moving east on 10th at
about 10 or 12 miles an hour passed in front of his cab. About 100 feet
from the comer the police car pulled up alongside a man on the sidewalk.
This man, dressed in a light-colored jacket, approached the car.
Scoggins lost sight of him behind some shrubbery on the southeast corner
lot, but he saw the policeman leave the car, heard three or four shots,
and then saw the policeman fall. Scoggins hurriedly left his seat and
hid behind the cab as the man came back toward the corner with gun in
hand. The man cut. across the yard through some bushes, passed within 12
feet of Scoggins, and ran south on Patton. Scoggins saw him and heard
him mutter either "Poor damn cop" or "Poor dumb cop." 504 The next day
Scoggins viewed a lineup of four persons and identified Oswald as the
man whom he had seen the day before at 10th and Patton.505 In his
testimony before the Commission, Scoggins stated that he thought he had
seen a picture of Oswald in the newspapers prior to the lineup
identification on Saturday. He had not seen Oswald on television and had
not been shown any photographs of Oswald by the police.506
Another witness, Domingo Benavides, was driving a pickup truck west on
10th Street. As he crossed the intersection a block east of 10th and
Patton, he saw a policeman standing by the left door of the police car
parked along the south side of 10th. Benavides saw a man standing at the
right side of the parked police car. He then heard three shots and saw
the policeman fall to the ground. By this time the pickup truck was
across the street and about 25 feet from the police car. Benavides
stopped and waited in the truck until the gunman ran to the corner. He
saw him empty the gun and throw the shells into some bushes on the
southeast corner lot.507 It was Benavides, using Tippit's car radio, who
first reported the killing of Patrolman Tippit at about 1:16 p.m.:
"We've had a shooting out here." 508 He found two empty shells in the
bushes and gave them to Patrolman J. M. Poe who arrived on the scene
shortly after the shooting.509 Benavides never saw Oswald after the
arrest. When questioned by police officers on the evening of November
22, Benavides told them that he did not think that he could identify the
man who fired the shots. As a result, they did not take him to the
police station.
Page 167
He testified that the picture of Oswald which he saw later on television
bore a resemblance to the man who shot Officer Tippit. 510
Just prior to the shooting, Mrs. Helen Markham, a waitress in downtown
Dallas, was about to cross 10th Street at Patton. As she waited on the
northwest corner of the intersection for traffic to pass,511 she noticed
a young man as be was "almost ready to get up on the curb" 512 at the
southeast corner of the intersection, approximately 50 feet away. The
man continued along 10th Street. Mrs. Markham saw a police ear slowly
approach the man from the rear and stop alongside of him. She saw the
man come to the right window of the police ear. As he talked, he leaned
on the ledge of the right window with his arms. The man appeared to step
back as the policeman "calmly opened the ear door" and very slowly got
out and walked toward the front of the ear. The man pulled a gun. Mrs.
Markham heard three shots and saw the policeman fall to the ground near
the left front wheel. She raised her hands to her eyes as the man
started to walk back toward Patton.513 She peered through her fingers,
lowered her hands, and saw the man doing something with his gun. "He was
just fooling with it. I didn't know what he was doing. I was afraid he
was fixing to kill me." 514 The man "in kind of a little trot" headed
down Patton toward Jefferson Boulevard, a block away. Mrs. Markham then
ran to Officer Tippit's side and saw him lying in a pool of blood? 515
Helen Markham was screaming as she leaned over the body.516 A few
minutes later she described the gunman to a policeman?517 Her
description and that of other eyewitnesses led to the police broadcast
at 1:22 p.m. describing the slayer as "about 30, 5'8", black hair,
slender." 518 At about 4:30 p.m., Mrs. Markham, who had been greatly
upset by her experience, was able to view a lineup of four men
handcuffed together at the police station. 519 .She identified Lee
Harvey Oswald as the man who shot the policeman.520 Detective L. C.
Graves, who had been with Mrs. Markham before the lineup testified that
she was "quite hysterical" and was "crying and upset." 521 He said that
Mrs. Markham started crying when Oswald walked into the lineup room. 522
In testimony before the Commission, Mrs. Markham confirmed her positive
identification of Lee Harvey Oswald as the man she saw kill Officer
Tippit. 523
In evaluating Mrs. Markham's identification of Oswald, the Commission
considered certain allegations that Mrs. Markham described the man who
killed Patrolman Tippit as "short, a little on the heavy side," and
having "somewhat bushy" hair.523 The Commission reviewed the transcript
of a phone conversation in which Mrs. Markham is alleged to have
provided such a description.525 A review of the complete transcript has
satisfied the Commission that Mrs. Markham strongly reaffirmed her
positive identification of Oswald and denied having described the killer
as short, stocky and having bushy hair. She stated that the man weighed
about 150 pounds.526 Although she used the words "a little bit bushy" to
describe the gunman's hair, the transcript establishes that she was
referring to the uncombed
Page 168
state of his hair, a description fully supported by a photograph of
Oswald taken at the time of his arrest. (See Pizzo Exhibit No. 453-C, p.
177.) Although in the phone conversation she described the man as
"short," 527 on November 22, within minutes of the shooting and before
the lineup, Mrs. Markham described the man to the police as 5'8" tall.
528
During her testimony Mrs. Markham initially denied that she ever had the
above phone conversation.529 She has subsequently admitted the existence
of the conversation and offered an explanation for her denial.530
Addressing itself solely to the probative value of Mrs. Markham's
contemporaneous description of the gunman and her positive
identification of Oswald at a police lineup, the Commission considers
her testimony reliable. However, even in the absence of Mrs. Markham's
testimony, there is ample evidence to identify Oswald as the killer of
Tippit.
Two young women, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis, were in an
apartment of a multiple-unit house on the southeast corner of 10th and
Patton when they heard the sound of gunfire and the screams of Helen
Markham. They ran to the door in time to see a man with a revolver cut
across their lawn and disappear around a corner of the house onto
Patton.531 Barbara Jeanette Davis assumed that he was emptying his gun
as "he had it open and was shaking it." 532 She immediately called the
police. Later in the day each woman found an empty shell on the ground
near the house. These two shells were delivered to the police.533
On the evening of November 22, Barbara Jeanette and Virginia Davis
viewed a group of four men in a lineup and each one picked Oswald as the
man who crossed their lawn while emptying his pistol.534 Barbara
Jeanette Davis testified that no one had shown her a picture of Oswald
before the identification and that she had not seen him on television.
She was not sure whether she had seen his picture in a newspaper on the
afternoon or evening of November 22 prior to the lineup.535 Her reaction
when she saw Oswald in the lineup was that "I was pretty sure it was the
same man I saw. When they made him turn sideways, I was positive that
was the one I seen." 536 Similarly, Virginia Davis had not been shown
pictures of anyone prior to the lineup and had not seen either
television or the newspapers during the afternoon.537' She identified
Oswald, who was the No. 2 man in the lineup,538 as the man she saw
running with the gun: she testified, "I would say that was him for
sure." 539 Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis were sitting
alongside each other when they made their positive identifications of
Oswald.540 Each woman whispered Oswald's number to the detective. Each
testified that she was the first to make the identification.541
William Arthur Smith was about a block east of 10th and Patton when he
heard shots. He looked west on 10th and saw a man running to the west
and a policeman falling to the ground. Smith failed to make himself
known to the police on November 22. Several days later he reported what
he had seen and was questioned by FBI
Page 169
agents.542 Smith subsequently told a Commission staff member that he saw
Oswald on television the night of the murder and thought that Oswald was
the man he had seen running away from the shooting.543 On television
Oswald's hair looked blond, whereas Smith remembered that the man who
ran away had hair that was brown or brownish black. Later, the FBI
showed Smith a picture of Oswald. In the picture the hair was brown.544
According to his testimony, Smith told the FBI, "It looked more like him
than it did on television." He stated further that from "What I saw of
him" the man looked like the man in the picture.545
Two other important eyewitnesses to Oswald's flight were Ted Callaway,
manager of a used-car lot on the northeast corner of Patton Avenue and
Jefferson Boulevard, and Sam Guinyard, a porter at the lot. They heard
the sound of shots to the north of their lot.546 Callaway heard five
shots, and Guinyard three. Both ran to the sidewalk on the east side of
Patton at a point about a half a block south of 10th. They saw a man
coming south on Patton with a revolver held high in his right hand.
According to Callaway, the man crossed to the west side of Patton.547
From across the street Callaway yelled, "Hey, man, what the hell is
going on?" He slowed down, halted, said something, and then kept on
going to the corner, turned right, and continued west on Jefferson.548
Guinyard claimed that the man ran down the east side of Patton and
passed within 10 feet of him before crossing to the other side.549
Guinyard and Callaway ran to 10th and Patton and found Tippit lying in
the street beside his car.550 Apparently he had reached for his gun; it
lay beneath him outside of the holster. Callaway picked up the gun.551
He and Scoggins attempted to chase down the gunman in Scoggin's
taxicab,552 but he had disappeared. Early in the evening of November 22,
Guinyard and Callaway viewed the same lineup of four men from which Mrs.
Markham had earlier made her identification of Lee Harvey Oswald. Both
men picked Oswald as the man who had run south on Patton with a gun in
his hand.553 Callaway told the Commission: "So they brought four men in.
i stepped to the back of 'the room, so I could kind of see him from the
same distance which I had seen him before. And when he came out I knew
him." 554 Guinyard said, "I told them that was him right there. I
pointed him out right there." 555 Both Callaway and Guinyard testified
that they had not been shown any pictures by the police before the
lineup.556
The Dallas Police Department furnished the Commission with pictures of
the men who appeared in the lineups with Oswald,557 and the Commission
has inquired into general lineup procedures used by the Dallas police as
well as the specific procedures in the lineups involving Oswald.558 The
Commission is satisfied that the lineups were conducted fairly.
As Oswald ran south on Patton Avenue toward Jefferson Boulevard he was
moving in the direction of a used-car lot located on the southeast
corner of this intersection.559 Four men--Warren Reynolds,560
Page 170
REVOLVER USED IN TIPPIT KILLING
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 143
Page 171
Harold Russell 561 Pat Patterson 562 and L. J. Lewis 563--were on the
lot at the time, and they saw a white male with a revolver in his hands
running south on Patton. When the man reached Jefferson, he turned right
and headed west. Reynolds and Patterson decided to follow him. When he
reached a gasoline service station one block away he turned north and
walked toward a parking area in the rear of the station. Neither
Reynolds nor Patterson saw the man after he turned off Jefferson at the
service station. 56 These four witnesses were interviewed by FBI agents
2 months after the shooting. Russell and Patterson were shown a picture
of Oswald and they stated that Oswald was the man they saw on November
22, 1963. Russell confirmed this statement in a sworn affidavit for the
Commission.565 Patterson, when asked later to confirm his identification
by affidavit said he did not recall having been shown the photograph. He
was then shown two photographs of Oswald and he advised that Oswald was
"unquestionably" the man he saw.566 Reynolds did not make a positive
identification when interviewed by the FBI, but he subsequently
testified before a Commission staff member and, when shown two
photographs of Oswald, stated that they were photographs of the man he
saw.567 L.J. Lewis said in an interview that because of the distance
from which he observed the gunman he would hesitate to state whether the
man was identical with Oswald. 568
Murder Weapon
When Oswald was arrested, he had in his possession a Smith & Wesson .38
Special caliber revolver, serial number V510210. (See Commission Exhibit
No. 143, p. 170). Two of the arresting officers placed their initials on
the weapon and a third inscribed his name. All three identified Exhibit
No. 143 as the revolver taken from Oswald when he was arrested.569 Four
cartridge eases were found in the shrubbery on the corner of 10th and
Patton by three of the eyewitnesses--Domingo Benavides, Barbara Jeanette
Davis, and Virginia Davis.570 It was the unanimous and unequivocal
testimony of expert witnesses before the Commission that these used
cartridge cases were fired from the revolver in Oswald's possession to
the exclusion of all other weapons. (See app. X, p. 559.)
Cortlandt Cunningham, of the Firearms Identification Unit of the FBI
Laboratory, testified that. he compared the four empty cartridge cases
found near the scene of the shooting with a test cartridge fired from
the weapon in Oswald's possession when he was arrested. Cunningham
declared that this weapon fired the four cartridges to the exclusion of
all other weapons. Identification was effected through breech face marks
and firing pin marks.571 Robert A. Frazier and Charles Killion, other
FBI firearms experts, independently examined the four cartridge cases
and arrived at the same conclusion as Cunningham. 572 At the request of
the Commission, Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent. of the Illinois Bureau
of Criminal Identification Investigation, also examined the four
cartridge eases found near the site of the homicide and compared them
with the test cartridge cases
Page 172
fired from the Smith & Wesson revolver taken from Oswald. He concluded
that all of these cartridges were fired from the same weapon.573
Cunningham compared four lead bullets recovered from the body of
Patrolman Tippit with test bullets fired from Oswald's revolver 574 He
explained that the bullets were slightly smaller than the barrel of the
pistol which had fired them. This caused the bullets to have an erratic
passage through the barrel and impressed upon the lead of the bullets
inconsistent individual characteristics which made identification
impossible. Consecutive bullets fired from the revolver by the FBI
experts could not be identified as having been fired from that
revolver.575 (See app. X, p. 559.) Cunningham testified that all of the
bullets were mutilated, one being useless for comparison purposes. All
four bullets were fired from a weapon with five lands and grooves and a
right. twist 576 which were the rifling characteristics of the revolver
taken from Oswald. He concluded, however, that he could not say whether
the four bullets were fired from the revolver in Oswald's possession.577
"The only thing I can testify is they could have on the basis of the
rifling characteristics--they could have been." 578
Nicol differed with the FBI experts on one bullet taken from Tippit's
body. He declared that this bullet 579 was fired from the same weapon
that fired the test bullets to the exclusion of all other weapons. But
he agreed that because the other three bullets were mutilated, he could
not determine if they had been fired from the same weapon as the test
bullets.580
The examination and testimony of the experts enabled the Commission to
conclude that five shots may have been fired, even though only four
bullets were recovered. Three of the bullets recovered from Tippit's
body were manufactured by Winchester-Western, and the fourth bullet by
Remington-Peters, but only two of the four discarded cartridge eases
found on the lawn at 10th Street and Patton Avenue were of
Winchester-Western manufacture.581 Therefore, one cartridge case of this
type was not recovered. And though only one bullet of Remington-Peters
manufacture was recovered, two empty cartridge cases of that make were
retrieved. Therefore, either one bullet of Remington-Peters manufacture
is missing or one used Remington-Peters cartridge case, which may have
been in the revolver before the shooting, was discarded along with the
others as Oswald left the scene. If a bullet is missing, five were
fired. This corresponds with the observation and memory of Ted
Callaway,582 and possibly Warren Reynolds, but not with the other
eyewitnesses who claim to have heard from two to four shots.
Ownership of Revolver
By checking certain importers and dealers after the assassination of
President Kennedy and slaying of Officer Tippit, agents of the FBI
determined that George Rose & Co. of Los Angeles was a major distributor
Page 173
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 790
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT No. 2
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT No. 4
MICHAELIS EXHIBIT No. 5
Page 174
of this type of revolver.583 Records of Seaport Traders, Inc., a
mail-order division of George Rose & Co., disclosed that on January 3,
1963, the company received from Empire Wholesale Sporting Goods, Ltd.,
Montreal, a shipment of 99 guns in one case. Among these guns was a .38
Special caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, serial No. V510210, the only
revolver made by Smith & Wesson with this serial number.584 When first
manufactured, it had a 5-inch barrel. George Rose & Co. had the barrel
shortened by a gunsmith to inches.585
Sometime after January 27, 1963, Seaport Traders, Inc., received through
the mail a mail-order coupon for one ".38 St. W. 2" Bbl.," cost $29.95.
Ten dollars in cash was enclosed. The order was signed in ink by "A. J.
Hidell, aged 28." 588 (See Commission Exhibit No. 790, p. 173.) The date
of the order was January 27 (no year shown), and the return address was
Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex. Also on the order form was an order,
written in ink, for one box of ammunition and one holster, but a line
was drawn through these items. The mail-order form had a line for the
name of a witness to attest that the person ordering the gun was a U.S.
citizen and had not been convicted of a felony. The name written in this
space was D. F. Drittal.587
Heinz W. Michaelis, office manager of both George Rose & Co., Inc., and
Seaport Traders, Inc., identified records of Seaport Traders, Inc.,
which showed that a ".38 S and W Special two-inch Commando, serial
number V510210" was shipped on March 20, 1963, to A. J. Hidell, Post
Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex. The invoice was prepared on March 13,
1963; the revolver was actually shipped on March 20 by Railway Express.
The balance due on the purchase was $19.95. Michaelis furnished the
shipping copy of the invoice, and the Railway Express Agency shipping
documents, showing that $19.95, plus $1.27 shipping charge, had been
collected from the consignee, Hidell.588 (See Michaelis Exhibits Nos. 2,
4, 5, p. 173.)
Handwriting experts, Alwyn Cole of the Treasury Department and James C.
Cadigan of the FBI, testified before the Commission that the writing on
the coupon was Oswald's. The signature of the witness, D. F. Drittal,
who attested that the fictitious Hidell was an American citizen and had
not been convicted of a felony, was also in Oswald's handwriting.589
Marina Oswald gave as her opinion that the mail-order coupon was in
Oswald's handwriting. 590 When shown the revolver, she stated that she
recognized it as the one owned by her husband.591 She also testified
that this appeared to be the revolver seen in Oswald's belt in the
picture she took in late March or early April 1963 when the family was
living on Neely Street in Dallas? Police found an empty revolver holster
when they searched Oswald's room on Beckley Avenue after his arrest.593
Marina Oswald testified that this was the holster which contained the
revolver in the photographs taken on Neely Street.594
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Oswald's Jacket
Approximately 15 minutes before the shooting of Tippit, Oswald was seen
leaving his roominghouse.595 He was wearing a zipper jacket which he had
not been wearing moments before when he had arrived home.596 When Oswald
was arrested, he did not have a jacket.597 Shortly after Tippit was
slain, policemen found a light-colored zipper jacket along the route
taken by the killer as he attempted to escape.598 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)
At 1:22 p.m. the Dallas police radio described the man wanted for the
murder of Tippit as "a white male about thirty, five foot eight inches,
black hair, slender, wearing a white jacket, white shirt and dark
slacks." 599 According to Patrolman Poe this description came from Mrs.
Markham and Mrs. Barbara Jeanette Davis.600 Mrs. Markham told Poe that
the man was a "white male, about 25, about five feet eight, brown hair,
medium," and wearing a "white jacket." Mrs. Davis gave Poe the same
general description: a "white male in his early twenties, around five
foot seven inches or eight inches, about 145 pounds," and wearing a
white jacket.
As has been discussed previously, two witnesses, Warren Reynolds and B.
M. Patterson, saw the gunman run toward the rear of a gasoline service
station on Jefferson Boulevard. Mrs. Mary Brock, the wife of a mechanic
who worked at the station, was there at the time and she saw a white
male, 5 feet, 10 inches * * * wearing light clothing * * * a
light-colored jacket" walk past her at a fast pace with his hands in his
pocket. She last saw him in the parking lot directly behind the service
station. When interviewed by FBI agents on January 91, 1964, she
identified a picture of Oswald as being the same person she saw on
November 22. She confirmed this interview by a sworn affidavit.601
At 1:24 p.m., the police radio reported, "The suspect last seen running
west on Jefferson from 400 East Jefferson." 602 Police Capt. W. R.
Westbrook and several other officers concentrated their search along
Jefferson Boulevard.603 Westbrook walked through the parking lot behind
the service station 604 and found a light-colored jacket lying under the
rear of one of the cars.605 Westbrook identified Commission Exhibit No.
162 as the light-colored jacket which he discovered underneath the
automobile.606
This jacket belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald. Marina Oswald stated that her
husband owned only two jackets, one blue and the other gray.607 The blue
jacket was found in the Texas School Book Depository 608 and was
identified by Marina Oswald as her husband's.609 Marina Oswald also
identified Commission Exhibit No. 162, the jacket found by Captain
Westbrook, as her husband's second jacket.610
The eyewitnesses vary in their identification of the jacket. Mrs.
Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper at Oswald's roominghouse and the last
person known to have seen him before he reached 10th Street and Patton
Avenue, said that she may have seen the gray zipper jacket but
Page 176
she was not certain. It seemed to her that the jacket Oswald wore was
darker than Commission Exhibit No. 162.611 Ted Callaway, who saw the
gunman moments after the shooting, testified that Commission Exhibit No.
162 looked like the jacket he was wearing but "I thought it had a little
more tan to it." 612 Two other witnesses, Sam Guinyard and William
Arthur Smith, testified that Commission Exhibit No. 162 was the jacket
worn by the man they saw on November 22. Mrs. Markham and Barbara Davis
thought that the jacket worn by the slayer of Tippit was darker than the
jacket found by Westbrook.613 Scoggins thought it was lighter.614
There is no doubt., however, that Oswald was seen leaving his
roominghouse at about 1 p.m. wearing a zipper jacket, that the man who
killed Tippit was wearing a light-colored jacket, that he was seen
running along Jefferson Boulevard, that a jacket was found under a car
in a lot adjoining Jefferson Boulevard, that the jacket belonged to Lee
Harvey Oswald, and that when he was arrested at approximately 1:50 p.m.,
he was in shirt sleeves. These facts warrant the finding that Lee Harvey
Oswald disposed of his jacket as he fled from the scene of the Tippit
killing.
Conclusion
The foregoing evidence establishes that (1) two eyewitnesses who heard
the shots and saw the shooting of Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit
and seven eyewitnesses who saw the flight of the gunman with revolver in
hand positively identified Lee Harvey Oswald as the man they saw fire
the shots or flee from the scene, (2) the cartridge cases found near the
scene of the shooting were fired from the revolver in the possession of
Oswald at the time of his arrest, to the exclusion of all other weapons,
(3) the revolver in Oswald's possession at the time of his arrest was
purchased by and belonged to Oswald, and (4) Oswald's jacket was found
along the path of flight taken by the gunman as he fled from the scene
of the killing. On the basis of this evidence the Commission concluded
that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Dallas Police Patrolman J. D. Tippit.
Oswald Arrest
Page 176
OSWALD'S ARREST
The Texas Theatre is on the north side of Jefferson Boulevard,
approximately eight blocks from the scene of the Tippit shooting and six
blocks from where several witnesses last saw Oswald running west .on
Jefferson Boulevard.615 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1968, p. 164.)
Shortly after the Tippit murder, police sirens sounded along Jefferson
Boulevard. One of the persons who heard the sirens was Johnny Calvin
Brewer, manager of Hardy's Shoestore, a few doors east of the Texas
Theatre. Brewer knew from radio broadcasts that the President had been
shot and that a patrolman had also been shot in Oak Cliff.616 When he
heard police sirens, he "looked up and
Page 177
OSWALD IN FRONT OF TEXAS THEATER
(HILL EXHIBIT B)
OSWALD AT DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT
(FRANK PIZZO EXHIBIT 453-C) (COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1797)
Page 178
saw the man enter the lobby," a recessed area extending about 15 feet
between the sidewalk and the front door of his store.617 A police car
made a U-turn, and as the sirens grew rainier, the man in the lobby
"looked over his shoulder and turned around and walked up West Jefferson
towards the theatre." 618 The man wore a T-shirt beneath his outer shirt
and he had no jacket.619 Brewer said, "He just looked funny to me. * * *
His hair was sort of messed up and looked like he had been running, and
he looked scared, and he looked funny." 620
Mrs. Julia Postal, selling tickets at the box office of the Texas
Theatre, heard police sirens and then saw a man as he "ducked into" the
outer lobby space of the theatre near the ticket office. 620 Attracted
by the sound of the sirens, Mrs. Postal stepped out of the box office
and walked to the curb.622 Shortly thereafter, Johnny Brewer, who had
come from the nearby shoestore, asked Mrs. Postal whether the fellow
that had ducked in had bought a ticket.623 She said, "No; by golly, he
didn't," and turned around, but the man was nowhere in sight.624 Brewer
told Mrs. Postal that he had seen the man ducking into his place of
business and that he had followed him to the theatre.625 She sent Brewer
into the theatre to find the man and check the exits, told him about the
assassination, and said "I don't know if this is the man they want. * *
* but he is running from them for some reason." 626 She then called the
police.627
At 1:45 p.m., the police radio stated, "Have information a suspect just
went in the Texas Theatre on West Jefferson." 628 Patrol cars bearing at
least 15 officers converged on the Texas Theatre.629 Patrolman M. N.
McDonald, with Patrolmen R. Hawkins, T. A. Hutson, and C. T. Walker,
entered the theatre from the rear.630 Other policemen entered the front
door and searched the balcony.631 Detective Paul L. Bentley rushed to
the balcony and told the projectionist to turn up the house lights.632
Brewer met McDonald and the other policemen at the alley exit door,
stepped out onto the stage with them 633 and pointed out the man who had
come into the theatre without paying. 634 The man was Oswald. He was
sitting alone in the rear of the main floor of the theatre near the
right center aisle.635 About six or seven people were seated on the
theatre's main floor and an equal number in the balcony.636
McDonald first searched two men in the center of the main floor, about
10 rows from the front.637 He walked out of the row up the right center
aisle.638 When he reached the row where the suspect was sitting,
McDonald stopped abruptly and told the man to get on his feet. 639
Oswald rose from his seat, bringing up both hands.640 As McDonald
started to search Oswald's waist for a gun, he heard him say, "Well,
it's all over now." 641 Oswald then struck McDonald between the eyes
with his left fist.; with his right hand he drew a gun from his
waist.642 McDonald struck back with his right hand and grabbed the gun
with his left hand.643 They both fell into the seats.644 Three other
officers, moving toward the scuffle, grabbed Oswald from the front, rear
and side.645 As McDonald fell into the seat with his left
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hand on the gun, he felt something graze across his hand and heard what
sounded like the snap of the hammer.646 McDonald felt the pistol scratch
his cheek as he wrenched it away from Oswald.647 Detective Bob K.
Carroll, who was standing beside McDonald, seized the gum from him.648
The other officers who helped subdue Oswald corroborated McDonald in his
testimony except that they did not hear Oswald say, "It's all over now."
Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers recalled such a remark but he did not
reach the scene of the struggle until Oswald had been knocked to the
floor by McDonald and the others.649 Some of the officers saw Oswald
strike McDonald with his fist.650 Most of them heard a click which they
assumed to be a click of the hammer of the revolver.651 Testimony of a
firearms expert before the Commission established that the hammer of the
revolver never touched the shell in the chamber.652 Although the
witnesses did not hear the sound of a misfire, they might have heard a
snapping noise resulting from the police officer grabbing the cylinder
of the revolver and pulling it away from Oswald while he was attempting
to pull the trigger.653 (See app. X, p. 560.)
Two patrons of the theatre and John Brewer testified regarding the
arrest of Oswald, as did the various police officers who participated in
the fight. George Jefferson Applin, Jr., confirmed that Oswald fought
with four or five officers before he was handcuffed.654 He added that
one officer grabbed the muzzle of a shotgun, drew back, and hit Oswald
with the butt end of the gun in the back.655 No other theatre patron or
officer has testified that Oswald was hit by a gun. Nor did Oswald ever
complain that he was hit with a gun, or injured in the back. Deputy
Sheriff Walthers brought a shotgun into the theatre but laid it on some
seats before helping subdue Oswald.656 Officer Ray Hawkins said that
there was no one near Oswald who had a shotgun and he saw no one strike
Oswald in the back with a rifle butt or the butt of a gun.657
John Gibson, another patron in the theatre, saw an officer grab Oswald,
and he claims that he heard the click of a gun misfiring.658 He saw no
shotgun in the possession of any policeman near Oswald.659 Johnny Brewer
testified he saw Oswald pull the revolver and the officers struggle with
him to take it away but that once he was subdued, no officer struck
him.660 He further stated that while fists were flying he heard one of
the officers say "Kill the President, will you." 661 It is unlikely that
any of the police officers referred to Oswald as a suspect in the
assassination. While the police radio had noted the similarity in
description of the two suspects, the arresting officers were pursuing
Oswald for the murder of Tippit.662 As Oswald, handcuffed, was led from
the theatre, he was, according to McDonald, "cursing a little bit and
hollering police brutality." 663 At 1:51 p.m., police car 2 reported by
radio that it was on the way to headquarters with tile suspect.664
Captain Fritz returned to police headquarters from the Texas School Book
Depository at 2:15 after a brief stop at the sheriff's
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office.665 When he entered the homicide and robbery bureau office, he
saw two detectives standing there with Sgt. Gerald L. Hill, who had
driven from the theatre with Oswald.666 Hill testified that Fritz told
the detective to get a search warrant, go to an address on Fifth Street
in Irving, and pick up a man named Lee Oswald. When Hill asked why
Oswald was wanted, Fritz replied, "Well, he was employed down at the
Book Depository and he had not been present for a roll call of the
employees." 667 Hill said, "Captain, we will save you a trip * * * there
he sits." 668
Statements of Oswlad During Detention
Page 180
STATEMENTS OF OSWALD DURING DETENTION
Oswald was questioned intermittently for approximately 12 hours between
2:30 p.m., on November 22, and 11 a.m., on November 24. Throughout this
interrogation he denied that- he had anything to do either with the
assassination of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman Tippit.
Captain Fritz of the homicide and robbery bureau did most of the
questioning, but he kept no notes and there were no stenographic or
'tape recordings. Representatives of other law enforcement agencies were
also present, including the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. They
occasionally participated in the questioning. The reports prepared by
those present at these interviews are set forth in appendix XI. A full
discussion of Oswald's detention and interrogation is presented in
chapter V of this report.
During the evening of November 22, the Dallas Police Department
performed paraffin tests on Oswald's hands and right cheek in an
apparent effort to determine, by means of a scientific test, whether
Oswald had recently fired a weapon. The results were positive for the
hands and negative for the right cheek.669 Expert testimony before the
Commission was to the effect that the paraffin test was unreliable 670
in determining whether or not a person has fired a rifle or revolver.671
The Commission has, therefore, placed no reliance on the paraffin tests
administered by the Dallas police. (See app.. X, pp. 561-562.)
Oswald provided little information during his questioning. Frequently,
however, he was confronted with evidence which he could not explain, and
he resorted to statements which are known to be lies.672 While Oswald's
untrue statements during interrogation were not considered items of
positive proof by the Commission, they had probative value in deciding
the weight to be given to his denials that he assassinated President
Kennedy and killed Patrolman Tippit. Since independent evidence revealed
that Oswald repeatedly and blatantly lied to the police, the Commission
gave little weight to his denials of guilt.
Denial of Rifle Ownership
From the outset, Oswald denied owning a rifle. On November 23, Fritz
confronted Oswald with the evidence that he had purchased a rifle under
the fictitious name of "Hidell." Oswald said that this
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was not true. Oswald denied that he had a rifle wrapped up in a blanket
in the Paine garage. Oswald also denied owning a rifle and said that
since leaving the Marine Corps he had fired only a small bore .22
rifle.673 On the afternoon of November 23, Officers H. M. Moore, R. S.
Stovall, and G. F. Rose obtained a search warrant and examined Oswald's
effects in the Paine garage. They discovered two photographs, each
showing Oswald with a rifle and a pistol.674 These photographs were
shown to Oswald on the evening of November 23 and again on the morning
of the 24th. According to Fritz, Oswald sneered, saying that they were
fake photographs, that he had been photographed a number of times the
day before by the police, that they had superimposed upon the
photographs a rifle and a revolver.675 He told Fritz a number of times
that the smaller photograph was either made from the larger, or the
larger photograph was made from the smaller and that at the proper time
he would show that the pictures were fakes. Fritz told him that the two
small photographs were found in the Paine garage. At that point., Oswald
refused to answer any further questions.676 As previously indicated,
Marina Oswald testified that she took the two pictures with her
husband's Imperial Reflex camera when they lived on Neely Street. Her
testimony was fully supported by a photography expert who testified that
in his opinion the pictures were not composites.677
The Revolver
At the first interrogation, Oswald claimed that his only crime was
carrying a gun and resisting arrest. When Captain Fritz asked him why he
carried the revolver, he answered, "Well, you know about a pistol. I
just carried it." 678 He falsely alleged that he bought the revolver in
Fort Worth,679 when in fact he purchased it from a mail-order house in
Los Angeles.680
The Aliases "Hidell" and "O. H. Lee"
The arresting officers found a forged selective service card with a
picture of Oswald and the name "Alek J. Hidell" in Oswald's billfold.681
On November 22 and 23, Oswald refused to tell Fritz why this card was in
his possession,682 or to answer any questions concerning the card.683 On
Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald denied that he knew A. J. Hidell.
Captain Fritz produced the selective service card bearing the name "Alek
J. Hidell." Oswald became angry and said, "Now, I've told you all I'm
going to tell you about that card in my billfolds--you have the card
yourself and you know as much about it as I do." 684 At. the last
interrogation on November Oswald admitted to Postal Inspector Holmes
that he had rented post office box 2915, Dallas, but denied that he had
received a package in this box addressed to Hidell. He also denied that
he had received the rifle through this box.685 Holmes reminded Oswald
that A. J.
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Hidell was listed on post office box 30061, New Orleans, as one entitled
to receive mail. Oswald replied, "I don't know anything about that."686
When asked why he lived at his roominghouse under the name O. H. Lee,
Oswald responded that the landlady simply made a mistake, because he
told her that his name was Lee, meaning his first name.687 An
examination of the roominghouse register revealed that Oswald actually
signed the name O. H. Lee.688
The Curtain Rod Story
In concluding that Oswald was carrying a rifle in the paper bag on the
morning of November 22, 1963, the Commission found that Oswald lied when
he told Frazier that he was returning to Irving to obtain curtain rods.
When asked about the curtain rod story, Oswald lied again. He denied
that he had ever told Frazier that he wanted a ride to Irving to get
curtain rods for an apartment.689 He explained that a party for the
Paine children had been planned for the weekend and he preferred not to
be in the Paine house at that time; therefore, he made his weekly visit
on Thursday night.690 Actually, the party for one of the Paine's
children was the preceding weekend, when Marina Oswald suggested that
Oswald remain in Dallas.691 When told that Frazier and Mrs. Randle had
seen him carrying a long heavy package, Oswald replied, "Well, they was
mistaken. That must have been some other time he picked me up." 692 In
one interview, he told Fritz that the only sack he carried to work that
day was a lunch sack which he kept on his lap during the ride from
Irving to Dallas.693 Frazier testified before the Commission that Oswald
carried no lunch sack that day.694
Actions During and After Shooting
During the first interrogation on November 22, Fritz asked Oswald to
account for himself at the time the President was shot. Oswald told him
that he ate lunch in the first-floor lunchroom and then went to the
second floor for a Coke which he brought downstairs. He acknowledged the
encounter with the police officer on the second floor. Oswald told Fritz
that after lunch he went outside, talked with Foreman Bill Shelley for 5
or 10 minutes and then left for home. He said that he left work because
Bill Shelley said that there would be no more work done that. day in the
building.695 Shelley denied seeing Oswald after 12 noon or at any time
after the shooting.696 The next day, Oswald' added to his story. He
stated that at. the time the President was shot he was having lunch with
"Junior" but he did not give Junior's last name.697 The only employee at
the Depository Building named "Junior" was James Jarman, Jr. Jarman
testified that he ate his lunch on the first floor around 5 minutes to
12, and that he neither ate lunch with nor saw Oswald.698 Jarman did
talk to Oswald that morning:
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* * * he asked me what were the people gathering around on the corner
for and I told him that the
President was supposed to pass that morning, and he asked me did I know
which way he was coming,
and I told him, yes, he probably come down Main and turn on Houston and
then back again on Elm.
Then he said, "Oh, I see," and that was all.699
Prior Attempt to Kill
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PRIOR ATTEMPT TO KILL
The Attempt on the Life of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker
At approximately 9 p.m., on April 10, 1963, in Dallas, Tex., Maj. Gen.
Edwin A. Walker, an active and controversial figure on the American
political scene since his resignation from the U.S. Army in 1961,
narrowly escaped death when a rifle bullet fired from .outside his home
passed near his head as he was seated at his desk.700 There were no
eyewitnesses, although a 14-year-old boy in a neighboring house claimed
that immediately after the shooting he saw two men, in separate cars,
drive out of a church parking lot adjacent to Walker's home.701 A friend
of Walker's testified that two nights before the shooting he saw "two
men around the house peeking in windows." 702 General Walker gave this
information to the police before the shooting, but it did not help solve
the crime. Although the bullet was recovered from Walker's house (see
app. X, p. 562), in the absence of a weapon it was of little
investigatory value. General Walker hired two investigators to determine
whether a former employee might have been involved in the shooting.708
Their results were negative. Until December 3, 1963, the Walker shooting
remained unsolved.
The Commission evaluated the following evidence in considering whether
Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shot which almost killed General Walker: (1)
A note which Oswald left for his wife on the evening of the shooting,
photographs found among Oswald's possessions after the assassination of
President Kennedy, (3) firearm identification of the bullet found in
Walker's home, and (4) admissions and other statements made to Marina
Oswald by Oswald concerning the shooting.
Note left by Oswald.--On December 2, 1963, Mrs. Ruth Paine turned over
to the police some of the Oswalds' belongings, including a Russian
volume entitled "Book of Useful Advice." 704, In this book was an
undated note written in Russian.. In translation, the note read as
follows:
1. This is the key to the mailbox which is located in the main post
office in the city on Ervay
Street. This is the same street where the drugstore, in which you always
waited is located. You
will find the mailbox in the post office which is located 4 blocks from
the drugstore on that street. I
paid for the box last month so don't worry about it.
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2. Send the information as to what has happened to me to the Embassy and
include newspaper clippings (should there be anything about me in the
newspapers). I believe that the Embassy will come quickly to your
assistance on learning everything.
3. I paid the house rent on the 2d so don't worry about it.
4. Recently I also paid for water and gas.
5. The money from work will possibly be coming. The money will be sent
to our post office box. Go to the bank and cash the check.
6. You can either throw out or give my clothing, etc. away. Do not keep
these. However, I prefer that you hold on to my personal papers
(military, civil, etc.).
7. Certain of my documents are in the small blue valise.
8. The address book can be found on my table in the study should need
same.
9. We have friends here. The Red Cross also will help you.
(Red Cross in English). [sic]
10. I left you as much money as I could, $60 on the second of the month.
You and the baby [apparently] can live for another 2 months using $10
per week.
11. If I am alive and taken prisoner, the city jail is located at the
end of the bridge through which we always passed on going to the city
(right in the beginning of the city after crossing the bridge).705
James C. Cadigan, FBI handwriting expert, testified that this note was
written by Lee Harvey Oswald.706
Prior to the Walker shooting on April 10, Oswald had been attending
typing classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings. He had quit
these classes at least a week before the shooting, which occurred on a
Wednesday night.707 According to Marina Oswald's testimony, on the night
of the Walker shooting, her husband left their apartment on Neely Street
shortly after dinner. She thought he was attending a class or was on his
own business." 708 When he failed to return by 10 or 10:30 p.m., Marina
Oswald went to his room and discovered the note. She testified: "When he
came back I asked him what had happened. He was very pale. I don't
remember the exact time, but it was very late. And he told me not to ask
him any questions. He only told me he had shot at General Walker." 709
Oswald told his wife that he did not know whether he had hit Walker;
according to Marina Oswald when he learned on the radio and in the
newspapers the next. day that he had missed, he said that he "was very
sorry that he had not hit him." 710 Marina Oswald's testimony was fully
supported by the note itself which appeared to be the work of a man
expecting to be killed, or imprisoned, or to disappear. The last
paragraph directed her to the jail and the other paragraphs instructed
her on the disposal of Oswald's personal effects and the management of
her affairs if he should not return.
It is clear that the note was written while the Oswalds were living in
Dallas before they moved to New Orleans in the spring of 1963.
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The references to house rent and payments for water and gas indicated
that the note was written when they were living in a rented apartment;
therefore it could not have been written while Marina Oswald was living
with the Paines. Moreover, the reference in paragraph 3 to paying "the
house rent on the 2d" would be consistent with the period when the
Oswalds were living on Neely Street since the apartment was rented on
March 3, 1963. Oswald had paid the first month's rent in advance on
March 2, 1963, and the second month's rent was paid on either April 2 or
April 3.711 The main post office "on Ervay Street" refers to the post
office where Oswald rented box 2915 from October 9, 1962, to May 14,
1963.712 Another statement which limits the time when it could have been
written is the reference "you and the baby," which would indicate that
it was probably written before the birth of Oswald's second child on
October 20, 1963.
Oswald had apparently mistaken the county jail for the city jail. From
Neely Street the Oswalds would have traveled downtown on the Beckley
bus, across the Commerce Street viaduct and into downtown Dallas through
the Triple Underpass.713 Either the viaduct or the underpass might have
been the "bridge" mentioned in the last paragraph of the note. The
county jail is at the corner of Houston and Main Streets "right in the
beginning of the city" after one travels through the underpass.
Photographs.--In her testimony before the Commission in February 1964,
Marina Oswald stated that when Oswald returned home on the night of the
Walker shooting, he told her that he had been planning the attempt for 2
months. He showed her a notebook 3 days later containing photographs of
General Walker's home and a map of the area where the house was
located.714 Although Oswald destroyed the notebook,715 three photographs
found among Oswald's possessions after the assassination were identified
by Marina Oswald as photographs of General Walker's house.716 Two of
these photographs were taken from the rear of Walker's house.717 The
Commission confirmed, by comparison with other photographs, that these
were, indeed, photographs of the rear of Walker's house.718 An
examination of the window at the rear of the house, the wall through
which the bullet passed, and the fence behind the house indicated that
the bullet was fired from a position near the point where one of the
photographs was taken.719
The third photograph identified by Marina Oswald depicts the entrance to
General Walker's driveway from a back alley.720 Also seen in the picture
is the fence on which Walker's assailant apparently rested the rifle.721
An examination of certain construction work appearing in the background
of this photograph revealed that the picture was taken between March 8
and 12, 1963, and most probably on either March 9 or March 10.722 Oswald
purchased the money order for the rifle on March 12, the rifle was
shipped on March 20,728 and the shooting occurred on April 10. A
photography expert with the FBI was able to determine that, this picture
was taken with the Imperial Reflex camera owned by Lee Harvey Oswald.724
(See app. X, p. 596.)
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A fourth photograph, showing a stretch of railroad tracks, was also
identified by Marina Oswald as having been taken by her husband,
presumably in connection with the Walker shooting.725 Investigation
determined that this photograph was taken approximately seven-tenths of
a mile from Walker's house.726 Another photograph of railroad tracks
found among Oswald's possessions was not identified by his wife, but
investigation revealed that it was taken from a point slightly less than
half a mile from General Walker's house.727 Marina Oswald stated that-
when she asked her husband what be had done with the rifle, he replied
that he had buried it in the ground or hidden it in some bushes and that
he also mentioned a railroad track in this connection. She testified
that several days later Oswald recovered his rifle and brought it back
to their apartment.728
Firearms identification.--In the room beyond the one in which General
Walker was sitting on the night of the shooting the Dallas police
recovered a badly mutilated bullet which had come to rest on a stack of
paper.729 The Dallas City-County Investigation Laboratory tried to
determine the type of weapon which fired the bullet. The oral report was
negative because of the battered condition of the bullet.730 On November
30, 1963, the FBI requested the bullet. for ballistics examination; the
Dallas Police Department forwarded it on December 2, 1963.731
Robert A. Frazier, an FBI ballistics identification expert, testified
that he was "unable to reach a conclusion" as to whether or not the
bullet recovered from Walker's house had been fired from the rifle found
on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. He
concluded that "the general rifling characteristics of the rifle * * *
are of the same type as those found on the bullet * * * and, further, on
this basis * * * the bullet could have been fired from the rifle on the
basis of its land and groove impressions." 732 Frazier testified further
that the FBI 'avoids the category of "probable" identification. Unless
the missile or cartridge case can be identified as coming from a
particular weapon to the exclusion of all others, the FBI refuses to
draw any conclusion as to probability.733 Frazier testified, however,
that he found no microscopic characteristics or other evidence which
would indicate that the bullet was not. fired from the
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Lee Harvey Oswald. It was a
6.5-millimeter bullet and, according to Frazier, "relatively few" types
of rifles could produce the characteristics found on the bullet.734
Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Illinois Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation, conducted an independent examination
of this bullet and concluded "that there is a fair probability" that the
bullet was fired from the rifle used in the assassination of President
Kennedy.735 In explaining the difference between his policy and that of
the FBI on the matter of probable identification, Nicol said:
I am aware of their position. This is not, I am sure, arrived at without
careful consideration. However, to say that because one does not find
sufficient marks for identification that it is a negative,
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I think is going overboard in the other direction. And for purposes of
probative value, for whatever it might be worth, in the absence of very
definite negative evidence, I think it is permissible to say that in an
exhibit such as 573 there is enough on it to say that it could have
come, and even perhaps a little stronger, to say that it probably came
from this, without going so far as to say to the exclusion of all other
guns. This I could not do. 736
Although the Commission recognizes that neither expert was able to state
that the bullet which missed General Walker was fired from Oswald's
rifle to the exclusion of all others, this testimony was considered
probative when combined with the other testimony linking Oswald to the
shooting.
Additional corroborative evidence.--The admissions made to Marina Oswald
by her husband are an important element in the evidence that Lee Harvey
Oswald fired the shot at General Walker. As shown above, the note and
the photographs of Walker's house and of the nearby railroad tracks
provide important corroboration for her account of the incident. Other
details described by Marina Oswald coincide with facts developed
independently of her statements. She testified that her husband had
postponed his attempt to kill Walker until that Wednesday because he had
heard that there was to be a gathering at the church next door to
Walker's house on that evening. He indicated that he wanted more people
in the vicinity at the time of the attempt so that his arrival and
departure would not attract great attention.737 An official of this
church told FBI agents that services are held every Wednesday at the
church except during the month of August.738 Marina Oswald also
testified that her husband had used a bus to return home.739 A study of
the bus routes indicates that Oswald could have taken any one of several
different buses to Walker's house or to a point near the railroad tracks
where he may have concealed the rifle.740 It would have been possible
for him to take different routes in approaching and leaving the scene of
the shooting.
Conclusion.--Based on (1) the contents of the note which Oswald left for
his wife on April 10, 1963, (2) the photographs found among Oswald's
possessions, (3) the testimony of firearms identification experts, and
(4) the testimony of Marina Oswald, the Commission has concluded that
Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to take the life of Maj. Gen. Edwin A.
Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army) on April 10, 1963. The finding that Lee
Harvey Oswald attempted to murder a public figure in April 1963 was
considered of probative value in this investigation, although the
Commission's conclusion concerning the identity of the assassin was
based on evidence independent of the finding that Oswald attempted to
kill General Walker.
Richard M. Nixon Incident
Another alleged threat by Oswald against a public figure involved former
Vice President Richard M. Nixon. In January 1964, Marina Oswald and her
business manager, James Martin, told Robert Oswald,
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Lee Harvey Oswald's brother, that Oswald had once threatened to shoot
former Vice President Richard M. Nixon.741 When Marina Oswald testified
before the Commission on February 3-6, 1964, she had failed to mention
the incident when she was asked whether Oswald had ever expressed any
hostility toward any official of the United States.742 The Commission
first learned of this incident when Robert Oswald related it to FBI
agents on February 19, 1964,743 and to the Commission on February 21.744
Marina Oswald appeared before the Commission again on June 11, 1964, and
testified that a few days before her husband's departure from Dallas to
New Orleans on April 24, 1963, he finished reading a morning newspaper
"* * * and put on a good suit. I saw that he took a pistol. I asked him
where he was going, and why he was getting dressed. He answered 'Nixon
is coming. I want to go and have a look.' " He also said that he would
use the pistol if the opportunity arose.745 She reminded him that after
the Walker shooting he had promised never to repeat such an act. Marina
Oswald related the events which followed:
I called him into the bathroom and I closed the door and I wanted to
prevent him and then I started to cry. -And I told him that he shouldn't
do this, and that he had promised me.
* * * * * *
I remember that I held him. We actually struggled for several minutes
and then he quieted down.746
She stated that it was not physical force which kept him from leaving
the house. "I couldn't keep him from going out if he really wanted to."
747 After further questioning she stated that she might have been
confused about shutting him in the bathroom, but that "there is no doubt
that he got dressed and got a gun."
Oswald's revolver was shipped from Los Angeles on March 20, 1968, 749
and he left for New Orleans on April 24, 1968. 750 No edition of either
Dallas newspaper during the period January 1, 1963, to May 15, 1968,
mentioned any proposed visit by Mr. Nixon to Dallas.751 Mr. Nixon
advised the Commission that the only time he was in Dallas in 1963 was
on November 20-21, 19'63.752 An investigation failed to reveal any
invitation extended to Mr. Nixon during the period when Oswald's threat
reportedly occurred.753 The Commission has concluded, therefore, that
regardless of what Oswald may have said to his wife he was not actually
planning to shoot Mr. Nixon at that time in Dallas.
On April 23, 1963, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was in Dallas for a
visit which had 'been publicized in the Dallas newspapers throughout
April.754 The Commission asked Marina Oswald whether she might have
misunderstood the object of her husband's threat. She stated, "there is
no question that in this incident it was a question of Mr. Nixon." 755
When asked later whether it might have been
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Mr. Johnson, she said, "Yes, no. I am getting a little confused with so
many questions. I was absolutely convinced it was Nixon and now after
all these questions I wonder if I am right in my mind? 756 She stated
further that Oswald had only mentioned Nixon's name once during the
incident.757 Marina Oswald might have misunderstood her husband. Mr.
Johnson was the then Vice President and his visit took place on April
23d. 758 This was 1 day before Oswald left for New Orleans and Marina.
appeared certain that the Nixon incident "wasn't the day before. Perhaps
3 days before." 759
Marina Oswald speculated that. the incident may have been unrelated to
an actual threat. She said,
* * * It might have been that he was just. trying to test me. He was the
kind of person who could try and wound somebody in that way. Possibly he
didn't want to go out at all but was just doing this all as a sort of
joke, not really as a joke but rather to simply wound me, to make me
feel bad.760
In the absence of other evidence that Oswald actually intended to shoot
someone at this time, the Commission concluded that the incident, as
described by Marina Oswald, was of no probative value in the
Commission's decision concerning the identity of the assassin of
President. Kennedy.
Oswald's Rifle Capability
Page 189
OSWALD'S RIFLE CAPABILITY
In deciding whether Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots which killed
President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally, the Commission
considered whether Oswald, using his own rifle, possessed the capability
to hit his target with two out of three shots under the conditions
described in chapter Ill. The Commission evaluated (1) the nature of the
shots, (2) Oswald's Marine training in marksmanship, (8) his experience
and practice after leaving the Marine Corps, and (4) the accuracy of the
weapon and the quality of the ammunition.
The Nature of the Shots
For a rifleman situated on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book
Depository Building the shots were at a slow- moving target proceeding
on a downgrade in virtually a straight line with the alinement of the
assassin's rifle, at a range of 177 to 266 feet.761 An aerial photograph
of Dealey Plaza shows that. Elm Street runs at an angle so that the
President would have been moving in an almost straight line away from
the assassin's rifle.762 (See Commission Exhibit No. $76, p. 33.) In
addition, the 3° downward slope of Elm Street was of assistance in
eliminating at least some of the adjustment which is ordinarily required
when a marksman must raise his rifle as a target moves farther away.763
Four marksmanship experts testified before the Commission. Maj. Eugene
D. Anderson, assistant head of the Marksmanship Branch of
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the U.S. Marine Corps, testified that the shots which struck the
President in the neck and in the head were "not * * * particularly
difficult." 764 Robert A. Frazier, FBI expert. in firearms
identification and training, said:
From my own experience in shooting over the years, when you shoot at 175
feet or 260 feet, which is less than 100 yards, with a telescopic sight,
you should not have any difficulty in hitting your target.
* * * * * * *
I mean it requires no training at all to shoot a weapon with a
telescopic sight once you know that you must put the crosshairs on the
target and that is all that is necessary.765
Ronald Simmons, chief of the U.S. Army Infantry Weapons Evaluation
Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory, said: "Well, in order to
achieve three hits, it would not be required that a man be an
exceptional shot. A proficient man with this weapon, yes." 766
The effect of a four-power telescopic sight on the difficulty of these
shots was considered in detail by M. Sgt. James A. Zahm, noncommissioned
officer in charge of the Marksmanship Training Unit in the Weapons
Training Battalion of the Marine Corps School at Quantico, Va.767
Referring to a rifle with a four-power telescope, Sergeant Zahm said:
* * * this is the ideal type of weapon for moving targets * * * 768
* * * * * *
* * * Using the scope, rapidly working a bolt and using the scope to
relocate your target quickly and at the same time when you locate that
target you identify it and the crosshairs are in close relationship to
the point you want to shoot at, it just takes a minor move in aiming to
bring the crosshairs to bear, and then it is a quick squeeze.769
* * * * * *
I consider it a real advantage, particularly at the range of 100 yards,
in identifying your target. It. allows you to see your target clearly,
and it is still of a minimum amount of power that it doesn't exaggerate
your own body movements. It just is an aid in seeing in the fact that
you only have the one element, the crosshair, in relation to the target
as opposed to iron sights with aligning the sights and then aligning
them on the target.770
Characterizing the four-power scope as "a real aid, an extreme aid" in
rapid fire shooting, Sergeant Zahm expressed the opinion that the shot
which struck President Kennedy in the neck at 176.9 to 190.8 feet was
"very easy" and the shot which struck the President in the
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head at a distance of 265.3 feet was "an easy shot." 771 After viewing
photographs depicting the alinement of Elm Street in relation to the
Texas School Book Depository Building, Zahm stated further:
This is a definite advantage to the shooter, the vehicle moving directly
away from him and the downgrade of the street, and he being in an
elevated position made an almost stationary target while he was aiming
in, very little movement if any.772
Oswald's Marine Training
In accordance with standard Marine procedures, Oswald received extensive
training in marksmanship.773 During the first week of an intensive
8-week training period he received instruction in sighting, aiming, and
manipulation of the trigger.774 He went through a series of exercises
called dry firing where he assumed all positions which would later be
used in the qualification course.775 After familiarization with live
ammunition in the .22 rifle and .22 pistol, Oswald, like all Marine
recruits, received training on the rifle range at distances up to 500
yards, firing 50 rounds each day for five days.776
Following that training, Oswald was tested in December of 1956, and
obtained a score of 212, which was 2 points above the minimum for
qualifications as a "sharpshooter" in a scale of
marksman--sharp-shooter--expert.777 In May of 1959, on another range,
Oswald scored 191, which was 1 point over the minimum for ranking as a
"marksman." 778 The Marine Corps records maintained on Oswald further
show that he had fired and was familiar with the Browning Automatic
rifle, .45 caliber pistol, and 12-gage riot gun.779
Based on the general Marine Corps ratings, Lt. Col. A. G. Folsom, Jr.,
head, Records Branch, Personnel Department, Headquarters U.S. Marine
Corps, evaluated the sharpshooter qualification as a "fairly good shot."
and a low marksman rating as a "rather poor shot."
When asked to explain the different scores achieved by Oswald on the two
occasions when he fired for record, Major Anderson said:
* * * when he fired that [212] he had just completed a very intensive
preliminary training period. He had the services of an experienced
highly trained coach. He had high motivation. He had presumably a good
to excellent rifle and good ammunition. We have nothing here to show
under what conditions the B course was fired. It might well have been a
bad day for firing the rifle--windy, rainy, dark. There is little
probability that he had a good, expert coach, and he probably didn't
have as high a motivation because he was no longer in recruit training
and under the care of the drill instructor. There is some possibility
that the rifle he was firing might not have been as good a rifle as the
rifle that he was firing in his A course firing, because [he] may well
have carried this rifle for quite some time, and it got banged around in
normal usage. 781
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Major Anderson concluded:
I would say that as compared to other Marines receiving the same type of
training, that Oswald was a good shot, somewhat better than or equal
to--better than the average let us say. As compared to a civilian who
had not received this intensive training, he would be considered as a
good to excellent shot.782
When Sergeant Zahm was asked whether Oswald's Marine Corps training
would have made it easier to operate a rifle with a four-power scope, he
replied:
Based on that training, his basic knowledge in sight manipulation and
trigger squeeze and what not, I would say that he would be capable of
sighting that rifle in well, firing it, with 10 rounds.783
After reviewing Oswald's marksmanship scores, Sergeant Zahm concluded:
I would say in the Marine Corps he is a good shot, slightly above
average, and as compared to the average male of his age throughout the
civilian, throughout the United States, that he is an excellent shot.784
Oswald's Rifle Practice Outside the Marines
During one of his leaves from the Marines, Oswald hunted with his
brother Robert, using a .22 caliber bolt-action rifle belonging either
to Robert or Robert's in-laws.785 After he left the Marines and before
departing for Russia, Oswald, his brother, and a third companion went
hunting for squirrels and rabbits.786 On that occasion Oswald again used
a bolt-action .22 caliber rifle; and according to Robert, Lee Oswald
exhibited an average amount of proficiency with that weapon.787 While in
Russia, Oswald obtained a hunting license, joined a hunting club and
went hunting about six times, as discussed more fully in chapter VI.788
Soon after Oswald returned from the Soviet Union he again went hunting
with his brother, Robert, and used a borrowed .22 caliber bolt-action
rifle.789 After Oswald purchased the Mannlicher- Carcano rifle, he told
his wife that he practiced with it.790 Marina Oswald testified that on
one occasion she saw him take the rifle, concealed in a raincoat, from
the house on Neely Street. Oswald told her he was going to practice with
it. 791 According to George De Mohrenschildt, Oswald said that he went
target shooting with that rifle.792
Marina Oswald testified that in New Orleans in May of 1963, she observed
Oswald sitting with the rifle on their screened porch at night, sighting
with the telescopic lens and operating the bolt.798 Examination of the
cartridge cases found on the sixth floor of the Depository
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Building established that they had been previously loaded and ejected
from the assassination rifle, which would indicate that Oswald practiced
operating the bolt.794
Accuracy of Weapon
It will be recalled from the discussion in chapter III that the assassin
in all probability hit two out of the three shots during the maximum
time span of 4.8 to 5.6 seconds if the second shot missed, or, if either
the first or third shots missed, the assassin fired the three shots
during a minimum time span of 7.1 to 7.9 seconds.795 A series of tests
were performed to determine whether the weapon and ammunition used in
the assassination were capable of firing the shots which were fired by
the assassin on November 22, 1968. The ammunition used by the assassin
was manufactured by Western Cartridge Co. of East Alton, III. In tests
with the Mannlicher-Carcano C2766 rifle, over 100 rounds of this
ammunition were fired by the FBI and the Infantry Weapons Evaluation
Branch of the U.S. Army. There were no misfires.796
In an effort to test the rifle under conditions which simulated those
which prevailed during the assassination, the Infantry Weapons
Evaluation Branch of the Ballistics Research Laboratory had expert
riflemen fire the assassination weapon from a tower at three silhouette
targets at distances of 175, 240, and 265 feet. The target at 265 feet
was placed to the right of the 240-foot target which was in turn placed
to the right of the closest silhouette.797 Using the assassination rifle
mounted with the telescopic sight, three marksmen, rated as master by
the National Rifle Association, each fired two series of three shots. In
the first series the firers required time spans of 4.6, 6.75, and 8.25
seconds respectively. On the second series they required 5.15, 6.45, and
7 seconds. None of the marksmen had any practice with the assassination
weapon except for exercising the bolt for 2 or 3 minutes on a dry run.
They had not even pulled the trigger because of concern about breaking
the firing pin.798
The marksmen took as much time as they wanted for the first target and
all hit the target.799 For the first four attempts, the firers missed
the second shot. by several inches. 800 The angle from the first. to the
second shot was greater than from the second to the third shot and
required a movement in the basic firing position of the marksmen.801
This angle was used in the test because the majority of the eyewitnesses
to the assassination stated that there was a shorter interval between
shots two and three than between shots one and two.802 As has been shown
in chapter III, if the three shots were fired within a period of from
4.8 to 5.6 seconds, the shots would have been evenly spaced and the
assassin would not have incurred so sharp an angular movement.803
Five of the six shots hit the third target where the angle of movement.
of the weapon was small.804 On the basis of these results, Simmons
testified that in his opinion the probability of hitting the targets at
the relatively short range at which they were hit was very high.805
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Considering the various probabilities which may have prevailed during
the actual assassination, the highest level of firing performance which
would have been required of the assassin and the C2766 rifle would have
been to fire three times and hit the target twice within a span of 4.8
to 5.6 seconds. In fact, one of the firers in the rapid fire test in
firing his two series of three shots, hit the target twice within a span
of 4.6 and 5.15 seconds. The others would have been able to reduce their
times if they had been given the opportunity to become familiar with the
movement of the bolt and the trigger pull.806 Simmons testified that
familiarity with the bolt could be achieved in dry practice and, as has
been indicated above, Oswald engaged in such practice.807 If the
assassin missed either the first or third shot, he had a total of
between 4.8 and 5.6 seconds between the two shots which hit and a total
minimum time period of from 7.1 to 7.9 seconds for all three shots. All
three of the firers in these tests were able to fire the rounds within
the time period which would have been available to the assassin under
those conditions.
Three FBI firearms experts tested the rifle in order to determine the
speed with which it could be fired. The purpose of this experiment was
not to test the rifle under conditions which prevailed at the time of
the assassination but to determine the maximum speed at which it could
be fired. The three FBI experts each fired three shots from the weapon
at 15 yards in 6, 7, and 9 seconds, and one of these agents, Robert A.
Frazier, fired two series of three shots at 25 yards in 4.6 and 4.8
seconds.808 At 15 yards each man's shots landed within the size of a
dime.809 The shots fired by Frazier at the range of 25 yards landed
within an area of 2 inches and 5 inches respectively.810 Frazier later
fired four groups of three shots at a distance of 100 yards in 5.9, 6.2,
5.6, and 6.5 seconds. Each series of three shots landed within areas
ranging in diameter from 3 to 5 inches.811 Although all of the shots
were a few inches high and to the right of the target., this was because
of a defect in the scope which was recognized by the FBI agents and
which they could have compensated for if they were aiming to hit a
bull's-eye.812 They were instead firing to determine how rapidly the
weapon could be fired and the area within which three shots could be
placed. Frazier testified that while he could not tell when the defect
occurred, but that a person familiar with the weapon could compensate
for it.813 Moreover, the defect was one which would have assisted the
assassin aiming at a target which was moving away. Frazier said, "The
fact that the crosshairs are set high would actually compensate for any
lead which had to be taken. So that if you aimed with this weapon as it
actually was received at the laboratory, it would not be necessary to
take any lead whatsoever in order to hit the intended object. The scope
would accomplish the lead for you." Frazier added that the scope would
cause a slight miss to the right. It should be noted, however, that the
President's car was curving slightly to the right when the third shot
was fired.
Based on these tests the experts agreed that the assassination rifle was
an accurate weapon. Simmons described it as "quite accurate,"
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in fact, as accurate as current. military rifles.814 Frazier testified
that the rifle was accurate, that it had less recoil than the average
military rifle and that one would not have to be an expert marksman to
have accomplished the assassination with the weapon which was used.815
Conclusion
The various tests showed that the Mannlicher-Carcano was an accurate
rifle and that the use of a four-power scope was a substantial aid to
rapid, accurate firing. Oswald's Marine training in marksmanship, his
other rifle experience and his established familiarity with this
particular weapon show that he possessed ample capability to commit the
assassination. Based on the known facts of the assassination, the Marine
marksmanship experts, Major Anderson and Sergeant Zahm, concurred in the
opinion that Oswald had the capability to fire three shots, with two
hits, within 4.8 and 5.6 seconds.816 Concerning the shots which struck
the President in the back of the neck, Sergeant Zahm testified: "With
the equipment he [Oswald] had and with his ability I consider it a very
easy shot." 817 Having fired this slot the assassin was then required to
hit the target one more time within a space of from 4.8 to 5.6 seconds.
On the basis of Oswald's training and the accuracy of the weapon as
established by the tests, the Commission concluded that Oswald was
capable of accomplishing this second hit even if there was an
intervening shot which missed. The probability of hitting the President
a second time would have been markedly increased if, in fact, he had
missed either the first or third shots thereby leaving a time span of
4.8 to 5.6' seconds between the two shots which struck their mark. The
Commission agrees with the testimony of Marine marksmanship expert Zahm
that it was easy shot" to hit some part of the President's body, and
that the range where the rifleman would be expected to hit would include
the President's head.818
Conclusion
Page 195
CONCLUSION
On the basis of the evidence reviewed in this chapter, the Commission
has found that Lee Harvey Oswald (1) owned and possessed the rifle used
to kill President Kennedy and wound Governor Connally, (2) brought this
rifle into the Depository Building on the morning of the assassination,
(3) was present, at the time of the assassination, at the window from
which the shots were fired (4) killed Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit
in an apparent attempt to escape, (5) resisted arrest by drawing a fully
loaded pistol and attempting to shoot. another police officer, (6) lied
to the police after his arrest concerning important substantive matters,
(7) attempted, in April 1963, to kill Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker, and (8)
possessed the capability with a rifle which would have enabled him to
commit the assassination. On the basis of these findings the Commission
has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin of President
Kennedy.
Chapter V Detention and Death of Oswald
Page 196
CHAPTER V
Detention and Death of Oswald
LEE HARVEY OSWALD spent almost all of the last 48 hours of his life in
the Police and Courts Building, a gray stone structure in downtown
Dallas that housed the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department and
the city jail. Following his arrest early Friday afternoon, Oswald was
brought immediately to this building and remained there until Sunday
morning, November 24, when he was scheduled to be transferred to the
county jail. At 11:21 that morning, in full view of millions of people
watching on television, Oswald was fatally wounded by Jack Ruby, who
emerged suddenly from the crowd of newsmen and policemen witnessing the
transfer and fired a single shot at Oswald.
Whether the killing of Oswald was part of a conspiracy involving the
assassination of President Kennedy is considered in chapter VI. Aside
from that question, the occurrences within the Police and Courts
Building between November 22 and 24 raise other important issues
concerning the conduct of law enforcement officials, the
responsibilities of the press, the rights of accused persons, and the
administration of criminal justice in the United States. The Commission
has therefore deemed it necessary to determine the facts concerning
Oswald's detention and death and to evaluate the actions and
responsibilities of the police and press involved in these events.
Treatment of Oswald in Custody
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TREATMENT OF OSWALD IN CUSTODY
The focal center of the Police and Courts Building during Oswald's
detention was the third floor, which housed the main offices of the
Dallas Police Department. The public elevators on this floor opened into
a lobby midpoint of a corridor that extended along the length of the
floor for about 140 feet. At one end of this 7-foot-wide corridor were
the offices occupied by Chief of Police Jesse E. Curry and his immediate
subordinates; at the other end was a small pressroom that could
accommodate only a handful of reporters. Along this corridor were other
police offices, including those of the major detective bureaus. Between
the pressroom and the lobby was the complex of offices
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THIRD FLOOR PLAN
DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT
DALLAS, TEXAS
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2175
Page 198
belonging to the homicide and robbery bureau, headed by Capt. J. Will
Fritz.1 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2175, p. 197.)
Chronology
The policemen who seized Oswald at the Texas Theatre arrived with him at
the police department building at about 9 p.m. and brought him
immediately to the third floor offices of the homicide and robbery
bureau to await the arrival of Captain Fritz from the Texas School Book
Depository. After about 15 or 20 minutes Oswald was ushered into the
office of Captain Fritz for the first of several interrogation
sessions.2 At 4:05 p.m. he was taken to the basement assembly room for
his first lineup.3 While waiting outside the lineup room, Oswald was
searched, and five cartridges and other items were removed from his
pockets.4 After the lineup, at about 4 :20, Oswald was returned to
Captain Fritz' office for further questioning.5 Two hours later, at 6:20
p.m., Oswald was taken downstairs for a second lineup and returned to
Captain Fritz' office within 15 minutes for additional interrogation.6
Shortly after 7 p.m., Captain Fritz signed a complaint charging Oswald
with the murder of Patrolman Tippit. Oswald was formally .arraigned,
i.e., advised of the charges, at 7:10 p.m., before Justice of the Peace
David L. Johnston, who came to Captain office for the occasion.7
After a third lineup at about 7:40 p.m., Oswald was returned to Fritz'
office.8 About. an hour later, after further questioning, Oswald's
fingerprints and palmprints were taken and a paraffin test (see app. XI)
administered in Fritz' office, after which the questioning resumed.9 At
11:26 p.m. Fritz signed the complaint charging Oswald with the murder of
President Kennedy. 10 Shortly after midnight, detectives took Oswald to
the basement assembly room for an appearance of several minutes before
members of the press.11 At about 12 :20 a.m. Oswald was delivered to the
jailer who placed him in a maximum security cell on the fifth floor. 12
His cell was the center one in a block of three cells that were
separated from the remainder of the jail area. The cells on either side
of Oswald were empty and a guard was nearby whenever Oswald was
present.13 Shortly after 1 :30 a.m. Oswald was brought to the
identification bureau on the fourth floor and arraigned before Justice
of the Peace Johnston, this time for the murder President Kennedy.14
Questioning resumed in Fritz' office on Saturday morning at about 10:25
a.m., and the session lasted nearly an hour and 10 minutes.15 Oswald was
then returned to his cell for an hour, and at 12:35 p.m. he was brought
back to Fritz' office for an additional half-hour of questioning.16 From
1:10 to 1:30 p.m., Oswald's wife and mother visited him in the fourth
floor visiting area;17 at 1:40 p.m. he tempted to call an attorney in
New York. 18 He appeared in another lineup at, 2 :15 p.m.19 At 2:45
p.m., with Oswald's consent, a member of the identification bureau
obtained fingernail scrapings and specimens of hair from him.20 He
returned to the fourth floor at 3:30
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p.m. for a 10-minute visit with his brother, Robert. 21 Between 4 and
4:30 p.m., Oswald made two telephone calls to Mrs. Ruth Paine 22 at her
home in Irving; at about 5:30 p.m. he was visited by the president of
the Dallas Bar Association 23 with whom he spoke for about 5 minutes.
From 6 to 7:15 p.m. Oswald was interrogated once again in Captain Fritz'
office and then returned to his cell. 24 At 8 p.m. he called the Paine
residence again and asked to speak to his wife, but Mrs. Paine told him
that his wife was no longer there.25
Oswald was signed out of jail at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, and
taken to Captain Fritz' office for a final round of questioning.26 The
transfer party left Fritz' office at about 11:15 a.m.;27 at 11:21 a.m.
Oswald was shot.28 He was declared dead at Parkland Hospital at 1:07
p.m.29
Interrogation Sessions
During the period between 2:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon and 11:15 a.m.
Sunday morning, Oswald was interrogated for a total of approximately 12
hours.30 Though subject to intermittent questioning for more than 7
hours on Friday, Oswald was given 8 to 9 hours to rest that night. On
Saturday he was questioned for a total of only 3 hours during three
interrogation sessions, and on Sunday he was questioned for less than 2
hours. 31 (These interrogations are discussed in ch. IV.)
Captain Fritz' office, within which the interrogations took place, was a
small room, 14 feet by 9 and a half feet in size. 32 In addition to the
policemen guarding the prisoner, those present usually included Dallas
detectives, investigators from the FBI and the Secret Service, and
occasionally other officials, 'particularly a post office inspector and
the U.S. marshal. (See statements in app. XI.) As many as seven or eight
people crowded into the small office.33 In all, more than 25 different
persons participated in or were present at some time during
interrogations. Captain Fritz, who conducted most of the interrogations,
was frequently called from the room. He said, "I don't believe there was
any time when I went through a very long period without having to step
to the door, or step outside, to get a report from some pair of
officers, or to give them additional assignments." 34 In his absence,
others present would occasionally question Oswald.35
The interrogators differ on whether the confusion prevailing in the main
third floor corridor penetrated Fritz' office and affected the
atmosphere within.36 Oswald's processions through the third floor
corridor, described more fully below, tended, in Fritz' opinion, to keep
Oswald upset, and the remarks and questions of newsmen sometimes caused
him to become annoyed. Despite the confusion that frequently prevailed,
Oswald remained calm most of the time during the interrogations.37
According to Captain Fritz:
You know I didn't have trouble with him. If we would just talk to him
quietly like we are talking right now, we talked all right until I asked
him a question that meant something, every
Page 200
time I asked him a question that meant something, that would produce
evidence he immediately told
me he wouldn't tell me about it and he seemed to anticipate what I was
going to ask. 38
Special Agent James W. Bookhout, who represented the FBI at most of the
interrogations, stated, "I think generally you might say any-time that
you asked a question that would be pertinent to the investigation, that
would be the type of question he would refuse to discuss." 39
The number of people in the interrogation room and the tumultuous
atmosphere throughout the third floor made it difficult for the
interrogators to gain Oswald's confidence and to encourage him to be
truthful. As Chief Curry has recognized in his testimony, "we were
violating every principle of interrogation * * * it was just against all
principles of good interrogation practice." 40
Oswald's Legal Rights
All available evidence indicates that Oswald was not subjected to any
physical hardship during the interrogation sessions or at any other time
while he was in custody. He was fed and allowed to rest. When he
protested on Friday against being handcuffed from behind, the cuffs were
removed and he was handcuffed in front. 41 Although he made remarks to
newsmen about desiring a shower and demanding his "civil rights," Oswald
did not complain about his treatment to any of the numerous police
officers and other persons who had much to do with him during the 2 days
of his detention.42 As described in chapter IV, Oswald received a.
slight cut over his right eye and a bruise under his left eye during the
scuffle in the Texas Theatre with the arresting officers, three of whom
were injured .and required medical treatment. These marks were visible
to all who saw him during the 2 days of his detention and to millions of
television viewers.43
Before the first questioning session on Friday afternoon, Fritz warned
Oswald that he was not compelled to make any statement and that
statements he did make could be used against him.44 About 5 hours later,
he was arraigned for the Tippit murder and within an additional 6 and a
half hours he was arraigned for the murder of President Kennedy. On each
occasion the justice of the peace advised Oswald of his right to obtain
counsel and the right to remain silent.45
Throughout the period of detention, however, Oswald was not represented
by counsel. At the Friday midnight press conference in the basement
assembly room, he made the following remarks:
Oswald. Well, I was questioned by Judge-------[Johnston]. However, I
protested at that time that I
was not allowed legal representation during that very short and sweet
hearing. I really don't know what
the situation is about. Nobody has told me anything except that I am
accused of, of, murdering a policeman.
Page 201
I know nothing more than that and I do request someone to come forward
to give me legal assistance.
Q. Did you kill the President ?
A. 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.
Q. Mr. Oswald, how did you hurt your eye ?
A. A policeman hit me.46
At this time Oswald had been arraigned only for the murder of Patrolman
Tippit, but questioning by Captain Fritz and others had been
substantially concerned with Oswald's connection with the
assassination.47
On Friday evening, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union
visited the police department to determine whether Oswald was being
deprived of counsel. They were assured by police officials and Justice
of the Peace Johnston that Oswald had been informed of his rights and
was being allowed to seek a lawyer.48 On Saturday Oswald attempted
several times to reach John Abt, a New York lawyer, by telephone, but
with no success. 49 In the afternoon, he called Ruth Paine and asked her
to try to reach Abt for him, but she too failed. 50 Later in the
afternoon, H. Louis Nichols, president of the Dallas Bar Association,
visited Oswald in his cell and asked him whether he wanted the
association to obtain a lawyer for him. Oswald declined the offer,
stating a first preference for Abt and a second preference for a lawyer
from the American Civil Liberties Union.51 As late as Sunday morning,
according to Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes, Oswald said that he
preferred to get his own lawyer.52
Activity of Newsmen
Page 201
ACTIVITY OF NEWSMEN
Within an hour of Oswald's arrival at the police department on November
22, it became known to newsmen that he was a possible suspect in the
slaying of President Kennedy as well as in the murder of Patrolman
Tippit. At least as early as 3:26 p.m. a television report carried this
information. Reporters and cameramen flooded into the building and
congregated in the corridor of the third floor, joining those few who
had been present when Oswald first arrived. 53
On the Third Floor
Felix McKnight, editor of the Dallas Times-Herald, who handled press
arrangements for the President's visit, estimated that within 24 hours
of the assassination more than 800 representatives of news media were in
Dallas, including correspondents from foreign newspapers and press
associations.54 District Attorney Henry M. Wade
Page 202
thought that the crowd in the third floor hallway itself may have
numbered as many as 300.55 Most estimates, including those based on
examination of video tapes, place upwards of 100 newsmen and cameramen
in the third floor corridor of the police department by the evening of
November 22.55 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2633, p. 203.)
In the words of an FBI agent who was present, the conditions at the
police station were "not too much unlike Grand Central Station at rush
hour, maybe like the Yankee Stadium during the World Series games.
* * *" 57 In the lobby of the third floor, television cameramen set up
two large cameras and floodlights in strategic positions that gave them
a sweep of the corridor in either direction. Technicians stretched their
television cables into and out of offices, running some of them out of
the windows of a deputy chief's office and down the side of the
building. Men with newsreel cameras, still cameras, and microphones,
more mobile than the .television cameramen, moved back and forth seeking
information and opportunities for interviews. Newsmen wandered into the
offices of .other bureaus located on the third floor, sat on desks, and
used police telephones; indeed, one reporter admits hiding a telephone
behind a desk so that he would have exclusive access to it if something
developed.58
By the time Chief Curry returned to the building in the middle of the
afternoon from Love Field where he had escorted President Johnson from
Parkland Hospital, he found that "there was just pandemonium on the
third floor." 59 The news representatives, he testified:
* * * were jammed into the north hall of the third floor, which are the
offices of the criminal investigation division. The television trucks,
there were several of them around the city hall. I went into my
administrative offices, I saw cables coming through the administrative
assistant office and through the deputy chief of traffic through his
office, and running through the hall they had a live TV set up on the
third floor, and it was a bedlam of confusion.60
According to Special Agent Winston G. Lawson of the Secret Service:
At least by 6 or 7 o'clock * * * [the reporters and cameramen] were
quite in evidence up and down the corridors, cameras on the tripods, the
sound equipment, people with still cameras, motion picture-type hand
cameras, all kinds of people with tape recorders, and they were trying
to interview people, anybody that belonged in police headquarters that
might know anything about Oswald * * * .61
The corridor became so jammed that policemen and newsmen had to push and
shove if they wanted to get through, stepping over cables,
Page 203
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2633
Scene in third floor corridor.
Page 204
wires, and tripods.62 The crowd in the hallway was so dense that
District Attorney Wade found it a "strain to get the door open" to get.
into the homicide office.63 According to Lawson, "You had to literally
fight your way through the people to get up and down the corridor." 64 A
witness who was escorted into the homicide offices on Saturday afternoon
related that he
tried to get by the reporters, stepping over television cables and you
couldn't hardly get by, they would grab you and wanted to know what you
were doing down here, even with the detectives one in front and one
behind you.65
The television cameras continued to record the scene on the third floor
as some of the newsmen kept. vigil through the night.66
Such police efforts as there were to control the newsmen were
unavailing. Capt. Glen D. King, administrative assistant to Chief Curry,
witnessed efforts to clear an aisle through the hallway, but related
that "this was a constant battle because of the number of newsmen who
were there. They would move back into the aisleway that had been
cleared. They interfered with the movement of people who had to be
there." 67 According to one detective, "they would be asked to stand
back and stay back but it wouldn't do much good, and they would push
forward and you had to hold them off physically." The detective recalled
that on one occasion when he was escorting a witness through the
corridor he "stopped * * * and looked down and there was a joker had a
camera stuck between * * * [his] legs taking pictures. * * * "68 Forrest
V. Sorrels of the Secret Service had the impression that the "press and
the television people just * * * took over." 69
Police control over the access of other than newsmen to the third floor
was of limited but increasing effectiveness after Oswald's arrival at
the police department. Initially no steps. were taken to exclude
unauthorized persons from the third floor corridor, but late Friday
afternoon Assistant Chief Charles Batchelor stationed guards at the
elevators and the stairway to prevent the admission of such persons. He
also directed the records room in the basement to issue passes, after
verification by the bureaus involved, to people who had legitimate
business on the third floor.70 Throughout the 3 days of Oswald's
detention, the police were obliged to continue normal business in all
five bureaus located along the third floor hallway. Thus many
persons--relatives of prisoners, complainants, witnesses 71 --had
occasion to visit police offices on the third floor on business
unrelated to the investigation of the assassination.
Newsmen seeking admission to the third floor were required to identify
themselves by their personal press cards; however, the department did
not follow its usual procedure of checking the authenticity of press
credentials.72 Captain King felt that this would have been impossible in
light of "the atmosphere that existed over there, the tremendous
pressures that existed, the fact that telephones were ringing
constantly,
Page 205
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2631
Oswald being moved through third floor corridor.
Page 206
that there were droves of people in there * * * the fact that the method
by which you positively identify someone * * * it's not easy." 73
Police officers on the third floor testified that they carefully checked
all persons for credentials, and most newsmen indicated that after
Batchelor imposed security they were required to identify themselves by
their press cards.74 Special Agent Sorrels of the Secret Service stated
that he was requested to present credentials on some of his visits to
the third floor.75 However, other newsmen apparently went unchallenged
during the entire period before Oswald was killed, al though some of
them were wearing press badges on their lapels and some may have been
known to the police officers. 76
According to some reporters and policemen, people who appeared to be
unauthorized were present on the third floor after security procedures
were instituted, and video tapes seem to confirm their observations.77
Jack Ruby was present on the third floor on Friday night.78 Assistant
Chief of Police N. T. Fisher testified that even on Saturday "anybody
could come up with a plausible reason for going to one of the third
floor bureaus and was able to get in." 79
Oswald and the Press
When the police car bringing Oswald from the Texas Theatre drove into
the basement of police headquarters at about 2 p.m. on Friday, some
reporters and cameramen, principally from local papers and stations,
were already on hand. The policemen formed a wedge around Oswald and
conducted him to the elevator, but several newsmen crowded into the
elevator with Oswald and the police. When the elevator stopped at the
third floor, the cameramen ran ahead down the corridor, and then turned
around and backed up, taking pictures of Oswald as he was escorted
toward the homicide and robbery bureau office. According to one
escorting officer, some six or seven reporters followed the police into
the bureau office.80
From Friday afternoon, when Oswald arrived in the building, until
Sunday, newspaper reporters and television cameras focused their
attention on the homicide office. In full view and within arm's length
of the assembled newsmen, Oswald traversed the 20 feet of corridor
between the homicide office and the locked door leading to the jail
elevator at least 15 times after his initial arrival. The jail elevator,
.sealed off from public use, took him to his fifth floor cell and to the
assembly room in the basement for lineups and the Friday night news
conference.81
On most occasions, Oswald's escort of three to six detectives and
policemen had to push their way through the newsmen who sought to
surround them. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2631, p. 205.) Although the
Dallas press normally did not take pictures of a prisoner without first
obtaining permission of the police, who generally asked the prisoner,
this practice was not followed by any of the newsmen with Oswald.82
Generally when Oswald appeared the newsmen turned their cameras on him,
thrust microphones at his face, and shouted
Page 207
OSWALD AT PRESS CONFERENCE IN
ASSEMBLY ROOM, FRIDAY NIGHT
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2965)
Page 208
questions at him. Sometimes he answered. Reporters in the forefront of
the throng would repeat his answers for the benefit of those behind them
who could not hear. On Saturday, however in response to police
admonitions, the reporters exercised more restraint and shouted fewer
questions at Oswald when he passed through the corridor.83
Oswald's most prolonged exposure occurred at the midnight press
conference on Friday night. In response to demands of newsmen, District
Attorney Wade, after consulting with Chief Curry and Captain Fritz, had
announced shortly before midnight that Oswald would appear at a press
conference in the basement assembly room.84 An estimated 70 to 100
people, including Jack Ruby, and other unauthorized persons, crowded
into the small downstairs room. No identification was required.85 The
room was so packed that Deputy Chief M. W. Stevenson and Captain Fritz
who came down to the basement after the crowd had assembled could not
get in and were forced to remain in the doorway.86
Oswald was brought into the room shortly after midnight.87 Curry had
instructed policemen not to permit newsmen to touch Oswald or get close
to him, but no steps were taken to shield Oswald from the crowd.88
Captain Fritz had asked that Oswald be placed on the platform used for
lineups so that he could be more easily removed "if anything happened."
89 Chief Curry, however, insisted that Oswald stand on the floor in
front of the stage, where he was also in front of the one-way
nylon-cloth screen customarily used to prevent a suspect. from seeing
those present in the room. This was done because cameramen had told
Curry that their cameras would not photograph well through the screen.90
Curry had instructed the reporters that they were not to "ask any
questions and try to interview * * * [Oswald] in any way," but when he
was brought into the room, immediately they began to shoot questions at
him and shove microphones into his face." 91 It was difficult to hear
Oswald's answers above the uproar. Cameramen stood on the tables to take
pictures and others pushed forward to get close-ups. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 2965, p. 207.) The noise and confusion mounted as reporters
shouted at each other to get out of the way and cameramen made frantic
efforts to get into position for pictures.92 After Oswald had been in
the room only a few minutes, Chief Curry intervened and directed that
Oswald be taken back to the jail because, he testified, the newsmen
"tried to overrun him." 93
The Abortive Transfer
Page 208
THE ABORTIVE TRANSFER
In Dallas, after a person is charged with a felony, the county sheriff
ordinarily takes custody of the prisoner and assumes responsibility for
his safekeeping. Normally, the Dallas Police Department notifies the
sheriff when a prisoner has been charged with a felony and the sheriff
dispatches his deputies to transport the accused to the county jail.
This is usually done within a few hours after the complaint
Page 209
has been filed. In cases of unusual importance, however, the Dallas city
police sometimes transport the prisoners to the county jail.94
The decision to move Oswald to the county jail on Sunday morning was
reached by Chief Curry the preceding evening. Sometime after 7:30
Saturday evening, according to Assistant Chief Batchelor, two reporters
told him that they wanted to go out to dinner but that "they didn't want
to miss anything if we were going to move the prisoner." Curry came upon
them at that point and told the two newsmen that if they returned by 10
o'clock in the morning, they wouldn't "miss anything." 95 A little
later, after checking with Captain Fritz, Curry made a similar
announcement to the assembled reporters. Curry reported the making of
his decision to move Oswald as follows:
Then, I talked to Fritz about when he thought he would transfer the
prisoner, and he didn't think it was a good idea to transfer him at
night because of the fact you couldn't see, and if anybody tried to
cause them any trouble, they needed to see who they were and where it
was coming from and so forth, and he suggested that we wait until
daylight, so this was normal procedure, I mean, for Fritz to determine
when he is going to transfer his prisoners, so I told him "Okay." I
asked him, I said, "What time do you think you will be ready tomorrow?"
And he didn't know exactly and I said, "Do you think about 10 o'c1ock,"
and he said, "I believe so," and then is when I went out and told the
newspaper people * * * "I believe if you are back here by 10 o'clock you
will be back in time to observe anything you care to observe." 96
During the night, between 2:30 and 3 a.m., the local office of the FBI
and the sheriff's office received telephone calls from an unidentified
man who warned that a committee had decided "to kill the man that killed
the President." 97 Shortly after, an FBI agent notified the Dallas
police of the anonymous threat. The police department and ultimately
Chief Curry were informed of both threats.98
Immediately after his arrival at the building on Sunday morning between
8:30 and 8:45 a.m., Curry spoke by telephone with Sheriff J. E. Decker
about the transfer. When Decker indicated that he would leave to Curry
the decision on whether the sheriff's office or the police would move
Oswald, Curry decided that the police would handle it because "we had so
much involved here, we were the ones that were investigating the case
and we had the officers set up down stairs to handle it." 99
After talking with Decker, Curry began to discuss plans for the
transfer. With the threats against Oswald in mind, Curry suggested to
Batchelor and Deputy Chief Stevenson that Oswald be transported to the
county jail in an armored truck, to which they agreed. While Batchelor
made arrangements to have an armored truck brought to the building,
Curry and Stevenson tentatively agreed on the route the armored truck
would follow from the building to the county jail.100
Page 210
Curry decided that Oswald would leave the building via the basement. He
stated later that he reached this decision shortly after his arrival at
the police building Sunday morning, when members of the press had
already begun to gather in the basement. There is no evidence that
anyone opposed this decision.101 Two members of the Dallas police did
suggest to Captain Fritz that Oswald be taken from the building by
another exit, leaving the press "waiting in the basement and on Commerce
Street, and we could be to the county jail before anyone knew what was
taking place." 102 However, Fritz said that he did not think Curry would
agree to such a plan because he had promised that Oswald would be
transferred at a time when newsmen could take pictures.103 Forrest
Sorrels also suggested to Fritz that Oswald be moved at an unannounced
time when no one was around, but Fritz again responded that Curry
"wanted to go along with the press and not try to put anything over on
them." 104
Preliminary arrangements to obtain additional personnel to assist with
the transfer were begun Saturday evening. On Saturday night, the police
reserves were requested to provide 8 to 10 men on Sunday, and additional
reservists were sought in the morning.105 Capt. C. E. Talbert, who was
in charge of the patrol division for the city of Dallas on the morning
of November 24, retained a small number of policemen in the building
when he took charge that morning and later ordered other patrolmen from
several districts to report to the basement. 106 At about 9 a.m. Deputy
Chief Stevenson instructed all detectives within the building to remain
for the transfer.107 Sheriff Decker testified that his men were ready to
receive Oswald at the county jail from the early hours of Sunday
morning.108
With the patrolmen and reserve policemen available to him, Captain
Talbert, on his own initiative, undertook to secure the basement of the
police department building. He placed policemen outside the building at
the top of the Commerce Street ramp to keep all spectators on the
opposite side of Commerce Street. Later, Talbert directed that patrolmen
be assigned to all street intersections the transfer vehicle would cross
along the route to the county jail. 109 His most significant security
precautions, however, were steps designed to exclude unauthorized
persons from the basement area.
The spacious basement of the Police and Courts Building contains, among
other things, the jail office and the police garage. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 2179, p. 211.) The jail office, into which the jail elevator
opens, is situated on the west side of an auto ramp cutting across the
length of the basement from Main Street, on the north side of the
building, to Commerce Street, on the south side. From the foot of this
ramp, on the east side, midway .through the basement, a decline runs
down a short distance to the l.-shaped police garage. In addition to the
auto ramp, five doors to the garage provide access to the basement from
the Police and Courts Building on the west side of the garage and the
attached Municipal Building on the east. Three of these five doors
provide access to three elevators opening into the garage, two for
passengers near the central part of the garage and
Page 211
BASEMENT
DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT, DALLAS, TEXAS
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2179
Page 212
one for service at the east end of the garage. A fourth door near the
passenger elevator opens into the municipal building; the fifth door, at
the Commerce Street side of the garage, opens into a sub~ basement that
is connected with both buildings.110
Shortly after 9 o'clock Sunday morning, policemen cleared the basement
of all but police personnel. Guards were stationed at the top of the
Main and Commerce Streets auto ramps leading down into the basement, at
each of the five doorways into the garage, and at the double doors
leading to the public hallway adjacent to the jail office. Then, Sgt.
Patrick T. Dean, acting under instructions from Talbert, directed 14 men
in a search of the garage. Maintenance workers were directed to leave
the area. The searchers examined the rafters, tops of air conditioning
ducts, and every closet and room opening off the garage. They searched
the interior and trunk compartment of automobiles parked in the garage.
The two passenger elevators in the central part of the garage were not
in service and the doors were shut and locked; the service elevator was
moved to the first floor, and the operator was instructed not to return
it to the basement.111
Despite the thoroughness with which the search was conducted, there
still existed one and perhaps two weak points in controlling access to
the garage. Testimony did not resolve positively whether or not the
stairway door near the public elevators was locked both from the inside
and outside as was necessary to secure it effectively.112 And 'although
guards were stationed near the double doors, the hallway near the jail
office was accessible to people from inside the Police and Courts
Building without the necessity of presenting identification. Until
seconds before Oswald was shot, newsmen hurrying to photograph Oswald
were able to run without challenge through those doors into the
basement.113
After the search had been completed, the police allowed news
representatives to reenter the basement area and gather along the
entrance to the garage on the east side of the ramp. Later, the police
permitted the newsmen to stand in front of the railing on the east side
of the ramp leading to Main Street. The policemen deployed by Talbert
and Dean had instructions to allow no one but identified news media
representatives into the basement. As before, the police accepted any
credentials that- appeared authentic, though some officers did make
special efforts to check for pictures and other forms of corroborating
identification. Many newsmen reported that they were checked on more
than one occasion while they waited in the basement. A small number did
not recall that their credentials were ever checked.114
Shortly after his arrival on Sunday morning, Chief Curry issued
instructions to keep reporters and cameramen out of the jail office and
to keep television equipment behind the railing separating the basement
auto ramp from the garage. Curry observed that in other respects Captain
Talbert appeared to have security measures in hand and allowed him to
proceed on his own initiative. Batchelor and
Page 213
Stevenson checked progress in the basement during the course of the
morning, and the officials were generally satisfied with the steps
Talbert had taken.115
At about 11 a.m., Deputy Chief Stevenson requested that Capt. O. A.
Jones of the forgery bureau bring all available detectives from the
third floor offices to the basement. Jones instructed the detectives who
accompanied him to the basement to line the walls on either side of the
passageway cleared for the transfer party.116 According to Detective T.
D. McMillon,
* * * Captain Jones explained to us that, when they brought the prisoner
out, that he wanted two lines formed and we were to keep these two lines
formed: you know, a barrier on either side of them, kind of an aisle * *
* for them to walk through, and when they came down this aisle, we were
to keep this line intact and move along with them until the man was
placed in the car.117
With Assistant Chief Batchelor's permission, Jones removed photographers
who had gathered once again in the basement jail office. Jones recalled
that he instructed all newsmen along the Main Street ramp to remain
behind an imaginary line extending from the southeast corner of the jail
office to the railing on the east side of the ramp; other officers
recalled that Jones directed the newsmen to move away from the foot of
the Main Street ramp and to line up against the east. railing. In any
event, newsmen were allowed to congregate along the foot of the ramp
after Batchelor observed that there was insufficient room along the east
of the ramp to permit .all the news representatives to see Oswald as he
was brought out.118
By the time Oswald reached the basement, 40 to 50 newsmen and 70 to 75
police officers were assembled there. Three television cameras stood
along the railing and most of the newsmen were congregated in that area
and at the top of the adjacent decline leading into the garage. A group
of newsmen and police officers, best estimated at about 20, stood strung
across the bottom of the Main Street ramp. Along the south wall of the
passageway outside the jail office door were about eight detectives, and
three detectives lined the north wall. Two officers stood in front of
the double doors leading into the passageway from the corridor next to
the jail office.119 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2634, p. 214.)
Beginning Saturday night, the public had been kept informed of the
approximate time of the transfer. At approximately 10:20 a.m. Curry told
a press conference that Oswald would be moved in an armored truck and
gave a general description of other security precautions.120 Apparently
no newsmen were informed of the transfer route, however, and the route
was not disclosed to the driver of the armored truck until the truck
arrived at the Commerce Street exit at about 11:07 a.m.121 When they
learned of its arrival, many of the remaining newsmen who had waited on
the third floor descended to the basement. Shortly after, newsmen may
have had another indication
Page 214
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2634
Scene in areaway outside jail office immediately before shooting
(Sunday, November 24.)
Page 215
that the transfer was imminent if they caught a glimpse through the
glass windows of Oswald putting on a sweater in Captain Fritz' office.
122
Because the driver feared that the truck might stall if it had to start
from the bottom of the ramp and because the overhead clearance appeared
to be inadequate, Assistant Chief Batchelor had it backed only into the
entranceway at the top of the ramp. Batchelor and others then inspected
the inside of the truck.123
When Chief Curry learned that the truck had arrived, he informed Captain
Fritz that security controls were in effect and inquired how long the
questioning of Oswald would continue. At this point, Fritz learned for
the first time of the plan to convey Oswald by armored truck and
immediately expressed his disapproval. He urged the use of an unmarked
police car driven by a police officer, pointing out that this would be
better from the standpoint of both speed and maneuverability. Curry
agreed to Fritz' plan; the armored truck would be used as a decoy. They
decided that the armored truck would leave the ramp first, followed by a
car which would contain only security officers. A police car bearing
Oswald would follow. After proceeding one block, the car with Oswald
would turn off and proceed directly to the county jail; the armored
truck would follow a lead car to the jail along the previously agreed
upon and more circuitous route.124
Captain Fritz instructed Detectives C. W. Brown and C. N. Dhority and a
third detective to proceed to the garage and move the followup car and
the transfer car into place on the auto ramp. He told Lt. Rio S. Pierce
to obtain another automobile from the basement and take up a lead
position on Commerce Street.125 Deputy Chief Stevenson went back to the
basement to inform Batchelor and Jones of the change in plans.126 Oswald
was given his sweater, and then his right hand was handcuffed to the
left hand of Detective J. R. Leavelle.127 Detective T. L. Baker called
the jail office to check on security precautions in the basement and
notify officials that the prisoner was being brought down.128
On arriving in the basement, Pierce asked Sgts. James A. Putnam and
Billy Joe Maxey to accompany him in the lead car. Since the armored
truck was blocking the Commerce Street ramp, it would be necessary to
drive out the Main Street ramp and circle the block to Commerce Street.
Maxey sat on the back seat of Pierce's car, and Putnam helped clear a
path through reporters on the ramp so that Pierce could drive up toward
Main Street. When the car passed by the reporters at about 11:20 a.m.,
Putnam entered the car on the right front side. Pierce drove to the top
of the Main Street ramp and slowed momentarily as Patrolman Roy E.
Vaughn stepped from his position at the top of the ramp toward the
street to. watch for traffic.129 After Pierce's car left the garage
area, Brown drove another police car out of the garage, moved part way
up the Commerce Street ramp, and began to back down into position to
receive Oswald. Dhority also proceeded to. drive the followup car into
position ahead of Brown.130
Page 216
As Pierce's car started up the ramp at about 11:20 a.m., Oswald,
accompanied by Captain Fritz and four detectives, arrived at the jail
office. Cameramen in the hallway of the basement took pictures of Oswald
through the interior glass windows of the jail office as he was led
through the office to the exit.131 Some of these cameramen then ran
through the double doors near the jail office and squeezed into the line
which had formed across the Main Street ramp.132 Still others remained
just inside the double doors or proceeded through the double doors after
Oswald and his escort emerged from the jail office.133 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 2177, p. 217.)
When Fritz came to the jail office door, he asked if everything was
ready, and a detective standing in the passageway answered yes.134
Someone shouted, "Here he comes !"; additional spotlights were turned on
in the basement, and the din increased. A detective stepped from the
jail office and proceeded toward the transfer car. Seconds later Fritz
and then Oswald, with Detective Leavelle at his right, Detective L. C.
Graves at his left, and Detective L. D. Montgomery at his rear, came
through the door. Fritz walked to Brown's car, which had not yet backed
fully into position; Oswald followed a few feet behind. Newsmen near the
double door moved forward after him.135 Though movie films and video
tapes indicate that the front line newsmen along the Main Street ramp
remained fairly stationary, it was the impression of many who were close
to the scene that with Oswald's appearance the crowd surged forward.
According to Detective Montgomery, who was walking directly behind
Oswald, soon as we came out this door * * * this bunch here just moved
in on us." 136 To Detective B. H. Combest, standing on the Commerce
Street side of the passageway from the jail office door, it appeared
that
Almost the whole line of people pushed forward when Oswald started to
leave the jail office, the door, the hall--all the newsmen were poking
their sound mikes across to him and asking questions, and they were
everyone sticking their flashbulbs up and around and over him and in his
face.137
After Oswald had moved about 10 feet from the door of the jail office,
Jack Ruby passed between a newsman and a detective at the edge of the
straining crowd on the Main Street ramp. With his right hand extended
and holding a .38 caliber revolver, Ruby stepped quickly forward and
fired a single fatal bullet into Oswald's abdomen.138 (See Commission
Exhibit No. 2636, p. 218.)
Possible Assisstance To Jack Ruby In Entering the Basement
Page 216
POSSIBLE ASSISTANCE TO JACK RUBY IN ENTERING THE
BASEMENT
The killing of Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of police headquarters
in the midst of more than 70 police officers gave rise to
Page 217
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2177
Page 218
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2636
Ruby shooting Oswald (Sunday, November 24).
Page 219
immediate speculation that one or more members of the police department
provided Jack Ruby assistance which had enabled him to enter the
basement and approach within a few feet of the accused Presidential
assassin. In chapter VI, the Commission has considered whether there is
any evidence linking Jack Ruby with a conspiracy to kill the President.
At this point, however, it is appropriate to consider whether there is
evidence that Jack Ruby received assistance from Dallas policemen or
others in gaining access to the basement on the morning of November 24.
An affirmative answer would require that the evidence be evaluated for
possible connection with the assassination itself. While the Commission
has found no evidence that Ruby received assistance from any person in
entering the basement, his means of entry is significant in evaluating
the adequacy of the precautions taken to protect Oswald.
Although more than a hundred policemen and newsmen were present in the
basement of police headquarters during the 10 minutes before the
shooting of Oswald, none has been found who definitely observed Jack
Ruby's entry into the basement. After considering all the evidence, the
Commission has concluded that Ruby entered the basement unaided,
probably via the Main Street ramp, and no more than 3 minutes before the
shooting of Oswald.
Ruby's account of how he entered the basement by the Main Street ramp
merits consideration in determining his means of entry. Three Dallas
policemen testified that approximately 80 minutes after his arrest, Ruby
told them that he had walked to the top of the Main Street ramp from the
nearby Western Union office and that he walked down the ramp at the time
the police car driven by Lieutenant Pierce emerged into Main Street.139
This information did not come to light immediately because the policemen
did not report it to their superiors until some days later.140 Ruby
refused to discuss his means of entry in interrogations with other
investigators later on the day of his arrest.141 Thereafter, in a
lengthy interview on December 21 and in a sworn deposition taken after
his trial, Ruby gave the same explanation he had given to the three
policemen.142
The Commission has been able to establish with precision the time of
certain events leading up to the. shooting. Minutes before Oswald
appeared in the basement, Ruby was in the Western Union office located
on the same block of Main Street some 350 feet from the top of the Main
Street ramp. The time stamp on a money order which he sent and on the
receipt found in his pocket establish that the order was accepted for
transmission at almost exactly 11:17 a.m. Ruby was then observed to
depart the office walking in the direction of the police building.143
Video tapes taken without interruption before the shooting establish
that Lieutenant Pierce's car cleared the crowd at the foot of the ramp
55 seconds before the shooting. They also show Ruby standing at the foot
of the ramp on the Main Street side before the shooting.144 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 2635, p. 220.) The shooting occurred very close
to 11:21 a.m. This time has been established by observing the time on a
clock appearing in motion pictures
Page 220
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2635
Ruby in basement (extreme right) immediately before shooting (Sunday,
November 24).
Page 221
of Oswald in the basement jail office, and by records giving the time of
Oswald's departure from the city jail and the time at which an ambulance
was summoned for Oswald.145
The Main Street ramp provided the most direct route to the basement from
the Western Union office. At normal stride, it requires approximately 1
minute to walk from that office to the top of the Main Street ramp and
about 20-25 seconds to descend the ramp.146 It is certain, therefore,
that Ruby entered the basement no more than 2-3 minutes before the
shooting. This timetable indicates that a little more than 2 of the 4
minutes between Ruby's departure from the Western Union office and the
time of the shooting are unaccounted for. Ruby could have consumed this
time in loitering along the way, at the top of the ramp, or inside the
basement. However, if Ruby is correct that he passed Pierce's car at the
top of the ramp, he could have been in the basement no more than 30
seconds before the shooting.147
The testimony of two witnesses partially corroborates Ruby's claim that
he entered by the Main Street ramp. James Turner, an employee of WBAP-TV
Fort Worth, testified that while he was standing near the railing on the
east side of the Main Street ramp, perhaps 30 seconds before the
shooting, he observed a man he is confident was Jack Ruby moving slowly
down the Main Street ramp about 10 feet from the bottom.148 Two other
witnesses testified that they thought they had seen Ruby on the Main
Street side of the ramp before the shooting.149
One other witness has testified regarding the purported movements of a
man on the Main Street ramp, but his testimony merits little credence. A
former police officer, N.J. Daniels, who was standing at the top of the
ramp with the single patrolman guarding this entrance, R. E. Vaughn,
testified that "3 or 4 minutes, I guess" 150 before the shooting, a man
walked down the Main Street ramp in full view of Vaughn but was not
stopped or questioned by the officer. Daniels did not identify the man
as Ruby. Moreover, he gave a description which differed in important
respects from Ruby's appearance on November 24, and he has testified
that he doesn't think the man was Ruby.151 On November 24, Vaughn
telephoned Daniels to ask him if he had seen anybody walk past him on
the morning of the 24th and was told that he had not; it was not until
November 29 that Daniels came forward with the statement that he had
seen a man enter.152
Although the sum of this evidence tends to support Ruby's claim that he
entered by the Main Street ramp, there is other evidence not fully
consistent with Ruby's story. Patrolman Vaughn stated that he checked
the credentials of all unknown persons seeking' to enter the basement,
and his testimony was supported by several persons.153 Vaughn denied
that the emergence of Lieutenant Pierce's car from the building
distracted him long enough to allow Ruby to enter the ramp unnoticed,
and neither he nor any of the three officers in Lieutenant Pierce's car
saw Ruby enter.154
Page 222
Despite Vaughn's denial the Commission has found no credible evidence to
support. any other entry route. Two Dallas detectives believed they
observed three men pushing a WBAP-TV camera into the basement minutes
before the shooting', while only two were with the camera after Oswald
had been shot.155 However, films taken in the basement show the WBAP-TV
camera being pushed past the detectives by only two men.156 The
suspicion of the detectives is probably explained by testimony that a
third WBAP-TV employee ran to help steady the incoming camera as it
entered the basement, probably just before the camera became visible on
the films.157 Moreover, since the camera entered the basement close to 4
minutes before the shooting,158 it is virtually impossible that Ruby
could have been in the basement at that time.
The possibility that Ruby entered the basement by some other route has
been investigated, but the Commission has found no evidence to support
it. Ruby could have walked from the Western Union office. to the
Commerce Street ramp on the other side of the building in about 2 and a
half minutes. 159 However, during the minutes preceding the shooting
video tapes show the armored truck in the entranceway to this ramp with
only narrow clearance on either side. (See Commission Exhibit. No. 2710,
p. 223.) Several policemen were standing near the truck and a large
crowd of spectators was gathered across the street.160 It is improbable
that Ruby could have squeezed past the truck without having been
observed. If Ruby entered by any other means, he would have had to pass
first through the Police and Courts Building or the attached Municipal
Building, and then secondly through one of the five doors into the
basement, all of which, according to the testimony of police officers,
were secured. The testimony was not completely positive about one of the
doors.161
There is no evidence to support the speculations that Ruby used a press
badge to gain entry to the basement or that he concealed himself in a
police car. Police found no form of press card on Ruby's person after
his apprehension, nor any discarded badges within the basement.162 There
is no evidence that any police officer admitted Ruby on the pretense
that he was a member of the press or any other pretense.163
Police vehicles in the basement were inspected during the course of the
search supervised by Sergeant Dean.164 According to Patrolman Vaughn,
the only vehicles that entered the basement while he was at the top of
the Main Street ramp were two patrol cars, one of which entered twice,
and a patrol wagon which was searched by another policeman after it
entered the basement. All entered on official police business and
considerably more than 4 minutes before Oswald was shot.165 None of the
witnesses at the top of the Main Street ramp recalled any police car
entering the basement in the 4-minute period after Ruby left the Western
Union office and preceding the shooting.166 The possibility that Ruby
could have entered the basement in a car may therefore be completely
discounted.
Page 223
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2710
Page 224
The Dallas Police Department, concerned at the failure of its security
measures, conducted an extensive investigation that revealed no
information indicating complicity between any police officer and Jack
Ruby.167 Ruby denied to the Commission that he received any form of
assistance.168 The FBI interviewed every member of the police department
who was on duty in the basement on November 24, and Commission staff
members took sworn depositions from many. With few exceptions, newsmen
who were present in the basement at the time also gave statements and/or
depositions. As the record before the Commission indicated, Ruby had had
rather free access to the Dallas police quarters during the period
subsequent to the assassination, but there was no evidence that
implicated the police or newsmen in Ruby's actions on that day.169
Ruby was known to have a wide acquaintanceship with Dallas policemen and
to seek their favor. According to testimony from many sources, he gave
free coffee at his clubs to many policemen while they were on duty and
free admittance and discounts on beverages when they were off duty.170
Although Chief Curry's estimate that approximately 25 to 50 of the 1,175
men in the Dallas Police Department knew Ruby 171 may be too
conservative, the Commission found no evidence of any suspicious
relationships between Ruby and any police officer.
The Commission found no substantial evidence that any member of the
Dallas Police Department recognized Jack Ruby as an unauthorized person
in the basement prior to the time Sgt. P. T. Dean, according to his
testimony, saw Ruby dart forward toward Oswald. But Dean was then part
way up the Commerce Street ramp, too far removed to act.172 Patrolman W.
J. Harrison, Capt. Glen King, and reserve officers Capt. C. O. Arnett
and Patrolman W. M. Croy were among those in front of Ruby at the time
Dean saw him. They all faced away from Ruby, toward the jail office.173
Video tapes show that Harrison turned in the direction of the ramp at
the time Lieutenant Pierce's car passed, and once again 25 seconds
later, but there is no indication that he observed or recognized
Ruby.174 The policemen standing on the south side of the passageway from
the jail office, who might have been looking in Ruby's direction, had
the glare of television and photographer's lights in their eyes.175
The Commission also considered the possibility that a member of the
police department called Ruby at his apartment and informed him, either
intentionally or unintentionally, of the time of the planned transfer.
From at least 10:19 a.m., until close to 11 a.m., on Sunday, Ruby was at
his apartment,176 where he could have received a call that the transfer
was imminent. He apparently left his apartment between 10:45 and 11
a.m.177 However, the drive from Ruby's apartment to the Western Union
office takes approximately 15 minutes.178 Since the time of the
contemplated transfer could not have been known to anyone until a few
minutes before 11:15 a.m., a precise time could not have been conveyed
to Ruby while he was at his apartment. Moreover, the television and
radio publicized
Page 225
the transfer plans throughout the morning, obviating the need for Ruby
to obtain information surreptitiously.
Adequacy of Security Precautions
Page 225
ADEQUACY OF SECURITY PRECAUTIONS
The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald obviously resulted from the failure of
the security precautions which the Dallas Police Department had taken to
protect their prisoner. In assessing the causes of the security failure,
the Commission has not overlooked the extraordinary circumstances which
prevailed during the. days that the attention of the world was turned on
Dallas. Confronted with a unique situation, the Dallas police took
special security measures to insure Oswald's safety. Unfortunately these
did not include adequate control of the great crowd of newsmen that
inundated the police department building.
The Dallas police had in custody a man whose alleged act had brought
upon him immediate and universal opprobrium. There were many possible
reasons why people might have attempted to kill him if given the
opportunity. Concerned that there might be an attempt on Oswald's life,
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sent a message to Chief Curry on November
22 through Special Agent Manning C. Clements of the FBI's Dallas office,
urging that Oswald be afforded the utmost security. Curry does not
recall receiving the message.179
Although the presence of a great mass of press representatives created
an extraordinary security problem in the building, the police department
pursued its normal policy of admitting the press. That policy, set forth
in General Order No. 81 of the Dallas Police Department, provided--
* * * that members of this Department render every assistance, except
such as obviously may seriously hinder or delay the proper functioning
of the Department, to the accredited members of the official
news-gathering agencies and this includes newspaper, television
cameramen and news-reel photographers.180
In a letter to all members of the police department, dated February 7,
1963, Chief Curry explained the general order, in part, as follows:
The General Order covering this subject is not merely permissive. It
does not state that the Officer may, if he so chooses, assist the press.
It rather places on him a responsibility to lend active assistance.
* * * * * *
* * * as a Department we deal with public affairs. It is the right of
the public to know about these affairs, and one of the most accurate and
useful avenues we have of supplying this information is through the
newspapers and radio and television stations.
Implied in the General Order is a prohibition for the Officer to
improperly attempt to interfere with the news media representative,
Page 226
who is functioning in his capacity as such. Such activity on the part of
any Police Officer is regarded by the press as an infringement of
rights, and the Department shares this view.181
Under this policy, news representatives ordinarily had access to the
Police and Courts Building. The first newsmen to arrive on Friday
afternoon were admitted in accordance with the policy; others who came
later simply followed behind them. Shortly after Oswald arrived, Captain
King granted permission to bring television cameras to the third
floor.182 By the time the unwieldy proportions of the crowd of newsmen
became apparent, it had already become well entrenched on the third
floor. No one suggested reversing the department's policy expressed in
General Order No. 81. Chief Curry testified that at no time did he
consider clearing the crowd from the building; he "saw no particular
harm in allowing the media to observe the prisoner." 183 Captain King
later stated candidly that he simply became "accustomed to the idea of
them being out there." 184
The general policy of the Dallas police recognized that the rule of full
cooperation did not apply when it might jeopardize an investigation.185
In retrospect, most members of the department believed that the general
rule allowing admittance of the press to the police quarters should not
have been followed after the assassination. Few, if any, thought this at
the time.186 By failing' to exclude the press from the building on
Friday and Saturday, the Dallas police made it possible for the
uncontrolled crowd to nearly surround Oswald on the frequent occasions
that he moved through the third floor corridor. The decision to allow
newsmen to observe the transfer on Sunday followed naturally the policy
established during these first 2 days of Oswald's detention. The
reporters and cameramen descended upon the third floor of the Police and
Courts Building in such numbers that the pressroom on the third floor
proved wholly inadequate. Rather than the "two or three or maybe a half
dozen reporters" who normally appeared to cover local police stories,
187 the police were faced with upward of 100. Bringing with them
cameras, microphones, cables, and spotlights, the newsmen inevitably
spilled over into areas where they interfered with the transaction of
police business and the maintenance of security.188
Aside from numbers, the gathering of reporters presented a problem
because most of them were representatives of the national and foreign
press, rather than the local press.189 These newsmen carried individual
press cards rather than identification cards issued by the Dallas
police. Therefore, it was impossible for the police to verify quickly
the identity of this great number of unfamiliar people who appeared
almost simultaneously.190 Because of the close physical proximity of the
milling mass of insistent newsmen to the prisoner, the failure to
authenticate press credentials subjected the prisoner to a serious
security risk.
Although steps were taken on Friday afternoon to insure that persons
seeking entry to the third floor were there for a legitimate purpose,
Page 227
reasons could be fabricated. Moreover, because of the large crowd, it
was easier for unauthorized persons to slip by those guarding the
entrances. Jack Ruby, for one, was able to gain entry to the third-floor
corridor on Friday night.191
The third-floor corridor provided the only passageway between the
homicide and robbery bureau and the jail elevator. No thought seems to
have been given, however, to the possibility of questioning Oswald on
some other floor.192 Moreover, Oswald's most extended exposure to the
press, at the Friday evening press conference, was unrelated to any
phase of the investigation and was motivated primarily by the desire to
satisfy the demands of the news media to see the prisoner.193 The risks
attendant upon this appearance were emphasized by the presence of
unauthorized persons, including Jack Ruby, at the press conference in
the basement assembly room.194
Although Oswald was repeatedly exposed to possible assaults on Friday
and Saturday, he met his death on Sunday, when police took the most
extensive security precautions. The assembly of more than 70 police
officers, some of them armed with tear gas, and the contemplated use of
an armored truck, appear to have been designed primarily to repel an
attempt of a mob to seize the prisoner.195 Chief Curry's own testimony
indicated that such a focus resulted not from any appraisal of the
varied risks to Oswald's life but came about in response to the
telephone threat Sunday morning that a hundred men were going to. attack
Oswald.196
A more balanced appraisal would have given thought to protection
against. any attack. For example, the acceptance of inadequate press
credentials posed a clear avenue for a one-man assault. The likelihood
of an unauthorized person obtaining entry by such means is confirmed not
alone by the fact that Jack Ruby managed to. get by a guard at one
entrance. Several newsmen related that their credentials were not
checked as they entered the basement Sunday morning. Seconds before
Oswald was shot, the double doors from the hallway next to the jail
office afforded a means of entry to the basement without presentation of
credentials earlier demanded of newsmen.197
The swarm of newspeople in the basement also substantially limited the
ability of the police to detect an unauthorized person once he had
entered the basement. 'While Jack Ruby might have been easily spotted if
only police officers had been in the basement,198 he remained apparently
unnoticed in the crowd of newsmen until he lunged forward toward Oswald.
The near-blinding television and motion picture lights which were
allowed to shine upon the escort party further increased the difficulty
of observing unusual movements in the basement.
Moreover, by making public the plans for the transfer, the police
attracted to the city jail many persons who otherwise might not have
learned of the move until it had been completed. This group included the
onlookers gathered on Commerce Street and a few people on Main Street.
Also, continuous television and radio coverage of
Page 228
the activities in the basement might have resulted in compromise of the
transfer operation.
These risks to Oswald's safety, growing in part out of adherence to the
general policy of the police department, were also accepted for other
reasons. Many members of the police department believed that the
extraordinary public attention aroused by the tragic death of President
Kennedy obliged them to make special efforts to accommodate the press.
Captain King carefully articulated one reason why the newsmen were
permitted
* * * to remain in the hallways, * * * to view the investigation and to
keep in constant touch with progress of the investigation.
* * * * * *
We realized that if we arrested a suspect, that if we brought him into
the police station and then conducted all of our investigations behind
closed doors, that if we gave no reports on the progress of our
investigation and did not permit the newsmen to see the suspect--if we
excluded them from it--we would leave ourselves open not only to
criticisms that we were fabricating a suspect and were attempting to pin
something on someone, but even more importantly, we would cause people
to lose faith in our fairness and, through losing faith in our fairness,
to lose faith to a certain extent in the processes of law.
We felt it was mandatory that as many people knew about it as possible.
We knew, too, that if we did exclude the newsmen, we would be leaving
ourselves open to a charge that we were using improper action, duress,
physical abuse, all of these things.199
While Oswald was in custody, the Dallas police kept the press informed
about the treatment Oswald was receiving. The public could have been
assured that the prisoner was not mistreated and that his rights were
fully respected by the police, without each one of hundreds of cameramen
and reporters being permitted to satisfy himself that the police had not
abused the prisoner. This result could have been accomplished by
obtaining reports from members of the family who visited him, or by a
committee of the bar or other substantial citizens of the community.
When it became known on Saturday that Oswald did not have an attorney,
the president of the Dallas Bar Association visited him to inquire
whether he wished assistance in obtaining counsel.200
Moreover, the right of the public to know does not give the press
license to interfere with the efficient operation of law-enforcement
agencies. Permitting the press to remain on the third floor of the
building served no valid purpose that could not have been met if the
press had been excluded from the third floor, as it was from the fourth
and fifth floors, and informed of developments either through press
releases or at press conferences elsewhere in the building.
Having failed to exclude the mass of the press from the basement during
the transfer of Oswald, the police department's security measures
Page 229
could not be completely effective. Despite the pressures that prevailed,
planning and coordination of security arrangements could have been more
thorough and precise. No single member of the Dallas Police Department
ever assumed full responsibility for the details of Oswald's
transfer.201 Chief Curry participated in some of the planning, but he
felt that primary authority for the transfer should be Fritz', since
Fritz had charge of the investigation. According to Chief Curry--
Fritz and I, I think, discussed this briefly, the possibility of getting
that prisoner out of the city hall during the night hours and by another
route and slipping him to the jail, but actually Fritz was not too much
in favor of this and I more or less left this up to Fritz as to when and
how this transfer would be made, because he has in the past transferred
many of his prisoners to the county jail and I felt that since it was
his responsibility, the prisoner was, to let him decide when and how he
wanted to transfer this prisoner.202
Fritz, on the other hand, felt that Curry was directing the transfer
arrangements: "I was transferring him like the chief told me to.
transfer him." 203 When Capt. W. B. Frazier notified Fritz by telephone
early Sunday morning about the threats to Oswald's life, Fritz replied
that Curry should be notified, since he was handling the transfer.204
When urged to modify the transfer plans to avoid the press, as he later
testified he would have preferred to do, Fritz declined on the ground
that Curry had already decided to the contrary.205 Hence, if the
recollection of both officials is accurate, the basic decision to move
Oswald at an announced time and in the presence of the news media was
never carefully thought through by either man. Curry and Fritz had
agreed Saturday evening that Oswald should not be moved at night, but
their discussion apparently went little further.206
Perhaps the members of the Dallas Police Department were, as many
testified, accustomed to working together so that formal instructions
were sometimes unnecessary. On the other hand, it is clear, at least in
retrospect, that this particular occasion demanded more than the usual
informal unspoken understandings. The evidence indicates that no member
of the department at any time considered fully the implications of
moving Oswald through the basement. Nor did any single official or group
of officials coordinate and direct where the transfer vehicle would be
stationed to accept Oswald, where the press would stand, and the number
and positioning of police officers in the basement. Captain Jones
indicated that there were to be two solid lines of policemen from the
jail office door to the transfer vehicle, 207 but lines were formed only
along the walls of the areaway between the jail office door and the
ramp. The newsmen were not kept east of the auto ramp where a railing
would have separated
Page 230
them from Oswald. No strong ranks of policemen were ever placed in front
of the newsmen once they were allowed to gather in the area of the Main
Street ramp.208 Many policemen in the basement did not know the function
they were supposed to perform. No instructions were given that certain
policemen should watch the crowd rather than Oswald.209 Apparently no
one gave any thought. to the blinding effect of television and other
camera lights upon the escort party.
Largely on his own initiative, Captain Talbert undertook to secure the
basement, with only minimal coordination with those responsible for and
familiar with the route Oswald would take through the basement. Several
officials recalled that Lt. Woodrow Wiggins was directed to clear the
basement jail office, but Wiggins testified that he received no such
assignment. 210 In any event, less than 20 minutes before the transfer,
Captain Jones observed newsmen in the jail office and had them removed.
But no official removed news personnel from the corridor beside the jail
office; indeed, cameramen took pictures through the glass windows of the
jail office as Oswald walked through it toward the basement, and then
approached to within 20 feet of Oswald from the rear at the same time
that Jack Ruby moved toward Oswald from the front.211
A clear example of the inadequacy of coordination was the last-minute
change in plans to transfer Oswald in an unmarked police car rather than
by .armored truck.212 The plan to use an armored vehicle was adopted
without informing Fritz. When Fritz was told of the arrangement shortly
after 11 o'clock, he objected, and hurried steps were taken to modify
the arrangements. Fritz was then prematurely informed that the basement
arrangements were complete. When Oswald and the escorting detectives
entered the basement, the transfer car had not yet been backed into
position, nor had the policemen been arranged to block the newsmen's
access to Oswald's path.213 If the transfer car had been carefully
positioned between the press and Oswald, Ruby might have been kept
several yards from his victim and possibly without a clear view of him.
Detective Leavelle, who accompanied Oswald into the basement, testified:
* * * I was surprised when I walked to the door and the car was not in
the spot it should have been, but I could see it was in back, and
backing into position, but had it been in position where we were told it
would be, that would have eliminated a lot of the area in which anyone
would have access to him, because it would have been blocked. by the
car. In fact, if the car had been sitting where we were told it was
going to be, see -- it would have been sitting directly upon the spot
where Ruby was standing when he fired the shot.214
Captain Jones described the confusion with which Oswald's entry into the
basement was in fact received:
Page 231
Then the change--going to put two cars up there. There is no reason why
that back car can't get all the way back to the jail office. The
original plan would be that the line of officers would be from the jail
door to the vehicle. Then they say, "Here he comes." * * * It is too
late to get the people out of the way of the car and form the line. I am
aware that. Oswald is already coming because of the furor, so, I was
trying to keep everybody out of the way and keep the way clear and I
heard a shot.215
Therefore, regardless of whether the press should have been allowed to
witness the transfer, security measures in the basement for Oswald's
protection could and should have been better organized and more
thorough. These additional deficiencies were directly related to the
decision to admit newsmen to the basement. The Commission concludes that
the failure of the police to remove Oswald secretly or to control the
crowd in the basement at the time of the transfer were the major causes
of the security breakdown which led to Oswald's death.
News Coverage and Police Policy
Page 231
NEWS COVERAGE AND POLICE POLICY
Consistent with its policy of allowing news representatives to remain
within the working quarters of the Police and Courts Building, the
police department made every effort to keep the press fully informed
about the progress of the investigation. As a result, from Friday
afternoon until after the killing of Oswald on Sunday, the press was
able to publicize virtually all of the information about the case which
had been gathered until that time. In the process, a great deal of
misinformation was disseminated to a worldwide audience. (For some
examples see app. XII.)
As administrative assistant to Chief Curry, Captain King also handled
departmental press relations and issued press releases. According to
King, it was "the responsibility of each member of the department to
furnish to the press information on incidents in which they, themselves,
were involved, except on matters which involved * * * personnel policies
of the department, or * * * unless it would obviously interfere with an
investigation underway." 216 In Oswald's case, Chief Curry released most
of the information to. the press. He and Assistant Chief Batchelor
agreed on Friday that Curry would make all announcements to the
press.217 However, there is no evidence that this decision was ever
communicated to the rest of the police force. The chief consequence
appears to have been that Batchelor refrained from making statements to
the news media during this period.
Most of the information was disclosed through informal oral statements
or answers to questions at impromptu and clamorous press conferences in
the third floor corridor. Written press releases were not employed. The
ambulatory press conference became a familiar sight during these days.
Whenever Curry or other officials appeared in the
Page 232
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2632
Press interview with Chief Curry in third floor corridor.
Page 233
hallway, newsmen surrounded them, asking questions and requesting
statements. Usually the officials complied. (See Commission Exhibit No.
2632, p. 232.)
Curry appeared in interviews on television and radio at least a dozen
times during November 22-24. He did not attend any of the interrogations
of Oswald in Captain Fritz' office except at the beginning and toward
the end of Sunday morning's session; he received his information through
Captain Fritz and other sources.218 Nevertheless, in sessions with the
newsmen on Friday and Saturday he gave detailed information on the
progress of the case against Oswald. Recorded statements of television
and radio interviews with Curry and other officials in Dallas during
November 22-24 have been transcribed and included in the record compiled
by the Commission.219 An example of these interviews is the following
transcript of remarks made by Curry to newsmen on Saturday:
Q. Chief Curry, I understand you have some new information in this case.
Could you relate what that is ?
A. Yes, we've just been informed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
that they, the FBI, have the order letter from a mail order house, and
the order was sent to their laboratory in Washington and the writing on
this order was compared with known samples of our suspect, Oswald's
handwriting and found to be the same.
Q. This order was for the rifle ?
A. This order was for the rifle to a mail order house in Chicago. It was
[inaudible]. The return address was to Dallas, Texas, to the post office
box under the name of A. Hidell, H-I-D-E-double L. This is the post
office box of our suspect. This gun was mailed parcel post March 20,
1963. I understand he left Dallas shortly after this and didn't come
back until I think about two months ago,
Q. Do you know again on what date this rifle was ordered and 'are you
able to link it. definitely as the rifle which you confiscated at the
School Book Depository?
A. That we have not done so far. If the FBI has been able to do it I
have not been informed of it yet. We do know that this man ordered a
rifle of the type that was used in the assassination of the President
from this mail order house in Chicago and the FBI has definitely
identified the writing as that of our suspect
Q. On another subject-- I understand you have photographs of the
suspect, Oswald, with a rifle like that used. Could you describe that
picture ?
A. This is the picture of Oswald sanding facing a camera with a rifle in
his hand which is very similar to the rifle that we have in our
possession. He also had a pistol strapped on his hip. He was holding two
papers in his hand, with one of them seemed to be The Worker and the
other says Be Militant--I don't know whether that was headlines or the
name of the paper.
Page 234
Q. How much did the gun cost from the mail order house ?
A. I understand the gun was advertised for $12.78, I believe.
Q. Have you received any results on the ballistics test conducted on the
gun and on Oswald ?
A. They're going to be favorable. I don't have a formal report yet.
Q. But you are sure at this time they will be favorable ?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you feel now that you have the case completely wrapped up, or are
you continuing ?
A. We will continue as long as there is a shred of evidence to be
gathered. We have a strong case at this time.
Q. I believe you said earlier this afternoon that you have a new
development which does wrap up the case--the first time you said the
case definitely is secure. Is that correct ?
A. That was this morning. This additional evidence just makes a stronger
case.
Q. But this is not the same evidence you were referring to then ?
A. No, that's true.
Q. Would you be willing to say what that evidence was ?
A. No, sir. I don't wish to reveal it. It might jeopardize our case.
Commentator: Thank you very much Chief Jesse Curry of the Dallas Police
Department.220
Although Captain Fritz permitted himself to be interviewed by the news
media' less frequently than did Chief Curry, he nevertheless answered
questions and ventured opinions about the progress of the investigation.
On Saturday he told reporters that he was convinced beyond a doubt that
Oswald had killed the President. He discussed some of the evidence in
the case, especially the rifle, but his contribution to the knowledge of
the reporters was small compared with that of Chief Curry.221
Many other members of the police department, including high officials,
detectives, and patrolmen, were also interviewed by news representatives
during these days.222 Some of these men had participated in specific
aspects of the ease, such as the capture of Oswald at the Texas Theatre
and the search for evidence at the Texas School Book Depository
Building. Few, if any, seemed reluctant to submit to questions and to
being televised. It seemed to District Attorney Wade that the newsmen
"just followed everybody everywhere they went * * * they interviewed
some of your patrolmen * * * on the corner' * * * they were interviewing
anybody." 223
Wade himself also made several statements to the press. He visited
police headquarters twice on Friday, twice on Saturday, and twice on
Sunday. On most of these occasions he was interviewed by the press and
appeared on television.224 After Oswald had appeared before the press on
Friday night, Wade held an
Page 235
impromptu conference with reporters in the overflowing assembly room.225
Wade told the press on Saturday that he would not reveal any evidence
because it might prejudice the selection of a jury.226 On other
occasions, however, he mentioned some items of evidence and expressed
his opinions regarding Oswald's guilt. He told the press on Friday night
that Oswald's wife had told the police that her husband had a rifle in
the garage at the house in Irving and that it was missing the morning of
the assassination. On one occasion he repeated the error that the murder
rifle had been a Mauser. Another time, he stated his belief that Oswald
had prepared for the assassination months in advance, including what he
would tell the police. He also said that Oswald had practiced with the
rifle to improve his marksmanship.227
The running commentary on the investigation by the police inevitably
carried with it the disclosure of many details that proved to be
erroneous. In their efforts to keep the public abreast of the
investigation, the police reported hearsay items and unverified leads;
further investigation proved many of these to be incorrect or
inaccurate. For example, the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas
School Book Depository Building was initially identified as a Mauser
7.65 rather than a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5 because a deputy constable who
was one of the first to see it thought it looked like a Mauser. He
neither handled the weapon nor saw it at close range.228
Police sources were also responsible for the mistaken notion that the
chicken bones found on the sixth floor were the remains of Oswald's
lunch. They had in fact been left by another employee who ate his lunch
there at least 15 minutes before the assassination.229 Curry repeated
the erroneous report that a Negro had picked up Oswald near the scene of
the assassination and driven him across town.230 It was also reported
that the map found in Oswald's room contained a marked route of the
Presidential motorcade when it actually contained markings of places
where Oswald may have applied for jobs, including, of course, the Texas
School Book Depository.231
Concern about the effects of the unlimited disclosures was being voiced
by Saturday morning. According to District Attorney Wade, he received
calls from lawyers in Dallas and elsewhere expressing concern about
providing an attorney for Oswald and about the amount of information
being given to the press by the police and the district attorney.232
Curry continued to answer questions on television and radio during the
remainder of the day and Sunday morning.233
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover became concerned because "almost as soon as
* * * [FBI Laboratory reports] would reach the Dallas Police Department,
the chief of police or one of the representatives of the department
would go on TV or radio and relate findings of the FBI, giving
information such as the identification of the gun and other items of
physical evidence." 234 On Sunday, after Oswald was shot, Hoover
dispatched a personal message to Curry requesting him
Page 236
"not to go on the air any more until this case * * * [is] resolved."
Hoover testified later that Curry agreed not. to make any more
statements.235
The shooting of Oswald shocked the Dallas police, and after the
interviews that immediately followed the shooting they were disposed to
remain silent. Chief Curry made only one more television appearance
after the shooting. At 1:30 p.m., he descended to the assembly room
where, tersely and grimly, he announced Oswald's death. He refused to
answer any of the questions shouted at him by the persistent reporters,
concluding the conference in less than a minute.236
District Attorney Wade also held one more press conference. Before doing
so on Sunday evening, he returned once more to the police station and
held a meeting with "all the brass" except Curry. Wade told them that
"people are saying * * * you had the wrong man and you all were the one
who killed him or let him out here to have him killed intentionally."
Wade told the police that "somebody ought to go out in television and
lay out the evidence that you had on Oswald, and tell them everything."
He sat down and listed from memory items of evidence in the case against
Oswald. According to Wade, Chief Curry refused to make any statements
because he had told an FBI inspector that he would say no more. The
police refused to furnish Wade with additional details of the case.237
Wade nonetheless proceeded to hold a lengthy formal press conference
that evening, in which he attempted to list all of the evidence that had
been accumulated at that point tending to establish Oswald as the
assassin of President Kennedy. Unfortunately, at that time, as he
subsequently testified, he lacked a thorough grasp of the evidence and
made a number of errors.238 He stated that Oswald had told a woman on a
bus that the President had been killed, an error apparently caused by
the busdriver having confused Oswald with another passenger who was on
the bus after Oswald had left. Wade also repeated the error about
Oswald's having a map marked with the route of the motorcade. He told
reporters that Oswald's description
and name "went out by the police to look for him." 239 The police never
mentioned Oswald's name in their broadcast descriptions before his
arrest.240
Wade was innocent of one error imputed to him since November 24. The
published transcript of part of the press conference furnished to
newspapers by the Associated Press represented Wade as having identified
the cabdriver who took Oswald to North Beckley Avenue after the
shooting, as one named "Darryl Click." The transcript as it appeared in
the New York Times and the Washington Post of November 26, reads:
A. [Wade] a lady. He then the bus, he asked the bus driver to stop, got
off at a stop, caught a taxicab driver, Darryl Click. don't have his
exact place--and went to his home in Oak Cliff, changed his clothes
hurriedly, and left.241
Page 237
The correct transcript of the press conference, taken from an audio tape
supplied by station WBAP, Fort. Worth, is as follows:
A. [Wade] A lady. He then--the bus, he asked the bus driver to stop, got
off at a stop, caught a taxicab driver.
Q. Where?
A. In Oak Cliff. I don't have the exact place--and went to his home in
Oak Cliff, changed his clothes hurriedly and left.242
In this manner, a section of Dallas, "Oak Cliff," became a nonexistent
taxicab driver, "Darryl Click." Wade did not mention the cabdriver by
name at any time. In transcribing the conference from the sound tape, a
stenographer apparently made an error that might have become permanently
imbedded in the literature of the event but for the preservation and use
of an original sound tape.
Though many of the inaccuracies were subsequently corrected by the
police and are negated by findings of the Commission included elsewhere
in this report, the publicizing of unchecked information provided much
of the basis for the myths and rumors that came into being soon after
the President's death. The erroneous disclosures became the basis for
distorted reconstructions and interpretations of the assassination. The
necessity for the Dallas authorities to correct themselves or to be
corrected by other sources gave rise not only to criticism of the police
department's competence but also to doubts regarding the veracity of the
police. Skeptics sought to cast doubt on much of the correct evidence
later developed and to find support for their own theories in these
early police statements.
The immediate disclosure of information by the police created a further
risk of injuring innocent citizens by unfavorable publicity. This was
the unfortunate experience of Joe R. Molina, a Dallas-born Navy veteran
who had been employed by the Texas School Book Depository since 1947 and
on November 22, 1963, held the position of credit manager. Apparently
because of Molina's employment at the Depository and his membership in a
veterans' organization, the American G.I. Forum, that the Dallas police
considered possibly subversive, Dallas policemen searched Molina's home
with his permission, at about 1:30 a.m., Saturday, November 23. During
the day Molina was intermittently interrogated at police headquarters
for 6 or 7 hours, chiefly about his membership in the American G.I.
Forum, and also about Oswald. He was never arrested, charged, or held in
custody.243
While Molina was being questioned, officials of the police department
made statements or answered questions244 that provided the basis for
television reports about Molina during the day. These reports spoke of a
"second suspect being picked up," insinuated that the Dallas police had
reason to suspect another person who worked in the Texas School Book
Depository, stated that the suspect had been arrested and his home
searched, and mentioned that Molina may have
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been identified by .the U.S. Department of Justice as a possible
subversive.245
No evidence was ever presented to link Molina with Oswald except as a
fellow employee of the Texas School Book Depository. According to
Molina, he had never spoken to Oswald.246 The FBI notified the
Commission that Molina had never been the subject. of an investigation
by it and that it had never given any information about Molina to the
Dallas police concerning any alleged subversive activities by him.247
The Dallas police explained in a statement to the FBI that they had
never had a file on Molina, but that they did have one on the American
G.I. Forum.248
Molina lost his his job in December. He felt that he was being
discharged because of the unfavorable publicity he had received, but
officials of the Depository claimed that automation was the reason.
Molina testified that he had difficulty in finding another position,
until finally, with the help of a fellow church member, he secured a
position at. a lower salary than his previous one.249
If Oswald had been tried for his murders of November 22, the effects of
the news policy pursued by the Dallas authorities would have proven
harmful both to the prosecution and the defense. The misinformation
reported after the shootings might have been used by the defense to cast
doubt on the reliability of the State's entire case. Though each
inaccuracy can be explained without great difficulty, the number and
variety of misstatements issued by the police shortly after the
assassination would have greatly assisted a skillful defense attorney
attempting to influence the attitudes of jurors.
A fundamental objection to the news policy pursued by the Dallas police,
however, is the extent to which it endangered Oswald's constitutional
right to a trial by an impartial jury. Because of the nature of the
crime, the widespread attention which it necessarily received, and the
intense public feelings which it aroused, it would have been a most
difficult task to select an unprejudiced jury, either' in Dallas or
elsewhere. But the difficulty was markedly increased by the divulgence
of the specific items of evidence with which the police linked Oswald to
the two killings. The disclosure of evidence encouraged the public, from
which a jury would ultimately be impaneled, to prejudge the very
questions that would be raised at trial.
Moreover, rules of law might have prevented the prosecution from
presenting portions of this evidence to the jury. For example, though
expressly recognizing that Oswald's wife could not be compelled to
testify against him, District Attorney Wade revealed to the Nation that
Marina Oswald had affirmed her husband's ownership of a rifle like that
found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.250 Curry
stated that Oswald had refused to take a lie detector test, although
such a statement would have been inadmissible in a trial.251 The
exclusion of such evidence, however, would have been meaningless if
jurors were already familiar with the same facts from previous
television or newspaper reports. Wade might have influenced prospective
jurors by his mistaken statement that
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the paraffin test showed that Oswald had fired a gun. The tests merely
showed that he had nitrate traces on his hands, which did not
necessarily mean that he had fired either a rifle or a pistol.252
The disclosure of evidence was seriously aggravated by the statements of
numerous responsible officials that they were certain of Oswald's guilt.
Captain Fritz said that the case against Oswald was "cinched." Curry
reported on Saturday that "we are sure of our case." 253 Curry announced
that he considered Oswald sane, and Wade told the public that he would
ask for the death penalty.254
The American Bar Association declared in December 1963 that "widespread
publicizing of Oswald's alleged guilt, involving statements by officials
and public disclosures of the details of 'evidence,' would have made it
extremely difficult to impanel an unprejudiced' jury and afford the
accused a fair trial." 255 Local bar associations expressed similar
feelings.256 The Commission agrees that Lee Harvey Oswald's opportunity
for a trial by 12 jurors free of preconception as to his guilt or
innocence would have been seriously jeopardized by the premature
disclosure and weighing of the evidence against him.
The problem of disclosure of information and its effect on trials is, of
course, further complicated by the independent activities of the press
in developing information on its own from sources other than law
enforcement agencies. Had the police not released the specific items of
evidence against Oswald, it is still possible that the other information
presented on television and in the newspapers, chiefly of a biographical
nature, would itself have had a prejudicial effect on the public.
In explanation of the news policy adopted by the Dallas authorities,
Chief Curry observed that "it seemed like there was a great demand by
the general public to know what was going on." 257 In a prepared
statement, Captain King wrote:
At that time we felt a necessity for permitting the newsmen as much
latitude as possible. We realized the magnitude of the incident the
newsmen were there to cover. We realized that not only the nation but
the world would be greatly interested in what occurred in Dallas. We
believed that we had an obligation to make as widely known as possible
everything we could regarding the investigation of the assassination and
the manner in which we undertook that investigation.258
The Commission recognizes that the people of the United States, and
indeed the world, had a deep-felt interest in learning of the events
surrounding the death of President Kennedy, including the development of
the investigation in Dallas. An informed public provided the ultimate
guarantee that adequate steps would be taken to apprehend those
responsible for the assassination and that all necessary precautions
would be taken to protect the national security. It was therefore proper
and desirable that the public know which agencies
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were participating in the investigation and the rate at which their work
was progressing. The public was also entitled to know that Lee Harvey
Oswald had been apprehended and that the State had gathered sufficient
evidence to arraign him for the murders of the President and Patrolman
Tippit, that he was being held pending action of the grand jury, that
the investigation was continuing, and that the law enforcement agencies
had discovered no evidence which tended to show that any other person
was involved in either slaying.
However, neither the press nor the public had a right to be
contemporaneously informed by the police or prosecuting authorities of
the details of the evidence being accumulated against Oswald.
Undoubtedly the public was interested in these disclosures, but its
curiosity should not have been satisfied at the expense of the accused's
right to a trial by an impartial jury. The courtroom, not the newspaper
or television screen, is the appropriate forum in our system for the
trial of a man accused of a crime.
If the evidence in the possession of the authorities had not been
disclosed, it is true that the public would not have been in a position
to assess the adequacy of the investigation or to apply pressures for
further official undertakings. But a major consequence of the hasty and
at times inaccurate divulgence of evidence after the assassination was
simply to give rise to groundless rumors and public confusion. Moreover,
without learning the details of the case, the public could have been
informed by the responsible authority of the general scope of the
investigation and the extent to which State and Federal agencies were
assisting in the police work.
Responsibility of News Media
Page 240
RESPONSIBILITY OF NEWS MEDIA
While appreciating the heavy and unique pressures with which the Dallas
Police Department was confronted by reason of the assassination of
President Kennedy, primary responsibility for having failed to control
the press and to check the flow of undigested evidence to the public
must be borne by the police department. It was the only agency that
could have established orderly and sound operating procedures to control
the multitude of newsmen gathered in the police building after the
assassination.
The Commission believes, however, that a part of the responsibility for
the unfortunate circumstances following the President's death must be
borne by the news media. The crowd of newsmen generally failed to
respond properly to the demands of the police. Frequently without
permission, news representatives used police offices on the third floor,
tying up facilities and interfering with normal police operations.
Police efforts to preserve order and to clear passageways in the
corridor were usually unsuccessful. On Friday night the reporters
completely ignored Curry's injunction against asking Oswald questions in
the assembly room and crowding in on him. On Sunday morning, the newsmen
were instructed to direct no questions
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at Oswald; nevertheless, several reporters shouted questions at him when
he appeared in the basement.259
Moreover, by constantly pursuing public officials, the news
representatives placed an insistent pressure. upon them to disclose
information. And this pressure was not without effect, since the police
attitude toward the press was affected by the desire to maintain
satisfactory relations with the news representatives and to create a
favorable image of themselves. Chief Curry frankly told the Commission
that
I didn't order them out of the building, which if I had it to do over I
would. In the past like I say, we had always maintained very good
relations with our press, and they had always respected us. * * * 260
Curry refused Fritz' request to put Oswald behind the screen in the
assembly room at the Friday night press conference because this might
have hindered the taking of pictures.261 Curry's subordinates had the
impression that an unannounced transfer of Oswald to the county jail was
unacceptable because Curry did not want to disappoint the newsmen; he
had promised that they could witness the transfer.262 It seemed clear
enough that any attempt to exclude the press from the building or to
place limits on the information disclosed to them would have been
resented and disputed by the newsmen, who were constantly and
aggressively demanding all possible information about anything related
to the assassination.
Although the Commission has found no corroboration in the video and
audio tapes, police officials recall that one or two representatives of
the press reinforced their demands to see Oswald by suggesting that the
police had been guilty of brutalizing him. They intimated that unless
they were given the opportunity to see him, these suggestions would be
passed on to the public.263 Captain King testified that he had been told
that
A short time after Oswald's arrest one newsman held up a photograph .and
said, "This is what the man charged with the assassination of the
President looks like. Or at least this is what he did look like. We
don't know what he looks like after an hour in the custody of the Dallas
Police Department." 264
City Manager Elgin Crull stated that when he visited Chief Curry in his
office on the morning of November 23, Curry told him that he "felt it
was necessary to cooperate with the news media representatives, in order
to avoid being accused of using Gestapo tactics in connection with the
handling of Oswald." Crull agreed with Curry.265 The Commission deems
any such veiled threats to be absolutely without justification.
The general disorder in the Police and Courts Building during November
22-24 reveals a regrettable lack of self- discipline by the newsmen.
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The Commission believes that the news media, as well as the police
authorities, who failed to impose conditions more in keeping with the
orderly process of justice, must share responsibility for the failure of
law enforcement which occurred in connection with the death of Oswald.
On previous occasions, public bodies have voiced the need for the
exercise of self-restraint by the news media in periods when the demand
for information must be tempered by other fundamental requirements of
our society.
At its annual meeting in Washington in April 1964, the American Society
of Newspaper Editors discussed the role of the press in Dallas
immediately after President Kennedy's assassination. The discussion
revealed the strong misgivings among the editors themselves about the
role that the press had played and their desire that the press display
more self-discipline and adhere to higher standards of con-duet in the
future.266 To prevent a recurrence of the unfortunate events which
followed the assassination, however, more than general concern will be
needed. The promulgation of a code of professional conduct governing
representatives of all news media would be welcome evidence that the
press had profiled by the lesson of Dallas.
The burden of insuring that appropriate action is taken to establish
ethical standards of conduct for the news media must also be borne,
however, by State and local governments, by the bar, and ultimately by
the public. The experience in Dallas during November 22-24 is a dramatic
affirmation of the need for steps to bring about a proper balance
between the right of the public to be kept informed and the right of the
individual to a fair and impartial trial.
Chapter VI Investigation of Possible Conspiracy
Page 243
CHAPTER VI
Investigation of Possible Conspiracy
THIS chapter sets forth the findings of the Commission as to whether Lee
Harvey Oswald had any accomplices in the planning or execution of the
assassination. Particularly after the slaying of Oswald by Jack Ruby
under the circumstances described in the preceding chapter, rumors and
suspicions developed regarding the existence of a conspiracy to
assassinate President Kennedy. As discussed in appendix XII, many of
these rumors were based on a lack of information as to the nature and
extent of evidence that Oswald alone fired the shots which killed
President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally. Others of the more
widely publicized rumors maintained that Oswald must have received aid
from one or more persons or political groups, ranging from the far left
to the far right of the political spectrum, or from a foreign
government, usually either the Castro regime in Cuba or the Soviet
Union.
The Commission faced substantial difficulties in determining whether
anyone conspired with or assisted the person who committed the
assassination. Prior to his own death Oswald had neither admitted his
own involvement nor implicated any other persons in the assassination of
the President. The problem of determining the existence or nonexistence
of a conspiracy was compounded because of the possibility of subversive
activity by a foreign power. Witnesses and evidence located in other
countries were not subject to subpena, as they would have been if they
had been located in the United States. When evidence was obtained from a
foreign nation, it could not be appraised as effectively as if it had
been derived from a domestic source. The Commission has given the
closest scrutiny to all available evidence which related or might have
related to a foreign country. All such evidence was tested, whenever
possible, against the contingency that it had been fabricated or slanted
to mislead or confuse.
In order to meet its obligations fully, the Commission has investigated
each rumor and allegation linking Oswald to a conspiracy which has come
to its attention, regardless of source. In addition, the Commission has
explored the details of Lee Harvey Oswald's activities and
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life, especially in the months immediately preceding the assassination,
in order to develop any investigative lead relevant to the issue of
conspiracy. All of Oswald's known writings or other possessions which
might have been used for code or other espionage purposes have been
examined by either the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the National
Security Agency, or both agencies, to determine whether they were so
used.1
In setting forth the results of this investigation, the first section of
this chapter reviews the facts related to the assassination itself,
previously considered in more detail in chapter IV. If any conspiracy
did exist, it might have manifested itself at some point during Oswald's
preparation for the shooting, his execution of the plan, or his escape
from the scene of the assassination. The Commission has therefore
studied the precise means by which the assassination occurred for traces
of evidence that Oswald received any form of assistance in effecting the
killing.
The second section of the chapter deals more broadly with Oswald's life
since 1959. During the period following his discharge from the Marines
in 1959, Oswald engaged in several activities which demand close
scrutiny to determine whether, through these pursuits, he developed any
associations which were connected with the planning or execution of the
assassination. Oswald professed commitment to Marxist ideology; he
defected to the Soviet Union in 1959; he at tempted to expatriate
himself and acquire Soviet citizenship; and he resided in the Soviet
Union until June of 1962. After his return to the United States he
sought to maintain contacts with the Communist Party, Socialist Workers
Party, and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee; he associated with various
Russian-speaking citizens in the Dallas-Fort Worth area--some of whom
had resided in Russia; he traveled to Mexico City where he visited both
the Cuban and Soviet Embassies 7 weeks before the assassination; and he
corresponded with the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C. In view of
these activities, the Commission has instituted a thorough investigation
to determine whether the assassination was in some manner directed or
encouraged through contacts made abroad or through Oswald's politically
oriented activities in this country. The Commission has also considered
whether any connections existed between Oswald and certain right- wing
activity in Dallas which, shortly before the assassination, led to the
publication of hostile criticism of President Kennedy.
The final section of this chapter considers the possibility that Jack
Ruby was part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. The
Commission explored Ruby's background and his activities in the months
prior to the assassination, and especially his activities in the 2 days
after the assassination, in an effort to determine whether there was any
indication that Ruby was implicated in that event. The Commission also
sought to ascertain the truth or falsity of assertions that Oswald and
Ruby were known to one another prior to the assassination.
In considering the question of foreign involvement, the Commission has
received valuable assistance from the Department of State,
Page 245
the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
and other Federal agencies with special competence in the field of
foreign investigation. Some of the information furnished by these
agencies is of a highly confidential nature. Nevertheless, because the
disclosure of all facts relating to the assassination of President
Kennedy is of great public importance, the Commission has included in
this report all information furnished by these agencies which the
Commission relied upon in coming to its conclusions, or which tended to
contradict those conclusions. Confidential sources of information, as
contrasted with the information itself, have, in a relatively few
instances, been withheld.
Circumstances Surrounding the Assassination
Page 245
CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE ASSASSINATION
Earlier chapters have set forth the evidence upon which the Commission
concluded that President Kennedy was fired upon from a single window in
the southeast corner of the sixth floor of the Texas School Book
Depository, and that Lee Harvey Oswald was the person who fired the
shots from this point. As reflected in those chapters, a certain
sequence of events necessarily took place in order for the assassination
to have occurred as it did. The motorcade traveled past the Texas School
Book Depository; Oswald had access to the sixth floor of the building;
Oswald brought the rifle into the building; the cartons were arranged at
the sixth-floor window; and Oswald escaped from the building before the
police had sealed off the exits. Accordingly, the Commission has
investigated these circumstances to determine whether Oswald received
help from any other person in planning or performing the shooting.
Selection of Motorcade Route
The factors involved in the choice of the motorcade route by the Secret
Service have been discussed in chapter II of this report,2 It was there
indicated that after passing through a portion of suburban Dallas, the
motorcade was to travel west on Main Street, and then to the Trade Mart
by way of the Stemmons Freeway, the most direct route from that point.
This route would take the motorcade along the traditional parade route
through downtown Dallas; it allowed the maximum number of persons to
observe the President; and it enabled the motorcade to cover the
distance from Love Field to the Trade Mart in the 45 minutes allocated
by members of the White House staff planning the President's schedule in
Dallas. No member of the Secret Service, the Dallas Police Department,
or the local host committee who was consulted felt that any other route
would be preferable.
To reach Stemmons Freeway from Main Street, it was determined that the
motorcade would turn right from Main Street onto Houston Street for one
block and then left onto Elm Street, proceeding through the Triple
Underpass to the Stemmons Freeway access road. This route took the
motorcade past the Texas School Book Depository
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Building on the northwest corner of Elm and Houston Streets. Because of
the sharp turn at this corner, the motorcade also reduced its speed. The
motorcade would have passed approximately 90 yards further from the
Depository Building and made no turn near the building if it had
attempted to reach the Stemmons Freeway directly from Main Street. The
road plan in Dealey Plaza, however, is designed to prevent such a turn.
In order to keep motorists from reaching the freeway from Main Street, a
concrete barrier has been erected between Main and Elm Streets extending
beyond the freeway entrance. (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 2114-2116,
pp. 35-37.) Hence, it would have been necessary for the motorcade either
to have driven over this barrier or to have made a sharp S-turn in order
to have entered the freeway from Main Street. Selection of the motorcade
route was thus entirely appropriate and based on such legitimate
considerations as the origin and destination of the motorcade, the
desired opportunity for the President to greet large numbers of people,
and normal patterns of traffic.
Oswald's Presence in the Depository Building
Oswald's presence as an employee in the Texas School Book Depository
Building was the result of a series of happenings unrelated to the
President's trip to Dallas. He obtained the Depository job after almost
2 weeks of job hunting which began immediately upon his arrival in
Dallas from Mexico on October 8, 1963.3 At that time he was in poor
financial circumstances, having arrived from Mexico City with
approximately $133 or less,4 and with his unemployment compensation
benefits due to expire on October 8.5 Oswald and his wife were expecting
the birth of their second child, who was in fact born on October 20.6 In
attempting to procure work, Oswald utilized normal channels, including
the Texas Employment Commission.7
On October 4, 1963, Oswald applied for a position with Padgett Printing
Corp., which was located at 1313 Industrial Boulevard, several blocks
from President Kennedy's parade route.8 Oswald favorably impressed the
plant superintendent who checked his prior job references, one of which
was Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, the firm where Oswald had done photography
work from October 1962 to April 1963.9 The following report was written
by Padgett's plant superintendent on the reverse side of Oswald's job
application: "Bob Stovall does not recommend this man. He was released
because of his record as a troublemaker--Has Communistic tendencies." 10
Oswald received word that Padgett Printing had hired someone else.11
Oswald's employment with the Texas School Book Depository came about
through a chance conversation on Monday, October 14, between Ruth Paine,
with whom his family was staying while Oswald was living in a
roominghouse in Dallas, and two of Mrs. Paine's neighbors.12 During a
morning conversation over coffee, at which Marina Oswald was present,
Oswald's search for employment was mentioned. The neighbors suggested
several places where Oswald might
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apply for work. One of the neighbors present, Linnie Mac Randle, said
that her brother had recently been hired as a schoolbook order filler at
the Texas School Book Depository and she thought. the Depository might
need additional help. She testified, "and of course you know just being
neighborly and everything, we felt sorry for Marina because her baby was
due right away as we understood it, and he didn't have any work * * *.
13
When Marina Oswald and Mrs. Paine returned home, Mrs. Paine promptly
telephoned the Texas School Book Depository and spoke to Superintendent
Roy Truly, whom she did not know.14 Truly agreed to interview Oswald,
who at the time was in Dallas seeking employment. When Oswald called
that. evening, Mrs. Paine told him of her conversation with Truly.15 The
next morning Oswald went to the Texas School Book Depository where he
was interviewed and hired for the position of order filler.16
On the same date, the Texas Employment Commission attempted to refer
Oswald to an airline company which was looking for baggage and cargo
handlers at a salary which was $100 per month higher than that offered
by the Depository Co.17 The Employment Commission tried to advise Oswald
of this job at 10:30 a.m. on October 16, 1963. Since the records of the
Commission indicate that Oswald was then working,18 it seems clear that
Oswald was hired by the Depository Co. before the higher paying job was
available. It is unlikely that he ever learned of this second
opportunity.
Although publicity concerning the President's trip to Dallas appeared in
Dallas newspapers as early as September 13, 1963, the planning of the
motorcade route was not started until after November 4, when the Secret
Service was first notified of the trip.19 A final decision as to the
route could not have been reached until November 14, when the Trade Mart
was selected as the luncheon site.20 Although news reports on November
15 and November 16 might have led a person to believe that the motorcade
would pass the Depository Building, the route was not finally selected
until November 18; it was announced in the press on November 19, only 3
days before the President's arrival.21 Based on the circumstances of
Oswald's employment and the planning of the motorcade route, the
Commission has concluded that Oswald's employment in the Depository was
wholly unrelated to the President's trip to Dallas.
Bringing Rifle Into Building
On the basis of the evidence developed in chapter IV the Commission
concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald carried the rifle used in the
assassination into the Depository Building on Friday, November 22, 1968,
in the handmade brown paper bag found near the window from which the
shots were fired.22 The arrangement by which Buell Wesley Frazier drove
Oswald between Irving and Dallas was an innocent one, having commenced
when Oswald first started working at the Depository.23 As noted above,
it was Frazier's sister, Linnie May Randle, who had suggested to Ruth
Paine that Oswald might be able
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to find employment at the Depository. When Oswald started working there,
Frazier, who lived only a half block away from the Paines, offered to
drive Oswald to and from Irving whenever he was going to stay at the
Paines' home.24 Although Oswald's request for a ride to Irving on
Thursday, November 21, was a departure from the normal weekend pattern,
Oswald gave the explanation that he needed to obtain curtain rods for an
"apartment" in Dallas.25 This served also to explain the long package
which he took with him from Irving to the Depository Building the next
morning.26 Further, there is no evidence that Ruth Paine or Marina
Oswald had reason to believe that Oswald's return was in any way related
to an attempt to shoot the President the next day. Although his visit
was a surprise, since he arrived on Thursday instead of Friday for his
usual weekend visit, both women testified that they thought he had come
to patch up a quarrel which he had with his wife a few days earlier when
she learned that he was living in Dallas under an assumed name.27
It has also been shown that Oswald had the opportunity to work in the
Paines' garage on Thursday evening and prepare the rifle by
dis-assembling it, if it were not already disassembled, and packing it
in the brown bag. 28 It has been demonstrated that the paper and tape
from which the bag was made came from the shipping room of the Texas
School Book Depository and that Oswald had access to this material.29
Neither Ruth Paine nor Marina Oswald saw the paper bag or the paper and
tape out of which the bag was constructed.30 Oswald actually prepared
the bag in the Depository out of materials available to him there, he
could have concealed it in the jacket or shirt which he was wearing. 31
The Commission has found no evidence which suggests that Oswald required
or in fact received any assistance in bringing the rifle into the
building other than the innocent assistance provided by Frazier in the
form of the ride to work.
Accomplices at the Scene of the Assassination
The arrangement of boxes at the window from which the shots were fired
was studied to determine whether Oswald required any assistance in
moving the cartons to the window. Cartons had been stacked on the floor,
a few feet behind the window, thus shielding Oswald from the view of
anyone on the sixth floor who did not attempt to go behind them.32 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 723, p. 80.) Most of those cartons had been moved
there by other employees to dear an area for laying a new flooring on
the west end of the sixth floor.33 Superintendent Roy Truly testified
that the floor-laying crew moved a long row of books parallel to the
windows on the south side and had "quite a lot of cartons" in the
southeast corner of the building.34 He said that there was not any
particular pattern that the men used in putting them there. "They were
just piled up there more or less at that time." 35 According to Truly,
"several cartons" which had been in the extreme southeast corner had
been placed on top of the ones that had been piled in front of the
southeast corner window.36
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The arrangement of the three boxes in the window and the one on which
the assassin may have sat has been described previously.37 Two of these
four boxes, weighing approximately 55 pounds each, had been moved by the
floor- laying crew from the west side of the floor to the area near the
southwest corner.38 The carton on which the assassin may have sat might
not even have been moved by the assassin at all. A photograph of the
scene depicts this carton on the floor alongside other similar cartons.
(See Commission Exhibit No. 1301, p. 138.) Oswald's right palmprint on
this carton may have been placed there as he was sitting on the carton
rather than while carrying it. In any event both of these 55-pound
cartons could have been carried by one man. The remaining two cartons
contained light block-like reading aids called "Rolling Readers"
weighing only about 8 pounds each. 39 Although they had been moved
approximately 40 feet 40 from their normal locations at the southeast
corner window, it would appear that one man could have done this in a
matter of seconds.
In considering the possibility of accomplices at the window, the
Commission evaluated the significance of the presence of fingerprints
other than Oswald's on the four cartons found in and near the window.
Three of Oswald's prints were developed on two of the cartons.41 In
addition a total of 25 identifiable prints were found on the 4
cartons.42 Moreover, prints were developed which were considered as not
identifiable, i.e., the quality of the print was too fragmentary to be
of value for identification purposes.43
As has been explained in chapter IV, the Commission determined that none
of the warehouse employees who might have customarily handled these
cartons left prints which could be identified.44 This was considered of
some probative value in determining whether Oswald moved the cartons to
the window. All but 1 of the 25 definitely identifiable prints were the
prints of 2 persons--an FBI employee and a member of the Dallas Police
Department who had handled the cartons during the course of the
investigation.45 One identifiable palmprint was not identified.46
The presence on these cartons of unidentified prints, whether or not
identifiable, does not appear to be unusual since these cartons
con-rained commercial products which had been handled by many people
throughout the normal course of manufacturing, warehousing, and
shipping. Unlike other items of evidence such as, for example, a ransom
note in a kidnaping, these cartons could contain the prints of many
people having nothing to do with the assassination. Moreover, the FBI
does not maintain a filing system for palmprints because, according to
the supervisor of the Bureau's latent fingerprint section, Sebastian F.
Latona, the problems of classification make such a system
impracticable.47 Finally, in considering the significance of the
unidentified rifled prints, the Commission gave weight to the opinion of
Latona to the effect that people could handle these cartons without
leaving prints which were capable of being developed.48
Though the fingerprints other than Oswald's on the boxes thus provide no
indication of the presence of an accomplice at the window,
Page 250
two Depository employees are known to have been present briefly on the
sixth floor during the period between 11:45 a.m., when the floor-laying
crew stopped for lunch, and the moment of the assassination. One of
these was Charles Givens, a member of the floor-laying crew, who went
down on the elevator with the others and then, returned to the sixth
floor to get his jacket and cigarettes.49 He saw Oswald walking away
from the southeast corner, but saw no one else on the sixth floor at
that time. He then took one of the elevators back to the first floor at
approximately 11:55 a.m.50
Bonnie Ray Williams, who was also working with the floor-laying crew,
returned to the sixth floor at about noon to eat his lunch and watch the
motorcade.51 He looked out on Elm Street from a position in the area of
the third or fourth set of windows from the east wall.52 At this point
he was approximately 20-30 feet away from the southeast corner window.
He remained for about "5, 10, maybe 12 minutes" eating his lunch which
consisted of chicken and 'a bottle of soda pop.53 Williams saw no one on
the sixth floor during this period, although the stacks of books
prevented his seeing the east side of the building.54 After finishing
his lunch Williams took the elevator down because no one had joined him
on the sixth floor to watch the motorcade.55 He stopped at the fifth
floor where he joined Harold Norman and James Jarman, Jr., who watched
the motorcade with him from a position on the fifth floor directly below
the point from which the shots were fired. Williams left the remains of
his lunch, including chicken bones and a bottle of soda, near the window
where he was eating.56
Several witnesses outside the building claim to have seen a person in
the southeast corner window of the sixth floor. As has already been
indicated, some were able to offer better descriptions than others and
one, Howard L. Brennan, made a positive identification of Oswald as
being the person at the window.57 Although there are differences among
these witnesses with regard to their ability to describe the person they
saw, none of these witnesses testified to seeing more than one person in
the window.58
One witness, however,' offered testimony which, if accurate, would
create the possibility of an accomplice at the window at the time of the
assassination. The witness was 18-year-old Arnold Rowland, who testified
in great detail concerning his activities and observations on November
22, 1963. He and his wife were awaiting the motorcade, standing on the
east side of Houston Street between Maine and Elm,59 when he looked
toward the Depository Building and noticed a man holding a rifle
standing back from the southwest corner window on the sixth floor. The
man was rather slender in proportion to his size and of light complexion
with dark hair.60 Rowland said that his wife was looking elsewhere at
the time and when they looked back to the window the man "was gone from
our vision." 61 They thought the man was most likely someone protecting
the President. After the assassination Rowland signed an affidavit in
which he told of seeing this man, although Rowland was unable to
identify him.62
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When Rowland testified before the Commission on March 10, 1964, he
claimed for the first time to have seen another person on the sixth
floor. Rowland said that before he had noticed the man with the rifle on
the southwest corner of the sixth floor he had seen an elderly Negro man
"hanging out that window" on the southeast corner of the sixth floor.63
Rowland described the Negro man as "very thin, an elderly gentleman,
bald or practically bald, very thin hair if he wasn't bald," between 50
and 60 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with
fairly dark complexion. 64 Rowland claimed that he looked back two or
three times and noticed that the man remained until 5 or 6 minutes prior
to the time the motorcade came. Rowland did not see him thereafter. He
made no mention of the Negro man in his affidavit.65 And, while he said
he told FBI agents about the man in the southeast corner window when
interviewed on the Saturday and Sunday following the assassination,66 no
such statement appears in any FBI report. 67
Mrs. Rowland testified that her husband never told her about seeing any
other man on the sixth floor except the man with the rifle in the
southwest corner that he first saw. She also was present during
Rowland's interview with representatives of the FBI 68 and said she did
not hear him make such a statement,69 although she also said that she
did not hear everything that was discussed. 70 Mrs. Rowland testified
that after her husband first talked about seeing a man with the rifle,
she looked back more than once at the Depository Building and saw no
person looking out of any window on the sixth floor.71 She also said
that "At times my husband is prone to exaggerate." 72 Because of
inconsistencies in Rowland's testimony and the importance of his
testimony to the question of a possible accomplice, the Commission
requested the FBI to conduct an inquiry into the truth of a broad range
of statements made by Rowland to the Commission. The investigation
showed that numerous statements by Rowland concerning matters about
which he would not normally be expected to be mistaken--such as subjects
he studied in school, grades he received, whether or not he had
graduated from high school, and whether or not he had been admitted to
college--were false.73
The only possible corroboration for Rowland's story is found in the
testimony of Roger D. Craig, a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, whose
testimony on other aspects of the case has been discussed in chapter IV.
Craig claimed that about 10 minutes after the assassination he talked to
a young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Rowland,
* * * and the boy said he saw two men on the sixth floor of the Book
Depository Building over there; one of them had a rifle with a
telescopic sight on it--but he thought they were Secret Service agents
or guards and didn't report it. This was about--oh, he said, 15 minutes
before the motorcade ever arrived.74
According to Craig, Rowland said that he looked back a few minutes later
and "the other man was gone, and there was just one man--the
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man with the rifle." 75 Craig further testified that Rowland told him
that when he first saw the two men, they were walking back and forth in
front of the window for several minutes. They were both white men and
one of them had a rifle with a scope on it.7° This report by Craig is
contradicted by the testimony of both the Rowlands, and by every
recorded interview with them conducted by law enforcement agencies after
the assassination.
As part of its investigation of Rowland's allegation and of the general
question of accomplices at the scene of the assassination, the
Commission undertook an investigation of every person employed in the
Texas School Book Depository Building. Two employees might possibly fit
the general description of an elderly Negro man, bald or balding. These
two men were on the first floor of the building during the period before
and during the assassination.77 Moreover, all of the employees were
asked whether they saw any strangers in the building on the morning of
November 22.78 Only one employee saw a stranger whom he described as a
feeble individual who had to be helped up the front steps of the
building. He went to a public restroom and left the building 5 minutes
later, about 40 minutes before the assassination. 79
Rowland's failure to report his story despite several interviews until
his appearance before the Commission, the lack of probative
corroboration, and the serious doubts about his credibility, have led
the Commission to reject the testimony that Rowland saw an elderly
balding Negro man in the southeast corner window of the sixth floor of
the Depository Building several minutes before the assassination.
Oswald's Escape
The Commission has analyzed Oswald's movements between the time of the
assassination and the shooting of Patrolman Tippit to determine whether
there is any evidence that Oswald had assistance in his flight from the
building. Oswald's activities during this period have been traced
through the testimony of seven witnesses and discussed in detail in
chapter IV.80 (See Commission Exhibit No. 1119-A, p. 158 and Commission
Exhibit No. 1118, p. 150.) Patrolman M. L. Baker and Depository
superintendent Roy Truly saw him within 2 minutes of the assassination
on the second floor of the building. Mrs. R. A. Reid saw him less than 1
minute later walking through the second-floor offices toward the front
of the building. A busdriver, Cecil J. McWatters, and Oswald's former
landlady, Mrs. Mary Bledsoe, saw him board a bus at approximately 12:40
p.m., and get off about 4 minutes later. A cabdriver, William W. Whaley,
drove Oswald from a cabstand located a few blocks from where Oswald left
the bus to a point in Oak Cliff about four blocks from his roominghouse;
and Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper at Oswald's roominghouse, saw him
enter the roominghouse at about 1 p.m. and leave a few minutes later'.
When seen by these seven witnesses Oswald was always alone.
Page 253
Particular attention has been directed to Oswald's departure from the
Depository Building in order to determine whether he could have left the
building within approximately 3 minutes of the assassination without
assistance. As discussed more fully in chapter IV, the building was
probably first sealed off no earlier than 12:37 by Inspector Herbert
Sawyer. 81 The shortest estimate of the time taken to seal off the
building comes from Police Officer W. E. Barnett, one of the officers
assigned to the corner of Elm and Houston Streets for the Presidential
motorcade, who estimated that approximately 3 minutes elapsed between
the time he heard the last of the shots and the time he started guarding
the front door. 82 According to Barnett, "there were people going in and
out" during this period. 88 The evidence discussed in chapter IV shows
that 3 minutes would have been sufficient time for Oswald to have
descended from the sixth floor and left the building without
assistance.84
One witness, James R. Worrell Jr., claims to have seen a man running
from the rear of the building shortly after the assassination, but in
testimony before the Commission he stated that he could not see his
face. 85 Two other witnesses who watched the rear of the building during
the first 5 minutes after the shooting saw no one leave.86 The claim of
Deputy Sheriff Roger Craig that he saw Oswald leave the Depository
Building approximately 15 minutes after the assassination has been
discussed in chapter IV.87 Although Craig may have seen someone enter a
station wagon 15 minutes after the assassination, the person he saw was
not Lee Harvey Oswald, who was far removed from the building at that
time.
The possibility that accomplices aided Oswald in connection with his
escape was suggested by the testimony of Earlene Roberts., the
housekeeper at the 1026 North Beckley roominghouse.88 She testified that
at about 1 p.m. on November 22, after Oswald had returned to the
roominghouse, a Dallas police car drove slowly by the front. of the 1026
North Beckley premises and stopped momentarily; she said she heard its
horn several times. 89 Mrs. Roberts stated that the occupants of the car
were not known to her even though she had worked for some policemen who
would occasionally come by.90 She said the policeman she knew drove car
No. 170 and that this was not the number on the police car that honked
on November 22. She testified that she first thought the car she saw was
No. 106 and then said that it was No. 107.91 In an FBI interview she had
stated that she looked out the front window and saw police car No. 207.
92 Investigation has not produced any evidence that there was a police
vehicle in the area of 1026 North Beckley at about 1 p.m. on November
22.93 Squad car 207 was at the Texas School Book Depository Building, as
was car 106. Squad cars 170 and 107 were sold in April 1963 and their
numbers were not reassigned until February 1964.94
Whatever may be the accuracy of Mrs. Roberts' recollection concerning
the police car, it is apparent from Mrs. Roberts' further testimony that
she did not see Oswald enter a car when he hurriedly left the house. She
has stated that when she last saw Oswald, shortly after
Page 254
1 p.m., he was standing at a bus stop in front of the house.95 Oswald
was next seen less than 1 mile away, at the point where he shot
Patrolman Tippit. Oswald could have easily reached this point on foot by
about 1:16 p.m., when Tippit was shot. Finally, investigation has
produced no evidence that Oswald had prearranged plans for a means to
leave Dallas after the assassination or that any other person was to
have provided him assistance in hiding or in departing the city.
Background of Lee Harvey Oswald
Page 254
BACKGROUND OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD
Finding no evidence in the circumstances immediately surrounding the
assassination that any person other than Lee Harvey Oswald was involved
in the killing of the President, the Commission directed an intensive
investigation into his life for the purpose, among others, of detecting
any possible traces that at some point he became involved in a
conspiracy culminating in the deed of November 22, 1963. As a product of
this investigation, the Commission has compiled a detailed chronological
biography of Oswald which is set forth as appendix XIII. Study of the
period from Oswald's birth in 1989 to his military service from 1956 to
1959 has revealed no evidence that he was associated with any type of
sinister or subversive organization during that period. Though his
personality and political views took shape during these early years, the
events of that period are significant primarily to an understanding of
the personality of Lee Harvey Oswald and are discussed in that
connection in chapter VII. Beginning with his preparation for defection
to the Soviet Union in 1959, however, Oswald engaged in several
activities which required dose scrutiny by the Commission. In an
appraisal of Oswald's actions since 1959 for the purpose of determining
whether he was part of a conspiracy, several aspects of his background
and character must be borne in mind. He was young, inexperienced, and
had only a limited education. As will be more fully discussed in chapter
VII, he was unable to establish relationships with others and had a
resent-merit for authority and any discipline flowing from it. While he
demonstrated the ability to act secretively and alone, without regard to
the consequences to himself, as in his defection to the Soviet Union, he
does not appear to have been the kind of person whom one would normally
expect to be selected as a conspirator.
Residence in the Soviet Union
Lee Harvey Oswald was openly committed to Marxist ideology, he defected
to the Soviet Union in 1959, and resided there until June of 1962,
eventually returning to the United States with a Russian wife. In order
to evaluate rumors and speculations 96 that Oswald may have been an
agent of the Soviet Union, the Commission investigated the facts
surrounding Oswald's stay in Russia. The Commission was thus fulfilling
its obligation to probe all facts of possible rele-
Page 255
vance to the assassination, and does not suggest by this investigation
that the rulers of the Soviet Union believed that their political
interests would be advanced by the assassination of President Kennedy.
On this question, the Secretary of State testified before the Commission
on June 10, 1964 as follows:
I have seen no evidence that would indicate to me that the Soviet Union
considered that it had an interest in the removal of President Kennedy
or that it was in any way involved in the removal of President Kennedy.
I have not seen or heard of any scrap of evidence indicating that the
Soviet Union had any desire to eliminate President Kennedy nor in any
way participated in any such event.
Now, standing back and trying to look at that question objectively
despite the ideological differences between our two great systems, I
can't see how it could be to the interest of the Soviet Union to make
any such effort.
I do think that the Soviet Union, again objectively considered, has an
interest in the correctness of state relations. This would be
.particularly true among the great powers, with which the major
interests of the Soviet Union are directly engaged.
I think that although there are grave differences between the Communist
world and the free world, between the Soviet Union and other major
powers, that even from their point of view there needs to be some shape
and form to international relations, that it is not in their interest to
have this world structure dissolve into complete anarchy, that great
states and particularly nuclear powers have to be in a position to deal
with each other, to transact business with each other, to try to meet
problems with each other, and that requires the maintenance of correct
relations and access to the leadership on all sides.
I think also that although there had been grave differences between
Chairman Khrushchev and President Kennedy, I think there were evidences
of a certain mutual respect that had developed over some of the
experiences, both good and bad, through which these two men had lived.
I think both of them were aware of the fact that any Chairman of the
Soviet Union, and any President of the United States, necessarily bear
somewhat special responsibility for the general peace of the world.
Indeed without exaggeration, one could almost say the existence of the
northern hemisphere in this nuclear age.
* * * *
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So that it would be an act of rashness and madness for Soviet leaders to
undertake such an action as an active policy. Because everything would
have been put in jeopardy or at stake in connection with such an act.
It has not been our impression that madness has characterized the
actions of the Soviet leadership in recent years.97
The Commission accepts Secretary Rusk's estimate as reasonable and
objective but recognizes that a precise assessment of Soviet intentions
or interests is most difficult. The Commission has thus examined all the
known facts regarding Oswald's defection, residence in the Soviet Union,
and return to the United States. At each step the Commission sought to
determine whether there was any evidence which supported a conclusion
that Soviet authorities may have directly or indirectly influenced
Oswald's actions in assassinating the President.
Oswald's entry into the Soviet Union.-Although the evidence is
inconclusive as to the factors which motivated Oswald to go to the
Soviet Union, there is no indication that he was prompted to do so by
agents of that country. He may have begun to study the Russia language
when he was stationed in Japan, which was intermittently from August
1957 to November 1958.98 After he arrived in Moscow in October 1959 he
told several persons that he had been planning his defection for 2
years, which suggests that the decision was made while he was in the Far
East.99 George De Mohrenschildt, who met Oswald after his return from
the Soviet Union, testified that Oswald once told him much the same
thing: "I met some Communists in Japan and they got me excited and
interested, and that was one of my inducements in going to Soviet
Russia, to see what goes on there." 100 This evidence, however, is
somewhat at variance with Oswald's statements made to two American
newspaper reporters in Moscow shortly after his defection in 1959,101
and to other people in the United States after his return in 1962.102
Though his remarks were not inconsistent as to the time he decided to
defect, to these people he insisted that before going to the Soviet
Union he had "never met a Communist" and that the intent to defect
derived entirely from his own reading and thinking. He said much the
same to his brother in a letter he wrote to him from Russia explaining
why he had defected.103 Which of Oswald's statements was the more
accurate remains unknown.
There is no evidence that Oswald received outside assistance in
financing his trip to the Soviet Union. After he arrived in Moscow,
Oswald told a newspaper correspondent, Aline Mosby, that he had saved
$1,500 out of his Marine Corps salary to finance his defection,104
although the news story based upon Oswald's interview with Aline Mosby
unaccountably listed the sum of $1,600 instead of $1,500. 105 After this
article had appeared, Marguerite Oswald also related the $1,600 figure
to an FBI agent.106 Either amount could have been accumulated out of
Oswald's earnings in the Marine Corps; during
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his 2 years and 10 months of service. he received $3,452.20, after all
taxes, allotments and other deductions.107 Moreover Oswald could
certainly have made the entire trip on less than $1,000. The ticket on
the ship he took from New Orleans to Le Havre, France, cost $220.75;108
it cost him about $20 to reach London from Le Havre: his plane fare from
London to Helsinki, where he received his visa, cost him $111.90; he
probably purchased Russian "tourist Vouchers" normally good for room and
board for 10 days for $300; his train fare from Helsinki to Moscow was
about $44; in Moscow he paid only $1.50 to $3 a night for his room and
very little for his meals after his tourist vouchers ran out; 109 and
apparently he did not pay his hotel bill at all after November 30,
1959.110 Oswald's known living habits indicate that he could be
extraordinarily frugal when he had reason to be, and it seems clear that
he did have a strong desire to go to the Soviet Union.
While in Atsugi, Japan, Oswald studied the Russian language, perhaps
with some help from an officer in his unit who was interested in Russian
and used to "talk about it" with Oswald occasionally. 111 He studied by
himself a great deal in late 1958 and early 1959 after he was
transferred from Japan to California.112 He took an Army aptitude test
in Russian in February 1959 and rated "Poor." 113 When he reached the
Soviet Union in October of the same year he could barely speak the
language. 114 During the period in Moscow while he was awaiting decision
on his application for citizenship, his diary records that he practiced
Russian 8 hours a day.115 After he was sent to Minsk in early January
1960 he took lessons from an interpreter assigned to him for that
purpose by the Soviet Government.116 Marina Oswald said that by the time
she met him in March 1961 he spoke the language well enough so that at
first she thought he was from one of the Baltic areas of her country,
because of his accent. She stated that his only defects were that his
grammar was sometimes incorrect and that his writing was never good.117
Thus, the limited evidence provides no indication that Oswald was
recruited by Soviet agents in the Far East with a view toward defection
and eventual return to the United States. Moreover, on its face such a
possibility is most unlikely. If Soviet agents had communicated with
Oswald while he was in the Marine Corps, one of the least probable
instructions they would have given him would have been to defect. If
Oswald had remained a Marine radar specialist, he might at some point
have reached a position of value as a secret agent. However, his
defection and the disloyal statements he made publicly in connection
with it eliminated the possibility that he would ever gain access to
confidential information or programs of the United States. The very fact
that he defected, therefore, is itself persuasive evidence that he was
not recruited as an agent prior to his defection.
The Commission has investigated the circumstances under which Oswald
obtained a visa to enter the Soviet Union for possible evidence that he
received preferential treatment in being permitted to enter the country.
Oswald left New Orleans, La., for Europe on September 20, 1959, 118
having been released from .active duty in the Marine Corps on
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September 11, 1959.119 He went directly to Helsinki, Finland, by way of
Le Havre, France, and London, England, arriving at Helsinki on Saturday,
October 10, 1959.120 Oswald probably arrived in Helsinki too late in the
evening to have applied for a visa at the Soviet Union consulate that
night.121 In light of the rapidity with which he made connections
throughout his entire trip,122 he probably applied for a visa early on
Monday, October 12. On October 14, he was issued Soviet Tourist Visa No.
403339, good for one 6-day visit in the U.S.S.R. 128 He left Helsinki on
a train destined for Moscow on October 15. 124
The Department of State has advised the Commission that it has some
information that in 1959 it usually took an American tourist in Helsinki
I to 2 weeks to obtain a visa,125 and that it has other information that
the normal waiting period during the past 5 years has been a week or
less.126 According to the Department's information, the waiting period
has always varied frequently and widely, with one confirmed instance in
1963 of a visa routinely issued in less than 24 hours.127 The Central
Intelligence Agency has indicated that visas during the 1964 tourist
season were being granted in about 5 to 7 days.128
This information from the Department of State and the Central
Intelligence Agency thus suggests that Oswald's wait for a visa may have
been shorter than usual but not beyond the range of possible variation.
The prompt issuance of Oswald's visa may have been merely the result of
normal procedures, due in part to the fact that the summer rush had
ended. It might also mean that Oswald was unusually urgent in his
demands that his visa be issued promptly. Oswald himself told officials
at the American Embassy in Moscow on October 31, when he appeared to
renounce his citizenship, that he had said nothing to the Soviets about
defecting until he arrived in Moscow.129 In any event, the Commission
has found nothing in the circumstances of Oswald's entry into the Soviet
Union which indicates that he was at the time an agent of the U.S.S.R.
Defection and admission to residence.--Two months and 22 days elapsed
from Oswald's arrival in Moscow until he left that city to take up
residence in Minsk. The Commission has considered the possibility that
Oswald was accepted for residence in the Soviet Union and sent to Minsk
unusually soon after he arrived, either because he had been expected or
because during his first weeks in Moscow he developed an undercover
relationship with the Soviet Government. In doing so, the Commission has
attempted to reconstruct the events of those months, though it is, of
course, impossible to account for Oswald's activities on every day of
that period.
Oswald's "Historic Diary," 130 which commences on October 16, 1959, the
date Oswald arrived in Moscow, and other writings he later prepared,131
have provided the Commission with one source of information about
Oswald's activities throughout his stay in the Soviet Union. Even
assuming the diary was intended to be a truthful record, it is not
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an accurate guide to the details of Oswald's activities. Oswald seems
not to have been concerned about the accuracy of dates and names,132 and
apparently made many of his entries subsequent to the date the events
occurred. Marina Oswald testified that she believed that her husband did
not begin to keep the diary until he reached Minsk, 3 months after his
arrival in Russia,133 and scraps of paper found in Oswald's possession,
containing much the same information as appears in his diary,134 suggest
that he transcribed the entries into the diary at a later time. The
substance of Oswald's writings has been carefully examined for
consistency with all other related information available to the
Commission. In addition, the writings have been checked for
handwriting,135 and for consistency of style, grammar, and spelling with
earlier and later writings which are known to be his.136 No indication
has been found that entries were written or coached by other persons.137
However, the most reliable information concerning the period Oswald
spent in Moscow in the latter part of 1962 comes from the records of the
American Embassy in Moscow,138 the testimony of Embassy officials,139
and the notes of two American newspaper reporters, Aline Mosby 140 and
Priscilla Johnson,141 who interviewed Oswald during this period.
Oswald's correspondence with his brother and mother has also been relied
upon for some relatively minor information. The findings upon which the
Commission based its conclusion concerning Soviet involvements in the
assassination were supported by evidence other than material provided by
the Soviet Union 142 or Oswald's writings. The Central Intelligence
Agency has also contributed data on the normal practices and procedures
of the Soviet authorities in handling American defectors.
The "Historic Diary" indicates that on October 16, 1959, the day Oswald
arrived in Moscow, he told his Intourist guide, Rima Shirokova, that he
wished to renounce his American citizenship and become a Soviet citizen.
The same day, the guide reportedly helped Oswald prepare a letter to the
Soviet authorities requesting citizenship.143 The diary indicates,
however, that on October 21 he was informed that his visa had expired
and that he would be required to leave Moscow within 2 hours. 144 During
the preceding days, according to the diary, he had been interviewed once
and perhaps twice by Soviet officials.145 During this period the KGB,*
the agency with
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primary responsibility for examining defectors arriving in Russia,
undoubtedly investigated Oswald as fully as possible. In 1959, virtually
all Intourist guides were KGB informants, and there is no reason to
believe that this was not true of Oswald's guide.146
According to Oswald's diary he attempted suicide when he learned his
application for citizenship had been denied.147 If true, this would seem
to provide strong evidence that, at least prior to October 21, there was
no undercover relationship between Oswald and the Soviet Government.
Though not necessarily conclusive, there is considerable direct evidence
which indicates that Oswald did slash his wrist. Oswald's autopsy showed
that he had a scar on his left wrist and that it was of the kind which
could have been caused by a suicide attempt.148 The medical records from
the Botkinskaya Hospital in Moscow, furnished by the Soviet Government,
reveal that from October 21 to October 28 he was treated there for a
self-inflicted wound on the left wrist.149 The information contained in
these records is consistent with the facts disclosed by the autopsy
examination relating to Oswald's wrist and to other facts known about
Oswald. Although no witness recalled Oswald mentioning a suicide
attempt,150 Marina Oswald testified that when she questioned her husband
about the scar on his wrist, he became "very angry," and avoided giving
her a reply. 151 Oswald's character, discussed in the following chapter,
does not seem inconsistent with a suicide or feigned suicide attempt,
nor with his having failed to disclose the suicide attempt. Many
witnesses who testified before the Commission observed that he was not
an "open" or trusting person, had a tendency toward arrogance, and was
not the kind of man who would readily admit weaknesses.152
Oswald appeared at the American Embassy in Moscow on October 31, 1959, 3
days after his release from the Botkinskaya Hospital.153 He did not give
the officials at the Embassy any indication that he had recently
received medical treatment.154 Oswald's appearance was the first
notification to the American Government that he was in Russia, since he
had failed to inform the Embassy upon his arrival,155 as most American
tourists did at the time.156 In appendix w, Oswald's dealings with the
Embassy in 1959 until his return to the United States in 1962 are
described in full, and all action taken by the American officials on his
case is evaluated. His conduct at the Embassy has also been considered
by the Commission for any indication it may provide as to whether or not
Oswald was then acting under directions of the Soviet Government.
At the Embassy, Oswald declared that he wished to renounce his U.S.
citizenship,157 but the consul to whom he spoke, Richard E.
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NOTE HANDED BY OSWALD TO THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW ON OCT. 31, 1959
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 913
261
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Snyder, refused to accept his renunciation at that time, telling him
that he would have to return to complete the necessary papers.158
However, Oswald did give the consul his passport 159 and a hand-written
statement requesting that his American citizenship be "revoked" and
"affirm[ing] [his] * * * allegiance" to the Soviet Union.160 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 913, p. 261.) The FBI has confirmed that this
statement is in Oswald's handwriting,161 and Snyder has testified that
the letter's phrases are consistent with the way Oswald talked and
conducted himself.162 During the approximately 40-minute interview,
Oswald also informed Snyder that he had been a radar operator in the
Marine Corps, intimating that he might how something of special
interest, and that he had informed a Soviet official that he would give
the Soviets any information concerning the Marine Corps and radar
operation which he possessed.163 Although Oswald never filed a formal
renunciation, in a letter to the Embassy dated November 3, 1959, he
again requested that his American citizenship be revoked and protested
the refusal to accept his renunciation on October 31.164 (See Commission
Exhibit 912, p. 263.)
While at the Embassy,165 and in a subsequent interview with an American
journalist,166 Oswald displayed familiarity with Communist ideological
arguments, which led those with whom he spoke to speculate that he may
have received some instruction from Soviet authorities. Oswald's
familiarity with the law regarding renunciation of citizenship, observed
by both Embassy officials,167 could also be construed as a sign of
coaching by Soviet authorities. However, Oswald is known to have been an
avid reader 168 and there is evidence that he had read Communist
literature without guidance while in the Marine Corps and before that
time.169 After his arrival in Moscow, Oswald most probably had
discussions with his Intourist guide and others,170 but none of the
Americans with whom he talked in Moscow felt that his conversations
necessarily revealed any type of formal training.171 The "Historic
Diary" indicates that Oswald did not tell his guide that he intended to
visit the Embassy because he feared she would disapprove.172 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 24, p. 264.) Though Oswald gave Snyder the
impression "of an intelligent person who spoke in a manner and on a
level, which seemed to befit his apparent level of intelligence," 173
correspondent Priscilla Johnson, who spent about 5 hours talking with
him,174 received a much less favorable impression:
He liked to create the pretense, the impression that he was attracted to
abstract discussion and was capable of engaging in it, and was drawn to
it. But it was like pricking a balloon. I had the feeling that if you
really did engage him on this ground, you very quickly would discover
that he didn't have the capacity for a logical sustained argument about
an abstract point on economics or on noneconomic, political matters or
any matter, philosophical.175
262
Page 263
LETTER MAILED BY OSWALD TO THE AMERICAN
EMBASSY IN MOSCOW
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 912
Page 264
OSWALD'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS MEETING AT THE AMERICAN EMBASSY IN MOSCOW
OCT. 31, 1959
Excerpts from his "Historic Diary"
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 24
Page 265
A comparison of the formal note Oswald handed Snyder 176 and his letter
of November 3 177 with the provisions of section 349 (a) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act 178 suggests that Oswald had read the
statute but understood it imperfectly; he apparently was trying to use
three out of the four ways set out in the statute to surrender his
citizenship, but he succeeded in none.
Moreover, persuasive evidence that Oswald's conduct was not carefully
coached by Soviet agents is provided by some of his actions at the
Embassy. The single statement which probably caused Oswald the most
future trouble was his declaration that he had already volunteered to a
Soviet official that he would, if asked, tell the Soviet Government all
that he knew about his job in radar as a Marine. Certainly a statement
of this type would prejudice any possibility of his being an effective
pro-Communist agent.
Further, though unquestionably evidencing anti-American sentiments,
Oswald's behavior at the Embassy, which brought him exceedingly close to
expatriation, was unlikely to have increased his value in any capacity
to the Soviet Union. Richard E. Snyder, the official who interviewed
Oswald on October 31, testified that he "had every reason to believe"
that Oswald would have carried through a formal--and therefore
effective--renunciation of his American citizenship immediately if he
had let. him.179 However, as a defector, Oswald could have had
considerable propaganda value without expatriating himself; and if he
had expatriated himself his eventual return to the United States would
have been much more difficult and perhaps impossible. If Snyder's
assessment of Oswald's intentions is accurate, it thus tends to refute
the suggestion that Oswald was being coached by the Soviets. In
addition, reporters noticed Oswald's apparent ambivalence in regard to
renouncing his citizen-ship-- stormily demanding that he be permitted to
renounce while failing to follow through by completing the necessary
papers 180--behavior which might have detracted from his propaganda
value.
According to Oswald's "Historic Diary" 181 and the documents furnished
to the Commission by the Soviet Government, 182 Oswald was not told that
he had been accepted as a resident of the Soviet Union until about
January 4, 1960. Although on November 13 and 16 Oswald informed Aline
Mosby 183 and Priscilla Johnson 184 that he had been granted permission
to remain in the country indefinitely, the diary indicates that at that
time he had been told only that he could remain "until some solution is
found with what to do with me." 185 The diary is more consistent with
the letter Oswald wrote to his brother Robert on December 17, saying
that he was then, more than a month after he saw Johnson and Mosby,
about to leave his hotel,186 and with some later correspondence with his
mother. Oswald mailed a short note to his mother which she received in
Texas on January 5; that same day she mailed a money order to him in
Moscow, but it apparently got there too late, because she received it
back, unopened, on February 25. 187 Oswald's conflicting statement to
the correspondents also seems rec-oneliable with his very apparent
desire to appear important to others.
265
730-900 O-64--19
Page 266
Moreover, so long as Oswald continued to stay in a hotel in Moscow, the
inference is that the Soviet authorities had not yet decided to accept
him.188 This inference is supported by information supplied by the CIA
on the handling of other defectors in the Soviet Union.189
Thus, the evidence is strong that Oswald waited at least until November
16, when he saw Miss Johnson, and it is probable that he was required to
wait until January 4, a little over 2.5 months from October 16, before
his application to remain in Russia was granted. In mid-November Miss
Johnson asked Oswald whether the Russians were encouraging his
defection, to which Oswald responded: "The Russians are treating it like
a legal formality. They don't encourage you and they don't discourage
you." 190 And, when the Soviet Government finally acted, Oswald did not
receive Soviet citizenship, as he had requested, but merely permission
to reside in Russia on a year-to-year basis.191
Asked to comment upon the length of time, 2 months and 22 days, that
probably passed before Oswald was granted the right to remain in the
Soviet Union, the CIA has advised that "when compared to five other
defector cases, this procedure seems unexceptional." 192 Similarly, the
Department of State reports that its information "indicated that a
2-month waiting period is not unusual." 193 The full response of the CIA
is as follows:
Oswald said that he asked for Soviet citizenship on 16 October 1959.
According to his diary, he received word a month later that he could
stay in the USSR pending disposition of his request, but it was another
month and a half before he was given his stateless passport.
When compared to five other defector cases, this procedure seems
unexceptional. Two defectors from US Army intelligence units in West
Germany appear to have been given citizenship immediately, but both had
prior KGB connections and fled as a result of Army security checks. Of
the other three cases, one was accepted after not more than five weeks
and given a stateless passport apparently at about the same time. The
second was immediately given permission to stay for a while, and his
subsequent request for citizenship was granted three months later. The
third was allowed to stay after he made his citizenship request, but
almost two months passed before he was told that he had been accepted.
Although the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs soon after told the US
Embassy that he was a Soviet citizen, he did not receive his document
until five or six months after initial application. We know of only one
case in which an American asked for Soviet citizenship but did not take
up residence in the USSR. In that instance, the American changed his
mind and voluntarily returned to the United States less than three weeks
after he had requested Soviet citizenship.194
266
Page 267
The Department of State has commented as follows:
The files of the Department of State reflect the fact that Oswald first
applied for permission to remain in Russia permanently, or at least for
a long period, when he arrived in Moscow, and that he obtained
permission to remain within one or two months.
A. Is the fact that he obtained permission to stay within this period of
time usual ?
Answer--Our information indicates that a two months waiting period is
not unusual. In the ease of [name withheld] the Supreme Soviet decided
within two months to give Soviet citizenship and he was thereafter, of
course, permitted to stay.
B. Can you tell us what the normal procedures are under similar
circumstances ?
Answer--It is impossible for us to state any "normal" procedures. The
Soviet Government never publicizes the proceedings in these eases or the
reasons for its action. Furthermore, it is, of course, extremely unusual
for an American citizen to defect.195
The information relating to Oswald's suicide attempt indicates that his
application to remain in the Soviet Union was probably re-jeered about 6
days after his arrival in Moscow. Since the KGB is the Soviet agency
responsible for the initial handling of all defectors,196 it seems
likely that the original decision not to accept Oswald was made by the
KGB. That Oswald was permitted to remain in Moscow after his release
from the hospital suggests that another ministry of the Soviet
Government may have intervened on his behalf. This hypothesis is
consistent with entries in the "Historic Diary" commenting that the
officials Oswald met after his hospital treatment were different from
those with whom he had dealt before.197 The most plausible reason for
any such intervention may well have been apprehension over the publicity
that would follow the rejection of a devout convert to the Communist
cause.
Oswald's Life in Minsk.--According to the "Historic Diary" 198 and
documents received from the Soviet Government,199 Oswald resided in the
city of Minsk from January 1960 until June 1962. Oswald's life in Minsk
is the portion of his life concerning which the least is known. The
primary sources of information are Oswald's own writings and the
testimony of Marina Oswald. Other evidence, however, establishes beyond
doubt that Oswald was in fact located in Minsk on at least two
occasions. The Commission has obtained two photographs which were taken
by American tourists in Minsk in August 1961 in which Oswald appears.200
The tourists did not know Oswald, nor did they speak with him; they
remembered only that several men gathered near their car.201 (See Kramer
Exhibit 1, p. 268.) In addition, Oswald was noticed in Minsk by a
student who was traveling with
Page 268
OSWALD, MAN STANDING ON RIGHT IN FIGURED SHIRT.
268
Page 269
the University of Michigan band on a tour of Russia in the spring of
1961. 202 Oswald corresponded with the American Embassy in Moscow from
Minsk,203 and wrote letters from Minsk to his family in the United
States.204 Oswald and his wife have many photographs taken of themselves
which show Minsk backgrounds and persons who are identifiable as
residents of Minsk.205 After he returned to the United States,` Oswald
conversed about the city with Russian-born American citizens who were
familiar with it.206 Marina Oswald is also familiar with the city. 207
The Commission has also been able independently to verify the existence
in Minsk of many of the acquaintances of Oswald and his wife whom they
said they knew there. 208 (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1392, 1395,
2606, 2609, 2612 and 2623, pp. 270--271.)
Once he was accepted as a resident alien in the Soviet Union, Oswald was
given considerable benefits which ordinary Soviet citizens in his
position in society did not have. The "Historic Diary" recites that
after Oswald was informed that he could remain in the Soviet Union and
was being sent to Minsk he was given 5,000 rubles* ($500) by the "Red
Cross, * * * for expenses." He used 2,200 rubles to pay his hotel bill,
and another 150 rubles to purchase a train ticket. With the balance of
slightly over 2,500 rubles, Oswald felt, according to the diary, like a
rich man.209 Oswald did not receive free living quarters, as the diary
indicates the "Mayor" of Minsk promised him,210 but about 6 weeks after
his arrival he did receive an apartment, very pleasant by Soviet
standards, for which he was required to pay only 60 rubles ($6.00) a
month. Oswald considered the apartment "almost rent free." Oswald was
given a job in the "Byelorussian Radio and Television Factory," where
his pay on a per piece basis ranged from 700 to 900 rubles ($70-$90) a
month.212 According to his wife, this rate of pay was average for people
in his occupation but good by Soviet standards generally.213 She
explained that piecework rates throughout the Soviet Union have
generally grown out of line with compensation for other jobs.214 The CIA
has confirmed that this condition exists in many areas and occupations
in the Soviet Union. 215 In addition to his salary, Oswald regularly
received 700 rubles ($70) per month from the Soviet "Red Cross." 216 The
well-paying job, the monthly subsidy, and the "almost rent-free"
apartment combined to give Oswald more money than he needed. The only
complaint recorded in the "Historic Diary" is that there was "no place
to spend the money." 217
The Commission has found no basis for associating Oswald's preferred
income with Soviet undercover activity. Marina Oswald testified that
foreign nationals are commonly given special treatment in the Soviet
Union, 218 and the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that it is
standard practice in the Soviet Union for Americans and other foreign
defectors from countries with high standards of living to be
"subsidized." 219 Apparently it is Soviet practice
269
Page 270
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE OSWALDS
IN MINSK, U.S.S.R.
OSWALD AND MARINA ON A BRIDGE IN MINSK (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1392)
UNCLE VASILY AKSIONOV AND
AUNT LUBOVA AKSlONOVA,
WITH THE OSWALDS (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2623)
MARINA WAITING FOR BUS
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1395)
Page 271
PHOTOGRAPHS OF OSWALDS
IN U.S.S.R.
ROSA KUZNETSOVA, ELLA GERMAN LEE HARVEY OSWALD, AND
PAVEL GOLOVACHEV
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT2609)
OSWALD AND ALFRED (LAST NAME UNKNOWN),
A HUNGARIAN FRIEND OF ANITA ZIGER
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2612)
VIEW OVERLOOKING THE SVISLOCH
RIVER FROM THE BALCONY OF THE OSWALDS' APARTMENT
IN MINSK
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2606)
271
Page 272
to attempt to make life sufficiently pleasant for a foreign defector so
that he will not become disillusioned and return to his native country.
The Commission has also assumed that it is customary for Soviet
intelligence agencies to keep defectors under surveillance during their
residence in the Soviet Union, through periodic interviews of neighbors
and associates of the defector.220 Oswald once mentioned that the Soviet
police questioned his neighbors occasionally.221
Moreover, it is from Oswald's personal writings alone that the
Commission has learned that he received supplementary funds from the
Soviet "Red Cross." In the notes he made during the return trip to the
United States Oswald recognized that the "Red Cross" subsidy had nothing
to do with the well-known International Red Cross. He frankly stated
that the money was paid to him for having "denounced" the United States
and that it had come from the "MVD." 222 Oswald's papers reveal that the
"Red Cross" subsidy was terminated as soon as he wrote the American
Embassy in Moscow in February 1961 asking that he be permitted to
return.223 (See Commission Exhibit No. 25, p. 278.) Marina Oswald's
testimony confirmed this; she said that when she knew Oswald he no
longer was receiving the monthly grant but still retained some of the
savings accumulated in the months when he had been receiving it.224
Since she met Oswald in March and married him in April of 1961, her
testimony was consistent with his records.
The nature of Oswald's employment while in Minsk has been examined by
the Commission. The factory in which he worked was a large plant
manufacturing electronic parts and radio and television sets. Marina
Oswald has testified that he was an "apprentice machinist" and "ground
small metallic parts for radio receivers, on a lathe." as So far as can
be determined, Oswald never straight-forwardly described to anyone else
in the United States exactly what his job was in the Soviet Union.226
Some of his acquaintances in Dallas and Fort Worth had the impression
that he was disappointed in having been given a menial job and not
assigned to an institution of higher learning in the Soviet Union.227
Marina Oswald confirmed this and also testified that her husband was not
interested in his work and not regarded at the factory as a very good
worker.228 The documents furnished to the Commission by the Soviet
government were consistent with her testimony on this point, since they
included a report from Oswald's superior at the factory which is
critical of his performance on the job.229 Oswald's employment and his
job performance are thus consistent with his known occupational habits
in this country and otherwise afford no ground for suspicion.
Oswald's membership in a hunting club while he was in the Soviet Union
has been a matter of special interest to the Commission. One Russian
emigre testified that this was a suspicious circumstance because no one
in the Soviet Union is permitted to own a gun for pleasure.230 The
Commission's investigation, however, has established that this is not
so. The Central Intelligence Agency has advised the Commission that
hunting societies such as the one to
Page 273
EXCERPTS FROM A SPEECH OSWALD NEVER DELIVERED, WHICH HE PROBABLY WROTE
ABOARD THE SHIP WHILE RETURNING FROM THE U. S. S. R. WITH HIS FAMILY
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 25)
273
Page 274
which Oswald belonged are very popular in the Soviet Union. 231 They are
frequently sponsored by factories for their employees, as was
Oswald's.232 Moreover, Soviet citizens (or foreigners residing in the
Soviet Union) are permitted to own shotguns, but not rifles, without
joining a society; all that is necessary is that the gun be registered
at the local militia office immediately after it has been purchased.233
Experts from the Central Intelligence Agency have examined Oswald's club
membership certificate and gun permit and expressed the opinion that its
terms and numbers are consistent with other information the CIA has
about the Soviet Union. 234
Marina Oswald testified that her husband went hunting only on one
occasion during the time of their marriage.235 However, Oswald
.apparently joined the Byelorussian Society of Hunters and Fishermen m
the summer of 1960 236 and did not marry until April 30, 1961, 237 so he
could have been more active while he was still a bachelor. Oswald made
no secret of his membership in the hunting club. He mentioned it on
occasion to friends after he returned to the United States; 238
discussed it at some length in a speech at a Jesuit Seminary in Mobile,
Ala., in the summer of 1962; 239 included it in his correspondence with
his brother Robert; 240 and kept his membership certificate 241 and gun
permit 242 until the day he was killed. In view of these facts, it is
unlikely that Oswald's membership in a hunting club was contrived to
conceal some sort of secret training. Moreover, the CIA has informed the
Commission that it is in possession of considerable information on the
location of secret Soviet training institutions and that it knows of no
such institution in or near Minsk during the time Oswald was there. 243
Oswald's marriage to Marina Prusakova on April 30, 1961, 244 is itself a
fact meriting consideration. A foreigner living in Russia cannot marry
without the permission of the Soviet Government. 245 It seems unlikely
that the Soviet authorities would have permitted Oswald to marry and to
take his wife with him to the United States if they were contemplating
using him alone as an agent. The fact that he had a Russian wife would
be likely, in their view, to increase any surveillance under which he
would be kept by American security agencies, would make him even more
conspicuous to his neighbors as "an ex- Russian," and would decrease his
mobility. A wife's presence in the United States would also constitute a
continuing risk of disclosure. On the other hand, Marina Oswald's lack
of English training and her complete ignorance of the United States and
its customs 246 would scarcely recommend-her to the Soviet authorities
as one member of an "agent team" to be sent to the United States on a
difficult and dangerous foreign enterprise.
Oswald's departure from the Soviet Union.--On February 13, 1961, the
American Embassy in Moscow received a letter from Oswald postmarked
Minsk, February 5, asking that he be readmitted to the United States.
247 This was the first time that the Embassy had heard from or about
Oswald since November 16, 1959. 248 The end of the 15-month silence came
only a few days after the Department of State
Page 275
in Washington had forwarded a request to the Moscow Embassy on February
1, 1961, informing the Embassy that Oswald's mother was worried about
him, and asking that he get in touch with her if possible.249 The
simultaneity of the two events was apparently coincidental. The request
from Marguerite Oswald went from Washington to Moscow by sealed
diplomatic pouch and there was no evidence that the seal had been
tampered with.250 The officer of the Department of State who carried the
responsibility for such matters has testified that the message was not
forwarded to the Russians after it arrived in Moscow.251
Oswald's letter does not seem to have been designed to ingratiate him
with the Embassy officials. It starts by incorrectly implying that he
had written an earlier letter that was not answered, states that he will
return to the United States only if he can first "come to some
agreement" on there being no legal charges brought against him, and ends
with a reminder to the officials at the Embassy that they have a
responsibility to do everything they can to help him, since he is an
American citizen.252
The Embassy's response to this letter was to invite Oswald to come
personally to Moscow to discuss the matter.253 Oswald at first protested
because of the difficulty of obtaining Soviet permission.254 He wrote
two more protesting letters during the following 4 months,255 but
received no indication that the Embassy would allow him to handle the
matter by mail.256 While the Department of State was clarifying its
position on this matter,257 Oswald unexpectedly appeared in Moscow on
Saturday, July 8, 1961.258 On Sunday, Marina Oswald flew to Moscow,259
and was interviewed by officials in the American Embassy on Tuesday.260
The Commission asked the Department of State and the Central
Intelligence Agency to comment on whether the Oswalds' travel to Moscow
without permission signified special treatment by the Soviet Union. From
their responses, it appears that since Marina Oswald possessed a Soviet
citizen's internal passport, she did not require prior approval to make
the trip.261 Although Soviet law did require her husband, as the holder
of a "stateless passport," to obtain advance permission for the trip,
his failure to do so would not normally have been considered a serious
violation. In this respect, the CIA has advised the Commission as
follows:
OSWALD'S travel from Minsk to Moscow and return in July 1961 would
normally have required prior authorization. Bearers of a Soviet
"passport for foreigners" (vid na zhitelstov v. SSSR dlya innostrantsa)
are required to obtain travel authorization from the Visa and
Registration Department (OVIR) (or Passport Registration Department
(PRO) in smaller towns) if they desire to leave the city (or oblast)
where they are domiciled. This same requirement is believed to apply to
persons, such as OSWALD, holding Soviet "stateless passports" (vid na
zhitel-stvo v. SSSR dlya lits bez grazhdanstva).
Page 276
The practicality of even "unauthorized" travel was demonstrated by
events related by a United States citizen who defected in 1960, and
subsequently was sent to Kiev to study. After repatriating this defector
told U.S. authorities he had made a total of seven unauthorized trips
from Kiev during his stay in the USSR. He was apprehended on two of his
flights and was returned to Kiev each time, the second time under
escort. On both occasions he was merely reprimanded by the deputy chief
of the institute at which he was studying. Since Marina had a Soviet
citizen's internal passport there would have been no restrictions
against her making the trip to Moscow.262
The answers of the Department of State, together with the Commission's
specific questions, are as follows:
B. Could resident foreigners normally travel in this manner without
first obtaining such permission?
Answer--There are only a few U.S. nationals now living in the Soviet
Union. They include an American Roman Catholic priest, an American
Protestant minister, a number of correspondents, some students and
technical advisers to Soviet businesses. We know that the priest, the
minister, the correspondents and the students must obtain permission
from Soviet authorities before taking any trips. The technical advisers
notify officials of their project before they travel and these officials
personally inform the militia.
C. If travel of this type was not freely permitted, do you believe that
Oswald normally would have been apprehended during the attempt or
punished after the fact for traveling without permission ?
Answer--Based on the information we have, we believe that if Oswald went
to Moscow without permission, and this was known to the Soviet
authorities, he would have been fined or reprimanded. Oswald was not, of
course, an average foreign resident. He was a defector from a foreign
country and the bearer of a Soviet internal "stateless" passport * * *
during the time when he was contemplating the visit to Moscow to come to
the Embassy * * *
The Soviet authorities probably knew about Oswald's trip even if he did
not obtain advance permission, since in most instances the Soviet
militia guards at the Embassy ask for the documents of unidentified
persons entering the Embassy grounds ***
An American citizen who, with her American citizen husband, went to the
Soviet Union to live permanently and is now trying to obtain permission
to leave, informed the Embassy that she had been fined for not getting
permission to go from Odessa to Moscow on a recent trip to visit the
Embassy.
D. Even if such travel did not have to be authorized, do you have any
information or observations regarding the practicality of such travel by
Soviet citizens or persons in Oswald's status ?
276
Page 277
Answer--It is impossible to generalize in this area. We understand from
interrogations of former residents in the Soviet Union who were
considered "stateless" by Soviet authorities that they were not
permitted to leave the town where they resided without permission of the
police. In requesting such permission they were required to fill out a
questionnaire giving the reason for travel, length of stay, addresses of
individuals to be visited, etc.
Notwithstanding these requirements, we know that at least one
"stateless" person often traveled without permission of the authorities
and stated that police stationed at railroad stations usually
spotchecked the identification papers of every tenth traveler, but that
it was an easy matter to avoid such checks. Finally, she stated that
persons who were caught evading the registration requirements were
returned to their home towns by the police and sentenced to short jail
terms and fined. These sentences were more severe for repeated
violations.263
When Oswald arrived at the Embassy in Moscow, he met Richard E. Snyder,
the same person with whom he had dealt in October of 1959. 264 Primarily
on the basis of Oswald's interview with Snyder on Monday, July 10, 1961,
the American Embassy concluded that Oswald had not expatriated himself.
265 (See app. XV pp. 752- 760. ) On the basis of this tentative
decision, Oswald was given back his American passport, which he had
surrendered in 1959. 266 The document was due to expire in September
1961, 267 however, and Oswald was informed that its renewal would depend
upon the ultimate decision by the Department of State on his
expatriation.268 On July 11, Marina Oswald was interviewed at the
Embassy and the steps necessary for her to obtain an American visa were
begun.269 In May 1962, after 15 months of dealings with the Embassy,
Oswald's passport was ultimately renewed and permission for his wife to
enter the United States was granted.270
The files on Oswald and his wife compiled by the Department of State and
the Immigration and Naturalization Service contain no indication of any
expert guidance by Soviet authorities in Oswald's dealings with the
Department or the Service. For example, the letters from Minsk to the
Embassy in Moscow,271 which are in his handwriting,272 display the
arrogant attitude which was characteristic of him both before and after
he lived in Russia, and, when compared with other letters that were
without doubt composed and written by him, 273 show about the same low
level of sophistication, fluency, and spelling. The Department officer
who most frequently dealt with Oswald when he began negotiations to
return to the United States, Richard E. Snyder, testified that he can
recall nothing that indicated Oswald was being guided or assisted by a
third party when he appeared at the Embassy in July 1961.274 On the
contrary, the arrogant and presumptuous attitude which Oswald displayed
in his correspondence with the Embassy from early 1961 until June 1962,
275 when he finally departed from Russia, undoubtedly hindered
277
Page 278
his attempts to return to the United States. Snyder has testified that
although he made a sincere effort to treat Oswald's application
objectively, Oswald's attitude made this very difficult. 276
In order to leave Russia, it was also necessary for the Oswalds to
obtain permission from the Soviet Government. The timing and
circumstances under which the Oswalds obtained this permission have also
been considered by the Commission. Marina Oswald, although her memory is
not clear on the point, said that she and Oswald first made their
intentions to go to the United States known to Soviet officials in Minsk
in May, even before coming to Moscow in July for the conference at the
American Embassy.277 The Oswalds' correspondence with the Embassy and
the documents furnished the Commission by the Soviet Government show
that the Oswalds made a series of formal applications to the Soviets
from July 15 to August 21. 278 Presumably the most difficult question
for the Soviet-authorities was whether to allow Marina Oswald to
accompany her husband. She was called to the local passport office in
Minsk on December 25, 1961, and told that authority had been received to
issue exit visas to her and Oswald.279 Obtaining the permission of the
Soviet Government to leave may have been aided by a conference which
Marina Oswald had, at her own request, with a local MVD official,
Colonel Aksenov, sometime in late 1961. She testified that she applied
for the conference at her husband's urging, after he had tried
unsuccessfully to arrange such a conference for himself.280 She believed
that it may have been granted her because her uncle with whom she had
lived in Minsk before her marriage was also an MVD official.281
The correspondence with the American Embassy at this time reflected that
the Oswalds did not pick up their exit visas immediately.282 On January
11, 1962, Marina Oswald was issued her Soviet exit visa. It was marked
valid until December 1, 1962.283 The Oswalds did not leave Russia until
June 1962, but the additional delay was caused by problems with the U.S.
Government and by the birth of a child in February.284 Permission of the
Soviet authorities to leave, once given, was never revoked. Oswald told
the FBI in July 1962, shortly after he returned to the United States,
that he had been interviewed by the MVD twice, once when he first came
to the Soviet Union and once just before he departed.285 His wife
testified that the second interview did not occur in Moscow but that she
and her husband dealt with the MVD visa officials frequently in
Minsk.286
Investigation of the circumstances, including the timing, under which
the Oswalds obtained permission from the Soviet Government to leave
Russia for the United States show that they differed in no discernible
manner from the normal. The Central Intelligence Agency has informed the
Commission that normally a Soviet national would not be permitted to
emigrate if he might endanger Soviet national security once he went
abroad.287 Those persons in possession of confidential information, for
example, would constitute an
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important category of such "security risks." Apparently Oswald's
predeparture interview by the MVD was part of an attempt to ascertain
whether he or his wife had access to any confidential information.
Marina Oswald's reported interview with the MVD in late 1961, which was
arranged at her request, may have served the same purpose. The
Commission's awareness of both interviews derives entirely from Oswald's
and his wife's statements and letters to the American Embassy, which
afford additional evidence that the conferences carried no subversive
significance.
It took the Soviet authorities at least 5% months, from about July 15,
1961, until late December, to grant permission for the Oswalds to leave
the country. When asked to comment upon the alleged rapidity of the
Oswalds' departure, the Department of State advised the Commission:
* * * In the immediate post-war period there were about fifteen
marriages in which the wife had been waiting for many years for a Soviet
exit permit. After the death of Stalin the Soviet Government showed a
disposition to settle these cases. In the summer of 1953 permission was
given for all of this group of Soviet citizen wives to accompany their
American citizen husbands to the United States.
Since this group was given permission to leave the Soviet Union, there
have been from time to time marriages in the Soviet Union of American
citizens and Soviet citizens. With one exception, it is our
understanding that all of the Soviet citizens involved have been given
permission to emigrate to the United States after waiting periods which
were, in some cases from three to six months and in others much longer.
288
Both the Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency
compiled data for the Commission on Soviet wives of American citizens
who received exit visas to leave the Soviet Union, where the relevant
information was available. In both cases the data were consistent with
the above conclusion of the State Department. The Department of State
had sufficient information to measure the timespan in 14 cases. The
Department points out that it has information on the dates of
application for and receipt of Soviet exit visas only on those cases
that have been brought to its attention. A common reason for bringing a
case to the attention of the Department is that the granting of the exit
visa by the Soviet Union has been delayed, so that the American spouse
seeks the assistance of his own government. It therefore appears that
the sampling data carry a distinct bias toward lengthy waiting periods.
Of the 14 cases tested, 6 involve women who applied for visas after
1953, when the liberalized post-Stalin policy was in effect. The
approximate waiting periods for these wives were, in decreasing order,
13 months, 6 months, 8 months, 1 month, and 10 days.289 Of the 11 cases
examined by the Central Intelligence Agency
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in which the time period is known or can be inferred, the Soviet wives
had to wait from 5 months to a year to obtain exit visas.290
In his correspondence with the American Embassy and his brother while he
was in Russia,291 in his diary,292 and in his conversations with people
in the United States after he returned,293 Oswald claimed that his wife
had been subjected to pressure by the Soviet Government in an effort to
induce her not to emigrate to the United States. In the Embassy
correspondence, Oswald claimed that the pressure had been so intense
that she had to be hospitalized for 5 days for "nervous exhaustion." 294
Marina Oswald testified that her husband exaggerated and that no such
hospitalization or "nervous exhaustion" ever occurred.295 However, she
did testify that she was questioned on the matter occasionally and given
the impression that her government was not pleased with her decision.
296 Her aunt and uncle in Minsk did not speak to her "for a long time";
she also stated that she was dropped from membership in the Communist
Youth Organization (Komsomol) when the news of her visit to the American
Embassy in Moscow reached that organization. 297 A student who took
Russian lessons from her in Texas testified that she once referred to
the days when the pressure was applied as "a very horrible time." 298
Despite all this Marina Oswald testified that she was surprised that
their visas were granted as soon as they were--and that hers was granted
at all.299 This evidence thus indicates that the Soviet authorities,
rather than facilitating the departure of the Oswalds, first tried to
dissuade Marina Oswald from going to the United States and then, when
she failed to respond to the pressure, permitted her to leave without
undue delay. There are indications that the Soviet treatment of another
recent defector who left the Soviet Union to return to the United States
resembled that accorded to the Oswalds. 300
On the basis of all the foregoing evidence, the Commission concluded
that there was no reason to believe that the Oswalds received unusually
favorable treatment in being permitted to leave the Soviet Union.
Associations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Community
The Russian-speaking community.--Shortly after his return from Russia in
June 1962, Oswald and his family settled in Fort Worth, Tex., where they
met a group Of Russian-born or Russian-speaking persons in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.301 The members of this community were attracted
to each other by common background, language, and culture. Many of them
were well-educated, accomplished, and industrious people, several being
connected with the oil exploration, production, and processing industry
that flourishes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.302 As described more
fully in chapter VII and in appendix XIII, many of these persons
assisted the Oswalds in various ways. Some provided the Oswalds with
gifts of such things as food, clothing, and baby furniture.303 Some
arranged appointments and transportation for medical and dental
treatment, and assumed the cost in some instances.304 When Oswald under-
Page 281
took to look for employment in Dallas in early October of 1962 and again
when marital difficulties arose between the Oswalds in November of the
same year, Marina Oswald and their child were housed at times in the
homes of various members of the group.305 The Commission has examined
the background of many of these individuals and has thoroughly
investigated Oswald's relationship with them.
There is no basis to suppose that Oswald came to Fort Worth upon his
return from Russia for the purpose of establishing contacts with the
Russian-speaking community located in that area. Oswald had spent
several of his grammar-school years in Fort Worth.306 In 1962, his
brother Robert lived in Fort Worth and his mother resided in nearby
Vernon, Tex. In January of that year, Oswald indicated to American
officials in Russia that he intended to stay with his mother upon his
return to the United States; however, sometime after mid- February, he
received an invitation to stay with Robert and his family until he
became settled, and he did spend the first several weeks after his
return at Robert's home.307 In July, Oswald's mother moved to Fort Worth
and Oswald and his wife and child moved into an apartment with her.308
While in that apartment, Oswald located a job in Fort Worth and then
rented and moved with his family into an apartment on Mercedes
Street.309
Upon his arrival in 1962, Oswald did not know any members of the
relatively small and loosely knit Russian-speaking community.310 Shortly
after his arrival Oswald obtained the name of two Russian-speaking
persons in Fort Worth from the office of the Texas Employment Commission
in that city.311 Attempts to arrange a prompt visit with one of them
failed.312 The second person, Peter Paul Gregory, was a consulting
petroleum engineer and part-time Russian-language instructor at the Fort
Worth Public Library. Oswald contacted him in order to obtain a letter
certifying to his proficiency in Russian and Marina Oswald later tutored
his son in the Russian language.313 Gregory introduced the Oswalds to
George Bouhe and Anna Meller, both of whom lived in Dallas and became
interested in the welfare of Marina Oswald and her child.314 Through
them, other members of the Russian community became acquainted with the
Oswalds.315
The Oswalds met some 30 persons in the Russian-speaking community, of
whom 25 testified before the Commission or its staff; others were
interviewed on behalf of the Commission.316 This range of testimony has
disclosed that the relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and the
Russian-speaking community was short lived and generally quite
strained.317 During October and November of 1962 Marina Oswald lived at
the homes of some of the members of the Russian-speaking community.318
She stayed first with Elena Hall while Oswald was looking for work in
Dallas.319 In early November, Marina Oswald and the baby joined Oswald
in Dallas, but soon thereafter, she spent approximately 2 weeks with
different Russian-speaking friends during another separation.320 Oswald
openly resented the help Marina's "Russian friends" gave to him and his
wife and the efforts of some of them to induce Marina to leave him.321
George
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Bouhe attempted to dissuade Marina from returning to her husband in
November 1962, and when she rejoined him, Bouhe became displeased with
her as well.322 Relations between the Oswalds and the members of the
Russian community had practically ceased by the end of 1962. Katherine
Ford, one of the members of the group, summed up the situation as it
existed at the end of January 1963: "So it was rather, sort of, Marina
and her husband were dropped at that time, nobody actually wanted to
help. * * *" 323
In April of 1963, Oswald left Fort Worth for New Orleans, where he was
later joined by his wife and daughter, and remained until his trip to
Mexico City in late September and his subsequent return to the Dallas-
Fort Worth area in early October of 1963.324 With only minor
exceptions,325 there is no evidence that any member of the
Russian-speaking community had further contact with Oswald or his family
after April. 326 In New Orleans, Oswald made no attempt to make new
Russian-speaking acquaintances for his wife and there is no evidence
that he developed any friendships in that city.327 Similarly, after the
return from New Orleans, there seems to have been no communication
between the Oswalds and this group until the evening of November 22,
1963, when the Dallas Police enlisted Ilya Mamantov to serve as an
interpreter for them in their questioning of Marina Oswald.328
George De Mohrenschildt and his wife, both of whom speak Russian as well
as several other languages, however, did continue to see the Oswalds on
occasion up to about the time Oswald went to New Orleans on April 24,
1963. De Mohrenschildt was apparently the only Russian-speaking person
living in Dallas for whom Oswald had appreciable respect, and this seems
to have been true even though De Mohrenschildt helped Marina Oswald
leave her husband for a period in November of 1962. 329
In connection with the relations between Oswald and De Mohrenschildt,
the Commission has considered testimony concerning an event which
occurred shortly after Oswald shot at General Walker. The De
Mohrenschildts came to Oswald's apartment on Neely Street for the first
time on the evening of April 13, 1963, apparently to bring an Easter
gift for the Oswald child.330 Mrs. De Mohrenschildt testified that while
Marina Oswald was showing her the apartment, she saw a rifle with a
scope in a closet. Mrs. De Mohrenschildt then told her husband, in the
presence of the Oswalds, that there was a rifle in the closet.331 Mrs.
De Mohrenschildt testified that "George, of course, with his sense of
humor--Walker was shot at a few days ago, within that time. He said,
'Did you take a pot shot at Walker by any chance?' "332 At that point,
Mr. De Mohrenschildt testified, Oswald "sort of shriveled, you see, when
I asked this question. * * * made a peculiar face * * * [and] changed
the expression on his face" and remarked that he did targetshooting.333
Marina Oswald testified that the De Mohrenschildts came to visit a few
days after the Walker incident and that when De Mohrenschildt made his
reference to Oswald's possibly shooting at Walker, Oswald's "face
changed, * * * he almost
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became speechless." 334 According to the De Mohrenschildts, Mr. De
Mohrenschildt's remark was intended as a joke, and he had no knowledge
of Oswald's involvement in the attack on Walker.335 Nonetheless, the
remark appears to have created an uncomfortable silence, and the De
Mohrenschildts left "very soon afterwards." They never saw either of the
Oswalds again.336 They left in a few days on a trip to New York City and
did not return until after Oswald had gone to New Orleans.337 A postcard
from Oswald to De Mohrenschildt was apparently the only contact they had
thereafter.338 The De Mohrenschildts left in early June for Haiti on a
business venture, and they were still residing there at the time they
testified on April 23, 1964. 339
Extensive investigation has been conducted into the background of both
De Mohrenschildts.340 The investigation has revealed that George De
Mohrenschildt is a highly individualistic person of varied interests. He
was born in the Russian Ukraine in 1911 and fled Russia with his parents
in 1921 during the civil disorder following the revolution. He was in a
Polish cavalry military academy for 11/2 years. Later he studied in
Antwerp and attended the University of Liege from which he received a
doctor's degree in international commerce in 1928. Soon thereafter, he
emigrated to the United States; he became a U.S. citizen in 1949.341 De
Mohrenschildt eventually became interested in oil exploration .and
production; he entered the University of Texas in 1944 and received a
master's degree in petroleum geology and petroleum engineering in
1945.342 He has since become active as a petroleum engineer throughout
the world.343 In 1960, after the death of his son, he and his wife made
an 8-month hike from the United States-Mexican border to Panama over
primitive jungle trails. By happenstance they were in Guatemala City at
the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion.344 A lengthy film and complete
written log was prepared by De Mohrenschildt and a report of the trip
was made to the U.S. Government.345 Upon arriving in Panama they
journeyed to Haiti where De Mohrenschildt eventually became involved in
a Government-oriented business venture in which he has been engaged
continuously since June 1963 until the time of this report.346
The members of the Dallas-Fort Worth Russian community and others have
variously described De Mohrenschildt as eccentric, outspoken, and a
strong believer in individual liberties and in the U.S. form of
government, but also of the belief that some form of undemocratic
government might be best for other peoples.347 De Mohrenschildt frankly
admits his provocative personality.348
Jeanne De Mohrenschildt was born in Harbin, China, of White Russian
parents. She left during the war with Japan, coming to New York in 1938
where she became a successful ladies dress and sportswear apparel
designer. She married her present husband in 1959. 349
The Commission's investigation has developed no signs of subversive or
disloyal conduct on the part of either of the De Mohrenschildts. Neither
the FBI, CIA, nor any witness contacted by the
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Commission has provided any information linking the De Mohrenschildts to
subversive or extremist organizations. 350 Nor has there been any
evidence linking them in any way with the assassination of President
Kennedy.
The Commission has also considered closely the relations between the
Oswalds and Michael and Ruth Paine of Irving, Tex. The Paines were not
part of the Russian community which has been discussed above. Ruth Paine
speaks Russian, however, and for this reason was invited to a party in
February of 1963 at which she became acquainted with the Oswalds.351 The
host had met the Oswalds through the De Mohrenschildts.352 Marina Oswald
and Ruth Paine subsequently became quite friendly, and Mrs. Paine
provided considerable assistance to the Oswalds. 353 Marina Oswald and
her child resided with Ruth Paine for a little over 2 weeks while Oswald
sought a job in New Orleans in late April and early May 1963.354 In May,
she transported Marina Oswald to New Orleans, paying all of the
traveling and other expenses. 355 While the Oswalds were in New Orleans,
the two women corresponded.356 Mrs. Paine came to New Orleans in late
September and took Marina Oswald and her child to her home in Irving.357
Since Oswald left for Mexico City promptly after Mrs. Paine and his
family departed New Orleans, 358 the Commission has considered whether
Ruth Paine's trip to New Orleans was undertaken to assist Oswald in this
venture, but the evidence is clear that it was not. In her letters to
Ruth Paine during the summer of 1963, Marina Oswald confided that she
was having continuing difficulties with her husband, and Mrs. Paine
urged Marina Oswald to live with her in Irving; the letters of the two
women prior to Mrs. Paine's arrival in New Orleans on September 20,
1963, however, contain no mention that Oswald was planning a trip to
Mexico City or elsewhere.359 In New Orleans, Mrs. Paine was told by
Oswald that he planned to seek employment in Houston, or perhaps
Philadelphia. Though Marina Oswald knew this to be false, she testified
that she joined in this deception.360 At no time during the entire
weekend was Mexico City mentioned.361 Corroboration for this testimony
is found in a letter Mrs. Paine wrote her mother shortly after she and
Marina Oswald had returned to Irving on September 24, in which she
stated that Marina Oswald was again living with her temporarily and that
Oswald was job-hunting.362 When Oswald arrived at the Paine home on
October 4, he continued his deception by telling Mrs. Paine, in his
wife's presence, that he had been unsuccessful in finding employment.363
At Oswald's request, Marina Oswald remained silent.364
Marina Oswald lived with Ruth Paine through the birth of her second
daughter on October 20, 1963, and until the assassination of President
Kennedy.365 During this period, Oswald obtained a room in Dallas and
found employment in Dallas, but spent weekends with his family at the
Paine home.366 On November 1 and 5, Ruth Paine was interviewed by agents
of the FBI who were investigating Oswald's activities since his return
from the Soviet Union, as set forth
Page 285
in greater detail in chapter VIII. She did not then know Oswald's
address in Dallas.367 She was not asked for, nor did she volunteer,
Oswald's telephone number in Dallas, which she did know.368 She advised
the Bureau agent to whom she spoke of Oswald's periodic weekend visits,
and she informed him that Oswald was employed at the Texas School Book
Depository Building.369
On November 10, Ruth Paine discovered a draft of Oswald's letter written
the day before to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, in which he
indicated that he had journeyed to Mexico City and conferred with a
"comrade Kostine in the Embassy of the Soviet Union, Mexico City,
Mexico." 370 (This letter is discussed later in this chapter.) Mr. and
Mrs. Paine testified that although they initially assumed the letter was
a figment of Oswald's imagination, the letter gave Mrs. Paine
considerable misgivings.371 She determined that if the FBI agents
returned she would deliver to them the copy of a draft of the letter
which, unknown to Oswald, she had made.372 However, the agents did not.
return before the assassination.373 On November 19, Mrs. Paine learned
that Oswald was living in his Dallas roominghouse under an assumed
name.374 She did not report this to the FBI because, as she testified,
she "had no occasion to see them, and * * * did not think it important
enough to call them after that until the 23d of November." 375
The Commission has thoroughly investigated the background of both
Paines. Mrs. Paine was born Ruth Hyde in New York City on September 8,
1932. Her parents moved to Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1930's.376 They
were divorced in 1961.377 Ruth Paine graduated from Antioch College in
1955.378 While in high school she first. became interested in Quaker
activities; she and her brother became Quakers in 1951. 379 In 1952,
following completion of her sophomore year at Antioch College, she was a
delegate to two Friends conferences in England.380
At the time the Paines met in 1955, Mrs. Paine was active in the work of
the Young Friends Committee of North America, which, with the
cooperation of the Department of State, was making an effort to lessen
the tensions between Soviet Russia and the United States by means of the
stimulation of contacts and exchange of cultures between citizens of the
two nations through "pen-pal" correspondence and exchanges of young
Russians and Americans.381 It was during this period that Mrs. Paine
became interested in the Russian language.382 Mrs. Paine participated in
a Russian-American student exchange program sponsored by the Young
Friends Committee of North America, and has participated in the
"pen-pal" phase of the activities of the Young Friends Committee. 383
She has corresponded until recently with a schoolteacher in Russia.384
Although her active interest in the Friends' program for the lessening
of East-West tensions ceased upon her marriage in December 1957, she has
continued to hold to the tenets of the Quaker faith. 385
Michael Paine is the son of George Lyman Paine and Ruth Forbes Paine,
now Ruth Forbes Young, wife of Arthur Young of Phila-
Page 286
delphia, Pa.386 His parents were divorced when he was 4 years of age.
His father, George Lyman Paine, is an architect and resides in
California. 387 Michael Paine testified that during his late grammar and
early high school days his father participated actively in the
Trotskyite faction of the Communist movement in the United States and
that he attended some of those meetings.388 He stated that his father,
with whom he has had little contact throughout most of his life, has not
influenced his political thinking. He said that he has visited his
father four or five times in California since 1959, but their
discussions did not include the subject of communism.389 Since moving to
Irving, Tex., in 1959, he has been a research engineer for Bell
Helicopter Co. in Fort Worth.390 Mr. Paine has security clearance for
his work.391 He has been a long-time member of the American Civil
Liberties Union.392 Though not in sympathy with rightist political aims,
he has attended a few meetings of far-right organizations in Dallas for
the purpose, he testified, of learning something about those
organizations and because he "was interested in seeing more
communication between the right and the left." 393
The Commission has conducted a thorough investigation of the Paines'
finances and is satisfied that their income has been from legitimate and
traceable sources, and that their expenditures were consistent with
their income and for normal purposes. Although in the course of their
relationship with the Oswalds, the Paines assumed expenses for such
matters as food and transportation, with a value of approximately $500,
they made no direct payments to, and received no moneys or valuables
from, the Oswalds.394
Although prior to November 22, Mrs. Paine had information relating to
Oswald's use of an alias in Dallas, his telephone number, and his
correspondence with the Soviet Embassy, which she did not pass on to the
FBI,395 her failure to have come forward with this information must be
viewed within the context of the information available to her at that
time. There is no evidence to contradict her testimony that she did not
then know about Oswald's attack on General Walker, the presence of the
rifle on the floor of her garage, Oswald's ownership of a pistol, or the
photographs of Oswald displaying the firearms.396 She thus assumed that
Oswald, though a difficult and disturbing personality, was not
potentially violent, and that the FBI was cognizant of his past history
and current activities.397
Moreover, it is from Mrs. Paine herself that the Commission has learned
that she possessed the information which she did have. Mrs. Paine was
forthright with the agent of the FBI with whom she spoke in early
November 1963, providing him with sufficient information to have located
Oswald at his job if he had deemed it necessary to do so,398 and her
failure to have taken immediate steps to notify the Bureau of the
additional information does not under the circumstances appear unusual.
Throughout the Commission's investigation, Ruth Paine has been
completely cooperative, voluntarily producing all correspondence,
memoranda, and other written communications in her possession that had
passed between her and Marina Oswald both
286
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before and after November 22, 1963. 399 The Commission has had the
benefit of Mrs. Paine's 1963 date book and calendar and her address book
and telephone notation book, in both of which appear many entries
relating to her activities with the Oswalds.400 Other material of a
purely personal nature was also voluntarily made available. 401 The
Commission has found nothing in the Paines' background, activities, or
finances which suggests disloyalty to the United States,402 and it has
concluded that Ruth and Michael Paine were not involved in any way with
the assassination of President Kennedy.
A fuller narrative of the social contacts between the Oswalds and the
various persons of the Dallas-Fort Worth community is incorporated in
chapter VII and appendix XIII, and the testimony of all members of the
group who testified before the Commission is included in the printed
record which accompanies the report. The evidence establishes that the
Oswalds' contacts with these people were originated and maintained under
normal and understandable circumstances. The files maintained by the FBI
contain no information indicating that any of the persons in the
Dallas-Fort Worth community with whom Oswald associated were affiliated
with any Communist, Fascist, or other subversive organization.403 During
the course of this investigation, the Commission has found nothing which
suggests the involvement of any member of the Russian-speaking community
in Oswald's preparations to assassinate President Kennedy.
Political Activities Upon Return to the United States
Upon his return from the Soviet Union, Oswald had dealings with the
Communist Party, U.S.A., the Socialist Workers Party, and the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee, and he also had minor contacts with at least two
other organizations with political interests. For the purpose of
determining whether Oswald received any advice, encouragement, or
assistance from these organizations in planning or executing the
assassination of President Kennedy, the Commission has conducted a full
investigation of the nature and extent of Oswald's relations with them.
The Commission has also conducted an investigation to determine whether
certain persons and organizations expressing hostility to President
Kennedy prior to the assassination had any connection with Lee Harvey
Oswald or with the shooting of the President.
Communist Party, U.S.A.; Socialist Workers Party.--In August of 1962,
Oswald subscribed to the Worker, a publication of the Communist Party,
U.S.A. 404 He also wrote the Communist Party to obtain pamphlets and
other literature which, the evidence indicates, were sent to him as a
matter of course.405
Oswald also attempted to initiate other dealings with the Communist
Party, U.S.A., but the organization was not especially responsive. From
New Orleans, he informed the party of his activities in connection with
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee discussed below, submit-
Page 288
ting membership cards in his fictitious chapter to several party
officials.406 In a letter from Arnold S. Johnson, director of the
information and lecture bureau of the party, Oswald was informed that
although the Communist Party had no "organizational ties" with the
committee, the party issued much literature which was "important for
anybody who is concerned about developments in Cuba." 407 In September
1963 Oswald inquired how he might contact the party when he relocated in
the Baltimore-Washington area, as he said he planned to do in October,
and Johnson suggested in a letter of September 19 that he "get in touch
with us here [New York] and we will find some way of getting in touch
with you in that city [Baltimore] ." 408 However, Oswald had also
written asking whether, "handicapped as it were, by * * * [his] past
record," he could "still * * * compete with antiprogressive forces,
above ground or whether in your opinion * * * [he] should always remain
in the background, i.e., underground," and in the September 19 letter
received the reply that "often it is advisable for some people to remain
in the background, not underground."
In a letter postmarked November 1, Oswald informed the party that he had
moved to Dallas, and reported his attendance at a meeting at which
General Walker had spoken, and at a meeting of the American Civil
Liberties Union; he asked Johnson for the party's "general view" of the
latter organization and "to what degree, if any, [he] should attempt to
highten its progressive tendencies." According to Johnson, this letter
was not received by the Communist Party until after the
assassination.410 At different times, Oswald also wrote the Worker and
the Hall-Davis Defense Committee, enclosing samples of his photographic
work and offering to assist in preparing posters; he was told that "his
kind offer [was] most welcomed and from time to time we shall call on
you," but he was never asked for assistance.411 The correspondence
between Oswald and the Communist Party, and with all other
organizations, is printed in the record accompanying this report.
When Oswald applied for a visa to enter Cuba during his trip to Mexico
City, discussed below,412 Senora Silvia Duran, the Cuban consular
employee who dealt with Oswald, wrote on the application that Oswald
said he was a member of the Communist Party and that he had "displayed
documents in proof of his membership."
When Oswald went to Mexico, he is believed to have carried his letters
from the Soviet Embassy in Washington and from the Communist Party in
the United States, his 1959 passport, which contained stamps showing
that he had lived in Russia for 2 1/2 years, his Russian work permit,
his Russian marriage certificate, membership cards and newspaper
clippings purporting to show his role in the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee, and a prepared statement, of his qualifications as a
"Marxist." 414 Because of the mass of papers Oswald did present showing
Iris affinity for communism, some in the Russian language, which was
foreign to Senora Duran, and because further investigation, discussed
below, indicated that Oswald was not
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a member of the party, Senora Duran's notation was probably inaccurate.
Upon his arrest after the assassination, Oswald attempted to contact
John J. Abt, a New York attorney, to request Abt to represent him. Abt
was not in New York at the time, and he was never reached in connection
with representing' Oswald. Abt has testified that he at no time had any
dealings with Oswald and that prior to the assassination he had never
heard of Lee Harvey Oswald.415
After his return from the Soviet Union, Oswald also carried on a limited
correspondence with the Socialist Workers Party. In October of 1962 he
attempted to join the party, but his application was not accepted since
there was then no chapter in the Dallas area. 416 Oswald also wrote the
Socialist Workers Party offering his assistance in preparing posters.
From this organization too he received the response that he might be
called upon if needed. He was asked for further information about his
photographic skills, which he does not appear to have ever provided.417
Oswald did obtain literature from the Socialist Workers Party, however,
and in December 1962 he entered a subscription to the affiliated
publication, the Militant.418 Apparently in March of 1963 Oswald wrote
the party of his activities and submitted a clipping with his letter. In
response, he was told that his name was being sent to the Young
Socialist Alliance for further correspondence, but the files of the
alliance apparently contain no reference to Oswald. Neither the letter
nor the clipping which Oswald sent has been located. 419
Investigation by the Commission has produced no plausible evidence that
Lee Harvey Oswald had any other significant contacts with the Communist
Party, U.S.A., the Socialist Workers Party, or with any other extreme
leftist political organization. The FBI and other Federal security
agencies have made a study of their records and files and contacted
numerous confidential informants of the agencies and have produced no
such evidence.420 The Commission has questioned persons who, as a group,
knew Oswald during virtually every phase of his adult life, and from
none of these came any indication that Oswald maintained a surreptitious
relationship with any organization. Arnold S. Johnson, of the American
Communist Party; James T. Tormey, executive secretary of the Hall-Davis
Defense Committee; and Farrell Dobbs, secretary of the Socialist Workers
Party, voluntarily appeared before the Commission and testified under
oath that Oswald was not a member of these organizations and that a
thorough search of their files had disclosed no records relating to
Oswald other than those which they produced for the Commission.421 The
material that has been disclosed is in all eases consistent with other
data in the possession of the Commission.
Socialist Labor Party.--Oswald also wrote to the Socialist Labor Party
in New York in November 1962 requesting literature. Horace Twiford, a
national committeeman at large for the party in the State of Texas, was
informed by the New York headquarters in July 1963
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of Oswald's request, and on September 11, 1963, he did mail literature
to Oswald at his old post office box in Dallas.422 On his way to Mexico
City in September 1963, Oswald attempted to contact Twiford at his home
in Houston; Oswald spoke briefly with Twiford's wife, identifying
himself as a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, but since
Twiford was out of town at the time, Oswald was unable to speak with
him.423 Arnold Peterson, national secretary and treasurer of the
Socialist Labor Party, has stated that a search of the records of the
national headquarters reveals no record pertaining to Oswald; he
explained that letters requesting literature are routinely destroyed.424
The Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation has also advised that a
review of its records fails to reflect any information or correspondence
pertaining to Oswald.425
Fair Play for Cuba Committee.---During the period Oswald was in New
Orleans, from the end of April to late September 1963, he was engaged in
activity purportedly on behalf of the now defunct Fair Play for Cuba
Committee (FPCC), an organization centered in New York which was highly
critical of U.S. policy toward the Cuban Government under Fidel Castro.
In May 1963, after having obtained literature from the FPCC,426 Oswald
applied for and was granted membership in the organization.427 When
applying for membership, Oswald wrote national headquarters that he had
* * * been thinking about renting a small office at my own expense for
the purpose of forming a F.P.C.C. branch here in New Orleans.
Could you give me a charter ? 428
With his membership card, Oswald apparently received ,a copy of the
constitution and bylaws for FPCC chapters, and a letter, dated May 29,
which read in part as follows (with spelling as in original):
It would be hard to concieve of a chapter with as few members as seem to
exist in the New Orleans area. I have just gone through our files and
find that Louisiana seams somewhat restricted for Fair Play activities.
However, with what is there perhaps you could build a larger group if a
few people would undertake the disciplined responsibility of concrete
organizational work.
We certainly are not at all adverse to a very small Chapter but
certainly would expect that there would be at least twice the amount
needed to conduct a legal executive board for the Chapter. Should this
be reasonable we could readily issue a charter for a New Orleans Chapter
of FPCC. In fact, we would be very, very pleased to see this take place
and would like to do everything possible to assist in bringing it about.
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You must realize that you will come under tremendous pressures with any
attempt to do FPCC work in that area and that you will not be able to
operate in the manner which is conventional here in the north-east. Even
most of our big city Chapters have been forced to Abandon the idea of
operating an office in public. * * * Most Chapters have discovered that
it is easier to operate semi-privately out of a home and maintain a P.O.
Box for all mailings and public notices. (A P.O. Box is a must for any
Chapter in the organization to guarantee the continued contact with the
national even if an individual should move or drop out.) We do have a
serious and often violent opposition and this proceedure helps prevent
many unnecessary incidents which frighten away prospective supporters. I
definitely would not recommend an office, at ]east not one that will be
easily identifyable to the lunatic fringe in your community. Certainly,
I would not recommend that you engage in one at the very beginning but
wait and see how you can operate in the community through several public
experiences.429
Thereafter Oswald informed national headquarters that he had opened post
office box No. 30061, and that against its advice he had decided "to
take an office from the very beginning"; he also submitted copies of a
membership application form and a circular headed "Hands Off Cuba!"
which he had had printed, and informed the headquarters that he intended
to have membership cards for his chapter printed, which he subsequently
did.430 He wrote three further letters to the New York office to inform
it of his continued activities.431 In one he reported that he had been
evicted from the office he claimed to have opened, so that he "worked
out of a post office box and by useing street demonstrations and some
circular work * * * sustained a great deal of interest but no new
members." 432
Oswald did distribute the handbills he had printed on at least three
occasions.433 Once, while doing so, he was arrested and fined for being
involved in a disturbance with anti-Castro Cuban refugees,434 one of
whom he had previously met by presenting himself as hostile to Premier
Castro in an apparent effort to gain information about anti- Castro
organizations operating in New Orleans.435 When arrested, he informed
the police that Iris chapter had 35 members.436 His activities received
some attention in the New Orleans press, and he twice appeared on a
local radio program representing himself as a spokesman for the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee.437 After his return to Dallas, he listed the
FPCC as an organization authorized to receive mail at his post office
box.438
Despite these activities, the FPCC chapter which Oswald purportedly
formed in New Orleans was entirely fictitious. Vincent T. Lee, formerly
national director of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, has testified
that the New York office did not authorize the creation of a New Orleans
chapter, nor did it provide Oswald with funds to support his activities
there.439 The national office did not write
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Oswald again after its letter of May 29. As discussed more fully in
chapter VII, Oswald's later letters to the national office purporting to
inform it of his progress in New Orleans contained numerous
exaggerations about the scope of his activities and the public reaction
to them.440 There is no evidence that Oswald ever opened an office as he
claimed to have done. Although a pamphlet taken from him at the time of
his arrest in New Orleans contains the rubber stamp imprint "FPCC, 544
CAMP ST., NEW ORLEANS, LA.," investigation has indicated that neither
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee nor Lee Harvey Oswald ever maintained
an office at that address.441 The handbills and other materials bearing
the name of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee were printed commercially
by Oswald without the approval of the national headquarters.442 Oswald's
membership card in the "New Orleans chapter" of the committee carried
the signature of "A. J. Hidell," purportedly the president of the
chapter, but there is no evidence that an "A. J. Hidell" existed and, as
pointed out in chapter IV, there is conclusive evidence that the name
was an alias which Oswald used on various occasions. Marina Oswald
herself wrote the name "Hidell" on the membership card at her husband's
insistence.443
No other member of the so-called New Orleans chapter of the committee
has ever been found. The only occasion on which anyone other than Oswald
was observed taking part in these activities was on August 9, 1963, when
Oswald and two young men passed out leaflets urging "Hands Off Cuba!" on
the streets of New Orleans. One of the two men, who was 16 years old at
the time, has testified that Oswald approached him at the Louisiana
State Employment Commission and offered him $2 for about an hour's work.
He accepted the offer but later, when he noticed that television cameras
were being focused on him, he obtained his money and left. He testified
that he had never seen Oswald before and never saw him again. The second
individual has never been located; but according to the testimony of the
youth who was found, he too seemed to be someone not previously
connected with Oswald.444 Finally, the FBI has advised the Commission
that its information on undercover Cuban activities in the New Orleans
area reveals no knowledge of Oswald before the assassination.445
Right-wing groups hostile to President Kennedy.--The Commission also
considered the possibility that there may have been a link between
Oswald and certain groups which had bitterly denounced President Kennedy
and his policies prior to the time of the President's trip to Dallas. As
discussed in chapter II, two provocative incidents took place
concurrently with President Kennedy's visit and a third but a month
prior thereto. The incidents were (1) the demonstration against the
Honorable Adlai E. Stevenson, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in
late October 1963, when he came to Dallas on United Nations Day; (2) the
publication in the Dallas Morning News on November 22 of the full page,
black-bordered paid advertisement entitled, "Welcome Mr. Kennedy"; and
(3) the distribution of a throwaway handbill entitled "Wanted for
Treason" throughout Dallas on November 20 and 21. Oswald was aware of
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the Stevenson incident; there is no evidence that he became aware of
either the "Welcome Mr. Kennedy" advertisement or the "Wanted for
Treason" handbill, though neither possibility can be precluded.
The only evidence of interest on Oswald's part in rightist groups in
Dallas was his alleged attendance at a rally at the Dallas Auditorium
the evening preceding Ambassador Stevenson's address on United Nations
Day, October 24, 1963. On the evening of October 25, 1968, at the
invitation of Michael Paine, Oswald attended a monthly meeting of the
Dallas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in which he was
later to seek membership.446 During the course of the discussion at this
meeting, a speaker mentioned Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned, U.S.
Army). Oswald arose in the midst of the meeting to remark that a "night
or two nights before" he had attended a meeting at which General Walker
had spoken in terms that led Oswald to assert that General Walker was
both anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic.447 General Walker testified that he
had been the speaker at a rally the night before Ambassador Stevenson's
appearance, but that he did not know and had never heard of Oswald prior
to the announcement of his name on radio and television on the afternoon
of November 22.448 Oswald confirmed his attendance at the U.S. Day rally
in an undated letter he wrote to Arnold Johnson, director of the
information and lecture bureau of the Communist Party, mailed November
1, 1963, in which he reported:
On October 23rd, I had attended a ultra-right meeting headed by General
Edwin a. Walker, who lives in Dallas.
This meeting preceded by one day the attack on a. e. Stevenson at the
United Nations Day meeting at which he spoke.
As you can see, political friction between 'left' and 'right' is very
great here.449
In the light of Oswald's attack upon General Walker on the evening of
April 10, 1963, discussed in chapter IV,450 as well as Oswald's known
political views,451 his asserted attendance at the political rally at
which General Walker spoke may have been induced by many possible
motives. However, there is no evidence that Oswald attended any other
rightist meetings or was associated with any politically conservative
organizations.
While the black-bordered "Welcome Mr. Kennedy" advertisement in the
November 22 Dallas Morning News, which addressed a series of critical
questions to the President, probably did not come to Oswald's attention,
it was of interest to the Commission because of its appearance on the
day of the assassination and because of an allegation made before the
Commission concerning the person whose name appeared as the chairman of
the committee sponsoring the advertisement. The black-bordered
advertisement was purported to be sponsored by "The American
Fact-Finding Committee," which was described as "An unaffiliated and
nonpartisan group of citizens who wish truth." Bernard Weissman was
listed as "Chairman" and
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 1031
Page 295
post office box in Dallas was the only address. (See Commission Exhibit
No. 1031, p. 294.)
The Commission has conducted a full investigation into the genesis of
this advertisement and the background of those responsible for it. Three
of the four men chiefly responsible, Bernard W. Weissman, William B.
Burley III, and Larrie H. Schmidt, had served together in the U.S. Army
in Munich, Germany, in 1962. During that time they had with others
devised plans to develop two conservative organizations, one political
and the other business. The political entity was to be named
Conservatism--USA, or CUSA, and the business entity was to be named
American Business, or AMBUS.452 While in Munich, according to Weissman,
they attempted to develop in their "own minds * * * ways to build up
various businesses that would support us and at the same time support
our political activities." 453 According to a subsequent letter from
Schmidt to Weissman, "Cusa was founded for patriotic reasons rather than
for personal gain--even though, as a side effect, Ambus was to have
brought great return, as any business endeavor should." 454 To establish
their organizations, Weissman testified that they:
* * * had planned while in Munich that in order to accomplish our goals,
to try to do it from scratch would be almost impossible, because it
would be years before we could even get the funds to develop a powerful
organization. So we had planned to infiltrate various rightwing
organizations and by our own
forts become involved in the hierarchy of these various organizations
and eventually get ourselves elected or appointed to various higher
offices in these organizations, and by doing this bring in some of our
own people, and eventually take over the leadership of these
organizations, and at that time having our people in these various
organizations, we would then, you might say, call a conference and have
them unite, and while no one knew of the existence of CUSA aside from
us, we would then bring them all together, unite them, and arrange to
have it called CUSA.455
Schmidt was the first to leave the service; settling in Dallas in
October 1962, he became a life insurance salesman and quickly engaged in
numerous political activities in pursuit of the objectives devised in
Munich.456 lie became affiliated with several organizations and prepared
various political writings.457
Upon their release from the military, Weissman and Burley did not
immediately move to Dallas, though repeatedly urged to do so by
Schmidt.458 On October 1, 1963, Schmidt wrote Weissman: "Adlai Stevenson
is scheduled here on the 24th on UN Day. Kennedy is scheduled in Dallas
on Nov. 24th. There are to be protests. All the big things are happening
now--if we don't get in right now we may as well forget it."459 The day
of the Stevenson demonstration, Schmidt telephoned Weissman, again
urging him to move to Dallas. Recalling that conversation with Schmidt,
Weissman testified:
Page 296
And he said, "If we are going to take advantage of the situation * * *
you better hurry down here and take advantage of the publicity, and at
least become known among these various right-wingers, because this is
the chance we have been looking for to infiltrate some of these
organizations and become known," in other words, go along with the
philosophy we had developed in Munich.460
Five days later he wrote to Weissman and Burley to report that as the
"only organizer of the demonstration to have publicly identified
himself," he had "become, overnight, a 'fearless spokesman' and 'leader'
of the rightwing in Dallas. What I worked so hard for in one year--and
nearly failed--finally came through one incident in one night
He ended, "Politically, CUSA is set. It is now up to you to get Ambus
going."
Weissman and Burley accepted Schmidt's prompting and traveled to Dallas,
arriving on November 4, 1963.462 Both obtained employment as carpet
salesmen. At Schmidt's solicitation they took steps to join the John
Birch Society, and through Schmidt they met the fourth person involved
in placing the November 22 advertisement, Joseph P. Grinnan, Dallas
independent oil operator and a John Birch Society coordinator in the
Dallas area.463
Within a week to 10 days after Weissman and Burley had arrived in
Dallas, the four men began to consider plans regarding President
Kennedy's planned visit to Dallas.464 Weissman explained the reason for
which it was decided that the ad should be placed:
* * * after the Stevenson incident, it was felt that a demonstration
would be entirely out of order, because we didn't want anything to
happen in the way of physical violence to President Kennedy when he came
to Dallas. But we thought that the conservatives in Dallas--I was
told--were a pretty downtrodden lot after that, because they were being
oppressed by the local liberals, because of the Stevenson incident. We
felt we had to do something to build up the morale of the conservative
element, in Dallas. So we hit upon the idea of the ad.465
Weissman, Schmidt, and Grinnan worked on the text for the
advertisement.466 A pamphlet containing 50 questions critical of
American policy was employed for this purpose, and was the source of the
militant questions contained in the ad attacking President Kennedy's
administration.467 Grinnan undertook to raise the $1,465 needed to pay
for the ad.468 He employed a typed draft of the advertisement to support
his funds solicitation.469 Grinnan raised the needed money from three
wealthy Dallas businessmen: Edgar R. Crissey, Nelson Bunker Hunt, and H.
R. Bright., some of whom in turn collected contributions from others.470
At least one of the contributors would not make a contribution unless a
question he suggested was inserted.471 Weissman, believing that Schmidt,
Grinnan, and the contributors were
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active members of the John Birch Society, and that Grinnan eventually
took charge of the project, expressed the opinion that the advertisement
was the creation of the John Birch Society,472 though Schmidt and
Grinnan have maintained that they were acting "solely as individuals."
473
A fictitious sponsoring organization was invented out of whole cloth.474
The name chosen for the supposed organization was The American
Fact-Finding Committee.475 This was "Solely a name," Weissman testified;
"* * * As a matter of fact, when I went to place the ad, I could not
remember the name * * * I had to refer to a piece of paper for the
name." 476 Weissman's own name was used on the ad in part to counter
charges of anti-Semitism which had been leveled against conservative
groups in Dallas.477 Weissman conceived the idea of using a black
border,478 and testified he intended it to serve the function of
stimulating reader attention.479 Before accepting the advertisement, the
Dallas Morning News apparently submitted it to its attorneys for their
opinion as to whether its publication might subject them to
liability.480
Weissman testified that the advertisement drew 50 or 60 mailed
responses.481 He took them from the post office box early on Sunday
morning, November 24.482 He said that those postmarked before the attack
on President Kennedy were "favorable" in tone;483 those of later
postmark were violently unfavorable, nasty, and threatening; 484 and,
according to a report from Schmidt, those postmarked some weeks later
were again of favorable tone.485
The four promoters of the ad deny that they had any knowledge of or
familiarity with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to November 22, or Jack Ruby
prior to November 24.486 Each has provided a statement of his role in
connection with the placement of the November 22 advertisement and other
matters, and investigation has revealed no deception. The Commission has
found no evidence that any of these persons was connected with Oswald or
Ruby, or was linked to a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy.
The advertisement, however, did give rise to one allegation concerning
Bernard Weissman which required additional investigation. On March 4,
1964, Mark Lane, a New York attorney, testified before the Commission
that an undisclosed informant had told him that Weissman had met with
Jack Ruby and Patrolman J. D. Tippit at Ruby's Carouse] Club on November
14, 1963. Lane declined to state the name of his informant but said that
he would attempt to obtain his informant's permission to reveal his
name.487 On July 2, 1964, after repeated requests by the Commission that
he disclose the name of his informant, Lane testified a second time
concerning this matter, but declined to reveal the information, stating
as his reason that he had promised the individual that his name would
not be revealed without his permission. 488 Lane also made this
allegation during a radio appearance, whereupon Weissman twice demanded
that Lane reveal the name of the informant. 489 As of the date of this
report Lane has failed to reveal the name of his informant and has
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730-900 0-64--21
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offered no evidence to support his allegation. The Commission has
investigated the allegation of a Weissman- Ruby-Tippit meeting and has
found no evidence that such a meeting took place anywhere at any time.
The investigation into this matter is discussed in a later section of
this chapter dealing with possible conspiracies involving Jack Ruby.
A comparable incident was the appearance of the "Wanted for Treason"
handbill on the streets of Dallas 1 to 2 days before President Kennedy's
arrival. These handbills bore a reproduction of a front and profile
photograph of the President and set forth a series of inflammatory
charges against him.490 Efforts to locate the author and the lithography
printer of the handbill at first met with evasive responses 491 and
refusals to furnish information.492 Robert A. Surrey was eventually
identified as the author of the handbill.493 Surrey, a 38-year- old
printing salesman employed by Johnson Printing Co. of Dallas, Tex., has
been closely associated with General Walker for several years in his
political and business activities.494 He is president of American Eagle
Publishing Co. of Dallas, in which he is a partner with General
Walker.495 Its office and address is the post office box of Johnson
Printing Co. Its assets consist of cash and various printed materials
composed chiefly of General Walker's political and promotional
literature, 496 all of which is storm at General Walker's
headquarters.497
Surrey prepared the text for the handbill and apparently used Johnson
Printing Co. facilities to set the type and print a proof.498 Surrey
induced Klause, a salesman employed by Lettercraft Printing Co. of
Dallas,499 whom Surrey had met when both were employed at Johnson
Printing Co.,500 to print the handbill "on the side." 501 According to
Klause, Surrey contacted him initially approximately 2 or 2 1/2 weeks
prior to November 22.502 About a week prior to November 22, Surrey
delivered to Klause two slick paper magazine prints of photographs of a
front view and profile of President Kennedy,503 together with the
textual page proof.504 Klause was unable to make the photographic
negative of the prints needed to prepare the photographic printing
plate,505 so that he had this feature of the job done at a local
shop.506 Klause then arranged the halftone front and profile
representations of President Kennedy at the top of the textual material
he had received from Surrey so as to simulate a "man wanted" police
placard. He then made a photographic printing plate of the picture.507
During the night, he and his wife surreptitiously printed approximately
5,000 copies on Lettercraft Printing Co. offset printing equipment
without the knowledge of his employers.508 The next day he arranged with
Surrey a meeting place, and delivered the handbills.509 Klause's charge
for the printing of the handbills was, including expenses, $60.510
At the outset of the investigation Klause stated to Federal agents that
he did not know the name of his customer, whom he incorrectly described;
511 he did say, however, that the customer did not resemble either
Oswald or Ruby.512 Shortly before he appeared before the
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Commission, Klause disclosed Surrey's identity.513 He explained that no
record of the transaction had been made because "he saw a chance to make
a few dollars on the side." 514
Klause's testimony receives some corroboration from Bernard Weissman's
testimony that he saw a copy of one of the "Wanted for Treason"
handbills on the floor of General Walker's station wagon shortly after
November 22.515 Other details of the manner in which the handbills were
printed have also been verified.516 Moreover, Weissman testified that
neither he nor any of his associates had anything to do with the
handbill or were ,acquainted with Surrey, Klause, Lettercraft Printing
Co., or Johnson Printing Co. 517 Klause and Surrey, as well as General
Walker, testified that they were unacquainted with Lee Harvey Oswald and
had not heard of him prior to the afternoon of November 22.518 The
Commission has found no evidence of any connection between those
responsible for the handbill and Lee Harvey Oswald or the assassination.
Contacts With the Cuban and Soviet Embassies in Mexico City and
the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Eight weeks before the assassination, Oswald traveled to Mexico City
where he visited both the Cuban and Soviet Embassies.* Oswald's wife
knew of this trip before he went,519 but she denied such knowledge until
she testified before the Commission.520 The Commission undertook an
intensive investigation to determine Oswald's purpose and activities on
this journey, with specific reference to reports that Oswald was an
agent of the Cuban or Soviet Governments. As a result of its
investigation, the Commission believes that it has been able to
reconstruct and explain most of Oswald's actions during this time. A
detailed chronological account of this trip appears in appendix XIII.
Trip to Mexico.--Oswald was in Mexico from September 26, 1963, until
October 3, 1968.521 (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 2478, 2481, p. 800.)
Marina Oswald testified that Oswald had told her that the purpose of the
trip was to evade the American prohibition on travel to Cuba and to
reach that country.522 He cautioned her that the trip and its purpose
were to be kept strictly secret.523 She testified that he had earlier
laid plans to reach Cuba by hijacking an airliner flying out of New
Orleans, but she refused to cooperate and urged him to give it up, which
he finally did.524 Witnesses who spoke with Oswald while he was on a bus
going to Mexico City also testified that Oswald told them he intended to
reach Cuba by way of Mexico, and that he hoped to meet Fidel Castro
after he arrived.525 When Oswald spoke to the Cuban and Soviet consular
officials in Mexico City, he represented that he intended to travel to
the Soviet Union and requested
Page 300
OSWALD'S MEXICAN TOURIST CARD AND APPLICATION
APPLICATION FOR TOURIST CARD
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2481)
TOURIST CARD (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2478)
Page 301
an "in-transit" Cuban visa to permit him to enter Cuba on September 30
on the way to the Soviet Union. Marina Oswald has testified that these
statements were deceptions designed to get him to Cuba.526 Thus,
although it is possible that Oswald intended to continue on to Russia
from Cuba, the evidence makes it more likely that he intended to remain
in Cuba.527
Oswald departed from New Orleans probably about noon on September 25 and
arrived in Mexico City at about 10 a.m. on September 27.528 In Mexico
City he embarked on a series of visits to the Soviet and Cuban
Embassies, which occupied most of his time during the first 2 days of
his visit. At the Cuban Embassy, he requested an "in-transit" visa to
permit him to visit Cuba on his way to the Soviet Union. 529 Oswald was
informed that he could not obtain a visa for entry into Cuba unless he
first obtained a visa to enter the U.S.S.R.,530 and the Soviet Embassy
told him that he could not expect an answer on his application for a
visa for the Soviet Union for about 4 months.531 Oswald carried with him
newspaper clippings, letters and various documents, some of them forged
or containing false information, purporting to show that he was a
"friend" of Cuba.532 With these papers and his record of previous
residence in the Soviet Union and marriage to a Soviet national, he
tried to curry favor with both Embassies.533 Indeed, his wife testified
that in her opinion Oswald's primary purpose in having engaged in Fair
Play for Cuba Committee activities was to create a public record that he
was a "friend" of Cuba.534 He made himself especially unpopular at the
Cuban Embassy by persisting in his demands that as a sympathizer in
Cuban objectives he ought to be given a visa. This resulted in a sharp
argument with the consul, Eusebio Azque.535
By Saturday, September 28, 1963, Oswald had failed to obtain visas at
both Embassies. 536 From Sunday, September 29, through Wednesday
morning, October 2, when he left Mexico City on a bus bound for the
United States, Oswald spent considerable time making his travel
arrangements, sightseeing and checking again with the Soviet Embassy to
learn whether anything had happened on his visa application.537 Marina
Oswald testified that when she first saw him after his return to the
United States he was disappointed and discouraged at his failure to
reach Cuba.538
The general outlines of Oswald's activities in Mexico, particularly the
nature and extent of his contacts at the Cuban Embassy, were learned
very early in the investigation. An important source of information
relating to his business at the Cuban Embassy was Senora Silvia Tirado
de Duran, a Mexican national employed in the visa section of the Cuban
Embassy, who was questioned intensively by Mexican authorities soon
after the assassination. 539 An excerpt from the report of the Mexican
Government summarized the crucial portion of Senora Duran's recollection
of Oswald. In translation it reads as follows:
* * * she remembered * * * [that Lee Harvey Oswald] was the name of an
American who had come to the Cuban Consulate to
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obtain a visa to travel to Cuba in transit to Russia, the latter part of
September or the early part of October of this year, and in support of
his application had shown his passport., in which it was noted that he
had lived in that country for a period of three years; his labor-card
from the same country written in the Russian language; and letters in
that same language. He had presented evidence that he was married to a
Russian woman, and also that he was apparently the leader of an
organization in the city of New Orleans called "Fair * * * [Play] for
Cuba," claiming that he should be accepted as a "friend" of the Cuban
Revolution. Accordingly, the declarant, complying with her duties, took
down all of the information and completed the appropriate application
form; and the declarant, admittedly exceeding her responsibilities,
informally telephoned the Russian consulate, with the intention of doing
what she could to facilitate issuance of the Russian visa to Lee Harvey
Oswald. However, they told her that there would be a delay of about four
months in processing the case, which annoyed the applicant since,
according to his statement, he was in a great hurry to obtain visas that
would enable him to travel to -Russia, insisting on his right to do so
in view of his background and his loyalty and his activities in behalf
of the Cuban movement. The declarant was unable to recall accurately
whether or not the applicant told her he was a member of the Communist
Party, but he did say that his wife * * * was then in New York City, and
would follow him, * * * [Senora Duran stated] that when Oswald
understood that it was not possible to give him a Cuban visa without his
first having obtained the Russian visa, * * * he became very excited or
angry, and accordingly, the affiant called Consul Ascue [sic], * * *
[who] came out and began a heated discussion in English with Oswald,
that concluded by Ascue telling him that "if it were up to him, he would
not give him the visa," and "a person of his type was harming the Cuban
Revolution rather than helping it," it being understood that in their
conversation they were talking about the Russian Socialist Revolution
and not the Cuban. Oswald maintained that he had two reasons for
requesting that his visa be issued prompt]y, and they were: one, that
his tourist permit in Mexico was about to expire; and the other, that he
had to get to Russia as quickly as possible. Despite her annoyance, the
declarant gave Oswald a paper * * * in which she put down her name,
"Silvia Duran," and the number of the telephone at the consulate, which
is "11-28-47" and the visa application was processed anyway. It was sent
to the Ministry of [Foreign] Relations of Cuba; from which a routine
reply was received some fifteen to thirty days later, approving the
visa, but on the condition that the Russian visa be obtained first,
although she does not recall whether or not Oswald later telephoned her
at the Consulate number that she gave him.540
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Page 303
OSWALD'S APPLICATION FOR A VISA FOR TRAVEL TO CUBA AND THE REPLY OF THE
CUBAN GOVERNMENT
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2564)
OSWALD'S APPLICATION
CUBAN REPLY
TRANSLATION
TRANSLATION
BOTH DOCUMENTS FURNISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA.
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Page 304
With the dates of Oswald's entry into and departure from Mexico, which
had been obtained from the records of the Mexican Immigration Service
very shortly after the assassination, the Government of Mexico initiated
a thorough investigation to uncover as much information as possible on
Oswald's trip.541 Representatives of U.S. agencies worked in close
liaison with the Mexican law enforcement authorities. The result of this
investigative effort was to corroborate the statements of Senora Duran
and to verify the essentials of Oswald's activities in Mexico as
outlined above.
Senora Duran is a well-educated native of Mexico, who was 26 years old
at the time of her interrogation. She is married to Senor Horacio Duran
Navarro, a 40-year-old industrial designer, and has a young child.
Although Senora Duran denies being a member of the Communist Party or
otherwise connected with it, both Durans have been active in far left,
political affairs in Mexico, believe in Marxist ideology, and sympathize
with the government of Fidel Castro,542 and Senor Duran has written
articles for El Dia, a pro-Communist newspaper in Mexico City.543 The
Commission has reliable evidence from a confidential source that Senora
Duran as well as other personnel at the Cuban Embassy were genuinely
upset upon receiving news of President Kennedy's death. Senora Duran's
statements were made to Mexican officials soon after the
assassination,544 and no significant inaccuracies in them have been
detected. Documents fitting the description given by Senora Duran of the
documents Oswald had shown her, plus a notation which she said she had
given him, were found among his possessions after his arrest.545
The Cuban Government was asked to document and confirm the essentials of
Senora Duran's testimony. Its response, which has been included in its
entirety in this Report, included a summary statement of Oswald's
activities at the Cuban Embassy,546 a photograph of the application for
a visa he completed there,547 and a photograph of the communication from
Havana rejecting the application unless he could first present a Soviet
visa.548 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2564, p. 306.) The information on
these documents concerning Oswald's date of birth, American passport
number and activities and statements at the Embassy is consistent with
other information available to the Commission.549 CIA experts have given
their opinion that the handwriting on the visa application which
purports to be Oswald's is in fact his and that, although the
handwritten notations on the bottom of the document are too brief and
faint to permit a conclusive determination, they are probably Senora
Duran's.550 The cloths which Oswald was wearing in the photograph which
appears on the application appear to be the same as some of those found
among his effects after the assassination, and the photograph itself
appears to be from the same negative as a photograph found among his
effects.551 Nothing on any of the documents raises a suspicion that they
might not be authentic.
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By far the most important confirmation of Senora Duran's testimony,
however, has been supplied by confidential sources of extremely high
reliability available to the United States in Mexico. The information
from these sources establishes that her testimony was truthful and
accurate in all material respects. The identities of these sources
cannot be disclosed without destroying their future usefulness to the
United States.
The investigation of the Commission has produced considerable
testimonial and documentary evidence establishing the precise time of
Oswald's journey, his means of transportation, the hotel at which he
stayed in Mexico City, and a restaurant at which he often ate. All known
persons whom Oswald may have met while in Mexico, including passengers
on the buses he rode, 552 and the employees and guests of the hotel
where he stayed,553 were interviewed. No credible witness has been
located who saw Oswald with any unidentified person while in Mexico
City; to the contrary, he was observed traveling alone to and from
Mexico City, 554 at his hotel, 555 and at the nearby restaurant where he
frequently ate.556 A hotel guest stated that on one occasion he sat down
at a table with Oswald at the restaurant because no empty table was
available, but that neither spoke to the other because of the language
barrier.557 Two Australian girls who saw Oswald on the bus to Mexico
City relate that he occupied a seat next to a man who has been
identified as Albert Osborne, an elderly itinerant preacher.558 Osborne
denies that Oswald was beside him on the bus.559 To the other passengers
on the bus it appeared that Osborne and Oswald had not previously met,
560 and extensive investigation of Osborne has revealed no further
contact between him and Oswald. Osborne's responses to Federal
investigators on matters unrelated to Oswald have proved inconsistent
and unreliable, and, therefore, based on the contrary evidence and
Osborne's lack of reliability, the Commission has attached no credence
to his denial that Oswald was beside him on the bus. Investigation of
his background and activities, however, disclose no basis for suspecting
him of any involvement in the assassination.561
Investigation of the hotel at which Oswald stayed has failed to uncover
any evidence that the hotel is unusual in any way that could relate to
Oswald's visit. It is not especially popular among Cubans, and there is
no indication that it is used as a meeting place for extremist or
revolutionary organizations.562 Investigation of other guests of the
hotel who were there when Oswald was has failed to uncover anything
creating suspicion.563 Oswald's notebook which he carried with him to
Mexico City contained the telephone number of the Cuban Air- lines
Office in Mexico City; 564 however, a Cuban visa is required by Mexican
authorities before an individual may enplane for Cuba,565 and a
confidential check of the Cuban Airlines Office uncovered no evidence
that Oswald visited their offices while in the city.566
Allegations of conspiracy.--Literally dozens of allegations of a
conspiratorial contact between Oswald and agents of the Cuban Government
have been investigated by the Commission. Among the claims made were
allegations that Oswald had made a previous trip to
Page 306
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 1400
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Page 307
Mexico City in early September to receive money and orders for the
assassination,567 that he had been flown to a secret airfield somewhere
in or near the Yucatan Peninsula,568 that he might have made contacts in
Mexico City with a Communist from the United States shortly before the
assassination, 569 and that Oswald assassinated the President at the
direction of a particular Cuban agent who met with him in the United
States and paid him $7,000.570 A letter was received from someone in
Cuba alleging the writer had attended a meeting where the assassination
had been discussed as part of a plan which would soon include the death
of other non-Communist leaders in the Americas.571 The charge was made
in a Cuban expatriate publication that in a speech he delivered 5 days
after the assassination, while he was under the influence of liquor,
Fidel Castro made a slip of the tongue and said, "The first time Oswald
was in Cuba," thereby giving away the fact that Oswald had made one or
more surreptitious trips to that
country.572
Some stories linked the assassination to anti-Castro groups who
allegedly were engaged in obtaining illicit firearms in the United
States, one such claim being that these groups killed the President as
part of a bargain with some illicit organizations who would then supply
them with firearms as payment.573 Other rumors placed Oswald in Miami,
Fla., at various times, allegedly in pro-Cuban activities there.574 The
assassination was claimed to have been carried out by Chinese Communists
operating jointly with the Cubans.575 Oswald was also alleged to have
met with the Cuban Ambassador in a Mexico City restaurant and to have
driven off in the Ambassador's car for a private talk.576 Castro
himself, it was alleged, 2 days after the assassination called for the
files relating to Oswald's dealings with two members of the Cuban
diplomatic mission in the Soviet Union; the inference drawn was that the
"dealings" had occurred and had established a secret subversive
relationship which continued through Oswald's life.577 Without
exception, the rumors and allegations of a conspiratorial contact were
shown to be without any factual basis, in some cases the product of
mistaken identification.
Illustrative of the attention given to the most serious allegations is
the case of "D," a young Latin American secret agent who approached U.S.
authorities in Mexico shortly after the assassination and declared that
he saw Lee Harvey Oswald receiving $6,500 to kill the President. Among
other details, "D" said that at about noon on September 18, waiting to
conduct some business at the Cuban consulate, he saw a group of three
persons conversing in a patio a few feet away. One was a tall, thin
Negro with reddish hair, obviously dyed, who spoke rapidly in both
Spanish and English, and another was a man he said was Lee Harvey
Oswald. A tall Cuban joined the group momentarily and passed some
currency to the Negro. The Negro then allegedly said to Oswald in
English, "I want to kill the man." Oswald replied, "You're not man
enough, I can do it." The Negro then said in Spanish, "I can't go with
you, I have a lot to do." Oswald replied, "The people are waiting for me
back there." The
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Page 308
Negro then gave Oswald $6,500 in large-denomination American bills,
saying, "This isn't much." After hearing this conversation, "D" said
that he telephoned the American Embassy in Mexico City several times
prior to the assassination in an attempt to report his belief that
someone important in the United States was to be killed, but was finally
told by someone at the Embassy to stop wasting his time.
"D" and his allegations were immediately subjected to intensive
investigation. His former employment as an agent for a Latin American
country was confirmed, although his superiors had no knowledge of his
presence in Mexico or the assignment described by "D." Four days after
"D" first appeared the U.S. Government was informed by the Mexican
authorities that "D" had admitted in writing that his whole narrative
about Oswald was false. He said that he had never seen Oswald anyplace,
and that he had not seen anybody paid money in the Cuban Embassy. He
also admitted that he never tried to telephone the American Embassy in
September and that his first call to the Embassy was after the
assassination. "D" said that his motive in fabricating the story was to
help get himself admitted into the United States so that he could there
participate in action against Fide] Castro. He said that he hated Castro
and hoped that the story he made up would be believed and would cause
the United States to "take action" against him.
Still later, When questioned by American authorities, "D" claimed that
he had been pressured into retracting his statement by the Mexican
police and that the retraction, rather than his first statement, was
false. A portion of the American questioning was carried on with the use
of a polygraph machine, with the consent of "D." When told that the
machine indicated that he was probably lying, "D" said words to the
effect that he "must be mistaken." Investigation in the meantime had
disclosed that the Embassy extension number "D" said he had called would
not have given him the person he said he spoke to, and that no one at
the Embassy---clerks, secretaries, or officers--had any recollection of
his calls. In addition, Oswald spoke little, if any, Spanish. That he
could have carried on the alleged conversation with the red-headed Negro
in the Cuban Embassy, part of which was supposed to have been in
Spanish, was therefore doubtful. "D" now said that he was uncertain as
to the date when he saw "someone who looked like Oswald" at the Cuban
Embassy, and upon reconsideration, he now thought it was on a Tuesday,
September 17, rather than September 18. On September 17, however, Oswald
visited the Louisiana State Unemployment Commission in New Orleans and
also cashed a check from the Texas Employment Commission at the
Winn-Dixie Store No. 1425 in New Orleans. On the basis of the
retractions made by "D" when he heard the results of the polygraph
examination, and on the basis of discrepancies which appeared in his
story, it was concluded that "D" was lying.578
The investigation of the Commission has thus produced no evidence that
Oswald's trip to Mexico was in any way connected with the assassination
of President Kennedy, nor has it uncovered evidence that the
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Page 309
Cuban Government had any involvement in the assassination. To the
contrary, the Commission has been advised by the CIA and FBI that secret
and reliable sources corroborate the statements of Senora Duran in all
material respects, and that the Cuban Government had no relationship
with Lee Harvey Oswald other than that described by Senora Duran.
Secretary of State Rusk also testified that after the assassination
"there was very considerable concern in Cuba as to whether they would be
held responsible and what the effect of that might be on their own
position and their own safety." 579
Contacts with the Soviet Embassy in the United States.--Soon after the
Oswalds reached the United States in June 1962 they wrote to the Soviet
Embassy in Washington, D.C. Oswald requested information about
subscriptions to Russian newspapers and magazines and ultimately did
subscribe to several Russian journals. Soviet law required Marina
Oswald, as a Soviet citizen living abroad, to remain in contact with her
nation's Embassy and to file various papers occasionally.580 In 1963,
after Oswald had experienced repeated employment difficulties, there
were further letters when the Oswalds sought permission to return to the
Soviet Union. The first such request was a letter written by Marina
Oswald on February 17, 1963. She wrote that she wished to return to
Russia but that her husband would stay in the United States because "he
is an American by nationality." 581 She was informed on March 8, 1963,
that it would take from 5 to 6 months to process the application.582 The
Soviet Union made available to the Commission what purports to be the
entire correspondence between the Oswalds and the Russian Embassy in the
United States.583 This material has been checked for codes and none has
been detected.584 With the possible exception of a letter which Oswald
wrote to the Soviet Embassy after his return from Mexico City, discussed
below, there is no material which gives any reason for suspicion. The
implications of all of this correspondence for an understanding of Lee
Harvey Oswald's personality and motivation is discussed in the following
chapter.
Oswald's last letter to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., dated
November 9, 1963, began by stating that it was written "to inform you of
recent events since my meetings with Comrade Kostin in the Embassy of
the Soviet Union, Mexico City, Mexico." 585 The envelope bears a
postmark which appears to be November 12, 1963.586 Ruth Paine has
testified that Oswald spent the weekend at her home working on the
letter and that she observed one preliminary draft.587 A piece of paper
which was identified as one of these drafts was found among Oswald's
effects after the assassination. (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 15, 103,
p. 311.) According to Marina Oswald, her husband retyped the envelope 10
times.588
Information produced for the Commission by the CIA is to the effect that
the person referred to in the letter as "comrade Kostin" was probably
Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov, a member of the consular staff of the
Soviet Union in Mexico City. He is also one of the KGB officers
stationed at the Embassy.589 It is standard Soviet pro-
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cedure for KGB officers stationed in embassies and in consulates to
carry on the normal duties of such a position in addition to the
undercover activities.590 The Commission has identified the Cuban consul
referred to in Oswald's letter as Senor Eusebio Azque (also "Ascue"),
the man with whom Oswald argued at the Cuban Embassy, who was in fact
replaced. The CIA advised the Commission:
We surmise that the references in Oswald's 9 November letter to a man
who had since been replaced must refer to Cuban Consul Eusebio Azque,
who left Mexico for Cuba on permanent transfer on 18 November 1963, four
days before the assassination. Azque had been in Mexico for 18 years and
it was known as early as September 1963 that Azque was to be replaced.
His replacement did arrive in September. Azque was scheduled to leave in
October but did not leave until 18 November.
We do not know who might have told Oswald that Azque or any other Cuban
had been or was to be replaced, but we speculate that Silvia Duran or
some Soviet official might have mentioned it if Oswald complained about
Azque's altercation with him.591
When asked to explain the letter, Marina Oswald was unable to add
anything to an understanding of its contents.592 Some light on its
possible meaning can be shed by comparing it with the early draft. When
the differences between the draft and the final document are studied,
and especially when crossed-out words are taken into account, it becomes
apparent that Oswald was intentionally be-clouding the true state of
affairs in order to make his trip to Mexico sound as mysterious and
important as possible.
For example, the first sentence in the second paragraph of the letter
reads, "I was unable to remain in Mexico indefinily because of my
mexican visa restrictions which was for I5 days only." The same sentence
in the draft begins, before the words are crossed out, "I was unable to
remain in Mexico City because I considered useless * * *" As already
mentioned, the Commission has good evidence that Oswald's trip to Mexico
was indeed "useless" and that he returned to Texas with that conviction.
The first draft, therefore, spoke the truth; but Oswald rewrote the
sentence to imply that he had to leave because his visa was about to
expire. This is false; Oswald's tourist card still had a full week to
run when he departed from Mexico on October 3. 593
The next sentence in the letter reads, "I could not take a chance on
reqesting a new visa unless I used my real name, so I returned to the
United States." The fact is that he did use his real name for his
tourist card, and in all dealings with the Cuban Embassy, the Russian
Embassy and elsewhere. Oswald did use the name of "Lee" on the trip, but
as indicated below, he did so only sporadically and probably as the
result of a clerical error. In the opinion of the Commission, based upon
its knowledge of Oswald, the letter constitutes no more than a clumsy
effort to ingratiate himself with the Soviet Embassy.
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Page 311
OSWALD'S LETTER TO THE
EMBASSY U. S. S. R., WASHINGTON, D.C.
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 15
PRELIMINARY DRAFT
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 103)
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Investigation of Other Activities
Oswald's use of post office boxes and false names.---After his return
from the Soviet Union, Lee Harvey Oswald is known to have received his
mail at post office boxes and to have used different aliases on numerous
occasions. Since either practice is susceptible of use for clandestine
purposes, the Commission has directed attention to both for signs that
Oswald at some point made undercover contact with other persons who
might have been connected with the assassination.
Oswald is known to have opened three post office boxes during 1962 and
1963. On October 9, 1962, the same day that he arrived in Dallas from
Fort Worth, and before establishing a residence there, he opened box No.
2915 at the Dallas General Post Office. This box was closed on May 14,
1963, shortly after Oswald had moved to New Orleans.594 That portion of
the post office box application listing the names of those persons other
than the applicant entitled to receive mail at the box was discarded in
accordance with postal regulations after the box was closed; hence, it
is not known what names other than Oswald's were listed on that form.595
However, as discussed in chapter IV, Oswald is known to have received
the assassination rifle under the name of A. Hidell and his Smith &
Wesson revolver under the name of A. J. Hidell at that box.596 On June
3, 1963, Oswald opened box No. 30061 at the Lafayette Square Substation
in New Orleans. Marina Oswald and A. J. Hidell were listed as additional
persons entitled to receive mail at this box.597 Immediately before
leaving for Mexico City in late September, Oswald submitted a request to
forward his mail to the Paines' address in Irving, and the box was
closed on September 26.598 On -November 1, 1963, he opened box No. 6225
at the Dallas Post Office Terminal Annex. The Fair Play for Cuba
Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union were listed as also
being entitled to receive mail at this box.599
Oswald's use of post office boxes is consistent with other information
known about him. His frequent changes of address and receipt of
Communist and other political literature would appear to have provided
Oswald reason to have rented postal boxes. These were the explanations
for his use of the boxes which he provided Postal Inspector H. D. Holmes
on November 24.600 Moreover, on October 14, 1963, he had moved into a
room on Beckley Avenue under the name of O. H. Lee 601 and it would have
been extremely difficult for Oswald to have received his mail at that
address without having disclosed his true name. The boxes cost Oswald
only $1.50 or less per month.602
Although the possibilities of investigation in this area are limited,
there is no evidence that any of the three boxes was ever used for the
surreptitious receipt of messages or was used by persons other than
Oswald or his family. No unexplainable notes were found among Oswald's
possessions after his arrest. Oswald's box on the day of the
assassination, No. 6225, was kept under constant personal surveillance
by postal inspectors from about 5 p.m. November 22 until midnight
November 24. A modified surveillance was maintained there-
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after. No one called for mail out of this box; indeed the only mail in
the box was a Russian magazine addressed to Oswald. The single
outstanding key was recovered from Oswald immediately after he was taken
in custody.603
In appraising the import of Oswald's rental of post office boxes, it is
significant that he was not secretive about their use. All three boxes
were rented by Oswald using his true name.604 His application for box
No. 2915 showed his home address as that of Alexandra De Mohrenschildt
(Taylor), whose husband had agreed to allow Oswald to use his
address.605 His application for the New Orleans box listed his address
as 657 French Street; his aunt, Lillian Murret, lived at 757 French
Street.606 On the application for box No. 6225, Oswald gave an incorrect
street number, though he did show Beckley Avenue, where he was then
living.607 He furnished the box numbers to his brother, to an employer,
to Texas and New Orleans unemployment commissions, and to others.608
Based on all the facts disclosed by its investigation, the Commission
has attached no conspiratorial significance to Oswald's rental of post
office boxes.
Oswald's use of aliases is also well established. In chapter IV, the
evidence relating to his repeated use of the name "A. J. Hidell," and
close variants thereof, is set forth.609 Because Oswald's use of this
pseudonym became known quickly after the assassination, investigations
were conducted with regard to persons using the name Hidell or names
similar to it. Subversive files, public carrier records, telegraph
company records, banking and other commercial records, and other matters
investigated and persons interviewed have been examined with regard to
Oswald's true name and his known alias.610 No evidence has been produced
that Oswald ever used the name Hidell as a means of making undercover
contact with any person. Indeed, though Oswald did prepare a counterfeit
selective service card and other identification using this name, he
commonly used "Hidell" to represent persons other than himself, such as
the president of his nonexistent Fair Play for Cuba Committee chapter,
the doctor whose name appeared on his counterfeit international
certificate of vaccination, and as references on his job
applications.611
Alwyn Cole, questioned document expert for the Treasury Department,
testified that the false identification found on Oswald upon his arrest
could have been produced by employing elementary techniques used in a
photographic printing plant.612 (See app. X, pp. 571-578.) Though to
perform the necessary procedures would have been difficult without the
use of expensive photographic equipment, such equipment and the needed
film and photographic paper were available to Oswald when he was
employed from October 1962 through early April 1963 at
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, a commercial advertising photography firm in
Dallas.613 While so employed, Oswald is known to have become familiar
with the mechanics of photographic enlargements, contraction, and image
distortion that would have been necessary to produce his false
identification, and to have used the facilities of his employer for some
personal work.614 Cole testified that the cards
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in Oswald's wallet did not exhibit a great deal of skill, pointing out
various errors that had been committed.615 Oswald's supervisor at
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall has stated that Oswald seemed unable to perform
photographic work with precision, which was one of the main reasons for
which he was ultimately discharged.616 The retouched negatives used to
make Oswald's counterfeit certificate of service identification were
found among Oswald's personal effects after his arrest, as was a rubber
stamping kit apparently employed to produce his spurious international
certificate of vaccination.617 There is strong evidence, therefore, that
Oswald himself made the various pieces of counterfeit identification
which he carried, and there is no reason to believe that he received
assistance from any person in establishing his alias.
Oswald also used incorrect names other than Hidell, but these too appear
unconnected with any form of conspiracy. Oswald's last name appears as
"Lee" in three places in connection with his trip to Mexico City,
discussed above. His tourist card was typed by the Mexican consulate in
New Orleans, "Lee, Harvey Oswald." 618 However, the comma seems to have
been a clerical error, since Oswald signed both the application and the
card itself, "Lee H. Oswald." Moreover, Oswald seems originally to have
also printed his name, evenly spaced, as "Lee H Oswald," but, noting
that the form instructed him to "Print full name. No initials," printed
the remainder of his middle name after the "H." The clerk who typed the
card thus saw a space after "Lee," followed by "Harvey Oswald" crowded
together, and probably assumed that "Lee" was the applicant's last name.
(See Commission Exhibit 2481, p. 800.) The clerk who prepared Oswald's
bus reservation for his return trip wrote "H. O. Lee." He stated that he
did not remember the occasion, although he was sure from the handwriting
and from other facts that he had dealt with Oswald. He surmised that he
probably made out the reservation directly from the tourist card, since
Oswald spoke no Spanish, and, seeing the comma, wrote the name "H. O.
Lee." 619 Oswald himself signed the register at the hotel in Mexico City
as "Lee, Harvey Oswald," 620 but since the error is identical to that on
the tourist card and since he revealed the remainder of his name,
"Harvey Oswald," it is possible that Oswald inserted the comma to
conform to the tourist card, or that the earlier mistake suggested a new
pseudonym to Oswald which he decided to continue.
In any event, Oswald used his correct name in making reservations for
the trip to Mexico City, in introducing himself to passengers on the
bus, and in his dealings with the Cuban and Soviet Embassies.621 When
registering at the Beckley Avenue house in mid-October, Oswald
perpetuated the pseudonym by giving his name as "0. H. Lee," 622 though
he had given his correct name to the owner of the previous roominghouse
where he had rented a room after his return from Mexico City.623
Investigations of the Commission have been conducted with regard to
persons using the name "Lee," and no evidence
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has been found that Oswald used this alias for the purpose of making any
type of secret contacts.
Oswald is also known to have used the surname "Osborne" in ordering Fair
Play for Cuba Committee handbills in May 1963.624 He also used the false
name D. F. Drittal as a certifying witness on the mail-order coupon with
which he purchased his Smith & Wesson revolver. 625 He used the name Lt.
J. Evans as a reference on an employment application in New Orleans.626
Oswald's repeated use of false names is probably not to be disassociated
from his antisocial and criminal inclinations. No doubt he purchased his
weapons under the name of Hidell in attempt to prevent their ownership
from being traced. Oswald's creation of false names and ficititious
personalities is treated in the discussion of possible motives set forth
in chapter VII. Whatever its significance in that respect may be, the
Commission has found no indication that Oswald's use of aliases was
linked with any conspiracy with others.
Ownership of a second rifle.--The Commission has investigated a report
that, during the first 2 weeks of November 1963, Oswald had a telescopic
sight mounted and sighted on a rifle at a sporting goods store in
Irving, Tex. The main evidence that Oswald had such work performed for
him is an undated repair tag bearing the name "Oswald" from the Irving
Sports Shop in Irving, Tex. On November 25, 1963, Dial D. Ryder, an
employee of the Irving Sports Shop, presented this tag to agents of the
FBI, claiming that the tag was in his handwriting. The undated tag
indicated that three holes had been drilled in an unspecified type of
rifle and a telescopic sight had been mounted on the rifle and
boresighted.627
As discussed in chapter IV, the telescopic sight on the C2766
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle was already mounted when shipped to Oswald, and
both Ryder and his employer, Charles W. Greener, feel certain that they
never did any work on this rifle.628 If the repair tag actually
represented a transaction involving Lee Harvey Oswald, therefore, it
would mean that Oswald owned another rifle. Although this would not
alter the evidence which establishes Oswald's ownership of the rifle
used to assassinate President Kennedy, the possession of a second rifle
warranted investigation because it would indicate that a possibly
important part of Oswald's life had not been uncovered.
Since all of Oswald's known transactions in connection with firearms
after his return to the United States were undertaken under an assumed
name,629 it seems unlikely that if he did have repairs made at the
sports shop he would have used his real name Investigation has revealed
that the authenticity of the repair tag bearing Oswald's name is indeed
subject to grave doubts. Ryder testified that he found the repair tag
while cleaning his workbench on November 23, 1963.630 However, Ryder
spoke with Greener repeatedly during the period be tween November 22-28
and, sometime prior to November 25, he discussed with him the
possibility that Oswald had been in the store. Neither he nor Greener
could remember that he had been. But despite these conversations with
Greener, it is significant that Ryder never
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called the repair tag to his employer's attention. Greener did not learn
about the tag until November 28, when he was called by TV reporters
after the story had appeared in the Dallas Times-Herald.631 The
peculiarity of Ryder's silence is compounded by the fact that, when
speaking to the FBI on November 25, Ryder fixed the period during which
the tag had been issued as November 1-14, 1963, yet, from his later
testimony, it appears that he did so on the basis that it must have
occurred when Greener was on vacation since Greener did not remember the
transaction.632 Moreover, the FBI had been directed to the Irving Sports
Shop by anonymous telephone calls received by its Dallas office and by a
local television station. The anonymous male who telephoned the Bureau
attributed his information to an unidentified sack boy at a specified
supermarket in Irving, but investigation has failed to verify this
source.633
Neither Ryder nor Greener claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald had ever been a
customer in the Irving Sports Shop. Neither has any recollection of
either Oswald or his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, nor does either recall
the transaction allegedly represented by the repair tag or the person
for whom the repair was supposedly made. 634 Although Ryder stated to
the FBI that he was "quite sure" that he had seen Oswald and that Oswald
may have been in the store at one time, when shown a photograph of
Oswald during his deposition, Ryder testified he knew the picture to be
of Oswald, "as the pictures in the paper, but as far as seeing the guy
personally, I don't think I ever have." 635
Subsequent events also reflect on Ryder's credibility. In his
deposition, Ryder emphatically denied that he talked to any reporters
about this matter prior to the time a story about it appeared in the
November 28, 1963, edition of the Dallas Times-Herald.636 Earlier,
however, he told an agent of the U.S. Secret Service that the newspaper
had misquoted him.637 Moreover, a reporter for the Dallas Times-Herald
has testified that on November 28, 1968, he called Ryder at his home and
obtained from him all of the details of the alleged transaction, and his
story is supported by the testimony of a second reporter who overheard
one end of the telephone conversation.638 No other person by the name of
Oswald in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been found who had a rifle
repaired at the Irving Sports Shop.639
Possible corroboration for Ryder's story is provided by two women, Mrs.
Edith Whitworth, who operates the Furniture Mart, a furniture store
located about 1½ blocks from the Irving Sports Shop, and Mrs. Gertrude
Hunter, a friend of Mrs. Whitworth. They testified that in early
November of 1963, a man who they later came to believe was Oswald drove
up to the Furniture Mart in a two-tone blue and white 1957 Ford
automobile, entered the store and asked about a part for a gun,
presumably because of a sign that. appeared in the building advertising
a gunsmith shop that had formerly occupied part of the premises. When he
found that he could not obtain the part, the man allegedly returned to
his car and then came back into the store with a woman and two young
children to look at furniture, remaining in the store for about 30 to 40
minutes.640
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Upon confronting Marina Oswald, both women identified her as the woman
whom they had seen in the store on the occasion in question, although
Mrs. Hunter could not identify a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald and Mrs.
Whitworth identified some pictures of Oswald but not others. Mrs. Hunter
purported to identify Marina Oswald by her eyes, and did not observe the
fact that Marina Oswald had a front tooth missing at the time she
supposedly saw her.641 After a thorough inspection of the Furniture
Mart, Marina Oswald testified that she had never been on the premises
before.642
The circumstances surrounding the testimony of the two women are helpful
in evaluating the weight to be given to their testimony, and the extent
to which they lend support to Ryder's evidence. The women previously
told newspaper reporters that the part for which the man was looking was
a "plunger," which the Commission has been advised is a colloquial term
used to describe a firing pin.643 This work was completely different
from the work covered by Ryder's repair tag, and the firing pin of the
assassination weapon does not appear to have been recently replaced.644
At the time of their depositions, neither woman was able to recall the
type of work which the man wanted done. 645
Mrs. Whitworth related to the FBI that the man told her that the younger
child with him was born on October 20, 1968, which was in fact Rachel
Oswald's birthday.646 In her testimony before the Commission, however,
Mrs. Whitworth could not state that the man had told her the child's
birthdate was October 20, 1963, and in fact expressed uncertainty about
the birthday of her own grandchild, which she had previously used as a
guide to remembering the birthdate of the younger child in the shop.647
Mrs. Hunter thought that the man she and Mrs. Whitworth believed was
Oswald drove the car to and from the store; 648 however, Lee Harvey
Oswald apparently was not able to drive an automobile by himself and
does not appear to have had
access to a car.649
The two women claimed that Oswald was in the Furniture Mart on a
weekday, and in midafternoon. However, Oswald had reported to work at
the Texas School Book Depository on the dates referred to by the women
and there is no evidence that he ]eft his job during business hours.650
In addition, Ruth Paine has stated that she always accompanied Marina
Oswald whenever Marina left the house with her children and that they
never went to the Furniture Mart, either with or without Lee Harvey
Oswald, at any time during October or November of 1963.651 There is
nothing to indicate that in November the Oswalds were interested in
buying furniture.652
Finally, investigation has produced reason to question the credibility
of Mrs. Hunter as a witness. Mrs. Hunter stated that one of the reasons
she remembers the description of the car in which Oswald supposedly
drove to the furniture store was that she was awaiting the arrival of a
friend from Houston, who drove a similar automobile. 653 However, the
friend in Houston has advised that in November 1963, she never visited
or planned to visit Dallas, and that she
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told no one that she intended to make such a trip. Moreover the friend
added, according to the FBI interview report, that Mrs. Hunter has "a
strange obsession for attempting to inject herself into any big event
which comes to her attention" and that she "is likely to claim some
personal knowledge of any major crime which receives much publicity."
654 She concluded that "the entire family is aware of these 'tall tales'
Mrs. Hunter tells and they normally pay no attention to her." 655
Another allegation relating to the possible ownership of a second rifle
by Oswald comes from Robert Adrian Taylor, a mechanic at a service
station in Irving. Some 3 weeks after the assassination, Taylor reported
to the FBI that he thought that, in March or April of 1963, a man he
believed to be Oswald had been a passenger in an auto mobile that
stopped at his station for repairs; since neither the driver nor the
passenger had sufficient funds for the repair work, the person believed
to be Oswald sold a U.S. Army rifle to Mr. Taylor, using the proceeds to
pay for the repairs.656 However, a second employee at the service
station, who recalled the incident, believed that, despite a slight
resemblance, the passenger was not Oswald.657 Upon reflection, Taylor
himself stated that he is very doubtful that the man was Oswald.658
Rifle practice.--Several witnesses believed that in the weeks preceding
the assassination, they observed a man resembling Oswald practicing with
a rifle in the fields and wooded areas surrounding Dallas, and at rifle
ranges in that area. Some witnesses claimed Oswald was alone, while
others said he was accompanied by one or more other persons. In most
instances, investigation has disclosed that there is no substantial
basis for believing that the person reported by the various witnesses
was Oswald.659
One group of witnesses, however, believed that they observed Lee Harvey
Oswald at the Sports Drome Rifle Range in Dallas at various times from
September through November of 1963. In light of the number of witnesses,
the similarity of the descriptions of the man they saw, and the type of
weapon they thought the individual was shooting, there is reason to
believe that these witnesses did see the same person at the firing
range, although the testimony of none of these witnesses is fully
consistent with the reported observations of the other witnesses.
The witnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald at the firing range had
more than a passing notice of the person they observed. Malcolm H.
Price, Jr., adjusted the scope on the individual's rifle on one
occasion; 660 Garland G. Slack had an altercation with the individual on
another occasion because he was shooting at Slack's target; 661 and
Sterling C. Wood, who on a third date was present at the range with his
father, Dr. Homer Wood, spoke with his father and very briefly with the
man himself about the individual's rifle.662 All three of these persons,
as well as Dr. Wood, expressed confidence that the man they saw was
Oswald.663 Two other persons believed they saw
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a person resembling Oswald firing a similar rifle at another range near
Irving 2 days before the assassination.664
Although the testimony of these witnesses was partially corroborated by
other witnesses,665 there was other evidence which prevented the
Commission from reaching the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the
person these witnesses saw. Others who were at the firing range
remembered the same individual but, though noting a similarity to
Oswald, did not believe that the man was Oswald;666 others either were
unable to state whether the man was Oswald or did not recall seeing
anybody who they feel may have been Oswald.667 Moreover, when
interviewed on December 2, 1963, Slack recalled that the individual whom
he saw had blond hair,668 and on December 3, 1963, Price stated that on
several occasions when he saw the individual, he was wearing a
"Bulldogger Texas style" hat and had bubble gum or chewing tobacco in
his cheek.669 None of these characteristics match those known about Lee
Harvey Oswald.
Moreover, the date on which Price adjusted the scope for the unknown
person was September 28, 1963, but Oswald is known to have been in
Mexico City at that time; 670 since a comparison of the events testified
to by Price and Slack strongly suggests that they were describing the
same man,671 there is reason to believe that Slack was also describing a
man other than Oswald. In addition, Slack believed he saw the same
person at the rifle range on November 10 672 and there is persuasive
evidence that on November 10, Oswald was at the Paine's home in Irving
and did not leave to go to the rifle range.673 Finally, the man whom
Price assisted on September 28 drove an old car, possibly a 1940 or 1941
Ford.674 However, there is evidence that Oswald could not drive at that
timer and there is no indication that Oswald ever had access to such a
car.675 Neither Oswald's name nor any of his known aliases was found in
the sign-in register maintained at the Sports Drome Rifle Ranger though
many customers did not sign this register.676 The allegations pertaining
to the companions who reportedly accompanied the man believed to be
Oswald are also inconsistent among themselves 677 and conform to no
other credible information ascertained by the Commission. Several
witnesses noticed a bearded man at the club when the person believed to
be Oswald was there, although only one witness thought the two men were
together; 678 the bearded gentleman was located, and he was not found to
have any connection with Oswald.679
It seems likely that the identification of Price, Slack, and the Woods
was reinforced in their own minds by the belief that the man whom they
saw was firing a rifle perhaps identical to Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano.
The witnesses agreed that the man they observed was firing a Mauser-type
bolt-action rifle with the ammunition clip immediately in front of the
trigger action, and that a scope was mounted on the rifle.680 These
features are consistent with the rifle Oswald used for the
assassination.681 The witnesses agreed that the man had accurate aim
with the rifle.682
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However, the evidence demonstrated that the weapon fired by the man they
observed was different from the assassination rifle. The witnesses
agreed that the barrel of the gun which the individual was firing had
been shortened in the process of "sporterizing" the weapon.683 In
addition, Price and Slack recalled that certain pieces were missing from
the top of the weapon,684 and Dr. Wood and his son, and others,
remembered that the weapon spouted flames when fired.685 None of these
characteristics correspond with Oswald's Mannlicher- Carcano.686 Price
and Slack believed that the gun did not have a sling, but the
assassination weapon did have one. Sterling Wood, on the other hand,
recalled that the rifle which he saw had a sling.687 Price also recalled
that he examined the rifle briefly for some indication as to where it
had been manufactured, but saw nothing, whereas the words "MADE ITALY"
are marked on the top of Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano.688
The scope on the rifle observed at the firing range does not appear to
be the same as the one on the assassination weapon. Price remembered
that the individual told him that his scope was Japanese, that he had
paid $18 for it, and that he had it mounted in a gunshop in Cedar Hills,
though apparently no such shop exists in that area.689 The scope on the
Mannlicher-Carcano was of Japanese origin but it was worth a little more
than $7 and was already mounted when he received the rifle from a
mail-order firm in Chicago.690 Sterling Wood and Slack agreed that the
scope had a somewhat different appearance from the scope on the
assassination rifle.691
Though the person believed to be Oswald retained his shell casings,
presumably for reuse,692 all casings recovered from areas where it is
believed that Oswald may have practiced have been examined by the FBI
Laboratory, and none has been found which was fired from Oswald's
rifle.693 Finally, evidence discussed in chapter IV tends to prove that
Oswald brought his rifle to Dallas from the home of the Paines in Irving
on November 22, and there is no other evidence which indicates that he
took the rifle or a package which might have contained the rifle out of
the Paine's garage, where it was stored, prior to that date.694
Automobile demonstration.--The testimony of Albert Guy Bogard has been
carefully evaluated because it suggests the possibility that Oswald
might have been a proficient automobile driver and, during November
1963, might have been expecting funds with which to purchase a car.
Bogard, formerly an automobile salesman with a Lincoln-Mercury firm in
Dallas, testified that in the early afternoon of November 9, 1963, he
attended a prospective customer who he believes was Lee Harvey Oswald.
According to Bogard, the customer, after test driving an automobile over
the Stemmons Freeway at 60 to 70 miles per hour, told Bogard that in
several weeks he would have the money to make a purchase. Bogard
asserted that the customer gave his name as "Lee Oswald," which Bogard
wrote on a business card. After Oswald's name was mentioned on the radio
on November 22, Bogard assertedly threw the card in a trash can, making
the comment
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to coemployees that he supposed Oswald would no longer wish to buy a
car.695
Bogard's testimony has received corroboration.696 The assistant sales
manager at the time, Frank Pizzo, and a second salesman, Eugene M.
Wilson, stated that they recall an instance when the customer described
by Bogard was in the showroom.697 Another salesman, Oran Brown, recalled
that Bogard asked him to assist the customer if he appeared during
certain evenings when Bogard was away from the
showroom. Brown stated that he too wrote down the customer's name and
both he and his wife remember the name "Oswald" as being on a paper in
his possession before the assassination.698
However, doubts exist about the accuracy of Bogard's testimony. He,
Pizzo, and Wilson differed on important details of what is supposed to
have occurred when the customer was in the showroom. Whereas Bogard
stated that the customer said he did not wish credit and wanted to
purchase a car for cash,699 Pizzo and Wilson both indicated that the man
did attempt to purchase on credit.700 According to Wilson, when the
customer was told that he would be unable to purchase a ear without a
credit rating, substantial cash or a lengthy employment record, he
stated sarcastically, "Maybe I'm going to have to go back to Russia to
buy a car." 701 While it is possible that Oswald would have made such a
remark, the statement is not consistent with Bogard's story. Indeed,
Bogard has made no mention that the customer ever spoke with Wilson
while he was in the showroom.702 More important, on November 23, a
search through the showroom's refuse was made, but no paper bearing
Oswald's name was found.703 The paper on which Brown reportedly wrote
Oswald's name also has never been located.704
The assistant sales manager, Mr. Pizzo, who saw Bogard's prospect on
November 9 and shortly after the assassination felt that Oswald may have
been this man, later examined pictures of Oswald and expressed serious
doubts that the person with Bogard was in fact Oswald. While noting a
resemblance, he did not believe that Oswald's hairline matched that of
the person who had been in the showroom on November 9.705 Wilson has
stated that Bogard's customer was only about 5 feet tall.706 Several
persons who knew Oswald have testified that he was unable to drive,707
although Mrs. Paine, who was giving Oswald driving lessons, stated that
Oswald was showing some improvement by November.708 Moreover, Oswald's
whereabouts on November 9, as testified to by Marina Oswald and Ruth
Paine, would have made it impossible for him to have visited the
automobile showroom as Mr. Bogard claims.709
Alleged association with various Mexican or Cuban individuals.--The
Commission has examined Oswald's known or alleged contacts and
activities in an effort to ascertain whether or not he was involved in
any conspiracy may be seen in the investigation it conducted as a result
of the testimony given by Mrs. Sylvia Odio. The Commission investigated
her statements in connection with its consid-
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eration of the testimony of several witnesses suggesting that Oswald may
have been seen in the company of unidentified persons of Cuban or
Mexican background. Mrs. Odio was born in Havana in 1937 and remained in
Cuba until 1960; it appears that both of her parents are political
prisoners of the Castro regime. Mrs. Odio is a member of the Cuban
Revolutionary Junta (JURE), an anti-Castro organization.710 She
testified that late in September 1963, three men came to her apartment
in Dallas and asked her to help them prepare a letter soliciting funds
for JURE activities. She claimed that the men, who exhibited personal
familiarity with her imprisoned father, asked her if she were "working
in the underground," and she replied that she was not.711 She testified
that two of the men appeared to be Cubans, although they also had some
characteristics that she associated with Mexicans. Those two men did not
state their full names, but identified themselves only by their
fictitious underground "war names." Mrs. Odio remembered the name of one
of the Cubans as "Leopoldo." 712 The third man, an American, allegedly
was introduced to Mrs. Odio as "Leon Oswald," and she was told that he
was very much interested in the Cuban cause.713 Mrs. Odio said that the
men told her that they had lust come from New Orleans and that they were
then about to leave on a trip. 714 Mrs. Odio testified that the next day
Leopoldo called her on the telephone and told her that it was his idea
to introduce the American into the underground "because he is great, he
is kind of nuts." 715 Leopoldo also said that the American had been in
the Marine Corps and was an excellent shot, and that the American said
the Cubans "don't have any guts * * * be cause President Kennedy should
have been assassinated after the Bay of Pigs, and some Cubans should
have done that, because he was the one that was holding the freedom of
Cuba actually." 716
Although Mrs. Odio suggested doubts that the men were in fact members of
JURE, 717 she was certain that the American who was introduced to her as
Leon Oswald was Lee Harvey Oswald.718 Her sister, who was in the
apartment at the time of the visit by the three men, and who stated that
she saw them briefly in the hallway when answering the door, also
believed that the American was Lee Harvey Oswald.719 By referring to the
date on which she moved from her former apartment, October 1, 1963, Mrs.
Odio fixed the date of the alleged visit on the Thursday or Friday
immediately preceding that date, i.e., September 26 or 27. She was
positive that the visit occurred prior to October 1.720
During the course of its investigation, however, the Commission
concluded that Oswald could not have been in Dallas on the evening of
either September 26 or 27, 1963. It also developed considerable evidence
that he was not in Dallas at any time between the beginning of September
and October 3, 1963. On April 24, Oswald left Dallas for New Orleans,
where he lived until his trip to Mexico City in late September and his
subsequent return to Dallas. Oswald is known to
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have been in New Orleans as late as September 23, 1963, the date on
which Mrs. Paine and Marina Oswald left New Orleans for Dallas.721
Sometime between 4 p.m. on September 24 and 1 p.m. on September 25,
Oswald cashed an unemployment compensation check at a store in New
Orleans;722 under normal procedures this check would not have reached
Oswald's postal box in New Orleans until at least 5
on September 25.723 The store at which he cashed the check did not open
until 8 a.m.724 Therefore, it appeared that Oswald's presence in New
Orleans until sometime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. on September 25 was
quite firmly established.
Although there is no firm evidence of the means by which Oswald traveled
from New Orleans to Houston, on the first leg of his Mexico City trip,
the Commission noted that a Continental Trailways bus leaving New
Orleans at 12:30 p.m. on September 25 would have brought Oswald to
Houston at 10:50 p.m. that evening.725 His presence on this bus would be
consistent with other evidence before the Commission.726 There is strong
evidence that on September 26, 1963, Oswald traveled on Continental
Trailways bus No. 5133 which left Houston at 2:35 a.m. for Laredo, Tex.
Bus company records disclose that one ticket from Houston to Laredo was
sold during the night shift on September 25-26, and that such ticket was
the only one of its kind sold in the period of September 24 through
September 26. The agent who sold this ticket has stated that Oswald
could have been the purchaser.727 Two English passengers, Dr. and Mrs.
John B. McFarland, testified that they saw Oswald riding alone on this
bus shortly after they awoke at 6 a.m.728 The bus was scheduled to
arrive in Laredo at 1:20 p.m. on September 26, and Mexican immigration
records show that Oswald in fact crossed the border at Laredo to Nuevo
Laredo, Mexico, between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on that day.729 Evidence set
out in appendix XIII establishes that Oswald did not leave Mexico until
October 3, and that he arrived in Dallas the same day.
The Commission noted that the only time not strictly accounted for
during the period that Mrs. Odio thought Oswald might have visited her
is the span between the morning of September 25 and 2:35 a.m. on
September 26. The only public means of transportation by which Oswald
could have traveled from New Orleans to Dallas in time to catch his bus
from Houston to Laredo, would have been the airlines. Investigation
disclosed no indication that he flew between these points.730 Moreover,
it did not seem probable that Oswald would speed from New Orleans, spend
a short time talking to Sylvia Odio, and then travel from Dallas to
Mexico City and back on the bus. Automobile travel in the time
available, though perhaps possible, would have been difficult.731 The
Commission noted, however, that if Oswald had reached Dallas on the
evening of September 25, he could have traveled by bus to Alice, Tex.,
and there caught the bus which had left Houston for Laredo at 2:35 a.m.
on September 26, 1963.732 Further investigation in that regard
indicated, however, that no tickets were sold, during the period
September 23-26, 1963 for travel from
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Dallas to Laredo or points beyond by the Dallas office of Continental
Trailways, the only bus line on which Oswald could have made connections
with the bus on which he was later seen. Furthermore, if Oswald had
traveled from Dallas to Alice, he would not have reached the Houston to
Laredo bus until after he was first reportedly observed on it by the
McFarlands.733 Oswald had also told passengers on the bus to Laredo that
he had traveled from New Orleans by bus, and made no mention of an
intervening trip to Dallas. 734 In addition, the Commission noted
evidence that on the evening of September 25, 1963, Oswald made a
telephone call to a party in Houston proposing to visit a resident. of
Houston that evening 735 and the fact that such a call would appear to
be inconsistent with Oswald's having been in Dallas at the time. It thus
appeared that the evidence was persuasive that Oswald was not in Dallas
on September 25, and, therefore, that he was not in that city at the
time Mrs. Odio said she saw him.
In spite of the fact that it appeared almost certain that Oswald could
not have been in Dallas at the time Mrs. Odio thought he was, the
Commission requested the FBI to conduct further investigation to
determine the validity of Mrs. Odio's testimony.736 The Commission
considered the problems raised by that testimony as important, in view
of the possibility it raised that Oswald .may have had companions on his
trip to Mexico.737 The Commission specifically requested the FBI to
attempt to locate and identify the two men who Mrs. Odio stated were
with the man she thought was Oswald. 738 In an effort to do that the FBI
located and interviewed Manuel Ray, a leader of JURE who confirmed that
Mrs. Odio's parents were political prisoners in Cuba, but stated that he
did not know anything about the alleged Oswald visit.739 The same was
true of Rogelio Cisneros,740 a former anti-Castro leader from Miami who
had visited Mrs. Odio in June of 1962 in connection with certain anti-
Castro activities. 741 Additional investigation was conducted in Dallas
and in other cities in search of the visitors to Mrs. Odio's apartment.
742 Mrs. Odio herself was reinterviewed.743
On September 16, 1964, the FBI located Loran Eugene Hall in Johnsandale
Calif. 744 Hall has been identified as a participant in numerous
anti-Castro activities. 745 He told the FBI that in September of 1963 he
was in Dallas, soliciting aid in connection with anti-Castro activities.
He said he had visited Mrs. Odio. He was accompanied by Lawrence Howard,
a Mexican-American from East Los Angeles and one William Seymour from
Arizona. He stated that Seymour is similar in appearance to Lee Harvey
Oswald; he speaks only a few words of Spanish,746 as Mrs. Odio had
testified one of the men who visited her did.747 While the FBI had not
yet completed its investigation into this matter at the time the report
went to press, the Commission has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was
not at Mrs. Odio's apartment in September of 1963.
The Commission has also noted the testimony of Evaristo Rodriguez, a
bartender in the Habana Bar in New Orleans, to the effect that he saw
Oswald in that bar in August of 1963 in the company of a
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Latin-appearing man. 748 Rodriguez' description of the man accompanying
the person he thought to be Oswald was similar in respects to the
description given by Sylvia Odio since beth testified that the man may
have been of either Cuban or Mexican extraction, and had a slight bald
spot on the forepart of his hairline.749 Rodriguez' identification of
Oswald was uncorroborated except for the testimony of the owner of the
bar, Orest Pena; according to Rodriguez, Pena was not in a position to
observe the man he thought later to have been Oswald.750 Although Pena
has testified that he did observe the same person as did Rodriguez, and
that this person was Oswald,751 an FBI interview report indicated that a
month earlier Pena had stated that he "could not at this time or at any
time say whether or not the person was identical with Lee Harvey
Oswald." 752 Though when testifying, Pena identified photographs of
Oswald, the FBI report also recorded that Pena "stated the only reason
he was able to recognize Oswald was because he had seen Oswald's picture
in the news media so often after the assassination of President John F.
Kennedy." 753 When present at Pena's bar, Oswald was supposed to have
been intoxicated to the extent that he became ill,754 which is
inconsistent. with other evidence that Oswald did not drink alcoholic
beverages to excess.755
The Commission has also noted the testimony of Dean Andrews, an attorney
in New Orleans. Andrews stated that Oswald came to his office several
times in the summer of 1963 to seek advice on a less than honorable
discharge from the Armed Forces, the citizenship status of his wife and
his own citizenship status. Andrews, who believed that he was contacted
on November 23 to represent Oswald, testified that Oswald was always
accompanied by a Mexican and was at times accompanied by apparent
homosexuals.756 Andrews was able to locate no records of any of Oswald's
alleged visits, and investigation has failed to locate the person who
supposedly called Andrews on November 23, at a time when Andrews was
under heavy sedation.757 While one of Andrews' employees felt that
Oswald might have been at his office, his secretary has no recollection
of Oswald being there. 758
Oswald Was Not an Agent for the U.S. Government
From the time of his release from the Marine Corps until the
assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald dealt in various transact-ions with
several agencies of the U.S. Government. Before departing the United
States for the Soviet Union in 1959, he obtained an American passport,
which he returned to the Embassy in Moscow in October 1959 when he
attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship. Thereafter, while in the
Soviet Union, Oswald had numerous contacts with the American Embassy,
beth in person and through correspondence. Two years later, he applied
for the return and renewal of his passport, which was granted him. His
application concerning the admittance of his wife to this country was
passed upon by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the
Department of Justice in addition to the State Department. And before
returning to this country, he
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secured a loan from the State Department to help cover his
transportation costs from Moscow to New York. These dealings with the.
Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have
been reviewed earlier in this chapter and are considered in detail in
appendix w. After his return, Oswald was interviewed on three occasions
by agents of the FBI, and Mrs. Paine was also questioned by the FBI
about Oswald's activities. Oswald obtained a second passport in June of
1963. And both the FBI and the CIA took note of his Fair Play for Cuba
Committee activities in New Orleans and his appearance at the Soviet
consulate in Mexico City. For reasons which will be discussed fully in
chapter VIII, Oswald's name was never given to the U.S. Secret Service.
These dealings have given rise to numerous rumors and allegations that
Oswald may have been a paid informant or some type of undercover agent
for a Federal agency, usually the FBI or the CIA. The Commission has
fully explored whether Oswald had any official or unofficial
relationship with any Federal agency beyond that already described.
Oswald's mother, Mrs. Marguerite Oswald, testified before the Commission
that she believes her son went to Russia and returned as an undercover
agent for the U.S. Government.759 Mrs. Oswald mentioned the belief that
her son was an agent to a State Department representative whom she
visited in January 1961, when she was trying to locate her son. 760 She
had been interviewed earlier by FBI Agent John W. Fain, within some 6
months of Oswald's departure for Russia, and did not at that time
suggest such an explanation for Oswald's departure. 761 Though provided
the opportunity to present any material she considered pertinent, Mrs.
Oswald was not able to give the Commission any reasonable basis for her
speculation. 762 As discussed later in this chapter, the Commission has
investigated Marguerite Oswald's claim that an FBI agent showed her a
picture of Jack Ruby after the assassination but before Lee Harvey
Oswald had been killed; this allegation was inaccurate, since the
picture was not of Ruby.
After the assassination it was reported that in 1962 Oswald had told
Pauline Bates, a public stenographer in Fort Worth, Tex., that he had
become a "secret agent" of the U.S. Government and that he was soon
going back to Russia "or Washington." 763 Mrs. Bates in her sworn
testimony denied that Oswald ever told her anything to that effect. 764
She testified that she had stated "that when he first said that he went
to Russia and had gotten a visa that I thought--it was just a
thought--that maybe he was going over under the auspices of the State
Department--as a student or something." 765
In order to evaluate the nature of Oswald's dealings with the Department
of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Commission
has obtained the complete files of both the Department and the Service
pertaining to Lee Harvey Oswald. Officials who were directly involved in
dealing with the Oswald case on these matters have testified before the
Commission. A critical evaluation of the manner in which they were
handled by these organizations is set forth
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in appendix XV. The record establishes that Oswald received no
preferential treatment and that his case involved no impropriety on the
part of any Government official.
Director John A. McCone and Deputy Director Richard Helms of the Central
Intelligence Agency testified before the Commission that no one
connected with the CIA had ever interviewed Oswald or communicated with
him in any way.766 In his supplementing affidavit, Director McCone
stated unequivocally that Oswald was not an agent, employee, or
informant of the CIA, that the Agency never communicated with him in any
manner or furnished him any compensation, and that Oswald was never
directly or indirectly associated with the CIA.767 The Commission has
had access to the full CIA file on Oswald which is entirely consistent
with Director McCone's statements.
The Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, Assistant to the Director Alan
H. Belmont, FBI Agents John W. Fain and John L. Quigley, who interviewed
Oswald, and FBI Agent James P. Hosty, Jr., who was in charge of his case
at the time of the assassination, have also testified before the
Commission. All declared, in substance, that Oswald was not an informant
or agent of the FBI, that he did not act in any other capacity for the
FBI, and that no attempt was made to recruit him in any capacity.768
Director Hoover and each Bureau agent, who according to the FBI would
have been responsible for or aware of any attempt to recruit Oswald as
an informant, have also provided the Commission with sworn affidavits to
this effect.769 Director Hoover has sworn that he caused a search to be
made of the records of the Bureau, and that the search discloses that
Oswald "was never an informant of the FBI, and never assigned a symbol
number in that capacity, and was never paid any amount of money by the
FBI in any regard." 770 This testimony is corroborated by the
Commission's independent review of the Bureau files dealing with the
Oswald investigation.
The Commission also investigated the circumstances which led to the
presence in Oswald's address book of the name of Agent Hosty together
with his office address, telephone number, and license number. 771 Hosty
and Mrs. Paine testified that on November 1, 1963, Hosty left his name
and phone number with Mrs. Paine so that she could advise Hosty when she
learned where Oswald was living in Dallas.772 Mrs. Paine and Marina
Oswald have testified that Mrs. Paine handed Oswald the slip of paper on
which Hosty had written this information. 773 In accordance with prior
instructions from Oswald, 774 Marina Oswald noted Hosty's license number
which she gave to her husband. 775 The address of the Dallas office of
the FBI could have been obtained from many public sources.
Thus, close scrutiny of the records of the Federal agencies involved and
the testimony of the responsible officials of the U.S. Government
establish that there was absolutely no type of informant or undercover
relationship between an agency of the U.S. Government and Lee Harvey
Oswald at any time.
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Oswald's Finances
In search of activities or payments demonstrating the receipt of
unexplained funds, the Commission undertook a detailed study of Oswald's
receipts and expenditures starting with the date of his return from the
Soviet Union on June 13, 1962, and continuing to the date of his arrest
on November 22, 1963. In appendix XIV there appears a table listing
Oswald's estimated receipts and expenditures on a monthly basis during
this period.
The Commission was assisted in this phase of the investigation by able
investigators of the Internal Revenue Service of the Department of the
Treasury and by agents of the FBI. The investigation extended far beyond
interrogation of witnesses who appeared before the Commission. At banks
in New Orleans, La.; Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, and Laredo, Tex.,
inquiries were made for any record of a checking, savings, or loan
accounts or a safe deposit box rented in the names of Lee Harvey Oswald,
his known aliases, or members of his immediate family. In many cases a
photograph of Oswald was exhibited to bank officials who were in a
position to see a person in the safe deposit box area of their banks. No
bank account or safe deposit boxes were located which could be
identified with Oswald during this period of his life, although evidence
was developed of a bank account which he had used prior to his trip to
the Soviet Union in 1959. Telegraph companies were checked for the
possibility of money orders that may have been sent to Oswald. All known
locations where Oswald cashed checks which he received were queried as
to the possibility of his having cashed other checks there. Further
inquiries were made at Oswald's places of employment, his residences and
with local credit associations, hospitals, utility companies, State and
local government offices, post offices, periodicals, newspapers, and
employment agencies.776
Marina Oswald testified that she knew of no sources of income Oswald
other than his wages and his unemployment compensation.777 No evidence
of other cash income has been discovered. The Commission has found that
the funds known to have been available to Oswald during the period June
13, 1962, through November 22, 1963, were sufficient to cover all of his
known expenditures during this period. Including cash on hand of $63
when he arrived from the Soviet Union, the Oswalds received a total of
$3,665.89 in cash from wages, unemployment compensation benefits, loans,
and gifts from acquaintances. His cash disbursements during this period
were estimated at $3,501.79, leaving a balance of $164.10. (See app.
XIV.) This estimated balance is within $19 of the $183.87 in cash which
was actually in Oswald's possession at the time of his arrest,
consisting of $13.87 on his person and $170 in his wallet left at the
Paine house.778
In computing Oswald's expenditures, estimates were made for food,
clothing, and incidental expenses. The incidental expenses included
telephone calls, the cost of local newspapers, money order and
check-cashing fees, postage, local transportation costs, personal care
goods and services, and other such small items. All of these expenses,
in-
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cluding food and clothing, were estimated at a slightly higher figure
than would be normal for a family with the income of the Oswalds, and
probably higher than the Oswalds actually spent on such items.779 This
was done in order to be certain that even if some of Oswald's minor
expenditures are not known, he had adequate funds to cover his known
expenditures.
During the 17-month period preceding his death, Oswald's pattern of
living was consistent with his limited income. He lived with his family
in furnished apartments whose cost, including utilities, ranged from
about $60 to $75 per month. 780 Witnesses testified to his wife's
disappointment and complaints and to their own shock and misgivings
about several of the apartments in which the Oswalds lived during the
period.781 Moreover, the Oswalds, particularly Marina, frequently lived
with relatives and acquaintances at no cost. Oswald and his family lived
with his brother Robert and then with Marguerite Oswald from June until
sometime in August 1962.782 As discussed previously, Marina Oswald lived
with Elena Hall and spent a few nights at the Taylors' house during
October of 1962 ;783 in November of that same year, Marina Oswald lived
with two families.784 When living away from his family Oswald rented
rooms for $7 and $8 per week or stayed at the YMCA in Dallas where he
paid $2.25 per day.785 During late April and early May 1963, Oswald
lived with relatives in New Orleans, while his wife lived with Ruth
Paine in Irving, Tex.786 From September 24, 1963, until November
Marina Oswald stayed with Ruth Paine, while Oswald lived in
roominghouses in Dallas.787 During 'the period Marina Oswald resided
with others, neither she nor her husband made any contribution to her
support.788
The Oswalds owned no major household appliances, had no automobile, and
resorted to dental and hospital clinics for medical care.789
Acquaintances purchased baby furniture for them, and paid dental bills
in one instance.790 After his return to the United States, Oswald did
not smoke or drink, and he discouraged his wife from doing so.791 Oswald
spent much of his time reading books which he obtained from the public
library, and periodicals to which he subscribed.792 He resided near his
place of employment and used buses to travel to and from work.793 When
he visited his wife and the children on weekends in October and November
1963, he rode in a neighbor's ear, making no contribution for gasoline
or other expenses.794 Oswald's personal wardrobe was also very modest.
He customarily wore T-shirts, cheap slacks, well-worn sweaters, and
well-used zipper jackets. Oswald owned one suit, of Russian make and
purchase, poor fitting and of heavy fabric which, despite its
unsuitability to the climates of Texas and Louisiana and his obvious
discomfort, he wore on the few occasions that required dress.795
Food for his family was extremely meager. Paul Gregory testified that
during the 6 weeks that Marina Oswald tutored him he took the Oswalds
shopping for food and groceries on a number of occasions and that he
was"amazed" at how little they bought." 796 Their friends
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in the Dallas-Fort Worth area frequently brought them food and
groceries.797 Marina testified that her husband ate "very little." He
"never had breakfast. He just drank coffee and that is all. Not because
he was trying to economize. Simply he never liked to eat." She estimated
that when he was living by himself in a roominghouse, he would spend
"about a dollar, $1.30" for dinner and have a sandwich and soft drink
for lunch.798
The thrift which Oswald exercised in meeting his living expenses allowed
him to accumulate sufficient funds to meet other expenses which he
incurred after his return from the Soviet Union. From his return until
January of 1963, Oswald repaid the $435.71 he had borrowed from the
State Department for travel expenses from Moscow, and the $200 loan he
had obtained from his brother Robert to fly from New York to Dallas upon
his return to this country. He completed the retirement of the debt to
his brother in October 1962.799 His cash receipts from all sources from
the day of his arrival in Fort Worth through October 1962 aggregated
$719.94; it is estimated that he could have made the repayments to
Robert and met his other known expenses and still have been left with
savings of $122.06 at the end of the month. After making initial $10
monthly payments to the State Department, Oswald paid the Government
$190 in December and $206 in January, thus liquidating that debt. 800
From his net earning of $805.96 from November through January plus his
prior savings, Oswald could have made these payments to the State
Department, met his other known expenses, and still have had a balance
of $8.59 at the end of January 1963. In discussing the repayment of
these debts, Marina Oswald testified: "Of course we did not live in
luxury. We did not buy anything that was not absolutely needed, because
Lee had to pay his debt to Robert and to the Government. But it was not
particularly difficult." 801
Included in the total figure for Oswald's disbursements were $21.45 for
the rifle used in the assassination and $31.22 for the revolver with
which Oswald shot Officer Tippit. The major portion of the purchase
price for these weapons was paid in March 1963, when Oswald had finished
paying his debts, and the purchases were compatible with the total funds
then available to him.802 During May, June, and July of 1963, Oswald
spent approximately $23 for circulars, application blanks, and
membership cards for his one-man New Orleans chapter of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee.803 In August he paid $2 to one and possibly two
young men to assist in passing out circulars and then paid a $10 court
fine after pleading guilty to a charge of disturbing the peace.804
Although some of these expenses were incurred after Oswald lost his job
on July 19, 1963, his wages during June and July, and his unemployment
compensation thereafter, provided sufficient funds to enable him to
finance these activities out of his own resources.805
Although Oswald paid his own busfare to New Orleans on April 24, 1963,
his wife and the baby were taken there, at no cost to Oswald, by Ruth
Paine.806 Similarly, Ruth Paine drove to New Orleans in
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September and brought Marina Oswald and the baby back to Irving, Tex.807
Oswald's uncle, Charles Murret, also paid for the short trip taken by
Oswald and his family from New Orleans to Mobile, Ala., on July 27,
1963.808 It is estimated that when Oswald left for Mexico City in
September 1963, he had accumulated slightly over $200. Marina Oswald
testified that when he left for Mexico City he had "a little over $100,"
though she may not have taken into account the $33 unemployment
compensation check which Oswald collected after her departure from New
Orleans.809 In any event, expenses in Mexico have been estimated as
approximately $85, based on transportation costs of $50 and a hotel
expense of about $1.28 per day. Oswald ate inexpensively and, allowing
$15 for entertainment and miscellaneous items, it would appear that he
had the funds available to finance the trip.810
The Commission has considered the testimony of Leonard E. Hutchison,
proprietor of Hutch's Market in Irving, in connection with Oswald's
finances. Hutchison has testified that on a Friday during the first week
in November, a man he believes to have been Lee Harvey Oswald attempted
to cash a "two-party," or personal check for $189, but that he refused
to cash the check since his policy is to cash personal cheeks for no
more than $25. 811 Oswald is not known to have received a check for this
amount from any source.
On Friday, November 1, Oswald did cash a Texas Unemployment Commission
check for $33 at another supermarket in Irving,812 so that a possible
explanation of Hutchison's testimony is that he refused to cash this $33
check for Oswald and is simply in error as to the amount of the
instrument. However, since the check cashed at the super-market was
issued by the State comptroller of Texas, it is not likely that
Hutchison could have confused it with a personal check.
Examination of Hutchison's testimony indicates that a more likely
explanation is that Oswald was not in his store at all. Hutchison
testified that the man who attempted to cash the cheek was a customer in
his store on previous occasions; in particular, Hutchison recalled that
the man, accompanied by a woman he believes was Marina Oswald and an
elderly woman, were shopping in his store in October or November of 1963
on a night he feels certain was a. Wednesday evening.813 Oswald,
however, is not known to have been in Irving on any Wednesday evening
during this period.814 Neither of the two checkers at the market recall
such a visit by a person matching the description provided by Hutchison,
and both Marina Oswald and Marguerite Oswald deny that they were ever in
Hutchison's store. 815 Hutchison further stated that the man made
irregular calls at his grocery between 7:20 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. on
weekday mornings, and always purchased cinnamon rolls and a full gallon
of milk.816 However, the evidence indicates that except for rare
occasions Oswald was in Irving only on weekends; moreover, Buell Wesley
Frazier, who drove Oswald to and from Irving on these occasions,
testified that on Monday mornings he picked Oswald up at a point which
is many blocks from Hutchison's store and ordinarily by
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Hutchison also testified that Ruth Paine was an occasional customer in
his store; 818 however, Mrs. Paine indicated that she was not in the
store as often as Hutchison testified; 819 and her appearance is
dissimilar to the description of the woman Hutchison stated was Mrs.
Paine.820 In light of the strong reasons for doubting the correctness of
Hutchison's testimony and the absence of any other sign that Oswald ever
possessed a personal check for $189, the Commission was unable to
conclude that he ever received such a check.
The Commission has also examined a report that, not long before the
assassination, Oswald may have received unaccounted funds through money
orders sent to him in Dallas. Five days after the assassination, C. A.
Hamden, early night manager for the Western Union Telegraph Co. in
Dallas, told his superior that about 2 weeks earlier he remembered
Oswald sending a telegram from the office to Washington, D.C., possibly
to the Secretary of the Navy, and that the application was completed in
an unusual form of hand printing.821 The next day Hamden told a magazine
correspondent who was in the Western Union office on other business that
he remembered seeing Oswald in the office on prior occasions collecting
money orders for small amounts of money. 822 Soon thereafter Hamden
signed a statement relating to both the telegram and the money orders,
and specifying two instances in which he had seen the person he believed
to be Oswald in the office; in each instance the man had behaved
disagreeably and one other Western Union employee had become involved in
assisting him. 823
During his testimony, Hamden did not recall with clarity the statements
he had previously made and was unable to state whether the person he
reportedly had seen in the Western Union office was or was not Lee
Harvey Oswald. 824 Investigation has disclosed that a second employee
does recall one of the occurrences described by Hamden, and believes
that the money order in question was delivered "to someone at the YMCA";
however, he is unable to state whether or not the man involved was
Oswald. 825 The employee referred to by Hamden in connection with the
second incident feels certain that the unusual episode described by
Hamden did not occur, and that she at no time observed Oswald in the
Western Union office.826
At the request of Federal investigators, officers of Western Union
conducted a complete search of their records in Dallas and in other
cities, for the period from June through November 1963, for money orders
payable to Lee Harvey Oswald or his known aliases and for telegrams sent
by Oswald or his known aliases. In addition, all money orders addressed
to persons at the YMCA in Dallas during October and November 1963 were
inspected, and all telegrams handled from November 1 through November 29
by the employee who Hamden assertedly saw service Oswald were examined,
as were all telegrams sent from Dallas to Washington during November. No
indication of any such money order or telegram was found in any of these
records.827 Hamden himself participated in this search, and was "unable
* * * to pin down any of these telegrams or money orders that would
indicate
Page 333
it was Oswald." 828 Hamblen's superiors have concluded "that this whole
thing was a figment of Mr. Hamblen's imagination," 829 and the
Commission accepts this assessment.
Possible Conspiracy Involving Jack Ruby
Page 333
POSSIBLE CONSPIRACY INVOLVING JACK RUBY
Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald at 11:21 a.m., on Sunday, November 24,
1968, shortly after Ruby entered the basement of the Dallas Police
Department. Almost immediately, speculation arose that Ruby had acted on
behalf of members of a conspiracy who had planned the killing of
President Kennedy and wanted to silence Oswald. This section of chapter
VI sets forth the Commission's investigation into the possibility that
Ruby, together with Oswald or with others, conspired to kill the
President., or that Ruby, though not part of any such conspiracy, had
accomplices in the slaying of Oswald. Presented first are the results of
the Commission's detailed inquiry into Ruby's actions from November 21
to November 24. In addition, this section analyzes the numerous rumors
and suspicions that Ruby and Oswald were acquainted and examines Ruby's
background and associations for evidence of any conspiratorial
relationship or motive. A detailed life of Ruby is given in appendix XVI
which provides supplemental information about Ruby and his associations.
Ruby's Activities From November 21 to November 24, 1963
The Commission has attempted to reconstruct as precisely as possible the
movements of Jack Ruby during the period November 21-November 24, 1968.
It has done so on the premise that, if Jack Ruby were involved in a
conspiracy, his activities and associations during this period would, in
some way, have reflected the conspiratorial relationship. The Commission
has not attempted to determine the time at which Ruby first decided to
make his attack on Lee Harvey Oswald, nor does it purport to evaluate
the psychiatric and related legal questions which have arisen from the
assault upon Oswald. Ruby's activities during this a-day period have
been scrutinized, however, for the insight they provide into whether the
shooting of Oswald was grounded in any form of conspiracy.
The eve of the President's visit.--On Thursday, November 21, Jack Ruby
was attending to his usual duties as the proprietor of two Dallas night
spots--the Carousel Club, a downtown nightclub featuring strip-tease
dancers, and the Vegas Club, a rock-and-roll establishment in the
Oaklawn section of Dallas. Both clubs opened for business each day in
the early evening and continued 7 days a week until after midnight. 830
Ruby arrived at the Carousel Club at about 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon, as
was his custom, 831 and remained long enough to chat with a friend and
receive messages from Larry Crafard, a handyman and helper who lived at
the Carousel. 832 Earlier in the day Ruby had visited with a young lady
who was job hating in Dallas, 833 paid
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his rent for the Carousel premises,834 conferred about a peace bond he
had been obliged to post as a result of a fight with one of his
striptease dancers,835 consulted with an attorney about problems he was
having with Federal tax authorities,836 distributed membership cards for
the Carousel Club,837 talked with Dallas County Assistant District
Attorney William F. Alexander about insufficient fund checks which a
friend had passed,838 and submitted advertising copy for his night-clubs
to the Dallas Morning News.839
Ruby's evening activities on Thursday, November 21, were a combination
of business and pleasure. At approximately 7:30 p.m., he drove Larry
Crafard to the Vegas Club which Crafard was overseeing because Ruby's
sister, Eva Grant, who normally managed the club, was convalescing from
a recent illness.840 Thereafter, Ruby returned to the Carousel Club and
conversed for about an hour with Lawrence Meyers, a Chicago
businessman.841 Between 9:45 and 10:45 p.m., Ruby had dinner with Ralph
Paul, his close friend and financial backer. While dining Ruby spoke
briefly with a Dallas Morning News employee, Don Campbell, who suggested
that they go to the Castaway Club, but Ruby declined.842 Thereafter,
Ruby returned to the Carousel Club where he acted as master of
ceremonies for his show and peacefully ejected an unruly patron.843 At
about midnight Ruby rejoined Meyers at the Bon Vivant Room of the Dallas
Cabana where they met Meyers' brother and sister- in-law.844 Neither
Ralph Paul nor Lawrence Meyers recalled that Ruby mentioned the
President's trip to Dallas. 845 Leaving Meyers at the Cabana after a
brief visit, Ruby returned to close the Carousel Club and obtain the
night's receipts.846 He then went to the Vegas Club which he helped
Larry Crafard close for the night; 847 and, as late as 2:30 a.m., Ruby
was seen eating at a restaurant near the Vegas Club.848
Friday morning at the Dallas Morning News.-- Jack Ruby learned of the
shooting of President Kennedy while in the second-floor advertising
offices of the Dallas Morning News, five blocks from the Texas School
Book Depository, where he had come Friday morning to place regular
weekend advertisements for his two nightclubs.849 On arriving at the
newspaper building at about 11 or 11:30 a.m., he talked briefly with two
newspaper employees concerning some diet pills he had recommended to
them.850 Ruby then went to the office of Morning News columnist, Tony
Zoppi, where he states he obtained a brochure on his new master of
ceremonies that he wanted to use in preparing copy for his
advertisements. 851 Proceeding to the advertising department, he spoke
with advertising employee Don Campbell from about noon until 12:25 p.m.
when Campbell left the office.852 In addition to the business at hand,
much of the conversation concerned Ruby's unhappiness over the financial
condition of his clubs and his professed ability to handle the physical
fights which arose in connection with the clubs.583 According to
Campbell, Ruby did not mention the Presidential motorcade nor did he
display any unusual behavior.854
About 10 minutes after the President had been shot but before word had
spread to the second floor, John Newnam, an advertising de-
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partment employee, observed Ruby sitting at the same spot where Campbell
had left him. At that time Ruby had completed the advertisement, which
he had apparently begun to compose when Campbell departed, and was
reading a newspaper. 855 To Newnam, Ruby voiced criticism of the
black-bordered advertisement entitled "Welcome, Mr. Kennedy" appearing
in the morning paper and bearing the name of Bernard Weissman as the
chairman of the committee sponsoring the advertisement. 856 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 1031, p. 294.) According to Eva Grant, Ruby's
sister, he had telephoned her earlier in the morning to call her
attention to the ad. 857 At about 12:45 p.m., an employee entered the
office and announced that shots had been fired at the President. Newham
remembered that Ruby responded with a look of "stunned disbelief." 858
Shortly afterward, according to Newnam, "confusion reigned" in the
office as advertisers telephoned to cancel advertising they had placed
for the weekend. 859 Ruby appears to have believed that some of those
cancellations were motivated by the Weissman advertisement. 860 After
Newnam accepted a few telephone calls, he and Ruby walked toward a room
where other persons were watching television. 861 One of the newspaper
employees recalled that Ruby then appeared "obviously shaken, and an
ashen color--just. very pale * * *" 362 showed little disposition to
converse, 863 and sat for a while with a dazed expression in his eyes.
864
After a few minutes, Ruby placed telephone calls to Andrew Armstrong,
his assistant at the Carousel Club, and to his sister, Mrs. Grant. He
told Armstrong, "If anything happens we are going to close the club" and
said he would see him in about 30 minutes. 865 During the call to his
sister, Ruby again referred to the Weissman advertisement; at one point
he put the telephone to Newnam's ear, and Newnam heard Mrs. Grant
exclaim, "My God, what do they want?" It was Newnam's recollection that
Ruby tried to calm her. 866
Ruby testified that after calling his sister he said, "John, I will have
to leave Dallas." 867 Ruby explained to the Commission:
I don't know why I said that, but it is a funny reaction that you feel;
the city is terribly let down by the tragedy that happened. And I said,
"John, I am not opening up tonight."
And I don't know what else transpired. I know people were just
heartbroken * * *.
I left the building and I went down 'and I got in my car and I couldn't
stop crying. * * * 868
Newnam estimated that Ruby departed from the Morning News at about 1:30
p.m., but other testimony indicated that Ruby may have left earlier.869
Ruby'8 alleged visit to Parkland Hospital.--The Commission has
investigated claims that Jack Ruby was at Parkland Hospital at about
1:30 p.m., when a Presidential press secretary, Malcolm Kilduff,
announced that President Kennedy was dead. Seth Kantor, a newspaperman
who had previously met Ruby in Dallas, reported and later
Page 336
testified that Jack Ruby stopped him momentarily inside the main
entrance to Park]and Hospital some time between 1:30 and 2 p.m., Friday,
November 22, 1963.870 The only other person besides Kantor who recalled
seeing Ruby at the hospital did not make known her observation until
April 1964, had never seen Ruby before, allegedly saw him only briefly
then, had an obstructed view, and was uncertain of the time.871 Ruby has
firmly denied going to Parkland and has stated that he went to the
Carousel Club upon leaving the Morning News.872 Video tapes of the scene
at Parkland do not show Ruby there, although Kantor can be seen.873
Investigation has limited the period during which Kantor could have met
Ruby at Parkland Hospital on Friday to a few minutes before and after
1:30 p.m. Telephone company records and the testimony of Andrew
Armstrong established that Ruby arrived at the Carousel Club no later
than 1:45 p.m. and probably a few minutes earlier.874 Kantor was engaged
in a long-distance telephone call to his Washington office from 1:02
p.m. until 1:27 p.m. 875 Kantor testified that, after completing that
call, be immediately left the building from which he had been
telephoning, traveled perhaps 100 yards, and entered the main entrance
of the hospital. It was there, as he walked through a small doorway,
that he believed he saw Jack Ruby, who, Kantor said, tugged at his
coattails and asked, "Should I close my places for the next three
nights, do you think?" Kantor recalled that he turned briefly to Ruby
and proceeded to the press conference at which the President's death was
announced. Kantor was certain he encountered Ruby at Parkland but had
doubts about the exact time and place.876
Kantor probably did not see Ruby at Parkland Hospital in the few minutes
before or after 1:30 p.m., the only time it would have been possible for
Kantor to have done so. If Ruby immediately returned to the Carousel
Club after Kantor saw him, it would have been necessary for him to have
covered the distance from Parkland in approximately 10 or 15 minutes in
order to have arrived at the club before 1:45 p.m., when a telephone
call was placed at Ruby's request to his entertainer, Karen Bennett
Carlin. 877 At a normal driving speed under normal conditions the trip
can be made in 9 or 10 minutes. 878 However, it is likely that congested
traffic conditions on November 22 would have extended the driving time.
879 Even if Ruby had been able to drive from Parkland to the Carousel in
15 minutes, his presence at the Dallas Morning News until after 1 p.m.,
and at the Carousel prior to 1:45 p.m., would have made his visit at
Parkland exceedingly brief. Since Ruby was observed at the Dallas Police
Department during a 2 hour period after 11 p.m. on Friday, 880 when
Kantor was also present, and since Kantor did not remember seeing Ruby
there, 881 Kantor may have been mistaken about both the time and the
place that he saw Ruby. When seeing Ruby, Kantor was preoccupied with
the important event that a press conference represented. Both Ruby and
Kantor were present at another important event, a press conference held
about midnight, November 22, in the assembly room of the Dallas Police
Department.. It is conceivable that Kantor's en-
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counter with Ruby occurred at that time, perhaps near the small doorway
there.882
Ruby's decision to close his clubs.--Upon arriving at the Carouse] Club
shortly before 1:45 p.m., Ruby instructed Andrew Armstrong, the
Carousel's bartender, to notify employees that the club would be closed
that night. 883 During much of the next hour Ruby talked by telephone to
several persons who were or had been especially close to him, and the
remainder of the time he watched television and spoke with Armstrong and
Larry Crafard about the assassination. 884 At 1:51 p.m., Ruby telephoned
Ralph Paul in Arlington, Tex., to say that he was going to close his
clubs. He urged Paul to do likewise with his drive-in restaurant.885
Unable to reach Alice Nichols, a former girl friend, who was at lunch,
Ruby telephoned his sister, Eileen Kaminsky, in Chicago.886 Mrs.
Kaminsky described her brother as completely unnerved and crying about
President Kennedy's death.887 To Mrs. Nichols, whose return call caused
Ruby to cut short his conversation with Mrs. Kaminsky, Ruby expressed
shock over the assassination.888 Although Mrs. Nichols had dated Ruby
for nearly 11 years, she was surprised to hear from him on November 22
since they had not seen one another socially for some time.889
Thereafter, Ruby telephoned at 2:37 p.m. to Alex Gruber, a boyhood
friend from Chicago who was living in Los Angeles. 890 Gruber recalled
that in their 3-minute conversation Ruby talked about a dog he had
promised to send Gruber, a carwash business Gruber had considered
starting, and the assassination. 891 Ruby apparently lost his
self-control during the conversation and terminated it. 892 However, 2
minutes after that call ended, Ruby telephoned again to Ralph Paul. 893
Upon leaving the Carousel Club at about 3:15 p.m., Ruby drove to Eva
Grant's home but left soon after he arrived, to obtain some weekend food
for his sister and himself. 894 He first returned to the Carousel Club
and directed Larry Crafard to prepare a sign indicating that the club
would be closed; however, Ruby instructed Crafard not to post the sign
until later in the evening to avoid informing his competitors that he
would be closed. 895 (See Commission Exhibit 2427, p. 339.) Before
leaving the club, Ruby telephoned Mrs. Grant who reminded him to
purchase food. 896 As a result he went to the Ritz Delicatessen, about
two blocks from the Carousel Club, and bought a great quantity of cold
cuts. 897
Ruby probably arrived a second time at his sister's home close to 5:30
p.m. and remained for about 2 hours. He continued his rapid rate of
telephone calls, ate sparingly, became ill, and attempted to get some
rest. 898 While at the apartment, Ruby decided to close his clubs for 3
days. He testified that after talking to Don Saffran, a columnist for
the Dallas Times-Herald:
I put the receiver down and talked to my sister, and I said "Eva, what
shall we do?"
And she said, "Jack, let's close for the 3 days." She said, "We don't
have anything anyway, but we owe it to--" (chokes up.)
Page 338
So I called Don Saffran back immediately and I said, "Don, we decided to
close for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."
And he said, "Okay." 899
Ruby then telephoned the Dallas Morning News to cancel his advertisement
and, when unable to do so, he changed his ad to read that his clubs
would be closed for the weekend. 900 Ruby also telephoned Cecil Hamlin,
a friend of many years. Sounding very "broken up," he told Hamlin that
he had closed the clubs since he thought most people would not be in the
mood to visit them and that he felt concern for President Kennedy's
"kids." 901 Thereafter he made two calls to ascertain when services at
Temple Shearith Israel would be held.902 He placed a second call to
Alice Nichols to tell her of his intention to attend those services 903
and phoned Larry Crafard at the Carousel to ask whether he had received
any messages. 904 Eva Grant testified:
When he was leaving, he looked pretty bad. This I remember. I can't
explain it to you. He looked too broken, a broken man already. He did
make the remark, he said, "I never felt so bad in my life, even when Ma
or Pa died."
So I said, "Well, Pa was an old man. He was almost 89 years. * * *"
Friday evening.--Ruby is uncertain whether he went directly from his
sister's home to his apartment or possibly first to his club.906 At
least 5 witnesses recall seeing a man they believe was Ruby on the third
floor of police headquarters at times they have estimated between 6 and
9 p.m.; 907 however, it is not clear that Ruby was present at the Police
and Courts Building before 11 p.m. With respect to three of the
witnesses, it is doubtful that the man observed was Ruby. Two of those
persons had not known Ruby previously and described wearing apparel
which differed both from Ruby's known dress that night and from his
known wardrobe.908 The third, who viewed from the rear the person he
believed was Ruby, said the man unsuccessfully attempted to enter the
homicide office.909 Of the police officers on duty near homicide at the
time of the alleged event, only one remembered the episode, and he said
the man in question definitely was not Ruby.910 The remaining witnesses
knew or talked with Ruby, and their testimony leaves little doubt that
they did see him on the third floor at some point on Friday night;
however the possibility remains that they observed Ruby later in the
evening, when his presence is conclusively established. 911 Ruby has
denied being at the police department Friday night before approximately
11:15 p.m.912
In any event, Ruby eventually returned to his own apartment before 9
p.m. There he telephoned Ralph Paul but was unable to persuade Paul to
join him at synagogue services.913 Shortly after 9 p.m., Ruby called the
Chicago home of his oldest brother, Hyman Rubenstein, and two of his
sisters, Marion Carroll and Ann Volpert.914 Hyman Rubenstein testified
that, during the call, his brother was so disturbed
338
Page 339
"CLOSED" SIGN POSTED IN THE WINDOW OF THE CAROUSEL CLUB AND RUBY'S
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT ANNOUNCING THAT THE VEGAS AND CAROUSEL CLUBS
WILL BE CLOSED (COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2427)
DALLAS TIMES HERALD SATURDAY, NOV. 23, 1963 PAGE A-13
339
Page 340
about the situation in Dallas that he mentioned selling his business and
returning to Chicago.915 From his apartment, Ruby drove to Temple
Shearith Israel, arriving near the end of a 2-hour service which had
begun at 8 p.m.916 Rabbi Hillel Silverman, who greeted him among the
crowd leaving the services 917 was surprised that Ruby, who appeared
depressed, mentioned only his sister's recent illness and said nothing
.about the assassination.918
Ruby related that, after joining in the postservice refreshments,919 he
drove by some night clubs, noticing whether or not they had been closed
as his were. 920 He testified that, as he drove toward town, a radio
announcement that the Dallas police were working overtime prompted the
thought that he might bring those at police headquarters something to
eat.921 At about 10:30 p.m., he stopped at a delicatessen near the Vegas
Club and purchased 8 kosher sandwiches and 10 soft drinks.922 From the
delicatessen, he called the police department but was told that the
officers had already eaten. 923 He said he then tried to offer the food
to employees at radio station KLIF but failed in several attempts to
obtain the private night line number to the station. 924 On three
occasions between phone calls, Ruby spoke with a group of students whom
he did not know, lamenting the President's death, teasing one of the
young men about being too young for his clubs, borrowing their copy of
the Dallas Times Herald to see how his advertisements had been run, and
stating that. his clubs were the only ones that had closed because of
the assassination. He also expressed the opinion, as he had earlier in
the day, that the assassination would be harmful to the convention
business in Dallas. 925 Upon leaving the delicatessen with his
purchases, Ruby gave the counterman as a tip a card granting free
admission to his clubs.926 He drove downtown to the police station where
he has said he hoped to find an employee from KLIF who could give him
the "hot line" phone number for the radio station.927
The third floor of police headquarters.--Ruby is known to have made his
way, by about 11:30 p.m., to the third floor of the Dallas Police
Department where reporters were congregated near the homicide bureau.928
Newsman John Rutledge, one of those who may well have been mistaken as
to time, gave the following description of his first encounter with Ruby
at the police station:
I saw Jack and two out-of-state reporters, whom I did not know, leave
the elevator door and proceed toward those television cameras, to go
around the corner where Captain Fritz's office was. Jack walked between
them. These two out-of-state reporters had big press cards pinned on
their coats, great big red ones, I think they said "President Kennedy's
Visit to Dallas--Press", or something like that. And Jack didn't have
one, but the man on either side of him did. And they walked pretty
rapidly from the elevator area past the policeman, and Jack was bent
over like this--writing on a piece of paper, and talking to one of the
reporters, and pointing to something on the piece of paper, he was kind
of hunched over.929
340
Page 341
Jack Ruby at press conference in basement assembly room about midnight
November 22, 1963. (Jack Ruby is the individual in the dark suit, back
row, right-hand side, wearing horn-rimmed glasses. )
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 2424
341
Page 342
Detective Augustus M. Eberhardt, who also. recalled that he first saw
Ruby earlier in the evening, said Ruby carried a note pad and professed
to be a translator for the Israeli press. He remembered Ruby's remarking
how unfortunate the assassination was for the city of Dallas and that it
was "hard to realize that a complete nothing, a zero like that, could
kill a man like President Kennedy * * * "930
Video tapes confirm Ruby's statement that he was present on the third
floor when Chief Jesse E. Curry and District Attorney Henry M. Wade
announced that Oswald would be shown to the newsmen at a press
conference in the basement. 931 Though he has said his original purpose
was only to locate a KLIF employee, Ruby has stated that while at the
police station he was "carried away with the excitement of history." 932
He accompanied the newsmen to the basement to observe Oswald. His
presence at the midnight news conference is established by television
tapes and by at least 12 witnesses. 933 When Oswald arrived, Ruby,
together with a number of newsmen, was standing atop a table on one side
of the room.934 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2424, p. 341.) Oswald was
taken from the room after a brief appearance, and Ruby remained to hear
reporters question District Attorney Wade. During the press conference,
Wade stated that Oswald would probably be moved to the county jail at
the beginning of the next week.935 In answer to one question, Wade said
that Oswald belonged to the "Free Cuba Committee." A few reporters spoke
up correcting Wade and among the voices was that of Jack Ruby.936
Ruby later followed the district attorney out of the press conference,
walked up to him and, according to Wade, said "Hi Henry * * * Don't you
know me ? * * * I am Jack Ruby, I run the Vegas Club. * * *" 937 Ruby
also introduced himself to Justice of the Peace David L. Johnston, shook
his hand, gave Johnston a business card to the Carousel Club, and, upon
learning Johnston's official position, shook Johnston's hand again. 938
After talking with Johnston, he gave another card to Icarus M. Pappas, a
reporter for New York radio station WNEW.939 From a representative of
radio station KBOX in Dallas, Ruby obtained the "hot line" telephone
number to KLIF.940 He then called the station and told one of the
employees that he would like to come up to distribute the sandwiches and
cold drinks he had purchased. 941 Observing Pappas holding a telephone
line open and attempting to get the attention of District Attorney Wade,
Ruby directed Wade to Pappas, who proceeded to interview the district
attorney.942 Ruby then called KLIF a second time and offered to secure
an interview with Wade; he next summoned Wade to his phone, whereupon
KLIF recorded a telephone interview with the district attorney.943 A few
minutes later, Ruby encountered Russ Knight, a reporter from KLIF who
had left the station for the police department at the beginning of
Ruby's second telephone call. Ruby directed Knight to Wade and waited a
short distance away while the reporter conducted another interview with
the district attorney.944
342
Page 343
At radio station KLIF.--When Ruby left police headquarters, he drove to
radio station KLIF, arriving at approximately 1:45 a.m. and remaining
for about 45 minutes.945 After first distributing his sandwiches and
soft drinks. Ruby settled in the newsroom for the 2 a.m. newscast in
which he was credited with suggesting that Russ Knight ask District
Attorney Wade whether or not Oswald was sane.946 After the newscast,
Ruby gave a Carousel card to one KLIF employee, although another did not
recall that Ruby was promoting his club as he normally did.947 When
speaking with KLIF's Danny Patrick Me-Curdy, Ruby mentioned that he was
going to close his clubs for the weekend and that he would rather lose
$1,200 or $1,500 them remain open at that time in the Nation's history.
McCurdy remembered that Ruby "looked rather pale to me as he was talking
to me and he kept looking at the floor." 948 To announcer Glen Duncan,
Ruby expressed satisfaction that the evidence was mounting against
Oswald. Duncan said that Ruby did not appear to be grieving but,
instead, seemed pleased about the personal contact he had had with the
investigation earlier in the evening.949
Ruby left the radio station accompanied by Russ Knight. Engaging Knight
in a short conversation, Ruby handed him a radio script entitled
"Heroism" from a conservative radio program called "Life Line." It was
apparently one of the scripts that had come into Ruby's hands a few
weeks before at the Texas Products Show when Hunt Foods were including
such scripts with samples of their products.950 The script extolled the
virtues of those who embark upon risky business ventures and stand
firmly for causes they believe to be correct. 951 Ruby asked Knight's
views on the script and suggested that there was a group of "radicals"
in Dallas which hated President Kennedy and that the owner .of the radio
station should editorialize against this group. Knight could not clearly
determine whether Ruby had reference to persons who sponsored programs
like "Life Line" or to those who held leftwing views.952 Knight gained
the impression that Ruby believed such persons, whoever they might be,
were partially responsible for the assassination. 953
Early morning of November 23.--At about 2:30 a.m., Ruby entered his
automobile and departed for the Dallas Times-Herald Building. En route,
he stopped for about an hour to speak with Kay Helen Coleman, one of his
dancers, and Harry Olsen, a member of the Dallas Police Department, who
had hailed him from a parking garage at the corner of Jackson and Field
Streets. The couple were crying and extremely upset over the
assassination. At one point, according to Ruby, the police officer
remarked that "they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch by inch into
ribbons," and the dancer said that. "in England they would drag him
through the streets and would have hung him." 954 Although Ruby failed
to mention this episode during his first two FBI interviews,955 he later
explained that his reason for failing to do so was that he did not "want
to involve them in anything, because it was supposed to be a secret that
he [the police officer] was going with this young lady." 956 About
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6 weeks after the assassination, Olsen left the Dallas Police Department
and married Miss Coleman. Both Olsen and his wife testified that they
were greatly upset during their lengthy conversation with Ruby early
Saturday morning; but Mrs. Olsen denied and Olsen did not recall the
remarks ascribed to them.957 The Olsens claimed instead that Ruby had
cursed Oswald. 958 Mrs. Olsen also mentioned that Ruby expressed
sympathy for Mrs. Kennedy and her children.959
From Jackson and Field Streets, Ruby drove to the Dallas Times-Herald,
where he talked for about 15 minutes with composing room employee Roy
Pryor, who had jug finished a shift at 4 a.m. Ruby mentioned that he had
seen Oswald earlier in the night, that he had corrected Henry Wade in
connection with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and that he had set up
a telephone interview with Wade. Pryor testified that Ruby explicitly
stated to him that he believed he was in good favor with the district
attorney.960 Recalling that Ruby described Oswald as a "little weasel of
a guy" and was emotionally concerned about the President's wife and
children, Pryor also was impressed by Ruby's sorrowful mood and
remembered that, as he talked, Ruby shook a newspaper to emphasize his
concern over the assassination. 961
When Pryor left the composing room, Ruby remained and continued speaking
with other employees, including Arthur Watherwax and the foreman, Clyde
Gadash. Ruby, who often visited the Times-Herald at that early morning
hour in connection with his ads, sought Watherwax's views on his
decision to close his clubs and indicated he was going to attempt to
persuade other club owners to do likewise. Watherwax described Ruby as
"pretty shaken up" about the assassination and at the same time
"excited" that he had attended Oswald's Friday night press conference.
962
While at the Times-Herald, Ruby displayed to the composing room
employees a "twistboard" he had previously promised to Gadash. 963 The
twistboard was an exercising device consisting of two pieces of hardened
materials joined together by a lazy susan bearing so that one piece
could remain stationary on the floor while a person stood atop it and
swiveled to and fro.964 Ruby had been trying to promote sales of the
board in the weeks before President Kennedy was killed.965 Considerable
merriment developed when one of the women employees at the Times-Herald
demonstrated the board, and Ruby himself, put on a demonstration for
those assembled.966 He later testified: "* * * not that I wanted to get
in with the hilarity of frolicking, but he [Gadash] asked me to show
him, and the other men gathered around." 967 Gadash agreed that Ruby's
general mood was one of sorrow.968
At about 4:30 a.m., Ruby drove from the Dallas Times-Herald to his
apartment where he awakened his roommate George Senator.969 During his
visit in the composing room Ruby had expressed the view that the
Weissman advertisement was an effort to discredit the Jews.970 Senator
testified that when Ruby returned to the apartment, he began to discuss
the Weissman advertisement and also a sign-
Page 345
board he had seen in Dallas urging that Chief Justice Earl Warren be
impeached.971 Shortly thereafter, Ruby telephoned Larry Crafard at the
Carousel Club.972 He told Crafard to meet him and Senator at the Nichols
Garage adjacent to the Carousel Club and to bring a Polaroid camera kept
in the club.973 After Crafard joined Ruby and Senator, the three men
drove to the "Impeach Earl Warren" sign near Hall Avenue and Central
Expressway in Dallas. There Ruby instructed Crafard to take three
photographs of the billboard. Believing that the sign and the Weissman
newspaper ad might somehow be connected, Ruby noted on the back of an
envelope a name and post office box number that appeared on the sign.974
According to George Senator:
* * * when he was looking at the sign and taking pictures of it, and the
newspaper ad, * * * this is where he really wanted to know the whys or
why these things had to be out. He is trying to combine these two
together which I did hear him say, "This is the work of the John Birch
Society or the Communist Party or maybe a combination of both." 975
Pursuing a possible connection between the billboard and the newspaper
advertisement, Ruby drove to the post office and asked a postal employee
for the name of the man who had rented the box indicated on the
billboard, but the employee said that he could not provide such
information. Ruby inspected the box, however, and was upset to find it
stuffed with mail.976 The three men then drove to a coffee-shop where
Ruby continued to discuss the two advertisements. After about 30
minutes, they left the coffeeshop. Crafard was taken to the Carousel
Club; Ruby and Senator returned to their apartment,977 and Ruby retired
at about 6 a.m. 978
The morning and afternoon of November 23.--At 8 or 8:30 a.m. Crafard,
who had been asked to feed Ruby's dogs, telephoned Ruby at his apartment
to inquire about food for the animals.979 Ruby forgot that he had told
Crafard he did not plan to go to bed and reprimanded Crafard for waking
him.980 A few hours thereafter Crafard assembled his few belongings,
took from the Carousel cash register $5 of money due him from Ruby, left
a receipt and thank-you note, and began hitchhiking to Michigan. Later
that day, Andrew Armstrong found the note and telephoned Ruby.981
Ruby apparently did not return to bed following Crafard's call. During
the morning hours, he watched a rabbi deliver on television a moving
eulogy of President Kennedy.982 According to Ruby, the rabbi:
went ahead and eulogized that here is a man that fought in every battle,
went to every country, and had to come back to his own country to be
shot in the back [starts crying] * * * That created a tremendous
emotional feeling for me, the way he said that. Prior to all the other
times, I was carried away.983
345
730-900 0-64--24
Page 346
An employee from the Carousel Club who telephoned Ruby during the
morning remembered that his "voice was shaking" when he spoke of the
assassination. 984
Ruby has stated that, upon leaving his apartment some time between noon
and 1:30 p.m., he drove to Dealey Plaza where a police officer, who
noted Ruby's solemnity, pointed out to him the window from which the
rifleshots had been fired the day before.985 Ruby related that he
inspected the wreaths that had been placed in memory of the President
and became filled with emotion while speaking with the police officer.
986 Ruby introduced himself to a reporter for radio station KRLD who was
working inside a mobile news unit at the plaza; the newsman mentioned to
Ruby that he bad heard of Ruby's help to KLIF in obtaining an interview
with Henry Wade, and Ruby pointed out to the reporter that Capt. & Will
Fritz and Chief Curry were then in the vicinity. Thereafter, the newsman
interviewed and photographed the officers. 987 Ruby said that he next
drove home and returned downtown to Sol's Turf Bar on Commerce Street.
The evidence indicated, however, that sometime after leaving Dealey
Plaza, Ruby went to the Nichols Parking Garage adjacent, to the Carousel
Club, where he was seen by Garnett C. Hallmark, general manager of the
garage, and Tom Brown, an attendant,. Brown believed that at about 1:30
p.m. he heard Ruby mention Chief Curry's name in a telephone
conversation from the garage. Brown also recalled that, before finally
departing, Ruby asked him to inform acquaintances whom he expected to
stop by the garage that the Carousel would be closed.989 Hallmark
testified that Ruby drove into the garage at-about 3 p.m., walked to the
telephone, inquired whether or mot a competing burlesque club would be
closed that night, and told Hallmark that he (Ruby) was "acting" like a
reporter."
Hallmark then heard Ruby address someone at the other end of the
telephone as "Ken" and caught portions of a conversation concerning the
transfer of Oswald.991 Hallmark said Ruby never called Oswald by name
but used the pronoun "he" and remarked to the recipient of the call,
"you know I'll be there."
Ken Dowe, a KLIF announcer, to whom Ruby made at. least two telephone
calls within a short span of time Saturday afternoon, confirmed that he
was probably the person to whom Hallmark and Brown overheard Ruby
speaking. In one call to Dowe, Ruby asked whether the station knew when
Oswald would be moved; and, in another, he stated he was going to
attempt to locate Henry Wade.993 After Ruby finished his calls, he
walked onto Commerce Street, passed the Carousel Club, and returned a
few minutes later to get his car.994
Ruby's comment that he was "acting like a reporter" and that he would be
at the Oswald transfer suggests that Ruby may have spent part of
Saturday afternoon shuttling back and forth from the Police and Courts
Building to Dealey Plaza. Such activity would explain the fact that Tom
Brown at the Nichols Garage believed he saw Ruby at 1:30 p.m. while
Garnett Hallmark placed Ruby at the garage at 3 p.m. It would also
explain Ken Dowe's receiving two phone calls
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from Ruby. The testimony of five news reporters supports the possibility
that Ruby was at the Police and Courts Building Saturday afternoon.995
One stated that Ruby provided sandwiches for newsmen on duty there
Saturday afternoon, although no news representative has mentioned
personally receiving such sandwiches. 996 Another testified that he
received a card to the Carousel Club from Ruby about 4p.m. that day at
the police station.997 A third believed he saw Ruby enter an office in
which Henry Wade was working, but no one else reported a similar event.
998 The remaining two witnesses mentioned no specific activities.999
None of the persons who believed they saw Ruby at the police department
on Saturday had known him previously, and no police officer has reported
Ruby's presence on that day. Ruby has not mentioned such a visit. The
Commission, therefore, reached no firm conclusion as to whether or not
Ruby visited the Dallas Police Department on Saturday.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Ruby went to Sol's Turf Bar on Commerce Street
where he remained for about 45 minutes. Ruby, a nondrinker, stated that
he visited Sol's for the purpose of talking with his accountant, who
customarily prepared the bar's payroll on Saturday afternoon. The
accountant testified, however, that he saw Ruby only briefly and
mentioned no business conversation with Ruby. 1000 Ruby was first
noticed at the Turf Bar by jeweler Frank Bellochio, who, after seeing
Ruby, began to berate the people of Dallas for the assassination.1001
Ruby disagreed and, when Bellochio said he might close his jewelry
business and leave Dallas, Ruby attempted to calm him, saying that there
were many good citizens in Dallas.1002 In response, Bellochio pointed to
a copy of the Bernard Weissman advertisement.1003 To Bellochio's
bewilderment, Ruby then said he believed that the advertisement was the
work of a group attempting to create anti-Semitic feelings in Dallas and
that he had learned from the Dallas Morning News that the ad had been
paid for partly in cash.1004 Ruby thereupon produced one of the
photographs he had taken Saturday morning of the "Impeach Earl Warren"
sign and excitedly began to rail against the sign as if he agreed with
Bellochio's original criticism of Dallas.1005 He "seemed to be taking
two sides--he wasn't coherent," Bellochio testified.1006 When Bellochio
saw Ruby's photographs, which Bellochio. thought supported his argument
against Dallas, he walked to the front of the bar and showed them to Tom
Apple, with whom he had been previously arguing. In Apple's presence,
Bellochio asked Ruby for one of the pictures but Ruby refused,
mentioning that he regarded the pictures as a scoop.1007 Bellochio
testified: "I spoke to Tom and said a few more words to Tom, and Ruby
was gone--never said 'Goodbye' or 'I'll be seeing you.'" 1008
Ruby may have left in order to telephone Stanley Kaufman, a friend and
attorney who had represented him in civil matters.1009 Kaufman testified
that, at approximately 4 p.m., Ruby called him about the Bernard
Weissman advertisement. According to Kaufman, "Jack was particularly
impressed with the [black] border as being a
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tipoff of some sort--that this man knew the President was going to be
assassinated * * * "1010 Ruby told Kaufman that he had tried to locate
Weissman by going to the post office and said that he was attempting to
be helpful to law enforcement authorities.1011
Considerable confusion exists as to the place from which Ruby placed the
call to Kaufman and as to his activities after leaving Sol's Turf Bar.
Eva Grant stated that the call was made from her apartment about 4 p.m.
1012 Ruby, however, believed it was made from the Turf Bar. He stated
that from the Turf Bar he went to the Carouse] and then home and has not
provided additional details on his activities during the hours from
about 4 to 9:30 p.m.1013 Robert Larkin saw him downtown at about 6 p.m.
1014 and Andrew Armstrong testified that Ruby visited the Carousel Club
between 6 and 7 p.m. and remained about an hour.1015
At Eva Grant's apartment Saturday evening.--Eva Grant believed that, for
most of the period from 4 until 8 p.m., Ruby was at her apartment. Mrs.
Grant testified that her brother was still disturbed about the Weissman
advertisement when he arrived, showed her the photograph of the Warren
sign, and recounted his argument with Bellochio about the city of
Dallas. Still curious as to whether or not Weissman was Jewish, Mrs.
Grant asked her brother whether he had been able to find the name
Bernard Weissman in the Dallas city directory, and Ruby said he had not.
Their doubts about Weissman's existence having been confirmed, both
began to speculate that the Weissman ad and the Warren sign were the
work of either "Commies or the Birchers," and were designed to discredit
the Jews.1016 Apparently in the midst of that conversation Ruby
telephoned Russ Knight at KLIF and, according to Knight, asked who Earl
Warren was. 1017
Mrs. Grant has testified that Ruby eventually retired to her bedroom
where he made telephone calls and slept.1018 About 8:30 p.m., Ruby
telephoned to Thomas J. O'Grady, a friend and former Dallas police
officer who had once worked for Ruby as a bouncer. To O'Grady, Ruby
mentioned closing the Carousel Club, criticized his competitors for
remaining open, and complained about the "Impeach Earl Warren" sign.1019
Saturday evening at Ruby's apartment.--By 9:30 p.m., Ruby had apparently
returned to his apartment where he received a telephone call from one of
his striptease dancers, Karen Bennett Carlin, who, together with her
husband, had been driven from Fort Worth to Dallas that evening by
another dancer, Nancy Powell.1020 All three had stopped at the Colony
Club, a burlesque nightclub which competed with the Carousel.1021 Mrs.
Carlin testified that, in need of money, she telephoned Ruby, asked
whether the Carousel would be open that night, and requested part of her
salary.1022 According to Mrs. Carlin, Ruby became angry at the
suggestion that the Carousel Club might be open for business but told
her he would come to the Carousel in about an hour.1023
Thereafter, in a depressed mood, Ruby telephoned his sister Eva Grant,
who suggested he visit a friend.1024 Possibly in response to
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that suggestion, Ruby called Lawrence Meyers, a friend from Chicago with
whom he had visited two nights previously.1025 Meyers testified that,
during their telephone conversation, Ruby asked him what. he thought of
this "terrible thing." Ruby then began to criticize his competitors, Abe
and Barney Weinstein, for failing to close their clubs on Saturday
night. In the course of his conversation about the Weinsteins and the
assassination, Ruby said "I've got to do something about this." 1026
Meyers initially understood that remark to refer to the Weinsteins. Upon
reflection after Oswald was shot, Meyers was uncertain whether Ruby was
referring to his competitors, or to the assassination of President
Kennedy; for Ruby had also spoken at length about Mrs. Kennedy and had
repeated "those poor people, those poor people." 1027 At the conclusion
of their conversation, Meyers declined Ruby's invitation to join him for
a cup of coffee but invited Ruby to join him at the motel. When Ruby
also declined, the two agreed to meet for dinner the following
evening.1028
Meanwhile, Karen Carlin and her husband grew anxious over Ruby's failure
to appear with the money they had requested.1029 After a substantial
wait, they returned together to the Nichols Garage where Mr. Carlin
telephoned to Ruby.1030 Carlin testified that he told Ruby they needed
money in order to return to Fort Worth 1031 although Nancy Powell
testified that she drove the Carlins home that evening.1032 Agreeing to
advance a small sum, Ruby asked to speak to Mrs. Carlin, who claimed
that Ruby told her that if she needed more money she should call him on
Sunday.1033 Thereafter, at Ruby's request, garage attendant Huey Reeves
gave Mrs. Carlin $5, and she signed with her stage name "Little Lynn" a
receipt which Reeves time-stamped 10:33 p.m., November 23.1034 (See
Commission Exhibit No. 1476, p. 351.)
Inconsistent testimony was developed regarding Ruby's activities during
the next 45 minutes. Eva Grant testified that she did not see her
brother on Saturday night after 8 p.m. and has denied calling Ralph Paul
herself that night.1035 Nonetheless, telephone company records revealed
that at 10:44 p.m. a call was made to Ralph Paul's Bull Pen Drive-In in
Arlington, Tex., from Mrs. Grant's apartment.1036 It was the only call
to Paul from her apartment on Friday or Saturday; 1037 she recalled her
brother making such a call that weekend; 1038 and Ralph Paul has
testified that Ruby telephoned him Saturday night from Eva Grant's
apartment and said he and his sister were there crying.1039
Nineteen-year-old Wanda Helmick, a former waitress at the Bull Pen
Drive-In, first reported in June, 1964 that some time during the evening
she saw the cashier answer the Bull Pen's pay telephone and heard her
call out to Paul, "It is for you. It is Jack." 1040 Mrs. Hel-mick
claimed she overheard Paul, speaking on the telephone, mention something
about a gun which, she understood from Paul's conversation, the caller
had in his possession. She said she also heard Paul exclaim "Are you
crazy?"" 1041 She provided no other details of the conversation. Mrs.
Helmick claimed that on Sunday, November 24,
Page 350
after Oswald had been shot, she heard Paul repeat the substance of the
call to other employees as she had related it and that Paul said Ruby
was the caller.1042 Ralph Paul denied the allegations of Mrs.
Helmick.1043 Both Paul and Mrs. Helmick agreed that Paul went home soon
after the call, apparently about 11 p.m. 1044
Shortly after 11 p.m., Ruby arrived at the Nichols Garage where he
repaid Huey Reeves and obtained the receipt Mrs. Carlin had signed.1045
Outside the Carousel, Ruby exchanged greetings with Police Officer Harry
Olsen and Kay Coleman, whom he had seen late the previous night.1046
Going upstairs to the club, Ruby made a series of five brief
long-distance phone calls, the first being to the Bull Pen Drive-In at
11:18 p.m. and lasting only 1 minute.1047 Apparently unable to reach
Paul there, Ruby telephoned Paul's home in Arlington, Tex., for 3
minutes.1046 A third call was placed at. 11:36 p.m. for 2 minutes, again
to Paul's home.1049 At 11:44 p.m. Ruby telephoned Breck Wall, a friend
and entertainer who had gone to Galveston, Tex., when his show in Dallas
suspended its performance out of respect to President Kennedy. The call
lasted 2 minutes. 1050 Thereafter, Ruby immediately placed a 1-minute
phone call to Paul's home. 1051
Although Ruby has mentioned those calls, he has not provided details to
the Commission; however, he has denied ever indicating to Paul or Wall
that he was going to shoot Oswald and has said he did not consider such
action until Sunday morning.1052 Ralph Paul did not mention the late
evening calls in his interview with FBI agents on November 24, 1963.1053
Later Paul testified that Ruby called him from downtown to say that
nobody was doing any business.1054 Breck Wall testified that Ruby called
him to determine whether or not the American Guild of Variety Artists
(AGVA), which represented striptease dancers in Dallas, had met
concerning a dispute Ruby was having with the union.1055 Ruby's major
difference with AGVA during the preceding 2 weeks had involved what Ruby
considered to be AGVA's failure to enforce against his 2 competitors,
Abe and Barney Weinstein, AGVA's ban on "striptease contests" and
performances by "amateurs." 1056 As recently as Wednesday, November 20,
Ruby had telephoned an AGVA representative in Chicago about that
complaint and earlier in November he had unsuccessfully sought to obtain
assistance from a San Francisco gambler and a Chicagoan reputed for his
heavyhanded union activities.1057 Wall testified that Ruby "was very
upset the President was assassinated and he called Abe Weinstein or
Bernie Weinstein * * * some names for staying open * * * "Wall added,
"he was very upset * * * that they did not have the decency to close on
such a day and he thought out of respect they should close."
Ruby's activities after midnight.--After completing the series of calls
to Paul and Wall at 11:48 p.m., Ruby went to the Pago Club, about a
10-minute drive from the Carousel Club.1059 He took a table near the
middle of the club and, after ordering a Coke, asked the waitress in a
disapproving tone, "Why are you open?" 1060 When Robert
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Page 351
COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN BY LITTLE LYNN TO HUEY REEVES AT 10:33 P. M.
NOVEMBER 23, 1963
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 1476)
COPY OF TELEGRAM ORDER FOR MONEY SENT TO LITTLE LYNN ON
NOVEMBER 24, 1963, STAMPED 11:17 A. M.
(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5118)
COPY OF WESTERN UNION OFFICE COPY OF RECEIPT GIVEN
TO JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER 24, 1963, STAMPED 11:17 A. M.
(DOYLE LANE DEPOSITION 5119)
COPY OF FACE OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO
JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER 24, 1963
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2420)
COPY OF BACK OF WESTERN UNION RECEIPT GIVEN TO
JACK RUBY ON NOVEMBER 24, 1963
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2421)
Page 352
Norton, the club's manager, joined Ruby a few minutes later he expressed
to Ruby his concern as to whether or not it was proper to operate the
Pago Club that evening. Ruby indicated that the Carousel was closed but
did not criticize Norton for remaining open.1061 Norton raised the topic
of President Kennedy's death and said, "[W]e couldn't do enough to the
person that [did] this sort of thing." Norton added, however, that
"Nobody has the right to take the life of another one." 1062 Ruby
expressed no strong opinion, and closed the conversation by saying he
was going home because he was tired.1063 Later, Ruby told the
Commission: "he knew something was wrong with me in the certain mood I
was in."
Ruby testified that he went home after speaking with Norton and went to
bed about 1:30 a.m.1065 By that time, George Senator claimed, he had
retired for the night. and did not. remember Ruby's return.1066 Eva
Grant testified that her brother telephoned her at about 12:45 a.m. to
learn how she was feeling.1067
Sunday morning.--Ruby's activities on Sunday morning are the subject of
conflicting testimony. George Senator believed that Ruby did not rise
until 9 or 9:30 a.m.; 1068 both Ruby and Senator maintained that Ruby
did not leave their apartment until shortly before 11:00 a.m., and two
other witnesses have provided testimony which supports that account. of
Ruby's whereabouts. 1069 On the other hand, three WBAP-TV television
technicians--Warren Richey, John Smith, and Ira Walker--believed they
saw Ruby near the Police and Courts Building at various times between 8
a.m. and 11 a.m.1070 But there are substantial reasons to doubt the
accuracy of their identifications. None had ever seen Ruby on a prior
occasion. None looked for an extended period at the man believed to be
Ruby,1070 and all were occupied with their duties and had no reason to
remember the man's appearance until they saw Ruby's picture on
television.1072
Smith, for one, was not entirely positive about his identification of
Ruby as the man he saw; 1073 and Richey was looking down from atop a TV
mobile unit when he observed on the sidewalk the man be believed was
Ruby.1074 In addition, Richey and Smith provided descriptions of Ruby
which differ substantially from information about Ruby gathered from
other sources. Smith described the man he saw as being an "unkempt
person that possibly could have slept with his clothes on * * * "1075
Ruby was characteristically clean and well groomed. 1076 In fact,
Senator testified that Ruby shaved and dressed before leaving their
apartment that morning, and at the time Ruby shot Oswald he was dressed
in a hat and business suit. 1077 Richey described Ruby as wearing a.
grayish overcoat,1078 while investigation indicated that Ruby did not
own an overcoat and was not wearing one at the time of the shooting.
1079 (See Pappas Deposition Exhibit No. 1, p. 356.) Al though Walker's
identification of Ruby is the most positive, his certainty must, be
contrasted with the indefinite identification made by Smith, who had
seen the man on one additional occasion. 1080 Both Smith and Walker saw
a man resembling Ruby when the man, on two occasions, looked through the
window of their mobile news unit and
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once asked whether Oswald had been transferred. Both saw only the man's
head, and Smith was closer to the window; yet Smith would not state
positively that the man was Ruby.1081 Finally, video tapes of scenes on
Sunday morning near the NBC van show a man close to the Commerce Street
entrance who might have been mistaken for Ruby.1082
George Senator said that when he arose, before 9 a.m., he began to do
his laundry in the basement of the apartment building while Ruby
slept.1083 During Senator's absence, Ruby received a telephone call from
his cleaning lady, Mrs. Elnora Pitts, who testified that she called
sometime between 8:30 and 9 a.m. to learn whether Ruby wanted her to
clean his apartment that day.1084 Mrs. Pitts remembered that Ruby
"sounded terrible strange to me." She said that "there was something
wrong with him the way he was talking to me." 1085 Mrs. Pitts explained
that, although she had regularly been cleaning Ruby's apartment on
Sundays, Ruby seemed not to comprehend who she was or the reason for her
call and required her to repeat herself several times.1086 As Senator
returned to the apartment after the call, he was apparently mistaken for
Ruby by a neighbor, Sidney Evans, Jr. Evans had never seen Ruby before
but recalled observing a man resembling Ruby, clad in trousers and
T-shirt, walk upstairs from the "washateria" in the basement of their
building and enter Ruby's suite with a load of laundry. Later in the
morning, Malcolm Slaughter who shared an apartment, with Evans, saw an
individual, similarly clad, on the same floor as Ruby's apartment.1087
Senator stated that it was not Ruby's custom to do his own washing and
that Ruby did not do so that morning.1088
While Senator was in the apartment, Ruby watched television, made
himself coffee and scrambled eggs, and received, at 10:19 a.m., a
telephone call from his entertainer, Karen Carlin.1089 Mrs. Carlin
testified that in her telephone conversation she asked Ruby for $25
inasmuch as her rent was delinquent and she needed groceries.1090 She
said that Ruby, who seemed upset, mentioned that he was going downtown
anyway and that he would send the money from the Western Union
office.1091 According to George Senator, Ruby then probably took a half
hour or more to bathe and dress.1092
Supporting the accounts given by Mrs. Carlin and Mrs. Pitts of Ruby's
emotional state, Senator testified that during the morning Ruby:
* * * was even mumbling, which I didn't, understand. And right after
breakfast he got dressed. Then after he got dressed he was pacing the
floor from the living room to the bedroom, from the bedroom to the
living room, and his lips were going. What he was jabbering I don't
know. But he was really pacing.1093
Ruby has described to the Commission his own emotions of Sunday morning
as follows:
Page 354
* * * Sunday morning * * * [I] saw a letter to Caroline, two columns
about a 16-inch area. Someone had written a letter to Caroline. The most
heartbreaking letter. I don't remember the contents. * * * alongside
that letter on the same sheet of paper was a small comment in the
newspaper that, I don't know how it was stated, that Mrs. Kennedy may
have to come back for the trial of Lee Harvey Oswald. * * *
I don't know what bug got ahold of me. I don't know what it is, but I am
going to tell the truth word for word.
I am taking a pill called Preludin. It is a harmless pill, and it is
very easy to get in the drugstore. It isn't a highly prescribed pill. I
use it for dieting.
I don't partake of that much food. I think that was a stimulus to give
me an emotional feeling that suddenly I felt, which was so stupid, that
I wanted to show my love for our faith, being of the Jewish faith, and I
never used the term and I don't want to go into that--suddenly the
feeling, the emotional feeling came within me that someone owed this
debt to our beloved President to save her the ordeal of coming back. I
don't know why that came through my mind. 1084
(See Commission Exhibit. No. 2426, p. 355.)
Sunday morning trip to police department.---Leaving his apartment a few
minutes before 11 a.m., Ruby went to his automobile taking with him his
dachshund, Sheba, and a portable radio. 1095 He placed in his pocket a
revolver which he routinely carried in a bank moneybag in the trunk of
his car.1096 Listening to the radio, he drove downtown, according to his
own testimony, by a route that took him past Dealey Plaza where he
observed the scattered wreaths. Ruby related that he noted the crowd
that had gathered outside the county jail and assumed that Oswald had
already been transferred. However, when he passed the Main Street side
of the Police and Courts Building, which is situated on the same block
as the Western Union office, he a]so noted the crowd that. was gathered
outside that building.1097 Normal driving time for the trip from his
apartment would have been about. 15 minutes, but Ruby's possible haste
and the slow movement of traffic through Dealey Plaza make a reliable
estimate difficult. 1098
Ruby parked his car in a lot directly across the street from the Western
Union office. He apparently placed his keys and billfold in the trunk of
the car, then locked the trunk, which contained approximately $1,000 in
cash, and placed the trunk key in the glove compartment of the car. He
did not lock the car doors.1099
With his revolver, more than $2,000 in cash, and no personal
identification, Ruby walked from the parking lot across the street to
the Western Union office where he filled out forms for sending $25 by
telegraph to Karen Carlin.1100 After waiting in line while one other
Western Union customer completed her business,1101 Ruby paid for the
telegram and retained as a receipt one of three time-stamped docu-
354
Page 355
BEDROOM OF JACK RUBY'S APARTMENT
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2426)
355
Page 356
JACK RUBY MOVING TOWARD OSWALD IN FRONT OF NEWSMAN IKE PAPPAS
PAPPAS DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 2
356
Page 357
ments which show that the transaction was completed at almost exactly
11:17 a.m., c.s.t.1102 (See Commission Exhibits Nos. 1476, 2420, 2421;
D. Lane Deposition Exhibits Nos. 5118, 5119, p. 351.) The Western Union
clerk who accepted Ruby's order recalls that Ruby promptly turned,
walked out of the door onto Main Street, and proceeded in the direction
of the police department one block away. 1103 The evidence set forth in
chapter V indicates that Ruby entered the police basement through the
auto ramp from Main Street and stood behind the front rank of newsmen
and police officers who were crowded together at the base of the ramp
awaiting the transfer of Oswald to the county jail.1104 As Oswald
emerged from a basement office at approximately 11:21 a.m., Ruby moved
quickly forward and, without speaking,1105 fired one fatal shot into
Oswald's abdomen before being subdued by a rush of police officers.1106
Evaluation of activities.--Examination of Ruby's activities immediately
preceding and following the death of President Kennedy revealed no sign
of any conduct which suggests that he was involved in the assassination.
Prior to the tragedy, Ruby's activities were routine. Though persons who
saw him between November 22 and 24 disagree as to whether or not he
appeared more upset than others around him, his response to the
assassination appears to have been one of genuine shock and grief. His
indications of concern over the possible effects of the assassination
upon his businesses seem consistent with other evidence of his
character.1107 During the course of the weekend, Ruby seems to have
become obsessed with the possibility that the Impeach Earl Warren sign
and the Bernard Weissman ad were somehow connected and related to the
assassination. However, Ruby's interest in these public notices was
openly expressed and, as discussed below, the evidence reveals no
connection between him and any political organization.
Examination of Larry Crafard's sudden departure from Dallas shortly
before noon on November 23 does not suggest that Ruby was involved in a
conspiracy. To be sure, Crafard started hitchhiking to Michigan, where
members of his family lived, with only $7 in his pocket.1108 He made no
attempt to communicate with law enforcement officials after Oswald's
death; 1109 and a relative in Michigan recalled that Crafard spoke very
little of his association with Ruby.1110 When finally located by the FBI
6 days later, he stated that he left Ruby's employ because he did not
wish to be subjected to further verbal abuse by Ruby and that he went
north to see his sister, from whom he had not heard in some time.1111
An investigation of Crafard's unusual behavior confirms that his
departure from Dallas was innocent. After Oswald was shot, FBI agents
obtained from the Carousel Club an unmailed letter drafted by Crafard to
a relative in Michigan at least a week before the assassination.1112 The
letter revealed that. he was considering leaving Dallas at that
time.1113 On November 17, Crafard, who had been receiving only room,
board, and incidental expenses, told Ruby he wanted to stop working for
him; however, Crafard agreed to remain when Ruby
Page 358
promised a salary.1114 Then on the morning of November 23, Ruby and
Crafard had a minor altercation over the telephone.1115 Although Crafard
did not voluntarily make known to the authorities his associations with
Ruby, he spoke freely and with verifiable accuracy when questioned. The
automobile driver who provided Crafard his first ride from Dallas has
been located; his statement generally conforms with Crafard's story; and
he did not recall any unusual or troubled behavior by Crafard during
that ride.1115
Although Crafard's peremptory decision to leave Dallas might be unusual
for most persons, such behavior does not appear to have been uncommon
for him. His family residence had shifted frequently among California,
Michigan, and Oregon.1117 During his 22 years, he had earned his
livelihood picking crops, working in carnivals, and taking other odd
jobs throughout the country.1118 According to his testimony, he had
previously hitchhiked across the country with his then wife and two
infant children.1119 Against such a background, it is most probable that
the factors motivating Crafard's departure from Dallas on November 23
were dissatisfaction with his existence in Ruby's employ, which he had
never considered more than temporary, Ruby's decision to dose his clubs
for 3 days, the argument on Saturday morning, and his own desire to see
his relatives in Michigan. There is no evidence to suggest any
connection between Crafard's departure and the assassination of the
President or the shooting of Oswald.
The allegations of Wanda Helmick raised speculation that Ruby's Saturday
night phone calls to Ralph Paul and Breck Wall might have concerned the
shooting of Oswald, but investigation has found nothing to indicate that
the calls had conspiratorial implications. Paul was a close friend,
business associate, and adviser to Jack Ruby. Ruby normally kept in dose
telephone contact with Paul, who had a substantial sum of money
committed to the Carousel Club.1120 Paul explained that Ruby called him
Saturday evening once to point out his ads, another time to say that
nobody seemed to be doing any business in downtown Dallas, and a third
time to relate that both he and his sister were crying over the
assassination.1121 Between two of those phone calls to Paul, Ruby
telephoned to Galveston, Tex. to speak with Wall, a friend and former
business associate who was an official of the American Guild of Variety
Artists. Wall related that during that call Ruby criticized the
Weinsteins for failing to close their clubs.
Having earlier made the same complaint to Lawrence Meyers to whom he
mentioned a need "to do something about this" it would have been
characteristic for Ruby to want to direct Breck Wall's attention, as an
AGVA official, to what he regarded as the Weinstein's improper conduct.
The view that the calls to Wall and Paul could have had conspiratorial
implications also is belled in large measure by the conduct of both men
before and after the events of November 22-24. A check of long-distance
telephone records reveals no suspicious activity by either man. 1122
Paul, in fact, is not known to have visited Dallas during the weekend of
the assassination except to appear openly in an effort to arrange
counsel for Ruby within a few hours of the at-
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tack on Oswald. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has been able to provide any
information that Ralph Paul or Breck Wall ever engaged in any form of
subversive activity.1123
Moreover, Mrs. Helmick's reliability is undermined by her failure to
report her information to any investigative official until June 9,
1964.1124 Although a sister-in-law confirms that Mrs. Helmick wrote her
"something about a gun" shortly after the shooting,1125 the only mention
of any statement by Paul which was included in a letter writ ten by Mrs.
Helmick after the Ruby trial was that Paul believed Ruby was "not in his
right mind." 1126 No corroborating witness named by Mrs. Helmick has
been found who remembers the conversations she mentioned. 1127 Both Ruby
and Paul have denied that anything was said, as Mrs. Helmick suggests,
about a gun or an intent to shoot Oswald, and Wall has stated that Ruby
did not discuss such matters with him.1128 Even if Mrs. Helmick is
accurate the statements ascribed to Paul indicate only that he may have
heard of a possible reference .by Ruby to shooting Oswald. According to
her, Paul's response was to exclaim "Are you crazy?" But under no
circumstances does the report of Mrs. Helmick or any other fact support
a belief that Paul or Wall was involved in the shooting of Oswald.
The Commission has conducted an investigation of the telephone call Ruby
received from Karen Carlin at 10:19 Sunday morning to determine whether
that call was prearranged for the purpose of conveying information about
the transfer of Oswald or to provide Ruby an excuse for being near the
police department. The Commission has examined the records of
long-distance telephone calls on Sunday morning for Jack Ruby,1129 the
Carlins,1130 the Dallas police,1131 and several other persons 1132 and
has found no sign of any indirect communication to Ruby through Mr. or
Mrs. Carlin. No other evidence showing any link between the Carlins and
the shooting of Oswald has been developed.
Ruby and Oswald Were Not Acquainted
The possibility of a prior acquaintanceship between Ruby and Oswald has
been suggested by some persons who viewed the shooting on television and
believed that a look of recognition appeared on Oswald's face as Ruby
moved toward him in the jail basement. The Commission has examined the
television tapes and movie films which were made as Oswald moved through
the basement and has observed no facial expressions which can be
interpreted as signifying recognition of Ruby by Oswald. It is doubtful
even that Oswald could have seen Ruby sufficiently clearly to discern
his identity since Oswald was walking from a dark corridor into "the
flash from the many cameras" and the lights of TV cameramen which were
"blinding." 1133 In addition to such generalized suspicion, there have
been numerous specific allegations that Oswald was seen in the company
of Ruby prior to November 22, often at Ruby's Carousel Club. All such
allegations have been investigated, but the Commission has found none
which
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merits credence. In all but a few instances where the Commission was
able to trace the claim to its source, the person responsible for the
report either denied making it or admitted that he had no basis for the
original allegations.1134 Frequently those responsible for the
allegations have proved to be persons of erratic memory or dubious
mental stability.1135 In a few instances, the source of the story has
remained unidentified, and no person has come forward to substantiate
the rumor. 1136
The testimony of a few witnesses who claim to have seen Ruby with a
person who they feel may have been Oswald warrants further comment. One
such witness, Robert K. Patterson, a Dallas electronics salesman, has
stated that on a date established from sales records as November 1,
1963, Ruby, accompanied by a man who resembled Oswald, purchased some
equipment at his business establishment.1137 However, Patterson did not
claim positively that the man he saw was Oswald,1138 and two of his
associates who were also present at the time could not state that the
man was Oswald.1139 Other evidence indicates that Ruby's companion was
Larry Crafard. Crafard, who lived at the Carousel Club while working for
Ruby from mid-October until November 23, 1963, stated that sometime in
late October or early November he accompanied Ruby to an electronics
store in connection with the purchase of electronics equipment.1140 Ruth
Paine testified that Crafard's photograph bears a strong resemblance to
Oswald; and employment records of the Texas School Book Depository show
that Oswald worked a full day on November 1, 1963.1141
William D. Crowe, Jr., a young nightclub master of ceremonies who had
worked for Ruby on three occasions and had begun a 4- or 5-week
engagement at the Carousel Club on November 11, 1963, was the first
person who reported a possible association between Ruby and Oswald.1142
While attempting to enter the Carousel Club on November 24, shortly
after Oswald was shot, Crowe encountered two news media representatives
who were gathering information on Jack Ruby.1143 At that time, Crowe,
who included a memory act in his repertoire,1144 mentioned the
"possibility" that he had seen Oswald at the Carousel Club.1145 As a
result he was asked to appear on television. In Crowe's own words, the
story "started snowballing." He testified:
They built up the memory thing and they built up the bit of having seen
Oswald there, and I never stated definitely, positively, and they said
that I did, and all in all, what they had in the paper was hardly even
close to what I told them.1146
Crowe added that his memory act involved a limited system which did not,
in fact, improve his memory and that his memory might not even be as
good as that of the average person. When asked how certain he was that
the man he saw was Oswald, Crowe testified: " * * * the face seemed
familiar as some faces do, and I had associated him with a patron that I
had seen in the club a week before. That was about it." 1147
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A possible explanation for Crowe's belief that Oswald's face seemed
familiar was supplied by a freelance photographer, Eddie Rocco, who had
taken pictures at the Carousel Club for Ruby at about the time Crowe was
employed there. Rocco produced one of those photographs which depicted a
man who might have been mistaken for Oswald by persons having no reason
to remember the man at the time they saw him.1148 When shown the Rocco
photograph, Crowe said that there was as strong a possibility that the
man he recalled seeing was the man in the photograph as there was that
he was Oswald.1149 Crowe's uncertainty was further underscored by his
failure initially to provide his information about Oswald to David Hoy,
a news-media friend whom Crowe telephoned in Evansville, Ind., less than
20 minutes after Oswald was shot.1150 By then the possible recognition
had occurred to Crowe,1151 and Hoy said he was quite surprised that
Crowe had given the information first to other news representatives
instead of telling him in that early conversation.1152
After Crowe's identification had been publicized, four other persons
also reported seeing Oswald at the Carousel Club. One man said he saw
Ruby and Oswald seated at a table together and recalled that the man
resembling Oswald was addressed by a blond-haired waitress as "Bettit"
or "Pettit." The witness was unable to give any description of "Pettit"
except that he was the man who had been shot by Ruby. He could not
describe the inside of the Carousel and was unable to give a precise
location for the club.1153 Another witness, a resident of Tennessee,
related seeing a man resembling Oswald at the Carousel Club on November
10.1154 Ruth Paine has testified, however, that Oswald spent the entire
holiday weekend of November 9, 10, and 11 at her home in Irving,
Tex.1155 Two of Ruby's former employees, Karen Carlin and Billy Joe
Willis, also believed they had seen a person who resembled Oswald.
Willis believed he saw the man at the Carousel Club but did not think
the man was Oswald.1156 Mrs. Carlin likewise was not certain that the
man was Oswald nor was she sure where she had seen him.1157 Neither
reported any connection between the man and Ruby. No other employees
recalled seeing Oswald or a person resembling him at the Carousel
Club.1158
Wilbryn Waldon (Robert) Litchfield II also claimed to have seen at the
Carousel Club a man resembling Oswald. Litchfield stated that during a
visit to the Carousel Club in late October or early November 1963, he
saw such a man enter Ruby's office, apparently
confer with Ruby.1159 Although there is substantial evidence that
Litchfield did see Ruby at the Carousel Club about that time,1160 there
is strong reason to believe that Litchfield did not see Lee Harvey
Oswald. Litchfield described the man he saw as having pockmarks on the
right side of his chin; 1161 Oswald did not have such identifying
marks.1162 Moreover, the Commission has substantial doubts concerning
Litchfield's credibility. Although present at an FBI interview of
another witness on November 29, Litchfield made no mention of his
observation to public officials until December 2, 1963.1163 Litchfield,
who had twice been convicted for offenses involving forged
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730-900 O-64--25
Page 362
checks,1164 testified that he first recalled that Oswald resembled the
visitor he saw at the Carousel Club while watching a television showing
on Sunday morning, November 24, of the shooting by Ruby.1165 At that
time Litchfield was playing poker with three friends, and he testified
that he promptly informed them of the re semblance he observed.1166
However, none of the three poker companions remembered Litchfield's
making such a remark; and two added that Litchfield's statements were
often untrustworthy.1167
With regard to all of the persons who claimed to have seen Ruby and
Oswald together, it is significant that none had particular reason to
pay close attention to either man, that substantial periods of time
elapsed before the events they assertedly witnessed became meaningful,
and that, unlike the eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Oswald on
November 22, none reported their observations soon after Oswald was
arrested. In the course of its investigation, the Commission has
encountered numerous dear mistakes of identification. For example, at
least four persons, other than Crafard, are known to have been mistaken
for Oswald.1168 Other persons have been misidentified as Jack Ruby.1169
Under all the available evidence there is no substantial likelihood that
the person the various witnesses claimed to have seen with Ruby was in
fact Oswald.
In addition to probing the reported evidence that Ruby and Oswald had
been seen together, the Commission has examined other circumstances for
signs that the two men were acquainted. From the time Oswald returned
from Mexico, both he and Jack Ruby lived in the Oak Cliff section of
Dallas, slightly more than a mile apart. Numerous neighbors of both
Oswald and Ruby were interviewed, and none knew of any association
between the two.1170 Oswald's work began at 8 each weekday morning and
terminated at 4:45 each afternoon.1171 Jack Ruby usually remained in his
apartment until past 9 a.m. each day.1172 Although both men worked in
downtown Dallas, they normally traveled to their places of employment by
different routes. Ruby owned an automobile, and the shortest route
downtown from his home was via a freeway adjacent to his apartment.1173
Oswald did not own a car and had, at best, a rudimentary ability to
drive.1174 From his roominghouses on North Beckley Avenue and on
Marsalis Street, he normally took public transportation which did not
bring him within six blocks of either Ruby's apartment or his downtown
nightclub, nor did Oswald's route from the bus stop to home or work
bring him near Ruby's home or business.1175 Persons at Oswald's
roominghouse testified that he regularly came home promptly after work
and remained in his room.1176 While in Dallas, he is not known to have
visited any nightclub.1177 Ruby was generally at the Carousel Club from
9 o'clock each evening until after 1 a.m.1178 In a few instances, Ruby
and Oswald patronized the same stores, but no indication has been found
that they ever met at such stores.1179 Ruby at one time frequented a
restaurant where Oswald occasionally ate breakfast, but the times of
their patronage were widely separated and restaurant employees knew of
no acquaintance between Ruby and Oswald. 1180
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Likewise, Ruby has held various memberships in the Dallas YMCA and
Oswald lived there for brief periods; however, there is no indication
that they were there at the same time.1181
Both Ruby and Oswald maintained post office boxes at the terminal annex
of the U.S. post office in Dallas, but there is no indication that those
facts were more than coincidental. On November 1, 1963, Oswald rented
box No. 6225, his third since October 1962. 1182 Oswald's possible
purpose has been discussed previously in this chapter. On November 7,
1963, Jack Ruby rented post office box No. 5475 because he hoped to
receive mail responses to advertisements for the twistboard exercise
device which he was then promoting. 1183 Although it is conceivable that
Oswald and Ruby coincidentally encountered one another while checking
their boxes, the different daily schedules of the two men render even
this possibility unlikely. Moreover, Oswald's withdrawn personality
makes it improbable that the two would have spoken if their paths had
crossed.
The Commission has also examined the known friends and acquaintances of
Ruby and Oswald for evidence that the two were acquainted, but it has
found very few possible links. One conceivable association was through
John Carter, a boarder at 1026 North Beckley Avenue while Oswald lived
there. Carter was friendly with Wanda Joyce Killam, who had known Jack
Ruby since shortly after he moved to Dallas in 1947 and worked for him
from July 1963 to early November 1963. Mrs. Killam, who volunteered the
information about Carter's residence during an interview with an agent
of the FBI, has stated that she did not believe Carter ever visited the
Carousel Club and that she did not think Carter knew Ruby. 1184 Carter
slated that he had not heard of Ruby until Oswald was shot, had talked
briefly with Oswald only once or twice, and had never heard Oswald
mention Ruby or the Carousel Club. 1185 The Commission has no reason to
disbelieve either Mrs. Killam or Mr. Carter.
A second possible link between Oswald and Ruby was through Earl-ene
Roberts, the housekeeper at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. Bertha Cheek, the
sister of Mrs. Roberts, is known to have visited Jack Ruby at the
Carousel Club during the afternoon of November 18, 1963. Mrs. Cheek
testified that she had met with Ruby and a person whom Ruby represented
to be an interior decorator for the purpose of discussing the
possibility of financially backing Ruby in a new night-club Which he
planned to open. Mrs. Cheek said she had met Ruby only once, a few years
before, and that she had not heard of Oswald until he shot President
Kennedy. 1186 Mr. Frank Boerder, the decorator who was present at the
November 18 meeting, confirmed the substance of the discussion reported
by Mrs. Cheek, 1187 and other witnesses establish that Ruby was, in
fact, seeking an associate for a new night-club venture. 1188 There is
no evidence that Jack Ruby ever associated with Earlene Roberts, nor is
there any indication that Mrs. Cheek knew of Lee Harvey Oswald prior to
November 22. 1189
Oswald's trips to the home of Mrs. Ruth Paine at 2115 West Fifth Street
in Irving, Tex., presented another possible link to Ruby.
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While Oswald's family resided with Mrs. Paine, William F. Simmons,
pianoplayer in the musical combo which worked at the Carousel Club from
September 17, 1963, until November 21, 1963, lived at 2539 West Fifth
Street, in Irving. Simmons has stated that his only relationship to Ruby
was as an employee, that Ruby never visited him, that he did not know
Oswald, and that he had never seen Oswald at the Carousel Club. 1190
Other persons in the neighborhood knew of no connection between Ruby and
Oswald. 1191
The Commission has investigated rumors that Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey
Oswald were both homosexuals and, thus, might have known each other in
that respect. However, no evidence has been uncovered to support the
rumors, the closest acquaintances of both men emphatically deny them,
1192 and Ruby's nightclubs were not known to have been frequented by
homosexuals. 1193
A final suggestion of a connection between Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey
Oswald arises from the testimony of Oswald's mother, Marguerite Oswald.
When appearing before the Commission, Mrs. Oswald related that on
November 23, 1963, before Ruby shot Oswald, FBI Agent Bardwell D. Odum
showed her a picture of a man she believed was Jack Ruby, and asked
whether the man shown was familiar to her. Odum had first attempted to
see Marina Oswald, but Marguerite refused to allow Marina to be
disturbed at that time. 1194 In the course of Marguerite's testimony,
the Commission asked the FBI for a copy of the photograph displayed by
Odum to her. When Marguerite viewed the photograph provided the
Commission, she stated that the picture was different from the one she
saw in November, in part because the "top two corners" were cut
differently and because the man depicted was not Jack Ruby. 1195
The Commission has investigated this matter and determined that Special
Agent Odum did show a picture to Marguerite Oswald for possible
identification but that the picture was not of Jack Ruby. On November 22
the CIA had provided the FBI with a photograph of a man who, it was
thought at the time, might have been associated with Oswald. To prevent
the viewer from determining precisely where the picture had been taken,
FBI Agent Odum had trimmed the background from the photograph by making
a series of straight cuts which reduced the picture to an irregular
hexagonal shape. 1196 The picture which was displayed by the Commission
to Marguerite Oswald was a copy of the same picture shown her by Agent
Odum; however, in supplying a duplicate photograph for Commission use
the FBI had cropped the background by cutting along the contours of the
body of the man shown, 1197 resulting in a photograph without any
background, unlike the first photograph Marguerite viewed on November
23. Affidavits obtained from the CIA and from the two FBI agents who
trimmed the photographs established that the one shown to Mrs. Oswald
before the Commission, though trimmed differently from the one shown her
on November 23, was a copy of the same picture. Neither picture was of
Jack Ruby. 1198 The original photograph had been taken by the CIA
outside of the United States sometime between
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July 1, 1963, and November 22, 1963, during all of which time Ruby was
within the country. 1199
Ruby's Background and Associations
In addition to examining in detail Jack Ruby's activities from November
21 to November 24 and his possible acquaintanceship with Lee Harvey
Oswald, the Commission has considered whether or not Ruby had ties with
individuals or groups that might have obviated the need for any direct
contact near the time of the assassination. Study of Jack Ruby's
background, which is set out more fully in appendix XVI, leads to the
firm conclusion that he had no such ties.
Business activities.--Ruby's entire life is characteristic of a
rigorously independent person. He moved from his family home soon after
leaving high school at age 16, although a "family" residence has been
maintained in Chicago throughout the years. 1200 Later, in 1947, he
moved from Chicago to Dallas and maintained only sporadic contact with
most of his family. 1201 For most of his working years and continuously
since 1947, Jack Ruby was self-employed. 1202 Although he had partners
from time to time, the partnerships were not lasting, and Ruby seems to
have preferred to operate independently.
Ruby's main sources of income were his two nightclubs--the Carousel Club
and the Vegas Club--although he also frequently pursued a number of
independent, short-lived business promotions. (Ruby's business dealings
are described in greater detail in app. XVI.) At the time of the
assassination, the United States claimed approximately $44,000 in
delinquent taxes, and he was in substantial debt to his brother Earl and
to his friend Ralph Paul. 1203 However, there are no indications that
Earl Ruby or Ralph Paul was exerting pressure for payment or that Ruby's
tax liabilities were not susceptible to an acceptable settlement. Ruby
operated his clubs on a cash basis, usually carrying large amounts of
cash on his person; thus there is no particular significance to the fact
that approximately $3,000 in cash was found on his person and in his
automobile when arrested. Nor do his meager financial records reflect
any suspicious activities. He used his bank accounts only infrequently,
with no unexplained large transactions; and no entries were made to
Ruby's safe-deposit boxes in over a year prior to the shooting of
Oswald. 1204 There is no evidence that Ruby received any sums after his
arrest except royalties from a syndicated newspaper article on his life
and small contributions for his defense from friends, sympathizers, and
family members. 1205
Ruby's political activities.--Jack Ruby considered himself a Democrat,
perhaps in part because his brother Hyman had been active in Democratic
ward politics in Chicago. 1206 When Ruby was arrested, police officers
found in his apartment, 10 political cards urging the election of the
"Conservative Democratic slate," 1207 but the Commission has found no
evidence that Ruby had distributed that literature and he is not known
ever to have campaigned for any political candi-
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dates. 1208 None of his friends or associates expressed any knowledge
that he belonged to any groups interested 'm political issues, nor did
they remember that he had discussed political problems except on rare
occasions. 1209
As a young man, Ruby participated in attacks upon meetings of the
German-American Bund in Chicago, but the assaults were the efforts of
poolhall associates from his predominantly Jewish neighborhood rather
than the work of any political group. His only other known activities
which had any political flavor possessed stronger overtones of financial
self-interest. In early 1942 he registered a copyright for a placard
which displayed an American flag and bore the inscription "Remember
Pearl Harbor." The placard was never successfully promoted. At other
times, he is reported to have attempted to sell busts of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1210 The rabbi of Ruby's synagogue expressed the
belief that Ruby was too unsophisticated to grasp or have a significant
interest in any political creed. 1211 Although various views have been
given concerning Ruby's attitude toward President Kennedy prior to the
assassination, the overwhelming number of witnesses reported that Ruby
had considerable respect for the President, and there has been no report
of any hostility toward him. 1212
There is also no reliable indication that Ruby was ever associated with
any Communist or radical causes. Jack Ruby's parents were born in Poland
in the 1870's and his father served in the Czarist Russian army from
1893-98. Though neither parent became a citizen after emigrating to the
United States in the early 1900's, the evidence indicates that neither
Ruby nor his family maintained any ties with relatives in Europe. 1213
Jack Ruby has denied ever being connected with any Communist activities.
The FBI has reported that, prior to the shooting of Oswald, its
nationwide files contained no information of any subversive activities
by Ruby. 1214 In addition, a Commission staff member has personally
examined all subversive activities reports from the Dallas- Fort Worth
office of the FBI for the year 1963 and has found no reports pertaining
to Jack Ruby or any of his known acquaintances. 1215
The Commission has directed considerable attention to an allegation that
Jack Ruby was connected with Communist Party activities in Muncie, Ind.
On the day after Oswald's death, a former resident of Muncie claimed
that between 1943 and 1947 a Chicagoan resembling Ruby and known to him
as Jack Rubenstein was in Muncie on three occasions and associated with
persons who the witness suspected were Communists. The witness stated
that the man resembling Ruby visited Muncie during these years as a
guest of the son-in-law of a now-de-ceased jeweler for whom the witness
worked. 1216 A second son-in-law of the jewelry store owner suggested
that he may have known Ruby while the two resided in Chicago, 1217 but
the son-in-law whom Ruby allegedly visited disclaimed any
acquaintanceship with Ruby. 1218 Both sons-in-law denied any Communist
activities and
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the Commission has found no contrary evidence other than the testimony
of the witness.
On the first two occasions on which Ruby is alleged to have been in
Muncie, military records show him to have been on active military duty
in the South. 1219 The witness also said that the man he knew as
Rubenstein owned or managed a nightclub when he met him, but the
Commission has no reliable evidence that Jack Ruby ever owned or worked
in any nightclubs when he lived in Chicago. 1220 The witness further
stated that on one occasion he found the name of Jack Rubenstein, or
perhaps a similar name, together with the names of others he believed
were Communists, on a list which had been left in a room above the
jewelry store after a meeting held there. The witness said he gave the
list to his wife's cousin, now deceased, who was then the chief of
detectives in Muncie. 1221 However, neither the list nor a person
identifiable as Jack Ruby has been located after a thorough search by
the FBI of its own files and those of the Muncie Police Department, the
Indiana State Police, and other agencies. 1222 The witness did not
recall seeing Rubenstein in Muncie during the period of that meeting,
and he had never heard Rubenstein say anything which would indicate he
was a Communist. 1223
The FBI has interviewed all living persons who the witness stated were
involved with Ruby in Communist activities in Muncie. One person named
by the witness was known previously to have been involved in Communist
Party activities, but subversive activities files have revealed no such
activities for any of the others.1224 The admitted former Communist
denied knowing Ruby and stated that the jewelry store owner was not
known to him as a Communist and that Communist meetings were never held
above the store.1225 All other Muncie residents named by the witness as
possible associates of Ruby denied knowing Ruby.1226 Similarly, fellow
employees of the witness whom he did not claim were Communists knew of
no Communist activities connected with the jewelry store owner or any
visits of Jack Ruby, and FBI informants familiar with Communist
activities in Indiana and Chicago did not know of any participation by
Ruby.1227 Finally, the witness testified that even though he believed as
early as 1947 that all of the persons named by him were Communists he
had never brought his information to the attention of any authority
investigating such activities, except for providing the alleged list to
his cousin.1228 The Commission finds no basis for accepting the
witness's testimony.
The Commission has also investigated the possibility that Ruby was
associated with ultraconservative political endeavors in Dallas. Upon
his arrest, there were found in Ruby's possession two radio scripts of a
right-wing program promoted by H. L. Hunt, whose political views are
highly conservative. Ruby had acquired the scripts a few weeks earlier
at the Texas Products Show, where they were enclosed in bags of Hunt
food products. Ruby is reported to have become enraged when he
discovered the scripts, and threatened to send one to "Kennedy." 1229 He
is not known to have done anything with them prior to
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giving one to a radio announcer on November 23; and on that day seemed
to confuse organizations of the extreme right with those of the far
left.1230 On November 21, Ruby drove Connie Trammel, a young college
graduate whom he had met some months previous]y, to the office of Lamar
Hunt, the son of H.L. Hunt, for a job interview. Although Ruby stated
that he would like to meet Hunt, seemingly to establish a business
connection, he did not enter Hunt's office with her.
An allegation that Ruby was a visitor at the home of Maj. Gen. Edwin A.
Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army) appears totally unfounded. The allegation
was made in late May 1964 to an agent of the U.S. Secret Service by
William McEwan Duff. Duff, who was discharged from military service in
June 1964 because of a fraudulent enlistment, disclaimed any knowledge
of Ruby or Oswald when questioned by FBI agents in January 1964. 1232
Another allegation connecting Jack Ruby with right-wing activities was
Mark Lane's assertion, mentioned previously, that an unnamed informant
told him of a meeting lasting more than 2 hours in the Carousel Club on
November 14, 1963, between Jack Ruby, Patrolman J. D. Tippit, and
Bernard Weissman.1233 Although the name of Lane's informant has never
been revealed to the Commission, an investigation has been conducted in
an effort to find corroboration for the claimed Tippit, Weissman, and
Ruby meeting. No employee of the Carousel Club has any knowledge of the
meeting described by Lane.1234 Ruby and Weissman both deny that such a
meeting occurred, and Officer Tippit's widow has no knowledge that her
late husband ever went to the Carousel Club.1235
Some confusion has arisen, however, because early Friday afternoon,
November 22, Ruby remarked that he knew the Tippit who had been shot by
Oswald. Later Ruby stated that he did not know J. D. Tippit but that his
reference was to G. M. Tippit, a member of the special services bureau
of the Dallas Police Department who had visited Ruby establishments
occasionally in the course of his official duties.1236 Larry Crafard was
unable to recognize photographs of J. D. Tippit and had no recollection
of a Tippit, Weissman, and Ruby meeting at any time.1237 However,
uncertainty was introduced when Crafard identified a photograph of
Bernard Weissman as resembling a man who had visited the Carousel Club
and had been referred to by Ruby as "Weissman." 1238 In a subsequent
interview Crafard stated that he believed Weissman was a detective on
the Dallas Police Department, that his first name may have been Johnny,
and that he was in his late thirties or early forties.1239 As set forth
previously, Bernard Weissman was a 26- year-old New York carpet
salesman. Crafard added "I could have my recollection of a Mr. Weissman
mixed up with someone else".1240
Ruby's conduct on November 22 and 23, 1963, corroborates his denial that
he knew Bernard Weissman. Ruby expressed hostility to the November 22
full-page advertisement to many persons. To none did he give any
indication that he was familiar with the person listed as responsible
for the advertisement.1241 His attempt on November 23
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to trace the holder of the post office box shown on the "Impeach Earl
Warren" sign and to locate Weissman's name in a Dallas city directory
1242 also tends to indicate that in fact he was not familiar with
Weissman. Had he been involved in some type of unlawful activity with
Weissman, it is highly unlikely that Ruby would have called attention to
Weissman as he did.
Investigation has disclosed no evidence that Officer J. D. Tippit was
acquainted with either Ruby or Oswald. Neither Tippit's wife nor his
close friends knew of such an acquaintanceship.1243 Tippit was not known
to frequent nightclubs 1244 and he had no reason during the course of
his police duties to enter Ruby's clubs.1245 Although at the time of the
assassination Tippit was working weekends in a Dallas restaurant owned
by a member of the John Birch Society, the restaurant owner stated that
he never discussed politics with Tippit.1246 Persons close to Tippit
related that Tippit rarely discussed political matters with any person
and that he was a member of no political organization.1247 Telephone
records for the period following September 26, 1963, revealed no
suspicious long-distance calls from the Tippit household.1248
Tippit's encounter with Oswald following the shooting of the President
is indicative of no prior association between the two men. Police radio
logs show that, as part of general directions issued to all officers
immediately after the assassination, Tippit was specifically directed to
patrol the Oak Cliff area where he came upon Oswald.1249 His movement
from the area which he had been patrolling into the central Oak Cliff
area was also in conformity with the normal procedure of the Dallas
Police Department for patrol cars to cover nearby districts when the
patrol cars in that district became otherwise engaged, as occurred after
the assassination.1250 Oswald fit the general description, which, 15
minutes after the assassination, was broadcast to all police cars of a
suspect described by a bystander who had seen Oswald in the sixth-floor
window of the Texas School Book Depository.1251 There is thus no basis
for any inference that, in approaching Oswald, Tippit was acting other
than in the line of police duty.
Allegations of Cuban activity.--No substantiation has been found for
rumors linking Ruby with pro- or anti- Castro Cuban activities, 1252
except for one incident in January 1959 when Ruby made preliminary
inquiries, as a middleman, concerning the possible sale to Cuba of some
surplus jeeps located in Shreveport, La., and asked about the possible
release of prisoners from a Cuban prison. No evidence has been developed
that the project ever became more than a "possibility". Ruby explained
that in early 1959 United States sentiment toward Cuba was still
favorable and that he was merely pursuing a money-making
opportunity.1253
During the period of the "jeep sale", R. D. Matthews, a gambler and a
"passing acquaintance" of Ruby, returned to Dallas from Havana where he
had been living. In mid-1959, he returned to Cuba until mid-1960.1254 On
October 3, 1963, a telephone call was made from the Carousel Club to
Matthews' former wife in Shreveport.1255 No
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evidence has been uncovered that Matthews was associated with the sale
of jeeps or the release of prisoners or that he knew of Oswald prior to
the assassination.1256 Matthews' ex-wife did not recall the phone call
in October of 1963, and she asserted that she did not know Jack Ruby or
anybody working for him.1257
In September 1959, Ruby traveled to Havana as a guest of a close friend
and known gambler, Lewis J. McWillie. Both Ruby and McWillie state the
trip was purely social.1258 In January 1961, McWillie left Cuba with
strong feelings of hostility to the Castro regime. In early 1963, Ruby
purchased a pistol which he shipped to McWillie in Nevada, but McWillie
did not accept the package.1259 The Commission has found no evidence
that McWillie has engaged in any activities since leaving Cuba that are
related to pro- or anti-Castro political movements or that he was
involved in Ruby's abortive jeep transaction.
The Commission has also received evidence that in April 1962, a telegram
sent to Havana, Cuba, was charged to the business telephone of Earl
Ruby, brother of Jack Ruby.1260 Earl Ruby stated that he was unable to
recall that telegram but testified that he had never traveled to Cuba
nor had any dealings with persons in Cuba.1261 Jack Ruby is not known to
have visited his brother at that time, and during that period Earl and
Jack did not maintain a close relationship.1262 Earl Ruby is not known
to have been involved in any subversive activities.1263
Finally, examination of FBI information relative to Cuban groups in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area for the year 1963 fails to disclose any person
who might provide a link between Ruby and such groups.1264 The Central
Intelligence Agency has no information suggesting that Jack Ruby or any
of his closest associates have been involved in any type of
revolutionary or subversive Cuban activity.1265
Possible underworld connections.--The Commission has investigated Ruby's
possible criminal activities, looking with particular concern for
evidence that he engaged in illegal activities with members of the
organized underworld or that, on his own, he was a promoter of illegal
endeavors. The results of that investigation are more fully detailed in
appendix XVI. Ruby was reared in a Chicago neighborhood where he became
acquainted with local criminals and with persons who later became
criminals. Throughout his life, Ruby's friendships with persons of that
character were limited largely to professional gamblers, although his
night club businesses brought him in contact with persons who had been
convicted of other offenses. There is no credible evidence that Ruby,
himself, gambled on other than a social basis or that he had any unpaid
gambling debts.1266 He had never been charged with a felony prior to his
attack on Oswald; his only encounters in Chicago stemmed from ticket
scalping and the unauthorized sale of copyrighted music; and, in Dallas,
his law violations, excluding traffic charges, resulted from the
operation of his clubs or outbursts of temper.1267 Ruby has disclaimed
that he was
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associated with organized criminal activities, and law enforcement
agencies have Confirmed that denial.1268
Investigation of George Senator.--In addition to examining Ruby's own
activities and background, the Commission has paid careful attention to
the activities and background of George Senator, Ruby's roommate and one
of his closest friends in Dallas. Senator was interrogated by staff
members over a 2-day period; he provided a detailed account of his own
life and cooperated fully in all aspects of the Commission's inquiry
into the activities of Jack Ruby.
Senator was 50 years old at the time Ruby shot Oswald. He had been born
September 4, 1913, in Gloversville, N.Y., and had received an eighth
grade education. Upon leaving school, he worked in Gloversville and New
York City until about age 25. For the next few years he worked in
various restaurants and cafeterias in New York and Florida until
enlisting in the Army in August 1941.1269 After his honorable discharge
in September 1945, Senator was employed for most of the next 13 years
selling inexpensive dresses throughout the South and Southwest. In the
course of that employment he moved to Dallas where he met Jack Ruby
while visiting Ruby's Vegas Club in about 1955 or 1956.1270 Ruby was one
of many who helped Senator when he encountered financial difficulties
during the years 1958 to 1962. For a while in 1962, Ruby provided room
and board in exchange for Senator's help in his clubs and apartment. In
August 1963, Senator was unable to maintain his own apartment alone
following his roommate's marriage. Ruby again offered to help and on
November 1, 1963, Senator moved into Ruby's apartment.1271 The
Commission has found no evidence that Senator ever engaged in any
political activities.1272
Against this background the Commission has evaluated Senator's account
of his own activities on November 22, 23, and 24. When questioned by
Dallas and Federal authorities hours after the shooting of Oswald,
Senator omitted mention of having accompanied Ruby to photograph the
"Impeach Earl Warren" sign on Saturday morning. Senator stated to
Commission staff members that in the interviews of November 24 he
omitted the incident because of oversight.1273 However, he spoke freely
about it in his sworn testimony and no inaccuracies have been noted in
that portion of his testimony. Senator also failed to mention to the
Commission and to previous interrogators that, shortly after Ruby left
their apartment Sunday morning, he called friends, Mr. and Mrs. William
Downey, and offered to visit their apartment and make breakfast for
them.1274 Downey stated, in June 1964, that Senator said he was alone
and that, after Downey declined the offer, Senator remarked that he
would then go downtown for breakfast.1275 When told of Downey's account,
Senator denied it and explained that the two were not friendly by the
time Senator left Dallas about six weeks after the assassination.1276
The Commission also experienced difficulty in ascertaining the
activities of Senator on November 22 and 23. He was unable to account
specifically for large segments of time when he was not with
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Ruby. 1277 And, as to places and people Senator says he visited on those
days prior to the time Oswald was shot, the Commission has been
unsuccessful in obtaining verification.1278 Senator admitted that he had
spent much of that time drinking but denied that he was intoxicated.1279
It is difficult to know with complete certainty whether Senator had any
foreknowledge of the shooting of Oswald. Ruby testified that at about
10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning, November 24, he said, in Senator's
presence, "If something happened to this person, that then Mrs. Kennedy
won't have to come back for the trial." 1280 According to Ruby, this is
the most explicit statement he made concerning Oswald that morning.1281
Senator denies any knowledge of Ruby's intentions.1282
Senator's general response to the shooting was not like that of a person
seeking to conceal his guilt. Shortly before it was known that Ruby was
the slayer of Oswald, Senator visited the Eatwell Restaurant in downtown
Dallas. Upon being informed that Ruby was the attacker, Senator
exclaimed, "My God," in what appeared to be a genuinely surprised
tone.1283 He then ran to a telephone, returned to gulp down his coffee,
and quickly departed.1284 He drove promptly to the home of James Martin,
an attorney and friend. Martin recalled that Senator's concern was for
his friend Ruby and not for himself.1285 Martin and Senator drove to the
Dallas Police Department where Senator voluntarily submitted himself to
police questioning, and gave interviews to newspaper and television
reporters.1286 The Commission has concluded, on the basis of its
investigation into Senator's background, activities, and reaction to the
shooting, that Senator did not aid or conspire with Jack Ruby in the
killing of Oswald.
Ruby's activities preceding President's trip.--In addition to the broad
investigation into Ruby's background and associations, the Commission
delved particularly into Ruby's pattern of activities during the 2
months preceding President Kennedy's visit to Dallas in order to
determine whether there was unusual conduct which might be linked to the
President's forthcoming trip.
The Commission has been able to account specifically for Jack Ruby's
presence in Dallas on every day after September 26, 1963, except
five--September 29, 30 and October 11, 14, and 24--and there is no
evidence that he was out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on those
days.1287 The report of one person who saw Ruby on September 28
indicates that Ruby probably remained in Dallas on September 29 and
30,1288 when Oswald was in Mexico City. The Commission has looked for
but has found no evidence that Ruby traveled to Mexico at that time.1289
Both Ruby and Ralph Paul have stated that Ruby did not ]cave the
Dallas-Fort Worth area during September, October, or November 1963.1290
During October and November of 1963, Jack Ruby maintained his usual
vigorous pace of business activities. In particular, he directed
considerable attention to his two nightclubs and to other business
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promotions.1291 During the final month before the Kennedy trip, his time
was increasingly occupied with personnel problems at both his clubs.
There is no indication that he devoted less than full attention to these
matters or that he appeared preoccupied with other affairs. His
acquaintances did feel that Ruby seemed depressed and concerned that his
friends were deserting him.1292 However, there were no signs of
secretive conduct.
Scrutiny of Ruby's activities during the several days preceding the
President's arrival in Dallas has revealed no indication of any unusual
activity. Ruby is remembered to have discussed the President's impending
trip with only two persons and only briefly.1293 Two newspapers
containing a description of the expected motorcade routes through Dallas
and Fort Worth were found in Ruby's car at the time of this arrest.
However, such papers circulated widely in Dallas, and Ruby's car, like
his apartment, was so cluttered with other newspapers, notebooks,
brochures, cards, clothing, and personal items 1294 that there is no
reason to attach any significance to the papers.
Aside from the results of the Commission's investigation reported above,
there are other reasons to doubt that Jack Ruby would have shot Oswald
as he did if he had been involved in a conspiracy to carry out the
assassination, or that he would have been delegated to perform the
shooting of Oswald on behalf of others who were involved in the slaying
of the President. By striking in the city jail, Ruby was certain to be
apprehended. An attempt to silence Oswald by having Ruby kill him would
have presented exceptionally grave dangers to any other persons involved
in the scheme. If the attempt had failed, Oswald might have been moved
to disclose his confederates to the authorities. If it succeeded, as it
did, the additional killing might itself have produced a trail to them.
Moreover, Ruby was regarded by most persons who knew him as moody and
unstable .hardly one to have encouraged the confidence of persons
involved in a sensitive conspiracy.1295
Since his apprehension, Jack Ruby has provided the Federal authorities
with several detailed accounts of his activities both preceding and
following the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby has shown no
reluctance to answer any questions addressed to him. The accounts
provided by Ruby are consistent with evidence available to the
Commission from other sources.
These additional considerations are thus fully consistent with the
results of the Commission's investigation. Rumors of a connection
between Ruby and Oswald have proved groundless, while examination of
Ruby's background and associations, his behavior prior to the
assassination, and his activities during the November 22-24 weekend has
yielded no evidence that Ruby conspired with anyone in planning or
executing the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald. Whatever the legal
culpability of Jack Ruby for his act of November 24, the evidence is
persuasive that he acted independently in shooting Oswald.
Conclusion
Page 374
CONCLUSION
Based upon the investigation reviewed in this chapter, the Commission
concluded that there is no credible evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald was
part of a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. Examination of
the facts of the assassination itself revealed no indication that Oswald
was aided in the planning or execution of his scheme. Review of Oswald's
life and activities since 1959, although productive in illuminating the
character of Lee Harvey Oswald (which is discussed in the next chapter),
did not produce any meaningful evidence of a conspiracy. The Commission
discovered no evidence that the Soviet Union or Cuba were involved in
the assassination of President Kennedy. Nor did the Commission's
investigation of Jack Ruby produce any grounds for believing that Ruby's
killing of Oswald was part of a conspiracy. The conclusion that there is
no evidence of a conspiracy was also reached independently by Dean Rusk,
the Secretary of State; Robert S. McNamara, the Secretary of Defense; C.
Douglas Dillon, the Secretary of the Treasury; Robert F. Kennedy, the
Attorney General; J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI; John A.
McCone, the Director of the CIA; and James J. Rowley, the Chief of the
Secret Service, on the basis of the information available to each of
them.1296
Chapter VII Lee Harvey Oswald: Background and Possible Motives
Page 375
CHAPTER VII
Lee Harvey Oswald: Background and
Possible Motives
THE EVIDENCE reviewed above identifies Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin
of President Kennedy and indicates that he acted alone in that event.
There is no evidence that he had accomplices or that he was involved in
any conspiracy directed to the assassination of the President. There
remains the question of what impelled Oswald to conceive and to carry
out the assassination of the President of the United States. The
Commission has considered many possible motives for the assassination,
including those which might flow from Oswald's commitment to Marxism or
communism, the existence of some personal grievance, a desire to effect
changes in the structure of society or simply to go down in history as a
well publicized assassin. None of these possibilities satisfactorily
explains Oswald's act if it is judged by the standards of reasonable
men. The motives of any man, however, must be analyzed in terms of the
character and state of mind of the particular individual involved. For a
motive that appears incomprehensible to other men may be the moving
force of a man whose view of the world has been twisted, possibly by
factors of which those around him were only dimly aware. Oswald's
complete state of mind and character are now outside of the power of man
to know. He cannot, of course, be questioned or observed by those
charged with the responsibility for this report or by experts on their
behalf. There is, however, a large amount of material available in his
writings and in the history of his life which does give some insight
into his character and, possibly, into the motives for his act.
Since Oswald is dead, the Commission is not able to reach any definite
conclusions as to whether or not he was "sane" under prevailing legal
standards. Under our system of justice no forum could properly make that
determination unless Oswald were before it. It certainly could not be
made by this Commission which, as has been pointed out above,
ascertained the facts surrounding the assassination but did not draw
conclusions concerning Oswald's legal guilt.
Indications of Oswald's motivation may be obtained from a study of the
events, relationships and influences which appear to have been
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significant in shaping his character and in guiding him. Perhaps the
most outstanding conclusion of such a study is that Oswald was
profoundly alienated from the world in which he lived. His life was
characterized by isolation, frustration, and failure. He had very few,
if any, close relationships with other people and he appeared to have
great difficulty in finding a meaningful place in the world. He was
never satisfied with anything. When he was in the United States he
resented the capitalist system which he thought was exploiting him and
others like him. He seemed to prefer the Soviet Union and he spoke
highly of Cuba.1 When he was in the Soviet Union, he apparently resented
the Communist Party members, who were accorded special privileges and
who he thought were betraying communism, and he spoke well of the United
States.2 He accused his wife of preferring others to himself and told
her to return to the Soviet Union without him but without a divorce. At
the same time he professed his love for her and said that he could not
get along without her.3 Marina Oswald thought that he would not be happy
anywhere, "Only on the moon, perhaps." 4
While Oswald appeared to most of those who knew him as a meek and
harmless person, he sometimes imagined himself as "the Commander" 5 and,
apparently seriously, as a political prophet--a man who said that after
20 years he would be prime minister.6 His wife testified that he
compared himself with great readers of history. Such ideas of grandeur
were apparently accompanied by notions of oppression.7 He had a great
hostility toward his environment, whatever it happened to be, which he
expressed in striking and sometimes violent acts long before the
assassination. There was some quality about him that led him to act with
an apparent disregard for possible consequences.8 He defected to the
Soviet Union, shot at General Walker, tried to go to Cuba and even
contemplated hijacking an airplane to get there. He assassinated the
President, shot Officer Tippit, resisted arrest and tried to kill
another policeman in the process.
Oswald apparently started reading about communism when he was about 15.
In the Marines, he evidenced a strong conviction as to the correctness
of Marxist doctrine, which one associate described as "irrevocable," but
also as "theoretical"; that associate did not think that Oswald was a
Communist.9 Oswald did not always distinguish between Marxism and
communism. 10 He stated several times that he was a Communist but
apparently never joined any Communist Party.11
His attachment to Marxist and Communist doctrine was probably, in some
measure, an expression of his hostility to his environment. While there
is doubt about how fully Oswald understood the doctrine which he so
often espoused, it seems clear that his commitment to Marxism was an
important factor influencing his conduct during his adult years. It was
an obvious element in his decision to go to Russia and later to Cuba and
it probably influenced his decision to shoot at General Walker. It was a
factor which contributed to his character
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and thereby might have influenced his decision to assassinate President
Kennedy.
The discussion below will describe the events known to the Commission
which most clearly reveals the formation and nature of Oswald's
character. It will attempt to summarize the events of his early life,
his experience in New York City and in the Marine Corps, and his
interest in Marxism. It will examine his defection to the Soviet Union
in 1959, his subsequent return to the United States and his life here
after June of 1962. The review of the latter period will evaluate his
personal and employment relations, his attempt to kill General Walker,
his political activities, and his unsuccessful attempt to go to Cuba in
late September of 1963. Various possible motives will be treated in the
appropriate context of the discussion outlined above.
The Early Years
Page 377
The Early Years
Significant in shaping the character of Lee Harvey Oswald was the death
of his father, a collector of insurance premiums. This occurred 2 months
before Lee was born in New Orleans on October 18, 1939.12 That death
strained the financial fortunes of the remainder of the Oswald family.
It had its effect on Lee's mother, Marguerite, his brother Robert, who
had been born in 1934, and his half-brother John Pic, who had been born
in 1932 during Marguerite's previous marriage.13 It forced Marguerite
Oswald to go to work to provide for her family.14 Reminding her sons
that they were orphans and that the family's financial condition was
poor, she placed John Pie and Robert Oswald in an orphans' home.15 From
the time Marguerite Oswald returned to work until December 26, 1942,
when Lee too was sent to the orphans' home, he was cared for principally
by his mother's sister, by babysitters and by his mother, when she had
time for him.16
Marguerite Oswald withdrew Lee from the orphans' home and took him with
her to Dallas when he was a little over 4 years old.17 About 6 months
later she also withdrew John Pic and Robert Oswald.18 Apparently that
action was taken in anticipation of her marriage to Edwin A. Ekdahl,
which took place in May of 1945.19 In the fall of that year John Pic and
Robert Oswald went to a military academy where they stayed, except for
vacations, until the spring of 1948.20 Lee Oswald remained with his
mother and Ekdahl,21 to whom he became quite attached. John Pic
testified that he thought Lee found in Ekdahl the father that he never
had.22 That situation, however, was short-lived, for the relations
between Marguerite Oswald and Ekdahl were stormy and they were finally
divorced, after several separations and reunions, in the summer of
1948.23
After the divorce Mrs. Oswald complained considerably about how unfairly
she was treated, dwelling on the fact that she was a widow with three
children. John Pic, however, did not think her position was worse than
that of many other people.24 In the fall of 1948 she told John Pic and
Robert Oswald that she could not afford to send them back to the
military school and she asked Pic to quit school
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730-900 0-64--26
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entirely to help support the family, which he did for 4 months in the
fall of 1948.25 In order to supplement their income further she falsely
swore that Pic was 17 years old so that he could join the Marine Corps
Reserves.26 Pic did turn over part of his income to his mother, but he
returned to high school in January of 1949, where he stayed until 3 days
before he was scheduled to graduate, when he left school in order to get
into the Coast Guard.27 Since his mother did not approve of his decision
to continue school he accepted the responsibility for that decision
himself and signed his mother's name to all his own excuses and report
cards.28
Pic thought that his mother overstated her financial problems and was
unduly concerned about money. Referring to the period after the divorce
from Ekdahl, which was apparently caused in part by Marguerite's desire
to get more money from him, Pic said: "Lee was brought up in this
atmosphere of constant money problems, and I am sure it had quite an
effect on him, and also Robert." 29 Marguerite Oswald worked in
miscellaneous jobs after her divorce from Ekdahl.30 When she worked for
a time as an insurance saleslady, she would sometimes take Lee with her,
apparently leaving him alone in the car while she transacted her
business.31 When she worked during the school year, Lee had to leave an
empty house in the morning, return to it for lunch and then again at
night, his mother having trained him to do that rather than to play with
other children.32
An indication of the nature of Lee's character at this time was provided
in the spring of 1950, when he was sent to New Orleans to visit the
family of his mother's sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret, for 2 or 3 weeks.
Despite their urgings, he refused to play with the other children his
own age.33 It also appears that Lee tried to tag along with his older
brothers but apparently was not able to spend as much time with them as
he would have liked, because of the age gaps of 5 and 7 years, which
became more significant as the children grew older.34
New York City
Page 378
New York City
Whatever problems may have been created by Lee's home life in Louisiana
and Texas, he apparently adjusted well enough there to have had an
average, although gradually deteriorating, school record with no
behavior or truancy problems. That was not the case, however, after he
and his mother moved to New York in August of 1952, shortly before Lee's
13th birthday. They moved shortly after Robert joined the Marines; they
lived for a time with John Pie who was stationed there with the Coast
Guard.35 Relations soon became strained, however,36 so in late September
Lee and his mother moved to their own apartment in the Bronx.37 Pie and
his wife would have been happy to have kept Lee, however, who was
becoming quite a disciplinary problem for his mother, having struck her
on at least one occasion.38
The short-lived stay with the Pics was terminated after an incident in
which Lee allegedly pulled out a pocket knife during an argument
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and threatened to use it on Mrs. Pic. When Pie returned home, Mrs.
Oswald tried to play down the event but Mrs. Pic took a different view
and asked the Oswalds to leave. Lee refused to discuss the matter with
Pie, whom he had previously idolized, and their relations were strained
thereafter. 39
On September 30, 1952, Lee enrolled in P.S. 117,40 a junior high school
in the Bronx, where the other children apparently teased him because of
his "western" clothes and Texas accent.41 He began to stay away from
school, preferring to read magazines and watch television at home by
himself. 42 This continued despite the efforts of the school authorities
and, to a lesser extent, of his mother to have him return to school. 43
Truancy charges were brought against him alleging that he was "beyond
the control of his mother insofar as school attendance is
concerned." 44 Oswald was remanded for psychiatric observation
to Youth House, an institution in which children are kept for
psychiatric observation or for detention pending court appearance or
commitment to a child-caring or D institution such as a training school.
45 He was in Youth House from April 16 to May 7, 1953,46 during which
time he was examined by its Chief Psychiatrist, Dr. Renatus Hartogs, and
interviewed and observed by other members of the Youth House staff. 47
Marguerite Oswald visited her son at Youth House, where she recalled
that she waited in line "with Puerto Ricans and Negroes and everything."
48 She said that her pocketbook was searched "because the children in
this home were such criminals, dope fiends, and had been in criminal
offenses, that anybody entering this home had to be searched in case the
parents were bringing cigarettes or narcotics or anything." 49 She
recalled that Lee cried and said, "Mother, I want to get out of here.
There are children in here who have killed people, and smoke. I want to
get out." 50 Marguerite Oswald said that she had not realized until then
in what kind of place her son had been confined. 51
On the other hand, Lee told his probation officer, John Carro, that
"while he liked Youth House he miss[ed] the freedom of doing what he
wanted. He indicated that he did not miss his mother." 52 Mrs. Evelyn D
Siegel, a social worker who interviewed both Lee and his mother while
Lee was confined in Youth House, reported that Lee "confided that the
worse thing about Youth House was the fact that he had to be with other
boys all the time, was disturbed about disrobing in front of them,
taking showers with them etc." 53
Contrary to reports that appeared after the assassination, the
psychiatric examination did not indicate that Lee Oswald was a potential
assassin, potentially dangerous, that "his outlook on life had strongly
paranoid overtones" or that he should be institutionalized.54 Dr.
Hartogs did find Oswald to be a tense, withdrawn, and evasive boy who
intensely disliked talking about himself and his feelings. He noted that
Lee liked to give the impression that he did not care for other people
but preferred to keep to himself, so that he was not bothered and did
not have to make the effort of communicating. Os-
Page 380
wald's withdrawn tendencies and solitary habits were thought to be the
result of "intense anxiety, shyness, feelings of awkwardness and
insecurity." 55 He was reported to have said "I don't want a friend and
I don't like to talk to people" and "I dislike everybody." 56 He was
also described as having a "Vivid fantasy life, turning around the
topics of omnipotence and power, through which he tries to compensate
for his present shortcomings and frustrations." 57 Dr. Hartogs
summarized his report by stating:
This 13 year old well built boy has superior mental resources and
functions only slightly below his capacity level in spite of chronic
truancy from school which brought him into Youth House. No finding of
neurological impairment or psychotic mental changes could be made. Lee
has to be diagnosed as "personality pattern disturbance with schizoid
features and passive--aggressive tendencies." Lee has to be seen as an
emotionally, quite disturbed youngster who suffers under the impact of
really existing emotional isolation and deprivation, lack of affection,
absence of family life and rejection by a self involved and conflicted
mother.58
Dr. Hartogs recommended that Oswald be placed on probation on condition
that he seek help and guidance through a child guidance clinic. There,
he suggested, Lee should be treated by a male psychiatrist who could
substitute for the lack of a father figure. He also recommended that
Mrs. Oswald seek "psychotherapeutic guidance through contact with a
family agency." The possibility of commitment was to be considered only
if the probation plan was not successful. 59
Lee's withdrawal was also noted by Mrs. Siegel, who described him as a
"seriously detached, withdrawn youngster." 60 She also noted that there
was "a rather pleasant, appealing quality about this emotionally
starved, affectionless youngster which grows as one speaks to him." 61
She thought that he had detached himself from the world around him
because "no one in it ever met any of his needs for love." 62 She
observed that since Lee's mother worked all day, he made his own meals
and spent all his time alone because he didn't make friends with the
boys in the neighborhood. She thought that he "withdrew into a
completely solitary and detached existence where he did as he wanted and
he didn't have to live by any rules or come into contact with people."
63 Mrs. Siegel concluded that Lee "just felt that his mother never gave
a damn for him. He always felt like a burden that she simply just had to
tolerate." 64 Lee confirmed some of those observations by saying that he
felt almost as if there were a veil between him and other people through
which they could not reach him, but that he preferred the veil to remain
intact. He admitted to fantasies about being powerful and sometimes
hurting and killing people, but refused to elaborate on them. He took
the position that such matters were his own business. 65
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A psychological human figure-drawing test corroborated the interviewer's
findings that Lee was insecure and had limited social contacts. Irving
Sokolow, a Youth House psychologist reported that:
The Human Figure Drawings are empty, poor characterizations of persons
approximately the same age as the subject. They reflect a considerable
amount of impoverishment in the social and emotional areas. He appears
to be a somewhat insecure youngster exhibiting much inclination for warm
and satisfying relationships to others. There is some indication that he
may relate to men more easily than to women in view of the more mature
conceptualisation. He appears slightly withdrawn and in view of the lack
of detail within the drawings this may assume a more significant
characteristic. He exhibits some difficulty in relationship to the
maternal figure suggesting more anxiety in this area than in any
other.66
Lee scored an IQ of 118 on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children.
According to Sokolow, this indicated a "present intellectual functioning
in the upper range of bright normal intelligence." 67 Sokolow said that
although Lee was "presumably disinterested in school subjects he
operates on a much higher than average level." 68 On the Monroe Silent
Reading Test, Lee's score indicated no retardation in reading speed and
comprehension; he had better than average ability in arithmetical
reasoning for his age group. 69
Lee told Carro, his probation officer, that he liked to be by himself
because he had too much difficulty in making friends. 70 The reports of
Carro and Mrs. Siegel also indicate an ambivalent attitude toward
authority on Oswald's part. Carro reported that Lee was disruptive in
class after he returned to school on a regular basis in the fall of
1953. He had refused to salute the flag and was doing very little, if
any, work. It appears that he did not want to do any of the things which
the authorities suggested in their efforts to bring him out of the shell
into which he appeared to be retreating.71 He told Mrs. Siegel that he
would run away if sent to a boarding school. On the other hand he also
told her that he wished his mother had been more firm with him in her
attempts to get him to return to school. 72
The reports of the New York authorities indicate that Lee's mother gave
him very little affection and did not serve as any sort of substitute
for a father. Furthermore she did not appear to understand her own
relationship to Lee's psychological problems. After her interview with
Mrs. Oswald, Mrs. Siegel described her as a smartly dressed, gray haired
woman, very self-possessed and alert and superficially affable," but
essentially a "defensive, rigid, self-involved person who had real
difficulty in accepting and relating to people" and who had "little
understanding" of Lee's behavior and of the "protective shell he has
drawn around himself." 73 Dr. Hartogs reported that Mrs. Oswald did not
understand that Lee's withdrawal was a form of "violent but silent
protest against his neglect by her and represents his reac-
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tion to a complete absence of any real family life." 74 Carro reported
that when questioned about his mother Lee said, "well I've got to live
with her. I guess I love her." 75 It may also be significant that, as
reported by John Pic, "Lee slept with my mother until I joined the
service in 1950. This would make him approximately 10, well, almost 11
years old." 76
The factors in Lee Oswald's personality which were noted by those who
had contact with him in New York indicate that he had great difficulty
in adapting himself to conditions in that city. His usual reaction to
the problems which he encountered there was simply withdrawal. Those
factors indicated a severe inability to enter into relationships with
other people. In view of his experiences when he visited his relatives
in New Orleans in the spring of 1950, and his other solitary habits, Lee
had apparently been experiencing similar problems before going to New
York, and as will be shown below, this failure to adapt to. his
environment was a dominant trait in his later life.
It would be incorrect, however, to believe that those aspects of Lee's
personality which were observed in New York could have led anyone to
predict the outburst of violence which finally occurred. Carro was the
only one of Oswald's three principal observers who recommended that he
be placed in a boy's home or similar institution. 77 But Carro was quite
specific that his recommendation was based primarily on the adverse
factors in Lee's environment--his lack of friends, the apparent
unavailability of any agency assistance and the ineffectualness of his
mother--and not on any particular mental disturbance, in the boy
himself.78 Carro testified that:
There was nothing that would lead me to believe when I saw him at the
age of 12 that them would be seeds of destruction for somebody. I
couldn't in all honesty sincerely say such a thing. 79
Mrs. Siegel concluded her report with the statement that:
Despite his withdrawal, he gives the impression that he is not so
difficult to reach as he appears and patient, prolonged effort in a
sustained relationship with one therapist might bring results. There are
indications that he has suffered serious personality damage but if he
can receive help quickly this might be repaired to some extent.80
Lee Oswald never received that help. Few social agencies even in New
York were equipped to provide the kind of intensive treatment that he
needed, and when one of the city's clinics did find room to handle him,
for some reason the record does not show, advantage was never taken of
the chance afforded to Oswald. When Lee became a disciplinary problem
upon his return to school in the fall of 1953, and when his mother
failed to cooperate in any way with school authorities, authorities were
finally forced to consider placement in a home for boys. Such a
placement was postponed, however, perhaps in part at
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least because Lee's behavior suddenly improved. Before the court took
any action, the Oswalds left New York 81 in January of 1954, and
returned to New Orleans where Lee finished the ninth grade before he
left school to work for a year. 82 Then in October of 1956, he joined
the Marines. 83
Return to New Orleans and Joining the Marine Corps
Page 383
Return to New Orleans and Joining the Marine Corps
After his return to New Orleans Oswald was teased at school because of
the northern accent which he had acquired.84 He concluded that school
had nothing to offer him. 85 His mother exercised little control over
him and thought he could decide for himself whether to go on in
school.86 Neighbors and others who knew him at that time recall an
introverted boy who read a great deal.87 He took walks and visited
museums, and sometimes rode a rented bicycle in the park on Saturday
mornings.88 Mrs. Murret believes that he talked at length with a girl on
the telephone, but no one remembers that he had any dates. 89 A friend,
Edward Voebel, testified that "he was more bashful about girls than
anything else." 90
Several witnesses testified that Lee Oswald was not aggressive. 91 He
was, however, involved in some fights. Once a group of white boys beat
him up for sitting in the Negro section of a bus, which he apparently
did simply out of ignorance. 92 Another time, he fought with two
brothers who claimed that he had picked on the younger of them, 3 years
Oswald's junior. Two days later, "some big guy, probably from a high
school--he looked like a tremendous football player" accosted Oswald on
the way home from school and punched him in the mouth, making his lip
bleed and loosening a tooth. Voebel took Oswald back to the school to
attend to his wounds, and their "mild friendship" stemmed from that
incident.93 Voebel also recalled that Oswald once outlined a plan to cut
the glass in the window of a store on Rampart Street and steal a pistol,
but he was not sure then that Oswald meant to carry out the plan, and in
fact they never did. Voebel said that Oswald "wouldn't start any fights,
but if you wanted to start one with him, he was going to make sure that
he ended it, or you were going to really have one, because he wasn't
going to take anything from anybody." 94 In a space for the names of
"close friends" on the ninth grade personal history record, Oswald first
wrote "Edward Vogel," an obvious misspelling of Voebel's name, and
"Arthor Abear," most likely Arthur Hebert, a classmate who has said that
he did not know Oswald well. Oswald erased those names, however, and
indicated that he had no close friends.95
It has been suggested that this misspelling of names, apparently on a
phonetic basis, was caused by a reading- spelling disability from which
Oswald appeared to suffer.96 Other evidence of the existence of such a
disability is provided by the many other misspellings that appear in
Oswald's writings, portions of which are quoted below.
Sometime during this period, and under circumstances to be discussed
more fully below, Oswald started to read Communist litera-
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ture, which he obtained from the public library.97 One of his fellow
employees, Palmer McBride, stated that Oswald said he would like to kill
President Eisenhower because he was exploiting the working class. 98
Oswald praised Khrushchev and suggested that he and McBride join the
Communist Party "to take advantage of their social functions." 99 Oswald
also became interested in the New Orleans Amateur Astronomy Association,
an organization of high school students. The association's then
president, William E. Wulf, testified that he remembered an occasion
when Oswald
* * * started expounding the Communist doctrine and saying that he was
highly interested in communism, that communism was the only way of life
for the worker, et cetera, and then came out with a statement that he
was looking for a Communist cell in town to join but he couldn't find
any. He was a little dismayed at this, and he said that he couldn't find
any that would show any interest in him as a Communist, and
subsequently, after this conversation, my father came in and we were
kind of arguing back and forth about the situation, and my father came
in the room, heard what we were arguing on communism, and that this boy
was loud-mouthed, boisterous, and my father asked him to leave the house
and politely put him out of the house, and that is the last I have seen
or spoken with Oswald. 100
Despite this apparent interest in communism, Oswald tried to join the
Marines when he was 16 years old.101 This was 1 year before his actual
enlistment and just a little over 2.5 years after he left New York. He
wrote a note in his mother's name to school authorities in New Orleans
saying that he was leaving school because he and his mother were moving
to San Diego. In fact, he had quit school in an attempt to obtain his
mother's assistance to join the Marines.102 While he apparently was able
to induce his mother to make a false statement about his age he was
nevertheless unable to convince the proper authorities that he was
really 17 years old.103 There is evidence that Oswald was greatly
influenced in his decision to join the Marines by the fact that his
brother Robert had done so approximately 3 years before. 104 Robert
Oswald had given his Marine Corps manual to his brother Lee, who studied
it during the year following his unsuccessful attempt to enlist until
"He knew it by heart." 105 According to Marguerite Oswald, "Lee lived
for the time that he would become 17 years old to join the Marines--that
whole year." 106 In John Pic's view, Oswald was motivated to join the
Marines in large part by a desire "to get from out and under * * * the
yoke of oppression from my mother." 107
Oswald's inability or lack of desire to enter into meaningful
relationships with other people continued during this period in New
Orleans (1954-56). 108 It probably contributed greatly to the general
dissatisfaction which he exhibited with his environment, a
dissatisfaction which seemed to find expression at this particular point
in his
Page 385
intense desire to join the Marines and get away from his Surroundings
and his mother. His study of Communist literature, which might appear to
be inconsistent with his desire to join the Marines, could have been
another manifestation of Oswald's rejection of his environment.109
His difficulty in relating to other people and his general
dissatisfaction with the world around him continued while he was in the
Marine Corps. Kerry Thornley, a marine associate, who, shortly after
Oswald's defection, wrote an as yet unpublished novel based in
considerable part on Oswald's life, testified that "definitely the
Marine Corps was not what he had expected it to be when he joined." He
said that Oswald "seemed to guard against developing real close
friendships." 110 Daniel Powers, another marine who was stationed with
Oswald for part of his marine career, testified that Oswald seemed
"always [to be] striving for a relationship, but whenever he did * * *
his general personality would alienate the group against him." m Other
marines also testified that Oswald had few friends and kept very much to
himself. 112
While there is nothing in Oswald's military records to indicate that he
was mentally unstable or otherwise psychologically unfit for duty in the
Marine Corps, 113 he did not adjust well to conditions which he found in
that service. 114 He did not rise above the rank of private first class,
even though he had passed a qualifying examination for the rank of
corporal.115 His Marine career was not helped by his attitude that he
was a man of great ability and intelligence and that many of his
superiors in the Marine Corps were not sufficiently competent to give
him orders.116 While Oswald did not seem to object to authority in the
abstract, he did think that he should be the one to exercise it. John E.
Donovan, one of his former officers, testified that Oswald thought "that
authority, particularly the Marine Corps, ought to be able to recognize
talent such as his own, without a given magic college degree, and put
them in positions of prominence? 117 Oswald manifested this feeling
about authority by baiting his officers. He led them into discussions of
foreign affairs about which they often knew less than he did, since he
had apparently devoted considerable time to a study of such matters.118
When the officers were unable to discuss foreign affairs satisfactorily
with him, Oswald regarded them as unfit to exercise command over him.119
Nelson Delgado, one of Oswald's fellow Marines, testified that Oswald
tried to "cut up anybody that was high ranking" in those arguments "and
make himself come out top dog.". 120 Oswald probably engaged his
superiors in arguments on a subject that he had studied in an attempt to
attract attention to himself and to support his exaggerated idea of his
own abilities.
Thornley also testified that he thought that Oswald's extreme personal
sloppiness in the Marine Corps "fitted into a general personality
pattern of his: to do whatever was not wanted of him, a recalcitrant
trend in his personality." 121 Oswald "seemed to be a person who would
go out of his way to get into trouble" 122 and then used the "special
treatment" he received as an example of the way in which
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he was being picked on and "as a means of getting or attempting to get
sympathy." 123 In Thornley's view, Oswald labored under a persecution
complex which he strove to maintain and '"felt the Marine Corps kept a
pretty close watch on him because of his 'subversive' activities."
Thornley added: "I think it was kind of necessary to him to believe that
he was being picked on. It wasn't anything extreme. I wouldn't go as far
as to call it, call him a paranoid, but a definite tendency there was in
that direction, I think." 124
Powers considered Oswald to be meek and easily led,125 an "individual
that you would brainwash, and quite easy * * * [but] I think once he
believed in something * * * he stood in his beliefs." 126 Powers also
testified that Oswald was reserved and seemed to be "somewhat the frail,
little puppy in the litter." 127 He had the nickname "Ozzie Rabbit." 128
Oswald read a good deal, said Powers, but "he would never be reading any
of the shoot-em-up westerns or anything like that. Normally, it would be
a good type of literature; and the one that I recall was 'Leaves of
Grass,' by Wait Whitman." 129 According to Powers, Oswald said: "All the
Marine Corps did was to teach you to kill' and after you got out of the
Marines you might be good gangsters." 130 Powers believed that when
Oswald arrived in Japan he acquired a girlfriend, "finally attaining a
male status or image in his own eyes." 131 That apparently caused Oswald
to become more self-confident, aggressive and even somewhat pugnacious,
although Powers "wouldn't say that this guy is a troublemaker." 132
Powers said "now he was Oswald the man rather than Oswald the rabbit."
133 Oswald once told Powers that he didn't care if he returned to the
United States at all. 134
While in Japan, Oswald's new found apparent self confidence and
pugnaciousness led to an incident in which he spilled a drink on one of
his sergeants and abusively challenged him to right.135 At the
court-martial hearing which followed, Oswald admitted that he had been
rather drunk when the incident occurred. He testified that he had felt
the sergeant had a grudge against him and that he had unsuccessfully
sought a transfer from the sergeant's unit. He said that he had simply
wanted to discuss the question with the sergeant and the drink had been
spilled accidentally. The hearing officer agreed with the latter claim
but found Oswald guilty of wrongfully using provoking words and
sentenced him to 28 days, canceling the suspension of a 20-day sentence
that Oswald had received in an earlier court-martial for possessing an
unauthorized pistol with which he had accidentally shot himself.136
At his own request, Oswald was transferred from active duty to the
Marine Corps Reserve under honorable conditions in September of 1959, 3
months prior to his regularly scheduled separation date, 137 ostensibly
to care for his mother who had been injured in an accident at her
work.138 He was undesirably discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve, to
which he had been assigned on inactive status following his transfer
from active duty, after it was learned that he had
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defected to the Soviet Union.139 In an attempt to have this discharge
reversed, Oswald wrote to then Secretary of the Navy Connally on January
30, 1962, stating that he would "employ all means to right this gross
mistake or injustice."
Governor Connally had just resigned to run for Governor of Texas, so he
advised Oswald that he had forwarded the letter to his successor.141 It
is thus clear that Oswald knew that Governor Connally was never directly
concerned with his discharge and he must have known that President
Kennedy had had nothing to do with it. In that connection, it does not
appear that Oswald ever expressed any dissatisfaction of any kind with
either the President or Governor Connally.142 Marina Oswald testified
that she "had never heard anything bad about Kennedy from Lee. And he
never had anything against him." 143 Mrs. Oswald said that her husband
did not say anything about Governor Connally after his return to the
United States. She testified: "But while we were in Russia he spoke well
of him. * * * Lee said that when he would return to the United States he
would vote for him [for Governor]." 144 Oswald must have already learned
that the Governor could not help him with his discharge because he was
no longer Secretary of the Navy, at the time he made that remark.
Even though Oswald apparently did not express any hostility against the
President or Governor Connally, he continued to be concerned about his
undesirable discharge.145 It is clear that he thought he had been
unjustly treated. Probably his complaint was due to the fact that his
discharge was not related to anything he had done while on active duty
and also because he had not received any notice of the original
discharge proceedings, since his whereabouts were not known.146 He
continued his efforts to reverse the discharge by petitioning the Navy
Discharge Review Board, which finally declined to modify the discharge
and so advised him in a letter dated July 1963.147
Governor Connally's connection with the discharge, although indirect,
caused the Commission to consider whether he might have been Oswald's
real target. In that connection, it should be noted that Marina Oswald
testified on September 6, 1964, that she thought her husband "was
shooting at Connally rather than President Kennedy." In support of her
conclusion Mrs. Oswald noted her husband's undesirable discharge and
that she could not think of any reason why Oswald would want to kill
President Kennedy.148 It should be noted, however, that at the time
Oswald fired the shots at the Presidential limousine the Governor
occupied the seat in front of the President, and it would have been
almost impossible for Oswald to have hit the Governor without hitting
the President first. Oswald could have shot the Governor as the car
approached the Depository or as it was making the turn onto Elm Street.
Once it had started down Elm Street toward the Triple Underpass,
however, the President almost completely blocked Oswald's view of the
Governor prior to the time the first shot struck the President.150
Furthermore, Oswald would have had other and more favorable
opportunities to strike at the Governor than on this occasion
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when, as a member of the President's party, he had more protection than
usual. It would appear, therefore, that to the extent Oswald's
undesirable discharge affected his motivation, it was more in terms of a
general hostility against the government and its representatives rather
than a grudge against any particular person.
Interest in Marxism
Page 388
Interest in Marxism
As indicated above, Oswald started to read Communist literature after he
and his mother left New York and moved to New Orleans.151 He told Aline
Mosby, a reporter who interviewed him after he arrived in Moscow:
I'm a Marxist, * * * I became interested about the age of 15. From an
ideological viewpoint. An old lady handed me a pamphlet about saving the
Rosenbergs. * * * I looked at that paper and I still remember it for
some reason, I don't know why.152
Oswald studied Marxism after he joined the Marines and his sympathies in
that direction and for the Soviet Union appear to have been widely
known, at least in the unit to which he was assigned after his return
from the Far East. His interest in Russia led some of his associates to
call him "comrade" 153 or "Oswaldskovitch." 154 He always wanted to play
the red pieces in chess because, as he said in an apparently humorous
context, he preferred the "Red Army." 155 He studied the Russian
language,156 read a Russian language newspaper 157 and seemed interested
in what was going on in the Soviet Union.158 Thornley, who thought
Oswald had an "irrevocable conviction" that his Marxist beliefs were
correct, testified:
I think you could sit down and argue with him for a number of years * *
* and I don't think you could have changed his mind on that unless you
knew why he believed it in the first place. I certainly don't. I don't
think with any kind of formal argument you could have shaken that
conviction. And that is why I say irrevocable. It was just--never
getting back to looking at things from any other way once he had become
a Marxist, whenever that was.159
Thornley also testified about an incident which grew out of a
combination of Oswald's known Marxist sympathies and George Orwell's
book "1984," one of Oswald's favorite books which Thornley read at
Oswald's suggestion. Shortly after Thornley finished reading that book
the Marine unit to which both men were assigned was required to take
part in a Saturday morning parade in honor of some retiring
noncommissioned officers, an event which they both approached with
little enthusiasm. While waiting for the parade to start they talked
briefly about "1984" even though Oswald seemed to be lost in his own
thoughts. After a brief period of silence Os-
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wald remarked on the stupidity of the parade and on how angry it made
him, to which Thornley replied: "Well, comes the revolution you will
change all that." Thornley testified:
At which time he looked at me like a betrayed Caesar and screamed,
screamed definitely, "Not you, too, Thornley." And I remember his voice
cracked as he said this. He was definitely disturbed at what I had said
and I didn't really think I had said that much. * * * I never said
anything to him again and he never said anything to me again.160
Thornley said that he had made his remark only in the context of "1984"
and had not intended any criticism of Oswald's political views which is
the way in which, Thornley thought, Oswald took his remarks.161
Lieutenant Donovan testified that Oswald thought that "there were many
grave injustices concerning the affairs in the international situation."
He recalled that Oswald had a specific interest in Latin America,
particularly Cuba, and expressed opposition to the Batista regime and
sympathy for Castro, an attitude which, Donovan said, was "not * * *
unpopular" at that time. Donovan testified that he never heard Oswald
express a desire personally to take part in the elimination of
injustices anywhere in the world and that he "never heard him in any
way, shape or form confess that he was a Communist, or that he ever
thought about being a Communist." 162 Delgado testified that Oswald was
"a complete believer that our way of government was not quite right" and
believed that our Government did not have "too much to offer," but was
not in favor of "the Communist way of life." Delgado and Oswald talked
more about Cuba than Russia, and sometimes imagined themselves as
leaders in the Cuban Army or Government, who might "lead an expedition
to some of these other islands and free them too." 163
Thornley also believed that Oswald's Marxist beliefs led to an
extraordinary view of history under which:
He looked upon the eyes of future people as some kind of tribunal, and
he wanted to be on the winning side so that 10,000 years from-now people
would look in the history books and say, "Well, this man was ahead of
his time." * * * The eyes of the future became * * the eyes of God. * *
* He was concerned with his image in history and I do think that is why
he chose * * * the particular method [of defecting] he chose and did it
in the way he did. It got him in the newspapers. It did broadcast his
name out.164
Thornley thought that Oswald not only wanted a place in history but also
wanted to live comfortably in the present. He testified that if Oswald
could not have that "degree of physical comfort that he expected or
sought, I think he would then throw himself entirely on the other thing
he also wanted, which was the image in history. * * *
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I think he wanted both if he could have them. If he didn't, he wanted to
die with the knowledge that, or with the idea that he was somebody." 165
Oswald's interest in Marxism led some people to avoid him, even though
as his wife suggested, that interest may have been motivated by a desire
to gain attention.166 He used his Marxist. and associated activities as
excuses for his difficulties in getting along in the world, which were
usually caused by entirely different factors. His use of those excuses
to present himself to the world as a person who was being unfairly
treated is shown most clearly by his employment relations after his
return from the Soviet Union. Of course, he made his real problems worse
to the extent that his use of those excuses prevented him from
discovering the real reasons for and attempting to overcome his
difficulties. Of greater importance, Oswald's commitment to Marxism
contributed to the decisions which led him to defect to the Soviet Union
in 1959, and later to engage in activities on behalf of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee in the summer of 1963, and to attempt to go to Cuba
late in September of that year.
Defection to the Soviet Union
Page 390
Defection to the Soviet Union
After Oswald left the Marine Corps in September of 1959, ostensibly to
care for his mother, he almost immediately left for the Soviet Union
where he attempted to renounce his citizenship. At the age of 19, Oswald
thus committed an act which was the most striking indication he had yet
given of his willingness to act on his beliefs in quite extraordinary
ways.
While his defection resulted in part from Oswald's commitment to
Marxism, it appears that personal and psychological factors were also
involved. On August 17, 1963, Oswald told Mr. William Stuckey, who had
arranged a radio debate on Oswald's activities on behalf of the Fair
Play for Cuba Committee, that while he had begun to read Marx and Engels
at the age of 15,
the conclusive thing that made him decide that Marxism was the answer
was his service in Japan. He said living conditions over there convinced
him something was wrong with the system, and that possibly Marxism was
the answer. He said it was in Japan that he made up his mind to go to
Russia and see for himself how a revolutionary society operates, a
Marxist society.167
On the other hand, at least one person who knew Oswald after his return
thought that his defection had a more personal and psychological
basis.168 The validity of the latter observation is borne out by some of
the things Oswald wrote in connection with his defection indicating that
his motivation was at least in part a personal one. On November 26,
1959, shortly after he arrived in the Soviet Union, and probably before
Soviet authorities had given him permission to stay indefinitely, he
wrote to his brother Robert that the Soviet Union
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was a country which "I have always considered * * * to be my own" and
that he went there "only to find freedom. * * * I could never have been
personally happy in the U.S." 169 He wrote in another letter that he
would "never return to the United States which is a country I hate." 170
His idea that he was to find "freedom" in the Soviet Union was to be
rudely shattered.
Whatever Oswald's reasons for going to the Soviet Union might have been,
however, there can be little doubt that his desire to go was quite
strong. In addition to studying the Russian language while he was in the
Marines, Oswald had managed to save enough money to cover the expenses
of his forthcoming trip. While there is no proof that he saved $1,500,
as he claimed, it would have taken considerable discipline to save
whatever amount was required to finance his defection out of the salary
of a low ranking enlisted man.171
The extent of Oswald's desire to go to the Soviet Union and of his
initial commitment to that country can best be understood, however, in
the context of his concomitant hatred of the United States, which was
most clearly expressed in his November 26, 1959, letter to his brother
Robert. Addressing himself to the question of why "I and my fellow
workers and communist's would like to see the present capitalist
government of the U.S. overthrown" Oswald stated that that government
supported an economic system "which exploits all its workers" and under
which "art, culture and the sprit of man are subjected to commercial
enterpraising, [and] religion and education are used as a tool to
surpress what would otherwise be a population questioning their
government's unfair economic system and plans for war." 172
He complained in his letter about segregation, unemployment, automation,
and the use of military forces to suppress other populations. Asking his
brother why he supported the American Government and what ideals he put
forward, Oswald wrote:
Ask me and I will tell you I fight for communism. * * * I will not say
your grandchildren will live under communism, look for yourself at
history, look at a world map! America is a dicing country, I do not wish
to be a part of it, nor do I ever again wish to be used as a tool in its
military aggressions.
This should answer your question, and also give you a glimpse of my way
of thinking.
So you speak of advantages. Do you think that is why I am here? For
personal, material advantages? Happiness is not based on oneself, it
does not consist of a small home, of taking and getting, Happiness is
taking part in the struggle, where there is no borderline between one's
own personal world, and the world in general. I never believed I would
find more material advantages at this stage of development in the Soviet
Union than I might of had in the U.S.
* * * * *
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I have been a pro-communist for years and yet I have never met a
communist, instead I kept silent and observed, and what I observed plus
my Marxist learning brought me here to the Soviet Union. I have always
considered this country to be my own.173
Responding to Robert's statement that he had not "renounced" him, Oswald
told his brother "on what terms I want this arrangement." He advised
Robert that:
1. In the event of war I would kill any american who put a uniform on in
defense of the american government-- any american.
2. That in my own mind I have no attachment's of any kind in the U.S.
3. That I want to, and I shall, live a normal happy and peaceful life
here in the Soviet Union for the rest of my life.
4. that my mother and you are (in spite of what the newspaper said) not
objects of affection, but only examples of workers in the U. S.
Despite this commitment to the Soviet Union Oswald met disappointments
there just as he had in the past. At the outset the Soviets told him
that he could not remain. It seems that Oswald immediately attempted
suicide--a striking indication of how much he desired to remain in the
Soviet Union.175 It shows how willing he was to act dramatically and
decisively when he faced an emotional crisis with few readily available
alternatives at hand. He was shocked to find that the Soviet Union did
not accept him with open arms. The entry in his self-styled "Historic
Diary" for October 21, 1959, reports:
I am shocked ! ! My dreams! * * * I have waited for 2 year to be
accepted. My fondes dreams are shattered because of a petty official, *
* * I decide to end it. Soak fist in cold water to numb the pain, Than
slash my leftwrist. Than plaug wrist into bathtub of hot water. * * *
Somewhere, a violin plays, as I watch my life whirl away. I think to
myself "How easy to Die" and "A Sweet Death, (to violins) * * * 176
Oswald was discovered in time to thwart his attempt at suicide. 177 He
was taken to a hospital in Moscow where he was kept until October 28,
1959.178
Still intent, however, on staying in the Soviet Union, Oswald went on
October 31, to the American Embassy to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
Mr. Richard E. Snyder, then Second Secretary and senior consular
official at the Embassy, testified that Oswald was extremely sure of
himself and seemed "to know what his mission was. He took charge, in a
sense, of the conversation right from the beginning." He presented the
following signed note:
I Lee Harvey Oswald do hereby request that my present citizenship in the
United States of America, be revoked.
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I have entered the Soviet Union for the express purpose of applying for
citizenship in the Soviet Union, through the means of naturalization.
My request for citizenship is now pending before the Surprem Soviet of
the U.S.S.R..
I take these steps for political reasons. My request for the revoking of
my American citizenship is made only after the longest and most serious
considerations.
I affirm that my allegiance is to the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.180 (See Commission Exhibit 913, p. 261.)
As his "principal reason" for renouncing his citizenship Oswald stated:
"I am a Marxist." 181 He also alluded to hardships endured by his mother
as a worker, referring to them as experiences that he did not intend to
have himself,182 even though he stated that he had never held a civilian
job.183 He said that his Marine service in Okinawa and elsewhere had
given him "a chance to observe 'American imperialism.'" but he also
displayed some sensitivity at not having reached a higher rank in the
Marine Corps.184 He stated that he had volunteered to give Soviet
officials any information that he had concerning Marine Corps
operations,185 and intimated that he might know something of special
interest.186 Oswald's "Historic Diary" describes the event in part as
follows:
I leave Embassy, elated at this showdown, returning to my hotel I feel
now my enorgies are not spent in vain. I'm sure Russians will except me
after this sign of my faith in them.187
The Soviet authorities finally permitted Oswald to remain in their
country.188 No evidence has been found that they used him for any
particular propaganda or other political or informational purposes. They
sent him to Minsk to work in a radio and television factory as a metal
worker.189 The Soviet authorities denied Oswald permission to attend a
university in Moscow,190 but they gave him a monthly allowance of 700
rubles a month (old exchange rate)191 in addition to his factory salary
of approximately equal amount192 and considerably better living quarters
than those accorded to Soviet citizens of equal age and station.193 The
subsidy, apparently similar to those sometimes given to foreigners
allowed to remain in the Soviet Union, together with his salary, gave
Oswald an income which he said approximated that of the director of the
factory in which he worked.194
Even though he received more money and better living quarters than other
Russians doing similar work, he envied his wife's uncle, a colonel in
the MVD, because of the larger apartment in which he lived. Reminiscent
of his attitude toward his superiors in the Marine Corps, Oswald
apparently resented the exercise of authority over him and the better
treatment afforded to Communist Party officials.195 After he returned to
the United States he took the position that the Communist Party
officials in the Soviet Union were opportunists who
393
730-900 0-64--27
Page 394
were betraying their positions for personal gain. He is reported to have
expressed the conclusion that they had "fat stinking politicians over
there just like we have over here." 196
Oswald apparently continued to have personal difficulties while he was
in Minsk. Although Marina Oswald told the Commission that her husband
had good personal relationships in the Soviet Union,197 Katherine Ford,
one of the members of the Russian community in Dallas with which the
Oswalds became acquainted upon their arrival in the United States,
stated that Mrs. Oswald told her everybody in Russia "hated him." 198
Jeanne De Mohrenschildt, another member of that group, said that Oswald
told her that he had returned because "I didn't find what I was looking
for." 199 George De Mohrenschildt thought that Oswald must have become
disgusted with life in the Soviet Union as the novelty of the presence
of an American wore off and he began to be less the center of
attention.200
The best description of Oswald's state of mind, however, is set forth in
his own "Historic Diary." Under the entry for May 1, 1960, he noted that
one of his acquaintances "relats many things I do not know about the
U.S.S.R.. I begin to feel uneasy inside, its true!" 201 Under the entry
for August-September of that year he wrote:
As my Russian improves I become increasingly conscious of just what sort
of a society I live in. Mass gymnastics, complusory afterwork meeting,
usually political information meeting. Complusory attendance at lectures
and the sending of the entire shop collective (except me) to pick
potatoes on a Sunday, at a state collective farm: A "patroict duty" to
bring in the harvest. The opions of the workers (unvoiced) are that its
a great pain in the neck: they don't seem to be esspicialy enthusiastic
about any of the "collective" duties a natural feeling. I am
increasingly aware of the presence, in all thing, of Lebizen, shop party
secretary, fat, fortyish, and jovial on the outside. He is a no-nonsense
party regular.202
Finally, the entry of January 4-31 of 1961:
I am stating to reconsider my disire about staying the work is drab the
money I get has nowhere to be spent. No night clubs or bowling allys no
places of recreation acept the trade union dances I have have had
enough.203
Shortly thereafter, less than 18 months after his defection, about 6
weeks before he met Marina Prusakova, Oswald opened negotiations with
the U.S. Embassy in Moscow looking toward his return to the United
States.204
Return to the United States
Page 394
Return to the United States
In view of the intensity of his earlier commitment to the Soviet Union,
a great change must have occurred in Oswald's thinking to
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induce him to return to the United States. The psychological effects of
that change must have been highly unsettling. It should be remembered
that he was not yet 20 years old when he went to the Soviet Union with
such high hopes and not quite 23 when he returned bitterly disappointed.
His attempt to renounce his citizenship had been an open expression of
hostility against the United States and a profound rejection of his
early life. The dramatic break with society in America now had to be
undone. His return to the United States publicly testified to the utter
failure of what had been the most important act of his life.
Marina Oswald confirmed the fact that her husband was experiencing
psychological difficulties at the time of his return. She said that
"immediately after coming to the United States Lee changed. I did not
know him as such a man in Russia." 205 She added that while he helped
her as he had done before, he became more of a recluse, that "[he] was
very irritable, sometimes for a trifle" and that "Lee was very
unrestrained and very explosive" during the period from November 19,
1962 to March of 1963.206
After the assassination she wrote that:
In general, our family life began to deteriorate after we arrived in
America. Lee was always hot-tempered, and now this trait of character
more and more prevented us from living together in harmony. Lee became
very irritable, and sometimes some completely trivial thing would drive
him into a rage. I myself do not have a particularly quiet disposition,
but I had to change my character a great deal in order to maintain a
more or less peaceful family life.207
Marina Oswald's judgment of her husband's state of mind may be
substantiated by comparing material which he wrote in the Soviet Union
with what he wrote while on the way back to the United States and after
his return. While in the Soviet Union he wrote his longest and clearest
piece of work, "The Collective." This was a fairly coherent description
of life in that country, basically centered around the radio and
television factory in which he worked.208 While it was apparently
intended for publication in the United States, and is in many respects
critical of certain aspects of life in the Soviet Union, it appears to
be the work of a fairly well organized person. Oswald prefaced his
manuscript with a short autobiographical sketch which reads in part as
follows:
Lee Harvey Oswald was born in Oct 1939 in New Orleans La. the son of a
Insuraen Salesmen whose early death left a far mean streak of indepence
brought on by negleck. entering the US Marine corp at 17 this streak of
independence was strengthed by exotic journeys to Japan the Philipines
and the scores of odd Islands in the Pacific immianly after serving out
his 3 years
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PHOTOGRAPHS OF LEE HARVEY
OSWALD TAKEN IN MINSK
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2891
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2892*
PHOTOGRAPH OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD
TAKEN AFTER HIS RETURN FROM THE SOVIET UNION
(COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2788)
396
Page 397
in the USMC he abonded his american life to seek a new life in the USSR.
full of optimism and hope he stood in red square in the fall of 1959
vowing to see his chosen course through, after, however, two years and
alot of growing up I decided to return to the USA. * * * 209
"The Collective" contrasts sharply with material which Oswald seems to
have written after he left the Soviet Union,210 which appears to be more
an expression of his own psychological condition than of a reasoned
analysis. The latter material expresses great hostility to both
communism and capitalism. He wrote, that to a person knowing both of
those systems, "their can be no mediation between those systems as they
exist to-day and that person. He must be opposed to their basic
foundations and representatives" 211
and yet it is imature to take the sort of attitude which says "a curse
on both your houses!" their are two great represenative of power in the
world, simply expressed, the left and right, and their offspring
factions and concers.
any practical attempt at one alternative must have as its nuclus the
triditionall ideological best of both systems, and yet be utterly
opposed to both systems.212
Such an alternative was to be opposed both to capitalism and communism
because:
No man, having known, having lived, under the Russian Communist and
American capitalist system, could possibly make a choice between them,
there is no choice, one offers oppresstion the other poverty. Both offer
imperilistic injustice, tinted with two brands of slavery.213
Oswald actually did attempt to formulate such an alternative 214 which
he planned to "put forward" himself.215 He thought the new alternative
would have its best chance to be accepted after "conflict between the
two world systems leaves the world country without defense or foundation
of government,"216 after which the survivors would "seek a alturnative
opposed to those systems which have brough them misery." 217 Oswald
realized that "their thinking and education will be steeped in the
traiditions of those systems [and] they would never except a 'new order'
complete beyond their understanding." 218 As a result he thought it
would be "neccary to oppose the old systems but at the same time support
their cherised trations." 219
Expanding on his ideas on how his alternative to communism and
capitalism might be introduced, he wrote of a "readily foreseeable * * *
economic, political or military crisis, internal or external, [which]
will bring about the final destrution of the capitalist. system," 220
and indicated that "preparation in a special party could safeguard an
inde-
Page 398
pendant course of action after the debacle," 221 which would achieve the
goal, which was:
The emplacement of a separate, democratic, pure communist sociaty * * *
but one with union-communes, democratic socializing of production and
without regard to the twisting apart of Marxism Marxist Communism by
other powers.222
While "[r]esoufualniss and patient working towards the aforesaid goal's
are prefered rather than loud and useless manifestation's of protest,"
223 Oswald went on to note:
But these prefered tactics now, may prove to be too limited in the near
future, they should not be confused with slowness, indesision or fear,
only the intellectualy fearless could even be remotly attracted too our
doctrine, and yet this doctrine requirers the uptmost utmost restraint,
a state of being in itself majustic in power.224
Oswald's decided rejection of both capitalism and communism seemed to
place him in a situation in which he could not live with satisfaction
either in the United States or in the Soviet Union. The discussion above
has already set forth examples of his expression of hatred for the
United States. He also expressed hatred of the Soviet Union and of the
Communist Party, U.S.A., even though he later referred to the latter as
"trusted long time fighters for progress." 225 He wrote:
The Communist Party of the United States has betrayed itself ! it has
turned itself into the tradional lever of a foreign power to overthrow
the goverment of the United States; not in the name of freedow or high
ideals, but in servile conformity to the wishes of the Soviet Union and
in anticipation of Soviet Russia's complete domination of the American
continent.226
******
There can be no sympathy for those who have turned the idea of communism
into a vill curse to western man.
The Soviets have committed crimes unsurpassed even by their early day
capitalist counterparts, the imprisonment of their own peoples, with the
mass extermination so typical of Stalin, and the individual surpresstion
and regimentation under Krushehev.
The deportations, the purposefull curtailment of diet in the consumer
slighted population of Russia, the murder of history, the prositution of
art and culture.227
A suggestion that Oswald hated more than just capitalism and communism
is provided by the following, which was apparently written either on the
ship coming back, or after his return from the Soviet Union:
398
Page 399
I have often wondered why it is that the communist, anarchist capitatist
and even the fasist and anarchist elements in american, allways profess
patrotistism toward the land and the people, if not the goverment;
although their ideals movements must surly lead to the bitter
destruction of all and everything.
I am quite sure these people must hate not only the goverment but our
the peop culture, traditions, heritage and very people itself, and yet
they stand up and piously pronouce themselfs patriots, displaying their
war medles, that they gained in conflicts long past between themselfs.
I wonder what would happen it somebody was to stand up and say he was
utterly opposed not only to the goverments, but to the people, too the
entire land and complete foundations of his socically.228
Oswald demonstrated his thinking in connection with his return to the
United States by preparing two sets of identical questions of the type
which he might have thought he would be asked at. a press conference
when he returned. With either great ambivalence, or cold calculation he
prepared completely different answers to the same questions. Judged by
his other statements and writings, however, he appears to have indicated
his true feelings in the set of answers first presented and to have
stated in the second what he thought would be least harmful to him as he
resumed life in the United States. For example, in response to his
questions about his decision to go to the Soviet Union, his first draft
answered "as a mark of dicuss and protest against american political
policies in foreign countrys, my personal sign of discontent' and horror
at the misguided line of resoning of the U.S. Goverment." 229 His second
answer was that he "went as a citizen of the U.S. (as a tourist)
residing in a forieng conutry which I have a perfect fight to do. I went
there to see the land, the people and how their system works."
To the question of "Are you a communits?" he first answered "Yes,
basically, allthough I hate the USSR and socialist system I still think
marxism can work under different circumstances." 231 His second answer
to this question was, "No of course not, I have never even know a
communist, outside of the ones in the USSR but you can't help that." 282
His first set of questions and answers indicated his belief that there
were no outstanding differences between the Soviet Union and the United
States, "except in the US, the living standard is a little higher.
freedoms are about the same, medical aid and the educational system in
the USSR is better than in the USA." In the second simulated transcript
which ended with the statement "Newspapers, thank you sir; you are a
real patriot ! !" he apparently concluded that the United States offered
"freedom of speech travel outspoken opposition to unpopular policies
freedom to believe in god," while the Soviet Union did not.234
399
Page 400
Despite the hatred that Oswald expressed toward the Soviet Union after
his residence there, he continued to be interested in that country after
he returned to the United States. Soon after his arrival he wrote to the
Soviet Embassy in Washington requesting information on how to subscribe
to Russian newspapers and magazines and asked for "any periodicals or
bulletins which you may put out for the beneifit of your citizens
living, for a time, in the U.S.A.." 235 Oswald subsequently did
subscribe to several Soviet journals. 236 While Marina Oswald tried to
obtain permission to return to the Soviet Union she testified that she
did so at her husband's insistence.237
In July of 1963, Oswald also requested the Soviet Union to provide a
visa for his return to that country.238 In August of 1968, he gave the
New Orleans police as a reason for refusing to permit his family to
learn English, that ~'he hated America and he did not want them to
become 'Americanized' and that his plans were to go back to Russia." 239
Even though his primary purpose probably was to get to Cuba, he sought
an immediate grant of visa on his trip to Mexico City in late September
of 1963.240 He also inquired about visas for himself and his wife in a
letter which he wrote to the Soviet Embassy in Washington on November 9,
1963.241
Personal Relations
Page 400
Personal Relations
Apart from his relatives, Oswald had no friends or close associates in
Texas when he returned there in June of 1962, and he did not establish
any dose friendships or associations, although it appears that he came
to respect George De Mohrenschildt.242 Somewhat of a nonconformist,243
De Mohrenschildt was a peripheral member of the so-called Russian
community, with which Oswald made contact through Mr. Peter Gregory, a
Russian-speaking petroleum engineer whom Oswald met as a result of his
contact with the Texas Employment Commission office in Fort Worth.244
Some of the members of that group saw a good deal of the Oswalds through
the fall of 1963, and attempted to help Mrs. Oswald particularly, in
various ways.245 In general, Oswald did not like the member's of the
Russian community.246 In fact, his relations with some of them,
particularly George Bouhe, became quite hostile.247 Part of the problem
resulted from the fact that, as Jeanne De Mohrenschildt testified,
Oswald was "very, very disagreeable and disappointed." 248 He also
expressed considerable resentment at the help given to his wife by her
Russian-American friends. Jeanne De Mohrenschildt said:
Marina had a hundred dresses given to her * * * [and] he objected to
that lavish help, because Marina was throwing it into his face.
He was offensive with the people. And I can understand why, * * because
that hurt him. He could never give her what the
400
Page 401
people were showering on her. * * * no matter how hard he worked--and he
worked very hard.249
The relations between Oswald and his wife became such that Bouhe wanted
to "liberate" her from Oswald.250 While the exact sequence of events is
not clear because of conflicting testimony, it appears that De
Mohrenschildt and his wife actually went to Oswald's apartment early in
November of 1962 and helped to move the personal effects of Marina
Oswald and the baby. Even though it appears that they may have left
Oswald a few days before, it seems that he resisted the move as best he
could. He even threatened to tear up his wife's dresses and break all
the baby things. According to De Mohrenschildt, Oswald submitted to the
inevitable, presumably because he was "small, you know, and he was
rather a puny individual." 251 De Mohrenschildt said that the whole
affair made him nervous since he was "interfering in other people's
affairs, after all." 252
Oswald attempted to get his wife to come back and, over Bouhe's protest,
De Mohrenschildt finally told him where she was. De Mohrenschildt
admitted that:
if somebody did that to me, a lousy trick like that, to take my wife
away, and all the furniture, I would be mad as hell, too. I am surprised
that he didn't do something worse.253
After about a 2-week separation, Marina Oswald returned to her
husband.254 Bouhe thoroughly disapproved of this and as a result almost
all communication between the Oswalds and members of the Russian
community ceased. Contacts with De Mohrenschildt and his wife did
continue and they saw the Oswalds occasionally until the spring of
1963.255
Shortly after his return from the Soviet Union, Oswald severed all
relations with his mother; he did not see his brother Robert from
Thanksgiving of 1962 until November 23, 1963.256 At the time of his
defection, Oswald had said that neither his brother, Robert, nor his
mother were objects of his affection, "but only examples of workers in
the U.S." He also indicated to officials at the American Embassy in
Moscow that his defection was motivated at least in part by so-called
exploitation of his mother by the capitalist system.257 Consistent with
this attitude he first told his wife that he did not have a mother, but
later admitted that he did but that "he didn't love her very much." 258
When they arrived from the Soviet Union, Oswald and his family lived at
first with his brother Robert. The latter testified that they "were just
together again," as if his brother "had not been to Russia." He also
said that he and his family got along well with Marina Oswald and
enjoyed showing her American things.259 After about a month with his
brother, Oswald and his family lived for a brief period with his mother
at her urging, but Oswald soon decided
to move out.260
401
Page 402
Marguerite Oswald visited her son and his family at the first apartment
which he rented after his return, and tried to help them get settled
there. After she had bought some clothes for Marina Oswald and a
highchair for the baby, Oswald emphatically told her to stop. As
Marguerite Oswald testified, "he strongly put me in my place about
buying things for his wife that he himself could not buy." 261 Oswald
objected to his mother visiting the apartment and became quite incensed
with his wife when she would open the door for her in spite of his
instructions to the contrary.262 Oswald moved to Dallas on about October
8, 1962, without telling his mother where he was going. He never saw or
communicated with her in any way again until she came to see him after
the assassination.263
Even though Oswald cut off relations with his mother, he attempted for
the first time to learn something about his family background when he
went to New Orleans in April of 1963. He visited some of his father's
elderly relatives and the cemetery where his father was buried in an
effort to develop the facts of his genealogy.264 While it does not
appear that he established any new relationships as a re-suit of his
investigation, he did obtain a large picture of his father from one of
the elderly relatives with whom he spoke.265 Oswald's interest in such
things presents a sharp contrast with his attitude at the time of his
defection, when he evidenced no interest in his father and hardly
mentioned him, even when questioned.266
Employment
Page 402
Employment
Oswald's defection, his interest in the Soviet Union, and his activities
on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee not only caused him
difficulties in his employment relations, but they also provided him
with excuses for employment failures which were largely of his own
making. Oswald experienced some difficulty finding employment. Perhaps
this was partially because of his lack of any specific skill or
training.267 Some of his acquaintances, feeling that Oswald tried to
impress people with the fact that he had lived and worked in Russia,
were led to the belief that his employment difficulties were caused by
his telling prospective employers that he had last been employed in
Minsk.268 While he might have expected difficulty from such an approach,
in fact the evidence indicates that Oswald usually told his prospective
employers and employment counselors that he had recently been discharged
from the Marine Corps.269
Oswald obtained a job in July of 1962 as a sheet metal worker with a
company in Fort Worth. His performance for that company was
satisfactory.270 Even though he told his wife that he had been fired, he
voluntarily left on October 8, 1962, and moved to Dallas.271
On October 9, 1962 he went to the Dallas office of the Texas Employment
Commission where he expressed a reluctance to work in the industrial
field.272 He indicated an interest in writing. An employment counselor
testified, on the basis of a general aptitude test Oswald had taken,
that he had some aptitude in that area, "because the verbal score
402
Page 403
is high and the clerical score is high." 273 While that counselor found
that he was qualified to handle many different types of jobs, because of
his need for immediate employment she attempted to obtain for him any
job that was available at the time. Oswald made qualifying marks in 19
of 23 categories included on the general aptitude examination and scored
127 on the verbal test, as compared with 50 percent of the people taking
it who score less than 100. The counselor testified that there was some
indication that Oswald was capable of doing college work and noted that
Oswald's verbal and clerical potential was "outstanding." 274 Employment
Commission records concerning Oswald stated: "Well-groomed & spoken,
business suit., alert replies--Expresses self extremely well." 275
Oswald said that he hoped eventually to develop qualifications for
employment as a junior executive through a work-study program at a local
college. He indicated, however, that he would have to delay that program
because of his immediate financial needs and responsibilities.276
On October 11, 1962, the Employment Commission referred Oswald to a
commercial advertising photography firm in Dallas,277 where he was
employed as a trainee starting October 12, 1962.278 Even though Oswald
indicated that he liked photographic work,279 his employer found that he
was not an efficient worker. He was not able to produce photographic
work which adhered with sufficient precision to the job specifications
and as a result too much of his work had to be redone.280 He also had
difficulty in working with the other employees. This was at least in
part because of the close physical confines in which some of the work
had to be done.281 He did not seem to be able to make the accommodations
necessary when people work under such conditions and as a result became
involved in conflicts, some of which were fairly heated, with his fellow
employees.282
In February or March of 1963, it began to appear that Oswald was having.
considerable difficulty doing accurate work and in getting along with
the other employees. It appears that his discharge was hastened by the
fact that he brought a Russian language newspaper to work.283 It is not
possible to tell whether Oswald did this to pro.- vide an excuse for his
eventual discharge, or whether he brought the Russian language newspaper
with him one day after his other difficulties became clear. It is
possible that his immediate supervisor noticed the newspaper at that
time because his attention had otherwise been drawn more directly to
Oswald. In any event, Oswald was discharged on April 6, 1963, ostensibly
because of his inefficiency and difficult personality. His supervisor
admitted, however, that while he did not fire Oswald because of the
newspaper incident or even weigh it heavily in his decision, "it didn't
do his case any good." 284
Upon moving to New Orleans on April 24, 1963, Oswald's employ-merit
problems became more difficult. He left his wife and child at the home
of a friend, Mrs. Ruth Paine, of Irving, Tex.285 In New Orleans he
obtained work as a greaser and oiler of coffee processing machines for
the William B. Reily Co., beginning May 10, 1963.286
403
Page 404
After securing this job and an apartment, Oswald asked his wife to join
him. Mrs. Paine brought Oswald's family to New Orleans.287 Refusing to
admit that he could only get work as a greaser, Oswald told his wife and
Mrs. Paine that he was working as a commercial photographer.288 He lost
his job on July 19, 1963, because his work was not satisfactory 289 and
because he spent too much time loitering in the garage next door, where
he read rifle and hunting magazines.290 Oswald apparently concluded that
his Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities were not related to his
discharge.291 The correct-ness of that conclusion is supported by the
fact that he does not seem to have been publicly identified with that
organization until August 9, 1963, almost a month after he lost his
job.292
His Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities, however, made it more
difficult for him to obtain other employment. A placement interviewer of
the Louisiana Department of Labor who had previously interviewed Oswald,
saw him on television and heard a radio debate in which he engaged on
August 21, 1963. He consulted with his supervisor and "it was determined
that we should not undertake to furnish employment references for him."
293 Ironically, he failed to get a job in another photographic firm
after his return to Dallas in October of 1963, because the president of
the photographic firm for which he had previously worked told the
prospective employer that Oswald was "kinda peculiar sometimes and that
he had some knowledge of the Russian language," and that he "may be a
damn Communist. I can't tell you. If I was you, I wouldn't hire him."
294 The plant superintendent of the new firm testified that, one of the
employees of the old firm "implied that Oswald's fellow employees did
not like him because he was propagandizing and had been seen reading a
foreign newspaper." As a result Oswald was not hired.295 He subsequently
found a job with the Texas School Book Depository for which he performed
his duties satisfactorily.296
Attack on General Walker
Page 404
Attack on General Walker
The Commission has concluded that on April 10, 1963, Oswald shot at Maj.
Gen. Edwin A. Walker (Resigned, U.S. Army), demonstrating once again his
propensity to act dramatically and, in this instance violently, in
furtherance of his beliefs. The shooting occurred 2 weeks before Oswald
moved to New Orleans and a few days after he had been discharged by the
photographic firm. As indicated in chapter IV, Oswald had been planning
his attack on General Walker for at least 1297 and perhaps as much as 2
months.298 He outlined his plans in a notebook and studied them at
considerable length before his attack.299 He also studied Dallas bus
schedules to prepare for his later use of buses to travel to and from
General Walker's house.300 Sometime after March 27, but according to
Marina Oswald, prior to April 10, 1963,301 Oswald posed for two pictures
with his recently acquired rifle and pistol, a copy of the March 24,
1963, issue of the Worker, and the March 11, 1963, issue of the
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Page 405
Militant.302 He told his wife that he wanted to send the pictures to the
Militant and he also asked her to keep one of the pictures for his
daughter, June.303
Following his unsuccessful attack on Walker, Oswald returned home. He
had left a note for his wife telling her what to do in case he were
apprehended, as well as his notebook and the pictures of himself holding
the rifle.304 She testified that she was agitated because she had found
the note in Oswald's room, where she had gone, contrary to his
instructions, after she became, worried about his absence.305 She
indicated that she had no advance knowledge of Oswald's plans, that she
became quite angry when Oswald told her what he had done, and that she
made him promise never to repeat such a performance. She said that she
kept the note to use against him "if something like that should be
repeated again." 306 When asked if Oswald requested the note back she
testified that:
He forgot about it. But apparently after he thought that what he had
written in his book might be proof against him, and he destroyed it.
[the book] 307
She later gave the following testimony [*indicates that the witness
answered without using the interpreter]:
Q. After he brought the rifle home, then, he showed you the book?
*A. Yes.
Q. And you said it was not a good idea to keep this book ?
*A. Yes.
Q. And then he burned the book ?
*A. Yes.
Q. Did you ask him why he had not destroyed the book before he actually
went to shoot General Walker ?.
A. It never came to me, myself, to ask him that question.308
Marina Oswald's testimony indicates that her husband was not
particularly concerned about his continued possession of the most
incriminating sort of evidence.309 If he had been successful and had
been apprehended even for routine questioning, his apartment would
undoubtedly have been searched, and his role would have been made clear
by the evidence which he had left behind. Leaving the note and picture
as he did would seem to indicate that he had considered the possibility
of capture. Possibly he might have wanted to be caught, and wanted his
involvement made clear if he was in fact apprehended. Even after his
wife told him to destroy the notebook he removed at least some of the
pictures which had been pasted in it and saved them among his effects,
where they were found after the assassination.310 His behavior was
entirely consistent with his wife's testimony that:
Page 406
I asked him what for he was making all these entries in the book and he
answered that he wanted to leave a complete record so that all the
details would be in it.
I am guessing that perhaps he did it to appear to be a brave man in case
he were arrested, but that is my supposition. * * * 311
The attempt on General Walker's life deserves close attention in any
consideration of Oswald's possible motive for the assassination and the
trail of evidence he left behind him on that occasion. While there are
differences between the two events as far as Oswald's actions and
planning are concerned, there are also similarities that should be
considered. The items which Oswald left at home when he made his attack
on Walker suggest a strong concern for his place in history. If the
attack had succeeded and Oswald had been caught, the pictures showing
him with his rifle and his Communist and Socialist Worker's Party
newspapers would probably have appeared on the front pages of newspapers
or magazines all over the country, as, in fact, one of them did appear
after the assassination.312 The circumstances of the attack on Walker
coupled with other indications that Oswald was concerned about his place
in history 313 and with the circumstances surrounding the assassination,
have led the Commission to believe that such concern is an important
factor to consider in assessing possible motivation for the
assassination.
In any event, the Walker incident indicates that in spite of the belief
among those who knew him that he was apparently not dangerous,314 Oswald
did not lack the determination and other traits required to carry out a
carefully planned killing of another human being and was willing to
consummate such a purpose if he thought there was sufficient reason to
do so. Some idea of what he thought was sufficient reason for such an
act may be found in the nature of the motive that he stated for his
attack on General Walker. Marina Oswald indicated that her husband had
compared General Walker to Adolph Hitler. She testified that Oswald said
that General Walker "was a very bad man, that he was a fascist, that he
was the leader of a fascist organization, and when I said that even
though all of that might be true, just the same he had no right to take
his life, he said if someone had killed Hitler in time it would have
saved many lives." 315
Political Activities
Page 406
Political Activities
Oswald's political activities after his return to the United States
center around his interest in Cuba and in the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee. Although, as indicated above, the Commission has been unable
to find any credible evidence that he was involved in any conspiracy,
his political activities do provide insight into certain aspects of
Oswald's character and into his possible motivation for the
assassination. While it appears that he may have distributed
Page 407
Fair Play for Cuba Committee materials on one uneventful occasion in
Dallas sometime during the period April 6-24, 1963,316 Oswald's first
public identification with that cause was in New Orleans. There, in late
May and early June of 1963, under the name Lee Osborne, he had printed a
handbill headed in large letters "Hands Off Cuba," an application form
for, and a membership card in, the New Orleans branch of the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee.317 He first distributed his handbills and other
material uneventfully in the vicinity of the U.S.S. Wasp, which was
berthed at the Dumaine Street wharf in New Orleans, on June 16, 1963.318
He distributed literature in downtown New Orleans on August 9, 1963, and
was arrested because of a dispute with three anti-Castro Cuban exiles,
and again on August 16, 1963.319 Following his arrest, he was
interviewed by the police, and at his own request, by an agent of the
FBI.320 On August 17, 1963, he appeared briefly on a radio program a and
on August 21, 1963, he debated over radio station WDSU, New Orleans,
with Carlos Bringuier, one of the Cuban exiles who bad been arrested
with him on August 9.322 Bringuier claimed that on August 5, 1963,
Oswald had attempted to infiltrate an anti-Castro organization with
which he was associated.323
While Oswald publicly engaged in the activities described above, his
"organization" was a product of his imagination.324 The imaginary
president of the nonexistent chapter was named A. J. Hidell,325 the name
that Oswald used when he purchased the assassination weapon.326 Marina
Oswald said she signed that name, apparently chosen because it rhymed
with "Fidel," 327 to her husband's membership card in the New Orleans
chapter. She testified that he threatened to beat her if she did not do
so.328 The chapter had never been chartered by the national FPCC
organization.329 It appears to have been a solitary operation on
Oswald's part in spite of his misstatements to the New Orleans police
that it had 35 members, 5 of which were usually present at meetings
which were held once a month.330
Oswald's Fair Play for Cuba activities may be viewed as a very shrewd
political operation in which one man single handedly created publicity
for his cause or for himself. It is also evidence of Oswald's reluctance
to describe events accurately and of his need to present himself to
others as well as to himself in a light more favorable than was
justified by reality. This is suggested by his misleading and sometime
untruthful statements in his letters to Mr. V. T. Lee, then national
director of FPCC. In one of those letters, dated August 1. 1963, Oswald
wrote that an office which he had previously claimed to have rented for
FPCC activities had been "promply closed 3 days later for some obsure
reasons by the renters, they said something about remodeling ect., I'm
sure you understand." 331 He wrote that "thousands of circulars were
distrubed" 332 and that he continued to receive inquiries through his
post office box which he endeavored "to keep ansewering to the best of
my ability." 333 In his letter to V. T. Lee, he stated that he was then
alone in his efforts on behalf of FPCC, but he attributed his lack of
support to an attack by Cuban
407
Page 408
exiles in a street demonstration and being "officialy cautioned" by the
police, events which "robbed me of what support I had leaving me alone."
334
In spite of those claims, the Commission has not been able to uncover
any evidence that anyone ever attacked any street demonstration in which
Oswald was involved, except for the Bringuier incident mentioned above,
which occurred 8 days after Oswald wrote the above letter to V. T.
Lee.335 Bringuier, who seemed to be familiar with many anti-Castro
activities in New Orleans, was not aware of any such incident.336 Police
reports also fail to reflect any activity on Oswald's part prior to
August 9, 1963, except for the uneventful distribution of literature at
the Dumaine Street wharf in June.337 Furthermore, the general tenor of
Oswald's next letter to V. T. Lee, in which he supported his report on
the Bringuier incident with a copy of the charges made against him and a
newspaper clipping reporting the event, suggests that his previous story
of an attack by Cuban exiles was at least greatly exaggerated.338 While
the legend "FPCC 544 Camp St. NEW ORLEANS, LA." was stamped on some
literature that Oswald had in his possession at the time of his arrest
in New Orleans, extensive investigation was not able to connect Oswald
with that address, although it did develop the fact that an anti-Castro
organization had maintained offices there for a period ending early in
1962.339 The Commission has not been able to find any other indication
that Oswald had rented an office in New Orleans. In view of the limited
amount of public activity on Oswald's part before August 9, 1963, there
also seems to be no basis for his claim that he had distributed
"thousands" of circulars, especially since he had claimed to have
printed only 2,000 and actually had only 1,000 printed. In addition,
there is no evidence that he received any substantial amount of
materials from the national headquarters.340
In another letter to V. T. Lee, dated August 17, 1963, Oswald wrote that
he had appeared on Mr. William Stuckey's 15-minute television program
over WDSU-TV called "Latin American Focus" as a result of which he was
"flooded with callers and invitations to debate's ect. as well as people
interested in joining the F.P.C.C. New Orleans branch." 341 WDSU has no
program of any kind called "Latin American Focus." 342 Stuckey had a
radio program called "Latin Listening Post," on which Oswald was heard
for less than 5 minutes on August 17, 1963.343 It appears that Oswald
had only one caller in response to all of his FPCC activities, an agent
of Bringuier's attempting to learn more about the true nature of the
alleged FPCC "organization" in New Orleans.344
Oswald's statements suggest that he hoped to be flooded with callers and
invitations to debate. This would have made him a real center of
attention as he must have been when he first arrived in the Soviet Union
and as he was to some extent when he returned to the United States. The
limited notoriety that Oswald received as a result of the street fracas
and in the subsequent radio debate was apparently not enough to satisfy
him. He exaggerated in his letters to V. T. Lee in an appar-
408
Page 409
OSWALD DISTRIBUTING FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA HANDBILLS IN NEW ORLEANS, AUGUST
16, 1963 --INSETS SHOW SAMPLES OF HIS HANDBILLS ON WHICH HE HAD STAMPED
HIS NAME AND THE NAME OF
"A J HIDELL"
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2966 B
COMMISSION EXHIBIT 2966 A
HANDS OFF CUBA!
NEW ORLEANS CHARTER MEMBER BRANCH
Free Literature, Lectures LOCATION:
CUBA!
NEW ORLEANS CHARTER MEMBER BRANCH
Free Literature Lectures LOCATION:
EVERYONE WELCOME!
GARNER DEPOSITION EXHIBIT 1
730-900 0-64--28
Page 410
ent attempt to make himself and his activities appear far more important
than they really were.
His attempt to express himself through his Fair Play for Cuba
activities, however, was greatly impeded by the fact that the radio
debate over WDSU on August 21, 1963, brought out the history of his
defection to the Soviet Union.345 The basic facts of the event were
uncovered independently by William Stuckey, who arranged the debate, and
Edward Butler, executive director of the Information Council of the
Americas, who also appeared on the program.346 Oswald was confronted
with those facts at the beginning of the debate and was so thrown on the
defensive by this that he was forced to state that Fair Play for Cuba
was "not at all Communist controlled regardless of the fact that I had
the experience of living in Russia."
Stuckey testified that uncovering Oswald's defection was very important:
I think that we finished him on that program. * * * because we had
publicly linked the Fair Play for Cuba Committee with a fellow who had
lived in Russia for 3 years and who was an admitted Marxist.
The interesting thing, or rather the danger involved, was the fact that
Oswald seemed like such a nice, bright boy and was extremely believable
before this. We thought the fellow could probably get quite a few
members if he was really indeed serious about getting members. We
figured after this broadcast of August 21, why, that was no longer
possible.348
In spite of the fact that Oswald had been surprised and was on the
defensive throughout the debate, according to Stuckey: "Mr. Oswald
handled himself very well, as usual." 349 Stuckey thought Oswald
"appeared to be a very logical, intelligent fellow," and "was arrested
by his cleancutness." 350 He did not think Oswald looked like the "type"
that he would have expected to find associating with a group such as the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee.351 Stuckey thought that Oswald acted very
much as would a young attorney.352
Following the disclosure of his defection, Oswald sought advice from the
Communist Party, U.S.A., concerning his Fair Play for Cuba activity.358
He had previously sent, apparently unsolicited, to the Party newspaper,
the Worker, samples of his photographic work, offering to contribute
that sort of service without charge.354 The Worker replied: "Your kind
offer is most welcomed and from time to time we shall call on you." 355
He later wrote to another official of the Worker, seeking employment,
and mentioning the praise he had received for submitting his
photographic work.356 He presented Arnold Johnson, Gus Hall, and
Benjamin J. Davis honorary membership cards in his nonexistent New
Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, and advised them of
some of his activities on behalf of the organization.357 Arnold Johnson,
director of the in-
410
Page 411
formation and lecture bureau of the Communist Party, U.S.A., replied
stating:
It is good to know that movements in support of fair play for Cuba has
developed in New Orleans as well as in other cities. We do not have any
organizational ties with the Committee, and .yet. there is much material
that we issue from time to time that is important for anybody who is
concerned about developments in Cuba.358
Marina Oswald said that such correspondence from people he considered
important meant much to Oswald. After he had begun his Cuban activity in
New Orleans "he received a letter from somebody in New York, some
Communist--probably from New York--I am not sure from where--from some
Communist leader and he was very happy, he felt that this was a great
man that he had received the letter from." 359 Since he seemed to feel
that no one else understood his political views, the letter was of great
value to him for it "was proof * * * that there were people who'
understood his activity." 360
He anticipated that the full disclosure of his defection would hinder
him in "the struggle for progress and freedom in the United States" 361
into which Oswald, in his own words, had "thrown" himself. He sought
advice from the central committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A., in a
letter dated August 28, 1963, about whether he could "continue to fight,
handicapped as it were, by my past record * * * [and] compete with
anti-progressive forces, above-ground or weather in your opinion I
should always remain in the background, i.e. underground." 362 Stating
that he had used his "position" with what he claimed to be the local
branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee to "foster communist ideals,"
Oswald wrote that he felt that he might have compromised the FPCC and
expressed concern lest "Our opponents could use my background of
residence in the U.S.S.R. against any cause which I join, by
association, they could say the organization of which I am a member, is
Russian controled, ect." 363 In reply Arnold Johnson advised Oswald
that, while as an American citizen he had a right to participate in such
organizations as he wished, "there are a number of organizations,
including possibly Fair Play, which are of a very broad character, and
often it is advisable for some people to remain in the background, not
underground." 364
By August of 1963, after a short 3 months in New Orleans, the city in
which he had been born and had lived most of his early life, Oswald had
fallen on difficult times. He had not liked his job as a greaser of
coffee processing machinery and he held it for only a little over 2
months.365 He had not found another job. His wife was expecting their
second child in October and there was concern about the cost which would
be involved.366 His brief foray on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee had failed to win any support. While he had drawn some
attention to himself and had actually
411
Page 412
appeared on two radio programs, he had been attacked by Cuban exiles and
arrested, an event which his wife thought upset him and as a result of
which "he became less active, he cooled off a little." 367 More
seriously, the facts of his defection had become known, leaving him open
to almost unanswerable attack by those who opposed his views. It would
not have been possible to have followed Arnold Johnson's advice to
remain in the background, since there was no background to the New
Orleans FPCC "organization," which consisted solely of Oswald.
Furthermore, he had apparently not received any letters from the
national headquarters of FPCC since May 29, 1963,368 even though he had
written four detailed letters since that time to Mr. V. T. Lee 369 and
had also kept the national headquarters informed of each of his changes
of mailing address.370 Those events no doubt had their effects on
Oswald.
Interest in Cuba
Page 412
Interest in Cuba
By August of 1968, Oswald had for some time been considering the
possibility of leaving the United States again. On June 24, 1963, he
applied for a new passport 371 and in late June or early July he told
his wife that he wanted to return to the Soviet Union with her. She said
that he was extremely upset, very unhappy, and that he actually wept
when he told her that.372 He said that nothing kept him in the United
States, that he would not lose anything if he returned to the Soviet
Union, that he wanted to be with her and that it would be better to have
less and not have to be concerned about tomorrow.373
As a result of that conversation, Marina Oswald wrote the Soviet Embassy
in Washington concerning a request she had first made on February 17,
1963, for permission for herself and June to return to the Soviet
Union.374 While that first request, made according to Marina Oswald at
her husband's insistence, specifically stated that Oswald was to remain
in the United States, she wrote in her letter of July 1963, that things
are improving due to the fact that my husband expresses a sincere wish
to return together with me to the USSR." 375 Unknown to his wife,
however, Oswald apparently enclosed a note with her letter of July in
which he requested the Embassy to rush his wife's entrance visa because
of the impending birth of the second child but stated that: "As for my
return entrance visa please consider it separtably." 376
Thus while Oswald's real intentions, assuming that they were known to
himself, are not clear, he may not have intended to go to the Soviet
Union directly, if at all.377 It appears that he really wanted to go to
Cuba. In his wife's words:
I only know that his basic desire was to get to Cuba by any means, and
that all the rest of it was window dressing for that purpose.378
412
Page 413
Marina Oswald testified that her husband engaged in Fair Play for Cuba
Committee activities "primarily for purposes of self-advertising. He
wanted to be arrested. I think he wanted to get into the newspapers, so
that he would be known." 379 According to Marina Oswald, he thought that
would help him when he got to Cuba.380 He asked his wife to help him to
hijack an airplane to get there, but gave up that scheme when she
refused.381
During this period Oswald may have practiced opening and closing the
bolt on his rifle in a screened porch in his apartment.382 In September
he began to review Spanish.333 He approved arrangements for his family
to return to Irving, Tex., to live with Mrs. Ruth Paine.384 On September
20, 1963, Mrs. Paine and her two children arrived in New Orleans from a
trip to the East Coast 385 and left for Irving with Marina Oswald and
June and most of the Oswalds' effects 3 days later.386 While Marina
Oswald knew of her husband's plan to go to Mexico and thence to Cuba if
possible,387 Mrs. Paine was told that Oswald was going to Houston and
possibly to Philadelphia to look for work.388
Oswald left for Mexico City on September 25, 1963, and arrived on
September 27, 1963. He went almost directly. to the Cuban Embassy and
applied for a visa to Cuba in transit to Russia.389 Representing himself
as the head of the New Orleans branch of the "organization called 'Fair
Play for Cuba,' he stated his desire that he should be accepted as a
'friend' of the Cuban Revolution." 390 He apparently based his claim for
a visa in transit to Russia on his previous residence, his work permit
for that country, and several unidentified letters in the Russian
language. The Cubans would not, however, give him a visa until he had
received one from the Soviets, which involved a delay of several months.
When faced with that situation Oswald became greatly agitated, and
although he later unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a Soviet visa at
the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City, he insisted that he was entitled to
the Cuban visa because of his background, partisanship, and personal
activities on behalf of the Cuban movement. He engaged in an angry
argument with the consul who finally told him that "as far as he was
concerned he would not give him a visa" and that. "a person like him
[Oswald] in place of aiding the Cuban Revolution, was doing it harm."
391
Oswald must have been thoroughly disillusioned when he left Mexico City
on October 2, 1963. In spite of his former residence in the Soviet Union
and his Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities he had been rebuffed by
the officials of both Cuba and the Soviet Union it. Mexico City. Now
there appeared to be no chance to get to Cuba, where he had thought he
might find his communist ideal. The U.S. Government would not permit
travel there and as far as the perform- ante of the Cubans themselves
was concerned, he was "disappointed at not being able to get to Cuba,
and he didn't have any great desire to do so any more because he had run
into, as he himself said--into bureaucracy and red tape." 392
413
Page 414
Oswald's attempt to go to Cuba was another act which expressed his
hostility toward the United States and its institutions as well as a
concomitant attachment to a country in which he must have thought were
embodied the political principles to which he had been committed for so
long. It should be noted that his interest in Cuba seems to halve
increased along with the sense of frustration which must have developed
as he experienced successive failures in his jobs, in his political
activity, and in his personal relationships. In retrospect his attempt
to go to Cuba or return to the Soviet. Union may well have been Oswald's
last escape hatch, his last gambit to extricate himself from the
mediocrity and defeat which plagued him throughout most of his life.
Oswald's activities with regard to Cuba raise serious questions as to
how much he might have been motivated in the assassination by a desire
to aid the Castro regime, which President Kennedy so out-spokenly
criticized. For example, the Dallas Times Herald of November 19, 1963,
prominently reported President Kennedy as having "all but invited the
Cuban people today to overthrow Fidel Castro's Communist regime and
promised prompt U.S. aid if they do." 393 The Castro regime severely
attacked President Kennedy in connection with the Bay of Pigs affair,
the Cuban missile crisis, the ban on travel to Cuba, the economic
embargo against that country, and the general policy of the United
States with regard to Cuba. An examination of the Militant, to which
Oswald subscribed,394 for the 3-month period prior to the assassination
reflects an extremely critical attitude toward President Kennedy and his
administration concerning Cuban policy in general as well as on the
issues of automation and civil rights, issues which appeared to concern
Oswald a great deal.395 The Militant also reflected a critical attitude
toward President Kennedy's attempts to reduce tensions between the
United States and the Soviet Union. It also dealt with the fear of the
Castro regime that such a policy might result in its abandonment by the
Soviet Union.
The October 7, 1963, issue of the Militant reported Castro as saying
Cuba could not accept a situation where at the same time the United
States was trying to ease world tensions it also. "was increasing its
efforts to 'tighten the noose' around Cuba." 396 Castro's opposition to
President Kennedy's attempt to reduce world tensions was also reported
in the October 1, 1963, issue of the Worker, to which Oswald also
subscribed.397 In this connection it should be noted that in speaking of
the Worker, Oswald told Michael Paine, apparently in all seriousness,
that "you could tell what they wanted you to do * * * by reading between
the lines, reading the thing and doing a little reading between the
lines.." 398
The general conflict of views between the United States and Cuba was, of
course, reflected in other media to such an extent that there can be no
doubt that Oswald was aware generally of the critical attitude that
Castro expressed about President Kennedy. Oswald was asked during the
New Orleans radio debate in which he engaged on August 21, 1963, whether
or not he agreed with Castro that President
Page 415
Kennedy was a "ruffian and a thief." He replied that he "would not agree
with that particular wording." 399 It should also be noted, however,
that one witness testified that shortly before the assassination Oswald
had expressed approval of President Kennedy's active role in the area of
civil rights.400
Although Oswald could possibly have been motivated in part by his
sympathy for the Castro government, it should be remembered that his
wife testified that he was disappointed with his failure to get to Cuba
and had lost his desire to do so because of the bureaucracy and red tape
which he had encountered.401 His unhappy experience with the Cuban
consul seems thus to have reduced his enthusiasm for the Castro regime
and his desire to go to Cuba.
While some of Castro's more severe criticisms of President Kennedy might
have led Oswald to believe that he would be well received in Cuba after
he had assassinated the American President, it does not appear that. he
had any plans to go there. Oswald was carrying only $13.87 at the time
of his arrest, although he had left, apparently by design, $170 in a
wallet in his wife's room in Irving.402 If there was no conspiracy which
would help him escape, the possibility of which has been considered in
chapter VI, it is unlikely that a reasoning person would plan to attempt
to travel from Dallas, Tex., to Cuba with $13.87 when considerably
greater resources were available to him. The fact that Oswald left
behind the funds which might have enabled him to reach Cuba suggests the
absence of any plan to try to flee there and raises serious questions as
to whether or not he ever expected to escape.
Possible Influence of Anti-Kennedy Sentiment in Dallas
Page 415
Possible Influence of Anti-Kennedy Sentiment in Dallas
It has been suggested that one of the motivating influences operating on
Lee Oswald was the atmosphere in the city of Dallas, especially an
atmosphere of extreme opposition to President Kennedy that was present
in some parts of the Dallas community and which received publicity there
prior to the assassination.403 Some of that feeling was expressed in the
incident involving then vice-presidential candidate Johnson during the
1960 campaign, in the treatment of Ambassador Adlai Stevenson late in
October of 1963 and in the extreme anti-Kennedy newspaper advertisement
and handbills that appeared in Dallas at the time of the President's
visit there.404
The Commission has found no evidence that the extreme views expressed
toward President Kennedy by some rightwing groups centered in Dallas or
any other general atmosphere of hate or rightwing extremism which may
have existed in the city of Dallas had any connection with Oswald's
actions on November 22, 1963. There is, of course, no way to judge what
the effect of the general political ferment present in that city might
have been, even though Oswald was aware of it. His awareness is shown by
a letter that he wrote to Arnold Johnson of the Communist Party U.S.A.,
which Johnson said he did not receive until after the assassination. The
letter said in part:
415
Page 416
On October 23rd, I had attened a ultra-right meeting headed by General
Edwin A. Walker, who lives in Dallas.
This meeting preceded by one day the attack on A. E. Stevenson at the
United Nations Day meeting at which he spoke
As you can see, political friction between "left" and "right" is very
great here.
Could you advise me as to the general view we have on the American Civil
Liberties Union ? 405
In any event, the Commission has been unable to find any credible
evidence that Oswald had direct contact or association with any of the
personalities or groups epitomizing or representing the so-called
rightwing, even though he did, as he told Johnson, attend a meeting at
which General Walker spoke to approximately 1,300 persons.406 Oswald's
writings and his reading habits indicate that he had an extreme dislike
of the rightwing, an attitude most clearly reflected by his attempt to
shoot General Walker.
Relationship With Wife
Page 416
Relationship With Wife
The relations between Lee and Marina Oswald are of great importance in
any attempt to understand Oswald's possible motivation. During the
period from Oswald's return from Mexico to the assassination, he and his
wife spent every weekend but one together at the Irving, Tex., home of
Mrs. Ruth Paine, who was then separated from her husband. The sole
exception was the weekend of November 16-17, 1963, the weekend before
the assassination, when his wife asked Oswald not to come to Irving.
During the week, Oswald lived in a roominghouse in Dallas, but he
usually called his wife on the telephone twice a day.407 She testified
that after his return from Mexico Oswald "changed for the better. He
began to treat me better. * * * He helped me more--although he always
did help. But he was more attentive." 408 Marina Oswald attributed that
to their living apart and to the imminent birth of their second child.
She testified that Oswald "was very happy" about the birth of the
child.409
While those considerations no doubt had an effect on Oswald's attitude
toward his family it would seem that the need for support and sympathy
after his recent rebuffs in Mexico City might also have been important
to him. It would not have been the first time that Oswald sought closer
ties with his family in time of adversity.410
His past relationships with his wife had been stormy, however, and it
did not seem that she respected him very much. They had been married
after a courtship of only about 6 weeks, a part of which Oswald spent in
the hospital. Oswald's diary reports that he married his wife shortly
after his proposal of marriage to another girl had been rejected. He
stated that the other girl rejected him partly because he was an
American, a fact that he said she had exploited. He stated that "In
spite of fact I married Marina to hurt Ella [the girl that had rejected
him] I found myself in love with Marina." 411
416
Page 417
Many of the people with whom the Oswalds became acquainted after their
arrival in the United States thought that Marina Oswald had married her
husband primarily in the hope that she would be able to leave the Soviet
Union. Marina Oswald has denied this.412
Marina Oswald expressed one aspect of her husband's attitude toward her
when she testified that:
* * * Lee wanted me to go to Russia, and I told him that if he wanted me
to go then that meant that he didn't love me, and that in that. case
what was the idea of coming to the United States in the first place. Lee
would say that it would be better for me if I went to Russia. I did not.
know why. I did not know what he had in mind. He said he loved me but
that it would be better for me if I went to Russia, and what he had in
mind I don't know.413
On the other hand, Oswald objected to the invitation that his wife had
received to live with Mrs. Ruth Paine, which Mrs. Paine had made in part
to give her an alternative to returning to the Soviet Union.414 Marina
Oswald wrote to Mrs. Paine that: "Many times
[Oswald] has recalled this matter to me and said that I am just waiting
for an opportunity to hurt him. It has been the cause of many of our
arguments." 415 Oswald claimed that his wife preferred others to him.416
He said this about members of the Russian-speaking group in the
Dallas-Ft. Worth area, whom she said he tried to forbid her from
seeing,417 and also about Mrs. Paine.418 He specifically made that claim
when his wife refused to come to live with him in Dallas as he asked her
to do on the evening of November 21, 1963.419
The instability of their relations was probably a function of the
personalities of both people. Oswald was overbearing in relations with
his wife. He apparently attempted to be "the Commander" by dictating
many of the details of their married life.420 While Marina Oswald said
that her husband wanted her to learn English,421 he made no attempt to
help her and there are other indications that. he did not. want her to
learn that language. Oswald apparently wished to continue practicing his
own Russian with her.422 Lieutenant Martello of the New Orleans police
testified that Oswald stated that he did not speak English in his family
because he did not want them to become Americanized.423 Marina Oswald's
inability to speak English also made it more difficult, for her to have
an independent existence in this country. Oswald struck his wife on
occasion,424 did not want her to drink, smoke or wear cosmetics 425 and
generally treated her with lack of respect in the presence of others.426
The difficulties which Oswald's problems would have caused him in any
relationship were probably not reduced by his wife's conduct. Katherine
Ford, with whom Marina Oswald stayed during her separation from her
husband in November of 1962, thought that Marina Oswald was immature in
her thinking and partly responsible for the difficulties that the
Oswalds were having at that time.427 Mrs. Ford
417
Page 418
said that Marina Oswald admitted that she provoked Oswald on
occasion.428 There can be little doubt that some provocation existed.
Oswald once struck his wife because of a letter which she wrote to a
former boy friend in Russia. In the letter Marina Oswald stated that her
husband had changed a great deal and that she was very lonely in the
United States. She was "sorry that I had not married him [the Russian
boy friend] instead, that it would have been much easier for me." 429
The letter fell into Oswald's hands when it was returned to his post
office box because of insufficient postage, which apparently resulted
from an increase in postal rates of which his wife had been unaware.430
Oswald read the letter, but refused to believe that it was sincere, even
though his wife insisted to him that it was. As a result Oswald struck
her, as to which she testified: "Generally, I think that was right, for
such things that is the right thing to do. There was some grounds for
it.431
Although she denied it in some of her testimony before the
Commission,432 it appears that Marina Oswald also complained that her
husband was not able to provide more material things for her.433 On that
issue George De Mohrenschildt, who was probably as close to the Oswalds
as anyone else during their first stay in Dallas, said that:
She was annoying him all the time--"Why don't you make some money ?" * *
* Poor guy was going out of his mind. * * *
We told her she should not annoy him--poor guy, he is doing his best,
"Don't annoy him so much." 434
The De Mohrenschildts also testified that "right in front" of Oswald
Marina Oswald complained about Oswald's inadequacy as a husband.435 Mrs.
Oswald told another of her friends that Oswald was very cold to her,
that they very seldom had sexual relations and that Oswald "was not a
man." 436 She also told Mrs. Paine that she was not satisfied with her
sexual relations with Oswald.437
Marina Oswald also ridiculed her husband's political views, thereby
tearing down his view of his own importance. He was very much interested
in autobiographical works of outstanding statesmen of the United States,
to whom his wife thought he compared himself.438 She said he was
different from other people in "At, least his imagination, his fantasy,
which was quite unfounded, as to the fact that he was an outstanding
man." 439 She said that she "always tried to point out to him that he
was a man like any others who were around us. But he simply could not
understand that?' 440 Jeanne De Mohrenschildt, however, thought that
Marina Oswald "said things that will hurt men's pride." 441 She said
that if she ever spoke to her husband the way Marina Oswald spoke to her
husband, "we would not last long." 442 Mrs. De Mohrenschildt thought
that Oswald, whom she compared to "a puppy dog that everybody kicked,"
443 had a lot of good qualities, in spite of the fact that "Nobody said
anything good about him." 444 She had "the impression that he was just
pushed, pushed, pushed, and she [Marina Oswald] was probably nagging,
nag-
418
Page 419
ging, nagging." 445 She thought that he might not have become involved
in the assassination if people had been kinder to him.446
In spite of these difficulties, however, and in the face of the economic
problems that were always with them, things apparently went quite
smoothly from the time Oswald returned from Mexico until the weekend of
November 16-17, 1963.447 Mrs. Paine was planning a birthday party for
one of her children on that weekend and her husband, Michael, was to be
at the house. Marina Oswald said that she knew her husband did not like
Michael Paine and so she asked him not to come out that weekend, even
though he wanted to do so. She testified that she told him "that he
shouldn't come every week, that perhaps it is not convenient for Ruth
that the whole family be there, live there." She testified that he
responded: "As you wish. If you don't want me to come, I won't." 448
Ruth Paine testified that she heard Marina Oswald tell Oswald about the
birthday party.449
On Sunday, November 17, 1963, Ruth Paine and Marina Oswald decided to
call Oswald 450 at the place where he was living, unbeknownst to them,
under the name of O. H. Lee.451 They asked for Lee Oswald who was not
called to the telephone because he was known by the other name.452 When
Oswald called the next day his wife became very angry about his use of
the alias.453 He said that he used it because "he did not want his
landlady to know his real name because she might read in the paper of
the fact that he had been in Russia and that he had been questioned."
454 Oswald also said that he did not want the FBI to know where he lived
"Because their visits were not very pleasant for him and he thought that
he loses jobs because the FBI visits the place of his employment." 455
While the facts of his defection had become known in New Orleans as a
result of his radio debate with Bringuier,456 it would appear to be
unlikely that his landlady in Dallas would see anything in the newspaper
about his defection, unless he engaged in activities similar to those
which had led to the disclosure of his defection in New Orleans.
Furthermore, even though it appears that at times Oswald was really
upset by visits of the FBI, it does not appear that he ever lost his job
because of its activities, although he may well not have been aware of
that fact.457
While Oswald's concern about the FBI had some basis in fact, in that FBI
agents had interviewed him in the past and had renewed their interest to
some extent .after his Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities had
become known, he exaggerated their concern for him. Marina Oswald
thought he did so in order to emphasize his importance.458 For example,
in his letter of November 9, 1963, to the Soviet Embassy in Washington,
he asked about the entrance visas for which he and his wife had
previously applied. He absolved the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City of any
blame for his difficulties there. He advised the Washington Embassy that
the FBI was "not now" interested in his Fair Play for Cuba Committee
activities, but noted that the FBI "has visited us here in Dallas,
Texas, on November 1. Agent James P. Hasty warned me that if I engaged
in F.P.C.C. activities in Texas
419
Page 420
the F.B.I. will again take an 'interrest' in me." 459 Neither Hosty nor
any other agent of the FBI spoke to Oswald on any subject from August
10, 1963, to the time of the assassination.460 The claimed warning was
one more of Oswald's fabrications. Hosty had come to the Paine residence
on November 1 and 5, 1963, but did not issue any such warning or suggest
that Marina Oswald defect from the Soviet Union and remain in the United
States under FBI protection, as Oswald went on to say.461 In Oswald's
imagination "I and my wife strongly protested these tactics by the
notorious F.B.I." 462 In fact, his wife testified that she only said
that she would prefer not to receive any more visits from the Bureau
because of the "very exciting and disturbing effect" they had upon her
husband,463 who was not even present at that time.464
The arguments he used to justify his use of the alias suggest that
Oswald may have come to think that the whole world was becoming involved
in an increasingly complex conspiracy against him. He may have felt he
could never tell when the FBI was going to appear on the scene or who
else was going to find out about his defection and use it against him as
had been done in New Orleans.465 On the other hand, the concern he
expressed about the FBI may have been just another story to support the
objective he sought in his letter.
Those arguments, however, were not persuasive to Marina Oswald, to whom
"it was nothing terrible if people were to find out that he had been in
Russia." 466 She asked Oswald: "After all, when will all your
foolishness come to an end? All of these comedies. First one thing and
then another. And now this fictitious name." 467 She said: "On Monday
[November 18, 1963] he called several times, but after I hung up on him
and didn't want to talk to him he did not call again. He then arrived on
Thursday [November 21, 1963]." 468
The events of that evening can best be appreciated through Marina
Oswald's testimony:
Q. Did your husband give any reason for coming home on Thursday?
A. He said that he was lonely because he hadn't come the pre-
ceding weekend, and he wanted to make his peace with me.
Q. Did you say anything to him then?
A. He tried to talk to me but I would not answer him, and he was very
upset.
Q. Were you upset with him?
A. I was angry, of course. He was not angry--he was upset. I was angry.
He tried very hard to please me. He spent quite a bit of time putting
away diapers and played with the children on the street.
Q. How did you indicate to him that you were angry with him? A. By not
talking to him.
Q. And how did he show that he was upset?
A. He was upset over the fact that I would not answer him. He tried to
start a conversation with me several times, but I
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would not answer. And he said that he didn't want me to be angry at him
because this upsets him.
On that. day, he suggested that we rent an apartment in Dallas. He said
that he was tired of living alone and perhaps the reason for my being so
angry was the fact that we were not living together. That if I want to
he would rent an apartment in Dallas tomorrow--that he didn't want me to
remain with Ruth any longer, but wanted me to live with him in Dallas.
He repeated this not once but several times, but I refused. And he said
that once again I was preferring my friends to him, and that I didn't
need him.
Q. What did you say to that?
A. I said it would be better if I remained with Ruth until the holidays,
he would come, and we would all meet together. That this was better
because while he was living alone and I stayed with Ruth, we were
spending less money. And I told him to buy me a washing machine, because
two children it became too difficult to wash by hand.
Q. What did he say to that?
A. He said he would buy me a washing machine.
Q. What did you say to that?
A. Thank you. That it would be better if he bought something for
himself--that I would manage.469
That night Oswald went to bed before his wife retired. She did not speak
to him when she joined him there, although she thought that he was still
awake. The next morning he left for work before anyone else arose.470°
For the first time he left his wedding ring in a cup on the dresser in
his room.471 He also left $170 in a wallet in one of the dresser
drawers. He took with him $13.87 472 and the long brown package that
Frazier and Mrs. Randle saw him carry and which he was to take to the
School Book Depository.473
The Unanswered Questions
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The Unanswered Questions
No one will ever know what passed through Oswald's mind during the week
before November 22, 1963. Instead of returning to Irving on November 15
for his customary weekend visit, he remained in Dallas at his wife's
suggestion because of the birthday party. He had argued with her over
the use of an alias and had not called her after that argument, although
he usually telephoned once or twice a day. Then on Thursday morning,
November 21, he asked Frazier for a ride to Irving that night, stating
falsely that he wanted to pick up some curtain rods to put in an
apartment.474
He must have planned his attack at the very latest prior to Thursday
morning when he spoke to Frazier. There is, of course, no way to
determine the degree to which he was committed to his plan at that time.
While there is no way to tell when he first began to think specifically
of assassinating the President it should be noted that mention of
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the Trade Mart as the expected site of the Presidential luncheon
appeared in The Dallas Times Herald on November 15, 1963.475 The next
day that paper announced the final approval of the Trade Mart as the
luncheon site and stated that the motorcade "apparently will loop
through the downtown area, probably on Main Street, en route from Dallas
Love Field" on its way to the Trade Mart on Stemmons Freeway. 476 Anyone
who was familiar with that area of Dallas would have known that the
motorcade would probably pass the Texas School Book Depository .to get
from Main Street onto the Stemmons Freeway. That fact was made precisely
clear in subsequent news stories on November 19, 20, and 22. 477
On November 15, 1963, the same day that his wife told him not to come to
Irving, Oswald could have assumed that the Presidential motorcade would
pass in front of his place of work. Whether he thought about
assassinating the President over the weekend can never be known, but it
is reasonably certain that over the weekend he did think about his
wife's request that he not come to Irving, which was prompted by the
birthday party being held at the Paine home. Oswald had a highly
exaggerated sense of his own importance, but he had failed at almost
everything he had ever tried to do. He had great difficulty in
establishing meaningful relations with other people. Except for his
family he was completely alone. Even though he had searched--in the
Marine Corps, in his ideal of communism, in the Soviet Union and in his
attempt to get to Cuba--he had never found anything to which he felt he
could really belong.
After he returned from his trip to Mexico where his application to go to
Cuba had been sharply rejected, it must have appeared to him that he was
unable to command even the attention of his family. He could not keep
them with him in Dallas, where at least he could see his children whom,
several witnesses testified, he seemed to love.478 His family lived with
Mrs. Paine, ostensibly because Oswald could not afford to keep an
apartment in Dallas, but it was also, at least in part, because his wife
did not want to live there with him.479 Now it appeared that he was not
welcome at the Paine home, where he had spent every previous weekend
since his return from Mexico and his wife was once again calling into
question his judgment, this time concerning his use of an alias.
The conversation on Monday, November 18, 1963, ended when Marina Oswald
hung up and refused to talk to him. Although he may long before have
decided on the course he was to follow and may have told his wife the
things he did on the evening of November 21, 1963, merely to disarm her
and to provide a justification of sorts, both she and Mrs. Paine thought
he had come home to make up after the fight on Monday. 480 Thoughts of
his personal difficulties must have been at least partly on his mind
when he went to Irving on Thursday night and told his wife that he was
lonely, that he wanted to make peace with her and bring his family to
Dallas where they could live with him again.
Page 423
The Commission does not believe that the relations between Oswald and
his wife caused him to assassinate the President. It is unlikely that
the motivation was that. simple. The feelings of hostility and
aggression which seem to have played such an important, part in Oswald's
life were part of his character long before he met his wife and such a
favorable opportunity to strike at a figure as great as the President
would probably never have come to him again.
Oswald's behavior after the assassination throws little light on his
motives. The fact that he took so little money with him when he left
Irving in the morning indicates that he did not expect to get very far
from Dallas on his own and suggests the possibility, as did his note to
his wife just. prior to the attempt on General Walker, that he did not
expect to escape at all. On the other hand, he could have traveled some
distance with the money he did have and he did return to his room where
he obtained his revolver. He then killed Patrolman Tippit when that
police officer apparently tried to question him after he had left his
roominghouse and he vigorously resisted arrest when he was finally
apprehended in the Texas Theatre. Although it is not fully corroborated
by others who were present, two officers have testified that at the time
of his arrest Oswald said something to the effect that "it's all over
now." 481
Oswald was overbearing and arrogant throughout much of the time between
his arrest and his own death.482 He consistently refused to admit
involvement in the assassination or in the killing of Patrolman
Tippit.483 While he did become enraged at at least one point. in his
interrogation, the testimony of the officers present indicates that he
handled himself with considerable composure during his questioning. He
admitted nothing that would damage him but discussed other matters quite
freely. 484 His denials under questioning, which have no probative value
in view of the many readily demonstrable lies he told at that time 485
and in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him which has been
set forth above, only served to prolong the period during which he was
the center of the attention of the entire world.
Conclusion
Page 423
Conclusion
Many factors were undoubtedly involved in Oswald's motivation for the
assassination, and the Commission does not believe that it can ascribe
to him any one motive or group of motives. It is apparent, however, that
Oswald was moved by an overriding hostility to his environment. He does
not appear to have been able to establish meaningful relationships with
other people. He was perpetually discontented with the world around him.
Long before the assassination he expressed his hatred for American
society and acted in protest against it.. Oswald's search for what he
conceived to be the perfect society was doomed from the start. He sought
for himself a place in history--a role as the "great man" who would be
recognized as having been in advance of his times. His commitment to
Marxism and communism appears to have been another important factor in
his motivation. He
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also had demonstrated a capacity to act decisively and without regard to
the consequences when such action would further his aims of the moment.
Out of these and the many other factors which may have molded the
character of Lee Harvey Oswald there emerged a man capable of
assassinating President Kennedy.
Chapter VIII The Protection of the President
Page 425
CHAPTER VIII
The Protection of the President
IN THE 100 years since 1865 four Presidents of the United States have
been assassinated--Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley,
and John F. Kennedy. During this same period there were three other
attacks on the life of a President, a President-elect, and a candidate
for the Presidency, which narrowly failed: on Theodore Roosevelt while
campaigning in October of 1912; on President-elect Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, when visiting Miami on February 15, 1933; and on President
Harry S. Truman on November 1, 1950, when his temporary residence, Blair
House, was attacked by Puerto Rican Nationalists.1 One out of every five
Presidents since 1865 has been assassinated; there have been attempts on
the lives of one out of every three.
Prompted by these dismaying statistics, the Commission has inquired into
the problems and methods of Presidential protection in effect at the
time of President Kennedy's assassination. This study has led the
Commission to conclude that the public interest might be served by any
contribution it can make to the improvement of protective arrangements.
The Commission has not undertaken a comprehensive examination of all
facets of this subject; rather, it has devoted its time and resources to
those broader aspects of Presidential protection to which the events of
last November called attention.
In this part of its inquiry the Commission has had full access to a
major study of all phases of protective activities prepared by the
Secret Service for the Secretary of the Treasury following the
assassination. As a result of this study, the Secretary of the Treasury
has prepared a planning document. dated August, 27, 1964, which
recommends additional personnel and facilities to enable the Secret
Service to expand its protection capabilities. The Secretary of the
Treasury submitted this planning document on August 81, 1964, to the
Bureau of the Budget for review and approval. This planning document has
been made a part of the Commission's published record; the underlying
staff and consultants' reports reviewed by the Commission have not,
since a disclosure of such detailed information relating to protective
measures might undermine present methods of protecting the President.
However, all information considered by
Page 426
the Commission which pertains to the protective function as it was
carried out in Dallas has been published as part of this report.
The protection of the President of the United States is an immensely
difficult and complex task. It is unlikely that measures can be devised
to eliminate entirely the multitude of diverse dangers that may arise,
particularly when the President is traveling in this country or abroad.
The protective task is further complicated by the reluctance of
Presidents to take security precautions which might interfere with the
performance of their duties, or their desire to have frequent and easy
access to the people. The adequacy of existing procedures can fairly be
assessed only after full consideration of the difficulty of the
protective assignment, with particular attention to the diverse roles
which the President is expected to fill. After reviewing this aspect of
the matter this chapter will set. forth the Commission's conclusions
regarding certain protective measures in force at the time of the Dallas
trip and propose recommendations for improvements.
The Nature of the Protective Assignment
Page 426
THE NATURE OF THE PROTECTIVE ASSIGNMENT
The President is Head of State, Chief Executive, Commander in Chief, and
leader of a political party. As the ceremonial head of the Government
the President must discharge a wide range of public duties, not only in
Washington but throughout the land. In this role he appears to the
American people, in the words of William Howard Taft, as "the personal
embodiment and representative of their dignity and majesty."2 As Chief
Executive, the President controls the exercise of the vast., almost
incalculable powers of the executive branch of the Federal Government.
As Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he must maintain ultimate
authority over the development and disposition of our military power.
Finally, in accordance with George Washington's maxim that. Americans
have a government "of accommodation as well as a government of laws," 3
it is the President's right and duty to be the active leader of his
party, as when he seeks to be reelected or to maintain his party in
power.
In all of these roles the President must go to the people. Exposure of
the President to public view through travel among the people of this
country is a great and historic tradition of American life. Desired by
both the President and the public, it is an indispensable means of
communication between the two. More often than not, Presidential
journeys have served more than one purpose at' the same time:
ceremonial, administrative, political.
From George Washington to John F. Kennedy, such journeys have been a
normal part of the President's activities. To promote nation-wide
acceptance of his administration Washington made grand tours that,
served also to excite interest in the Presidency.4 In recent years,
Presidential journeys have been frequent and extensive, partly be-
Page 427
cause of the greater speed and comfort of travel and partly because of
the greater demands made on the President. It is now possible for
Presidents to travel the length and breadth of a land far larger than
the United States in 1789 in less time than it took George Washington to
travel from New York to Mount Vernon or Thomas Jefferson from Washington
to Monticello. During his Presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt made almost
400 journeys ,and traveled more than 350,000 miles. 5 Since 1945,
Roosevelt's successors have ranged the world, and their foreign journeys
have come to be accepted as normal rather than extraordinary.
John F. Kennedy's journey to Texas in November 1963 was in this
tradition. His friend and Special Assistant Kenneth O'Donnell, who
accompanied him on his last visit to Dallas, stated the President's
views of his responsibilities with simplicity and clarity:
The President's views of his responsibilities as President of the United
States were that he meet the people, that he go out to their homes and
see them, and allow them to see him, and discuss, if possible, the views
of the world as he sees it, the problems of the country as he sees them.
And he felt that leaving Washington for the President of the United
States was a most necessary--not only for the people, but for the
President himself, that he expose himself to the actual basic problems
that were disturbing the American people. It helped him in his job here,
he was able to come back here with a fresh view of many things. I think
he felt very strongly that the President ought to get out of Washington,
and go meet the people on a regular basis. 6
Whatever their purposes Presidential journeys have greatly enlarged and
complicated the task of protecting the President. The Secret Service and
the Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies which cooperate
with it, have been confronted in recent years with increasingly
difficult problems, created by the greater exposure of the President
during his travels and the greater diversity of the audiences he must
face in a world torn by conflicting ideologies.
If the sole goal were to protect the life of the President, it could be
accomplished with reasonable assurance despite the multiple roles he
must play. But his very position as representative of the people
prevents him from effectively shielding himself from the people. He
cannot and will not take the precautions of a dictator or a sovereign.
Under our system, measures must be sought to afford security without
impeding the President's performance of his many functions. The
protection of the President must be thorough but inconspicuous to avoid
even the suggestion of a garrison state. The rights of private
individuals must not be infringed. If the protective job is well done,
its performance will be evident only in the unexceptional fact of its
success. The men in charge of protecting the President, confronted by
complex problems and limited as they are in the measures they may
Page 428
employ, must depend upon the utmost cooperation and understanding from
the public and the President.
The problem and the reasonable approach to its solution were ably stated
in a memorandum prepared by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover for the
President soon after the assassination:
The degree of security that can be afforded the President of the United
States is dependent to a considerable extent upon the degree of contact
with the general public desired by the President. Absolute security is
neither practical nor possible. An approach to complete security would
require the President to operate in a sort of vacuum, isolated from the
general public and behind impregnable barriers. His travel would be in
secret; his public appearances would be behind bulletproof glass.
A more practical approach necessitates compromise. Any travel, any
contact with the general public, involves a calculated risk on the part
of the President and the men responsible for his protection. Such risks
can be lessened when the President recognizes the security problem, has
confidence in the dedicated Secret Service men who are ready to lay down
their lives for him and accepts the necessary security precautions which
they recommend. Many Presidents have been understandably impatient with
the security precautions which many years of experience dictate because
these precautions reduce the President's privacy and the access to him
of the people of the country. Nevertheless the procedures and advice
should be accepted if the President wishes to have any security.7
Evaluation of Presidential Protection at the Time of the Assassination
of President Kennedy
Page 428
EVALUATION OF PRESIDENTIAL PROTECTION AT THE TIME OF THE ASSASSINATION
OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY
The history of Presidential protection shows growing recognition over
the years that the job must be done by able, dedicated, thoroughly
professional personnel, using the best technical equipment that can be
devised.8 The assassination of President Kennedy demands an examination
of the protective measures employed to safe guard him and an inquiry
whether improvements can be made which will reduce the risk of another
such tragedy. This section considers first the means used to locate
potential sources of danger to the President in time to take appropriate
precautions. In this connection the information available to Federal
agencies about Lee Harvey Oswald is set out and the reasons why this
information was not furnished to the Secret Service appraised. Second,
the adequacy of other advance preparations for the security of the
President, during his visit to Dallas, largely measures taken by the
Secret Service, is considered. Finally, the performance of those charged
with the immediate responsibility of protecting the President on
November 22 is reviewed.
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Page 429
Intelligence Functions Relating to Presidential Protection at the
Time of the Dallas Trip
A basic element of Presidential protection is the identification and
elimination of possible sources of danger to the President before the
danger becomes actual. The Secret Service has attempted to perform this
function through the activities of its Protective Research Section and
requests to other agencies, Federal and local, for useful information.
The Commission has concluded that at the time of the assassination the
arrangements relied upon by the Secret Service to perform this function
were seriously deficient.
Adequacy of preventive intelligence operations of the Secret
Service.--The main job of the Protective Research Section (PRS) is to
collect, process, and evaluate information about persons or groups who
may be a danger to the President. In addition to this function, PRS is
responsible for such tasks as obtaining clearance of some categories of
White House employees and all tradesmen who service the White House, the
security processing of gifts sent to the President, and technical
inspections against covert listening devices.9 At the time of the
assassination PRS was a very small group, comprised of 12 specialists
and 3 clerks.10
Many persons call themselves to the attention of PRS by attempting to
visit, the President for bizarre reasons or by writing or in some other
way attempting to communicate with him in a threatening or abusive
manner or with undue persistence. Robert I. Bouck, special agent in
charge of PRS, estimated that most of the material received by his
office originated in this fashion or from the occasional investigations
initiated by the Secret Service, while the balance was furnished to PRS
by other Federal agencies, with primary source being the FBI.11 The
total volume of information received by PRS has risen steadily. In 1943
PRS received approximately 9,000 items of information; in 1953 this had
increased to more than 17,000 items; in 1963 the total exceeded 32,000
items.12 Since many items may pertain to a single case, these figures do
not show the caseload. In the period from November 1961 to November
1963, PRS received items in 8,709 cases.13
Before the assassination of President Kennedy, PRS expressed its
interest in receiving information on suspects in very general terms. For
example, PRS instructed the White House mailroom, a source of much PRS
data, to refer all communications on identified existing cases and, in
addition, any communication "that in any way indicates anyone may have
possible intention of harming the President." 14 Slightly more specific
criteria were established for PRS personnel processing White House mail
referred by the White House mailroom, but again the standards were very
general.15 These instructions to PRS personnel appear to be the only
instance where an effort was made to reduce the criteria to writing. 16
When requested to provide a specific statement of the standards employed
by PRS in deciding what information to seek and retain, the Secret
Service responded:
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The criteria in effect prior to November 22, 1963, for determining
whether to accept material for the PRS general files were broad and
flexible. All material is and was desired, accepted, and filed if it
indicated or tended to indicate that the safety of the President is or
might be in danger, either at the present or in the future. * * * There
are many actions, situations, and incidents that may indicate such
potential danger. Some are specific, such as threats; danger may be
implied from others, such as membership or activity in an organization
which believes in assassination as a political weapon. All material
received by PRS was separately screened and a determination made as to
whether the information might indicate possible harm to the President.
If the material was evaluated as indicating some potential danger to the
President--no matter how small--it was indexed in the general PRS files
under the name of the individual or group of individuals to whom that
material related. 17
The general files of PRS consist of folders on individuals, card indexed
by name. The files are manually maintained, without use of any automatic
data-processing techniques. 18 At the time of the assassination, the
active PRS general files. contained approximately 50,000 cases
accumulated over a 20-year period,19 some of which included more than
one individual. A case file was established if the information available
suggested that the subject might be a danger to the President. Many of
these cases were not investigated by PRS. The case file served merely as
a repository for information until enough had accumulated to warrant an
investigation.20 During the period November 1961 to November 1963, PRS
investigated 34 newly established or reactivated cases concerning
residents of Texas.21 Most of these cases involved persons who used
threatening language in communications to or about the President. An
additional 115 cases concerning Texas residents were established but not
investigated.22
When PRS learns of an individual whose conduct warrants scrutiny, it
requests an investigation by the closest Secret Service field office,23
of which there are 65 throughout the country. If the field office
determines that the case should be subject to continuing review, PRS
establishes a file which requires a checkup at least, every 6 months.24
This might involve a personal interview or interviews with members of
the person's household. 25 Wherever possible, the Secret. Service
arranges for the family and friends of the individual, and local law
enforcement officials, to advise the field office if the subject
displays signs of increased danger or plans to leave his home area. At
the time of the assassination there were approximately 400 persons
throughout the country who were subject to periodic review. 26
If PRS concludes after investigation that an individual presents a
significant danger to the life of the President, his name is placed in a
"trip index file" which is maintained on a geographical field office
basis. 27 At the time of the assassination the names of about 100
persons were in this index, all of whom were included in the group of
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400 being reviewed regularly. 28 PRS also maintains an album of
photographs and descriptions of about 12 to 15 individuals who are
regarded as clear risks to the President and who do not have a fixed
place of residence. 29 Members of the White House detail of the Secret
Service have copies of this album.30
Individuals who are regarded as dangerous to the President and who are
in penal or hospital custody are listed only in the general files of
PRS, but there is a system for the immediate notification of the Secret
Service by the confining institution when a subject is released or
escapes. 31 PRS attempts to eliminate serious risks by hospitalization
or, where necessary, the prosecution of persons who have committed an
offense such as threatening the President. 32 In June 1964 PRS had
arrangements to be notified about the release or escape of approximately
1,000 persons. 33
In summary, at the time of the assassination PRS had received, over a
20-year period, basic information on some 50,000 cases; it had
arrangements to be notified about release from confinement in roughly
1,000 cases; it had established periodic regular review of the status of
400 individuals; it regarded approximately 100 of these 400 cases as
serious risks and 12 to 15 of these cases as highly dangerous risks.
Members of the White House detail were expected to familiarize
themselves with the descriptions and photographs of the highest risk
cases. The cases subject to periodic review and the 100 or so cases in
the higher risk category were filed on a geographic basis, and could
conveniently be reviewed by a Secret Service agent preparing for a
Presidential trip to a particular part of the country. These were the
files reviewed by PRS on November 8, 1963, at the request of Special
Agent Lawson, advance agent for President Kennedy's trip to Dallas.34
The general files of PRS were not indexed by geographic location and
were of little use in preparing for a Presidential visit to a specific
locality.
Secret Service requests to other agencies for intelligence information
were no more specific than the broad and general instructions its own
agents and the White House mailroom. The head of PRS testified that the
Secret Service requested other agencies to provide "any and all
information that they may come in contact with that would indicate
danger to the President." 35 These requests were
communicated in writing by the Secret Service; rather, the Service
depended on the personal liaison maintained by PRS with the headquarters
of the Federal intelligence agencies, particularly the FBI, and at the
working level with personnel of the field offices of the various
agencies.36 The Service frequently participated in the training programs
of other law enforcement agencies, and agents from other agencies
attended the regular Secret. Service training schools. Presidential
protection was an important topic in these training programs. 37
In the absence of more specific instructions, other Federal agencies
interpreted the Secret Service's informal requests to re]ate principally
to overt threats to harm the President or other specific manifestations
of hostility. For example, at the time of the assassination, the FBI
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Handbook, which is in the possession of every Bureau special agent,
provided:
Threats against the President of the U.S., members of his immediate
family, the President-elect, and the Vice-President
Investigation of threats against the President of the United States,
members of his immediate family, the President-Elect, and the
Vice-President is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Secret
Service. Any information indicating the possibility of an attempt
against the person or safety of the President, members of the immediate
family of the President, the President-Elect or the Vice-President must
be referred immediately by the most expeditious means of communication
to the nearest office of the U.S. Secret Service. Advise the Bureau at
the same time by teletype of the information so furnished to the Secret
Service and the fact that it has been so disseminated. The above action
should be taken without delay in order to attempt to verify the
information and no evaluation of the information should be at tempted.
When the threat is in the form of a written communication, give a copy
to. local Secret Service and forward the original to the Bureau where it
will be made available to Secret Service headquarters in Washington. The
referral of the copy to local Secret, Service should not delay the
immediate referral of the information by the fastest available means of
communication to Secret Service locally.38
The State Department advised the Secret Service of all crank and threat
letter mail or crank visitors and furnished reports concerning any
assassination or attempted assassination of a ruler or other major
official anywhere in the world. 39 The several military intelligence
agencies reported crank mail and similar threats involving the
President. 40 According to Special Agent in Charge Bouck, the Secret
Service had no standard procedure for the systematic review of its
requests for and receipt of information from other Federal agencies. 41
The Commission believes that the facilities and procedures of the
Protective Research Section of the Secret Service prior to November 22,
1963, were inadequate. Its efforts appear to have been too largely
directed at the "crank" threat. Although the Service recognized that its
advance preventive measures must encompass more than these most obvious
dangers, it made little effort to identify factors in the activities of
an individual or an organized group, other than specific threats, which
suggested a source of danger against which timely precautions could be
taken. Except for its special "trip index" file of 400 names, none of
the cases in the PRS general files was available for systematic review
on a geographic basis when the President planned a particular trip.
As reported in chapter II, when the special file was reviewed on
November 8, it contained the names of no persons from the entire
Page 433
Dallas-Fort Worth area, notwithstanding the fact that Ambassador
Stevenson had been abused by pickets in Dallas less than a month before.
Bouck explained the failure to try to identify the individuals involved
in the Stevenson incident after it occurred on the ground that. PRS
required a more direct indication of a threat to the President, and that
there was no such indication until the President's scheduled visit to
that area became known. 42 Such an approach seriously undermines the
precautionary nature of PRS work; if the presence in Dallas of the
Stevenson pickets might have created a danger for the President on a
visit to that city, PRS should have investigated and been prepared to
guard against it.
Other agencies occasionally provided information to the Secret Service
concerning potentially dangerous political groups. This was done in the
ease of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico, for example, but only
after members of the group had resorted to political violence. 43
However, the vague requests for information which the Secret Service
made to Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies were not well
designed to elicit information from them about persons other than those
who were obvious threats to the President. The requests shifted the
responsibility for evaluating difficult cases from the Service, the
agency most responsible for performing that task, to the other agencies.
No specific guidance was provided. Although the CIA had on file requests
from the Treasury Department for information on the counterfeiting of
U.S. currency and certain smuggling matters,44 it had no written
specification of intelligence information collected by CIA abroad which
was desired by the Secret Service in advance of Presidential trips
outside the United States.
Information known about Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the
assassination.--No information concerning Lee Harvey Oswald appeared in
PRS files before the President's trip to Dallas. Oswald was known to
other Federal agencies with which the Secret Service maintained
intelligence liaison. The FBI had been interested in him, to some degree
at least, since the time of his defection in October 1959. It had
interviewed him twice shortly after his return to the United States,
again a year later at his request and was investigating him at the time
of the assassination. The Commission has taken the testimony of Bureau
agents who interviewed Oswald after his return from the ,Soviet Union
and prior to November 22, 1963, the agent who was assigned his case at
the time of the assassination, the Director of the FBI, and the
Assistant to the Director in charge of all investigative activities
under the Director and Associate Director.45 In addition, the Director
and Deputy Director for Plans of the CIA testified concerning that
Agency's limited knowledge of Oswald before the assassination. 46
Finally, the Commission has reviewed the complete files on Oswald, as
they existed at the time of the assassination, of the Department of
State, the Office of Naval Intelligence, the FBI and the CIA. The
information known to the FBI is summarized below.
Page 434
From defection to return to Fort Worth.--The FBI opened a file on Oswald
in October 1959,47 when news reports appeared of his defection to the
Soviet Union.48 The file was opened "for the purpose of correlating
information inasmuch as he was considered a possible security risk in
the event he returned to this country." 49 Oswald's defection was also
the occasion for the opening of files by the Department of State, CIA,
and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Until April 1960, FBI activity
consisted of placing in Oswald's file in formation regarding his
relations with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and background data relating
largely to his prior military service, provided by other agencies. In
April 1960, Mrs. Marguerite Oswald and Robert Oswald were interviewed in
the course of a routine FBI investigation of transfers of small sums of
money from Mrs. Oswald to her son in Russia. 50
During the next. 2 years the FBI continued to accumulate information,
and kept itself informed on Oswald's status by periodic reviews of State
Department and Office of Naval Intelligence files. In this way, it
learned that when Oswald had arrived in the Soviet Union he had
attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship and applied for Soviet
citizenship, had described himself as a Marxist, had said he would give
the Soviet Union any useful information he had acquired as a marine
radar technician and had displayed an arrogant and aggressive attitude
at the U.S. Embassy; it learned also that Oswald had been discharged
from the Marine Corps Reserve as undesirable in August 1960.51 In June
1962, the Bureau was advised by the Department of State of Oswald's plan
to return to the United States. The Bureau made arrangements to be
advised by immigration authorities of his return, and instructed the
Dallas office to interview him when he got back to determine whether he
had been recruited by a Soviet intelligence service. 52 Oswald's file at
the Department of State Passport Office was reviewed in June 1962. It
revealed his letter of January 30, 1962, to Secretary of the Navy
Connally, in which he protested his discharge and declared that he would
use "all means" to correct it. The file reflected the Department's
determination that Oswald had not expatriated himself.53
From return to Fort Worth to move to New Orleans.--Oswald was first
interviewed by FBI Agents John W. Fain and B. Tom Carter on June 26,
1962, in Fort Worth.54 Agent Fain reported to headquarters that Oswald
was impatient and arrogant, and unwilling to answer questions regarding
his motive for going to the Soviet Union. Oswald "denied that he bad
ever denounced his U.S. citizenship, and * * * that he had ever applied
for Soviet citizenship specifically." 55 Oswald was, however, willing to
discuss his contacts with Soviet authorities. He denied having any
involvement with Soviet intelligence agencies and promised to advise the
FBI if he heard from them.56
Agent Fain was not satisfied by this interview and arranged to see
Oswald again on August 16, 1962.57 According to Fain's contemporaneous
memorandum and his present recollection, while Oswald remained somewhat
evasive at this interview, he was not antagonistic
Page 435
and seemed generally to be settling down.58 (Marina Oswald, however,
recalled that her husband was upset by this interview.)59 Oswald again
agreed to advise the FBI if he were approached under suspicious
circumstances; however, he deprecated the possibility of this happening,
particularly since his employment did not involve any sensitive
information. 60 Having concluded that Oswald was not a security risk or
potentially dangerous or violent, Fain determined that nothing further
remained to be done at that time and recommended that the case be placed
in a closed status.61 This is an administrative classification
indicating that no further work has been scheduled. It does not preclude
the agent in charge of the case from reopening it if he feels that
further work should be done.62
From August 1962 until March 1963, the FBI continued to accumulate
information regarding Oswald but engaged in no active investigation.
Agent Fain retired from the FBI in October 1962, and the closed Oswald
case was not reassigned.63 However, pursuant to a regular Bureau
practice of interviewing certain immigrants from Iron Curtain countries,
Fain had been assigned to see Marina Oswald at an appropriate time.64
This assignment was given to Agent James P. Hosty, Jr. of the Dallas
office upon Fain's retirement. In March 1963, while attempting to locate
Marina Oswald, Agent Hosty was told by Mrs. M. F. Tobias, a former
landlady of the Oswalds at 602 Elsbeth Street in Dallas, that other
tenants had complained because Oswald was drinking to excess and beating
his wife.65 This information led Hosty to review Oswald's file, from
which he learned that Oswald had become a subscriber to the Worker, a
Communist Party publication. Hosty decided that the Lee Harvey Oswald
case should be reopened because of the alleged personal difficulties and
the contact with the Worker, and his recommendation was accepted.66 He
decided, however, not to interview Marina Oswald at that time, and
merely determined that the Oswalds were living at 214 Neely Street in
Dallas. 67
On April 21, 1963, the FBI field office in New York was advised that
Oswald was in contact with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New York,
and that he had written to the committee stating that he had distributed
its pamphlets on the streets of Dallas.68 This information did not reach
Agent Hosty in Dallas until June.69 Hosty considered the information to
be "stale" by that time, and did not attempt to verify Oswald's reported
statement. 70 Under a general Bureau request to be on the alert. for
activities of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee Hosty had inquired
earlier and found no evidence that it was functioning in the Dallas
area.71
In New Orleans.--In the middle of May of 1963, Agent Hosty checked
Oswald's last known residence and found that he had moved.72 Oswald was
tentatively located in New Orleans in June, and Hosty asked the New
Orleans FBI office to determine Oswald's address and what he was
doing.73 The New Orleans office investigated and located Oswald,
learning his address and former place of employment on August 5, 1963.
74 A confidential informant advised the FBI that Oswald
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Page 436
was not known to be engaged in Communist Party activities in New
Orleans. 75
On June 24, Oswald applied in New Orleans for a passport, stating that
he planned to depart by ship for an extended tour of Western European
countries, the Soviet Union, Finland, and Poland. The Passport Office of
the Department of State in Washington had no listing for Oswald
requiring special treatment, and his application was approved on the
following day. 76 The FBI had not asked to be informed of any effort by
Oswald to obtain a passport, as it might have under existing procedures,
and did not know of his application. 77 According to the Bureau,
We did not request the State Department to include Oswald on a list
which would have resulted in advising us of any application for a
passport inasmuch as the facts relating to Oswald's activities at that
time did not warrant such action. Our investigation of Oswald had
disclosed no evidence that Oswald was acting under the instructions or
on behalf of any foreign government or instrumentality thereof.78
On August 9, 1963, Oswald was arrested and jailed by the New Orleans
Police Department for disturbing the peace, in connection with a street
fight which broke out when he was accosted by anti-Castro Cubans while
distributing leaflets on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. On
the next day, he asked the New Orleans police to arrange for him to be
interviewed by the FBI. The police called the local FBI office and an
agent, John L. Quigley, was sent to the police station. 79 Agent Quigley
did not know of Oswald's prior FBI record when he interviewed him,
inasmuch as the police had not given Oswald's name to the Bureau when
they called the office. 80
Quigley recalled that Oswald was receptive when questioned about his
general background but less than completely truthful or cooperative when
interrogated about the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Quigley testified:
When I began asking him specific details with respect to his activities
in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans as to where meetings
were held, who was involved, what occurred, he was reticent to furnish
information, reluctant and actually as far as I was concerned, was
completely evasive on them. 81
In Quigley's judgment, Oswald "was probably making a self-serving
statement in attempting to explain to me why he was distributing this
literature, and for no other reason, and when I got to questioning him
further then he felt that his purpose had been served and he wouldn't
say anything further." 82
During the interview Quigley obtained background information from Oswald
which was inconsistent with information already in the Bureau's
possession. When Quigley returned to his office, he learned
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Page 437
that another Bureau agent, Milton R. Kaack, had been conducting a
background investigation of Oswald at the request of Agent Hosty in
Dallas. Quigley advised Knack of his interview and gave him a detailed
memorandum. 83 Knack was aware of the facts known to the FBI and
recognized Oswald's false statements.84 For example, Oswald claimed that
his wife's maiden name was Prossa and that they had been married in Fort
Worth and lived there until coming to New Orleans.85 He had told the New
Orleans arresting officers that he had been born in Cuba.86
Several days later, the Bureau received additional evidence that Oswald
had lied to Agent Quigley. On August 22, it learned that Oswald had
appeared on a radio discussion program on August 21. 87 William Stuckey,
who had appeared on the radio program with Oswald, told the Bureau on
August 30 that Oswald had told him that he had worked and been married
in the Soviet Union.88 Neither these discrepancies nor the fact that
Oswald had initiated the FBI interview was considered sufficiently
unusual to necessitate another interview. 89 Alan H. Belmont, Assistant
to the Director of the FBI, stated the Bureau's reasoning in this way:
Our interest in this man at this point was to determine whether his
activities constituted a threat to the internal security of the country.
It was apparent that he had made a self-serving statement to Agent
Quigley. It became a matter of record in our files as a part of the
case, and if we determined that the course of the investigation required
us to clarify or face him down with this information, we would do it at
the appropriate time.
In other words, he committed no violation of the law by telling us
something that wasn't true, and unless this required further
investigation at that time, we would handle it in due course, in accord
with the whole context of the investigation. 90
On August 21, 1963, Bureau headquarters instructed the New Orleans and
Dallas field offices to conduct an additional investigation of Oswald in
view of the activities which had led to his arrest. 91 FBI informants in
the New Orleans area, familiar with pro-Castro or Communist Party
activity there, advised the Bureau that Oswald was unknown in such
circles. 92
In Dallas.--In early September 1963 the FBI transferred the principal
responsibility for the Oswald case from the Dallas office to the New
Orleans office.93 Soon after, on October 1, 1963, the FBI was advised by
the rental agent for the Oswalds' apartment in New Or]cans that they had
moved again.94 According to the information received by the Bureau they
had vacated their apartment, and Marina Oswald had departed with their
child in a station wagon with Texas registration. 95 On October 3, Hosty
reopened the case in Dallas to assist the New Orleans office.96 He
checked in Oswald's old neighborhood and throughout the Dallas-Fort
Worth area but was unable to locate Oswald. 97
Page 438
The next word about Oswald's location was a communication from the CIA
to the FBI on October 10, advising that an individual tentatively
identified as Oswald had been in touch with the Soviet. Embassy in
Mexico City in early October of 1963. 98 The Bureau had had no earlier
information suggesting that Oswald had left. the United States. The
possible contact with the Soviet Embassy in Mexico intensified the FBI's
interest in learning Oswald's whereabouts. 99 The FBI representative in
Mexico City arranged to follow up this information with the CIA and to
verify Oswald's entry into Mexico.100 The CIA message was sent also to
the Department of State where it was reviewed by personnel of the
Passport Office, who knew from Oswald's file that he had sought and
obtained a passport on June 25, 1963.101 The Department of State did not
advise either the CIA or the FBI of these facts.102
On October 25, the New Orleans office of the FBI learned that in
September Oswald had given a forwarding address of 2515 West Fifth
Street, Irving, Tex.103 After receiving this information on October 29,
Agent Hosty attempted to locate Oswald. On the same day Hosty
interviewed neighbors on Fifth Street and learned that the address was
that of Mrs. Ruth Paine.104 He conducted a limited background
investigation of the Paines, intending to interview Mrs. Paine and ask
her particularly about Oswald's whereabouts.105
Having determined that Mrs. Paine was a responsible and reliable
citizen, Hosty interviewed her on November 1. The interview lasted about
20-25 minutes.106 In response to Hosty's inquiries, Mrs. Paine
* * * readily admitted that Mrs. Marina Oswald and Lee Oswald's two
children were staying with her. She said that Lee Oswald was living
somewhere in Dallas. She didn't know where. She said it was in the Oak
Cliff area but she didn't have his address.
I asked her if she knew where he worked. After a moment's hesitation,
she told me that he worked at the Texas School Book Depository near the
downtown area of Dallas. She didn't have the exact address, and it is my
recollection that we went to the phone book and looked it up, found it
to be 411 Elm Street.107
Mrs. Paine told Hosty also that Oswald was living alone in Dallas
because she did not want him staying at her house, although she was
willing to let Oswald visit his wife and children.108 According to
Hosty, Mrs. Paine indicated that she thought she could find out where
Oswald was living and would let him know.109 At this point in the
interview, Hosty gave Mrs. Paine his name and office telephone number on
a piece of paper.110 At the end of the interview, Marina Oswald came
into the room. When he observed that she seemed "quite alarmed" about
the visit, Hosty assured her, through Mrs. Paine as interpreter, that
the FBI would not ham or harass her.111
On November 4, Hosty telephoned the Texas School Book Depository and
learned that Oswald was working there and that he had given
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as his address Mrs. Paine's residence in Irving.112 Hosty took the
necessary steps to have the Dallas office of the FBI, rather than the
New Orleans office, reestablished as the office with principal
responsibility.113 On November 5, Hosty was traveling near Mrs. Paine's
home and took the occasion to stop by to ask whether she had any further
information. Mrs. Paine had nothing to add to what she had already told
him, except that during a visit that past weekend, Oswald had said that
he was a "Trotskyite Communist," and that she found this and similar
statements illogical and somewhat amusing.114 On this occasion Hosty was
at the Paine residence for only a few minutes.115
During neither interview did Hosty learn Oswald's address or telephone
number in Dallas. Mrs. Paine testified that she learned Oswald's
telephone number at the Beckley Street roominghouse in the middle of
October shortly after Oswald rented the room on October 14. As discussed
in chapter VI, she failed to report this to Agent Hosty because she
thought the FBI was in possession of a great deal of information and
certainly would find it very easy to learn where Oswald was living.116
Hosty did nothing further in connection with the Oswald case until after
the assassination. On November 1, 1963, he had received a copy of the
report of the New Orleans office which contained Agent Quigley's
memorandum of the interview in the New Orleans jail on August 10,117 and
realized immediately that Oswald had given false biographic
information.118 Hosty knew that he would eventually have to investigate
this, and "was quite interested in determining the nature of his contact
with the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City." 119 When asked what his next
step would have been, Hosty replied:
Well, as I had previously stated, I have between 25 and 40 cases
assigned to me at any one time. I had other matters to take care of. I
had now established that Lee Oswald was not employed in a sensitive
industry. I can now afford to wait until New Orleans forwarded the
necessary papers to me to show me I now had all the information. It was
then my plan to interview Marina Oswald in detail concerning both
herself and her husband's background.
Q. Had you planned any steps beyond that point ?
A. No. I would have to wait until I had talked to Marina to see what I
could determine, and from there I could make my plans.
Q. Did you take any action on this ease between November 5 and November
22 ?
A. No, sir.120
The official Bureau files confirm Hosty's statement that from November 5
until the assassination, no active investigation was conducted.121 On
November 18 the FBI learned that Oswald recently had been in
communication with the Soviet Embassy in Washington and so advised the
Dallas office in the ordinary course of business.
Page 440
Hosty received this information on the afternoon of November 22,
1963.122
Nonreferral of Oswald to the Secret Service.--The Commission has
considered carefully the question whether the FBI, in view of all the
information concerning Oswald in its files, should have alerted the
Secret Service to Oswald's presence in Dallas prior to President
Kennedy's visit. The Secret Service and the FBI differ as to whether
Oswald fell within the category of "threats against the President" which
should be referred to the Service.
Robert I Bouck, special agent in charge of the Protective Research
Section, testified that the information available to the Federal
Government about Oswald before the assassination would, if known to PRS,
have made Oswald a subject of concern to the Secret Service.123 Bouck
pointed to a number of characteristics besides Oswald's defection the
cumulative effect of which would have been to alert the Secret Service
to potential danger:
I would think his continued association with the Russian Embassy after
his return, his association with the Castro groups would have been of
concern to us, a knowledge that he had, I believe, been courtmartialed
for illegal possession of a gun, of a hand gun in the Marines, that he
had owned a weapon and did a good deal of hunting or use of it, perhaps
in Russia, plus a number of items about his disposition and
unreliability of character, I think all of those, if we had had them
altogether, would have added up to pointing out a pretty bad individual,
and I think that, together, had we known that he had a vantage point
would have seemed somewhat serious to us, even though I must admit, that
none of these in themselves would be--would meet our specific criteria,
none of them alone.
But, it is when you begin adding them up to some degree that you begin
to get criteria that, are meaningful.124
Mr. Bouck pointed out, however, that he had no reason to believe that
any one Federal agency had access to all this information, including the
significant fact that Oswald was employed in a building which overlooked
the motorcade route.125
Agent Hosty testified that he was fully aware of the pending
Presidential visit to Dallas. He recalled that the special agent in
charge of the Dallas office of the FBI, J. Gordon Shanklin, had
discussed the President's visit on several occasions, including the
regular biweekly conference on the morning of November 22:
Mr. Shanklin advised us, among other things, that in view of the
President's visit to Dallas, that if anyone had any indication of any
possibility of any acts of violence or any demonstrations against the
President, or Vice President, to immediately notify the Secret Service
and confirm it in writing. He had made the
Page 441
same statement about a week prior at another special conference which we
had held. I don't recall the exact date. It was about a week prior.126
In fact, Hosty participated in transmitting to the Secret Service two
pieces of information pertaining to the visit.127 Hosty testified that
he did not know until the evening of Thursday, November 21, that there
was to be a motorcade, however, and never realized that the motorcade
would pass the Texas School Book Depository Building. He testified that
he did not read the newspaper story describing the motorcade route in
detail, since he was interested only in the fact that the motorcade was
coming up Main Street, "where maybe I could watch it if I had a chance."
128
Even if he had recalled that Oswald's place of employment was on the
President's route, Hosty testified that he would not have cited him to
the Secret Service as a potential threat to the President.129 Hosty
interpreted his instructions as requiring "some indication that the
person planned to take some action against the safety of the President
of the United States or the Vice President." 130 In his opinion, none of
the information in the FBI files-- Oswald's defection, his Fair Play for
Cuba activities in New Orleans, his lies to Agent Quigley, his recent
visit to Mexico City--indicated that Oswald was capable of violence.131
Hosty's initial reaction on hearing that Oswald was a suspect in the
assassination, was "shock, complete surprise," because he had no reason
to believe that Oswald "was capable or potentially an assassin of the
President of the United States." 132
Shortly after Oswald was apprehended and identified, Hosty's superior
sent him to observe the interrogation of Oswald.133 Hosty parked his car
in the basement of police headquarters and there met an acquaintance,
Lt. Jack Revill of the Dallas police force. The two men disagree about
the conversation which took place between them. They agree that Hosty
told Revill that the FBI had known about Oswald and, in particular, of
his presence in Dallas and his employment at the Texas School Book
Depository Building.134 Rev-ill testified that Hosty said also that the
FBI had information that Oswald was "capable of committing this
assassination." 135 According to Revill, Hosty indicated that he was
going to tell this to Lieutenant Wells of the homicide and robbery
bureau.136 Revill promptly made a memorandum of this conversation in
which the quoted statement appears.137 His secretary testified that she
prepared such a report for him that afternoon 138 and Chief of Police
Jesse E. Curry and District Attorney Henry M. Wade both testified that
they saw it later that day.139
Hosty has unequivocally denied, first by affidavit and then in his
testimony before the Commission, that he ever said that Oswald was
capable of violence, or that he had any information suggesting this.140
The only witness to the conversation was Dallas Police Detective V. J.
Brian, who was accompanying Revill. Brian did not hear Hosty make any
statement concerning Oswald's capacity to be an
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730-900 0-64--30
Page 442
assassin but he did not hear the entire conversation because of the
commotion at police headquarters and because he was not within hearing
distance at all times.141
Hosty's interpretation of the prevailing FBI instructions on referrals
to the Secret Service was defended before the Commission by his
superiors. After summarizing the Bureau's investigative interest in
Oswald prior to the assassination, J. Edgar Hoover concluded that "There
was nothing up to the time of the assassination that gave any indication
that this man was a dangerous character who might do harm to the
President or to the Vice President." 142 Director Hoover emphasized that
the first indication of Oswald's capacity for violence was his attempt
on General Walker's life, which did not become known to the FBI until
after the assassinat.ion.143 Both Director Hoover and his assistant,
Alan H. Belmont, stressed also the decision by the Department of State
that Oswald should be permitted to return to the United States.144
Neither believed that the Bureau investigation of him up to November 22
revealed any information which would have justified referral to the
Secret Service. According to Belmont, when Oswald returned from the
Soviet Union,
* ** he indicated that he had learned his lesson, was disenchanted with
Russia, and had a renewed concept--I am paraphrasing, a renewed
concept--of the American free society.
We talked to him twice. He likewise indicated he was disenchanted with
Russia. We satisfied ourselves that we had met our requirement, namely
to find out whether he had been recruited by Soviet intelligence. The
case was closed.
We again exhibited interest on the basis of these contacts with The
Worker, Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which are relatively
inconsequential.
His activities for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans, we
knew, were not of real consequence as he was not connected with any
organized activity there.
The interview with him in jail is not significant from the standpoint of
whether he had a propensity for violence.
Q. This is the Quigley interview you are talking about ?
A. Yes; it was a self-serving interview.
The visits with the Soviet Embassy were evidently for the purpose of
securing a visa, and he had told us during one of the interviews that he
would probably take his wife back to Soviet Russia some time in the
future. He had come back to Dallas. Hosty had established that he had a
job, he was working, and had told Mrs. Paine that when he got the money
he was going to take an apartment, when the baby was old enough, he was
going to take an apartment, and the family would live together.
He gave evidence of settling down. Nowhere during the course of this
investigation or the information that came to us from other agencies was
there any indication of a potential for violence on his part.
442
Page 443
Consequenty, there was no basis for Hosty to go to Secret Service and
advise them of Oswald's presence. * * * 145
As reflected in this testimony, the officials of the FBI believed that
there was no data in its files which gave warning that Oswald was a
source of danger to President Kennedy. While he had expressed hostility
at times toward the State Department, the Marine Corps, and the FBI as
agents of the Government,146 so far as the FBI knew he had not shown any
potential for violence. Prior to November 22, 1963, no law enforcement
agency had any information to connect Oswald with the attempted shooting
of General Walker. It was against this background and consistent with
the criteria followed by the FBI prior to November 22 that agents of the
FBI in Dallas did not consider Oswald's presence in the Texas School
Book Depository Building overlooking the motorcade route as a source of
danger to the President and did not inform the Secret Service of his
employment in the Depository Building.
The Commission believes, however, that the FBI took an unduly
restrictive view of its responsibilities in preventive intelligence
work, prior to the assassination. The Commission appreciates the large
volume of eases handled by the FBI (636,371 investigative matters during
fiscal year 1963).147 There were no Secret Service criteria which
specifically required the referral of Oswald's ease to the Secret
Service; nor was there any requirement to report the names of defectors.
However, there was much material in the hands of the FBI about Oswald:
the knowledge of his defection, his arrogance and hostility to the
United States, his pro-Castro tendencies, his lies when interrogated by
the FBI, his trip to Mexico where he was in contact with Soviet
authorities, his presence in the School Book Depository job and its
location along the route of the motorcade. All this does seem to amount
to enough to have induced an alert agency, such as the FBI, possessed of
this information to list Oswald as a potential threat to the safety of
the President. This conclusion may be tinged with hindsight, but it
stated primarily to direct the thought of those responsible for the
future safety of our Presidents to the need for a more imaginative and
less narrow interpretation of their responsibilities.
It is the conclusion of the Commission that, even in the absence of
Secret Service criteria which specifically required the referral of such
a case as Oswald's to the Secret Service, a more alert and carefully
considered treatment of the Oswald case by the Bureau might have brought
about such a referral. Had such a review been undertaken by the FBI,
there might conceivably have been additional investigation of the Oswald
case between November 5 and November 22. Agent Hosty testified that
several matters brought to his attention in late October and early
November, including the visit to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City,
required further attention. Under proper procedures knowledge of the
pending Presidential visit might have prompted Hosty to have made more
vigorous efforts to locate
Page 444
Oswald's roominghouse address in Dallas and to interview him regarding
these unresolved matters.
The formal FBI instructions to it's agents outlining the information to
be referred to the Secret Service were too narrow at the time of the
assassination. While the Secret Service bears the principal
responsibility for this failure, the FBI instructions did not reflect
fully the Secret Service's need for information regarding potential
threats. The handbook referred thus to "the possibility of an attempt
against the person or safety of the President." 148 It is clear from
Hosty's testimony that this was construed, at least by him, as requiring
evidence of a plan or conspiracy to injure the President.149 Efforts
made by the Bureau since the assassination, on the other hand, reflect
keen awareness of the necessity of communicating a much wider range of
intelligence information to the Service.150
Most important, notwithstanding that both agencies have professed to the
Commission that the liaison between them was close and fully
sufficient,151 the Commission does not believe that the liaison between
the FBI and the Secret Service prior to the assassination was as
effective as it should have been. The FBI Manual of Instructions
provided:
Liaison With Other Government Agencies
To insure adequate and effective liaison arrangements, each SAC should
specifically designate an Agent (or Agents) to be responsible for
developing and maintaining liaison with other Federal Agencies. This
liaison should take into consideration FBI-agency community of
interests, location of agency head quarters, and the responsiveness of
agency representatives. In each instance, liaison contacts should be
developed to include a close friendly relationship, mutual understanding
of FBI and agency jurisdictions, and an indicated willingness by the
agency representative to coordinate activities and to discuss problems
of mutual interest. Each field office should determine those Federal
agencies which are represented locally and with which liaison should be
conducted.152
The testimony reveals that liaison responsibilities in connection with
the President's visit were discussed twice officially by the special
agent in charge of the FBI office in Dallas. As discussed in chapter II,
some limited information was made available to the Secret Service.153
But there was no fully adequate liaison between the two agencies.
Indeed, the Commission believes that the liaison between all Federal
agencies responsible for Presidential protection should be improved.
Other Protective Measures and Aspects of Secret Service
Performance
The President's trip to Dallas called into play many standard operating
procedures of the Secret Service in addition to its preventive
Page 445
intelligence operations. Examination of these procedures shows that in
most respects they were well conceived and ably executed by the
personnel of the Service. Against the background of the critical events
of November 22, however, certain shortcomings and lapses from the high
standards which the Commission believes should prevail in the field of
Presidential protection are evident.
Advance preparations.--The advance preparations in Dallas by Agent
Winston G. Lawson of the White House detail have been described' in
chapter II. With the assistance of Agent in Charge Sorrels of the Dallas
field office of the Secret Service, Lawson was responsible for working
out a great many arrangements for the President's trip. The Service
prefers to have two agents perform advance preparations. In the case of
Dallas, because President Kennedy had scheduled visits to five Texas
cities and had also scheduled visits to other parts of the country
immediately before the Texas trip, there were not enough men available
to permit two agents to be assigned to all the advance work.
Consequently, Agent. Lawson did the advance work alone from November 13
to November 18, when he was joined by Agent David B. Grant, who had
just. completed advance work on the President's trip to Tampa.
The Commission concludes that the most significant advance arrangements
for the President's trip were soundly planned. In particular, the
Commission believes that the motorcade route selected by Agent Lawson,
upon the advice of Agent in Charge Sorrels and with the concurrence of
the Dallas police, was entirely appropriate, in view of the known
desires of the President. There were far safer routes via freeways
directly to the Trade Mart, but these routes would not have been in
accordance with the White House staff instructions given the Secret
Service for a desirable motorcade route.154 Much of Lawson's time was
taken with establishing adequate security over the motorcade route and
at the two places where the President would stop, Love Field and the
Trade Mart. The Commission concludes that the arrangements worked out at
the Trade Mart by these Secret Service agents with the cooperation of
the Dallas police and other local law enforcement agents, were carefully
executed. Since the President was to be at the Trade Mart longer than at
any other location in Dallas and in view of the security hazards
presented by the building, the Secret Service correctly gave particular
attention in the advance preparations to those arrangements. The
Commission also regards the security arrangements worked out by Lawson
and Sorrels at Love Field as entirely adequate.
The Commission believes, however, that the Secret Service has
inadequately defined the responsibilities of its advance agents, who
have been given broad discretion to determine what matters require
attention in making advance preparations and to decide what action to
take. Agent Lawson was not given written instructions concerning the
Dallas trip or advice about any peculiar problems which it might
involve; all instructions from higher authority were communicated to him
orally. He did not have a checklist of the tasks he was expected to
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accomplish, either by his own efforts or with the cooperation of local
authorities.155 The only systematic supervision of the activities of the
advance agent has been that provided by a requirement that he file
interim and final reports on each advance assignment. The interim report
must be in the hands of the agent supervising the protective group
traveling with the President long enough before his departure to apprise
him of any particular problems encountered and the responsive action
taken.156 Agent Lawson's interim report was received by Agent Kellerman
on November 20, the day before departure on the Texas trip.157
The Secret Service has advised the Commission that no unusual
precautions were taken for the Dallas trip, and that "the precautions
taken for the President's trip were the usual safeguards employed on
trips of this kind in the United States during the previous year."158
Special Agent in Charge Sorrels testified that the advance preparations
followed on this occasion were "pretty much the same" as those followed
in 1936 during a trip to Dallas by President Roosevelt, which was
Sorrels' first important assignment in connection with Presidential
work.159
In view of the constant change in the nature of threats to the President
and the diversity of the dangers which may arise in the various cities
within the United States, the Commission believes that standard
procedures in use for many years and applied in all parts of the country
may not be sufficient. There is, for example, no Secret- Service
arrangement for evaluating before a trip particular difficulties that
might be anticipated, which would bring to bear the judgment and
experience of members of the White House detail other than the advance
agent. Constant reevaluation of procedures, with attention to special
problems and the development of instructions specific to
particular trips, would be a desirable innovation.
Liaison with local law enforcement authorities.-- In the description
of the important aspects of the advance preparations, there have been
references to the numerous discussions between Secret Service
representatives and the Dallas Police Department. The wholehearted
support of these local authorities was indispensable to the Service in
carrying out its duties. The Service had 28 agents participating in the
Dallas visit.160 Agent Lawson's advance planning called for the
deployment of almost 600 members of the Dallas Police Department, Fire
Department, County Sheriff's Department, and the Texas Department of
Public Safety.161 Despite this dependence on local authorities, which
would be substantially the same on a visit by the President to any large
city, the Secret Service did not at the time of the assassination have
any established procedure governing its relationships with them.162 It
had no prepared checklist of matters to be covered with local police on
such visits to metropolitan areas and no written description of the role
the local police were expected to perform. Discussions with the Dallas
authorities and requests made of them were entirely informal.
Page 447
The Commission believes that a more formal statement of assigned
responsibilities, supplemented in each ease to reflect the peculiar
conditions of each Presidential trip, is essential. This would help to
eliminate varying interpretations of Secret Service instructions by
different local law enforcement representatives. For example, while the
Secret Service representatives in Dallas asked the police to station
guards at each overpass to keep "unauthorized personnel" off, this term
was not defined. At some overpasses all persons were excluded, while on
the overpass overlooking the assassination scene railroad and yard
terminal workmen were permitted to remain under police supervision, as
discussed in chapter III.163 Assistant Chief Batchelor of the Dallas
police noted the absence of any formal statement by the Secret Service
of specific work assigned to the police and suggested the desirability
of such a statement.164 Agent Lawson agreed that. such a procedure would
assist him and other agents in fulfilling their responsibilities as
advance agents.165
Check of buildings along route of motorcade.--Agent Lawson did not
arrange for a prior inspection of buildings along the motorcade route,
either by police or by custodians of the buildings, since it was not the
usual practice of the Secret Service to do so.166 The Chief of the
Service has provided the Commission a detailed explanation of this
policy:
Except for inauguration or other parades involving foreign dignitaries
accompanied by the President in Washington, it has not been the practice
of the Secret Service to make surveys or checks of buildings along the
route of a Presidential motorcade. For the inauguration and certain
other parades in Washington where the traditional route is known to the
public long in advance of the event, buildings along the route can be
checked by teams of law enforcement officers, and armed guards are
posted along the route as appropriate. But on out- of-town trips where
the route is decided on and made public only a few days in advance,
buildings are not checked either by Secret Service agents or by any
other law enforcement officers at the request of the Secret Service.
With the number of men available to the Secret Service and the time
available, surveys of hundreds of buildings and thousands of windows is
not practical.
In Dallas the route selected necessarily involved passing through the
principal downtown section between tall buildings. While certain streets
thought to be too narrow could be avoided and other choices made, it was
not practical to select a route where the President could not be seen
from roofs or windows of buildings. At the two places in Dallas where
the President would remain for a period of time, Love Field and the
Trade Mart, arrangements were made for building and roof security by
posting police officers where appropriate. Similar arrangements for a
motorcade of ten miles, including many blocks of tall commercial
buildings is not practical. Nor is it practical to prevent
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people from entering such buildings, or to limit access in every
building to those employed or having business there. Even if it were
possible with a vastly larger force of security officers to do so, many
observers have felt that such a procedure would not be consistent with
the nature and purpose of the motorcade to let the people see their
President and to welcome him to their city.
In accordance with its regular procedures, no survey or other check was
made by the Secret Service, or by any other law enforcement agency at
its request, of the Texas School Book Depository Building or those
employed there prior to the time the President was shot.167
This justification of the Secret Service's standing policy is not
persuasive. The danger from a concealed sniper on the Dallas trip was of
concern to those who had considered the problem. President Kennedy
himself had mentioned it that morning.168 as had Agent Sorrels when he
and Agent Lawson were fixing the motorcade route.169 Admittedly,
protective measures cannot ordinarily be taken with regard to all
buildings along a motorcade route. Levels of risk can be determined,
however, as has been confirmed by building surveys made since the
assassination for the Department of the Treasury.170 An attempt to cover
only the most obvious points of possible ambush along the route in
Dallas might well have included the Texas School Book Depository
Building.
Instead of such advance precautions, the Secret Service depended in part
on the efforts of local law enforcement personnel stationed along the
route. In addition, Secret Service agents riding in the motorcade were
trained to scan buildings as part of their general observation of the
crowd of spectators.171 These substitute measures were of limited value.
Agent Lawson was unable to state whether he had actually instructed the
Dallas police to scan windows of buildings lining the motorcade route,
although it was his usual practice to do so.172 If such instructions
were in fact given, they were not effectively carried out. Television
films taken of parts of the motorcade by a Dallas television station
show the foot patrolmen facing the passing motorcade, and not the
adjacent crowds and buildings, as the procession passed.173
Three officers from the Dallas Police Department were assigned to the
intersection of Elm and Houston during the morning of November 22 prior
to the motorcade.174 All received their instructions early in the
morning from Capt. P. W. Lawrence of the traffic division.175 According
to Captain Lawrence:
I then told the officers that their primary duty was traffic and crowd
control and that they should be alert for any persons who might attempt
to throw anything and although it was not a violation of the law to
carry a placard, that they were not to tolerate any actions such as the
Stevenson incident and arrest any person who might attempt to throw
anything or try to get at the Presi-
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dent and his party; paying particular attention to the crowd for any
unusual activity. I stressed the fact that this was our President and he
should be shown every respect due his position and that it was our duty
to see that this was done.176
Captain Lawrence was not instructed to have his men watch buildings
along the motorcade route and did not mention the observation of
buildings to them.177 The three officers confirm that their primary
concern was crowd and traffic control, and that they had no opportunity
to scan the windows of the Depository or any other building in the
vicinity of Elm and Houston when the motorcade was passing. They had,
however, occasionally observed the windows of buildings in the area
before the motorcade arrived, in accordance with their own understanding
of their function.178
As the motorcade approached Elm Street there were several Secret Service
agents in it who shared the responsibility of scanning the windows of
nearby buildings. Agent Sorrels, riding in the lead car, did observe the
Texas School Book Depository Building as he passed by, at least for a
sufficient number of seconds to gain a "general impression" of the lack
of any unusual activity.179 He was handicapped, however, by the fact.
that he was riding in a closed car whose roof at times obscured his
view.180 Lawson, also in the lead car, did not scan any buildings since
an important part of his job was to look backward at the President's
car.181 Lawson stated that he "was looking back a good deal of the time,
watching his car, watching the sides, watching the crowds, giving advice
or asking advice from the Chief. and also looking ahead to the known
hazards like overpasses, under-passes, railroads, et cetera." 182 Agent
Roy H. Kellerman, riding in the front seat of the Presidential car,
stated that he scanned the Depository Building, but not sufficiently to
be alerted by anything in the windows or on the roof.183 The agents in
the followup car also were expected to scan adjacent buildings. However,
the Commission does not believe that agents stationed in a car behind
the Presidential car, who must concentrate primarily on the possibility
of threats from crowds along the route, provide a significant safeguard
against dangers in nearby buildings.
Conduct of Secret Service agents in Fort Worth on November 22.--In the
early morning hours on November 22, 1963, in Fort Worth, there occurred
a breach of discipline by some members of the Secret Service who were
officially traveling with the President. After the President had retired
at his hotel, nine agents who were off duty went to the nearby Fort
Worth Press Club at midnight or slightly thereafter, expecting to obtain
food; they had had little opportunity to eat during the day.184 No food
was available at the Press Club. All of the agents stayed for a drink of
beer, or in several cases, a mixed drink. According to their affidavits,
the drinking in no ease amounted to more than three glasses of beer or
11/2 mixed drinks, and others who were present say that no agent was
inebriated or acted improperly. The statements of the agents involved
are supported by
Page 450
statements of members of the Fort Worth press who accompanied or
observed them and by a Secret Service investigation.185
According to their statements, the agents remained at the Press Club for
periods varying from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, and the last
agent left the Press Club by 2 a.m.186 Two of the nine agents returned
to their rooms. The seven others proceeded to an establishment called
the Cellar Coffee House, described by some as a beatnik place arid by
its manager as "a unique show place with continuous light entertainment
all night [serving] only coffee, fruit juices and no hard liquors or
beer." 187 There is no indication that any of the agents who visited the
Cellar Coffee House had any intoxicating drink at. that
establishment.188 Most of the agents were there from about 1:30 or 1:45
a.m. to about 2:45 or 3 a.m.; one agent was there from 2 until
5 a.m.189
The lobby of the hotel and the areas adjacent to the quarters of the
President were guarded during the night by members of the midnight to 8
a.m. shift of the White House detail. These agents were each relieved
for a half hour break during the night.190 Three members of this shift
separately took this opportunity to visit the Cellar Coffee House.191
Only one stayed as long as a half hour, and none had any beverage
there.191 Chief Rowley testified that agents on duty in such a situation
usually stay within the building during their relief, but that their
visits to the Cellar were "neither consistent nor inconsistent" with
their duty.193
Each of the agents who visited the Press Club or the Cellar Coffee House
(apart from the three members of the midnight shift) had duty
assignments beginning no later than 8 a.m. that morning. President
Kennedy was scheduled to speak across the street from his hotel in Fort
Worth at 8:30 a.m.,194 and then at a breakfast, after which the
entourage would proceed to Dallas. In Dallas, one of the nine agents was
assigned to assist in security measures at Love Field, and four had
protective assignments at the Trade Mart. The remaining four had key
responsibilities as members of the complement of the followup car in the
motorcade. Three of these agents occupied positions on the running
boards of the car, and the fourth was seated in the car.195
The supervisor of each of the off-duty agents who visited the Press Club
or the Cellar Coffee House advised, in the course of the Secret Service
investigation of these events, that each agent reported for duty on
time, with full possession of his mental and physical capabilities and
entirely ready for the performance of his assigned duties.196 Chief
Rowley testified that, as a result of the investigation he ordered, he
was satisfied that each of the agents performed his duties in an
entirely satisfactory manner. and that their conduct the night before
did not impede their actions on duty or in the slightest way prevent
them from taking any action that might have averted the tragedy.197
However, Chief Rowley did not condone the action of the off-duty agents,
particularly since it violated a regulation of the Secret Service, which
provides:
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Liquor, use of.--a. Employees are strictly enjoined to refrain from the
use of intoxicating liquor during the hours they are officially employed
at their post of duty, or when they may reasonably expect that they may
be called upon to perform an official duty. During entire periods of
travel status, the special agent is officially employed and should not
use liquor, until the completion of all of his official duties for the
day, after which time a very moderate use of liquor will not be
considered a violation. However, all members of the White House Detail
and special agents cooperating with them on Presidential and similar
protective assignments are considered to be subject to call for official
duty at any time while in travel status. Therefore, the use of
intoxicating liquor of any kind, including beer and wine, by members of
the White House Detail and special agents cooperating with them, or by
special agents on similar assignments, while they are in a travel
status, is prohibited. 198
The regulations provide further that "violation or slight disregard" of
these provisions "will be cause for removal from the Service." 199
Chief Rowley testified that under ordinary circumstances he would have
taken disciplinary action against those agents who had been drinking in
clear violation of the regulation. However, he felt that any
disciplinary action might have given rise to an inference that the
violation of the regulation had contributed to the tragic events of
November 22. Since he was convinced that this was not the case, he
believed that it would be unfair to the agents and their families to
take explicit disciplinary measures. He felt that each agent recognized
the seriousness of the infraction and that there was no danger of a
repetition. 200
The Commission recognizes that the responsibilities of members of the
White House detail of the Secret Service are arduous.. They work long,
hard hours, under very great strain, and must travel frequently. It
might seem harsh to circumscribe their opportunities for relaxation. Yet
their role of protecting the President is so important to the well-being
of the country that it is reasonable to expect them to meet very high
standards of personal conduct, so that nothing can interfere with their
bringing to their task the finest qualities and maximum resources of
mind and body. This is the salutary goal to which the Secret Service
regulation is directed, when it absolutely forbids drinking by any agent
accompanying the President on a trip. Nor is this goal served when
agents remain out until early morning hours, and lose the opportunity to
get a reasonable amount of sleep. It is conceivable that those men who
had little sleep, and who had consumed alcoholic beverages, even in
limited quantities, might have been more alert in the Dallas motorcade
if they had retired promptly in Fort Worth. However, there is no
evidence that these men failed to take any action in Dallas within their
power that would have averted the tragedy. As will be seen, the
instantaneous and heroic
Page 452
response to the assassination of some of the agents concerned was in the
finest tradition of Government service.
The motorcade in Dallas.--Rigorous security precautions had been
arranged at Love Field with the local law enforcement authorities by
Agents Sorrels and Lawson. These precautions included reserving a
ceremonial area for the Presidential party, stationing police on the
rooftops of all buildings overlooking the reception area, and detailing
police in civilian clothes to be scattered throughout the sizable
crowd.201 When President and Mrs. Kennedy shook hands with members of
the public along the fences surrounding the reception area, they were
closely guarded by Secret Service agents who responded to the unplanned
event with dispatch.202
As described in chapter II, the President directed that his car stop on
two occasions during the motorcade so that he could greet members of the
public.203 At these stops, agents from the Presidential follow-up car
stood between the President and the public, and on one occasion Agent
Kellerman left the front seat of the President's car to take a similar
position. The Commission regards such impromptu stops as presenting an
unnecessary danger, but finds that the Secret Service agents did all
that could have been done to take protective measures.
The Presidential limousine.--The limousine used by President Kennedy in
Dallas was a convertible with a detachable, rigid plastic "bubble" top
which was neither bulletproof nor bullet resistant.204 The last
Presidential vehicle with any protection against small-arms fire left
the White House in 1953. It was not theft replaced because the state of
the art did not permit the development of a bulletproof top of
sufficiently light weight to permit its removal on those occasions when
the President wished to ride in an open car. The Secret Service believed
that it was very doubtful that any President would ride regularly in a
vehicle with a fixed top, even though transparent.205 Since the
assassination, the Secret Service, with the assistance of other Federal
agencies and of private industry, has developed a vehicle for the better
protection of the President.206
Access to passenger compartment of Presidential car.--On occasion the
Secret Service has been permitted to have an agent riding in the
passenger compartment with the President. Presidents have made it clear,
however, that they did not favor this or any other arrangement which
interferes with the privacy of the President and his guests. The Secret
Service has therefore suggested this practice only on extraordinary
occasions.207 Without attempting to prescribe or recommend specific
measures which should be employed for the future protection of
Presidents, the Commission does believe that there are aspects of the
protective measures employed in the motorcade at Dallas which deserve
special comment.
The Presidential vehicle in use in Dallas, described in chapter II, had
no special design or equipment which would have permitted the Secret
Service agent riding in the driver's compartment to move into the
passenger section without hindrance or delay. Had the vehicle been so
designed it is possible that an agent riding in the front seat
Page 453
could have reached the President in time to protect him from the second
and fatal shot to hit the President. However, such access to the
President was interfered with both by the metal bar some 15 inches above
the back of the front seat and by the passengers in the jump seats. In
contrast, the Vice Presidential vehicle, although not specially designed
for that purpose, had no passenger in a jump. seat between Agent
Youngblood and Vice President Johnson to interfere with Agent
Youngblood's ability to take a protective position in the passenger
compartment before the third shot was fired. 208
The assassination suggests that it would have been of prime importance
in the protection of the President if the Presidential car permitted
immediate access to the President by a Secret Service agent at the first
sign of danger. At that time the agents on the framing boards of the
followup ear were expected to perform such a function. However, these
agents could not reach the President's car when it was traveling at an
appreciable rate of speed. Even if the car is traveling more slowly, the
delay involved in reaching the President may be crucial. It. is clear
that. at the time of the shots in Dallas, Agent Clinton J. Hill leaped
to the President's rescue as quickly as humanly possible. Even so,
analysis of the motion picture films taken by amateur photographer
Zapruder reveals that Hill first placed his hand on the Presidential ear
at frame 343, 30 frames and therefore approximately 1.6 seconds after
the President was shot in the head. 209 About 3.7 seconds after the
President received this wound, Hill had both feet on the ear and was
climbing aboard to assist President and Mrs. Kennedy.210
Planning [or motorcade contingencies.--In response to inquiry by the
Commission regarding the instructions to agents in a motorcade of
emergency procedures to be taken in a contingency such as that which
actually occurred, the Secret Service responded:
The Secret Service has consistently followed two general principles in
emergencies involving the President. All agents are so instructed. The
first duty of the agents in the motorcade is to attempt to cover the
President as closely as possible and practicable and to shield him by
attempting to place themselves between the President and any source of
danger. Secondly, agents are instructed to remove the President as
quickly as possible from known or impending danger. Agents are
instructed that it is not their responsibility to investigate or
evaluate a present danger, but to consider any untoward circumstances as
serious and to afford the President maximum protection at all times. No
responsibility rests upon those agents near the President for the
identification or arrest of any assassin or an attacker. Their primary
responsibility is to stay with and protect the President.
Beyond these two principles the Secret Service believes a derailed
contingency or emergency plan is not feasible because the variations
possible preclude effective planning. A number of steps are taken,
however, to permit appropriate steps to be taken
Page 454
in an emergency. For instance, the lead car always is manned by Secret
Service agents familiar with the area and with local law enforcement
officials; the radio net in use in motorcades is elaborate and permits a
number of different means of communication with various local points. A
doctor is in the motorcade.211
This basic approach to the problem of planning for emergencies is sound.
Any effort to prepare detailed contingency plans might well have the
undesirable effect of inhibiting quick and imaginative responses. If the
advance preparation is thorough, and the protective devices and
techniques employed are sound, those in command should be able to direct
the response appropriate to the emergency.
The Commission finds that the Secret Service agents in the motorcade who
were immediately responsible for the President's safety reacted promptly
at the time the shots were fired. Their actions demonstrate that the
President and the Nation can expect courage and devotion to duty from
the agents of the Secret Service.
Recommendations
Page 454
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Commission's review of the provisions for Presidential protection at
the time of President Kennedy's trip to Dallas demonstrates the need for
substantial improvements. Since the assassination, the Secret Service
and the Department of the Treasury have properly taken the initiative in
reexamining major aspects of Presidential protection. Many changes have
already been made and others are contemplated, some of them in response
to the Commission's questions and informal suggestions.
Assassination a Federal Crime
There was no Federal criminal jurisdiction over the assassination of
President Kennedy. Had there been reason to believe that the
assassination was the result of a conspiracy, Federal jurisdiction could
have been asserted; it has long been a Federal crime to conspire to
injure any Federal officer, on account of, or while he is engaged in,
the lawful discharge of the duties of his office.212 Murder of the
President has never been covered by Federal law, however, so that once
it became reasonably clear that the killing was the act of a single
person, the State of Texas had exclusive jurisdiction.
It is anomalous that Congress has legislated in other ways touching upon
the safety of the Chief Executive or other Federal officers, without
making an attack on the President a crime. Threatening harm to the
President is a Federal .offense, 213 as is advocacy of the overthrow of
the Government by the assassination of any of its officers.214 The
murder of Federal judges, U.S. attorneys and marshals, and a number of
other specifically designated Federal law enforcement. officers is a
Federal crime.215 Equally anomalous are statutory provisions which
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specifically authorize the Secret Service to protect the President,
without authorizing it to arrest anyone who harms him. The same
provisions authorize the Service to arrest without warrant persons
committing certain offenses, including counterfeiting and certain frauds
involving Federal checks or securities.216 The Commission agrees with
the Secret Service 217 that it should be authorized to make arrests
without warrant for all offenses within its jurisdiction, as are FBI
agents and Federal marshals.218
There have been a number of efforts to make assassination a Federal
crime, particularly after the assassination of President McKinley and
the attempt on the life of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt.219 In
1902 bills passed both Houses of Congress but failed of enactment when
the Senate refused to accept the conference report.220 A number of bills
were introduced immediately following the assassination of President
Kennedy.221
The Commission recommends to the Congress that it adopt legislation
which would:
Punish the murder or manslaughter of, attempt or conspiracy to murder,
kidnaping of and assault upon
the President, Vice President, or other officer next in the order of
succession to the Office of President, the President- elect and the
Vice-President-elect,
whether or not the act is committed while the victim is in the
performance of his official duties or on account of such performance.
Such a statute would cover the President and Vice President or, in the
absence of a Vice President, the person next in order of succession.
During the period between election and inauguration, the President-elect
and Vice-President-elect would also be covered. Restricting the coverage
in this way would avoid unnecessary controversy over the inclusion or
exclusion of other officials who are in the order of succession or who
hold important governmental posts. In addition, the restriction would
probably eliminate a need for the requirement which has been urged as
necessary for the exercise of Federal power, that the hostile act occur
while the victim is engaged in or because of the performance of official
duties.222 The governmental consequences of assassination of one of the
specified officials give the United States ample power to act for its
own protection.223 The activities of the victim at the time an
assassination occurs and the motive for the assassination bear no
relationship to the injury to the United States which follows from the
act. This point was ably made in the 1902 debate by Senator George F.
Hoar, the sponsor of the Senate bill:
* * * what this bill means to punish is the crime of interruption of the
Government of the United States and the destruction of its security by
striking down the life of the person who is actually in the exercise of
the executive power, or of such persons as have been
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constitutionally and lawfully provided to succeed thereto in case of a
vacancy. It is important to this country that the interruption shall not
take place for an hour * * * 224
Enactment of this statute would mean that the investigation of any of
the acts covered and of the possibility of a further attempt would be
conducted by Federal law enforcement officials, in particular, the FBI
with the assistance of the Secret Service.225 At present, Federal
agencies participate only upon the sufferance of the local authorities.
While the police work of the Dallas authorities in the early
identification and apprehension of Oswald was both efficient and prompt,
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who strongly supports such legislation,
testified that the absence of clear Federal jurisdiction over the
assassination of President Kennedy led to embarrassment and confusion in
the subsequent investigation by Federal and local authorities.226 In
addition, the proposed legislation will insure that any suspects who are
arrested will be Federal prisoners, subject to Federal protection from
vigilante justice and other threats. 227
Committee of Cabinet Officers
As our Government has become more complex, agencies other than the
Secret Service have become involved in phases of the overall problem of
protecting our national leaders. The FBI is the major domestic
investigating agency of the United States, while the CIA has the primary
responsibility for collecting intelligence overseas to supplement
information acquired by the Department of State. The Secret Service must
rely in large part upon the investigating capacity and experience of
these and other agencies for much of its information regarding possible
dangers to the President. The Commission believes that it is necessary
to improve the cooperation among these agencies and to emphasize that
the task of Presidential protection is one of broad national concern.
The Commission suggests that consideration might be given to assigning
to a Cabinet-level committee or the National Security Council (which is
responsible for advising the President respecting the coordination of
departmental policies relating to the national security) 228 the
responsibility to review and oversee the protective activities of the
Secret Service and the other Federal agencies that assist in
safeguarding the President. The Committee should include the Secretary
of the Treasury and the Attorney General, and, if the Council is used,
arrangements should be made for the attendance of the Secretary of the
Treasury and the Attorney General at any meetings which are concerned
with Presidential protection.229 The Council already includes, in
addition to the President and Vice President, the Secretaries of State
and Defense and has a competent staff.
The foremost assignment of the Committee would be to insure that the
maximum resources of the Federal Government are fully engaged
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in the job of protecting the President, by defining responsibilities
clearly and overseeing their execution. Major needs of personnel or
other resources might be met more easily on its recommendation than they
have been in the past.
The Committee would be able to provide guidance in defining the general
nature of domestic and foreign dangers to Presidential security. As
improvements are recommended for the advance detection of potential
threats to the President, it could act as a final review board. The
expert assistance and resources which it could draw upon would be
particularly desirable in this complex and sensitive area.
This arrangement would provide a continuing high-level contact for
agencies that may wish to consult respecting particular protective
measures. For various reasons the Secret Service has functioned largely
as an informal part of the White House staff, with the result that it
has been unable, as a practical matter, to exercise sufficient influence
over the security precautions which surround Presidential activities. A
Cabinet-level committee which is actively concerned with these problems
would be able to discuss these matters more effectively with the
President.
Responsibilities for Presidential Protection
The assignment of the responsibility of protecting the President to an
agency of the Department of the Treasury was largely an historical
accident.230 The Secret Service was organized as a division of the
Department of the Treasury in 1865, to deal with counterfeiting. In
1894, while investigating a plot to assassinate President Cleveland, the
Service assigned a small protective detail of agents to the White House.
Secret Service men accompanied the President and his family to their
vacation home in Massachusetts and special details protected him in
Washington, on trips, and at special functions. These informal and
part-time arrangements led to more systematic protection in 1902, after
the assassination of President McKinley; the Secret Service, then the
only Federal investigative agency, assumed full-time responsibility for
the safety of the President. Since that time, the Secret Service has had
and exercised responsibility for the physical protection of the
President and also for the preventive investigation of potential threats
against the President.
Although the Secret Service has had the primary responsibility for the
protection of the President, the FBI, which was established within the
Department of Justice in 1908, has had in recent years an increasingly
important role to play. In the appropriations of the FBI there has
recurred annually an item for the "protection of the person of the
President of the United States," which first appeared in the
appropriation of the Department of Justice in 1910 under the heading
"Miscellaneous Objects."231 Although the FBI is not charged with the
physical protection of the President, it does have an assignment, as do
other Government agencies, in the field of preventive investigation in
regard to the President's security. As discussed above, the Bureau has
730-900 0-64--31
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attempted to meet its responsibilities in this field by spelling out in
its Handbook the procedures which its agents are to follow in connection
with information received "indicating the possibility of an attempt
against the person or safety of the President" or other protected
persons.
With two Federal agencies operating in the same general field of
preventive investigation, questions inevitably arise as to the scope of
each agency's authority and responsibility. As the testimony of J. Edgar
Hoover and other Bureau officials revealed, the FBI did not believe that
its directive required the Bureau to notify the Secret Service of the
substantial information about Lee Harvey Oswald which the FBI had
accumulated before the President reached Dallas. On the other hand, the
Secret Service had no knowledge whatever of Oswald, his background, or
his employment at the Book Depository, and Robert I. Bouck, who was in
charge of the Protective Research Section of the Secret Service,
believed that the accumulation of the facts known to the FBI should have
constituted a sufficient basis to warn the Secret Service of the Oswald
risk.
The Commission believes that both the FBI and the Secret Service have
too narrowly construed their respective responsibilities. The Commission
has the impression that too much emphasis is placed by both on the
investigation of specific threats by individuals and not enough on
dangers from other sources. In addition, the Commission has concluded
that the Secret Service particularly tends to be the passive recipient
of information regarding such threats and that its Protective Research
Section is not adequately staffed or equipped to conduct the wider
investigative work that is required today for the security of the
President.
During the period the Commission was giving thought to this situation,
the Commission received a number of proposals designed to improve
current arrangements for protecting the President. These proposals
included suggestions to locate exclusive responsibility for all phases
of the work in one or another Government agency, to clarify the division
of authority between the agencies involved, and to retain the existing
system but expand both the scope and the operations of the existing
agencies, particularly those of the Secret Service and the FBI.
It has been pointed out that the FBI, as our chief investigative agency,
is properly manned and equipped to carry on extensive information
gathering functions within the United States. It was also suggested that
it would take a substantial period of time for the Secret Service to
build up the experience and skills necessary to meet the problem.
Consequently the suggestion has been made, on the one hand, that all
preventive investigative functions relating to the security of the
President should be transferred to the FBI, leaving with the Secret
Service only the responsibility for the physical protection of the
President, that is, the guarding function alone.
On the other hand, it is urged that all features of the protection of
the President and his family should be committed to an elite and
independent corps. It is also contended that the agents should be
intimately
Page 459
associated with the life of the Presidential family in all its
ramifications and alert to every danger that might befall it, and ready
at any instant to hazard great danger to themselves in the performance
of their tremendous responsibility. It is suggested that an organization
shorn of its power to investigate all the possibilities of danger to the
'President and becoming merely the recipient of information gathered by
others would become limited solely to acts of physical alertness and
personal courage incident to its responsibilities. So circumscribed, it
could not maintain the esprit de corps or the necessary alertness for
this unique and challenging responsibility.
While in accordance with its mandate this Commission has necessarily
examined into the functioning of the various Federal agencies concerned
with the tragic trip of President Kennedy to Dallas and while it has
arrived at certain conclusions in respect thereto, it seems clear that
it was not within the Commission's responsibility to make specific
recommendations as to the long- range organization of the President's
protection, except as conclusions flowing directly from its examination
of the President's assassination can be drawn. The Commission was not
asked to apply itself as did the Hoover Commission in 1949, for examples
to a determination of the optimum organization of the President's
protection. It would have been necessary for the Commission to take
considerable testimony, much of it extraneous to the facts of the
assassination of President Kennedy, to put it in a position to reach
final conclusions in this respect. There are always dangers of divided
responsibility, duplication, and confusion of
authority where more than one agency is operating in the same field; but
on the other hand the protection of the President is in a real sense a
Government-wide responsibility which must necessarily
assumed by the Department of State the FBI, the CIA, and the military
intelligence agencies as well as the Secret Service. Moreover, a number
of imponderable questions have to be weighed if any change in the
intimate association now established between the Secret Service and the
President and his family is contemplated.
These considerations have induced the Commission to believe that the
determination of whether or not there should be a relocation of
responsibilities and functions should be left to the Executive and the
Congress, perhaps upon recommendations based on further studies by the
Cabinet-level committee recommended above or the National Security
Council.
Pending any such determination, however, this Commission is convinced of
the necessity of better coordination and direction of the activities of
all existing agencies of Government which are in a position to and do,
furnish information and services related to the security of the
President. The Commission feels the Secret Service and the FBI, as well
as the State Department and the CIA when the President travels abroad,
could .improve their existing capacities and procedures so as to lessen
the chances of assassination. Without, therefore, coming to final
conclusions respecting the long-range organization of the President's
security, the Commission believes
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that the facts of the assassination of President Kennedy point to
certain measures which, while assuming no radical relocation of
responsibilities, can and should be recommended by this Commission in
the interest of the more efficient protection of the President. These,
recommendations are reviewed below.
General Supervision of the Secret Service
The intimacy of the Secret Service's relationship to the White House and
the dissimilarity of its protective functions to most activities of the
Department of the Treasury have made it difficult for the Treasury to
maintain close and continuing supervision. The Commission believes that
the recommended Cabinet-level committee will help to correct many of the
major deficiencies of supervision disclosed by the Commission's
investigation. Other measures should be taken as well to improve the
overall operation of the Secret Service.
Daily supervision of the operations of the Secret Service within the
Department of the Treasury should be improved. The Chief of the Service
now reports to the Secretary of the Treasury through an Assistant
Secretary whose duties also include the direct supervision of the Bureau
of the Mint and the Department's Employment Policy Program, and who also
represents the Secretary of the Treasury on various committees and
groups.232 The incumbent has no technical qualifications in the area of
Presidential protection.233 The Commission recommends that the Secretary
of the Treasury appoint a special assistant with the responsibility of
supervising the Service. This special assistant should be required to
have sufficient stature and experience in law enforcement, intelligence,
or allied fields to be able to provide effective continuing supervision,
and to keep the Secretary fully informed regarding all significant
developments relating to Presidential protection.
This report has already pointed out several respects in which the
Commission believes that the Secret Service has operated with
insufficient planning or control. Actions by the Service since the
assassination indicate its awareness of the necessity for substantial
improvement in its administration. A formal and thorough description of
the responsibilities of the advance agent is now in preparation by the
Service.234 Work is going forward toward the preparation of formal
understandings of the respective roles of the Secret Service and other
agencies with which it collaborates or from which it derives assistance
and support. The Commission urges that the Service continue this effort
to overhaul and define its procedures. While manuals and memoranda are
no guarantee of effective operations, no sizable organization can
achieve efficiency without the careful analysis and demarcation of
responsibility that is reflected in definite and comprehensive operating
procedures.
The Commission also recommends that the Secret Service consciously set
about the task of inculcating and maintaining the highest standard of
excellence and esprit, for all of its personnel. This
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involves tight and unswerving discipline as well as the promotion of an
outstanding degree of dedication and loyalty to duty. The Commission
emphasizes that it finds no causal connection between the assassination
and the breach of regulations which occurred on the night of November 21
at Fort Worth. Nevertheless, such a breach, in which so many agents
participated, is not consistent with the standards which the
responsibilities of the Secret Service require it to meet.
Preventive Intelligence
In attempting to identify those individuals who might prove a danger to
the President, the Secret Service has largely been the passive recipient
of threatening communications to the President and reports from other
agencies which independently evaluate their information for potential
sources of danger. This was the consequence of the Service's lack of an
adequate investigative staff, its inability to process large amounts of
data, and its failure to provide specific descriptions of the kind of
information it sought.235
The Secret Service has embarked upon a complete overhaul of its research
activities.236 The staff of the Protective Research Section (PRS) has
been augmented, and a Secret Service inspector has been put in charge of
this operation. With the assistance of the President 's Office of
Science and Technology, and of the Advanced Research Projects Agency of
the Department of Defense, it has obtained the services of outside
consultants, such as the Rand Corp., International Business Machines
Corp., and a panel of psychiatric and psychological experts. It has
received assistance also from data processing experts at the CIA and
from a specialist in psychiatric prognostication at Walter Reed
Hospital.237 As a result of these studies, the planning document
submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Bureau of the Budget
on August .31, 1964, makes several significant recommendations in this
field.238 Based on the Commission's investigation, the
following minimum goals for improvements are indicated:
Broader and more selective criteria.--Since the assassination, both
the Secret Service and the FBI have recognized that the PRS files can no
longer be limited largely to persons communicating actual threats to the
President. On December 26, 1963, the FBI circulated additional
instructions to all its agents, specifying criteria for information to
be furnished to the Secret Service in addition to that covered by the
former standard, which was the possibility of an attempt against the
person or safety of the President. The new instructions require FBI
agents to report immediately information concerning:
Subversives, ultrarightists, racists and fascists (a) possessing
emotional instability or irrational behavior, (b) who have made threats
of bodily harm against officials or employees of Federal, state or local
government or officials of a foreign government, (c) who express or have
expressed strong or violent anti-U.S. sentiments and who have been
involved in bombing or bomb-making
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or whose past conduct indicates tendencies toward violence, and (d)
whose prior acts or statements depict propensity for violence and hatred
against organized government.239
Alan II. Belmont, Assistant to the Director of the FBI, testified that
this revision was initiated by the FBI itself.240 The volume of
references to the Secret Service has increased substantially since the
new instructions went into effect; more than 5,000 names were referred
to the Secret Service in the first 4 months of 1964.241 According to
Chief Rowley, by mid-June 1964, the Secret Service had received from the
FBI some 9,000 reports on members of the Communist Party.242 The FBI now
transmits information on all defectors, 243 a category which would, of
course, have included Oswald.
Both Director Hoover and Belmont expressed to the Commission the great
concern of the FBI, which is shared by the Secret Service, that
referrals to the Secret Service under the new criteria might, if not
properly handled, result in some degree of interference with the
personal liberty of those involved.244 They emphasized the necessity
that the information now being furnished be handled with judgment and
care. The Commission shares this concern. The problem is aggravated by
the necessity that the Service obtain the assistance of local law
enforcement officials in evaluating the information which it receives
and in taking preventive steps.
In June 1964, the Secret Service sent to a number of Federal law
enforcement and intelligence agencies guidelines for an experimental
program to develop more detailed criteria. 245 The suggestions of
Federal agencies for revision of these guidelines were solicited. The
new tentative criteria are useful in making clear that the interest of
the Secret Service goes beyond information on individuals or groups
threatening to cause harm or embarrassment to the President.246
Information is requested also concerning individuals or groups who have
demonstrated an interest in the President or "other high government
officials in the nature of a complaint coupled with an expressed or
implied determination to use a means, other than legal or peaceful, to
satisfy any grievance, real or imagined. 247 Under these criteria,
whether the case should be referred to the Secret Service depends on the
existence of a previous history of mental instability, propensity toward
violent action, or some similar characteristic, coupled with some
evaluation of the capability of the individual or group to further the
intention to satisfy a grievance by unlawful means.248
While these tentative criteria are a step in the right direction, they
seem unduly restrictive in continuing to require some manifestation of
animus against a Government official. It is questionable whether such
criteria would have resulted in the referral of Oswald to the Secret
Service. Chief Rowley believed that they would, because of Oswald's
demonstrated hostility toward the Secretary of the Navy in his letter of
January 30, 1962.249
Page 463
I shall employ all means to right this gross mistake or injustice to a
bon-fed U.S. citizen and ex-service man. The U.S. government has no
charges or complaints against me. I ask you to look into this case and
take the necessary steps to repair the damage done to me and my
family.250
Even with the advantage of hindsight, this letter does not appear to
express or imply Oswald's "determination to use a means, other than
legal or peaceful, to satisfy [his] grievance" within the meaning of the
new criteria.251
It is apparent that a good deal of further consideration and
experimentation will be required before adequate criteria can be framed.
The Commission recognizes that no set of meaningful criteria will yield
the names of all potential assassins. Charles J. Gad, Leon F. Czolgosz,
John Schrank, and Guiseppe Zangara--four assassins or would-be
assassins--were all men who acted alone in their criminal acts against
our leaders.252 None had a serious record of prior violence. Each of
them was a failure in his work and in his relations with others, a
victim of delusions and fancies which led to the conviction that society
and its leaders had combined to thwart him. It will require every
available resource of our Government to devise a practical system which
has any reasonable possibility of revealing such
malcontents.
Liaison with other agencies regarding intelligence.--The Secret
Service's liaison with the agencies that supply information to it has
been too casual. Since the assassination, the Service has recognized
that these relationships must be far more formal and each agency given
clear understanding of the assistance which the Secret Service
expects.258
Once the Secret Service has formulated its new standards for collection
of information, it should enter into written agreements with each
Federal agency and the leading State and local agencies that might be a
source of such information. Such agreements should describe in detail
the information which is sought, the manner in which it will be provided
to the Secret Service, and the respective responsibilities for any
further investigation that may be required.
This is especially necessary with regard to the FBI and CIA, which carry
the major responsibility for supplying information about potential
threats, particularly those arising from organized groups, within their
special jurisdiction. Since these agencies are already obliged
constantly to evaluate the activities of such groups, they should be
responsible for advising the Secret Service if information develops
indicating the existence of an assassination plot and for reporting such
events as a change in leadership or dogma which indicate that the group
may present a danger to the President. Detailed formal agreements
embodying these arrangements should be worked out between the Secret
Service and both of these agencies.
It should be made clear that the Secret Service will in no way seek to
duplicate the intelligence and investigative capabilities of the
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agencies now operating in this field but will continue to use the data
developed by these agencies to carry out its special duties. Once
experience has been gained in implementing such agreements with the
Federal and leading State and local agencies, the Secret Service,
through its field offices, should negotiate similar arrangements with
such other State and local law enforcement agencies as may provide
meaningful assistance. Much useful information will come to the
attention of local law enforcement agencies in the regular course of
their activities, and this source should not be neglected by undue
concentration on relationships with other Federal agencies. Finally,
these agreements with Federal and local authorities will be of little
value unless a system is established for the frequent formal review of
activities thereunder.
In this regard the Commission notes with approval several recent
measures taken and proposed by the Secret Service to improve its liaison
arrangements. In his testimony Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas
Dillon informed the Commission that an interagency committee has been
established to develop more effective criteria. According to Secretary
Dillon, the Committee will include representatives of the President's
Office of Science and Technology, Department of Defense, CIA, FBI, and
the Secret Service.254 In addition, the Department of the Treasury has
requested five additional agents for its Protective Research Section to
serve as liaison officers with law enforcement and intelligence
agencies.255 On the basis of the Department's review during the past
several months, Secretary Dillon testified that the use of such liaison
officers is the only effective way to insure that adequate liaison is
maintained.256 As a beginning step to improve liaison with local law
enforcement officials, the Secret Service on August 26, 1964, directed
its field representatives to send a form request for intelligence
information to all local, county, and State law enforcement agencies in
their districts.257 Each of these efforts appears sound, and the
Commission recommends that these and the other measures suggested by the
Commission be pursued vigorously by Secret Service.
Automatic data processing.--Unless the Secret Service is able to deal
rapidly and accurately with a growing body of data, the increased
information supplied by other agencies will be wasted. PRS must develop
the capacity to classify its subjects on a more sophisticated basis than
the present geographic breakdown. Its present manual filing system is
obsolete; it makes no use of the recent developments in automatic data
processing which are widely used in the business world and in other
Government offices.
The Secret Service and the Department of the Treasury now recognize this
critical need. In the planning document currently under review by the
Bureau of the Budget, the Department recommends that it be permitted to
hire five qualified persons "to plan and develop a workable and
efficient automated file and retrieval system."258 Also the Department
requests the sum of $100,000 to conduct a detailed feasibility study;
this money would be used to compensate
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consultants, to lease standard equipment or to purchase specially
designed pilot equipment.259 On the basis of such a feasibility study,
the Department hopes to design a practical system which will fully meet
the needs of the Protective Research Section of the Secret Service.
The Commission recommends that prompt and favorable consideration be
given to this request. The Commission further recommends that the Secret
Service coordinate its planning as closely as possible with all of the
Federal agencies from which it receives information. The Secret Service
should not and does not plan to develop its own intelligence gathering
facilities to duplicate the existing facilities of other Federal
agencies. In planning its data processing techniques, the Secret Service
should attempt to develop a system compatible with those of the agencies
from which most of its data will come.*
Protective Research participation in advance arrangements.--Since the
assassination, Secret Service procedures have been changed to require
that a member of PRS accompany each advance survey team to establish
liaison with local intelligence gathering agencies and to provide for
the immediate evaluation of information received from them.260 This PRS
agent will also be responsible for establishing an informal local
liaison committee to make certain that all protective intelligence
activities are coordinated. Based on its experience during this period,
the Secret Service now recommends that additional personnel be made
available to PRS so that these arrangements can be made permanent
without adversely affecting the operations of the Service's field
offices.261 The Commission regards this as a most. useful innovation and
urges that the practice be continued.
Liaison With Local Law Enforcement Agencies
Advice by the Secret Service to local police in metropolitan areas
relating to the assistance expected in connection with a Presidential
visit has hitherto been handled on an informal basis.262 The Service
should consider preparing formal explanations of the cooperation
anticipated during a Presidential visit to a city, in formats that can
be communicated to each level of local authorities. Thus, the local
chief of police could be given a master plan, prepared for the occasion,
of all protective measures to be taken during the visit; each patrolman
might be given a prepared booklet of instructions explaining what is
expected of him.
Page 466
The Secret Service has expressed concern that written instructions might
come into the hands of local newspapers, to the prejudice of the
precautions described.263 However, the instructions must be communicated
to the local police in any event and can be leaked to the press whether
or not they are in writing. More importantly, the lack of carefully
prepared and carefully transmitted instructions for typical visits to
cities can lead to lapses in protection, such as the confusion in Dallas
about whether members of the public were permitted on overpasses.264
Such instructions will not fit all circumstances, of course, and should
not be relied upon to the detriment of the imaginative application of
judgment in special cases.
Inspection of Buildings
Since the assassination of President Kennedy, the Secret Service has
been experimenting with new techniques in the inspection of buildings
along a motorcade route.265 According to Secretary Dillon, the studies
indicate that there is some utility in attempting to designate certain
buildings as involving a higher risk than others.266 The Commission
strongly encourages these efforts to improve protection along a
motorcade route. The Secret. Service should utilize the personnel of
other Federal law enforcement offices in the locality to assure adequate
manpower for this task, as it is now doing. 267 Lack of adequate
resources is an unacceptable excuse for failing to improve advance
precautions in this crucial area of Presidential protection.
Secret Service Personnel and Facilities
Testimony and other evidence before the Commission suggest that the
Secret Service is trying to accomplish its job with too few people and
without adequate modern equipment. Although Chief Rowley does not
complain about the pay scale for Secret Service agents, salaries are
below those of the FBI and leading municipal police forces.268 The
assistant to the Director of the FBI testified that the caseload of each
FBI agent averaged 20-25, and he felt that this was high.269 Chief
Rowley testified that the present workload of each Secret Service agent
averages 110.1 cases.270 While these statistics relate to the activities
of Secret Service agents stationed in field offices and not the White
House detail, field agents supplement those on the detail, particularly
when the President is traveling. Although the Commission does not know
whether the cases involved are entirely comparable, these figures
suggest that the agents of the Secret Service are substantially
overworked.
In its budget request for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1964, the
Secret Service sought funds for 25 new positions, primarily in field
offices. 271 This increase has been approved by the Congress. 272 Chief
Rowley explained that this would not provide enough additional manpower
to take all the measures which he considers required. However, the
1964-65 budget request was submitted in November 1963 and
Page 467
requests for additional personnel were not made because of the studies
then being conducted.273
The Secret Service has now presented its recommendations to the Bureau
of the Budget.274 The plan proposed by the Service would take
approximately 20 months to implement and require expenditures of
approximately $3 million during that period. The plan provides for an
additional 205 agents for the Secret Service. Seventeen of this number
are proposed for the Protective Research Section; 145 are proposed for
the field offices to handle the increased volume of security
investigations and be available to protect the President or Vice
President when they travel; 18 agents are proposed for a rotating pool
which will go through an intensive training cycle and also be available
to supplement the White House detail in case of unexpected need; and 25
additional agents are recommended to provide the Vice President full
protection.
The Commission urges that the Bureau of the Budget review these
recommendations with the Secret Service and authorize a request for the
necessary supplemental appropriation, as soon as it. can be justified.
The Congress has often stressed that it will support any reasonable
request for funds for the protection of the President.275
Manpower and Technical Assistance From Other Agencies
Before the assassination the Secret Service infrequently requested other
Federal law enforcement agencies to provide personnel to assist in its
protection functions.276 Since the assassination, the Service has
experimented with the use of agents borrowed for short periods from such
agencies. It has used other Treasury law enforcement agents on special
experiments in building and route surveys in places to which the
President frequently travels.277 It has also used other Federal law
enforcement agents during Presidential visits to cities in which such
agents are stationed. Thus, in the 4 months following the assassination,
the FBI, on 16 separate occasions, supplied a total of 139 agents to
assist in protection work during a Presidential visit,278 which
represents a departure from its prior practice.279 From February 11
through June 30, 1964, the Service had the advantage of 9,500 hours of
work by other enforcement agencies.280
The FBI has indicated that it is willing to continue to make such
assistance available, even though it agrees with the Secret Service that
it is preferable for the Service to have enough agents to handle all
protective demands.281 The Commission endorses these efforts to
supplement the Service's own personnel by obtaining, for short periods
of time, the assistance of trained Federal law enforcement officers. In
view of the ever-increasing mobility of American Presidents, it seems
unlikely that the Service could or should increase its own staff to a
size which would permit it to provide adequate protective manpower for
all situations. The Commission recommends that the agencies involved
determine how much periodic assistance they can provide, and that each
such agency and the Secret Service enter into a formal
Page 468
agreement defining such arrangements. It may eventually be desirable to
codify the practice in an Executive order. The Secret Service will be
better able to plan its own long-range personnel requirements if it
knows with reasonable certainty the amount of assistance that it can
expect from other agencies.
The occasional use of personnel from other Federal agencies to assist in
protecting the President has a further advantage. It symbolizes the
reality that the job of protecting the President has not been and cannot
be exclusively the responsibility of the Secret Service. The Secret.
Service in the past has sometimes guarded its right to be ac knowledged
as the sole protector of the Chief Executive. This no longer appears to
be the case.282 Protecting the President is a difficult and complex task
which requires full us of the best resources of many parts of our
Government. Recognition that the responsibility must be shared increases
the likelihood that it will be met.
Much of the Secret Service work requires the development and use of
highly sophisticated equipment, some of which must be specially designed
to fit unique requirements. Even before the assassination, and to a far
greater extent thereafter, the Secret Service has been receiving full
cooperation in scientific research and technological development from
many Government agencies including the Department of Defense and the
President's Office of Science and Technology.283
Even if the manpower and technological resources of the Secret Service
are adequately augmented, it will continue to rely in many respects upon
the greater resources of the Office of Science and Technology and other
agencies. The Commission recommends that the present arrangements with
the Office of Science and Technology and the other Federal agencies that
have been so helpful to the Secret Service be placed on a permanent and
formal basis. The exchange of letters dated August 31, 1964, between
Secretary Dillon and Donald F. Hornig, Special Assistant to the
President for Science and Technology, is a useful effort in the right
direction.284 The Service should negotiate a memorandum of understanding
with each agency that has been assisting it and from which it can expect
to need help in the future. The essential terms of such memoranda might
well be embodied in an Executive order.
Conclusion
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CONCLUSION
This Commission can recommend no procedures for the future protection of
our Presidents which will guarantee security. The demands on the
President in the execution of His responsibilities in today's world are
so varied and complex and the traditions of the office in a democracy
such as ours are so deepseated as to preclude absolute security.
The Commission has, however, from its examination of the facts of
President Kennedy's assassination made certain recommendations
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which it believes would, if adopted, materially improve upon the
procedures in effect at the time of President Kennedy's assassination
and result in a substantial lessening of the danger.
As has been pointed out, the Commission has not resolved all the
proposals which could be made. The Commission nevertheless is confident
that, with the active cooperation of the responsible agencies and with
the understanding of the people of the United States in their demands
upon their President, the recommendations we have here suggested would
greatly advance the security of the office without any impairment of our
fundamental liberties.
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Appendix I
Page 471
APPENDIX I
IMMEDIATE RELEASE NOVEMBER 30, 1963
Office of the White House Press Secretary
------------------------------------------------
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NO. 11130
APPOINTING A COMMISSION TO REPORT UPON THE
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
Pursuant to the authority vested in me as President of the United
States, I hereby appoint a Commission to ascertain, evaluate and report
upon the facts relating to the assassination of the late President John
Kennedy and the subsequent violent death of the man charged with the
assassination. The Commission shall consist of --
The Chief Justice of the United States, Chairman;
Senator Richard B. Russell:
Senator John Sherman Cooper;
Congressman Hale Boggs;
Congressman Gerald R Ford;
The Honorable Allen W. Dulles;
The Honorable John J. McCloy.
The purpose of the Commission are to examine the evidence developed by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and any additional evidence that may
hereafter come to light or be uncovered by federal or state authorities;
to make such further investigation as the Commission finds desirable; to
evaluate all the facts and circumstances surrounding such assassination,
including the subsequent violent death of the man charged with the
assassination, and to report to me its findings and conclusions.
The Commission is empowered to prescribe its own procedures and to
employ such assistants as it deems necessary.
Necessary expenses of the Commission may he paid from the "Emergency
Fund for the President".
All Executive departments and agencies are directed to furnish the
Commission with such facilities, services and cooperation as it may
request from time to time.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 29. 1963.
# # #
Appendix II
Page 472
APPENDIX II
IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 29, 1963
Office of the White House Press Secretary
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE WHITE HOUSE
The President today announced that he is appointing a Special Commission
to study and report upon all facts and circumstances relating to the
assassination of the late President, John F. Kennedy, and the subsequent
violent death of the man charged with the assassination.
The President stated that the Majority and Minority Leadership of the
Senate and the House of Representatives have been consulted with respect
to the proposed Special Commission.
The members of the Special Commission are:
Chief Justice Earl Warren, Chairman
Senator Richard Russell (Georgia)
Senator John Sherman Cooper (Kentucky)
Representative Hate Boggs (Louisiana)
Representative Gerald Ford (Michigan)
Hon. Allen W. Dulles of Washington
Hon. John J. McCloy of New York
The President stated that the Special Commission is to be instructed to
evaluate all available information concerning the subject of the
inquiry. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, pursuant to an earlier
directive of the President, is making complete investigation of the
facts. An inquiry is also scheduled by a Texas Court of Inquiry convened
by the Attorney General of Texas under Texas law.
The Special Commission will have before it all evidence uncovered by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and all information available to any
agency of the Federal Government. The Attorney General of Texas has also
offered his cooperation. All Federal agencies and offices are being
directed to furnish services and cooperation to the Special Commission.
The Commission will also be empowered to conduct any further
investigation that it deems desirable.
The President is instructing the Special Commission to satisfy itself
that the truth is known as far as it can be discovered, and to report
its finales and conclusions to him, to the American people, and to the
world.
# # # # #
Appendix III
Page 473
APPENDIX: III
Public Law 88-202
88th Congress, S. J. Res. 137
December 13, 1963
Joint Resolution
Authorizing the Commission established to report upon the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy to compel the attendance and testimony of
witnesses and the production of evidence.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in
Congress assembled, That (a) for the purposes of this joint resolution,
the term "Commission"
means the Commission appointed by the President by Executive Order
11130, dated November
29, 1963.
(b) The Commission, or any member of the Commission when so authorized
by the Commission, shall have power to issue subpenas requiring the
attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of any evidence
that relates to any matter under investigation by the Commission. The
Commission, or any member of the Commission or any agent or agency
designated by the Commission for such purpose, may administer oaths and
affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence. Such attendance
of witnesses and the production of such evidence may be required from
any place within the United States at any designated place of hearing.
(c) In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena issued to any
person under subsection (b), any court of the United States within the
jurisdiction of which the inquiry is carried on or within the
jurisdiction of which said person guilty of contumacy or refusal to obey
is found or resides or transacts business, upon application by the
Commission shall have jurisdiction to issue to such person an order
requiring such person to appear before the Commission, its member,
agent, or agency, there to produce evidence if so ordered, or there to
give testimony touching the matter under investigation or in question;
and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by said
court as a contempt thereof.
(d) Process and papers of the commission, its members, agent, or agency,
may be served either upon the witness in person or by registered mail or
by telegraph or by leaving a copy thereof at the residence or principal
office or place of business of the person required to be served. The
verified return by the individual so serving the same, setting forth the
manner of such service, shall be proof of the same, and the return post
office receipt or telegraph receipt therefor when registered and mailed
or telegraphed as aforesaid shall be proof of service of the same.
Witnesses summoned before the commission, its members, agent, or agency,
shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the
courts of the United States, and witnesses whose depositions are taken
and the persons taking the same shall severally be entitled to the same
fees ar are paid for like services in the courts of the United States.
(e) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from
producing books, records, correspondence, documents, or other evidence
in obedience to a subpena, on the ground that the testimony or evidence
required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty
or forfeiture; but no individual shall be prosecuted or subjected to any
penalty or forfeiture (except demotion or removal fro office) for or on
account of any transaction, matter or thing concerning which he is
compelled, after having claimed his privilege
730-900 O-64--32
Page 474
Pub. Law 88-202 -2- December 13, 1963
against self-incrimination, to testify or produce evidence, except that
such individual so testifying shall not be exempt from prosecution and
punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.
(f) All process of any court to which application may be make under this
Act may be served in the judicial district therein the person required
to be served resides or may be found.
Approved December 13, 1963.
______________________________________________
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 109 (1963):
Dec. 9: Passed Senate.
Dec. 10: Considered and passed House.
Appendix IV
Page 475
APPENDIX IV
Biographical Information and Acknowledgments
Members of Commission
Page 475
MEMBERS OF COMMISSION
The Honorable Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States, was born
in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 19, 1891. He graduated from the
University of California with B.L. and J.D. degrees, and was admitted to
the California bar in 1914. Chief Justice Warren was attorney general of
California from 1939 to 1943. From 1943 to 1953 he was Governor of
California and in September 1953 was appointed by President Eisenhower
to be the Chief Justice of the United States.
The Honorable Richard B. Russell was born in Winder, Ca., on November 2,
1897. He received his B.L. degree from the University of Georgia in 1918
and his LL.B. from Mercer University in 1957. Senator Russell commenced
the practice of law in Winder, Ca., in 1918, became county attorney for
Barrow County, Ca., and was a member of the Georgia House of
Representatives from 1921 to 1931. He was Governor of Georgia from 1931
to 1933, was elected to the U.S. Senate in January 1933 to fill a
vacancy, and has been Senator from Georgia continuously since that date.
The Honorable John Sherman Cooper was born in Somerset, Ky., on August
23, 1901. He attended Centre College, Kentucky, received his A.B. degree
from Yale College in 1923, and attended Harvard Law School from 1923 to
1925. Senator Cooper has been a member of the House of Representatives
of the Kentucky General Assembly, a county judge and circuit judge in
Kentucky, and is now a member of the U.S. Senate, where he has served,
though not continuously, for 12 years. He was a delegate to the Fifth,
Sixth, and Seventh Sessions of the General Assembly of the United
Nations, an advisor to the Secretary of State in 1950 at meetings of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Ambassador to India and Nepal in
1955-56. He served in the 3d U.S. Army in World War II in Europe, and
after the war headed the reorganization of the German judicial system in
Bavaria.
The Honorable Hale Boggs was born in Long Beach, Miss., on February 15,
1914. He graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. degree in 1935 and
received his LL.B. in 1937. He was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1937
and practiced law in New Orleans. Representative Boggs was elected to
the 77th Congress of the United States and in World War II was an
officer of the U.S. Naval Reserve and of the Maritime Service. He has
been a Member of Congress since 1946 when he was elected to represent
the Second District, State of Louisiana, in the 80th Congress, and he is
currently the majority whip for the Democratic Party in the House of
Representatives.
Page 476
The Honorable Gerald R. Ford was born in Omaha, Nebr., on July 14, 1913.
He graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in 1935
and from Yale University Law School with an LL.B. degree in 1941.
Representative Ford was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1941. He was
first elected to Congress in 1948 and has been reelected to each
succeeding Congress. He served 47 months in the U.S. Navy during World
War II. Representative Ford was elected in January 1963 the chairman of
the House Republican Conference.
The Honorable Allen W. Dulles was born in Watertown, N.Y., on April 7,
1893. He received his B.A. degree from Princeton in 1914, his M.A. in
1916, his LL.B. from George Washington University in 1926, and LL.D.
degrees. Mr. Dulles entered the diplomatic service of the United States
in 1916 and resigned in 1926 to take up law practice in New York City.
In 1953 Mr. Dulles was appointed Director of Central Intelligence and
served in that capacity until 1961.
The Honorable John J. McCloy was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 31,
1895. He received an A.B. degree, cum laude, from Amherst College in
1916; LL.B. from Harvard, and LL.D. from Amherst College.. He was
admitted to the New York bar in 1921 and is now a member of the firm of
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He was Assistant Secretary of War from
April 1941 to November 1945. Mr. McCloy was President of the World Bank
from 1947 to 1949 and U.S. Military Governor and High Commissioner for
Germany from 1949 to 1952. He has been coordinator of U.S. disarmament
activities since 1961.
General Counsel
Page 476
GENERAL COUNSEL
J. Lee Rankin was born in Hartington, Nebr., on July 8, 1907. He
received his A.B. degree from the University of Nebraska in 1928 and his
LL.B. in 1930 from the University of Nebraska Law School. He was
admitted to the Nebraska bar in 1930 and practiced law in Lincoln,
Nebr., until January 1953 when he was appointed by President Eisenhower
to be the assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal
Counsel in the Department of Justice. In August 1956 President
Eisenhower appointed Mr. Rankin to be the Solicitor General of the
United States. Since January 1961 Mr. Rankin has been in private
practice in New York City. He accepted the appointment as General
Counsel for the President's Commission on the Assassination of President
Kennedy on December 8, 1963.
Assistant Counsel
Page 476
ASSISTANT COUNSEL
Francis W. H. Adams was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on June 26, 1904. He
graduated from Williams College with an A.B. degree, and received his
LL.B. degree from Fordham Law School in 1928. Mr. Adams has acted as
chief assistant U.S. attorney in New York, special
476
Page 477
assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, and as an arbitrator for the War
Labor Board. In 1954 and 1955 he served as police commissioner of New
York City. Mr. Adams is a member of the New York and Washington law firm
of Satterlee, Warfield & Stephens.
Joseph A. Ball was born in Stuart, Iowa, on December 16, 1902. He
received his B.A. degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebr., and
his LL.B. degree from the University of Southern California in 1927. Mr.
Ball teaches criminal law and procedure at the University of Southern
California. He is a member of the U.S. Judicial Conference Advisory
Committee on Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Mr. Ball is a member
of the firm of Ball, Hunt & Hart, Long Beach and Santa Ana, Calif.
David W. Belin was born in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 1928. He is a
graduate of the University of Michigan, where he earned three degrees
with high distinction: A.B. (1951), M. Bus. Adm. (1953), and J.D.
(1954). At the University of Michigan he was associate editor of the
Michigan Law Review. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of
the Coif. He is a member of the law firm of Herrick, Langdon, Sandblom &
Belin, Des Moines, Iowa.
William T. Coleman, Jr., was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., on
July 7, 1920. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1941
with an A.B. degree, summa cum laude, received his LL.B. in 1946, magna
cum laude, from Harvard Law School and served as an editor of the
Harvard Law Review. From 1947 to 1948 he served as law clerk to Judge
Herbert F. Goodrich, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and
during the 1948-49 term of the U.S. Supreme Court, as law clerk to
Justice Felix Frankfurter. Mr. Coleman has served as a special counsel
for the city of Philadelphia and has been a consultant with the U.S.
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency since January 1963. He is a member
of the law firm of Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish, Kohn & Dilks, Philadelphia,
Pa.
Melvin A. Eisenberg was born in New York City on December 3, 1934. He
was graduated from Columbia College, A.B., summa cum laude, in 1956, and
from Harvard Law School, LL.B., summa cure laude, in 1959. Mr. Eisenberg
is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and served as an editor of the Harvard
Law Review. He is associated with the law firm of Kaye, Scholer,
Fierman, Hays & Handler in New York City.
Burt W. Griffin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 19, 1932. He
received his B.A. degree, cure laude, from Amherst College in 1954, and
LL.B. from Yale University Law School in 1959. He was note and comment
editor of the Yale Law Journal. During 1959-60 Mr. Griffin served as law
clerk to Judge George T. Washington of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit. From 1960 to 1962 Mr. Griffin was an
assistant U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio, and since
1962 he has been associated with the firm of MacDonald, Hopkins & Hardy,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Leon D. Hubert, Jr., was born in New Orleans, La., July 1, 1911. He
received his A.B. degree from Tulane University in 1932, and
Page 478
LL.B. from Tulane in 1934. He was associate editor of the Tulane Law
Review, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. Mr.
Hubert was assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern district of
Louisiana, 1934-46, and a professor of law at Tulane University,
1942--60. He has worked with the Louisiana State Law Institute on the
revision of statutes and on the codes of civil and criminal procedure.
Mr. Hubert is a member of the law firm of Hubert, Baldwin & Zibilich,
New Orleans, La.
Albert E. Jenner, Jr., was born in Chicago, Ilk, on, June 20, 1907. He
received his law degree from the University of Illinois in 1930. He is a
member of the Order of the Coil. In 1956 and 1957 Mr. Jenner served as a
special assistant attorney general of Illinois in the investigation of
fraud in the office of the auditor of public accounts of the State of
Illinois. Mr. Jenner is a Commissioner on Uniform State Laws, a member
of the U.S. Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure and vice chairman of the Joint Committee for the
Effective Administration of Justice. He is a former professor of law at
the Northwestern University School of Law. Mr. Jenner is a member of the
law firm of Raymond, Mayer, Jenner & Block, Chicago, Ill.
Wesley J. Liebeler was born in Langdon, N. Dak., on May 9, 1931. He
received his B.A. degree from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn., in
1953 and graduated, cum laude, from the University of Chicago Law School
in 1957. He was a managing editor of the University of Chicago Law
Review and is a member of the Order of the Coil. Mr. Liebeler is
associated with the law firm of Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, New York
City.
Norman Redlich was born in New York City on November 12, 1925. He
received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Williams College in
1947, his LL.B., cure laude, from Yale Law School in 1950, and LL.M.
(Taxation) in 1955 from the New York University School of Law. He is a
member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coil, and was executive
editor of the Yale Law Journal. Mr. Redlich is Professor of Law at the
New York University School of Law, and is editor in chief of the Tax Law
Review, New York University.
W. David Slawson was born in. Grand Rapids, Mich., on June 2, 1931. He
received his A.B. degree, summa cure laude, from Amherst College in
1953, and M.A. from Princeton University in 1954. Mr. Slawson received
his LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1959. He is a
member of Phi Beta Kappa and was a note editor of the Harvard Law
Review. Mr. Slawson is a member of the law firm of Davis, Graham &
Stubbs, Denver, Colo.
Arlen Specter was born in Wichita, Kans., on February 12, 1930. He
received his B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951,
where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and received his LL.B.. from
Yale Law School in 1956. He was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Mr.
Specter was an associate of the law firm of Dechert, Price & Rhoads in
Philadelphia from 1956 to 1959, and from 1959 to 1964 he was an
assistant in the Philadelphia district attorney's
478
Page 479
office. Mr. Specter is a member of the firm of Specter & Katz,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Samuel A. Stern was born in Philadelphia, Pa., on January 21, 1929. He
graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with an A.B.
in 1949. In 1952 he received his LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard
Law School, and was developments editor of the Harvard Law Review. Mr.
Stern served as law clerk to Chief Judge Calvert Magruder, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the First Circuit, during 1954-55 and was law clerk to Chief
Justice Earl Warren during 1955-56. He is a member of the law firm of
Wilmer, Cutler & Picketing, Washington, D.C.
Howard P. Willens was born in Oak Park, Ill., on May 27, 1931. He
received his B.A. degree, with high distinction, from the University of
Michigan in 1953 and his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1956. Mr. Willens
is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.
He was associated with the law firm of Kirkland, Ellis, Hodson, Chaffetz
& Masters, Washington, D.C., until 1961, when he was appointed Second
Assistant in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Staff Members
Page 479
STAFF MEMBERS
Philip Barson was born in Philadelphia, Pa, on May 2, 1912. He received
his Bachelor of Science of Commerce, from Temple University,
Philadelphia, in 1934. Mr. Barson has been employed by the Internal
Revenue Service, Intelligence Division, Philadelphia, since September
1948, first as a special agent and since 1961 has been group supervisor.
Mr. Barson is a certified public accountant from the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
Edward A. Conroy was born in Albany, N.Y., on March 20, 1920. He
attended Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute and Benjamin Franklin
University, Washington, D.C. Mr. Conroy joined the Internal Revenue
Service as a revenue officer in 1946. After acting as executive
assistant to the assistant regional inspector, Boston, Mass., Mr. Conroy
became senior inspector in the Planning and Programing Branch of the
Internal Security Division, Inspection, of the Internal Revenue Service.
He currently occupies that position.
John Hart Ely was born in New York City on December 3, 1938. He
graduated, summa cum laude, from Princeton University in 1960, and from
Yale Law School, magna cum laude, in 1963. He was note and comment
editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and
the Order of the Coif. During the 1964- 65 term Mr. Ely will serve as
law clerk to Chief Justice Warren.
Alfred Goldberg was born in Baltimore, Md., on December 23, 1918. He
received his A.B. degree from Western Maryland College in 1938, and his
Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1950. After 4 years' service
with the U.S. Army, Dr. Goldberg became historian with the U.S. Air
Force Historical Division and later Chief
479
Page 480
of the Current History Branch. In 1962-63 he was a visiting American
fellow, King's College, University of London, and since his return has
been senior historian, U.S. Air Force Historical Division. Dr. Goldberg
is the author or editor of several publications on historical subjects
and is a contributor to Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Book.
Murray J. Laulicht was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 12, 1940. He
received his B.A. in 1961 from Yeshiva College, and received his LL.B.
degree, summa cum laude, from Columbia University School of Law in 1964.
He was notes and comments editor of the Columbia Law Review. During
1964-65 Mr. Laulicht will clerk for Senior Judge Harold R. Medina of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Arthur K. Marmor was born in New York City on December 5, 1915. He
received a B.S.S. degree from the College of the City of New York in
1937 and an A.M. degree from Columbia University in 1940. He served in
the U.S. Army in World War II. Mr. Marmor has been historian for the
Departments of Interior, Army, and Air Force, and Chief, Editorial
Services Branch, Department of State. He has also taught for the
American University and the University of Maryland. Mr. Marmor has
contributed to numerous Government publications and has been in charge
of the editing of historical and legal volumes. At present he is a
historian for the Department of the Air Force.
Richard M. Mosk was born in Los Angeles, Calif., on May 18, 1989. He
graduated from Stanford University, with great distinction, in 1960 and
from Harvard Law School, cum laude, in 1963. Mr. Mosk is a member of Phi
Beta Kappa. During the 1964-65 term of the California Supreme Court Mr.
Mosk will clerk for Justice Mathew Tobriner.
John J. O'Brien was born in Somerville, Mass., on September 11, 1919.
Mr. O'Brien received his B.B.A. degree in law and business, cum laude,
from Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. He re-received his M.A.
degree in the field of governmental administration from George
Washington University, Washington, D.C., and in 1941 joined the Bureau
of Internal Revenue. After service in the U.S. Coast Guard, Mr. O'Brien
resumed his work as an Internal Revenue Service investigator, and is
currently the Assistant Chief of the Inspection Services Investigations
Branch, in the National Office of Internal Revenue.
Stuart R. Pollak was born in San Pedro, Calif., on August 24, 1937. He
received his B.A. degree from Stanford University, with great
distinction, in 1959, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Pollak
obtained his LL.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1962,
where he was book review and legislation editor of the Harvard Law
Review. During the 1963-64 term Mr. Pollak was law clerk to Justices
Stanley Reed and Harold Burton. Mr. Pollak is a staff assistant in the
Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
480
Page 481
Alfredda Scobey was born in Kankakee, III. She received her A.B. degree
from American University, Washington, D.C., in 1933, studied law at John
Marshall Law School, Atlanta, Ga., and was admitted to the Georgia bar
in 1945. Miss Scobey did graduate study at the National University of
Mexico, at Duke University, and at Emory University, Atlanta. She
practiced law from 1945 to 1949 in Atlanta and since 1949 has been a law
assistant in the Court of Appeals, Georgia.
Charles N. Shaffer, Jr., was born in New York City on June 8, 1932. He
attended Fordham College in 1951 and received his LL.B. from the Fordham
University School of Law in 1957. From 1958 to 1959 Mr. Shaffer was
associated with the law firm of Chadburn, Parke, White-side & Wolff, New
York City. He was assistant U.S. attorney in the southern district of
New York from 1959 to 1961 when he was appointed Special Trial Attorney
in the Criminal and Tax Divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice,
Washington, D.C.
Lloyd L. Weinreb was born in New York City on October 9, 1936. He
received B.A. degrees from Dartmouth College, summa cure laude, in 1957,
and from the University of Oxford in 1959. He received his LL.B., magna
cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1962. He was case editor of the
Harvard Law Review. During the 1963-64 term Mr. Weinreb was law clerk to
Justice John M. Harlan. Mr. Weinreb is a staff assistant in the Criminal
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Acknowledgments
During the taking of testimony in various parts of the United States,
the Commission was greatly assisted by the offices of numerous U.S.
attorneys of the Department of Justice. The Commission would like to
acknowledge its gratitude for this assistance and thank in particular
Harold Barefoot Sanders, Jr., U.S. attorney for the northern district of
Texas, and his conscientious assistant, Martha Joe Stroud.
In addition the Commission wishes to thank the following lawyers,
secretaries, and clerks for their unstinting efforts on behalf of the
Commission:
Sheila Adams Paul Dodyk
Stephen R. Barnett Charlee Dianne Duke
Thomas D. Barr Julia T. Eide
Miriam A. Bottum Josephine M. Farrar
Stephen G. Breyer William T. Finley, Jr.
Patrick O. Burns Dennis M. Flannery
Charlene Chardwell James C. Gaither
Anne M. Clark Stephen R. Goldstein
Jonathan M. Clark Patricia E. Gormley
George C. Cochran Jeanne C. Hauer
Betty Jean Compton Beverly A. Heckman
Francine Davis Sadie M. Hennigan
Viola C. Davis Lela B. Hewlett
481
Page 482
Elaine Johnson James H. Pipkin, Jr.
Vivian Johnson S. Paul Posner
Pearl G. Kamber Douglas Prather
Sharon Kegarise Monroe Price
Adele W. Lippard Lucille Ann Robinson
David T. Luhm Suzanne Rolston
Ella M. McCall Mary Ann Rowcotsky
Louise S. McKenzie Carolyn A. Schweinsberg
Michael W. Maupin Ruth D. Shirley
Jean H. Millard Ray Shurtleff
Seresa Mintor Helen Tarko
Maurice Moore Jane M. Vida
Mary L. Norton Jay Vogelson
Vaughnie Perry Anne V. Welsh
Jane W. Peter Margaret C. Yager
Edward R. Pierpoint
482
Appendix V
Page 483
APPENDIX V
List of Witnesses
The following is a list of the 552 witnesses whose testimony has been
presented to the Commission. Witnesses who appeared before members of
the Commission have a "C" following their names; those questioned during
depositions by members of the Commission's legal staff are indicated by
a "D"; and those who supplied affidavits and statements are similarly
identified with "A" and "S". The brief descriptions of the witnesses
pertain either to the time of their testimony or to the time of the
events concerning which they testified.
Witness Description Testimony
Ables, Don R.D Jail Clerk, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 239.
partment.
Abt, John J.D New York City attorney Vol. X, p. 116.
Adamcik, John P.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 202.
partment.
Adams, R. L.AD Placement interviewer, Texas Vol. X, p. 136.
Employment Commission. Vol. XI, p. 480.
Adams, Victoria Elizabeth D. Employee, Texas School Book Vol. VI, p.
386.
Depository (TSBD).
Akin, Gene Coleman D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 63.
Alba, Adrian Thomas D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. X, p. 219.
New Orleans.
Allen, Mrs. J. U.A Secretary, Chainberlin-Hunt Vol. XI, p. 472.
Academy.
Altgens, James W.D Witness at assassination Vol. VII, p. 515.
scene.
Anderson, Eugene D.D Marine Corps markmanship Vol. XI, p. 301.
expert.
Andrews, Dean Adams, Jr.D. New Orleans attorney Vol. XI, p. 325.
Applin, George Jefferson, Jr.D. Witness of Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p.
85.
Arce, Danny G.D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 363.
Archer, Don Ray D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 395.
partment.
Armstrong, Andrew, Jr.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XIII, p. 302.
Arnett, Charles Oliver D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 128.
partment.
Aycox, James Thomas D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 203.
Baker, Marrion L.A c Member, Dallas Police Depart- Vol. III, p. 242.
ment. Vol. VII, p. 592.
Baker, Mrs. (Rachley) Employee, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 507
Donald.D
Baker, T. L.c Member, Dallas Police Depart- Vol. IV, p. 248.
ment.
Ballen, Samuel B.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Vol. IX, p. 45.
Texas.
Barbe, Emmett Charles, Jr.A. Employee, William B. Reily Vol. XI, p. 473.
Co.
Bargas, Tommy D Superintendent, Leslie Weld- Vol. X. p. 160
ing Co.
Page 484
Witness Description Testimony
Barnes, W. E.v Member, Dallas Police Depart- Vol. VII, p. 270
ment.
Barnett, W. E.D do Vol. VII, p. 539.
Barnhorst, Colin D Desk Clerk, YMCA, in Dallas Vol. X, p. 284.
Bashour, Fouad A.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 61.
Batchelor, Charles D Assistant Chief, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 1.
Department. Vol. XV, p. 114.
Bates, Pauline Virginia D Pub1ic stenographer, Fort Vol. VIII p. 330.
Worth.
Baxter, Charles Rufus D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 39.
Beaty, Buford Lee D Member, Dallas Police Depart- Vol. XII, p. 158.
ment.
Beavers, William Robert D Psychiatrist, Dallas Vol. XIV, p. 570.
Beers, Ira J. "Jack", Jr.D Newspaper photographer, Vol. XIII, p. 102.
Dallas.
Bellocchio, Frank D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XIV, p. 466.
Belmont, Alan H.C Assistant to the Director, Vol. V, p. 1.
Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation ( FBI ).
Benavides, Domingo D Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. VI, p. 444.
Tippit crime scene.
Beaten, Nelson D Television reporter, CBS Vol. XV, p. 456.
Bieberdorf, Fred A.D First aid attendant, Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 83.
Health Department.
Biggio, William S.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XIV, p. 48.
partment.
Blalock, VanceD Observed Oswald in New Or- Vol. X, p. 81.
leans.
Bledsoe, Mary E.D Oswald's former landlady in Vol. VI, p. 400.
Dallas.
Bogard, Albert Guy D Automobile salesman, Dallas.. Vol. X, p. 352.
Bookhout, James W.D Agent, FBI Vol. VII, p. 308.
Boone, Eugene c Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County. Vol. III, p. 291.
Boswell, J. Thornton c Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hospital Vol. II, p. 376.
Betelho, James Anthony A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 315.
Marine Corps.
Bouck, Robert Inman c Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. IV, p. 294.
Boudreaux, Anne D Acquaintance of Oswald dur- Vol. VIII, p. 35.
ing his youth.
Bouhe, George A.D Acquantance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 355.
in Texas.
Bowers, Lee E., Jr.D Employee, Union Terminal Co. Vol. VI, p. 284.
Bowron, Diana Hamilton D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 134.
Boyd, Elmer L.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 119.
partment.
Branch, John Henry D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 473.
Brennan, Howard LeslieAC... Witness at assassination Vol. III, pp. 140,
scene. 184, 211
Vol. XI, p. 206.
Brewer, E. D.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VI, p. 302.
partment.
Brewer, Johnny Calvin D Witness of Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p. 1.
Brian, V. J.C Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. V, p. 47
partment.
Bringuier, Carlos D Cuban attorney, now a resi- Vol. X, p. 32.
dent of New Orleans.
Brock, Alvin R.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 171.
Page 485
Witness Description Testimony
Brock, MaryA Witness in the vicinity of Vol. VII, p. 593.
the Tippit crime scene.
Brock, Robert A do Vol. VII, p. 593.
Brooks, Donald E.D Employment counselor, Texas Vol. X, p. 143.
Employment Commission.
Brown, C. W.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 246.
partment.
Brown, Earle V.D do Vol. VI, p. 321.
Brown, Peter Megargee A Counsel for Community Serv- Vol. XI, p. 470.
ice Society, New York.
Burcham, John W.A Chief of Unemployment Insur- Vol. XI, p. 473.
ance, Texas Employment
Commission.
Burns, DorisD Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 397.
Burroughs, Warren H.D Employee, Texas Theatre Vol. VII, p. 14.
Cabell, Earle D Mayor of Dallas Vol. VII, p. 476.
Cabell, Mrs. Earle D Wife of Mayor Cabell Vol. VII, p. 485.
Cadigan, James C.CD Questioned document expert, Vol. IV, p. 89.
FBI. Vol. VII, p. 418.
Call, Richard Dennis A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 322.
the Marine Corps.
Callaway, Ted C Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. III, p. 351.
Tippit crime scene.
Camarata, Donald PeterA Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 316.
the Marine Corps.
Carlin, Bruce Ray D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 201.
Carlin, Karen Bennett n do Vol. XIII, p. 205.
Vol. XIV, p. 641.
Carr, Waggoner C Attorney general of State of Vol. V, p. 258.
Texas.
Carrico, Charles James C D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. III, p. 357.
Vol VI, p. 641.
Carro, John D Probation officer, New York Vol. VIII, p. 202.
City, 1952-54.
Carroll, Bob K.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 17
partment.
Carswell, Robert C Special assistant to Secretary Vol. IV, p. 299.
of the Treasury. Vol. V, p. 486.
Carter, Clifton C.A Assistant to President John- Vol. VII, p. 474.
son.
Cason, Frances D Telephone clerk, Dallas Po- Vol. XIII, p. 89.
lice Department.
Cason, Jack CharlesA President, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 379.
Caster, Warren D Assistant manager, South- Vol. VII, p. 386
western Publishing Co.,
TSBD.
Chayes, Abram C Legal Adrift, Department of Vol. V, pp. 307.
State. 327.
Cheek, Bertha D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 382.
Church, George B., Jr.A Passenger with Oswald on SS Vol. XI, p. 115.
Marion Lykes.
Church, Mrs. George B., Jr.A do Vol. XI, p. 116.
Clardy, Barnard S.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 403.
partment.
Clark, Max E.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 343.
in Texas.
Page 486
Witness Description Testimony
Clark, Richard L.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 235.
partment.
Clark, William Kemp D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 18.
Clements, Manning C.n Agent, FBI Vol. VI, p. 318.
Cole, AlwynCD Questioned document exam- Vol. IV, p. 358.
iner, Treasury Department. Vol. XV, p.703.
Combest, B. H.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 176.
partment.
Connally, John Bowden, Jr.C.. Governor of Texas Vol. IV, p. 129.
Connally, Mrs. John Bowden, Wife of the Governor of Vol. IV, p. 146.
Jr.c Texas.
Connor, Peter Francis A . Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 317.
the Marine Corps.
Conway, Hiram P.D . Fort Worth neighbor of the Vol. VIII, p. 84.
Oswalds in 0swald's youth.
Corporon, John A Official of New Orleans radio Vol. XI, p. 471.
station.
Couch, Malcolm O.D TV news cameraman, Dallas. Vol. VI, p. 153.
Coulter, Harris C State Department inter- Vol. V, p. 408.
preter.
Cox, Roland A.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. w, p. 153.
Department
Crafard, Curtis LaVerne D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 402.
Vol. XIV, p. 1.
Craig, Roger D.D Witness at assassination Vol. VI, p. 260.
scene.
Crawford, James N.D do Vol. VI, p. 171.
Creel, Robert J.A Employee, Louisiana Depart- Vol. XI, p. 477.
ment of Labor, New Or-
leans.
Crowe, William D., Jr. Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 186.
(a.k.a. Bill DeMar).D
Crowley, James D.A Specialist in intelligence mat- Vol. XI, p. 482.
ters, Department of State.
Croy, Kenneth HudsonD Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 186.
Department.
Crull, Elgin E.D City Manager of Dallas Vol. XV, p. 138.
Cunningham, Cortlandt A C Firearms identification ex- Vol. II, p. 251.
pert, FBI. Vol. III, p. 451.
Vol. VII, p. 591.
Cunningham, Helen P.A D Employment Counselor, Tex- Vol. X, p. 117.
as Employment Commission Vol. XI, p. 477.
Curry, Jesse Edward ACD Chief, Dallas Police Depart- Vol. IV, p. 150.
ment. Vol. XII, p. 25.
Vol. XV, p. 124, 641
Curtis, Don Teel D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 57.
Cutchshaw, Wilbur JayD Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 206.
partment.
Daniels, John L.D Employee, Dallas parking lot. Vol. XIII, p. 296.
Daniels, Napoleon J.D Former member, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 225.
Department.
Davis, Barbara Jeanette C Witness in the vicinty of the Vol. III, p.
342.
Tippit crime scene.
Davis, Floyd Guy D Operator, Sports Drome Rifle Vol. X, p. 356.
Range
Davis, Virginia (Mrs. Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. VI, p. 454
Charles) .D Tippit crime scene.
Page 487
Witness Description Testimony
Davis, Virginia LouiseD Wife of Floyd Guy Davis Vol. X, p. 363.
Day, J. C.AC Lieutenant, Dallas Police De- Vol. IV, p. 249.
partment. Vol. VII, P. 401.
Dean, Patricia Trevore CD. Member, Dallas Police De- Vol V, p. 254
partment. Vol. XII, p. 415.
Decker, J. E. (Bill)D Sheriff, Dallas County Vol. XII, p. 42.
Delgado, Nelson D Aquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 228.
Marine Corps.
DeMar, William (see Crowe,
William D., Jr.).
De Mohrenschildt, George S.D Aquaintance of Oswalds Vol. IX, p. 166.
in Texas
De Mohrenschildt, Jeanne D do Vol. IX, p. 285.
Dhority, C. N.AD Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, pp. 149,
partment. 380
Dietrich, Edward C.D Guard, Armored Motor Service. Vol. XV, p. 269.
Dillard, Tom C.D Photographer-Journalist, Dallas Vol. VI, p. 162.
Dillon, C. Douglas c Secretary of the Treasury Vol. V, p. 573.
Dobbs, Farrell AD International Secretary, Socialist Vol. X, p. 109.
Workers Party. Vol. XI, p. 208.
Donabedian, George D Captain, U.S. Navy Vol. VIII, p. 311.
Donovan, John E.D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 289.
the Marine Corps.
Dougherty, Jack Edwin D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 373.
Dowe, Kenneth Lawry D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XV, p. 430.
Dulany, Richard B.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 113.
Duncan, William Glenn, Jr.D.. Employee, radio station, Dal- Vol. XV, p.
482.
las.
Dymitruk, Lydia D Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol.IX, p. 60.
in Texas.
Dziemian, Arthur J.C Wound ballistics expert, U.S. Vol. V, p. 90.
Army.
Eberhardt, A. M.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XIII, p. 181.
partment.
Edwards, Robert Edwin D Employee, Dallas City Court- Vol. VI, p. 200.
house.
Euins, Amos Lee C Witness at assassination Vol. II. p. 201.
scene.
Evans, Julian d Husband of Myrtle Evans Vol. VIII, p. 66.
Evans, Myrtle D Acquaintance of Marguerite Vol. VIII, p. 45.
Oswald in Oswald's youth.
Evans, Sidney, Jr.D Resident of Ruby's apartment Vol. XIII, p. 195
house.
Fain, John W.C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 403.
Fehrenbach, George Wil- Resident of Ashland, Oreg Vol. XV, p. 289.
liam.D
Feldsott, LouisA President, Crescent Fire- Vol. XI, p. 205.
arms, Inc.
Fenley, Robert Gene D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 314.
Finck, Pierre A.C Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hos- Vol. II, p. 377.
pital.
Fischer, Ronald B.D Auditor, City of Dallas Vol. VI, p. 191.
Fleming, Harold J.D Employee, Armored Motor Vol. XV, p. 159.
Service, Inc.
Page 488
Witness Description Testimony
Folsom, Allison G., Jr.D Lt. Col., U.S. Marine Corps Vol. VIII, p. 303.
Ford, Declan P.C Husband of Katherine N.
Ford and acquaintance of
the Oswalds in Texas.
Ford, Katherine N.c Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. II, p. 322.
in Texas.
Foster, J. W.D . Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 248.
Frazier, Buell Wesley Cd Employee, TSBD and neighbor Vol. II, p. 210.
of the Paines in Irving, Tex. Vol. VII, p. 531.
Frazier, Robert A.AC Firearms Identification Expert Vol. III, p. 390.
FBI Vol. V, p. 58
Frazier, W. B.D Captain, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 52.
Fritz, John Will ACD do Vol. IV, p. 202.
Vol. VII, p. 403.
Vol. XV, p. 145.
Fuqua, Harold R.D Parking attendant in base- Vol. XIII, p. 141.
ment of city hall.
Gallagher, John F.D Agent, FBI Vol. XV, p. 746.
Gangl, Theodore Frank A Employee, Padgett Printing Vol. XI, p. 478.
Corp.
Garner, Jesse J.A Neighbor of the Oswalds in Vol. X, p. 276.
New Orleans.
Garner, Mrs. Jesse D Landlady of Oswald in New Orleans Vol. X, p. 264.
Gauthier, Leo J.C Inspector, FBI Vol. V, p. 135.
George, M. Waldo A Landlord of Oswalds in Dallas Vol. XI, p. 155.
Geraci, Philip, III D Resident of New Orleans who Vol. X, p. 74
met Oswald.
Gibson, Mrs. Donald D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. XI, p.
123.
Gibson, John D Witness to Oswald arrest Vol. VII, p. 70.
Giesecke, Adolph H., Jr.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 72.
Givens, Charles Douglas D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 345.
Glover, Everett D.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds in Texas Vol. X, p. 1.
Goin, Donald Edward D Armored car operator Vol. XV, p. 168.
Goldstein, David A Owner, Dave's House of Guns Vol. VII, p. 594.
Goodson, Clyde Franklin D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p.
596.
Graef, John G.D Oswald's supervisor, Jaggars- Vol. X, p. 174.
Chiles-Stovall, Dallas.
Graf, Allen D.A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 317.
Marine Corps.
Grant, Eva D Sister of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 429.
Vol. w, p. 321.
Graves, Gene A Secretary, Leslie Welding Co. Vol. XI, p. 479.
Graves, L. C.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 251.
partment. Vol. XIII, p. 1.
Gravitis, Dorothy D Acquaintance of Mrs. Paine Vol. IX, p. 131.
in Dallas.
Gray, VirginiaA Employee, Duke University Vol. XI, p. 209.
Library.
Greener, Charles W.D Proprietor, Irving Sports Vol. XI, p. 245.
Shop.
Greer, William Robert c Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 112.
488
Page 489
Witness Description Testimony
Gregory, Charles F. CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. IV, p. 117.
Vol. VI, p. 95.
Gregory, Paul RoderickD Son of Peter Paul Gregory Vol. IX, p. 141.
and acquaintance of the Os-
walds in Texas.
Gregory, Peter Paul C Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. II, p. 337.
in Texas.
Guinyard, SamD Witness in the vicinity of Vol. VII, p. 395.
Tippit crime scene.
Hall, C. Ray D Agent, FBI Vol. XV, p. 62.
Hall, Elena A.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 391.
in Texas.
Hall, John Raymond D Husband of Elena A. Hall and Vol. VIII, p. 406.
acquaintance of the Oswalds.
Hall, Marvin E. "Bert" D Employee, Armored Motor Vol. XV, p. 174.
Service, Dallas.
Hallmark, Garnett Claud D... Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XV, p. 488.
Hamblen, C. A.D Employee, Western Union Vol. XI, p. 311.
Telegraph Co.
Hankal, Robert L.D Director, television station, Vol. XIII, p. 112.
Dallas.
Hanson, Timothy M., Jr.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XV, p.
438.
Hardin, Michael D City ambulance driver Vol. XIII, p. 94.
Hargis, Bobby W.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VI, p. 293.
Harkness, D. V.D do Vol. VI, p. 308.
Harrison, William J.D do Vol. XII, p. 234.
Hartogs, Renatus D Psychiatrist, New York City.. Vol. VIII, p. 214.
Hawkins, Ray D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 91.
partment.
Haygood, Clyde A.D do Vol. VI, p. 296.
Heindel, John Rene A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 318.
Marine Corps.
Helmick, Wanda Yvonne or Employee of Ralph Paul, an Vol. XV, p. 396.
Wanda Sweat.D acquaintance of Jack Ruby.
Helms, Richard M.CA Deputy Director for Plans, Vol V, p. 120.
Central Intelligence Vol. XI, p. 469.
Agency.
Henchliffe, Margaret M.D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 139.
Henslee, Gerald D.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VI, p. 325.
partment.
Herndon, Bell P.D Polygraph operator, FBI Vol. XIV, p. 579.
Hicks, J. B.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 286.
partment.
Hill, Clinton J.C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 132.
Hill, Gerald Lynn D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 43.
partment.
Hill, Jean Lollis D Witness - at assassination Vol. VI, p. 205.
Scene,
Hine, Geneva L.D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 393.
Hodge, Alfred Douglas D Owner,Buckhorn Trading Vol. XV, p. 494.
Post.
Holland, S. M.D Witness at assassination Vol. VI, p. 239.
scene,
Holly, Harold B., Jr.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 261.
Department
489
730-900 O-64--3
Page 490
Witness Description
Holmes, Harry D.D U.S. Post Office inspector Vol. VII, p. 289,
525
Hoover, J. Edgar c Director, FBI Vol. V, p. 97.
Hosty, James, P. Jr.C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 440.
Howlett, John Joe AD Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. VII, p. 592.
Vol. IX, p. 425.
Hudson, Emmett J.D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VII, p. 558.
Huffaker, Robert S., Jr.D Newsman, Dallas Vol. XIII, p. 116.
Hulen, Richard Leroy D Employee of Dallas YMCA Vol. X, p. 277.
Hulse, C. E.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XIII, p. 99.
partment.
Humes, James J.C Doctor, Bethesda Naval Hos- Vol. II, p. 347.
pital.
Hunley, Bobb A Employee, Louisiana Depart- Vol. XI, p. 476.
ment of Labor, New Orleans.
Hunt, Jackie H.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 76.
Hunter, GertrudeD Witness concerning alleged Vol. XI, pp. 253,
encounter with Oswald. 275.
Hutchison, Leonard Edwin D.. Owner of grocery store in Vol. X, p. 327.
Irving.
Hutson, Thomas Alexander D. Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 26.
partment.
Isaacs, Martin D Employee, Special Services Vol. VIII, p. 324.
Welfare Center, New York.
Jackson, Robert Hill c News photographer, Dallas... Vol. II, p. 155.
Jackson, Theodore D Attendant at Dallas parking Vol. XIII, p. 299.
lot.
James, Virginia H.D International Relations Offi- Vol. XI, p. 180.
cer, 0ffice of Soviet Affairs,
State Department.
Jarman, James, Jr.C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 198.
Jenkins, Marion T.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 45.
Jenkins, Ronald Lee D News editor, radio station, Vol. w, p. 600.
Dallas.
Jimison, R. J.D Orderly, Parkland Hospital... Vol. VI, p. 125.
Johnson, Arnold Samuel D Director of Information and Vol. X, p. 95.
Lecture Bureau, Commu-
nist Party, U.S.A.
Johnson, Arthur Carl D Owner of roominghouse in Vol. X, p. 301.
Dallas where Oswald resided.
Johnson, Mrs. Arthur Carl D.. Wife of A. C. Johnson Vol. X, p. 292.
Johnson, Joseph Weldon, Jr.D. Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XV, p.
218.
Johnson, Lyndon B.s President of the United States. Vol. V, p. 561
Johnson, Mrs. Lyndon B.s Wife of the President of the Vol. V, p. 564
United States.
Johnson, MarvinD Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. VII, p. 100.
Johnson, Prisci1la Mary Newspaper reporter who in- Vol. XI, p. 442.
Post D terviewed Oswald in Russia.
Johnson, Speedy D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XV, p. 607.
Johnston, David L.D Justice of the peace, Dallas. Vol. XV, p. 503.
Jones, O. A.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 58.
partment.
Jones, Ronald C.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. XII, p. 51.
Kaiser, Frankie D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 341.
Kaminsky, Eileen D Jack Ruby's sister Vol. XV, p. 275.
Kantor, SethD Reporter, Vol. XV, p. 71
490
Page 491
Witness Description Testimony
Kaufman, Stanley M.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XV, p. 513.
Kellerman, Roy H.C Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 61.
Kelley, Thomas J.AC Inspector, U.S. Secret Service Vol. V, pp. 129,
175.
Vol. VII, pp. 403,
590.
Kelly, Edward D Porter, Dallas City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 146.
Kennedy, Mrs. John F.C Widow of President John Vol. V, p. 178.
Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Killion, Charles L.A Firearms identification ex- Vol. VII, p. 591.
pert, FBI.
King, Glen D.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. XV, p. 51.
partment
Klause, Robert G.C Printer of handbill attacking Vol. V, p. 535.
President Kennedy.
Kleinlerer, Alexander A Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. XI, p. 118.
in Texas.
Kleinman, Abraham D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby.. Vol. XV, p. 383.
Kline, William A Agent, U.S. Customs Vol. XV, p. 640.
Knight, Frances G.c Director, Passport Office, De- Vol. V, p. 371.
partment of State.
Knight, Russell ( see Moore ).
Kramer, Monica A Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 212.
Kravitz, Herbert B.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XV, p. 231.
Kriss, Harry M.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 266.
Department.
Krystinik, Raymond Frank- Fellow employee of Michael Vol. IX, p. 461.
lin.D R. Paine in Texas.
Lane, Doyle E.D Clerk, Western Union Tele- Vol. XII, p. 221.
graph Co.
Lane, Mark R.C Attorney, New York City Vol. II, p. 32.
Vol. IV, p. 546.
Latona, Sebastian F.c Fingerprint export, FBI Vol. IV, p. 1.
Lawrence, Perdue W.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 577.
Lawson, Winston G. (accom- Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. IV, p. 317.
panied by Fred B. Smith).C
Leavelle, James R.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 260.
partment. Vol. VIII, p. 14.
LeBlanc, Charles Joseph D. Maintenance man, William B. Vol. X, p. 213.
Reily Co.
Lee, Ivan D.A Agent, FBI Vol. XI, p. 481.
Lee, Vincent T. DA Official, Fair Play for Cuba Vol. X, p. 86.
Committee. Vol. XI, p. 208.
Lehrer, James D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 464.
Leslie, Helen D Member of Russian-speaking Vol. IX, p. 160.
community in Dallas.
Lewis, Aubrey Lee D Employee, Western Union Vol. IX, p. 318.
Telegraph Co.
Lewis, Erwin Donald A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII p. 323.
Marine Corps.
Lewis, L. J.A Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. w, p. 703.
Tippit crime scene.
Light, Frederick W., Jr.C Wound ballistics expert, U.S. Army. Vol. V, p.
94.
Litchfield, Wilbyrn Waldon Acquaintance of Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 95.
(Robert), II.D
Lord, Billy Joe A Passenger with Oswald on SS Vol. XI, p. 117.
Marion Lykes.
Page 492
Witness Description Testimony
Lovelady, Billy Nolan D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 336.
Lowcry, Roy Lee D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 271.
Lujan, Daniel Gutierrez D Appeared in lineup with Vol. VII, p. 243.
Oswald.
Lux, J. Philip A Employee, H. L. Green Co Vol. XI, p. 206
McClelland, Robert N.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital... Vol. VI, p. 30.
McCone, John Alex C Director, Central Intelligence Vol. V, p. 120.
Agency.
McCullough, John G.D Reporter, Philadelphia Vol. XV, p. 373.
McCurdy, Danny Patrick D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. w, p. 529.
McDonald, M. N.C Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. III, p. 295.
partment.
McFarland, John Bryan A Passenger on bus with Os- Vol. XI, p. 214.
wald to Mexico City in 1963.
McFarland, Meryl A do Vol. XI, p. 214.
McKinzie, Louis D Porter, Dallas City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 147.
McMillon, Thomas Donald D.. Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XIII, p. 37.
partment.
McVickar, John A.C Foreign Service officer sta- Vol. V, pp. 299,
tioned at American Em- 318.
bassy in Soviet Union in
1959-61.
McWatters, Cecil J.C Busdriver, Dallas Vol. II, p. 262.
Malley, James R.A Inspector, FBI Vol. XI, p. 468.
Mallory, Katherine A Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 210.
Mamantov, Ilya A.D Member of Russian-speaking Vol. IX, p. 102.
community in Dallas.
Mandella, Arthur C (accom- Fingerprint expert, New York Vol. IV, p. 48.
panied by Joseph A.. City Police Department.
Mooney ).
Markham, Helen Louise CD... Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. III, p.
305.
Tippit crime scene. Vol. VII, p. 499.
Martello, Francis L.AD Lieutenant, New Orleans Po- Vol. X, p. 51.
lice Department. Vol. XI, p. 471.
Martin, B. J.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VI, p. 289.
partment.
Martin, Frank M.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 277.
partment.
Martin, James Herbert c Former business manager for Vol. I, p. 469.
Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald. Vol. II, p. 1.
Maxey, Billy Joe D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 285.
partment.
Mayo, Logan W.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 291.
Department.
Meller, Anna N.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 379.
in Texas.
Meyers, Lawrence V.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. w, p. 620.
Michaelis, Heinz W.D Manager, Seaport Traders, Inc. Vol. VII, p. 372.
Miller, Austin L.D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VI, p. 223.
Miller, Dave L.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. w, p. 450.
Miller, Louis D.D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 297.
Mitchell, Mary Ann D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VI, p. 175.
Molina, Joe R.D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 368.
Montgomery, L. D.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 96.
partment. Vol. XIII, p. 21.
492
Page 493
Witness Description Testimony
Mooney, Luke C Deputy Sheriff, Dallas County. Vol. III, p. 281
Moore, Henry M.D Member, Dallas Police Department. Vol. VII, p. 212.
Moore, Russell Lee (Knight)D. Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 251.
Mumford, Pamela D Passenger on bus with Oswald Vol. XI, p. 215.
to Mexico City in 1963
Murphy, Joe E.D Member, Dallas Police Department. Vol. VI, p. 256.
Murphy, Paul Edward A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 319.
Marine Corps.
Murray, David Christie, Jr.A. do Vol. VIII, p. 319.
Murret, Charles (Dutz) D . Uncle of Lee Harvey Oswald, Vol. VIII, p.
180.
New Orleans.
Murret, John Martial (Boo- Cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald, Vol. VIII, p.
188.
gie) .D Murret, Lillian AD and aunt of Lee Harvey Oswald, Vol. XI, p.
472.
New Orleans
Murret, Marilyn Dorothea D.. Cousin of Lee Harvey Oswald, Vol. VIII, p.
154.
New Orleans
Naman, Rita A . Tourist in Minsk in 1961 Vol. XI, p. 213.
Nelson, Doris Mac D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 143.
Newman, William J.D Reserve force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 314.
Department.
Newnam, JohnD Advertising department em- Vol. XV, p. 534.
ployee, Dallas newspaper.
Nichols, Alice Reaves D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XIV, p. 110.
Nichols, H. Louis D Former president, Dallas bar Vol. VII, p. 325.
association.
Nicol, Joseph D.C Firearms identification ex- Vol. III, p. 496.
pert, Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Invest-
gation, Illinois Department
of Public Safety.
Norman, Harold c Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 186.
Norton, Robert L.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 546.
O'Brien, Lawrence F.D Assistant to President Kennedy Vol. VII, p. 457.
Odio, Sylvia D Former citizen of Cuba now Vol. XI, p. 367.
residing in Dallas.
O'Donnell, Kenneth D Assistant to President Kennedy Vol. VII, p. 440.
Odum, Bardwell D.A Agent, FBI Vol. XI, p. 468.
Ofstein, Dennis Hyman D Employee, Jaggers-Chiles- Vol. X, p. 194.
Stovall, Dallas.
Olds, Gregory Lee D President, Dallas Chapter, Vol. VII, p. 322.
American Civil Liberties
Union.
Oliver, Revilo P.D Member of the council of the Vol. XV, p. 709.
John Birch Society.
Olivier, Alfred G.C Wound ballistics expert, U. S. Vol. V, p. 74.
Army.
Olsen, Harry N.D Former member, Dallas Police Vol. XIV, p. 640.
Department.
Olsen, Kay Helen D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 624
Osborne, Mack A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 321.
Marine Corps.
493
Page 494
Witness Testimony Description
O'Sullivan, Frederick S.n Acquaintance of Oswald at Vol. VIII, p. 27.
Beauregard Junior High
School, New Orleans
Oswald, Margtuerite C Mother of Lee Harvey Oswald Vol. I, p. 126.
Oswald, Marina CD Widow of Lee Harvey Oswald Vol. I, p. 1.
Vol. V. pp. 387,
410, 588.
Vol. XI, p. 275.
Oswald, Robert Edward Lee C Brother of Lee Harvey Oswald Vol. I, p. 264
Owens, Calvin Bud D Member, Dallas Police De-
partment.
Paine. Michael R.CD Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. II, p. 384.
in Texas. Vol. IX, p. 434.
Vol. XI, p. 398.
Paine, Ruth Hyde ACD Wife of Michael R. Paine and Vol. II, p. 430.
acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. III, p. 1.
in Texas. Vol. IX, p. 331.
Vol. XI, pp. 153, 389.
Palmer, Thomas Stewart D. Acquaintance of Jack Ruby.. Vol. XV, p. 206.
Pappas, Icarus M.D Reporter, radio station, New Vol. XV, p. 360.
York City.
Patterson, B. M.A Witness in the vicinity of Vol. 15, p. 744.
the Tippit crime scene.
Patterson, Bobby G.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 334.
partment.
Patterson, Robert Carl D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XIV, p. 126.
Paul, Ralph D do Vol. XIV, p. 134.
Vol. XV, p. 664.
Pena, Orest D Owner, Habana Bar, New Orleans Vol. XI, p. 346.
Pena. Ruperto D Brother of Orest Pena Vol. XI, p. 364.
Perry, Malcolm O. CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. III, p. 366.
Vol. VI, p. 7.
Perry, W. E.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 232.
partment.
Peterman, Viola D Neighbor of Oswald family in Vol. VIII, p. 38.
New Orleans.
Peters, Paul C.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 68.
Peterson, Joseph Alexander D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 615
Phenix, George R.D Television cameraman and Vol XIII, p. 123.
reporter, Dallas.
Pic, Edward John, Jr.AD First husband of Marguerite Vol. VIII, p. 196.
Oswald. Vol. XI, p. 82.
Pic, John Edward D Half brother of Lee Harvey Vol. XI, p. 1.
Oswald.
Pierce, Edward E.D Employee, Dallas City Hall. Vol. XIII, p. 156.
Pierce, Rio S.D Lieutenant, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 76.
partment Vol. XII, p.337.
Pinkston, Nat A.D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, 334.
Piper, Eddie D do Vo1. VI, 382.
Vo1. VII, 388.
Pitts, Elnora D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XIII, p. 228.
Pizzo, FrankD Assistant manager of auto Vol. X, p. 340.
agency, Dallas.
Poe. J. M.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 66.
partment.
Postal, Julia D Cashier, Texas Theatre Vol. VII,
p. 8.
494
Page 495
Witness Description Testimony
Potts, Walter E.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 195.
partment.
Powell, Nancy M. (a.k.a. Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. w, p. 404.
Tammie True).D
Powers, Daniel Patrick D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 266.
Marine Corps.
Powers, David F.A Assistant to President Kennedy. Vol. VII, p. 472.
Price, Charles Jack D Administrator, Parkland Hos- Vol. VI, p. 148.
pital.
Price, Malcolm It., Jr.D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Vol. X, p. 369.
Range.
Priddy, Hall Jr.D Relief dispatcher, O'Neil Fu- Vol. XIII, p. 239.
neral Home in Dallas.
Pryor, Roy A.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. w, p. 554.
Pugh, OranA. Agent, U.S. Customs Vol. w, p. 640.
Pullman, Edward J.D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. w, p. 222.
Putnam, James A.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 74.
partment. Vol. XII, p. 341.
Quigley, John L.C Agent, FBI Vol. IV, p. 431.
Rachal, John R.A Employee, Louisiana Depart- Vol. XI, p. 474.
meat of Labor, New
Orleans.
Rackley, George W. Sr.D Employee, Coordinated RR. Co. Vol. VI, p. 273.
Raigorodsky, Paul M.D Member of Russian-speaking Vol. IX, p. 1.
community in Dallas.
Randle, Linnie Mac C Buell Wesley Frazier's sister Vol. II, p. 245.
and neighbor of Ruth Paine.
Ray, Natalie (Mrs. Thomas Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. IX, p. 27.
M.) .D in Texas.
Ray, Thomas M.D Husband of Natalie Ray and Vol. IX, p. 38.
acquaintance of the Os-
walds in Texas.
Ray, Valentine A. (Mrs. Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p. 415.
Frank H. ) .D in Texas.
Rea, Billy A.D Advertising staff, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 571.
newspaper.
Reeves, Huey D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XIII, p. 243.
Reid, Mrs. Robert A.c Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 270.
Reilly, Frank E.D Witness at assassination Vol. VI, p. 227.
scene.
Revill, Jack CD Lieutenant, Dallas Police De- Vol. V, p. 33.
partment. Vol. XII, p. 73.
Reynolds, Warren Allen D Witness in the vicinity of the
Tippit crime scene. Vol. XI, p. 434.
Rheinstein, FredericD Producer-director, NBC Vol. XV, p. 354.
Rich, Nancy Perrin D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby. Vol. XIV, p. 330.
Richey, Marjorie R.D do Vol. XV, p. 192.
Richey, Warren E.D TV engineer, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 255.
Riggs, Alfreadia D Porter, City Hall Vol. XIII, p. 166.
Riggs, Chester Allen, Jr.A Landlord of the Oswalds in Vol. X, p. 229.
Fort Worth.
Ritchie, James L.D Passport Officer, Department Vol. XI, p. 191.
of State.
Roberts, Earlene AD Housekeeper at Oswald's Vol. VI, p. 434.
roominghouse in Dallas. Vol. VII, p. 439.
495
Page 496
Witness Description Testimony
Robertson, Mary Jane D Employee, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 404.
partment.
Robertson, Victor F., Jr.D Reporter, Dallas Vol. XV, p. 347.
Rodriguez, Evaristo D Bartender at Habana Bar, Vol. XI, p. 339.
New Orleans.
Rogers, Eric D Neighbor of the Oswalds in Vol. XI, p. 460.
New Orleans.
Romack, James E.D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VI, p. 277.
Rose, Guy F.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 227.
partment.
Ross, Henrietta M.D Technician, Parkland Hos- Vol. VI, p. 123.
pital.
Rossi, Joseph D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby... Vol. XV, p. 235.
Roussel, Henry J., Jr.A Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 320.
Marine Corps.
Rowland, Arnold LouisC Witness at assassination Vol. II, p. 165.
scene.
Rowland, Barbara (Mrs. Ar- . do Vol. VI, p. 177.
nold L. ) .D
Rowley, James J.C Chief, U.S. Secret Service Vol. V, p. 449.
Rubenstein, Hyman D Brother of Jack Ruby Vol. XV p. 1.
Ruby, Earl D do Vol. XIV, p. 364.
Ruby, Jack CD Convicted slayer of Oswald. Vol. V, p. 181.
Vol. XIV, p. 504.
Ruby, Sam D Brother of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 488.
Rusk, Dean C Secretary of State Vol. V, p. 333.
Russell, Harold A Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. VII, p. 594.
Tippit crime scene.
Ryder, Dial D.D Employee, Irving Sports Shop. Vol. XI, p. 224.
Salyer, Kenneth E.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 80.
Saunders, Richard L.D Advertising staff, Dallas newspaper. Vol. XV, p.
577.
Sawyer, J. Herbert D Inspector, Dallas Police De- Vol. VI, p. 315.
partment.
Sawyer, Mildred D Neighbor and acquaintance of Vol VIII, p. 31.
Oswald as a youth in New
Orleans.
Schmidt, Hunter, Jr.D City editor, Dallas Vol. XI, p. 240.
Scibor, Mitchell J.D Employee, Klein's Sports Goods. Vol. VII, p. 370.
Scoggins, William W.C Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. III, p. 322.
Tippit crime scene.
Seeley, Carroll Hamilton, Jr.D. Assistant Chief, Legal Divi- Vol. XI, p.
193.
sion, Passport Office, De-
partment of State.
Semingsen, W. W.D Employee, Western Union Vol. X, p. 405.
Telegraph Co.
Senator, George D Roommate of Jack Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 164.
Servance, John OlridgeD Head porter, City Hall and Vol. XIII, p. 175.
Municipal Building.
Shaneyfelt, Lyndal L.CD Photography expert, FBI Vol. IV, p. 279.
Vol. V, p. 138, 176.
Vol. VII, p. 410.
Shasteen, Clifton M.D Owner of barbershop in Irv- Vol. X, p. 309.
ing, Tex.
Shaw, Robert Roeder CD Doctor, Parkland Hospital. Vol. IV, p. 101.
Vol. VI, p. 83.
496
Page 497
Witness Description Testimony
Shelley, William H.D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 327.
Vol. VII, p. 390.
Shields, Edward D Employee, TSBD Vol. VII, p. 393.
Shires, George T.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 104.
Siegel, Evelyn Grace Strick- Social worker, New York City. Vol. VIII, p.
224.
man D
Simmons, Ronald C Weapons evaluation expert, Vol. III, p. 441.
U.S. Army Weapons Sys-
tem Division.
Sims, Richard M.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 158.
partment.
Skelton, Royce G.D Witness at assassination Vol. VI, p. 236.
scene.
Slack, Garland Glenwill D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Vol. X, p. 378.
Range.
Slack, Willie B.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 347.
partment.
Slaughter, Malcolm R.D Resident in Jack Ruby's Vol. XIII, p. 261.
apartment building.
Smart, Vernon S.D Lieutenant, Dallas Police Vol. XIII, p. 266.
Department.
Smith, Bennierita D Acquaintance of Oswald at Vol. VIII, p. 21.
Beauregard Junior High
School in New Orleans.
Smith, Edgar Leon, Jr.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 565.
partment.
Smith, Glenn Emmett D Service station attendant in Vol. X, p. 399.
Dallas.
Smith, Hilda L.A Employee, Louisiana Depart- Vol. XI, p. 474.
ment of Labor, New Orleans
Smith, Joe Marshall D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 531.
partment.
Smith, John Allison D TV technician, Fort Worth.. Vol. XIII, p. 277.
Smith, William Arthur D Witness in the vicinity of the Vol. VII, p. 82.
Tippit crime scene.
Snyder, Richard Edward C... Foreign Service officer, sta- Vol. V, p.
260.
tioned in the Embassy in
the Soviet Union, 1959-61.
Solomon, James Maurice D.. Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 87.
partment.
Sorrels, Forrest V.DA Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. VII, pp. 332,
592.
Vol. XIII, p. 55.
Standifer, Roy E.D Member, Dallas Police Do- Vol. XV p. 614.
partment.
Standridge, Ruth Jeanette D.. Head nurse of operating Vol. VI, p. 115.
rooms, Parkland Hospital.
Staples, Albert F.A Dentist at Baylor University Vol. XI, p. 210.
College of Dentistry.
Statman, Irving D Assistant District Director of Vol. X, p. 149.
Dallas District, Texas Em-
ployment Commission.
Steele, Charles Hall, Jr.D Resident of New Orleans who Vol. X, p. 62.
assisted Oswald in distribu-
tion of handbills.
Steele, Charles Hall, Sr.D Father of Charles Hall Steele, Jr. Vol. X, p.
71.
497
Page 498
Witness Description Testimony
Steele, Don Francis D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 353.
partment.
Stevenson, M. W.D Deputy Chief, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 91.
Department. Vol. XV, p. 133
Stombaugh, Paul Morgan CA. Hair and fiber expert, FBI... Vol. IV, p. 56.
Vol. XV, p. 702.
Stovall, Richard S.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 186.
partment.
Stovall, Robert L.D President, Jaggars-Chiles- Vol. X. p. 167.
Stovall, Dallas, Tex.
Strong, Jesse M.D Employee, Western Union Vol. XIII. p. 284.
Telegraph Co.
Stuckey, William Kirk D Radio program director, New Vol. XI, p. 156.
Orleans.
Studebaker, Robert Lee n Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 137.
partment.
Surrey, Robert Alan C Publisher of handbill attack- Vol. V, p. 420.
ing President Kennedy.
Tague, James Thomas D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VII, p. 552.
Talbert, Cecil E.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 108.
partment. Vol. XV, p. 182.
Tasker, Harry T.D Taxicab driver in Dallas Vol. XV, p. 679.
Taylor, Gary E.DA Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. IX, p. 73.
in Texas. Vol. XI, p. 470.
Thompson, Llewellyn E.C Former U.S. Ambassador to Vol. V, p. 567.
Russia.
Thornley, Kerry Wendell D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. XI, p. 82.
Marines.
Tice, Wilma May D Resident of Dallas Vol. XV, p. 388.
Tobias, Mahlon F., Sr.D Manager of apartment house Vol. X, p. 251.
where the Oswalds resided,
Dallas.
Tobias, Mrs. Mahlon F.D Wife of M. F. Tobias, Sr Vol. X, p. 231.
Tomlinson, Darrell C.D Senior engineer, Parkland Vol. VI, p. 128.
Hospital
Tormey, James J.D Executive secretary, Hall- Vol. X, p. 107.
Davis Defense Commission.
Truly, Roy Sansom ACD Superintendent, TSBD Vol. III, p. 212.
Vol. VII, pp. 380,
591.
Turner, F. M.n Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 217.
partment.
Turner, Jimmy D TV director, Fort Worth Vol. XIII, p. 130.
Twiford, Horace Elroy A Member, Socialist Labor Vol. XI, p. 179.
Party, Houston, Tex.
Twiford, Estelle A Wife of Horace Elroy Twiford Vol. XI, p. 179.
Underwood. James R.D Assistant news director Vol. VI, p. 167.
TV and radio, Dallas.
Vaughn, Roy Eugene D Member, Dallas Police Department Vol. XII, p. 357.
Vinson, Philip Eugene D Reporter, Fort Worth Vol. VIII, p. 75.
Voebel, Edward D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 1.
Beauregard Junior High
School, New Orleans.
Voshinin, Igor VladimirD Member of Russian-speaking Vol. VIII, p. 448.
community in Dallas.
Voshinin, Mrs. Igor Vladimir.D Acquaintance of the Oswalds Vol. VIII, p.
425.
in Texas.
498
Page 499
Witness Description Testimony
Wade, Henry c District attorney, Dallas Vol. V, p. 213.
County.
Waldman, William J.D Vice President, Klein's Sport- Vol. VII, p. 360.
ing Goods, Inc.
Waldo, Thayer D Reporter, Forth Worth Vol. XV, p. 585.
Walker, C. T.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 34.
partment.
Walker, Maj. Gen. Edwin Resident of Dallas and object Vol. XI, .p. 404.
A. D of shooting in April 1963.
Walker, Ira N., Jr.D Broadcast technician, Fort Vol. XIII, p. 289.
Worth.
Wall, Breck (a.k.a. Billy Ray Acquaintance of Ruby Vol. XIV, p. 599.
Wilson).D
Walthers, Eddy Raymond D Deputy sheriff, Dallas County. Vol. VII, p.
544.
Warner, Roger C.A Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. XV, p. 619.
Waterman, Bernice C Adjudicator, Passport Office, Vol. V, p. 346.
Department of State.
Watherwax, Arthur Wil- Printer, Dallas newspaper Vol. XV, p. 564.
liam.D
Watson, James C.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 372.
partment.
Weinstock, Louis A General manager, the Worker. Vol. XI, p. 297.
Weissman, Bernard CD Codraftsman and signer of Vol. V, p. 487.
November 22, 1963, full- Vol. XI, p. 428.
page advertisement.
Weitzman, Seymour D Deputy constable, Dallas Vol. VII, p. 105.
County.
West, Troy Eugene D Employee, TSBD Vol. VI, p. 356.
Westbrook, W. R.D Captain, Dallas Police De- Vol. VII, p. 109.
partment.
Wester, Jane Carolyn D Nurse, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 120.
Whaley, William Wayne CD.. Taxicab driver in Dallas Vol. II, pp. 253,
292
Vol. VI, p. 428.
White, J. C.D Member, Dallas Police De- Vol. VI, p. 253.
partment.
White, Martin G.D Doctor, Parkland Hospital Vol. VI, p. 82.
Whitworth, Edith D Manager, used furniture Vol. XI, p. 262.
store, Irving, Tex.
Wiggins, Woodrow D Lieutenant, Dallas Police De- Vol. XII, p. 388
partment.
Wilcox, Laurance R.D District manager, Western Vol. X, p. 414.
Union Telegraph Co.
Williams, Bonnie Ray C Employee, TSBD Vol. III, p. 161.
Willis, Linda Kay D Daughter of Phillip L. Willis Vol. VII, p. 498.
Willis, Phillip L.D Witness at assassination scene Vol. VII, p. 492.
Wilson, Billy Ray (see Wall,
Breck ).
Wittmus. Ronald G.A Fingerprint expert, FBI Vol. VII, p. 590.
Wood, Homer D Patron, Sports Drome Rifle Range Vol. X, p. 385.
Wood, Sterling Charles D Son of Dr. Homer Wood Vol. X, p. 390.
Wood, Theresa D Wife of Dr. Homer Wood Vol. X, p. 398.
Worley, Gano E.D Reserve Force, Dallas Police Vol. XII, p. 378.
Department.
Worrell, James Richard, Jr.c.. Witness at assassination scene. Vol. II,
p. 190.
Wright, Norman Earl D Acquaintance of Jack Ruby Vol. XV, p. 244.
499
Page 500
Witness Description Testimony
Wulf, William E.D Acquaintance of Oswald in Vol. VIII, p. 15.
his youth.
Yarborough, Ralph W.A U.S. Senator from Texas Vol. VII, p. 439.
Yeargan, Albert C. Jr.A Employee, H. C. Green, Dallas. Vol. XI, p. 207.
Youngblood, Rufus Wayne c Agent, U.S. Secret Service Vol. II, p. 144.
Zahm, James A.D Marine Corps expert on Vol. XI, p. 306.
marksmanship.
Zapruder, Abraham D Witness at assassination scene. Vol. VII, p. 569.
500
Appendix VI
Page 501
APPENDIX VI
Commission Procedures for the Taking of Testimony
Resolution Governing Questioning of Witnesses By Members of the
Commission Staff
Page 501
RESOLUTION GOVERNING QUESTIONING OF WITNESSES
BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 11130, November 29, 1963, which
authorizes this Commission "to prescribe its own procedures," it is
therefore
Resolved, That the following are hereby adopted as the rules of this
Commission for the questioning of witnesses by members of the Commission
staff.
I. Sworn Depositions
A. Individual members of the staff are hereby authorized to administer
oaths and affirmations, examine witnesses, and receive evidence in the
form of sworn depositions on any matter under investigation by the
Commission.
B. Such sworn depositions may be taken only from witnesses designated in
writing for questioning in this manner by the Commission, by a member of
the Commission, or by the General Counsel of the Commission.
C. A stenographic verbatim transcript shall be made of all sworn
depositions. Copies of the witness' testimony shall be available for
inspection by the witness or his counsel. When approved by the
Commission, said copies may be purchased by the witness or his counsel
at regularly prescribed rates from the official reporter.
D. Process and papers of the Commission issued under Paragraph (d) of
Joint Resolution S.J. 137, 88th Congress, let session, shall be
returnable no less than three days from the date on which such process
or papers are issued, and shall state the time, place, and general
subject matter of the deposition. In lieu of such process and papers,
the Commission may request the presence of witnesses and production of
evidence for the purpose of sworn depositions by written notice mailed
no less than three days from the date of the deposition.
E. The period of notice specified in Paragraph D may be waived by a
witness.
F. A witness at a sworn deposition shall have the right to be
accompanied by counsel of his own choosing, who shall have the right to
advise the witness of his rights under the laws and Constitution of the
United States, and the state wherein the deposition shall occur, and to
make brief objections to questions.
Page 502
At the conclusion of the witness' testimony, counsel shall have the
right to clarify the testimony of the witness by questioning the
witness.
G. At the opening of any deposition a member of the Commission's staff
shall read into the record a statement setting forth the nature of the
Commission's inquiry and the purpose for which the witness has been
asked to testify or produce evidence.
H. Any witness who refuses to answer a question shall state the grounds
for so doing. At the conclusion of any deposition in which the witness
refuses to answer a question the transcript shall be submitted to the
General Counsel for review and consideration whether the witness should
be called to testify before the Commission.
II. Sworn Affidavits
A. Members of the Commission staff are hereby authorized to obtain sworn
affidavits from those witnesses who have been designated in writing by
the Commission, a member of the Commission, or the general counsel of
the Commission as witnesses whose testimony will be obtained in this
manner.
B. A copy of the affidavit shall be provided the affiant or his counsel.
RESOLUTION
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 11130, November 99, 1963, which
authorizes this Commission "to prescribe its own procedures," it is
therefore
Resolved, That the following are hereby adopted as the rules of this
Commission in connection with hearings conducted for the purpose of the
taking of testimony or the production of evidence.
1. One or more members of the Commission shall be present at all
hearings. If more than one Commissioner is present, the Chairman of the
Commission shall designate the order in which the Commissioners shall
preside.
2. Any member of the Commission or any agent or agency designated by the
Commission for such purpose, may administer oaths and affirmations,
examine witnesses, and receive evidence.
3. Process and papers of the Commission issued under Paragraph (d) of
Joint Resolution S-J. 137, 88th Congress, 1st session, shall be
returnable no less than three days from the date on which such process
or papers are issued, and shall state the time, place, and general
subject matter of the hearing. In lieu of such process and papers, the
Commission may request the presence of witness and the production of
evidence by written notice mailed no less than 3 days from the date of
the hearing.
4. The period of notice specified in paragraph three (3) may be waived
by a witness.
5. At the opening of any hearing at which testimony is to be received a
member of the Commission shall read into the record a state-
502
Page 503
ment setting forth the nature of the Commission's inquiry and the
purpose for which the witness has been asked to testify or produce
evidence. A copy of this statement shall be given to each witness prior
to his testifying.
6. A witness shall have the right to be accompanied by counsel, of his
own choosing, who shall have the right to advise the witness of his
rights under the laws and Constitution of the United States and to
testimony, counsel shall have the right to clarify the testimony of the
witness by questioning the witness.
7. Every witness who testifies at a hearing shall have the right to make
an oral statement and to file a sworn statement which shall be made part
of the transcript of such hearing, but such oral or written statement
shall be relevant to the subject of the hearing.
8. Rulings on objections or other procedural questions shall be made by
the presiding member of the Commission.
9. A stenographic verbatim transcript shall be made of all testimony
received by the Commission. Copies of such transcript shall be available
for inspection or purchase by the witness or his counsel at regularly
prescribed rates from the official reporter. A witness or his counsel
shall be permitted to purchase or inspect only the transcript of his
testimony before the Commission.
503
Appendix VII
Page 504
APPENDIX VII
A Brief History of Presidential Protection
In the course of the history of the United States four Presidents have
been assassinated, within less than 100 years, beginning with Abraham
Lincoln in 1865. Attempts were also made on the lives of two other
Presidents, one President-elect, and one ex-President. Still other
Presidents were the objects of plots that were never carried out. The
actual attempts occurred as follows:
Andrew Jackson Jan. 30, 1835.
Abraham Lincoln Apr. 14, 1865. Died Apt. 15, 1865.
James A. Garfield July 2, 1881. Died Sept. 19, 1881.
William McKinley. Sept. 6, 1901. Died Sept. 14, 1901.
Theodore Roosevelt Oct. 14, 1912. Wounded; recovered.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Feb. 15, 1933.
Harry S. Truman Nov. 1, 1950.
John F. Kennedy. Nov. 22, 1963. Died that day.
Attempts have thus been made on the lives of one of every five American
Presidents. One of every nine Presidents has been killed. Since 1865,
there have been attempts on the lives of one of every four Presidents
and the successful assassination of one of every five. During the last
three decades, three attacks were made.
It was only after William McKinley was shot that systematic and
continuous protection of the President was instituted. Protection before
McKinley was intermittent and spasmodic. The problem had existed from
the days of the early Presidents, but no action was taken until three
tragic events had occurred. In considering the effectiveness of present
day protection arrangements, it is worthwhile to examine the development
of Presidential protection over the years, to understand both the high
degree of continuing danger and the anomalous reluctance to take the
necessary precautions.
Before the Civil War
Page 504
BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR
In the early days of the Republic, there was remarkably little concern
about the safety of Presidents and few measures were taken to protect
them. They were at times the objects of abuse and the recipients of
threatening letters as more recent Presidents have been, but they did
not take the threats seriously and moved about freely without protective
escorts. On his inauguration day, Thomas Jefferson walked from his
boarding house to-the Capitol, unaccompanied by any guard, to take the
oath of office. There was no police authority in Washing-
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Page 505
ton itself until 1805 when the mayor appointed a high constable and 40
deputy constables.1
John Quincy Adams received many threatening letters and on one occasion
was threatened in person in the White House by a court-martialed Army
sergeant. In spite of this incident, the President asked for no
protection and continued to indulge his fondness for solitary walks and
early morning swims in the Potomac.2
Among pre-Civil War Presidents, Andrew Jackson aroused particularly
strong feelings. He received many threatening letters which, with a fine
contempt, he would endorse and send to the Washington Globe for
publication. On one occasion in May 1833, Jackson was assaulted by a
former Navy lieutenant, Robert B. Randolph, but refused to prosecute
him. This is not regarded as an attempt at assassination, since Randolph
apparently did not intend serious injury. 3
Less than 2 years later, on the morning of January 10, 1835, as Jackson
emerged from the east portico of the Capitol, he was costed by a
would-be assassin, Richard Lawrence, an English-born house painter.
Lawrence fired his two pistols at the President, but they both misfired.
Lawrence was quickly overpowered and held for trial. A jury found him
not guilty by reason of insanity. He was confined in jails and mental
hospitals for the rest of his life.4
The attack on Jackson did not inspire any action to provide protection
for the Chief Executive. Jackson's immediate successor, Martin Van
Buren, often walked to church alone and rode horseback alone in the
woods not far from the White House. In August 1842, after an intoxicated
painter had thrown rocks at President John Tyler, who was walking on the
grounds to the south of the White House, Congress passed an act to
establish an auxiliary watch for the protection of public and private
property in Washington. The force was to consist of a captain and 15
men. This act was apparently aimed more at the protection of the White
House, which had been defaced on occasion, than of the President. 5
Lincoln
Page 505
LINCOLN
Even before he took the oath of office, Abraham Lincoln was thought to
be the object of plots and conspiracies to kidnap or kill him. Extremist
opponents apparently contemplated desperate measures to prevent his
inauguration, and there is some evidence that they plotted to attack him
while he was passing through Baltimore on his way to Washington.6
For the inauguration, the Army took precautions unprecedented up to that
time and perhaps more elaborate than any precautions taken since.
Soldiers occupied strategic points throughout the city, along the
procession route, and at the Capitol, while armed men in plain clothes
mingled with the crowds. Lincoln himself, in a carriage with President
Buchanan, was surrounded on all sides by such
730-900 0-64--34
Page 506
dense masses of soldiers that he was almost completely hidden from the
view of the crowds. The precautions at the Capitol during the ceremony
were almost as thorough and equally successful.7
Lincoln lived in peril during all his years in office. The volume of
threatening letters remained high throughout the war, but little
attention was paid to them. The few letters that were investigated
yielded no results.8 He was reluctant to surround himself with guards
and often rejected protection or sought to slip away from it. This has
been characteristic of almost all American Presidents. They have
regarded protection as a necessary affliction at best and contrary to
their normal instincts for either personal privacy or freedom to meet
the people. In Lincoln these instincts were especially strong, and he
suffered with impatience the efforts of his friends, the police, and the
military to safeguard him. 9
The protection of the President during the war varied greatly, depending
on Lincoln's susceptibility to warnings. Frequently, military units were
assigned to guard the White House and to accompany the President on his
travels. Lincoln's friend, Ward H. Lamon, on becoming marshal of the
District of Columbia in 1861, took personal charge of protecting the
President and provided guards for the purpose, but he became so
exasperated at the President's lack of cooperation that he tendered his
resignation. Lincoln did not accept it. Finally, late in the war, in
November 1864, four Washington policemen were detailed to the White
House to act as personal bodyguards to the President. Lincoln tolerated
them reluctantly and insisted they remain as inconspicuous as possible.
10
In the closing days of the war, rumors of attempts on Lincoln's life
persisted. The well-known actor, John Wilkes Booth, a fanatical
Confederate sympathizer, plotted with others for months to kidnap the
President. The fall of the Confederacy apparently hardened his
determination to kill Lincoln.11 Booth's opportunity came on Good
Friday, April 14, 1865, when he learned that the President would be
attending a play at Ford's Theater that night.. The President's
bodyguard for the evening was Patrolman John F. Parker of the Washington
Police, a man who proved himself unfit for protective duty. He was
supposed to remain on guard in the corridor outside of the Presidential
box during the entire performance of the play, but he soon wandered off
to watch the play and then even went outside the theater to have a drink
at a nearby saloon. Parker's dereliction of duty left the President
totally unprotected. 12 Shortly after 10 o'clock on that evening, Booth
found his way up to the Presidential box and shot the President in the
head. The President's wound was a mortal one; he died the next morning,
April 15. 13
A detachment of troops captured Booth on April 26 at a farm near Bowling
Green, Va.; he received a bullet wound and died a few hours later. At a
trial in June, a military tribunal sentenced four of Booth's associates
to death and four others to terms of imprisonment.14
Lincoln's assassination revealed the total inadequacy of Presidential
protection. A congressional committee conducted an extensive in-
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vestigation of the assassination, but with traditional reluctance,
called for no action to provide better protection for the President in
the future. Nor did requests for protective measures come from the
President or from Government departments. This lack of concern for the
protection of the President may have derived also from the tendency of
the time to regard Lincoln's assassination as part of a unique crisis
that was not likely to happen to a future Chief Executive. 15
The Need for Protection Further Demonstrated
Page 507
THE NEED FOR PROTECTION FURTHER DEMONSTRATED
For a short time after the war, soldiers assigned by the War Department
continued to protect the White House and its grounds. Metropolitan
Washington policemen assisted on special occasions to maintain order and
prevent the congregation of crowds. The permanent Metropolitan Police
guard was reduced to three and assigned entirely to protection at the
White House. There was no special group of trained officers to protect
the person of the President. Presidents after Lincoln continued to move
about in Washington virtually unattended, as their predecessors had done
before the Civil War, and, as before, such protection as they got at the
White House came from the doormen, who were not especially trained for
guard duty.16
This lack of personal protection for the President came again tragically
to the attention of the country with the shooting of President James A.
Garfield in 1881. The President's assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, was a
self-styled "lawyer, theologian, and politician" who had convinced
himself that his unsolicited efforts to help elect Garfield in 1880
entitled him to appointment as a consul in Europe. Bitterly disappointed
that the President ignored his repeated written requests for appointment
to office and obsessed with a kind of megalomania, he resolved to kill
Garfield.
At that time Guiteau was 38 years old and had an unusually checkered
career behind him. He had been an itinerant and genera]]y unsuccessful
lecturer and evangelist, a lawyer, and a would-be politician. While it
is true he resented Garfield's failure to appoint him consul in Paris as
a reward for his wholly illusory contribution to the Garfield campaign,
and he verbally attacked Garfield for his lack of support for the
so-called Stalwart wing of the Republican Party, these may not have
supplied the total motivation for his crime. At his trial he testified
that the "Deity" had commanded him to remove the President. There is no
evidence that he confided his assassination plans to anyone or that he
had any close friends or confidants. He made his attack on the President
under circumstances where escape after the shooting was inconceivable.
There were some hereditary mental problems in his family and Guiteau
apparently believed in divine inspiration. 17
Guiteau later testified that he had had three opportunities to attack
the President prior to the actual shooting. On all of these occasions,
Page 508
within a brief period of 3 weeks, the President was unguarded. Guiteau
finally realized his intent on the morning of July 2, 1881. As Garfield
was walking to a train in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in
Washington, Guiteau stepped up and shot him in the back. Garfield did
not die from the effects of the wound until September 19, 1881. Although
there was evidence of serious abnormality in Guiteau, he was found
guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. The execution took place on
June 30, 1882.18
At least one newspaper, the New York Tribune, predicted that the assault
on Garfield would lead to the President becoming "the slave of his
office, the prisoner of forms and restrictions," in sharp and unwelcome
contrast to the splendidly simple life he had been able to live before.
The bullet of the assassin who lurked in the Washington railway station
to take the life of President Garfield shattered the simple Republican
manner of life which the custom of nearly a century has prescribed for
the Chief Magistrate of the United States. Our Presidents have been the
first citizens of the Republic-nothing more. With a measure of power in
their hands far greater than is wielded by the ruler of any limited
monarchy in Europe, they have never surrounded themselves with the forms
and safeguards of courts. The White House has been a business office to
everybody. Its occupant has always been more accessible than the heads
of great commercial establishments. When the passions of the war were at
fever heat, Mr. Lincoln used to have a small guard of cavalry when he
rode out to his summer residence at the Soldier's Home; but at no other
time in our history has it been thought needful for a President to have
any special protection against violence when inside or outside the White
House. Presidents have driven about Washington like other people and
travelled over the country as unguarded and unconstrained as any private
citizen. 19
The prediction of the Tribune did not come to pass. Although the Nation
was shocked by this deed, its representatives took no steps to provide
the President with personal protection. The President continued to move
about Washington, sometimes completely alone, and to travel without
special protection. There is a story that President Chester A. Arthur,
Garfield's successor, once went to a ceremony at the Washington Navy
Yard on a public conveyance that he hailed in front of the White House.
20
During Grover Cleveland's second administration (1893-97) the number of
threatening letters addressed to the President increased markedly, and
Mrs. Cleveland persuaded the President to increase the number of White
House policemen to 27 from the 3 who had constituted the force since the
Civil War. In 1894, the Secret Service began to provide protection, on
an informal basis. 21
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Page 509
The Secret Service was organized as a division of the Department of the
Treasury in 1865, to deal with counterfeiting.22 Its jurisdiction was
extended to other fiscal crimes against the United States in later
appropriations acts,23 but its early work in assisting in protecting the
President was an unofficial, stopgap response to a need for a trained
organization, with investigative capabilities, to perform this task. In
1894, while investigating a plot .by a group of gamblers in Colorado to
assassinate President Cleveland, the Secret Service assigned a small
detail of operatives to the White House to help protect him. Secret
Service men accompanied the President and his family to their vacation
home in Massachusetts; special details protected the President in
Washington, on trips, and at special functions.24 For a time, two agents
rode in a buggy behind President Cleveland's carriage, but this practice
attracted so much attention in the opposition newspapers that it was
soon discontinued at the President's insistence.25 These initially
informal and part-time arrangements eventually led to the organization
of permanent systematic protection for the President and his family.
During the Spanish-American War the Secret Service stationed a detail at
the White House to provide continuous protection for President McKinley.
The special wartime protective measures were relaxed after the war, but
Secret Service guards remained on duty at the White House at least part
of the time. 26
Between 1894 and 1900, anarchists murdered the President of France, the
Premier of Spain, the Empress of Austria, and the King of Italy. At the
turn of the century the Secret Service thought that the strong police
action taken against the anarchists in Europe was compelling them to
flee and that many were coming to the United States. Concerned about the
protection of the President, the Secret Service increased the number of
guards and directed that a guard accompany him on all of his trips. 27
Unlike Lincoln and Garfield, President McKinley was being guarded when
he was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz, an American-born 28-year-old factory
worker and farmhand. On September 6, 1901, the President was holding a
brief reception for the public in the Temple of Music at the Pan
American Exposition in Buffalo. Long lines of people passed between two
rows of policemen and soldiers to reach the President and shake his
hand. In the immediate vicinity of the President were four Buffalo
detectives, four soldiers, and three Secret Service agents. Two of the
Secret Service men were facing the President at a distance of 3 feet.
One of them stated later that it was normally his custom to stand at the
side of the President on such ,occasions, but that he had been requested
not to do so at this time in order to permit McKinley's secretary and
the president of the exposition to stand on either side of McKinley.
Czolgosz joined the line concealed a pistol under a handkerchief, and
when he stood in front of the President shot twice through the
handkerchief. McKinley fell critically wounded.28
Page 510
Czolgosz, a self-styled anarchist, did not believe 'in rulers of any
kind. There is evidence that the organized anarchists in the U.S.A. did
not accept or trust him. He was not admitted as a member to any of the
secret anarchist societies. No co-plotters were ever discovered, and
there is no evidence that he had confided in anyone. A calm inquiry made
by two eminent alienists about a year after Czolgosz was executed found
that Czolgosz had for some time been suffering from delusions. One was
that he was an anarchist; another was that it was his duty to
assassinate the President. 29
The assassin said he had no grudge against the President personally but
did not believe in the republican form of government or in rulers of any
kind. In his written confession he included the words, "'I don't believe
one man should have so much service and another man should have none.'"
As he was strapped to the chair to be electrocuted, he said: "'I killed
the President because he was the enemy of the good people--the good
working people. I am not sorry for my crime.' "30
McKinley lingered on for 8 days before he died of blood poisoning early
on the morning of September 14. Czolgosz, who had been captured
immediately, was swiftly tried, convicted, and condemned to death.
Although it seemed to some contemporaries that Czolgosz was incompetent,
the defense made no effort to plead insanity. Czolgosz was executed 45
days after the President's death. Investigations by the Buffalo police
and the Secret Service revealed no accomplices and no plot of any
kind.31
Development of Presidential Protection
Page 510
DEVELOPMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL PROTECTION
This third assassination of a President in a little more than a
generation--it was only 36 years since Lincoln had been killed--shook
the nation and aroused it to a greater awareness of the uniqueness of
the Presidency and the grim hazards that surrounded an incumbent of that
Office. The first congressional session after the assassination of
McKinley gave more attention to legislation concerning attacks on the
President than had any previous Congress but did not pass any measures
for the protection of the President.32 Nevertheless, in 1902 the Secret
Service, which was then the only Federal general investigative agency of
any consequence, assumed full-time responsibility for the safety of the
President. Protection of the President now became one of its major
permanent functions, and it assigned two men to its original full-time
White House detail. Additional agents were provided when the President
traveled or went on vacation.33
Theodore Roosevelt, who was the first President to experience the
extensive system of protection that has surrounded the President ever
since, voiced an opinion of Presidential protection that was probably
shared in part by most of his successors. In a letter to Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge in 1906, from his summer home, he wrote:
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The Secret Service men are a very small but very necessary thorn in the
flesh. Of course, they would not be the least use preventing any assault
upon my life. I do not believe there is any danger of such an assault,
and if there were, as Lincoln said, "though it would be safer for a
President to live in a cage, it would interfere with his business." But
it is only the Secret Service men who render life endurable, as you
would realize if you saw the procession of carriages that pass through
the place, the procession of people on foot who try to get into the
place, not to speak of the multitude of cranks and others who are
stopped in the village.34
Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the Presidency because of an assassin's
bullet, himself became the object of an assassination attempt a few
years after he left office and when he was no longer under Secret
Service protection. During the Presidential campaign of 1912, just as he
was about to make a political speech in Milwaukee on October 14, he was
shot and wounded in the breast by John N. Schrank, a 36-year-old
German-born ex-tavern keeper. A folded manuscript of his long speech and
the metal case for his eyeglasses in the breast pocket of Roosevelt's
coat were all that prevented the assassination.35
Schrank had had a vision in 1901, induced possibly by McKinley's
assassination, which took on meaning for him after Roosevelt, 11 years
later, started to campaign for the Presidency. In this vision the ghost
of McKinley appeared to him and told him not to let a murderer (i.e.,
Roosevelt, who according to the vision had murdered McKinley) become
President. It was then that he determined upon the assassination. At the
bidding of McKinley's ghost, he felt he had no choice but to kill
Theodore Roosevelt. After his attempt on Roosevelt, Schrank was found to
be insane and was committed to mental hospitals in Wisconsin for the
rest of his life.36
The establishment and extension of the Secret Service authority for
protection was a prolonged process. Although the Secret Service
undertook to provide full-time protection for the President beginning in
1902, it received neither funds for the purpose nor sanction from the
Congress until 1906 when the Sundry Civil Expenses Act for 1907 included
funds for protection of the President by the Secret Service.37 Following
the election of William Howard Taft in 1908, the Secret Service began
providing protection for the President-elect. This practice received
statutory authorization in 1913, and in the same year, Congress
authorized permanent protection of the President.38 It remained
necessary to renew the authority annually in the Appropriations Acts
until 1951.
As in the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, the coming of war in 1917
caused increased concern for the safety of the President. Congress
enacted a law, since referred to as the threat statute, making it a
crime to threaten the President by mail or in any other manner.39 In
1917 Congress also authorized protection for the President's immediate
family by the Secret Service.40
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As the scope of the Presidency expanded during the 20th century, the
Secret Service found the problems of protection becoming more numerous.
In 1906, for the first time in history, a President traveled outside the
United States while in office. When Theodore Roosevelt visited Panama in
that year, he was accompanied and protected by Secret Service men.41 In
1918-19 Woodrow Wilson broadened the precedent of Presidential foreign
travel when he traveled to Europe with a Secret Service escort of 10 men
to attend the Versailles Peace Conference.42
The attempt on the life of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933
further demonstrated the broad scope and complexity of the protection
problems facing the Secret Service. Giuseppe Zangara was a bricklayer
and stonemason with a professed hatred of capitalists and Presidents. He
seemed to be obsessed with the desire to kill a President. After his
arrest he confessed that he had first planned to go to Washington to
kill President Herbert Hoover, but as the cold climate of the North was
bad for his stomach trouble, he was loath to leave Miami, where he was
staying. When he read in the paper that President-elect Roosevelt would
be in Miami, he resolved to kill him.43
On the night of February 15, 1933, at, a political rally in Miami's
Bayfront Park, the President-elect sat on the top of the rear seat of
his automobile with a small microphone in his hand as he made a short
informal talk. Fortunately for him, however, he slid down into the seat
just before Zangara could get near enough to take aim. The assassin's
arm may have been jogged just as he shot; the five rounds he directed at
Roosevelt went awry. However, he mortally wounded Mayor Anton Cermak, of
Chicago, and hit four other persons; the President-elect, by a miracle,
escaped. Zangara, of course, never had any chance of escaping.44
Zangara was electrocuted on March 20, 1933, only 33 days after his
attempt on Roosevelt. No evidence of accomplices or conspiracy came to
light, but there was some sensational newspaper speculation, wholly
undocumented, that Zangara may have been hired by Chicago gangsters to
kill Cermak.45
The force provided since the Civil War by the Washington Metropolitan
Police for the protection of the White House had grown to 54 men by
1922.46 In that year Congress enacted legislation creating the White
House Police Force as a separate organization under the direct control
of the President.47 This force was actually supervised by the
President's military aide until 1930, when Congress placed supervision
under the Chief of the Secret Service.48 Although Congress transferred
control and supervision of the force to the Secretary of the Treasury in
1962,49 the Secretary delegated supervision to the Chief of the Secret
Service.50
The White House detail of the Secret Service grew in size slowly from
the original 2 men assigned in 1902. In 1914 it still numbered only 5,
but during World War I it was increased to 10 men. Additional men were
added when the President traveled. After the
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war the size of the detail grew until it reached 16 agents and 2
supervisors by 1939. World War II created new and greater protection
problems, especially those arising from the President's trips abroad to
the Grand Strategy Conferences in such places as Casablanca, Quebec,
Tehran, Cairo, and Yalta. To meet the increased demands, the White House
detail was increased to 37 men early in the war.51
The volume of mail received by the White House had always been large,
but it reached huge proportions under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Presidents
had always received threatening letters but never in such quantities. To
deal with this growing problem, the Secret Service established in 1940
the Protective Research Section to analyze and make available to those
charged with protecting the President, information from White House mail
and other sources concerning people potentially capable of violence to
the President. The Protective Research Section undoubtedly permitted the
Secret Service to anticipate and forestall many incidents that might
have been embarrassing or harmful to the President.52
Although there was no advance warning of the attempt on Harry S.
Truman's life on November 1, 1950, the protective measures taken by the
Secret Service availed, and the assassins never succeeded in firing
directly at the President. The assassins--Oscar Collazo and Griselio
Torresola, Puerto Rican Nationalists living in New York-- tried to force
their way into Blair House, at the time the President's residence while
the white House was being repaired. Blair House was guarded by white
House policemen and Secret Service agents. In the ensuing gun battle,
Torresola and one White House policeman were killed, and Collazo and two
White House policemen were wounded. Had the assassins succeeded in
entering the front door of Blair House, they Would probably have been
cut down immediately by another Secret Service agent inside who kept the
doorway covered with a submachine gun from his vantage point at the foot
of the main stairs. In all, some 27 shots were fired in less than 3
minutes.53
Collazo was brought to trial in 1951 and sentenced to death, but
President Truman commuted the sentence to life imprisonment on July 24,
1952. Although there was a great deal of evidence linking Collazo and
Torresola to the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico and its leader, Pedro
Albizu Campos, the Government could not establish that the attack on the
President was part of a larger Nationalist conspiracy.54
The attack on President Truman led to the enactment in 1951 of
legislation that permanently authorized the Secret Service to protect
the President, his immediate family, the .President-elect, and the Vice
President, the last upon his request. Protection of the Vice President
by the Secret Service had begun in January 1945 when Harry S. Truman
occupied the office.55
In 1962 Congress further enlarged the list of Government officers to be
safeguarded, authorizing protection of the Vice President (or the
officer next in order of succession to the Presidency) without requiring
his request therefor; of the Vice President-elect; and of a
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Page 514
former President, at his request, for a reasonable period after his
departure from office. The Secret Service considered this "reasonable
period" to be 6 months.56
Amendments to the threat statute of 1917, passed in 1955 and 1962, made
it a crime to threaten to harm the President- elect, the Vice Presidents
or other officers next in succession to either office. The President's
immediate family was not included in the threat statute.57
Congressional concern regarding the uses to which the President might
put the Secret Service--first under Theodore Roosevelt and subsequently
under Woodrow Wilson--caused Congress to place tight restrictions on the
functions of the Service and the uses of its funds. 58 The restrictions
probably prevented the Secret Service from developing into a general
investigative agency, leaving the field open for some other agency when
the need arose. The other agency proved to be the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) s established within the Department of Justice in
1908. 57
The FBI grew rapidly in the 1920's, and especially in the 1930's and
after, establishing itself as the largest, best equipped, and best known
of all U.S. Government investigative agencies. In the appropriations of
the FBI there recurred annually an item for the "protection of the
person of the President of the United States," that had first appeared
in the appropriation of the Department of Justice in 1910 under the
heading "Miscellaneous Objects." 60 But there is no evidence that the
Justice Department ever exercised any direct responsibility for the
protection of the President. Although it had no prescribed protection
functions, according to its Director, J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI did
provide protection to Vice President Charles Curtis at his request, when
he was serving under Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. Over the years
the FBI contribution to Presidential protection was confined chiefly to
the referral to. the Secret Service of the names of people who might be
potentially dangerous to the President.61
In recent years the Secret Service has remained a small and specialized
bureau, restricted to very limited functions prescribed by Congress. In
1949, a task force of the Commission on Organization of the Executive
Branch of the Government (Hoover Commission), recommended nonfiscal
functions be removed from the Treasury Department. 62 The recommendation
called for transfer of the White House detail, White House Police Force,
and Treasury Guard Force from the Secret Service to the Department. of
Justice. The final report of the Commission on the Treasury Department
omitted this recommendation, leaving the protective function with the
Secret Service.63 At a meeting of the Commission, ex-President Hoover,
in a reference to the proposed transfer, expressed the opinion that "the
President will object to having a 'private eye' looking after these
fellows and would rather continue with the service." 64
In 1963 the Secret Service was one of several investigative agencies in
the Treasury Department. Its major functions were to combat
counterfeiting and to protect the President, his family, and other
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designated persons. 65 The Chief of the Secret Service administered its
activities through four divisions: Investigation, Inspection,
Administrative, and Security, and 65 field offices throughout the
country, each under a special agent in charge who reported directly to
Washington. The Security Division supervised the White House detail, the
White House Police, and the Treasury Guard Force. During fiscal year
1963 (July 1, 1962-June 30, 1963) the Secret Service had an average
strength of 513, of whom 351 were special agents. Average strength of
the White House Police during the year was 179.66
515
Appendix VIII
Page 516
APPENDIX VIII
Medical Reports From Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Tex.
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392
516
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Page 518
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518
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PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADMISSION NOTE
519
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ADMISSION NOTE
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392--Continued
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COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
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ADMISSION NOTE
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392--Continued
Page 528
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392 Continued
528
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THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL SCHOOL
DALLAS
November 22, 1963
1630
To: Mr. C. J. Price, Administrator Parkland Memorial Hospital
From: M. T. Jenkins, M.D., Professor and Chairman Department of
Anesthesiology
Subject: Statement concerning resuscitative efforts for President John
F. Kennedy
Upon receiving a star alarm that this distinguished patient was being
brought to the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital, I
dispatched Doctors A. H. Giesecke and Jackie H. Hunt with an anesthesia
machine and resuscitative equipment to the major surgical emergency room
area, and I ran down the stairs. On my arrival in the emergency
operating room at approximately 1230 I found that Doctors Carrico and/or
Delaney had begun resuscitative efforts by introducing an orotracheal
tube, connecting it for controlled ventilation to a Bennett intermittent
positive pressure breathing apparatus. Doctors Charles Baxter, Malcolm
Perry, and Robert McClelland arrived at the same time and began a
tracheostomy and started the insertion of a right chest tube, since
there was also obvious tracheal and chest damage. Doctors Paul Peters
and Kemp Clark arrived simultaneously and immediately thereafter
assisted respectively wi~h the insertion of the right chest tube and
with manual closed chest cardiac compression to assure circulation.
For better control of artificial ventilation, I exchanged the
intermittent positive pressure breathing apparatus for an anesthesia
machine and continued artificial ventilation. Doctors Gene Akin and A.
H. Giesecke assisted with the respiratory problems incident to changing
from the orotracheal tube to a tracheostomy tube and Doctors Hunt and
Giesecke connected a cardioscope to determine cardiac activity.
During the progress of these activities, the emergency room cart was
elevated at the feet in order to provide a Trendelenburg position, a
venous cutdown was performed on the right saphenous vein, and additional
fluids were begun in a vein in the left forearm while blood was ordered
from the blood bank. All of these activities were completed by
approximately 1245, at which time external cardiac massage was still
being carried out effectively by Doctor Clark as judged by a palpable
peripheral pulse. Despite these measures there was no
electrocardiographic evidence of cardiac activity.
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 530
Mr. C. J. Price, Administrator
November 22, 1963
Page 2 - Statement concerning resuscitative
efforts for President John F. Kennedy
These described resuscitative activities were indicated as of first
importance, and after they were carried out attention was turned to all
other evidences of injury. There was a great laceration on the right
side of the head (temporal and occipital), causing a great defect in the
skull plate so that there was herniation and laceration of great areas
of the brain, even to the extent that the cerebellum had protruded from
the wound. There were also fragmented sections of brain on the drapes of
the emergency room cart. With the institution of adequate cardiac
compression, there was a great flow of blood from the cranial cavity,
indicating that there was much vascular damage as well as brain tissue
damage.
It is my personal feeling that all methods of resuscitation were
instituted expeditiously and efficiently. However, this cranial and
intracranial damage was of such magnitude as to cause the irreversible
damage. President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1300.
Sincerely,
M. T. Jenkins, M.D.
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 392 Continued
530
Page 531
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
531
Page 532
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 533
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 534
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 535
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 536
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Page 537
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 392--Continued
Appendix IX
Page 538
APPENDIX IX
Autopsy Report and Supplemental Report
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 387
588
Page 539
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 387--Continued
Page 540
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 387--Continued
540
Page 541
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 387--Continued
Page 542
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 387--Continued
542
Page 543
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 387--Continued
Page 544
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 391
Page 545
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 391 Continued
545
Page 546
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 391 Continued
546
Appendix X
Page 547
APPENDIX X
Expert Testimony
Firearms and Firearms Identification
Page 547
FIREARMS AND FIREARMS IDENTIFICATION
Three experts gave testimony concerning firearms and firearms
identification: Robert A. Frazier and Cortlandt Cunningham of the FBI,
and Joseph D. Nicol, superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal
Identification and Investigation of the State of Illinois. Frazier has
been in the field of firearms identification for 23 years, following a
l-year course of specialized training in the FBI Laboratory. Cunningham
has been in the field for 5 years, having also completed the FBI course.
Nicol has been in the firearms identification field since 1941, having
begun his training in the Chicago police crime laboratory. Each has made
many thousands of firearms identification examinations.1 Frazier
testified on the rifle, the rifle cartridge cases, and the rifle
bullets; Cunningham on the revolver, the revolver cartridge cases, the
revolver bullets, and the paraffin test; and Nicol on all the bullets
and cartridge cases and the paraffin test. 2 Nicol's conclusions were
identical to those of Frazier and Cunningham, except as noted.
General Principles
A cartridge, or round of ammunition, is composed of a primer, a
cartridge case, powder, and a bullet. The primer, a metal cup containing
a. detonable mixture, fits into the base of the cartridge case, which is
loaded with the powder. The bullet, which usually consists of lead or of
a lead core encased in a higher strength metal jacket, fits into the
neck of the cartridge case. To tire the bullet, the cartridge is placed
in the chamber of a firearm, immediately behind the firearm's barrel.
The base of the cartridge rests against a solid support called the
breech face or, in the case of a bolt-operated weapon, the bolt face.
When the trigger is pulled, a firing pin strikes a swift, hard blow into
the primer, detonating the priming mixture. The flames from the
resulting explosion ignite the powder, causing a rapid combustion whose
force propels the bullet forward through the barrel.
The barrels of modern firearms are "rifled," that is, several spiral
grooves are cut into the barrel from end to end. The purpose of the
rifling is to set the bullet spinning around its axis, giving it a
stability in flight that it would otherwise lack. the weapons of a given
make and model are alike in their rifling characteristics; that is,
number of grooves, number of lands (the raised portion of the barrel
between the grooves) and twist of the rifling. when a bullet is fired
through a barrel, it is engraved with these rifling characteristics. For
example, all S. & W..38/200 British Service Revolvers have five grooves
and
Page 548
five lands, which twist to the right, and bullets fired through such a
revolver will have five groove and ]and impressions, right twist.
In addition to rifling charaeteristics, every weapon bears distinctive
microscopic characteristics on its components, including its barrel,
firing pin, and breech face. While a weapon's rifling characteristics
are common to all other weapons of its make and model ( and sometimes
even to weapons of a different make or model), a weapon's microscopic
characteristics are distinctive, and differ from those of every other
weapon, regardless of make and model. Such markings are initially caused
during manufacture since the action of manufacturing tools differs
microscopically from weapon to weapon, and since the tools change
microscopically while being operated. As a weapon is used, further
distinctive microscopic markings are introduced by the effects of wear,
fouling, and cleaning. As Frazier testified:
Q. Can you explain how you are able to come to a conclusion that a
cartridge case was fired in a particular weapon to the exclusion of all
other weapons ?
Mr. FRAZIER. Yes, sir; during the manufacture of a weapon, there are
certain things done to the mechanism of it, which are by machine or by
filing, by grinding, which form the parts of the weapon into their final
shape. These machining and grinding and filing operations will mark the
metal with very fine scratches or turning marks and grinding marks in
such a way that there will be developed on the surface of the metal a
characteristic pattern. This pattern, because it is made by these
accidental machine-type operations, will be characteristic of that
particular weapon, and will not be reproduced on separate weapons. It
may be a combination of marks that--the face of the bolt. may be milled,
then it may be in part filed to smooth off the corners, and then, as a
final operation, it may be polished, or otherwise adjusted during the
hand fitting operation, so that it does have its particular pattern of
microscopic marks.
The bolt face of the 139 rifle I have photographed and enlarged in this
photograph [Commission Exhibit No. 558] to show the types of marks I was
referring to.
The marks produced during manufacture are the marks seen on the bolt
face; filing marks, machining marks of the various types, even forging
marks or casting marks if the bolt happens to be forged or east. And
then variations which occur in these marks during the life of the weapon
are very important in identification, because many of the machining
marks can be flattened out, can be changed, by merely a grain of sand
between the face of the cartridge ease and the bolt at the time a shot
is fired, which will itself scratch and dent the bolt face. So the bolt
face will pick up a characteristic pattern of marks which are peculiar
to it.
548
Page 549
* * * [T] he marks which are placed on any bolt face are accidental in
nature. That is, they are not placed there intentionally in the first
place. They are residual to some machining operation, such as a milling
machine, in which each cutter of the milling tool cuts away a portion of
the metal; then the next tooth comes along and cuts away a little more,
and so on, until the final surface bears the combination of the various
teeth of the milling cutter. In following that operation, then, the
surface is additionally scratched--until you have numerous- -we call
them microscopic characteristics, a characteristic being a mark which is
peculiar to a certain place on the bolt face, and of a certain shape, it
is of a certain size, it has a certain contour, it may be just a little
dimple in the metal, or a spot. of rust at, one time on the face of the
bolt, or have occurred from some accidental means such as dropping the
bolt, or repeated use having flattened or smoothed off the surface of
the metal.
* * * [A]s the blade of a milling machine travels around a surface, it
takes off actually a dust--it is not actually a piece of metal--it
scrapes a little steel off in the form of a dust---or a very fine powder
or chip--that tooth leaves a certain pattern of marks--that edge. That
milling cutter may have a dozen of these edges on its surface, and each
one takes a little more. Gradually you wear the metal down, you tear it
out actually until you are at the proper depth. Those little pieces of
metal, as they are traveling around, can also scratch the face of the
bolt--unless they are washed away. So that you may have accidental marks
from that source, just in the machining operation.
Now, there are two types of marks produced in a cutting operation. One,
from the nicks along the cutting edge of the tool, which are produced by
a circular operating tool--which produce very fine scratches in a
circular pattern. Each time the tool goes around, it erases those marks
that were there before. And when the tool is finally lifted out, you
have a series of marks which go around the surface which has been
machined, and you will find that that pattern of marks, as this tool
goes around, will change. In one area, it. will be one set of marks--and
as you visually examine the surface of the metal, these very fine marks
will extend for a short distance, then disappear, and a new mark of a
new type will begin and extend for a short distance. The entire surface,
then, will have a---be composed of a series of circles, but the
individual marks seen in the microscope will not be circular, will not
form complete circles around the face of the bolt.
Q. Have you had occasion to examine two consecutive bolt faces from a
factory?
A. Oh, yes.
Page 550
Q. And what did you find on that examination ?
A. There would be no similarity in the individual microscopic
characteristics between the two bolt faces.
Q. There actually was none ?
A. No there was none.3
* * * * * *
Q. How are you able to conclude that a given bullet was fired in a given
weapon to the exclusion of all other weapons, Mr. Frazier?
A. That is based again upon the microscopic marks left on the fired
bullets and those marks in turn are based upon the barrel from which the
bullets are fired.
The marks in the barrel originate during manufacture. They originate
through use of the gun, through accidental marks resulting from
cleaning, excessive cleaning, of the weapon, or faulty cleaning.
They result from corrosion in the barrel due to the hot gases and
possibly corrosive primer mixtures in the cartridges used, and primarily
again they result from wear, that is, an eroding of the barrel through
friction due to the firing of cartridges, bullets through it.
In this particular barrel the manufacturer's marks are caused by the
drill which drills out the barrel, leaving certain marks from the
drilling tool. Then portions of these marks are erased by a rifling tool
which cuts the four spiral grooves in the barrel and, in turn, leaves
marks themselves, and in connection with those marks of course, the
drilling marks, being circular in shape, there is a tearing away of the
surface of the metal, so that a microscopically rough surface is left.
Then removing part of those marks with a separate tool causes that
barrel to assume an individual characteristic, a character all of its
own.
In other words, at that time you could identify a bullet fired from that
barrel as having been fired from the barrel to the exclusion of all
other barrels, because there is no system whatever to the drilling of
the barrel. The only system is in the rifling or in the cutting of the
grooves, and in this case of rifle barrels, even the cutters wear down
as the barrels are made eventually of course having to be discarded or
resharpened.
Q. Have you examined consecutively manufactured barrels to determine
whether their microscopic characteristics are identical?
A. Yes, sir; I have three different sets of, you might say, paired
barrels, which have been manufactured on the same machine, one after the
other, under controlled conditions to make them as nearly alike as
possible, and in each case fired bullets from those barrels could not be
identified with each other; in fact, they looked nothing at all alike as
far as individual microscopic characteristics
550
Page 551
are concerned. Their rifling impressions of course would be identical,
but the individual marks there would be entirely different. 4
When a cartridge is fired, the microscopic characteristics of the
weapon's barrel are engraved into the bullet (along with its rifling
characteristics), and the microscopic characteristics of the firing pin
and breech face are engraved into the base of the cartridge case. By
virtue of these microscopic markings, an expert can frequently match a
bullet or cartridge case to the weapon in which it was fired. To make
such an identification, the expert compares the suspect bullet or
cartridge case under a comparison microscope, side by side with a test
bullet or cartridge case which has been fired in the weapon, to
determine whether the pattern of the markings in the test and suspect
items are sufficiently similar to show that they were fired in the same
weapon. This is exemplified by Frazier's examination of Commission
Exhibit No. 543, one of the cartridge cases found in the Texas School
Book Depository Building after the assassination:
Q. Mr. Frazier, we were just beginning to discuss, before the recess,
Commission Exhibit 559, which is a picture, as you described it, of
Exhibit No. 543 and a test cartridge under a microscope * * * ?
Mr. Frazier. Yes, sir.
Q. Could you discuss, by using that picture, some of the markings which
you have seen under the microscope and on the basis of which you made
your identification ?
A. Yes, sir. In the photograph I have drawn some small circles and
numbered them, those circles, correspondingly on each side of the
photograph. The purpose of the circles is not to point out all the
similarities, but to call attention to some of them and to help orient
in locating a mark on one with a mark on the opposite side of the
photograph. In general the area shown is immediately outside of the
firing pin in the bolt of the 139 rifle, on the left side of the
photograph, and Commission Exhibit 543 on the right side.
The circles have been drawn around the dents or irregularly shaped
ridges, small bumps, and depressions on the surfs of the metal in six
places on each side of the photograph. It. is an examination of these
marks, and all of the marks on the face of the breech, microscopically
which permits a conclusion to be reached. The photograph itself actually
is a substitute to show only the type of marks found rather than their
nature, that is, their height, their width, or their relationship to
each other, which is actually a mental, visual, comparison on the two
specimens themselves.
Q. Referring for a second to this mental, visual, comparison, Mr.
Frazier, would a person without firearms
training--fire-arms-identification training--be able to look under a
microscope
551
Page 552
and make a determination for himself concerning whether a given
cartridge case had been fired in a given weapon.?
A. In that connection that person could look through the microscope. He
may or may not see these individual characteristics which are present,
because he does not know what to look for in the first place, and,
secondly, they are of such a nature that you have to mentally sort them
out in your mind going back and forth between one area and the other
until you form a mental picture of them in a comparison such as this.
If it was a different type of comparison, of parallel marks or something
of that nature, then he could see the marks, but in either instance,
without having compared hundreds and hundreds of specimens, he would not
be able to make any statement as to whether or not they were fired from
the same rifle.
Q. Would you say that this is, then, a matter of expert interpretation
rather than a point-for-point comparison which a layman could make ?
A. I would say so; yes. I don't think a layman would recognize some of
the things on these cartridge cases and some shown in the photographs as
actually being significant or not. significant, because there will be
things present which have nothing whatsoever to do with the firing of
the cartridge case in the gun.
There may be a depression in the primer to begin with, and there are no
marks registered at that point as a result of the firing. Unless these
things are known to occur, someone may actually arrive at a different
conclusion, because of the absence of similar marks.
Q. Now having reference to the specific exhibit before you,
which is 559--
A. Yes.
Q. Are all the marks shown in both photographs identical ?
A. No.
Q. And could you go into detail on a mark which is not identical to
explain why you would get such a result?
A. Well, for instance, between what I have drawn here as circle 4 and
circle 5, there is a slanting line from the upper left to the lower
right on C-6. This line shows as a white line in the photograph.
On the other side there is a rough, very rough ridge which runs through
there, having an entirely different appearance from the relatively sharp
line on C-6. The significant part of that mark is the groove in between,
rather than the sharp edge of the mark, because the sharp corner could
be affected by the hardness of the metal or the irregular surface of the
primer and the amount of pressure exerted against it, pressing it back
against the face of the bolt, at the time the cartridges were fired. So
that you would never expect all the marks on one cartridge case to be
identical with all the marks on the other cartridge case.
552
Page 553
In fact, you would expect many differences. But the comparison is made
on the overall pattern, contour, and nature of the marks that are
present.
Q. Again there are dissimilar marks on these two pictures [of the
firing-pin depressions on the cartridge case Commission Exhibit No. 543,
and a test cartridge case], Mr. Frazier ?
A. Yes; there are, for the same reason, that metal does not flow the
same in every instance, and it will not be impressed to the same depth
and to the same amount, depending on the type of metal, the blow that is
struck, and the pressures involved.
Q. Is your identification made therefore on the basis of the presence of
similarities, as opposed to the absence of dissimilarities ?
A. No, that is not exactly right. The identification is made on the
presence of sufficient individual microscopic characteristics so that a
very definite pattern is formed and visualized on the two surfaces.
Dissimilarities may or may not be present, depending on whether there
have been changes to the firing pin through use or wear, whether the
metal flows are the same, and whether the pressures are the same or not.
So I don't think we can say that it is an absence of dissimilarities,
but rather the presence of similarities.5
A bullet or cartridge case cannot always be identified with the weapon
in which it was fired. In some cases, the bullet or cartridge case is
too mutilated. In other cases, the weapon's microscopic characteristics
have changed between the time the suspect item was fired and the time
the test item was fired--microscopic characteristics change drastically
in a short period of time, due to wear, or over a longer period of time,
due to wear, corrosion, and cleaning. Still again, the weapon may mark
bullets inconsistently--for example, because the bullets are smaller
than the barrel, and travel through it erratically. 6
The Rifle
The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository
shortly after the assassination was a bolt-action, clip-fed, military
rifle, 40.2 inches long and 8 pounds in weight.7 Inscribed on the rifle
were various markings, including the words "CAL. 6.5," "MADE ITALY,"
"TERNI," and "ROCCA"; the numerals "1940" and "40"; the serial number
C2766; the letters "R-E," "PG," and "TNI"; the figure of a crown; and
several other barely decipherable letters and numbers.8 The rifle bore a
very inexpensive Japanese four-power sight, stamped "4 x 18 COATED,"
"ORDNANCE OPTICS INC.," "HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA," and "MADE IN JAPAN'' 9
and a sling consisting of two leather straps, one of
730-900 0-64--37
Page 554
which had a broad patch, which apparently had been inserted on the rifle
and cut to length. 10 The sling was not a standard rifle sling, but
appeared to be a musical instrument strap or a sling from a carrying
case or camera bag.11 A basic purpose of a rifle sling is to enable the
rifleman to steady his grip, by wrapping the arm into the sling in a
prescribed manner. The sling on the rifle was too short to use in the
normal way, but might have served to provide some additional steadiness.
12
The rifle was identified as a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano Italian
military rifle, Model 91/38. 13 This identification was initially made
by comparing the rifle with standard reference works and by the markings
inscribed on the rifle. 14 The caliber was independently determined by
chambering a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5 millimeter cartridge in the rifle
for fit, and by making a sulfur cast of the inside of the rifle's barrel
which was measured with a micrometer. 15 (The caliber of a weapon is the
diameter of the interior of the barrel, measured between opposite lands.
The caliber of American weapons is expressed in inches; thus a
.30-caliber weapon has a barrel which is thirty one-hundredths or
three-tenths of an inch in diameter. The caliber of continental European
weapons is measured in millimeters. A 6.5-millimeter caliber weapon
corresponds to an American .257-caliber weapon, that is, its barrel
diameter is about one-fourth inch.) 16 The identification was later
confirmed by a communication from SIFAR, the Italian Armed Forces
Intelligence Service. This communication also explained the markings on
the rifle, as follows: "CAL. 6.5" refers to the rifle's caliber; "MADE
ITALY" refers to its origin, and was inscribed at the request of the
American importer prior to shipment; "TERNI" means that the rifle was
manufactured and tested by the Terni Army Plant of Terni, Italy; the
number "C2766" is the serial number of the rifle, and the rifle in
question is the only one of its type bearing that serial number; the
numerals "1940" and "40" refer to the year of manufacture; and the other
figures, numbers, and letters are principally inspector's, designer's,
or manufacturer's marks.17
The Model 91/38 rifle was one of the 1891 series of Italian military
rifles, incorporating features designed by Ritter von Mannlicher and M.
Carcano. The series originally consisted of 6.5-millimeter caliber
rifles, but Model 38 of the series, designed shortly before World War
II, was a 7.35-millimeter caliber. Early in World War II, however, the
Italian Government, which encountered an ammunition supply problem,
began producing many of these rifles as 6.5-millimeter caliber rifles,
known as the 6.5-millimeter Model 91/38. 18 The 91/38 has been imported
into this country as surplus military equipment, has been advertised
quite widely, and is now fairly common in this country. 19
Like most bolt-action military rifles, the 91/38 is operated by turning
up the bolt handle, drawing the bolt to the rear, pushing the bolt
forward, turning down the bolt handle, and pulling the trigger. Bringing
the bolt forward and turning down the bolt handle compresses the spring
which drives the firing pin, and locks the bolt into
554
Page 555
place. When the trigger is pulled, the cocked spring drives the firing
pin forward and the cartridge is fired. The face of the bolt boars a
lip, called the extractor, around a portion of its circumference. As the
bolt is pushed forward, this lip grasps the rim of the cartridge. As the
bolt is pulled back, the extractor brings the empty cartridge case with
it, and as the cartridge case is being brought back, it strikes a
projection in the ejection port called the ejector, which throws it out
of the rifle. Meanwhile, a leaf spring beneath the clip has raised the
next cartridge into loading position. When the bolt is brought forward,
it pushes the fresh cartridge into the chamber. The trigger is pulled,
the cartridge is fired, the bolt handle is brought up, the bolt is
brought back, and the entire cycle starts again. As long as there is
ammunition in the clip, one need only work the bolt and pull the trigger
to fire the rifle. 20
The clip itself is inserted into the rifle by drawing back the bolt, and
pushing the clip in from the top. The clip holds one to six
cartridges.21 If six cartridges are inserted into the clip and an
additional cartridge is inserted into the chamber, up to seven bullets
can be fired before reloading.22 When the rifle was found in the Texas
School Book Depository Building it contained a clip 23 which bore the
letters "SMI" (the manufacturer's markings) and the number "952"
(possibly a part number or the manufacturer's code number). 24 The rifle
probably was sold without a clip; however, the clip is commonly
available.25
Rifle Cartridge and Cartridge Cases
When the rifle was found, one cartridge was in the chamber.26 The
cartridge was a 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano cartridge,
manufactured by the Western Cartridge Co., at East Alton, Ill. This type
of cartridge is loaded with a full metal-jacketed, military type of
bullet, weighing 160-161 grains. The bullet has parallel sides and a
round nose. It is just under 1.2 inches long, and just over one-fourth
inch in diameter.27 Its velocity is approximately 2,165 feet per
second.28 The cartridge is very dependable; in tests runs by the FBI and
the Infantry Weapons Evaluation Branch of the U.S. Army, the C2766 rifle
was fired with this Western Cartridge Co. ammunition over 100 times,
with no misfires. (In contrast, some of the other ammunition available
on the market for this rifle is undesirable or of very poor quality). 29
The cartridge is readily available for purchase from mail-order houses,
as well as a few gunshops; some 2 million rounds have been placed on
sale in the United States.30
The presence of the cartridge in the chamber did not necessarily mean
that the assassin considered firing another bullet, since he may have
reloaded merely by reflex.51
Apart from the cartridge in the rifle, three expended cartridge cases
were found in the southeast portion of the sixth floor of the Texas
School Book Depository Building, lying between the south
Page 556
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 558
Bolt face of the C2766 rifle.
556
Page 557
wall and a high stack of boxes which ran parallel to the wall. 32 The
cartridge cases were a short distance to the west of the southeast
corner window in that wall. 33 Based on a comparison with test cartridge
cases fired from the C2766 rifle, the three cartridge cases were
identified as having been fired from the C2766 rifle.34 ( See Commission
Exhibit No. 558, p. 556.) A test was run to determine if the
cartridge-case-ejection pattern of the rifle was consistent with the
assumption that the assassin had fired from the southeast window. 35 In
this test., 11 cartridges were fired from the rifle while it was
depressed 45° downward, and 8 cartridges were fired from the rifle while
it was held horizontally. The elevation of the ejected cartridge cases
above the level of the ejection port, and the points on the floor at
which the ejection cartridge cases initially landed, were then plotted.
The results of these tests are illustrated by the diagrams, Commission
Exhibits Nos. 546 and 547. Briefly, Commission Exhibit No. 547 shows
that with the weapon depressed at a 45° angle, the cartridge cases did
not rise more than 2 inches above the ejection port; with the weapon
held horizontally, they did not rise more than 12 inches above the
ejection port. 36 Commission Exhibit/So. 546 shows that if a circle was
drawn around the initial landing points of the cartridge cases which
were ejected in the test while the rifle was held depressed at 45°, the
center of the circle would be located 86 inches and 80° to the right of
the rifle's line of sight; if a circle was drawn around the initial
landing points of the cartridge cases ejected while the rifle was held
horizontally, the center of the circle would be 80 inches and 90° to the
right of the line of sight. In other words, the cartridge cases were
ejected to the right of and at roughly a right angle to the rifle. 37
The cartridge cases showed considerable ricochet after their initial
landing, bouncing from 8 inches to 15 feet. 38 The location of the
cartridge cases was therefore consistent with the southeast window
having been used by the assassin, since if the assassin fired from that
window the ejected cartridge cases would have hit the pile of boxes at
his back and ricocheted between the boxes and the wall until they came
to rest to the west of the window.39
The Rifle Bullets
In addition to the three cartridge cases found in the Texas School Book
Depository Building, a nearly whole bullet was found on Governor
Connally's stretcher and two bullet fragments were found in the front of
the President's car. 40 The stretcher bullet weighed 158.6 grains, or
several grains less than the average Western Cartridge Co.
6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano bullet.41 It was slightly flattened,
but otherwise unmutilated. 42 The two bullet fragments weighed 44.6 and
21.0 grains, respectively. 43 The heavier fragment was a portion of a
bullet's nose area, as shown by its rounded contour and the
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Page 558
character of the markings it bore. 44 The lighter fragment consisted of
bullet's base portion, as shown by its shape and by the presence of a
cannelure. 45 The two fragments were both mutilated, and it was not
possible to determine from the fragments themselves whether they
comprised the base and nose of one bullet or of two separate bullets. 46
However, each had sufficient unmutilated area to provide the basis of an
identification. 47 Based on a comparison with test bullets fired from
the C2766 rifle, the stretcher bullet and both bullet fragments were
identified as having been fired from the C2766 rifle. 48
The Revolver
The revolver taken from Oswald at the time of his arrest was a .38
Special S. & W. Victory Model revolver. 49 It bore the serial No.
V510210, and is the only such revolver with that serial number, since S.
& W. does not repeat, serial numbers. 50 The revolver was originally
made in the United States, but was shipped to England, as shown by the
English inspection or proof marks on the chambers. 51 The revolver
showed definite signs of use but was in good operating condition. 52 The
revolver was originally designed to fire a .38 S. & W. cartridge, whose
bullet is approximately 12 or 13 grains lighter than the .38 Special,
and approximately .12 inches shorter, but has a somewhat larger
diameter. 53 In the United States, the .38 Special is considered to be a
better bullet than the .38 S. & W.,54 and the revolver was rechambered
for a .38 Special prior to being sold in the United States. 55 The
weapon was not rebarreled, although the barrel was shortened by cutting
off approximately 2 3/4 of its original 5 inches. 56 The shortening of
the barrel had no functional value, except to facilitate concealment. 57
The weapon is a conventional revolver, with a rotating cylinder holding
one to six cartridges. It is loaded by swinging out the cylinder and
inserting cartridges into the cylinder's chambers. If all six chambers
are loaded, the weapon can be fired six consecutive times without
reloading. 58 To extract empty cartridge cases, the cylinder is swung
out and an ejector rod attached to the cylinder is pushed,
simultaneously ejecting all the cartridge cases (and cartridges) in the
cylinder. If both live cartridges and expended cartridge cases are in
the cylinder, before pushing the ejection rod one can tip the cylinder
and dump the live cartridges into his hand. 59 The cartridge cases will
not fall out, because they are lighter than the cartridges, and when
fired they will have expanded so as to tightly fit the chamber walls. 60
In a crouched stance a person can fire five shots with the revolver in
3-4 seconds with no trouble, and would need no training to hit a human
body four times in four or five shots at a range of 8 feet. 61 A person
who had any training with the weapon would not find its recoil
noticeable. 62
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Page 559
Revolver Cartridges and Cartridge Cases
When Oswald was arrested six live cartridges were found in the revolver.
63 Three were Western .38 Specials, loaded with copper-coated lead
bullets, and three were Remington-Peters .38 Specials, loaded with lead
bullets. 64 Five additional live cartridges were found in Oswald's
pocket, 65 all of which were Western .38 Specials, loaded with
copper-coated bullets. 66 The Western and Remington-Peters .88 Special
cartridges are virtually identical--the copper coating on the Western
bullets is not a full jacket, but only a gilding metal, put on
principally for sales appeal. 67
Four expended cartridge cases were found near the site of the Tippit
killing. 68 Two of these cartridge cases were Remington-Peters .38
Specials and two were Western .38 Specials. 69 Based on a comparison
with test cartridge cases fired in the V510210 revolver, the four
cartridge cases were identified as having been fired in the V510210
revolver. 70
Revolver Bullets
Four bullets were recovered from the body of Officer Tippit. 71 In
Nicol's opinion one of the four bullets could be positively identified
with test bullets fired from V510210 revolver, and the other three could
have been fired from that revolver. 72 In Cunningham's opinion all four
bullets could have been fired from the V510210 revolver, but none could
be positively identified to the revolver 73 --that is, in his opinion
the bullets bore the revolver's rifling characteristics, but no
conclusion could be drawn on the basis of microscopic characteristics.
74 Cunningham did not conclude that the bullets had not been fired from
the revolver, since he found that consecutive bullets fired in the
revolver by the FBI could not even be identified with each other under
the microscope. 75 The apparent reasons for this was that while the
revolver had been rechambered for a .38 Special cartridge, it had not
been rebarreled for a .38 Special bullet. The barrel was therefore
slightly oversized for a .38 Special bullet, which has a smaller
diameter than a .38 S. & W. bullet. This would cause the passage of a
.38 Special bullet through the barrel to be erratic, resulting in
inconsistent microscopic markings. 76
Based on the number of grooves, groove widths, groove spacing, and
knurling on the four recovered bullets, three were copper-coated lead
bullets of Western-Winchester manufacture (Western and Winchester are
divisions of the same company), and the fourth was a lead bullet of
Remington-Peters manufacture. 77 This contrasts with the four recovered
cartridge cases, which consisted of two Remington-Peters and two
Westerns. There are several possible explanations for this variance: (1)
the killer fired five cartridges, three of which were Western-Winchester
and two of which were Remington-Peters; one Remington-Peters bullet
missed Tippit; and a Western-Winchester cartridge case and the
Remington-Peters bullet that missed were simply not found. (2) The
killer fired only four cartridges, three
Page 560
of which were Western-Winchester and one of which was Remington-Peters;
prior to the shooting the killer had an expended Remington-Peters
cartridge case in his revolver, which was ejected with the three
Western- Winchester and one Remington-Peters cases; and one of the
Western-Winchester cases was not found. (3) The killer was using
hand-loaded ammunition, that is, ammunition which is made with used
cartridge cases to save money; thus he might have loaded one make of
bullet into another make of cartridge case. 78 This third possibility is
extremely unlikely, because when a cartridge is fired the cartridge case
expands, and before it can be reused it must be resized. There was,
however, no evidence that any of the four recovered cartridge cases had
been resized. 79
The Struggle for the Revolver
Officer McDonald of the Dallas police, who arrested Oswald, stated that
he had struggled with Oswald for possession of the revolver and that in
the course of the struggle, "I heard the snap of the hammer, and the
pistol crossed my left cheek * * * the primer of one round was dented on
misfire at the time of the struggle. * * *" so However, none of the
cartridges found in the revolver bore the impression of the revolver's
firing pin. 81 In addition, the revolver is so constructed that, the
firing pin cannot strike a cartridge unless the hammer (which bears the
firing pin) has first been drawn all the way back by a complete trigger
pull. 82 Had the hammer gone all the way back and then hit the
cartridge, it is unlikely that the cartridge would have mis-fired. 83 It
would be possible for a person to interject his finger between the
hammer and the cartridge, but the spring driving the hammer is a very
strong one and the impact of the firing pin into a finger would be
clearly felt. 84 However, the cylinder and the trigger are
interconnected and the trigger cannot be fully pulled back if the
cylinder is grasped. 85 Therefore, if Oswald had pulled on the trigger
while McDonald was firmly grasping the cylinder, the revolver would not
have fired, and if the gun was grabbed away at the same time the trigger
would have snapped back with an audible sound. 86
The Paraffin Test
During the course of the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald following
the assassination a paraffin test was performed by the Dallas police on
both of his hands and his right cheek. The paraffin cast of Oswald's
hands reacted positively to the test. The cast of the right cheek showed
no reaction. 87
To perform the paraffin test, layers of warm liquid paraffin,
inter-leaved with layers of gauze for reinforcement, are brushed or
poured on the suspect's skin. The warm sticky paraffin opens the skin's
pores and picks up any dirt and foreign material present at the surface.
When the paraffin cools and hardens it forms a cast, which is taken off
and processed with diphenylamine or diphenyl-
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benzidine, chemicals which turn blue in the presence of nitrates. Since
gunpowder residues contain nitrates, the theory behind the test. is that
if a cast reacts positively, i.e., if blue dots appear, it provides
evidence that the suspect recently fired a weapon. 88 In fact, however,
the test is completely unreliable in determining either whether a person
has recently fired a weapon or whether he has not. 89 On the one hand,
diphenylamine and diphenylbenzidine will react positively not only with
nitrates from gunpowder residues, but nitrates from other sources and
most oxidizing agents, including dichromates, per-manganates,
hypochlorates, periodates, and some oxides. Thus, contact with tobacco,
Clorox, urine, cosmetics, kitchen matches, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers,
or soils, among other things, may result in a positive reaction to the
paraffin test. Also, the mere handling of a weapon may leave nitrates on
the skin. 90 A positive reaction is, therefore, valueless in determining
whether a suspect has recently fired a weapon. Conversely, a person who
has recently fired a weapon may not show a positive reaction to the
paraffin test, particularly if the weapon was a rifle. A revolver is so
constructed that there is a space between the cylinder, which bears the
chambers, and the barrel. When a revolver is fired, nitrate-bearing
gases escape through this space and may leave residues on the. hand. 91
In a rifle, however, there is no gap between the chamber and the barrel,
and one would therefore not expect nitrates to be deposited upon a
person's hands or cheeks as a result of his firing a rifle. As
Cunningham testified:
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. * * * I personally wouldn't expect to find any residues
on a person's right cheek after firing a rifle due to the fact that by
the very principles and the manufacture and the action, the cartridge
itself is sealed into the chamber by the bolt being closed behind it,
and upon firing the case, the cartridge case expands into the chamber
filling it up and sealing it off from the gases, so none will come back
in your face, and so by its very nature, I would not expect to find
residue on the right. cheek of a shooter. 92
The unreliability of the paraffin test has been demonstrated by
experiments run by the FBI. In one experiment, conducted prior to the
assassination, paraffin tests were performed on 17 men who had just
fired 5 shots with a .38-caliber revolver. Eight men tested negative in
both hands, three men tested positive on the idle hand and negative on
the firing hand, two men tested positive on the firing hand and negative
on the idle hand, and four men tested positive on both their firing and
idle hands. 93 In a second experiment, paraffin tests were per formed on
29 persons, 9 of whom had just fired a revolver or an automatic, and 20
of whom had not fired a weapon. All 29 persons tested positive on either
or both hands. 94 In a third experiment, performed after the
assassination, an agent of the FBI, using the C2766 rifle, fired
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Page 562
three rounds of Western 6.5-millimeter Mannlicher-Carcano ammunition in
rapid succession. A paraffin test was then performed on both of his
hands and his right cheek. Both of his hands and his cheek tested
negative. 95
The paraffin casts of Oswald's hands and right cheek were also examined
by neutron-activation analyses at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Barium and antimony were found to be present on both surfaces of all the
casts and also in residues from the rifle cartridge cases and the
revolver cartridge cases. 96 Since barium and antimony were present in
both the rifle and the revolver cartridge cases, their presence on the
casts were not evidence that Oswald had fired the rifle. Moreover, the
presence on the inside surface of the cheek cast of a lesser amount of
barium, and only a slightly greater amount of antimony, than was found
on the outside surface of the cast rendered it impossible to attach
significance to the presence of these elements on the inside surface.
Since the outside surface had not been in contact with Oswald's cheek,
the barium and antimony found there had come from a source other than
Oswald. Furthermore, while there was more barium and antimony present on
the casts than would normally be found on the hands of a person who had
not fired a weapon or handled a fired weapon, it is also true that
barium and antimony may be present in many common items; for example,
barium may be present in grease, ceramics, glass, paint, printing ink,
paper, rubber, plastics, leather, cloth, pyrotechnics, oilcloth and
linoleum, storage batteries, matches and cosmetics; antimony is present
in matches, type metal, lead alloys, paints and lacquers, pigments for
oil and water colors, flameproof textiles, storage batteries,
pyrotechnics, rubber, pharmaceutical preparations and calico; and both
barium and antimony are present in printed paper and cloth, paint,
storage batteries, rubber, matches, pyrotechnics, and possibly other
items. However, the barium and antimony present in these items are
usually not present in a form which would lead to their adhering to the
skin of a person who had handled such items. 97
The Walker Bullet
On April 10, 1963, a bullet was recovered from General Walker's home,
following an attempt on his life. 98 The bullet, which was severely
mutilated, weighed 148.25 grains. 99 This bullet had the rifling
characteristics of the C2766 rifle and all its remaining physical
characteristics were the same as the Western 6.5 millimeter
Mannlicher-Carcano bullet. However, while the bullet could have been
fired from the C2766 rifle, it was severely multilated and in Frazier's
opinion could not be identified as having been fired or not fired from
that rifle. 100 Nicol agreed that a positive identification could not be
made, but concluded there was "a fair probability" that the bullet had
been fired from the same rifle as the test bullets. 101
562
Fingerprints and Palmprints
Page 563
FINGERPRINTS AND PALMPRINTS
Two experts gave testimony concerning fingerprints and palmprints:
Sebestian Latona 102 and Arthur Mandella. 103 Latona is the supervisor
of the Latent Fingerprint Section of the Identification Division of the
FBI. He has been with that Division over 32 years, having begun as a
student fingerprint classifier and worked up to his present position.
Mandella is a detective and fingerprint instructor with the police
department of the city of New York. He has been in the fingerprint field
for 19 years. Both have made a vast number of fingerprint examinations
and have testified in Federal, State, and military courts. 104 Their
conclusions were identical, except as noted.
General Principles 105
Fingerprints and palmprints are made by the ridges which cover the
surface of the fingers and palms. These ridges first appear 2 or 3
months before birth, and remain unchanged until death. Commission
Exhibit No. 634-A (p. 564) illustrates several common characteristics or
"points" formed by the ridges; a clear fingerprint impression will
contain anywhere from 85 to 125 such points. While many of the common
points appear in almost every print, no two prints have the same points
in the same relationship to each other.
A print taken by a law-enforcement agency is known as an "inked print,"
and is carefully taken so that all the characteristics of the print are
reproduced on the fingerprint card; a print which is left accidental]y,
such as a print left at the scene of a crime, is known as a latent
print. To make an identification of a latent print, the expert compares
the points in the latent print with the points in an inked print. If a
point appearing in a latent print does not appear in the inked print, or
vice versa, the export concludes that the two prints were not made by
the same finger or palm. An identification is made only if there are no
inconsistencies between the inked and latent prints, and the points of
similarity and their relative positions are sufficiently distinctive,
and sufficient in number, to satisfy the expert that an identity exists.
106
There is some disagreement concerning whether a minimum number of points
is necessary for an identification. Some foreign law-enforcement
agencies require a minimum number of 16 points. However, in the United
States, in which there has been a great deal of experience with
fingerprints, export opinion holds there is no minimum number of points,
and that each print must be evaluated on its own merits. 107
Palmprints are as distinctive as fingerprints, but are not as popularly
known. Possibly this is because law enforcement agencies usually record
only fingerprints for their identification files, since fingerprints can
be much more readily classified and filed than palm-prints. Also, latent
fingerprint impressions are probably more common than latent palmprint
impressions, because persons generally touch objects with their fingers
rather than their palms. However,
Page 564
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 634-A
564
Page 565
palmprints will frequently be found on heavy objects, since the palms as
well as the fingers are employed in handling such objects. 108
A latent print is the result of perspiration exuded by the sweat pores
in the ridges. This perspiration is composed of water, protein or fatty
materials, and sodium chloride (salt). A latent print can be developed--
made visible--in several ways. Sometimes a latent print can be developed
merely by the use of correct lighting. A second method is to brush the
print very lightly with a powder, which adheres to its outline. Once a
print is powdered it. can be photographed, lifted, or both. (In lifting,
an adhesive substance, such as scotch tape, is placed over a powdered
print. When the adhesive is lifted the powder clings to its surface. The
adhesive is then mounted.) However, powder is usually effective only on
objects which have a hard, smooth, nonabsorbent surface, such as glass,
tile, and various types of highly polished metals and is usually not
effective on absorbent materials, such as paper or unfinished wood or
metal, which absorb perspiration so that there is nothing on the
material's surface to which the powder can adhere. Prints on absorbent
materials can sometimes be developed by iodine fumes, which may react
with fatty or protein materials which have been absorbed into the
object, or by a silver nitrate solution, which may react with sodium
chloride which has been absorbed into the object. 109
Not every contact of a. finger or palm leaves a latent print. For
example, if the surface is not susceptible to a latent print, if the
finger or palm had no perspiration, or if the perspiration was mostly
water and had evaporated, no print will be found. 110
Objects in the Texas School Book Depository Building
A number of objects found in the Texas School Book Depository Building
following the assassination were processed for latent fingerprints by
the FBI--in some cases, after they had been processed by the Dallas
police. These objects included the homemade wrapping paper bag found
near the southeast corner window; the C9766 rifle; three small cartons
which were stacked near that window (which were marked "Box A," "Box B,"
and "Box C"), 111 and a fourth carton resting on the floor nearby
(marked "Box D"); 112 the three 6.5- millimeter cartridge cases found
near the window; and the cartridge found in the rifle. The results were
as follows:
The paper bag. --The FBI developed a palmprint and a fingerprint on the
paper bag by silver nitrate. These were compared with the fingerprints
and palmprints of Lee Harvey Oswald taken by the Dallas police, and were
found to have been made by the right palm and the left index finger of
Lee Harvey Oswald. 113
The C2766 rifle. --The wood and metal of the rifle was absorbent, and
not conducive to recording a good print. 114 However, the Dallas police
developed by powder some faint ridge formations on the metal magazine
housing in front of the trigger and also developed by powder and lifted
a latent palmprint from the underside
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Page 566
of the barrel. 115 The faint ridge formations were insufficient for
purposes of effecting an identification, 116 but the latent palmprint
was identified as the right palm of Lee Harvey Oswald. 117
The cartons.--Using the silver nitrate method, the FBI developed nine
identifiable latent fingerprints and four identifiable latent
palm-prints on Box A, 118 seven identifiable fingerprints and two
identifiable palmprints on Box B, 119 and two identifiable fingerprints
and one identifiable palmprint on Box C. 120 One of the fingerprints on
Box A was identified as the right index fingerprint of Lee Harvey
Oswald, 121 and one of the palmprints on Box A was identified as the
left palm-print of Lee Harvey Oswald. 122 All the remaining prints on
Box A were the palmprints of R. L. Studebaker, a. Dallas police officer,
and Forest L. Lucy, an FBI clerk, who shipped the cartons from Dallas to
the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C. and fingerprints of Detective
Studebaker. All but one of the fingerprints on Box B belonged to
Studebaker and Lucy and one palmprint was that of Studebaker. The
fingerprints on Box C were those of Studebaker and Lucy and the
palmprint was Studebaker's. 123 One palmprint on Box B was unidentified.
124
The FBI developed two fingerprints on Box D by silver nitrate, and the
Dallas police developed a palmprint on Box D by powder. 125 The
fingerprints belonged to Lucy. The palmprint was identified as the right
palmprint of Lee Harvey Oswald. 126 While the age of a print cannot, be
generally determined, 127 this palmprint must have been relatively
fresh, because the carton was constructed of cardboard, an absorbent
material, and if a long period had elapsed between the time the print
was made and the time it was powdered, the perspiration would have been
absorbed into the cardboard, and the print could not have been developed
by powder. 128 Tests run by the FBI show that usually a latent
impression on such cardboard cannot be developed by powder more than 24
hours after it is made. 129 Latona felt that the maximum age of the
palmprint on Box D at the time of development (which was shortly after
the assassination), would have been 3 days; Mandella felt that the
maximum time would have been a day and a half. 131
The three cartridge cases and the cartridge case found in the No prints
were developed on the cartridge found in the rifle or on the three
expended cartridge cases. 132
Questioned Documents
Page 566
QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS
Two experts gave testimony concerning questioned documents: Alwyn Cole
133 and James C. Cadigan. 134 Cole apprenticed as a questioned document
examiner for 6 years, from 1929 to 1935, and has been examiner of
questioned documents for the U.S. Treasury Department since then.
Cadigan has been a questioned document examiner with the FBI for 23.5
years, following a specialized course of training and instruction. Both
have testified many times in Federal and States courts. 135 Their
conclusions were identical, except as noted.
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Both experts examined and testified on the following questioned
documents: (1) The mail order to Klein's Sporting Goods of Chicago, in
response to which Klein's sent the C2766 rifle; the accompanying money
order; and the envelope in which the mail order and the money order were
sent--all of which bore the name "A. Hidell" and the address "P.O. Box
2915, Dallas, Texas"; 136 (2) the mail order to Seaport Traders, Inc.,
of Los Angeles, bearing the same name and address, in response to which
the Seaport Traders sent the V510210 revolver; 137 (3) part of an
application for Post Office Box 2915, Dallas, Tex., opened October 9,
1962 and closed May 14, 1963, and two change-of-address orders relating
to that box, dated October 10, 1962 and May 12, 1963--all signed "Lee H.
Oswald," and part of an application for Post Office Box 30061, New
Orleans, La., naming "A. J. Hidell" as a party entitled to receive mail
through the box, signed "L. H. Oswald"; 138 (4) a spurious selective
service system notice of classification and a spurious certificate of
service in the U.S. Marine Corps, found in Oswald's wallet after his
arrest, both in the name "Alek James Hidell"; 139 (5) a spurious
smallpox vaccination certificate, found among Oswald's belongings at his
room at 1026 North Beckley, purportedly issued to Lee Oswald by "Dr. A.
J. Hideel, P.O. Box 30016, New Orleans, La."; 140 and (6) a- card, found
in Oswald's wallet after his arrest reading "Fair Play for Cuba
Committee New Orleans Chapter," dated June 15, 1963," bearing the name
"L. H. Oswald" and the signature "Lee H. Oswald," and signed "A. J.
Hidell" as chapter president. 141 Cadigan also examined (7) the unsigned
note, Commission Exhibit No. 1, written almost entirely in Russian,
which Marina testified Oswald had ]eft for her prior to his attempt on
the life of General Walker; 142 and (8) the homemade paper bag found on
the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository following the
assassination. 143
General principles. 144 --The area of questioned document examination
encompasses many types of inquiries, the most familiar of which is the
identification of handwriting. Handwriting identification is based upon
the principle that every person's handwriting is distinctive. As Cole
testified:
Q. Mr. Cole, could you explain the basis on which you were able to make
an identification of a questioned writing as being authored by the
person who wrote a standard writing ?
Mr. COLE. This is based upon the principle that every handwriting is
distinctive, that since the mental and physical equipment for producing
handwriting is different in every individual, each person produces his
own distinctive writing habits. Of course, everyone learns to write in
the beginning by an endeavor to repeat ideal letter forms but,
practically no one is able to reproduce these forms exactly. Even though
a person might have some initial success during the active period of
instruction, he soon departs from these and develops his own habits. It
may be said that habit in handwriting is that which makes handwriting
pos-
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sible. Habit is that which makes handwriting efficient. If it were not
for the development. of habit, one would be obliged to draw or sketch.
Some habit would be included even in those effort.8. But the production
of handwriting rapidly and fluently always involves a recording of
personal writing habit. This has been confirmed by observation of a very
large number of specimens over a long period of time, and it has further
been demonstrated by, on my part, having a formal responsibility for
rendering decisions about the identification of handwriting based upon
an agreement of handwriting habit in situations where there would be a
rigorous testing of the correctness of these decision by field
investigators, for example, of the law-enforcement agencies, and a
demonstration that these results were confirmed by other evidence.
This is the basis for identification of handwriting. 145
The same principles are generally applicable to hand printing, 146 and
in the balance of this section the term "handwriting" will be used to
refer to both cursive or script writing and hand printing.
Not every letter in a questioned handwriting can be used as the basis of
an identification. Most people learn to write letters in a standard or
"copybook" form: a handwriting is distinctive only insofar as it departs
significantly from such forms. 147 Correspondingly, not every variation
indicates nonidentification; no two acts are precisely alike and
variations may be found within a single document. Like similarities,
variations are significant only if they are distinctive. 148 Moreover,
since any single distinctive characteristic may not be unique to one
person, in order to make an identification the expert must find a
sufficient number of corresponding distinctive characteristics and a.
general absence of distinctive differences. 149
The possibility that one person could imitate the handwriting of another
and successfully deceive an expert document examiner is very remote. A
forger leaves two types of clue. First, he can seldom perfectly simulate
the letter forms of the victim; concentrating on the reproduction of one
detail, he is likely not to see others. Thus, the forger may
successfully imitate the general form of a letter. but get proportions
or letter connections wrong. In addition, the forger draws rather than
writes. Forged writing is therefore distinguished by defects in the
quality of its line, such as tremor, waver, patching, retouching,
noncontinuous lines, and pen lifts in awkward and unusual places. 150
To make a handwriting identification, the handwriting in the document
under examination (the questioned document) is compared against the
handwriting in documents known to have been prepared by a suspect (the
known or standard documents). This is exemplified by Cole's examination
of Commission Exhibit No. 773, the photograph of the mail order for the
rifle and the envelope in which it was sent:
Q. Now, Mr. Cole, returning to 778, the questioned document, can you
tell the Commission how you formed the conclusion
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Page 569
that it was prepared by the author of the standards, that is, what steps
you followed in your examination and comparison, what things you
considered, what instruments or equipment you used, and so forth?
Mr. Cole. I made first a careful study of the writing on Commission
Exhibit 773 without reference to the standard writing, in an effort to
determine whether or not this writing contained what I would regard as a
basis for identification, contained a record of writing habit, and as
that--as a result of that part of my examination, I concluded that this
is a natural handwriting. By that I mean that it was made at a fair
speed, that it doesn't show any evidence of an unnatural movement, poor
line quality, tremor~ waver, retouching, or the like. I regard it as
being made in a fluent and fairly rapid manner which would record the
normal writing habits of the person who made it.
I then made a separate examination of the standards, of all of the
standard writings, to determine whether that record gave a record of
writing habit which could be used for identification purposes, and I
concluded that it, too, was a natural handwriting and gave a good record
of writing habit.
I then brought the standard writings together with the questioned
writing for a detailed and orderly comparison, considering details of
letter forms, proportion, pen pressure, letter connections, and other
details of handwriting habit * * *. 151
The standards used by Cole and Cadigan consisted of a wide variety of
documents known to be in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald, including
indorsements on his payroll checks, applications for employment, for a
passport, for membership in the American Civil Liberties Union, and for
a library card, and letters to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, the Marine Corps, the State Department, and the American
Embassy in Russia. 152
The Mail Order for the C2766 Rifle, the Related Envelope,
and the Money Order
The mail order and envelope for the C2766 rifle were photographed by
Klein's on microfilm, and then destroyed. 153 To identify the
handwriting an enlarged photograph was made which showed the handwriting
characteristics with sufficient clarity to form the basis of an
identification. 154 Based on a comparison with the standards, the
handwriting on the purchase order and the envelope were identified as
Lee Harvey Oswald's. 155 The money order, which was retained by the post
office after having been cashed by Klein's, 156 was also identified as
being in Oswald's handwriting. 157 These identifications were made on
the basis of numerous characteristics in which the writing in both the
questioned and standard documents departed from conventional letter
forms. 158 For example, in the return address on the envelope, the left
side of the "A" in "A. Hidell" was made by a down-
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730-900 0-64--38
Page 570
stroke followed by an upstroke which almost exactly traced the
down-stroke, the "i" showed an elongation of the approach stroke and an
exaggerated slant to the right, and the second "1" was somewhat larger
than the first; the "B" in "Box" had an upper lobe smaller than the
lower lobe; the "D" in "Dallas" exhibited a distinctive construction of
the looped form at the top of a letter, and the "s" was flattened and
forced over on its side; and the "x" in "Texas" was made in the form of
a "u" with a cross bar. These characteristics were also present in the
standards.159 In addition, these items, as well as other questioned
documents, resembled the standards in their use of certain erroneous
combinations of capital and lowercase letters.160 For example, in the
mail order, "Texas" was printed with a capital "T," "X," "A," and "S,"
but a lowercase "e"; a similar mixture of capital and lowercase letters
in "Texas" was found in the standards.161
The writing on the purchase order and envelope showed no significant
evidence of disguise (subject to the qualification that the use of hand
printing on the mail order, rather than handwriting, may have been used
for that purpose).162 However, it is not unusual for a person using an
alias not to disguise his writing. For example, Cole, who is document
examiner for the Treasury Department, has frequently examined forgeries
evidencing no attempt at disguise.163
Mail Order for the V510210 Revolver
Based on a comparison with the standards, the handwriting on the mail
order 164 for the V510210 revolver was also identified as Lee Harvey
Oswald's.165
Post Office Box Applications and Change-of-Address Card
A post office box application consists of three parts: The first
contains directions for use. The second provides applicant's name,
address, signature space, box number, date of opening and closing. The
third part provides instruction space concerning delivery of mail and
names of persons entitled to use the box.166 Under post office
regulations 167 the second part was retained by the Dallas Post. Office
for box 2915; it destroyed the third part after the box was closed.
Based on the standards, the signature "Lee H. Oswald," and other
handwriting on the application, was identified as that of Lee Harvey
Oswald.168 The postal clerk appeared to have filled in the balance.169
The Fort Worth and Dallas post offices retained two change-of-address
orders signed '"Lee H. Oswald": One to "Postmaster, Fort Worth, Tex.,"
dated October 10, 1962, to send mail to "Oswald, Lee H" at 2703 Mercedes
Av., Fort Worth, Texas" and forward to "Box 2915, Dallas, Texas"; the
other to "Postmaster, Dallas, Texas" dated May 12, 1963, requested mail
for post office box 2915 be forwarded to "Lee Oswald" at "4907 Magazine
St.., "New Orleans, La." 170 Based on a comparison with the standards,
the handwriting on these orders was identified as that of Lee Harvey
Oswald.171
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Page 571
The New Orleans post office retained the third part of the application
for post office box 30061, New Orleans, La., dated June 11, 1963, and
signed "L. H. Oswald." 172 Inserted in the space for names of persons
entitled to receive mail through the box were written the names "A. J.
Hidell" and "Marina Oswald." On the basis of a comparison with the
standards, the writing and the signature on the card was identified as
the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald.173
The Spurious Selective Service System Notice of Classification and
U.S. Marine Corps Certificate of Service
When Oswald was arrested he had in his possession a Selective Service
System notice of classification and a certificate of service in the U.S.
Marine Corps in the name of "Alek James Hidell," and a Selective Service
System notice of classification, a Selective Service System registration
certificate, and a certificate of service in the U.S. Marine Corps in
his own name.174 (See Cadigan Exhibits Nos. 19 and 21, p. 573.) The
Hidell cards where photographic counterfeits.175 After Oswald's arrest a
group of retouched negatives were found in Mr. Paine's garage at 2515
West Fifth Street, Irving, Tex.,176 among which were retouched negatives
of the Oswald cards.177 A comparison of these retouched negatives with
the Hidell and Oswald cards showed that the Hidell cards had been
counterfeited by photographing the Oswald cards, retouching the
resulting negatives, and producing photographic prints from the
retouched negatives.
The Hidell Notice of Classification
Face side.--The face of the Hidell notice-of classification 178 was
produced from the face of the Oswald notice of classification 179 by a
two-step process. First, the counterfeiter photographed the Oswald
notice, making a basic intermediate negative.180 He then opaqued out of
this intermediate negative all of the information typed or handwritten
onto the Oswald notice, including the name "Lee Harvey Oswald," the
selective service No., "41-114- 39-532," the signature of the official
of the local board, and the mailing date. In addition, he made another
intermediate negative of the lowermost third of the Oswald notice, which
contained a printed legend setting forth various instructions relating
to draft board procedures.181 This negative reproduced the printed
material exactly, but reduced it in size.182 The two intermediate
negatives were combined to produce a third negative, substantially
identical to the basic intermediate negative except that, by virtue of
the reduction in the size of the printed legend, a square space had been
created in the lower left-hand corner.183 The counterfeiter then made a
photographic print of this third negative, which contained blanks
wherever typed or handwritten material had appeared on the original
Oswald notice and a new space in the lower left-hand corner. Finally new
material was inserted into the blanks on
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Page 572
the Hidell notice where typed or handwritten material had appeared on
the Oswald notice.184 Thus the name "ALEK JAMES HIDELL," the selective
service No. "42-224-39-532," and the mailing date "Feb. 5, 1962," were
typed into the appropriate blanks on the Hidell notice. Two typewriters
were used in this typing, as shown by differences in the design of the
typed figure "4," 185 and by differences in the strength of the typed
impression.186 Probably the counterfeiter switched typewriters when he
discovered that the ribbon of his first typewriter was not inked heavily
enough to leave a clear impression (a problem which would have been
aggravated by the fact that the glossy photographic paper used to make
the Hidell notice did not provide a good surface for typewriting).187
The face of the notice also bore many uninked indentations, which could
only be made out under strong side lighting.188 These indentations were
apparently made with the typewriter set at stencil--that is, set so that
the typewriter key struck the notice directly, rather than striking it
through the inked typewriter ribbon.189 This may have been done as a
dry-run practice, to enable the counterfeiter to determine how to
properly center and aline the inserted material.190 A sidelight
photograph showed that the names "ALEK," "JAMES," .and "HIDELL" had each
been typed in stencil at least twice before being typed in with the
ribbon.191 A capital letter "O" had been stenciled prior to one of the
stenciled "ALEK's." 192 A serial number and a date of mailing had also
been typed in stencil.193
In addition to the typed material, a signature, "Alek J. Hidell," was
written in ink in the blank provided for the registrant's signature, and
another, somewhat illegible signature, apparently reading "Good Hoffer,"
was written in ink in the blank provided for the signature of an
official of the local board.194 This name differed from the name written
in ink on the Oswald notice, which appeared to consist of a first name
beginning with an "E" or a "G" and the surname "Schiffen." 195 However,
the legibility of the name on the Oswald notice was also quite poor, and
the counterfeiter might have been attempting to duplicate it. A possible
reason for deleting the original name and substituting another is that
if the name had not been deleted it would have been reproduced on the
Hidell notice as a photographic reproduction, which would look less
authentic than a pen- and-ink signature.196
Based on a comparison with the handwriting in the standards, the
signature "Alek J. Hidell" on the Hidell notice was identified as being
in the handwriting of Lee Harvey Oswald.197 The signature "Good Hoffer"
could not be positively identified, being almost illegible; however, it
was not inconsistent with Oswald's handwriting.198
To complete the face of the Hidell notice a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald
was inserted into the space in the lower left-hand corner which had been
created by reducing the size of the printed legend at the bottom.199
In creating the face of the Hidell notice, the counterfeiter ]eft traces
which enabled the experts to link together the Hidell notice, the
retouched negatives, and the Oswald notice. To retouch the nega-
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Page 573
Face and reverse sides of the Oswald Notice of Classification.
CADIGAN EXHIBIT No. 19
Face and reverse sides of the Oswald Selective Service System
Registration Certificate and the Oswald Certificate of Service in the
U.S. Marine Corps.
CADIGAN EXHIBIT No. 21
Page 574
Face and reverse sides of the Hidell Selective Service System Notice of
Classification..
Face and reverse sides of the Hidell Certificate of Service in the U.S.
Marine Corps.
CADIGAN EXHIBITS NOS. 15 AND 16
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Page 575
tives the counterfeiter simply painted a red opaque substance on one
side of the negative over the material he wished to delete. When the
negative was printed, the opaquing prevented light from passing through,
so that the print showed blanks wherever the negative had been opaqued.
However, the original material was still clearly visible on the negative
itself.200 In addition, at several points the typed or handwritten
material in the Oswald notice had overlapped the printed material. For
example, the signature of the official of the local board overlapped the
letters "re" in the printed word "President," "l" and a" in the printed
word "local," and "viola" in the printed word "violation." When this
signature was opaqued out, the portions of the printed material which
had been overlapped by the signature were either removed or mutilated.
The consequent distortions were ap parent on both the retouched negative
and the Hidell notice itself. Similarly, the selective service number
typed on the Oswald notice overlapped the margins of the boxes into
which it was typed. Although the counterfeiter opaqued out the numerals
themselves, the margins of the boxes remained thickened at the points
where they had been overlapped by the numerals. These thickened margins
were apparent on both the retouched negative and the Hidell notice.201
Reverse side.--The reverse side of the Hidell notice, which was pasted
back-to-back to the face, was actually a form of the reverse side of a
Selective Service System registration certificate. Essentially, it was
counterfeited the same way as the face of the notice: a photograph was
made of the reverse side of the Oswald registration certificate, the
material which had been typed or stamped on the Oswald registration
certificate was opaqued out of the resulting negative, and a
photographic print was made from the retouched negative. This is shown
by the negative, in which the opaqued-out information is still visible,
and by defects in the printed material on the Hidell notice at point
where typed-in material had overlapped printed material on the Oswald
registration certificate.202
As the final step, new information was typed on the print in the blanks
which resulted from the retouching operation.203 Thus "GR" was
substituted for "Blue" under color of eyes; "BROWN" was substituted for
"Brn" under color of hair; "FAIR" was substituted for "Med." under
complexion; "5" [ft.] "9" [in.] was substituted for "5" [ft.] "11" [in.]
under height; and "155" was substituted for "150" under weight. The name
and address of the local board on the Oswald registration certificate
were opaqued out, but substantially the same name and address were typed
back onto the Hidell notice.204 As in the signature of the local board
official on the face of the notice, a possible reason for deleting the
original draft board name and the address and substituting substantially
similar material in its place is that if the original material had not
been deleted it would have reproduced as a photographic reproduction,
which would look much less authentic than typed-in material.205
A limited number of typed uninked indentations are also present. Thus
the indented letters "CT" appear before the letter "GR" (under
Page 576
color of eyes) and the indented letters "EY" follow "GR." An indented
"9" appears above the visible "9" for the inch figure of height, and an
indented "i" appears before the weight, "155." Much of the typed
material on the reverse side of the Hidell notice was not very legible
under ordinary lighting, since it was typed with a typewriter which left
a very weakly inked impression.206 In fact, it is difficult to tell
whether some of the material, particularly the word "Brown" under color
of hair, was put in by stencil or by ribbon.
The Hidell Certificate of Service
The face and reverse side of the Hidell certificate of service were
produced from the face and reverse side of the Oswald certificate of
service 207 by photographing the Oswald certificate, retouching the
resulting negatives to eliminate typed and handwritten material, and
making a photographic print from the retouched negative.208 As in the
case of the notice of classification, this is shown by the negative
itself, in which the opaqued-out information is still visible, and by
defects in the printed material on the Hidell certificate at points
where handwritten material had crossed over printed material on the
Oswald certificate. Thus, in the Oswald certificate the upper portion of
the name "Lee" in Oswald's signature crosses the letter "u" in the
printed word "signature." The consequent mutilation of the printed
letter "u" can be seen on the Hidell certificate. Similarly, the ending
stroke in the letter "y" in the name "Harvey" in Oswald's signature
crosses the letter "n" in the printed word "certifying." This stroke was
not removed at all, and can be seen as a stroke across the "n" in the
Hidell certificate.209 As the final step in producing the Hidell
certificate, new material was typed into the blanks on the photographic
print. On the face, the words "ALEK JAMES HIDELL" were typed into the
blank where "LEE HARVEY OSWALD 1653280" had appeared. A sidelight
photograph shows that these words had been typed in stencil at least
twice before being typed in with the ribbon apparently to determine
proper centering and alinement.210 In producing the reverse side of the
Hidell certificate, the signature "Lee Harvey Oswald," and the dates "24
October 1956" and "11 September 1959," showing the beginning and end of
the period of active service, had been opaqued out. No signature was
inserted into resulting blank signature space. However, just below the
word "of" in the printed line "signature of individual," there are two
vertical indentations which fill about three-fourths of the height of
the signature blank, and a diagonal indentation which slants from
approximately the base of the left vertical to approximately the
midpoint of the right vertical--the total effect being of a printed
capital letter "H." Also, just below the second and third "i's" in the
printed word "individual" are two more vertical indentations, which
could be the vertical strokes of "d's" or "l's"-- although the circular
portion of the letter "d" is not present.211 These indentations could
have been made by any sharp instrument, such as a ballpoint pen which
was not
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Page 577
delivering ink, a stylus of the type used in preparing mimeograph forms,
or even a toothpick.212 The indentations are brought out rather clearly
in a sidelight photograph, but can also be seen on the card itself if
the card is held so that light strikes it at an angle.213
Into the space for the beginning of active service was typed the date
"OCT. 13 1958." The space for the end of active service contains several
light-impression and stencil typewriting operations. It was apparently
intended to read "OCT. 12 1961," but because of the lightness of the
impression and the many stenciled characters, the date is barely
legible.214 Interestingly, one of the stenciled impressions in the blank
for end of active service reads "24 October 1959," as determined under a
microscope, while a stenciled impression in the blank for beginning of
active service reads "24 October 1957." 215
The counterfeiting of the Hidell cards did not require great skill, but
probably required an elementary knowledge of photography, particularly
of the photographic techniques used in a printing plant.216 A moderate
amount of practice with the technique would be required--perhaps half a
dozen attempts. Practicing retouching on the balance of the negatives
found at the Paine garage would have been sufficient.217 The retouching
of the negatives could have been accomplished without any special
equipment. However, the preparation of the negative, apart. from
retouching, would probably have required a very accurate camera, such as
would be found in a photographic laboratory or printing plant.218
The Vaccination Certificate
A government-printed form entitled "International Certificates of
Vaccination or Revaccination against Smallpox" 219 was found among
Oswald's belongings at his room at 1026 Beckley Avenue, Dallas.220 The
form purported to certify that "LEE OSWALD" had been vaccinated against
smallpox on "JUNE 8, 1963" by "DR. A. J. HIDEEL, P.O. BOX 30016, NEW
ORLEANS, LA." The card was signed "Lee H. Oswald" and "A. J. Hideel,"
and the name and address "Lee H. Oswald, New Orleans, La." were hand
printed on the front of the card. All of this material, except the
signatures and the hand printing, had been stamped onto the card. The
Hideel name and address consisted of a three-line stamp--"DR. A. J.
HIDEEL/P.O. BOX 30016/NEW ORLEANS, LA." A circular, stamped, illegible
impression resembling a seal appeared under a column entitled "Approved
stamp."221
On the basis of a comparison with the standards, Cole identified all of
the handwriting on the vaccination certificate, including the signature
"A. J. Hideel," as the writing of Lee Harvey Oswald.222 Cadigan
identified all of the writing as Oswald's except for the "A. J. Hideel"
signature, which in his opinion was too distorted to either identify or
nonidentify as Oswald's handwriting.223 The stamped material on the
certificate was compared with a. rubber stamping kit which be-
Page 578
longed to Oswald.224 In this kit was a rubber stamp with three lines of
print assembled :"L. H. OSWALD/4907 MAGAZINE ST/NEW ORLEANS, LA." 225
Cole found a perfect agreement in measurement and design between the
letters stamped on the certificate and the letters he examined from
Oswald's rubber stamping kit. However, he was unable to determine
whether the characteristics of Oswald's rubber stamping kit were
distinctive, and therefore, while he concluded that Oswald's rubber
stamping kit could have made the rubber stamp impressions on the
certificate, he was unable to say that it was the only kit which could
have made the impressions.226 On the basis of the comparison between the
words "NEW ORLEANS, LA." set up in the rubber stamp in Oswald's kit, and
the words "NEW ORLEANS, LA." on the certificate, Cadigan concluded that
these words had been stamped on the certificate with Oswald's rubber
stamp. However, he could draw no conclusion as to the remaining stamped
material, which was not directly comparable to the remaining lines set
up on Oswald's rubber stamp.227
On close examination, the circular impression resembling a seal
consisted of the words "BRUSH IN CAN," printed in reverse.228
Apparently, the impression was made with the top of a container of
solvent or cleaning fluid which bore these words in raised lettering. In
the center of the impression was a mottled pattern which was similar to
the blank areas on a date stamp found in Oswald's rubber stamping
kit.229
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee Card
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee card had two signatures: "L. H. Oswald"
and "A. J. Hidell." Based on the standards, both Cole and Cadigan
identified "L. H. Oswald" as the signature of Lee Harvey Oswald,230 but
both were unable to identify the "A. J. Hidell" signature.231 Cadigan
noted differences between the Hidell signature and Oswald's handwriting,
indicating the possibility that someone other than Oswald had authored
the signature.232 Cole believed that the signature was somewhat beyond
Oswald's abilities as a penman.233 On the basis of a short English
interlinear translation written by Marina Oswald, Cole felt that she
might have been the author of the signature,234 but the translation did
not present enough of her handwriting to make possible a positive
identification.235 In subsequent testimony before the Commission, Marina
stated that she was indeed the author of the Hidell signature on the
card.236 Cadigan confirmed this testimony by obtaining further samples
of Marina Oswald's handwriting and comparing these samples with the
signature on the card.237
The Unsigned Russian-Language Note
Cadigan's examination confirmed Marina's testimony that the handwriting
in the unsigned note, Commission Exhibit No. 1, was that of
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Page 579
Lee Harvey Oswald.238 Since the note was written almost entirely in the
Russian language, which uses the Cyrillic alphabet (as opposed to the
Latin alphabet used in the English language), in making his examination
Cadigan employed not only Oswald's English language standards, but. also
letters written by Oswald in the Russian language.239
The Homemade Wrapping Paper Bag
In the absence of watermarks or other distinctive characteristics, it is
impossible to determine whether two samples of paper came from the same
manufacturer.240 The homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book Depository following the assassination was made out of
heavy brown paper and glue-bearing brown paper tape, neither of which
contained watermarks or other distinctive characteristics.241 However,
Cadigan compared the questioned paper and tape in the paper bag with
known paper and tape samples obtained from the shipping department of
the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963, to see if the
questioned items could have come from the shipping room.242 The
questioned and known items were examined visually by normal, incidental,
and transmitted natural and electric light, and under ultraviolet light;
243 examined microscopically for surface, paper structure, color, and
imperfections; 244 examined for their felting pattern, which is the
pattern of light and dark areas caused by the manner in which the fibers
become felted at the beginning stages of paper manufacture; 245 measured
for thickness with a micrometer sensitive to one one-thousandth of an
inch,246 subjected to a fiber analysis to determine the type of fibers
of which they were composed, and whether the fibers were bleached or
unbleached; 247 and examined spectrographically to determine what
metallic ions were present.248 The questioned and known items were
identical in all the properties measured by these tests.249 (The width
of the type on the paper sack was 3 inches, while the width of the
sample tape was 2.975, or twenty-five thousandths of an inch smaller;
however, this was not a significant difference).250 In contrast, a paper
sample obtained from the Texas School Book Depository shipping room on
December 1, 1963, was readily distinguishable from the questioned
paper.251
Examination of the tape revealed other significant factors indicating
that it could have come from the Texas School Book Depository shipping
room. There were several strips of tape on the bag.252 All but two of
the ends of these strips were irregularly torn; the remaining two ends
had machine-cut edges. This indicated that the person who made the bag
had drawn a long strip of tape from a dispensing machine and had torn it
by hand into several smaller strips.253 Confirmation that the tape had
been drawn from a dispensing machine was supplied by the fact that a
series of small markings in the form of half-inch lines ran down the
center of the tape like ties on a railroad track. Such lines are made by
a ridged wheel in .a tape dispenser which is constructed so that when a
hand lever is pulled, the wheel, which is
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Page 580
connected to the lever, pulls the tape from its roll and dispenses it.
Such dispensers are usually found only in commercial establishments. A
dispenser of this type was located in the Texas School Book Depository
shipping room. The length of the lines and the number of lines per inch
on the tape from the paper bag was identical to the length of the lines
and the number of lines per inch on the tape obtained from the dispenser
in the Texas School Book Depository shipping room.254
Wound Ballistics Experiments
Page 580
WOUND BALLISTICS EXPERIMENTS
Purpose of the Tests
During the course of the Commission's inquiry, questions arose as to
whether the wounds inflicted on President Kennedy and Governor Connally
could have been caused by the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found on the
sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building and Western
Cartridge Co. bullets and fragments of the type found on the Governor's
stretcher and in the Presidential limousine. In analyzing the trajectory
of the bullets after they struck their victims, further questions were
posed on the bullet's velocity and penetration power after exiting from
the person who was initially struck. To answer these and related
questions, the Commission requested that a series of tests be conducted
on substances resembling the wounded portions of the bodies of President
Kennedy and Governor Connally under conditions which simulated the
events of the assassination.
The Testers and Their Qualifications
In response to the Commission's request, an extensive series of tests
were conducted by the Wound Ballistics Branch of the U.S. Army Chemical
Research and Development Laboratories at Edgewood Arsenal, Md.
Scientists working at that branch are engaged in full-time efforts to
investigate the wound ballistics of missiles in order to test their
effects on substances which simulate live human bodies.255 The tests for
the Commission were performed by Dr. Alfred G. Olivier under the general
supervision of Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian with consultation from Dr.
Frederick W. Light, Jr.256 Dr. Olivier received His doctorate in
veterinary medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953. Since
1957 he has been engaged in research on wound ballistics at Edgewood
Arsenal and is now chief of the Wound Ballistics Branch.257 His
supervisor, Dr. Dziemian, who is chief of the Bio-physics Division at
Edgewood Arsenal, holds a Ph.D. degree from Princeton in 1939, was a
national research fellow in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania
and was a fellow in anatomy at. Johns Hopkins University Medical
School.258 Since 1947, Dr. Dziemian has been continuously engaged in
wound ballistics work at Edgewood Arsenal.259 In 1930, Dr. Light was
awarded an M.D. degree from
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Page 581
Johns Hopkins Medical School and in 1948 received his Ph.D. from t, he
same institution.260 After serving a residency in pathology, he worked
as a pathologist until 1940 when he returned to Johns Hopkins University
to study mathematics. Since 1951, Dr. Light has been engaged in the
study of the pathology of wounding at Edgewood Arsenal.261 All three of
these distinquished scientists testified before the Commission.
General Testing Conditions
The Commission made available to the Edgewood Arsenal scientists all the
relevant facts relating to the wounds which were inflicted on President
Kennedy and Governor Connally including the autopsy report on the
President, and the reports and X-rays from Parkland Hospital.262 In
addition, Drs. Olivier and Light had an opportunity to discuss in detail
the Governor's wounds with the Governor's surgeons, Drs. Robert R. Shaw
and Charles F. Gregory.263 The Zapruder films of the assassination were
viewed with Governor and Mrs. Connally to give the Edgewood scientists
their version.264 The Commission also provided the Edgewood scientists
with all known data on the source of the shots, the rifle and bullets
used, and the distances involved. For purposes of the experiments, the
Commission turned over to the Edgewood testers the Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle found on the sixth floor of the Depository Building.265 From
information provided by the Commission, the Edgewood scientists obtained
Western bullets of the type used by the assassin.266
Tests on Penetration Power and Bullet Stability
Comparisons were made of the penetrating power of Western bullets fired
from the assassination rifle with other bullets.267 From the
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, the Western bullet was fired through two
gelatin blocks totaling 72.5 centimeters in length. 268 As evidenced by
Commission Exhibit No. 844, which is a photograph from a high-speed
motion picture, the Western bullets passed through 1.5 blocks in a
straight line before their trajectory curved.269 After coming out of the
second gelatin block, a number of the bullets buried themselves in a
mound of earth.270
Under similar circumstances, a bullet described as the NATO round M-80
was fired from a M-14 rifle.271 The penetrating power of the latter is
depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 845 which shows that bullet possesses
much less penetrating power with a quicker tumbling action. Those
characteristics cause an early release of energy which brings the bullet
to a stop at shorter distances.272 A further test was made with a 257
Winchester Roberts soft-nosed hunting bullet as depicted in Commission
Exhibit No. 846. That bullet became deformed almost immediately upon
entering the block of gelatin and released its energy very rapidly.278
From these tests, it was concluded that the Western bullet fired from
the Mannlicher-Carcano had "terrific penetrating ability" and would
retain substantial veloc-
Page 582
ity after passing through objects such as the portions of the human
body . 274
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Neck Wound
After reviewing the autopsy report on President Kennedy, the Edgewood
scientists simulated the portion of the President's neck through which
the bullet passed. It was determined that the bullet traveled through
13.5 to 14.5 centimeters of tissue in the President's neck.275 That
substance was simulated by constructing three blocks: one with a
20-percent gelatin composition, a second from one animal meat and a
third from another animal meat.276 Those substances duplicated as
closely as possible the portion of the President's neck through which
the bullet passed.277 At the time the tests were conducted, it was
estimated that the President, was struck at a range of approximately 180
feet, and the onsite tests which were conducted later at Dallas
established that the President was shot through the neck at a range of
174.9 feet to 190.8 feet. 278 At a range of 180 feet, the Western
bullets were fired from the assassination weapon, which has a muzzle
velocity of approximately 2,160 feet per second, through those
substances which were placed beside a break-type screen for measuring
velocity.279 The average entrance velocity at 180 feet. was 1,904 feet
per second.280
To reconstruct the assassination situation as closely as possible both
sides of the substances were covered with material and clipped animal
skin to duplicate human skin.281 The average exit velocity was 1,779
feet from the gelatin, 1,798 feet from the first animal meat and 1,772
feet from the second animal meat.282 Commission Exhibit No. 847 depicts
one of the animal meats compressed to 13.5 to 14.5 centimeters to
approximate the President's neck and Commission Exhibit No. 848 shows
the analogous arrangement for the gelatin.283 The photograph marked
Commission Exhibit No. 849 shows the bullet passing through the gelatin
in a straight line evidencing very stable characteristics.284
Commission Exhibit No. 850 depicts the pieces of clipped animal skin
placed on the points of entry and exit showing that the holes of
entrance are round while the holes of exit are "a little more
elongated." 285 From these tests, it was concluded that the bullet lost
little of its velocity in penetrating the President's neck so that there
would have been substantial impact on the interior of the Presidential
limousine or anyone else struck by the exiting bullet. In addition,
these tests indicated that the bullet, had retained most of its
stability in penetrating the President's neck so that the exit hole
would be only Slightly different from the appearance of the entry
hole.286
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Chest Wounds
To most closely approximate the Governor's chest injuries, the Edgewood
scientists shot an animal with the assassination weapon
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using the Western bullets at a distance of 210 feet.287 The onsite tests
later determined that the Governor was wounded at a distance of 176.9
feet to 190.8 feet from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner
of the Depository Building.288 The average striking velocity of 11 shots
at 210 feet was 1,929 feet per second and the average exit velocity was
1,664 feet per second.289
One of the shots produced an injury on the animal's rib very similar to
that inflicted on Governor Connally. 290 For purposes of comparison with
the Governor's wound, the Edgewood scientists studied the Park]and
Hospital report and X-rays, and they also discussed these wounds with
Dr. Shaw, the Governor's chest surgeon.291 The similar animal injury
passed along the animal's eighth left rib causing a fracture which
removed a portion of the rib in a manner very similar to the wound
sustained by the Governor. 292 The X-ray of that wound on the animal is
reproduced as Commission Exhibit No. 852. 293 A comparison with the
Governor's chest wound, shown in X-ray marked as Commission Exhibit No.
681, shows the remarkable similarity between those two wounds.294
The bullet which produced the wound depicted in Commission Exhibits Nos.
851 and 852 was marked as Commission Exhibit No. 853 and possessed
characteristics very similar to the bullet marked as Commission Exhibit
No. 399 found on Governor Connally's stretcher and believed to have been
the bullet which caused his chest wound.295 Those bullets, identified as
Commission Exhibits Nos. 399 and 853, were flattened in similar
fashion.296 In addition, the lead core was extruded from the rear in the
same fashion on both bullets.297 One noticeable difference was that the
bullet identified as Commission Exhibit No. 853, which penetrated the
animal, was somewhat more fiat than Commission Exhibit No. 399 which
indicated that Commission Exhibit No. 853 was probably traveling at
somewhat greater speed than the bullet which penetrated the Governor's
chest.298 After the bullet passed through the animal, it left an imprint
on the velocity screen immediately behind the animal which was almost
the length of the bullet indicating that the bullet was traveling
sideways or end over end.299 Taking into consideration the extra girth
on the Governor, the reduction in the velocity of the bullet passing
through his body was estimated at 400 feet.300 The conclusions from the
animal shots are significant when taken in conjunction with the
experiments performed simulating the injuries to the Governor's wrist.
Tests Simulating Governor Connally's Wrist Wounds
Following procedures identical to those employed in simulating the chest
wound, the wound ballistics experts from Edgewood Arsenal reproduced, as
closely as possible, the Governor's wrist wound. Again the scientists
examined the reports and X-rays from Parkland Hospital and discussed the
Governor's wrist wound with the attending orthopedic surgeon, Dr.
Charles F. Gregory.301 Bone structures were then shot with Western
bullets fired from the assassination
Page 584
weapon at a distance of 210 feet.302 The most similar bone-structure
shot was analyzed in testimony before the Commission. An X-ray
designated as Commission Exhibit No. 854 and a photograph of that X-ray
which appears as Commission Exhibit No. 855 show a fracture at a
location which is very similar to the Governor's wrist wound depicted in
X-rays marked as Commission Exhibits Nos. 690 and 691.303
The average striking velocity of the shots was 1,858 feet per second.
304 The average exit velocity was 1,786 feet per second for the 7 out of
10 shots from bone structures which could be measured.305 These tests
demonstrated that Governor Connally's wrist was not struck by a pristine
bullet, which is a missile that strikes an object before hitting
anything else.306 This conclusion was based on the following factors:
(1) Greater damage was inflicted on the bone structure than that which
was suffered by the Governor's wrist; 307 and (2) the bone structure had
a smaller entry wound and a larger exit wound which is characteristic of
a pristine bullet as distinguished from the Governor's wrist which had a
larger wound of entry indicating a bullet which was tumbling with
substantial reduction in velocity.308 In addition, if the bullet found
on the Governor's stretcher (Commission Exhibit No. 399) inflicted the
wound on the Governor's wrist, then it could not have passed through the
Governor's wrist had it been a pristine bullet, for the nose would have
been considerably flattened, as was the bullet which struck the bone
structure, identified as Commission Exhibit No. 856.309
Conclusions From Simulating the Neck, Chest, and Wrist Wounds
Both Drs. Olivier and Dziemian expressed the Opinion that one bullet
caused all the wounds on Governor Connally.310 The wound to the
Governor's wrist was explained by circumstances where the bullet passed
through the Governor's chest, lost substantial velocity in doing so,
tumbled through the wrist, and then slightly penetrated the Governor's
left thigh.311 Thus, the results of the wound ballistics tests support
the conclusions of Governor Connally's doctors that all his wounds were
caused by one bullet.312
In addition, the wound ballistics tests indicated that it was most
probable that the same bullet passed through the President's neck and
then proceeded to inflict all the wounds on the Governor. That
conclusion was reached by Drs. Olivier and Dziemian based on the medical
evidence on the wounds of the President and the Governor and the tests
they performed.313 It was their opinion that the wound on the Governor's
wrist would have been more extensive had the bullet which inflicted that
injury merely passed through the Governor's chest exiting at a velocity
of approximately 1,500 feet per second.
Page 585
Thus, the Governor's wrist wound indicated that the bullet passed
through the President's neck, began to yaw in the air between the
President and the Governor, and then lost substantially more velocity
than 400 feet per second in passing through the Governor's chest.314 A
bullet which was yawing on entering into the Governor's back would lose
substantially more velocity in passing through his body than a pristine
bullet.315 In addition, the greater flattening of the bullet. that
struck the animal's rib (Commission Exhibit No. 853) than the bullet
which presumably struck the Governor's rib (Commission Exhibit No. 399)
indicates that the animal bullet was traveling at a greater velocity.316
That suggests that the bullet which entered the Governor's chest had
already lost velocity by passing through the President's neck.317
Moreover, the large wound on the Governor's back would be explained by a
bullet which was yawing although that type of wound might also be
accounted for by a tangential striking.318
Dr. Frederick W. Light, Jr., the third of the wound ballistics experts,
testified that the anatomical findings alone were insufficient for him
to formulate a firm opinion on whether the same bullet did or did not
pass through the President's neck first before inflicting all the wounds
on Governor Connally.319 Based on the other circumstances, such as the
relative positions in the automobile of the President and the Governor,
Dr. Light concluded that it was probable that the same bullet traversed
the President's neck and inflicted all the wounds on Governor
Connally.320
Tests Simulating President Kennedy's Head Wounds
Additional tests were performed on inert. skulls filled with a 20
percent gelatin substance and then coated with additional gelatin to
approximate the soft tissues overlying the skull.321 The skull was then
draped with simulated hair as depicted in Commission Exhibit No. 860.322
Using the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and the Western bullets, 10 shots
were fired at the reconstructed skulls from a distance of 270 feet which
was the estimated distance at the time those tests were conducted.323 It
was later determined through the onsite tests that President Kennedy was
struck in the back of the head at a distance of 265.3 feet from the
assassination weapon.324
The general results of these tests were illustrated by the findings on
one skull which was struck at a point most nearly approximating the
wound of entry on President Kennedy's head.325 The whole skull, depicted
in Commission Exhibit No. 860, was struck 2.9 centimeters to the right
and almost horizontal to the occipital protuberance or slightly above
it, which was virtually the precise point of entry on the President's
head as described by the autopsy surgeons.326 That bullet blew out the
right side of the reconstructed skull in a manner very similar to the
head wounds of the President.327 The consequences on that skull are
depicted in Commission Exhibits Nos. 861 and 862, which illustrate the
testimony of Dr. Alfred G. Olivier, who supervised the experiments.328
Based on his review of the autopsy report,
730-900 O-64--39
Page 586
Dr. Olivier concluded that the damage to the reconstructed skull was
very similar to the wound inflicted on the President.329
Two fragments from the bullet which struck the test skull closely
resembled the two fragments found in the front seat of the Presidential
limousine. The fragment designated as Commission Exhibit No. 567 is a
mutilated piece of lead and copper very similar to a mutilated piece of
copper recovered from the bullet which struck the skull depicted in
Commission Exhibit No. 860. The other fragment, designated as Commission
Exhibit No. 569 which was found in the front seat of the Presidential
limousine, is the copper end of the bullet.330 Commission Exhibit No.
569 is very similar to a copper fragment of the end of the bullet which
struck the test skull.331 The fragments from the test bullet are
designated as Commission Exhibit No. 857 and are depicted in a
photograph identified as Commission Exhibit No. 858.332 A group of small
lead particles, recovered from the test bullet, are also very similar to
the particles recovered under the left. jump seat and in the President's
head. The particles from the test bullet are a part of Commission
Exhibit No. 857 and are depicted in photograph designated as Commission
Exhibit No. 859. 333 That skull was depicted as Commission Exhibit No.
862.334
As a result of these tests, Dr. Olivier concluded that the Western
bullet fired from the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle at a distance of 270 feet
would make the same type of wound found on the President's head.335
Prior to the tests, Dr. Olivier had some doubt that such a stable bullet
would cause a massive head wound like that inflicted on the
President.336 He had thought it more likely that such a striking bullet
would make small entrance and exit holes.337 The tests, however, showed
that the bones of the skull were sufficient to deform the end of the
bullet causing it to expend a great deal of energy and thereby blow out
the side of the skull.338 These tests further confirmed the autopsy
surgeons' opinions that the President's head wound was not caused by a
dumdum bullet. 339 Because of the test results, Dr. Olivier concluded
that the fragments found on and under the front seat of the President's
car most probably came from the bullet which struck the President's
head.340 It was further concluded that the damage done to Governor
Connally's wrist could not have resulted from a fragment from the bullet
which struck President Kennedy's head.341
Hairs and Fibers
Page 586
HAIRS AND FIBERS
Testimony on hairs and fibers was given by Paul M. Stombaugh 342 of the
FBI. Stombaugh has been a specialist in hairs and fibers since 1960,
when he began a 1-year period of specialized training in this field. He
has made thousands of hair and fiber examinations, and has testified in
Federal and State courts in approximately 28 States.343 Stombaugh
examined and gave testimony on the following objects: (1) The green and
brown blanket found in the Paine's garage, Commission Exhibit No. 140;
(2) the homemade paper bag found on the sixth floor
586
Page 587
DIAGRAM OF A HAIR
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 666
587
Page 588
of the Texas School Book Depository following the assassination,
Commission Exhibit No. 142; (3) the shirt worn by Oswald on November 22,
1963, Commission Exhibit No. 150; and (4) the C2766 rifle, Commission
Exhibit No. 139.
General Principles
Hairs.--As shown in Commission Exhibit No. 666 (p. 587), a hair consists
of a central shaft of air cells, known as the medulla; a cortex
containing pigment granules (which give the hair its color) and cortical
fusi (air spaces); and a cuticle and an outer layer of scales. Unlike
fingerprints, hairs are not unique. However, human hairs can be
distinguished from animal hairs by various characteristics, including
color, texture, length, medullary structure and shape, shape of pigment,
root size, and scale size. In addition, hairs of the Caucasian, Negroid,
and Mongoloid human races can be distinguished from each other by color,
texture., size and degree of fluctuation of diameter, thickness of
cuticle, shape and distribution of pigment, and shape of cross-section.
Moreover, even though individual hairs are not unique, the expert
usually can distinguish the hairs of different individuals. Thus,
Stombaugh, who had made approximately 1,000 comparison examinations of
Caucasian hairs and 500 comparison examinations of Negroid hairs, had
never found a case in which he was unable to differentiate the hairs of
two different Caucasian individuals, and had found only several cases in
which he could not distinguish, with absolute certainty, between the
hairs of two different Negroid individuals. 344
Fibers.--Like hairs, the various types of natural and artificial fibers
can be distinguished from each other under the microscope. Like hairs
too, individual fibers are not unique, but the expert usually can
distinguish fibers from different fabrics. A major identifying
characteristic of most fibers is color, and under the microscope many
different shades of each color can be differentiated--for example,
50-100 shades of green or blue, and 25-30 shades of black. The
microscopic appearance of three types of fibers---cotton, wool, and
viscose-is illustrated in Commission Exhibit No. 665 (p. 589). Two of
these, cotton and viscose, were the subject of testimony by Stombaugh.
Cotton is a natural fiber. Under the microscope, it resembles a twisted
soda straw, and the degree of twist is an additional identifying
characteristic of cotton. Cotton may be mercerized or (more commonly)
unmercerized. Viscose is an artificial fiber. A delustering agent is
usually added to viscose to cut down its luster, and under the
microscope this agent appears as millions of tiny spots on the outside
of the fiber. The major identifying characteristics of viscose, apart
from color, are diameter--hundreds of variations being possible -- and
size and distribution of delustering agent, if any. 345
The blanket.--Stombaugh received the blanket, Commission Exhibit No.
140, in the FBI Laboratory at 7:30 a.m., on November 23, 1963.346
Examination showed that it was composed of brown and green fibers, of
which approximately 1-2 percent were woolen, 20-35 percent
588
Page 589
COMMISSION EXHIBIT No. 665
589
Page 590
were cotton, and the remainder were delustered viscose.347 The viscose
fibers in the blanket were of 10-15 different diameters, and also varied
slightly in shade and in the size and distribution of the delustering
agent. (The apparent cause of those variations was that the viscose in
the blanket consisted of scrap viscose.) 348 The cotton also varied in
shade, about seven to eight different shades of green cotton being
present, but was uniform in twist.349
When received by Stombaugh, the blanket was folded into approximately
the shape of a narrow right triangle.350 A safety pin was inserted in
one end of the blanket, and also at this end, loosely wrapped around the
blanket, was a string.351 On the basis of creases in the blanket in this
area it appeared that the string had been tied around the blanket rather
tightly at one time while something was inside the blanket.352 Other
creases and folds were also present, as illustrated in Commission
Exhibit No. 663.353 Among these was a crease or hump approximately 10
inches long.354 This crease must have been caused by a hard protruding
object approximately 10 inches long which had been tightly wrapped in
the blanket, causing the yarn to stretch so that the hump was present
even when the object had been extracted.355 The hump was approximately
the same length and shape as the telescopic sight on the C2766 rifle,
and its position with respect to the ends of the blanket was such (based
on the manner in which the blanket was folded when Stombaugh received
it) that had the rifle been in the blanket the telescopic sight could
have made the hump.356
The string wrapped around the blanket was made of ordinary white
cotton.357 It had been tied into a granny knot (a very common knot tied
right over right, right over right) and the dangling ends had been
further tied into a bow knot (the knot used on shoelaces).358
After receiving the blanket, Stombaugh scraped it to remove the foreign
textile fibers and hairs that were present.359 He found numerous foreign
textile fibers of various types and colors, .and a number of limb,
pubic, and head hairs, all of which had originated from persons of the
Caucasian race, and had fallen out naturally, as was shown by the shape
of their roots.360 Several of the limb and pubic hairs matched samples
of Oswald's limb and pubic hairs obtained by the Dallas police in all
observable characteristics, including certain relatively unusual
characteristics.361 For example, in both Oswald's pubic hairs and some
of the blanket pubic hairs, the color was a medium brown, which remained
constant to the tip, where it changed to a very light brown and then
became transparent, due to lack of color pigments; the diameters were
identical, and rather narrow for pubic hairs; the hairs were very
smooth, lacking the knobbiness characteristic of pubic hairs, and the
upper two-thirds were extremely smooth for pubic hairs; the tips of the
hairs were sharp, which is unusual for pubic hairs; the cuticle was very
thin for pubic hairs; the scales displayed only a very small protrusion;
the pigmentation was very fine, equally dispersed, and occasionally
chained together, and displayed only very slight gapping; cortical fusi
were for the most part absent; the medulla was either fairly continuous
or completely absent; and the
590
Page 591
root area was rather clear of pigment, and contained only a fair amount
of cortical fusi, which was unusual.362 Similarly, in both Oswald's limb
hairs and some of the limb hairs from the blanket the co]or was light
brown through its entire length; the diameter was very fine and did not
noticeably fluctuate; the tips were very sharp, which is unusual; the
scales were of medium size, with very slight protrusion; there was a
very slight gapping of the pigmentation near the cuticle; there was an
unusual amount of cortical fusi, equally distributed through the hair
shaft; and the medulla was discontinuous, granular, very bulbous, and
very uneven.363
Other limb, pubic, and head hairs on the blanket did not come from
Oswald.364
The paper bag.--Stombaugh received the paper bag, Commission Exhibit No.
142, at 7:30 a.m. on November 23, 1963.365 No foreign material was found
on the outside of the bag except traces of fingerprint powder and
several white cotton fibers, which were of no significance, since white
cotton is the most common textile, and at any rate the fibers may have
come from Stombaugh's white cotton gloves.366 Inside the bag were a tiny
wood fragment which was too minute for comparison purposes, and may have
come from the woodpulp from which the paper was made; a particle of a
waxy substance, like candle wax; and a single brown delustered viscose
fiber and several light-green cotton fibers.367
The fibers found inside the bag were compared with brown viscose and
green cotton fibers taken from the blanket.. The brown viscose fiber
found in the bag matched some of the brown viscose fibers from the
blanket in all observable characteristics, i.e., shade, diameter, and
size and distribution of delustering agent. 368 The green cotton fibers
found in the bag were, like those from the blanket, of varying shades,
but of a uniform twist. Each green cotton fiber from the bag matched
some of the green cotton fibers from the blanket. in all observable
characteristics, i.e., shade and degree of twist. Like the blanket
cotton fibers, the cotton fibers found in the bag were unmercerized. 369
The shirt.--Stombaugh received the shirt, Commission Exhibit No. 150, at
7:30 a.m. on November 23, 1963.370 Examination showed that it was
composed of gray-black, dark blue, and orange-yellow cotton fibers.371
The orange-yellow and gray-black cotton fibers were of a uniform shade,
and the dark-blue fibers were of three different shades.372 All the
fibers were mercerized and of substantially uniform degree of twist.373
The C2766 rifle.-- The rifle, Commission Exhibit No. 139, was received
in the FBI Laboratory on the morning of November 1963, and examined for
foreign material at that time.374 Stombaugh noticed immediately that the
rifle had been dusted for fingerprints, "and at the time I noted to
myself that I doubted very much if there would be any fibers adhering to
the outside of this gun--I possibly might. find some in a crevice some
place--because when the latent fingerprint man dusted this gun,
apparently in Dallas, they use a little brush to dust with they would
have dusted any
591
Page 592
fibers off the gun at the same time * * * "375 In fact, most of the
fibers Stombaugh found were either adhering to greasy, oily deposits or
were jammed down into crevices, and were so dirty, old, and fragmented
that he could not even determine what type of fibers they were.376
However, Stombaugh found that a tiny tuft of fibers had caught on a
jagged edge on the rifle's metal butt plate where it met the end of the
wooden stock, and had adhered to this edge, so that when the rifle had
been dusted for fingerprints the brush had folded the tuft into a
crevice between the butt plate and the stock, where it remained.377
Stombaugh described these fibers as "fresh," 378 by which he meant that
"they were clean, they had good color to them, there was no grease on
them and they were not fragmented." 379 However, it was not possible to
determine how long the fibers had been on the rifle, in the absence of
information as to how frequently the rifle had been used.380 Examination
showed that the tuft was composed of six or seven orange-yellow,
gray-black, and dark-blue cotton fibers. These fibers were compared with
fibers from the shirt, Commission Exhibit No. 150, which was also
composed of orange- yellow, gray-black, and dark-blue cotton fibers. The
orange-yellow and gray-black tuft fibers matched the comparable shirt
fibers in all observable characteristics, i.e., shade and twist. The
three dark-blue fibers matched two of the three shades of the dark-blue
shirt fibers, and also matched the dark-blue shirt. fibers in degree of
twist.381 Based on these facts, Stombaugh concluded that the tuft of
fibers found .on the rifle "could easily" have come from the shirt, and
that "there is no doubt in my mind that these fibers could have come
from this shirt. There is no way, however, to eliminate the possibility
of the fibers having come from another identical shirt." 382
Photographs
Page 592
PHOTOGRAPHS
Two photographs of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle were found among
Oswald's possessions in Mrs. Ruth Paine's garage at 2515 West Fifth
Street, Irving, Tex.383 In one, Commission Exhibit No. 133-A, Oswald is
holding the rifle generally in front of his body; in the other,
Commission Exhibit. No. 133-B, he is holding the rifle to his right.
Also found at Mrs. Paine's garage were a negative of 133-B and several
photographs of the rear of General Walker's house.384 An Imperial reflex
camera,385 which Marina Oswald testified she used to take 133-A and
133-B, was subsequently produced by Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald's
brother.386 Testimony concerning the photographs, the negative, and the
camera was given by Lyndal D. Shaneyfelt of the FBI.387 Shaneyfelt has
been connected with photographic work since 1937. He has made 100-300
photographic examinations, and has testified frequently on the subject
in court.388
Photographs 133-A and 133-B.--The background and lighting in 133-A and
133-B are virtually identical; the only apparent difference between the
two photographs is the pose. However, in 188-A the rifle
592
Page 593
is held in a position showing many more of its characteristics than are
shown in 133-B.389 In order to bring out the details in the rifle
pictured in 133-A, Shaneyfelt rephotographed 133-A and prepared prints
of varying densities from the new negative.390 He also took two new
photographs of the C2766 rifle itself: one shows the rifle in
approximately the same position as the rifle pictured in 133-A. The
other shows a man holding the rifle simulating the pose in 133-A.391
Shaneyfelt compared the actual rifle, the photograph 133-A, his
rephotographs of 133-A, and the two new photographs to determine whether
the rifle pictured in 133-A was the C2766 rifle. He found it to be the
same in all appearances, noted no differences, and found a notch in the
stock of the C2766 which also appeared very faintly in 133-A. However,
he did not find enough peculiarities to positively identify the rifle in
133-A as the C2766 rifle, as distinguished from other rifles of the same
configuration.392
The rifle's position in 133-B is such that less of its characteristics
were visible than in 183-A; essentially, 133-B show's only the bottom of
the rifle. However, the characteristics of the rifle visible in 133-B
are also similar to the observable characteristics of the C2766 rifle,
except that while the C2766 rifle was equipped with a homemade leather
sling when it was found after the assassination, the rifle in 133-B
seems to be equipped with a homemade rope sling.393 The portion of the
sling visible in 133-A is too small to establish whether it is rope or
leather, but it has the appearance of rope, and its configuration is
consistent with the rope sling pictured in 133-B.394
The negative.--Shaneyfelt's examination of the negative, Commission
Exhibit No. 749, showed that the photograph, 133-B, had been printed
directly or indirectly from the negative. lt was Shaneyfelt's opinion
that 188-B had been directly from the negative, but he could not
absolutely eliminate the possibility of an internegative, that is, the
possibility that a print had been produced from the negative 749, a
photograph had been taken of that print, and 133-B had been produced
from the new negative, rather than from the original negative.395 "I
think this is highly unlikely, because if this were the result of a
copied negative, there would normally be evidence that I could detect,
such as a loss of detail and imperfections that show up due to the added
process." 396 In any event, any "intermediate" print would have been
virtually indistinguishable from 133-B, so that Shaneyfelt's testimony
conclusively established that either 133-B or a virtually
indistinguishable print had been produced from the negative 749.
The camera.--The Imperial camera, Commission Exhibit No. 750, was a
relatively inexpensive, fixed- focus, one-shutter-speed, box-type
camera, made in the United States.397 Shaneyfelt compared this camera
with the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, to determine whether this
negative had been taken with the camera.398 To make this determination,
Shaneyfelt compared the margins of the image on Commission Exhibit No.
749 with the margins of the image on a negative
Page 594
COMMISSION EXHIBIT NO. 751
Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera, with the back removed to show the
camera's film-
plane aperture.
594
Page 595
he himself had taken with the camera. Microscopic examination shows that
the margins of a negative's image, although apparently straight, are
actually irregular. The irregularities usually do not show on a finished
print, because they are blocked out to give the print a neat border.399
The cause of these irregularities can be best understood by examination
of Commission Exhibit No. 751 (p. 594), a photograph of the Imperial
camera with the back removed to show the camera's film-plane aperture.
When the camera's shutter is opened, light exposes that portion of the
film which is not blocked off by this aperture. The edges of the
aperture, therefore, define the edges of the image which will appear on
the developed negative. In effect, the edge of the image is a
shadowgraph of the edge of the aperture. As Shaneyfelt testified:
* * * the basis of the examination was a close microscopic study of the
negative made in the camera to study the shadowgraph that. is made of
the edge of the aperture.
As the film is placed across the aperture of the camera, and the shutter
is opened, light comes through and exposes the film only in the opening
within the edges. Where the film is out over the edges of the aperture
it is not exposed, and your result is an exposed negative with a- clear
edge, and on the negative then, the edges of that exposure of the
photograph, are actually shadow-graphs of the edges of the aperture.400
The basis of the identification is that the microscopic characteristics
of every film-plane aperture, like those of a rifle barrel, are
distinctive, for much the same reason; that is, when the camera is
manufactured, certain handwork is done which differs microscopically
from camera to camera, and further differences accrue as the camera is
used. As Shaneyfelt testified:
Q. Mr. Shaneyfelt, what is the basis of your statement, the theoretical
basis of your statement, that every camera with this type of back
aperture arrangement is unique in the characteristics of the shadowgraph
it makes on the negative ?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. It is because of the minute variations that even two
cameras from the same mold will have. Additional handwork on cameras, or
filing the edges where a little bit of plastic or a little bit of metal
stays on, make individual characteristics apart from those that would be
general characteristics on all of them from the same mold.
In addition, as the film moves across the camera and it is used for a
considerable length of time, dirt and debris tend to accumulate a
little--or if the aperture is painted, little lumps in the paint will
make little bumps along that edge that would make that then individually
different from every other camera.
Q. Is this similar then to toolmark identification ?
Mr. SHANEYFELT. Very similar; yes.401
Page 596
Based on his examination of the shadowgraph on the negative, Commission
Exhibit No. 749, Shaneyfelt determined that it had been taken with the
Imperial camera.402
Three edges of the shadowgraph of the film-plane aperture were also
visible on one of the photographs of General Walker's house, not having
been blocked out in the making of the print. On the basis of these three
margins, Shaneyfelt determined that this photograph had also been taken
with Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera. Shaneyfelt could not determine
whether 133-A had been photographed with the Imperial camera, because
the negative of 133-A had not been found, and the print itself did not
show a shadowgraph area.403
During his interrogations Oswald had been shown 133-A, and had claimed
it was a. composite--that the face in the picture was his, but the body
was not.404 Shaneyfelt examined 133-A and 133-B to. determine if they
were composite pictures. He concluded that they were not:
* * * it is my opinion that they are not composites. Again with very,
very minor reservation, because I cannot entirely eliminate an extremely
expert composite. I have examined many composite photographs, and there
is always an inconsistency, either in lighting of the portion that is
added, or the configuration indicating a different lens used for the
part that was added to the original photograph, things many times that
you can't point to and say this is a. characteristic, or that is a
characteristic, but they have definite variations that are not
consistent throughout the picture.
I found no such characteristics in this picture.
In addition, with a composite it is always necessary to make a print
that you then make a pasteup of. In this instance paste the face in, and
rephotograph it, and then retouch out the area where the head was cut
out, which would leave a characteristic that would be retouched out on
the negative and then that would be printed.
Normally, this retouching can be seen under magnification in the
resulting composite--points can be seen where the edge of the head had
been added and it hadn't been entirely retouched out.
This can nearly always be detected under magnification. I found no such
characteristics in these pictures.
Q. Did you use the technique of magnification in your analysis ?
A. Yes.405
Furthermore, the negative, Commission Exhibit No. 749, showed absolutely
no doctoring or composition.406 Since the negative was made in Oswald's
Imperial camera, Commission Exhibit No. 750, a composite of 133-B could
have been made only by putting two pictures together and rephotographing
them in the Imperial camera--all without leaving a discernible trace.
This, to Shaneyfelt, was "in the realm of the impossible":
596
Page 597
In addition, in this instance regarding 133-B which I have just stated,
I have identified as being photographed or exposed in the camera which
is Exhibit 750, for this to be a composite, they would have had to make
a picture of the background with an individual standing there, and then
substitute the face, and retouch it and then possibly rephotograph it
and retouch that negative, and make a print, and then photo graph it
with this camera, which is Commission Exhibit 750, in order to have this
negative which we have identified with the camera, and is Commission
Exhibit 749.
This to me is beyond reasonable doubt, it just doesn't seem that it
would be at all possible, in this particular photograph.407
Q. You have the negative of this? [Referring to Exhibit
133B.]
A. We have the negative of 133B.
Q. You have the negative of 133B. That negative in itself shows no
doctoring or composition at all?
A. It shows absolutely no doctoring or composition.
Q. So that the only composition that could have been made would have
been in this process which you have described of picture on picture and
negative and then photographing?
A. And then finally rephotographing with this camera. Q. Rephotographing
with this camera, this very camera ?
A. That is correct, and this then, to me, becomes in the realm of the
impossible.408
Following the assassination, photographs similar to 133-A appeared in a
number of newspapers and magazines.409 At least some of these
photographs, as reproduced, differed both from 133-A and from each other
in minor details.410 Shaneyfelt examined several of these reproductions
and concluded that in each case the individual publisher had taken a
reproduction of 133-A and retouched it in various ways, apparently for
clarifying purposes, thus accounting for the differences between the
reproductions and 133-A, and the differences between the reproductions
themselves.411 Subsequently one of the publishers involved submitted the
original photographs which it had retouched. Shaneyfelt's examination of
this photograph confirmed his original conclusion.412 The remaining
publishers either confirmed that they had retouched the photographs they
had used, or failed to contradict Shaneyfelt's testimony after having
been given an opportunity to do so.413
597
Appendix XI
Page 598
APPENDIX XI
Reports Relating to the Interrogation of Lee Harvey
Oswald at the Dallas Police Department
As discussed in chapters IV and V, Lee Harvey Oswald was interrogated
for a total of approximately 12 hours between 2:30 p.m. on Friday,
November 22, 1963, and 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, 1963. There
were no stenographic or tape recordings of. these interviews. Several of
the investigators present at one or more of the interrogation sessions,
prior to testifying before the Commission, had prepared memoranda
setting forth their recollections of the questioning of Oswald and his
responses. The following are the most important of these reports.
598
Page 599
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Page 600
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 601
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 602
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 603
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 604
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 605
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 606
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 607
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 608
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 609
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 610
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 611
REPORT OF CAPT. J. W. FRITZ, DALLAS POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Continued
Page 612
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Page 613
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 614
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 615
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 616
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 617
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 618
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 619
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 620
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 621
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 622
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 623
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 624
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 625
REPORTS OF AGENTS OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION
Continued
Page 626
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Page 627
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 628
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 629
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 630
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 631
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 632
REPORTS OF INSPECTOR THOMAS J. KELLEY,
U.S. SECRET SERVICE
Continued
Page 633
REPORT OF U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR H. D. HOLMES
Page 634
REPORT OF U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR H. D. HOLMES
Continued
Page 635
REPORT OF U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR H. D. HOLMES
Continued
Page 636
REPORT OF U.S. POSTAL INSPECTOR H. D. HOLMES
Continued
Appendix XII
Page 637
APPENDIX XII
Speculations and Rumors
Myths have traditionally surrounded the dramatic assassinations of
history. The rumors and theories about the assassination of Abraham
Lincoln that are still being publicized were for the most part first
bruited within months of his death. Wherever there is any element of
mystery in such dramatic events misconceptions often result from
sensational speculations.
Lacking the testimony of Lee Harvey Oswald, it has been necessary to
reconstruct painstakingly all of the facts that led the Commission to
the conclusion that Oswald assassinated President Kennedy, acting alone
and without advice or assistance. The Commission has found no credible
evidence that he was a member of a foreign or domestic conspiracy of any
kind. Nor was there any evidence that he was involved with any criminal
or underworld elements or that he had any association with his slayer,
Jack Ruby, except as his victim. The evidence on these issues has been
set forth in great detail in this report.
In addition the Commission has inquired into the various hypotheses,
rumors, and speculations that have arisen from the tragic developments
of November 22-24, 1963. It is recognized that the public judgment of
these events has been influenced, at least to some extent, by these
conjectures.
Many questions have been raised about the facts out of genuine
puzzlement or because of misinformation which attended some of the early
reporting of the fast-crowding events of these 3 days. Most of the
speculation and attempted reconstruction of these events by the public
centered on these basic questions: Was Lee Harvey Oswald really the
assassin of the President; why did he do it; did he have any
accomplices; and why did Ruby shoot Oswald? Many of the theories and
hypotheses advanced have rested on premises which the Commission feels
deserve critical examination.
Many people who witnessed the assassination and the killing of Oswald or
were present in the area were a major source of diverse and often
contradictory information. As is easily understood under such
circumstances, all of the witnesses did not see and hear the same thing
or interpret what they saw and heard the same way and many changed their
stories as they repeated them. Moreover, they were interviewed at
different times after the event by different people and often under
circumstances which made accurate reporting extremely difficult.
Even the occupants of the cars in the Presidential motorcade were not
entirely in agreement in their accounts because they, too, saw and heard
what happened from different positions. Moreover, those closest to the
assassination were subjected to a physical and emotional
637
Page 638
strain that tended to affect their recollections of what they thought
they saw or heard. Consequently, the presentation of the news from
Dallas included much misinformation. This, to some extent, was
unavoidable, but the widespread and repetitive dissemination of every
scrap of information about the President's assassination and its
aftermath has helped to build up a large number of erroneous
conclusions. The manner in which local authorities released information
about. the investigation, sometimes before it could be verified in all
detail, has further contributed to the fund of ill-founded theories.
Typographical mistakes in the press and failure to transcribe sound
accurately from tapes resulted in errors, some of which have remained
uncorrected in print at the time of the publication of this report.
Much of the speculation that has persisted in one form or another since
November 22-24 came from people who usually spoke in good faith. Some of
the errors have resulted simply from a lack of complete knowledge at the
time of the event. In this category are the statements attributed to
doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital who attended the dying President
and described his wounds to the press afterward. It remained for the
autopsy in Washington, completed early the next morning, to ascertain
the full facts concerning the wounds. The correction of earlier
assertions of fact on the basis of later and fuller analysis or
investigation is a normal part of the process of accumulation of
evidence. But. it is not often that the process is conducted in such an
intense glare of worldwide publicity, and later corrections have
difficulty overtaking the original sensational reports.
There is still another category of speculation and rumor that
complicated and broadened the work of the Commission. Numerous people
claimed to have seen Oswald or Ruby at various times and places in the
United States or abroad. Others insisted that during the days following
the assassination, they had detected significant actions on television
that- were witnessed by no one else. Still others assumed from a widely
published picture that Oswald was standing on the steps of the entrance
to the Texas School Book Depository at the time the President was shot.
Throughout the country people reported overheard remarks, conversations,
threats, prophesies, and opinions that seemed to them to have a possible
bearing on the assassination. More than a few informants initially told
their speculations or professed firsthand information to newspaper and
television reporters. Later, many of them changed or retracted their
stories in telling them to official investigators.
The U.S. investigative agencies expended much valuable time and effort
inquiring into these leads. Investigations of a vast number of rumors
and speculations reached into almost every part of the United States and
to most of the other continents of the world.
The Commission's work was also handicapped by those witnesses and other
persons connected with the investigation who sold for publication
evidence pertinent. to the investigation. These persons sold pictures
and documents and even recollections, sometimes before the
638
Page 639
Commission had an opportunity to receive their evidence. Some of the
evidence thus published was changed from its original form and gave
misleading impressions to the public. The piecemeal release of this
evidence, sometimes in distorted or exaggerated form, and often out of
context, provided the basis for new speculations and rumors or served to
reinforce already current ones. The practice was frequently harmful to
the work of the Commission and a disservice to the public.
This appendix is intended to clarify the most widespread factual
misunderstandings. False or inaccurate speculations concerning the
assassination and related events are set forth below together with brief
summary statements of what the Commission has found to be the true
facts. The citation following each Commission finding is either to that
portion of the report in which the subject is discussed more fully, to
the evidence in the record supporting the finding, or to both. For
complete answers to these speculations, the sources cited in the
footnotes should be consulted. The speculations are considered under the
following headings:
1. The source of the shots.
2. The identity of the assassin.
3. Oswald's movements between 12:33 and 1:15 p.m. on November 22, 1963.
4. The murder of Patrolman Tippit.
5. Oswald after his arrest.
6. Oswald in the Soviet Union. 7. Oswald's trip to Mexico City.
8. Oswald and U.S. Government agencies.
9. Conspiratorial relationships. 10. Miscellaneous charges.
The Source of the Shots
Page 639
THE SOURCE OF THE SHOTS
There have been speculations that some or all of the shots aimed at
President Kennedy and Governor Connally came from the railroad overpass
as the Presidential automobile approached it, or from somewhere other
than the Texas School Book Depository Building. Related speculations
maintain that the shots came from both the railroad overpass and the
Texas School Book Depository Building. These are supported by a number
of assertions that have been carefully examined by the Commission in the
course of its investigation and rejected as being without foundation.
They are set forth below, together with the results of the Commission's
investigation.
Speculation.--The shots that killed the President came from the railroad
overpass above the triple underpass.
Commission finding.--The shots that entered the neck and head of the
President and wounded Governor Connally came from behind and above.
There is no evidence that any shots were fired at the Presi-
Page 640
dent from anywhere other than the Texas School Book Depository
Building.1
Speculation--The railroad overpass was left unguarded on November 22.
Commission finding.--On November 22 the railroad overpass was guarded by
two Dallas policemen, Patrolmen J. W. Foster and J. C. White, who have
testified that they permitted only railroad personnel on the overpass.2
Speculation.--There are witnesses who alleged that the shots came from
the overpass.
Commission finding.-- he Commission does not have knowledge of any
witnesses who saw shots fired from the overpass. Statements or
depositions from the 2 policemen and 13 railroad employees who were on
the overpass all affirm that no shots were fired from the overpass. Most
of these witnesses who discussed the source of the shots stated that
they came from the direction of Elm and Houston Streets. 3
Speculation.--A rifle cartridge was recovered on the overpass.
Commission finding.--No cartridge of any kind was found on the overpass
nor has any witness come forward to claim having found one.4
Speculation.---A witness to the assassination said that she saw a man
run behind the concrete wall of the overpass and disappear.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Jean L. Hill stated that after the firing
stopped she saw a white man wearing a brown overcoat and a hat running
west away from the Depository Building in the direction of the railroad
tracks. There are no other witnesses who claim to have seen a man
running toward the railroad tracks. Examination of all available films
of the area following the shooting, reexamination of interviews with
individuals in the vicinity of the shooting, and interviews with members
of the Dallas Police Department. and the Dallas County sheriff's office
failed to corroborate Mrs. Hill's recollection or to reveal the identity
of the man described by Mrs. Hill. 5
Speculation.--Immediately after the shooting a motorcycle policeman was
seen racing up the grassy embankment to the right of the shooting scene
pursuing a couple seeking to flee from the overpass.
Commission finding.--There are no witnesses who have ever stated this
and there is no evidence to support the claim. A motorcycle policeman,
Clyde A. Haygood, dismounted in the street and ran up the incline. He
stated that he saw no one running from the railroad yards adjacent to
the overpass. Subsequently, at 12:37 p.m., Haygood reported that the
shots had come from the Texas School Book Depository Building. 6
Speculation.---More than three shots, perhaps as many as five or six,
were fired at the President and Governor Connally.
Commission finding.--The weight of the evidence indicates that three
shots were fired, of which two struck President Kennedy. There is
persuasive evidence from the experts that one of these two bullets also
struck Governor Connally. Some witnesses claimed that they
Page 641
heard more than three shots but, as fully described in chapter III, the
great majority heard only three shots. 7
Speculation.--At least four or five bullets have been found.
Commission finding.--After the assassination, metal remains of bullets
were recovered. These included an almost whole bullet of 158.6 grains,
fragments weighing 44.6 grains and 21.0 grains, and other fragments too
small to be identified. These metal remains indicate that at least two
shots were fired. The Commission believes that three shots were fired. 8
Speculation.--A bullet was found on the stretcher used for President
Kennedy at Parkland Hospital.
Commission finding.--No bullet was found on the stretcher used by
President Kennedy. An almost whole bullet was found when it rolled off
the stretcher used by Governor Connally. 9
Speculation.--A bullet was found in the grass near the scene of the
assassination shortly afterward by a deputy sheriff of Dallas County, E.
R. Walthers.
Commission finding.--Walthers has denied that he found a bullet at any
time or that he told anyone that he had found one. With another deputy
sheriff he made a diligent search for such a bullet 2 or 3 days after
the assassination. 10
Speculation.--The Presidential car stopped momentarily or almost came to
a complete halt after the first shot. This is evidence that the driver
had the impression that the first shot came from the front and therefore
hesitated to drive closer to the overpass.
Commission finding.--The Presidential car did not stop or almost come to
a complete halt after the firing of the first shot or any other shots.
The driver, Special Agent William R. Greer, has testified that he
accelerated the car after what was probably the second shot. Motion
pictures of the scene show that the ear slowed down momentarily after
the shot that struck the President in the head and then speeded up
rapidly. 11
Speculation.--The Presidential ear had a small round bullet hole in the
front windshield. This is evidence that a shot or shots were fired at
the President from the front of the car.
Commission finding.--The windshield was not penetrated by any bullet. A
small residue of lead was found on the inside surface of the windshield;
on the outside of the windshield was a very small pattern of cracks
immediately in front of the lead residue on the inside. The bullet from
which this lead residue came was probably one of those that struck the
President and therefore came from overhead and to the rear. Experts
established that the abrasion in the windshield came from impact on the
inside of the glassy
Speculation.--The throat wound sustained by the President was the result
of a shot fired from the front according to doctors at Parkland
Hospital.
Commission finding.--Doctors at Parkland Hospital originally believed
that the throat wound could have been either an entry or exit wound, but
they made no examination to determine entry and exit
Page 642
wounds. Subsequently, when the evidence of the autopsy became available,
the doctors at Parkland agreed that it was an exit wound.13
Speculation.--It is inconceivable that the doctors at Parkland Hospital
did not turn the President over on his face and notice the bullet hole
in the back of his neck.
Commission finding.--Doctors at Parkland Hospital have testified that
the President remained on his back while he was at Parkland Hospital for
treatment and that they did not turn him over at any time; they were
busy trying to save his life. Consequently, they were never aware of the
hole in the back of his neck until they were notified of it later.14
Speculation.--The first shot struck the President in the throat as the
car was proceeding along Houston Street toward the Texas School Book
Depository. The car then made a left turn on to Elm Street and proceeded
for some distance before additional shots were fired at the President.
Commission finding.--Before the autopsy findings made it clear that the
shots were fired from the rear, there was speculation that the first
shot may have been fired before the Presidential car turned on to Elm
Street. As this report demonstrates, all of the shots that struck the
President were fired from the rear and in a time period inconsistent
with the theory that the first shot struck him while his car was coming
down Houston Street. Motion pictures taken at the time show that the
first shot struck the President after the car had turned onto Elm Street
and was proceeding away from the Depository. 15
The Assassin
Page 642
THE ASSASSIN
Speculations tending to support the theory that Oswald could not have
assassinated President Kennedy are based on a wide variety of
assertions. Among these are statements that Oswald could not have been
acquainted with the motorcade route before he came to work on November
22, that he may well have carried curtain rods rather than a rifle in a
brown paper package he brought with him, that there may have been other
people in the building who could have fired the rifle, that Oswald could
not have fired the shots in the time available to him, that he was not a
good enough marksman to have scored the hits with the rifle, that there
were other people in the lunchroom of the Depository Building when he
was confronted by Patrolman M. L. Baker, and that there are no
eyewitnesses who could identify Oswald as having been in the window.
Each of these speculations is dealt with below in the light of the
testimony and evidence considered by the Commission.
Speculation.--Oswald could not have known the motorcade route before he
arrived at work on November 22.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route was published in beth Dallas
papers on November 19 and was therefore available at least 72 hours
before Oswald reported for work on November
Page 643
Speculation.--The route as shown in the newspaper took the motorcade
through the Triple Underpass via Main Street, a block away from the
Depository. Therefore, Oswald could not have known that the motorcade
would pass directly by the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route as published showed the
motorcade turning right off Main Street onto Houston for one block and
then left on Elm to the access road to the Stemmons Freeway. This route
was clearly indicated in published descriptions and maps of the
motorcade route. There was no mention of continuing on Main Street
through the Triple Underpass.17
Speculation.--The motorcade route was changed on November 22 after the
map had been printed. The motorcade was shifted from Main Street over to
Elm Street to bring it by the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--The motorcade route was decided upon on November 18
and published in the Dallas newspapers on November 19. It was not
changed in any way thereafter. The route called for the motorcade to
turn off Main Street at Houston, go up to Elm, and then turn left on Elm
Street. 18
Speculation.--The normal and logical route would have been straight down
Main Street through the Triple Underpass to the Stemmons Freeway. It is
possible to drive from Main onto the access road to the Stemmons Freeway
from a point beyond the underpass.
Commission finding.--The normal, direct, and only permissible route to
the Stemmons Freeway from Main Street is via Houston and Elm Streets.
Any attempt to turn onto the access road to the Stemmons Freeway from
Main Street beyond the Triple Underpass would have been extremely
difficult because of a concrete strip dividing Elm and Main Streets.
Such an attempt would have required making an S-turn beyond the strip at
a very tight angle, thereby slowing the Presidential car almost to a
stop.19
Speculation.--Oswald may well have carried curtain rods to work on
November 22 in the brown paper package he was observed to bring into the
building because he lived in a room where he needed them.
Commission finding.--According to Oswald's landlady at 1026 North
Beckley Avenue, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, the room had venetian blinds,
curtain rods, and curtains while Oswald was living there. The curtain
rods in the Paine garage that belonged to Mrs. Paine were still there
after Oswald went to work on November 22. Mrs. Paine and Marina Oswald
testified that Oswald had not spoken to them about curtain rods. After
the assassination the empty package was found near the window from which
the shots were fired, but no curtain rods were found. 20
Speculation.--Oswald spent the morning of November 22 in the company of
other workers in the building and remained with them until they went
downstairs to watch the President go by, no later probably than 12:15.
643
Page 644
Commission finding.--Oswald did not spend the morning in the company of
other workers in the building, and before the assassination he was last
seen in the building on the sixth floor at about 11:55 a.m. by Charles
Givens, another employee.21
Speculation.--It is probable that the chicken lunch, remains of which
were found on the sixth floor, was eaten by an accomplice of Oswald who
had hidden on the sixth floor overnight.
Commission finding.--The chicken lunch had been eaten shortly after noon
on November 22 by Bonnie Ray Williams, an employee of the Texas School
Book Depository, who after eating his lunch went to the fifth floor
where he was when the shots were fired. Oswald did not eat the chicken
lunch, nor did he drink from the soft drink bottle found near the
chicken lunch.22
Speculation.--Laboratory tests showed remains of the chicken lunch found
on the sixth floor were 2 days old.
Commission finding.--The chicken lunch remains had been left there
shortly after noon on November 22 by Bonnie Ray Williams. 23
Speculation.--An amateur 8-millimeter photograph taken at 12:20 p.m., 10
minutes before the assassination of President Kennedy, showed two
silhouettes at the sixth-floor window of the Depository.
Commission finding.--film taken by an amateur photographer, Robert J. E.
Hughes, just before the assassination, shows a shadow in the southeast
corner window of the sixth floor. This has been determined after
examination by the FBI and the U.S. Navy Photographic Interpretation
Center to be the shadow from the cartons near the window.24
Speculation.--A picture published widely in newspapers and magazines
after the assassination showed Lee Harvey Oswald standing on the front
steps of the Texas School Book Depository Building shortly before the
President's motorcade passed by.
Commission finding.--The man on the front steps of the building, thought
or alleged by some to be Lee Harvey Oswald, is actually Billy Lovelady,
an employee of the Texas School Book Depository, who somewhat resembles
Oswald. Lovelady has identified himself in the picture, and other
employees of the Depository standing with him, as shown in the picture,
have verified that he was the man in the picture and that Oswald was not
there. 25
Speculation.--The post office box in Dallas to which Oswald had the
rifle mailed was kept under both his name and that of A. Hidell.
Commission finding.--It is not known whether Oswald's application listed
the name A. Hidell as one entitled to receive mail at the box. In
accordance with U.S. Post Office regulations, the portion of the
application listing the names of persons other than the applicant
entitled to receive mail was discarded after the box was closed on May
14, 1963. During the summer of 1963, Oswald rented a post office box in
New Orleans, listing the name "Hidell" in addition to his own name and
that of his wife. Hidell was a favorite alias used by Oswald on a number
of occasions. Diligent search has failed to re-
Page 645
veal any person in Dallas or New Orleans by that name. It was merely a
creation for his own purposes.26
Speculation.--The President's car was going at a speed estimated at from
12 to 20 miles per hour, thus presenting a target comparable to the most
difficult that a soldier would encounter under battlefield conditions.
* Commission finding.--During the period between the time that the first
and second shots struck the President, the Presidential car was
traveling at an avenge speed of approximately 11.2 miles per hour.
Expert witnesses testified that the target is regarded as a favorable
one because the car was going away from the marksman in a straight line.
27
Speculation.--Oswald could not have fired three shots from the
Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in 5.5 seconds.
Commission finding.--According to expert witnesses, exacting tests
conducted for the Commission demonstrated that it was possible to fire
three shots from the rifle within 5.5 seconds. It should be noted that
the first loaded shell was already in the chamber ready for firing;
Oswald had only to pull the trigger to fire the first shot and to work
the bolt twice in order to fire the second and third shots. They
testified that if the second shot missed, Oswald had between 4.8 and 5.6
seconds to fire the three shots. If either the first or third shot
missed, Oswald had in excess of 7 seconds to fire the three shots. 28
Speculation.--Oswald did not have the marksmanship ability demonstrated
by the rifleman who fired the shots.
Commission finding.--Oswald qualified as a sharpshooter and a marksman
with the M-1 rifle in the Marine Corps. Marina Oswald testified that in
New Orleans her husband practiced operating the belt of the rifle.
Moreover, experts stated that the scope was a substantial aid for rapid,
accurate firing. The Commission concluded that Oswald had the capability
with a rifle to commit assassination.29
Speculation.--The name of the rifle used in the assassination appeared
on the rifle. Therefore, the searchers who found the rifle on the sixth
floor of the Texas School Book Depository should have been able to
identify it correctly by name.
Commission finding.--An examination of the rifle does not reveal any
manufacturer's name. An inscription on the rifle shows that it was made
in Italy. The rifle was identified by Captain Fritz and Lieutenant Day,
who were the first to actually handle it.30
Speculation.--The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School
Book Depository was identified as a 7.65 Mauser by the man who found it,
Deputy Constable Seymour Weitzman.
Commission finding.--Weitzman, the original source of the speculation
that the rifle was a Mauser, and Deputy Sheriff Eugene Boone found the
weapon. Weitzman did not handle the rifle and did not examine it at
close range. He had little more than a glimpse of it and thought it was
a Mauser, a German bolt-type rifle similar in appearance to the
Mannlicher-Carcano. Police laboratory technicians
Page 646
subsequently arrived and correctly identified the weapon as a 6.5
Italian rifle.31
Speculation.--There is evidence that a second rifle was discovered on
the roof of the Texas School Book Depository or on the overpass.
Commission finding--No second rifle was found in either of these places
or in any other place. The shots that struck President Kennedy and
Governor Connally came from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book Depository. 32
Speculation.--It is possible that there was a second Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle involved in the assassination. The Irving Sports Shop mounted a
scope on a rifle 3 weeks before the assassination.
Commission finding.--Dial D. Ryder, an employee of the Irving Sports
Shop, has stated that he found on his workbench on November 23 an
undated work tag with the name "Oswald" on it, indicating that sometime
during the first 2 weeks of November three holes had been bored in a
rifle and a telescopic sight mounted on it and bore-sighted. However,
Ryder and his employer, Charles W. Greener, had no recollection of
Oswald, of his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle, of the transaction allegedly
represented by the repair tag, or of any person for whom such a repair
was supposedly made. The rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas
School Book Depository had two holes in it bored for the installation of
a scope prior to shipment to Oswald in March 1968. The Commission
concluded that it is doubtful whether the tag produced by Ryder was
authentic. All of the evidence developed proves that Oswald owned only
the one rifle--the Mannlicher-Carcano--and that he did not bring it or a
second rifle to the Irving Sports Shop.33
Speculation.--Ammunition for the rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Texas School Book Depository had not been manufactured since the end of
World War II. The ammunition used by Oswald must,. therefore, have been
at least 90 years old, making it extremely unreliable.
Commission finding.--The ammunition used in the rifle was American
ammunition recently made by the Western Cartridge Co., which
manufactures such ammunition currently. In tests with the same kind of
ammunition, experts fired Oswald's Mannlicher-Carcano rifle more than
100 times without any misfires.34
Speculation.--The assertion that Oswald's palmprint appeared on the
rifle is false. The FBI told newsmen in an off-the-record briefing
session that there was no palmprint on the rifle.
Commission finding.--The FBI confirmed that the palmprint lifted by the
Dallas police from the rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas
School Book Depository Building was Oswald's palmprint. The FBI informed
the Commission that no FBI agent made statements of any type to the
press concerning the existence or nonexistence of this print. 35
Speculation.--If Oswald had been gloveless, he would have left
fingerprints on the rifle because he would not have had time to wipe the
prints off the rifle after he had fired it.
Page 647
Commission finding.--An FBI fingerprint expert testified that the poor
quality of the metal and wooden parts would cause them to absorb
moisture from the skin, thereby making a clear print unlikely. There is
no evidence that Oswald wore gloves or that he wiped prints off the
rifle. Latent fingerprints were found on the rifle but they were too
incomplete to be identified.36
Speculation.--Gordon Shanklin, the special agent in charge of the Dallas
office of the FBI, stated that the paraffin test of Oswald's face and
hands was positive and proved that he had fired a rifle.
Commission finding.--The paraffin tests were conducted by members of the
Dallas Police Department and the technical examinations by members of
the Dallas City-County Criminal Investigation Laboratory. The FBI has
notified the Commission that neither Shanklin nor any other
representative of the FBI ever made such a statement. The Commission has
found no evidence that Special Agent Shanklin ever made this statement
publicly. 37
Speculation.--Marina Oswald stated that she did not know that her
husband owned a rifle nor did she know that he owned a pistol.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Marina Oswald ever told
this to any authorities. On the afternoon of November 22, she told the
police that her husband owned a rifle and that he kept it in the garage
of the Paine house in Irving. Later, at Dallas police headquarters, she
said that she could not identify as her husband's the rifle shown her by
policemen. When Marina Oswald appeared before the Commission she was
shown the Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5 rifle found on the sixth floor of the
Depository and identified it as the "fateful rifle of Lee Oswald." 38
Speculation.--The picture of Oswald taken by his wife in March or April
1963 and showing him with a rifle and a pistol was "doctored" when it
appeared in magazines and newspapers in February 1964. The rifle held by
Oswald in these pictures is not the same rifle that was found on the
sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Commission finding.--Life magazine, Newsweek, and the New York Times
notified the Commission that they had retouched this picture. In doing
so, they inadvertently altered details of the configuration of the
rifle. The original prints of this picture have been examined by the
Commission and by photographic experts who have identified the rifle as
a Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5, the same kind as the one found on the sixth
floor of the Texas School Book Depository. FBI experts testified that
the picture was taken with Oswald's camera.39
Speculation.--The rifle picture of Oswald was a composite one with
Oswald's face pasted on somebody else's body.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald has testified that she took this
picture with a camera owned by her husband and subsequently identified
as Oswald's Imperial Reflex camera. She identified the man in the
picture as her husband. Experts also state the picture was not a
composite. 40
647
Page 648
Speculation.--After firing the shots, Oswald could not have disposed of
the rifle and descended the stairs to the lunchroom in time to get a
drink from a soft drink machine and be there when Patrolman Baker came
in.
Commission finding.---A series of time tests made by investigators and
by Roy S. Truly and Patrolman M. L. Baker at the request of the
Commission, show that it was possible for Oswald to have placed the
rifle behind a box and descended to the lunchroom on the second floor
before Patrolman Baker and Truly got up there. Oswald did not have a
soft drink bottle in his hand at the time he was confronted by Baker and
he was not standing by the soft, drink machine. He was just entering the
lunchroom; Baker caught a glimpse of him through the glass panel in the
door leading to the lunchroom vestibule. 41
Speculation.--There were other people present in the lunchroom at the
time that Baker and Truly saw Oswald there.
Commission finding.--Baker and Truly have both stated that there was no
one in the lunchroom other than Oswald at the time that they entered. No
other witness to this incident has been found. 42
Speculation.--Police were sealing off all exits from the building by the
time Oswald got to the second floor.
Commission finding.--Police may have begun to take up positions at the
exits to the building as early as 12:33, but it is unlikely that they
had blocked them off completely until 12:37 p.m. at the earliest. Oswald
was seen in an office, walking toward an exit leading to the front
stairway, at about 12:33 p.m. Oswald probably had at least 7 minutes in
which to get out of the building without being stopped. 43
Oswald's Movements Between 12:33 and 1:15 P.M.
Page 648
OSWALD'S MOVEMENTS BETWEEN 12:33 AND 1:15 P.M.
One of the major theses urged in support of the theory that Oswald did
not murder Patrolman Tippit was that his known movements after he left
the Texas School Book Depository would not have permitted him to have
arrived at 10th Street and Patton Avenue in time to encounter Tippit by
1:16 p.m. Careful reenactments by investigative agencies and by members
of the Commission staff of Oswald's movements from the time he left the
Texas School Book Depository until he encountered Tippit verified that
Oswald could reach his roominghouse at 1026 North Beckley Avenue at
approximately i p.m. or earlier. The housekeeper at the roominghouse
testified that Oswald spent only a few minutes at the house, leaving as
hurriedly as he had arrived. During police interrogation after his
arrest, Oswald admitted to riding both bus and taxi in returning to his
roominghouse after the assassination of the President. From 1026 North
Beckley Avenue, Oswald could easily have walked the nine tenths of a
mile to 10th Street and Patton Avenue where he encountered Tippit.
648
Page 649
Speculation.--A detailed and remarkably dear description of Oswald was
sent over the police radio in Dallas at 12:36 p.m., November 22, 1963.
Commission finding.--The radio logs of the Dallas Police Department and
the Dallas County Sheriff's Office show that no description of a suspect
in the assassination of the President was broadcast before 12 :45 p.m.
on that day. No reference to Oswald by name was broad-east before he was
arrested. The description of the suspect that was broadcast was similar
to that of Oswald, but it lacked some important specific details such as
color of hair and eyes. The information for the initial broadcasts most
probably came from Howard Brennan, who saw Oswald in the window when he
was firing the rifle. 44
Speculation.--Oswald did not have time for all of the movements imputed
to him between his departure from the Texas School Book Depository and
his encounter with Tippit.
Commission finding.--Time tests of all of Oswald's movements establish
that these movements could have been accomplished in the time available
to him. 45
Speculation.--Oswald was stopped by police as he left the building and
was permitted to pass after he told them he worked in the building.
Commission finding.---The Commission has found no witness who saw Oswald
leave the building. This speculation is probably a mis-interpretation of
the fact that he was stopped in the lunchroom by Patrolman Baker before
he left the building and was allowed to proceed after Truly, the
Depository superintendent, identified him as an employee there. Police
did not seal off the building until at least several minutes after
Oswald could have left. 46
Speculation.--The log of the cabdriver who took Oswald to North Beckley
Avenue, William W. Whaley, shows that Oswald entered his cab at 12:30
p.m. Since this occurred at some distance from the point of the
President's assassination, Oswald could not have shot the President.
Commission finding.--Whaley's log does show 12:30 p.m., but he has
testified that he was not accurate in logging the time that passengers
entered his cab, that he usually logged them at 15-minute intervals, and
that it was undoubtedly some time later than 12:30 when Oswald entered
his cab. Sometimes he did not make entries in his logbook until three or
four trips later. The bus transfer in Oswald's possession was issued
after 12:36 p.m. The Commission has determined that Oswald probably
entered Whaley's cab at about 12:47 or 12:48 p.m.47
Speculation.--The distance from the Greyhound terminal in Dallas, where
Oswald entered the cab, to North Beckley Avenue, where he probably left
the cab, is something over 3 miles--normally a 10-minute cab drive.
Given the traffic jam that existed at the time, it is doubtful that
Whaley could have made the trip in less than 15 minutes. One estimate
has placed the time at 24 minutes from the Greyhound terminal to
Oswald's roominghouse.
Commission finding.--The distance from the Greyhound bus terminal at
Jackson and Lamar Streets to the 500 block of North Beckley
649
730-900 0-64---43
Page 650
is 2.5 miles. Oswald actually got out in the 700 block of North
Beck-ley. The distance was, therefore, less than 2.5 miles. Whaley has
testified to the Commission that the trip took 6 minutes. Test runs made
by members of the Commission staff under traffic conditions somewhat
similar to those that existed on November 22, took approximately 5
minutes and 30 seconds. To walk from Beckley and Neely, which is the 700
block of Beckley, where Oswald probably left the cab, to 1026 North
Beckley, took Commission staff members 5 minutes and 45 seconds.48
Speculation--Oswald was on his way to Jack Ruby's apartment when he was
stopped by Patrolman Tippit.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald and Ruby knew each
other or had any relationship through a third party or parties. There is
no evidence that Oswald knew where Ruby lived. Accordingly, there is
neither evidence nor reason to believe that Oswald was on his way to
Ruby's apartment when he was stopped by Tippit.49
Murder of Tippit
Page 650
MURDER OF TIPPIT
Speculations on the murder of Tippit centered about assertions that he
was elsewhere than he was supposed to be when he was shot, that he knew
the man who shot him, and that the description of the murderer given by
one of the eyewitnesses did not fit Oswald's description.
The Commission found that Tippit was unquestionably patrolling in an
area to which he had been directed by police headquarters. There was no
evidence to support the speculation that Tippit and Oswald knew each
other or had ever seen each other before. The description of the
murderer imputed to one of the witnesses was denied by her and had no
support from any other eyewitness.
Speculation.--Tippit was driving alone in his police car even though
standing orders for police in Dallas were that radio cars of the type
Tippit was driving must have two policemen in them.
Commission finding.--Dallas police officials stated that department
policy required about 80 percent of the patrolmen on the day shift, 7
a.m. to 3 p.m., to work alone. Tippit was one of the patrolmen assigned
to work alone that day.50
Speculation.---Tippit was violating an order he had received the day
before not to leave the sector to which he had been assigned. This
sector was supposed to be in downtown Dallas at the time he stopped
Oswald.
Commission finding.--A review of Tippit's file in the Dallas Police
Department and the department's radio log revealed that following the
shooting of the President, Tippit was directed to move into and remain
in the central Oak Cliff area available for any emergency.51
Speculation.--The police had been withdrawn from the area in which
Tippit found Oswald.
650
Page 651
Commission finding.--Other police cars were operating in the Oak Cliff
area at the same time as Tippit. They participated in the subsequent
search for and apprehension of Tippit's slayer.52
Speculation.--Tippit violated a procedure governing radio cars when he
failed to notify headquarters that he was stopping to question a
suspect.
Commission finding.--The Dallas Police Department had no requirement or
regulation for police officers to notify headquarters when stopping to
question a suspect. Therefore, Tippit did not violate any police radio
procedure in failing to notify the radio dispatcher that he was stopping
Oswald.53
Speculation.--Tippit could not have recognized Oswald from the
description sent out over the police radio.
Commission finding.--There is no certain way of knowing whether Tippit
recognized Oswald from the description put out by the police radio. The
Dallas Police Department radio log shows that the police radio
dispatcher at 1:29 p.m. noted a similarity between the broadcast
descriptions of the President's assassin and Tippit's slayer. It is
conceivable, even probable, that Tippit stopped Oswald because of the
description broadcast by the police radio.54
Speculation.--Tippit and his killer knew each other.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed no evidence that Oswald
and Tippit were acquainted, had ever seen each other, or had any mutual
acquaintances. Witnesses to the shooting observed no signs of
recognition between the two men.55
Speculation.--Mrs. Helen Markham, a witness to the slaying of Tippit,
put the time at just after 1:06 p.m. This would have made it impossible
for Oswald to have committed the killing since he would not have had
time to arrive at the shooting scene by that time.
Commission finding.--The shooting of Tippit has been established at
approximately 1:15 or 1:16 p.m. on the basis of a call to police
headquarters on Tippit's car radio by another witness to the
assassination, Domingo Benavides. In her various statements and in her
testimony, Mrs. Markham was uncertain and inconsistent in her
recollection of the exact time of the slaying.56
Speculation.--Mrs. Helen Markham is the only witness to the killing of
Tippit.
Commission finding.--Other witnesses to the killing of Tippit include
Domingo Benavides, who used Tippit's car radio to notify the police
dispatcher of the killing at 1:16 p.m., and William Scoggins, a
cabdriver parked at the corner of 10th Street and Patton Avenue. Barbara
Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis saw a man with a pistol in his hand
walk across their lawn immediately after they heard the sound of the
shots that. killed Tippit. The man emptied the shells from his pistol
and turned the corner from 10th Street onto Patton Avenue. All of these
witnesses, except Benavides, subsequently picked Oswald out of a lineup
as the slayer. Benavides did not feel that he could make a positive
identification and never attended a lineup for the purpose.57
651
Page 652
Speculation.--Mrs. Markham said that the man she saw shooting Tippit was
about 30, short, with bushy hair, and wearing a white coat. Since Oswald
does not fit this description he could not be the killer.
Commission finding.--In evaluating Helen Markham's testimony the
Commission is aware of allegations that she described the killer of
Patrolman Tippit as short, stocky, and with bushy hair,-which would not
be a correct description of Oswald. It has also been alleged that Mrs.
Markham identified Oswald in the lineup because of his clothing rather
than his appearance. When Oswald appeared in the lineup at which Mrs.
Markham was present, he was not wearing the jacket which he wore at the
time of the shooting, and Mrs. Markham has testified that her
identification was based "mostly from his face." 58 Moreover, Mrs.
Markham has denied that she ever described the man who killed Tippit as
short, stocky, and with bushy hair. The Commission reviewed the
transcript of a telephone conversation in which Mrs. Markham was alleged
to have made such a description. In the transcription Mrs. Markham
reaffirmed her positive identification of Oswald and denied having
described the killer as short, stocky, and bushy haired.59
Speculation.--Another witness to the slaying of Patrolman Tippit, an
unidentified woman, was interviewed by the FBI but was never called as a
witness by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President
Kennedy. This witness is alleged to have stated that she saw two men
involved in the shooting and that they ran off in opposite directions
afterward.
Commission finding.--The only woman among the witnesses to the slaying
of Tippit known to the Commission is Helen Markham. The FBI never
interviewed any other woman who claimed to have seen the shooting and
never received any information concerning the existence of such a
witness. Two women, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis is, saw
the killer immediately after the shooting as he crossed the lawn at the
corner of Patton Avenue and 10th Street, but they did not witness the
shooting itself. They were both inter viewed by the FBI and appeared
before the Commission. The Commission has no evidence that there was any
witness to the slaying other than those identified in chapter IV.60
Speculation.--No witness saw Oswald between the time he was supposed to
have reloaded his gun near the scene of the slaying and his appearance
at the shoestore on Jefferson Boulevard.
Commission finding.--Six witnesses identified Oswald as the man they saw
in flight after the murder of Tippit. The killer was seen, gun in hand,
by Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard in the block of Patton Avenue between
10th Street and Jefferson Boulevard after the shooting of Tippit. They
saw him run to Jefferson and turn right. On the evening of November 22,
Callaway and Guinyard picked Oswald out of a police lineup as the man
they saw with the gun. Two other men, Warren Reynolds and Pat Patterson,
saw a man with a pistol in his hand running south on Patton Avenue. They
followed him for a block on Jefferson Boulevard and then lost sight
652
Page 653
of him. Both men subsequently identified pictures of Oswald as the man
they saw with the gun. Harold Russell also saw a man with a gun running
south on Patton Avenue and later identified him from pictures as Oswald.
Mrs. Mary Brock saw a man she later identified as Oswald walk at a fast
pace into the parking lot behind the service station at the corner of
Jefferson and Crawford, where Oswald's jacket was found shortly after.61
Speculation.--When Oswald left his roominghouse at about 1 p.m. on
November 22 he had on a zipper- type tan plaid jacket.
Commission finding.--The jacket that Oswald was wearing at the time of
the slaying of Tippit was a light- gray jacket. According to Marina
Oswald, her husband owned only two jackets--one blue and the other light
gray. The housekeeper at 1026 North Beckley Avenue, Mrs. Earlene
Roberts, was not certain about the color of the jacket that Oswald was
wearing when he left the house.62
Speculation.--Oswald wore an olive-brown plain jacket which is visible
in all the pictures of him after his arrest.
Commission finding.--At the time of his arrest, Oswald was not wearing a
jacket. The jacket that was subsequently recovered in a parking lot and
identified as Oswald's was a light-gray one. There are no witnesses who
have stated that Oswald was wearing an olive-brown jacket immediately
before or after his arrest. The Commission has seen no pictures of
Oswald taken subsequent to his arrest that show him in such a jacket.
Pictures taken shortly after his arrest show him in the shirt that Mrs.
Bledsoe described him as wearing when she saw him on the bus at
approximately 1:40 p.m.63
Speculation.--Oswald's landlady, Mrs. A. C. Johnson, said that Oswald
never had a gun in the room.
Commission finding.--In her testimony before the Commission, Mrs.
Johnson said that he "never brought that rifle in my house. * * * He
could have had this pistol, I don't know, because they found the
scabbard." 64 As shown in chapter IV, Oswald kept his rifle in the Paine
garage in Irving while he was living in Dallas during October and
November. The pistol was small and easily concealed.65
Speculation.--There was absolutely no place to hide a gun in Oswald's
room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue.
Commission finding.--In the search of Oswald's room after his
apprehension police found a pistol holster. Oswald's landlady, Mrs. A.
C. Johnson, stated that she had not seen the holster before. There is no
reason to believe that Oswald could not have had both a pistol and the
holster hidden in the room. Oswald's pistol was a small one with the
barrel cut down to 2.25 inches. It could have been concealed in a pocket
of his clothes.66
Speculation.--Oswald did not pick up the revolver from his room at 1
p.m.
Commission finding.--There is reason to believe that Oswald did pick up
the revolver from his room, probably concealing it beneath his jacket.
This likelihood is reinforced by the finding of the pistol holster in
the room after the assassination, since this indicates that
653
Page 654
Oswald did not store the pistol at the home of Mrs. Paine where he spent
the night before the assassination.67
Speculation--No one saw Oswald enter the Texas Theatre. Commission
finding.--A nearby shoe store manager, Johnny C. Brewer, and the theatre
cashier, Julia Postal, saw Oswald enter the lobby of the theatre from
where he went on into the theatre proper.68
Speculation.--Not a single one of the people in the Texas Theatre at the
time of Oswald's arrest has come forward or been brought forward to give
an eyewitness account of the arrest.
Commission finding.--Johnny C. Brewer, the shoe store manager, and two
patrons of the theatre--John Gibson and George Jefferson Applin,
Jr.--were present in the theatre and testified before the Commission on
the circumstances of Oswald's arrest at the Texas Theatre. Only 6 or 7
people were seated on the main floor of the theatre.69
Speculation.--There is no independent witness aside from the police who
testified that Oswald was carrying a gun when arrested by the police.
Commission finding.--Johnny Brewer testified before the Commission that
he saw Oswald pull a gun and that he saw it taken away from him by a
policeman.70
Oswald After His Arrest
Page 654
OSWALD AFTER HIS ARREST
The Commission found that assertions that the Dallas police treated
Oswald brutally and denied him his constitutional rights to legal
counsel had no foundation in fact. Insinuations that Dallas police
officials and District Attorney Henry M. Wade fabricated or altered
evidence to establish the guilt of Oswald were baseless. It is true that
police officials and the district attorney made errors in giving
evidential information to the press, but these were dearly the result of
misapprehensions or ignorance rather than intent, and at the worst
represent bad judgment. At least one imputed fabrication of fact,
further embellished by repetition, never really occurred. Sinister
connotations were evoked by the attribution to the district attorney of
the statement that a taxicab driver named Darryl Click drove Oswald from
downtown Dallas to the area of his roominghouse in Oak Cliff. It has
been correctly ascertained that no such taxicab driver existed in
Dallas. On the other hand, the district attorney, who was quoted in a
newspaper transcript as making the statement, never made the statement
nor did any one else. Audio tapes of the district attorney's press
conference make clear that the person who transcribed the conference
rendered a reference to the "Oak Cliff" area of Dallas as a person,
"Darryl Click". This error in transcription is the sole source for the
existence of a "Darryl Click" as a taxicab driver.
Speculation.--Oswald was the victim of police brutality.
Commission finding.--Oswald resisted arrest in the Texas Theatre and
drew a gun. He received a slight cut over his right eye and a
654
Page 655
bruise under his left eye in the course of his struggles. During the
time he was in police custody, he was neither ill-treated nor abused.71
Speculation.--Oswald was never formally charged with the assassination
of the President; he was charged only with the shooting of Patrolman J.
D. Tippit.
Commission finding.--Oswald was arraigned for the murder of President
Kennedy before Justice of the Peace David Johnston on the fourth floor
of the Police Department building at 1:35 a.m., November 23. Previously,
he had been arraigned before Johnston for the murder of Tippit at 7:10
p. m., November 22.72
Speculation.--The police questioned Oswald extensively about the Tippit
murder on the first day of his detention. They did not question him
about the assassination of President Kennedy.
Commission finding.--Dallas police officials stated that they questioned
Oswald repeatedly on November 22 about the assassination of President
Kennedy and his relationship to it. At the first interrogation, Captain
Fritz asked Oswald to account for himself at the time the President was
shot. FBI agents who were present also stated that he was questioned
about the assassination of the President.73
Speculation.--Oswald's attempts to get legal counsel were deliberately
thwarted by the police and he was cut off from outside calls that would
have permitted him to obtain a lawyer.
Commission finding.--On November 23, Oswald was visited by the president
of the Dallas Bar Association, H. Louis Nichols, who offered him help in
getting a lawyer; Oswald refused the offer. Oswald was told by the
police that he could use the telephone when he wished, and he did make
telephone calls. He attempted to call attorney John Abt in New York but
was unsuccessful in reaching him. Mrs. Paine testified that at Oswald's
request she tried without success to reach Abt. Oswald was also visited
by his wife, mother, and brother, to any of whom he could have turned
for help in getting counsel.74
Oswald in the Soviet Union
Page 655
OSWALD IN THE SOVIET UNION
Oswald's residence in the Soviet Union for more than 2.5 years aroused
speculation after his arrest that he was an agent of the Soviet Union or
in some way affiliated with it. This speculation was supported by
assertions that he had received exceptionally favored treatment from the
Soviet Government in securing permission to enter and leave the country,
especially the latter, because his Russian wife and child were permitted
to leave with him. The careful analysis of these speculations in chapter
VI of this report led to the Commission's conclusion that there is no
credible evidence that Oswald was an agent of the Soviet Government and
that he did not receive unusually favorable treatment in entering or
leaving the Soviet Union or in returning to the United States.
655
Page 656
Speculation.--A young private in the Marine Corps in the 1950's could
not study Marxism, learn Russian, and read Soviet newspapers without any
adverse repercussions in his unit.
Commission finding.---Although Oswald's interest in the Soviet Union was
well known, his interest in Marxism was apparently known to only a few
of his fellow marines. While stationed in California. he studied
Russian. In February 1959, while still in the Marines, he took an
official test on his proficiency in Russian and was rated "Poor." In
California at about this time he probably read a Russian-language
newspaper. The reactions of his fellow Marines who were aware of his
interests in Marxism and the Soviet Union were apparently not
antagonistic and did not deter him from pursuing these interests.75
Speculation.--Oswald learned Russian during his service in the Marines
as part of his military training.
Commission finding.--Oswald never received any training from the Marine
Corps in the Russian language. His studies of Russian were entirely on
his own time and at his own initiative.76
Speculation.--Oswald could not have saved $1,600 from his Marine pay for
his trip to Russia in 1959.
Commission finding.--In November 1959, Oswald told an American reporter
in Moscow, Aline Mosby, that he had saved $1,500 (not $1,-600) while in
the Marines. It is entirely consistent with Oswald's known frugality
that he could have saved the money from the $3,452.20 in pay he received
while he was in the Marines. Moreover, despite his statement to Aline
Mosby, he may not actually have saved $1,500, for it was possible for
him to have made the trip to Russia in 1959 for considerably less than
that amount.77
Speculation.--It is probable that Oswald had prior contacts with Soviet
agents before he entered Russia in 1959 because his application for a
visa was processed and approved immediately on receipt.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald was in touch with
Soviet agents before his visit to Russia. The time that it took for him
to receive his visa in Helsinki for entrance to the Soviet Union was
shorter than the average but not beyond the normal range for the
granting of such visas. Had Oswald been recruited as a Russian agent
while he was still in the Marines, it is most improbable that he would
have been encouraged to defect. He would have been of greater value to
Russian intelligence as a Marine radar operator than as a defector.78
Speculation.--Soviet suspicion of Oswald is indicated by the fact that
he was sent off to work in a radio plant in Minsk as an unskilled hand
at the lowest rate of pay although he qualified as a trained radar and
electronics technician.
Commission finding.--The Soviet Government probably was suspicious of
Oswald, as it would be of any American who appeared in Moscow and said
he wanted to live in the Soviet Union. Under the circumstances it is to
be expected that he would be placed in a position that would not involve
national security. Moreover, Oswald had been a radar operator, not a
technician, in the Marines. His total income in Russia was higher than
normal because his pay was sup-
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Page 657
plemented for about a year by payments from the Soviet "Red Cross," an
official agency of the Soviet Government. Oswald believed that these
payments really came from the MVD. It is a policy of the Soviet
Government to subsidize defectors from Western nations who settle in the
Soviet Union, in order that their standard of living may not be too much
lower than their previous standard in their own country.79
Speculation.--Oswald was trained by the Russians in a special school for
assassins at Minsk.
Commission finding.--Commission investigations revealed no evidence to
support this claim or the existence of such a school in Minsk during the
time Oswald was there. Oswald belonged to a hunting club near Minsk, but
there is no evidence that this was other than an ordinary hunting
club.80
Speculation.--Marina Oswald's father was an important part of the Soviet
intelligence apparatus.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald's father died while she was still an
infant. This reference is presumably to her uncle, Ilya Prusakov, who
was an executive in the lumber industry, which position carried with it
the rank of lieutenant colonel or colonel in the Ministry of Internal
Affairs (MVD). Since 1953 the MVD has not been concerned with internal
security or other police functions.81
Speculation.--It was most exceptional that Oswald was able to bring his
wife and child out of the Soviet Union with him.
Commission finding .--There is no reason to believe that the Oswalds
received unusually favorable treatment in being permitted or assisted to
leave the Soviet Union together. Other American citizens have brought
their Russian wives out of the Soviet Union, both before and after
Oswald.82
Speculation.--Oswald never would have been permitted to return to the
United States if Soviet intelligence had not planned to use him in some
way against the United States.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that Oswald had any working
relationship with the Soviet Government or Soviet intelligence. The
Russians have permitted other American defectors to return to the United
States.83
Speculation.--Since the exit visa for Marina Oswald was granted so
promptly the Soviet authorities must have wanted Marina to accompany her
husband.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald's exit visa application was not acted
upon with unusual rapidity. It took at least 5.5 months from the time
the Oswalds applied until they were notified of permission in December
1961. There have been many instances where visas were granted more
quickly to other Soviet wives of American citizens.84
Speculation.--Soviet authorities gave Oswald notice a month and a half
in advance that they had granted him an exit visa, an unprecedented act
for the Soviet Government.
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Page 658
Commission finding.--The Oswalds were notified on December 25, 1961,
that their requests for exit visas had been granted by Soviet
authorities. Marina Oswald picked up her visa, valid until December 1,
1962, on January 11, 1962, 17 days after receiving notice that it was
available. Oswald did not pick up his visa until May 22. The Soviets did
not give the Oswalds any advance notice; the visas could have been
picked up immediately had the Oswalds so desired. Because his exit visa
had a 45-day expiration time after date of issuance, Lee Oswald delayed
picking it up until he knew when he was leaving. He could not arrange a
departure date until he received permission from the Department of State
in May to return to the United States.85
Oswald's Trip to Mexico City
Page 658
OSWALD'S TRIP TO MEXICO CITY
Oswald's trip to Mexico City in late September and early October 1963,
less than 2 months before he assassinated President Kennedy, has
provoked speculation that it was related in some way to a conspiracy to
murder the President. Rumors include assertions that he made a
clandestine flight from Mexico to Cuba and back and that he received a
large sum of money--usually estimated at $5,000--which he brought back
to Dallas with him. The Commission has no credible evidence that Oswald
went to Mexico pursuant to a plan to assassinate President Kennedy, that
he received any instructions related to such an action while there, or
that he received large sums of money from any source in Mexico.
Speculation.--Oswald could not have received an American passport in
June 1963 within 24 hours without special intervention on his behalf.
Commission finding.--Oswald's passport application was processed
routinely by the Department of State. No person or agency intervened
specially on his behalf to speed the issuance of the passport. The
passports of 24 other persons, on the same list sent to Washington from
New Orleans, were authorized at the same time. The Passport Office of
the Department of State had no instructions to delay issuance of or to
deny a passport to Oswald.86
Speculation.--The Walter-McCarran Act specifically requires anyone who
has attempted to renounce his U.S. citizenship to file an affidavit
stating why he should receive a U.S. passport. Therefore, Oswald should
have been required to file such an affidavit before receiving his
passport in June 1963.
Commission finding.--The Internal Security Act of 1950 (Walter-McCarran
Act) contains no reference to an affidavit being required of a U.S.
citizen who has attempted to expatriate himself.87
Speculation.--Oswald did not have money for his trip to Mexico in
September 1963.
Commission finding.--An analysis of Oswald's finances by the Commission
indicates that he had sufficient money to make the trip to and from
Mexico City. There is no evidence that he received any
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Page 659
assistance in financing his trip to Mexico. The total cost of his 7-day
trip has been reliably estimated at less than $85. 88
Speculation.--Oswald was accompanied on his trip to Mexico City by a man
and two women.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed that Oswald traveled
alone on the bus. Fellow passengers on the bus between Houston and
Mexico City have stated that he appeared to be traveling alone and that
they had not previously known him.89
Speculation.--While in Mexico, Oswald made a clandestine flight to
Havana and back.
Commission finding.--The Commission has found no evidence that Oswald
made any flight to Cuba while he was in Mexico. He never received
permission from the Cuban Government to enter Cuba nor from the Mexican
Government to leave Mexico bound for Cuba. A confidential check of the
Cuban airline in Mexico City indicates that Oswald never appeared at its
office there.90
Speculation.--Oswald came back from Mexico City with $5,000.
Commission finding.--No evidence has ever been supplied or obtained to
support this allegation. Oswald's actions in Mexico City and after his
return to Dallas lend no support to this speculation.91
Speculation.--On November 27, 1963, in a speech at the University of
Havana, Fidel Castro, under the influence of liquor, said "The first
time that Oswald was in Cuba * * *" Castro therefore had knowledge that
Oswald had made surreptitious visits to Cuba.
Commission finding.--Castro's speeches are monitored directly by the
U.S. Information Agency as he delivers them. A tape of this speech
reveals that it did not contain the alleged slip of the tongue. Castro
did refer to Oswald's visit to the "Cuban Embassy" in Mexico which he
immediately corrected to "Cuban consulate." The Commission has found no
evidence that Oswald had made surreptitious visits to Cuba.92
Oswald and U.S. Government Agencies
Page 659
OSWALD AND U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
Rumors and speculations that Oswald was in some way associated with or
used by agencies of the U.S. Government grew out of his Russian period
and his investigation by the FBI after his return to the United States.
Insinuations were made that Oswald had been a CIA agent or had some
relationship with the CIA and that this explained the supposed ease with
which he received passports and visas. Speculation that he had some
working relationship with the FBI was based on an entry in Oswald's
notebook giving the name and telephone number of an agent from the FBI
office in Dallas. The Directors of the CIA and the FBI have testified
before the Commission that Oswald was never in the employ of their
agencies in any capacity. The Commission has concluded on the basis of
its own investigations of the files of Federal agencies that Oswald was
not and had never been an agent of any agency of the U.S. Government
(aside
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Page 660
from his service in the Marines) and was not and had never been used by
any U.S. Government agency for any purpose. The FBI was interested in
him as a former defector and it maintained a file on him.
Speculation.--Oswald was an informant of either the FBI or the CIA. He
was recruited by an agency of the U.S. Government and sent to Russia in
1959.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Marguerite Oswald frequently expressed the
opinion that her son was such an agent, but she stated before the
Commission that "I cannot prove Lee is an agent." 93 The Directors of
the CIA and of the FBI testified before the Commission that Oswald was
never employed by either agency or used by either agency in any
capacity. Investigation by the Commission has revealed no evidence that
Oswald was ever employed by either the FBI or CIA in any capacity.94
Speculation.--Oswald told Pauline Bates, a public stenographer in Fort
Worth, Tex., in June 1962, that he had become a "secret agent" of the
U.S. Government and that he was soon going back to Russia "for
Washington."
Commission finding.--Miss Bates denied a newspaper story reporting that
Oswald had told her that he was working for the U.S. Department of
State. She stated that she had assumed incorrectly that he was working
with the Department of State when he told her that the State Department
had told him in 1959 that he would be on his own while in the Soviet
Union.95
Speculation.--The FBI tried to recruit Oswald. An FBI agent's name,
telephone number, and automobile license number were found among
Oswald's papers.
Commission finding.--FBI officials have testified that they had never
tried to recruit Oswald to act on behalf of the FBI in any capacity. The
Commission's investigation corroborates this testimony. An FBI agent,
James P. Hosty, Jr., had given his name and telephone number to Mrs.
Ruth Paine so that she could call and give him Oswald's address in
Dallas when she learned it. Mrs. Paine and Marina Oswald have stated
that Mrs. Paine gave Oswald a slip of paper with the agent's name and
telephone number on it. Marina Oswald had taken down the license number
of Hosty's car on one of his visits and given it to her husband.96
Speculation.--Dallas police must have known where Oswald was living in
the city because Mrs. Paine had given the address of Oswald's room on
North Beckley Avenue to the FBI some time before the assassination.
Commission finding.--Mrs. Paine had never given the address of Oswald's
roominghouse to the FBI, nor had she known the address prior to the
assassination. Therefore, the Dallas police could not have learned the
address from the FBI which did not know the address before the
assassination. The Dallas Police did not know that Oswald was in the
city before the assassination.97
Speculation.--It has been FBI policy for 20 years to inform employers of
Communists or suspected Communists employed by them.
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Page 661
It is a mystery, therefore, how Oswald retained his job at the Texas
School Book Depository.
Commission finding.--The FBI advised the Commission that it has never
been its policy to inform employers that they have Communists or
suspected Communists working for them and that the FBI does not
disseminate internal security information to anyone outside the
executive branch of the U.S. Government. FBI agents had no contacts with
Texas School Book Depository officials until after the assassination.98
Speculation.--Municipal and Federal police had observed Oswald closely
for some time but had not regarded him as a potential killer.
Commission finding.--The Dallas police had not been aware of Oswald's
presence in the city before the assassination. The FBI knew the Oswald
was in Dallas from an interview with Mrs. Paine, but no FBI agents had
interviewed him there before the assassination. The FBI had not regarded
him as a potential killer.99
Speculation.--The FBI probably knew that Oswald had the rifle before the
President's murder because it was most unlikely that it could have
traced the ownership of the rifle within 1 day if it had not already had
information on the rifle.
Commission finding.--The FBI successfully traced the purchase of the
rifle by Oswald within 24 hours of the assassination. It had had no
previous information about the rifle.100
Speculation.--The FBI interviewed Oswald 10 days before the
assassination.
Commission finding.--The last FBI interview with Oswald, before the
assassination, took place in New Orleans in August 1963, when he asked
to see an FBI agent after his arrest by police for disturbing the peace,
the outcome of his distribution of Fair Play for Cuba handbills. Neither
Special Agent Hosty nor any other FBI agent saw or talked with Oswald
between his return to Dallas, on October 3, and November 22. Hosty did
interview Mrs. Paine at her home about Oswald on November 1 and 5, 1963.
He also saw Marina Oswald briefly on November 1 at Mrs. Paine's house,
but he did. not interview her.101.
Conspiratorial Relationships
Page 661
CONSPIRATORIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Rumors concerning accomplices and plots linked Oswald and Ruby with each
other, or with others, including Patrolman J. D. Tippit, Gen. Edwin A.
Walker, and Bernard Weissman of the nonexistent American Factfinding
Committee, in a conspiratorial relationship. The Commission made
intensive inquiry into the backgrounds and relationships of Oswald and
Ruby to determine whether they knew each other or were involved in a
plot of any kind with each other or others. It was unable to find any
credible evidence to support the rumors linking Oswald and Ruby directly
or through others. The Commission concluded that they were not involved
in a conspiratorial relationship with each other or with any third
parties.
661
Page 662
Speculation.---Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Patrolman J. D. Tippit
lived within a few blocks of each other.
Commission finding.--Oswald's room was 1.3 miles from Ruby's apartment
and Tippit lived 7 miles away from Ruby. Tippit's residence was about 7
miles from Oswald's room.102
Speculation.--Since Oswald did not have the money to repay the $435.61
he had received from the Department of State to cover part of the
expenses of his return from Russia, he must have received help from some
other source. Ruby lent Oswald money to pay back the loan and lent him
small amounts of money thereafter.
Commission finding.--The Commission has no credible evidence that Oswald
received any money from Ruby or anyone else to repay his State
Department loan, nor that he received small amounts of money from Ruby
at any time. An exhaustive analysis of Oswald's income and expenditures,
made for the Commission by an Internal Revenue Service expert, reveals
that Oswald had sufficient funds to make the State Department repayments
from his earnings.103
Speculation.--Just before Oswald was shot by Ruby, he looked directly at
Ruby in apparent recognition of him.
Commission finding.--The Commission has been unable to establish as a
fact any kind of relationship between Ruby and Oswald other than that
Oswald was Ruby's victim. The Commission has examined television tapes
and motion picture films of the shooting and has been unable to discern
any facial expression that could be interpreted to signify recognition
of Ruby or anyone else in the basement of the building.104
Speculation.--The Dallas police suspected Oswald and Ruby of being
involved in an attack on General Walker and planned to arrest the two
when the FBI intervened, at the request of Attorney General Robert F.
Kennedy, and asked the police not to do so for reasons of state.
Commission finding.--This allegation appeared in the November 29, 1963,
issue (actually printed on November 25 or 26) of a German weekly
newspaper, Deutsche National Zeiting und Soldaten Zeitung, published in
Munich. The allegation later appeared in the National Enquirer of May
17, 1964. The Commission has been reliably informed that the statement
was fabricated by an editor of the newspaper. No evidence in support of
this statement has ever been advanced or uncovered. In their
investigation of the attack on General Walker, the Dallas police
uncovered no suspects and planned no arrests. The FBI had no knowledge
that Oswald was responsible for the attack until Marina Oswald revealed
the information on December 3, 1963.105
Speculation.--Ruby and Oswald were seen together at the Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--All assertions that Oswald was seen in the company
of Ruby or of anyone else at the Carousel Club have been investigated.
None of them merits any credence.106
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Page 663
Speculation.--Oswald and General Walker were probably acquainted with
each other since Oswald's notebook contained Walker's name and telephone
number.
Commission finding.--Although Oswald's notebook contained Walker's name
and telephone number there was no evidence that the two knew each other.
It is probable that this information was inserted at the time that
Oswald was planning his attack on Walker. General Walker stated that he
did not know of Oswald before the assassination.107
Speculation.--Patrolman J. D. Tippit, Bernard Weissman, and Jack Ruby
met by prearrangement on November 14, 1963, at the Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--Investigation has revealed no evidence to support
this assertion. Nor is there credible evidence that any of the three men
knew each other.108
Speculation.--Ruby's sister, Mrs. Eva Grant, said that Ruby and Tippit
were "like two brothers."
Commission finding.--Mrs. Grant has denied ever making this state-merit
or any statement like it, saying it was untrue and without foundation.
Ruby was acquainted with another Dallas policeman named Tippit, but this
was O. M. Tippit of the special services bureau of the department, not
the Tippit who was killed.109
Speculation.--Jack Ruby was one of the most notorious of Dallas
gangsters.
Commission finding.--There is no credible evidence that Jack Ruby was
active in the criminal underworld. Investigation disclosed no one in
either Chicago or Dallas who had any knowledge that Ruby was associated
with organized criminal activity.110
Speculation.--The shooting in Dallas on January 23, 1964, of Warren A.
Reynolds, who witnessed the flight of Patrolman Tippit's slayer on
November 22 and followed him for a short distance, may have been
connected in some way with the assassination of President Kennedy and
the slaying of Patrolman Tippit. A man arrested for the attempt on
Reynolds, Darrell Wayne Garner, was released as a result, in part, of
testimony by Betty (Nancy Jane Mooney) MacDonald, who had allegedly
worked at one time as a stripper at Jack Ruby's Carousel Club.
Commission finding.--This rumor, originally publicized by a newspaper
columnist on February 23, 1964, was apparently based on the alleged
connection between Betty MacDonald and the Carousel Club. Investigation
revealed no evidence that she had ever worked at the Carousel Club.
Employees of the club had no recollection that she bad ever worked
there. Betty MacDonald was arrested and charged with disturbing the
peace on February 13, 1964. After being placed in a cell at the Dallas
city jail, she hanged herself. The Commission has found no evidence that
the shooting of Warren Reynolds was in any way related to the
assassination of President Kennedy or the murder of Patrolman Tippit.111
663
Other Rumors and Speculations
Page 664
OTHER RUMORS AND SPECULATIONS
Many rumors and speculations difficult to place in the categories
treated above also required consideration or investigation by the
Commission. In some way or other, much of this miscellany was related to
theories of conspiracy involving Oswald. The rest pertained to
peripheral aspects that were of sufficient import to merit attention.
The Commission's findings are set forth below.
Speculation.--Oswald was responsible in some way for the death of Marine
Pvt. Martin D. Schrand.
Commission finding.--This rumor was mentioned by at least one of
Oswald's fellow Marines. Private Schrand was fatally wounded by a
discharge from a riot-type shotgun while he was on guard duty on January
5, 1958, near the carrier pier, U.S. Naval Air Station, Cubi Point,
Republic of the Philippines. The official Marine investigation in 1958
found that Schrand's death was the result of an accidental discharge of
his gun and that no other person or persons were involved in the
incident. The rumor that Oswald was involved in Schrand's death in some
way may have had its origin in two circumstances: (1) Oswald was
stationed at Cubi Point at the time of Schrand's death; (2) on October
27, 1957, while stationed in Japan, Oswald accidentally shot himself in
the left elbow with a .22 derringer that he owned. the Commission has
found no evidence that Oswald had any connection with the fatal shooting
of Private Schrand.112
Speculation.--The Texas School Book Depository is owned and operated by
the city of Dallas, and Oswald was therefore a municipal employee.
Accordingly, he could have secured his job. at the Depository only if
someone in an official capacity vouched for him.
Commission finding.--The Texas School Book Depository is a private
corporation unconnected with the city of Dallas. Oswald therefore was
not a municipal employee. He obtained his position at the Depository
with the assistance of Mrs. Ruth Paine, who learned of a possible
opening from a neighbor and arranged an interview for him with
Superintendent Roy S. Truly at the Depository.113
Speculation.--Prior to the assassination Dallas police searched other
buildings in the area of the Texas School Book Depository but not the
School Book Depository itself.
Commission finding--The Dallas police and the Secret Service both
notified the Commission that, other than the Trade Mart, they had
searched no buildings along the route of the President's motorcade or
elsewhere in Dallas in connection with the President's visit. It was not
Secret Service practice to search buildings along the routes of
motorcades.114
Speculation.--Sheriff E. J. Decker of Dallas County came on the police
radio at 12:25 p.m. with orders to calm trouble at the Texas School Book
Depository.
Commission finding.--The final edition of the Dallas Times-Herald of
November 22 (p. 1, col. 1) reported that "Sheriff Decker came on the air
at 12:25 p.m." and stated: "'I don't know what's happened. Take
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Page 665
every available man from the jail and the office and go to the railroad
yards off Elm near the triple underpass?" The article in the
Times-Herald did not mention the time that the President was shot. The
radio log of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office shows that Sheriff
Decker came on the air at 40 seconds after 12:30 p.m. and stated: "Stand
by me. All units and officers vicinity of station report to the railroad
track area, just north of Elm- -Report to the railroad track area, just
north of Elm." The radio log does not show any messages by Sheriff
Decker between 12:20 p.m. and 40 seconds after 12:30 p.m.115
Speculation.--Police precautions in Dallas on November 22 included
surveillance of many people, among them some who did no more than speak
in favor of school integration.
Commission finding.--The Dallas Police Department notified the
Commission that on November 22 it had no one raider surveillance as a
precaution in connection with President Kennedy's visit except at the
Trade Mart.. The Commission received no evidence that the Dallas police
had under surveillance people who spoke in favor of school
integration.116
Speculation.--Oswald was seen at shooting ranges in the Dallas area
practicing firing with a rifle.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald stated that on one occasion in March
or April 1963, her husband told her that he was going to practice firing
with the rifle. Witnesses have testified that they saw Oswald at
shooting ranges in the Dallas area during October and November 1963.
Investigation has failed to confirm that the man seen by these witnesses
was Oswald.117
Speculation.--Oswald could drive a car and was seen in cars at various
places.
Commission finding.--Oswald did not have a driver's license. Marina
Oswald and Ruth Paine have testified that he could not drive a car, and
there is no confirmed evidence to establish his presence at any location
as the driver of a car. Mrs. Paine did give Oswald some driving lessons
and he did drive short distances on these occasions.118
Speculation.--Oswald received money by Western Union telegraph from time
to time for several months before the assassination of President
Kennedy.
Commission finding.--An employee in the Western Union main office in
Dallas, C. A. Hamblen, made statements that he remembered seeing Oswald
there on some occasions collecting money that had been tele graphed to
him. In his testimony before the Commission, Hamblen was unable to state
whether or not the person he had seen was Lee Harvey Oswald. Western
Union officials searched their records in Dallas and other cities for
the period from June through November 1963 but found no money orders
payable to Lee Oswald or to tiny of his known aliases. A Western Union
official concluded that the allegation was "a figment of Mr. Hamblen's
imagination." 119 The Commission has found no evidence to contradict
this conclusion.120
730-900 0-64--44
665
Page 666
Speculation.--On his way back from Mexico City in October 1963, Oswald
stopped in Alice, Tex., to apply for a job at the local radio station.
Commission finding.--This rumor apparently originated with the manager
of radio station KOPY, Alice, who stated that Oswald visited his office
on the afternoon of October 4 for about 25 minutes. According to the
manager, Oswald was driving a battered 1953 model car and had his wife
and a small child in the car with him. Oswald traveled from Mexico City
to Dallas by bus, arriving in Dallas on the afternoon of October 3. The
bus did not pass through Alice. On October 4, Oswald applied for two
jobs in Dallas and then spent the afternoon and night with his wife and
child at the Paine residence in Irving. Investigation has revealed that
Oswald did not own a car and there is no convincing evidence that he
could drive a car. Accordingly, Oswald could not have been in Alice on
October 4. There is no evidence that he stopped in Alice to look for a
job on any occasion.121
Speculation.--Oswald or accomplices had made arrangements for his
getaway by airplane from an airfield in the Dallas area.
Commission finding.--Investigation of such claims revealed that they had
not the slightest substance. The Commission found no evidence that
Oswald had any prearranged plan for escape after the assassination.122
Speculation.--One hundred and fifty dollars was found in the dresser of
Oswald's room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue after the assassination.
Commission finding.--No money was found in Oswald's room after the
assassination. Oswald left $170 in the room occupied by his wife at the
Paine residence in Irving. At the time of Iris arrest Oswald had $13.87
on his person.123
Speculation.-- After Oswald's arrest, the police found in his room seven
metal file boxes filled with the names of Castro sympathizers.
Commission finding.--The Dallas police inventories of Oswald's property
taken from his room at 1026 North Beckley Avenue do not include any file
boxes. A number of small file boxes listed in the inventory as having
been taken from the Paine residence in Irving contained letters,
pictures, books and literature, most of which belonged to Ruth Paine,
not to Oswald. No lists of names of Castro sympathizers were found among
these effects.124
Speculation.--Oswald's letters vary so greatly in quality (spelling,
grammar, sentence structure) that he must have had help in preparing the
better constructed letters or someone else wrote them for him.
Commission finding.--There is no evidence that anyone in the United
States helped Oswald with his better written letters or that anyone else
wrote his letters for him. His wife stated that he would write many
drafts of his more important letters. His mother indicated that he would
work hard over the drafts of some of his letters. It is clear that he
did take greater pains with some of his letters than with others and
that the contrasts in quality were accordingly substantial.
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Page 667
It is also clear that even his better written letters contained some
distinctive elements of spelling, grammar, and punctuation that were
common to his poorer efforts. Oswald wrote in his diary that he received
help from his Intourist Guide, Rima Shirokova, in the preparation of his
letter of October 16, 1959, to the Supreme Soviet.125
Speculation.--A Negro janitor who was a witness to the shooting and was
supposed to be able to identify Oswald as the killer was held in
protective custody by the Dallas police until he could appear before the
President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy.
Commission finding.--Investigation revealed that this story had no
foundation in fact. No such witness was kept in protective custody by
the Dallas police for appearance before the Commission. The story had
its origin in a newspaper account based on hearsay.126
Speculation.--The Secret Service incarcerated Marina Oswald immediately
after the assassination.
Commission finding.--Marina Oswald was given protection by the Secret
Service for a period of time after the assassination. She had freedom to
communicate with others at anytime she desired, to go where she pleased,
or to terminate the protection at any time.127
Speculation.--Mrs. Marguerite Oswald was shown a photograph of Jack Ruby
by an FBI agent the night before Ruby killed her son.
Commssion finding.--On the night of November 23, 1963, Special Agent
Bardwell D. Odum of the FBI showed Mrs. Marguerite Oswald a picture of a
man to determine whether the man was known to her. Mrs. Oswald stated
subsequently that. the picture was of Jack Ruby. The Commission has
examined a copy of the photograph and determined that it was not a
picture of Jack Ruby.128
Speculation.--The son of the only witness to the Tippit slaying was
arrested after talking to some private investigators and soon plunged to
his death from an unbarred jail window.
Commission finding.--According to Mrs. Helen Markham, one of the
witnesses to. the Tippit slaying, Mrs. Marguerite Oswald and two men who
claimed to be reporters from Philadelphia sought to interview her on
June 27, 1964. Mrs. Markham did not wish to be interviewed and put them
off. Afterward, Mrs. Markham's son, William Edward Markham, talked with
Mrs. Oswald and the men about the Oswald matter and the shooting of
Patrolman Tippit. William Edward Markham had been in Norfolk, Va., at
the time of the assassination and had not returned to Dallas until May
7, 1964. He had no personal knowledge of the shooting of Patrolman
Tippit. On June 30, 1964, another of Mrs. Markham's sons, James Alfred
Markham, was arrested at Mrs. Markham's apartment by Dallas Police on a
charge of burglary. While trying to escape, he fell from the bathroom of
the apartment to a concrete driveway about 20 feet below. He was taken
to Parkland Memorial Hospital, treated for injuries, and after 6½ hours
was taken to jail. As of July 31, 1964, he was in Dallas County Jail
awaiting trial. There was also a warrant outstanding against him for
parole violation's. 129
667
Page 668
Speculation.--The headquarters detachment of the U.S. Army, under orders
from [Secretary of Defense Robert S.] McNamara's office, began to
rehearse for the funeral more than a week before the assassination.
Commission finding.--This assertion is based on an interview with U.S.
Army Capt. Richard C. Cloy that appeared in the Jackson, Miss.,
Clarion-Ledger of February 21, 1964. The newspaper quotes Captain Cloy,
who was a member of the Army unit charged with conducting
funeral-ceremonials in honor of deceased Chiefs of State, as having said
that, "we were in a state of readiness and had just finished a funeral
rehearsal because there was grave concern for President Hoover's health.
But we never expected that our practice was preparing us for President
Kennedy." 130
Speculation.---The ship in which Oswald went to Europe in 1959 stopped
in Havana on the way.
Commission finding.--Oswald boarded the SS Marion Lykes in New Orleans
and it sailed on September 20, 1959. It docked in Le Havre France, on
October 8 with only one previous stop--at another French port, La
Pallice.131
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Appendix XIII
Page 669
APPENDIX XIII
Biography of Lee Harvey Oswald
Early Years
Page 669
EARLY YEARS
Marguerite Claverie, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, was born in New
Orleans in 1907,1 into a family of French and German extraction. 2 Her
mother died a few years after Marguerite was born. leaving her and five
other young children in the care of their father, a streetcar
conductor.3 Although Marguerite describes herself as "a child of one
parent," she recalls being %he of the most popular young ladies in the
[grammar] school," and thinks of her childhood as a "very full happy"
one.4 Her older sister, Mrs. Lillian Murret, remembers Marguerite as "a
very pretty child, a very beautiful girl," 5 as does a former
acquaintance, Clem H. Sehrt, who knew the Claveries.6 The family was
poor but, according to Mrs. Murret, was a "happy family * * * singing
all the time."7 Marguerite had 1 year of high school.8 Shortly before
she was 17, she went to work as a receptionist for a law firm in New
Orleans?
In August 1929, while she was still working at the law firm, Marguerite
married Edward John Pic, Jr.,10 a quiet man of her own age, who worked
as a clerk for T. Smith & Son. a New Orleans stevedoring company.11 The
marriage was not a success, and by the summer of 1931 she and Pic were
separated.12 Marguerite was then 3 months pregnant; she told her family
that Pic did not want any children and refused to support her.13 Pic
ascribed the separation simply to their inability to get along
together.14 A boy was born on January 17, 1932, whom Marguerite named
John Edward Pic.15 Pic saw his son occasionally until he was about 1
year old; after that, he did not see the boy again 16 but contributed to
his support until he was 18 years old.17
During her separation from her first husband, Marguerite saw a great
deal of Robert Edward Lee Oswald, an insurance premium collector,18 who
also was married but was separated from his wife.19 In 1933, Marguerite
was divorced from Pic20 and, Oswald's wife also having obtained a
divorce,12 they were married in a Lutheran church on July 20.22
Marguerite has described the period of her marriage to Oswald as "the
only happy part" of her life.23 A son was born on April 7, 1934, who was
named for his father; 24 Oswald wanted to adopt John Pic, but his mother
objected on the ground that John's father might cut off the support
payments.25 In 1938, the Oswalds purchased a new house on Alvar Street
for $3,900,26 in what John remembered as "a rather nice neighborhood."
27 The house was across the street from the William Frantz School,28
which first John and
Page 670
later both he and Robert, Jr., attended. 29 On August 19, 1939, little
more than a year after the Oswalds bought the Alvar Street house, Robert
Oswald died suddenly of a heart attack. 30
Two months later, on October 18, 1939, a second son was born.31 He was
named Lee after his father; Harvey was his paternal grandmother's maiden
name. 32 For a while after her husband's death, Mrs. Oswald remained in
the Alvar Street house without working; she probably lived on life
insurance proceeds. 33 Sometime in 1940, she rented the house to Dr.
Bruno F. Mancuso the doctor who had delivered Lee.34 (Dr. Mancuso
continued to rent the house until 1944,35 when Marguerite obtained a
judgment of possession against him.36 She sold the house for $6,500 to
the First Homestead and Savings Association, which resold it to Dr.
Mancuso.)37 She herself moved to a rented house at 1242 Congress Street,
where she lived for about half a year.38 For part of this period after
Oswald's death, the two older boys were placed in the Infant Jesus
College, a Catholic boarding school in Algiers, La., a suburb of New
Orleans. 39 Neither they nor their mother liked this arrangement, 40
which John thought was intended to save money;41 it lasted for less than
a year, after which the boys returned to the school Frantz and then
transferred to the George Washington Elementary School. 42
On March 5, 1941, Mrs. Oswald purchased a frame 43 house at 1010
Bartholomew Street, for $1,300.44 According to John's recollection, the
neighborhood was not as pleasant as Alvar Street; the house had a
backyard, and the family kept a dog named "Sunshine." 45 A neighbor,
Mrs. Viola Peterman, recalls that Mrs. Oswald kept to herself but
appeared to be "a good mother to her children." 46 She opened a shop in
the front room, where she sold things like sewing"'supplies and small
groceries.47 Oswald's Notion Shop, as it was called, failed to make
money,49 and on January 16, 1942, Mrs. Oswald sold the house back to the
Third District Home Association, from which she had purchased it, for a
profit of $800.50
Probably in contemplation of the sale of the house, Mrs. Oswald applied
in December 1941 to the Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Orphan Asylum
Association for the admission of her two older sons to the orphan
asylum, known as the Bethlehem Children's Home; she stated on the
application that she could contribute $20 per month to their maintenance
and would supply shoes and clothing.51 She had inquired also about Lee,
who was too young to be admitted. 52 John and Robert were accepted and
entered the home on January 3, 1942. 53
Mrs. Oswald moved to an apartment at 831 Pauline Street,54 and returned
to work. In December 1942, she listed her occupation as "telephone
operator"; 55 this may be the job she held at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass
Co., a company for which she worked at some point during this period. 56
She left Lee for much of this time with his aunt, Mrs. Murret, who
thought him a good looking, friendly child, but could not devote a great
deal of attention to him because she had five children of her own. 57 In
the late spring of 1942, Lee was watched for several weeks by Mrs.
Thomas Roach, who lived with her husband in the
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Page 671
same house as the Oswalds.58 Lee evidently did not get along with Mrs.
Roach who told the next occupant of the house that Lee was a bad,
unmanageable child who threw his toy gun at her.59 Apparently referring
to the Roaches, Mrs. Oswald testified that she had once hired a couple
to care for Lee; the couple neglected him, so she "put them out" and
cared for Lee herself until Mrs. Murret was able to help her again. 60
Soon after the incident with the Roaches, Mrs. Oswald moved again,61
this time to 111 Sherwood Forest Drive, near the Murrets. 62
Mrs. Murret took care of Lee for several months longer. Near Lee's third
birthday, Mrs. Oswald again inquired about his admission into the
Bethlehem Children's Home, 63 perhaps because a disagreement with her
sister made it impossible to leave him with her any longer.64 He was
admitted on December 26.65 On his application, Mrs. Oswald agreed to
contribute $10 per month and to supply shoes and clothing, as for the
other boys. 66
Lee remained in the home for about 13 months, but according to John's
testimony, left on several occasions to spend short periods of time with
his mother or the Murrets. 67 John and Robert have pleasant memories of
the home,68 which apparently gave the children a good deal of freedom.69
Robert described it as nondenominational but having "a Christian
atmosphere"; "it might have been just a Protestant home." 70 Mrs. Oswald
visited them regularly, 71 and they occasionally left the home to visit
her or the Murrets.72
In July 1943, Mrs. Oswald was hired to manage a small hosiery store.73
This is probably the store to which she referred in her testimony as the
"Princess Hosiery Shop on Canal Street," at which, she testified, she
was left by herself and "in 6 days' time * * * hired four girls." 74 Her
employer remembers her as a neat, attractive, and hardworking woman, an
aggressive person who would make a good manager. 75 She was not good
with figures, however, and after several months he discharged her. 76 At
about this same time, she met Edwin A. Ekdahl, an electrical engineer
older than herself, who was originally from Boston but was then working
in the area. 77 They saw each other often. Ekdahl met the boys 78 and,
according to John's testimony, on at least one occasion, they all spent
a weekend at a summer resort area in Covington, La. 79
By January 1944, Mrs. Oswald and Ekdahl had decided to marry.80 She
withdrew Lee from the Children's Home 81 and moved with him to Dallas,
where Ekdahl expected to be located. 82 They planned to postpone the
marriage until the end of the school year so that the older boys could
complete the year at the home before they left it.83 In the meantime,
she would care for Ekdahl,84 who was recovering from a serious illness,
probably a heart attack. 85 Mrs. Oswald has testified that when she
arrived in Dallas, she decided that she did not want to marry Ekdahl
after all.86 Using part of the proceeds from the sale of the Alvar
Street house,87 she purchased a house at 4801 Victor Street,88 a portion
of which she rented. 89 In June, John and Robert left the Children's
Home and joined their mother in
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Page 672
Dallas.90 They entered the nearby Davy Crockett Elementary School the
following September.91
Ekdahl visited Mrs. Oswald on weekends and stayed at Victor Street. 92
By the following year she had resolved her doubts about marrying him,
influenced in part by his substantial income 93 and perhaps by the visit
some time earlier of his sister, who favored the marriage because of his
ill health.94 Explaining that she expected to travel a great deal, Mrs.
Oswald tried unsuccessfully to return the older boys to the home in
February 1945.95 She and Ekdahl were married in May.96 After a brief
honeymoon, they returned to Victor Street.97
Ekdahl got along well with the boys, on whom he lavished much
attention.98 John testified that Ekdahl treated them as if they were his
own children and that Lee seemed to find in Ekdahl "the father he never
had"; John recalled that on one occasion he told Lee that Ekdahl and his
mother had become reconciled after a separation, and that "this seemed
to really elate Lee, this made him really happy that they were getting
back together." 99
Because Ekdahl's business required him to make frequent trips, in
September, John and Robert were placed in the Chamberlain-Hunt Military
Academy at Port Gibson, Miss.;100 their mother paid the tuition herself,
using the proceeds from the sale of the Alvar Street property. 101 They
remained at the academy for the next 3 years, returning home only for or
vacations. 102 Lee accompanied his parents on their travels.103 Mrs.
Myrtle Evans, who had known both Marguerite and Ekdahl before their
marriage,104 testified that Marguerite insisted on keeping Lee with her;
Mrs. Evans thought that Marguerite was "too close" to Lee and "spoiled
him to death," which hurt her marriage to Ekdahl.105
Sometime in the fall after John and Robert were at boarding school, the
Ekdahls moved to Benbrook, a suburb of Fort Worth, where they lived on
Granbury Road, 106 in a house of stone or brick, set on a large plot of
land.107 Records of the Benbrook Common School show Lee's admission into
the first grade on October 31; his birth date is incorrectly given as
July 9, 1939, his mother presumably having given that date to satisfy
the age requirement. 108 On February 8, 1946, he was admitted to the
Harris Hospital in Fort Worth with "acute mastoiditis."109 A
mastoidectomy was performed without complications, and Lee left the
hospital in 4 days.110 (In 1955, Lee indicated on a school form that he
had an "abnormal ear drum in left ear," 111 presumably a reference to
the mastoidectomy; but when he entered the Marines year later, physical
examination disclosed no physical defects.)
The Ekdahls' marriage quickly broke down. Before they had been married a
year, Marguerite suspected Ekdahl of infidelity.113 She thought him
stingy, 114 and there were frequent arguments about his insistence that
she account for her expenditures and his refusal to share his money with
her.115 In the summer of 1946, she left Ekdahl, picked up John and
Robert at Chamberlain-Hunt, and moved with the boys to Covington, La.,
116 where they lived for at least part of the time
672
Page 673
at 311 Vermont Street.117 Mrs. Evans described them at Covington,
possibly during this summer, as "really a happy family"; Lee seemed like
a normal boy but "kept to himself" and seemed not "to want to be with
any other children." 118 The separation continued after the two boys
returned to boarding school, and in September Lee was enrolled in the
Covington Elementary School.119 His record at Benbrook had been
satisfactory he was present on 82 school days and absent on 15, and
received all A's and B's 120--but he had not completed the work of the
first grade, in which he was enrolled for a second time.121
Lee received no grades at the Covington School, from which he was
withdrawn on January 23, 1947,122 because his parents, now reconciled,
were moving to Fort Worth, where they lived at 1505 Eighth Avenue.123
Four days later, he enrolled in the Clayton Public School; he was still
in the first grade, which he completed in May with B's in every subject
except physical education and health, in which he received A's. 124 In
the fall, he entered the second grade in the same school but, relations
between his parents having deteriorated again, was withdrawn before any
grades were recorded.125
After the move to Fort Worth, the Ekdahls continued to argue frequently;
according to John, "they would have a fight about every other day and he
would leave and come back." 126 That summer, Marguerite obtained what
she regarded as proof that Ekdahl was having some sort of affair.
According to her testimony, a neighbor told her that Ekdahl had been
living on Eighth Avenue with another woman while she was in
Covington.127 Then, at a time when Ekdahl was supposed to be out of
town,128 she went with John and several of his friends to an apartment
in Fort Worth; one of the boys posed as a telegram carrier, and when the
door opened she pushed her way into the apartment and found Ekdahl in
his shirt sleeves in the company of a woman in a negligee.129
Despite this apparent confirmation of her suspicions, Marguerite
continued to live with Ekdahl until January 1948.130 In January,
according to Ekdahl's allegations in the subsequent divorce proceedings,
she "directed * * * [him] to leave the home immediately and never to
return," which he did.131 Ekdahl filed suit for divorce in March.132 The
complaint alleged that Marguerite constantly nagged Ekdahl and argued
"with reference to money matters," accused him of infidelity, threw
things at him, and finally ordered him out of the house; that these acts
were unprovoked by Ekdahl's conduct toward her; that her acts endangered
his already impaired health; and that her "excesses, harsh and cruel
treatment and outrages" toward him made it impossible for them to live
together.133 She denied all these allegations. 134 After a trial, at
which John testified and, he thought, Lee was called to the stand but
was excused without testifying,135 the jury found on special issues that
Marguerite was "guilty of excesses, cruel treatment, or outrages"
unprovoked by Ekdahl's conduct.
June 24, the court granted the divorce and approved an agreement between
the parties disposing of their property between them and
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Page 674
awarding Marguerite $1,500; at her request, the divorce restored to
Marguerite her former name, Marguerite C. Oswald.137
While the divorce suit was pending, Marguerite moved from Eighth Avenue
to a house on 3300 Willing Street, next to railroad tracks.138 The boys
found her there in May when they returned from the military academy; for
John, the move signified that they "were back down in the lower class
again." 139 Lee's withdrawal from the Clayton School on March 18, 1948,
140 probably coincided with the move to Willing Street. He entered the
Clark Elementary School on the following day, and in June completed the
second grade with a record mostly of B's and A's.141 Philip Vinson, a
classmate at the Clayton School has described Lee at, that time as "a
quiet type of kids" who "didn't make a lot of noise." 142 Lee was
"stocky and well built," which made other boys look up to him and regard
him as the leader of one of their schoolyard "gangs." 143 Vinson thought
that Lee was not a bully and got along with his classmates, but had the
impression that he rarely played with them or brought them home after
school.144
Shortly after the divorce, Mrs. Oswald purchased a small house in
Benbrook, on what is now San Saba Street; 145 John has testified that it
had a single bedroom, in which Lee slept with his mother, and a screened
porch where John and Robert slept.146 Mrs. Oswald worked at a department
store in Fort Worth, and left the three boys home alone.147 A neighbor,
Mrs. W. H. Bell, has stated that Lee seemed to enjoy being by himself
and to resent discipline; 148 another neighbor, Otis R. Carlton, stated
that he once saw Lee chase John with a knife and throw it at him, an
incident which, Carlton said, their mother passed off as a "little
scuffle." 149 At the end of the summer, Carlton purchased the property.
He stated that he appraised it at $2,750 at Mrs. Oswald's request; she
then insisted that he had made an offer to purchase at that price, which
he finally agreed to do.150
After the house was sold, the family returned to Fort Worth, a move
necessitated by Mrs. Oswald's, and now John's, employment.151 Mrs.
Oswald bought a two-bedroom, frame house at 7408 Ewing, from which
Robert and Lee could walk to school.152 John, who was then 16, obtained
a job as a shoe stockboy at Everybody's Department Store; he testified
that he wanted to finish high school at the military academy, but that
his mother advised him to leave school and help to support the
family.153 He gave her $15 per week out of his salary of $25.154 Robert
returned to school.155
Lee entered the third grade at the Arlington Heights Elementary
School.156 He remained at Arlington Heights for the entire school year,
completing the third grade with a satisfactory record, which included
A's in social studies, citizenship, elementary science, art, and music,
and a D in spelling. 157 In September 1949, he transferred to the
Ridglea West Elementary School, where he remained for the next 3
years.158 Lee's record at Ridglea is not remarkable in any respect. In
the fourth and fifth grades, he received mostly B's; in the sixth grade,
B's and C's predominate.159 He received D's in
Page 675
both the fifth and sixth grades in spelling and arithmetic; in the
fourth and sixth grades, C's are recorded for Spanish,160 which may
account for his rudimentary familiarity with that language later on. 161
In the fourth grade his IQ was recorded at 103; on achievement tests in
each of the 3 years, he twice did best in reading and twice did worst in
spelling.162
Lee is generally characterized as an unexceptional but rather solitary
boy during these years. His mother worked in a variety of jobs,163 and,
according to her own testimony, told Lee not to contact her at work
except in an emergency. 164 He ordinarily returned home alone directly
after school, in obedience to his mother's instructions.165 A fourth
grade teacher, Mrs. Clyde I. Livingston, described him as a lonely boy,
quiet and shy, who did not easily form friendships with other
students.166 But Richard W. Garrett has stated that he was a classmate
of Lee in the fourth or fifth grade and found him easy to get along
with; he recalled playing with Lee often at school and sometimes walking
home together with him.167 Mrs. Livingston recalled that at Christmas
1949, Lee gave her a puppy and afterward came to her home to see the
puppy and talk to her and her family.168
Lee's relationship with his brothers was good but limited by the
difference in their ages.169 He still had a dog,170 but there were few
children of his age in the neighborhood, and he appears to have been by
himself after school most of the time. 171 He read a lot,172 had a stamp
collection, and played chess and Monopoly with his brothers.173 Mrs.
Murret remembered that on a visit to her home in New Orleans, Lee
refused to play with other children or even to leave the house; he
preferred to stay indoors and read (mostly "funnybooks") or listen to
the radio. 174 After several weeks with the Murrets, Lee wrote to his
mother and asked her to come for him.175 Hiram Conway, a neighbor on
Ewing Street, thought Lee was an intelligent child, who picked things up
easily; although he did not recall many specific incidents to support
his impressions, Conway regarded Lee as "a bad kid," who was "quick to
anger" and "mean when he was angry, just ornery." 176 John's general
picture of Lee in these years is that of "a normal healthy robust boy
who would get in fights and still have his serious moments." 177
John returned to high school in January 1949, but continued to work part
time. 178 Early in 1950, he entered the Coast Guard.179 Robert left
school soon after John's departure and went to work full time,
contributing most of his earnings to the support of his family. 180 He
returned to school in 1951-52, and after completing his junior year in
high school, joined the Marines in July 1952. 181 In August, Mrs. Oswald
and Lee moved to New York, where John was living with his wife and a
very young baby in an apartment at 325 East 92d Street; the apartment-
belonged to John's mother-in-law, who was temporarily away.182 Mrs.
Oswald has explained that with Robert gone she did not want Lee to be
alone while she worked and that she went to New. York City "not as a
venture," but because she "had family" there.183
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The visit began well. John testified of his meeting with Lee: "We met in
the street and I was real glad to see him and he was real glad to see
me. We were real good friends." 184 He took about a week of leave and
showed Lee the city; he remembered trips to the Museum of Natural
History and Polk's Hobby Shop, and a ride on the Staten Island ferry.185
But when it became obvious that his mother intended to stay, the
atmosphere changed. Mrs. Oswald did not get along with John's wife, with
whom she quarreled frequently.186 There was difficulty about her failure
to contribute anything towards her own and Lee's support.187 According
to John, his wife liked Lee and would have been glad to have him alone
stay with them but felt that his mother set Lee against her; they never
suggested that Lee remain with them since they knew that it would not
work out.188 The visit ended when Lee threatened Mrs. Pic with a pocket
knife during a quarrel,189 and she asked Mrs. Oswald to leave.190 John
testified that during this same quarrel Lee hit his mother, who appeared
to have lost all control over him.191 The incident permanently destroyed
the good relationship between Lee and his brother.192
Mrs. Oswald and Lee moved uptown to a one-room basement apartment 193 in
the Bronx, at 1455 Sheridan Avenue.194 While they were still at the
Pica, he had been enrolled at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran School on
Watson Avenue.195 He was withdrawn on September 26, after several weeks
of irregular attendance, and 4 days later enrolled in the seventh grade
of Public School 117, a junior high school.196 Mrs. Oswald found a job
at one of the Lerner Shops, a chain of dress shops for which she had
worked briefly in Fort Worth several years before.197 In January, they
moved again, to 825 East 179th Street,198 and a few weeks later, she
left the employ of Lerner Shops.199 In April, she was working at
Martin's Department Store in Brooklyn, where she earned $45 per week;200
in May, she went to work for a chain of hosiery shops, with which she
remained until December.201 Lee was registered at Public School 117
until January 16, 1953,202 although the move to 179th Street, which took
him out of that school district, probably took place before that
date.203 He had been at Public School 117 for 64 schooldays, out of
which he had been present on 15 full and 2 half days;204 he had received
failing grades in most of his courses.205
Lee's truancy increased after he moved; he was now located in the school
district of Public School 44 but refused to go to school there.206 On
one occasion that spring, an attendance officer located Lee at the Bronx
Zoo; the officer testified that Lee was clean and well dressed, but was
surly and referred to the officer as a "damned Yankee." 207 Several
truancy hearings were held in January, at the first of which at least,
both Mrs. Oswald and Lee evidently failed to appear.208 At a hearing on
January 27, by which time it was known that Lee was living in the Public
School 44 district, it was decided to commence judicial proceedings if
his truancy continued.209 Meanwhile, on January 16, his mother called
the Community Service Society, to which she had
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been referred by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, and
asked for an appointment to discuss the problem.210 She mentioned that a
truancy hearing had been held and said that Lee would not attend school
despite the threat of official action; she thought that his behavior was
due to difficulty in adjusting to his new environment.211 An appointment
was scheduled for January 30, but she failed to appear, and the case was
closed.212 Sometime in February, the Pies visited the Oswalds. John
testified that his mother told him about Lee's truancy and asked how she
could get Lee to accept psychiatric aid. Nothing came of these
discussions.213
On March 12, the attendance officer in charge of Lee's case filed a
petition in court which alleged that Lee had been "excessively absent
from school" between October and January, that he had refused to
register at Public School 44 or to attend school there, and that he was
"beyond the control of his mother insofar as school attendance is
concerned? 214 On the same day, Mrs. Oswald appeared in court alone and
informed the presiding judge that Lee refused to appear in court.215
Evidently impressed by the proceedings, however, Lee did register at
Public School 44 on March 23.216 Nevertheless, on April 16, Justice
Delany declared him a truant, and remanded him to Youth House until May
7 for psychiatric study.217
In accordance with the regular procedures at Youth House, Lee took a
series of tests and was interviewed by a staff social worker and a
probation officer, both of whom interviewed Mrs. Oswald as well.218
Their findings, discussed more fully in chapter VII of the Commission's
report, indicated that Lee was a withdrawn, socially maladjusted boy,
whose mother did not interest herself sufficiently in his welfare and
had failed to establish a close relationship with him.219 Mrs. Oswald
visited Lee at Youth House and came away with a highly unfavorable
impression; she regarded it as unfit for her son.220 On the basis of all
the test results and reports and his own interview with Lee, Dr. Renatus
Hartogs, the chief staff psychiatrist, recommended that Lee be placed on
probation with a requirement that he seek help from a child guidance
clinic, and that his mother be urged to contact a family agency for
help; he recommended that Lee not be placed in an institution unless
treatment during probation was unsuccessful.221
Lee returned to court on May 7. He and his mother appeared before
Justice McClancy, who discussed the Youth House reports with them.222 He
released Lee on parole until September 24, and requested that a referral
be made to the Community Service Society for treatment.223 The probation
officer called the society on the same day but was told that. it would
probably not be able to take the case because of its already full case
load and the intensive treatment which Lee was likely to require; 224 it
confirmed this position 1 week later and dosed the case on May 31.225 An
application was made to the Salvation Army also, which turned it down
because it could not provide the needed services.226
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During the few weeks of school which remained, Lee attended school
regularly, and completed the seventh grade with low but passing marks in
all his academic subjects.227 (He received a failing mark in a home
economics course.)228 His conduct was generally satisfactory and he was
rated outstanding in "Social- Participation"; the record indicates that.
he belonged to a model airplane club and had a special interest in
horseback riding.229 Robert Oswald visited New York that summer, while
he was on leave from the Marines.230 Lee did not appear to him to be
unhappy or to be acting abnormally, nor did Robert observe that
relations between Lee and his mother were strained.231 Lee's truancy the
previous fall and winter was apparently discussed only in passing, when
Mrs. Oswald mentioned that Lee had had to appear before a judge.232
On September 14, Lee entered the eighth grade at. Public School 44.233
His parole was due to end 10 days later. On September 24, however, Mrs.
Oswald telephoned the probation officer and advised that she could not
appear in court; she added that there was no need for her to do so,
since Lee was attending school regularly and was now well adjusted.234
The parole was extended until October 99, before which date the school
was to submit a progress report.235 The report was highly unfavorable.
Although Lee was attending school regularly, his conduct was
unsatisfactory; teachers reported that he refused to salute the flag,
did little work, and seemed to spend most of his time "sailing paper
planes around the room." 236 On October 29, Mrs. Oswald again telephoned
to say that she would be unable to appear. Justice Sicher continued
Lee's parole until November 19 and directed the probation officer to
make a referral to the Berkshire Industrial Farm or Children's
Village.237
Before the next hearing, Mrs. Oswald discussed Lee's behavior with the
school authorities, who indicated to the probation officer that Lee's
behavior improved considerably after her visit to the school.238 He did,
in fact, receive passing grades in most of his subjects in the first
marking period. His report also contains notations by his teach-era that
he was "quick-tempered," "constantly losing control," and "getting into
battles with others.239 Both Lee and his mother appeared in court on
November 19. Despite Mrs. Oswald's request that Lee be discharged,
Justice Sicher stated his belief that Lee needed treatment, and
continued his parole until January 28, 1954; the probation officer was
directed to contact the Big Brothers counseling service in the
meantime.240
At the request of the probation officer, the Big Brothers office
contacted Mrs. Oswald in December, and on January 4 a caseworker visited
her and Lee at home.241 The caseworker reported that he was cordially
received but was told by Mrs. Oswald that continued counseling was
unnecessary; she pointed out to him that Lee now belonged to the West
Side YMCA, which he attended every Saturday. The caseworker reported,
however, that Lee was plainly "displeased with the idea of being forced
to join various 'Y' organizations about which he cared little." Mrs.
Oswald declared her intention to return to New
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Orleans and was advised to obtain Lee's release from the court's
jurisdiction before she left.242 On the following day, she called the
probation officer, who was away on vacation, and was advised by his
office again not to take Lee out of the jurisdiction without the court's
consent.243 The same advice was repeated to her by the Big Brothers
caseworker on January 6.244 Through all these contacts, Mrs. Oswald had
evidenced reluctance to bring Lee into court, prompted probably by fear
that he would be retained in some sort of custody as he had been at the
time of the commitment to Youth House.245 Without further communication
to the court, Mrs. Oswald and Lee returned to New Orleans sometime
before January 10.246 On March 11, the court dismissed the case.247
In New Orleans, Lee and his mother stayed with the Murrets at 757 French
Street while they looked for an apartment.248 Lee enrolled in the eighth
grade at Beauregard Junior High School on January 13 249 and completed
the school year without apparent difficulty.250 He entered the ninth
grade in September and again received mediocre but acceptable marks.251
In October 1954, Lee took a series of achievement tests, on which he did
well in reading and vocabulary, badly in mathematics.252 At the end of
the school year, on June 2, 1955, he filled out a "personal history." He
indicated that the subjects which he liked best were civics, science,
and mathematics; those he liked least were English and art. His
vocational preferences were listed as biology and mechanical drawing;
his plans after high school, however, were noted as "military service"
and "undecided." He said that reading and outdoor sports were his
recreational activities and that he liked football in particular. In
response to the question whether he had "any close friends in this
school," he wrote,"no." 253
Lee is remembered by those who knew him in New Orleans as a quiet.,
solitary boy who made few friends.254 He was briefly a member of the
Civil Air Patrol,255 and considered joining an organization of high
school students interested in astronomy; 256 occasionally, he played
pool or darts with his friend, Edward Voebel.257 Beyond this, he seems
to have had few contacts with other people. He read a lot, starting at
some point to read Communist literature which he found at the public
library; 258 he walked or rode a bicycle, sometimes visiting a
museum.259 Except in his relations with his mother, he was not unusually
argumentative or belligerent, but he seems not to have avoided fights if
they came; they did come fairly frequently, perhaps in part because of
his aloofness from his fellows and the traces of a northern accent in
his speech.260 His only close friendship, with Voebel, arose when Voebel
helped him tend his wounds after a right.261 Friends of Mrs. Oswald
thought that he was demanding and insolent toward her and that she had
no control over him.262
While Lee was in the eighth and ninth grades, Mrs. Oswald worked first
at Burt's Shoestore 263 and then at the Dolly Shoe Co.264 One of her
employers at Dolly, where she worked as a cashier and salesclerk,
remembered her as a pleasant person and a good worker.265 At her
request, the company hired Lee to work part time; he worked there,
Page 680
mostly on Saturdays, for about 10 weeks in 1955.266 On the "personal
history" record which he filled out in school, he stated that he had
been ,a "retail shoesaleman"; 267 but his employer recalled that they
had tried to train him as a salesman without success and that he had in
fact, been a stockboy.268
After a short period with the Murrets, Mrs. Oswald and Lee had moved to
an apartment. owned by Myrtle Evans at 1454 Saint Mary Street, which she
and Mrs. Murret helped to furnish; later they moved to a less expensive
apartment in the same building, the address of which was 1452 Saint Mary
Street.269 Relations between Mrs. Oswald and Mrs. Evans became
strained,270 and in the spring of 1955 the Oswalds moved to a new
apartment at 126 Exchange Place in the French Quarter.271 Although Lee
gave the Exchange Place address on a school form at the end of the ninth
grade,272 the school authorities had apparently not been advised of
these moves earlier, because Mrs. Oswald did not want Lee to be
transferred from Beauregard, which she considered a good school.273
During the summer of 1955, Robert left the Marine Corps and spent a week
with his mother and Lee in New Orleans before moving to Fort Worth; he
found Lee unchanged.274
That fall, Lee entered the 10th grade at Warren Easton High School.275
He had been there for about a month when he presented to the school
authorities a note written by himself to which he had signed his
mother's name. It was dated October 7, 1955, and read:
To whom it may concern,
Becaus we are moving to San Diego in the middle of this month Lee must
quit school now. Also, please send by him any papers such as his birth
certificate that you may have. Thank you.
Sincirely
Mrs. M. Oswald 276
He dropped out of school a few days later, shortly before his 16th
birthday.277 After his birthday, he tried to enlist in the Marines,
using a false affidavit from his mother that he was 17.278 (Some years
before, John Pic had joined the Marine Corps Reserve by means of his
mother's false affidavit that he was 17.) 279 The attempt failed, and,
according to his mother's testimony, Lee spent the next year reading and
memorizing the "Marine Manual," which he had obtained from Robert and
"living to when he is age 17 to join the Marines."
He worked for the rest of the school year. Between November 10 and
January 14, he was a messenger boy for Gerald F. Tujague, Inc., a
shipping company, where he earned $130 per month.281 His employer
remembers him as a quiet, withdrawn person.282 In January he worked
briefly as an office boy for J. R. Michels, Inc.283 For several months
thereafter, he was a messenger for the Pfisterer Dental Laboratory.284
His military record subsequently described his prior civilian jobs as
follows:
680
Page 681
Performed various clerical duties such as distributing mail, delivering
messages & answering telephone. Helped file records & operated ditto,
letter opening & sealing machines.285
Anticipating that Lee would join the Marines as soon as he was 17, Mrs.
Oswald moved in July 1956 to Fort Worth,286 where she took an apartment
at 4936 Collinswood for herself, Lee, and Robert.287 In September, Lee
enrolled in the 10th grade at the Arlington Heights High School 288 but
attended classes for only a few weeks. He dropped out of school on
September 28 .289 A few days later, he wrote the following letter to the
Socialist Party of America:
October 3, 1956
Dear Sirs;
I am sixteen years of age and would like more information about your
youth League, I would like to know if there is a branch in my area, how
to join, ect., I am a Marxist, and have been studying socialist
principles for well over fifteen months I am very interested in your
Y.P.S.L.
Sincerely
/s/ Lee Oswald 290
Accompanying the letter was an advertisement coupon, on which he had
checked the box requesting information about the Socialist Party.291
Lee became 17 on October 18. He enlisted in the Marines on October
24.292
Marines
Page 681
MARINES
On October 26, 1956, Lee Harvey Oswald reported for duty at the Marine
Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif., where he was assigned to the
Second Recruit Training Battalion.293 He Was 68 inches tall and weighed
135 pounds; he had no physical defects.294 On October 30, he took a
series of aptitude tests, on which he scored significantly above the
Marine Corps average in reading and vocabulary and significantly below
the average in tests in arithmetic and pattern analysis. His composite
general classification score was 105, 2 points below the Corps average.
He scored near the bottom of the lowest group in a radio code test.295
His preference of duty was recorded as Aircraft Maintenance and Repair,
the duty assignment for which he was recommended.296
While he was at San Diego, Oswald was trained in the use of the M-1
rifle.297 His practice scores were not very good,298 but when his
company fired for record on December 21, he scored 212, 2 points above
the score necessary to qualify as a "sharpshooter" on a
marksman/sharpshooter/expert scale.299 He did not do nearly as well when
730-900 O-64--45
Page 682
he fired for record again shortly before he left the Marines.300 He
practiced also with a riot gun and a .45- caliber pistol when he was in
the Marines but no scores were recorded.301
Oswald was given a 4.4 rating in both "conduct" and "proficiency" at the
Recruit Depot, the highest possible rating being 5.0 and an average
rating of 4.0 being required for an honorable discharge.302 On January
18, 1957, he reported to Camp Pendleton, Calif., for further training
and was assigned to "A" Company of the First Battalion, Second Infantry
Training Regiment.303 He was at Pendleton for a little more than 5
weeks, at the end of which he was rated 4.2 in conduct and 4.0 in
proficiency.304 Allen R. Felde, a fellow recruit who was with Oswald at
San Diego and Pendleton, has stated that Oswald was generally unpopular
and that his company was avoided by the other men.305 When his squad was
given its first weekend leave from Pendleton, all eight men took a cab
to Tijuana, Mexico. Oswald left the others and did not rejoin them until
it was time to return to camp. Felde said that this practice was
repeated on other trips to Los Angeles; Oswald accompanied the men on
the bus to and from camp but did not stay with them in the city.306 On
February 27, he went on leave for 2 weeks,307 during which he may have
visited his mother in Fort Worth.308
On March 18, he reported to the Naval Air Technical Training Center at
the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla.309 For the next 6 weeks he
attended an Aviation Fundamental School, in which he received basic
instruction in his specialty, including such subjects as basic radar
theory, map reading, and air traffic control procedures.310 This course,
as well as his next training assignment at Keesler Air Force Base,
required Oswald to deal with confidential material.311 He was granted
final clearance up to the "confidential" level on May 3, "after [a]
careful check of local records had disclosed no derogatory data." 312 He
completed the course on the same day, ranking 46th in a class of 54
students.313 On the previous day, he had been promoted to private, first
class, effective May 1.314 At Jacksonville, he received ratings of 4.7
in conduct and 4.5 in proficiency, the highest ratings he ever
attained.315
Oswald left for Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., on the day his
course was completed; 316 he traveled, probably by overnight train, in a
group of six marines led by Pfc. Daniel P. Powers, the senior marine in
charge.317 At Keesler, he attended the Aircraft Control and Warning
Operator Course, which included instruction in aircraft surveillance and
the use of radar.318 Powers was not sure whether he had met Oswald
before the trip to Biloxi 319 but remembers him there as "a somewhat
younger individual less matured than the other boys," who "was normally
outside the particular group of marines that were in this attachment to
Keesler." 320 (Oswald was in fact 3 years younger than Powers.) 321
Powers testified that Oswald had the nickname "Ozzie Rabbit." 322 Oswald
generally stayed to himself, often read-
Page 683
ing; he did not play cards or work out in the gym with the others.323 He
spent his weekends alone, away from the base; Powers thought he left
Biloxi and perhaps went "home" to New Orleans, less than 100 miles
away.324 He finished the course seventh in a class of 30 marines on June
17,325 and on June 25, was given an MOS (military occupational
specialty) of Aviation Electronics Operator.326 On June 20, he went on
leave,327 possibly visiting his mother.328 His ratings at Keesler were
4.2 in conduct. and 4.5 in proficiency,329 which Powers thought was
"pretty good." 330
On July 9, Oswald reported at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro,
Calif., near Santa Ana.331 He was classified as a replacement trainee
and attached to the Fourth Replacement Battalion.332 Six weeks later, on
August 22, he departed from San Diego for Yokosuka, Japan, on board the
U.S.S. Bexar.333 Powers testified that while on board, Oswald taught him
to play chess, which they played frequently, sometimes for more than 4
hours a day.334 Like most of the men on board, Oswald read a lot from
the books which were available. Powers thought he read "a good type of
literature," remembering in particular Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." 335
The Bexar docked at Yokosuka on September 12.336 Oswald was assigned to
Marine Air Control Squadron No. 1 (MACS-1), Marine Air Group 11, 1st
Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Atsugi, about 20 miles west of Tokyo.337
Oswald was a radar operator in MACS-1, which had less than 100 men.338
Its function was to direct aircraft to their targets by radar,
communicating with the pilots by radio.339 The squadron had also the
duty of scouting for incoming foreign aircraft, such as straying Russian
or Chinese planes, which would be intercepted by American planes.340
On October 27, when Oswald opened his locker to remove some gear, a
derringer .22 caliber pistol fell to the floor and discharged; the
bullet hit him in the left elbow.341 Paul Edward Murphy, a fellow marine
who was in the next cubicle, heard the shot, rushed in, and found Oswald
sitting on the locker looking at his arm; without emotion, Oswald said
to Murphy, "I believe I shot myself." 342 He was in the naval hospital
at Yokosuka until November 15.343
The Judge Advocate General concluded that Oswald had "displayed a
certain degree of carelessness or negligence" by storing a loaded
revolver in his locker, but that his injury was incurred "in the line of
duty" and was not the result %f his own misconduct." 344 He was,
however, charged with possession of an unregistered privately owned
weapon in violation of general orders. A court-martial followed on April
11, 1958, when Oswald's unit returned from maneuvers, and on April 29 he
was sentenced to be confined at hard labor for 20 days, to forfeit $25
per month for 2 months, and to be reduced to the grade of private.345
The confinement was suspended for 6 months, after which that portion of
the sentence was to be remitted.346
Five days after Oswald left the hospital, MACS-1 embarked aboard the
Terrell County, LST 1157, for maneuvers in the Philippine Islands
Page 684
area.347 According to Powers' recollection, the squadron was expected to
return to Atsugi after maneuvers were completed, but an international
crisis developed; since another operation was scheduled for a few months
later, the squadron debarked at Cubi Point (Subic Bay) in the
Philippines and set up a temporary installation.348 While he was in the
Philippines, Oswald passed a test of eligibility for the rank of
corporal; 349 in a semiannual evaluation, however, he was given his
lowest ratings thus far: 4.0 in conduct and 3.9 in proficiency.350 The
unit participated in exercises at Corregidor, from which it sailed for
Atsugi on March 7, 1958, aboard the U.S.S. Wexford County, LST 1168.351
The Wexford County reached Atsugi 11 days later.352
Oswald was court-martialed a second time on June 27, for using
"provoking words" to a noncommissioned officer (a sergeant) on June 20,
at the Bluebird Cafe in Yamato, and assaulting the officer by pouring a
drink on him.353 The findings were that Oswald spilled the drink
accidentally, but when the sergeant shoved him away, Oswald invited the
sergeant outside in insulting language.354 Oswald admitted that he was
rather drunk and had invited the sergeant outside but did not recall
insulting him.355 He was sentenced to be confined at hard labor for 28
days and to forfeit $55; 356 in addition, suspension of the previous
sentence of confinement was withdrawn.357 He was in confinement until
August 13.358 Meanwhile, a previously granted extension of oversea duty
was canceled,359 and he was given ratings of 1.9 in conduct and 3.4 in
proficiency.360
On September 14, Oswald sailed with his unit for the South China Sea
area; the unit was at Ping Tung, North Taiwan on September 30, and
returned to Atsugi on October 5.361 On October 6, he was transferred out
of MACS-1 and put on general duty, in anticipation of his return to the
United States.362 He spent several days thereafter in the Atsugi Station
Hospital.363 On October 31, he received his last oversea ratings: 4.0 in
both conduct and proficiency.364
Oswald appears generally to have been regarded by his fellows overseas
as an intelligent person who followed orders and did his work well, but
who complained frequently.365 He did not associate much with other
marines and continued to read a great deal.366 Paul Murphy testified
that Oswald could speak "a little Russian" while he was overseas.367
Powers believed that Oswald became more assertive in Japan and thought
that he might have had a Japanese girl friend.368 He departed from
Yokosuka on board the USNS Barbet on November 2, and arrived in San
Francisco 13 days later.369 On November 19, he took 30 days' leave.370
On December 22, Oswald was assigned to Marine Air Control Squadron No. 9
(MACS-9) at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, where he had been
briefly before he went overseas.371 He was one of about seven enlisted
men and three officers who formed a "radar crew," engaged primarily in
aircraft surveillance.372 This work probably gave him access to certain
kinds of classified material, some of which, such as aircraft call signs
and radio frequencies, was
684
Page 685
changed after his defection to Russia.373 For part of his time at El
Toro, Oswald may have been assigned to clerical or janitorial tasks on
the base.374 Some of his associates believed rumors,375 incorrect
according to official records,376 that he had lost his clearance to work
on radar crews; one recalled hearing that Oswald had once had clearance
above the "confidential" level and had lost it because he "had poured
beer over a staff NCO's head in an enlisted club in Japan, and had been
put in the brig." 377
The officer in command of the radar crew, Lt. John E. Donovan, found him
"competent in all functions," and observed that he handled himself
calmly and well in emergency situations.378 Donovan thought Oswald was
not a leader but that he performed competently on occasions when, as the
senior man present, he served as crew chief.379 This estimate was
generally shared by his fellows, most of whom thought that he performed
his assigned duties adequately but was deficient in disciplinary matters
and such things as barracks inspection.380 One of them recalled that
after a number of bad inspections, the other members of Oswald's quonset
hut complained about him and secured his transfer to another hut.381 He
was thought to be an intelligent person, somewhat better educated and
more intellectually oriented than other men on the base.382 A few of the
men thought it more accurate to describe him as someone who wanted to
appear intelligent.383 He had a pronounced interest in world affairs, in
which he appears to have been better informed than some of the officers,
whose lack of knowledge amused and sometimes irritated him; he evidently
enjoyed drawing others, especially officers, into conversations in which
he could display his own superior knowledge.384
It seems clear from the various recollections of those who knew him at
El Toro that by the time Oswald returned to the United States, he no
longer had any spirit for the Marines; the attitudes which had prompted
his enlistment as soon as he was eligible were entirely gone, and his
attention had turned away from the Marines to what he might do after his
discharge. While no one was able to predict his attempt to defect to
Russia within a month after he left the Marines, the testimony of those
who knew him at El Toro in contrast to that of his associates in Japan,
leaves no doubt that his thoughts were occupied increasingly with Russia
and the Russian way of life. He had studied the Russian language enough
by February 25, 1959, to request that he be given a foreign language
qualification test; his rating was "poor" in all parts of the test.385
Most of the marines who knew him were aware that he was studying
Russian; 386 one of them, Henry J. Roussel, Jr., arranged a date between
Lee and his aunt, Rosaleen Quinn, an airline stewardess who was also
studying Russian.387 (Miss Quinn thought that Oswald spoke Russian well
in view of his lack of formal training; she found the evening
uninteresting.388 Donovan, with whom she had a date later, testified
that she told him that Oswald was "kind of an oddball.") 389 He read,
and perhaps subscribed to, a newspaper, possibly printed in Russian,
which his associates connected with his Russian bent.390
685
Page 686
Most of those who knew him were able to recount anecdotes which suggest
that he was anxious to publicize his liking for things Russian,
sometimes in good humor and sometimes seriously. Some of his fellows
called him "Oswaldskovich," apparently to his pleasure.391 He is said to
have had his name written in Russian on one of his jackets;392 to have
played records of Russian songs "so loud that one could hear them
outside the barracks"; 393 frequently to have made remarks in Russian
394 or used expressions like "da" or "nyet," 395 or addressed others
(and been addressed) as "Comrade";396 to have come over and said
jokingly, "You called ?" when one of the marines played a particular
record of Russian music.397
Connected with this Russophilia was an interest in and acceptance of
Russian political views and, to a lesser extent, Communist ideology.
Less obvious to his fellows generally,398 it nevertheless led him into
serious discussions with some of them. Donovan, who was a graduate of
the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University,399 thought
Oswald was "truly interested in international
fairs" 400 and "very well versed, at least on the superficial facts of a
given foreign situation." 401 He recalled that Oswald had a particular
interest in Latin America 402 and had a good deal of information about
Cuba in particular.403 Oswald expressed sympathy for Castro but,
according to Donovan, "what he said about Castro was not an unpopular
belief at that time." 404 Donovan believed that Oswald subscribed to the
Russian newspaper--which Donovan thought was a Communist newspaper--not
only in order to read Russian but also because he thought it "presented
a very different and perhaps equally just side of the international
affairs in comparison with the United States newspapers." 405 Donovan
was clear, on the other hand, that he never heard Oswald "in any way,
shape or form confess that he was a Communist, or that he ever thought
about being a Communist." 406
Private Kerry Thornley described himself as a close acquaintance, but
not a. good friend, of Oswald, whom he met in the spring of 1959; he
later wrote an unpublished novel in which he drew heavily on his
impressions of Oswald.408 Thornley generally corroborates Donovan's
testimony but thought Oswald definitely believed that "the Marxist
morality was the most rational morality to follow" and communism, "the
best system in the world." 409 Thornley thought this belief was
"theoretical," a "dispassionate appraisal" which did not indicate "any
active commitment to the Communist ends"; he described Oswald as "idle
in his admiration for communism." 410 He recalled discussions about
Marxism in which Oswald criticized capitalism and praised the Soviet
economic system.411 Thornley testified that his association with Oswald
ended when, in response to Oswald's criticism of a parade in which they
both had to march, he said "Well, comes the revolution you will damage
all that." Oswald, he said, looked at him "like a betrayed Caesar" and
walked away.412 Thornley attributed Oswald's decision to go to Russia to
a growing disillusionment with the United States, especially its role in
the Far East, and a conviction that communism
Page 687
would eventually prevail.413 He was surprised by the decision but
expected Oswald to adjust to Russian life and remain in Russia
permanently
Another marine, Nelson Delgado, met Oswald soon after the latter arrived
at El Toro.415 They were about the same age and had similar interests;
Oswald enjoyed trying to speak Spanish with Delgado, who spoke it
fluently.416 Delgado regarded him as a "complete believer that our way
of government was not quite right," but did not think he was a
Communist.417 Their discussions were concerned more with Cuba than
Russia.418 They both favored the Castro government and
talked--"dreaming," Delgado said--about joining the Cuban Army or
Government and perhaps leading expeditions to other Caribbean islands to
"free them too." 419 Oswald told Delgado that he was in touch with Cuban
diplomatic. officials in this count; which Delgado at first, took to be
"one of his * * * lies," 420 but later believed.421
Oswald's interest in Russia and developing ideological attachment to
theoretical communism apparently dominated his stay at El Toro. He was
still withdrawn from most of his fellows, although his special interests
appear to have made him stand out more there than he had at other posts
and to have given him a source for conversation which he had hitherto
lacked.422 According to several of the witnesses, names like "Ozzie
Rabbit" still clung to him; 423 others recalled no nickname or only
shortened versions of his real name.424 His reading acquired direction;
books like "Das Kapital" and Orwell's "Animal Farm" and "1984" are
mentioned in the testimony concerning this period.
played chess; 426 according to one of his opponents he chose the red
pieces, expressing a preference for the "Red Army." 427 He listened to
classical music.428 For a short time, he played on the squadron football
team.429 According to Donovan, who coached the team, Oswald was not very
good; he lacked team spirit and often tried to call the plays, which was
not his job.430 Delgado thought Oswald was a mediocre player.431 Donovan
did not know whether Oswald quit or was thrown off the team.432 He spent
most of his weekends alone, as he had at Keesler, and did not leave the
post as often as the other men.433 Delgado once rode with him on the
train to Los Angeles but separated from him there; Oswald returned to
the base after one night.434 Delgado recalls that. on another weekend
Oswald accepted his invitation to go to Tijuana; they stayed there for
one night.435
At the end of January 1959 and at the end of July, Oswald was given his
semiannual ratings, scoring 4.0 in conduct both times, and 4.0 and 4.2
in proficiency.436 (The July ratings were repeated in September, when he
was transferred from MACS-9 in preparation for his discharge.)437 On
March 9, he was promoted as of March 1, to the rank of private, first
class, for the second time.438 He took a series of high school level
general educational development tests on March 23 and received an
overall rating of "satisfactory." His best scores, in the 76th and 79th
U.S. percentiles, were in English composition and physical sciences; his
worst was English literature, in which he placed in the 34th
percentile.439
687
Page 688
In the spring, Oswald applied to Albert Schweitzer College in
Churwalden, Switzerland, for admission to the spring term in 1960; the
application is dated March 19.440 Schweitzer is a small school, which
specializes in courses in religion, ethics, science, and literature. He
claimed a proficiency in Russian equal to 1 year of schooling
and that he had completed high school by correspondence with an average
grade of 85 percent.442 He listed philosophy, psychology, ideology,
football, baseball, tennis and stamp-collecting as special interests,
and writing short stories "on contemporary American life" as his
vocational interest.443 Jack London, Charles Darwin, and Norman Vincent
Peale were listed as favorite authors.444 He claimed membership in the
YMCA and the "A.Y.H. Association," and said that he had participated in
a "student body movement in school" for the control of juvenile
delinquency.445 Asked to give a general statement of his reasons for
wanting to attend the college, he wrote:
In order to aquire a fuller understanding of that subject which interest
me most, Philosophy. To meet with Europeans who can broaden my scope of
understanding. To receive formal Education by Instructers of high
standing and character. To broaden my knowlege of German and to live in
a healty climate and Good moral atmosphere.446
On the basis of these representations, Oswald's application was
ap-proved by the college.447 He enclosed a registration fee of $25 in a
letter dated June 19, in which he said that he was "looking forward to a
fine stay." 448 Few of the other marines seem to have known about this
application. He told Delgado, however, that he planned to attend a Swiss
school to study psychology, and Delgado knew that some
application had been made.449 Another marine, Richard Call, also knew
something of his plans.450
Oswald was obligated to serve on active duty until December 7, 1959 (the
date having been adjusted to compensate for the period of
confinement).451 On August 17, he submitted a request for a dependency
discharge, on the ground that his mother needed his support.452 The
request was accompanied by an affidavit of Mrs. Oswald and corroborating
affidavits from an attorney, a doctor, and two friends, attesting that
she had been injured at work in December 1958, and was unable to support
herself.453 Oswald had previously made a voluntary allotment of part of
his salary to his mother, under which arrangement she received $40 in
August, and had submitted an application for a "Q" allotment (dependency
allowance) in her behalf of $91.30; one payment of the "Q" allotment,
for the month of August, was made in September.454 On August 28, the
Wing Hardship or Dependency Discharge Board recommended that Oswald's
request for a discharge be approved; 455 approval followed shortly.456
On September 4, he was transferred from MACS-9 to the H. & H.
Squadron,457 and on September 11, he was released from active duty and
transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve, in which he was expected to
688
Page 689
serve until December 8, 1962.458 He was assigned to the Marine Air
Reserve Training Command at the Naval Air Station in Glenview, Ill.459
Almost exactly 1 year later, on September 13, 1960, Oswald was given an
"undesirable discharge" from the Marine Corps Reserve,460 based on:
reliable information which indicated that he had renounced his U.S.
citizenship with the intentions of becoming a permanent citizen of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Further, that petitioner brought
discredit to the Marine Corps through adverse newspaper publicity, which
was generated by the foregoing action, and had thereby, in the opinion
of his commanding officer, proved himself unfit for retention in the
naval service.461
Soviet Union
Page 689
SOVIET UNION
On September 4, the day on which he was transferred out of MACS-9 in
preparation for his discharge, Oswald had applied for a passport, at,
the Superior Court. of Santa Ana, Calif. His application stated that he
planned to leave the United States on September 21 to attend the Albert
Schweitzer College and the University of Turku in Finland, and to travel
in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, England, France Germany, and Russia.462
The passport was routinely issued 6 days later.463
Oswald went directly home after his discharge, and arrived in Fort Worth
by September 14.464 He told his mother that he intended to get a job on
a ship or possibly in the "export-import business." 465 If he stayed in
Fort Worth, he said, he would be able to earn only about $30 per week;
on a ship, he would earn "big money" and be able to send substantial
amounts home.466 Three days after he arrived in Fort Worth, he left for
New Orleans.467 While he was in Fort Worth he had registered his
dependency discharge and entry into the Marine Reserve at the Fort Worth
Selective Service Board,468 and visited his brother Robert and his
family.469 He also gave his mother $100.470
On September 17, Oswald spoke with a representative of Travel
Consultants, Inc., a New Orleans travel bureau; he filled out a
"Passenger Immigration Questionnaire," on which he gave his occupation
as "shipping export agent" and said that he would be abroad for 2 months
on a pleasure trip. He booked passage from New Orleans to Le Havre,
France, on a freighter, the SS Marion Lykes, scheduled to sail on
September 18, for which he paid $220.75.471 On the evening of September
17, he registered at the Liberty Hotel.472
The Marion Lykes did not sail until the early morning of September
20.473 Before its departure, Oswald wrote his mother a letter, which was
her last news of him until she read stories of his defection in Fort
Worth newspapers:
689
Page 690
Dear Mother:
Well, I 'have booked passage on a ship to Europe, I would of had to
sooner or later and I think it's best I go now. Just remember above all
else that my values are very different from Robert's or your's. It is
difficult to tell you how I feel, Just remember this is what I must do.
I did not tell you about my plans because you could harly be expected to
understand.
I did not see aunt Lilian while I was here. I will write again as soon
as I land.
Lee 474
The Marion Lykes carried only four passengers.475 Oswald shared his
cabin with Billy Joe Lord, a young man who had just graduated from high
school and was going to France to continue his education. Lord testified
that he and Oswald did not discuss politics but did have a few amicable
religious arguments, in which Oswald defended atheism. Oswald was
"standoffish," but told Lord generally about his background, mentioning
that his mother worked in a drug-store in Fort Worth and that he was
bitter about the low wages which she received. He told Lord that he
intended to travel in Europe and possibly to attend school in Sweden or
Switzerland if he had sufficient funds.476 The other two passengers were
Lt. Col. and Mrs. George B. Church, Jr., who also found Oswald
unfriendly and had little contact with him. Oswald told them that he had
not liked the Marine Corps and that he planned to study in Switzerland;
they observed some "bitterness" about his mother's difficulties, but did
not discuss this with him. No one on board suspected that he intended to
defect to Russia.477
Oswald disembarked at Le Havre on October 8. He left for England that
same day, and arrived on October 9.478 He told English customs officials
in Southampton that he had $700 and planned to remain in the United
Kingdom for i week before proceeding to a school in Switzerland. But on
the same day, he flew to Helsinki, Finland, where he registered at the
Torni Hotel; on the following day, he moved to the Klaus Kurki Hotel.479
Oswald probably applied for a visa at the Russian consulate on October
12, his first business day in Helsinki.480 The visa was issued on
October 14. It was valid until October 20 and permitted him to take one
trip of not more than 6 days to the Soviet Union.481 He also purchased
10 Soviet "tourist vouchers" which cost $30 apiece.482 He left Helsinki
by train on the following day, crossed the Finnish-Russian border at
Vainikkala, and arrived in Moscow on October 16.483
He was met at the Moscow railroad station by a representative of
"Intourist," the state tourist agency, and taken to the Hotel Berlin,
where he registered as a student.484 On the same day he met the
Intourist guide assigned to him during his stay in Russia, a young woman
named Rima Shirokova. They went sightseeing the next day. Almost
immediately he told her that he wanted to leave
Page 691
the United States and become a citizen of the Soviet Union. According to
Oswald's "Historic Diary," she later told him that she had reported his
statement to Intourist headquarters, which in turn had notified the
"Passport and Visa Office" (probably the Visa and Registration
Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the MVD 485). She was
instructed to help Oswald prepare a letter to the Supreme Soviet
requesting that he be granted citizenship. Oswald mailed such a letter
that same day.486 (The "Historic Diary" is Oswald's handwritten account
of his life in Russia.487 The earlier entries were written after the
events which they describe; later, in Minsk, he probably kept a
contemporaneous record of his experiences. 488 The Commission has used
the diary, which Oswald may have written with future readers in mind,
only as Oswald's record of his private life and personal impressions as
he sought to present them and has relied wherever possible on official
documents, correspondence, and the testimony of witnesses.)
The diary records that when Oswald told Rima Shirokova that he intended
to defect she was "flabbergassted," but agreed to help.489 She was
"politly sympathetic but uneasy" when he told her that he wanted to
defect because he was "a Communist, ect." 490 As an Intourist guide,
Rima toured parts of Moscow with Oswald in the next few days. His
primary concern, however, appeared to be his effort to become a Soviet
citizen, and she also aided him in his dealings with the Soviet
Government.491 He thought that Rima felt sorry for him and tried to be a
friend because he was "someth. new." 492 On his 20th birthday, 2 days
after he arrived in Russia, she gave him Dostoevski's "The Idiot," 493
in which she had written: "Dear Lee, Great congratulations! Let all your
dreams come true! 18.X 1959" 494
On October 19, Oswald was probably interviewed in his hotel room by a
man named Lev Setyayev, who said that he was a reporter for Radio Moscow
seeking statements from American tourists about their impressions of
Moscow,495 but who was probably also acting for the KGB.496 Two years
later, Oswald told officials at the American Embassy that he had made a
few routine comments to Setyayev of no political signifiance. The
interview with Setyayev may, however, have been the occasion for an
attempt by the KGB, in accordance with regular practice, to assess
Oswald or even to elicit compromising statements from him; the interview
was apparently never broadcast.497 (As discussed in ch. VI of this
report, the Commission is aware that many of the Soviet officials with
whom Oswald came into contact were employees of the KGB, the agency
which has primary jurisdiction for the treatment of defectors.)
On the following day, Rima Shirokova told him that the "Pass. and Visa
Dept." wanted to see him,498 and on the morning of October 21, he was
interviewed by an official concerning his application for citizenship.
The official offered little information and no encouragement; he told
Oswald only that he would check to see if the visa could
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Page 692
be extended. Oswald returned to the Hotel Berlin.499 That afternoon, he
was notified that his visa had expired and that he had to leave Moscow
within 2 hours.500
Oswald responded to the unfavorable decision by cutting himself above
his left, wrist, in an apparent. suicide attempt. Rima Shirokova found
him unconscious in his hotel room and had him taken to the Botkinskaya
Hospital. His diary states: "Poor Rimmea stays by my side as interrpator
(my Russian is still very bad) far into the night, I tell her 'Go home'
(my mood is bad) but she stays, she is 'my friend.'" 501
For 3 days Oswald was confined in the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
He was examined by a psychiatrist, who concluded that he was not
dangerous to other people and could be transferred to the "somatic"
department. Hospital records containing the results of the examination
502 state that Oswald came to Russia in order to apply for citizenship,
and that "in order to postpone his departure he inflicted the injury
upon himself." 503 They note that Oswald understood some Russian and,
presumably based on information which he provided, that he had
"graduated from a technical high school in radio technology and radio
electronics." 504 The record states: "He claims he regrets his action.
After recovering he intends to return to his homeland." 505
Oswald resented being in the psychiatric ward and told Rima Shirokova
that he wanted a transfer.506 She visited him at the hospital frequently
and his diary records that "only at this moment" did he "notice [that]
she is preety." 507 Another entry for the hospital period says:
"Afternoon I am visited by Roza Agafonova of the hotel tourist office,
who askes about my health, very beautiful, excelant Eng., very merry and
kind, she makes me very glad to be alive." 508 These entries reflect an
attitude gentler and friendlier than his attitude before the suicide
attempt, when he seemed to be coldly concerned only with his status in
Russia. Once Oswald was out of the psychiatric ward, he found the
hospital more pleasant. The new ward, which he shared with 11 other
patients, was "airy," and the food was good. His only complaint,
according to his diary, was that an "elderly American" patient was
distrustful of him because he had not registered at the American Embassy
and because he was evasive about the reasons for his presence in Moscow
and confinement in the hospital.509
He was released from the hospital on October 28,510 and, accompanied by
Rima Shirokova, was driven to the Hotel Berlin in an Intourist car.
After he said goodby to Lyudmila Dmitrieva, head of the In-tourist
office at the Berlin, and to Roza Agafonova, another Intourist employee
at the hotel, he checked out of the Berlin and registered at the
Metropole, 511 a large hotel under the same administration as the
Berlin.512 The Government had undoubtedly directed him to make the
change. His visa had expired while he was in the hospital, and his
presence in Russia was technically illegal; he had received no word that
the decision that he must leave had been reversed. Later that day,
however, Rima told him that the "Pass and Registration Office" wished
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to talk to him about his future.513 According to the diary, when Oswald
appeared at the office he was asked whether he still wanted to become a
Soviet citizen and he replied that he did; he provided his Marine Corps
discharge papers for identification. He was told that he could not
expect a decision soon, and was dismissed. During this interview, Oswald
was apparently questioned about the interview which preceded his
hospitalization, which led him to conclude that there had been no
communication between the two sets of officials.514 That evening he met
Rima, on whom he vented his frustration at being put off by the
authorities.515
Oswald ate only once on the following day; he stayed near the telephone,
fully dressed and ready to leave immediately if he were summoned. He
remained in his room for 3 days, which seemed to him "like three years,"
516 until October 31, when he decided to act. He met Rima Shirokova at
noon and told her that he was impatient, but did not say what he planned
to do; she cautioned him to stay in his room "and eat well." 517 She
left him after a short while and, a few minutes later, he took a taxi to
the American Embassy, where he asked to see the consul. (See Commission
Exhibits Nos. 24, 912, 913, pp. 264, 263, 261.) When the receptionist
asked him first to sign the tourist register, he laid his passport. on
the desk and said that he had come to "dissolve his American
citizenship." Richard E. Snyder, the Second Secretary and senior
consular official,518 was summoned, and he invited Oswald into his
office.519
Oswald's meeting with Snyder, at which Snyder's assistant, John A.
McVickar, was also present, is more fully discussed in appendix w to the
Commission's report. Oswald declared that he wanted to renounce his
American citizenship; he denounced the United States and praised the
Government of the Soviet Union. Over Oswald's objections, Snyder sought
to learn something of Oswald's motives and background and to forestall
immediate action. Oswald told him that he had already offered to tell a
Soviet official what he had learned as a radar operator in the Marines.
The interview ended when Snyder told Oswald that he could renounce his
citizenship on the following Monday, 2 days later, if he would appear
personally to do so. During the interview, Oswald handed to Snyder a
note 520 which suggests that he had studied and sought to comply with
section 349 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which provides for
loss of American citizenship.521 The note contains paragraphs which read
like inartistic attempts to cast off citizenship in three of the ways
specified by the statute. The attempts failed but there is no reason to
doubt that they were sincere. Snyder has testified that he believed that
Oswald would immediately have formally renounced his citizenship had he
been permitted to do so.522
The interview lasted for less than an hour. Oswald returned to his hotel
angry about. the delay but "elated" by the "showdown" and sure that he
would be permitted to remain after his "sign of * * * faith" in the
Russians.523 Soon after he returned to the hotel, he was
693
Page 694
approached by A. I. Goldberg, a reporter for the Associated Press, whom
the Embassy had told about Oswald's actions. Oswald refused to speak to
him.524 He answered a few questions for two other reporters, R. J.
Korengold and Miss Aline Mosby, but again refused to be interviewed.525
Thereafter, the news services made repeated unsuccessful attempts to
interview him, which he thought was an indirect form of pressure from
the Embassy to return to the United States.526
On the day after Oswald's meeting with Snyder, his family read in the
newspapers about his appearance at the Embassy and tried to contact him.
Mrs. Oswald testified that she was shocked at her son's decision to
defect but, respected his motives for doing so; later she suspected that
he had been forcibly removed to Russia.527 She placed a telephone call
to him,528 but he either refused to speak to her 529 or cut her off very
quickly.530 So too, on November 2, he rejected the Embassy's efforts to
deliver or read on the telephone a telegram from his brother Robert.531
A call from Robert was either canceled before it was completed or was
refused.532 Robert's telegram, along with a message asking Oswald to
contact, him immediately, which Robert had asked the State Department to
deliver,533 was finally sent to Oswald from the Embassy by registered
mail.534
A few days later, the Embassy received a letter from Oswald dated
November 3 which requested that his citizenship be revoked.535 The
letter stated that he had appeared at the Embassy '"for the purpose of
signing the formal papers to this effect" and protested against the
"conduct of the official" who had refused him "this legal right." Oswald
noted that his application for Soviet citizenship was pending and said
that if it were granted he would ask the Soviet Government "to lodge a
formal protest" on his behalf.536 The Embassy replied on November 9 that
Oswald could renounce his citizenship by appearing at the Embassy and
executing the necessary papers.537
Oswald's diary describes the period from November 2 to November 15,
during which he continued to isolate himself, as "days of utter
loneliness." 538 On November 8, he wrote to his brother:
Dear Robert
Well, what shall we talk about, the weather perhaps? Certainly you do
not wish me to speak of my decision to remain in the Soviet Union and
apply for citizenship here, since I'm afraid you would not be able to
comprehend my my reasons. You really dent know anything about me. Do you
know for instance that I have waited to do this for well over a year, do
you know that I * * * [phrase in Russian] speak a fair amount of Russian
which I have been studing for many months.
I have been told that I will not have to leave the Soviet Union if I do
not care to. this than is my decision. I will not leave this country,
the Soviet Union, under any conditions, I will never return to the
United States which is a country I hate.
Someday, perhaps soon, and than again perhaps in a few years, I will
become a citizen of the Soviet Union, but it is a very legal
Page 695
process, in any event, I will not have to leave the Soviet Union and I
will never * * * [word missing].
I recived your telegram and was glad to hear from you, only one word
bothered me, the word "mistake." I assume you mean that I have made a
"mistake" it is not for you to tell me that you cannot understand my
reasons for this very action.
I will not speak to anyone from the United States over the telephone
since it may be taped by the Americans.
If you wish to corespond with me you can write to the below address, but
I really don't, see what we could take about if you want to send me
money, that I can us, but I do not expect to be able to send it back.
LEE 589
Oswald's statement that he had been told that he could remain in Russia
was not true. According to his diary, he was not told until later that
he could remain even temporarily in Russia,540 and only in January was
he told the he could remain indefinitely.541 The Embassy tried to
deliver a typed copy of a telegram from his brother John on November 9;
Oswald refused to answer the knock on his door, and the message was then
sent to him by registered mail.542
Toward the end of this waiting period, probably on November 13, Aline
Mosby succeeded in interviewing Oswald.543 A reporter for United Press
International, she had called him on the telephone and was told to come
right over, Oswald's explanation being that he thought she might
"understand and be friendly" because she was a woman.544 She was the
first person who was not a Soviet citizen to whom he granted an
interview since his meeting with Snyder at the Embassy on October 31.
Miss Mosby found him polite but stiff; she said that be seemed full of
confidence, often showing a "small smile, more like a smirk," and that
he talked almost "non-stop." Oswald said to her that he had been told
that he could remain in the Soviet Union and that job possibilities were
being explored; they thought it probably would be best, he said, to
continue his education. He admitted that his Russian was bad but was
confident that it would improve rapidly. He based his dislike for the
United States on his observations of racial prejudice and the contrast
between "the luxuries of Park Avenue and workers' lives on the East
Side," and mentioned his mother's poverty; he said that if he had
remained in the United States he too would have become either a
capitalist or a worker. "One way or another." he said, "I'd lose in the
United States. In my own mind, even if I'd be exploiting other workers.
That's why I chose Marxist ideology."
Oswald told his interviewer that he had been interested in Communist
theory since he was 15, when "an old lady" in New York handed him "a
pamphlet about saving the Rosenbergs." But when Mosby asked if he were a
member of the Communist Party he said that he had never met a Communist
and that he "might bare seen" one only once, when he saw that "old
lady." He told her that while
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Page 696
he was in the Marine Corps he had seen American imperialism in action,
and had saved $1,500 in secret preparation for his defection to Russia.
His only apparent regrets concerned his family: his mother, whom he had
not told of his plans, and his brother, who might lose his job as a
result of the publicity.545
The interview lasted for about 2 hours. According to Oswald's own
account, he exacted a promise from Miss Mosby that she would show him
the story before publication but she broke the promise; he found the
published story to contain distortions of his words.546 Miss Mosby's
notes indicate that he called her to complain of the distortions, saying
in particular that his family had not been "poverty-stricken" and that
his defection was not prompted by personal hardship but that was "a
matter only of ideology."
According to the diary, Oswald was told in mid-November that he could
remain temporarily in Russia "until some solution was found with what to
do" with him. 548 Armed with this "comforting news," 549 he granted a
second interview, again to a woman, on November 16.550 Miss Priscilla
Johnson of the North American Newspaper Alliance knocked on the door of
his room at the Metropole, and Oswald agreed to come to her room at the
hotel that evening. This interview lasted about 5 hours, from 9 p.m.
until about 2 in the morning. During the interview he frequently
mentioned the fact that he would be able to remain in Russia, which gave
him great pleasure, but he also showed disappointment about the
difficulties standing in the way of his request for Soviet citizenship.
He repeated most of the information he had given Aline Mosby and again
denied having been a member of the Communist Party or even ever having
seen a Communist in the United States. When Miss Johnson asked him to
specify some of the socialist writers whose works he had read during the
past 5 years, he could name only Marx and Engels; the only title he
could recall was "Das Kapital." They talked for a long while about
Communist economic theory, which Miss Johnson thought was "his
language"; she became convinced that his knowledge of the subject was
very superficial.551 He commented that the Russians treated his
defection as a "legal formality," neither encouraging nor discouraging
it.552 When she suggested that if he really wished to renounce his
American citizenship he could do so by returning to the Embassy, he said
that he would "never set foot in the Embassy again," since he was sure
that he would be given the "same run-around" as before. He seemed to
Miss Johnson to be avoiding effective renunciation, consciously or
unconsciously, in order to preserve his right to reenter the United
States.553
For the rest of the year, Oswald seldom left his hotel room where he had
arranged to take his meals, except perhaps for a few trips to museums.
He spent most of his time studying Russian,
hours a day" his diary records. The routine was broken only by another
interview at the passport office; occasional visits from Rima Shirokova;
lessons in Russian from her and other Intourist guides; and a New Year's
visit from Roza Agafonova, who gave
Page 697
him a small "Boratin" clown as a New Year's present.554 He replied to a
letter from Robert in a letter quoted at length in chapter VII of this
report which contains his most bitter statements against the United
States.555 Robert received a third letter on December 17, in which
Oswald said that he would not write again and did not wish Robert to
write to him. The letter concluded:
I am starting a new life and I do not wish to have anything to do with
the old life.
I hope you and your family will always be in good health.
Lee 556
His mother mailed him a personal check for $20 dated December 18. It was
returned to her on January 5 with the notation that he could not "use
this check, of course"; he asked her to send him $20 in cash and added
that he had little money and needed "the rest," presumably a reference
to the $100 he had given her in September. Mrs. Oswald later sent him a
money order for about $25.557
On January 4, Oswald was summoned to the Soviet Passport Office and
given Identity Document for Stateless Persons No. 811479.558 He was told
that he was being sent to Minsk,559 an industrial city located about 450
miles southwest of Moscow and with a population in 1959 of about
510,000.560 His disappointment that he had not been granted Soviet
citizenship was balanced by relief that the uncertainty was ended; he
told Rima Shirokova that he was happy.561 On the following day, he went
to a Government agency which the Russians call the "Red Cross"; it gave
him 5,000 rubles (about 500 new rubles, or $500 at the official exchange
rate).562 He used 2,200 rubles to pay his hotel bill and 150 rubles to
purchase a railroad ticket to
Minsk. 563
Oswald arrived in Minsk on January 7. He was met at the station by two
"Red Cross" workers who took him to the Hotel Minsk. Two Intourist
employees, both of whom spoke excellent English, were waiting for
him.564 One of them, a young woman named Roza Kuznetsova, became his
dose friend and attended his 21st birthday party in October 1960.565
(See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p. 271. ) On the following day, Oswald
met the "Mayor," who welcomed him to Minsk, promised him a rent-free
apartment, and warned him against "uncultured persons" who sometimes
insulted foreigners.566
Oswald reported for work at the Belorussian Radio and Television Factory
on January 13.567 Two days earlier he had visited the factory and met
Alexander Ziger, a Polish Jew who had emigrated to Argentina in 1938 and
went to Russia in 1955. Ziger was a department head at the factory; he
spoke English, and he and iris family became good friends of Oswald and
corresponded with him after Iris return to the United States.568 The
factory, a major producer of electronic parts and systems, employed
about 5,000 persons.569 Oswald's union card described him as a "metal
worker"; 570 Marina testified that he fashioned parts on a lathe.571 As
Oswald later described it, the shop in
730-900 0-64--46
697
Page 698
which he worked, called the "experimental shop," 572 employed 58 workers
and 5 foremen. It was located in the middle part of the factory area in
a 2-story building made of red brick. The workday began
at 8 o'clock sharp. Work was assigned according to "pay levels," which
were numbered from one to five plus a top "master" level. A worker could
ask to be tested for a higher level at any time.573
Oswald had hoped to continue his education in Russia, and was
disappointed by his assignment to a factory.574 His salary varied from
700 to perhaps as high as 900 rubles per month ($70-$90) Although high
compared with the salaries of certain professional groups in Russia,
which in some areas have not grown proportionately with the wages of
factory workers,576 his salary was normal for his type of work.577 It
was supplemented, however, by 700 rubles per month, which he received
from the "Red Cross," and, .according to Oswald, his total income was
about equal to that of the director of the factory.578 In August he
applied for membership in the union; he became a dues-paying member in
September.580
Undoubtedly more noteworthy to most Russians than his extra income was
the attractive apartment which Oswald was given in March 1959. It was a
small flat with a balcony overlooking the river,581 for which he paid
only 60 rubles a month.582 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2606, p. 271.)
Oswald describes it in his diary as "a Russian-dream." 583 Had Oswald
been a Russian worker, he would probably have had to wait for several
years for a comparable apartment, and would have been given one even
then only if he had a family.584 The "Red Cross" subsidy and the
apartment were typical of the favorable treatment which the Soviet Union
has given defectors.585
Oswald's diary records that he enjoyed his first months in Minsk. His
work at the factory was easy and his coworkers were friendly and curious
about life in the United States; he declined an invitation to speak at a
mass meeting. He took Roza Kuznetsova, his interpreter and language
teacher,586 to the theater, a movie, or an opera almost every night,
until he moved into his apartment and temporarily lost contact with her.
He wrote in his diary, "I'm living big and am very satisfied." 587 In
March or April, he met Pavel Golovachev, a co-worker at the factory,
whom Oswald described as intelligent and friendly and an excellent radio
technician. (See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p. 271.) Oswald helped
Golovachev with English.588 They became friends,589 and corresponded
after Oswald returned to the United States until at least as late as
September 1963.590
The spring and summer passed easily and uneventfully. There were picnics
and drives in the country, which Oswald described as "green beauty." 591
On June 18, he obtained a hunting license and soon afterward purchased a
16-gage single-barrel shotgun. His hunting license identifies him as
"Aleksy Harvey Oswald." (He was called "Alec" by his Russian friends,
because "Lee" sounded foreign to them and was difficult for them to
pronounce.)592 He joined a local chapter of the Belorussian Society of
Hunters and Fishermen, a bunting club sponsored by his factory, and
hunted for small game in the
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farm regions around Minsk about half a dozen times in the summer and
fall. The hunters spent the night in small villages and often left their
bag with the villagers; Oswald described the peasant life which he saw
as crude and poor.593 Sometime in June, he met. Ella German, a worker at
the factory, of whom he later said he "perhaps fell in love with her the
first minute" he saw her.594 (See Commission Exhibit No. 2609, p. 271.)
At the same time, however, the first signs of disillusionment with his
Russian life appeared. He noted in his diary that he felt "uneasy
inside" after a friend took him aside at a party and advised him to
return to the United States.595 Another entry compared life in Minsk
with military life:
I have become habituatated to a small care which is where I dine in the
evening. The food is generaly poor and always eactly the same, menue in
any care, at any point in the city. The food is cheap and I don't really
care about quiality after three years in the U.S.M.C.596
In an entry for August-September, he wrote that he was becoming
"increasingly concious of just what sort of a sociaty" he lived in.597
He spent New Year's Day at the home of Ella German and her family. They
ate and drank in a friendly atmosphere, and he was "drunk and happy"
when he returned home. During the walk back to his apartment he decided
to ask Ella to marry him. On the following night, after he had brought
her home from the movies, he proposed on her doorstep. She rejected him,
saying that she did not love him and that she was afraid to marry an
American. She said that the Polish intervention in the 1920's had led to
the arrest of all people in the Soviet Union of Polish origin and she
feared that something similar might happen to Americans some day. Oswald
was "too stunned to think," and concluded that she had gone out with him
only because she was envied by the other girls for having an American as
an escort.598 But in one of the entries in the diary he appears to have
attributed her failure to love him to "a state of fear which was always
in the Soviet Union." 599 His affection for Ella German apparently
continued for some time; 600 he had his last formal date with her in
February and remained on friendly terms with her as long as he was in
Russia.601
After he returned to the United States, Oswald often commented on
Russian life. He discussed the Soviet systems of public education and
medical care.603 He observed to one acquaintance that everyone in Russia
was trained to do something,604 and discussed with another the system of
regular wage and salary increases.605 His most frequent criticisms
concerned the contrast between the lives of ordinary workers and the
lives of Communist Party members. He told an acquaintance in Dallas that
the working class in the Soviet Union made just about enough to buy
clothing and food and that only party members could afford luxuries.606
On another occasion, he remarked
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that if he had had as much money as some of the "managers," he could
have visited the Black Sea resorts.607 He complained about the lack of
freedom in Russia; sos the lack of opportunity to travel ;609 inadequate
housing; 610 and the chronic scarcity of food products.611 To one
acquaintance, he observed that the party members were all
"opportunists," who "shouted the loudest and made the most noise," but
who were interested only in their own welfare.612
He expressed similar views in a manuscript which he worked on in Russia
613 and probably intended to publish; soon after he returned to the
United States, he hired a stenographer to prepare a typed draft from his
notes.614 Oswald described the manuscript, which amounted to 50 typed
pages, as "a look into the lives of work-a-day average Russians."615
The manuscript describes the factory in which Oswald worked and suggests
that political considerations of which Oswald disapproved dominated its
operation. He attributed the lack of unemployment to the shortage of
labor-saving machinery and the heavy load of bureaucracy, which kept
"tons of paper work" flowing in and out of the factory and required a
high foreman-worker ratio.616 In addition, he wrote, there was "a small
army of examiners, committees, and supply checkers and the
quality-control board."
He described life in Russia, including life at the factory, as centered
around the "Kollective." The head of the Kollective in his shop, Comrade
Lebizen, saw to it that everyone maintained shop discipline, attended
party meetings, and received all the new propaganda as it came out. He
hung the walls of the shop with signs and slogans of the Communist
Party. Meetings of the Kollective were "so numerous as to be
staggering." In a single month, there were scheduled one meeting of the
professional union, four political information meetings, two young
Communist meetings, one meeting of the production committee to discuss
ways of improving work, two Communist Party meetings, four meetings of
the "School of Communist Labor," and one sports meeting. All but one of
them were compulsory for Communist Party members and all but three were
compulsory for everyone.618 (Marina Oswald testified that her husband
did not attend the courses in Marxism and Leninism given in the factory
for party members and those who wished to become party members.)619 They
were scheduled so as not to interfere with work, and lasted anywhere
from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Oswald said that no one liked the meetings,
which were accepted "philosophically"; at the political meetings
especially, everyone paid strict attention, and party members were
posted in the audience to watch for the slightest sign that one's
attention might relax, even for a moment.620
Oswald wrote that the "spontaneous" demonstrations on Soviet holidays or
for distinguished visitors were almost as well organized as the
Kollectivist meetings at the factory.621 He noted that elections were
supervised to ensure that everyone voted, and that they voted for the
candidates of the Communist Party. The manuscript touches on other
aspects of Soviet life--as the housing shortage and the corrup-
700
Page 701
tion which it evoked, the "rest-homes" where workers had their
vacations, television and the omnipresent radio, and Russian reading
habits.622 This writing also may include only what Oswald thought might
be acceptable.
On January 4, 1961, I year after he had been issued his "stateless"
residence permit, Oswald was summoned to the passport office in Minsk
and asked if he still wanted to become a Soviet citizen. He replied that
he did not, but asked that his residence permit be extended for another
year.623 The entry in his diary for January 4-31 reads: "I am stating to
reconsider my disire about staying. The work is drab. The money I get
has nowhere to be spent. No nightclubs or bowling allys, no places of
recreation acept the trade union dances. I have had enough." 624
The American Embassy in Moscow had not heard from Oswald after it
received his letter of November 3, 1959.625 On February 13, 1961, it
received an undated letter from him which had been mailed in Minsk about
a week earlier. He asked for the return of his passport and stated that
he wanted to return to the United States if he could "come to some
agreement [with the American Government] concerning the dropping of any
legal proceedings" against him. He noted that he had not become a Soviet
citizen and was living in Russia with "nonpermanent type papers for a
foreigner," and said that he did not appear personally because he could
not leave Minsk without permission. The letter concluded: "I hope that
in recalling the responsibility I have to America that you remember
yours in doing everything you can to help me, since I am an American
citizen." 626 In this letter, Oswald referred to a previous letter which
he said had gone unanswered; there is evidence that such a letter was
never sent.627
The Second Secretary, Richard Snyder, answered on February 28 that
Oswald would have to appear at the Embassy personally to discuss his
return to the United States.628 In the meantime, Oswald's mother, who in
January had inquired at the Department of State about his
whereabouts,629 had been notified of his letter.630 A second letter from
Oswald, posted on March 5, reached the Embassy on March 20; it
reiterated that he was unable to leave Minsk without permission and
asked that "preliminary inquiries * * * be put in the form of
questionnaire" and sent to him.631 His diary entry for this period
records his "state of expectation about going back to the U.S.," and
adds that a friend had approved his plans but warned him not to discuss
them with others.632 (The Soviet authorities had undoubtedly intercepted
and read the correspondence between Oswald and the Embassy and knew of
his plans.633 Soon after the correspondence began, his monthly payments
from the "Red Cross" were cut off.)634 Having informed Washington,635
the Embassy wrote to Oswald on March 24, stating again that he would
have to come to Moscow.636 Later, the Department of State decided that
Oswald's passport should be returned to him only if he appeared at the
Embassy for it and the Embassy was satisfied, after exploring the matter
with him, that. he had not renounced his citizenship.637
701
Page 702
Sometime in the second week of March, Miss Katherine Mallory, who was on
tour in Minsk with the University of Michigan symphonic band, found
herself surrounded by curious Russian citizens. A young man who
identified himself as a Texan and former marine stepped out of the crowd
and asked if she needed an interpreter; he interpreted for her for the
next 15 or 20 minutes. Later he told her that he despised the United
States and hoped to stay in Minsk for the rest of his life. Miss Mallory
is unable to swear that her interpreter was Oswald, but is personally
convinced that it was he.638
A few days later, probably on March 17, Oswald attended a trade union
dance with a friend, Erik Titovyets, at the Palace of Culture for
Professional Workers in Minsk.639 The dance followed a lecture by a
Russian woman who had recently returned from a trip to the United
States.640 Marina Nikolayevna Prusakova arrived too late to hear the
lecture 641 but was at the dance. Oswald noticed her and asked Yuriy
Merezhinskiy, the son of the lecturer and a. friend of both Oswald and
Marina, to introduce him to her. Oswald asked her to dance. According to
the diary, they liked each other immediately and he obtained her
telephone number before she left.642 Marina testified that she told
Oswald that she might see him at another dance, but did not give him her
telephone number.643 Oswald was smitten.644
Marina Prusakova was 19 years old when she met Oswald. (See Commission
Exhibit No. 1395, p. 270.) She was born on July 17, 1941, at
Severodvinsk (formerly Molotovsk),Arkhangel Oblast', Russia.645 A few
years later, her mother, Klavdiya Vasilievna Prusakova, married
Aleksandr Ivanovich Medvedev, who became the only father Marina knew.646
While she was still a young girl, Marina went to Arkhangel'sk, Arkhangel
Oblast', to live with her maternal grandparents, Tatyana Yakovlevna
Prusakova and Vasiliy Prusakov. Her grandfather died when Marina was
about 4 years old; she continued to live with her grandmother for some
time.647 When she was not more than 7, she moved to Zguritva, Moldavian
SSR (formerly called Bessarabia) to live with her mother and stepfather,
who was an electrical worker.648 In 1952, the family moved to
Leningrad,649 where her stepfather obtained a job in a power station.650
Marina testified that neither he nor her mother was a member of the
Communist Party.651
In Leningrad, Marina attended the Three Hundred and Seventy-Fourth
Women's School. After she had completed the seventh grade at the school
in 1955,652 she entered the Pharmacy Teknikum for special training,
which she had requested on the ground that her mother was ill and Marina
might need to have a specialty in order to support herself. While she
was st the Teknikum, she joined the Trade Union for Medical Workers 653
and, in her last year there, worked part time in the Central Pharmacy in
Leningrad. She graduated from the Teknikum with a diploma in pharmacy in
June 1959.
Marina's mother had died in 1957, during Marina's second year at the
Teknikum; she continued to live with her stepfather, but had little
contact with him. She testified that she did not get along with
Page 703
her stepfather, whom she displeased by her fresh conduct; she said that
she was not easily disciplined 654 and was a source of concern to
him.655 Because of the friction between them, Marina regarded her
childhood as an unhappy one.
After her graduation, Marina was assigned to a job preparing and packing
orders in a pharmaceutical warehouse in Leningrad; as a new employee she
had the right to leave this job within 3 days after the assignment,656
and she did so after the first day. She took no job for the next 2
months, at the end of which she went to live in Minsk with an aunt and
uncle, the Prusakova, who had no children. She had known them since she
was a child and there was a mutual affection between her and them.657
Her uncle, a member of the Communist Party,658 was assigned to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and headed the local bureau concerned with
lumber. The Prusakova had one of the best apartments in a building
reserved for MVD employees.659
Marina was 18 when she arrived in Minsk. She had had boyfriends in
Leningrad but was not interested in marriage. In October 1960 she
started work in the drug section of the Third Clinical Hospital where
she earned about 450 rubles per month ;660 at about the same time she
became a member of the local Komsomol, the Communist youth
organization.661 Her friends were mostly students, whose social life
consisted of meeting in cafes to sip coffee, read newspapers, gossip,
and carry on discussions. The group of friends "ran together," and
Marina did not attach herself to a particular boyfriend. She enjoyed
this life, which she had been leading for about 7 months when she met
Oswald at the dance at the Palace of Culture in March 1961.662
When Marina met Oswald, she thought he was from one of the
Russian-speaking Baltic countries because he spoke with an accent; later
that same evening she ]earned that he was an American.663 She met him
again at another dance a week later. 664 They danced together most of
the evening, at the end of which he walked home with her. They arranged
to meet again the following week. 665 Before the scheduled time, Oswald
called to say that he was in the hospital and that Marina should visit
him there. 666 Medical records furnished to the Commission by the
Russian Government show that Oswald was admitted to the Clinical
Hospital--Ear, Nose, and Throat Division, on Thursday, March 30,
1961.667 Marina visited him often,668 taking advantage of her uniform to
visit him outside regular visiting hours, which were only on Sunday. 669
On Easter Sunday, the first Sunday after his admission to the hospital,
she brought him an Easter egg.670 On a subsequent visit, he asked her to
be his fiancee, and she agreed to consider it.671 He left the hospital
on April 11.672
During these visits, Marina apparently discussed with Oswald his reasons
for coming to Russia and his current status. According to her later
account, he told her that he had surrendered his American documents to
the Embassy in Moscow and had told American officials that he did not
intend to return to the United States. He did not say definitely that he
was no longer an American citizen, but said in answer
Page 704
to a question about his citizenship that he could not return to the
United States.673
Oswald visited Marina regularly at her aunt and uncle's apartment; they
were apparently not disturbed by the fact that, he was an American and
did not disapprove of her seeing him. He continued to ask her to marry
him and, according to her recollection, she accepted his proposal on
April 20; 674 Oswald's diary puts the date 5 days earlier.675 Marina
testified that. she believed that Oswald could not return to, the United
States when she agreed to marry him, and that she had not married him in
hope of going to the United States.676
After filing notice of their intent to marry at the registrar, obtaining
the special consent necessary for an alien to marry a citizen, and
waiting the usual 10 days, they were married on April 30.677 The diary
entry for the wedding day reads:
two of Marinas girl friends act as bridesmaids. We are married. At her
aunts home we have a dinner reception for about 20 friends and neboribos
who wish us happiness (in spite of my origin and accept [accent?] which
was in general rather disquiting to any Russian since for are very rare
in the soviet Union even tourist. After an evening of eating and
drinking in which * * * [Marina's uncle] started a fright [fight?] and
the fuse blow on an overloaded circite we take our leave and walk the
1-5 minutes to our home. We lived near each other, at midnight we were
home.678
They both took 3 days off from their jobs, which they spent in Minsk.679
Oswald wrote in his diary for May 1, 1 day after the wedding: "In spite
of fact I married Marina to hurt Ella I found myself in love with
Marina." 680 The next entry, marked simply "May," reads in part:
The trasistion of changing full love from Ella to Marina was very
painfull esp. as I saw Ella almost every day at the factory but as the
days & weeks went by I adjusted more and more [to] my wife mentaly * * *
She is maddly in love with me from the very start. Boat rides on Lake
Minsk walks through the parks evening at home or at Aunt Valia's place
mark May." 681
And in June: "A continuence of May, except that; we draw closer and
closer, and I think very little now of Ella." 682
Sometime within the first month or two after they were married Oswald
told his wife that he was anxious to return to the United States. The
diary says that he told her "in the last days" of June and that she was
"slightly startled" but encouraged him to do as he wished.683 Marina's
recollection is that she learned of his plan between May and July.
Embassy records show that Oswald notified the Embassy in a letter
received on May 25 that he was married and his wife would
Page 705
seek to accompany him to the United States.684 At about this time, the
Oswalds began to make inquiries in Soviet offices about exit visas. 685
While these preparations were being made, the Oswalds apparently enjoyed
their new life.686 They ate most of their meals in cares or at
restaurants where they worked.687 For amusement, they went boating,
attended the opera, concerts, the circus, and films; occasionally, they
gathered with a group of friends for a cooperative meal at someone's
apartment.688 His Russian improved, but he retained an accent and never
learned to speak grammatically or to write well.689 He read the English
language edition of the Daily Worker and books, also in English, on
Marxism and Leninism; he also read some Russian newspapers.690
Before he married Marina (and presumably before February, when he had
begun his efforts to return to the United States) Oswald had applied for
admission to the Patrice Lumumba Friendship University in Moscow. He
received a letter dated May 3 apologizing for the delay in responding to
his application and turning it down on the ground that the university
had been established exclusively for students from the underdeveloped
countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. 691 Oswald expressed his
disappointment at having been turned down to Marina.692
Oswald reopened his correspondence with his family on May 5, with a
friendly letter to his brother Robert. He said nothing about, his
contacts with the American Embassy, but mentioned that he had married,
and that he had a job as a "metal-smith" and was living well. He asked
his brother for their mother's address, and encouraged him to come to
Minsk for a visit.693 Robert answered the letter quickly. On May 31,
Oswald wrote again and expressed his pleasure at having heard from
Robert after so long. Apparently in response to an offer to send him
whatever he needed, Oswald wrote that he needed nothing and thanked
Robert for the thought; he suggested, however, that Marina might like a
small wedding present. At the end of the letter he said that he did not
know whether he would ever return to the United States; he said that
before he could return he would have to obtain the permission of the
Soviet Union for him and Marina to leave and insure that no charges
would be lodged against him in the United States. In this letter, he
mentioned that he was in touch with the Embassy in Moscow.694 At about
this time, Oswald wrote also to his mother. 695
On May 25, the Embassy received a letter mailed in Minsk about 10 days
before, in which Oswald asked for assurances that he would not be
prosecuted if he returned to the United States, and informed the Embassy
that he had married a Russian woman who would want to accompany him.696
The Embassy communicated this development to Washington 697 and did not
answer Oswald immediately. In addition, he had had no word since March
concerning the return of his passport.. Impatient for action,698 he
appeared without warning at the Embassy on July 8; it was a Saturday and
the offices were closed.699 He used the house telephone to reach Snyder,
who came
705
Page 706
to the office, talked with him briefly, and suggested that he return on
the following Monday.700 Oswald called Marina and asked her join him in
Moscow. She arrived on Sunday, July 9, 701 a room at the Hotel
Berlin,702 where he had stayed when he first arrived in Russia.
Oswald returned to the Embassy on Monday. Marina waited outside during
his interview with Snyder,703 who asked to see Oswald's Soviet papers
and questioned him closely about his life in Russia and possible
expatriating acts. Oswald stated that he was not a citizen of the Soviet
Union and had never formally applied for citizenship, that he had never
taken an oath of allegiance to the Soviet Union, and that he was not a
member of the factory trade union organization. He said that he had
never given Soviet officials any confidential information that he had
learned in the Marines, had never been asked to give such information,
and "doubted" that he would have done so had he been asked.704 Some of
Oswald's statements during this interview were undoubtedly false. He had
almost certainly applied for citizenship in the Soviet Union 705 and, at
least for a time, been disappointed when it was denied.706 He possessed
a membership card in the union organization.707 In addition, his
assertion to Snyder that he had never been questioned by Soviet
authorities concerning his life in the United States is simply
unbelievable.
Oswald showed anxiety, already displayed in his letters, that he might
be prosecuted and imprisoned if he returned to. the United States.
Snyder told him informally that he did not know any grounds on which he
would be prosecuted but that he could give no assurances in this
regard.708 Snyder testified that Oswald seemed to have matured while he
was in Russia and did not show the bravado and arrogance which
characterized his first contacts with the Embassy. Oswald told him that
he had "learned a hard lesson the hard way" and had acquired a new
appreciation of the United States and the meaning of freedom.709
Since Oswald's passport would expire on September 10, 1961,710 before
which date he probably would not be able to obtain Russian exit papers,
he filled out an application for its renewal.711 On a questionnaire
attached to the application,712 he reiterated his oral statements that
he had obtained only a residence permit in the Soviet Union and was
still an American national. On the basis of Oswald's written and oral
statements, Snyder concluded that he had not expatriated himself and
returned his passport, stamped valid only for direct travel to the
United States,713 to him. Accompanied by his wife,714 Oswald came to the
Embassy again on the following day,715 to initiate procedures for her
admission to the United States as an immigrant; they had a routine
interview with McVickar, Snyder's assistant.716 Three days later, they
returned to Minsk.717
On the same day, Oswald wrote to his brother. He told Robert that he had
his passport again and that he and Marina were doing everything possible
to leave the Soviet Union. Apparently referring to his initial
reappearance at the Embassy in quest of his passport, he
706
Page 707
wrote: "I could write a book about how many feeling have come and gone
since that day." The letter closed with an affectionate greeting to his
brother and his family.718 The letter's tone of firm purpose to return
to the United States in the face of heavy odds reflected Oswald's
attitude thereafter.
As soon as they returned to Minsk, the Oswalds began to work with local
authorities for permission to leave the country.719 His diary entry for
July 16 through August 20 reads,
We have found out which blanks and certificates are nessceary to apply
for a exit visa. They number about 20 papers; birth certificates,
affidavit, photos, ect. On Aug 20th we give the papers out they say it
will be 3.5 months before we know wheather they let us go or not. In the
meantime Marina has had to stade 4 differant meeting at the place of
work held by her boss's at the direction of "someone" by phone. The
Young Comm. leauge headquttes also called about her and she had to go
see them for 1½ hours. The purpose (expressed) is to disuade her from
going to the U.S.A. Net effect: Make her more stubborn about wanting to
go. Marina is pregnet. We only hope that the visas come through soon.720
In a letter dated July 15, he reported their efforts to the Embassy, and
said that he would keep it informed "as to the overall picture." The
letter mentioned that Marina was having difficulties at work because of
her decision to leave but added that such "tactics" were "quite useless"
and that Marina had "stood up well, without getting into trouble." 721
For August 21 through September 1, the diary reads:
I make repeated trips to the passport & visa office, also to Ministry of
For. Affairs in Minsk, also Min. of Internal Affairs, all of which have
a say in the granting of a visa. I extrackted promises of quick
attention to us.722
For September through October 18, "No word from Min. ('They'11 call
us.')." 723
Marina testified that when the news of her visit to the American Embassy
in July reached Minsk, she was dropped from membership in "Komsomol,"
the Communist Youth Organization, 724 and that "meetings were arranged"
at which "members of the various organizations" attempted to dissuade
her from leaving the Soviet Union.725 Her aunt and uncle did not speak
to her for "a long time." 726 Paul Gregory, to whom Marina taught
Russian in the United States, testified that she once referred to this
period of her life in Minsk as "a very horrible time." 727
Oswald wrote to the Embassy again on October 4, to request that the U.S.
Government officially intervene to facilitate his and his wife's
applications for exit visas.728 He stated that there had been
"systematic and concerted attempts to intimidate [Marina] * * * into
with-
707
Page 708
drawing her application for a visa" which had resulted in her being
hospitalized for a 5-day period on September 22 for "nervous
exhaustion." 729 Marina has denied that she was hospitalized for a
nervous disorder 730 and he made no mention of it in his diary or
letters to his family; he probably lied to the Embassy. The Embassy
replied to his letter on October 12, saying that it had no way of
influencing Soviet conduct on such matters and that its experience had
been that action on applications for exit visas was "seldom taken
rapidly." 731
In October 1961 Marina took her annual vacation. 732 She and Oswald
agreed that she should get a "change of scenery," 733 and she spent
about 3 weeks with an aunt in Khar'kov. It is possible that they were
not getting along well together during this period. 734 A dairy entry
after her return indicates that they were having some quarrels and that
she was wavering in her decision to go to the United States, which
Oswald attributed to anxiety about their applications for visas and the
fact that she was pregnant; he in turn dreaded the approach of the "hard
Russian winter." 735 He noted in his dairy that he was lonely while she
was gone, but that he and his friend "Erich," presumably Erik Titovyets,
went to some dances and other public amusements.736 On his 22nd birthday
he went alone to see his favorite opera, "The Queen of Spades." 737
Marina sent him a gold and silver cup, inscribed "To my dear husband on
his birthday, 18/x/61" and other gifts, for which he wrote to thank
her.738 She returned on November 12, in Oswald's words, "radient, with
several jars of preserses for me from her aunt." 739
Sometime after Marina's return Oswald applied for an interview with Col.
Nicolay Aksenov, an official in the local MVD, in an effort to expedite
their application for exit visas; he was told by the colonel's
subordinates that they were competent to handle the matter. Oswald then
insisted that Marina seek an interview; she agreed reluctantly. The
interview was granted; 740 Marina thought that this might have been due
to the fact that her uncle was also a high-ranking official in the Minsk
MVD, but she did not believe that he would personally have presumed on
his official position to obtain special treatment.741 Colonel Aksenov
questioned her about her reasons for wanting to go to the United States
and, noticing that she was pregnant, suggested that she at least delay
her departure so that her child could be born in Russia, but did not
otherwise try to discourage her. He finally told her that there were
many others seeking visas and that she and her husband would have to
wait their turn.742
Throughout this period, Oswald continued to correspond with his mother
and brother. His letters contained the usual chatter among members of a
family and occasional references to the progress of the visa
applications.743 He wrote to the Embassy on November 1, saying that if,
as he anticipated, his residence permit were renewed in January for
another year, it would be over his protest. 744 On November 13 the
Embassy replied, telling Oswald that retention of his Soviet passport,
which was of the kind issued to persons considered to be stateless, or
an extension of it, would not. prejudice his claim to Ameri-
708
Page 709
can citizenship. The letter added that he could discuss the renewal of
his American passport whenever he appeared in person at the Embassy to
do so.745
Late in December, Oswald wrote a letter to Senator John G. Tower of
Texas, which was received in Washington near the end of January. He
stated that he was an American citizen and that the Soviet Government
refused to permit him and his wife to leave the Soviet Union. He asked
Senator Tower to raise "the question of holding by the Soviet Union of a
citizen of the U.S., against his will and expressed desires." The letter
was referred to the State Department and no further action concerning it
was taken.746 On December 25, Marina was called to the Soviet Passport
Office and told that exit visas would be granted to her and her husband;
she was surprised, having doubted that she would ever be permitted to
leave. Oswald wrote to the Embassy on December 27 that they would be
given visas and asked that his passport be extended without another trip
to Moscow; he added, however, that he would come to Moscow if this would
expedite the processing of his application. In his diary, he wrote,
"It's great (I think ?)." 747 Before the year ended, Marina went on
maternity leave from her job.748 They spent New Year's Eve at a dinner
party given by the Zigers.749
Oswald wrote to his mother on January 2, 1962, and told her that he and
his wife expected to arrive in the United States sometime around March.
He asked her to contact the local Red Cross and request that it put his
case before the International Rescue Committee or some other group which
aids immigrants to the United States. He told her that he would need
about $800 and that she should insist on a gift rather than a loan; he
told her not to send any of her own money.750 Despite his instructions,
she requested a loan from the Red Cross.751 On January 13, Oswald wrote
to the International Rescue Committee himself; he asked for $800 with
which to purchase two tickets from Moscow to Texas.752 He wrote to the
Committee again on January 26, this time asking for $1,000.753
In the meantime, letters of Oswald 754 and the American Embassy,755 both
dated January 5, crossed in the mail. The Embassy's letter suggested
that since there might be difficulties in obtaining an American visa for
Marina, he consider returning alone and bringing her over later. He
replied on the 16th that he would not leave Russia without her.756 In
his letter, Oswald requested that the U.S. Government loan him the money
for his and Marina's airplane tickets or arrange a loan from another
source. The Embassy replied on January 15 that Marina had not yet
obtained an American visa. and that no evidence had yet been submitted
that. she would not become a public charge in the United States.757 It
suggested that Oswald's mother or some other close relative file an
affidavit of support in Marina's behalf. Before receiving this letter,
Oswald wrote out such a document himself 758 and mailed it to the
Embassy.759
On January 28, after receiving the Embassy's letter, he wrote that his
own affidavit should be sufficient, since he had been away from
709
Page 710
the United States for more than 2 years and could not be expected to
obtain an affidavit from someone else.760 But on the same day, he wrote
to his mother asking that she file an affidavit of support with the
Immigration and Naturalization Service.761 On January 24, the Embassy
acknowledged receipt of his affidavit, but again suggested that he
obtain one from someone else.762
Late in January, Oswald received a letter from his mother telling him
that he had been given a dishonorable discharge from the Marines.763
(The discharge had actually been "undesirable," a less derogatory
characterization.) 764 This apparently revived his fear of prosecution,
and on January 30, he wrote to his brother for more information.765 On
the same day he wrote also to John B. Connally, Jr., then Governor of
Texas, who Oswald believed was still Secretary of Navy. The letter read:
I wish to call your attention to a case about which you may have
personal knowlege since you are a resident of Ft. Worth as I am.
In November 1959 an event was well publicated in the Ft. Worth
newspapers concerning a person who had gone to the Soviet Union to
reside for a short time, (much in the same way E. Hemingway resided in
Paris.)
This person in answers to questions put to him by reporteds in Moscow
criticized certain facets of american life. The story was blown up into
another "turncoat" sensation, with the result that the Navy department
gave this person a belated dishonourable discharge, although he had
received an honourable discharge after three years service on Sept. 11,
1959 at El Toro, Marine corps base in California.
These are the basic facts of my case.
I have and allways had the full sanction of the U.S. Embassy, Moscow
USSR. and hence the U.S. goverment. In as much as I am returning to the
U.S.A. in this year with the aid of the U.S. Embassy, bring with me my
family (since I married in the USSR) I shall employ all means to right
this gross mistake or injustice to a boni-fied U.S. citizen and
ex--service man. The U.S. government has no charges or complaints
against me. I ask you to look into this case. and take the neccessary
steps to repair the damage done to me. and my family. For information I
would direct you to consult the American Embassy, Chikovski St. 19/21,
Moscow, USSR.766
Connally referred the letter to the Department. of the Navy,767 which
sent Oswald a letter stating that the Department contemplated no change
in the undesirable discharge. 768 On March 22, Oswald wrote to the
Department insisting that his discharge be given a further, full
review.769 The Department promptly replied that it had no authority to
hear and review petitions of this sort and referred Oswald to the Navy
Discharge Review Board.770 Oswald filled out
710
Page 711
the enclosed application for review in Minsk but did not mail it until
he returned to the United States.771
The Department of State had notified Oswald's mother that it would need
$900 to make the travel arrangements for her son and daughter-in-law.772
On February 1, Oswald sent his mother a brief letter rejecting her
suggestion that she try to raise money by telling the newspapers about
his financial plight.773 Five days later, the Embassy Oswald wrote to
his mother again on February 9, reminding her to file an affidavit of
support and asking that she send him clippings from the Fort Worth
newspapers about his defection to Russia, a request which he later
repeated to his brother. He told her that he wanted to know what had
been written about him, so that he could be "forewarned."
Oswald took Marina to the hospital on the morning of February 15. A baby
girl was born at about 10 a.m.776 He had gone on to the factory where
news of the birth awaited him on his arrival.777 In accordance with
regular hospital practice,778 he did not see the baby until Marina left
the hospital.779 He was excited by the child,780 who was named "June
Lee" in accordance with the Russian custom and law that a child's second
name must be the father's first name or a variation of it. He had wanted
to name his child "June Marina," and protested the
plication of the law to her, since he had a United States passport. His
diary contains the wry comment, "Po- Russki." 781 His coworkers at the
factory gave the Oswalds "one summer blanket, 6 light diapers, 4 warm
diapers, 2 chemises, 3 very good warm chemises, 4 very nice suits and
two toys" for the baby.782 Marina came home on February 23.783
There was less urgency about the departure for the United States after
June Lee was born.784 Oswald wrote to his mother,785 and brother,786
that he would probably not arrive for several months. The Embassy
received a letter on March 3, in which Oswald applied for a loan of
$800; 787 the Embassy replied that it was authorized to loan him only
$500.788 It had in the meantime decided that his own affidavit of
support for Marina would be sufficient under the circumstances.789 On
March 15, he received notification from the Immigration and
Naturalization Service that Marina's application for a visa had been
approved.790 By March 28, he had received an affidavit of support in
Marina's behalf from his mother's employer, Byron K. Phillips, 791 which
he filed although it was no longer necessary to do so.792 A few days
before, Marina, still on maternity leave, had quit her job. 793
Discussions with the Embassy to complete financial and travel
arrangements continued in April and May.794 In a letter to Robert on
April 12, Oswald wrote that only "the American side" was holding up
their departure, but added that the winter being over, he didn't "really
* * * want to leave until the beginning of fall, since the spring and
summer * * * [in Russia] are so nice." 795
Page 712
On May 10, the Embassy wrote that everything was in order and suggested
that Oswald come to the Embassy with his family to sign the final
papers.796 At his request,797 he was discharged from the factory on
about May 18.798 His work had apparently never been very good. Marina
testified that he was rather lazy and resented having to take orders.799
This estimate is confirmed by a report of the plant director and
personnel department chief, filed on December 11, 1961, which was
apparently a routine assessment of his work. The report noted that he
did not, "display the initiative for increasing his skill" in his job,
that he was "over-sensitive * * * to remarks from the foremen, and * * *
careless in his work"; Oswald took "no part in the social life of the
shop" and kept "very much to himself." 800
Oswald picked up his Soviet, exit visa on May 22; 801 at about this
time, he also had an interview with an official of the MVD to obtain
final clearance for his departure. 802 He wrote to Robert that
and his family would leave for Moscow on the following day and depart
for England 10 to 14 days later. He expected to cross the Atlantic by
ship, probably docking in New Orleans. Returning to a point which he had
made in an earlier letter to his mother, he commented that he knew from
the newspaper clippings what Robert had said about him when he left for
Russia; he thought that Robert had talked too much at that time, and
asked that Robert say nothing to the newspapers now. 803
The Oswalds arrived in Moscow by May 24 804 and on that date filled out
various documents at the American Embassy; 805 Marina was given her
American visa.806 Final arrangements for their emigration were made with
Soviet officials. 807 On June 1, Oswald signed a promissory note at the
Embassy for a repatriation loan of $435.71.808 He and his family boarded
a train for Holland,809 which passed through Minsk that night.810 They
crossed the Soviet frontier at Brest on June 2. Two days later, they
departed from Holland on the SS Maasdam. 811 Onboard ship, the Oswalds
stayed by themselves; Marina testified that she did not often go on deck
because she was poorly dressed and Oswald was ashamed of her.812
Probably while he was on board the Maasdam Oswald wrote some notes on
ship stationery, which appear to be a summary of what he thought he had
learned by living under both the capitalist and Communist systems. The
notes reflect his unhappy and deepening feeling of disillusionment with
both the Soviet Union and the United States. Oswald observed that
although reform groups may oppose the government in power, they always
declare that they are for their people and their country, and he asked
what "would happen if somebody was to stand up and say he was utterly
opposed not, only to the governments, but to the people, too the entire
land and complete foundations" of his society. He condemned existing
political groups and proposed the formation of a third choice between
communism and capitalism. neither of which was acceptable to him. "I
have lived," he said, %rider both systems I have sought the answers and
although it would
Page 713
be very easy to dupe myself into believing one system is better than the
other, I know they are not." In these notes, he acknowledged that his
"Red Cross" subsidy had been paid by the Soviet Government rather than
the international organization, and said, "I shall never sell myself
intentionlly, or unintentionlly to anyone again."
(Commission Exhibit No. 25, p. 273.) It was probably also onboard ship
that Oswald wrote two sets of answers to questions which he anticipated
about his decision to go to Russia. and later to return to the United
States. Although the sets of answers are somewhat similar, but the tone
of one is apologetic, while the other suggests that Oswald went to
Russia to study the Soviet system, but remained a loyal American and
owed no apologies.814
The Maasdam landed at Hoboken, N.J., on June 13.815 The Oswalds were met
by Spas T. Raikin, a representative of the Traveler's Aid Society, which
had been contacted by the Department of State; Raikin had the impression
that Oswald was trying to avoid meeting anyone. He told Raikin that he
had only $63 and had no plans either for that night or for travel to
Fort Worth, and accepted the society's help, according to Raikin, "with
confidence and appreciation."816 They passed through the immigration
office without incident,817 and Raikin helped them through customs.818
The society referred the Oswalds to the New York City Department of
Welfare, which helped them find a room at the Times Square Hotel.819
Oswald told both Raikin and representatives of the welfare department
that he had been a marine stationed at the American Embassy in Moscow,
had married a Russian girl, renounced his citizenship, and worked in
Minsk; he soon found out, he said, that the Russian propaganda was
inaccurate but had not been able to obtain an exit visa for his wife and
child for more than 2 years. He said also that he had paid the travel
expenses himself.820
The welfare department called Robert Oswald's home in Fort Worth. His
wife answered and said that they would help. She contacted her husband
who sent $200 immediately.821 Oswald refused to accept the money and
insisted that the department itself should pay the fare to Texas; he
threatened that they would go as far as they could on $63 and rely on
local authorities to get them the rest of the way. In the end he
accepted the money.822 On the afternoon of June 14, the Oswalds left New
York by plane for Fort Worth.823
Fort Worth, Dallas, New Orleans
Page 713
FORT WORTH, DALLAS, NEW ORLEANS
Oswald had originally indicated that he and his family would stay with
his mother in Vernon, Tex.824 His decision to stay with Robert Oswald in
Fort Worth apparently had been prompted by his brother's invitation in a
letter to him in Russia.825 Oswald listed only his brother as a relative
on an "Intake Interview" form which he prepared for the New York
Department of Welfare.826
730-900 0-64--47
Page 714
Robert took his wife and children to Love Field, the Dallas airport, to
meet Lee and Marina and their baby, June Lee.827 He testified that the
most noticeable change in his brother's appearance was that he had
become rather bald; he seemed also to be somewhat thinner than he had
been in 1959. Robert thought that his brother had picked up "something
of an accent" but, except. for these changes was '"the same boy" whom he
had known before.828 Lee commented on the absence of newspaper reporters
and seemed to Robert to be disappointed that none had appeared.829 Later
on, Lee was anxious to avoid publicity.830
Robert drove the Oswalds to his home at 7313 Davenport Street.831 For a
few days, Lee seemed tense,832 but the brothers got along well,833 and
to Robert it was "more or less * * * [as if Lee] had not been to
Russia"; they were "just together again." 834 They did not discuss
politics, according to Robert because of a "tacit agreement" between
them.835 Lee indicated to his brother that he hoped to have his
undesirable discharge from the Marines corrected.836 Robert and his wife
"took to Marina and June," and enjoyed showing Marina "things that she
had never seen before." 837 Marina rested and took care of her baby, and
when she could, helped in the household.838 She testified that, apart
from a trip to the library, Lee spent about a week "merely talking." 839
On June 18, 4 days after he arrived in Fort Worth, Oswald went to the
office of Mrs. Pauline Virginia Bates, a public stenographer whose name
he had found in the telephone directory,840 and asked her to type a
manuscript from the "scraps of paper," on which he had recorded his
impressions of the Soviet Union.841 Intrigued by his tale that he had
just returned from the Soviet Union and had smuggled his notes out of
that country, she agreed to type the notes for $1 per page or $2 an
hour, 50 cents less than her usual hourly rate.842 On that day and the
succeeding 2 days, Mrs. Bates spent 8 hours typing for Oswald while he
remained in her office helping her with the notes and translating
portions of them which were in Russian.843 At the end of each session he
collected his notes and as much of the manuscript as she had done and
took them away with him.844 On June 20, he gave Mrs. Bates $10 for the
10 completed pages; he told her that he had no more money and refused to
accept her offer to postpone pay-merit or continue the work for
nothing.845
Oswald told Mrs. Bates that there was an engineer in Fort Worth who
wanted to help him publish his notes.846 On June 19,847 he had called
Peter Gregory, a petroleum engineer who was born in Siberia and taught
Russian at the Fort Worth Public Library as a "civic enterprise." 848 He
asked if Gregory could give him a letter testifying to his ability to
read and speak Russian, so that he could obtain work as an interpreter
or translator. Gregory suggested that Oswald come to his office, where
Gregory opened a Russian book at random and asked Oswald to read from
it. Oswald read well, and Gregory gave him the letter he wanted.849
Gregory and Oswald had lunch together and discussed Oswald's life in the
Soviet Union,850 but, according to Gregory's testimony, nothing was said
about publishing Oswald's
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Page 715
manuscript.851 About a week later, Gregory and his son Paul, a college
student, visited the Oswalds at Robert Oswald's home and arranged for
Marina to give Paul lessons in Russian during the Summer.852
On June 26, Oswald was interviewed by FBI agents in Fort Worth.853 One
of the agents who interviewed him described him as tense and "drawn up";
he said that Oswald "exhibited an arrogant attitude * * * and [was]
inclined to be just a little insolent." 854 Oswald declined to say why
he had gone to Russia, saying that he refused to "relive the past." 855
He said that he had not attempted to obtain Soviet citizenship, had not
been approached by Soviet officials for information about his
experiences in the Marines, and had not offered them such information.
Marina's Soviet passport required her to notify the Soviet Embassy in
Washington of her address in this country, and Oswald told the agents
that he planned to contact the Embassy for this purpose within a few
days.856 He promised to notify the FBI if he were contacted by Soviet
agents "under suspicious circumstances or otherwise."857 Oswald told his
brother about the interview, saying that it had been "just fine." 858
Oswald and his family remained with Robert for about a month.859 While
they were there his mother moved to Fort Worth from Crow-ell, Tex.,860
and sometime in July they moved into her apartment at 1501 West Seventh
Street.861 Mrs. Oswald testified that she had visited them at Robert's
house in June 862 and moved to Fort Worth because she thought that the
house was too crowded and wanted to help them.863 Mrs. Oswald described
the period when her son and his family lived with her as "a very happy
month"; according to her testimony, she and her son and daughter-in-law
got along well. She mentioned that she not only helped Marina keep house
and care for the baby but also aided her son in his efforts to find
employment.864 Marina testified, however, that Lee did not get along
well with his mother and that he decided after several weeks that they
should move to their own apartment.855 He did not file a
change-of-address card at the post office when the family moved to West
Seventh Street, as he did when they made their next move,866 so he may
have contemplated from the beginning that they would stay with his
mother for only a short while. Around the middle of August,867 the
Oswalds moved to a one-bedroom furnished apartment at 2703 Mercedes
Street, for which they paid $59.50 in advance for 1 month's rent.868
In the third week in July, Oswald had obtained a job. as a sheet metal
worker with the Louv-R-Pak Division of the Leslie Welding Co.,869 a
manufacturer of louvers and ventilators,870 to which he had been
referred by the Texas Employment Commission.871 On his application for
employment, filled out several days before, he wrote falsely that he had
had experience as a sheet metal worker and machinist in the Marines and
had been honorably discharged.872 He usually worked 8 or 9 hours a day,
for which he was paid $1.25 an hour.873 Marina testified that Oswald did
not like his work,874 but he was regarded as a good employee 875 and
remained with the company until October,
715
Page 716
when he quit.876 On the job, he kept to himself and was considered
uncommunicative.877
Mrs. Oswald visited her son and his family at their apartment and tried
to help them get settled; she testified that she bought some clothes for
Marina and a highchair for the baby but that Oswald told her that he did
not want her to buy "things for his wife that he himself could not buy."
878 Finally, Oswald apparently decided that he did not want his mother
to visit the apartment anymore and he became incensed when his wife
permitted her to visit despite his instructions.879 After he moved to
Dallas in October, Oswald did not see his mother or communicate with her
in any way until she came to see him after the assassination.880
Witnesses have described the Mer-cedes Street apartment as "decrepit"
and very poorly furnished; 881 there was no telephone service.882
Acquaintances observed that Marina and the baby were poorly clothed,
that the Oswalds had little food, and that at first there was not a bed
for the baby.883
On August 16, the FBI again interviewed Oswald. This interview took
place in the back seat of a car in front of his home and covered
substantially the same material as the previous interview. Oswald again
denied having made any deal with representatives of the Soviet Union. He
protested his undesirable discharge from the Marines, and stated that
his wife was registered at the Soviet Embassy. He still refused to
discuss why he had gone to the Soviet Union, but he was less hostile
than he had been during the previous interview.884 According to his
wife, however, he was very upset by the interest the FBI showed in
him.885
The Oswalds became acquainted with a growing number of people of the
Russian-speaking community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, who were tied
together socially by a common origin, language, and religion. The group
was not restricted to people from Russia but was composed primarily of
people from Eastern European countries.886 The Oswalds' initial contact
with this group was through Peter Gregory. Marina gave conversational
Russian lessons to Paul Gregory 2 days a week during August and early
September, for which she was paid $35. Most of the lessons took place at
the Mercedes Street apartment and Oswald was generally present.887 In
addition, Paul Gregory occasionally took the Oswalds shopping; after
they became friendly, he had a number of discussions with Oswald, some
of them politically oriented.888
Sometime around August 25, Peter Gregory invited the Oswalds and several
members of the Russian community to his house for dinner. One of the
guests was George Bouhe, a Dallas accountant. and a leader of the
Russian community. He was very interested in meeting and conversing with
Marina, because she had spent much of her life in Leningrad, which was
his birthplace.889 Also present was Mrs. Anna Meller, the Russian- born
wife of a Dallas department store employee.890 Near the end of August,
the Oswalds met Declan Ford, a consulting geologist in the Dallas area,
and his Russian-born wife at Mrs. Meller's home. The Oswalds were also
introduced to Mrs.
716
Page 717
Elena Hall, who was born in Tehran, Iran, of Russian parentage. She
worked in a dental laboratory and at this time was divorced from her
former husband John Hall, whom she subsequently remarried. In order to
obtain dental aid for Marina, George Bouhe had brought her to Mrs. Halls
house.891 In early September, the Oswalds met Alexander Kleinlerer,
another member of the Russian group, who was then courting Mrs. Hall.892
Mrs. Max Clark was introduced to Marina during this period by George
Bouhe and Anna Meller. Max Clark met the Oswalds at a later time.893 At
about the same time, they were visited by George De Mohrenschildt, a
petroleum engineer born in Russia.894 who had heard of them from one of
the Russian-speaking group.895 Later on, the Oswalds met his wife,
Jeanne, and his daughter and son-in-law, Gary and Alexandra Taylor.896
Most of the members of the Russian community were interested in the
Oswalds not only because they needed help, but also because they could
provide the latest information about what was happening in Russia.897
Some members of the group were at first apprehensive about them because
the apparent ease with which they had left Russia seemed suspicious.898
Nevertheless, many of the group provided small amounts of money,
groceries, clothing, and furniture for the Oswalds; George Bouhe, Anna
Meller, and Elena Hall were the primary contributors, although others
provided help in the form of transportation and groceries.899 These
acquaintances occasionally visited the Oswalds, and the Oswalds in turn
visited some of them in Dallas.900
It was evident that Oswald did not appreciate the help of the Russian
community.901 At least once he flew into a rage and shouted that he did
not need any of the things that people were giving to him.902 Some felt
that he resented the gifts because he could not give his wife what the
others were providing;903 he apparently was critical of them also
because he felt that they were overly concerned with improving
themselves economically.904
Oswald became increasingly unpopular with his Russian-speaking
acquaintances, partly because of his resentment of their assistance.905
Alexander Kleinlerer stated that none of them cared for Oswald "because
of his political philosophy, his criticism of the United States, his
apparent lack of interest in anyone but himself and because of his
treatment of Marina."906 Some of them believed that Oswald was mentally
disturbed.907 However, they felt sorry for Marina and the child and
continued to help.908
On a weekend afternoon early in October, the Oswalds were visited by his
mother and a number of people from the Russian community, including
George Bouhe, Anna Meller, the Halls, the De Mohrenschildts, and the
Taylors.909 Oswald had apparently decided to look for a new job, and
discussed his lack of job prospects and the fact that. his rent was
overdue.910 He was advised to seek employment in the Dallas area.911
Elena Hall invited Marina to move into her house in Fort Worth until
Oswald found a job in Dallas. She accepted the proposal, and Mrs. Hall
moved Marina. her daughter June, and the
Page 718
Oswalds' few household goods in a pickup truck belonging to the dental
laboratory where she was employed.912
Oswald worked at the Leslie Welding Co. on Monday, October 8, but failed
to appear on the following day. He was already in Dallas.913 He falsely
told his wife that he had been discharged,914 and told George Bouhe that
the job had been a temporary one.915 Sometime later, the company
received an undated letter from him stating that he had "moved
permanently to Dallas," and asking that the wages due him be forwarded
to him at box 2915 in Dallas.916 He did not tell his mother that he was
leaving Fort Worth.917
While they were in Fort Worth, the Oswalds were having marital
problems.918 Several people noted that Marina had a blackened eye when
they visited her at the Mercedes Street apartment.919 She told her
mother- in-law and George Bouhe that her husband had struck her, but
said to Anna Meller that she had walked into a door.920 It seems clear
that Oswald had in fact hit her.921 People observed friction between the
Oswalds on various occasions,922 although their disputes became more
apparent later. Marina has written that this was a difficult period for
them and that her husband was "very irritable" and sometimes some
completely trivial thing would "drive him into a rage." 923
She testified that:
* * * immediately after coming to the United States Lee changed. I did
not know him as such a man in Russia. * * * He helped me as before, but
he became a little more of a recluse * * * He was very irritable,
sometimes for a trifle * * * 924
She has denied, however, that their separation was the result of
quarrels between them.925
Marina spent the first few weeks after Oswald's departure at Elena
Hall's house in Fort Worth, except for a brief stay at Gary Taylor's
house in Dallas after one of her appointments at the Baylor Dental
Clinic.926 While she was in Dallas, Mrs. De Mohrenschildt brought her to
the clinic on October 8, October 10, and October 15; 927 George Bouhe
had given Mrs. De Mohrenschildt the money to cover the expense of
Marina's dental care.928
Even before Oswald went to Dallas, some of his acquaintances were
helping him in his effort to find a job. there.929 George De
Mohrenschildt directed him to Samuel B. Ballen, a Dallas financial
consultant, but no employment resulted.930 George Bouhe recommended that
Oswald go to the Texas Employment Commission in Dallas; and Anna Meller
had her husband ask Mrs. Helen Cunningham, a counselor in the clerical
and sales division of the Dallas office of the employment commission, to
help Oswald find a job.931 Oswald first came into the office of the
employment commission on October 9. He was reluctant to accept
industrial employment, and was placed in the clerical category and
turned over to Mrs. Cunningham for counseling. He
718
Page 719
indicated that he had an interest in writing. The results of general
aptitude tests which he had taken at the Fort Worth employment office
had been transmitted to the Dallas office, and indicated that he had
some aptitude in this direction and for clerical work. It was noted on
his application form that he had "outstanding verbal-clerical
potential." He demonstrated ability to perform many skilled and
semi-skilled jobs, and there was some indication that he could do
college work. Mrs. Cunningham gave him three special tests: for general
clerical work, work as an insurance claims examiner, and drafting work.
He scored high on all three. His application form indicated that he did
not have a driver's license, and noted: "well-groomed and spoken,
business suit, alert replies--expresses self extremely well." He told
Mrs. Cunningham that he hoped to develop qualifications for responsible
junior executive employment by a work-study program at a local college
but that this must be delayed because of his immediate financial needs
and responsibilities.932
Mrs. Cunningham concluded that although Oswald would be classified for
clerical work, she should try to get him any available job, since he
badly needed money. He was referred to an architect for an opening as a
messenger but was not hired. On October 11, he was referred to
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall Co., a graphic arts company, in response to a
call from John Graef, head of the photographic department of the
company, who had told the employment commission that he needed a
photoprint trainee. Oswald was enthusiastic about his prospects and
apparently made a good impression; Graef picked him over several other
applicants.933 On the following day he began working in his new position
as a trainee making prints of advertising material. He worked a 40-hour
week at approximately $1.35 per hour; his take-home pay varied from $49
to $74 a week.934 According to his wife, "he liked his work very much."
935
Oswald moved into the YMCA on October 15, and stayed there until October
19, paying $2.25 a night.936 He had used the Taylors' address and
telephone number as a place where he could be reached,937 but on October
9 had also rented post office box 2915 under his own name at the main
post office on Ervay Street.938 On October 10, he filed a
change-of-address form indicating that mail for 2703 Mercedes Street
should be forwarded to the box.939 Marina has written that Oswald wrote
her letters and telephoned her during the separation.940
On October 16, Mrs Hall brought Marina and June to Dallas to have June
baptized. Marina apparently did this surreptitiously, because her
husband opposed baptism; they did not contact him in Dallas, but left
birthday gifts for him at the Taylors. Oswald did not appear very
disturbed when he found out about the baptism.941
Two days later, Mrs. Hall had an automobile accident and went to the
hospital, where she remained until October 26; Marina remained in the
Hall house. Mrs. Max Clark and Alexander Kleinlerer, a friend of Mrs.
Hall, checked up to make sure that she was getting
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Page 720
along without too much trouble.942 After Oswald left the YMCA on October
19, he moved to a room or apartment somewhere in Dallas,943 which has
not been located.944 It seems likely, however, that during that time he
spent several weekends with Marina at the Hall house.945
Four days after Mrs. Hall returned from the hospital, she left for New
York to visit friends. By the time she returned, Marina had moved to a
three-room apartment at 604 Elsbeth Street in Dallas, which Oswald had
rented on Saturday, November 3; 946 the landlady stated that he had
looked at the apartment about a week before. The monthly rent was $68,
in addition to which he had to pay several dollars a month for
utilities. He paid the rent plus a $5 deposit on November 3,947 but
probably spent that night with Marina at the Hall house. On Sunday the
Taylors helped the Oswalds move their belongings to the Elsbeth Street
apartment with a rented trailer.948 Oswald had asked Kleinlerer to help
them move, and Kleinlerer also was present when they departed.949
Soon after the Oswalds were reunited, their marital difficulties started
again. While they were moving to Elsbeth Street, Kleinlerer noticed that
Oswald slapped his wife for not having the zipper on her dress
completely closed.950 They argued over his refusal to allow her to
smoke.951 There was a quarrel also when he told the landlady that Marina
was from Czechoslovakia; he was angered when Marina, who disapproved of
this deception, told the landlady the truth.952
Although several people tried to help Marina improve her scanty
knowledge of English, Oswald discouraged this,953 perhaps because he
wanted to keep up his Russian.954 Some witnesses testified that she
commented about his sexual abilities.955 He apparently continued to beat
her, and once she suggested to George De Mohrenschildt that she should
"get away" from Oswald. When De Mohrenschildt criticized Oswald's
conduct, Oswald replied, "It is my business."956 Marina testified that
when they moved into the Elsbeth Street apartment, her husband became
"nervous and irritable" and was very angry over "trifles." 957 She said
that it was sometimes her fault that he beat her,958 for example when
she wrote to an old boyfriend in Russia that she wished she had married
him; the letter was returned for postage due, and Oswald read it.959
Because of this quarreling, a few of their acquaintances felt that
Marina would be better off alone. George Bouhe offered to help her if
she promised to leave Oswald permanently.960 Finally, in early November,
Marina, helped by the De Mohrenschildts, moved into Anna Meller's house
with the intention not to return to Oswald. He was apparently quite
upset and did not want Marina to leave him.961
Oswald did not visit his wife at Anna Meller's house,962 and for a short
time did not even know where she was.963 According to Marina, he called
her after she moved and they met at De Mohrenschildt's house. He asked
her to return home. She insisted that he stop quarreling and that he
change his ways. He said that he could not change. Marina would not
agree to return home with him and he left.964
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Marina was uncomfortable at the Meller house, where there was very
little room. She moved to Katherine Ford's house 965 where she
apparently stayed from November 11 to 17. She indicated that she had
decided never to return to her husband; 966 it was Mrs. Ford's
impression that Marina was going to stay at other people's houses until
a permanent place could be found for her.967 When Mr. Ford returned from
a business trip on November 17, Marina and June moved to the home of
Mrs. Frank Ray, where they spent the day. Mrs. Ray, the wife of a Dallas
advertising man, was also of Russian origin. Since Mrs. Ray had no baby
bed, Marina returned to the Fords that evening. On the next day,
however, Marina moved her belongings to the Rays' house. That same day,
Oswald called and asked to visit his wife, whom he had called and
written. Mr. Ray picked him up and took him to Marina.968
Marina testified that at this meeting Oswald professed his love for her.
She stated: "I saw him cry * * * [he] begged me to come back, asked my
forgiveness, and promised that he would try to improve, if only I would
come back." 969 On another occasion she said: "* * * he cried and you
know a woman's heart--I went back to him. He said he didn't care to live
if I did not return? 970 That same day she decided to return to him. Mr.
Ray packed her belongings and took her back .to the Elsbeth Street
apartment.971
Members of the Russian community who had taken care of Marina so that
she would not have to live with Oswald felt that their efforts had been
in vain. George Bouhe was so irritated that he never again tried to help
either of the Oswalds.972 Contacts between them and members of the
Russian community diminished markedly.973 Oswald did not care for most
of these people and made his feelings apparent.974 Even the De
Mohrenschildts, whom he liked most, saw much less of them.975 Lydia
Dymitruk, another Russian born woman in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,
testified that she saw the Oswalds on only one occasion, and did not
care to see them again. She drove Marina and June, who had a high fever,
to the hospital; Oswald told the hospital that he was unemployed in
order to avoid paying for June's treatment and later left Mrs. Dymitruk
without thanking her.976 Mrs. Ford testified that Marina had told her
that she contemplated suicide during this period because Oswald was
treating her badly and she had no friends; she felt that she had "no way
out." 977 Marina acknowledged to the Commission that she had had such
thoughts.978
In an effort to renew family ties, Robert Oswald wrote to Lee and John
Pic on November 17, inviting them and their families to Thanksgiving
dinner. Lee accepted the invitation. He and Marina traveled to Fort
Worth by bus on Thanksgiving Day, and John Pic and Robert met them at
the station.979 Pic had not seen his half- brother for 10 years. He
observed, as many others have also attested, that Lee seemed to be a
good father and to take an active interest in June.980 After dinner,
Marina phoned Paul Gregory, who later drove the Oswalds to his house for
sandwiches and then took them to .the bus station for the return trip to
Dallas.981 Thereafter, Robert spoke to his
Page 722
brother once by telephone and received a post card and a letter from
him, but he eventually lost contact with Lee and did not see him again
until after the assassination.982
Despite his disillusionment with Soviet life, Oswald kept up his
interest in Russia. He wrote to the Soviet Embassy in Washington for
information on how to subscribe to Russian periodicals and for "any
periodicals or bulletins which you may put out for the benefit of your
citizens living, for a time, in the U.S.A." 983 He subsequently
subscribed to several Russian journals.984 In December 1962, the Soviet
Embassy received a card in Russian, signed "Marina and Lee Oswald,"
which conveyed New Year's greetings and wishes for "health, success and
all of the best" to the employees at the Embassy.985 The Oswalds
continued to correspond with acquaintances in Russia.986
Soon after his return to this country, Oswald had started to correspond
with the Communist Party, U.S.A., and the Socialist Workers Party. He
subscribed to the Worker in August 1962.987 He wrote for additional
literature from these organizations, and attempted to join the Socialist
Workers Party, which, however, had no branch in Texas.988 He sent
samples of his photographic work to the Socialist Workers Party, the
Worker, and the Hall-Davis Defense Committee, and offered to aid them in
printing and photographic work in connection with posters; these offers
were not accepted.989
He continued to read a great deal on a variety of subjects.990 George
Bouhe testified that Oswald's fare consisted of books by Marx, Lenin,
"and similar things." 991 Marina said that he read books of a historical
nature, including H. G. Wells' two volume "Outline of History," and
biographies of Hitler, Kennedy, and Khrushchev.992
Despite the Oswalds' break with the Russian community, De Mohrenschildt,
knowing that they would be alone during the Christmas season, asked the
Fords whether he could bring the Oswalds to a party celebrating the
Russian Christmas at the Fords' home; the Fords assented. The party was
attended by many members of the Russian community.993 Oswald spoke at
length with Yaeko Okui, a Japanese woman who had been brought to the
party by Lev Aronson, first cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra;
994 she told Federal investigators that she never saw Oswald again.995
The Oswalds were not invited to three other Russian Christmas season
gatherings which occurred during the next few days.996
Marina visited the De Mohrenschildts several times after Christmas.997
They invited both Lee and Marina to a small dinner party in February
1963; also present were Everett Glover, a chemist employed in Dallas,
and his roommate Volkmar Schmidt.998 On February 22, Glover had a
gathering at his house, one of the purposes of which was to permit his
friends, many of whom were studying Russian, to meet the Oswalds.999
They were the objects of much attention.1000 Marina conversed at length
with another guest named Ruth Paine, who had recently separated from her
husband, Michael Paine, a research engineer at the Bell Helicopter plant
in Fort Worth. Mrs. Paine, who was studying Russian, obtained Marina's
address 1001 and
722
Page 723
shortly thereafter wrote Marina asking to see her. Marina responded by
inviting Mrs. Paine to visit her.1002
The Oswalds moved out of their Elsbeth Street apartment on March 3,
1963, to an upstairs apartment several blocks away at 214 West Neely
Street. Oswald inquired about the apartment in response to a "For Rent"
sign; the rent was $60 per month, not including utilities.1003 They
moved without assistance, carrying their belongings in their hands and
in a baby stroller.1004 Marina preferred the Neely Street apartment
because it had a porch and was, she felt, more suitable for June.1005
Aware of Oswald's difficulties in obtaining employment, George Bouhe had
advised him as early as October 1962 to attend a night school in
Dallas.1006 On January 14, Oswald enrolled in a typing course in the
night school of Crozier Technical High School, and started attending on
January 28. The class ran from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesday,
and Thursdays. Although Oswald reviewed a typing textbook at home, he
attended the course irregularly and stopped going altogether on about
March 28.1007
Ruth Paine and Marina started to exchange visits in March. Mrs. Paine
invited the Oswalds for dinner, and on April 20 she took them on a
picnic. When Oswald was not present, the two women frequently discussed
their respective marital problems, and Marina disclosed to Mrs. Paine
that she was pregnant.1008 Marina wrote of these meetings:
One day we were invited to a friend's house, where I met Ruth Paine, who
was studying Russian here in America and wanted to improve her
conversational knowledge. We began to see each other. Ruth would come to
see me with her children. This was very good for both me and for June.
She was growing up alone and becoming terribly wild, so the company of
other children was good for her. Sometimes we went out on picnics at a
nearby lake. Lee loved to fish, and we would look and rejoice if he
caught a little fish. Several times we went to visit Ruth who lived in
Irving.1009
Using the name of A. J. Hidell, Oswald had ordered a Smith & Wesson .38
revolver from Los Angeles on a form which he dated January 27. On March
12, he ordered a rifle from Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago under the
name of A. Hidell.1010 Oswald used the name "Alek James Hidell" on
identification cards which he probably produced at
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. One of his fellow employees taught him various
photographic techniques, which he could have used to prepare not only
these cards, but also the samples of his work which he sent to various
organizations.1011
Both weapons were shipped on March 20.1012 Oswald kept the rifle in a
small storeroom at the Neely Street apartment. He spent long periods of
time in the storeroom, which he told Marina she was not to enter.1013 He
told her that he intended to use the rifle for hunt-
Page 724
ing 1014 and that he practiced with it. She saw him leave with it once,
and clean it several times.1015 He also posed for two pictures, taken by
Marina in the backyard of the Neely apartment, in which he held his
rifle and copies of the Worker and the Militant and the revolver was
strapped to his belt. He gave one of the pictures to his wife and asked
her to keep it for June.1016
Over the weekend of March 9-10, Oswald photographed the alley which runs
behind the home of Gen. Edwin Walker, and probably at about the same
time he photographed the rear of Walker's home and a nearby railroad
track and right-of-way.1017 He prepared and studied a notebook in which
he outlined a plan to shoot General Walker, and he looked at bus
schedules.1018 He went to the Walker residence on the evening of April 6
or 7, planning to make his attack. However, he changed his plans, hid
his rifle nearby, and determined to act on the following Wednesday,
April 10, when a nearby church was planning a meeting which, Oswald
reasoned, would create a diversion that would help him escape.1019 On
Wednesday, Oswald left a note for Marina telling her what to do if he
were apprehended. He retrieved his rifle and fired at Walker, but the
bullet narrowly missed Walker's head. Oswald secreted his rifle again
and took the bus home.1020
When Oswald told Marina what he had done, she became angry and made him
promise never to repeat such an act. She testified that she kept his
letter, intending to give it to the authorities if he repeated his
attempt. He told Marina that he was sorry he had missed Walker and said
that the shooting of Walker would have been analogous to an
assassination of Hitler.1021 Several days later, the De Mohrenschildts
visited the Oswalds, bringing an Easter present for June. During the
visit, Jeanne De Mohrenschildt saw the rifle and told her husband about
it. Without any knowledge of the truth, De Mohrenschildt jokingly
intimated that Oswald was the one who had shot at Walker. Oswald
apparently concluded that Marina had told De Mohrenschildt of his role
in the attempt and was visibly shaken.1022
On April 6, Oswald was dropped by Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall because, in his
supervisor's opinion, he could not do the work, although he was trying;
in addition, he did not get along with his fellow employees.1023 The
fact that he brought a Russian newspaper to work may also have been of
some significance.1024 Marina testified that her husband, who had always
worried about his job security at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall,1025 was quite
upset by the loss of his job since he had liked the work.1026
Oswald again resorted to the Texas Employment Commission.1027 On April
8, he informed the Commission that he was seeking employment but was
referred to no employers. He stated that he had been laid off at
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall due to lack of work." 1028 On April 12, he made a
claim for unemployment benefits; 4 days later the commission mailed him
a determination disapproving his claim because of insufficient wage
credits.1029
For a while after the Oswalds moved into the Neely Street apartment they
got along well,1030 but they soon began to quarrel.1031
Page 725
Oswald was apparently still preventing Marina from learning English,1032
and there is some indication that he continued to beat her.1033 Since
February, he had been urging her to return to Russia.1034 Marina wrote
several letters to the Russian Embassy requesting a visa to return to
Russia.; 1035 she testified, however, that Oswald forced her to write
them, and that she never wanted to return to Russia.1036
When Ruth Paine visited the Oswalds at their apartment on April 24, she
was surprised to learn that Oswald was packed and ready to leave for New
Orleans by bus. He explained that he had been unable to find employment
in or around Dallas, and that Marina had suggested that he go to New
Orleans since he had been born there.1037 Marina has testified that the
real reason behind her suggestion was that she wanted to get him out of
town because of the Walker incident.1038 Mrs. Paine offered to drive
Marina to New Orleans at a later date, and also to have Marina and June
stay with her rather than at the apartment in the meantime. Oswald
helped the women pack Mrs. Paine's car, and the two women moved
everything from the Neely Street apartment to the Paine house in
Irving.1039
When he arrived at the bus station in New Orleans, Oswald telephoned his
aunt, Lillian Murret, to ask if he could stay at her home at 757 French
Street while he looked for employment. She had been unaware that he had
returned from Russia or that he was married and had a child and was
surprised to hear from him. She said that she did not have room to
accommodate three guests, but. that since he was alone he was
welcome.1040
Oswald had been born in New Orleans, and on his return showed great
interest in finding out what had happened to the other members of his
father's family. He visited the cemetery where his father was buried and
called all the Oswalds in the telephone book. By this method he located
one relative, Mrs. Hazel Oswald of Metairie, La.,
the widow of William Stout Oswald, his father's brother. He visited her
at her home; she gave him a picture of his father and told him that as
far as she knew the rest of the family was dead.1041
On April 26, Oswald began his search for employment. He went to the
employment office of the Louisiana Department of Labor and stated that
he was qualified as a commercial photographer, shipping clerk, or
"darkroom man." The interviewer noted on Oswald's application card:
"Will travel on limited basis. Will relocate. Min. $1.25 hr. Neat. Suit.
Tie. Polite." 1042 Although the employment commission made a few
referrals, Oswald relied primarily upon newspaper advertisements, and
applied for a number of positions.1043 Mrs. Murret testified that he
would spend the day job hunting, return to her home for supper, watch
television, and go to bed.1044
On April 29, he filed a request for reconsideration of the employment
commission's disapproval of his unemployment compensation claim. His
complaint that he had not been credited for his employment at Jaggars-
Chiles-Stovall was ruled valid on May 8, and he was granted maximum
benefits of $369, payable at the rate of $33 per week. He filed
interstate claims on May 7 and 15, and received
Page 726
$33 in response to the latter; the former claim was filed before the
expiration of the prescribed wailing period.1045 Not only had Oswald in
fact been working since May 10, but he included on his claim sheet, as
concerns with which he had sought work, fictitious employers and
employers whom he apparently had not contacted.1046
Oswald wrote to Marina: "All is well. I am living with Aunt Lillian. She
has very kindly taken us in. I am now looking for work. When I find it I
will write you." 1047 And on May 3, he wrote to Marina and Ruth Paine:
"Girls, I still have not found work, but
receive money from the unemployment office in the amount 15 to 20
dollars. They were mistaken in the Dallas office when they refused, but
I straightened everything out. Uncle 'Dyuz' offered me a loan of $200.00
if needed. Great, eh ? !" 1018
On May 9, responding to a newspaper advertisement, Oswald completed an
application for employment with William B. Reily Co., Inc., at 640
Magazine Street, an enterprise engaged in the roasting, grinding,
canning, bagging, and sale of coffee. On his application form, Oswald
listed as references in addition to John Murret, "Sgt. Robert Hidell"
and "Lieut. J. Evans," both apparently fictitious names.1049 His
application was approved and he began work on May 10, at the rate of
$1.50 per hour. His task was the lubrication of the company's
machinery.1050 Oswald did not enjoy this work,1051 and told his wife and
Mrs. Paine that he was working in commercial photography.1052
Also on May 9, Oswald obtained an apartment at 4905 Magazine Street with
the help of Myrtle Evans, who had known him when he was a child. The
rent was $65 a month. Oswald moved in on May 10,1053 after telephoning
Marina on the ninth and asking her to come to New Orleans. Ruth Paine
testified that the invitation elated Marina: "Papa nas lubet"--"Daddy
loves us," she repeated again and again. Mrs. Paine drove Marina and
June to New Orleans; they left Dallas on May 10, spent the night in
Shreveport, and arrived on the 11th. Mrs. Paine stayed with the Oswalds
for 8 days; the three of them, with June and Mrs. Paine's children,
toured the French Quarter. On May 14, Mrs. Paine left New Orleans to
return to her home.1054
The Murrets and the Oswalds exchanged visits from time to time; Marina
testified that the Murrets were very good to them.1055 Mrs. Murret's
daughter, Marilyn, took the Oswalds on an outing.1056 But, according to
Marina's testimony, aside from Ruth Paine and Ruth Kloepfer and her
daughters, the Murrets were the only social visitors the Oswalds
had.1057 Ruth Kloepfer was a clerk of the Quaker Meeting in New Orleans
whom Ruth Paine had written in the hope that she might know some
Russian-speaking people who could visit Marina. Mrs. Kloepfer herself
visited the Oswalds but made no attempt to direct any Russian-speaking
people to them.1058
On July 19, Oswald was dismissed by Reily because of inefficiency and
inattention to his work. He had spent many of his working hours next
door at the Crescent City Garage, where he read gun magazines and
discussed guns with one of the owners, Adrian Alba.1059 On the
Page 727
following Monday, July 22, Oswald again visited the Louisiana employment
office to seek new employment and file a claim for unemployment
compensation. Thereafter, he collected unemployment compensation weekly
and, although apparently making some effort to obtain another job, again
listed a number of fictitious job applications on his unemployment
compensation claim forms.1060 He soon gave up his search for employment,
and began to spend his days at home reading.1061 He received another
setback on July 25, when he was notified that in response to the request
for review which he had made in 1962, his undesirable discharge from the
Marine Corps had been affirmed.1062
During this period, Oswald began to evidence thoughts of returning to
the Soviet Union or going to Cuba. On June 24 he applied for a new
passport., which he received on the following day.1063 Apparently at
Oswald's request,1064 Marina wrote to the Russian Embassy, expressing a
desire to return to Russia and indicating that she would be accompanied
by her husband. She explained that she wanted to return because of
family problems, including the impending birth of her second child.1065
Accompanying her letter was a letter written by Oswald dated July 1, in
which he asked the Embassy to rush an entrance visa for his wife and
requested that his visa be considered separately.1066 Marina believed
that Oswald was really planning to go only to Cuba.1067 She testified
that "his basic desire was to get to Cuba by any means, and that all the
rest of it was window dressing for that purpose." 1068
During the early days of the New Orleans period, the Oswalds' marriage
was more harmonious than it had been previously. Marina wrote:
* * * our family life in New Orleans was more peaceful. Lee took great
satisfaction in showing me the city where he was born. We often went to
the beach, the zoo, and the park. Lee liked to go and hunt crabs. It is
true, that he was not very pleased with his job * * * We did not have
very much money, and the birth of a new child involved new expenses * *
* As before, Lee spent a great deal of time reading.1069
Marina testified, however, that after they had been in New Orleans for a
while, Oswald became depressed and that she once found him alone in the
dark crying.1070 She wrote to Ruth Paine that his "love" had ceased soon
after Mrs. Paine had left New Orleans.1071 Mrs. Paine testified,
however, that she had noticed friction between the Oswalds before she
left.1072 On July 11, Mrs. Paine wrote Marina that if Oswald did not
wish to live with her any more and preferred that she return to the
Soviet Union, she could live at the Paines' house. Although Mrs. Paine
had long entertained this idea, this was the first time she explicitly
made the invitation. She renewed the invitation on July 12, and again on
July 14; she attempted to overcome any feeling which Marina might have
that she would be a burden by stating that
727
Page 728
Marina could help with the housework and help her learn Russian, and
that she would also provide a tax advantage.1073
Marina replied that she had previously raised the subject of a
separation and that it had led to arguments. She stated that she was
happy and that for a considerable period of time Oswald had been good to
her. She attributed this improved attitude to the fact that he was
anticipating their second child. Marina turned down Mrs. Paine's
invitation but said that she would take advantage of it if things became
worse.1074 Mrs. Paine replied that she was taking a trip north to visit
her parents and would visit Marina in New Orleans about September 18.
She also suggested that Marina come to her house for the birth of the
baby.1075
On July 6, Eugene Murret, a cousin of Oswald who was studying to be a
Jesuit Priest in Mobile, Ala., wrote and asked if Oswald could come to
Mobile and speak at the Jesuit House of Studies about "contemporary
Russia and the practice of Communism there." Oswald accepted, and on
July 27 he and his family, joined by some of the Murrets, traveled to
Mobile; Charles Murret paid the expenses. Oswald spoke concerning his
observations in Russia and conducted a question and answer period; he
impressed his listeners as articulate. He indicated that he had become
disillusioned during his stay in Russia, and that in his opinion the
best political system would be one which combined the best points of
capitalism and communism.1076 While he left his listeners with the
impression that he was an atheist, he avoided a direct discussion of
religion. The group returned to New Orleans on July 28.1077
In late May and early June, Oswald had apparently begun to formulate
plans for creating a New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee. Using the name "Lee Osborne" he ordered a number of printed
circulars demanding "Hands off Cuba" in large letters, and application
forms and membership cards for the proposed chapter.1078 On August 5, he
visited a store managed by Carlos Bringuier, a Cuban refugee and avid
opponent of Castro and the New Orleans delegate of the Cuban student
directorate. Oswald indicated an interest in joining the struggle
against Castro. He told Bringuier that he had been a marine and was
trained in guerrilla warfare, and that he was willing not only to train
Cubans to fight Castro but also to join the fight himself. The next day
Oswald returned to the store and left his "Guidebook for Marines" for
Bringuier.1079
On August 9, Bringuier saw Oswald passing out Fair Play for Cuba
leaflets. Bringuier and his companions became angry and a dispute
resulted. Oswald and the three Cuban exiles were arrested for disturbing
the peace.1080 Oswald spent the night in jail and was interviewed the
next day by a lieutenant of the New Orleans Police Department. At
Oswald's request, an FBI agent also interviewed him. Oswald maintained
that he was a member of the New Orleans branch of the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee which, he claimed, had 35 members. He stated also that he had
been in touch with the president of that organization, A. J. Hidell.1081
Oswald was in fact the
Page 729
only member of the "New Orleans branch," which had never been chartered
by the National Fair Play for Cuba Committee.1082 Later that day Oswald
was released on bail, and 2 days later he pleaded guilty to the charges
against him and paid a $10 fine. The charges against the Cuban exiles
were dismissed.1083 Marina testified that the arrest upset Lee and that
he "became less active, he cooled off a little" after it.1084
On August 16, Oswald, assisted by at ]east one other person who was a
hired helper, again passed out Fair Play for Cuba literature, this time
in front of the International Trade Mart. That night, television
newscasts ran pictures of Oswald's activities.1085 (This hindered
Oswald's subsequent attempts to obtain employment in New Orleans.) 1086
Bringuier sent one of his friends to Oswald's home to pose as a Castro
sympathizer and attempt to obtain information about Oswald, but Oswald
apparently saw through the ruse.1087
William Stuckey, a radio broadcaster with a program called "Latin
Listening Post," had long been looking for a member of the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee to appear on his program. He learned about Oswald from
Bringuier, and visited Oswald on August 17. Later that day, Stuckey
recorded an interview with Oswald which
cut to about 5 minutes and played back on the show that evening.1088 Two
days later, Stuckey asked the news director of the station if he could
run the entire tape, but the director felt that a debate with a
local opponent of Castro would be of greater public interest.
Consequently, Stuckey arranged for a debate between Oswald and Bringuier
on a 25-minute daily public affairs program called "Conversation Carte
Blanche," which took place on August 21.1089 Oswald defended the Castro
regime and discussed Marxism. He was put on the defensive when his
defection to Russia was brought up,1090 and Stuckey later testified that
he thought that the program had finished the Fair Play for Cuba
Committee in New Orleans.1091 However, Stuckey also testified that
Oswald seemed to be a clean-cut and intelligent person who conducted
himself very well during the interviews and debates.1092
Oswald wrote several times to V. T. Lee, then national director of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, telling him, sometimes in exaggerated
terms, of his activities.1093 He wrote also to the Communist Party and
asked whether, in view of his prior defection, he should "continue to
fight, handicapped as it were, by * * * [his] past record, [and] compete
with anti-progressive forces, above-ground or * * should always remain
in the background, i.e., underground."
The Party replied that "often it is advisable for some people to remain
in the background, not underground." 1095 And although Oswald wrote four
letters to V. T. Lee during the summer,1096 there is no evidence that
Oswald heard from him after May 29.
Ruth Paine arrived in New Orleans on September 20, and spent three
nights with the Oswalds. During this stay, Mrs. Paine found relations
between them much improved. Nonetheless, it was decided that Marina
would go back with her to Irving for the birth of the
729
730-900 0-64--48
Page 730
baby. Marina and Mrs. Paine toured Bourbon Street while Oswald stayed
home and did some packing for Marina's return to Texas.1097 On Sunday,
September 22, Oswald and Mrs. Paine finished loading the station wagon
with the Oswalds' household belongings.1098
Mexico City
Page 730
MEXICO CITY
Marina Oswald testified that sometime in August her husband first told
her of his plan to go to Mexico and from there to Cuba, where he planned
to stay; he had given up a plan to hijack an airplane and fly directly
to Cuba, which plan Marina consistently opposed.1099 On September 17, he
obtained from the Mexican consulate general in New Orleans a "Tourist
Card," FM-8 No. 24085, good for one journey into Mexico for no longer
than 15 days. Typed in the blank, "Appelidos y nombre" was "Lee, Harvey
Oswald," "Fotogrofo"; the intended destination was shown as Mexico
City.1100 (The comma between "Lee" and "Harvey" seems to have been an
error.)1101 On the application Oswald stated that he was employed at
"640 Rampart"; he was in fact unemployed.1102 (See Commission Exhibits
Nos. 2478, 2481, p. 300.)
Marina and June departed with Mrs. Ruth Paine for Irving on the morning
of September 23.1103 Before she left, Oswald told Marina that she should
not tell anyone about his impending trip to Mexico.1104 Marina kept this
secret until after the assassination.1105 On the previous day, Oswald's
landlord had seen Mrs. Paine's car being packed and had asked Oswald
whose rent was about 15 days overdue, whether he was leaving. Oswald
told him that Marina was leaving temporarily but that he would
remain.1106 A neighbor testified that on the evening of September 24, he
saw Oswald, carrying two pieces of luggage, hurriedly leave the Magazine
Street apartment and board a bus.1107 Though uncertain of the exact
date, a city busdriver recalls that at the same time of day and at the
same location he picked up a man who was carrying two suitcases of
different sizes and helped him place them so that they would not disturb
the other passengers. The driver remembers that the man asked directions
to the Greyhound bus station. He discharged the passenger at an
intersection where he could board a Canal Street car and transfer to
another bus which would go past the Greyhound and Continental Trailways
stations.1108 The landlord found Oswald's apartment vacant on September
25.1109
Oswald appears to have taken with him a Spanish-English dictionary; 1110
his address book; 1111 his 1963 passport and old passport; 1112 his
correspondence with the Communist Party and with the Soviet Embassy in
Washington, some of which was in Russian; 1113 proof of his marriage;
1114 newspaper clippings concerning his arrest and his interest in the
activities of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee 1115 (activities which,
Marina testified, he had undertaken-because he thought that they would
help him when he got to Cuba); 1116 evidence that he
730
Page 731
was the "Director" of the New Orleans chapter of the Committee; 1117 and
various other cards, such as a work card, which he had obtained in
Russia.1118 He took also several sheets of notepaper on which he had
written a summary of important events in his life which he presumably
intended to call to the attention of Cuban and Soviet officials in
Mexico City to convince them to let him enter Cuba. On these sheets he
had recorded facts about his Marine service, including the dates of his
enlistment and discharge, the places where he had served, and the
diplomas that he had received from military school. Recorded also were
notes on his stay in the Soviet Union, his early interest in Communist
literature, his ability to speak Russian, his organization of the New
Orleans chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, his contact with
police authorities in connection with his work for the Committee, and
his experience in "street agitation," as a "radio speaker and lecturer,"
and as a photographer.1119 The two pieces of luggage which Oswald took
with him were a small, blue, zipper bag 1120 and a large, olive-colored
bag,1121 both made of cloth. He carried the smaller bag with him
throughout the trip, but, at least from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City,
checked the larger one through to his destination.1122
Oswald remained in New Orleans until September 25. His precise
whereabouts on the night of September 24 are uncertain, but in view of
his limited finances, he probably returned to the apartment to sleep
after checking his luggage at a bus station or spent the night at an
inexpensive hotel or roominghouse. Some time after 5 a. m. on September
25, he collected a Texas unemployment compensation check for $33 at his
New Orleans post office box. He cashed the check between 8 a.m. and noon
at a store about six blocks from his apartment on Magazine Street.1123
This gave him about $200 for the trip to Mexico.1124
He left New Orleans by bus,1125 probably on Continental Trailways Bus
No. 5121, departing New Orleans at 12:20 p.m. on September 25, and
scheduled to arrive in Houston at 10:50 p.m.; that bus is the only one
on which Oswald could have ]eft New Orleans after noon on September 25
1126 and arrived in Houston before midnight.1127 Sometime in the evening
he called the home of Horace Elroy Twiford, a member of the Socialist
Labor Party who had received Oswald's name from the party's headquarters
in New York and sent him a copy of its official publication, the "Weekly
People." 1128 Mrs. Twiford, who answered the telephone,1129 believes
that the call was made locally, before 10 p.m. It may have been made
from Beaumont or some other stop on the route; however, in view of the
bus schedule, it probably was made in Houston later than Mrs. Twiford
remembered.1130 Oswald told Mrs. Twiford that he was a member of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee and that he hoped to see her husband for a
few hours that evening before he flew to Mexico. He wanted also to find
out how Twiford had obtained his name and address. Mrs. Twiford told
Oswald that her husband, a merchant seaman, was at sea but. would be
happy to see him at some other time; she offered to take a message.
Page 732
Oswald said that he could not await her husband's return because he was
flying to Mexico.1131 The Twifords have stated that they had no other
contact with Oswald.1132
An employee of the U.S. Selective Service System has stated that an
individual calling himself "Harvey Oswald" appeared at her office in
Austin, Tex., immediately after lunch on September 25, and discussed
with her the possibility of rectifying his undesirable discharge from
the Marine Corps.1133 Despite the employee's reputability and apparent
sincerity, all of the information which she furnished with respect to
Oswald's appearance and conversation could have been derived from news
media, consciously or unconsciously, by the time she told the FBI her
story. Other persons in Austin who, according to the employee's
testimony, should also have observed Oswald failed to corroborate her
testimony.1134 No other evidence tending to show that Oswald was in
Austin at this time has been discovered.
The telephone call which Oswald made to the Twifords on the evening of
September 25, indicates that he was either in Houston or on his way
there when he made it, since the purpose of the call was to make an
appointment to see Twiford in Houston that evening. Oswald could not
have left New Orleans on September 25, been in Austin 521 miles away by
early afternoon, and returned 162 miles to Houston by night unless he
traveled by air; airline records contain no indication that Oswald was
on such flights.1135 It is very unlikely that he had with him enough
money beyond what he needed for the trip to Mexico City to take such
flights, and the poor state of his finances at this time plus his
well-established frugality make it extremely unlikely that he would have
considered it worthwhile to do so even if he could. There is no evidence
that Oswald was in such a hurry to reach Mexico that he would have felt
it necessary to travel by airplane rather than a less expensive means of
travel. He took a bus from Houston to Mexico City, lived very
inexpensively there, and took a bus back to Dallas; there is no apparent
reason why he would have interrupted such an inexpensive trip to fly to
Austin and then to Houston. He told a passenger whom he met on the next
leg of his trip that he had come from New Orleans, and made no reference
to Austin.1136
On September 26, Oswald boarded Continental Trailways bus No. 5133 in
Houston and departed at, 2:35 a.m. for Laredo, Tex., via Corpus Christi
and Alice.1137 Two British tourists, Dr. and Mrs. John B. McFarland, who
boarded No. 5133 in Houston, noticed Oswald when they awoke at about 6
a.m. Oswald told them that he was going to Cuba via Mexico City, and
they inferred from conversation with him that he had left New Orleans
early in the afternoon of September 25 and that he was going to Cuba via
Mexico City. He said also that he was secretary of the New Orleans
branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and that he hoped to see
Fidel Castro in Cuba. The bus was scheduled to arrive in Laredo at
approximately 1:20 p.m.1138
732
Page 733
Oswald crossed the border from Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, between
1:30 and 2 p.m.1139 From Nuevo Laredo, he traveled to Mexico City aboard
bus No. 516 of the Flecha Roja Bus Line, which departed at 2:15 p.m. and
was scheduled to arrive in Mexico City at 9:45 a.m. on the following
day; he held baggage claim check No. 320435.1140 He was seen on the bus
by the McFarlands and by two Australian girls who boarded the bus on the
evening of September 26 at Monterrey.1141 He occupied the seat next to
an elderly Englishman, who told the girls that the young man sitting
next to him apparently had been to Mexico before.1142 The man next to
Oswald was probably Albert Osborne, a native of the British Isles who
has worked as an itinerant preacher in the Southern United States and
Mexico for many years. Osborne denied that he sat beside Oswald; but in
view of his inconsistent and untrue responses to Federal investigators
concerning matters not directly related to Oswald, the Commission
believes that his denial cannot be credited. It appeared to the other
passengers on the bus that Osborne and Oswald had not previously met;
extensive investigation has revealed no other contact between them.1143
In the course of the 20-hour bus trip, Oswald initiated two
conversations with the Australian girls, during which he mentioned his
visit to Russia and recommended the Hotel Cuba in Mexico City as a %lean
and cheap" hotel; he told them, apparently falsely, that he had stayed
there on previous occasions. He said that when he had seen them board
the bus with their heavy suitcases, he had been under the impression
that they were Mexican and had therefore asked the man next to him how
to say "How can I help you ?" in Spanish. From this they inferred that
Oswald did not speak Spanish, an impression which is shared by every
witness who met Oswald on his trip and is supported by notations which
he made on documents that he carried.1144 He got off the bus at every
stop and ate large meals, always eating by himself; the girls thought he
ate so much because he could not make himself understood in Spanish and
had to order by pointing at the menu.1145 The bus arrived in Mexico City
15 minutes late, at 10 a.m.1146 Oswald left the bus station by himself
and had no known further contact with any of the people with whom he had
spoken on the
bus.1147
Oswald registered at the Hotel del Comercio within an hour of his
arrival in Mexico City. He stayed there throughout his visit.1148 The
hotel, located not far from the commercial heart of the city and within
four blocks of the bus station, is one of a group of hotels located near
the intercity bus terminals and has perhaps the best appearance of the
group.1149 It is known by personnel in other hotels that the owner of
the Hotel del Comercio can understand and speak a little English.1150
Oswald registered as "Lee, Harvey Oswald," and gave his occupation as
"photo." 1151 He had room 18 which cost $1.28 per day.1152
After he had registered, Oswald turned promptly to the task of obtaining
permission to enter Cuba. Mexican officials would not permit a U.S.
citizen without a Cuban visa to board a plane for Cuba
Page 734
even if he had an American passport, but would permit passage if he had
a visa even though the passport proscribed travel to Cuba.1153 Oswald
had a 1963 American passport (stamped invalid for travel to Cuba)1154
but had neither a regular Cuban visa nor an intransit visa which would
permit a short stay in Cuba on his way to Russia or some other country.
His address book contained the telephone number and address of a Cuban
airline, but there is evidence that he never visited its office.1155
He visited the Cuban Embassy on Friday, September 27 and spoke with
Senora Silvia Tirado de Duran, a Mexican citizen employed there. Senora
Duran later made a signed statement to the Mexican police that Oswald:
* * * applied for a visa to Cuba in transit to Russia and based his
application on his presentation of his passport in which it was recorded
that, he had been living in the latter country for a period of three
years, his work permit from that same country written in the Russian
language and letters in the same language, as well as proof of his being
married to a woman of Russian nationality and being the apparent
Director in the city of New Orleans of the organization called "Fair
Play for Cuba" with the desire that he should be accepted as a "friend"
of the Cuban Revolution * * * 1156
He apparently also stated that he was a member of the Communist Party
and displayed documents which he claimed to be evidence of his
membership.1157 He said that he intended to go to Cuba on September 30
and to remain there for 2 weeks, or longer if possible, and then go on
to Russia.1158 Senora Duran took down the relevant date and filled out
the appropriate application. Oswald left the Embassy but was to return
in the afternoon.1159
Then, or possibly even before his initial visit to the Cuban Embassy
Oswald went to the Soviet Embassy where he spoke with either Pavel
Antonovich Yatskov or Valeriy Vladimirovich Kostikov.1160 They are both
consular officials serving also as agents of the KGB.1161 Oswald later
said that he had dealt with "Kostin," 1162 undoubtedly a reference to
Kostikov. He was unable to obtain a Soviet visa then. Marina said that
the officials at the Soviet Embassy "refused to have anything to do with
him." 1163
Oswald returned to the Cuban Embassy later that afternoon, this time
bringing with him passport photographs which he may have obtained in the
United States.1164 Senora Duran telephoned the Soviet Embassy to inquire
about the status of Oswald's Russian visa and was told that there would
be a delay of about 4 months.1165 Oswald became "highly agitated and
angry," particularly when he learned that he could not obtain an
intransit visa to Cuba before he acquired a Russian visa. Senora Duran
called the Cuban consul, then Eusibio Azque, to speak to him. The
discussion between Oswald and Azque developed into a heated argument,
which ended when Azque told Oswald that in
784
Page 735
his opinion people like Oswald were harming the Cuban Revolution and
that so far as Azque was concerned, he would not give Oswald a visa.1166
Senora Duran wrote her name and the phone number of the Embassy on a
piece of paper which she gave to Oswald in case he wished to contact her
again. He copied this information into his address book.1167 Senora
Duran forwarded the Cuban visa application to Havana ;1168 the Cuban
Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied on October 15 that the visa could be
issued only after Oswald had obtained a Russian visa.1169 (See
Commission Exhibit, No. 2564, p. 303.)
Oswald contacted the Russian and Cuba Embassies again during his stay in
Mexico.1170 He had no greater success than he had before. Marina
testified that when he returned to Texas, he was convinced that his trip
had been a failure and disappointed at having been unable to go to
Cuba.1171 A month later, in a painstakingly composed 1172 letter to the
Soviet Embassy in Washington, Oswald ascribed his failure to "a gross
breach of regulations" on the part of the Cuban Embassy. '"Of corse," he
wrote, "the Soviet Embassy was not at fault, they were, as I say
unprepared."
The hotel maid said that Oswald generally was gone by the time she
arrived at 9 a.m. The night watchman said he usually returned at about
midnight,1174 which is not unusual, in view of the late hour at which
Mexico City's evening activities begin. He ate several lunches at a
small restaurant immediately adjacent to the hotel, coming to the
restaurant shortly after 2 p.m., and ordering food by pointing to the
menu, apparently with some consideration of cost; he spent between 40
and 48 cents for each meal. He ate the soup of the day, rice, and either
meat or eggs, but refused dessert and coffee; the waitress concluded
that Oswald did not realize that the items which he refused were
included in the price of the lunch.1175 He was seen with no other person
either at his hotel or at the restaurant.1176 A hotel guest stated that
on one occasion he sat down at a table with Oswald because there was no
empty table in the restaurant, but that neither spoke to the other
because of the language barrier.1177
Although the Soviet and Cuban Embassies are within two blocks of each
other, they are some distance from Oswald's hotel.1178 He must,
therefore, have traversed a substantial portion of the city on more than
one occasion. Marina testified that he told her that he had seen a
bullfight,1179 which would normally have been on Sunday afternoon, and
that he had visited museums 1180 and done some sightseeing.1181 He
apparently also saw one or more motion pictures, either American with
Spanish subtitles or Mexican with English subtitles.1182 From notations
in his Spanish-English dictionary and on his guide map of Mexico City,
it appears that Oswald intended to attend a jai alai game 1183 but he
almost certainly did not do so.1184
He purchased several postcards depicting bullfights and tourist
attractions, which he brought back to Marina.1185 She had told him be-
Page 736
fore he left that she would like Mexican silver bracelets as a souvenir,
and he brought her a silver bracelet inscribed with her name.1186 Marina
suspected, almost certainly correctly, that the bracelet, of Japanese
origin, did not come from Mexico.1187 No such jewelry is known to be
sold in or around Mexico City, because of a high duty 1188 but the
bracelet is of a type commonly sold in 5-and-10-cent stores in
Dallas.1189 Oswald did not buy the Mexican phonograph records which
Marina had requested, despite the notation, "records," which he had
placed in his dictionary.1190
On Monday, September 30, Oswald began to prepare for his return to the
United States. He appeared at the Agencia de Viages, Transportes
Chihuahuenses,1191 and purchased international exchange orders costing
$20.30 for travel on a Transportes del Norte bus from Mexico City to
Laredo and by Greyhound bus directly from Laredo to Dallas. The travel
agency made a reservation for him on Transportes del Notre bus No. 332,
departing Mexico City at 8:30 a.m. on October 2. The seat, No. 12, was
reserved in the name of the travel agency, which recorded the
reservation in the name of "H. O. Lee." 1192 The employee who made the
reservation testified that he probably wrote the name that way because
he was copying from Oswald's tourist card, which read "Lee, Harvey
Oswald." 1193 (The manifest for Transportes Frontera bus No. 340,
leaving Mexico City for Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo at 1 p.m. on
Wednesday, October 2, 1963, contains the name "Oswld" [sic], which
apparently was added to the manifest after the trip; 1194 in any event,
Oswald did not take bus 340.) 1195
On October 1, Oswald paid his hotel bill through that night.1196 The
hotel night watchman remembers helping Oswald obtain a taxicab at about
6:30 or 7 on the following morning.1197 Transportes del Norte bus No.
332 left as scheduled at about 8:30 a.m.; at Monterrey the passengers
were shifted to a relief bus, No. 373, scheduled to depart for Laredo at
10 p.m. that evening.1193 Fellow passengers recall that Oswald was
pulled off the bus by Mexican officials at the border, because of some
alleged irregularity in his Mexican tourist papers; one passenger
overheard him mumbling complaints about the Mexican immigration
officials when he returned to the bus.1199 They remember also that
Oswald was hurriedly "gulping" down a banana after the bus reached
customs, perhaps because he believed that he could not take fruit into
the United States.1200 (Marina has testified that her husband liked
bananas and frequently ate them.)1201 One of the passengers testified
that Oswald annoyed him by keeping his overhead light on to read after
10 p.m.1202 He may have conversed with an elderly woman on the bus, but
he was not traveling with her.1203
At about 1:35 a.m. on October 3, Oswald crossed the International Bridge
from Nuevo Laredo into Texas.1204 He traveled from Laredo to Dallas via
San Antonio, on Greyhound bus No. 1265, substantially following
Interstate Route 35 for the entire trip 1205 leaving Laredo at 3 a.m.
and arriving in Dallas at about 2:20 p.m. on the same day.1206
736
Dallas
Page 737
DALLAS
Oswald did not contact his wife immediately when he returned to Dallas.
He went to the office of the employment commission, where he filed an
unemployment compensation claim 1207 and announced that he was again
looking for work.1208 He spent the night at the YMCA, where he
registered as a serviceman in order to avoid paying the membership
fee.1209 On the following day, he applied for a job as a typesetter
trainee at the Padgett Printing Co. He made a favorable impression on
the department foreman, but the plant superintendent called
Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall and decided not to hire Oswald because of the
unfavorable responses which his inquiries produced.1210 Later that day,
Oswald telephoned Marina and asked her to have Mrs. Paine pick him up in
Dallas. Marina refused, and he hitchhiked out to the Paine home,1211
where he spent part or all of the weekend.1210 Marina testified that
although her husband "changed for the better" and treated her better
after his Mexican trip,1213 she did not want to live with him because
she was pregnant and thought it would be better "to be with a woman who
spoke English and Russian." 1214 On Monday, October 7, Mrs. Paine drove
Oswald to the bus station, and he returned to Dallas to look for a job
and a place to live.1215
Oswald thought that the YMCA was too expensive for him, and intended to
rent a room.1216 He inquired about a room at 1026 North Beckley, where
he lived later, but on October 7 there were no vacancies.1217 He next
responded to a "For Rent" sign at a rooming house at 621 Marsalis
Street. He obtained a room, for which he paid the weekly rent of $7 in
advance, and moved in on the same day.1218 He immediately resumed his
job- hunting, relying partially on referrals by the employment
commission.1219 He spent much of the time when he was not looking for
work in his room.1220 He telephoned his wife daily.1221 She wrote: "Lee
called twice a day, was worried about my health and about June." 1222 On
Friday, Oswald told his landlady, Mrs. Mary Bledsoe, that he was going
to Irving for the weekend but would return the following week. She
refused to rent the room to him for another week because she didn't like
him.1223
Oswald spent the weekend of October 12-13 at Mrs. Paine's home, during
which time she gave him a driving lesson.1224 He told her that he had
received the last of the unemployment checks due him, and that it had
been smaller than the previous ones. Mrs. Paine testified that Oswald
was extremely discouraged because his wife was expecting a baby, he had
no job prospects in sight, and he no longer had any source of
income.1225
On Monday, Mrs. Paine drove Oswald into Dallas, since she had other
business there.1226 He picked up his bag from Mrs. Bledsoe's
roominghouse 1227 and later that day rented a room at 1026 North Beckley
Avenue from Mrs. A. C. Johnson for $8 a week. He registered as O. H. Lee
and moved in immediately.1228 Oswald felt that this room was more
comfortable than the previous one, particularly
737
Page 738
because he had television and refrigerator privileges.1229 He apparently
continued to spend most of his evenings in his room.1230 He borrowed
books from the library 1231 and had subscriptions to various
periodicals, including Time, the Worker, the Militant, and some Russian
periodicals.1232
On that Monday, Mrs. Paine mentioned the Oswalds' financial and
employment problems to neighbors whom she was visiting. Mrs. Linnie Mac
Randle, who was also present, remarked that she thought that her younger
brother, Buell Wesley Frazier, who worked at the Texas School Book
Depository, had said that there was a job opening there. Wen Marina
heard of this, she asked Mrs. Paine to call the Depository to see if
there was an opening.1233 Mrs. Paine called Roy S. Truly, superintendent
of the Depository, who indicated that he would talk to Oswald if he
would apply in person.1234 When Oswald telephoned the Paine house on
Monday evening, Mrs. Paine told him about this possibility.1235 On the
next day, Oswald was interviewed by Truly and hired in a temporary
capacity. He began work on Wednesday, October 16. His duties were to
fill book orders; his hours were 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., for which he
received $1.25 an hour.1236
Both the Oswalds were elated with the new job,1237 although it
apparently required little skill or experience 1238 and he indicated
that he still hoped to obtain a better job.1239 He did a satisfactory
job at the Depository,1240 but he kept to himself and very few of his
fellow employees got to know him.1241
During his first week at work, Oswald became acquainted with Frazier,
with whom he arranged to ride to Irving on weekends.1242 On Friday,
October 18, Frazier drove him from work to the Paine home; 1243 since it
was his birthday, Marina and Ruth Paine had arranged a small
celebration.1244 On Sunday, he stayed with June and the Paine children,
while Mrs. Paine drove Marina to Parkland Hospital where she gave birth
to a second daughter, Rachel.1245 He went to work on Monday, but that
evening visited Marina in the hospital and spent the night in
Irving.1246 Marina wrote:
Monday evening Lee visited me in the hospital. He was very happy at the
birth of another daughter and even wept a little. He said that two
daughters were better for each other--two sisters. He stayed with me
about two hours.1247
Oswald returned to Dallas the next morning.1248
Oswald wrote to Arnold Johnson of the Communist Party, U.S.A., that on
the evening of October 23, he had attended an "ultra right" meeting
headed by Gen. Edwin A. Walker.1249 Two evenings later, he accompanied
Michael Paine to a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union, held
at Southern Methodist University.1250 At this meeting, a statement was
made to the effect that members of the John Birch Society should not be
considered anti-Semitic; Oswald rose and stated that at the meeting
which he had attended 2 days earlier, he had heard a number of
anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic statements.
738
Page 739
Later in the evening, Oswald became involved in a discussion with
several people, including Frank Krystinik, who was employed with Paine
at the Bell Helicopter plant. During this conversation, Oswald expressed
Marxist views and declared that he was a Marxist, although denying that
he was a Communist. He admitted that the United States was superior to
the Soviet Union in the area of civil liberties and praised President
Kennedy for his work in that connection.1251 Krystinik testified that he
got the impression that Oswald did not fully understand the views he was
expounding.1252
Throughout that week Oswald telephoned his wife to inquire about her
health and that of the baby. He spent the weekend at the Paine home, to
which Marina and Rachel had returned during the week.1253 On Friday,
November 1, he obtained post office box No. 6225 at the Terminal Annex
Post Office Station. He indicated that the box would also be used to
receive mail for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the American Civil
Liberties Union.1254 Once again he spent the weekend in Irving.1255
Throughout this period, the FBI had been aware of the whereabouts of the
Oswalds. There was a record in the Dallas office of the FBI that Oswald
subscribed to the Worker, engaged in Fair Play for Cuba Committee
activities and had traveled to Mexico.1256 An FBI agent visited the
Paine home on November I and, accompanied by another agent, again on
November 5, and spoke briefly with Mrs. Paine. On neither occasion was
Oswald present.1257 Ruth Paine noted the agent's name and telephone
number and, in accordance with her husband's instructions, Marina noted
the license number of the agent's automobile, all of which was
subsequently reported to Oswald.1258 Both Mrs. Paine and Marina
testified that Oswald was troubled by the FBI's interest in him.1259 He
declared that the FBI was "trying to inhibit" his activities,1260 and
wrote the Soviet Embassy in Washington:
The Federal Bureu of Investigation is not now interested in my
activities in the progressive organization "Fair Play for Cuba
Committee" of which I was secretary in New Orleans (state Louisiana)
since I no longer reside in that state. However, the F.B.I. has visted
us here in Dallas, Texas, on November 1st. Agent James P. Hasty warned
me that if I engaged in F.P.C.C. activities in Texas the F.B.I. will
again take an "interest" in me.
This agent also 'suggested' to Marina Nichilayeva that she could remain
in the United States under F.B.I. 'protection', that is, she could
defect from the Soviet Union, of couse, I and my wife strongly protested
these tactics by the notorious F.B.I.
Please inform us of the arrival of our Soviet entrance visa's as soon as
they come.1261 (See Commission Exhibit 15, p. 311.)
Marina testified that the statements, both by and to the FBI agents, to
which her husband referred in this letter, were in fact never made.1262
Page 740
The following Friday, November 8, Oswald as usual drove to the Paine
house with Frazier.1263 On Saturday Mrs. Paine took him to the Texas
Drivers' License Examining Station, but because it was an election day
the station was closed. Oswald stayed at the Paines through Monday,
November 11, which was Veterans Day. During the weekend, Mrs. Paine gave
Oswald a second driving lesson.
Oswald did not go to Irving on the next weekend. His wife had asked him
not to come because Michael Paine, with whom Oswald did not get along,
would be there to celebrate his daughter's birthday. Also, she felt that
because he had stayed for 3 days the preceding weekend, he would abuse
Mrs. Paine's hospitality if he returned so soon. Oswald telephoned
Marina on Saturday afternoon and said that he had returned to the
drivers' license examining station that morning but had not waited
because there was a long line.1265
On Sunday, November 17, at Marina's request, Ruth Paine telephoned
Oswald at the Beckley Avenue number, which he had given to Marina. When
she asked for him, she was told that no one by that name lived at the
address, which greatly surprised her. On the next day, Oswald telephoned
his wife. When she indicated that she had been upset by the fact that
there had been no Lee Oswald at the number which she had asked Mrs.
Paine to call Oswald became angry; he said that he was using a
fictitious name and that she should not have called the Beckley Avenue
number.1266 He did not telephone on the following day, which was
unusual.1267
On the morning of Thursday, November 21, Oswald asked Frazier to take
him to Irving when he went home that evening, saying that he wanted to
pick up some curtain rods.1268 His arrival was a surprise because he
generally asked Mrs. Paine's permission before arriving for a visit.1269
The women thought that he had come to Irving because he felt badly about
arguing with his wife about the use of the fictitious name.1270 He said
that he was lonely, because he had not come the preceding weekend, and
told Marina that. he "wanted to make his peace" with her.1271 He spent
the time before dinner on the lawn playing with his daughter.1272
However, when he attempted to talk to his wife she would not answer,
which upset him. He asked her to live with him in Dallas, and she
refused.1273 After supper, Oswald watched television while the women
cleaned the house and prepared their children for bed.1274 He retired
early in the evening at about 9.1275
740
Appendix XIV
Page 741
APPENDIX XIV
Analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald's Finances
From June 13, 1962,
Through November 22, 1963
The following analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald's receipts and expenditures
for the period June 13, 1962, through November 22, 1963,
contains a complete record of all funds that he and his wife are re-
ported to have received and disbursed from all known sources. It also
contains an estimate for food, clothing, and incidental expenses, which
include telephone calls, money order and check cashing fees, postage,
local transportation costs, personal care goods and services, local
news-
papers, and similar small items. Oswald's expenditures for food, cloth-
rag, and incidentals were estimated at $100 per month, except for those
months in which his wife and children resided with relatives or
acquaintances. The estimate reflects Oswald's frugal living habits
during this period, as described in chapter VI of this report. The
Commission has been advised by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of
the U.S. Department of Labor that this estimate is a little higher than
would be normal for a family in Oswald's income class residing in the
southern region of the United States. (See Commission Exhibit
No. 1169.)
Lee Harvey Oswald Receipts and Expenditures
June 13, 1962, to Nov. 22, 1963
Expendi-
June 1962 Receipts tures Balance
On hand on arrival, New York City 1 $63. 00
Received from Robert Oswald 2 200. 00
Received from Marguerite Oswald 3 10. 00
Transportation in New York City 4 $10. 35
Plane fare, New York City to Dallas, including
luggage 5 201. 04
Hotel bill, New York City 6 15.21
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 7 5. 00
Public stenographer 8 10.00
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald 9 30. 00
Total 273.00 271.60
Cash on hand, June 30, 1962 $1. 40
July 1962:
Net salary 10 46.82
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald n 10. 00
Subscription for Time magazine 12 3. 87
Total 46. 82 13.87
Cash on hand, July 31, 1962 34. 35
741
Page 742
August 1962: Receipts
Net salary 13 $207.31
Repayment, State Department loan 14 $10. 00
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald 15 50. 00
Rent and utilities 17 71.50
Subscription for the Worker 17 2. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 18 75. 00
Expendi-
tures Balance
Total 207.31 208. 50
Cash on hand, Aug. 31, 1962 $33. 16
September 1962:
Net salary 19 187. 59
Received from Paul Gregory 20 35.00
Rent and utilities 21 .................................
Repayment, State Department loan 22 .................
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald 23 ...............
Subscription for the Russian humor magazine
"Krokodil" 24 .....................................
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses ........................................
71.50
9. 71
50.00
2.20
100. 00
Total ................................. 222.59 233.41
Cash on hand, Sept. 30, 1962 22. 34
October 1962:
Net salary 25 228. 22
Received from George Bouhe 26 5.00
Repayment, State Department loan 27 10. 00
Rent, room in YMCA 28 9.00
Post office box rental 29 4. 50
Estimated repayment, Robert Oswald 30 60. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 31 50. 00
Total 233. 22 133. 50
Cash on hand, Oct. 31, 1962 122.06
November 1962:
Net salary 32 315. 71
Rent 33 73.00
Rental of U-Haul Trailer 34 5.00
Repayment, State Department loan 35 10.00
Bus fare, Dallas to Fort Worth and return 36 4. 60
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 37 50. 00
Total 315. 71 142. 60
Cash on hand, Nov. 30, 1962 295. 17
742
Page 743
December 1962: Receipts
Net salary 38 $243. 13
Rent 39 $68. 00
Post office box rental 40 4.50
Repayment, State Department loan 41 190. 00
Subscription for the Militant 42 1.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Expendi-
tures Balance
Total 243.13 363.50
Cash on hand, Dec. 31, 1962 $174. 80
January 1963:
Net salary 43 247. 12
Rent and utilities 44 75. 13
Repayment, State Department loan 45 206.00
Deposit, Smith & Wesson revolver 46 10. 00
Fee paid Crozier Tech High School 47 9.00
Subscription for Ogonek, Agitator, Sovetskaya
Belorussiya 48 13. 20
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Total 247.12 . 413.33
Cash on hand, Jan. 31, 1963 ......................................
8.59
February 1963:
Net salary 49 256. 95
Rent and utilities 50 71.64
Subscription for the Worker 51 7. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Total 256. 95 178.64
Cash on hand, Feb. 28, 1963 ......................................
86.90
March 1963:
Net salary 52 327. 55
Rent and utilities 53 78. 76
Post office box rental 54 4.50
Cost of rifle 55 21.45
Subscription for Time magazine 56 3.82
Balance due on revolver and freight charge 57 21.22
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Total 327. 55 229. 75
Cash on hand, Mar. 31, 1963 184. 70
743
Page 744
Expenditures
April 1963: Receipts Balance
Net salary 58 $108. 86
Income Tax refund 59 57.40
Rent and utilities 60 $62.97
Bus fare from Dallas to New Orleans 61 13. 85
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
62 100. 00
expenses ..........
Total 166. 26 176. 82
Cash on hand, Apr. 30, 1963 $174. 14
May 1963:
Net salary 63 107. 44
Unemployment compensation check 64 33. 00
Rent and utilities 65 75. 00
Subscription for the Militant 66 1. 00
Dues and printing--Fair Play for Cuba 67 9. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses68 100. 00
Total 140. 44 185. 00
Cash on hand, May 31, 1963 129. 58
June 1963:
Net salary 69 216. 00
Rent and utilities 70 67. 85
Post office box rental 71 4. 00
Printing--Fair Play for Cuba 72 15. 23
New alien registration card 73 5.00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100 .00
Total 216. 00 192. 08
Cash on hand, June 30, 1963 153. 50
July 1963:
Net salary 74 224. 97
Rent and utilities 76 72. 22
Printing--Fair Play for Cuba 76 3.50
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Total 224. 97 175. 72
Cash on hand, July 31, 1963 202. 75
August 1963:
Unemployment compensation payments 77 165. 00
Rent and utilities 78 73. 54
Fine 79 10. 00
Distribution, Fair Play for Cuba circulars 80 2. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 100. 00
Total 165. 00 185. 54
Cash on hand, Aug. 31, 1963 182.21
744
Page 745
Expendi-
tures Balance
Sept. 1-24, 1963: Receipts
Unemployment compensation payments 81 $132. 00
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 82 $100. 00
Total 132. 00 100. 00
Cash on hand, Sept. 24, 1963 $214.21
Sept. 25-Oct. 2, 1963:
Mexican trip:
Estimated transportation cost 84 50. 55
Hotel plus estimated food cost as 18.70
Estimated cost of entertainment and mis-
cellaneous items 86 15. 20
Total 84. 45
Cash on hand, Oct. 2, 1963 87 129. 76
Oct. 3-31, 1963:
Unemployment compensation payments 88 39. 00
Net salary 89 104.41
Rent, rooms and YMCA 90 ...........................
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 91 ----
33. 25
75.00
Total 143.41 108. 25
Cash on hand, Oct. 31, 1963 164. 92
Nov. 1-22, 1963:
Net salary 92 104. 41
Room rent 93 24. 00
Post office box rental 94 3.00
American Civil Liberties Union dues 95 2. 00
Bus and taxi fares Nov. 22, 1963 96 1.23
Estimated cost of food, clothing, and incidental
expenses 97 75. 00
Total 104. 41 105. 23
Cash on hand, Nov. 22, 1963 164. 10
Grand total, June 13, 1962-Nov. 22, 1963 .... 3, 665.89 3, 501.79 164.
10
Contents of Oswald's wallet 170. 00
Cash taken from Oswald when arrested 13.87
Total 98 183. 87
730-900 0-64--49
Appendix XV
Page 746
APPENDIX XV
Transactions Between Lee Harvey Oswald and Marina
Oswald, and the U.S. Department of State and
the Immigration and Naturalization Service
of the U.S. Department of Justice
From September 4, 1959, when he applied for his first passport, until
shortly before the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald had numerous
dealings with the U.S. Department of State in Washington and with the
American Embassy in Moscow. In connection with Marina Oswald's entry
into the United States, the dealings also extended to the Immigration
and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice. During the
course of these dealings, the Department of State and the Immigration
and Naturalization Service were called upon to decide a series of legal
and administrative questions which arose under the laws of this country.
In order to determine whether Lee Harvey Oswald or his wife received any
treatment not accorded others in similar positions, the Commission has
examined the manner in which the transactions with the Oswalds were
handled and the manner in which the relevant legal questions were
resolved. In light of the facts then available and the applicable
statutes, regulations, and practices in force at the time, the
Commission has found no indication that the treatment accorded the
Oswalds was illegal or different in any respect from the treatment that
other persons similarly situated would have received.
Issuance of Passport in 1959
Page 746
ISSUANCE OF PASSPORT IN 1959
On September 4, 1959, while on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps,
Oswald applied for a passport. before a clerk of the superior court at
Santa Ana, Calif.1 On the application Oswald stated that he intended to
leave the United States for 4 months on approximately September 21,
1959, by ship from New Orleans, La., and that the purposes of his trip
would be to attend the Albert Schweitzer College in Switzerland 2 and
the University of Turku in Finland, and to visit Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, England, France, Switzerland, Ger many, Finland and Russia as
a tourist. With the application, Oswald submitted a statement signed by
a Marine officer that he was to be discharged from the Corps on
September 11, 1959.3 The passport, No. 1733242, was routinely issued on
September 10, 1959.4 At the time, the United States proscribed travel to
none of the countries named in Oswald's application.
746
Page 747
OSWALD'S ATTEMPTS TO RENOUNCE HIS U.S.
CITIZENSHIP
American officials in Moscow had no knowledge that Oswald was in Russia
until October 81, 1959,5 more than 2 weeks after he had arrived, since
he failed to register at the U.S. Embassy, as Americans traveling
through Russia normally did.6 However, on October 31, 1959, a Saturday,
Oswald presented himself at the American Embassy in Moscow.7 He placed
his passport on the receptionist's desk and informed her that he had
come to "dissolve his American citizenship." s She immediately summoned
the consul, Richard E. Snyder, who invited Oswald into his office.9 In
the room with Snyder was his assistant, John A. McVickar, who observed
what ensued.10 Snyder recalled Oswald as "neatly and very presentably
dressed," 11 but he also remembered his arrogance. Oswald seemed to
"know what his mission was. He took charges in a sense, of the
conversation right from the beginning." 12
Oswald stated at once that he was there to renounce his citizenship 13
and that "his allegiance was to the Soviet Union." 14 He said he had
already applied for Soviet citizenship.15 He said he knew the provisions
of American law on loss of citizenship and did not want to hear them
reviewed by Snyder.16 Having taken his passport back from the
receptionist, Oswald put it on Snyder's desk.17 Snyder noticed that
Oswald had inked out the portion which would have shown his address in
the United States.18 Oswald also presented Snyder with a note 19 which
he had prepared in advance, which reads:
I Lee Harey Oswald do herby request that my present citizenship in the
United States of america, be revoked.
I have entered the Soviet Union for the express purpose of appling for
citizenship in the Soviet Union, through the means of naturalization.
My request for citizenship is now pending before Suprem Soviet of the
U.S.S.R.
I take these steps for political reasons. My request for the revoking of
my American citizenship is made only after the longest and most serious
considerations.
I affirm that my allegiance is to the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.20
Oswald told Snyder that he had not mentioned his intent to remain in the
Soviet Union to the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki at the time he had
applied for his tourist visa.21 Oswald's passport, upon which his Soviet
visa was stamped, shows that by the 31st of October he had already
overstayed his visa, despite a 1-day extension which he had received.22
Oswald gave as his "principal reason" for wanting to renounce his
citizenship, "I am a Marxist." 23 He stated that he admired the system
and policies of the Soviet Union and desired to serve the Soviet
Page 748
State, and that his intent to defect to the Soviet Union had been formed
long before he was discharged from the Marine Corps.24 Shortly after the
interview, Snyder observed that Oswald had "displayed all the airs of a
new sophomore partyliner." 25 At one point, Oswald alluded to hardships
endured by his mother as a "worker" and said he did not intend to let
this happen to him.26 He stated that his Marine service in Okinawa and
elsewhere had given him a chance "to observe American imperialism," and
he displayed some resentment at not having been given a. higher rank in
the Marine Corps.27 Oswald stated to Snyder that he had voluntarily told
Soviet officials that he would make known to them all information
concerning the Marine Corps and his specialty therein, radar operation,
as he possessed.28
Snyder did not permit Oswald to renounce his citizenship at that time.
He told Oswald that his renunciation could not be effected on a
Saturday, but that if he would return on a day when the Embassy was open
for business, the transaction could then be completed.29 Snyder
testified that his real reason for delaying Oswald was that he believed,
as a matter of sound professional practice, that no one should be
permitted to renounce his American citizenship precipitously; such an
act has extremely serious consequences, and, once accomplished, it is
irrevocable.30 Snyder noticed that Oswald was young, apparently not well
educated and obviously in a. highly emotional state.31 Snyder testified:
"particularly in the case of a minor, I could not imagine myself writing
out the renunciation form, and having him sign it, on the spot, without
making him leave my office and come back at some other time, even if it
is only a few hours intervening." 32 Snyder's decision was also
influenced by his familiarity with a recent unfavorable incident in
which an American citizen by the name of Petrulli had been allowed to
renounce his citizenship hastily, without awareness that Petrulli was
mentally ill at the time.33 Snyder was able to persuade Oswald to tell
him his home address and the name of his mother, however, by saying that
no progress on his renunciation could be made without this
information.34 The State Department has advised that Snyder's treatment
of Oswald "was in line * * * with the general policy of the Department
to discourage expatriation of American citizens." 35
The same day, the Embassy sent a telegram to the Department of State,
advising that Oswald had appeared there in an attempt to renounce his
American citizenship, and setting out most of the details of the
interview with Snyder.36 Copies were immediately furnished to the FBI 37
and the CIA.38 The telegram was followed on November 2, 1959, by an
Embassy report addresed to the Department of State,39 which concluded:
* * * in view of the Petrulli case and other considerations, the Embassy
proposes to delay action on Oswald's request to execute an oath of
renunciation to the extent dictated by developments and subject to the
Department's advice.40
Page 749
Copies of this memorandum were also furnished both Federal security
agencies.41
After having received the telegram of October 31, 1959,42 but not the
Embassy Despatch of November 2, 1959, the State Department on November
2, 1959, sent a telegram to the Moscow Embassy which read in part:
If Oswald insists on renouncing U.S. citizenship, Section 1999 Revised
Statutes precludes Embassy withholding right to do so regardless status
his application pending Soviet Government and final action taken
Petrulli case.43
This telegram, like most of the communications from the Department
regarding Oswald, was prepared in the Passport Office and cleared by the
Office of Eastern European Affairs and the Office of Soviet Union
Affairs.44
Oswald never returned to the Embassy.45 On November 6, 1959, the Embassy
received 46 a handwritten letter from Oswald on the stationery of the
Metropole Hotel, dated November 8, 1959, which read:
I, Lee Harvey Oswald, do hereby request that my present United States
citizenship be revoked.
I appeered in person, at the consulate office of the United States
Embassy, Moscow, on Oct. 31st, for the purpose of signing the formal
papers to this effect. This legal right I was refused at that time.
I wish to protest against this action, and against the conduct of the
official of the United States consular service who acted on behalf of
the United States government.
My application, requesting that I be considered for citizenship in the
Soviet Union is now pending before the Surprem Soviet of the U.S.S.R..
In the event of acceptance, I will request my government to lodge a.
formal protest regarding this incident.47
The Embassy immediately informed the Department of the receipt of this
letter and advised that it intended to reply to Oswald by letter telling
him that, if he wished, he could appear at the Embassy on any normal
business day and request that the necessary expatriation documents be
prepared.48 On the same day, November 6, the Embassy sent Oswald a
letter so advising him.49 From then until November 30 the Embassy
attempted to communicate with Oswald on several occasions to deliver
messages from his relatives in the United States urging him to
reconsider, but he refused to receive the messages or talk to anyone
from the Embassy.50 The messages were therefore sent to him by
registered mail.51
On November 16, 1959, Priscilla Johnson, an American newspaper-woman
stationed in Moscow, interviewed Oswald at the Metropole
749
Page 750
Hotel.52 On November 17, 1959, she informed the Embassy of her
interviews and the information was recorded in a file memorandum.53
Oswald told Miss Johnson that he was scheduled to leave Moscow within a
few days. She thought that Oswald "may have purposely not carried
through his original intent to renounce [citizenship] in order to leave
a crack open." 54 The Embassy accordingly informed the Department of
State about 2 weeks later that Oswald had departed from the Hotel
Metropole within the last few days.55 According to his "Historic Diary"
56 and other records available to the Commission,57 however, Oswald
probably did not in fact leave Moscow for Minsk until about January 4,
1960. Miss Johnson's report of her interview with Oswald was the last
information about him which the U.S. Government was to receive until
February 13, 1961 58
On March 6, 1960, Oswald's mother asked Representative James C. Wright,
Jr., of Texas to help her locate her son. The Congressman forwarded her
inquiry to the Department of States which in turn sent it to the
Embassy.59 In response, the Embassy in Moscow informed the Department on
March 28, 1960, that they had had no contact with Oswald since November
9, 1959.60 The Embassy went on to say that it had no evidence that
Oswald had expatriated himself "other than his announced intention to do
so." It believed, therefore, that since Oswald was presumably still an
American citizen, the American Government could properly make inquiry
concerning him through a note to the Soviet Foreign Office. The Embassy
went on to suggest, however, that it would be preferable if Oswald's
mother wrote a letter to her son which could then be forwarded by the
Department to the Soviet Government.61
The Department replied on May 10, 1960, that no action should be taken
in the case other than on a request voluntarily submitted by member of
Oswald's family.62 On June 22, a second communication was dispatched,
asking whether the Embassy had been able to contact Oswald.63 On July 6,
1960, the Embassy replied that it had received no further communication
with anyone on the subject of Oswald and that in view of the
Department's memorandum of May 10, 1960, intended to take no further
action in the matter.64 Mrs. Oswald apparently took no steps to follow
up on her original inquiry.
Under the procedures in effect in 1960, a "refusal sheet" was prepared
in the Department of State Passport Office whenever circumstances
created the possibility that a prospective applicant would not be
entitled to receive an American passport.65 The records section of the
Passport Office, on the basis of the refusal sheets would prepare what
was known as a lookout card 66 and file it in the lookout file in the
Passport Office. Whenever anyone applied for a passport from any city in
the world, his application was immediately forwarded to this office, and
his name and date of birth checked against the lookout riley If a
lookout card was found, appropriate action, including the possible
refusal of a passport, was taken.68 Passport Office procedures
750
Page 751
also provided that. the lookout card would be removed from a prospective
applicant's file whenever facts warranted an unquestioned passport,
grant. 69
On March 25, 1960, the Passport Office had made up a "refusal sheet" on
Lee Harvey Oswald, typed across which was the explanation that Oswald
"may have been naturalized in the Soviet Union or otherwise * * *
expatriated himself." 70 An Operations Memorandum stating the reasons
for which the card had been prepared was drawn up on March 28 and also
put on file 71 and a copy sent to the Embassy. It advised the Embassy to
take no further action on the Oswald case unless it came into possession
of evidence upon which to base the preparation of a certificate of loss
of nationality. Included in the operations memorandum was the following:
An appropriate notice has been placed in the lookout card section of the
Passport Office in the event that Mr. Oswald should apply for
documentation at a post outside the Soviet Union. 72
Despite these indications that a lookout card was prepared, the
Department of State on May 18, 1964, informed the Commission that
"investigations, to date, failed to reveal any other indication or
evidence that a lookout card was ever prepared, modified or removed." No
such card was ever located, and certain file entries indicate that such
a card was never prepared. 73
The State Department has advised the Commission that as of October 1959
the Department had "developed information which might reasonably have
caused it to prepare * * * a lookout card for Lee Harvey Oswald." 74 The
Passport Office employee who prepared the refusal sheet, for Oswald has
suggested as a possible explanation of the failure to prepare a lookout
card that between the day she prepared the refusal sheet and the time
the records section would normally have prepared the lookout card,
Oswald's file was temporarily pulled from its place because the
Department received some additional correspondence from the Embassy.
When the file was returned, she suggested, it may have been assumed that
the card had already been prepared. 75
Had a lookout card been prepared on the ground of possible expatriation,
it would have been removed and destroyed after the decision was made in
1961 that Oswald had not expatriated himself and thus prior to the time
that he applied for a second passport in June 1963. Hence, the
Department's apparent failure to prepare a lookout, card on Oswald had
no effect on its future actions. As of February 20, 1964, the Department
issued additional regulations regarding the manner in which the lookout
file is to be handled. 76 On March 14, 1964, a category was established
for returned defectors, so that these persons automatically have lookout
cards in their files, and on July 27, 1964, the Office of Security of
the Department of State issued a procedural study of the lookout-card
system, with recommendations. 77
Return and Renewal of Oswald's 1959 Passport
Page 752
RETURN AND RENEWAL OF OSWALD'S 1959 PASSPORT
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy
On February 1, 1961, as a result of a visit by Oswald's mother to the
Department of State on January 25, 1961,78 the Department sent a request
to the Moscow Embassy as follows:
The Embassy is requested to inform the [Soviet] Ministry of Foreign
Affairs that Mr. Oswald's mother is worried as to his present safety,
and is anxious to hear from him.79
The inquiry went to the Embassy by diplomatic pouch and was received in
Moscow on February 10 or 11.80 On February 13, before the Embassy had
acted on the Department's request,81 the Embassy received an undated
letter from Oswald postmarked Minsk, February 5. The letter stated:
Since I have not received a reply to my letter of December 1960, I am
writing again asking that you consider my request for the return of my
American passport.
I desire to return to the United States, that is if we could come to
some agreement concerning the dropping of any legal proceedings against
me. If so, than I would be free to ask the Russian authorities to allow
me to leave. If I could show them my American passport, I am of the
opinion they would give me an exit
They have at no time insisted that I take Russian citizenship. I am
living here with non-permanent type papers for a foreigner.
I cannot leave Minsk without permission, therefore I am writing rather
than calling in person.
I hope that in recalling the responsibility I have to america that you
remember your's in doing everything you can to help me since I am an
american citizen.82
Despite Oswald's reference to his letter of December 1960, there is no
indication that he had written to the Embassy previously.83 Furthermore,
his diary refers to his February 1 letter as his "first request"
concerning his return to the United States.84
On February 28, 1961, the Embassy wrote Oswald that he would have to
come to Moscow to discuss the passport and expatriation matters.85 Then
on March 20, 1961, a second letter from Oswald, dated March 12, was
received by the Embassy. It read:
In reply to your recent letter. I find it inconvenient to come to Moscow
for the sole purpose of an interview.
In my last letter I believe I stated that. I cannot leave the city of
Minsk without permission.
752
Page 753
I believe there exist in the United States also a law in regards to
resident foreigners from Socialist countries, traveling between cities.
I do not. think it would be appropriate for me to request to leave Minsk
in order to visit the American Embassy. In any event, the granting of
permission is a long drawn out affair, and I find that there is a
hesitation on the part of local officials to even start the process.
I have no intention of abusing my position here, and I am sure you would
not want me to.
I see no reasons for any preliminary inquires not to be put in the form
of a questionnaire and sent to me.
I understand that personal interviews undobtedly make to work of the
Embassy staff lighter, than written correspondence, however, in some
cases other means must be employed.86
After receiving the first letter postmarked February 5, the Embassy on
February 28 forwarded a despatch to the Department informing it of
Oswald's letter and its reply to Oswald. At that time, the Embassy also
inquired of the Department whether Oswald would be subject to
prosecution on any grounds if he should return to the United States and,
if so, whether Oswald should be so informed. The Department was also
asked whether there was any objection to returning Oswald's 1959
passport to him by mail, since that might facilitate his application for
a Soviet exit visa.87 Upon receiving Oswald's March 20 letter, the
Embassy again consulted with Washington. The Embassy proposed that it
write Oswald repeating that he must come to Moscow if he wanted to
discuss reentering the United States and pointing out that the Soviet
government did not object to such visits by American citizens.88 Such a
letter was mailed to Oswald on March 24.89
In the meantime, the State Department was considering the Embassy
despatch of February 28, 196170 Although a different, response was
originally recommended by a staff member in the Passport Office,91 the
Department instructed the Embassy on April 13 that for security reasons
Oswald's passport should be given to him only if he personally appeared
at the Embassy and that even then he was to receive the document only
after a full investigation had been made and the Embassy was satisfied
that he had not, renounced his American citizenship. Also, he was to
present evidence that he had made arrangements to depart from the Soviet
Union to travel to the United States, and his passport was to be stamped
valid for direct return to the United States only. The Department also
told the Embassy that Oswald could not be advised whether or not he
would be prosecuted for any possible offenses should he return to the
United States.92 Matters remained in this posture for over a month.
During the interim, Oswald met and married Marina Nikolaevna
Prusakova.93
On May 26, 1961, the Embassy sent a despatch to the Department 94
advising that on May 25, 1961, it had received a letter from Oswald
Page 754
postmarked Moscow, May 16, 1961.95 In his latest letter Oswald said he
wanted "to make it clear"" that he was asking for full guarantees that
he would not be prosecuted "under any circumstances" should he return to
the United States. Oswald went on to say that if the Embassy could not
give him these assurances, he would "endeavor to use my relatives in the
United States, to see about getting something done in Washington" He
also informed the Embassy that he was married to a Russian woman who
would want to accompany him back to his native country, and he once
again repeated his reluctance to come to Moscow. The Embassy suggested
that it reply to Oswald by repeating that the question of citizenship
could only be made on the basis of a personal interview, and by advising
Oswald of the requirements and procedures pertaining to his wife's
immigration. The despatch noted that Oswald's letter referred to his
present Soviet internal passport in which he claimed to be designated as
"without citizenship," and observed: "It would appear on this basis that
Oswald has not yet expatriated himself under Section 349(a)(1) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act." The Embassy inquired whether the
Department considered Oswald entitled "to the protection of the United
States Government while he continues to reside abroad under present
circumstances in the absence of reasonable evidence that he has
committed an expatriating act?"
The Department answered the despatch under date of July 11, 1961. It
said that it was not entirely clear what the description "without
citizenship" means, i.e., "whether he is without Soviet citizenship or
without any citizenship." The instructions continued:
In any event in the absence of evidence showing that Mr. Oswald has
definitely lost United States citizenship he apparently maintains that
technical status. Whether he is entitled to the protection of the United
States pending any further developments concerning his precise status is
a matter which will be left to the Embassy's discretion in the event an
emergency situation should arise. In a situation of this kind, not of an
emergency nature, the facts should be submitted to the Department.
It is noted that the Embassy intends to seek the Department's prior
advice before granting Mr. Oswald documentation as a United States
citizen upon any application he may submit.
The Embassy's careful attention to the involved ease of Mr. Oswald is
appreciated * * * 96
However, on Saturday, July 8, 1961, before the Embassy had received the
response from Washington, Oswald appeared without warning at the Embassy
in Moscow. Snyder came down to meet Oswald after Oswald called him on
the house telephone, and after a brief talk, asked Oswald to return on
Monday, July 10.97 Later that. day Oswald telephoned his wife and told
her to come to Moscow, which she did the next day.98 Oswald returned
alone to the American Embassy on Monday, where Snyder questioned him
about his life in Russia.
754
Page 755
According to a memorandum which Snyder prepared shortly afterwards:
Twenty months of the realities of life in the Soviet Union have clearly
had a maturing effect on Oswald. He stated frankly that he learned a
hard lesson the hard way and that he had been completely relieved about
his illusions about the Soviet Union * * * Much of the arrogance and
bravado which characterized him on his first visit to the Embassy
appears to have left him.99
Oswald told Snyder that despite the statement he had given him in
October 1959, he had never applied for Soviet citizenship, but only for
permission to reside in the Soviet Union. He presented his Soviet
internal passport, which described him as without citizenship of any
kind. Oswald said that he had been employed since January 13, 1960, as a
metal worker in the research shop in the Byelorussian Radio and
Television Factory in Minsk. He claimed that he had taken no oath of
allegiance of any kind, and that he had not been required to sign any
papers in connection with this employment. He added that he was not a
member of the factory trade union organization. Oswald said that he was
earning 90 rubles ($90) a month and that he had saved about 200 rubles
($200) toward travel expenses to the United States. He denied that he
had made any derogatory statements concerning the United States to
radio, press, or TV in the Soviet Union, and he denied that he had
turned over any information to the Russians as he had threatened to do
in the 1959 interview with Snyder.100 .
During the course of the interview Oswald filled out an application for
renewal of his American passport.101 The renewal application was
required since Oswald's existing passport. would expire on September 10,
1961,102 and it was extremely unlikely that he would be able to obtain
the requisite Soviet departure documents before that time. The renewal
application contained a printed statement which set forth, in the
disjunctive, a series of acts which, if committed by the applicant,
would either automatically disqualify him from receiving a passport on
the ground that he had lost his American citizenship, or would raise a
question whether he might be so disqualified. The printed statement was
preceded by two phrases, "have," and, "have not," the first phrase being
printed directly above the second. One carbon copy of the application
indicates Oswald signed the document after the second phrase, "have
not," had been typed over, thereby apparently admitting that he had
committed one or more of the acts which would at least raise a question
as to whether he had expatriated himself. Snyder was not able to
remember with certainty to which of the acts listed on the statement
Oswald's mark was intended to refer, but believed it may have been to
"swearing allegiance to a foreign state." 103 He points out that the
strikeout of "have not" may also have been a clerical error.104 On the
actual signed copy of the application kept in the
755
Page 756
files of the Moscow Embassy, which is not a carbon copy of the copy sent
to the Department, the strikeout is slightly above the "have;"
therefore, since the "have" is itself printed above the "have not," the
strikeout may have been intended to obliterate the "have." 105
In any event, Oswald filled out the supplementary questionnaire which
was required to be completed if the applicant admitted he had performed
one or more of the possibly expatriating acts. He signed the
questionnaire under oath.106 Snyder testified that it was routine for
any kind of "problem ease" to fill out the supplementary
questionnaire.107 The Passport Office employee who processed the Oswald
case in Washington testified that she routinely regarded the
questionnaire rather than the application itself as the controlling
document for expatriation purposes, so that she probably paid no
attention to the strikeout.108
The pertinent questions included on the questionnaire, with Oswald's
answers, read as follows:
2.(a) Are you known or considered in your community to be a national of
the
country in which you are residing? No.
(Yes or No)
(b) If your answer to 2(a) is "No," explain why not. On my document for
residence
in the USSR my nationality is American.
3.(a) Have you ever sought or obtained registration as a national of a
foreign
country, applied for or obtained a passport, certificate, card document
or other
benefit therefrom in which you were described as a national of a country
other
than the United States? No. (Yes or No)
(b) If your answer to 3(a) is "Yes," did you voluntarily seek or claim
such
benefits? (Yes or No) If "No," please explain.
I retired a document for residence in the USSR but I am described as
being
"Without citizenship."
4.(a) Have you ever informed any local or national official of a foreign
state that you
are a national of the United Stares?
No.***
(b) If your answer to 4(a) is "No," explain why not. On my document for
residence in the USSR, my nationality is American.
6.(a) Have you ever taken an oath or made an affirmation or other formal
declaration
of allegiance to a foreign state?
No.***
8. Have you ever accepted, served in, or performed the duties of any
office,
post. or employment under the government of a foreign state or political
subdivision thereof ? No. * * * I do not regard factory employment as
state
employment, as is meant in the question above.109
Page 757
On the basis of these answers, and on the basis of the statements Oswald
made orally during the interview, Snyder concluded that Oswald had not
lost his citizenship. Snyder therefore handed him back his passport.
Pursuant to the instructions from Washington, it was stamped, "This
passport is valid only for direct travel to the United States." 110
In a despatch dated July 11, 1961,111 the Embassy informed the
Department of State of its conclusion that Oswald had not lost his
American citizenship and requested that, if Washington agreed with the
conclusion, "the Embassy be authorized to renew Oswald's passport at its
discretion." The despatch, with which Oswald's application and
supplemental questionnaire 112 were enclosed, informed the Department
that Oswald was questioned at length at the Embassy and that no evidence
was revealed of any act which might. be considered as having caused the
loss of his American citizenship.
The Embassy added in the despatch--
It is our intention not to renew it [the passport] without the
Department's prior approval of the enclosed renewal application, and
then only upon evidence of a present need for the renewal in connection
with his efforts to return to the United States.113
Oswald appeared at the Embassy once again on July 11, 1961, this time
accompanied by Marina, in order to complete the papers necessary to
obtain permission for his wife to enter the United States.114 In a
letter dated July 16, 1961, Oswald informed the American Embassy about
his and Marina's application to the Soviet officials for permission to
leave Russia, and described the harassment which Marina was allegedly
undergoing because of her attempts to leave the country.115
Based upon Snyder's recommendation and the information in its files, the
Passport. Office on August. 18, 1961, concluded that Oswald had not
expatriated himself.116 Therefore, on that date, the Department of State
sent a despatch to the Embassy in Moscow stating that they concurred in
the Embassy's recommendation of July 11, 1961, with respect to Oswald's
citizenship:
We concur in the conclusion of the Embassy that there is available no
information and/or evidence to show that Mr. Oswald has expatriated
himself under the pertinent laws of the United States.
The renewal of Mr. Oswald's passport, issued on September 10, 1959, is
authorized upon his referenced application if no adverse reason is
known, to take place upon his presentation of evidence that he needs
such renewal in connection with his efforts to return to the United
States as indicated in the final sentence on page 2 of Despatch 29. As
requested in the final paragraph of the Despatch the Embassy may perform
this citizenship function for Mr. Oswald at its discretion.
Page 758
Any passport renewal granted to Mr. Oswald should be limited to his
passport needs and, as stated in the second paragraph of the
Department's A-173, April 13, 1961 his passport should be made valid for
direct return to the United States. The additional precaution set forth
in the same paragraph should be observed and his passport should be
delivered to him on a personal basis only. When available, a report of
his travel data should be submitted, as well as a report of any
intervening developments.117
On October 12, 1961, the Embassy wrote the Department to inform it of
four letters it had received from Oswald dated July 15, August 8, and
October 4, and an undated letter received in August. With reference to
these letters, the despatch noted:
* * * that Oswald is having difficulty in obtaining exit visas for
himself and his Soviet wife, and that they are subject to increasing
harassment in Minsk. In replying to Oswald's latest letter, the Embassy
pointed out that it has no way of influencing Soviet action on exit
visas. It informed him that the question of his passport renewal could
be discussed with him personally at the Embassy. In answer to Oswald's
question, the Embassy notified him that the petition to classify his
wife's status had not yet been approved.118
The Department on December 28, 1961, informed the Embassy that the
Passport Office approved the manner of the Embassy's reply to Mr. Oswald
with respect "to his receiving further passport facilities." 119 After a
further exchange of correspondence between Oswald and the Embassy,
dealing primarily with Oswald's difficulties in obtaining the necessary
Soviet clearance, his impatience in receiving American approval for
Marina's entry into the United States, and his efforts to obtain a
repatriation loan,120 the passport problem was finally concluded on May
24, 1962, when the Embassy renewed Oswald's passport for 30 days,
stamped it valid for direct return to the United States only and handed
it to him.121 A week later he used it to return to the United States.122
The decision that Oswald was entitled to a new passport because he had
not expatriated himself was made for the Embassy by the consul, Richard
E. Snyder.123 For the Department it was made initially by Miss Bernice
L. Waterman, a worker in the Passport Office for 36 years, and was then
approved by her area chief, by the head of the Foreign Operations
Division, and by the Legal Division of the Passport Office.124 Snyder
and Miss Waterman have both testified that they reached their decisions
independently and without influence from any other person.125 The
Director of the Passport Office and the Legal Adviser to the State
Department both stated that after a review of the record they concluded
that Oswald had not expatriated himself and that Snyder and Waterman,
therefore, acted correctly.126
Legal Justification for the Return and Reissue of Oswald's Passport
Page 759
Legal Justification for the Return and Reissue of Oswald's Passport
Since he was born in the United States, Oswald was an American
citizen.127 However, Congress has provided that by performing certain
acts, a person may forfeit his American citizenship. Thus Oswald would
have become expatriated while in Russia if he obtained naturalization in
the Soviet Union, renounced U.S. nationality, took an oath of allegiance
to the Soviet Union, or voluntarily worked for the Soviet Government in
a post requiring that the employee take an oath of allegiance.
Naturalization in a fore/gn state.--Section 349(a)(1) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his
nationality by "obtaining naturalization in a foreign state upon his own
application * * * ." 128 Although Oswald applied for Soviet citizenship,
he never received it.129 Thus, Oswald did not expatriate himself under
section 349 (a) ( 1 ).
Formal renunciation of U.S. nationality.--Section 349 (a) (6) of the act
provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his citizenship by:
* * * making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or
consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form
as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State.130
In accordance with this statute, the Secretary has promulgated
regulations prescribing the manner in which renunciation is to be
effected.131 The regulations provide, among other things, that 4 copies
of the renunciation form are to be executed and the original and one
copy sent to the Department. The Department must then approve the form
and advise the appropriate consular official, who may then furnish a
copy of the form to the person to whom it relates. The form itself
requires the person to subscribe it in the presence of a consular
official, and it must also be signed by this official.132
Though in 1959 Oswald clearly stated to officials at the American
Embassy, both orally and in writing, that he desired to renounce his
U.S. citizenship, he at no time took the steps required by the statute
and regulations to effect his renunciation. Oswald did not execute the
proper forms, he did not sign his letter of October 31 or November 3,
1959, in the presence of a consular official, and neither letter was
signed by such an official.133 Because section 349 (a) (6) in terms
requires compliance with the form prescribed by the Secretary of State,
Oswald did not expatriate himself under that section.
Oath of allegiance to a foreign state.--Section 349(a)(2) of the act
provides that a U.S. citizen shall lose his nationality by:
* * * taking an oath or making an affirmation or other formal
declaration of allegiance to a foreign state or a political subdivision
thereof.134
Page 760
In his letter of October 31, 1959, Oswald wrote: "I affirm that my
allegiance is to the union of Soviet Socialist Republics." 135 Both in
this letter and in his letter of November 3, 1959, he stated that his
application for citizenship in the Soviet Union was pending before the
Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.136
Oswald's letters no doubt were intended to express allegiance to the
Soviet Union in a manner inconsistent with continued allegiance to the
United States, as the statute has been held to require.137 However,
since 1940, it has been well established that in order for an oath of
allegiance to a foreign state to work an expatriation from the United
States, it must, be given to an official of the foreign state, and not
to a party unconnected with the foreign state.138 This requirement can
be viewed as a necessary corollary of the broader, but less clearly
established, principle that. the oath must be taken in accord with the
requirements of the foreign state.139 Although Lee Harvey Oswald wrote
that his allegiance was to the Soviet Union,140 there is no indication
that he had ever actually taken an oath or declaration or that any such
oath was taken before an official of the Soviet Government. He,
therefore, did not expatriate himself under section 349 (a) (2).
Employment under the government of a foreign state.--Section 349(a) (4)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 provides that a U.S.
citizen shall lose his nationality by:
(a) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of any office, post,
or employment under the government of a foreign state or a political
subdivision thereof, if he has or acquires the nationality of such
foreign state; or (b) accepting, serving in, or performing the duties of
any office, post of employment under the govern-meat of a foreign state
or a political subdivision thereof, for which office, post, or
employment an oath, affirmation, or declaration of allegiance is
required. * * * 141
While Oswald was employed in a state-owned factory in Minsk, he did not
acquire Russian nationality, and there is no indication that he had to
take any oath when he obtained this employment.142 Furthermore, prior
judicial decisions indicate that merely working in a government-owned
factory does not result in expatriation even if an oath was required to
be taken in connection with such employment.143 Several cases decided
under an earlier but similar statutory provision held that where a
person took a government job in order to subsist, such employment, was
considered involuntary since it was based on economic duress, and thus
it did not result in expatriation.144 Thus, Oswald did not expatriate
himself under section 349 (a) (4).
The Commission therefore concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald had not
expatriated himself by any acts performed between October 16, 1959, and
May 1962, and concurs in the opinion of the State Department that his
passport was properly returned to him in July 1961 and properly reissued
in May 1962.
760
Authorization for Marina Oswald to Enter the United States
Page 761
AUTHORIZATION FOR MARINA OSWALD TO ENTER THE
UNITED STATES
Negotiations Between Oswald and the Embassy
On July 11, 1961, Oswald and his wife appeared at the Embassy in Moscow
before John A. McVickar.145 Together they executed papers to set in
motion the procedures for her admittance to the United States as a
nonquota immigrant under the provisions applicable to the wife of an
American citizen.146 The interview was routine. McVickar asked Marina
whether she was a member of any Communist organization and she replied
that she was a member of the Trade Union of Medical Workers 147 but she
denied she was or ever had been a member of the Komsomol,148 the
Communist youth organization, or any other Communist organization.149
Marina Oswald has since admitted to the Commission that at one time she
was a member of The Komsomol, but was expelled, according to her
testimony, when it was learned that she intended to accompany her
husband to the United States.150 The Embassy forwarded the papers
pertaining to her application to the State Department on August 28,
1961.151
Marina Oswald's ability to obtain a nonquota immigrant visa depended on
the favorable resolution of 3 questions. First, it had to be determined
that she was the wife of an American citizen,152 which depended on
whether her husband had expatriated himself. Second, it was necessary to
determine that she was not and had not been affiliated with a Communist
organization on other than an involuntary basis.153 Third, it had to be
determined that she was not likely to become a public charge after she
was admitted to the United States.154 Section 243 (g) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act 155 presented a fourth issue. This section of the
act prohibits the issuance of immigrant visas by American Consuls
stationed in countries which have refused to accept or have unduly
delayed accepting the return of persons sought to be deported from the
United States. The Soviet Union had been designated as such a country in
1953. However, the sanctions of section 243 (g) are often waived; and
even if they were not waived in Marina's case, she could obtain her visa
at an American Embassy in some other country on her way from the Soviet.
Union to the United States, if she were otherwise entitled to the
visa.156
In a despatch dated August 28, 1961, the Embassy requested from the
Department a security advisory opinion on Marina Oswald's application to
enter the United States. The Embassy wrote:
A favorable advisory opinion and approval of * * * [Mrs. Oswald's]
petition is recommended together with a waiver of the sanctions imposed
by section 243 (g) of the Act. * * *
In connection with her employment and her professional training, she has
been a member of the Soviet Trade Union for Medical Workers since 1957.
Such membership is routinely considered to be involuntary. * * * 157
730-900 O-64--50
Page 762
The Department initiated a. check on Marina Oswald with the CIA, the
FBI, the Department's own Office of Security, and Passport Office.158
The security check turned up no derogatory information on her, so that
in early October 1961 the Department cabled Moscow that t, he available
information concerning the applicant established her eligibility to
enter the country as a nonquota immigrant..159
The Department's decision assumed that prior to obtaining her visa to
enter the United States, Marina Oswald would provide some reasonable
assurance that. she was not likely to become a public charge after she
had arrived there. The Department later encountered some difficulty in
deciding that she had met this requirement. She knew no one in the
United States other than the members of her husband's family, and they
lacked the means to furnish any substantial financial guarantees. After
considerable correspondence on the matter with Oswald 160 and with the
Department,161 the Embassy decided to accept Oswald's own affidavit to
support his wife as sufficient assurance that she would not become a.
public charge. The Embassy's reasons were set forth in a memorandum
dated March 16, 1962:
It appears that * * * [Oswald] can find no one in the United States who
is able and willing to execute an affidavit of support for his wife.
Furthermore, Oswald has been able to obtain no concrete offer of
employment in the United ,States. On the other hand, he is t-rained in a
trade which should make him readily employable and he and his family
will be able to live with his mother in Texas until he has found work
and become otherwise settled. Taking into consideration the latter
factors, Oswald's legal obligation to support his wife, and the unusual
circumstances of the case which make it difficult for Oswald to provide
the usual financial evidence, The responsible consular officer * * *
[is] willing to accept Oswald's unsubstantiated affidavit as sufficient
to overcome the public charge provisions of the law.162
The necessity of relying solely upon Oswald's own affidavit, however,
was eliminated somewhat later when The Department received an affidavit
of support from the employer of Oswald's mother in Vernon, Texas
By law the Attorney General must also pass upon an app1icant's
eligibility, and this responsibility has been delegated to The District
Directors of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.164 The
machinery to get approval of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
for Marina Oswald's admission to the United States was set. in motion on
October 6, 1961. On that date the Visa Office of the Department of State
sent a letter to the District Director of The Immigration and
Naturalization Service in Dallas, Tex., requesting the Service to take
action on her immigrant visa.165 The letter transmitted her marriage
certificate, a check for $10 from Lee Harvey Oswald, and a "Petition to
Classify Status of Alien For Issuance of Immigrant Visa." The petition
was signed by Oswald and was on
762
Page 763
behalf of Marina, asking that she be classified in "the status of the
alien beneficiary for issuance of an immigrant visa as * * * the spouse
of a United States citizen." 166 The letter from the Visa Office stated:
Mrs. Oswald has been the object of an investigation by the Department
and has been found, in the Department's opinion, not ineligible to
secure a visa.167
On the basis of this communication, the Immigration and Naturalization
Service at its Dallas, Tex., office instituted a field investigation on
Lee Harvey Oswald.168 Routine checks with the Federal security agencies
and with local law enforcement authorities turned up no new derogatory
information, and no evidence was uncovered that Oswald was ever a member
of the Communist Party or other subversive groups.169 A record check was
made in New Orleans, La., and a birth certificate was found for Lee
Harvey Oswald, proving that he was an American citizen by birth.170 On
October 17, 1961, an investigator from the Dallas office interviewed
Oswald's brother, Robert, who expressed the view that Lee was just a
"mixed up kid" who had emigrated to Russia because he had become
embittered, possibly over something that had happened while he was in
the Marine Corps.171
On January 25, 1962, the results of the field investigation in Dallas
were consolidated in a report 172 which, with a covering memorandum,173
was sent to the District Director of the Service in San Antonio the next
day. The accompanying memorandum noted that the immigrant inspector who
processed the case had endorsed it "approved," but the author of the
memorandum overruled the decision of the inspector on the grounds that
the sanctions under section 243(g) should not be waived.174 The reasons
for denying the waiver were stated as follows:
OI [Operations Instructions] 205.3, as you know, provides that the
District Director may waive sanctions in an individual meritorious case
for a beneficiary of a petition filed by a reputable relative where no
substantial derogatory security information is developed. I am of the
opinion that both of these restrictions are present in this case.175
On January 30, 1962, the District Director at San Antonio affirmed the
decision of the. Dallas office, including the decision that the
sanctions imposed under section 243(g) not be waived.176 He concluded
that Oswald's recent statements to the American Embassy in Moscow to the
effect that he had ]earned from his experiences in Russia were not
sufficient to relieve the doubts which were raised regarding his loyalty
to the United States by the arrogant, anti-American statements he made
when he entered Russia in 1959.177
San Antonio forwarded its decision to Washington in a letter dated
January 31, 1962, in which Marina Oswald's petition and all the
Page 764
aforementioned memoranda and reports were included.178 However, because
Washington had previously indicated its impatience at not yet having
received anything on the Oswald case, the San Antonio office also
telegraphed its decision to Washington about a week later,179 the
telegram presumably being received by Washington before the letter of
January 31. The Washington copy of this telegram has a handwritten note
on the lower portion which indicates that on February 12 an officer in
the Visa Office of the State Department informed the Immigration and
Naturalization Service by telephone: "Political desk of opinion, we're
better off with subject in U.S. than in Russia."
Nonetheless, the Washington office of the Service concurred in the field
decision that the provisions of section 243(g) should not be waived.181
However, the Washington office pointed out that the correct disposition
should be not to deny the visa petition as the field offices had
proposed, but to grant the petition and indorse it to read, "Waiver of
sanctions imposed under section 243 (g) of The Act is not authorized."
182
On February 28, 1962, the Dallas office of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service notified the Department of State in Washington
and the American Embassy in Moscow of this disposition. The
communication from the Dallas office noted that Oswald "has been
notified at his Minsk, Russia, address of the approval of the petition
in his wife's behalf." 183 Oswald later told the Embassy that he had
received the notice on March 15.184 On March 9, 1962, the Department of
State also notified the Embassy in Moscow that Oswald's wife was
entitled to nonquota status but that the Immigration and Naturalization
Service would not waive section 243 (g) of the Act. The Embassy was told
to inform Oswald of this fact if he asked about it. The memorandum
indicated that the Embassy might suggest that Marina could proceed to
some other country to file her visa application and thus avoid the
sanction.185
The Moscow Embassy on March 16, 1962, asked the Embassy at Brussels if
Mrs. Oswald could obtain her visa in Brussels.186 The Brussels Embassy
replied affirmatively and said a visa could be issued to Marina within 2
or 3 days of her arrival.187 The Marina Oswald file accordingly was sent
to the Embassy at Brussels.188
The plan to obtain the visa in Belgium was rendered unnecessary,
however, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service reversed its
position regarding the waiver of section 243(g). On March 16, the Soviet
desk at the Department of State took initial action to attempt to secure
such a change by sending a memorandum to the Visa Office within The
Department, urging that the Immigration and Naturalization Service be
asked to reconsider its decision.189 According to this memorandum:
SOV believes it is in the interest of the U.S. to get Lee Harvey Oswald
and his family out of the Soviet Union and on their way to this country
as soon as possible. An unstable character, whose actions are entirely
unpredictable, Oswald may well refuse to
764
Page 765
leave the USSR or subsequently attempt to return there if we should make
it impossible for him to be accompanied from Moscow by his wife and
child.
Such action on our part also would permit the Soviet Government to argue
that, although it had issued an exit visa to Mrs. Oswald to prevent the
separation of a family, the United States Government had imposed a
forced separation by refusing to issue her a visa. Obviously, this would
weaken our Embassy's position in encouraging positive Soviet action in
other cases involving Soviet citizen relatives of U.S. citizens.190
Soon thereafter, however, the Department of State notified its Moscow
Embassy that the decision was under review and instructed it to withhold
action pending the outcome of the reconsideration.191
The Visa Office first contacted the Washington office of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service informally, and was advised, cording to a
contemporaneous notation:
* * * that case had been carefully considered and decision made at
Assistant or Deputy Associate Commissioner level. Therefore, although
not wishing to comment on likelihood of reversal, [INS officer] felt
that any letter requesting a review of the case should come from the
Director or Acting Administrator.192
On March 27, 1962, such a letter was written from an acting
administrator in the Department of State to the Commissioner of
Immigration and Naturalization. The letter read in part:
I appreciate the difficulty this case presents for your Service, because
of Mr. Oswald's background, and the fact that granting a waiver of the
sanction makes it appear that this Government is assisting a person who
is not altogether entitled to such assistance. However, if the Embassy
at Moscow is unable to issue Mrs. Oswald a visa, it would appear that
she and indirectly the Oswalds' newborn child are being punished for Mr.
Oswald's earlier indiscretions. I might also point out that this
Government has advanced Mr. Oswald a loan of $500'.00 for repatriation.
More important, however, is the possibility that if Mrs. Oswald is not
issued a visa by the Embassy, the Soviet Government will be in a
position to claim that it has done all it can to prevent the separation
of the family by issuing Mrs. Oswald the required exit permission, but
that this Government has refused to issue her a visa, thus preventing
her from accompanying her husband and child. This would weaken the
Embassy's attempts to encourage positive action by the Soviet
authorities in other cases involving Soviet relatives of United States
citizens.
Because of these considerations and because I believe it is in the best
interests of the United States to have Mr. Oswald depart
Page 766
from the Soviet Union as soon as possible, I request that the section
243 (g) sanction be waived in Mrs. Oswald's case.193
The Immigration and Naturalization Service ultimately reversed its
original position and granted the waiver on May 9, 1962. The letter
reversing its initial decision states that the matter has been
"carefully reviewed in this office" and that "in view of the strong
representations" made in the letter of March 27, the sanctions imposed
pursuant to section 243 (g) were thereby waived in behalf of Mrs.
Oswald.194
Actually, the Office of Soviet Affairs had informally learned on May 8
that the May 9 letter would be signed by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.195 On the strength of the assurance that a
written reversal would be forthcoming immediately, the State Department
quickly telegraphed the Moscow Embassy reporting that the waiver had
been granted.196 Marina Oswald completed her processing when she, her
husband, and daughter came to Moscow in May 1962 on their way from Minsk
to the United States.197
Legal Justification for the Decisions Affecting Marina Oswald
Wife of a citizen of the United States.--Section 205 of the Immigration
and Nationality Act of 1952 provides for the admission into the United
States of persons married to American citizens.198 Once it was
determined that Lee Harvey Oswald was born in the United States 199 and
had not expatriated himself, his American citizenship was established.
Marina Oswald submitted a marriage certificate to show that she was his
wife.200 This requirement was, therefore, satisfied.
Assurance that Marina Oswald would not become a public charge.--Section
212(a) (15) of the act provides that aliens will not be admitted to the
United States if, in the opinion of the responsible Government official,
they "are likely at any time to become public charges." 201 The
pertinent Department of State regulations provide that a determination
to exclude an alien for this reason must be "predicated upon
circumstances which indicate that the alien will probably become a
charge upon the public after entry into the United States." 202
In 1962, Oswald was 22 years old and in good health. He had lived in the
United States for 17 years before joining the Marine Corps and was,
therefore, familiar with its language and customs. He had gained job
experience by working 2½ years in a factory which produced electronic
equipment. Under these circumstances the Department was not unreasonable
in concluding that Oswald's own affidavit that he would support his wife
was sufficient assurance that she was not likely to become a charge upon
the public after her entry into the United States. The receipt of the
affidavit from Marguerite Oswald's employer provided a possible
alternative basis for reaching this decision, but since a favorable
ruling had already been made on the basis of Oswald's affidavit, the
Embassy had no reason to consider the sufficiency of the second
affidavit.
766
Page 767
Membership in a Communist organization.--Under section 212(a) (28) of
the Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien will not be admitted to
the United States if he is or was a member of, or affiliated with, a
Communist organization unless:
* * * such an alien establishes to the satisfaction of the consular
officer when applying for a visa and the consular officer finds that (i)
such membership or application is or was involuntary, or is or was
solely when under sixteen years of age, by operation of law, or for
purposes of obtaining employment, food rations, or other essentials of
living and where necessary for such pur-
poses * * *" 203
At the time Marina Oswald applied for a visa she was a member of the
Soviet Trade Union for Medical Workers.204 According to the Department
of State, the
* * * long-standing interpretation [of the statute] concurred in by the
State and Justice Departments [is] that membership in a professional
organization or trade union behind the Iron Curtain is considered
involuntary unless the membership is accompanied by some indication of
voluntariness, such as active participation in the organization's
activities or holding an office in the organization.205
Since there was no evidence that Marina Oswald actively participated in
the union's activities or held an office in the organization, her union
membership was properly held not to bar her admission to this country.
Although Marina Oswald declared that she was not a member of the
Komsomol or any other Communist organization, she was in fact a member
of the Komsomol, the Communist youth organization.206 If this fact had
been known to the State Department, Marina Oswald would not necessarily
have been denied a visa, although a careful investigation into the
nature of the membership would have been required.207 However, had her
membership in the Komsomol become known to the Department after her
denial of such membership, it is possible that she would have been
excluded from the United States on the ground of having willfully
misrepresented a material fact.208
Judicial decisions are not in agreement as to what constitutes a
"material fact" such that its intentional misrepresentation warrants
exclusion of the alien.209 Some cases indicate that a misrepresentation
in an application for a visa involves a material fact even if the alien
would not definitely have been excluded on the true facts; 210 others
hold that a misstatement is material only if it referred to such facts
as would have justified refusing the visa had they been disclosed.211
The Visa Office of the Department of State has announced that it applies
a "rule of probability" under which a misstatement will be deemed ma-
767
Page 768
terial only if it concealed facts which probably would have resulted in
a denial of a visa.212
Waiver of the provisions of section 243 (g).--Section 243 (g) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, by its terms, prevented
issuance of a visa to Marina Oswald by the Moscow Embassy. The section
provides that upon notification of the Secretary of State by the
Attorney General that a country has refused or unduly delayed the
acceptance of a deportable alien from the United States who is a subject
or was a resident of that country, consular officers in such country are
not to issue visas to citizens of the country. The section had been
invoked against Russia on May 26, 1953. Nonetheless, although section
243 (g) does not contain an express provision for waiver, the Justice
Department has concluded that the Attorney General possesses such waiver
powers.213 Pursuant to this decision, the Department has granted waivers
in over 600 eases from the Soviet Union since 1953.214 The waiver
procedures followed in 1962 were prescribed by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. The relevant provision reads:
Before adjudicating a petition for an eligible beneficiary residing in
the USSR, Czechoslovakia or Hungary, against which sanctions have been
imposed, the district director shall obtain a report of investigation
regarding the petitioner which shall include an affiliation of a
subversive nature disclosed by a neighborhood investigation, local
agency records and responses to Form G-135a. * * * If no substantial
derogatory security information is developed, the district director may
waive the sanctions in an individual meritorious case for a beneficiary
of a petition filed by a reputable relative to accord status under
Section 101 (a)(27) (A) or Section 203(a) (2), (3) or (4). * * * If
substantial adverse security information relating to the petitioner is
developed, the visa petition shall be processed on its merits and
certified to the regional commissioner for determination whether the
sanctions should be waived. The assistant commissioner shall endorse the
petition to show whether the Waiver is granted or denied, and forward it
and notify the appropriate field office of the action taken. * * * 215
State Department regulations are much less explicit.216 The State
Department's visa instructions for the guidance of consular officers
provide, "The sanctions will be waived only in individual meritorious
cases in behalf of a beneficiary of a petition filed by a reputable
relative pursuant to [sections] of the act." 217
Because Lee Harvey Oswald signed the petition on Marina's behalf, his
character was relevant to whether the sanctions of section 243 (g) could
be waived for her. The file on Lee Harvey Oswald which was maintained by
the Department of State and made available to the Department of Justice
for purposes of passing on his wife's application contained the facts
relating to Oswald's attempted expatriation. However, despite the
derogatory material in the Oswald file, the Im-
Page 769
migration and Naturalization Service regulations did not require
automatic denial of the waiver; they provided only that if adverse
security information were developed, "the visa petition shall be
processed on its merits and certified to the regional commissioner for
determination whether the sanctions should be waived." This procedure
was followed in Marina's case and the factors considered in reaching the
decision do not appear to be inappropriate. The State Department
successfully urged that the original decision of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service be reversed because this would be in the best
interests of future United States dealings with the Soviet Union on
behalf of American citizens, and because it seemed unfair to punish Lee
Harvey Oswald's wife and baby for his own earlier errors.218 Prevention
of the separation of families is among the most common reasons
underlying the frequent waivers of section 243 (g).219
Oswald's Letter to Senator Tower
Page 769
OSWALD'S LETTER TO SENATOR TOWER
Sometime shortly before January 26, 1962, an undated letter from Lee
Harvey Oswald was received in the office of the U.S. Senator from Texas,
John G. Tower.220 The letter reads as follows:
My name is Lee Harvey Oswald, 22, of Fort Worth up till October 1959,
when I came to the Soviet. Union for a residenaul stay. I took a
residenual document for a non-Soviet person living for a time in the U S
S R. The American Embassy in Moscow is familier with my case
Since July 20th 1960, I have unsucessfully applied for a Soviet Exit
Visa to leave this country, the Soviets refuse to permit me and my
Soviet wife, (who applied at the U.S. Embassy Moscow, July 8, 1960 for
immigration status to the U.S.A.) to leave the Soviet Union. I am a
citizen of the United States of America (passport No. 1733242, 1959) and
I bessech you, Senator Tower, to rise the question of holding by the
Soviet Union of a citizen of the U.S., against his will and expressed
desires.221
The letter was read in Senator Tower's office by a caseworker on his
staff. According to the caseworker and the Senator's press secretary,
the letter was forwarded as a matter of routine on January 26 to the
Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of State.
The letter was forwarded with a cover letter, machine signed by the
Senator, stating that he did "not know Oswald, or any of the facts
concerning his reasons for visiting the Soviet Union; nor what action,
if any, this Government can or should take on his behalf." The cover
letter pointed out that Oswald's inquiry should have gone to the
executive branch of the Government and that for this reason the Senator
was forwarding it "for whatever action the Department may consider
appropriate." 222 On February 1 an officer at the Department of State
telephoned the Senator's office and spoke briefly
769
Page 770
with the caseworker on the Oswald case. She made a memorandum of the
call which notes, "Senator should not become involved in such
case--therefore State will report to us the course which they follow
regarding Lee Harvey Oswalt [sic]." 223 About a week later the
Department of State forwarded to Senator Tower copies of some of the
correspondence which the Department had had with Oswald and informed the
Senator that if he wished to be kept informed on further developments
regarding Oswald he could contact the Department of State.224 Neither
the Senator nor any member of his staff contacted the Department again
nor did they take any other action in respect to the matter.225
The Loan From the State Department
Page 770
THE LOAN FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT
In a letter dated January 5, 1962, Oswald said that he would like to
make arrangements for a loan from the Embassy or some private
organization for part of the airplane fares.226 The Embassy on February
6, 1962, replied that he would have to supply certain personal find
financial data.227 The letter also said that after repatriation he would
not be furnished a passport for travel abroad until he had repaid the
money.
Between February 6, 1962, and May 1, 1962, Oswald attempted to secure a
loan from the Red Cross 228 and the International Rescue Committee 229
in the United States. The State Department on February I wrote Oswald's
mother a letter asking whether she could advance the money.230 Oswald
later wrote both his mother and the Department advising each that his
mother should not be bothered in reference to the loan.231 Ultimately,
after an exchange of communications between the Embassy and
Washington,232 the Department ap-proved a loan to Oswald for passage to
New York only, directing the Embassy to "Keep cost minimum." 233 On June
1 Oswald signed a promissory note for $435.71.234
Statutory authority for making such a loan was conferred by title 5,
section 170 (a), of the U.S. Code, which authorizes the Secretary of
State to "make expenditures, from such amounts as may be specifically
appropriated therefor, for unforeseen emergencies arising in the
diplomatic and consular service." Since 1947, the Department of State's
annual appropriation act has included a sum for expenses necessary "to
enable the Secretary of State to meet unforeseen emergencies arising in
the Diplomatic and Consular Service. * * *" 235 In recent years, the
accompanying reports submitted by the Appropriations Committee of the
House of Representatives have stated, "These funds are used for relief
and repatriation loans to the U.S. citizens abroad and for other
emergencies of the Department." 236 Out of the amount appropriated to
meet unforeseen emergencies arising in the Diplomatic and Consular
Service, the Secretary of State has annually allotted approximately
$100,000 to meet the expenses of indigent U.S. nationals, including
those in the Soviet Union, who request
770
Page 771
repatriation loans. From 1959 to 1963, 2,343 such loans were granted.237
Section 423.2-1 of the Department's regulations provides that
repatriation loans may be granted only to destitute U.S. nationals:
a. Who are in complete and unquestioned possession of their citizenship
rights;
b. Who are entitled to receive United States passports; c. Whose loyalty
to the United States Government is beyond question, or to whom the
provisions of Section 423.1-2(b) apply.238
Oswald undoubtedly satisfied the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b),
since he was determined to have been a U.S. citizen at the time the loan
was granted and he had been issued a passport to return to the United
States. There is a serious question whether he could have qualified
under the first clause of paragraph (c) . The Commission is of the
opinion that in its application of this clause the Department should
exercise great care in determining whether an applicant's loyalty to the
U.S. Government is beyond question, particularly in the ease of a
defector like Oswald who has expressed hostility and disloyalty to our
government and manifested a desire to renounce his citizenship. The
Department chose instead to exercise its judgment under the second
clause of paragraph (e) , which refers to section 423.1-2(b). This
section provides that loans to destitute nationals are authorized when:
b. The United States national is in or the cause of a situation which is
damaging to the prestige of the United States Government or which
constitutes a compelling reason for extending assistance to effect his
return.239
The Department decided that the provisions of section (b) were
applicable to Oswald because his "unstable character and prior criticism
of the United States" would make his continued presence in the Soviet
Union damaging to the prestige of the United States.240 In acting under
this section, the Department was acting within its competence and the
law. As required by another section of the regulations, the Department
sought to obtain funds for the Oswalds' repatriation from private
sources--his mother and the International Rescue Committee---before
using Government funds.241
Regulations further provide that repatriation loans are authorized for
the alien, wife, and children of the U.S. national receiving a
repatriation loan in order to avoid the division of families.242
However, loans are limited
To the minimum amount required to cover transportation and subsistence
while enroute to the nearest continental United States port. * * * When
necessary, loans may include: expenses inci-
771
Page 772
dent to embarkation, such as fees for documentation and minimum
subsistence from the date of application for a loan to the date of
departure by the first available ship. * * * The cost. of transportation
shall be limited to third-class passage by ship.243
Oswald's loan was sufficient to cover no more than the least expensive
transportation from Moscow to New York. His passport was stamped as
valid only for return to the United States.244 Oswald completed all
necessary forms and affidavits to obtain the loan.245
According to its own procedures the Department of State should have
prepared a lookout card for Oswald in June 1962 when he received the
proceeds of the loan.246 The promissory note which he signed contained a
provision stating,
I further understand and agree that after my repatriation I will not be
furnished a passport for travel abroad until my obligation to reimburse
the Treasurer of the United States is liquidated.247
However, a lookout card was never in fact prepared. With respect to this
failure the State Department has informed the Commission as follows:
On receipt of notice of the loan from the Embassy in Moscow, the
Department's procedures provided that Miss Leola B. Burkhead of the
Revenues and Receipts Branch of the Office of Finance should have
notified the Clearance Section in the Passport Office of Oswald's name,
date, and place of birth. If the Passport Office received only the name
and not the date and place of birth of a borrower, it would not have
prepared a lookout card under its established procedures because of lack
of positive identification. (Among the Passport Office's file of
millions of passport applicants, there are, of course, many thousands of
identical names.) Mr. Richmond C. Reeley was the Chief of the Revenues
and Receipts Branch of the Office of Finance and Mr. Alexander W.
Maxwell was Chief of the Clearance Section. If the notice was received
in the Clearance Section it would have been delivered to the Carding
Desk for preparation of a lookout card on Oswald. It appears, however,
that such a lookout card was not prepared. It may have been that the
Finance Office did not notify the Clearance Section of Oswald's loan.
One reason for this might have been the Finance Office's lack of
information concerning Oswald's date and place of birth. On the other
hand, the Finance Office may have notified the Clearance Section of
Oswald's name only, in which case this Section would not have prepared a
lookout card under its procedures. Since Oswald began repaying the loan
installments immediately after his return to the United States, it is
also possible that the Office of Finance decided that it was
772
Page 773
unnecessary to pursue the matter further: In any event, Oswald's loan
was repaid in full on January 29, 1963, five months prior to his
application for a new passport.248
Oswald's Return to the United States and Repayment of His Loan
Page 773
OSWALD'S RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES AND
REPAYMENT OF HIS LOAN
On June 1, 1962, the same day that Oswald received his loan from the
State Department, he and his family left Moscow by train destined for
Rotterdam, The Netherlands.249 They boarded the SS Maasdam at Rotterdam
on June 4 and arrived in New York on June 13, 1962.250 The Embassy sent
word of the Oswalds' departure to the Department of State in Washington
on May 31.251 Consistent with its prior practice of keeping the Federal
security agencies informed of Oswald's activity,252 the Department
notified the FBI.253
Frederick J. Wiedersheim, an officer of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service in New York, interviewed the Oswalds upon their
entry into the United States at Hoboken, N.J., on June 13, 1962, but
made no written report. Mr. Wiedersheim recalled that he asked the
Oswalds various questions which would determine the eligibility of both
Oswald and Marina to enter the United States. The questions included
whether Oswald had expatriated himself and whether Marina belonged to
any Communist organization which would bar her entry. These questions
were answered in ways which did not appear to raise any problems and
therefore the Oswalds were admitted.254
After his reentry, Oswald repaid his loan without having to be reminded
by the Department to do so. The early payments were very small because
he first repaid the approximately $200 he had borrowed from his brother
Robert to apply against the expenses of his travel from New York to Fort
Worth, Tex.255 The schedule of payments is as follows:
Aug. 13, 1962 $10.00
Sept. 5, 1962 9. 71
Oct. 10, 1962 10. 00
Nov. 19, 1962 10. 00
Dec. 11, 1962 190. 00
Jan. 9, 1963 100.00
Jan. 29, 1963 106. 00
Total 256435.71
Issuance of a Passport in June 1963
Page 773
ISSUANCE OF A PASSPORT IN JUNE 1963
On June 24, 1963, Oswald applied for a U.S. passport at the Passport
Office in New Orleans, La.257 He said he was planning to visit England,
France, Holland, U.S.S.R., Finland, Italy, and Poland, and that he
intended to leave the country sometime during November or December 1963
by ship from New Orleans.258 He stated further that
Page 774
he was married to a person born in Russia who was not an American
citizen. For occupation, The word "Photographer" was inserted on the
application.259
On The same day a teletype was sent to Washington containing the names
of 25 of the persons who applied for passports on that date in New
Orleans, Oswald's name among them. On the right side of the Washington
Passport Office copy of The teletype message, approximately parallel to
his name, are the letters, "NO," written in red pencil.260 Oswald was
issued a passport on June 25, 1963.261
Since there was no lookout card on Oswald, the passport was processed
routinely. Twenty-four hours is the usual time for routinely granted
passports to be issued.262 The handwritten notation, "NO," which
appeared beside Oswald's name on The list of applicants from New
Orleans, is a symbol for the New Orleans Passport Office that is
routinely placed on incoming teletype messages by anyone of a group of
persons in the teletype section of The Passport Office.263 No one looked
at Oswald's file previously established with The Department.264 The
Department, however, has informed the Commission that at the time the
passport was issued there was no information in its passport or security
files which would have permitted it to deny a passport to Oswald.265 No
lookout. card should have been in the file based upon the Moscow
Embassy's memorandum of March 28, 1960, which drew attention to Oswald's
intention to expatriate himself, because the subsequent determination
that Oswald had not expatriated himself would remove expatriation as a.
possible ground for denying him a passport.266 And by January 29, 1963,
the repatriation loan had been repaid, so a lookout card should not have
been in the file on that basis.267
Oswald was entitled to receive a passport in 1963 unless he came within
one of the two statutory provisions authorizing the Secretary of State
to refuse to issue it.268 Section 6 of the Subversive Activities Control
Act of 1950, which has recently been declared unconstitutional,269 then
provided:
* * * it shall be unlawful for any member of [an organization required
to register], with knowledge or notice that such organization is so
registered and that such order has become final--(1) to make application
for passport, or the renewal of a passport, to be issued or renewed by
or under the authority of the United States; or (2) to use or attempt to
use any such passport. 270
Pursuant to section 6, the State Department promulgated a regulation
which denied passports to
* * * any individual who the issuing officer knows or has reason to
believe is a member of a Communist Organization registered or required
to be registered under Section 7 of the Subversive Activities Control
Act of 1950 as amended.271
774
Page 775
Since there is no evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of the
American Communist Party or any other organization which had been
required to register under section 7 of the Subversive Activities
Control Act,272 a passport could not have been denied him under section
6.
Section 215 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that, while
a Presidential proclamation of national emergency is in force,
* * * it shall, except as otherwise provided by the President, ** * be
unlawful for any citizen of the United States to depart from or enter *
* * the United States unless he bears a valid passport.273
Because a proclamation of national emergency issued by President Truman
during the Korean war had not been revoked by 1963, the Government has
taken the position that the statute remains in force.274 Pursuant to
section 215, the State Department has issued regulations setting forth
the circumstances under which it will refuse a passport:
In order to promote and safeguard the interests of the United States,
passport facilities, except for direct and immediate return to the
United States, shall be refused to a person when it appears to the
satisfaction of the Secretary of State that the person's activity abroad
would: (a) violate the laws of the United States; (b) be prejudicial to
the orderly conduct of foreign relations; or (c) otherwise be
prejudicial to the interests of the United States.275
The State Department takes the position that its authority under this
regulation is severely limited. In a report submitted to the Commission,
the Department concluded that "there were no grounds consonant with the
passport regulations to take adverse passport action against Oswald
prior to November 22, 1963." 276 Although Oswald's statement in 1959
that he would furnish the Russians with information he had obtained in
the Marine Corps may have indicated that he would disclose classified
information if he possessed any such in formation, there was no
indication in 1963 that he had any valuable information.277 Moreover,
Oswald's 1959 statement had been brought to The attention of the
Department of The Navy 278 and The FBI 279 and neither organization had
initiated criminal proceedings. The Department therefore had no basis
for concluding that Oswald's 1959 statement was anything more than rash
talk.280 And the State Department's files contained no other information
which might reasonably have led it to expect that Oswald would violate
the laws of the United States when he went abroad.
The most likely ground for denying Oswald a passport in 1963, however,
was provided by subsection (c) of the regulation quoted above, which
requires the denial of a passport when the Secretary of
Page 776
State is satisfied that the applicant's "activity abroad would * * *
otherwise be prejudicial to the interests of the United States." In 1957
the State Department described to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
one category of persons to whom it denied passports under this
provision:
Persons whose previous conduct abroad has been such as to bring
discredit on the United States and cause difficulty for other Americans
(gave bad checks, left unpaid debts, had difficulties with police,
etc.)281
In light of the adverse publicity caused the United States by Oswald's
prior defection to the Soviet Union, he could have been considered a
person "whose previous conduct abroad had been such as to bring
discredit on the United States." Indeed, the State Department itself had
previously been of the opinion that Oswald's continued presence in
Russia was damaging to the prestige of the United States because of his
unstable character and prior criticisms of the United States.282
However, in 1958 the Supreme Court had decided two cases which
restricted the Secretary of State's authority to deny passports. In Kent
v. Dulles 283 and Dayton v. Dulles,284 the Supreme Court invalidated a
State Department regulation permitting the denial of passports to
Communists and to those "who are going abroad to engage in activities
which will advance the Communist movement for the purpose, knowingly and
willfully of advancing that movement," on the ground that the regulation
exceeded the authority Congress had granted the Secretary. The Kent
opinion stressed the importance to be attached to an individual's
ability to travel beyond the borders of the United States:
The right to travel is a part of the "liberty" of which the citizen
cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment
* * * Freedom of movement across frontiers in either direction, and
inside frontiers as well, was a part of our heritage. Travel abroad,
like travel within the country, may be necessary for a livelihood. It
may be as close to the heart of the individual as the choice of what he
eats, or wears, or reads. Freedom of movement is basic in our scheme of
values.285
The Kent opinion also suggested that grounds relating to citizenship and
allegiance to illegal conduct might be the only two upon which the
Department could validly deny a passport application.
The Department, though publicly declaring that these decisions had
little effect upon its broadly worded regulation,286 in practice denied
passports only in limited situations. In 1963 the Department denied
passports only to those who violated the Department's travel
restrictions, to fugitives from justice, to those involved in using
passports fraudulently, and to those engaged in illegal activity abroad
or in conduct directly affecting our relations with a particular coun-
776
Page 777
try.287 Passports were granted to people who the Department might have
anticipated would go abroad to denounce the United States, and to a
prior defector.288 State Department officials believed that in view of
the Supreme Court decisions, the Department was not empowered to deny
anyone a passport on grounds related to freedom of speech or to
political association and beliefs.289
Since Oswald's citizenship was not in question and since there was no
indication that he would be involved in illegal activity abroad, the
only grounds upon which a passport might have been denied Oswald would
have fallen within the area of speech or political belief and
association. The Commission therefore concludes that the Department was
justified in granting a passport to Oswald on June 25, 1963.
Visit to the Russian Embassy in Mexico City
Page 777
VISIT TO THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN MEXICO CITY
In October 1963, the Passport Office of the State Department received a
report from the Central Intelligence Agency that Oswald had visited the
Soviet Embassy in Mexico City.290 The report said nothing about Oswald's
having visited the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, a fact which was not
known until after the assassination. Upon receipt of The information the
passport file on lee Harvey Oswald was reviewed by the Passport
Office.291 The CIA communication and the passport file were read by an
attorney and a supervisory attorney in that office who found no basis
for revoking Oswald's passport or for notifying the FBI or CIA that
Oswald had been issued a new passport in June 1963.292 The Department
has informed the Commission that, "since the report indicated no grounds
for determining Oswald was ineligible for a passport, a determination
was made that no action by the passport office was required." 293 Travel
to Russia was not proscribed in 1963. Moreover, the Soviet Union was one
of the countries Oswald had listed on his passport application. Hence,
the Commission agrees that Oswald's taking steps to enter the Soviet
Union in 1963 was not a sufficient reason to revoke Iris passport.
Later, on November 14, 1963, the FBI sent the Department a report on
Oswald's arrest in New Orleans, La. during August in connection with a
fistfight in which he became engaged when passing out pamphlets entitled
"Hands Off Cuba." No action was taken on the basis of the Bureau's
report.294 The Commission agrees that this incident was not grounds for
revoking Oswald's passport.
Conclusion
Page 777
CONCLUSION
Investigation of Oswald's complete dealings with the Department of State
and the Immigration and Naturalization Service reveals no irregularity
suggesting any illegal actions or impropriety on The part of government
officials. The Commission believes, however, that in ap-
777
Page 778
plying its own regulations the Department should in all cases exercise
great care in the return to this country of defectors such as Oswald who
have evidenced disloyalty or hostility to this country or who have
expressed a desire to renounce their U.S. citizenship and that, when
such persons are returned, procedures should be adopted for the better
dissemination of information concerning them to the intelligence
agencies of the Government. The operation of the "lookout card" system
in the Department of State was obviously deficient, but since these
deficiencies did not affect Oswald or reflect any favoritism or
impropriety, the Commission considers them beyond the scope of its
inquiry.
Especially while he was in the Soviet Union, Oswald's manner to
Government personnel was frequently insulting and offensive. As one 1962
communication between the Embassy and the Department of State observed,
"It is not that our hearts are breaking for Oswald. His impertinence
knows no bounds." 295 Nonetheless, the officials of the U.S. Government
respected Oswald as a troubled American citizen and extended to him the
services and assistance for which the agencies of government have been
created. Though Oswald was known to be "an unstable character, whose
actions are highly unpredictable," 296 there was no reasonable basis in
1961 and 1962 for suspecting that upon his readmittance to the country
he would resort to violence against its public officials. The officers
of the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, acting within the proper limits of their discretion, concluded
that Oswald's return to the United States was in the best interests of
the country; it is only from the vantage of the present that the tragic
irony of their conclusion emerges.
778
Appendix XVI
Page 779
APPENDIX XVI
A Biography of Jack Ruby
In this appendix the Commission presents a biography of Jack Ruby.
Although criminal proceedings involving its subject are pending in the
State of Texas, the Commission has decided to include this rather
detailed account of Ruby's life and activities for several reasons. Most
importantly, the Commission believes it will permit a better evaluation
of the evidence on the question whether Ruby was involved in any
conspiracy. Furthermore, the Commission believes that in view of the
many rumors concerning Ruby the public interest will be served by an
account, which attempts to give sufficient material to provide an
impression of his character and background. The Commission's desire not
to interfere in the pending proceedings involving Ruby necessarily
limits the scope of this appendix, which does not purport to discuss the
legal issues raised during Ruby's trial or his possible motive for
shooting Oswald.
Family Background
Page 779
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Jack Ruby, born Jacob Rubenstein, was the fifth of his parents' eight
living children. There is much confusion about his exact birth date.
School records report it as June 23, April 25,1 March 13, and, possibly,
March 3, 1911.2 Other early official records list his date of birth as
April 21 and April 26, 1911.3 During his adult life the date Ruby used
most frequently was March 25, 1911.4 His driver's license, seized
following his arrest, and his statements to the FBI on November 24,
1963, listed this date.5 However, the police arrest report for November
24 gave his birth date as March 19, 1911.6 Since the recording of births
was not required in Chicago prior to 1915, Ruby's birth may never have
been officially recorded.7 No substantial conflict exists, however,
about whether Jack Ruby was born in 1911.8
Ruby has one older brother and three older sisters. The oldest children,
Hyman and Ann, were born shortly after the turn of the century,9 before
their parents arrived in the United States.10 The other children were
born in Chicago. Ruby's sister Marion was born in June 1906 11 and his
sister Eva in March 1909.12 Ruby also has two younger brothers and a
younger sister. Sam was born in December 1912,13 Earl in April 1915.14
The youngest child, Eileen, was born in July 1917.15 At least one and
possibly two other children died during infancy.16
Jack Ruby's father, Joseph Rubenstein, was born in 1871 in Sokolov, a
small town near Warsaw, Poland, then under the rule of Czarist Russia.17
He entered the Russian artillery in 1893.18 There he learned
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Page 780
the carpentry trade, which had been practiced by his father and at least
one brother 19 and he picked up the habit of excessive drinking that was
to plague him for the rest of his life.20 While in the army,21 he
married Jack's mother, Fannie Turek Rutkowski; 22 the marriage was
arranged, as was customary, by a professional matchmaker.23 According to
his oldest son, Joseph Rubenstein served in China, Korea, and Siberia,
detesting these places and army life. Eventually, in 1898, he simply
"walked away" from it and about 4 years later he went to England and
Canada, entering the United States in 1903.24
Settling in Chicago Joseph Rubenstein joined the carpenters union in
1904 and remained a member until his death in 1958.25 Although he worked
fairly steadily until 1928, be was unemployed during the last 30 years
of his life.26 The only other group which Joseph Rubenstein joined
consisted of fellow immigrants from Sokolov. His daughter Eva described
this group as purely social and completely nonpolitical.27
Jack Ruby's mother, Fannie Rubenstein, was probably born in 1875 near
Warsaw, Poland.28 She followed her husband to the United States in 1904
or 1905, accompanied by her children Hyman and Ann.29 An illiterate
woman, she went to night school in about 1920 to learn how to sign her
name.30 She apparently failed in this endeavor, however, for an alien
registration form, filed after about 35 years in the United States, was
signed by an "X".31 Although she apparently learned some English, her
speech was predominantly Yiddish, the primary language of the Rubenstein
household.32 Still, Mrs. Rubenstein felt strongly that her children
required an education in order to better themselves. She frequently
argued about this with her husband, who had received little, if any,
formal education and firmly believed that grammar school training was
sufficient for his children.33
Childhood and Youth (1911-33)
Page 780
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH (1911-33)
In 1911, when Jack Ruby was born, his family resided near 14th and
Newberry Streets in Chicago, the first in a series of Jewish
neighborhoods in which the Rubensteins lived during his childhood.34 In
1916, the Rubensteins lived at 1232 Morgan Street, where they apparently
remained until 1921.35 This was the fourth residence in the first 5
years of Jack Ruby's life.36 Earl Ruby described one typical
neighborhood in which the family lived as a "ghetto" with "pushcarts on
the sirens." 37 His sister Eva characterized it as "below the middle
class but yet it wasn't the poorest class." 38 The family generally
lived near Italian sections, where there were frequent fights along
ethnic lines.39
The Rubenstein home was marked by constant, strife and the parents were
reported to have occasionally struck each other.40 Between 1915 and
1921, Joseph Rubenstein was frequently arrested because of disorderly
conduct and assault and battery charges, some filed by his wife.41 In
the spring of 1921, Jack Ruby's parents sep-
780
Page 781
arated.42 In 1937 Mrs. Rubenstein reported that she had desired a
divorce 15 years earlier, but her husband had been opposed to it.43 The
predominant causes of the separation were apparently Joseph Rubenstein's
excessive drinking and Fannie Rubenstein's uncontrollable temper. She
resented her numerous pregnancies, believed her husband to be
unfaithful, and nagged him because he failed to make enough money.44
Psychiatric Report
Young Jack soon showed the effects of parental discord. On June 6, 1922,
at the age of 11, he was referred to the Institute for Juvenile Research
by the Jewish Social Service Bureau. The reason for the referral was
"truancy and incorrigible at home." 45 On July 10, 1922, the institute
recommended to the bureau that Jack be placed in a new environment where
his characteristics might be understood .and where he might be afforded
the supervision and recreation that would end his interest in street
gangs.46 In March 1923, the institute advised the bureau that "placement
in a home, where intelligent supervision and discipline can be given"
was appropriate.47
The institute's psychiatric examination, which served as a basis for
these recommendations, took place in 1922, prior to the advent of many
techniques and theories of modern psychiatry,48 but it is the most
objective evidence of Jack Ruby's childhood character. According to the
psychiatric report, Jack was "quick tempered" and
"disobedient." 49 He frequently disagreed openly with his mother,
whom he considered an inferior person with whose rules he did not have
to comply.50 Jack told the institute's interviewer that he ran away from
home because his mother lied to him and beat him.51 Although Mrs.
Rubenstein was severe with her children, she was described as totally
incapable of coping with them "because of their delinquencies, i.e.,
principally their destructive tendencies and disregard for other
people's property." 52 His mother's "extreme temperament" and
quarrelsomeness were cited as possible causes of Jack's "bad behavior."
53
Self-administered questionnaires revealed that Jack felt his classmates
were "picking" on him and that he could not get along with his
friends.54 They also indicated that, although Jack described himself as
a good ballplayer, he did not belong to any clubs and was not a member
of any athletic teams.55 Jack's psychiatric interviewer reported:
He could give no other good reason for running away from school except
that he went to amusement parks. He has some sex knowledge and is
greatly interested in sex matters. He stated that the boys in the street
tell him about these things. he also claims that he can lick everyone
and anybody in anything he wants to do.56
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Page 782
The interviewer noted that during "mental tests" he reacted quickly,
often carelessly, and his attention was apt to wander so that he had to
be reprimanded.57
A letter recommending the boy's placement in a more wholesome
environment stated:
He is egocentric and expects much attention, but is unable to get it as
there are many children at home. His behavior is further colored by his
early sex experiences, his great interest [in sex] and the gang
situation in the street. From a superficial examination of his mother
who was here with him, it is apparent that she has no insight into his
problem, and she is thoroughly inadequate in the further training of
this boy.58
Recognizing that the sketchiness of the case record precluded complete
diagnosis, Dr. Raymond E. Robertson, currently the superintendent of the
institute, reported nonetheless that it seems "firmly established * * *
[that] his unstable and disorganized home could not provide Jack with
the necessary controls and discipline." 59
Placement in Foster Homes
On July 10, 1923, a dependency hearing involving Jack, his younger
brothers Sam and Earl, and his sister Eileen, was held in Chicago's
juvenile court.60 The petition alleged that the children were not
receiving proper parental care. They had, until then, been in their
mother's custody, living on Roosevelt Road, the border between Jewish
and Italian districts.61 The juvenile court made a finding of
dependency. It appointed the Jewish Home Finding Society guardian with
the right to place the children in foster homes, and it ordered Joseph
Rubenstein to pay the court clerk $4 per week for the support of each
child. On November 24, 1924, this order was vacated, which apparently
signified the termination of the guardianship and the return of the
children to their mother. On April 8, 1925, the case was continued
"generally," meaning that it was inactive but could be reactivated if
the court so desired.62
Despite court records, the exact circumstances and length of time that,
Jack Ruby lived away from home are not entirely clear. Records indicate
that Jack, Sam, Earl, and Eileen Rubenstein were wards of the Jewish
Home Finding Society "for a short time in 1922-23." 63 However, Jack and
Eileen stated they spent. about 4 or 5 years in foster homes.64 Earl
testified that he and Sam were originally sent to a private foster home
and then lived on a farm for a little more than a year, while Jack was
on a different. farm "some distance away." Subsequently the three
brothers lived together in another foster home.65
782
Page 783
Subsequent Home Life
When Jack Ruby returned to his family, the unit was still disordered.
His father remained apart from the children at least until 1936 and
perhaps until a few years later.66 Mrs. Rubenstein's inability to manage
her home, which had been reported by the Institute for Juvenile Research
in 1922, apparently continued. For example, in 1937 Marion Rubenstein
observed that her mother "has never been any kind of a housekeeper, was
careless with money, and never took much interest in the children's
welfare * * * she was selfish, jealous, disagreeable, and never cared to
do anything in the home but lie around and sleep." 67 Dr. Hyman I.
Rubenstein, the son of Joseph Rubenstein's brother, recalled that Jack
Ruby's mother ran "an irregular household" and appeared to be "a rather
disturbed person of poor personal appearance with no incentive for
cleaning or cooking." 68
Mrs. Rubenstein's domestic shortcomings were accompanied by symptoms of
mental disease. In about 1913, 2 years after Jack was born, Mrs.
Rubenstein began to develop a delusion that a sticking sensation in her
throat was caused by a lodged fishbone.69 Each month Hyman, her oldest.
child, took her to a clinic. And each month the examining doctor,
finding no organic cause for discomfort, informed her that there was
nothing in her throat and that the sensation was but a figment of her
imagination. According to Hyman, this practice continued for a number of
years until Mrs. Rubenstein tired of it.70
In 1927, Mrs. Rubenstein once again began to visit clinics in connection
with her fishbone delusion. Three years later, a thyroidectomy was
performed, but she subsequently said it did nothing to relieve her
discomfort.71 According to the Michael Reese Hospital, whose clinic she
had visited since 1927, Mrs. Rubenstein was suffering from
psychoneurosis with marked anxiety state.
By order of the county court of Cook County, Mrs. Rubenstein was
committed to Elgin State Hospital on July 16, 1937.72 She was paroled on
October 17, 1937, 3 months after her commitment.73 On January 3, 1938,
the Chicago State Hospital informed Elgin State that the family desired
that she be readmitted to the mental hospital. The family reported that
she was uncooperative, caused constant discord, was very noisy, and used
obscene language.74 A State social worker observed that Mrs. Rubenstein
refused ever to leave the house, explaining that her children would have
thrown her things out had she left. Mrs. Rubenstein rebuffed a
suggestion by the social worker that she help with the dishes by stating
that she would do nothing as long as her "worthless" husband was in the
house.75 She was readmitted on January 14, 1938.76
Mrs. Rubenstein was again paroled on May 27, 1938, and was discharged as
"improved" on August 25, 1938.77 She stayed in an apartment with Marion,
and her separation from the rest of the family apparently ended most of
the difficulties.78 Subsequently, Jack Ruby's
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Page 784
parents were apparently reconciled, since their alien registration
forms, filed in late 1940, indicated that they both resided at Marion's
address.79
Fannie Rubenstein was admitted to Michael Reese Hospital on April 4,
1944, as a result of a heart ailment. Her condition was complicated by
an attack of pneumonia and she died at the hospital on April 11, 1944.80
Hyman testified that, perhaps because she favored the education of her
children and they recognized her difficulties in rearing them during a
turbulent marriage, they all remembered Mrs. Rubenstein with warmth and
affection.81 The evidence also indicates that Jack, notwithstanding his
earlier attitudes, became especially fond of his mother.82 Following his
wife's death, Joseph Rubenstein stayed with the children in Chicago,
where he died at the age of 87, on December 24, 1958.83
Education
Records provided by the Chicago Board of Education revealed that Jack
Ruby attended Smyth Grammar School from October 24, 1916, through the
1920-21 term, completing kindergarten to grade 4B.84 He repeated the
third grade.85 During the 1921-22 school year Jack finished the fourth
grade at the Clarke School; he attended Schley School for the 1924-25
term, when he completed the sixth grade. Ruby's relationship with the
Institute for Juvenile Research and the Jewish Home Finding Society may
explain the lack of academic records for the 1922-23 and 1923-24 school
years. While there is some uncertainty about Ruby's education subsequent
to September 1925,86 it seems likely that he completed the eighth grade
in 1927, when he was 16. Although Jack Ruby and others have stated that
he attended at least 1 year of high school,87 the Chicago Board of
Education could not locate any record of Ruby's attending Chicago high
schools.88 Considering the absence of academic records and Jack's
apathetic attitude toward school,89 the Commission deems it unlikely
that his education extended into high school.
Records of the Institute for Juvenile Research revealed that, as of June
1922, Ruby had no religious education outside the public school
system.90 However, according to their children, Jack's parents made some
effort to inculcate in them a desire to adhere to the tenets of Orthodox
Judaism. Jewish dietary and festival laws were observed and several of
the children accompanied Joseph Rubenstein to the synagogue.91 Earl Ruby
stated that all the boys received some Hebrew school training until the
breakup of the Rubenstein home in 1921.92 However, Hyman Rubenstein
testified that the instability and economic necessities of the household
and the children's relationships outside the home frustrated the
religious efforts of Ruby's parents.93
Activities
Born in a home that disintegrated when he was 10 and boasting no
substantial educational background, Jack Ruby early found himself
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Page 785
on Chicago streets attempting to provide for himself and other members
of his family. An avid sports fan, he, together with many of his
friends, "scalped" tickets to various sporting events.94 He also sold
numerous novelty items and knickknacks, particularly those connected
with professional and collegiate athletics. Even in his youth, Ruby
declined to work on a steady basis for someone else.95
According to his brother Hyman, Jack Ruby's only legal difficulty as a
youth resulted from an altercation with a policeman about ticket
scalping. Hyman, then active in local politics, was able to have charges
arising out of the incident dropped.96 Ruby has indicated that during
the depression he served a short jail sentence for the unauthorized sale
of copyrighted sheet music.97
The only other member of the Rubenstein family who appears to have had
any difficulty with the law while a youth was Hyman. On May 1, 1916,
Chicago's juvenile court declared Hyman incorrigible, a term covering a
wide range of misbehavior. Because of the absence of informative court.
records and the ]apse of time, the misconduct that occasioned this
proceeding could not be ascertained, but Hyman is not known to have
encountered subsequent difficulty.98 Some of Ruby's childhood friends
eventually became criminals; 99 however, Hyman Rubenstein, his sister
Mrs. Eva Grant, and virtually all of Ruby's friends and acquaintances
who were questioned reported that he was not involved with Chicago's
criminal element.100
The evidence indicates that young Jack was not interested in political
affairs.101 Hyman was the only Rubenstein to participate actively in
politics. Sponsored by various political officials, he became a sidewalk
inspector and warehouse investigator for 8 years. On one occasion, he
obtained a permit for Jack to sell novelties from a pushcart located in
a business district during the pre-Christmas buying rush. Eventually the
complaints of enraged businessmen led licensing authorities to declare
that a mistake had been made and to revoke Ruby's permit.102
Temperament
The evidence reveals striking differences of opinion among childhood
friends and acquaintances of Jack Ruby about whether he possessed
violent tendencies. Many persons stated that he was mild mannered,
quiet, and even tempered.103 Former welterweight champion Barney Ross,
whom Jack Ruby idolized from the inception of his boxing career,104
stated that Ruby was "well behaved," was never a troublemaker, and was
never involved with law-enforcement agencies.105 Another friend, who
became a successful businessman on the west coast, said that, as a
youth, Ruby never started fights even though he was adept with his
fists.106 Other friends declared that he would, if at all possible,
avoid clashes.107
But many other friends and acquaintances recalled that he had a hot
temper and was quickly moved to violent acts or words.108 One friend
explained that in the "tough" Chicago neighborhood where they lived,
self-defense was vitally important and added that Ruby
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Page 786
was fully capable of defending himself.109 Another friend described Ruby
as quick tempered and, though unlikely to pick fights, willing to accept
any challenge without regard to the odds against him.110 Young Jack also
interfered in fights, particularly when the person he was aiding
appeared to be taking a severe beating or in a disadvantageous
position.111 Others reported that he had the reputation of being a good
street brawler.112 One school friend recalled that when Jack argued
vehemently about sports, he occasionally used a stick or other available
weapon. He reported, however, that after Ruby's anger subsided, he
reverted to his normal, likable character.113
From early childhood, Jack Ruby was called "Sparky" by those who knew
him.114 According to his sister Eva Grant, the nickname derived from the
way Jack wobbled when he walked. He was thought to resemble the
slow-moving horse called "Sparky" or "Sparkplug" depicted in a
contemporary comic strip. Mrs. Grant testified that her brother became
incensed when called "Sparky" and that from the time he was about 8
years old he would strike anyone calling him by that name.115 A
childhood friend also recalled that Jack hated the nickname and would
fight when called by it.116 Mrs. Grant was unsure whether the nickname
"Sparky" did not also result from his quick reaction to the taunts of
young friends.117 Hyman Rubenstein thought that the nickname derived
from Jack's speed, aggressiveness, and quick thinking. The many accounts
of Ruby's lightninglike temper lend credence to the theory, widely held,
that his nickname was connected with his volatility.118
Young Manhood (1933-43)
Page 786
YOUNG MANHOOD (1933-43)
San Francisco (1933-37)
Jack Ruby reported that in about 1933, he and several Chicago friends
went to Los Angeles and, shortly thereafter, to San Francisco.119
Although there is evidence that he stayed there until 1938, 1939, or
1940,120 Ruby stated that he returned to Chicago in about 1937,121 and
this appears to have been the case.122 Eva Grant testified that Ruby
went to the west coast because he believed employment would be available
there.123
Eva, who married Hyman Magid in Chicago in 1930,124 was divorced in
early 1934, and in about June of that year joined her brother Jack in
San Francisco. She and her son, Ronald, shared an apartment with him. In
1936, Eva married Frank Granovsky, also known as Frank Grant, in San
Francisco, and Ruby shared a four- room apartment with them and Ronald
for a short while.125
Occupations and Activities
Ruby stated that when he and his friends arrived in Los Angeles, they
sold a handicapper's tip sheet for horseraces at Santa Anita race-
Page 787
track which had just opened.126 Eva Grant testified that Ruby also
worked as a singing waiter in Los Angeles, but made very little
money.127
When the group moved to San Francisco, Ruby continued to sell "tip"
sheets at Bay Meadows racetrack.128 Subsequently, he became a
door-to-door salesman of subscriptions to San Francisco newspapers.129
Although there is some evidence that he ultimately became chief of his
crew and had several people working under him,130 other reports indicate
that this is unlikely.131 Eva Grant testified that she also sold
newspaper subscriptions but was less proficient than her brother and
relied upon him for advice and support.132
Although virtually all his San Francisco acquaintances knew Jack Ruby as
"Sparky," 133 there is no evidence that, he engaged in violent
activities in San Francisco or was reputed to possess a vicious temper.
One friend, who stated that he resided with Ruby and Eva for about a
year, described him as a "well-mannered, likable individual who was soft
spoken and meticulous in his dress and appearance." 134 Another friend
described him as a "clean-cut, honest kid," 135 and the manager of a
crew with which Ruby worked stated that he had a good reputation and
appeared to be an "honest, forthright person." The crew manager reported
that Ruby associated with a sports crowd, some of whose members were
involved with professional boxing, but not with criminals. He added that
Ruby had a personal liking for law enforcement and would have wanted to
become a police officer had he been larger physically.136
One friend reported that although Ruby always associated with Jewish
people, he never exhibited great interest in religion.137 Ruby met
Virginia Belasco, granddaughter of the prominent playwright and actor,
David Belasco, in about 1936 at a dance at the Jewish community center
in San Francisco. Miss Belasco stated that while a teenager she saw Ruby
socially on several occasions between 1936 and 1941.138 The only other
evidence concerning Ruby's social activities while in San Francisco is
his statement to his long-time girl friend, Alice Nichols of Dallas,139
that while in San Francisco he met the only other woman, Virginia
Fitzgerald or Fitzsimmons, that he ever considered marrying.140
Chicago (1937-43)
Jack Ruby stated that following his return to Chicago, he was unemployed
for a considerable period.141 However, when his mother was admitted to
Elgin State Hospital in 1937,142 she reported that he was employed as a
"traveling salesman" apparently living away from home.143 Although there
is conflicting evidence about his ability to earn a comfortable
living,144 he apparently was able to maintain a normal existence 145 and
required no financial assistance from his family or friends. He
continued to be a so-called "hustler," scalping tickets and buying
watches and other small items for resale at dis-
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Page 788
count prices.146 One of his closest Chicago friends stated that Ruby's
sales and promotions were "shady" but "legitimate." 147
Labor union activities.--Ruby reported that in "about 1937" he became
active in Local 20467 of the Scrap Iron and Junk Handlers Union.148 At
this time, his friend, attorney Leon Cooke, was the local's financial
secretary.149 Records provided by the Social Security Administration
indicate that Ruby was employed by the union from late 1937 until early
1940; 150 he worked as a union organizer and negotiated with employers
on its behalf.151
On December 8, 1939, the union's president, John Martin, shot Cooke, who
died of gunshot wounds on January 5, 1940; Martin was subsequently
acquitted on the ground of self-defense.152 Although a Jack Rubenstein
is mentioned in the minutes of a union meeting on February 2, 1940,153
and Ruby is reported to have said after Cooke's death that he wanted to
"take over" the union,154 the evidence indicates that Ruby was so upset
by Cooke's death that he was unable to devote himself further to union
activities and left its employ.155 Ruby reported that after Cooke's
death he adopted the middle name "Leon," which he used only
infrequently, in memory of his friend.156
Since Ruby was the ultimate source of all but one of these accounts,157
other descriptions of Ruby's separation from the union cannot with
certainty be deemed inaccurate. These reports indicated that Ruby might
have been forced out of The union by a criminal group, or might have
left because he lacked The emotional stability necessary for sucessful
labor negotiations 159 or because he felt he was not, earning enough
money with the union.160
Although the AFL-CIO investigated the ethical practices of local 20467
in 1956, placed the local in trusteeship, and suspended Paul Dorfman,
who succeeded Martin and Cooke, there is no evidence that Ruby's union
activities were connected with Chicago's criminal element.161 Several
longtime members of the union reported that it had a good reputation
when Ruby was affiliated with it 162 and employers who negotiated with
it have given no indication that it had criminal connections.163
Subsequent employment.--In 1941, Ruby and Harry Epstein organized the
Spartan Novelty Co., a small firm that sold in various northeastern
States small cedar chests containing candy and gambling devices known as
punchboards.164 Earl Ruby and two of Jack Ruby's friends, Martin Gimpel
and Martin Shargol, were also associated in this venture. The group had
no fixed addresses, living in hotels.165
Late in 1941, Jack Ruby returned to Chicago, where he continued his
punchboard business through the mails.166 Following the December 7,
1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, he and several friends decided to design
and sell plaques commemorating the Day of Infamy. However, the venture
was impeded by Ruby's perfectionistic approach to details of design
which resulted in numerous production delays.167 By the time Ruby's
copyrighted plaque 168 was finally ready for sale, the market was
flooded with similar items.169 At about this time,
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Ruby also sold busts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.170 In late 1942 and
1943, Ruby was employed by the Globe Auto Glass Co.171 and Universal
Sales Co.172
Although one of Ruby's acquaintances at this time described him as a
cuckoo nut on the subject of patriotism,173 the evidence does not
indicate that Ruby's promotion of "Remember Pearl Harbor" plaques and
Roosevelt busts was motivated by patriotic or political considerations.
Rather, the sale of these items was, to Ruby, just another commercial
venture, but he might also have considered these sales "a good thing."
174 Numerous friends reported that, Ruby had no interest in political
affairs during this period,175 although he greatly admired President
Roosevelt.176
Other activities.--The evidence indicates that Ruby led a normal social
life during these years. Virginia Belasco stated that while Ruby was
selling punchboards in New York during November 1941, he entertained her
each weekend.177 Other reports indicate that Ruby fancied himself a
"ladies' man," enjoyed dancing, almost always had female accompaniment
and was "very gentlemanly" with women.178
Ruby, with several friends, frequently attempted to disrupt rallies of
the German-American Bund.179 One acquaintance reported that Ruby was
responsible for "cracking a few heads" of Bund members.180 Apparently he
joined in this activity for ethnic rather than political reasons. The
young men in the group were not organized adherents of any particular
political creed, but were poolhall and tavern companions from Ruby's
Jewish neighborhood who gathered on the spur of the moment to present
opposition when they learned that the pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic Bund
movement was planning a meeting.181 Hyman Rubenstein testified that Ruby
would fight with any person making derogatory comments about, his ethnic
origins, and others have stated that Ruby would fight with anyone he
suspected of pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic tendencies.182
During this period Ruby, though temperamental, apparently engaged in no
unusual acts of violence. However, he did interfere on several occasions
when he thought someone was treated unfairly. A friend who described
Ruby as "somewhat overbearing regarding the rights and feelings of
others," reported that Ruby fought two college students who insulted a
Negro piano player.193 Another friend reported that Ruby had a "bitter"
fight with a man who was abusing an older woman.184
Maintaining his friendship with Barney Ross, and still an ardent sports
fan, Ruby associated with various figures in the boxing world and
regularly attended the fights at Marigold Gardens.185 He frequented the
Lawndale Poolroom and Restaurant, a rallying point for the anti-Bundists
and chief "hangout" of many of Ruby's friends.186 In addition, Ruby,
described as a "health nut" 187 who earnestly contended that he could
hit harder than Joe Louis,188 exercised at several athletic clubs.189
Despite Ruby's participation in "shady" financial enterprises, his
association with a labor union subsequently disciplined by the AFL-
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Page 790
CIO, his participation in violent anti-Bund activities, and his
connection with a poolroom, the evidence falls short of demonstrating
that Ruby was significantly affiliated with organized crime in Chicago.
Virtually all of Ruby's Chicago friends stated he had no close
connection with organized crime.190 In addition, unreliable as their
reports may be, several known Chicago criminals have denied any such
liaison.191 The Commission finds it difficult to attach credence to a
newspaper reporter's contrary statement that his undisclosed "syndicate
sources" revealed Ruby was connected with organized crime and confidence
games.192 Ruby was unquestionably familiar, if not friendly, with some
Chicago criminals,193 but there is no evidence that he ever participated
in organized criminal activity.
Military Activities (1943-46)
Page 790
MILITARY ACTIVITIES (1943-46)
In September 1941, Jack Ruby was apparently classified 1-A194 and
declared eligible for the draft. Subsequently he appeared before a local
board and was reclassified 1-H or 3-A.195 Between August 31, 1941, and
November 19, 1942, when it was abolished, the 1-H classification applied
to registrants who had reached their 28th birthday and were, therefore,
no longer liable for service.196 The 3-A deferment applies to persons
whose entry into military service presents financial hardship to
dependents. Because of the length of time involved and the destruction
of local draft. board records, Ruby's precise status or the reason for
his deferment could not be ascertained.197 According to one somewhat
unreliable report, Ruby, immediately prior to his physical examination,
feigned a hearing disability and occasionally wore a hearing aid.198
Hyman Rubenstein, who testified that Jack was deferred because of
economic hardship since he "the only one home," specifically denied the
truthfulness of this allegation.199 Early in 1943, Ruby was again
classified l-A, and, following an unsuccessful appearance before his
appeal board, he was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Forces on May 21,
1943.200 Jack was the last of the Rubenstein brothers to enter the
service. Previously, Earl had enlisted in the Navy, Sam was in Army Air
Force Intelligence and Hyman was in the field artillery.201
Except for 5 weeks in Farmingdale, N.Y., Ruby spent his military days at
various airbases in the South.202 He received the basic training given
all recruits and advanced training as an aircraft mechanic 203 On August
2, 1943, he passed marksmanship tests with the .30 caliber carbine and
the .45 caliber submachinegun, but failed with the .30 caliber rifle. On
February 10, 1944, he earned a sharpshooter's rating for his firing of
an M1.30 caliber carbine. His character and efficiency ratings, when
determined, were excellent.204 After attaining the rank of private first
class and receiving the good conduct medal, Ruby was honorably
discharged on February 21, 1946.205
Two persons who recalled Ruby while he was in the Army Air Forces
asserted that he was extremely sensitive to insulting remarks about
790
Page 791
Jews.206 When, during an argument, a sergeant called Ruby a "Jew
bastard," Ruby reportedly attacked him and beat him with his fists.207
There is conflicting evidence about the zeal with which Ruby performed
his military duties. One associate indicated that Ruby, who at 34 was
the oldest in his group, always worked harder than the others to prove
that he could keep up with them.208 Another recalled. by contrast, that
Ruby had "no liking for work" and carefully avoided situations requiting
him to dirty his hands.209 However, there is no basis in the record for
the inference that Ruby was in any way anti-American.
Ruby frequently expressed to some fellow soldiers his high regard for
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.210 Two independent sources reported that he
cried openly when informed of Roosevelt's death in April 1945.211 This
did not indicate any sudden political interest, however, since none of
his known military associates reported such an interest, and Ruby's
admiration for President Roosevelt anteceded his military days.212
While in service, Ruby is reported to have continued his promotional
ventures. One person recalled that in 1944, Jack received punchboards
and chocolates from someone in Chicago and peddled these items through
the base to make extra money. This person also indicated that Ruby
enjoyed card and dice games in or near the barracks.213
Postwar Chicago (1946-47)
Page 791
POSTWAR CHICAGO (1946-47)
Following his discharge from the Army Air Forces in February 1946, Jack
Ruby returned to Chicago. He joined his three brothers, who had
previously been discharged from the service,214 in the Earl Products Co.
Earl Ruby testified that he was the sole investor in the enterprise, but
each brother received an equal ownership interest on his return from the
service.215 The company manufactured and sold small cedar chests and
distributed punchboards.216 In addition, it made aluminum salt and
pepper shakers, key chains, bottle openers, screwdrivers, and small
hammers.217 Sam supervised the manufacturing end of the business, while
Earl managed the office and advertising.218 Jack was in charge of sales,
but the company was small and he had no subordinates.219
Because insufficient profits led to frequent. arguments, Hyman soon left
Earl Products.220 Jack, who stayed with the company through most of
1947, had many disputes with his brothers because he insisted on selling
the products of other companies, such as costume jewelry, and he did not
like traveling outside the Chicago area. Earl and Sam finally purchased
Jack's interest, paying him more than $14,000 in cash.221
Although there is some evidence to the contrary,222 it is unlikely that
Ruby was in the nightclub business in Chicago during the postwar period.
Many who have reported this may have mistaken him for Harry
Rubenstein,223 who was convicted of manslaughter and op-
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erated several such establishments.224 None of Jack Ruby's close friends
or relatives indicated that he was in the nightclub business.
Following his return from the Army, Ruby was described as ready to fight
with any person who insulted Jews or the military.225 Earl Ruby
testified that on one occasion in 1946, Jack returned from downtown
Chicago with his suit covered with blood. He explained at that time that
he had fought with a person who had called him a "dirty Jew or something
like that." 226
Other evidence indicates that Ruby's personality was not substantially
changed by his military experience. One person who met, him in 1947,
reported that Ruby was a "fashionable" dresser.227 He continued to be
described as soft spoken,228 although he was also known as
hot-tempered.229 Ruby worked out regularly at an athletic club,230 and
one friend regarded him as a "Romeo," who was quite successful in
attracting young women.231
Dallas (1947-63)
Page 793
DALLAS (1947-63)
The Move to Dallas
During World War II, Ruby's sister, Eva Grant, visited Dallas.232 Having
operated a restaurant on the west coast, and considering it a lucrative
business, she arranged, near the end of 1945, to lease a building under
construction in Dallas, which she ran as a night-club.233 Part of the
financing for this establishment, the Singapore Supper Club, was
provided by her brothers. Jack Ruby, who apparently obtained the money
from Earl Products, sent $1,100 as a down-payment on the lease, Earl
contributed about $1,500, and Hyman paid for more than $2,000 worth of
equipment.234
Before she opened the Singapore in 1947, Eva Grant engaged in the sale
of metal products.235 In that year she met Paul Roland Jones, who
allegedly was seeking customers for iron pipe and whom she referred to
Hyman Rubenstein.236 Jones had, at about that time, been convicted of
attempting to bribe the newly elected sheriff of Dallas.237 On October
24, 1947, he was arrested for violating Federal narcotics statutes.238
Jack Ruby had visited Dallas early in 1947 to help Eva Grant manage the
Singapore,239 and 5 days after Jones' arrest, Jack and Hyman Rubenstein
were interrogated in Chicago by agents of the Bureau of Narcotics.240
The brothers admitted knowing Jones but denied awareness of his
connection with narcotics. During the 2 years in which Jones was
appealing his conviction he and other criminals frequented the Singapore
Club, then operated by Jack Ruby.241
Intensive investigation to determine whether Jack Ruby was criminally or
otherwise connected with Jones' narcotics violation leads the Commission
to conclude Ruby probably was not involved.242 A search of the files of
the Bureau of Narcotics disclosed no record that either Hyman or Jack
had been prosecuted by Federal authorities in 1947.243 Jack, Hyman, and
Eva denied participating in any narcotics activities.
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Jones and his coconspirators also denied that Jack was a participant.244
One of Jones' confederates reported after the shooting of Oswald that
although Jones "propositioned" the two brothers concerning narcotics,
they refused to participate.245 Moreover, when one of the conspirators
was arrested with 48 pounds of raw opium in his possession, he
implicated Jones and another person, both of whom were convicted, but he
did not implicate Jack Ruby or his brother.246
Late in 1947, Ruby established permanent residence in Dallas.247 Shortly
after shooting Oswald, Ruby stated that he returned to Dallas at Eva
Grant's request, to help her operate the Singapore Supper Club.248
However, on December 21, 1963, he reported that although association
with his sister had been the purport of his initial visit to Dallas, he
returned there because of the failure of his "merchandising deals" in
Chicago.249 These factors, in conjunction with his separation from Earl
Products,250 probably motivated Ruby's move to Dallas.
A different reason has been given by Steve Guthrie, former sheriff of
Dallas. Guthrie reported that shortly after his election as sheriff in
July 1946, Paul Roland Jones, representing other Chicago criminals,
offered him a substantial amount of money to permit them to move in and
manage illegal activities in Dallas. Although he never met Ruby, Guthrie
asserted that these criminals frequently mentioned that Ruby would
operate a "fabulous" restaurant as a front for gambling activities.251
Despite its source, the Commission finds it difficult to accept this
report. A member of the Dallas Police Department, Lt. George E. Butler,
who was present during virtually all the conversations between Guthrie
and Jones and who performed considerable investigative work on the case,
stated that Ruby was not involved in the bribery attempt and that he had
not heard of Ruby until the investigation and trial of Jones had been
completed. He explained that Ruby's connection with the case stemmed
from the fact that, as mentioned previously, Jones and other criminals
frequented the Singapore Supper Club.252 And 22 recordings of the
conversations between Guthrie, Butler, and Jones not only fail to
mention Ruby, but indicate that Jones was to bring from outside the
Dallas area only one confederate, who was not to be Jewish.253
The Change of Name
Sometime in 1947, Jack Ruby's brothers Earl and Sam, pursuant to a joint
understanding, legally changed their names from Rubenstein to Ruby.254
Earl testified that he changed his name because everyone called him Ruby
and because a former employer advised him that it was preferable not to
use a "Jewish name" on mail orders for Earl Products.255
On December 30, 1947, Jack changed his name to Jack L. Ruby by securing
a decree from the 68th Judicial District Court of Dallas. His petition
alleged that he sought the change because the name Rubenstein was
misunderstood and too long and because he was "well
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known" as Jack L. Ruby.256 The Bureau of Narcotics report of his
relationship with Paul Roland Jones indicates that as of October 29,
1947, Jack was known as Ruby; 257 however, several persons in Dallas
knew him as Rubenstein.258
Nightclub Operations
Except. for a brief period in about 1953, when Ruby managed the Ervay
Theater, a motion picture house,259 the operation of nightclubs and
dancehalls was his primary source of income, and his basic interest in
life during the 16 years he spent in Dallas prior to shooting Lee
Oswald. When Ruby first arrived in Dallas in 1947, he and Eva. Grant
jointly managed The Singapore Supper Club.260 Shortly thereafter, she
returned to the west coast. Except for sporadic trips to Dallas, she
remained there until 1959, leaving Ruby a power of attorney.261 Ruby,
who had received $14,000 from the sale of his interest in Earl
Products,262 invested a substantial amount in the club, which Mrs. Grant
described as "too nice a club for that part of town." 263 Ruby changed
the Singapore's name to the Silver Spur Club. It was operated primarily
as a dancehall, serving beer to its patrons.264 In about 1952, Ruby
borrowed $3,700 from a friend, Ralph Paul, to purchase the Bob Wills
Ranch House 265 with Martin Gimpel, a former associate in the Spartan
Novelty Co.266 The Ranch House was run as a western-type nightclub.267
With two establishments to run, Ruby experienced substantial financial
reversals in 1952. He abandoned his interest in the Ranch House and, on
July 1, 1952, transferred The Silver Spur to Gimpel and Willie Epstein,
who assumed some of its debts.268 Disappointed by these setbacks, Ruby
stated that he had a "mental breakdown," and "hibernated" in the Cotton
Bowl Hotel in Dallas for 3 or 4 months, declining to see his friends.269
Still depressed, he then returned to Chicago, apparently intending to
remain there permanently.270 However, he stayed only 6 weeks. Gimpel and
Epstein were anxious to be rid of the Silver Spur and Ruby once again
became its owner.271
In 1953, Ruby obtained an interest in the Vegas Club, which he operated
with Joe Bonds until September 1953.272 At that time he informed Irving
Alkana, who had retained a prior ownership interest, that he was unable
to meet his obligations with respect to the club. Alkana then assumed
management of the Vegas until June 19, 1954, when, following numerous
disagreements with him, he sold Ruby Iris interest.273
Ruby still ,owned the Vegas Club at the time of his arrest on November
24, 1963. However, when Eva Grant returned from San Francisco in 1959,
she assumed management of the club, receiving a salary but no ownership
interest.274 The Vegas, which occasionally featured striptease acts,275
employed a dance band and served beer, wine, soft drinks. and some
prepared foods.276
In 1954, Ruby's Vegas associate, Joe Bonds, was convicted of sodomy and
sent to a Texas penitentiary to serve an 8-year sentence.277 In 1955,
Page 795
Ruby sold the Silver Spur to Roscoe "Rocky" Robinson; however, Robinson
could not obtain a license to operate the club and it was subsequently
closed.278 For a few months during this period, Ruby also operated
Hernando's Hideaway, but this venture proved unsuccessful. 279
Sam Ruby testified that shortly after he sold his interest in Earl
Products in mid-1955 and moved to Dallas, he loaned Jack $5,500 to
enable him to pay Federal excise taxes on the Vegas. As security for the
loan, Sam required Jack to execute a bill of sale of the Vegas. Upon
Jack's default in payment, Sam instituted suit, claiming that he owned
the Vegas and that Jack had breached his promise to repurchase it. The
case was ultimately settled, with Jack retaining his ownership interest
in the club.280
In late 1959, Jack Ruby became a partner of Joe Slatin in establishing
the Sovereign Club, a private club that was apparently permitted by
Texas law to sell liquor to members.281 Since Slatin was troubled about
Dallas news stories describing police raids on a private club that
permitted gambling, he felt he needed more capital.282 Ruby invested
about $6,000 which he borrowed from his brother Earl and perhaps some of
his own money.283
The Sovereign was described as a "plush" and exclusive club, and Ruby
was apparently very anxious to attract a wealthy "carriage" trade.284
The venture was not successful, however. The two men could not work
together, and Slatin withdrew in early 1960.285 Ruby turned for new
capital to Ralph Paul,286 who had operated a Dallas club with Joe
Bonds.287 Ruby still owed Paul $1,200 of the $3.700 loan made in
connection with the Bob Wills Ranch House, but Paul advanced him another
$2,200, which allowed him to pay the Sovereign's rent for 4 months.
Subsequently, Ruby spontaneously gave Paul a stock certificate
representing 50 percent of the equity of the corporation owning the
club. Ruby told Paul that if the venture failed. the Sovereign's
fixtures and other physical property would belong to Paul. 288
Experiencing difficulty in recruiting sufficient members, Ruby soon
found himself again unable to pay the Sovereign's monthly rent of $550.
Again he turned to Paul, who loaned him $1,650 on the condition that he
change the club's method of operation. Paul insisted that Ruby
discontinue club memberships, even though this would prevent the sale of
liquor, and offer striptease shows as a substitute attraction. Ruby
agreed, and the Sovereign's name was changed to the Carousel Club.289 It
became one of three downtown Dallas burlesque clubs and served
champagne, beer, "setups" and pizza, its only food.291 The Carousel
generally employed four strippers, a master of ceremonies, an assistant
manager, a band, three or four waitresses, and a porter or handyman.292
Net receipts averaged about $5,000 per month 293 most of which was
allocated to the club's payroll.294 Late in 1963, Ruby began to
distribute "permanent passes" to the Carousel; 295 however, the cards
were apparently designed solely for publicity and did not affect the
club's legal status.
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Employee Relationships
Ruby's employees displayed a wide range of personal reactions to him.
Those associated with Ruby long enough to grow accustomed to his violent
temper and constant threats of discharge generally portray him
sympathetically.296 They reported he was genuinely interested in their
welfare and happiness. In addition, many former employees stated that he
was a pleasant or unobjectionable employer.297
There is also considerable evidence that Ruby tended to dominate his
employees, frequently resorted to violence in dealing with them,
publicly embarrassed them,298 sometimes attempted to cheat them of their
pay,299 and delayed paying their salaries.300 Other employees reported
Ruby continually harassed his help,301 and used obscene language in
their presence.302 However he frequently apologized, sought to atone for
his many temper tantrums, 303 and completely forgot others.304
One of the many violent incidents that were reported took place in 1950,
when Ruby struck an employee over the head with a blackjack.305 In 1951,
after his guitarist, Willis Dickerson, told Ruby to "go to hell," Ruby
knocked Dickerson to the ground, then pinned him to a wall and kicked
him in the groin. During the scuffle, Dickerson bit Ruby's finger so
badly that the top half of Ruby's left index finger was amputated.306 In
approximately 1955, Ruby beat one of his musicians with brass knuckles;
the musician's mouth required numerous stitches.307
During 1960, Ruby and two entertainers, Breck Wall and Joe Peterson,
entered into an agreement that the performers would produce and star in
a revue at the Sovereign in exchange for a 50-percent interest in the
club.308 After performing for 2 months, the entertainers complained that
they had received neither a share of The profits nor evidence of their
proprietary interest. Ruby responded by hitting Peterson in the mouth,
knocking out a tooth. The two men left the Sovereign's employ, but they
subsequently accepted Ruby's apology and resumed their friendship with
him.309
In September 1969~ Frank Ferraro, the Carousel's handyman, became
involved in a dispute at a nearby bar. Ruby told him not to get into a
fight, and Ferraro told Ruby to mind Iris own business. Ruby then
followed Ferraro to another club and beat him severely. Ferraro required
emergency hospital treatment for his eye, but he decided not to press
charges since Ruby paid for Iris hospital care.310 In March 1963, during
an argument about wages, Ruby threatened to throw a cigarette girl down
the stairs of the Carousel.311
Ruby's relationship with his employees commanded much of his attention
during the months preceding the assassination. The Carousel's
comparatively high turnover rate 312 and Ruby's intense desire to
succeed313 required him to meet numerous prospective employees, patrons,
and other persons who might help improve his business.
Ruby frequently encountered difficulties with The American Guild of
Variety Artists (AGVA), the union which represented Carousel
entertainers.314 For several years, starting in about 1961, he
unsuccess-
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fully sought modification of AGVA's policy permitting "amateur"
strippers,315 inexperienced girls paid less than union-scale wages,316
to perform at union houses. Ruby apparently believed his two
competitors, the Weinstein brothers, were scheduling amateur shows in a
manner calculated to destroy his business.317 Ruby's discontent with
AGVA grew particularly acute during the late summer and early fall of
1963 when, in addition to meeting with AGVA officials,318 he called upon
several acquaintances, including known criminals, who, he thought, could
influence AGVA on his behalf.319 Other problems with AGVA arose because
of his policy of continuous shows, which did not give masters of
ceremonies enough time off,320 and his alleged use of AGVA members to
mingle with patrons to promote the consumption of liquor.321
In June 1963, Ruby visited New Orleans, where he obtained the services
of a stripper known as "Jada," 322 who became his featured performer.323
Jada and Ruby had numerous contract disputes and he was concerned about
her high salary, recurrent absenteeism, and diminishing drawing
power.324 Moreover, he thought that Jada had deliberately exceeded even
the Carousel's liberal standards of decency in order to cause him to
lose his license or to obtain publicity for herself.325 On several
occasions Ruby excitedly turned off the spotlights during her act., and
at the end of October 1963, he fired her.326 However, after Jada sued
out a peace bond, she apparently recovered a week's salary from Ruby.327
In addition to problems with its star stripper, the Carousel was
required to employ three masters of ceremonies in rapid succession
following the departure in about September 1963, of Wally Weston, who
worked there about 15 months.328 And in early November, the band that
had played at the Vegas Club for about 8 years left the Vegas to accept
the offer of another Dallas club.329
Financial Data and Tax Problems
Jack Ruby's pockets and the trunk of his car served as his bank. With a
few exceptions, Ruby and his clubs rarely employed bank accounts.330
Instead, Ruby carried his cash with him, paying the bulk of his expenses
and debts directly out of club receipts.331
During the latter half of 1963, the Carousel, the Vegas, and Ruby each
maintained checking accounts at the Merchants State Bank in Dallas.
Balances of the latter two accounts never exceeded $275. In July 1963,
the Carousel's account had more than $500; after August 8, its maximum
balance was less than $800. Between May 31 and November 24, 1963, 53
checks were drawn on the three accounts; with the exception of one check
for $129.47, all were for less than $100.332 He generally purchased
cashier's checks at the Merchants State Bank to pay his monthly rental
of $550 for the Carousel and $500 for the Vegas.333 He also purchased
cashier's checks during the 3 months prior to the assassination to pay
about $1,500 to the Texas State treasurer, $110 to Temple Shearith
Israel, apparently for Jewish high holy day tickets, and $60 to the
American Society of Authors and Publishers.334
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Records of the more than 50 banking institutions checked during the
investigation of Ruby's financial affairs 335 revealed that he had three
other dormant accounts, all with small balances.336 Two safety deposit
boxes belonging to Ruby, opened by Texas officials pursuant to search
warrants, were empty and unused for more than a year prior to the
assassination.337 Although Ruby negotiated several loans at the
Merchants State Bank,338 there is no evidence that he was the maker or
co-maker of other loans,339 and, after investigation, the Dallas Police
Department found no record that Ruby cosigned the note of any policeman
at any time.340
Ruby's financial records were chaotic. One accountant abandoned efforts
to prepare income tax returns and other financial statements because of
the hopeless disarray of Ruby's data.341 The record indicates that Ruby
was frequently weeks, if not months, late in filing Federal tax forms
and that. he held numerous conferences with Internal Revenue agents who
attempted to obtain the delinquent statements.342
Ruby encountered serious difficulties with respect to State franchise
and Federal excise and income taxes. The Texas charter of the
corporation controlling the Sovereign and Carousel clubs was canceled in
1961, because Ruby failed to pay Texas franchise taxes.343 And, only
after numerous conferences, did Ruby and representatives of the Internal
Revenue Service reach agreements on installment payments of various
Federal tax liabilities, to which Ruby more or less adhered.344
Ruby's primary difficulty concerned Federal excise axes. Advised by an
attorney that the Vegas Club, a dance hall providing food, was not
subject to Federal excise taxes because it was not a "cabaret," Ruby
charged Vegas patrons on the assumption that no excise taxes were due.
However, his attorney reported, when Federal courts ruled that dance
halls providing "incidental" food were subject to excise taxes as
"cabarets," 345 Ruby became liable to the Federal Government for more
than 6 years of taxes, amounting, with interest, to almost exactly
$40,000.346
Ruby also fell behind on his personal income tax payments. At the time
of his arrest he owed more than $4,400 for 1959 and 1960.347 Remittances
accompanied his 1961 and 1962 tax forms, the latter received by the
office of the Dallas District Director on September 18, 1963.348 The
following table summarizes amounts which Ruby reported as gross and net
income from the Vegas Club from 1956 to
1962; and the taxes due: 349
Year Gross income Net income Tax
1962 $41,462.77 $5, 619. 65 1 $1, 217. 75
1961 40, 411. 00 6, 255. 29 1 1,200. 00
1960 44, 482.41 9, 703. 90 2, 221.39
1959 50, 981. 95 14, 060. 86 3, 778. 17
1958 37, 755. 65 3, 274. 64 586. 52
1957 33, 671.60 2, 619. 52 438. 41
1956 30, 695.27 7, 437. 01 1, 527. 10
1 Estimated.
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Page 799
On his income tax forms, Ruby did not itemize personal deductions and
claimed only his own exemption. For 1962, Ruby reported salary income of
$650 from the corporation controlling the Carousel, and $900 for
1961.350
Ruby and officers of the Internal Revenue Service frequently discussed
methods of satisfying his large excise and income tax liability.351 In
1960, the Government filed tax liens for more than $20,000.352 In
November 1962, the Government rejected Ruby's offer to pay $8,000 to
compromise the assessed taxes of more than $20,000 because he had not
filed returns for other Federal taxes and had not paid these taxes as
they became due. These other taxes, for the period September 1959
through June 1962, amounted to an additional $20,000.353 In June 1963,
Ruby submitted an offer of $3,000 to compromise all past assessments;
the offer was not acted upon prior to November 24, 1963.354
Other Business Ventures
In addition to nightclub management and ownership, Ruby participated in
numerous other commercial ventures. He was able to do so primarily
because work at the clubs consumed few of his daytime hours. Many of
Ruby's ventures related to show business, others were somewhat
speculative promotions; almost all ended unsuccessfully.'
While operating the Silver Spur Club, Ruby sold costume jewelry at
discount rates,355 and, in about 1951, he sold sewing machine
attachments at the Texas State Fair.356 Approximately a year later, he
managed a talented young Negro boy, "Little Daddy" Nelson. The boy
appeared at the Silver Spur, the Vegas Club, and the Bob Wills Ranch
House. In about 1953 or 1954, Ruby took "Little Daddy" and his parents
to Chicago to obtain a television appearance for him. However, shortly
after their arrival, Ruby was confronted by a second woman claiming to
be "Little Daddy's" mother. Upon advice of counsel, Ruby decided to
.abandon the venture.357
In 1954, Ruby became interested in the sale of pizza crusts to Dallas
restaurants.358 He is also reported to have sold an arthritic
preparation 359 and to have manufactured and sold "Miniron," a liquid
vitamin formula.360 In about 1958 or 1959, Ruby attempted to build and
sell log cabins at a Texas lake resort.361 In early 1959, he
investigated the possibility of selling jeeps to Cuba.362 He is also
reported to have furnished entertainment for a Dallas hotel,363 to have
promoted records for musicians 364 and to have sold English stainless
steel razor blades.365
In October 1963 Ruby assisted the producers of a carnival show, "How
Hollywood Makes Movies," appearing at the Texas State Fair.366 At about
this time Ruby also sought to open a new club in Dallas. He conferred
with numerous persons and placed advertisements in Dallas newspapers in
an attempt to obtain financial backing.367 Assuming that he would be
occupied by the new club, Ruby offered his oldest brother, Hyman, a
managerial post at the Carousel. However, Hyman, who had recently lost
his sales territory, declined the offer because he felt he was too old
for the nightclub business.368
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Ruby unsuccessfully attempted to sell "twistboards," an exercising
device consisting of two square fiberboards separated by ball bearings.
Despite the contrary advice of his brother Earl,369 Jack ordered several
dozen twistboards and had 2,000 promotional flyers published.370 He had
one of his strippers demonstrate the twistboards at the Texas Products
Show during the first week of November 1963.
Arrests and Violations
Between 1949 and November 24, 1963, Ruby was arrested eight times by the
Dallas Police Department. The dates, charges, and dispositions of these
arrests are as follows:372 February 4, 1949, Ruby paid a $10 fine for
disturbing the peace. July 26, 1953, Ruby was suspected of carrying a
concealed weapon; however, no charges were filed and Ruby was released
on the same day. May 1, 1954, Ruby was arrested for allegedly carrying a
concealed weapon and violating a peace bond; again no charges were filed
and Ruby was released on the same day. December 5, 1954, Ruby was
arrested for allegedly violating State liquor laws by selling liquor
after hours; the complaint was dismissed on February 8, 1955.373 June
21, 1959, Ruby was arrested for allegedly permitting dancing after
hours; the complaint was dismissed on July 8, 1959. August 21, 1960,
Ruby was again arrested for allegedly permitting dancing after hours;
Ruby posted $25 bond and was released on that date. February 12, 1963,
Ruby was arrested on a charge of simple assault; he was found not guilty
February 27, 1963. Finally, on March 14, 1963, Ruby was arrested for
allegedly ignoring traffic summonses; a $35 bond was posted.
When Ruby applied for a beer license in March 1961, he reported that he
had been arrested "about four or five times" between 1947 and !953.374
Between 1950 and 1963, he received 20 tickets for motor vehicle
violations, paying four $10 fines and three of $3.375 In 1956 and 1959,
Ruby was placed on 6 months' probation as a traffic violator.
Ruby was also frequently suspended by the Texas Liquor Control Board. In
August 1949, when he was operating the Silver Spur, he was suspended for
5 days on a charge of "Agents--Moral Turpitude." In 1953 Ruby received a
5-day suspension because of an obscene show, and, in 1954, a 10-day
suspension for allowing a drunkard on his premises.376 On February 18,
1954, he was suspended for 5 days because of an obscene striptease act
at the Silver Spur and for the consumption of alcoholic beverages during
prohibited hours.377 On March 26, 1956. Ruby was suspended by the liquor
board for 3 days because several of his checks were dishonored.378 On
October 23, 1961, he received another 3-day suspension because an agent
solicited the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on licensed
premises.379
Police Associations
Although the precise nature of his relationship to members of the Dallas
Police Department. is not susceptible of conclusive evaluation,
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the evidence indicates that Ruby was keenly interested in policemen and
their work.380 Jesse Curry, chief of the Dallas Police Department,
testified that no more than 25 to 50 of Dallas' almost 1,200 policemen
were acquainted with Ruby.381 However, the reports of present and past
members of the Dallas Police Department as well as Ruby's employees and
acquaintances indicate that. Ruby's police friendships were far more
widespread than those of the average citizen.382
There is no credible evidence that Ruby sought special favors from
police officers or attempted to bribe them.383 Although there is
considerable evidence that. Ruby gave policemen reduced rates,384
declined to exact any cover charge from them,385 and gave them free
coffee and soft drinks, 386 this hospitality was not unusual for a
Dallas night-club operator.387 Ruby's personal attachment to police
officers is demonstrated by reports that he attended The funeral of at
least one policeman killed in action and staged a benefit performance
for the widow of another.388 Ruby regarded several officers as personal
friends, and others had worked for him.380 Finally, at least one
policeman regularly dated, and eventually married, one of the Carousel's
strippers.390
Underworld Ties
From the time that Ruby arrived in Dallas in 1947, he was friendly with
numerous underworld figures. One of his earliest Dallas acquaintances
was Paul Roland Jones, who was convicted of attempting to bribe the
sheriff of Dallas and engaging in the sale of narcotics.391 Joe Bonds,
one of Ruby's partners in the Vegas Club, had a criminal
record.392
Ruby, who enjoyed card playing 393 and horse racing,394 was friendly
with several professional gamblers. In 1959, he visited Cuba at the
invitation and expense of Lewis McWillie, a professional gambler.395
Alice Nichols reported that Ruby's refusal to give up gambling was one
reason why she never seriously considered marrying him.396 When Sidney
Seidband, a Dallas gambler, was arrested in Oklahoma City, his list of
gambling acquaintances included Jack Ruby.397 And other friends of Ruby
have been identified as gamblers.398 Finally, two persons of
questionable reliability have reported that Ruby's consent was necessary
before gambling or narcotics operations could be launched in Dallas.399
Based on its evaluation of the record, however, the Commission believes
that the evidence does not establish a significant link between Ruby and
organized crime. Both State and Federal officials have indicated that
Ruby was not affiliated with organized criminal activity.400 And
numerous persons have reported that Ruby was not connected with such
activity.401
Travels
Despite reports that Ruby visited Havana, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago,
Honolulu, and Mexican border towns, most of his time subse-
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quent to 1947 was spent in Dallas. Some of his travels, including, his
efforts in behalf of "Little Daddy" Nelson and his visit to New Orleans
in June 1963 have been discussed.402 Ruby stated that he went to Chicago
in 1952, in 1958 when his father died, and in August 1963 when he met
members of his family at O'Hare International Airport while en route
from New York to Dallas.403 His August trip to New York motivated by his
dificulties with the American Guild of Variety Artists and his desire to
obtain talent, has been completely established by hotel records.404
Early in 1963 Ruby also traveled to Wichita, Kans., because of his
interest in stripper Gall Raven,405 and on May 25, 1968, he apparently
registered in an Oklahoma motel.406
Although Ruby denies being in Las Vegas after 1937,407 there are
unsupported rumors that. he was in that city in late 1962,408 and the
early part of November 1963.409 Reports that he was in Las Vegas during
the weekend prior to the assassination 410 appear similarly
unfounded.411
There is some uncertainty about Ruby's trip to Havana, Cuba, in 1959.
The evidence indicates that he accepted an invitation from gambler Lewis
J. McWillie, who subsequently became a violent anti-Castroite, to visit
Havana at McWillie's expense.412 Ruby apparently met McWillie in about
1950, when McWillie operated a Dallas night-club.413 McWillie, whom Ruby
said he idolized,414 supervised gambling activities at. Havana's
Tropicana Hotel in 1959 and later was employed in a managerial capacity
in a Las Vegas gambling establishment.415 Ruby testified that he went to
Havana for 8 days in August 1959 and left because he was not interested
in its gambling activities.416 McWillie corroborated this story except
that he stated only that Ruby visited Havana "sometime in 1959." 417
Three Chicagoans reported seeing Ruby in Havana during the Labor Day
weekend in 1959.418 Meyer Panitz, an acquaintance of McWillie, reported
that when he met Ruby in Miami during the "summer of 1959" Ruby stated
that he was returning from a pleasure trip to Cuba.419 The theory that
the trip to Havana had conspiratorial implications is discussed in
chapter VI. There is no reliable evidence that Ruby went to Havana
subsequent to September 1959.420
Although Ruby denied ever being in Hawaii,421 there is some evidence
that. during the summer of 1961 he was in Honolulu seeking dancing
talent.422 While it is unlikely that Ruby would forget a trip to
Honolulu in 1961, there is no other indication that such a trip, if it
occurred, had any sinister motives.
Character and Interests
Page 802
CHARACTER AND INTERESTS
Family Relationships
As mentioned previously,423 Eva Grant was the only member of the family
living in Dallas when Ruby returned to that city in late 1947. In 1948,
she returned to the west coast, visiting Dallas sporadically
Page 803
until 1959, when she assumed management of the Vegas.424 Despite their
recurring arguments, during which they sometimes came to blows,425 Ruby
was closer to Eva than any of his brothers or sisters. In the summer of
1963, Eva complained bitterly to Ruby because he gave a friend about
$800 instead of paying Vegas Club bills. Eva, citing her poor healthy
stated that she should be hospitalized. Ruby rejoined that he had
provided her money to enter a hospital. He then shoved her, causing her
to fall back about 8 feet and hurt her arm and shoulder. At this point
Ruby insisted he wanted her to leave the Vegas Club.426
Ruby frequently told Eva to submit to an operation and in early November
1963 she consented. She was hospitalized for a week, leaving about
November 13.427 While she was in the hospital, Jack called Earl and Sam,
requesting them to convey their concern to Eva.428 According to Eva,
Jack visited her at the hospital two or three times a day. He kept in
constant. touch with her throughout the weekend of November 22.429
Sam Ruby moved to Dallas from Chicago in July 1955, after selling his
interest in the Earl Products Co.430 His son's asthma and Eva's
suggestion that he work as a builder in Dallas prompted the move.431
Apparently as a result of difficulties in collecting the $5,500 Sam
loaned Jack in 1955 to pay Federal excise taxes, 432 Jack and Sam were
never particularly close to each other. However, Sam entered into a
partnership in an unsuccessful ice cream business with Jack's close
friend, Ralph Paul.433 Jack visited Sam and his family occasionally,
especially on Jewish holidays, and from time to time they spoke to each
other by telephone.434
Jack had sporadic contacts with his brother Earl, who remained in
Chicago until about 1960, when he moved to Detroit.435 The most
successful of the brothers, Earl often gave Jack business advice and
capital.436 He estimated, perhaps conservatively, that, when arrested,
Jack owed him $15,000.437 The evidence also indicates that Jack borrowed
at least $1,000, and probably more, from his sister Marion in
Chicago.438
Social Relationships
There have been statements that Ruby was a homosexual. The available
evidence does not support the allegation. There is no evidence of
homosexuality on his part; Ruby did not frequent known gathering places
for homosexuals,439 many of the reports were inherently suspect or based
upon questionable or inaccurate premises,440 and Ruby and most of his
associates and employees denied the charge.441 All the allegations were
based on hearsay or derive from Ruby's lisp or a "feeling" that Ruby was
a "sissy," seemed "weird," acted effeminately, and sometimes spoke in a
high-pitched voice when angry.442 Some proceeded upon the erroneous
theory that Ruby did not date women.443
For the better part of 11 years, Ruby dated Mrs. Alice Reaves Nichols, a
blonde divorcee, 4 years younger than he. Mrs. Nichols,
803
Page 804
secretary to a Dallas life insurance company executive,444 testified
that she saw Ruby twice a week between 1948 and 1956, and once a week
from then until about 1959.445 Ruby discussed marriage with Mrs.
Nichols,446 but Mrs. Nichols stated that while dating Ruby she was
seeing other men and he was taking out other women.447 Although there
are sharply conflicting reports about whether Ruby dated women who
worked for him,448 the record indicates that Ruby sought and enjoyed
feminine company.449
Affection for Dogs
Ruby was extremely fond of dogs. Numerous persons stated that he was
constantly accompanied by several of the dogs he owned.450 Testimony at
Ruby's trial in March 1964 indicated that he referred to his dogs as his
"children." 451 He also became extreme]y incensed when he witnessed the
maltreatment of any of his dogs.
Religious Interests
Reared in the Jewish faith, Jack Ruby was not especially devout. Rabbi
Hillel Silverman, whose conservative temple Ruby favored, reported that
when Ruby's father died in 1958, Ruby came to services twice daily for
the prescribed period of 11 months to recite the traditional memorial
prayer.453 Ruby normally attended services only on the Jewish high truly
days and he was quite unfamiliar with the Hebrew language.454
Ruby was apparently somewhat sensitive to his identity as a Jew. He
forbade his comedians to tell stories directed at Jews or Jewish
practices 455 and, on several occasions after 1947, he fought with
persons making derogatory remarks about his ethnic origins.456 The
evidence also indicates that he was deeply upset that an advertisement
insulting President Kennedy appeared above a Jewish-sounding name.457
Physical Activities and Violence
While in Dallas, Ruby continued attempts to keep in excellent physical
condition. He frequently exercised at the YMCA, the Carousel, and his
apartment, where he maintained a set of weights.458 Ruby was extremely
concerned about his weight and health, including his baldness,459 and
about his appearance in general.460
Ruby's concern for his physical well-being was partially motivated by
practical considerations, for he was his own unofficial club bouncer. On
about 15 occasions since 1950, he beat with his fists, pistol whipped,
or blackjacked patrons who became unruly.461 At other times, he ejected
troublesome customers without a beating,462 in many instances,
justifiably.463 However, many people stated that he employed more force
than necessary, particularly because he often ended a fracas by throwing
his victim down the stairs of the Carousel.464
804
Page 805
Besides acting as a bouncer, Ruby on numerous other occasions severely
beat people who were not club patrons, usually employing only his fists.
Several of these episodes have been discussed in connection with Ruby's
relationship with his emp1oyees.465 In 1951, Ruby attacked a man who had
called him a. "kike Jew" and knocked out a tooth.466 At about that time
Ruby is also reported to have knocked a man down from behind and then to
have kicked him in the face.467 In about 1958, Ruby disarmed a man who
had drawn a gun on him at the Vegas, beat him almost to death, put the
gun back in the man's pocket, and threw him down the stairs.468 In 1958,
Ruby reportedly knocked down a man at the Vegas who was 6'3" tall and
weighed 230 pounds. Ruby was approximately 5'9" tall and weighed about
175 pounds.469 Ruby then made the man, who had slapped his date, crawl
out of the club.470 In a fight at the Vegas, reportedly witnessed by
policemen, Ruby severely beat a heavyweight boxer who had threatened
him.471
During 1962, several violent episodes occurred. Ruby beat a man who
refusal to pay admission or leave and then shoved him down the
stairs.472 He "jostled" a woman down the stairs of the Carousel and
struck her escort, who was "much smaller" than he.473 On one occasion,
Ruby picked up a man who was arguing with his date, knocked him to the
floor, cursed him, and then removed him from the Vegas.474 When a
cabdriver entered the Carousel and inquired about a patron who had
neglected to pay his fare, Ruby struck the cabdriver.475
In February 1963, Ruby badly beat Don Tabon, who had made some remarks
about Ruby's lady companion, injuring Tabon's eye.476 Ruby was acquitted
of a charge of assault and Tabon sought no monetary relief because he
believed Ruby financially incapable of satisfying any resulting
judgment.. A doctor who went to the Carousel several times between
August. and November 1963, stated that on each occasion Ruby ejected
someone from the club.477
Buddy Turman, a prizefighter and Ruby's friend, stated that Ruby "picked
his shots." 478 According to Turman, a bouncer at the Vegas for about a
year, Ruby's victim was frequently drunk, female, or otherwise incapable
of successfully resisting Ruby's attack. The evidence indicates that,
unlike his youthful escapades, Ruby was often malicious. He frequently
felt contrite, however, when his anger had passed or when his victim was
an old acquaintance, and he would seek to make amends for his violent
temper.479
With two exceptions, there is no evidence that Ruby settled disputes
with firearms. Shortly before Joe Bonds' conviction in 1954, Ruby is
reported to have chased Bonds with a pistol.480 And, Larry Crafard
reported that about a week before the assassination, Ruby told him to
get Ruby's gun so that an AGVA official and former employee, Earl
Norman, could be ejected.481 Although Ruby did not often use his gun, it
was frequently accessible when he was carrying large amounts of
money.482
805
Page 806
Generosity to Friends and the Need for Recognition
While Ruby often flared up and acted aggressively, he seemed to calm
down or forget his anger quickly, and there is also a great deal of
evidence that he was extremely generous to his friends. He loaned money
to them and apparently cared little whether the loans would be
repaid.483 He was quick to offer employment to persons desperately in
need of a job 484 and he lent considerable aid to persons seeking work
elsewhere.485 Moreover, when friends or new acquaintances had no roof
over their heads, Ruby's apartment was frequently theirs to share.486
Ruby's unusual generosity may be explained in part by his extremely
emotional reaction to persons in distress, which may have resulted from
his firsthand familiarity with poverty, and by his unusual craving to be
recognized and relied upon.487 Many of Ruby's acquaintances described
him as a "publicity hound," "glad hander," and "name dropper," one
always seeking to be the center of attention.488 Apparently the
"egocentrism" of his youth 489 never left Ruby. Yet, frequently he
sought reassurance from persons he admired.490
Appendix XVII
Page 807
APPENDIX XVII
Polygraph Examination of Jack Ruby
Preliminary Arrangements
Page 807
PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS
As early as December of 1963, Jack Ruby expressed his desire to be
examined with a polygraph, truth serum, or any other scientific device
which would test his veracity.1 The attorneys who defended Ruby in the
State criminal proceedings in Texas agreed that he should take a
polygraph examination to test any conspiratorial connection between Ruby
and Oswald.2 To obtain such a test, Ruby's defense counsel filed motions
in court and also requested that the FBI administer such an examination
to. Ruby.3 During the course of a psychiatric examination on May 11,
1964, Ruby is quoted as saying: "I want to tell the truth. I want a
polygraph * * * "4 In addition, numerous letters were written to the
President's Commission on behalf of Ruby requesting a polygraph
examination.5
When Ruby testified before the Commission in Dallas County Jail on June
7, 1964, his first words were a request for a lie detector test. The
Commission hearing commenced with the following exchanges:
Mr. Jack Ruby. Without a lie detector test on my testimony, my verbal
statements to you, how do you know if I am telling the truth ?
Mr. Tonahill [Defense Counsel]. Don't worry about that, Jack.
Mr. Ruby. Just a minute, gentlemen.
Chief Justice Warren. You wanted to ask something, did you, Mr. Ruby ?
Mr. Rum. I would like to be able to get a lie detector test or truth
serum of what motivated me to do what I did at that particular time, and
it seems as you get further into something, even though you know what
you did, it operates against you somehow, brain washes you, that you are
weak in what you want to tell the truth about and what you want to say
which is the truth.
Now Mr. Warren, I don't know if you got any confidence in the lie
detector test and the truth serum, and so on.
Chief Justice Warren. I can't tell you just how much confidence I have
in it, because it depends so much on who is taking it, and so forth.
But I will say this to you, that if you and your counsel want any kind
of test, I will arrange it for you. I would be glad to do that, if you
want it. I wouldn't suggest a lie detector test to testify the truth.
We will treat you just the same as we do any other witness, but if you
want such a test, I will arrange for it.
Page 808
Mr. Ruby. I do want it. Will you agree to that, Joe ?
Mr. Tonahill. I sure do, Jack.6
Throughout Ruby's testimony before the Commission, he repeated his
request on numerous occasions that he be given an opportunity to take a
lie detector test.7 Ruby's insistence on taking a polygraph examination
is reflected right to the end of the proceedings where in the very last
portion of the transcribed hearings Ruby states:
Mr. RUBY. All I want to do is to tell the truth, and the only way you
can know it is by the polygraph, as that is the only way you can know
it.
Chief Justice WARREN. That we will do for you. 8
Following Ruby's insistence on a polygraph test, the Commission
initiated arrangements to have the FBI conduct such an examination.9 A
detailed set. of questions was prepared for the polygraph examination,
which was set for July 16, 1964.10 A few days before the scheduled test,
the Commission was informed that Ruby's sister, Eva Grant, and his
counsel, Joe H. Tonahill, opposed the polygraph on the ground that
psychiatric examinations showed that his mental state was such that the
test would be meaningless.11
The Commission was advised that Sol Dann, a Detroit attorney
representing the Ruby family, had informed the Dallas office of the FBI
on July 15, 1964, that a polygraph examination would affect Ruby's
health and would be of questionable value according to Dr. Emanuel
Tanay, a Detroit psychiatrist.12 On that same date, Assistant. Counsel
Arlen Specter discussed by telephone the polygraph examination with
Defense Counsel Joe H. Tonahill, who expressed Iris personal opinion
that a polygraph examination should be administered to Ruby.13 By letter
dated July 15, 1964, Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade requested that
the polygraph examination cover the issue of premeditation as well as
the defensive theories in the case.14
Against this background, it was decided that a. representative of the
Commission would travel to Dallas to determine whether Jack Ruby wanted
to take the polygraph test. Since Ruby had had frequent changes in
attorneys and because he was presumed to be sane, the final decision on
the examination was his, especially in view of his prior personal
insistence on the test.15 In the jury conference room at the Dallas jail
on July 18, Assistant Counsel Arlen Specter, representing the
Commission, informed Chief Defense Counsel Clayton Fowler, co-Counsel
Tonahill and Assistant District Attorney William F. Alexander that the
Commission was not insisting on or even requesting that the test be
taken, but was merely fulfilling its commitment to make the examination
available.16 In the event Ruby had changed his mind and would so state
for the record, that would conclude the issue as far as the Commission
was concerned.17
Chief Defense Counsel Fowler had objected to the test. He conferred with
Jack Ruby in his cell and then returned stating that
808
Page 809
Ruby insisted on taking the examination.18 Mr. Fowler requested that (1)
Dr. Tanay, the Detroit psychiatrist, be present; (2) the results of the
test not be disclosed other than to the Commission; (3) the questions to
be asked not be disclosed to the District Attorney's office; and (4) the
results of the test be made available to defense counsel.19 Sheriff
William Decker announced his intention to have Allan L. Sweatt, his
chief criminal deputy who was also a polygraph operator, present to
maintain custody of Jack Ruby while the examination was being
administered.20 Assistant District Attorney Alexander requested a list
of questions, a copy of the recording made by the polygraph machine and
a copy of the report interpreting the test.21 In response to the
numerous requests, the procedure was determined that the questions to be
asked of Ruby would be discussed in a preliminary session in the
presence of defense counsel, the assistant district attorney and Chief
Jailer E. L. Holman, who was to replace Sweatt.22 The assistant district
attorney would not be present when Ruby answered the questions, but
Jailer Holman was allowed to remain to retain custody of Ruby.23 No
commitment was made on behalf of the Commission as to what disclosure
would be made of the results of the examination.24 Since Dr. Tanay was
not in Dallas and therefore could not be present, 25 arrangements were
made to have in attendance Dr. William R. Beavers, a psychiatrist who
had previously examined and evaluated Ruby's mental state.26
At the conclusion of the lengthy preliminary proceedings, Ruby entered
the jury conference room at 2:23 p.m. and was informed that the
Commission was prepared to fulfill its commitment to offer him a
polygraph examination, but was not requesting the test.27 On behalf of
the Commission, Assistant Counsel Specter warned Ruby that anything he
said could be used against him.28 Chief Defense Counsel Fowler advised
Ruby of his objections to the examination.29 Ruby then stated that he
wanted the polygraph examination conducted and that he wanted the
results released to the public as promptly as possible.30 Special Agent
Bell P. Herndon, polygraph operator of the FBI, obtained a written
"consent to interview with polygraph" signed by Jack Ruby.31 Herndon
then proceeded to administer the polygraph examination by breaking the
questions up into series which were ordinarily nine questions in length
and consisted of relevant interrogatories and control questions.32
Administration of the Test
Page 809
ADMINISTRATION OF THE TEST
During the course of the polygraph examination Jack Ruby answered the
relevant, questions as follows:
Q. Did you know Oswald before November 22, 1963 ?
A. No.33
Q. Did you assist Oswald in the assassination ?
A. No. 34
Q. Are you now a member of the Communist Party ?
809
730-900 0-64--53
Page 810
A. No.36
Q. Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party ?
A. No.37
Q. Are you now a member of any group that advocates the
violent overthrow of the United States Government ?
A. No.38
Q. Have you ever been a member of any group that advocates
violent overthrow of the United States Government ?
A. No.39
Q. Between the assassination and the shooting, did anybody
you know tell you they knew Oswald ?
A. No.40
Q. Aside from anything you .said to George Senator on Sunday morning,
did you ever tell anyone else that you intended to shoot Oswald ?
A. No.41
Q. Did you shoot Oswald in order to silence him ?
Q. Did you first decide to shoot Oswald on Friday night ?
Q. Did you first decide to shoot Oswald on Saturday morning ?
A. No.43
Q. Did you first decide to shoot Oswald on Saturday night?
A. No.44
Q. Did you first decide to shoot Oswald on Sunday Morning ?
A. Yes.45
Q. Were you on the sidewalk at the time Lieutenant Pierce's car
stopped on the ramp exit ?
A. Yes.46
Q. Did you enter the jail by walking through an alleyway ?
A. No.47
Q. Did you walk past the guard at the time Lieutenant Pierce's
car was parked on the ramp exit ?
A. Yes.48
Q. Did you talk with any Dallas police officers on Sunday,
November 24, prior to the shooting of Oswald ?
A. No.49
Q. Did you see the armored car before it entered the basement ?
A. No.50
Q. Did you enter the police department through a door at
the rear of the east side of the jail ?
A. No.51
Q. After talking to Little Lynn did .you hear any announce-
ment that Oswald was about to be moved ?
A. No.52
Q. Before you left your apartment Sunday morning, did anyone tell you
the armored car was on the way to the police department?
810
Page 811
A. No.53
Q. Did you get a Wall Street Journal at the Southwestern
Drug Store during the week before the assassination ? A. No.54
Q. Do you have any knowledge of a Wall Street Journal ad-
dressed to Mr. J. E. Bradshaw ?
A. No.55
Q. To your knowledge, did any of your friends or did you
telephone the FBI in Dallas between 2 or 3 a.m. Sunday morning ?
A. No.56
Q. Did you or any of your friends to your knowledge telephone the
sheriff's office between 2 or 8 a.m. Sunday morning?
A. No.57
Q. Did you go to the Dallas police station at any time on
Friday, November 22, 1963, before you went to the synagogue ?
A. No.58
Q. Did you go to the synagogue that Friday night ?
A. Yes.59
Q. Did you see Oswald in the Dallas jail on Friday night?
A. Yes.60
Q. Did you have a gun with you when you went to the Friday
midnight press conference at the jail ?
A. No.61
Q. Is everything you told the Warren Commission the entire truth ?
A. Yes.62
Q. Have you ever knowingly attended any meetings of the Communist Party
or any other group that advocates violent
overthrow of the Government ?
A. No.63
Q. Is any member of your immediate family or any close
friend, a member of the Communist Party ?
A. No.64
Q. Is any member of your immediate family or any close friend a member
of any group that advocates the violent overthrow of the Government ?
A. No.65
Q. Did any close friend or any member of your immediate
family ever attend a meeting of the Communist Party ?
A. No.66
Q. Did any close friend or any member of your immediate family ever
attend a meeting of any group that advocates the violent, overthrow of
the Government. ?
A. No.67
Q. Did you ever meet Oswald at your post office box ?
A. No.68
Q. Did you use your post office mailbox to do any business with Mexico
or Cuba?
811
Page 812
A. No.69
Q. Did you do business with Castro-Cuba ?
A. No.70
Q. Was your trip to Cuba solely for pleasure ?
A. Yes.71
Q. Have you now told us the truth concerning why you carried $2,200 in
cash on you ?
A. Yes. 72
Q. Did any foreign influence cause you to shoot Oswald ?
A. No.73
Q. Did you shoot Oswald because of any influence of the
underworld ?
A. No.74
Q. Did you shoot Oswald because of a labor union influence?
A. No.75
Q. Did any long-distance telephone calls which you made before the
assassination of the President have anything to do with the
assassination ?
A. No.76
Q. Did any of your long-distance telephone calls concern the
shooting of Oswald ?
A. No.77
Q. Did you shoot Oswald in order to save Mrs. Kennedy the
ordeal of a trial ?
A. Yes.78
Q. Did you know the Tippit that was killed ?
A. No.79
Q. Did yon tell the truth about relaying the message to Ray
Brantley to get McWillie a few guns ?
A. Yes.80
Q. Did you go to the assembly room on Friday night to get
the telephone number of KLIF ?
A. Yes.81
Q. Did you ever meet with Oswald and Officer Tippit at your
club ?
A. No 82
Q. Were you at the Parkland Hospital at any time on Friday ?
A. No.83
Q. Did you say anything when you shot Oswald other than
what you've testified about ?
A. No.84
Q. Have members of your family been physically harmed be-
cause of what you did ?
A. No.85
Q. Do you think members of your family are now in danger because of what
you did ?
(No response. ) 86
Q. Is Mr. Fowler in danger because he is defending you ?
(No response.) 87
812
Page 813
Q. Did "Blackie" Hanson speak to you just before you shot Oswald?
A. No.88
Interpretation of the Test
Page 813
INTERPRETATION OF THE TEST
A polygraph examination is designed to detect physiological responses to
stimuli in a carefully controlled interrogation. Such responses may
accompany and indicate deception.89 The polygraph instrument derives its
name from the Greek derivative "poly" meaning many and the word "graph"
meaning writings.90 The polygraph chart writings consist of. three
separate markings placed on a graph reflecting three separate
physiological reactions.91 A rubber tube is placed around the subject's
chest to record his breathing pattern on a pneumograph.92 That device
records the respiratory ratio of inhalation and exhalation strokes.93
The second component is called a galvanic skin response which consists
of electrodes placed on the examinee's fingers, through which a small
amount of electrical current is passed to the skin.94 The galvanometer
records the minute changes in electrical skin response.95 The third
component consists of a cardiograph which is a tracing obtained by
attaching a pneumatic cuff around the left arm in a manner very. similar
to an apparatus which takes blood pressure.96 When the cuff is inflated,
that device records relative blood pressures or change in the heart
rate.97
From those testing devices, it is possible to measure psychological or
emotional stress.98 This testing device is the product of observation by
psychologists and physiologists who noted certain physiological
responses when people lie.99 In about 1920 law enforcement officials
with psychological and physiological training initiated the development
of the instrument to serve as an investigative aid.100
The polygraph may record responses indicative of deception, lint it must
be carefully interpreted.101 The relevant questions, as to which the
interrogator is seeking to determine whether the subject is falsifying,
are compared with control questions where the examiner obtains a known
indication of deception or some expected emotional response.102 In
evaluating the polygraph, due consideration must be given to the fact
that a physiological response may be caused by factors other than
deception, such as fear, anxiety, nervousness, dislike, and other
emotions.103 There are no valid statistics as to the reliability of the
poly-graph. 104 FBI Agent Herndon testified that, notwithstanding the
absence of percentage indicators of reliability, an informed judgment
may be obtained from a well-qualified examiner on the indications of
deception in a normal person under appropriate standards of
administration.105
Ordinarily during a polygraph examination only the examiner and the
examinee are present.106 It is the practice of the FBI, however, to have
a second agent present to take notes.107 lt is normally undesirable to
have other people present during the polygraph examina-
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Page 814
tion because the examinee may react emotionally to them.108 Because of
the numerous interested parties involved in Ruby's polygraph
examination, there were present individuals representing the Commission
and the Dallas district attorney, as well as two defense counsel, two
FBI agents, the chief jailer, the psychiatrist, and the court reporter,
although the assistant district attorney and one defense counsel left
when Ruby was actually responding to questions while the instrument was
activated.109 Ruby was placed in a position where there was a minimum of
distraction for him during the test.110 He faced a wall and could not
see anyone except possibly through secondary vision from the side.111
Agent Herndon expressed the opinion that Ruby was not affected by the
presence of the people in the room.112
Answer by Ruby to certain irrelevant control questions suggested an
attempt to deceive on those questions. For example, Ruby answered "No"
to the question "While in the service did you receive any disciplinary
action ?" 113 His reaction suggested deception in his answer.114
Similarly, Ruby's negative answer to the query "Did you ever overcharge
a customer ?" was suggestive of deception.115 Ruby further showed an
emotional response to other control questions such as "Have you ever
been known by another name"116 "Are you married ?"117 "Have you ever
served time in jails ?" 118 "Are your parents alive ?" 119 "Other than
what you told me, did you ever hit anyone with any kind of a weapon ?"
120 Herndon concluded that. the absence of any physiological response on
the relevant questions indicated that there was no deception.121
An accurate evaluation of Ruby's polygraph examination depends on
whether he was psychotic. Since a psychotic is divorced from reality,
the polygraph tracings could not be logically interpreted on such an
individual. A psychotic person might believe a false answer was true so
he would not register an emotional response characteristic of deception
as a normal person would.122 If a person is so mentally disturbed that
he does not understand the nature of the questions or the substance of
his answers, then no validity can be attached to the polygraph
examination.123 Herndon stated that if a person, on the other hand, was
in touch with reality, then the poly-graph examination could be
interpreted like any other such test.124
Based on his previous contacts with Ruby and from observing him during
the entire polygraph proceeding, Dr. William R. Beavers testified as
follows:
In the greater proportion of the time that he answered the questions, I
felt that he was aware of the questions and that he understood them, and
that he was giving answers based on an appreciation of reality.125
Dr. Beavers further stated that he had previously diagnosed Ruby a
"psychotic depressive." 126
814
Page 815
Based on the assumption that Ruby was a "psychotic depressive," Herndon
testified:
There would be no validity to the polygraph examination, and no
significance should be placed upon the polygraph charts.127
Considering other phases of Dr. Beavers' testimony, Herndon stated:
Well, based on the hypothesis that Ruby was mentally competent and
sound, the charts could be interpreted, and if those conditions are
fact, the charts could be interpreted to indicate that there was no area
of deception present with regard to his response to the relevant
questions during the polygraph examination.128
In stating his opinion that Ruby was in touch with reality and
understood the questions and answers, Dr. Beavers excepted two questions
where he concluded that Ruby's underlying delusional state took hold.129
Those questions related to the safety of Ruby's family and his defense
counsel.130 While in the preliminary session Ruby had answered those
questions by stating that he felt his family and defense counsel were in
danger, he did not answer either question when the polygraph was
activated.131 Dr. Beavers interpreted Ruby's failure to answer as a
reflection of "internal struggle as to just what was reality." 132 In
addition, Dr. Beavers testified that the test was not injurious to
Ruby's mental or physical condition.133
Because Ruby not only volunteered but insisted upon taking a poly-graph
examination, the Commission agreed to the examination. FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover commented on the examination as follows:
It should be pointed out that the polygraph, often referred to as "lie
detector" is not in fact such a device. The instrument is designed to
record under proper stimuli emotional responses in the form of
physiological variations which may indicate and accompany deception. The
FBI feels that the polygraph technique is not sufficiently precise to
permit absolute judgements of deception or truth without qualifications.
The polygraph technique has a number of limitations, one of which
relates to the mental fitness and condition of the examinee to be
tested.
During the proceedings at Dallas, Texas, on July 18, 1964, Dr. William
R. Beavers, a psychiatrist, testified that he would generally describe
Jack Ruby as a "psychotic depressive." In view of the serious question
raised as to Ruby's mental condition, no significance should be placed
on the polygraph examination and it should be considered nonconclusive
as the charts cannot be relied upon.134
815
Page 816
Having granted Ruby's request for the examination, the Commission is
publishing the transcript of the hearing at which the test was conducted
135 and the transcript of the deposition of the FBI polygraph operator
who administered the test.136 The Commission did not rely on the results
of this examination in reaching the conclusions stated in this report.
816
Appendix XVIII
Page 817
APPENDIX XVIII NOTES TO PAGES IX-39
Footnotes
For references to the testimony of witnesses before the Commission, the
following citation form is used: number of volume, "H" (for "Hearings
before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President
Kennedy"), page number, and the name of the witness in parentheses,
e.g., 7 H 441 (O'Donnell). Commission exhibits are referred to by the
capital letters "CE" and number; deposition exhibits by the name of the
witness, the capital letters "DE," and the number or letter of his
exhibit, e.g., CE 705; Sorrels I)E 1. References to audiovisual sources
for one Dallas broadcasting station (WFAA) are cited as follows: PKT for
video tapes, PKF for films, and PKA for audio tapes. The video and audio
reels and tapes of other stations are cited by number, e.g., WFAA-TV
reel PKT 10; KRLD-TV reel 13.
FOREWORD
1. Executive Order No. 11130 is set forth as app. 1.
2. The White House press release is set forth as app. II.
3. Senate Joint Resolution 137 (Public Law 88-202) is set forth as app.
III,
4. The names of all witnesses are set forth in app. V.
5. The procedures of the Commission are set forth as app, VI.
CHAPTER II
1. 4 H 130 (Gov. John B. Connally, Jr.);
7 H 441 (Kenneth O'Donnell).
2. Id. at 441, 442.
3. Id. at 442-443.
4. Id. at 442.
5. Ibid.
6. 7 H 475 (Clifton C. Carter).
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. 4 H 145-146 (Connally).
10. Ibid.; CE 1367.
11, 4 H 130 (Connally); CE 2960..
12. 7 H 442 (O'Donnell).
13. 4 H 146 (Connally).
14. Ibid.
15. 7 H 443 (O'Donnell).
16. Ibid.
17. 4 H 319-325 (Winston G. Lawson) ;
7 H 334-341 (Forrest V. Sorrels).
Governor Connally testified that he was not
consulted about the security arrangements in
Dallas, and that he did not expect to be. 4 H 145 (Connally).
18. 4 H 319 (Lawson); 7 H 334 (Sorrels).
19. CE 769, p. 1; 4 H 320 (Lawson).
20. Details of the advance work done by Agent Lawson
are set forth in his contemporaneous memoranda; CE 767,
766, 769.
21.4 H 321-322 (Lawson); 2 H 107 (Roy H. Kellerman).
22. 4 H 322-324, 344-346 (Lawson).
23. CE 768, p. 9; see also 7 H 339 (Sorrels).
24. CE 770.
25. 4, H 323-324 (Lawson).
26. 7 H 334 (Sorrels).
27. See id. at 335; Sorrels DE 4, p. 1.
28. CE 769, p. 2.
29. CE 1360; 4 H 336-337 (Lawson).
30. CE 768, pp. 6-13; CE 769, p. 5; 4
H 338 (Lawson).
31. Id. at 325.
32. Ibid.
33. CE 769, p. 2; 7 H 337 (Sorrels).
34. CE 768, p. 4.
35. Ibid.
36. CE 769, p. 3.
37. 7 H 338 (Sorrels); 4 H 326 (Lawson); CE 1022, p. 2; CE 769, p. 3.
38. 4 H 341 (Lawson); CE 1022, p. 3.
39. 7 H 333 (Sorrels).
40. Id. at 337.
41. Ibid.
42. 4 H 326 (Lawson).
43. CE 876 is an aerial view of Dealey Plaza and the Triple Underpass;
see also CE2188.
44. 7 H 237 (Sorrels); CE 2114-2116,
817
Page 818
NOTES TO PAGES 39-51
45. Ibid.
46. CE 2967; see 7 H 337 (Sorrels); 4 H 333 (Lawson).
47. Id. at 326.
48. CE 769. p. 4; 4 H 326 (Lawson).
49. Id. at 326-327.
50. 5 H 465--466 (James J. Rowley); 4 H 329, 333 (Lawson).
51. Id. at 327-329. The adequacy of
these arrangements is considered inch.
VIII 447-449.
52. CE 102,2, p. 2.
53. CE 1361.
54. CE 1362.
55. CE 1363.
56. CE 1364.
57. CE 1365.
58. CE 1366.
59. CE 1367, 1368.
60. CE 1369.
61. CE 1370.
62. CE 1371.
63. CE 1372, 1373.
64. Ibid.
65. CE 1374,
66. CE 1375, 1376.
67. 4 H 323 (Lawson); 7 H 339 (Sorrels); CE 769, p. 8.
68. CE 1377, 1378.
69. CE 1379.
70. CE 1380.
71. CE 996; see also 5 H 534 (Robert G. Klause).
72. CE 1031; 5 H 504 (Bernard W. Weissman).
73. CE 1031.
74. 4 H 130 (Connally); 7 H 444-445 O'Donnell).
75. Id. at 445.
76. 4 H 130 (Connally); 7 H 445 O'Donnell).
77. 7 H 472 (David F. powers). 78. Ibid.
79. 4 H 130 (Connally); 7 H 445 ( O 'Donnell ).
80. 2 H 63-64 (Kellerman); 7 H 459 (Lawrence F. O'Brien).
81. 7 H 443-444 (O'Donnell).
82. Id. at 456.
83. Ibid.
84. 4 H 349 (Lawson); 2 H 67 (Kellerman).
85. 5 H 561 (Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson); 4 H 130 (Connally); CE 2526.
86. 5 H 560 (Johnson); 7 H 474 (Clifton C. Carter); 2 It 146 (Rufus W.
Youngblood).
87. 7 H 461 (O'Brien); 2 It 67 (Kellerman); 4 H 339, 350 (Lawson).
88. Id. at 350; CE 1024.
89. 4 H 339-340 (Lawson).
90. 5 H 560-561 (Johnson); CE 1024, statement of Rufus W. Youngblood.
91. 5 H 561 (Johnson); 2 H 115 (Greer).
92. See 4 H 335-336 (Lawson).
93. 4 H 132 (Connally); 2 H 135 (Clinton J. Hill); 2 H 70 (Kellerman); 4
H 326, 351 (Lawson).
94. 2 H 135-136 (Hill); 4 H 351 (Lawson).
95. CE 768, p. 5.
96. 2 H 67 (Kellerman); 4 H 327 (Lawson).
97. CE 768, p. 5 2 H 67 (Kellerman).
98. Id. at 68; 4 H 327-328 (Lawson) 2 H 116 (Greer).
99. CE 344, 345, 346.
100. 2 H 65 (Kellerman); 2 H 114 (Greer).
101. 4 H 349 (Lawson); 2 H 66-67 (Kellerman).
102. Id. at 67.
103. Id. at 64-65.
104. CE 345.
818
105. 2 H 136-137 (Hill); CE 1025.
106. 4 H 130-131 (Connally); 2 H 68
(Kellerman); 2 II 115 (Greer).
107. Ibid.
108. Ibid.
109. 2 H 70 (Kellerman).
110. 4 H 338-339 (Lawson).
111. 2 H 135 (Hill).
112. Id. at 1.34.
113. Id. at 134-135.
114. 7 H 446 (O'Donnell); 7 H 473 ( Powers ).
115. 4 H 327, 329 (Lawson).
116. Ibid.; 7 H 342 (Sorrels).
117. 4 It 327 (Lawson); 2 H 135-136 ( Hill ).
118. Id. at 136.
119. 2 H 147 (Youngblood).
120. Id. at 148.
121. Id. at 147; 5 H 561 (Johnson);
7 It 439 (Senator Ralph W. Yarborough).
122. 2 H 147 (Youngblood).
123. 7 H 474 (Carter); 2 H 69 (Kellerman).
124. CE 767, attachment 3; CE 1126.
125. 2 H 70 (Kellerman); 4 H 336 (Lawson).
126. CE 768, pp. 9-10.
127. 4 H 130-131 (Connally): 2 H 67, 70 (Kellerman); 2 It 115 (Greer).
128. 4 H 132 (Connally); 2 H 135
(Hill); 2 H 70 (Kellerman).
129. Ibid.
130. 4 H 132 (Connally).
131. 7 II 447 (O'Donnell); 7 H 473 (Powers); 4 H 131 (Connally).
132. 2 It 135-1.36 (Hill); CE 398; CE
1024, statement of Clinton J. Hill, p. 2.
133. 2 H 135 (Hill).
134. 2 H 71 (Kellerman).
135. 2 H 147 (Youngblood).
136. CE 876; 2 H 71 (Kellerman).
137. CE 878; 2 H 71-72 (Kellerman).
138. 5 H 561 (Johnson); 4 II 132 ( Connally ).
139. 7 H 447 (O'Donnell); 7 H 463 (O'Brien); 7 H 473 (Powers).
140. 4 H 147 (Mrs. John B. Connally. Jr.); 4 H 131 (Connally).
141. 2 H 151 (Youngblood).
142. 7 H 473 (Powers).
143. 2 H 120 (Greer).
144. CE 1974, p. 163.
145. 2 H 119 (Greer).
146. 4 H 134 (Connally) 4 H 149 (Mrs. Connally); 7 H 448 (O'Donnell); 7
H 473 (Powers); 7 It 474 (Carter); 2 H 73 (Kellerman); 2 H 139 (Hill); 3
It 245 (Baker).
147. 5 H 160-161 (Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt).
148. 5 H 179-180 (Mrs. John F. Kennedy ).
149. 4 H 132-133 (Connally).
150. Id. at 135-136.
151. 4 It 147 (Mrs. Connally).
152. 2 It 73-74 (Kellerman).
153. 2 H 117 (Greer).
154. 2 H 74-77 (Kellerman).
155. 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally).
156. 4 H 133 (Connally).
157. 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally).
158. 4 It 133 (Connally).
159. Ibid.; 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally).
160. Ibid. 4 H 133 (Connally).
161. 2 H 138 (Hill).
162. Ibid.
163. Id. at 138-139.
164. Ibid.
165. 7 H 473 (Powers).
166. 5 H 180 (Mrs. Kennedy).
167. CE 1024, statement of John D. Ready.
168. CE 1024, statement of George W. Hickey, Jr.
Page 819
NOTES TO PAGES 51-60
169. CE 1024, statement of Emory P. Roberts.
170. Ibid.
171. 2 H 148-149 (Youngblood). 172. Id. at 149.
173. 5 H 561 (Johnson). 174. 7 H 475 (Carter). 175. 4 H 325 (Lawson).
176. 7 H 347 (Sorrels).
177. 2 H 74 (Kellerman); 2 H 120 (Greer); 2 H 141 (Hill); 2 H 149 (
Youngblood ).
178. 4 H 353-354 (Lawson). 179. 4 H 161 (Jesse E. Curry). 180. CE 1974,
pp. 163- 164.
181. Ibid.; 2 H 151 (Youngblood); 2 H 141 (Hill); 7 H 450 (O'Donnell); 7
H 475 (Carter).
182. 2 H 151 (Youngblood); CE 1126,
183. 6 H 144 (Doris M. Nelson); 6 H 116
(Ruth J. Standridge).
184. 3 H 358 (Dr. Charles J. Carrico).
185. 6 H 344 (Nelson).
186. 3 H 363 (Carrico); 3 H 369-371
(Dr. Malcolm O. Perry).
187. 4 H 354 (Lawson); 6 H 135
(Diana H. Bowron).
188. 2 H 142 (Hill); 2 H 82 (Kellerman ).
189. 4 H 143 (Connally).
190. 6 H 116 (Standridge).
191. 2 H 79 (Kellerman); 2 H 124
(Greer); 4 H 354 (Lawson).
192. 3 H 359 (Carrico); 6 H 141 (Margaret M. Henchliffe); 6 H 136
(Bowron).
193. 3 H 358 (Carrico).
194. Ibid.
195. Id. at 359.
196. Ibid.
197. Id. at 361-362: 6 H 3 (Carrico).
198. 3 H 361 (Carrico).
199. Id. at 359-360.
200. Ibid.
201. Id. at 360.
202. Ibid.; 6 H 3 (Carrico).
203. 3 H 360 (Carrico) 3 H 368
(Perry).
204. Ibid.
205. Id. at 368-370.
206. Id. at 370.
207. Id. at 370, 372.
208. Id. at 370.
209. Id. at 371.
210. Id. at 370.
211. Id. at 371; 3 H 360 Carrico).
212. 3 H 371 (Perry); 6 H 20 (Dr. William Kemp Clark).
213. Ibid.
214. Id. at 25.
215. Id. at 20; 3 H 371 (Perry).
216. CE 1126, p. 3.
217. 6 H 20 (Clark) : 3 H 372 (Perry);
6 H 41 (Dr. Charles R. Baxter).
218. 6 H 20 (Clark).
219. 3 H 372 .(Ferry); 2 H 360 (Comdr.
James J. Humes).
220. 3 H 359 (Carrico).
221. 3 H 363 (Carrico); 3 H 382
(Perry); 6 H 25 (Clark).
222. 6 H 3 (Carrico).
223. 3 H 382 (Perry); 6 H 29 (Clark);
6 H 48-49 (Dr. Marion T. Jenkins).
224. 4 H 103-104 (Dr. Robert R. Shaw).
225. 3 H 358 (Carrico).
226. Ibid.; 6 H 77-78 (Dr. Jackie H.
Hunt): 6 H 74-75 (Dr. A. H. Giesecke,
Jr.): 4 H 103 (Shaw).
227. Id. at 102-103.
228. Id. at 103.
229. Id. at 104-105; CE 392; 6 H 85, 87
(Shaw).
230. Id. at 88.
231. Id. at 85.
232. 4 H 135 (Connally).
233. 6 H 97 (Dr. Charles F. Gregory). 234. 4 H 126-127 (Gregory).
235. 6 H 105-106 (Dr. George
Shires ).
236. Id. at 106.
237. 5 H 561 (Johnson); 2 H 149
(Youngblood).
238. Ibid.
239. Id. at 152:7 H 475 (Carter).
240. 5 H 564-565 (Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson); 7 H 475 (Carter).
241. 5 H 561-562 (Johnson): 2 H 152
(Youngblood); 7 H 475 (Carter). 242. 2 H 152 (Youngblood).
243. 5 H 562 (Johnson); 7 H 451 (O'Donnell).
244. 2 H 154-155 (Youngblood).
245. Id. at 152; 7 H 451 (O'Donnell);
5 H 561 (Johnson). 246. Ibid.
247. CE 1026; CE 1024, statement of Emory P. Roberts, p. 5.
248. 5 H 562 (Johnson); 2 H 153 (Youngblood).
249. Ibid.
250. 2 H 96 (Kellerman); 2 H 126
(Greer); CE 1026.
251. 2 H 80 (Kellerman); 2 H 142
(Hill).
252. 2 H 96 (Kellerman); CE 1024,
statements of David B. Grant, Samuel E.
Sulliman, Ernest E. Olsson. Jr., .John J. Howlett, Andrew E. Berger,
Robert A.
Steuart. and Richard E, Johnsen. 253. CE 772. p. 3.
254. CE 2554. statements of Donald J. Lawton, Roger C. Warner, Henry J.
Rybka, and William H. Patterson.
255. CE 2554, statement of Roger C. Warner, p. 2.
256. 2 H 153 (Youngblood).
257. 7 H 474 (Powers); 3 H 382 (Perry); CE 1126.
258. 7 H 452 (O'Donnell). 259. Ibid,; 2 H 142 (Hill).
260. 7 H 453-454 (O'Donnell); 7 H 468-470 (O'Brien).
261, 7 H 453 (O'Donnell); 2 H 96-97 ( Kellerman ).
262. 7 H 454 (O'Donnell). 263. 5 H 562-563 (Johnson).
264. 7 H 454 (O'Donnell); 2 H 154 ( Youngblood ).
265. 2 H 143 (Hill); 2 H 98 (Keller-
266. 5 H 563 (Johnson): 5 H 566 (Mrs. Johnson); 7 H 470 (O'Brien).
267. 2 H 143 (Hill); 2 H 98 (Kellerman ).
268. 7 H 454 (O'Donnell); 7 H 471 (O'Brien).
269. 2 H 98 (Kellerman); 2 H 143 (Hill).
270. 2 H 98 (Kellerman). 271. 2 H 154 (Youngblood). 272. 7 H 454-455 (O
Donnell).
273. 2 H 99 (Kellerman); 2 H 143 (Hill).
274. Ibid.; 7 H 455 (O'Donnell). 275. 2 H 143 (Hill).
276. CE 1024, statement of Clinton J. Hill, p. 5.
277. 2 H 349 (Comdr. James J. Humes). 278. Ibid. 279. CE 387.
280. 2 H 351 (Humes). 281. Id. at 354. 282. Id. at 353-354.
283. 5 H 73 (Robert A. Frazier). 284. 2 H 361-362 (Humes).
285. Id. at 349: 2 H 100 (Kellerman); 2 H 143-144 (Hill).
286. 7 H 455 (O'Donnell); 2 H 144 ( H 111 ).
819
Page 820
NOTES TO PAGES 63-81
CHAPTER III
1.3 H 142-143 (Howard L. Brennan);
CE 477, 478.
2. 3 H 149 (Brennan); CE 1437.
3. CE 479.
4. 3 H 142 (Brennan).
5. See id. at 142-143.
6. Id. at 143.
7. Ibid.
8. Id. at 143-144.
9. Id. at 144.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Id. at 145.
13. 2 H 204 (Amos Lee Euins).
14. Ibid.; see CE 365, 366.
15. 2 H 204 (Euins).
16. 6 H 310-311 (D. V. Harkness); 6
H 170 (James R. Underwood).
17. 6 II 313 (Harkness).
18. Id. at 310; CE 1974 p. 165.
19. 6 H 313 (Harkness) (Euins description of the man he saw is discussed
in ch.
IV, p. 147).
20.. 2 H 157-158 (Robert H. Jackson).
21. Id. at 158-159.
22. Id. at 159.
23. 6 It 164 (Tom C. Dillard); 6 H 156-
157 (Malcolm D. Couch); 6 H 169 (Under-
wood ).
24. 6 H 164 (Dillard).
25. Id. at 164-165; CE 480, 481, 482.
26. 6 H 156-157 (Couch).
27. Id. at 157.
28. 7 H 485-486 (Mrs. Earle Cabell).
29. Id. at 486.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.; 7 H 478 (Earle Cabell).
33. 7 H 487 (Mrs. Cabell).
34. 6 It 172-173 (James N. Crawford).
35. Ibid.
36. Id. at 173.
37. Ibid.
38. 6 H 176 (Mary Ann Mitchell).
39. Ibid.
40. 3 H 202-203 (James Jarman, Jr.).
41. 3 H 190 (Harold Norman).
42. 3 H 169-173 (Bonnie R. Williams).
43. Id. at 173; 3 H 190 (Norman);
3 H 202, 203 (Jarman).
44. 3 H 195 (Norman).
45. Id. at 191.
46. 3 H 175 (Williams).
47. Ibid.
48. 3 H 204 (Jarman).
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Id. at 204-205.
52. Id. at 211.
53. Ibid.
54. Id. at 207, 211.
55. 3 H 196 (Norman).
56. Id. at 195.
57. See, e.g., the statements of eye-
witnesses in CE 1428, 1432, 1433, 1435,
1436, 2084.
58. See e.g. CE 1428, 1432, 2087, 2088,
2098, 2099.
59. 6 H 249 (J. W. Foster); 6 H 254
(J. C. White).
60. 6 H 256-257 (Joe E. Murphy);
Murphy DE A.
61. 6 H 257 (Murphy).
62. 6 H 250 (Foster); 6 H 255
(White); see 6 It 256 (Murphy).
63. Id. at 257.
64. 6 H 250 (Foster).
65. 6 H 241 (S. M. Holland).
66. See 6 H 224 (Austin L. Miller); 6 H 22.8 (Frank E. Reilly); 6 H
236-237 (Royce G. Skelton); 6 H 240-242 (Holland); CE 1416-1424
(statements of
James L. Simmons, Walter Luke Winborn,
Nolan II. Potter, Curtis Freeman Bishop,
Richard Calvin Dodd, Thomas J. Murphy,
Clemon Earl Johnson, Ewell William
Cowsert, and George A. Davis).
67. 6 H 239-24.1 (Holland).
68. 6 H 253 (Foster).
69. 7 H 516 (James W. Altgens); 6 H 226 (Miller).
70. 6 H 284-285 (Lee H. Bowers, Jr.). 71. Id. at 285.
72. Id. at 285-286. 73. Id. at 287.
74. 6 H 229 (Reilly); 6 H 241-242 (Holland); 6 H 258 (Murphy); Murphy DE
A.
75. 6 H 250 (Foster); see 6 H 229 ( Reilly ).
76. 4 H 351 (Winston G. Lawson); 7
H 346 (Forrest V. Sorrels). 77. 4 H 351 (Lawson). 78. See 6 H 258
(Murphy). 79. 6 H 251 (Foster). 80. Id. at 251-252.
81. 6 H 225 (Miller).
82. 6 H 237-238 (Skelton). 83. 6 H 230 (Reilly).
84. 6 H 243-245 (Holland). 85. CE 1421.
86. 6 H 287 (Bowers),
87. See 6 H 251-252 (Foster). 88. 6 H 244 (Holland).
89. 6 H 225 (Miller); see also CE 1416, 1417.
90. 6 H 287-288 (Bowers); CE 1416-1419, 1423.
91. 6 H 298 (Clyde A. Haygood).
92. 5 H 67 (Robert A. Frazier); 3 H 432 (Frazier); CE 567.
93. 5 H 67 (Frazier); 3 H 435 (Frazier); CE 569.
94. 5 H 66, 71 (Frazier); CE 840. 95. 5 H 68 (Frazier).
96. Ibid.; CE 350; see 2 H 85-86, 87-89 (Roy H. Kellerman).
97. 5 H 70 (Frazier); CE 349.
98. 5 H 67-69, 72-74 (Frazier). 99. Ibid.
100. Id. at 68; 3 H 399 (Frazier). 101. 5 H 68 (Frazier).
102. 2 H 86 (Kellerman); CE 351. 103. 5 H 69 (Frazier).
104. 2 H 84-85 (Kellerman); 2 H 122 (William Robert Greer).
105. 5 H 70 (Frazier). 106. Ibid. 107. Ibid.
108. 4 H 204-205 (Jesse W. Fritz); 3 H 283-284 (Luke Mooney).
109. Id. at 284-285 ; CE 508.
110. 3 H 285 (Mooney); CE 510, 1974, p. 176.
111. 4 H 205 (Fritz). 112. 3 H 285 (Mooney).
113. 4 H 249-250 (J. C. Day); CE 715, 716.
114. 3 H 293-294 (Eugene Boone); 7 H 107 (Seymour Weitzman); CE 514,
515.
115. 3 H 293 (Boone); 4 H 205 (Fritz); 4 H 257 (Day); CE 718; see 7 H
161 (Richard M. Sims).
116. 4 H 258-259 (Day); 4 H 205 (Fritz); CE 141.
117. 4 H 260 (Day); 4 H 206 (Fritz).
118. 3 H 294 (Boone); 4 H 260 (Day); see 7 H 108-109 (Weitzman).
119. 6 H 116-117 (Ruth J. Standridge).
120. 6 H 1.21-122 (Jane C. Wester); 6 II 126 (R. J. Jimison).
121. 6 H 129-131 (Darrel C. Tomlinson ).
122. Id. at 130.
820
Page 821
NOTES TO PAGES 81-96
123. 3 H 363 (Dr. Charles J. Carrico);
6 H 137 (Diana H. Bowron).
124. Id. at 137-138; 6 H 141 (Margaret
M. Henchcliffe); 6 H 145 (Doris M.
Nelson ).
125. Id. at 145-146; 6 H 142 (Henchcliffe); 6 H 137-138 (Bowron).
126. 3 H 392-394 (Frazier); 4 H 260
(Day); CE 139.
127. 3 H 393-394 (Frazier); CE 541.
128. 3 H 392-393 (Frazier).
129. Id. at 392; CE 540.
130. 3 H 392-393 (Frazier).
131. 7 H 108-109 (Weitzman).
132. 3 H 395 (Frazier).
133. Ibid.
134. Id. at 395-396; 4 H 260 (Day).
135. 3 H 397 (Frazier).
136. Id. at 391.
137. Id. at 391, 421.
138. 3 H 496 (Joseph D. Nicol).
139. See generally 3 H 417-419, 429-430
( Frazier ).
140. Id. at 424.
141. See app. X.
142. 3 H 429, 432, 435 (Frazier); 3 H
498, 500-502 (Nicol); CE .399, 567, 569.
143, 3 H 502 (Nicol); 3 H 434, 436
(Frazier).
144. 3 H 497 (Nicol); 3 H 435 (Frazier).
145. 5 H 73-74 (Frazier).
146. 3 H 415 (Frazier); 3 H 505
(Nicol); CE 543-545.
147. 3 H 440 (Frazier); 7 H 591 (Cortlandt Cunningham); 7 H 591 (Charles
L.
Killion).
148. 2 H 352-353 (Comdr. James J.
Humes); 2 H 377 (Comdr. J. Thornton
Boswell); 2 H 380 (Lt. Col. Pierre A,
Finck ).
149. 2 H 352 (Humes).
150. Id. at 357-359.
151. Id. at 859-361.
152. CE 400.
153. 2 H 379-380 (Finck).
154. 2 H 352 (Humes).
155. Ibid.
156. Ibid.
157. Ibid.; 2 H 377 (Boswell); CE 388.
158. 5 H 75-77 (Dr. Alfred G. Olivier).
159. Id. at 89; CE 861, 862.
160. 5 H 87 (Olivier).
161. 14. at 89.
162. 2 H 361 (Humes); CE 387, 391.
163. 2 H 364 (Humes); 2 H 380
( Finck ).
164. Ibid.; 2 H 364 (Humes); 2 H 377
( Boswell ).
165. 2 H 363 (Humes).
166. Id. at 367-368.
167. Id. at 364.
168. lbid.: 2 H 380 (Finck); CE 385.
169. 2 H 368-369 (Humes).
170. Id. at 367.
171. Id. at 363.
172. Id. at 361-362.
173. 3 H 361 (Carrico).
174. 3 H 388 (Dr. Malcolm O. Perry);
id. at 372.
175. 3 It 362 (Carrico).
176. 3 H 373 (Perry).
177. 3 H 362 (Carrico).
178. 3 H 373 (Perry).
179. 6 H 42-43 (Dr. Charles R. Baxter);
6 H 35 (Dr. Robert N. McClelland); 6 H
48-50 (Dr. Mar/on T. Jenkins); 6 H 55
(Dr. Ronald C. Jones).
180. 3 H 369 (Perry).
181. Id. at 375.
182. Id. at 375-376.
183. Id. at 375.
184. Id. at 368, 372, 375.
185. Id. at 375.
186. CE 1415, "The Doctors' Hard Fight
To Save Him," New York Herald Tribune,
Nov. 23, 1963.
187. 5 H 76-78 (Olivier). 188. Id. at 78; CE 850.
189. See 3 H 362 (Carrico);3 H 368 (Perry).
190. 2 H 364 (Humes); CE 385; see 5 H 60-61 (Frazier); CE 394.
191. 2 H 375 (Humes).
192. 5 H 77-78 (Olivier); CE 849.
193. 5 H 59-62 (Frazier); CE 393, 394, 395.
194. 5 H 59-62 (Frazier). 195. Id. at 59. 196. Ibid.
197. Id. at 59-60. 198. Id. at 60. 199. Ibid. 200. Ibid. 201. Ibid. 202.
Ibid. 203. Ibid.
204. Id. at 61. 205. Ibid. 206. CE 395.
207. 5 H 62 (Frazier). 208. Ibid.
209. 4 H 104 (Dr. Robert R. Shaw). 210. Id. at 104-105; CE 679, 680.
211. 4 H 104 (Shaw); 6 H 85 (Shaw).
212. 4 H 136-138 (Gov. John B. Connally, Jr.).
213. Id. at 135.
214. 4 H 118, 124 (Dr. Charles F.
Gregory).
215. Id. at 118-119.
216. Id. at 119-120.
217. Id at 120-121.
218. Id at 124.
219. 6 H 89 (Shaw).
220.4 H 109 (Shaw).
221. 4 H 138 (Connally); 6 H 106 (Dr. George T. Shires).
222. See 5 H 87 (Olivier); 6 H 106 ( Shires ).
223. Ibid.; 4 H 125 (Gregory).
224. 6 H 106, 109 (Shires); 4 H 113 (Shaw); 4 H 125 (Gregory).
225. CE 684; 5 H 63 (Frazier). 226. Ibid.
227. Ibid.: CE 683. 228. 5 H 64 (Frazier). 229. Id. at 63-64.
230. Id. at 64; CE 685. 231. 5 H 64 (Frazier). 232. Ibid.
233. Ibid.: CE 686.
234. 5 H 64-65 (Frazier). 235. Ibid.
2,36. Id. at 65. 237. Ibid.
238. CE 687, 688; 5 H 65-66 (Frazier). 239. Ibid.
240. 5 H 93 (Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian). 241. Ibid.
242. Ibid.; see 5 It 82-83 (Olivier). 243. Id. at 81.
244. Ibid.; CE 854, 855.
245. 5 H 82 (Olivier); CE 856. 2.46. 5 H 82 (Olivier). 247. Id. at
82-83. 248. Ibid.
249. 4 H 121-122 (Gregory). 250. See id. at 124.
251. See 5 H 82 (Olivier). 252. Id. at 87; see id. at 82. 253. 3 H 430
(Frazier). 254. 6 H 98 (Gregory). 255. Id. at 98-99.
256. 6 H 91 (Shaw); 6 H 101-102
(Gregory): 6 H 109-110 (Shires)'-257. 4 H 139-140 (Connally). 258. Id.
at 138-139; CE 689.
259. 5 H 92 (Dziemian); see 5 H 84-87 (Olivier); 5 H 95-97 (Dr. F. W.
Light, Jr.).
260. 2 H 71-73 (Kellerman); 2 H 116--117 (Greer); 4 H 132-133
(Connally).
821
Page 822
NOTES TO PAGES 96-119
261. CE 347, 354, 699.
262. 5 H 137 (Leo J. Gauthier); CE 884; see 5 H 138-165 (Lyndal L.
Shaneyfelt).
263. Id. at 139-141. 264. Id. at 153-154. 265. Id. at 142.
266. Id. at 153-154; 3 H 407 (Frazier). 267. See 5 H 93 (Dziemian).
268. 5 H 130--132 (Thomas J. Kelley); see CE 871-874.
269. 5 H 132-134 (Kelley). 270. 5 H 147 (Shaneyfelt). 271. Id. at 162.
272. 5 H 134 (Kelley); 5 H 167 (Frazier).
273. 5 H 139 (Shaneyfelt). 274. Id. at 149.
275. Id. at 147-148. 276. See id. at 145. 277. Id. at 147-149. 278. Id.
at 149-150. 279. Id. at 150-151. 280. Id. at 152. 281. Id. at 151. 282.
Id. at 151-152. 283. Id. at 152. 284. Id. at 157.
285. Id. at 153, 156-157. 286. 5 H 168-169 (Frazier). 287. Id. at 71,
169.
288. Id. at 70, 169 (Frazier); 5 H 77 (Olivier).
289. 5 H 70-71 (Frazier). 290. Ibid. 291. Ibid.
292. Id. at 174. 293. CE 697, 698.
294. 5 H 131-132 (Kelley).
295. 3 H 359 (Carrico); 4 H 147 (Mrs. John B. Connally, Jr.); see 4 H
138-140 ( Connally ).
296. 5 H 169-171 (Frazier).
297. Id. at 170; 4 H 145 (Connally). 298. 5 H 170 (Frazier). 299. lbid.
300. Id. at 167.
301. 5 H 153 (Shaneyfelt); 5 H 137 (Gauthier).
302. 5 H 153, 162 (Shaneyfelt).
303. Ibid.
304. Id. at 162.
305. Id. at 162-163.
306. Id. at 163; CE 902, 903. 307. 5 H 133 (Kelley). 308. 5 It 163
(Shaneyfelt). 309. 4 H 137-188 (Connally). 310. See 4 H 104-105 (Shaw).
311. 5 It 164 (Shaneyfelt). 312. CE 385.
313. 5 H 78-80 (Olivier).
314. CE 399, 853; 5 H 80 (Olivier). 315. Id. at 80, 86. 316. Id. at 86.
317. Id. at 86-87; 5 It 91-92 (Dziemian).
318. Id. at 92 (Dziemian). 319. Ibid.; 5 H 83--84 (Olivier). 320. Id. at
86. 321. Id. at 80.
822. Id. at 84; 6 H 95 (Shaw).
323. 5 H 94, 97 (Light). 324. Id. at 97.
325. CE 389, 390, 885. 326. CE 388, 389.
327. See 5 H 159-160 (Shaneyfelt). 328. Ibid. 329. Ibid.
330. Id. at 145, 160. 331. Id. at 160.
332. E.g. 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally); 2 H 76 (Kellerman); 2 H 118 (Greer);
2 H 149-150 (Rufus W. Youngblood); 7 H 448 (Kenneth O'Donnell); 7 H 440
(Senator Ralph W. Yarborough); see also the reports of numerous
eyewitnesses in CE 1416- 1419. 1425, 1427, 1430-1432, 1434-1436, 2084,
2087, 2090, 2098-2107.
333. E.g. 2 H 139 (Clinton J. Hill); CE 1421, 1429.
334. E.g. 2 H 194 (James R. Worrell, Jr.); 6 H 207 (Jean L. Hill); 6 H
238 (Skelton).
335. Hatcher, Jury & Weller, Firearms Investigations, Identification and
Evidence, 41.8 (1957).
336. See supra at p. 85.
337. CE 1024, statement of Agent Glen A. Bennett.
338. CE 2112.
339. 4 H 132-133 (Connally).
340. 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally); 5 H 152 (Shaneyfelt).
341. 4 H 147 (Mrs. Connally). 342. 7 H 517, 520-521 (Altgens). 343. 5 H
158 (Shaneyfelt).
344. 7 H 493 (Phillip L. Willis); 15 H
696 697 (Shaneyfelt); Shaneyfelt DE 25. 345. 4 H 133, 135 (Connally).
346. 5 H 160 (Shaneyfelt).
347. Id. at 153-154; 3 H 407 (Frazier). 348. For recollection that the
second and third shots were closer together see e.g. 2 H 73-74
(Kellerman); 2 H 118 (Greer); 2 H 150 (Youngblood); 2 H 159 (Jackson);
CE 20'84, 2098, 2100.
For recollection that the shots were evenly spaced see e.g. 7 H 495
(Willis).
For recollection that the first and second shots were closer together
see the
statement of Cecil Ault, CE 2103. 349. 7 H 518 (Altgens).
350. 7 H 560 (Emmett J. Hudson).
351. 5 H 180 (Mrs. John F. Kennedy). 352. 6 H 238 (Skelton). 353. Ibid.
354. 6 H 252 (J. W. Foster). 355. See CE 2111..
356. 7 H 553 (James T. Tague). 357. 7 H 546 (Eddy R. Walthers). 358.
Ibid.; 7 H 553 (Tague). 359. Ibid.
360. Id. at 555.
361. CE 1974, p. 166; see 6 H 298 ( Haygood ).
362. 15 H 700 (Shaneyfelt). 363. Ibid. 364. Ibid.
365. E.g. 2 H 76 (Kellerman); 2 H 118 (Greer); 2 H 139 (Clinton J.
Hill); 2 H 150 (Youngblood; 2 H 182-183 (Arnold L. Rowland); 2 H 160
(Jackson).
CHAPTER IV
1. See ch. III.
2. 11 H 207 (Albert Yeargan); 11 H 206 (J. Philip Lux); 7 H 364 (William
Waldman).
3. 11 H 205 (Louis Feldsott).
4. 7 H 364-365 (Waldman); 7 H 370-371 (Mitchell Scibor).
5. 7 H 420 (James Cadigan); 4 H 373 (Alwyn Cole).
6. 7 H 420 (Cadigan); 4 H 359-362 (Cole).
7. 7 H 365-368 (Waldman); Waldman DE 7, 8, 9, 10; CE 773, 788.
8. CE 788, 789; 7 H 295 (Harry
Page 823
Holmes); 4 H 373 (Cole); 7 H 423 (Cadigan); Cadigan DE 11.
9. 7 H 366-368 (Waldman); Waldman DE 7, 10; CE 2957.
10. 7 H 365-368 (Waldman); Waldman DE 7, 8, 9, 10; CE 773, 788.
11. 7 H 361-364 (Waldman); Waldman DE 1, 3, 4.
12. Waldman DE 7.
13. 3 H 393 (Robert Frazier); CE 1977. 14. Holmes DE 3; Cadigan DE 13; 7
H 295 (Holmes); CE 2011, p. 17; see also CE 791, 792.
15. 4 H 377-378 (Cole); CE 791, 792.
16. 4 H 379 (Cole); 7 H 425-426 (Cadigan); CE 793.
17. 2 H 457-459 (Ruth Paine); 1 H 18-19 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 388 (Marina
Oswald ).
18. Cadigan DE 13; CE 791; 7 H 527 ( Holmes ).
19. Id. at 528.
20. 3 H 300-301 (M. N. McDonald); CE 143; 7 H 54 (Gerald Hill); 7 It
21-22 (Bob Carroll); Cadigan DE 12.
21. 7 H 376 (Heinz Michaelis); CE 135, 790; 7 H 594 (David Goldstein);
Cadigan DE 12.
22. 4 H 375 (Cole); 7 H 424 (Cadigan). 23. CE 801, 802; 7 H 187-188
(Richard Stovall); 7 H 228 (Guy Rose); CE 1986,
1989, 1990; CE 2011, p. 20. 24. CE 2011, p. 21.
25. CE 795, 1986, 1989, 1990; 7 H 187-188 (Stovall); 7 H 228 (Rose); CE
2011, pp. 22-23.
26. Compare CE 801 with 795; For a detailed description of additional
steps in the creation of the forged card, see 4 H 386-387 (Cole).
27. CE 795, 800-801, 806-812; 4 It 380-382, 385-387, 389-391 (Cole); 7 H
427 (Cadigan); 7 H 195 (Stovall).
28. CE 813, 2004; CE 2011, p. 25. 29. 4 H 394-396 (Cole). 30. CE 1828,
2012.
31. 7 H 296 (Holmes).
32. CE 817; Cadigan DE 22; 7 H 296 (Holmes); CE 1799, p. 3; CE 2011, p.
19.
33. 4 H 397-398 (Cole); 7 H 431-432 (Cadigan).
34. 1 H 64 (Marina Oswald). 35. 5 H 401 (Marina Oswald).
36. See e.g., CE 819; CE 1413, pp. 19, 35.
37. 1 H 64 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 401, 403 (Marina Oswald).
38. Ibid: 1 H 65 (Marina Oswald). 39. CE 1398. 40. CE 1945. 41. CE 2014.
42. 1 H 91 (Marina Oswald). When translated from the Russian, the name
was spelled "Alec". Oswald himself spelled the name "Alek" in
correspondence. See note 43, infra.
43. See, e.g., CE 38, 55-56.
44, 3 H 289 (Luke Mooney); 3 H 292-293 (Eugene Boone).
45.. 4 H 258 (J. C. Day); cf. 3 H 295 (Boone).
46. 4 H 259 (Day).
47. Id. at 261; 4 H 20 (Sebastian Latona ).
48. Id. at 21. 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid.
51. Id. at 22, 29; see also 4 H 258-259 (Day).
52. Id. at 260-261. 53. 4 H 24 (Latona). 54. Ibid.
55. 4 H 261-262 (Day).
56. 4 II 73 (Latona); 4 H 261 (Day). 57. CE 2637.
58. 4 H 24 (Latona); CE 637-639.
NOTES TO PACES 119-128
59. 4 H 50 (Arthur Mandella); 15 H 745-746 (Mandella).
60. 4 H 47 (Latona); 7 H 590 (Ronald Wittmus ).
61. 4 H 30 (Latona); 4 lt 54 (Mandella); 7 11 590 (Wittmus).
62. 4 H 2 (Latona); 4 H 262 (Day). 63. 4 H 260 (Day).
64. 4 H 82, 85 (Paul Stombaugh); CE 674.
65. 4 H 56, 74 (Stombaugh).
66. CE 150, 673-676; 3 H 302 (McDonald); see CE 2011, p. 13. 15 H 695
(Lyndal Shaneyfelt).
67. 4 H 83-87 (Stombaugh). 68. Id. at
,69. Id. at 87. 70. Id. at 87-88.
71. 1 H 121 (Marina Oswald).
72. 3 H 252 (T. L. Baker); 3 H 276 (Mrs. Robert Reid); 2 H 259 (William
Whaley ).
73. 6 H 412-413 (Mrs. Mary Bledsoe). 74. 7 H 173 (Richard Sims); 2 H 287
(Cecil McWatters); 4 H 223 (J. W. Fritz); CE 381, 381-A; CE 2005, p. I
137-B.
75. Ibid.
76. 4 H 84 (Stombaugh). 77. Id. at 83.
78. 3 H 41 (Ruth Paine); see app. XIII.
79. See footnotes 107-114. infra. 80. See ch. VI, pp. 318-321.
81. See footnotes 107-114, infra.
82. CE 712, 713; 4 H 237, 241 (Fritz); 11 H 155-156 (M. Waldo George).
83. 1 H 15-16, 117-118 (Marina Oswald); CE 134.
84. CE 133-A.
85. CE 748; 4 H 281 (Lyndal Shaneyfelt ).
86. Ibid.
87. CE 133-A, 133-B, 134; 1 It 117-118 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 405, 410
(Marina Oswald): CE 750.
88. CE 749: 7 It 194 (Stovall); 7 H 231 (Rose); CE 2011, p. 26. The
recovered negative was of the picture introduced as CE 133-B.
89. 4 H 284-288 (Shaneyfelt). 90. Id. at 284.
91. Id. at 289; 15 H 693 (Shaneyfelt).
92. 4 H 237, 241 (Fritz); CE 712, 713, 714.
93. 4 H 288 (Shaneyfelt).
94. Id. at 290-294; 15 H 687-690 ( Shaneyfelt ).
95. 4 h 292-294 (Shaneyfelt); 15 H 689-690 (Shaneyfelt); Shaneyfelt DE
13, 14, 18.
96. See footnote 4, 82, 83, supra.
97. CE 1406; 15 H 690-692 (Shaneyfelt); Shaneyfelt DE 20, 21, 22, 22-A.
98. I H 15, 118 (Marina Oswald); see p. 182, infra.
99. Michaelis DE 5; Waldman DE 7. 100. 1 H 119 (Marina Oswald). 101. Id.
at ]4.
102. Id. at 21; CE 1403, p. 735.
103. 1 H 21-22, 54 (Marina Oswald); but see Id. at 65; contr CE 1403, p.
736.
104. i H 26 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 4-5, 7, 10-11, 19 (R. Paine).
]05. I H 26 (Marina Oswald).
106. 3 H 26-21, 25 (R. Paine); 2 H 507-508 (R. Paine).
107. 1 H 26, 52, 53, 61, 67-78, 74 (Marina Oswald): CE 2003. p. 46.
108. 1 H 26.52 (Marina Oswald).
109. 3 H 21-25 (R. Paine); 9 H 436-443 (M. Paine).
110. 2 H 414-416 (M. Paine); 9 H 437-440 (M. Paine).
111. 9 H 436 (M. Paine).
823
Page 824
NOTES TO PAGES 128-140
112. 2 H 417 (M. Paine); 9 H 442-443 (M. Paine).
113. 7 H 229 (Rose); 7 H 548 (Eddy Walthers).
114. 4 H 57-58 (Stombaugh).
115. 3 H 27-39 (R. Paine); 1 H 51 (Marina Oswald); 6 H 401-402
(Bledsoe); 10 H 293-294 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson); 6 H 436 (E. Roberts).
116. 2 H 212-213, 217 (Frazier); I H 51,124 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 40, 67,
127 (R. Paine).
117. I H 51 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 222 (Frazier); 3 H 40 (M. Paine); see 3
H 28- 46 (M. Paine).
118. 2 H 222-223 (Frazier) ; CE 2003, p. 25.
119. Ibid.
120. 2 H 247-248 (Mrs. Linnie Mae Randle); 2 H 224 (Frazier).
121. 10 H 297 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson). 122. CE 2046.
123. 3 H 72-73 (R. Paine); 9 H 424 (R.
Paine); R. Paine DE 275, 276; CE 449. 124. 3 H 75-76 (R. Paine).
125. I H 68-69 (Marina Oswald). 126. CE 2640.
127. 3 H 46, 56-57 (R. Paine); 1 H 65 (Marina Oswald).
128. 3 H 48, 59-61 (R. Paine); 9 H 418 (R. Paine); I H 71 (Marina
Oswald).
129. 3 H 48, 52, 60 (R. Paine); 9 H 397, 418 (R. Paine); CE 430.
130. CE 429, 430, 434; 3 H 29, 52-53 (R. Paine); 9 H 402 (R. Paine).
131. 9 H 408, 410 (R. Paine); 3 H 20-22 (R. Paine); 1 H 26, 52-53, 67,
119
(Marina Oswald); CE 140; 2003, p. 46. 132. 3 H 47 (R. Paine). 133. Id.
at 47, 62-63. 134. Id. at 48-49, 65.
135. 1 H 66-67 (Marina Oswald). 136. Ibid; 3 H 58-59, 67 (R. Paine).
137. Compare photos in CE 1305 and 1304.
138. 2 H 252 (Cortlandt Cunningham).
139. I H 73-74 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 68-69 (R. Paine).
140. Ibid; 3 H 78-79 (R. Paine); 7 H 229-230 (Rose).
141. I H 119 (Marina Oswald). 142. 3 H 79 (R. Paine).
143. Ibid; I H 74 (Marina Oswald).
144. Ibid; 7 H 305 (Holmes): Holmes DE 4, p. 3-4; see also 4 H 223, 229
(Fritz).
145. 1 H 72-73 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 68, 112 (R. Paine); 2 H 224-226
(Frazier).
146. 1 H 66, 72-73 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 68 (R. Paine).
147. 2 H 248 (Randle); CE 144, 446. 148. 2 H 251 (Randle); CE 144, 446.
149. 2 H 248-249 (Randle). 150. Id. at 249-250. 151. Id. at 249.
152. 2 H 225-226 (Frazier). 153. Id. at 226. 154. Ibid. 155. Ibid.
156. Id. at 228.' 157. Id. at 220. 158. Id. at 228. 159. Id. at 230.
160. 6 H 376--377 (Jack Dougherty). 161. See e.g. 6 H 383 (Eddie Piper):
3 H 164-165 (Bonnie Ray Williams): 3 H 188 (Harold Norman); 3 H 200
(James Jarman, Jr.): 3 H 218-219 (Roy Truly); 6 H 328 (William Shelley);
6 H 348--349 (Charles Givens); 6 H 358-359 (Troy West); 6 H 364-365
(Danny Arce); 6 H 337 (Billy Lovelady); CE 1381, pp. 2, 9. 12, 13, 18,
20, 25, 33-34, 37. 39, 43, 50. 58, 59, 67, 71, 77, 82. 86, 89, 96, 97,
105.
162. 2 H 226 (Frazier); 2 H 249-250 (Randle).
163. 3 H 395 (Frazier); CE 139.
164. CE 1304; 2 H 240 (Frazier).
165. Id. at 241.
166. Id. at 243.
167. CE 2009.
168. 2 H 249-250 (Randle).
169. 2 II 239 (Frazier).
170. 2 H 248-249 (Randle); see CE
2008.
171. Ibid.
172. 2 H 243 (Frazier).
173. Id. at 229.
174. See CE 142; 4 H 266 (Day).
175. 4 H 266-267 (Day); 7 H 143-145
(Robert Lee Studebaker); Studebaker DE
F; CE 1302.
176. 3 H 395 (Frazier); CE 142, 626.
177. CE 1301, 1302.
178. See CE 508, 723, 726; 4 H 265-
266 (Day); 3 H 285-286, 289 (Luke
Mooney ).
179. 4 H 267 (Day).
180. See app. X, pp. 565-566; 4 H 3-8
( Latona ).
181. Id. at 4-5, 8.
182. Id. at 7.
183. Id. at 47; 7 H 590 (Wittmus).
184. 4 H 50-51 (Mandella).
185. 4 H 5, 47 (Latona); 4 H 50-51
(Mandella); 15 H 745-746.
186. 4 H 44-45 (Latona).
187. Id. at 7; 2 It 228 (Frazier).
188. See CE 677 which indicates it was
picked up by R. L. Studebaker of the
Dallas Police Force on November 22, 1963;
4 H 89-90 (Cadigan).
189. Id. at 93.
190. Id. at 95.
191. Id. at 93, 94, 97.
192. Id. at 93-94, 97, 99, 100.
193. CE 1077, 364; 4 H 93 (Cadigan).
194. Id. at 94-96, 99-100.
195. Ibid.
196. Id. at 96; CE 1965.
197. 3 H 215-218 (Truly).
198. 4 H 77-78 (Stombaugh).
199. Id. at 81.
200. Id. at 78.
201. Ibid.
202. Id. at 81.
203. Ibid.
204. 3 H 214 (Truly).
205. Id. at 214-215; 6 H 328 (Shelley).
206. Id. at 215; 6 H 328 (Shelley).
207. See infra, p. 143.
208. 4 H 269, 272, 277 (Day); CE 654,
733, 734; 7 H 147 (Studebaker); Studebaker DE J; CE 1309.
209. 4 H 269, 270-271, 277 (Day); CE
641, 733, 734; 7 H 141-143, 147 (Studebaker); Studebaker DE A, B, C, D,
E, 5;
CE 1306, 1308.
210. 4 H 251, 277 (Day): CE 481, 482,
653, 733, 734:7 H 141-143, 147 (Studebaker); Studebaker DE A, B, D, E,
J.
211. 7 H 141 (Studebaker); 7 H 391
(Shelley); 3 H 232, 236 (Truly).
212. 7 H 149 (Studebaker).
213. CE 733; 734; 1312; 7 H 147
(Studebaker); Studebaker DE J.
214. CE 1302: see pp. 134-135 supra.
215. 4 H 31, 38, 42 (Latona).
216. Id. at 42.
217. Id. at 32, 34.
218. 3 H 231 (Truly); 7 H 391-392
(Shelley).
219. 3 H 232 (Truly); 7 H 149 (Studebaker); 7 H 392 (Shelley).
220. 7 H 391 (Shelley); 3 H 236
( Truly ).
221. 7 H 391-392 (Shelley).
222. 4 H 269 (Day); CE 1302.
223.4 H 39 (Latona).
224. Id. at 38, 39 (Latona).
225. Id. at 39.
226. Ibid.
Page 825
227. Id. at 38-39.
228. 4 H 269-270 (Day); 4 H 31, 38-
39, 42 (Latona).
229. CE 313; pp. 17-18.
230. 4 H 51, 52, 54 (Mandella); 15 H
745-746 (Mandella); CE 662.
231. Id. at 47; 7 H 590 (Wittmus).
232. 4 H 42-44 (Latona); CE 1980,
3135.
233. 6 H 347, 349 (Givens).
234. Id. at 354.
235. Id. at 349.
236 Ibid.
237. Id. at 349-350, 353.
238. Id. at 350-351.
239. Id. at 351; 3 H 223 (Truly).
240. 6 H 351 (Givens).
241. CE 1381.
242. 6 H 342~345 (Frankie Kaiser);
6 It 332 (Shelley); 6 H 335 (Nat Pinkston); 3 H 233-235 (Truly); Kaiser
DE
A: CE 506.
243. CE 1966, 3141, 6 H 344 (Kaiser);
6 H 335 (Pinkston).
244. 6 H 344 (Kaiser); 6 H 335 (Pinkston ).
245. Ibid; 6 H 332-333 (Shelley); 3
H 215. (Truly).
246. 6 H 332-333 (Shelley).
247. See ch. III.
248. 3 H 144-148 (Howard Brennan);
7 H 354 (Forrest Sorrels).
249. 3 It 141-144 (Brennan); CE
477-479.
250. 3 H 149-157 (Brennan); CE 479. 251. 3 H 142 (Brennan). 252. Id. at
143.
253. Id. at 143-144.
254. Id. at 145; 6 H 322-323 (J. Herbert Sawyer); 3 H 197 (Norman); 3 H
207 (Jarman); 7 H 349 (Sorrels); 7 H 540-544 (W. E. Barnett).
255. 6 H 321 (Sawyer); Sawyer DE
A; CE 1974, p. 24-25. 256. CE 2005.
257. 3 H 144 (Brennan). 258. CE 1991.
259. CE 1945, 1950, 1951; CE 1944, p. 3.
260. 11 H 471 (Francis Martello); CE 1413, pp. 19,
261. CE 1981.
262. CE 1974, p. 59. 263. Id. at 181. 264. Id. at 74.
265. 3 H 144 (Brennan). 266. CE 481, 715, 733, 734. 267. CE 715, 733,
734.
268. See 5 H 167 (Frazier); CE 1301. 269. 3 It 144 (Brennan).
270. See e.g., CE 481, 482, 485.
271. 3 H 174 (Williams); 3 H 190-191 (Norman); 3 H 204 (Jarman); CE 485,
486, 494.
272. CE 485, 486, 494.
273. See CE 485, 486, 494, 715, 733, 734, 1912.
274. 3 H 146, 156 (Brennan): 3 H 197
(Norman); but see, 7 H 349 (Sorrels). 275. 3 II 184-185 (Brennan).
276. 3 H 197 (Norman) ;9 H 207 (Jar-
277. 3 H 197 (Norman). 278. 3 H 207 (Jarman).
279. 3 H 147-148 (Brennan); 7 H 355 ( Sorrels ).
280. 3 H 148 (Brennan); but see 7 354-355 (Sorrels).
281. 3 H 155 (Brennan).
282. CE 2006:3 H 155-156 (Brennan). 283. Id. at 155. 284. Id. at 148.
285. Ibid; see also id. at 155.
286. Id. at 148; 7 H 354 (Sorrels).
287. 6 H 193-194 (Ronald Fischer); 6 H 203-205 (Robert Edwards).
NOTES TO PAGES 141-152
288. 6 H 192 (Fischer); 6 H 202-203 (Edwards).
289. 3 H 141 (Brennan). 290. 6 It 193 (Fischer). 291. Ibid. 292. Ibid.
293. Ibid.
294. Id. at 194. 295. Ibid. 296. Ibid. 297. Ibid.
298. Id. at 197-198. 299. Id. at 197. 300. Id. at 198. 301. Ibid.
302. Id. at 198-199.
303. 6 H 203 (Edwards). 304. Id. at 203-204. 305. See ch. III, p. 64.
306. 2 H 203 (Amos Euins); CE 365 307. 2 H 204-207 (Euins). 308. CE 367.
309. 6 H 170 (James Underwood).
310. 2 H 208 (Euins). 311. 7 H 349 (Sorrels).
312. 7 H 519 (James Altgens). 313. Ibid; CE 369, 203.
314. 5 H 158 159 (Shaneyfelt); 7 H 519
(Altgens); CE 900. 315. CE 1408.
316. 6 H 338-339 (Lovelady); CE 1407.
317. 2 H 233 (Frazier); 6 It 328 (Shelley).
318. Ibid; CE 369. 319. 3 H 244 (Baker). 320. Id. at 245, 321. Ibid.
322. Ibid.
323. Id. at 246. 324. Ibid.
325. Id. at 247. 326. Ibid.
327. Id. at 248. 328. Ibid.
329. Id. at 248-249. 330. Id. at 249. 331. CE 1118.
332. 3 H 249 (Baker). 333. Ibid.
334. 3 H 223 (Truly). 335. Ibid.
336. 3 H 249-250 (Baker).
337. Id. at 255-256; 3 H 222-223
(Truly).
338. CE 1118.
339. 7 H 591 (Truly).
340. 3 H 224 (Truly); 3 H 250
(Baker); CE 498.
341. 3 It 250, 255 (Baker). 342. Ibid.
343. Id. at 250: CE 1118. 344. 3 H 223-224 (Truly). 345. 3 It 255
(Baker). 346. Id. at 250. 347. Ibid. 348. Ibid.
349. Id. at 255. 350. Id. at 251.
351. 3 H 225 (Truly).
352. Ibid.: 3 H 251 (Baker).
353. 3 H 225 (Truly); 3 H 251 (Baker). 354. Id. at 252 (Baker). 355. 3 H
225 (Truly). 356. Ibid.
357. 3 H 247-248 (Baker). 358. 3 H 228 (Truly). 359. 3 H 252 (Baker).
360. Id. at 254; see also 3 H 240 (Truly).
361. 3 H 254 (Baker); Truly, however stated that the second run was
timed at
1 minute 15 seconds, 3 H 240 (Truly). 362. 7 H 592 (John Howlett).
363. 7 H 592-593 (Baker); 3 It 247-248 (Baker).
364. Id. at 253.
825
730-900 0-64--54
Page 826
NOTES TO PAGES 152-165
365. Id. at 252; accord, 3 H 228
(Truly).
366. Id. at 223.
367. Ibid.
368. 3 H 254 (Baker).
369. 3 H 226 (Truly); see also 3 H 254
(Baker).
370. 3 H 226-227 (Truly).
371. 6 H 379 (Dougherty); see also
3 H 229 (Truly).
372. 6 H 380 (Dougherty).
373. 6 H 382-386 (Piper).
374. 3 H 180 (Williams).
375. Ibid; 3 H 193 (Norman); 3 H
206 (Jarman); 3 H 231 (Truly); CE
490, 492.
376. 3 H 201-206 (Jarman); 3 H 89-97
(Norman); 3 H 171-176 (Williams).
377. 3 H 201-206 (Jarman); 3 H 89-
97 (Norman); 3 H 171-176 (Williams);
6 H 378 (Dougherty); CE 1381, pp. 27,
49, 70, 101-102.
378. 6 H 388 (Victoria Adams).
379. Ibid.
380. 6 H 329 (Shelley); 6 H 339 (Love-
lady).
381. Ibid.; 6 H 329 (Shelley).
382. 6 It 329 (Shelley).
383. Id. at 329-330; 6 H 338-340
( Lovelady ).
384. Id. at 340.
385. 3 It 273 (Mrs. Reid). 386. Ibid.
387. Id. at 274. 388. Ibid. 389. Ibid. 390. Ibid.
391. Id. at 278; CE 1118. 392. 3 H 276 (Mrs. Reid). 393. I H 122 (Marina
Oswald). 394. Ibid.
395. 6 H 345 (Kaiser). 396. 3 It 275 (Mrs. Reid). 397. Id. at 275, 279.
398. Id. at 279. 399. CE 1118.
400. 7 H 542-543 (Barnett). 401. See ch. III, p. 63. 402. 7 It 543
(Barnett). 403. Ibid.
404. 6 H 310 (D. V. Harkness); CE 1974, p. 165.
405. 6 H 311 (Harkness). 406. Id. at 312.
407. CE 1974, p. 165; 6 H 316-317
(Sawyer).
408. Id. at 317-318.
409. Id. at 320.
410. Id. at 318, 320.
411. Id. at 320.
412. 7 H 348 (Sorrels).
413. 3 H 238 (Truly).
414. 3 H 230, 238 (Truly).
415. Id. at 230.
416. Id. at 239.
417. 4 H 206 (Fritz).
418. Id. at 211; 7 It 173 (Sims); CE 381.
419. Compare CE 381 A and 372; 2 H 268 (McWatters).
420. 2 H 263-264. 286 (McWatters). 421. Id. at 271.
422. Id. at 264, 271. 423. Id. at 264-265. 424. Id. at 271.
425. Id. at 279-280, 282; CE 377. 426. 2 H 280 283 (McWatters). 427. CE
2641.
428. 2 H 270 (McWatters).
429. 6 H 401,402 (Mrs. Bledsoe). 430. Id. at 406. 431. Ibid.
432. Id. at 408-409. 433. Id. at 409. 434. Ibid.
826
435. CE 150; 7 H 33-34 (Thomas Hut-son); 1 H 121-122 (Marina Oswald);
1.5 H 695 (Shaneyfelt).
436. 6 H 412-413 (Mrs. Bledsoe). 437. CE 1985.
438. Ibid; CE 1984.
439. 6 H 411 (Mrs. Bledsoe).
440. 2 H 275 (McWatters); CE 376. 441. 2 H 276 (McWatters). 442. Id. at
275-276.
443. 10 H 292-293 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson ).
444. CE 2017.
445. 2 H 283 (McWatters). 446. CE 1987. 447. Ibid.
448. 6 H 266, 270 (Roger Craig); CE 1967, 1992, 1993.
449. Ibid.; 6 It 2,66-267 (Craig). 450. Ibid.
451. 6 H 270 (Craig). 452. Ibid.
453. 4 H 245 (Fritz).
454. Ibid., 7 H 404 (Fritz). 455. 2 H 260 (Whaley). 456. Ibid.
457. Id. at 260-261. 458. Id. at 261. 459. Ibid.
460. 2 H 260 (Whaley); 6 H 432 (Whaley); CE 2003, p. 293.
461. 2 H 294 (Whaley); 6 H 430, 432 (Whaley).
462. CE 1054, 2003, p. 293. 463. CE 370, 382.
464. 2 H 254 (Whaley). 465. Id. at 25.5. 466. Ibid.
4.67. Id. at 256. 468. Ibid.
469. Id. at 258, 371. 470. 2 H 258 (Whaley). 471. CE 1119-A.
472. 6 H 428-429 (Whaley). 473. Id. at 429. 474. Ibid.
475. Id. at 434. 476. Ibid.
477. 2 H 260 (Whaley). 478. 6 H 345 (Kaiser).
479. 6 H 409 (Mrs. Bledsoe). 480. 2 H 259 (Whaley).
481.2 H 256-257, 292 (Whaley). 482. CE 383-A, 2003, p. 289. 483. 4 H 214
(Fritz).
484. Id. at 211, 223; CE 2003, p. 289. 485. 4 H 223 (Fritz). 486. CE
1119-A.
487. 6 H 440 (Mrs. Roberts). 488. Id. at 435-436.
489. Id. at 436:10 II 294-295 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson): Mrs. A. C. Johnson
DE A.
490. 6 H 438-440 (Mrs. Roberts); 7 H
439 Mrs. Roberts); CE 2017. 491. CE 1119-A.
492. CE 1974, pp. 52-53. 493. CE 1995.
494. 4 H 177 (Jesse Curry).
495. 3 H 297 (McDonald); CE 1976, p. 8; 522.
496. 7 H 77 (Rio Pierce); Sawyer DE B, p. 1 ; CE 1974. p. 24.
497. 4 H 179 (Curry): CE 1974. p. 26. 498. CE 1974, pp. 36-37; Sawyer DE
A; 4 It 179, 184 (Curry); 7 H 75 (James Putnam).
499. Id. at 76:4 H 179 (Curry).
500. Ibid: CE 1974, pp. 24-25, 28, 37.
501. 4 H 179 (Curry); CE 1974, pp. 24-25, 28, 37.
502. Ibid.
5O3. CE 1305.
504. 3 H 322-327 (William Scoggins); CE 1305.
505. 3H 333 334 (Scoggins); 7 H 265-266 (James Leavelle); CE 2003, p.
293.
Page 827
506. 3 H 334-335 (Scoggins).
507. 6 H 446-449 (Domingo Benavides).
508. Id. at 449: CE 1974, p. 52.
509. 6 H 450-451 (Benavides); 7 H
68 (J. M. Poe); CE 2011, pp. 7-8.
510. 6 H 451-452 (Benavides); 7 H
263-264 (Leavelle).
511.3 H 306-307, 313 (Helen Mark-
ham ).
512. Id. at 307.
513. Id. at 307-308, 313-316; 3 H 343
(Barbara Davis); 6 H 456-457 (Virginia
Davis).
514. 3 H 308 (Markham).
515. Id. at 308-309, 316, 321.
516. Id. at 309, 320.
517. 7 H 68 (Poe).
518. CE 1974, p. 58-59.
519. CE 2002; 3 H 310 (Markham).
520. Id. at 311; see 4 H 176 (Curry);
4 H 212 (Fritz); 7 H 253-254 (L. C.
Graves); 7 H 263 (Leavelle); CE 2003,
p. 293.
521. 7 H 252 (Graves).
522. Id. at 254.
523. 3 H 311 (Markham).
524. 2 H 51 (Mark Lane).
525. Markham, DE 1.
526. Id. at 3-4, 8.
527. Id. at 3, 7.
528. 7 H 68 (Poe); CE 1974, p. 59.
529. 3 H 317 (Markham).
530. 7 H 500-506 (Markham).
531.3 H 343-344 (B. Davis); 6 H 455-
458 (V. Davis).
532. 3 H 344-345 (B. Davis).
533. Id. at 345-346; 6 H 458, 460, 463-
464 (V. Davis); 7 H 153 (C. N. Dhority);
CE 2011, pp. 7-8.
534. CE 2003, p. 293; 6 H 461-462
(V. Davis): 3 H 349 (B. Davis); 7 H
153-154 (Dhority); 7 H 250 (C. W.
Brown ).
535. 3 H 348 (B. Davis). 536. Id. at 349.
537. 6 H 461 (V. Davis).
538. CE 2003, p. 293; 6 H 462 (V. Davis); 3 H 350 (B. Davis); 7 H
153-154
(Dhority); 7 H 250 (Brown). 539. 6 H 462 (V. Davis).
540. Ibid; 3 H 350 (B. Davis). 541. Ibid; 6 H 462 (V. Davis). 542. 7 H
83-84 (William Smith). 543. Id. at 84. 544. Id. at 84-85. 545. Id. at
85.
546. 3 H 351-352 (Ted Callaway); 7 H 395-396 (Sam Guinyard).
547. 3 H 352-353 (Callaway); 7 H 396-397 (Guinyard).
548. 3 H 353-354 (Callaway). 549. 7 H 398 (Guinyard).
550. Ibid; 3 H 354 (Callaway). 551. Ibid.
552. Ibid; 3 H 332 (Scoggins).
553. 7 H 264 (Leavelle); 3 H 355 (Callaway); 7 H 399-400 (Guinyard); CE
2003, p. 293.
554.3 H 355 (Callaway). 555. 7 H 400 (Guinyard).
556. Ibid.; 3 H 355 (Callaway). 557. CE 1054.
558. Ibid.; 7 H 253 (Graves); 1 H 167-168 (Sims); 4 H 166, 175 (Curry);
7 H 262-266 (Leavelle). 559. CE 1305.
560. CE 2523; 11 H 434, 436-437. (Warren Reynolds).
561. 7 H 594 (Harold Russell).
562. 15 H 744-745 (B. M. Patterson); B. M. Patterson DE A, B.
563. 15 H 703 (L. J. Lewis); L. J. Lewis DE A.
564. CE 2523; 11 H 435 Reynolds); 15 H 744-745 (B. M. Patterson); B. M.
Patterson DE A, B.
NOTES TO PAGES 166-178
565. 7 H 594 (Russell).
566. 15 H 744-745 (B. M. Patterson); B. M. Patterson DE A, B.
567. CE 2523; 11 H 435-4,37(Reynolds).
568. 15 II 703 (L. J. Lewis); L. J. Lewis DE A.
569. 3 H 200 301 (McDonald): 7 H 54-55 (Gerald Hill); 7 H 24-25
(Carroll).
570. 6 H 449-450 (Benavides); 3 H 345 346 (B. Davis); 6 H 463 464 (V.
Davis).
571. 3 H 465-466, 468 (Cunningham). 572. Id. at 466.
573. 3 H 511 (Joseph Nicol). 574. CE 2011, p. 9.
575. 3 H 475-476 (Cunningham). 576. Id. at 475, 485; 3 H 512 (Nicol).
577. 3 H 475 (Cunningham). 578. Id. at 483. 579. CE 603.
580. 3 H 512 (Nicol).
581. 3 H 465 (Cunningham). 582. 3 H 352 (Callaway).
583. 7 H 372-374 (Michaelis).
584. Id. at 373-375; Michaelis DE 1. 585. 7 H 375 (Michaelis).
586. 7 H 376 (Michaelis); CE 135, 790.
587. 7 H 367-377 (Michaelis); CE 135, 790.
588. 7 H 376-378 (Michaelis); Michaelis DE. 2-5.
589. 4 H 361, 375 (Cole); 7 H 424 (Cadigan).
590. 1 H 118 (Marina Oswald). 591. Id. at 120.
592. Id. at 118, 120; 11 H 405 (Edwin Walker).
593. CE 144, 2003, p. 286; 7 H 213-214 (Henry Moore); Moore DE 1; 7 H
222-223 (F. M. Turner), 7 H 197-]99 (Walter Ports); Ports DE
594. 1 H 120 (Marina Oswald).
595. 6 H 440 (Roberts); CE 1974, p. 52. 596. 6 H 439 440 (Roberts').
597. Hill DE B; 3 H 302 (MacDonald); 7 H 53 (Rill).
598. CE 705, pp. 10, 22, 82. 599. CE 1974, p. 59. 600. 7 H 68-70 (Poe).
601. 7 H 593 (Alvin Brock). 602. CE 1974, p. 60.
603. 7 H 116-118 (Capt. W. R. West-brook ).
604. Ibid. 605. Ibid.
606. Id. at 118. 607. CE 1843.
608. 6 H 345 (Kaiser); CE 163. 609. 1 H 122 (Marina Oswald).
610. Ibid; 7 H 117-118 (Westbrook). 611. 6 H 439 (Roberts). 612. 3 H 356
(Callaway).
613. 3 H 312 (Markham); 3 H 347 (B.
Davis); 3 H 328 (Scoggins). 614. Ibid.
615. CE 1119-A. See pp. 168-169, supra.
616. 7 H 2 (Johnny Brewer). 617. Id. at 3. 618. Ibid. 619. Ibid. 620.
Id. at 4.
621.7 H 10-11 (Mrs. Julia Postal).
622. Id. at 11.
623. Ibid.
624. Ibid.
625. Ibid.
626. Ibid.
627. Ibid.
628. CE 1974, p. 83.
629. Id. at 83-84; 3 H 298-299 (McDonald); CE 2003, p. 75.
630. 3 H 299 (McDonald).
631. 7 H 19 (Carroll); 7 H 49 (Hill).
632. CE 2003, p. 77.
Page 828
NOTES TO PAGES 178-189
633. 7 H 6 (Brewer); 3 H 299 (McDonald); 7 H 30 (Hutson); 7 H 37 (C. T.
Walker).
634. 7 H 5-6 (Brewer); 3 H 299 (Mc-
Donald); 7 H 37 (C. T. Walker). 635. Id. at 38.
636. 7 H 49 (Hill); 7 H 31 (Hutson). 637. 3 H 299 (McDonald). 638. Ibid.
639. Id. at 300. 640. Ibid. 641. Ibid. 642. Ibid. 643. Ibid. 644. Ibid.
645. Ibid; 7 H 93 (Ray Hawkins). 646. 3 H 300 (McDonald). 647. Ibid.
648. Id. at 300-301; 7 H 20 (Carroll). 649. 7 H 547-548, 551 (Walthers).
650. 7 H 39 (Walker); 7 H 93-94 ( Hawkins ).
651. 7 H 32 (Hutson); 7 H 39-40
(Walker); see also 7 H 94 (Hawkins). 652. 3 H 461 (Cunningham). 653. Id.
at 464- 465.
654. 7 H 87-88 (George Applin Jr.). 655. Id. at 88-90.
656. 7 H 547 (Walthers). 657. 7 H 94-95 (Hawkins). 658. 7 H 72 (John
Gibson). 659. Id. at 73.
660. 7 H 6 (Brewer). 661. Ibid.
662. 7 H 40 (C. T. Walker); 7 H 52 (G. Hill); CE 1974, p. 181.
663. 3 H 301 (McDonald). 664. CE 1974, p. 88.
665. 4 H 206 (Fritz); 7 H 163 (Sims). 666. 7 H 59 (Hill). 667. Ibid.
668. Ibid.
669. 4 H 275-276 (Day).
670. 3 H 514 (Nicol); 3 II 495 (Cunningham ).
671. Id. at 487.
672. For testimony relating to the interrogation sessions, see 4 H
152-153, 157 (Curry); 4 H 207-211, 217, 221-231, 239-240 (Fritz); 4 H
355-357 (Winston Lawson); 4 H 466-470 (James Hosty, Jr.); 7 H 123-127
(Elmer Boyd); 7 H 164-182 (Sims); 7 H 309-318 (James Bookhout); 7 H
320-321 (Manning Clements); 13 H 58-62 (Sorrels); 7 H 590 (Kelley); 7 H
296-306 (Holmes); CE 1982.
673. 4 H 214, 217, 230-231 (Fritz); 7 H 299 (Holmes).
674. 7 H 215 (Moore); 7 H 193-194 (Stovall); 7 H 231 (Rose); 7 H 203-205
(John Adamcik).
675. CE 1982; p. 137; 4 H 226 (Fritz); CE 2003. p. I 138-B, 138-C.
676. 4 H 226-231 (Fritz); CE 2003,
p. I 138-B, 138-C; 7 H 298-299 (Holmes). 677. See pp. 126-127, supra.
678. 4 H 214 (Fritz). 679. Id. at 224, 230.
680. See pp. 172-173, supra.
681. CE 795, 1.986, 1989, 1990; 7 H 187-188 (Stovall); 7 H 228 (Rose);
CE 2011, p. 20.
682. 4 H 222 (Fritz). 683. Ibid.
684. Ibid; 7 H 299 (Holmes); Holmes DE 4.
685. Ibid; 7 H 299 (Holmes). 686. Ibid.
687. 4 H 211 (Fritz); CE 2003, p. I 136-D; 7 H 311-312 (Bookhout).
688. Mrs. A. C. Johnson DE A; see 10
H 294-295 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson). 689. CE 2003, p. 137-B. 690. 7 H 305
(Holmes). 691. 3 H 41 (R. Paine).
692. 7 H 305 (Holmes); Holmes DE 4, pp. 3-4; see also 4 H 223, 229
(Fritz).
828
693. Id. at 218, 228. 694. 2 H 220 (Frazier).
695. 4 H 467-468 (Hosty); see also 4 H 213-214 (Fritz); CE 2003, p. I
136-B, 136-C.
696. 6 H 328-329 (Shelley); see also 3 H 230 (Truly).
697. CE 1988; 4 H 224 (Fritz); CE
2005, p. I 137-C; Holmes DE 4, (Kelley). 698. 3 H 201 (Jarman); CE 1980.
699. 3 H 201 (Jarman). 700. 11 H 405 (Walker). 701. CE 2958.
702. 5 H 446 (Surrey). 703. CE 1997.
704. CE 1785, 2525; 9 H 393-394 (R. Paine); 1 H 18 (Marina Oswald).
705. CE 1; 1 H 17, 37 (Marina Oswald).
706. 7 H 437 (Cadigan). 707. CE 1130.
708. 1 H 16 (Marina Oswald). 709. Ibid.
710. Id. at 17.
711. 11 H 155 (Waldo George). 712. 7 H 292 (Holmes). 713. CE 1979.
714. 1 H 16-17 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 292-294 (Marina Oswald).
715. Ibid; 1 H 18 (Marina Oswald),
716. Id. at 38; see CE 2, P-2; CE 3, P-1; CE 5.
,717. CE 3, P-l; CE 5. 718. CE 1397.
719. CE 1006-1009, 1011-1012. 720. CE 2, P-2; see CE 1397. 721. CE 2001,
p. 3. 722. CE 1351, p. 8. 723. Waldman DE 7.
724. 15 H 692 (Shaneyfelt); Shaneyfelt DE 20.
725. CE 4, P-5; 1 H 39 (Marina Oswald ).
726. CE 1953, pp. 23-24, CE 4, P-5.
727. CE 1824-A, p. 385; 1953, pp. 24-25: CE 1953-A, P-1.
728. 1 H 16 (Marina Oswald); CE 1403, pp. 733-734.
729. CE 1953, pp. 2-4. 730. Id. at 4-5.
731. CE 2524, 2011, p. 5. 732. 3 H 439 (Frazier). 733. Id. at 434. 734.
Id. at 440.
735. 3 H 503 (Nicol). 736. Ibid.
737. 1 H 17 (Martina Oswald); CE 1403, p. 733.
738. CE 1953, p. 14. 739. CE 2521, 1790.
740. CE 1953, pp. 27-31; CE 1979.
741.1 H 334-335 (Robert Oswald); CE 323, p. 27.
742. 1 H 123 (Marina Oswald). 743. CE 1357.
744. 1 H 334--340 (Robert Oswald). 745. 5 H 392 (Marina Oswald). 746.
Id. at 389-390. 747. Id. at 390. 748. Ibid.
749. Michaelis DE 2.
750. 1 H 18-19 (Marina Oswald); 2
H 457-459 (R. Paine). 751. CE 1795, 1975. 752. CE 1973.
753. CE 2522, 1795, 1975. 754. CE 1972.
755. 5 H 390 (Marina Oswald). 756. Id. at 397. 757. Ibid.
758. CE 1972.
759. 5 H 395 (Marina Oswald). 760. Id. at 389 (Marina Oswald).
761. 11 H 305-306 (Maj. Eugene D. Anderson ).
Page 829
762. 11 H 305-306 (Anderson); 11 H
309 (Sgt. James A. Zahm). 763. 11 H 310 (Zahm).
764. 11 H 305-306 (Anderson). 765. 3 H 413 (Frazier).
766. 3 H 450 (Ronald Simmons). 767. 11 H 306 307 (Zahm). 768. Id. at
307. 769. Ibid.
770. Id. at 308.
771. Id. at 307, 309. 772. 11 It 310 (Zahm).
773. 11 H 302-303 (Anderson). 774. Ibid. 775. Ibid. 776. Ibid.
777. Id. at 304; Anderson DE 1. 778. Ibid; 3 H 304 (Anderson). 779. Id.
at 305; Anderson DE 1. 780. Ibid.
781. 11 H 304 (Anderson). 782. Id. at 305.
783. 11 H 308 (Zahm). 784. Ibid.
785. 1 H 327 (Robert Oswald). 786. Id. at 325-327. 787. Ibid.
788. CE 1402, 2007; CE 1403, p. 731; 1 H 327-328 (R. Oswald); 1 H 96
(Marina
Oswald); 2 H 465-466 (R. Paine). 789. 1 H 327 (R. Oswald).
790. 1 H 14-15 (Marina Oswald); CE 1156, p. 442.
791. CE 1404, pp. 446-448.
NOTES TO PAGES 189-200
792. 9 H 249 (George De Mohrenschildt); 9 H 315-317 (Jeanne De
Mohrenschildt).
793. 1 H 21-22, 53-54, 65 (Marina Oswald); CE 1814, p. 736. 794. CE
2964.
795. See discussion, ch. III, p. 117, supra.
796. 3 H 399, 437-438 (R. A. Frazier);
3 H 449 (Simmons). 797. Id. at 444. 798. Id. at 445 447. 799. Id. at
445. 800. Id. at 446. 801. Ibid.
802. Id. at 444; See discussion Chanter III, p. 115, supra.
803. See ch. III, pp. 64-68, supra. 804. 3 H 446 (Simmons). 805. Id. at
447.
806. Id. at 447, 449.
807. Id. at 450; See also fn 794, supra. 808. 3 H 403-404 (R. A.
Frazier). 809. Id. at 404. 810. Ibid.
811. Id. at 404-405. 812. Id. at 405-407. 813. Id. at 406-407.
814. Id. at 411, 443 (Simmons). 815. 3 H 413-414 (R. A. Frazier).
816. 11 H 309, 310 (Zahm); 11 H 305, 306 (Anderson).
817. 11 H 309 (Zahm). 818. Id. at 309-310.
CHAPTER V
1. 4 H 152 (Jesse E. Curry); CE 701,
2139, 2140.
2. 4 H 209 (J. W. Fritz); 7 H 22 (Bob
K. Carroll); 7 H 59-60' (Gerald Hill);
7 H 123 (Elmer L. Boyd); 7 H 164 (Richard Sims).
3. 7 H 125 (Boyd); 7 H 166 (Sims).
4. 7 H 126 (Boyd); 7 H 173 (Sims).
5. 7 H 128 (Boyd); 7 H 168 (Sims).
6. 7 H 128-129 (Boyd); 7 H 169-170
(Sims); 7 H 264 (James R. Leavelle);
7 H 151 (C. N. Dhority).
7. 4 H 216-217 (Fritz); 7 H 129
(Boyd); CE 2003, p. 104; 15 H 506-50.8
(David L. Johnston); see also sources
cited in footnote 45.
8. 4 H 217 (Fritz); 7 H 130 (Boyd); 7
H 171-172 (Sims).
9. 4 H 218 (Fritz); 7 H 278-285 (W.
E. Barnes); 7 H 288-289 (J. B. Hicks);
CE 2003, pp. 167, 206, 283.
10. CE 2003, p. 168; 15 H 507 (Johns-
ton ).
11. WFAA-TV reel PKT 11; see infra,
p. 208.
12. 7 H 132 (Boyd); 7 H 177 (Sims);
CE 2003, pp. 238-239; 4 H 153 (Curry);
see 4 H 21.9 (Fritz); 7 H 266 (Leavelle).
13. 4 H 153 (Curry); 12 H 96 (M. W.
Stevenson); 12 H 389-391 (Woodrow
Wiggins); 7 H 328 (H. Nichols).
14. 4 H 155 (Curry); 4 H 221 (Fritz);
CE 2003, p. 104; 15 H 507-508 (Johnston).
15. 4 H 222, 226 (Fritz); 7 H 133
(Boyd).
16. Ibid.
17. CE 2003, pp. 207, 393; 1 H 77-79
(Marina Oswald); 1 H 149-150 (Marguerite Oswald).
18. CE 1999, 2187.
19.4 H 227 (Fritz); 7 H 265 (Leavelle).
20. CE 2023.
21. CE 2003, pp. 207-208, 393; 1 H 461-462 (Robert Oswald).
22. 3 H 85-86 (Ruth Paine).
23. 7 H 328 (Ii. Nichols); CE 2165.
24. CE 2003, p. 142; 4 H 228 (Fritz): 7 H 1.78 (Sims).
25. 3 H 87-88 (R. Paine).
26. CE 2003, p. 142; 7 H 258 (L. C. Graves); 7 H 266 (Leavelle).
27. 4 H 230 (Fritz); CE 2003, p. 320. 28. CE 2003, p. 301. 29. CE 2024.
30. For testimony relating to the interrogation sessions, see 4 H
152-153, 157 (Curry); 4 H 207-211, 217, 222-231, 239-240 (Fritz); 4 H
355-357 (Winston G. Lawson); 4 H 444-470 (James P. Hosty); 7 H 123-137
(Boyd); 7 H 164-182 (Sims) 7 H 309-318 (James W. Bookhout): 7 H 320-321
(Manning C. Clements); 13
62 (Forrest V. Sorrels); 7 H 297-301 (Harry Holmes); CE 2003, pp.
136a-138b, CE 2060, 2061.
31. CE 2003, pp. 141--142.
32. 4 H 207 (Fritz); CE 2003, p. 125.
33. CE 2003, pp. 136d-138e, 161; 5 218 (Henry Wade).
34. 4 H 215 (Fritz).
35. CE 2003, pp. 173, 184, 208.
36. 4 H 215 (Fritz); 7 H 318 (Bookhout).
37. 4 H 231-232, 246 (Fritz); 7 H 133. 135 (Boyd); 7 H 180-182 (Sims); 7
266- 267, 269 (Leavelle); 7 H 259 260 (L. Graves).
38. 4 H 239 (Fritz).
39. 7 H 310 (Bookhout).
40. 4 H 152 (Curry); see also 4 H 232 (Fritz).
41. 4 H 238 (Fritz); 7 H 311 (Book-hour).
42. 4 H 153, 175-176 (Curry); 15 H
829
Page 830
NOTES TO PAGES 200-212
129 (Curry); 4 H 238 (Fritz); 7 H 128,
]34-135 (Boyd); 7 H 330 (Nichols);
7 H 311, 316-317 (Bookhout); 7 H 321
(Clements); 7 II 297 (Holmes); 15 H
512-513 (Johnston); see WFAA-TV reel
PKT 21; KRLD-TV reel 20; WFAA-TV
reel PKT 25.
43. 7 H 59 (G. Hill); 7 H 21 (Car-
roll); 7 H 134-135 (Boyd); 7 H 330
(Nichols).
44. 4 H 216 (Fritz); 7 II 314, 316-
317 (Bookhout).
45. 4, H 216-217, 221 (Fritz); 15 H
506-508 (Johnston).
46. CE 2166.
47. See supra, p. 182.
48. 7 H 323 (Gregory L. Olds).
49. CE 2073, see CE 1999,
50. 3 H 88-89 (R. Paine); 10 II 116
(John J. Abt).
51. 7 H 325-332 (Nichols); 7 H 322-
325 (Olds); CE 2165.
52. 7 H 299-300(Holmes).
53. 12 H 30 (Curry); Glen King DE 4,
5; 15 H 55 (King); NBC-TV reel 3.
54. CE 1359, p. 4.
55. 5 H 218 (Wade).
56. For testimony describing conditions on third floor see, e.g., 4 H
152, 153,
158, 160 (Curry); 4 H 231-232 (Fritz)
4 H 355 (Lawson) ;; 4 H 462-463 (Hosty)
7 H 2,77 (Barnes) 7 H 318 (Bookhout)
7 H 322 (Clements); 13 H 40 (Thomas D.
McMillon); 13 H 58-59 (Sorrels); 15 H
54-55 (King); Seth Kantor DE 4; CE
1353; 7 H 157 (Dhority); 15 II 512
(Johnston); WFAA-TV reel PKT 21;
WFAA-TV reel PKT 14; KRLD-TV reel
9.
57. 4 H 463 (Hosty).
58. 4 H 151 (Curry); 12 H 30 (Curry);
15 H 55 (King); Kantor DE 4; Leo
Sauvage, "The Oswald Affair," Commen-
tary 64 (March 1964); CE 2176.
59. 12 H 30 (Curry).
60. 4 H 151 (Curry).
61. 4 H 355 (Lawson).
62. 7 II 157 (Dhority); 4 H 151
(Curry); 12 H 30 (Curry); 5 H 218
(Wade); CE 1359.
63. 5 H 218 (Wade). 64. 4 H 355 (Lawson).
65. 2 H 260 (William W. Whaley).
66. King DE 5, p. 7; WFAA-TV reel
PKF-5; WFAA-TV reel PKT-8. 67. 15 H 55 (King). 68. 7 H 269 (Leavelle).
69. 7 H 358-359 (Sorrels).
70. 12 H 96 (Stevenson); CE 1353. 71. 12 H 34 (Curry); CE 1353.
72. 15 H 54 (King); 12 H 112 (Cecil E. Talbert).
73. 15 H 54 (King); see 12 H 112 (Talbert).
74. 12 H 96 (Stevenson); 12 H 135-138 (Charles O. Arnett); 15 H 590-591
(Thayer Waldo); CE 1757, 2037-2043, 2047-2059; John G. McCullough DE 2;
CE 2062, 2066; Waldo DE I; Icarus N. Pappas DE 3.
75. 13 H 58-59 (Sorrels).
76. See, e.g., Waldo DE 1; CE 1757, 2044, 2048, 2052, 2053.
77. 13 H 40 (McMillon); 13 H 131 (Jimmy Turner); 15 H 591-592 (Waldo);
CE 2040, 2074; 15 H 373-377 (McCullough); WBAP-TV reel FW 2. 78. KRLD-TV
reel 23. 79. CE 2074.
80. 7 H 64 (G. Hill); WFAA-TV reel PKT 24-27:28; CE 2160.
81. CE 2003, pp. 125, 141-142, 293.
82. 4 H 232, 246 (Fritz); 12 H 33 (Curry).
830
83. For testimony describing Oswald's passage through the third-floor
corridor, see, e.g., 12 H 33 (Carry); 4 H 231 232 (Fritz); 7 H 181
(Sims); 7 H 268-269
(Leavelle); Kantor DE 4, pp. 10-19;
WFAA-TV reel PKT 14.
84. For testimony describing the Friday
evening press conference, see 4 H 166-167
(Curry); 12 H 96 (Stevenson); 5 H 221-
222 (Wade); 15 H 510-512 (Johnston);
15 H 591-593 (Waldo); 13 H 115-116
(Robert L. Hankal); 7 H 132-133
(Boyd); 7 H 175-176 (Sims); 7 H 322
(Clements); 7 H 323-324 (Olds); 4 H
219 (Fritz); 4 H 357-358 (Lawson); 13
H 189-192 (A. M. Eberhardt); CE 2173.
85. 12 H 32 (Curry); Waldo DE 1; CE
2040; 15 H 592 (Waldo); 15 H 510-511
(Johnston); CE 2052; 7 H 324 (Olds):
WFAA-TV reel PKF 5; KRLD-TV reel
23.
86. 4 H 219 (Fritz).
87. CE 2173.
88. 12 It 34 (Curry); 7 H 132 (Boyd);
7 H 176 (Sims).
89. 4 H 219 (Fritz).
90. 4 H 167, 175 (Curry); 4 H 219
( Fritz ).
91. 15 H 131 (Curry).
92. 4 H 175 (Curry); KRLD-TV reel
23.
93. 4 H 175 (Curry).
94. 12 H 44-46 (J. E. Decker); see
also 4 H 180-181 (Curry); 12 H 35
(Curry); 15 H 116 (Charles O. Batchelor).
95. 12 H 2 (Batchelor).
96. 12 H 35 (Curry).
97. CE 2013, 2018.. 2021; W. B. Frazier
DE 5087; Talbert DE 5065; 12 H 53-55
(W. B. Frazier).
98. 12 H 37 (Curry); 15 H 125
(Curry); 12 H 6-7 (Batchelor); 15 H
116-118 (Batchelor).
99. 12 H 36-37 (Curry); see 12 H 6-7
(Batchelor); 15 H 116 (Batchelor).
100. 12 H 7-8, 12 (Batchelor); 15
H 116-118 (Batchelor); 12 H 37
(Curry); 12 H 99-100 (Stevenson).
101. 12 H 3.5-36 (Curry); 15 H 128, 132 (Curry); 15 H 115, 122-123
(Batchelor); 15 H 134, 137 (Stevenson).
102. 13 H 17 (Leavelle).
103. Ibid.
104. 13 H 63 (Sorrels).
105. 12 H 91 (James M. Solomon); 12 H 138 (Arnett); 12 H 292 (Logan W.
Mayo); 12 H 317-318 (Wm. J. Newman).
106. 12 H 112 (Talbert); 12 H 421-422, 426 (Patrick T. Dean).
107. 12 H 208 (Wilbur J. Cutchshaw); R. L. Lowery DE 5083; 12 H 307 (L.
Miller); 12 H 396 (Don R. Archer); 13
H 268 (Vernon S. Smart). 108. 12 H 47-49 (Decker).
109. 12 H 117 (Talbert); 15 H 184 (Talbert); 12 H 16 (Batchelor); 12 H
100. (Stevenson).
110. See, e.g., B. H. Combest DE 5100; Robert S. Huffaker DE 5333.
111. 12 H 113-117 (Talbert); 15 H 183-184 (Talbert); 12 H 141-143
(Ar-nett); 12 H 166 (Buford L. Beaty); 12 H 173-175 (Alvin R. Brock); 12
H 319 (Newman); 12 H 338-340 (R. Pierce); 12 H 354 (D. F. Steele); 12 H
384-386 (Gano G. Worley); 12 H 421-426 (Dean); 13 H 118 (Huffaker); 13 H
8.5-88 (Fred A. Bieberdorf); 13 H 14.3 (Hal Fuqua); 1.3 H 146-147
(Edward Kelly): 13 H 149-156 (Louis McKinzie); 13 H 166-175 (A. Riggs);
13 H 175-181 (John O. Servance); 13 H 156-166 (E. Pierce); James A.
Putnam DE 5071; CE 2010, 2032, 2066.
Page 831
112. 13 H 159-160 (E. Pierce); 13 H 180 (J. 0. Servance): 12 H 422-423
(Dean); 12 H 173~174 (Brock); 12 H 141-144 (Arnett).
113. CE 2027, 2062; KRLD TV reel 13; but see CE 2029.
114. 12 H 67 (0. A. Jones); 12 It 112 (Talbert); 13 H 131 (J. Turner);
12 H 335- 336 (Bobby G. Patterson); 12 H 183-]84 (Combest); 12 H 360
(Roy E. Vaughn); 12 H 422 (Dean); CE 2051, 2069: Hankal DE 5337; CE
2037, 2039, 2043, 2047, 2050, 2055, 2056, 2057.
115. 12 H 36 (Curry); 12 H 10-15 (Batchelor); 12, H 97-98 (Stevenson);
15 H 134 (Stevenson); 15 H 125-127 (Curry); 15 H 115, 119 (Batchelor).
116. 12 H 164-168 (Beaty); 12 H 180 (Combest); 12 H 313 (L. Miller); 12
H 409-411 (Barnard S. Clardy); 12 H 428 (Dean); 12 H 209 (Cutchshaw); CE
2028.
117. 13 H 43 (McMillon).
118. 12 H 66 (0. A. Jones); 12 H 191 (Kenneth H. Croy); 12 H 209-210
(Cutchshaw); 12 H 270 (Harry M. Kriss); ]5 H 119-120 (Batchelor); 15 H
135 (Stevenson).
119. In addition to the testimony cited in footnotes 114 and 115, see 12
H 119
(Talbert); 12 H 150-157 (Arnett) 12
H 181 (Combest); 12 H 189 (Croy);; 12
H 275-276 (Lowery); 13 11 45 (McMillon): 12 H 287 (Billy J. Maxey); 12 H
345-346 (Putnam); 12 H 17 (Batchelor); 15 H 120 (Batchelor); 12 H 102
(Stevenson); 15 H 135 (Stevenson); 13
H 8 (L. Graves); 13 H 109 (Ira
Beers): 13 H 121 (Huffaker): 13 H 127
(George R. Phenix): CE 2002; WFAA-
TV reel PKT 17 38:00 47:18.
120. CE 2052, 2053.
121. 12 H 8, 15 (Batchelor); 12 H 426
(Dean); CE 2070, pp. 9, 10; KRLD-TV
reel 13; WBAP-TV reel FW 1.
122. 13 H 6 (L. Graves); 13 H 28 (L.
D. Montgomery); CE 2054; 15 H 594-
596 (Waldo); CE 2052, 2053, 2059;
Pappas DE 4.
123. 12 H 15 (Batchelor); 15 It 117
(Batchelor); 12 H 118 (Talbert); 12 H
167 (Beaty).
124. 4 H 188-189 (Curry): 12 H 37-
38 (Curry): 15 H 125 (Curry): 4 H 233
(Fritz): 12 H 100 (Stevenson); 15 H 136
(Stevenson); 13 H 61-63 (Sorrels).
125. 7 H 155-156 (Dhority); 12 H 3,39
(R. Pierce) CE 2003, pp. 312, 314.
126. 12 H 16 (Batchelor); 12 It 68
(O. A. Jones); 12 H 100 (Stevenson).
127. 13 H 5 (L. Graves); Leavelle DE
5088:13 H 27 (Montgomery); CE 2064;
CE 2003, pp. 220-221.
128. 15 H 137 (Stevenson); CE 2003,
p. 171: CE 2060 12 H 391 (Wiggins);
13 H 28 (Montgomery).
129. 12 H 145-146 (Arnett): 12
287-288 (Maxey); 12 It 339-340 (R.
Pierce): 12 H 345-347 (Putnam): 12
361-362 (Vaughn): 12 H 377 (James G.
Watson): 12 H 427-428 (Dean); 13 H 134-135 (J. Turner).
130. 7 H 155-156 (Dhority): CE 2003, pp. 312-314; WFAA-TV reel PKT 16.
131. WFAA TV reel PKT 10: CE 2038, 2039. 2042.
132. CE 2039.
133. CE 2038, 2042. 2059, 2062.
134. McMillon DE 5018; see also 13 H 7 (L. Graves); 13 H 16-17
(Leavelle).
125. See sources cited in footnote 129. WFAA TV reel PKT-16: WFAA-TV
reel PKT-10: NBC TV reel 66; KRLD-TV reel 13.
136. 13 H 29 (Montgomery); see reels cited in footnote 135.
NOTES TO PAGES 212-224
137. 12 H 183 (Combest); see also 12
H 169 (Booty); 12 H 376-377 (Watson);
13 H 7, (L. Graves); 13 H 115 (Hankal); CE 205,2.
138. For testimony describing the final seconds culminating in the
shooting of Oswald, see, e.g., 4 H 234-235, 243 (Fritz): 13 H 137 (J.
Turner); see also WFAA TV reel PKF-10; KRLD TV reel 13; NBC-TV reel 66.
139. 12 H 434-438 (Dean); 15 It 188-189 (Talbert); Dean DE 5009, p. 2;
McMillon DE 5018: see Sorrels DE 1.
140. 12 H 433 (Dean); 12 H 412
( Clardy ).
141. C. R. Hall DE 2.
142. 13 H 71 (Sorrels); 5 H 181-213 (Jack Ruby); C. R. Hall DE 3, p. 11.
143. CE 2025; 13 H 22.1-226 (D. Lane). 144. KRLD-TV reel 13.
145. 12 H 348-349 (Willie B. Slack); 12 H 392 (Wiggins); 13 H 90-91
(Frances Cason): 13 H 96 (Hardin); 13 H 101 (Hulse); 13 H 239-243
(Priddy); Michael Hardin I)E 5125, 5126, 5127; F. Cason DE 5135; CE
2022; see also reels cited in footnote 138.
146. CE 2002, pp. 112-113; CE 2026. 147. Compare Dean DE 5009, p. 2 and
12 II 228-234 (N.J. Daniels) with 12 H 434 (Dean) and 12 H 412 (Clardy).
See also 12 H 347 (Putnam) and KRLD-TV reel ]3: C. R. Hall DE 3, pp. 11,
12, which suggests that the Pierce car may have passed Ruby before
Putnam entered the car, which would have been at the bottom, rather than
the top, of the Main Street ramp.
148. 13 H 135-137 (J. Turner).
149. 12 H 323-329, 332-334 (Newman); 12 It 192-193 (K. H. Croy). Cf. 12
H 262-264 (Howard B. Holly); 12 H 89-90 (Solo-
150. 12 H 232 (N.J. Daniels).
151.12 H 228 234 (Daniels); Daniels
DE 5325; Compare 12 H 362-363
(Vaughn); Vaughn DE 5325, p. 2.
152. N.J. Daniels DE 5325, pp. 1-2; 12
H 369 (Vaughn).
153. 12 H 359-362 (Vaughn); CE 2034,
2035, 2043. 2058.
154. 12 H 359-362 (R. Pierce) 12 H
346 347 (Putnam); 12 H 287 (Maxey):
see also CE 2035, 2063; 15 H 681-685
(Harry T. Tasker).
155. 12 H 212, 215-216; Cutchshaw);
Lowery DE 5083.
]56. KRLD-TV reel 13.
157. 13 H 132-136 (J. Turner).
158. KRLD TV reel 13.
159. CE 2071.
160. KRLD-TV reel 13; 15 H 117-118
( Batchelor ).
161. See sources in note 112.
162 CE 2003 pp. 260 261a; 12 H 49-
50 (McMillon); C. R. Hall DE 3, pp. 11, 12:
CE 2182.
163. KLIF reel 75 (Duncan interview
with Sergeant Dean), Nov. 24, 1963.
164. See supra, p. 212.
165. CE 2030; Vaughn DE 5335: Putnam DE 5071.
166. See sources in footnote 152. 12 H
190 (Croy).
167. CE 2002.
168. 5 H 198 199 (Jack Ruby); 14 H 545 (Jack Ruby).
169. See Commission Exhibits in footnote 74.
170. See app. XVI.
171. 14 H 167, 191-192 (Curry). 172. 12 H 427, 420 (Dean).
173. 12 H 156-157 (Arnett): 12 H 192 194 (Croy): 12 H 252-253 (Win. J.
Harrison); King DE 3.
174. KRLD TV reel 13.
831
Page 832
NOTES TO PAGES 224-246
175. E.g., 12 H 182-183 (Combest); 12 H 211 (Cutchshaw); 12 H 249, 251
(Harrison); 12 H 275-276 (Lowery); 12 H 399 (Archer); KRLD-TV reel 13.
176. See infra, pp. 35.3-354.; CE 2019; 5
H 199 (J. Ruby); C. R. Hall I)E 3. Cf. 13
H 244 (George Senator); Senator DE 5401. 177. 5 H 199 (J. Ruby); 13 H
244
(Senator); Senator DE 5491. 178. CE 2068.
179. CE 1982, 2072; 12 H 30 (Curry); 4
H 241 (Fritz); 12 H 94 (Stevenson). 180. Talbert DE 1; 12 H 112
(Talbert). 181. Talbert DE 2; 15 H 123 (Batchelor) ; King DE 4, p. 9.
182. 15 H 55 (King).
183.12 H 39 (Curry). See also 15 H 54-55 (King).
184. 15 H 55 (King).
185. 15 H 53 (King); Talbert DE 2.
186. King DE 4, p. 9; 15 H 55, 58
(King); 15 H 127 (Curry). 187. 4 H 152 (Curry).
188. See supra, pp. 202-206. 189. CE 1359, p. 4.
190. King DE 4, p. 10; 15 H 54 (King). 191. CE 1353; King DE 4, 5;
KRLD-TV reel 9; WFAA TV reel PKT 21; CE 2052.
192. 15 H 55-56 (King). 193. See supra, p. 208.
194. See supra, 208; CE 2052.
195. 15 H 188-191 (Talbert); WFAA-TV PKT-30-35:01-36:21; 15 H 128 (
Curry ).
196. CE 2018; 4 H 187-188 (Curry). 197. See supra, p. 212.
198. This judgment is shared by the officials of the Dallas Police
Department. See, e.g., 15 H 127-128 (Curry); 15 H 122 (Batchelor).
199. King DE 4, pp. 8-9. 200. See supra, p. 201.
201. 15 H 125 (Curry); 15 H 120-121 ( Batchelor ).
202. 12 H 40; see also 4 II 186 (Curry). 203. 4 H 233 (Fritz).
204. 12 H 53-54 (W. B. Frazier); 15 II 153 (Fritz).
205. 13 H 17 (Leavelle); 13 H 63 (Sorrels).
206. 4 H 233 (Fritz); 12 H 35 (Curry);
see sources cited in footnote 101. 207. 12 H 69 (O. A. Jones). 208. See
supra, p. 213.
209. 12 H 155 (Arnett); 12 H 247 (Harrison); 12 H 281, 284 (Frank M.
Martin); 12 H 428 (Dean); CE 2031.
210. 4 H 187 (Curry); 12 II 35 (Curry); 12 H 9-10, 13 (Batchelor); 12 II
390 (Wiggins).
211 See sources in footnote 13.3. 212. See supra, p. 215.
213. 7 H 156 (Dhority); 4 H 233-234 (Fritz); WFAA-TV reel PKT-16; 13 H
17
(Leavelle); see supra, p. 216. 214. 1.3 H 17 (Leavelle). 215. 12 H 69
(0. A. Jones). 216. 15 H 53 (King). 217. CE 1353, p. 3.
218. 4 H 152, 181 (Curry); 12 H 30 31 (Curry): 5 H 218 (Wade).
219. See CE 2142 through 2152 and CE 2168 through 2173.
220. WFAA audio reel 2, Nov. 23, 1963; KRLD audio reel 33-1, -9, Nov.
23, 1963; WFAA-TV reels PKT 12 10:16: PKT 7; PKT 21 48:30; see also 4 H
160, 199 200 (Curry).
221. CE 2153, 2155.
222. CE 2157, 2159, 2160, 2162, 2163, 2164, 2167.
223. 5 H 238-239 (Wade).
224. 5 H 238-240 (Wade); see, for instance, CE 2168 through 2173.
225. 5 H 223 (Wade); KRLD-TV reel 23; CE 2169.
226, 5 H 227 (Wade); CE 2170.
227. 5 H 250 (Wade); CE 2169, 2172. 228. 7 H 108 (Weitzman).
229. 3 H 169 (B. R. Williams); CE 2160. 230. CE 2146. 231. CE 2178.
232. 5 H 239 (Wade).
233. 5 H 228 (Wade); see sources cited in footnote 219.
234. 5 H 115 (J. Edgar Hoover).
235. 5 H 115 116 (Hoover); 15 H 58
(King); CE 2072; cf. 15, H 129 (Curry). 236. CE 2148.
237. 5 H 237 (Wade). 238. 5 H 237-238 (Wade).
239. CE 2168; 5 H 237-238 (Wade).
240. See 165, 174.
241. CE 2180'
242. WBAP Fort Worth audio reel 12
"A," Nov. 24, 1963; CE 2168.
243. 6 H 368 370 (Joe R. Molina);
CE 2086, pp. 12-14.
244. CE 2146, 2147, 2162, 2181.
245. KRLD-TV audio reels 21 "B"-11,
22 "A"-5, 24 "A," 25 "A," Nov. 23, 1963;
6 H 370 (Molina).
246. 6 H 372 (Molina).
247. CE 2186.
248. 6 H 370 (Molina): CE 3132.
249. 6 H 371 (Molina); CE 2036, pp.
14-16, CE 2049, 2065, 1970.
250. 5 H 223 (Wade); CE 2169; see
Vernon's (Tex.) Ann. C. P. art. 714.
251. CE 2144; see Washburn v. State,
165 Grim. Rep. 125, 318 S.W. 2d 627, 637
(Tex. Ct. Grim. App. 1958), certiorari
denied, 359 U.S. 965 (1958).
252. CE 2168; see supra, pp. 179 180.
253. CE 2153, 2172, 2152; see also
WBAP-TV reel FW 2.
254. CE 2146, 2172; WBAP-TV reel
FW 2.
255. CE 2183.
256. CE 2184.
257. 4 H 201 (Curry); see also 12 II
39 (Curry).
258. King DE 5, p. 5.
259. CE 1353, 2052; Waldo DE 1.
260. 4 H 153 (Curry).
261. See supra, p. 208.
262. 13 H 17 (Leavelle); 13 H 63 (Sorrels ).
263. 4 H ]66 (Curry); King DE 4, 5.
Felix McKnight, executive editor of the
Dallas-Times-Herald, discussed this pres-
sure in an address at Northwestern University in February 1964. See CE
2185.
264. King DE 5, p. 6.
265. Elgin E. Crull DE 1.
266. King DE 4; CE 1359.
CHAPTER VI
1. CE 2768, 2772, 2444, 3042, pp. 59, 65. 2. See pp. 31-40, supra.
3. 10 H 152 (Irving Statman); Helen Cunningham DE l-A; 11 H 477-78 (H.
Cunningham ).
4. See app. XIV, p. 745.
5. Burcham DE 1, p. I; 11 H 473 (John Burcham).
6. 3 H 37 (Ruth Paine); CE 401.
7. See footnote 3, supra.
832
Page 833
NOTES TO PAGES 246--259
8. CE 1871; Gangl DE 1; 11 H 478-
479 (Theodore Gangl).
9. CE 427; 11 H 478-479 (Gangl).
10. Gangl DE 1; 11 H 478-479 (Gangl).
11. Ibid.
12. 3 H 33-34 (R. Paine); 2 H 246-247
(Linnie Mae Randle); see 1 H 29 (Marina
Oswald).
13. 2 H 246 (Randle).
14. 3 H 33-34 (R. Paine); 3 H 213 (Roy
Truly).
15. 3 H 34-35 (R. Paine).
16. 3 H 214 (Truly).
17. 10 H 132 (H. Cunningham); H.
Cunningham DE 1-A.
18. 10 H 132 (H. Cunningham).
19. Ch. H, p. 31.
20. Ibid.
21. Id. at 40.
22. Ch. IV, p. 131-137.
23. 2 H 216 (Buell Wesley Frazier).
24. Ibid; CE 3118.
25. 2 H 222 (B. W. Frazier).
26. Id. at 226.
27. 1 H 65 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 46
(R. Paine); see app. XIII, p. 740. 28. Ch. IV, pp. 130-131. 29. Id. at
pp. 135-136.
30. 1 H 73 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 49 (R. Paine).
31. CE 142, 626; 1, 304. 32. See 3 H 232 (Truly). 33. Id. at 231; CE
483. 34. 3 H 231 (Truly). 35. Id. at 232. 36. Ibid.
37. Ch. IV, pp. 137-140.
38. CE 1131; 1301; see 3 H 231-232 ( Truly ).
39. 3 H 232, 236 (Truly); CE 1131. 40. See 3 H 232 (Truly).
41. Ch. IV, footnotes 217, 223; p. 140-146.
42. Id. at footnote 215, p. 140. 43. CE 3135.
44. Ch. IV, footnote 232, p. 141. 45. CE 3131, pp. 17-18. 46. Ibid.
47. See 4 H 2-3 (Sebastian Latona). 48. See CE 3155 representing the FBI
opinion based on Sebastian Latona's findings.
49. 6 H 349-351 (Charles Givens). 50. Ibid.
51. 3 H 169-170 (Bonnie Ray Williams). 52. Id. at 169.
53. Id. at 170-171. 54. Id. at 169.
55. Id. at 169, 171. 56. Id. at 171-172.
57. Ch. IV, pp. 143-147. 58. Ibid.
59. 2 H 167-168 (Arnold Rowland); CE 354.
60. Id. at 169, 171. 61. Id. at 172.
62. Id. at 169, 182, 185; CE 357. 63. Id. at 175-176.. 64. Id. at 188.
65. Id. at 178; CE 357.
66. 2 H 183-184 (A. Rowland). 67. Id. at 184; CE 2782.
68. 6 H 185-188 (Barbara Rowland). 69. Id. at 188.
70. CE 2783. This statement constitutes an amendment to the original
testimony; see 6 H 188 (B. Rowland). 71. Id. at 181-182, 185-186. 72.
Id. at 190.
73. Compare 2 H 165, 166, 179, 188 (A. Rowland), with CE 2644.
74. 6 H 263-264 (Roger D. Craig). 75. Id. at 264. 76. Id. at 272.
77. CE 1381, pp. 74, 96. 78. CE 1381.
79. Id. at 5.
80. Ch. IV, pp. 156-164. 81. Id. at 155-163.
82. 7 H 543 (W. E. Barnett). 83. Ibid.
84. Ch. IV, pp. 149-156.
85. 2 II 195-196 (James Worrell).
86. 6 H 276 (George Rackley); 6 H 282 (James Romack).
87. Ch. IV, p. 160. 88. Id. at 163.
89. 6 H 443, 7 H 439 (Earlene Roberts). l)0. Ibid.
91. Id. at 443 444. 92. CE 2781. 93. CE 264.5.
94. Id. at 3; CE 2045.
95. 7 H 439 (E. Roberts).
96. See also CE 3106 and CE 3107. 97. 5 H 364-365 (Dean Rusk).
98. E.g., 9 H 242-243 (George De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 172-173 (William
Stuckey); 8 H 323 (Erwin Donald Lewis); 8 H 316-317 (Donald Camarata);
322-323 (Richard Call); 8 H 315-316 (James Botelho); 8 H 320-321 (Henry
Roussel, Jr.); 8 H 319 320 (Paul Murphy); 8 H 319 (David Murray, Jr.); 8
H 321-322 (Mack Osborne). But see 8 H 285 (Daniel Powers). For Oswald's
Marine service, see app. XIII, pp. 681- 689.
99. Priscilla Johnson DE 1, pp. 3, 7-8; CE 1385, p. 10 (Aline Mosby); CE
908.
100. 9 H 242-243 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
101. CE 1385, p. 7 (Mosby); Johnson DE 1, p. 11.
102. See e.g., 2 H 399 (Michael R.
Paine); 11 H 172-173 (Stuckey). 103. CE 295, p. 4. 104. CE 2767.
105. CE 2716.
106. CE 2767; 1 H 203 (Marguerite
Oswald).
107. CE 3099.
108. CE 2673.
109. 11 H 444-446, 459-460 (P. Johnson); and P. Johnson DE 1, pp. 6, 8.
110. CE 24, entry for Nov. 17 to Dec. 30, 1959; see also CE 206, 202
(Oswald running out of money); CE 24, entry for Nov. 17 to Dec. 30,
1959, in which Oswald says he has only $28 left.
111. CE 1385, p. 11; see also P. Johnson DE 1, p. 3; 11 H 455 (P.
Johnson).
112. E.g., 8 H 323 (Lewis); 8 H 316-317 (Camarata); 8 H 322-323 (Call);
8 H 315-316 (Botelho); 8 H 320-321 (Roussel); 8 H 319-320 (Murphy); 8 H
319 (Murray): 8 H 321-322 (Osborne); but see 8 H 285 (Powers).
113. 8 H 307 (Allison Folsom); Folsom DE 1, p. 7.
114. 5 H 291 (Richard E. Snyder); 11 H 455-456 (P. Johnson).
115. CE 24, entry of Nov. 17 to Dec. 30, 1959.
116. CE 24, entry of Jan. 7 to Mar. 16, 1960; CE 93, p. 4 (reference to
"Rosa Agafanova" probably should be to "Rosa Kuznetsova.").
117. CE 1401, p. 277. 118. CE 2945 (Felkner). 119. Folsom DE 1, pp. 11,
28.
]20. CE 2676, 2711; CE 946, p. 7. 121. CE 2677; app. XIII, p. 690. 122.
See CE 946, p. 7.
123. CE 946, p. 9 (translated, CE 2776).
124. CE 946, p. 8 (translated, CE 2775); CE 2676.
125. CE 2769. 126. CE 2780. 127. Ibid.
128. CE 2773. 129. CE 908 130. CE 24.
131. E.g., CE 92, 101, 827.
132. E.g., CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959,
Page 834
NOTES TO PAGES 259-272
refers to a reporter named "Goldstene" whose name is A. L Goldberg, see
CE 2719; CE 24, entry for Nov. 15, 1959, records an interview with Aline
Mosby which appeared in the Fort Worth Star Telegram
on Nov. 15, datelined Nov. 14 (CE 2716). 133. 1 H 30, 104-10.5 (Marina
Oswald). 134. E.g., CE 18, 1438. 135. CE 2774, 3096.
136. E.g., compare CE 931, 251-256
with V. T. Lee DE 1, 2, 4-7 and CE 2779. 137. CE 24.
138. The files have been assigned CD 1114, 1115.
139. 5 H 260-299 (Snyder); 5 H 299-
306, 318-326 (John A. McVickar). 140. CE 1385.
141. 11 H 442-469 (P. Johnson). 142. CE 985.
143. CE 24, entry of Oct. 16, 1959.
144. CE 24, entry of Oct. 21, 1959.
145. CE 24, entries of Oct. 20 and 21, 1959; 5 It 617; and CE 935, p. 2;
CE 1438 and CE 827 indicate that Oswald was interviewed by "Leo Setyaev"
(per-Imps Lev Setyayev, an English-speaking commentator for Radio
Moscow), a "Radio Moscow Reporter," probably also working for the KGB on
this occasion. The interview was apparently never broadcast. 2 H 274
(Richard E. Snyder); but see CE 25, p. 3.
146. CE 2760.
147. CE 24, entry of Oct. 21, 1959. 148. CE 2778.
149. CE 985, doe. 1C-2, 1C-3. 150. CE 2776.
151. 1 H 91 (Marina Oswald).
152. E.g., 8 H 382, 384, 386 (Anna N. Meller); 9 H 240 (G. De
Mohrenschildt); 9 H 309, 311 (Jeanne De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 474 (Hilda
Smith); and see comments of fellow Marines in app. XIII, pp. 681-689,
and discussion of his character in ch. VII; see also 2 H 318 (Katherine
Ford), relating an incident in which Oswald reacted violently to a
suggestion that Marina Oswald may have contemplated suicide.
153. CE 908.
154. 5 H 270 (Snyder). 155. Id. at 262. 156. Id. at 295-296. 157. CE
908.
158. 5 H 290 (Snyder). 159. Id. at 289.
160. CE 913; 5 H 263 (Snyder). 161. CE 2774.
162. 5 H 280 (Snyder); but see 8 H 287-288 (Powers).
163. CE 908, p. 2.
164. CE 912. See app. w, pp. 747--751, for further details regarding
Oswald's attempted expatriation.
165. 5 H 287-288 (Snyder); CE 941, p. 3; 5 H 302-303 (McVickar).
166. 11 H 453-455 (P. Johnson); see also CE 1385; CE 911, p. 1
(contemporaneous observation that Oswald used words as though he had
learned them out of a dictionary).
167. 5 H 279, 287, 290 (Snyder); CE 941, 958; 5 H 300-301 (McVickar);
and see 11 H 447-460 (P. Johnson).
168. App. XIII, pp. 675, 679, 683, 685-688, 722.
169. See ch. VII, pp. 384, 388-390; app. XIII, pp. 679, 686-687.
170. See, e.g., CE 24, entry of Oct. 16, 1959 5 H 616 (Marina Oswald).
171. See CE 1385, pp. 15-17 (Mosby) 5 H 272, 287-288 (Snyder); CE 908
(Snyder); CE 941, p. 3, 5 H 302-303 (McVickar); 11 H 453 (P. Johnson).
834
172. CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959.
173. 5 H 287 (Snyder); but see 5 H 272
( Snyder ).
174. P. Johnson DE 6, p. 1; 11 H 444
(P. Johnson).
175. Id. at 452.
176. CE 913.
177. CE 912.
178. 8 U.S.C. see. 1481.
179. 5 H 269, 290 (Snyder).
180. See Johnson DE 5, passim, and
especially p. 13; 11 H 447, 456, 458-459
(Johnson).
181. CE 24, entries of Nov. 16, 1959,
and Jan. 4, 1960.
182. CE 985, doc. Nos. 1A, 2A, and 3A
(1).
183. CE 1885, p. 4.
184. 11 H 456-457 (P. Johnson); P.
Johnson DE 1, pp. 3-4.
185. CE 24, entry of Nov. 16, 1959.
186. CE 297.
187. CE 202; CE 206; 1 H 204 (Marguerite Oswald).
188. See also CE 297 (Oswald seemed
to associate acceptance by Soviet authorities with leaving the hotel in
Moscow
189. CE 3125.
190. P. Johnson DE 5, p. 7.
191. CE 985, doc. Nos. 1A, 2A, and 3A (1).
192. CE 2762, p. 2.
193. CE 960, question 2. 194. CE 2762, p. 2.
195. CE 960, question 2. 196. CE 2760.
197. CE 24, entries of Oct. 28, 1959, and
Nov. 17 to Dec. 30, 1959. 198. CE 24. 199. CE 985.
200. M. Kramer DE 1, 2.
201. 11 H 213 (Rita Naman); 11 H 212 (Monica Kramer).
202. 11 H 211-212 (Katherine Mallory).
203. See generally app. w. 204. E.g., CE 298, 315 184. 205. E.g., CE
1392-1395.
206. E.g., 9 H 171, 229, 241-242 (G. de Mohrenschildt); see also 8 H 359
(George A. Bouhe) (conversation about Leningrad, Marina's native city).
207. E.g., 1 H 92 (Marina Oswald); CE 2761, 104; CE 1401, pp. 275-276;
CE 994, p. 1.
208. CE 2761.
209. CE 24, entries of Jan. 4, 5, 7, and
13, 1960, and see CE 25, pp. 1B-2B. 210. CE 24, entry of Jan. 8, 1960.
211. CE 24, entry of Mar. 16, 1960.
212. CE 24, entries of Jan. 11 and 13, 1960; CE 1109 (union membership
booklet) and 1108 (workbook); CE 24, entry of Jan. 13, 1960 (700
rubles); CE 1110 (750-850 rubles); CE 1401, p. 270 (800-900 rubles ).
213. 1 H 95 (Marina Oswald). 214. CE 1401, p. 271. 215. CE 2720.
216. CE 24, entry of Jan. 13, 1960; CE 25, pp. 1B--2B; see generally 5 H
293- 294 (Snyder).
217. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4-31, 1961. 218. 1 H 93.
219. CE 2721; see also 5 H 293-294 (Snyder).
220. CE 2760.
221. 10 H 203 (Dennis Hyman Ofstein). 222. CE 25, pp. 1B-2B. 223. Ibid.
224. 5 H 407 (Marina Oswald).
225. 5 H 616 (Marina Oswald).
226. E.g., 8 H 360 (Bouhe); 9 H 145 (Paul Gregory); 9 H 79 (Gary E.
Taylor); 2 H 339 (Peter Gregory).
Page 835
NOTES TO PAGES 272-281
227. E.g., 8 H 350 (Max E. Clark); 2 H 397 (R. Paine).
228. CE 1401, p. 275; I H 93 (Marina
Oswald); 5 H 590 (Marina Oswald). 229. CE 985, doe. No. 8A.
230. 9 H 114 (Ilya Mamantov); but see 8 H 362 (Bouhe) (commenting that
there is nothing unusual about hunting in Soviet Union).
231. CE 2670. 232. Ibid. 233. Ibid.
234. CE 2770.
235. I H 96 (Marina Oswald). 236. CE 1964, pp. 2-3, 5.
237. CE 24, entry of Apr. 30, 31 [sic], 1961.
238. I H 327-328 (Robert Oswald); 2 H 466 (R. Paine); 8 H 385 (Meller);
8 H 362 (Bouhe).
239. CE 2649. 240. CE 303. 241. CE 1964. 242. Id. at 6. 243. CE 2733.
244. CE 24, entry of Apt. 31 [sic], 1961; CE 1111.
245. CE 960, attachment 2, p. 2.
246. See, e.g., I H 25 (Marina Oswald): 2 H 342 (Peter Gregory); 10 H 59
(Lt.
Francis Martello). 247. CE 931.
248. 5 H 277 (Snyder). 249. CE 930. 250. CE 2757.
251. 5 H 276 (Snyder); moreover, it arrived too late to have prompted
Oswald's letter even if it had been delivered. see
CE 2757 and date stamped on CE 2681. 252. CE 931. 253. CE 933. 254. CE
940.
255. CE 251, 252. 256. CE 1074.
257. 5 H 252-254 (Waterman): CE 970, 971; and see CE 934.
258. CE 24, entry of July 8, 1961; CE 935.
259. CE 24, entry of July 9, 1961; 1 H 96-97 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401,
pp. 278, 280.
260. CE 2762, p. 1. 261. CE 2762, p, 1. 262. Ibid. 263. CE 960.
264. CE 24, entry of July 8, 1961,
265. The factual and legal basis of this decision is set forth and
evaluated in app. XV. pp. 747-751.
266. CE 935, p. 2. 267. CE 938, 946. 268. CE 935.
269. 5 H 318-319 (McVickar). 270. CE 946, 979.
271. CE 246-247, 249, 251-256, 931, 1083, 1093.
272. CE 2774.
273. E.g., V.T. Lee DE 1, 2, 4-7. 274. 5 H 287-288 (Snyder).
275. CE 2687, 2688; 5 H 280 (Snyder).
276. Id. at 278, 288; see also CE 2687, 2688.
277. CE 1401, pp. 277-278, 280.
278. CE 985, Docs. Nos. 1B-4B; CE 1122.
279. CE 24, entry of Dec. 25, 1961; CE 1403, p. 725.
280. 5 H 591,604-605, 617-619 (Marina Oswald ).
281. CE 1403, p. 745. 282. CE 246, 255. 283. CE 29. 284. CE 316.
285. CE 824, p. 4.
286. 5 H 604, 617-618 (Marina Oswald).
287. CE 2722.
288. CE 960; 5 H 340 (Abram Chayes).
289. CE 2756.
290. CE 2762, p. 3; CE 2771. 291. CE 301.
292. CE 24, entry of July 15 to Aug. 20, 1961.
293. E.g., 9 H 147, 151 (Paul Gregory). 294. CE 1122.
295. 1 H 89-90, 97 (Marina Oswald). 296. Ibid. (Marina Oswald); but see
5 H 604-605 (Marina Oswald). (In a later interview, the official did not
try to discourage her.)
297. 1 H 89-90, 97 (Marina Oswald);
5 H 608-609 (Marina Oswald); in an earlier interview with the FBI Marina
Oswald said she was "thrown out" because she failed to pick up her
membership card, CE 1401, p. 276; this was probably only the ostensible
reason, however; 5 H 608-609 (Marina Oswald).
298. 9 H 147 (Paul Gregory).
299. 5 H 598, 604 (Marina Oswald). 300. See CE 960.
301. 1 H 7 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 358 (George H. Bouhe); 9 H 224-226
(George De Mohrenschildt); id. at 306-311 (Jeanne De Mohrenschildt); 2 H
297-299 (Katya Ford); 2 H 323-324, 328--330 (Declan P. Ford); 8 H
344-345, 353 (Max E. Clark); 9 H 64-69 (Lydia Dymitruk); id. at 142-143
(Paul Gregory); 2 H 338-341 (Peter Gregory); 8 H 393-399 (Elena Hall);
id. at 407-409 (John R. Hall); 11 It 119-123 (Alexander Kleinlerer); 8 H
3.81-385 (Anna Meller); id. at 416-419 (Valentina Ray); 9 H 77-78, 82-83
(Gary E. Taylor); id. at 29-30 (Natalie Ray); id. at 22 (Paul M.
Raigorodsky); id. at 39-42 (Thomas M. Ray); id. at 46-48 (Samuel B.
Ballen); id. at 107 (Ilya A. Mamantov); td. at 134-135 (Dorothy
Gravitis); id. at 161-162 (Helen Leslie); 8 H 435 (Mrs. Igor Voshinin);
id. at 466-468 (Igor Voshinin); CE 1858, pp. 12-13; 11 H 125-12,8,
130-133 (Alexandra De Mohrenschildt Gibson); CE 1861; 10 H 16-17
(Everett D. Clover); 2 H 435-437 (R. Paine).
302. See e.g., 9 H 2 (Raigorodsky); id. at 46 (Ballen); id. at 103
(Mamantov); id. at 199, 202-203, 210, 280-282 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 10
H 3, 13 (Glover).
303. 1 H 134-135 (Marguerite Oswald); id. at 7 (Marina Oswald); 8 H
372-373 (Bouhe); id. at 345-346 (M. Clark); 9 H 228-231 (G. De
Mohrenschildt): id. at 306-310 (J. De Mohrenschildt): 2 H 299-300 (K.
Ford); id. at 329 (D. Ford); 9 H 64-65 (Dymitruk); id. at 144 (Paul
Gregory); 8 H 393-395 (E. Hall); id. at 407-408, 411 (J. Hall); 11 H
118-123 (Kleinlerer); 8 H 382-384 (A. Meller); id. at 422-423 (V. Ray);
11 H 147-149 (A. Gibson).
304. 8 H 373 (Bouhe); 9 H 228 (G. De Mohrenschildt); id. at 306, 324 (J.
De Mohrenschildt); 8 H 387~388 (A. Meller); 11 H 118-123 (A.
Kleinlerer); 2 H 329 (D. Ford): 9 H 65-68 (Dymitruk); 11 H 125-128,
130-134, 135-139, 140, 143--145, 147- 149, 150-151 (A. Gibson).
305. 1 H 11-12, 31 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 118-123 (Kleinlerer): 8 H 365
(Bouhe): id. at 394 (E. Hall); 9 H 82, 84 (G. Taylor); id. at 310 (J. De
Mohrenschildt); id. at 231-233 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 2 H 298-299 (K.
Ford); 2 H 325 (D. Ford); 9 H 64 (Dymitruk); 8 H 345 (M. Clark); id. at
394-395, 403 (E. Hall); id. at 407 (J. Hall); id. at 416-417 (V. Ray).
306. App. XIII, pp. 673-675.
307. CE 2692; 1 H 318, 372, 330-331, 380-381 (R. Oswald); id. at 131-132
(Marguerite Oswald); id. at 4 (Marina Oswald).
308. 1 H 133, 135 (Marguerite Oswald); id. at 4-5 (Marina Oswald).
835
Page 836
NOTES TO PAGES 281-285
309. I H 134 (Marguerite Oswald); id. at 5 (Marina Oswald).
310. See i H 7 (Marina Oswald); see the accounts of how members of the
community met Oswald in footnote 301, supra.
311. 8 H 344-345 (M. Clark); CE 1389; of. 2 H 338 (Peter Gregory).
312. 8 H 344-345 (M. Clark).
313. 2 H 338, 340 (Peter Gregory); 9 H 142-144 (Paul Gregory).
314. 2 H 341 (Peter Gregory): 8 H 358-359, 372-373 (Bouhe); id. at
381-385 (A. Meller ).
315. See e.g., 9 H 224-226 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 2 H 297 (Katya Ford);
see also footnote 301, supra.
316. Those testifying include G. Bouhe, G. De Mohrenschildt, J. De
Mohrenschildt, K. Ford, D. Ford, M. Clark, L. Dymitruk, Paul Gregory,
Peter Gregory, E. Hall, J. Hall, E. Glover, A. Meller, V. Ray, G.
Taylor, N. Ray, P. Raigorodsky, T. Ray, S. Ballen, I. Mamantov, D.
Gravitis, H. Leslie, Mrs. I. Voshinin, I. Voshinin, A. Gibson. See also
e.g., CE 1857 (Mrs. Max Clark); CE 1858 (Mrs. Tatiana Biggers); CE 1860
(Charles Edward Harris. Jr.); CE 1861 (Mrs. Charles Edward Harris): CE
1865 (Leo Aronson); 11 H 118 (Kleinlerer).
317. E.g., 8 H 367, 377 (Bouhe); 2 H 309-310 (K. Ford); 9 H 238, 252-253
(G. De Mohrenschildt); 1 H 34-35 (Marina Oswald).
318. 1 H 11-12, 31 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 365-367 (Bouhe); 11 H 118-123
(Kleinlerer); 8 H 393-394 (E. Hall): 9 H 82-83 (G. Taylor): id. at 310.
325 (J. De Mohrenschildt): id. at 231-233 (G. De Mohrenschildt): 2 H
298-299, 304 (K. Ford); 2 H 325 (D. Ford); 8 H 345 (M. Clark); id. at
394-395. 403 (E. Hall); id. at 412 (J. Hall): id. at 386-388 (A.
Meller): id. at 416-417 (V. Ray).
319. 1 H 31 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 394-395. 403 (E. Hall): id. at 412 (J.
Hall); 11 H 119-121 (Kleinlerer).
320. 1 H 11-12 (Marina Oswald): 8 H 365 (Bouhe): 2 H 298-299, 304 (K.
Ford): 2 H 325 (D. Ford): id. at 386-388 (A. Meller); id. at 416 417 IV.
Ray); 9 H 310. 325 (J. De Mohrenschildt); id. at 231-233 (G. De
Mohrenschildt); id. at 64 (Dymitruk).
321.1 H 10 (Marina Oswald); see app. XIII, pp. 717-722.
322. 8 H 365 367 (Bouhe); 2 H 307 (K. Ford).
323. 2 H 307 (K. Ford): see 8 H 367, 377 (Bouhe); 2 It 300-310 (K.
Ford): 9 H 252-253 (G. De Mohrenschildt): 1 H 34-35 (Marina Oswald).
324. 2 H 459-462, 468-469, 3 H 4-11, 28-30 (R. Paine): 1 H 18-19. 23.
27-28, 46 (Marina Oswald): 8 H 133-134, 139 (Lillian Murret); 8 H
184-186 (Charles Murret).
325. 9 H 273 (G. Do Mohrenschildt);
2 H 473 (R. Paine): 9 H 69 (Dymitruk). 326. See e.g.. 8 H 388-389 (A.
Meller);
id. at 401 (E. Hall): id. at 419, 422 (V. Ray): 2 H 305-310 (K. Ford): 9
H 248, 250 (G. De Mohrenschildt): id. at 317 (J. De Mohrenschildt); S It
410-411 (J. Hall).
327. CE 1781, pp. 546-547; CE 1929. pp. 192-193:2 H 499 (R. Paine); CE
419- 421: CE 409-B, p. 2.
328. See footnote 326, supra; 9 H 106-107 (Mamantov).
329. See 9 H 224-266. 309..313 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 9 H 306-327 (J. De
Mohrenschildt): I H 11 (Marina Oswald); 10 H 260-261 (M. F. Tobias); 10
H 245-246 (Mrs. Tobias): 9 H 93 (G. Taylor).
330. 9 H 248-249 (G. De Mohrenschildt); id. at 314-315 (J. De
Mohrenschildt).
331. Id. at 315-317 (J. De Mohrenschildt); see id. at 249-250 (G. De
Mohrenschildt ).
332. Id. at 317 (J. De Mohrenschildt);
see id. at 249 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
333. Id. at 249 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
334. I H 18 (Marina Oswald).
335. 9 H 249-250 (G. De Mohrenschildt); see id. at 317 (J. De
Mohrenschildt ).
336. Id. at 248. 250 (G. Mohrenschildt);
id. at 317 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
337. Id. at 299, 317-318 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
338. Id. at 318.
339. Id. at 272, 276 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
340. In addition to the testimony and
exhibits included in the record to this report, additional data relative
to the back-
ground of the De Mohrenschildts is included in the files of the
Commission.
341. 9 H 168-179 (G. De Mohrenschildt); CE 3100.
342. 9 H 179-180, 190-191 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
343. Id. at 191-192, 195, 201-203, 211-
212: id. at 300-302 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
344. Id. at 213 216 (G. De Mohrenschildt); id. at 302 303 (J. De
Mohrenschildt).
345. Id. at 216 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
346. Id. at 276, 280 282, 217 (G. De Mohrenschildt); see id. at 305 (J.
De Mohrenschildt).
347. Id. at 296-297 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 8 H 352-353 (Max E. Clark);
id. at 377 (Bouhe); id. at 431-433 (Mrs. Voshinin): id. at 467 469 (Igor
Voshinin): 9 H 99 100 (G. Taylor); id. at 120-121 (Ilya Mamantov); id.
at 164-165
(Helen Leslie); 10 H 10-12 (Everett
Glover ).
348. 9 H 222 (G. De Mohrenschildt);
and see id. at 296 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
349. id. at 285-286, 291-295.
350. CE 3116, 3117. See CE 869, foot-
note 340, supra.
351.2 H 433-436, 438-439 (R. Paine).
352. 10 H 16, 18-19, 24-26 (Glover);
9 It 256. 258 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
353. 2 H 440 (R. Paine); 9 H 435
(M. Paine).
354. 2 H 459-462, 468 469; 3 H 9
(R. Paine).
355. 2 H 468-469; 3 H 9 (R. Paine).
356. CE 408, 409, 409 B. 410, 411, 412, 415. 416:2 H 483-498 (R. Paine);
cf. CE 422: 2 H 501 502 (R. Paine).
357. 3 H 4-5. 9 (R. Paine); 1 H 26 (Marina Oswald): CE 461.
358. See app. XIII, pp. 730-731.
359. See note 356, supra; CE 421.
360. o H 10 (R. Paine); 1 H 23 (Marina Oswald).
361. 3 H 10 (R. Paine).
362. CE 461:9 H 345 346 (R. Paine).
363. 3 H 29-30 (R. Paine).
364. 1 H 37 (Marina Oswald).
365. 3 H 27--41.84-85 (R. Paine).
366. Id. at 33-39; 9 H 345-346 (R. Paine); 1 H 46, 51-52, 63 65 (Marina
Oswald).
367. 4 H 451 452 (Hosty); 3 H 38, 92, 96 (R. Paine).
368. 4 H 452 (Hosty); 3 H 38, 96 (R. Paine).
369. 3 H 97. (R. Paine); 4 H 450, 452 (Hosty).
370. CE 103: 2 H 405-406 (M. Paine); 3 H 13-18 (R. Paine); 9 H 395 (R.
Paine). See up. 309-310 infra.
371. 3 H 13-18, 97 (R. Paine); 2 H 406 (M. Paine).
372. 3 H 15, 18. 100-102 (R. Paine). 373. 4 H 459 (Hosty). 374. 3 H
44-45 (R. Paine).
375. Id. at 44.
Page 837
376. 2 H 431 (R. Paine); 9 H 831-832,
339 (R. Paine); CE 1831, pp. 4-5.
377. Ibid.
378. 9 H 332 (R. Paine).
379. 2 H 432 (R. Paine); 3 It 133-134
(R. Paine).
380. 3 H 133-134 (R. Paine).
381.2 H 387-388 (M. Paine).
382. 3 H 134 (R. Paine).
383. 2 H 387 (M. Paine); 9 H 338 (R.
Paine); 3 H 135 (R. Paine).
384. Ibid.; 9 H 338-339 (R. Paine);
9 H 134 (Gravitis).
385. 2 H 508 (R. Paine).
386. 2 H 385 (M. Paine); CE 1830,
pp- 4-5.
387. 2 H 390-392 (M. Paine); CE 1830,
pp. 4-5.
388. 2 H 389-390 (M. Paine); CE
1830, p. 6.
389. 2 H 389-392 (M. Paine).
390. Id. at 385, 386; 2 H 432 (R.
Paine).
391.2 H 385 (M. Paine); 4 H 448
(Hosty).
392. 2 H 387-388 (M. Paine).
393. Id. at 389.
394. 3 H 9-10, 93, 129 (R. Paine); 9 H 343 (R. Paine), see CE 429-440.
395. 3 H 15-1.8, 43-46, 96-105 (R. Paine); 2 H 405-406 (M. Paine); CE
396. 3 H 21 25, 79, 81 (R. Paine); 9 H 393-394, 408-410 (R. Paine).
397. 3 H 17-18 (R. Paine); 4 H 462, 473 (Hosty).
398. Id. at 450-454; CE 830, p. 11.
399. R. Paine DE 277, 278, 278-A, 469; CE 404-424.
400. CE 401, 402.
401. E.g., 9 H 342 (R. Paine).
402. CE 3116, 3117; in addition to the testimony and exhibits included
in the record to this report, additional data relative to the background
of the Paines is included in the files of 'the Commission.
403. CE 3116, 3117, 821-824, 826, 829, 830, 833, 836; 4 H 403-430 (John
W. Fain); 4 H 431-440 (John L. Quigley); 4 H 440-476 (James P. Hosty,
Jr.).
404. CE 1172; cf. A. Johnson DE 1; see 9 H 455 (M. Paine); 3 H 118 (R.
Paine); CE 1145, p. 1.
405. A. Johnson DE 1-3; 10 It 97-98, 100 (Arnold S. Johnson); CE 93; see
also 10 H 209-210 (Dennis H. Ofstein); CE 1799; Oswald also subscribed
to several Russian periodicals. CE 1147; 8 H 370-371 (Bouhe).
406. A. Johnson DE 1, 3-4 10 H 98-100 (A. Johnson).
407. A. Johnson DE 2; 10 H 99-100 (A. Johnson).
408. A. Johnson DE 6, 4-A.
409. A. Johnson DE 4, 4-A; cf. Johnson DE 3, 7.
410. A. Johnson DE 7; 10 H 103-104 (A. Johnson).
411. Weinstock DE 1; 11 H 207 208 (Louis Weinstock): A. Johnson DE 5, 5-
A; Tormey DE 1, 2; 10 H 107 108 (James J. Tormey).
412. See pp. 299--307, infra. 413. CE 2564.
414. See app. XIII, notes 1110-1119, infra. When questioned by Mexican
po lice shortly after the assassination, Señora Duran did not recall
whether or not Oswald had in fact told her he was a member of the
Communist Party. CE 2120, p. 5.
415. See ch. V, p. 201, supra; 10 H 116-117 (Abt).
416. Dobbs DE 9, 11; see also Dobbs DE 10, 13.
417. Dobbs DE 12:10 H 113-114; 11 H 208--209 (Farrell Dobbs).
NOTES TO PAGES 285-295
418. Dobbs DE 1-8; 10 H 109-110, 113 (Dobbs); CE 1799; see 3 H 119 (R.
Paine).
419. Dobbs DE 13; 10 H 114-115; 11 H 209 (Dobbs).
420. CE 3153. 824, p. 7: CE 826, p. 12; CE 869, 2973, 3037, 3038, 3041;
see also 5 H 28 (Alan H. Belmont): 4 H 411 (Fain); 4 H 302 (Robert I.
Bouck).
421. 10 H 97, 102-105 (A. Johnson); 10 H 108 (Tormey); 10 H 110-111,114-
116 (Dobbs); 11 H 208-209 (Dobbs); 11 207-208 (Weinstock).
422. H. Twiford DE 1; 11 H 179 (Horace Twiford); CE 3085; CE 2335, pp.
6- 7.
423. 11 H 179 (H. Twiford); 11 H 179-
180 (Estelle Twiford). 424. CE 3085.
425. Ibid., in 1956, when Oswald was 16 years old, he apparently
obtained information about the Socialist Party of America. Gray DE 1; 11
H 209-210 (V. Gray).
426. V. T. Lee DE 1; 10 H 87-88 (Vincent T. Lee).
427. Lee DE 2, 3; CE 828; 11 H 93 (Lee).
428. Lee DE 2. 429. Lee DE 3.
430. Lee DE 4; CE 1410, 1411, 2349, 2542, 2543, 2544, 1413, pp. 28-31;
CE 2545.
431. Lee DE 5-7.
432. Lee DE 5.
433. 10 H 37-42 (Bringuier); Pizzo DE 453-A, 453-B; CE 1413, pp. 19 30;
CE 1412, 2548, 2546, 3029; 10 (Steele); Bringuier DE 1. See also 11 475
(Rachal); see app. XIII, pp. 728-729.
434. 10 H 37-39 (Bringuier); CE 1413, pp. 19-30, 34, 42; CE 826, pp.
5-10; 10 H 53-57 (Martello); Lee DE 6; 1 H. (Marina Oswald); CE 1412,
2210, 2216, 2520, 28.60, 2895, 3032; CE 3119, pp. 12-14; CE 826, pp.
9-10.
435. 10 H 35-37 (Bringuier); see app. XIII, p. 728.
436. CE 826, pp. 5-10; 10 H 53-57 (Martello).
437. Lee DE 6, 7; Bringuier DE 1; 11 H 158-171 (Stuckey); 10 H 39-43
(Bringuier); Stuckey DE 2, 3; Pizzo DE 453-A, 453-B.
438. Holmes DE 1.
439. 10 H 90, 93 (Lee). 440. See pp. 407-412, infra.
441. See CE 826, p. 7; CE 1413, p. 31; CE 1414; CE 3119, pp. 14-15; CE
3120. The Cuban Revolutionary Council, an anti-Castro organization, at
one time did main- rain an office at 544 Camp St., but it vacated The
building early in 1962, before Oswald had returned from the Soviet
Union, CE 1414.
442. CE 1410, 1411, 2542-2544; 10 90 (Lee).
443. 5 H 401-402 (Marina Oswald).
444. 10 H 62-71 (C. Steele, Jr.); see 10 H 93-94 (Lee); cf. Lee DE 5.
445. CE 826, p. 12; CE 2952. p. 3: CE 2973. 3037: cf. 5 H 9 (Belmont); 4
H 444-445 (Hosty); 4 H 432-436 (Quigley): compare, e.g., CE 3029, 3128.
446. 2 H 403, 407 (M. Paine): CE 783, 2213: 7 H 325 (Gregory L. Olds).
447. 2 H 403, 407-408 (M. Paine): 9 H 462-464 (Raymond F. Krystinik).
448. 11 H 424-425 (Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker, Jr., Resigned, U.S. Army).
449. A. Johnson DE 7; 10 H 96, 103-104 (A. Johnson).
450. See pp. 182-187, supra.
451. In addition to the preceding discussion. see ch. VII, infra.
452. 5 H 489-500 (Bernard Weissman): CE 1811, pp. 4-15; CE 1815, pp.
710- 714; CE 1034.
837
Page 838
NOTES TO PAGES 295-307
453. 5 H 496 (Weissman). 454. CE 1033, p. 1.
455. 5 H 497 (Weissman).
456. CE 1815, 1032, 1033, 1035, 1037, 1042, 1044, 1047, 1049; 5 H 498
(Weissman).
457. CE 1041, 1042; cf. CE 1049; see 5
H 526 (Weissman); see also note 458,
infra.
458. CE 1032, 1033, 1037, 1038, 1040,
1044, 1047, 1049.
459. CE 1033, p. 2.
460. 5 H 491 (Weissman).
461. CE 1032; see CE 3112.
462. 5 H 490, 514, 519-520 (Weissman);
CE 1811, pp. 6-7; CE 1813.
463. CE 1811, p. 8; CE 1878; 5 H
501, 505, 511, 519-520 (Weissman).
464. 5 H 506; 11 H 429 (Weissman);
CE 1811, p. 9.
465. 5 H 505 (Weissman); see also CE
1815, p. 711; CE 1811, p. 9.
466. Id. at 50.5-508 (Weissman); CE
1815, p. 2; CE 1878, p. 298; CE 1811, p. 9.
467. 5 H 507-508 (Weissman), CE 1031,
1811, p. 9.
468. 5 H 504 (Weissman); CE 1878,
1882, 1811, p. 10; CE 1815, p. 712.
469. 5 H 506, 509, 511 (Weissman);
CE 1878, p. 298; CE 1885, 1883, p. 306;
CE 1884, p. 307.
470. CE 1882-1885.
471. 5 H 507-509 (Weissman).
472. 5 H 510-512 (Weissman); CE
1815, p. 712.
473. Ibid.; CE 1882, pp. 1-2.
474. 5 H 509 (Weissman); CE 1811, p.
11; CE 1815, p. 711; CE 1878, p. 298. 475. Ibid.; CE 1031.
476. 5 H 509 (Weissman).
477. 5 H 508-509 (Weissman); CE
1811, p. 11; CE 1815, p. 712.
478. 5 H 507 (Weissman).
479. Ibid.
480. Ibid.
481. Id. at 511, 517.
482. Id. at 511, 520; CE 1815, p. 713. 483. 5 H 511 (Weissman). 484.
Ibid. 485. Ibid.
486. Id. at 515-516, 521-524; CE 1811,
p. 12; CE 1815, p. 713; 3139. 487. 2 H 60 (Mark Lane).
488. 5 H 553-555 (Lane); see CE 2510-2518.
489. 5 H 522-524 (Weissman). 490. CE 996.
491. CE 2473, 2474 1837, 5 H 541 (Robert G. Klause).
492. CE 1835.
493. 5 H 536-537, 539-544 (Klause); CE 1836, 2474, 1835.
494. 5 H 425-426, 429, 431 (Surrey); 11 H 412 (Walker).
495. 5 H 428 (Surrey). 496. Ibid. 497. Ibid.
498. CE 1835, p. 2; 5 H 537-539
(Klause).
499. Id. at 537 (Klause); CE 2473. 500. 5 H 536 (Klause). 501. Id. at
537-538. 502. Id. at 539.
503. Id. at 537; CE 1836, p. 2.
504. 5 H 539 (Klause); CE 1836, p. 2. 505. 5 H 538 (Klause).
506. Id. at 538-539 (Klause/; CE 1836, p. 2: CE 2473, pp. 1-2.; CE 2474.
507. 5 H 539 (Klause); CE 1836, p. 2.
508. 5 H 539 (Klause); CE 1836, pp.
1-2; CE 2473, p. 1; CE 2474, p. 6. 509. 5 H 539-540 (Klause). 510. Id.
at 546; CE 1836, p. 2. 511. CE 2473, p. 2. 512. Id. at p. 3. 513. CE
1836, p. 2. 514. CE 2473, p. 2.
838
515. 5 H 530-531 (Weissman).
516. CE 1835 1836, 2473-2474, 3103. 517. 5 H 531 (Weissman).
518. 5 H 542 (Klause); 5 H 447-448 (Surrey); 11 H 424-425 (Walker).
519. 1 H 23, 28, 45 (Marina Oswald). 520. Id. at 28, 45. 521. CE 2478.
522. 1 H 22-24, 44-47 (Marina Oswald). 523. Id. at 45.
524. Id. at 22-23; CE 1404, pp. 451-453.
525. 11 H 214-215 (Dr. and Mrs. John B. McFarland); and see 11 H 179-180
(Estelle Twiford) (Oswald told her in Houston, Tex. that he was a member
of the Fair Flay for Cuba Committee and on his way to Mexico.)
526. 1 H 23, 46-47 (Marina Oswald). 527. i H 24-25 (Marina Oswald): see
also ch. VII, pp. 412-413; app. XIII. p. 730. (One purpose of Oswald's
Fair Play for Cuba activities was to get him into Cuba. )
528. See app. XIII, pp. 731-733, for time of departure from New Orleans;
see CE 2121, p. 47; CE 2566, p. 2, for arrival in Mexico City.
529. CE 2121, p. 39. 530. Ibid. 531. Ibid.
532. See app. XIII, pp. 780-731. 533. CE 2121, p. 39..
534. i H 24-25 (Marina Oswald); and see CE 2121, p. 69.
535. CE 2121, pp. 39-40.
536. See CE 2121, pp. 39-40; CE 2564. 537. See app. XIII, pp. 734--736.
538. I H 27- 28, 50 (Marina Oswald). 539. CE 2121, pp. 35-41. 540. CE
2120, pp. 4-6.
541. CE 2121, p. 42; CE 2120, p. 3. The official report of the
Government of
Mexico is set out in CE 2120 and CE 2123. 542. CE 2121, p. 38 (Silvia
Duran). 543. CE 2123, attachment 5, p. 3. 544. Ibid.; CE 2121, p. 35.
545. See app. XIII, pp. 730-731, for documents Oswald took with him; CE
2121, pp. 39-40 (Silvia Duran's statement); I H 24-25 (Marina Oswald);
CE 18, p. 54 (the "notation" of the address
Silvia Duran gave Oswald). 546. CE 2445. 547. CE 2564. 548. CE 2564.
549. E.g., compare CE 2564 with CE 1969.
550. CE 3127.
551. Compare 2564 with CE 155, 161. 552. CE 2121, pp. 26-28. 553. CE
2121, pp. 53, 58.
554. 11 H 214-15 (Dr. and Mrs. John B, McFarland); 11 H 217 (Pamela Mum
ford); CE 2121, pp. 72-78.
555. CE 2121, pp. 53-58.
556. CE 2121, pp. 57-58. The only witness who places Oswald with anyone
else during the trip was thoroughly discredited. See CE 2450, 245,1,
2569, 2570, 2571, 2572,
2573. 2574, 2575, 3095. 557. CE 2450.
558. 11 H 217 (Mumford); CE 2195, pp. 2 3, 40-42.
559. CE 2195, pp. 44-46.
560. 11 H 220-221 (Mumford); 11 H
214 (McFarland); CE 2195, pp. 5-6. 561. CE 2195 passim. 562. CE 2121, p.
59.
563. Id. at 48-59; CE 3074. 564. CE 18, p. 54. 565. CE 2568.
566. CE 2567, p. 3.
567. This is the case of "D" treated at 55, infra.
568. CE 2949.
Page 839
569. CE 2948.
570. CE 2676.
571. CE 2950.
572. CE 2952, 2953. 2954, 2955, p. 5.
573. CE 2959.
574. E.g., CE 2951.
575. CE 2946.
576. CE 3047.
577. CE 2952, p. 2; CE 2955, pp. 1-4.
578. CE 3152. 1161.
579. 5 H 365 {Dean Rusk).
580. CE 986, pp. 1-3: CE 29.
581. CE 6; CE 986.
582. CE 8.
583. CE 986.
584. CE 2768. 2772. 2444, 3042, pp.
59. 65.
585. CE 15.
586. CE 16.
587. 3 H 13-18, 51-52 (R. Paine).
588. 1 H 45 (Marina Oswald).
589. CE 2764.
590 CE 2764.
591. CE 3126.
592. 1 H 44, 49.
593. Oswald entered Mexico on Sept. 26 and his tourist card was good for
15 days thereafter; CE 2478. reproduced in report, p. 300.
594. CE 792:7 H 295 (Harry Holmes): Holmes DE 3.
595. 7 ti 527 (Holmes); see Holmes DE 1-A.
596. See pp, 118 122, 172-174, supra. 597. CE 1158.
598. CE 817; 7 H 296 (H. Holmes).
599. Holmes DE 1; 7 H 292 293 (H. Holmes ).
600. Holmes DE 4, pp. 1, 2; app. XIII, pp. 713-730, 737 740.
601. 10 H 294 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson):
6 H 435-437 (Earlene Roberts). 602. CE 1160, 1158, 1152, 1178. 603. CE
1799, p. 1.
604. See footnotes 594, 597, 599, supra. 605. CE 791; 11 H 136, 149
(Gibson). 606. CE 817; 8 H 91 (L. Murret).
607. Holmes DE 1: 10 H 292-293 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson).
608. 1 H 350, 356, 392 (R. Oswald); CE 322: Cunningham DE 3. 3 A: Hunley
DE 2. 5: Creel DE 1: Rachal DE 1: CE 427:10 H 198 (Dennis H. Ofstein);
CE 1167, p. 489. See also, e.g., Holmes DE 3-A: Arnold Johnson DE 5: V.
T. Lee DE 7.8 A. 8 B, 8-C, 9: Dobbs DE 6. 9.10: R. Watts DE 1.4, 5.
609. See pp. 121-122, supra.
610. See, e.g., CE 1135, 2973, 2971 2972. 3113; Semingson DE 3001.
611. See CE 796, 815, 809, 806, 819,
1398 see 4 H 380-399 (Alwyn Cole).
612. Id. at 387.
613. Id. at 387-388; 10 H 184--186 {John J. Graef), 196-197 (Ofstein),
169 {Robert L. Stovall).
614. 10 H 186 (Graef), 198, 201 (Of-stein ).
615. 4 H 378 389 (Cole).
616. 10 H 186-187 (Graef), 198 (Of-stein), 172 (Stovall).
617. CE 800: CE 115. 618. CE 2478.
619. CE 2539. p. 1.
620. CE 2121, p. 47: CE 2480.
621. CE 2463:11 H 217, 220 (Pamela Mumford): CE 2120, pp. 39 41; cf. 11
H 179 180 (Mrs. E. Twiford).
622. See footnote 601, supra.
623. 6 H 401 (Mary E. Bledsoe).
624. CE 1410, 1411.
625. CE 135: 7 H 377 (Heinz W. Michaelis): CE 3088.
626. CE 1398.
627. 11 H 226-231 (Dial D. Ryder); CE 1333: Greener DE 1; CE 1334.
NOTES TO PAGES 307-319
628. 11 H 226 (Ryder), 251 (Charles W. Greener); see p. 119, supra.
629. See pp. 118-122, 172-174, supra.
630. 11 H 231 233 (Ryder); CE 1334, p. 4.
631. CE 2454, p. 6; 7 H 224-225 (F. M. Turner); CE 1334, p. 24; 11 H
246-247 (Greener).
632. CE 1325:11 H 227 (Ryder). CE 1334, pp. 1-2, 13.
11 H 22(i, 230-231,234 (Ryder),
246. 251 (Greener).
635. 11 H 234, 226, 230-231 (Ryder);
CE 1333. p. 2.
636. 11 H 225-226, 233, 235-238
(Ryder).
637. CE 1330, p. 2.
638. 11 H 241-242, 244, 237 (Schmidt), 464-467 (Lehrer).
639. CE 1334, pp. 14-20: CE 3030.
640. 11 H 254-259 (Gertrude Hunter); 11 H 263-275 (Edith Whitworth).
641.11 H 261-262, 282, 284 (Mrs. Hunter), 11 H 272, 283 (Mrs.
Whitworth).
642. 11 H 277, 300-301:5 H 399-400 (Marina Oswald).
643. CE 1337,2974.
644. 11 H 226, 228 229 (Ryder); CE 2974.
645. 11 H 264, 274, 286-288 (Mrs. Whitworth): 11 H 257 (Mrs. Hunter).
646. CE 1327,
647. 11 H 263, 265 266 (Mrs.
worth); see CE 1327, 3089.
648. 11 H 254, 280, 289 (Mrs. Hunter).
649. 11 H 280 (Marina Oswald); see
footnotes 707, 708, infra.
650. 11 H 256 (Mrs. Hunter): 11 H 266
(Mrs. Whitworth); CE 2454; 11 H 290
292 {Marina Oswald), 11 H 155 (R.
Paine).
651. 11 H 154 (R. Paine).
652. See ibid.: 11 H 277 (Marina Oswald).
653. 11 H 255, 280, 288 (Mrs. Hunter).
654. CE 2976.
655. CE 2976.
656. CE 2977.
657. CE 2975.
659. CE 2977, p. 3.
659. E.g., compare CE 2903 and CE 2446
with app. XIII, pp. 730-736: compare CE2446 with CE 2448. CE 3049. 3 H
214
{Roy Truly), and CE 2454: compare
2447 with CE 2904 and CE 3049: see CE
2547; compare CE 3110 with CE 2925:
compare CE 2926, 2.927, 2928 with CE
3019: see CE 2933. 2908: see also, e.g.,
10 H 309-327 (Clifton M. Shasteen);
2209. 3130.
660. 10 H 372 (Malcolm H. Price, Jr.).
661.10 H 380 (Garland G. Slack).
662. 10 H 392 (Sterling C. Wood), 10
H 385-390 (Homer Wood).
663. 10 H 375-376 (M. Price). 10 H
383-384 (Slack), 10 H 388-389 (H.
Wood), 10 H 391-395 (S. Wood).
664. CE 2934, 2935.
665. 10 H 356-363 (Floyd G. Davis).
10 H 363-369 (Virginia Davis): CE 2916.
2919.
066. CE 2915, 2917.
667. CE 2930, 2923, -2924, 2919, 2898.
2922, 2906, 3077: see 10 H 381 (Slack).
668. CE 2909, p. 238.
669. CE 2910,.
670. 10 H 370 (M. Price); see app. XIII. pp. 730-736 infra.
671. 10 H 371 (M. Price), 10 H 380 (Slack). 10 H 361 (F. Davis).
672. 10 H 380 (Slack); but see 10 H 361 (F. Davis).
673. 11 H 154-155 (R. Paine); see also 2 ti 515, 3 H 41 (R. Paine): 1 H
58, 62 {Marina Oswald).
674. 10 H 370 (M. Price), 10 H 365 {V. Davis).
839
Page 840
NOTES TO PAGES 319-328
675. See footnotes 707, 708 infra; of. CE 2209.
676. 10 H 365 (V. Davis); CE 2941.
677. 10 H 393 (S. Wood), 10 H 381-382 (Slack); CE 2909; 10 H 358 (F.
Davis).
678. Ibid.; 10 H 365-366 (V. Davis). 373 (M. Price); CE 2909, 3077.
679. CE 2897; CE 2898, pp. 116-117. 680. 10 H 373-374 (M. Price), 10 H
392, 395-397 (S. Wood), 10 H 381-383 (Slack): CE 2913.
681. CE 139; 3 H 392-396 (Robert A. Frazier).
682. 10 H 370 (M. Price), 10 H 386 (H. Wood), 10 H 391-392 (S. Wood);
of. 10 H 380 (Slack).
683. 10 H 374 (M. Price), 10 H 382 (Slack); 10 H 392 (S. Wood); see also
CE 2916, 2935, 2915.
684. 10 H 374 (M. Price), 10 H 382 (Slack).
685. 10 H 386 (H. Wood), 392 (S. Wood); CE 2924, 2915.
686. CE 139, 3133; 3 H 392-296 (Frazier), 154 (Howard L. Brennan).
687. 10 H 374 (M. Price), 10 H 382 (Slack); 4 H 257 (J. C. Day); CE 139:
10 H 395 (S. Wood).
688. 10 H 374 (M. Price); 3 H 394 (Frazier); CE 541, pp. 3, 4.
689. 10 H 372-373 (M. Price).
690. See pp. 315-316, supra. ch IV. pp. 113-122.
691. 10 H 395 (S. Wood), 10 H 382 (Slack).
692. 10 H 370-371 (M. Price), 10 H 391 (S. Wood), 10 H (F. Davis); but
cf. CE 2910.
693. CE 2921, 2918, 2905, 2920, 3049. 694. See, e.g., 2 H 226-229, 241
(Buell W. Frazier); 10 H 297 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson): 6 H 426 (Mary
Bledsoe): CE 2932.
695. See 10 H 352-356 (Albert Guy Bogard).
696. In addition to the corroborating evidence discussed in text, it is
to be noted that on Feb. 24, 1964, Mr. Bogard was interviewed by the FBI
In regard to his allegation with the use of a polygraph. No
corded by the polygraph when Bogard was asked relevant questions
concerning his report. The responses recorded were those normally
expected of a person telling the truth. CE 3031. However, because of the
uncertain reliability of the results of poly- graph tests, see app.
XVII, pp. 813-816. infra. the Commission has placed no reliance upon
these results.
697. 10 H 342-345 (Frank Pizzo); CE 3078, p. 7.
698. CE 3091, 3092. 699. CE 3071. p. 365.
700. 10 H 344 (Pizzo): CE 3078. p. 7. 701. Ibid.
702. See 10 H 354 (Bogard); CE 3071, 2969.
703. 10 H 346, 350 (Pizzo); CE 3071 p. 2.
704. CE 3091.
705. 10 H 347-351 (Pizzo); CE 2970. 706. CE 3078, p. 7.
707. 1 H 112-113, 5 H 402, 11 H 280 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 142-143 (L.
Murret); id. at 185 (C. Murret): 2 H 292-293 (R. Oswald); 8 H 399 (E.
Hall); 9 H 87 (G. Taylor); 10 H 126 127 (Cunning-ham); 11 H 56-57 (J.
Pic).
708. 2 H 502-517, 11 H 153 154 (R. Paine).
709. 2 H 515, 3 H 41. 11 H 153-154 (R. Paine); 1 H 58, 62 (Marina
Oswald).
710. 11 H 368-369, 373, 375, 377, 379 (Sylvia Odio).
711. Id. at 370-372. 712. Id. at 370, 382. 713. Id. at 370-371.
714. Id. at 372. 715. Ibid.
716. Id. at 372-373, 377. 717. Id. at 373.
718. Id. at 382, 385. 719. CE 2907.
720 11 H 370, 374 (S. Odio); CE 2942. 721. 1 H 26 (Marina Oswald); CE
2124. p. 383; CE 405, 1156, pp. 443-444; CE 2125, pp. 475, 477; CE 2479;
10 H
276-277 (Jesse J. Garner). 722. CE 2131; 2939.
723. CE 2938, 2939, 2940, 3109, 2131, 2476.
724. CE 2131, 2939.
725. CE 2961, 2132, pp. 10-14; CE 2533, 2962.
726. 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald); 11 214 (McFarland); 179-180 (Estelle Twi-
ford): 11 H 179 (Horace E. Twiford). 727. CE 2191, pp. 5-7.
728. 11 H 214-215 (McFarland).
729. CE 2193, pp. 1-2; CE 2123, 2566, pp. 2 3; CE 2534.
730. CE 2138, pp. 12-14; CE 3075. 3086.
But see 11 H 179 (Estelle Twiford). 731. CE 3090. 732. CE 2534.
733. 11 H 214-215 (McFarland); CE 2534, 2732.
734. 11 H 214-215 (McFarland); see also 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald).
735. 11 H 179-180 (E. Twiford). 736. CE 3045.
737. Ibid.; see 11 H 372 (S. Odio). 738. See note 736, supra. 739. CE
3148. 740. Ibid.
741. Ibid.; 11 H 375 (S. Odio). 742. CE 2390. 743. CE 3147. 744. CE
3146. 745. Ibid. 746. Ibid.
747. 11 H 370 (S. Odio).
748. 11 H 341-346 (Rodriguez).
749. Compare 11 H 341-342 (Rodriguez)
with 11 H 370, 382-383 (S. Odio). 750. 11 H 343 (Rodriguez).
751. 11 H 350-351 (Orest Pena). 752. CE 2902.
753. Id. at 15: compare 11 H 355-356 (O. Pena).
754. 1,1 H 342 (Rodriguez); 351 (O. Pena); CE 2477, p. 10.
755. 1 H 35, 83, 100 (Marina Oswald):
2 H 487 (R. Paine); 8 H 389 (A. Meller);
9 H 244 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 150 (D. Gibson).
756. 11 H 325-339 (Dean Andrews). 757. Id. at 331; CE 3094; CD 2899).
758. CE 2900, 2901, 3104.
759. 1 H 142, 191-193, 195-196, 200 (Marquerite Oswald); but see e.g., 1
20, 83 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 108 (R. Paine).
760. CE 1138, p. 3;1 H 206 (Marguerite Oswald ).
761. CE 821; 4 H 408-409 (John Fain).
762. 1 H 214 (Marguerite Oswald); see generally footnote 865.
763. CE 2580 p. 4; 2581. 764. 8 H 341 (Pauline Bates). 765. Ibid.
766. 5 H 120-121 (John A. McCone); 5 H 121 122 (Richard M. Helms); see
also
CE 3138 (Department of Defense). 767. CE 870.
768. 5 H 105-106 (J. Edgar Hoover);
5 H 14 15, 26 27 (Alan H. Belmont):
4 H 429 (Fain); 4 H 440 (John L. Quigley); 4 H 469 (James P. Hosty).
769. CE 825.
770. CE 835.
771. CE 18, address book, p. 76.
Page 841
772. 4 H 451 (James P. Hosty); 3 H 18,
103-104 (Ruth Paine).
773. 1 H 48 (Marina Oswald); 3 H
99 (R. Paine).
774. 1 H 48 (Marina Oswald).
775. Ibid.
776. See generally CE 1135, 1141, 1150,
1152, 1158, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1162. 1163,
1164, 1165, 1166, 1167, see CE 1169.
777. 1 H 82-83 (Marina Oswald).
778. CE 1148, 1149, 1155.
779. CE 1169, 1 H 62 (Marina Oswald).
780. 10 H 230 (Chester A. Riggs, Jr.);
CE 1160; 10 H 237-241 (Mrs. Mahlon
Tobias); CE 1133, 1134; 11 H 155
(M. Waldo George); 10 H 265 (Mrs. Jesse
Garner); CE 1139; see 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald) see CE 1160.
781. 11 H 140-141 (Mrs. Donald Gibson); 2 H 470-472 (R. Paine); 9 H 225
226 (G. De Mohrenschildt), 308 (J. De Mohrenschildt), 77 (Gary E.
Taylor); 1 H
134-135 (Marquerite Oswald).
782. See app. XIII, pp. 713-715.
783. 1 H 7-8 (Marina Oswald); 8 H
394-395 (Elena Hall): 11 H 120 (Alexander Kleinlerer).
784. 2 H 299, 304 (Katherine Ford);
8 H 386--387 (Anna N. Meller); 1 H 11-12
(Marina Oswald); 8 H 416 (Valentina
Ray).
785. 10 H 288-290 (Colin Barnhorst):
id. at 281-283 (Richard L. Hulen): CE
1160, p. 3; 10 H 307 lA. C. Johnson): 6 H
401-402 (Mary Bledsoe); cf. CE 1166. p. 3.
786. 8 H 133---135, 138-139 (Lillian
Murret); 2 H 459-468 (R. Paine).
787. 3 H 9, 12-13. 18, 32, 39-41 (R.
Paine): 1 H 26, 51, 53-55, 79 (Marina
Oswald); 2 H 217 (Buell W. Frazier).
788. 1 H 8 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 394
(E. Hall); 2 H 299 (Katherine Ford): 3
9 (R. Paine).
789. 3 H 93 (R. Paine); 1 H 62, 69, 70
(Marina Oswald); 1 H 134 (Marguerite
Oswald): see e.g., I H 134 (Marguerite
Oswald): 1 H 6 (Marina Oswald); see
also note 304. supra. Oswald purchased
a TV set on credit, but it was returned
without any payment having been made on it; CE 1165, pp. 17-21: CE 1167,
pp. 490- 495; 11 H 210 (Albert F. Staples): 9 H 360, 361,362, 363 (R.
Paine).
790. 1 H 135-136 (Marguerite Oswald): 8 H 372-373 (Bouhe), 382 (Meller),
394 (E. Hall): 9 H 324-325 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 119 (Kleinlerer):
see also
9 H 66-68 (Dymitruk); 8 H 410 (V. Ray).
791. 2 H 487 (R. Paine): 1 H 35
Marina Oswald); S H 153 (L. Murret): 8 H 418 (V. Ray).
792. E.g., 1 H 5, 5 H 416 (Marina Oswald).
793. 1 H 134 (Marguerite Oswald). 794. 2 H 217 (B. W. Frazier).
795. 11 H 171 (William K. Stuckey): 8 H 133, 135, 148 (L. Murret), 193
(John Murret); CE 146, 148, 149, 150. 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158,
159, 160, 161, 162, 163.
796. 9 H 144 (Paul Gregory).
797. 1 H 134-135 (Marguerite Oswald): 1 H 7; 8 H 382-385 (A. Meller); 8
H 393-394 (E. Hall): 8 H 416 (V. Ray); 8 H 372 373 (Bouhe); see 9 H 144
(Paul Gregory); cf. 8 H 369 (Bouhe); id. at 387 (Meller).
798. 1 H 69-74) (Marina Oswald). 799. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald). 800. CE 1138,
pp. 11-12.
801. I H 30 (Marina Oswald).
802. 7 H 376 (Heinz W. Michaelis): Michaelis DE 2: CE 1137: see app.
XIV, p. 743.
803. CE 1410, 1411.
730-900 0-64--55
NOTES TO PAGES 328-335
804. 10 H 64 66 (C. Steele, Jr.). It is
not known whether the second person who
assisted Oswald was also paid by him. CE
2216: see generally, note 434, supra.
805. See app. XIV, p. 744.
806. 2 H 468-469; 9 H 343 (R. Paine):
1 H 19 (Marina Oswald). 807. 3 H 9-12 (R. Paine).
808. 8 H 186-187 (Charles Murret).
809. 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald): CE 2131, 2476; see app. XIII, p. 731.
810. See app. XIII, pp. 730 736 app. XIV, p. 745.
811. 10 H 334-336, 340 (Leonard A. Hutchison ).
812. CE 3121; CE 1165, pp. 5-6; 1 H 58 (Marina Oswald), CE 3129, p. 4
813. 10 H 328-333, 340 (Hutchison). 814. 11 H 155 (R. Paine), 290-291
(Marina Oswald); 10 H 296 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson); 6 H 404--405 (Mary
Bledsoe): CE 2454, pp. 2-4.
815. CE 2789, pp. 630-631.
816. 10 H 328-329, 336-338 (Hutchison); but see CE 2789, pp. 629 630.
817. Note 814, supra: 2 H 213, 222-225 (B. W. Frazier); 10 H 328
(Hutchison): see CE 3129, p, 6.
818. 10 H 328, 338 (Hutchison).
819. CE 3129, p. 1; see also 1 H 58 (Marina Oswald).
820. Compare. 10 H 338 (Hutchison) with CE 1132; I H 348 (R. Oswald).
821. 10 H 414-415. 422-423 (L. Wilcox).
822. 11 H 315-318 (Robert G. Fenley). 311-312 (C. A. Hamblen); Wilcox DE
3005. Hamblen repeated the story to a second journalist the following
day, 11 H 316 (Fenley).
823. Wilcox DE 3005; see also Wilcox
DE 3007:11 H 312 (Hamblen): 10 H
415-417 (L. Wilcox).
824. 11 H 311-314 (Hamblen).
825. 11 H 318-325 1A. Lewis): Wilcox DE 3006; 10 H 417-421 (L. Wilcox).
826. Wilcox DE 3008; 10 H 412-413 (Semingsen), 423 (L. Wilcox).
827. 10 H 419-425 (L. Wilcox). 407-413 (Semingsen): Semingsen DE 3001.
828. 11 H 313 (Hamblen); 10 H 424 (L. Wilcox), 412 (Semingsen).
829. 10 H 424 (L. Wilcox), 412-413 (Semingsen).
830. See 13 H 436 (Curtis LaVerne
Crafard).
831. Crafard DE 5226, I}. 150; CE 2319.
832. Crafard DE 5226, pp. 147-148,
150: but see CE 2322.
833. CE 2270, 2291.
834. CE 1669.
835. CE 2265.
830. CE 2251.
837. CE 2269, 2288; see also CE 2319.
838. CE 2245.
839. Newnam DE 2: see also CE 2265.
840. Crafard DE 5226, p. 150; 15 H 323
(Eva L. Grant); 15 H 283 (Eileen
Kaminsky).
841. 15 H 626, 628 (Lawrence V.
Meyers), CE 1606, 2267.
842. CE 2259. 2274; 14 H 153 (Ralph Paul): C. Ray )fall DE 3, p. 3; 5 H
183
(Jack Ruby): CE 2405, p. 26. 843. CE 2434, 2435.
844. 15 H 629 (Meyers): CE 2268.
845. Id. at 627; 15 H 667 (Paul); see also CE 2266. 13 H 326
(Armstrong).
846. 15 H 183 (J. Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 3.
847. Crafard DE 5226. p. 150.
848. Ibid.
849. 5 H 183 (J. Ruby); 13 H 330 (Armstrong);
C. Ray )fall DE 3, p. 4: CE 2436; see also 15 H 539
(John W. Newnam); CE 2438.
841
Page 842
NOTES TO PAGES 335-343
850. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 4: see also CE 1479, 2321.
851.5 H 183 (J. Ruby).
852. CE 2405, pp. 17-18; CE 2436.
853. 15 H 183 (J. Ruby); CE 2405, p. 26; CE 2436; see also 13 H 319-320
(Armstrong); 15 H 219-220 (Joseph
Weldon Johnson, Jr.).
854. CE 2405, pp. 24, 26; CE 2436; cf. 5 H 184 (J. Ruby).
855. 15 H 535 539 (Newnam); Newnam DE 4; CE 2405, pp. 17-20; see also CE
3050.
856. CE 1031; 15 H 544 545 (Newnam); 5 H 184 (J. Ruby).
857. 15 H 323 (Grant).
858. 15 H 540-541 (Newnam). 859. Id. at 541.
860. 5 H 184 (J. Ruby).
861. Ibid.; 15 H 541 (Newnam); 15 H 575 (Billy A. Rea); CE 2264.
862. 15 li 579-580 (Richard L. Saunders).
863. 15 H 580-581 (Saunders).
864. Id. at 581; see also 15 H 575
(Rea): CE 2408. p. 49; CE 2264.
865. 13 H 330 (Armstrong).
866. 15 H 542. 545 (Newnam): see 15 H 324 (Grant).
867. 5 H 184 (J. Ruby). 868. Id. at 184 185.
869. 14 H 542-544 (Newnam); 15 H 583-584 (Saunders); see also CE 2408,
p. 49; CE 2264.
870. 15 H 79-81 (Seth Kantor): see also 15 H 3'88-396 (Wilma May Tice).
871. See 15 H 388-396 (Tice); CE 2290; CE 2293; CE 2437.
872,. 14 H 561-563 (J. Ruby); 5 H 185 (J. Ruby).
873. See KRLD TV Reel 5: compare 15 H 81 (Kantor).
874. CE 2303, p. 27; 13 H 331 332 (Armstrong); 13 H 208-209 (Karen B.
Carlin): see also 5 H 185 (Ruby): but see 13 H 452 (Crafard).
875. 15 H 75-76 (Kantor): CE 2301. 876. 15 H 76-82 (Kantor).
877. CE 2303, p. 27; 13 H 333-335
(Armstrong); 13 H 208-209 (K. Carlin). 878. CE 2068.
879. 15 H 579 (Saunders): 15 H 419 (Nancy M. Powell).
880. See pp. 340-342, infra. 881.15 H 81 82 (Kantor).
882. 15 H 79, 81-82, 87-88 (Kantor);. pp. 342-343, infra: see CE 2441,
2442.
883. 5 H 185 (Ruby); 13 H 333-335 (Armstrong); see 14 H 85 (Crafard):
see also 15 H 195 (Marjorie R. Richey).
884. 13 H 452-453 (Crafard); 14 H 42
(Crafard); 13 H 331-335 (Armstrong):
see CE 2414.
885. 14 H 151 (Paul): 5 H 185 (J.
Ruby); CE 2303. p. 27; 13 H 331-332
(Armstrong).
886. CE 2303, p. 27:15 H 282 283 (Eileen Kaminsky); 14 H 123 (Alice R.
Nichols).
887. Ibid.: see also 13 H 331 (Arm strong).
888. 14 H 123-124 (A. Nichols); 15 H 283 (Kaminsky).
889.14 H 113-115, 123 124 (A. Nichols). 890. CE 2243; 2303, p. 27: CE
2284.
891. CE 2284; 5 H 185 (J. Ruby); see also 13 H 423--424 (Crafard).
892. 5 H 185 (J. Ruby): CE 2284.
893. CE 2303, p. 27; 14 H 151-152 ( Paul ).
894. 15 H 325 (Grant); CE 2296: 13 H 333 (Armstrong): see also 13 H 454
(Crafard) cf. 14 H 318 319 (Senator).
895. 12 H 455 457 (Crafard); see also CE 2427. 2273:14 H 433 (Grant): 13
H 336 (Armstrong); but see 14 H 86-87 (Crafard ).
896. 15 H 325 (Grant); 13 H 456 (Crafard ).
897. 5 H 186 (J. Ruby); CE 22.60, 2296.
898. 15 H 325-331 (Grant): 5 H 186 (J. Ruby).
899. Ibid.
900. 15 H 327 (Grant); CE 2262. 901. CE 2261, 15 H 330 (Grant).
902. 5 H 186-187 (J. Ruby); 15 H 330 (Grant); see also CE 2242, 2275.
903. 14 H 124 125 (Nichols); Nichols lie 5356; 15 H 330 (Grant).
904. 13 H 457 (Crafard): but see 14 H 86 (Crafard).
905. 15 H 332 (Grant).
906. 5 H 186 187 (J. Ruby).
907. 13 H 187 (Augustus M. Eberhardt); 15 H 612 (Roy G. Standifer): 15 H
601-602 (Ronald L. Jenkins): CE 2254. pp. 424-425: compare with CE 2249,
p. 13; compare 15 H 351
352 (Victor F. Robertson, Jr.); CE 2439 with 15 H 599 (Clyde F.
Goodson); CE 2439; see CE 2423: pp. 342-343. 347; KRLD TV reel 23. 45:
16 23; see also CE 2289: 15 H 375-376 (John G. McCullough); 15 H 455
(Dave L. Miller): 13 H 335-336 (Armstrong).
908. Compare 15 H 601-603 (Jenkins): 15 H 375--376, 380-381
(McCullough);
with CE 2790, 2415, 2423, 2424, 24.39. 909. 15 H 351 352 (Robertson).
910. 15 H 588-599 (Goodson); CE 2289; see also CE 2440: but cf. CE 2423,
2439.
911. 13 H 187 (Eberhardt); CE 2410. pp. 106-108; 15 H 617 (Standifer):
but see 5 H 188 (J. Ruby); see also, pp. 342-343, infra.
912. 5 H 188 (J. Ruby): see also 15
H 327 (Grant).
913. 14 H 152 (Paul): CE 2302. p. 14.
914. CE 2302, p. 14: CE 2300.
915. 15 H 31-32 (Hyman Rubenstein).
916. 5 H 187 (J. Ruby): CE 2281,
917. CE 2281: see also CE 2282.
918. CE 2281.
919. CE 2282, 2283.
920. 5 H 187 (J. Ruby)..
921. Ibid.
922. CE 2252.
924 5 H 187 (J. Ruby): CE 2248.
924. 5 H 187-188 (J. Ruby); see also
14 H 434 (Grant).
925. CE 2247, 2277, 2278, 2279, 2280, 926. CE 2252.
927. 5 H 188 (J. Ruby).
928. KRLD-TV reel 23 0:00-0:19; CE 2423, 2439; see 5 H 188 (J. Ruby); C.
Ray Hall DE 3, p. 5.
929. CE 2410, pp. 104 105: see CE 2424: 5 H 188 (J. Ruby).
930. 13 H 187-189 (Augustus M. Eberhardt); see CE 2424.
931. KRLD TV reel 23, 0:00 3:00: CE 2423. 2439:5 H 188 (J. Ruby).
932. Ibid.; KRLD-TV; reel 23; WFAA-TV, PKT 11 6:50-6:55: see C. Ray Hall
DE 2 p. 13-14.
933. CE 2424: 13 H 189-190 (Eberhardt): 5 H 223 (Wade): 15 H 616-617
(Standifer): CE 2244, 2249. 2256. 2257. 2272, 2276, see also McMillon DE
5017, p. 3: CE 2258.
934. CE 2424, 5 H 188-195 (J. Ruby) 13 H 189-190 (Eberhardt).
935. KRLD-TV reel 23, CE 2169:
NBC-TV reel 43.
936. KRLD-TV reel 23; NBC-TV reel 43: 5 H 189 (J. Ruby): 5 H 223-224
(Wade): CE 2295.
937. 5 H 223-224 (Wade); KRLD-TV reel 23. 45:16-23 CE 2439, 2441, 2442.
5 H 189 (J. Ruby).
938,. 15 H 505-506, 508-509 (Johnston); CE 2272.
842
Page 843
NOTES TO PAGES 343-350
939. 15 H 346 (Icarus M. Pappas): see also CE 2257; 15 H 588-589 (Thayer
Waldo ).
940. CE 2257; see also CE 2256.
941. 15 H 531-532 (Danny Patrick Mc-Curdy); 15 H 485 (William G. Duncan,
Jr.); see also CE 2295.
942. 15 H 364-365 (Pappas); 5 H 224 (Wade).
943. 15 H 485-486 (Duncan); 15 H 254 (Russell Lee Moore, also known as
Russell Knight).
944. Id. at 254-255, 267.
945. 15 H 483 (Duncan); see also 15 H 256-259 (Knight); 15 H 532
(McCurdy).
946. 15 H 257 (Knight); CE 2294; see also 14 H 318 (Senator).
947. 15 H 530-531 (McCurdy): 15 259 (Knight).
948. 15 H 530-531 (McCurdy). 949. 15 H 487-488 (Duncan).
950. 15 H 259--260 (Knight); 15 H 224-225, 228 (Edward J. Pullman);
2285; see also 15 H 339 (Grant). 951. CE 2285.
952. 15 H 260, 264-265 (Knight). 953. Ibid.
954. 5 H 191 (J. Ruby); see also CE 2318; 14 H 631 (Harry N. Olsen); 14
H 647 (Kay Helen Olsen).
955. C. Ray Hall DE 1, 2, 3. 956. 5 H 191 (J. Ruby).
957. 14 H 632 (H. Olsen); 14 H 648 (K. Olsen).
958. 14 H 632 (H. Olsen); 14 H 647 (K. Olsen).
959. Ibid.
960. 15 H 555-559 (Roy A. Pryor); see also 5 H 194 (J. Ruby).
961. 15 H 558-562 (Pryor); CE 2297; see also 5 H 206-207 (J. Ruby).
962. 15 H 566-568 (Arthur W. Watherwax): see CE 2297: CE 2816. pp 1508--
1509.
963. CE 2816. p. 1509.
964. CE 2816, p. 1506; 5 H 194 (J. Ruby): 15 H 569-570 (Watherwax): CE
2791.
965. App. XVI, at p. 800, infra: 13 H 437-448 (Crafard): CE 2791.
966. 15 H 570 (Watherwax). 967. 5 H 193-194 (J. Ruby). 968..CE 2816, p.
1510.
969. 5 H 203 (J. Ruby): 15 H 569 (Watherwax); see also 14 H 218
(Senator); 14 H 87 (Crafard).
970. 15 H 568 (Watherwax): CE 2816, pp. 1507-1508; CE 2297.
971.14 H 219-220 (Senator).
972. Id. at 218-219; 13 H 463 (Crafard).
973. 5 H 203 (J. Ruby); 13 H 463 ( Crafard ).
974. 5 H 203 (J. Ruby); CE 2286; see also 14 H 90 (Crafard); 13 H
464-466 (Crafard); 14 H 219 (Senator).
975. 14 H 222 (Senator); see also 13 H 503-504 (Crafard); but see 14 H
567- 568 (J. Ruby).
976. 5 H 203 (J. Ruby); 14 H 220 (Senator); 15 H 336 (Grant).
977. 14 H 220-224 (Senator).
978. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9; 14 H 224 (Senator); see also 13 H 466
(Crafard).
979. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9: 13 H 466-468 (Crafard).
980..Ibid.; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9.
981. 13 H 337-339 (Armstrong): 13 H 468-469 (Crafard).
982. 5 H 198 (J. Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 14, DE 3, p. 12.
983. 5 H 198 (J. Ruby).
984. 15 ti 196 (Marjorie R. Richey).
985. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9: CE 2324, 2413, p. 83; see also CE 2330,
2340.
986. C. Ray Mall DE 3, p. 9; CE 2324.
987. CE 2413, pp. 82-83, 89, 92; CE
3039, see CE 2324; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9. 988. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9.
989. CE 2341; see 15 H 490 (Garnett Gland Hallmark).
990. 15 H 489-490 (Hallmark); G. C. Hallmark DE 1, p. 1.
991.15 H 491 (Hallmark). 992. Ibid.
993. 15 H 434 (Kenneth L. Dowe);
Dowe DE 2, p. 2; see 15 ti 491 (Hallmark). 994. Id. at 492-493.
995. 15 H 587-588 (Thayer Waldo); 15 H 355 357 (Frederic Rheinstein); CE
2276, 2326, 2327.
996. CE 2327; see also 15 H 82-83 ( Seth Kantor).
997. 15 H 587-589 (Waldo): see also CE 2276.
998. 15 H 357 (Rheinstein). 999. CE 2276; 2326.
1000. 15 H 386-387 (Abraham Kleinman); see also C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9.
1001. 15 H 468-469 (Frank Bellochio); 15 H 383-386 (Kleinman); CE 3043,
3044, 3045, 3046; see also 15 H 610-613 (Speedy Johnson ).
1002. 15 H 470 (Bellochio); 5 H 203-
204 (J. Ruby); 15 H 336 (Grant). 1003. 15 H 470 (Bellochio). 1004. Id.
at 470-471. 1005. Id. at 471. 1006. Ibid.
1007. Id. at 470-472: CE 3043, .3044. 1008. Id. at 472.
1009. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9; 15 H 519 (Stanley M. Kaufman): see also 15
H 337-338 (Grant).
1010. 15 H 520 (Kaufman).
1011. 15 H 519-520 (Kaufman); see
also 15 H 337-338 (Grant). 1012. 15 H 337 (Grant).
1013. C. Ray Hall DE 3, pp. 9-10. 1014. CE 2329.
1015. 13 H 339 340 (Armstrong): see 15 H 454 (Dave L. Miller).
1016. 15 H 338-3.39 (Grant).
1017. 15 H 262 (Knight); cf. 14 H 222
(Senator); but see 15 fl 337 (Grant). 1018. 15 H 339, 341 (Grant). 1019.
CE 2325, 2407.
1020. 13 H 209-210 (Karen B. Carlin); 15 H 421 423 (Nancy M. Powell):
see 15 H 342 (Grant); compare 15 H 474 (John Henry Branch) with Branch
DE 1: 15 H 334 (Grant); CE 2336.
1021. 15 H 421-423 (Powell); 15 H 647, 652 (Bruce R, Carlin); 13 H 209
(K. Carlin).
1022. 13 H 209-210 (K. Carlin): see C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 10: 15 H 69-70
(C.
Ray Hall); 13 H 204-205 (B. Carlin). 1023. 13 H 210 (K. Carlin). 1024.
15 H 342 (Grant).
1025. 15 H 626-635 (Meyers); see p. 334, supra.
1026. 15 H 631-634 (Meyers).
1027. Id. at 633-635; see 14 H 265 (Senator).
1028. 15 H 632 (Meyers).
1029. 13 H 210 (K. Carlin); 13 H 203 204 (B. Carlin).
1030. Id. at 204; see also 13 H 210 (K. Carlin).
1031. 13 H 204 (B. Carlin). 1032. 15 H 422 (Powell).
1033. 13 H 211 (K. Carlin); see 13 H 205 (B. Carlin); 15 H 423-424 (N.
Powell ).
1034. 13 H 246-247 (Huey Reeves): CE 1476, 2334; 13 H 210-211 (K.
Carlin).
1035. 15 H 336, 339, 342 343 (Grant). 1036. CE 2300, 2306; see also CE
2310. 1037. CE 2300.
1038. 15 H 339 (Grant).
1039. 14 H 153 (Paul); 15 H 671. 673 (Paul).
Page 844
NOTES TO PAGES 350-360
1040. 15 H 397, 399 (Wanda Y. Helmick); CE 2834.
1041.15 H 399 (Helmick).
1042. Id. at 400, but see 15 H 672, 678-679 (Paul); CE 2339.
1043. 15 H 671-672, 675, 678-679 (Paul).
1044. 15 H 399 (Helmick); 14 H 153 (Paul); 15 H 671-672 (Paul).
1045. 13 H 247 (Reeves); see C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 10; see CE 1476.
1046. 14 H 635 (H. Olsen): 14 H 649 (K. Olsen).
1047. CE 2307. 1048. Ibid. 1049. Ibid.
1050. Ibid.: 14 H 605 (Breck Wall). 1051. CE 2307.
1052. 14 H 532-533, 543, 559, 564 (J. Ruby); 5 H 197 (J. Ruby); see also
C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 12.
1053. Paul DE 5319, p. 7.
1054. 14 H 153 (Paul): 15 H 671-673 796-797, 805 (Paul).
1055. 14 H 605-607 (Wall).
1056. See app. XVI, pp. 796 797, 805: CE 2344.
1057. CE 2302, p. 14; CE 2303. p. 26; 2328, 2331, 2333.
1058. 14 H 605-606 (Wall). 1059. CE 2068. 1060. CE 2337.
1061. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 10; 15 H
552 (Robert L. Norton); 5 H 198 (J.
Ruby).
1062. 15 H 552-553 (Norton).
1063. Id. at 553; see 5 H 198 (J. Ruby); see CE 2836.
1064. 5 H 198 (J. Ruby): see 15 H 551 (Norton): CE 2836.
1065. 14 H 529 (J. Ruby): 5 H 198 (J. Ruby).
1066 14 H 236 (Senator). 1067. 15 H 343 (Grant). 1068. 14 H 236
(Senator).
1069. 5 H 199 (J. Ruby); 14 H 236-240 (Senator).
1070. 13 H 256-261 (Warren E. Richey): 13 H 279-283 (John A. Smith); 13
H 292-294 (Ira N. Walker).
1071.13 H 256 258 (W. Richey); 13 H 279-282 (J. A. Smith); 13 H 291-294
( I. Walker).
1072. 13 H 256-258 (W. Richey); 13 H 278-282 (J. A. Smith); 13 H 292 (I.
Walker).
1073. 13 H 283 (J. A. Smith). 1074. 13 H 257 (W. Richey).
1075. 13 H 283 (J. A. Smith); see also 13 H 257 (W. Richey).
1076. App. XVI, pp. 787, 792; CE 2424, 1478; see 15 H 523 (Kaufman); see
also 15 H 332 (E. Grant).
1077. 14 H 236, 238-239 (Senator); Pappas DE 1.
1078. 13 H 257 (W. Richey).
1079. CE 2790, 2415; Pappas DE 1; but see 15 H 508 (Johnston); 15 H 603
(Ronald L. Jenkins).
1080. Compare 13 H 292 293 (I. Walker) with 13 H 278 280 (J. A. Smith).
1081. 13 H 292 (Walker); 13 H 278-281, 283 (J. A. Smith).
1082. KRLD-TV reel 13; CE 3072.
1083. 14 H 236 (Senator); Senator DE 5402, p. 4.
1084. 13 H 232-233 (Elnora Pitts): see 14 H 289-240 (Senator).
1085. 13 H 231-232 (Pitts). 1086. Id. at 230-232.
1087. 13 H 197-198, 200 (Sidney Evans, Jr.); see also 13 H 263-264
(Malcolm R. Slaughter).
1088. 14 H 232-233 (Senator/; see also Senator DE 5402.
1089. 14 H 236-239 (Senator); CE 2298.
1090. 13 H 210 211 (K. Carlin). 1091. Id. at 210 212.
1092. 14 H 239 (Senator).
1093. 14 H 236 (Senator); see also 14 H 532 (J. Ruby).
1094. 5 H 198-199 (J. Ruby) ;.see 14 H 532 (J. Ruby); see also 13 H 502
(Crafard); 14 H 207 (Senator).
1095. 14 H 210 211, 240 (Senator); C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 15; 5 H 198-199
(J. Ruby).
1096. C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 15; 5 H 199 (J. Ruby); 14 H 83-85 (Crafard):
13 H 311 312 (Armstrong); 14 H 147 (Paul): 14 H 211, 312 (Senator).
1097. C. Ray Hall DE 3, pp. 10-11: 5 H 199 (Paul).
1098. CE 2068: KRLD TV reel 12. 20; WBAP-TV reel FW No. 2.
1099. 13 H 272-274 (Smart); Smart DE 5021: CE 1322, pp. 732, 747 751;
see
H 501 (Crafard): 14 H 329 330 (Senator).
1100. C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 15; CE 1322, pp. 726 731; 15 H 199 (J. Ruby);
see also 14 H 327 (Senator).
1101. 13 H 226 (Doyle E. Lane).
1102. Id. at 224; D. Lane DE 5118,
5119; CE 2420, 2421, 1322, p. 726. 1103. Id. at 225.
1104. Ch. V at pp. 216-225: KRLD-TV
reel No. 13: KRLD-TV reel No. 59:
WBAP-TV reel FW No. 1.
1105. See 15 H 369-371 (Pappas): Pappas DE 1,2; C.D. 1314-A (tape
recording in Commission files); J. R. Leavelle DE 5088, 5089; 13 H 8-9
(L. C. Graves); 12 H 308, 313-314 (Louis D. Miller); L. D. Miller DE
5013, 5014:13 H 29 (L. D. Montgomery); McMillon DE 5016; 12 H 179 (B. H.
Combest); Combest DE 5101, p. 3; Kantor DE 3, pp. 3S, 3,T; W. J.
Harrison DE 5029. pp. -2-3; CE 2002. p. 45; NBC-TV reel No. 66, Nov, 24.
1963. But see CE 2409, p. 300:5 H 199 (J. Ruby); 14 H 562 (J. Ruby).
1106. KRLD-TV reel 13: CE 3072.
1107. See app. XVI at 787, 788-789, 793-795, 798 799: see 15 H 258
(Knight): 15 H 636; (Meyers).
1108. 13 H 469 (Crafard).
1109. 14 H 39-40 (Crafard); see Crafard DE 5226, p. 147. 1110. CE 2429.
1111. Crafard DE. 5226, p. 152; see also 13 H 469 (Crafard).
1112. CE 2793; Crafard DE 5227. 1113. 14 H 92-93 (Crafard).
1114. Crafard DE 5226, pp. 148-149; 13 H 420-422 (Crafard); see 14 H
23-25 (Crafard).
1115. 13 H 466-468 (Crafard); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 9.
1116. CE 2429; see 13 H 471-472 (Crafard): see also CE 2792.
1117. 13 H 404-408 (Crafard). 1118. Id. at 407-410, 413-416.
1119. Id. at 470 (Crafard); see 14 H 38 39 (Crafard).
1120. CE 2302, 2303, 2307; 14 H 152 153 (Paul; 15 H 665, 670 673 (Paul):
app. XVI at 795.
1121. 14 H 153-154 (Paul); 15, H 672-673 (Paul).
1122. CE 2311. 2316.
1123. CE 3026, 2980, 3034; 15 H 677 (Paul): CE 2817.
1124. CE 2823; 15 H 401 402 (Hel-
mick ).
1125. Id. at 401; CE 2338.
1126. CE 2338. 2339.
1127. CE 2431: 15 H 399 (Helmick). 1128. 14 H 605-606 (Wall); see 15 H
671-672, 675, 678-679 (Paul): 14 H 532-533, 543, 559, 564 (J. Ruby); 5 H
197 (J. Ruby).
1129. CE 2300.
844
Page 845
1130. CE 2314. 1131. CE 2317.
1132. CE 2306, 2433.
1133. 7 H 286 (W. E. Barnes); see ch. V, pp. 216, 224,230.
1134. See. e.g.. CE 2794, 2795, 2797. 2798, 2799, 2804, 2806, 2808,
2809, 2810, 2822, 1481, 2824, 2826, 2875, 2814; 15 H 48-51 (William S.
Biggio).
1135. See, e.g., CE 2796. 2800, 2801, 2802, 2803, 2813, 2818, 2819,
2821. 2825, 2829, 2878, 1818. 2383.
1136. See, e.g.. CE 2805, 2812. 2827. 2828, 2874, 2877, 2879.
1137. CE 2830, 2884. 1138. CE 2830.
1139. CE 2884. 2885 2886.
1140. Crafard DE 5226, p. 149,
1141. 3 H 595 (Paine): see also CE 1949, p. 5; app. I at notes
1253-1255.
1142. Crowe DE 2; 15 H 97 100 (William D. Crowe. Jr.); see also CE 2372.
1143. 15 H 104-105 (Crowe). 1144. Id.. at 106.
1145. Id. at 105; CE 2983.
1146. 15 H 106 (Crowe); see KRLD-TV reel 43-a.
1147. 15 H 106 (Crowe).
1148. Crafard DE 5205, 5206: CE 2991 1149. 15 H 113 (Crowe).
1150. Id. at 107-109; CE 2995. pp. 207-209.
1151. 15 H 107-109 (Crowe). 1152. CE 2995. p. 212. 1153. CE 2367.
1154. CE 2370, 2432.
1155. 2 H 515 (R. Paine): 3 H 41 (R. Paine).
1156. CE 2414.
1157. CE 2998; 15 H 658 (K. Carlin). 1158. See, e.g.. CE 1479, 1623,
1652, 2362, 2380, 2401, 2403; Armstrong 5310 A; Crafard DE 5226, p. 152.
1159. 14 H 102, ]04-106 (Wilbryn Waldon Litchfield II).
1160. Compare CE 3149, 2991. 2243, 2284.
1161. CE 3149, p. 270.
1162. Pizzo DE 453-C: Shaneyfelt DE 24: see also CE 3002.
1163. CE 3149, p. 271.
1164. 14 H 96 97 (Litchfield). 1165. Id. at 102-104. 1166. Id. at 102.
1167. CE 2889; see also CE 3194. p. 267.
1168. CE 2999, 369.
1169. CE 3004, 3005; see also CE 3003.
1170. CE 2807, 2820, 3010, 3027; see also CE 2876, 2877, 2880.
1171. 3 H 214 (R. Truly); see also CE 1949.
1172. CE 2302; 13 H 421 (Crafard):
14 H 192, 216 (Senator). 1173. CE 371, 3150.
1174. See p. 321 supra; app. XIII, footnote 1224 infra.
1175. See CE 371,376, 1979.
1176. 6 H 437 (E. Roberts): see 6 H 404-406 (Bledsoe): see also CE 2833.
1177. See app. XIII at pp. 737-740; CE 2833.
1178. CE 2303: see Crafard DE 5226. pp. 148. 150: CE 2319.
1179. CE 3000, 3001, 3006, 3009. 1180. CE 3001, 3006, 3009.
1181. 4 H 240 (Fritz); CE 1410, 1491, 3020, 3021, 3022.
1182. Holmes DE 1; see pp. 312-314, supra: app XIII, p. 739, infra.
1183. CE 1322, p. 727: CE 3146. 2791.
1567:14 H 560 (Ruby). 1184. CE 2882. 1185. CE 2883.
1186. 13 H 383, 385-389, 400-401 (Bertha Cheek); Cheek DE 5353.
1187. CE 2386, 3011.
NOTES TO PAGES 350 368
1188. CE 1509: 14 H 91-92 (Crafard) 15 H 237-238 (Joseph Rossi).
1189. Cheek DE 5353; CE 2996, 2997. 1190. CE 2831.
1191. CE 2832, 2862, 2881.
1192. 14 H 203, 312-313 (Senator): CE 3012;14 H 158 (Paul): 13 H 322
(Armstrong): app. XVI at pp. 803-804: 8 H 265 (Delgado); 8 H 300
(Donovan): see, also 13 H 438-440 (Crafard): 8 H 270-271 (Powers); 8 H
319 (Murray); CE 1339.
1193. See CE 3013; 15 H 246 (Wright).
1194. 1 H 152 154, 237 238 (Marguerite Oswald).
1195. Id. at 237-238: CE 3028, 237.
1196. 11 H 468 (Bardwell D. Odum); 11 H 469 (Richard Helms); Odum DE 1.
1197. CE 237; Compare Odum DE 1: see 11 H 469 (Malley): 11 H 468(Odum)
11 H 469 (Helms).
1198. Compare CE 237; Odum DE 1: with CE 2422. 2425.
1199. 11 H 470 (Helms); 5 H 208 (J. Ruby); see p. 373, infra.
1200. CE 2243; CE 1237, p. 5; 15 H 10 (Rubenstein); cf. app. XVI, p. 783
784.
1201. App. XVI, pp. 792, 794-795, 802-803.
1202. Id. at pp. 784-785, 786 790, 791-792, 794-795, 799-800.
1203. Id. at pp. 794 795, 802-803: 14 H
143 (Paul); 14 H 383 (E. Ruby). 1204. App. XVI at 797-799.
1205. 14 H 396-407 (Earl Ruby): 14 H 473-476, 483 (Grant); 15 H 35-36
(Hyman Rubenstein); see CE 3070.
1206. 15 H 11-14, 43-44 (Rubenstein); Rossi DE 1: CE 3052.
1207. CE 1322. p. 763.
1208. See 15 H 229 (Pullman): 14 H 209 (Senator).
1209. E.g., 14 H 206-210 (Senator): 15 H 241 (Rossi); 15 H 492
(Hallmark): CE 1512. 1515, p. 554: CE 1500. 1621, 1748, 2414.
1210. App. XVI, at 791. 1211. CE 1485.
1212. 5 H 206, 209 (J. Ruby): 14 H 567 568 (J. Ruby); 14 H 468. 484
(Grant); 15 H 624 (L. Meyers): C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 14; CE 3053; CE
1515, H. 554; CE 2161 1508, 1540, 1542, 1711, 2392, 3052, 3142, 3143.
3144.
1213. 14 H 437-439 (Grant): 15 H 16-17 (Rubenstein).
1214. CE 3033; see also CE 2980, 2863, 2864, 2866, 2867, 2868, 2869,
2870, 2871, 2872, 2873; cf. Cumulative Index, 1938-1954, Committee on
Un-American Activities, U.S. ;louse of Representatives, p. 730.
1215. CE 3034.
1216. 15 H 306-308 (George W. Fehrenbach): CE 2837, 2838, 2843.
1217. CE 2848, 2849: see CE 2850, 2851. 285(l.
1218. CE 2853, 2854: see CE 2855.
1219. Compare 15 H 308 (Fehrenbach) and CE 2838, with CE 1189.
1220. Compare 15 H 307 (Fehrenbach) with app. XVI, pp. 787-790, 791-792.
1221. 15 H 301-303 (Fehrenbach); CE 2838, 2835.
1222. CE 2835.
1223. 15 H 311, 316, 319 (Fehrenbach).
1224. CE 2835, pp. 1-2: see also CE 2861, 300,8.
1225. CE 2839, 2840: see also CE 2844, 2845, 2846.
1226. CE 3151, p. 10-14; CE 2847, 2852, 2841.
1227. CE 2842, 2845, 2835, pp. 4-6; CE 2858. 2859. 2860.
1228. 15 H 303-304 (Fehrenbach).
1229. 15 H 225 (Pullman); CE 1822, p. 734; CE 2285.
845
Page 846
NOTES TO PAGES 368-377
1230. 15 H 259-261,264-265 (Knight). 1231. CE 2270, 2888.
1232. CE 2890, 2981, pp. 1, 3, 8; CE 2982: see also CE 305).
1233. 2 H 57-58, 60 (M. Lane).
1234. 14 H 69 (Crafard); CE 2984, cf. 13 H 353 (Armstrong); 15 H 662
(Mrs. Carlin ).
1235. 14 H 559-561 (Ruby); 5 H 515-516, 522-525 (Weissman); CE 2985, p.
7: CE 3115.
1236. CE 1620; 14 H 559-560 (J.
Ruby); see CE 2430: compare id. at 3. 1237. CE 2430. 1238. Ibid. 1239.
Ibid. 1240. Ibid.
1241. See pp. 335, 347-348, supra. 1242. See pp. 344-345, supra.
1243. CE 2985, pp. 7, 9, 10, 12, 14; cf. CE 2986.
1244. See CE 2985. pp. 6-7. 1245. CE 2987.
1246. CE 2985, p. 10. 1247. Id. at 6-7.
1248. CE 2985, pp. 15-17. 1249. See ch. IV at 163-164.
1250. Sawyer DE A; 4 H 179, 184 (Jesse E. Curry); 7 H 75-76 (James
Putnam): see ch. IV at 163-164.
1251. Compare ch. IV at 143-144 with CE 3002.
1252. CE 3054, 3055, 3056, 3057; 14 H 330-364 (Nancy Perrin Rich); Nancy
Perrin Rich DE 1-4; CE 3058, 3059, 3060, 3061, 3062, 3063, 3064, 3065,
1688, 1689, 3067, 3068.
1253. 5 H 202 (J. Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 15; CE 1688, 1689, 3069;
see also 14 H 506 (J. Ruby); CE 2414.
1254. CE 2988, 3069; see CE 1748, 1752.
1255. CE 2303, p. 19. 1256. See CE 2988, 3069. 1257. CE 2989.
1258. See 5 H 200-201 (J. Ruby); CE 1697, 1545, 1690, 1691.
1259. CE 2993, 2994, 1697, 1546. 1260. CE 2.978, pp. 4-5.
1261. 14 H 384-385 (Earl Ruby). 1262. See app. XVI at 803. 1263. CE
2980, 2979, pp. 13-14. 1264. CE 2428. 1265. CE 2980.
1266. See app. XVI at p. 801; CE 2988. 1267. See app. XVI at pp. 785,
790, 801.
1268. 14 H 565-566 (J. Ruby): 5 H 103 (J. Edgar Hoover); CE 1353, 1628,
1760; cf. CE 2332, 2333, 3012, 2328, 2331, 1697, 1221, 1500.
1269. 14 H 165 168
1270. 14 H 168-172, 181 182, (Senator).
1271. 14 H 175 178, 181-184, 304 305, 309-310 (Senator).
1272. Senator DE 5400, p. 297; CE 3027; 14 H 165-210, 310-311 (Senator):
CE 3014, 3026, 3028.
1273. 14 H 249-250 (Senator).
1274. See 14 H 244-245, 302-303 (Senator); Senator DE 5400, 5401, 5402,
5403. 1275. Ibid. 1276. CE 2419.
1277. See 14 H 217-218, 230-235, 261-
262, 299-300, 314-315 (Senator). 1278. CE 3015.
1279. 14 H 2]6, 314-315 (Senator). 1280. 14 H 532 (J. Ruby). 1281. Ibid.
1282. CE 2419; Senator DE 5401; see 14 H 245-246, 302-304, 316-317
(Senator ).
1283. CE 3023, pp. 17-18; 14 H 245 (Senator); see Senator DE 5401.
1284. CE 3023; Senator DE 5401; but compare CE 2419: 14 H 245-246, 252-
253, 303-304 (Senator).
1285. CE 3024; see also CE 3013 p. 196.
1286. 14 H 246-251, 253 (Senator); CE 3024.
1287. CE 2344, 2302, 2303, 2345. 1288. Ibid.
1289. See, e.g., CE 3036, see also 5 H 208 (J. Ruby).
1290. 14 H 150 (Paul): C. Ray Hall DE 3. pp. 15-16.
1291. CE 2344, 3018, 1695, 3019, 1567.
1292. CE 1561. p. 302:15 H 248 249 ( Wright ).
1293. 14 H 216 217 (Senator); 13 H 447 (Crafard).
1294. See CE 1322, pp. 733-751.
1295. See app. XVI at pp. 794, 796-797, 804-806.
1296. 5 H 272 (Dean Rusk); CE 3025 (Robert F. Kennedy): 5 H 585-586 (C.
Douglas Dillon); CE 3138 (Robert S. McNamara): 5 H 103 (J. Edgar
Hoover): CE 2980 (John A. McCone); 5 H 485 (James J. Rowley).
CHAPTER VII
I. 5 H 394 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 400 (Michael Paine); 10 H 56 (Francis L.
Martello); see discussion of Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities,
infra.
2. I H 91 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 394, 408 (Marina Oswald); 9 H 145 (Paul
R. Gregory): 10 H 56 (Martello).
3. I H 10-12, 21-22, 66 (Marina
Oswald).
4. Id. at 22; see authority at notes 125 and 314. infra.
5. 8 H 150 (Lillian Murret): see authority at notes 125 and 314, infra.
6. I H 22 (Marina Oswald).
7. Id. at 22 23; see 11 H 100 (Kerry Thornley); 11 H 402 (Michael
Paine).
8. See 8 H 272 (Daniel P. Powers): 11
H 96-97 (Thornley) and discussion. infra. 9. 11 H 96, 99; authority at
note 151,
infra.
10. 11 H 170 (William Kirk Stuckey); Stuckey DE 2, p. 2; CE 1385, p. 7.
11. 1 H 96, 123 (Marina Oswald); 10 H 97 (Arnold Johnson); CE 100; CE
2564.
12. 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald); see 8 H 104-105 (L. Murret).
13. 11 H 4, 10, 20 (John Edward Pic); I H 253 (Marguerite Oswald).
14. Id. at 253 254: I H 94 (Marina Oswald): 11 H 12, 74 (J. Pic): 8 H 48
(Myrtle Evans): 1 H 271 (Robert Oswald). 15. 11 H 12 (J. Pic); J. Pic DE
3, 5.
16. 1 H 254 (Marguerite Oswald): 8 H 47-48, 63-64 (M. Evans): 8 H 36. 37
(Anne Boudreaux); 8 H 112 (L. Murret).
17. J. Pic DE 2-A; 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald).
18. J. Pic DE 2, p. 4; H 272 (R. Oswald): 11 H 15, 22 (J. Pic).
19. 11 H 23 (J. Pic): 8 H 53 (M. Evans); 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald);
see CE 1960 A, p. 1.
20. 1 H 275-277 (R. Oswald); 11 H 23--25, 28-30 (J. Pic): 11 H 472 (Mrs.
J. U. Allen ).
21. 8 H 51 (M. Evans); 8 H 68-69 (Julian Evans); 8 H 117 (L. Murret);
see 1 H 277-278 (R. Oswald).
846
Page 847
22. 11 H 27 (J. Pie).
23. 1 H 250-252 (Marguerite Oswald);
11 H 27-29 (.l. Pie); CE 1960-C.
24. 11 H 75 (J. Pie).
25. Id. at 30-32.
26. Id. at 32.
27. Id. at 32-34.
28. Id. at 33.
29. Id. at 73-74.
80. 1 H 298 (R. Oswald); 11 H 31-32
(J. Pie); see 1 H 253-254 (Marguerite
Oswald).
31.1 H 298 (R. Oswald); Evelyn Stickman Siegel DE 1, p. 1.
32. 8 H 119. 121 (L. Murret): 11 H 31
(J. Pic): 8 H 87 (Hiram Conway).
3:|. 8 H 121-122 (L. Murret): ,l. Pic
I)E 9.
34. 11 H 17, 28, 31 (,I. Pie): J. Pic
DE 23: Siegel DE 2, p. 1.
35. 1 H 225-226 (Marguerite Oswald);
11 H 37 (J. Pic).
36. 1 H 226. 229 (Marguerite Oswald):
] 1 H 37-41 (,l. Pie).
37. 1 H 227 (Marguerite Oswald): 11
H 37 (.l. Pie).
38. Id. at 38, 39, 42: CE 1382, p. 1;
see John Carro DE 1, p. 1: Siegel DE 2,
p. 2.
39. 11 H 38-39 (J. Pic); see CE 1382.
40. 1 H 227 (Marguerite Oswald); see
CE 1384.
41. See ~ H 208 (Carro); Carro DE 1.
I~. :~.
42. Carro DE 1, p. 2; Siegel DE 1, p. 1.
43. I H 227 (Marguerite Oswald): see
Siegel DE 1, p. 2.
44. Carro I)E 1. p. 1.
45. Ibid.; see 8 H 218 (Renatus Hartogs ).
46. Carro DE 1, pp. 1, 5.
47. Hartogs DE I; Carro DE 1; Siegel I)E 1.
48. I H 228 (Marguerite Oswald). 49. Ibid. 50. Ibid. 51. Ibid.
52. Carro DE 1, p. 3. 53. Siegel DE 2, p. 3.
54. "Oswald: Evolution of an Assassin," Life, Feb. 21, 1964, p. 72.
55. Hartogs DE 1~ p. 1.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Id. at 2. 59. Ibid.
60. Siegel DE 1, p. 1. 61. Ibid. 62. Ibid.
63. Siegel DE 1, p. 2. 64. Siegel DE 2, p. 2.
65. Siegel DE 1, pp. 2, 3. 66. CE 1339. 67. Ibid. 68. Ibid. 69. Ibid.
70. Carro DE 1, p. 2.
71. See Carro DE 1, pp. 3, 6; Siegel DE I. p. 3.
72. Siegel DE 1, pp. 2, 3. 73. Id. at 3, 6.
74. Hartogs DE 1, pp. 1-2. 75. Carro DE 1, p. 2. 76. 11 H 75 (PIC).
77. Compare Carro DE 1~ Hartogs DE 1, and Siegel DE 1.
78. Carro DE 1, p. 4: see 8 H 206, 210 ( Carro ).
79. Id. at 212.
80. Siegel DE 1. p. 6.
81. See Carro DE 1, pp. 6-8.
82. CE 1413, pp. 14-15: I H 196-197, 198-199 (Marguerite Oswald).
83. Allison G. Folsom DE 1, pp. 2, 3.
84. 8 H 124 (L. Murret): see 8 H 159 (Marilyn Murret).
85. Id. at 124, 128.
NOTES TO PAGES 378-388
86. Ibid.: see 1 H 196-197 (Marguerite Oswald )
87. See e.g., 8 H 55, 56, 65 (M. Evans); .8 H 159 70, 71 (J. Evans): 8 H
159 (M. Murret).
88 8 H 125, 131 (L. Murret).
89. Id. at 131: see 1 H 199 (Marguerite
Oswald): 8 H 15 (Edward Voebel).
90. Ibid.
91. Id. at 5; see SH 159 (M. Murret);
SH 124 (I,. Murret).
92. Ibid.
93. s H 2--3 (Voebel). 94. Id. at 5. 9-10.
95. CE 1352; CE 1387: CE 1413, p. 10. 96. CE 3134.
97. 1 H 198. (Marguerite, Oswald); CE
1386; CB 1385, pp. 5-6: CE 93. p. 3.
98. CE 1386.
99. Ibid.
100 8 H 18 (William E. Wulf).
101. 1 H 196 198 (Marguerite Oswald).
102. CE 199; see, 1 H 196-197 (Marguerite Oswald).
103. Id. at 197-198.
104. I H 375-376 (R. Oswald).
105. 1 H 198, 200 (Marguerite Oswald ).
106 Id. at 198.
107. 11 H 4 (J. Pie).
108. See 8 H 22-23 (Bennierita Smith): 8H 6-7 (Voebel).
109. See note 97, supra.
110. 11 H 95, 106 (Thornley). 111.8 H 270 (Powers).
112. 8 H 258 (Nelson Delgado); 8 H 315 (James A. Botelho): 8 H 316
(Donald P. Camarata).
113. CE 1383: Folsom DE 1, p. 1.
114. 11 H 89, 101 (Thornley): 8 H 318 (Allen D. Graf); 8 H 318 (John
Rene
Heindell) ; 8H 321 (Mack Osborne).
115. Folsom DE 1, p. 5.
116. See 8 H 292-293 (John E. Donovan ).
117. Id. at 295.
118. Id. at 292-293, 297: see 11 H 105-10(; (Thornley).
119. 8 H 293 (Donovan).
120. g H 265 (Delgado).
121. 11 H 89 (Thornley).
122. Id. at 90.
123. Id. at 100.
124. Ibid.
125. 8 H 270 (Powers).
126. Id. at 272.
127. Id. at 287.
128. Id. at 270.
129. Id. at 277.
130. Id. at 278.
131. Id. at 283.
132. Id. at 285-286.
133. Id. at 275.
134. Id. at 283.
135. See Folsom DE 1, pp. 9, 31-34.
136. Ibid.; 8 H 308 (Folsom).
137. See Folsom DE 1, pp. 4, 10, 17, 23, and 30.
138. See id. at pp. 77-104.
139. See id. at pp. 10, 14-16, 18-22, 38-
43, 48, 50-55, 61, 67-79. 140. Id. at 141. Id. at 63.
142. See 1 H 22. 31, 70-72, 123 (Marina Oswald): 1 H 45.0 (R. Oswald): 8
H 374 (George Bouhe): 9 H 148-149, 158 (Paul Gregory ).
143. 1 H 71 (Marina Oswald) :.but see
5 H 605 (Marina Oswald). 144. Id. at 72.
145. 1 H 385-386, 450 (R. Oswald): 11 H 79 (J. Pic).
146. See 1 H 220-222 (Marguerite Oswald): Folsom DE 1, pp. 19, 21.
147. Id. at pp. 38-39, 45-47.
148. 5 H 605 (Marina Oswald).
149. See discussion in ch. III, supra.
847
Page 848
NOTES TO PAGES 388-404
150. Ibid.
151. 1 H 198 (Marguerite Oswald); CE
1385, pp. 5-6; CE 1386; see 8 H 18 (Wulf). 152. CE 1385, p. 5.
153. 8 H 321 (Henry J. Roussel, Jr.).
154. S H 323 (Richard Dennis Call); 8 H 315 (Botelho).
155. 8 H 323 (Call).
156. 8 H 319 (David Christie Murray);
8 H 315 (Botelho); 8 H 321 (Osborne);
8 H 323 (Erwin Donald Lewis)
157. 8H 315 (Botelho); 8 H 321
(Osborne).
158. 11 H 93-94 (Thornley).
159. Id. at 99.
160. Id. at 95.
161. Ibid.
162. 8 H 292-293 (Donovan).
163. 8 H 233, 240 (Delgado).
164. 11 H 97-98 (Thornley).
165. Id. at 98.
166. See 8 H 18 (Wulf): 8 H 81 (Philip
E. Vinson): I H 94 (Marina Oswald). 167. 11 H 172-173 (Stuckey).
168. 2 H 308 (Mrs. Katherine Ford).
169. CE 295, pp. 4, 7, 8.
170. CE 294, p. 1.
171. See discussion supra pp. 256-257.
172. CE 295, p. 1.
173. Id. at 2-3, 4.
174. Id. at 6-7.
175. See CE 24, pp. 1-2; note 178, infra.
176. Ibid.
177. Id. at 2.
178. CE 985. dec. 1 C 3; CE 24, pp. 1-2.
179. 5 H 263 (Richard E. Snyder).
180. CE 913.
181. CE 908, p. 2.
182. Ibid.
183. Ibid.
184. Ibid.
185. Ibid.
186. Ibid.
187. CE 24, p. 4.
188. See id. at pp. 4, 5.
189. See id. at 5-6; CE 985, doc. 9A.
190. CE 72: 5 H 589 (Marina Oswald):
see 9 H 147 (Paul Gregory).
191. CE 24, p. 6; see CE 25, p. 1B.
192. See CE 24. p. 6; 5 H 497-408
(Marina Oswald).
193. See CE 24. p. 6: 1 H 93 (Marina
Oswald).
194, Ibid; see discussion at pp. 269,
195. 1 H 93 (Marina Oswald).
196. 10 H 56 (Martello); 9 H 145 (Pout
Gregory); see 5 H 408 (Marina Oswald).
197. 1 H 95, 100 (Marina Oswald).
198. 2 H 302 (Mrs. Ford).
199.9 H 312 (Jeanne De Mohrenschildt).
200. 9 H 234 (George De Mohrenschildt).
201. CE 24, p. 7.
202. Ibid.
203. Id. at 9.
204. See ibid.; CE 245.
205. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald).
206. Id. at 10-11.
207. CE 994, p. 25.
208. CE 92; see also CE 94 (earlier manuscript); 8 H 333 (Pauline V.
Bates).
209. CE 94, p. 1.
210. Compare CE 92 and CE 94 with
CE 25, CE 97, CE 98.
211. CE 25, p. 3.
212. Ibid.
213. CE 97, p. 8.
214. See CE 98.
215. CE 25, p. 3A.
216. Id. at
217. Id. at 2A.
218. Id. at 2A-3A.
219. Id. at 3A.
220, CE 97, p. 3.
221. Ibid.
222. Id. at 5.
223. Ibid.
848
224. Id. at 6.
225. Arnold Johnson DE 4, p. 3. 226. CE 97, p. 1. 227. Id. at 1-2. 228.
CE 25, p. 1. 229. CE 100, p. 1. 230. Id. at 3. 231. Id. at 1. 232. Id.
at 4. 233. Id. at 2. 234. See id. at 4. 235. CE 986, p. 6.
236. 10 H 209-210 (Deals H. Ofstein): CE 1147.
237. See CE 7, 9; CE 986. pp. 1-2, 6:
1 H 35 (Marina Oswald). 238. See CE 12; CE 13. 239. 10 H 56 (Martello).
240. See CE 2464, pp. 4 6. 241. CE 15.
242. 1 H 11 (Marina Oswald); see H 377 (Bouhe).
243. 9 H (Paul M. Raigorodsky); see 9 H 166-284 passim (G. Do
Mohrenschildt).
244. CE 1389, p. 3: but see 2 H (Peter P. Gregory).
245. 8 H 383-385 (Anna Meller); see id. at 372-373, 376 (Bouhe); 9 H 309
(J. De Mohrenschildt).
246. 1 H 10-11 (Marina Oswald).
247. See 8 H 376 (Bouhe); 8 H 384 (Meller); I H 11 (Marina Oswald).
248. 9 H 309 (J. De Mohrenschildt). 249. Ibid.
250. 9 H 240 (G. De Mohrenschildt). 251. Id. at 232. 252. Ibid.
253. Id. at 233.
254. See 1 H 11 (Marina Oswald): 2 H 305 (Mrs. Ford).
255. 9 H 252-253 (G. De Mohrenschildt): 2 H 307, 309 (Mrs. Ford).
256. 1 H 133, 141 (Marguerite Oswald) 1 H 312, 387 (R. Oswald).
257, CE 295. p. 7; CE 908, p. 2:
CE 909, p. 2.
258. 1 H 94-95 (Marina Oswald).
259. 1 H 312, 314 (R. Oswald).
260. 1 H 134 136 (Marguerite Oswald). 261. Id, at 136.
262. 1 H 6 (Marina Oswald): 2 H 300 (Mrs. Ford).
263. 1 H 140-141 (Marguerite Oswald); see 8 H 394-395 (Elena Hall):
discussion in appendix XIII.
264. 8 H 135-136 (L. Murret).
265. 8, H 165-l66 (M. Murret)
266. Priscilla Johnson DE 6.
267. See 9 H 47 (Samuel B. Ballen). CE 1861, p. 3.
269. See, e.g. Helen P. Cunningham DE
l-A; John Rachal DE 1.2; CE 1398.
270. 10 H 163, 165 (Tommy Bargas).
271. See 1 H 5-7 (Marina Oswald); 10
H 166 (Bargas); CE 1405.
272. 10 H 144 (Donald Brooks).
273. 10 H 121 (Cunningham}; Cunning-
ham 1)E 1-A.
274. 10 H 121-124, 127 (Cunningham).
275. Cunningham DE 1--A. p. 3: see 10
H 126 (Cunningham).
276. 11 H 478 (Cunningham).
277. Ibid.; see 10 H. 177 (John G Graef).
278. 10 H 176 (Graef): CE 427.
279. 1 H 68 (Marina Oswald).
280. 10 H 172 (Robert Stovall); 10 H 186-187 (Graef).
281. See id. at 187-189. See id. 188.
283. See id. at 187, 189.
284. Id. at 189: see 10 H 170-171 ( Stovall ).
285. 2 H 457--459, 468-469, 271 (R. Paine).
286. 11 H 474 (Emmett C. Barbe, Jr.); CE 1398.
Page 849
287. 2 H 468-469 (R. Paine). 288. Id. at 517.
289. 11 H 474 ( Barbe ).
290..Ibid.: 10 H 220, 22..5-226 (Adrian Alba)
291. 3 H 6 ( R' Paine ).
292. See 10 H 53 (Martello~; 10 H 37-38 (Carlos Bringuier); discussion
FPCC activities, infra.
293. 11 H 476 (Rachal).
294. 10 H 170-171 (Stovall).
295. 11 H 479 (Theodore R. Gangl). 296. See 3 H 216, 218 (Roy S. Truly).
2974 See CE 1351, pp. 7~8.1 . 298. I H 16 (Marina Os -a d)
299. See id. at 17; 11 H 292 (Marina Oswald ).
300. I H 17 (Marina Oswald).
301. Id. at 15-16, 117-118:11 H 296 ( Marina Oswald).
302. See CE 133; CE 134; CE 1406.
303. 1 H 15-16 (Marina Oswald) ~ H 296 (Marina Oswald).
304. See discussion in ch. IV. supra. 30~. I H 16 (Marina Oswald): see
CE 1. 306. Id. at 17-18. 307. Id. at 18.
308. 11 H 294 (Marina Oswald). 309. Id.' at 292-294, 295-296.
310. See I H 37-39 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 294-295 (Marina Oswald).
311. 11 H 293 (Marina Oswald). 312. See. e.g. Life, Feb. 21, 1964.
313. See I H 22-23 (.Marina Oswald): .~ H 354 (Max E. Clark); 9 H 150,
155 (Paul Gregory); 11 H 97-98 (Thornley)..
314. See e.g. 8 H 376-377 (Bouhe); 8 H 390 (Mrs. Meller); 8 H 405 (Elena
Hall); 8 H 411 (John R. Hall).
315. I H .16 (Marina Oswald); see 2 H 315 (Mrs. Ford).
316. See CE 1409; Vincent T. Lee DE 1.
317. See. CE 1410; CE 1411.
318. CE 1412.
319. See 10 H 37-39 (Bringuier).
320. CE 1413; 10 H 53 (Martello}: see discussion in ch. VIII, infra.
321.-11 H '165-166 (Stuckey). 322. Ibid.
3'>.~3. 10 H 35-36 (Bringuier).
324. I H 24 (Marina Oswald): see
H 57. (Martello); 10 H 90, 94 (Lee). 32'5. Id. at 64-65; see CE 820.
326. See discussion in ch. IV, supra.
327. 5 H 401 (Marina Oswald): see 1 H 64 (.Marina Oswald).
328. 5 H 401 (Marina Oswald). 329. 10 H 90, 94 (Lee). 330. 10 H 54
(Martello). 331. Lee DE 5. 332. Ibid. 333. Ibid. 334. Ibid.
335. CE 1413, p. 19.
336. See 10 H 32-51 (Bringuier).
337. See CE 1412: CE 1413, pp. 19-35.
338. Lee DE 6.
339. CE 1414.
340. CE 1410; see Lee DE 4, p. 2; Lee
DE 5, p. 2; 10 H 87-89 (Lee): Lee DE 5. 341. Lee DE 7.
Stuckey).
344. 10 H 41'(Bringuier); see I H 25 (Marina Oswald); 11 .H 268-270
(Mrs. Jesse J. Garner).
345. Stuckey DE 3, p. 2; see 1'1 H 167 ( Stuckey ).
346. See 11 H 168 (Stuckey). 347. Stuckey DE 3, p. 8. 348. 11 H i'71
(Stuckey).
349. Ibid.
.350. Id. at 162. 351. Ibid.
352. Id. at 171.
353. Arnold Johnson DE 4.
NOTES TO PAGES 404-417
354. See Louis Weinstock DE 1; Arnold Johnson DE 5-A.
355. Weinstock DE 1.
356. Arnold Johnson 'DE 5.
357. Arnold Johnson DE I and 3. 358. Arnold Johnson DE 2. 359. 1 H 23 (
Marina Oswald ). 360. Ibid.
361. Arnold Johnson DE' 4, p. 1. 362. Id. at 1-2. 363. Id. at 2-3. ~'
364. Arnold Johnson DE 4-A.
365. I H 20 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 474 (Barbe).
366. See CE 409: CE 415:2 H 490. 493
(R. Paine). .
367. 11 H 24 (Marina Oswald).
368. 10 H 91 (Lee); see Lee DE 3.
369. Lee DE 4-7.
370. Lee DE 8-A, 8-B, 8-C.
371. CE 781.
372 1 H 21, 68 (Marina Oswald).
373. Id. at 21.
374. Ibid.; see CE 7, 12.
375. CE 12.
376. CE 18.
377. See I H' 23 (Marina Oswald).
378. Id. at 47.
379. Id. at 24.
380. Id. at 25.
381. Id. at 22, 23.
382. Id. at 21-22, 54: but see 5 H 605
(Marina Oswald ).
383. 1 H 49-50 (Marina Oswald~ see
CE 17.
384. 3 H 5 (R. Paine).
385. See id. at 34.
386. 2 H .507 (R. Paine); see 3 H 9
( R. Paine ).
387. I H 23 (Marina Oswald).
388. 3 H 10, 27 (R. Paine); see id.
at 29.
389. See CE 244~4. p. 2: CE 2121. p. 39.
390. Ibid.
391. Id. at 40.
392. I H 50 (Marina Oswald).
393. CE 2695.
394. See Farrell Dobbs DE 1, 2; 11 H
39$ ( R. Paine).
395. See CEs 1340-1347: discussion of
Fair Play for Cuba Committee activities,
supra; ~E 25, p. 5:'9 H 249 (O. De
Mohrenschildt): Arnold Johnson DE 5-A.
396. CE 1343, p. 1.
397. CE 1350: CE 1172:11 H 398 (R. Paine).
398. 2 H 418 (M. Paine): see 9 H 455
(M. Paine).
399. Stuckey DE 3, p. 9.
400. 9 H 465 (Raymond F. Krystinik ).
401. I H 50 (Marina Oswald).
402. See app. XIV: I H 69 (Marina Oswald).
403. See e.g. CE 2647: CE 2696; CE
2697: CE 2698; CE 2699.
404. See CE 1031; CE 996; discussion
in oh. VI, supra.
405. Arnold Johnson DE 7, pp. 2-3.
406. 11 H 4.24 (Maj. Gen. Edwin A.
Walker).
407. I H 51-58, 63 (Marina Oswald):
3 H 138-139 (R. Paine).
408. Id. at 50.
409. Ibid.; see id. at 54.
410. Id. at 68.
411. CE 24, p. 10: see id. at 9; 2 H
302 (Mrs. Ford); 1 H '90-91 (Marina Oswald).
412. See e.g. 2 H 302 (Mrs. Ford); 8 H
362 (Bouhe): 8 H 386 (Mrs. Meller); 8
H 422 (Mrs. Frank Ray); but see 9 H 153
(Paul Gregory): see also CE 1401. p. 269.
413. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald).
414, 2 H 413-414 (R. Paine); CE 410.
415. CE 415.
416. I H 12 (Marina Oswald).
417. Id. at 10, 12.
849
Page 850
NOTES TO PAGES 417-433
418. See CE 415; 1 H 66 (Marina Oswald).
419. Ibid.
420. See 8 H 150 (L. Murret); 9 H 313 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
421. 1 H 25 ( Marina Oswald ). 422. 2 H 342 (Peter Gregory). 423. 10 H
59 ( Martello ).
424. 1 H 33 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 596 ( Marina Oswald ); 2 H 303-304 (
Mrs. Ford); 8 H 365 (Bouhe); 8. H 387 (Mrs. Meller).
425. See I H 35 (Marina Oswald); 9 H 259 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 9 H 311
(J. De Mohrenschildt).
426. See 2 H 422 (M. Paine). 427.2 H 300 (Mrs. Ford).
428. Ibid.; see also 5 H 597 (Marina Oswald).
429. I H 33 ( Marina Oswald ). 430. See ibid. 431. Ibid.
432. Id. at 12.
433. 5 H 593-594 (Marina Oswald).; 9 H 233 (G. De Mohrenschildt); see 9
H 309 (J. De Mohrenschildt): I H 66 (Marina Oswald).
434. 9 H 233 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
435. Ibid.; see also 9 H 311, 313 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
436. See 8 H 396 (Mrs. Hall). 437. 11 H 396 (R. Paine). 438. 1 H 23 (
Marina Oswald ). 439. Ibid.
440. Id. at 22 (Marina Oswald). 441. 9 H 314 (J. De Mohrenschildt). 442.
Id. at 313. 443. Id. at 309. 444. Id. at 312. 445. Ibid. 446. Ibid.
447. See 2 H 422 (M. Paine).
448. I H 54, 63 ( Marina Oswald ).
449. 2 H 515--516 (R. Paine): 3 H 41 (R. Paine).
450. See ibid.; 3 H 43-44 (R. Paine). 451. 10 H 294 (Mrs. A.
C..Johnson). 452. See I H 65 (Marina Oswald). 453. Id. at 63. 454. Id.
at 46. 455. Ibid.
456. Stuckey DE 3, p. 2; see 11 H 167
( Stuckey)..
457. See I H 20, 49 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 18, 102 (R. Paine); see
discussion of employment relations, supra; ch. VIII, infra.
458. I H 48 (Marina Oswald); see also discussion in ch. VIII, infra.
459. CE 15.
See discussion in ch. VIII, infra. See CE 15; 1. H 48-49 (Marina ); 3 H
15-16 (Ruth Paine).
See CE 15; ! H 49 (Marina ). Ibid.
Id. at 48; discussion in ch. VIII.
460.
461. Oswald
462.
Oswald 463. 464. infra.
465. supra. 466. 467. 468. 469. 470. 471.
See discussion at footnote 347,
I H 63 ( Marina Oswald ). Ibid.
Id. at 65.
Id. at 65-66. Id. at 66. Id. at 73.
472. See app. XIV.
473. 2 H 226, 228 (Buell Wesley Frazier); 2 H 248 (Linnie Mac Randie).
474. 2 H 222 (Frazier).
475. CE 2743.
476. CE 1361.
477. CE 1362; CE 1363; CE 1364: CE 1365; see discussion at footnote 52,
ch. III. supra.
478. 5 H 595 (Marina Oswald); see 1 H. 54 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 341
(Peter
Gregory); 10 H 311 (J. De Mohrenschildt). 479. I H 28 ( Marina Oswald ).
480. I H .65 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 46, 66 (R. Paine); 11 H 392 (R.
Paine).
481. 3 H 300 (M. N. McDonald); 7 H 551 (Eddy Raymond Walthers).
482. 4 H 217 (J. W. Fritz); 7 H 353, 357 (Forrest V. Sorrels).
483. See discussion in ch. IV, supra.
484. See 4 H 240 (Fritz); 7 H 321 (Manning C. Clements); 7 H 310 (James
W. Bookhout).
4,,~5. See discussion in ch. IV, supra.
CHAPTER VIII
1. See app. VII for a fuller discussion of prior assassination attempts.
2. C. Rossiter, "The American Presidency"-18 (1960).
3. 30 "Writings of George Washington" 496 (Fitzpatrick ed. 1939).
4. Rossiter at 17, 92-93.
5. M. Smith, "A President Is Many Men" 232 (1948).
6. 7 H 442 (Kenneth O'Donnell): 7 H 460 ( Lawrence F. O'Brien ).
7. CE 866; see 5 H 106-~07, 116-119
(J. Edgar Hoover). 8. See app. VII.
~.}. 4 H 295-297 (Robert I. Bouck). 10. CE 761; 4 H 299 (Bouck). 11. Id,
at 3(ml.
12~ Statistical data set forth in CE 762, p. 1.
13. Ibid.
14. 4 H 303 ( Bouck ). 15. CE 763.
16. See 4 H 302 (Bouck).
17. CE 1021. p. 1.
18. 4 H 307 (Bouck). 19. Id. at 310-311. 20. Id. at 307-308. 21. CE 762.
22. Ibid.
23. 4 H 306 ( Bouck ). 24. Id. at 309. 25. Ibid. 26. Ibid.
27. Id. at 310. 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid.
31. Id. at 309; see CE 765.
32. 4 H 308-309 (Bouck); see 18 U.S.C. sec. 871. The Secret Service
prepared for the Commission abstracts of several cases illustrating the
achievement of the goal of eliminating risks by imprisonment or
hospitalization, CE 766.
33. 5 H 466 (James J. Rowley).
34. See p. 30 supra.
35. 4' H 304 ( Bouck ).
I)6. Ibid.
37. Id. at 303-304.
38. CE 836, attachment 2.
39. See CE 1354, p. 1.
40. See CE 1355.
41. 4 H 304 (Bouck).
42. ~d. at 314].
43. CE 836, p. 2.
44. CE 1356.
850
Page 851
45. 4 H 403 (John W. Fain); 4 H 431 (John L. Quigley); 4 H 440 (James P.
Hosty, Jr.); 5 H 97 (Hoover); 5 H 1 (Alan H. Belmont).
46. 5 H 120 (John A. McCone); 5 H 121 (Richard M. Helms).
47. CE 834 is a list of each item in the FBI's file on Oswald from the
opening
of the file until the assassination. 48. CE 833, p. 1. 49. Ibid.
50. Id. at pp. 1-2 of attachment: see
also CE 821:4 H 405-409 (Fain). 51. CE 822, 834.
52. CE 833, p. 1, p. 2 of attachment. 63. 4 H 428 (Fain); id. at 441-442
of the text of Oswald's letter appears at p. 463 infra.
54. 4 H 415 (Fain). 55. Id. at 417.
56. CE 823, p. 13; 4 H 416-417 (Fain). 57. Id. at 419.
58. CE 824; 4 H 418-424 (Fain). 59. 1 H 20 (Marina Oswald).
60. 4 H 422 (Fain); CE 824, p. 6. 61.4 H 423-426 (Fain)'.
62. Id. at 424; relevant administrative procedures are described at 5 H
2-6 (Belmont).
63. 4 H 428 (Fain): Id. at 441 442
(Hosty).
64. Ibid.
65. CE 829, pp. 1-2; 4 H 441-442
( Hosty ).
66. Id. at 442.
67. Id. at 441 442.
68. See id. at 444.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Id. at 444-445; see pp. 406-407
supra, where the possibility that Oswald bad been distributing pamphlets
in Dallas for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee is discussed.
72. 4 H 442 (Hosty). 73. Id. at 443. 74. CE 833, p. 6. 75. Id. at 9.
76. Details regarding the issuance of
the passport are set forth in app. XV.
77. CE 833, p. 13.
78. Ibid.
79. 4 H 432 (Quietly).
80. Ibid.
81 Ibid. at 435.
82. Ibid.
83 Id. at 438; Agent Quigley's memorandum of his interview with Oswald
appears at pp. 6 10 of the report on Oswald of Agent Milton R. Kaack. CE
826.
84. See CE 833, p. 8.
85. 4 H 434 (Quigley).
86. Id. at 437.
87. CE 833, p. 8.
88. Ibid: CE 826, p. 11.
89. See 4 H 435-438 (Quigley); see
also 5 H 9-10 (Belmont).
90. Id. at 9.
91. CE 834, p. 7.
92. CE 826. p. 12.
93. CE 834, p. 7: 4 H 445-446 (Hosty).
94. CE 833, p. 12.
95. Ibid: 4 H 446-447 (Hosty).
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid.
98. CE 834. p. 8.
99. 4 H 447 (Hosty): CE 833, pp. 12-
13.
100. Id. at 13.
101. CE 952, 2075:11 H 203 (Carroll
H. Seeley, Jr.).
102. Id. at 203--204: 11 H 192-193
(James L. Ritchie): CE 948, "Question
16." See app. XV at p. 777.
103. CE 826, p. 2.
104. 4 H 448 (Hosty).
NOTES TO PAGES 433-448
105. Id. at 448 449. 106. Id. at 450.
107. Ibid; see also CE 830. 108. 4 H 450 (Hosty). 109. Ibid.
110. Id. at 451. 111. Id. at 450. 112. Id. at 452. 113. Ibid.
114. Id. at 453-454 (Hosty). 115. Id. at 453.
116. 3 H 95-109 (Ruth Paine). 117. CE 826.
118. 4 H 459 (Hosty). 119. Ibid. 120. Ibid.
121. See CE 834, pp. 9-10. 122. 4 H 459 (Hosty).
123. 4 H 311-314 (Bouck). 124. Id. at 312-313. 125. Ibid.
126. 4 H 460 (Hosty). 127. Id. at 459-461. 128. Id. at 460.
129. Id. at 473-474. 130. Id. at 473. 131. Id. at 472-4.73. 132. Id. at
461-462. 133. Id. at 462.
134. Agent Hosty's testimony appears at 4 H 463-465; Lieutenant Revill's
at H 34-39.
135. Id. at 34-35. 136. Id. at 35. 137. CE 709.
138. 7 H 405 (Mary Jane Robertson).
139. 4 H 194 (Jesse E. Carry): 5 H 216 ( Henry Wade).
140. CE 831; 4 H 463-464 (Hosty). 141. 5 H 58 IV. J. Brian). 142. 5 H
112 (Hoover). 143. Id. at 104.
144. Id. at 111; 5 H 10 (Belmont). 145. Id. at 28-29.
146. See pp. 747 749, 778 infra (regarding his dealings with officials
at The Embassy in Moscow); pp. 710-711 infra supra (regarding protests
of his discharge from the Marine Corps Reserve): pp. 434-435
supra (regarding his antipathy for the
FBI).
147. CE 833.
148. CE 836, attachment 2. 149. See p. 441 supra.
150. See pp. 461-462 infra.
151. CE 836, pp. 3-4; CE 1021, p. 4. 152. CE 836, attachment 4. 153. See
p. 30 supra.
154. See pp. 29, 31 supra.
155. 4 H 329/Winston G. Lawson). 156. Agent Lawson's reports on the
Dallas trip are CE 767 and 768.
157. See 4 H 346-347 (Lawson).
158. CE 1021, p. 5; see also 4 H 348-349 (Lawson).
159. 7 H 333-334 (Forrest V. Sorrels). 160. CE 768, p. 11, 161. Ibid.
162. For the Commission's recommendations on this point, see pp. 465-466
infra.
163. 12 H 22--23 (Charles Batchelor); 6 H 250-251 (J. W. Foster); 4 H
327 (Lawson). See the discussion in ch. III at pp. 71 72.
164. 12 H 22 (Batchelor). 165. 4 H 329 (Lawson). 166. Id. at 333.
167. 5 H 467 (Rowley).
168. See ch. II at p. 42, supra. 169. 7 H 338 (Sorrels).
170. 5 H 578 (C. Douglas Dillon).
171.4 H 329 (Lawson); 5 H 459 (Rowley).
172. 4 H 328 (Lawson).
851
Page 852
NOTES TO PAGES 448-467
173. WFAA-TV reel PKT 24. 174. CE 1358, p. 1. 175. Id, attachment 2.
176. Ibid.
177. 7 H 580-581, 584 (P. W. Lawrence ).
178. 7 H 532-535 (J. M. Smith); 540-541 (W. E. Barnett); 566-567 (E. L.
Smith, Jr.).
179. 7 H 343 (Sorrels). 180. Id. at 342.
181. 4 H 330 ( Lawson ). 182. Ibid.
183. 2 H 110-111 (Kellerman). 184. 5 H 451 (Rowley).
185. CE 1020. This exhibit covers the complete investigation by the
Secret Service, and includes statements of each agent involved,
statements by their super visors, statements and voluntary reports by
witnesses, and the final report of the investigation. In addition to
furnishing the Commission the results of the investigation, the Secret
Service responded to the Commission's request for information about this
occurrence in its letter of May 5, 1964. CE 1019. Chief James J.
Row-ley, the head of the Secret Service, gave testimony before the
Commission concerning this incident,. 5 H. 451-462 (Rowley). 186. CE
1020,-tab E.
187. CE 1020, tab F (statement of Richard J. Mackie).
188. CE 1020, tabs B and E; see CE 1020, tab G, which explains liquor
practices at the Cellar Coffee House. 189. CE 1020, tab E.
190. See 5 H 460-461 ( Rowley ). 191. Ibid.
192. CE 1020. tab E (statement of Paul A. Burns).
193. 5 H 460 (Rowley). 194. CE 1020, tab D.
195. 5 H 452-453, 459-460 ( Rowley ). 196. CE 1020, tab D.
197, 5 H 452-453 (Rowley). 198. CE 1018. 199. Ibid.
200. 5 H 453-454 ( Rowley )
201. Testimony and other evidence regarding Love Field arrangements
appear at 4 H 339-341 (Lawson); CE 768,. pp. 4-5; CE 769.
202. Television tapes of the-arrival at Love Field furnished to the
Commission by Dallas television stations provide a good record of the
security measures at Love Field. See KRLD-TV reels 1 and 8; WFAA-TV reel
PKT 4.
203. See p. 46 supra. 204. See p. 43 supra. 205. CE 1021, p. 5.
206. CE 2067; 5 H 579 (Dillon). J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI,
has recommended that the President never ride in an open car, 5 H 107,
117 (Hoover); CE 866.
207. CE 1021, p. 6. 208. See pp. 51-52 supra.
209. 15 H 699 (Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt). 210. Ibid.
211. CE 1021, p. 7.
212. 18 U.S.C. sec. 372. 213. 18 U.S.C. sec. 871. 214. 18 U.S.C. sec.
2385. 215. 18 U.S.C. sec. 1114.
216. 18 U.S.C. sec. 3056; United States v. Sheba Bracelets, Inc., 248 F.
2d 134 (2d
Cir. 1957), cert. denied, 355 U.S. 904. 217. CE 1030, pp. 4-5.
218. 18 U.S.C. secs. 3052, 3053.
219. S. 3653. 57th Cong., 1st sess. (1902); H.R. 10386, 57th Cong., 1st
sess. (1901); H.R. 3896, 73d Cong., 1st sess. (1933).
852
220. 36 Cong. Rec. 2961-2964 (1902). 221. E.g., S. 2330, 88th Cong., 1st
sess. (1963). (Introduced by all members of the Senate Committee on the
Judiciary).
222. Even in the failure of the House and the Senate to agree, in 1902,
as to whether this "line of duty" element was a constitutional requisite
to covering officers in the line of succession, there was agreement in
conference that this test need not be applied in the case of the
President or Vice President, 36 Cong. Rec. 2407 (1902).
223. See "Report on Bills To Make Assassination of the President a
Federal Crime," The Association of the Bar of the City of New-York,
Reports of Committees Concerned With Federal Legislation, vol.
3, Bulletin No. 2, pp. 54-55 (July 1964). 224. 35 Cong. Rec. 2431
(1902). 225. See CE 1030.
226. 5 H 115 (Hoover). 227 See id. at 115-116. 228. 50 U.S.C. sec. 402.
229. See 5 H 583 (Dillon).
230. See generally the discussion in app. VII.
231. Id. at 514.
232. CE 1021, pp. 9-11. 233. Id. at p. 10..
234. 5 H 481 ( Rowley ).
235. See pp. 429-433 supra.
236. 5 H 464-469, 478 ( Rowley ) .
237. See id. at 466; see also 5 H 580 ( Dillon ).
238. The planning document is CE 1053A and the transmittal letter to the
Director of the Bureau of the Budget is 1053B.
239. CE 836, attachment 5, p. 2. 240. 5 H 18 (Belmont). 241. Ibid.
242. 5 H 465 ( Rowley ). 243. 5 H 12, 21 (Belmont).
244. 5 H 113-114 (Hoover); 5 H 18-21 (Belmont).
245. 5 H 465 (Rowley). 246. CE 1023. 247. Ibid.
248. 5 H 465-469 ( Rowley ).
249. Id. at 469 ( Rowley ). 250. Folsom DE 1, p. 65.
251. See 5 H 467-469 (Rowley). 252. See app. VII..
253. 5 H 464-466 (Rowley); 5 H 585 ( Dillon ).
254. Id. at 581. Id.-at 577.
Ibid; CE 1053A, pp. 6-7. CE 1053C.
CE 1053A, p. 5: see 5 H 576-577 ).
CE 1053A, pp. 7-8. CE 1027, p. 4.
CE 1053A, pp. 3-4.
5 H 480-481 ( Rowley ). Ibid.
See p. 447 supra. CE 1027, p. 5.
5 H 578 ( Dillon ). Ibid; CE 1027, p. 1.
5 H 482 (Rowley).
5 H 24-25 (Belmont). 5 H 483 ( Rowley ).
CE 1027, p. 5; 5 H 478 (Rowley). CE 2765.
5 H 475-478 ( Rowley ). CE 1053A, 1053B.
E.g., hearings before Subcommittee,
House Committee on Appropriations, Treasury Department Appropriations
for 1963, 87th Cong., 2d sess., p. 448 ( 1962 ).
276. CE 1027, p. 1:5 H 473 (Rowley). 277. CE 1027, p. 1.
278. CE 836. p. 5. 279. 5 H 24-25 ( Belmont ).
255. 256. 257. 258.
( Dillon 259. 260. 261. 262. 263. 264. 265. 266. 267. 268. 269 270. 271.
272. 273. 274. 275. of the
Page 853
280. 5 H 579 (Dillon).
281. 5 H 24-25 (Belmont); CE 1027, pp. 1-2.
NOTES TO PAGES 467--515
282. See 5 H 474-475 (Rowley)
283. See id. at 475-476.
284. CE 1053D.
APPENDIX VII
1. N. Schachner, "Thomas Jefferson" 661 (1957); CE 2549, p. 22.
2. S. F. Bemis, "John Quincy Adams and the Union" 120-121 (1956); CE
2549, p. 23.
3. M. James, "Andrew Jackson" 636-
637 (1938): CE 2549, p. 23. 4. James at 684--688.
5. M. Smith. "A President Is Many Men" 225 (1948); C. M. Green,
"Washington: Village and Capitol, 1800-1878" 160 (1962); CE 2549, p. 25.
6. B. P. Thomas, "Abraham Lincoln" 242-244 (1952); G. S. Bryan, "The
Great
American Myth" 13-18, 20-48 (1940). 7. Thomas at 245: Bryan at 54. 8.
Bryan at 55- 73. 9. Id. at 60-69.
10. Thomas at 454-455, 474-475; L. Lewis, "Myths After Lincoln" 167-173,
293-294 (1941).
11. Thomas at 519; Bryan at 114-125, 138-144; Lewis at 167-173.
12. Thomas at 519; Bryan at 149-155, 165-166, 221.
13. Thomas at 520-521; Bryan at 173-184, 188-189.
14. Bryan at 262-266, 268; B. Pitman, "The Assassination of President
Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators" 242-249 (facsimile ed. 1954).
15. H.R. Rept. No. 104, 39th Cong., 1st sess. (1865); R. G. Tugwell "The
Enlargement of the Presidency" 265 footnote 5 (1960).
16. W. B. Hesseltine, "Ulysses S. Grant" 301 (193.5): CE 2550, p. 37.
17. 0gilvie, "Life and Death of James A. Garfield," 100-131 (1881); R.
J. Donovan, "The Assassins," 17, 35-42 (1952).
18. Ogilvie at 30-31, 45, 47; R. G. Caldwell, "James A. Garfield"
350-351 (1931); Donovan at 42-44, 58-61.
19. New York Tribune, July 3, 1881. 20. M. Smith at 229 (1948). 21. CE
2550, pp, 36- 37.
22. 13 Star. 351: Holverstott. "Preliminary Inventory of the Records of
the United States Secret Service in the National Archives" 4-19 (1949);
Bowen, "United States Secret Service, a Chronicle" 4, unpublished
manuscript in the files of the Secret Service.
23. E.g., 20 Star. 384; 22 Star. 313. 24. CE 2550, pp. 3.6-37.
25. New York Evening Post, Sept. 7, 1901.
26. M. Leech, "In the Days of McKinley" 231-232, 559-562 (1959).
27. Id. at 559-561: C. Dawes, "A Journal of the McKinley Years" 239-240
(1950).
28. Leech at 594-596.
29. Id. at 592-594; Donovan at 88-89. 30. Donovan at 85, 107. 31. Id. at
85-88.
32. See supra, p.. 455 for a discussion of such legislation.
33. "Hearings Before the Subcommittee of House Committee on
Appropriations in Charge of Sundry Civil Appropriations Bill for 1911,"
61st Gong. 2d sess. at 176
(1910); Records of U.S. Secret Service, Record Group 87, Daily Reports
of Agents on White House detail, 1902-36, National Archives; W. S. Bowen
and H. E. Neal, "The United States Secret Service" 11, 126 (1960).
34. 2 "Selections From the Correspondence of Theodore Roosevelt and
Henry
Cabot Lodge, 1884-1918" 224 (1925). 35. Donovan at 142-147.
36. Id. at 128-129, 146-147.
37. 34 Star. 708 (1906); "Hearings Before Subcommittee of House
Committee on Appropriations in Charge of Sundry Civil Appropriations
Bill for 1910," 61st Gong.,
1st sess. at 225-226 (1909). 38. 38 Star. 23 (1913).
39. 39 Star. 919, now 18 U.S.C. 871. 40. 40 Star. 120.
41.2 J. B. Bishop, "Theodore Roosevelt and His Times" 451-453 (1920).
42. E. W. Starling, "Starling of the White House" 117 (1946).
43. Donovan at 153-157. 44. Id. at 158-163. 45. Id. at 164-168.
46. S. Rept. No. 760, 67th Cong., 2d sess.
(1922); CE 2550, p. 37. 47. 42 Stat. 841. 48. 46 Stat. 328. 49. 76 Stat.
95. 50. CE 2553.
51. Starling at 42; CE 1029.
52. Baughman, "Secret Service Chief" 54-69 (1961); Bowen and Neal at
132- 133. The functions of Protective Research Section are discussed
supra at pp. 429-433.
53. CE 2549, pp. 113, 115; Donovan at 201.
54. Donovan at 202-207; CE 2551, p. 116.
55. 05 Stat. 122, 18 U.S.C. 3056.
56. 76 Stat. 956, 18 U.S.C. 3056 (Cum. Supp. 1962); S. Rept. No. 836,
87th Cong. 1st sess. (1961).
57. 18 U.S.C. 871.
58. 35 Star. 328; 42 Gong., Rec. 5553-5560, 60th Gong., 2d sess. (1908);
35 Star.
986; 41 Stat. 174 (1919). 59. CE 2551.
60. 36 Stat. 748 (1910); CE 867.
61. 5 H 102, 119 (J. Edgar Hoover); CE 2552.
62. Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government
[hereafter cited as Hoover Commission] "Task Force Report on Fiscal,
Budgeting, and Accounting Activities" [app. F] 2, 17 (January 1949).
63. Hoover Commission "Treasury Department" (1949).
64. Hoover Commission transcript of meeting at 39 (Dee. 20, 1948) in
Record
Group 264, Box 29, National Archives. 65. 18 U.S.C. 3056.
66. "Hearings on Treasury--Post Office Departments and Executive Office
Appropriations Before the Subcommittee of the House Committee on
Appropriations" 88th Cong., 2d sess. 434, 449 (1964).
853
Page 854
NOTES TO PAGES 547-566
APPENDIX X
1. 3 H 390-391 (Robert A. Frazier); 3 H 452 (Cortlandt Cunningham); 3 H
496 (Joseph D. Nicol).
2. 3 H 390-441 (Frazier); 3 H 451-496 (Cunningham); 3 H 496-515 (Nicol).
Frazier and Ronald Simmons of the U.S. Army Infantry Weapons Evaluation
Branch also testified on rifle capability. This subject is discussed on
pp. 188-194.
3. 3 H 390-5,15, passim; Hatcher, Jury & Weller, "Firearms
Identification, Investigation, and Evidence," chs. 13-14 (1957). 4. 3 H
415-419 (Frazier). 5. Id. at 429-430.
6. Id. at 421-422, 424.
7. CE 139; 3 H 289 (Joseph A. Mooney); 3 H 292-293 (Eugene Boone); 3 H
392, 395 (Frazier).
8. CE 139, 541; 3 H 393-394 (Frazier). 9. CE 139; 3 H 395-396 (Frazier).
10. CE 139, 541; 3 H 397 (Frazier). 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid.
13. Id. at 392, 396. 14. Id. at 392.
15. Ibid.; CE 540.
16. 3 H 392 (Frazier).
17. CE 1977; 3 H 393-394 (Frazier).
18. Id. at 392-393; W. H. B. Smith,
"Small Arms of the World" (6th ed. 1960). 19. 3 H 416 (Frazier).
20. Id. at 397-398 (Frazier); W. H. B. Smith, "The Book of Rifles,"
296-307 (3d ed. 1963); W. H. B. Smith, "Mannlicher
Rifles and Pistols" (1947), pp. 84-87. 21. 3 H 397-398 (Frazier). 22.
Ibid.
23. 4 H 205 (John Will Fritz); 4 H 258 (J. C. Day).
24. CE 575; 3 H 398 (Frazier). 25. Ibid.
26. CE 141; 4 H 205-206 (Fritz); 4 H 258 (Day).
27. 3 H 399 (Frazier). 28. Id. at 400.
29. Id. at 437-438; 3 H 443, 449 (Ronald Simmons).
30. 3 H 400, 416 (Frazier). 31. Id. at 400-401.
32. CE 512; 3 H 284 (Mooney). 33 CE 510.
34. 3 H 414-428 (Frazier); 3 H 505-507 (Nicol).
35. 3 H 401-402 (Frazier); CE 2724. 36. CE 546, 547; 3 H 401-402
(Frazier). 37. CE 547:3 H 401-402 (Frazier). 38. Id. at 402. 39. Ibid.
40. CE 399, 567, 569, 2011, pp. 2-4;
6 H 129-130 (Darrell C. Tomlinson).
41. 3 H 430 (Frazier).
42. Ibid.
43. Id. at 432, 435.
44. Id. at 432.
45. Id. at 435.
46. Id. at 435, 437; 3 H 497 (Nicol).
47. 3 H 430, 432, 434, 436-437 (Frazier).
48. Id. at 428--437; 3 H 497-502 (Nicol)..
49. CE 143; 3 H 300-301 (M. N. Donald); 7 H 45-55 (Gerald Hill); 7 H
24-25 (Bob K. Carroll),; 3 H 453 (Cunningham ).
50. Id. at 458. 51. Id. at 453. 52. Id. at 456. 53. Id. at 455. 54.
Ibid. 55. Ibid.
56. Id. at 455--456. 57. Id. at 456. 58. Id. at 457. 59. Ibid.
60. Ibid.
61. Id. at 458. 62. Id. at 459.
63. CE 145, 518; 3 H 301 (McDonald);
7 H 26 (Carroll); 7 H 55 (Hill). 64. 3 H 459 (Cunningham),.
65. CE 592; 7 H 126 (Elmer L. Boyd). 66. 3 H 459 (Cunningham). 67. Id.
at 453-454.
68. CE 594; 3 H 345 (Barbara Jeannette Davis); 6 H 463-464 (Virginia
Davis); 6 H 449-451 (Domingo Benavides).
69. 3 H 465-466 (Cunningham).
70. Id. at 466-473 (Cunningham); 3 H 511 (Nicol).
71. CE 602-605, 2011, p. 9. 72. 3 H 511-513 (Nicol).
73. 3 H 474-475, 482-483 (Cunning-ham ).
74. Ibid.
75. Id. at 475, 482.
76. Id. at 475-476, 482.
77. Id. at 475-476, 489-491. 78. Id. at 476-478. 79. Id. at 479, 481.
80. CE 2003, pp. 92-93. This was an affidavit, the substance of which
was repeated in the testimony of Officer McDonald, id. at 306-301.
81. 3 H 461, 463 (Cunningham). 82. Id. at 463-464. 83. Ibid.
84. Id. at 464. 85. Id. at 463. 86. Id. at 465.
87. 4 H 275-276 (Day). 88. 3 H 486 (Cunningham).
89. Id. at 486, 495; 3 H 514 (Nicol).
90. 3 H 486-487, 494-495 (Cunning-ham); 3 H 514 (Nicol).
91. 3 H 492-493 (Cunningham). 92. Id. at 492. 93. Id. at 487.
94. Id. at 487-489.
95. Id. at 494; 15 H 747-748 (Gallagher ).
96. CE 2455.
97. Gallagher DE 1; 15 H 748-751 (Gallagher).
98. CE 573; CE 2011, p. 6. 99. 3 H 452 (Cunningham). 100. 3 H 439-440
(Frazier). 101. 3 H 502-503 (Nicol).
102. 4 H 1-48 (Sebastian F. Latona).
103. 4 H 48-56; 15 H 745-746 (Arthur Mandella ).
104. 4 H 1-2 (Latona); 4 H 48-49 (Mandella).
105. 4 H 1-56, passim; see generally Bridges, Burtis C.; "Practical
Fingerprinting,' revised by Charles F. O'Hara (1963); Cummins and Midlow
"Fingerprints,
Palms, and Soles," 2d-ed. (1961). 106. 4 H 2-14 (Latona).
107. Id. at 13-14; 4 H 53 (Mandella). 108. 4 H 2-3, 44-45 (Latona). 109.
Id. at 3-5.
110. Id. at 22, 39-40.
111. 4 H 251, 269. 272 (Day); CE 733, 734, 1301, 2011, p. 16 (see ch.
IV, pp. 122-123, 134-135, 137, 146).
112. 4 H 269 (Day); 7 H 145 (Studebaker); CE 733, 734, 1302.
113. 4 H 3-20 (Latona); 4 H 50-51 ( Mandella ).
114. 4 H 22, 29 (Latona).
115. 4 H 259-261 (Day); 4 H 20-21,
23-24 (Latona). 116. Ibid.
117. 4 H 23-27 (Latona). 4 H 50 (Mandella ).
118. Id. at 31.
854
Page 855
119. 4 H 30-37 (Latona); 4 H 51-52 ( Mandella ).
120. Ibid. 121. Ibid.
122. 4 H 41-43 (Latona). 123. CE 3131, pp. 17-18.
124.4 H 41-42 (Latona); CE 3131, p. 18.
125. 4 H 37-38 (Latona); 4 H 267-268 (Day).
126. 4 H 37-41 (Latona); 4 H 52 (Mandella ).
127. 4 H 30 (Latona).
128. Id. at 38; 4 H 55 (Mandella). 129. 4 H 39 (Latona). 130. Id. at 39.
131. 4 H 55 (Mandella).
132. 4 H 23 (Latona); 4 H 253-258 (Day); CE 2011, pp. 1, 5.
133. 4 H 358-403; 15 H 703-709.
134. 7 H 418 438 (James C. Cadigan).
135. 4 H 359 (Alwyn Cole); 7 H 419 ( Cadigan ).
136. 7 H 364-366 (Waldman); CE 733; Cadigan DE 1; CE 788.
137. 7 H 375-378 (Heinz Michaelis); CE 135.
138. CE 791, 793, 817, 2342, 2727.
139. 7 H 187-188 (Stovall); 7 H 228 (Guy F. Rose); CE 795, 806, 1986,
1989, 1990, 2011, pp. 22, 23.
140. 7 H 197-199 (Walter Ports); 7 H 222 (F. M. Turner); 213-215 (Henry
Moore); Moore DE 1; CE 813, 2003, p. 281; CE 2011, p. 25.
141. CE 819, 820, 2011, p. 24. 142. 1 H 16 (Marina Oswald). 143. 4 H
266--267 (Day); CE 142.
144. 4 H 358-403, 7 H 418-438, passim; see also Osborne, Questioned
Documents (2d ed., 1940).
145. 4 H 364 (Cole). 146. Ibid.
147. 4 H 366 (Cole). 148. Id. at 368-370. 149. Id. at 364-372.
150. Id. at 372; 7 H 436-437 (Cadigan). 151. 4 H 363 (Cole).
152. CE 774-783 Cadigan DE 2-3; 4 H 360-361 (Cole) ;; 7 H 419-420
(Cadigan ).
153. CE 3137.
154. 4 H 373 (Cole): 7 H 420 (Cadigan).
155. 4 H 361-370 (Cole); 7 H 420-422 (Cadigan).
156. 7 H 293-295 (Harry D. Holmes).
157. 4 H 373-375 (Cole); 7 H 423-424 (Cadigan).
158. 4 H 366-370 (Cole); 7 H 420-422 (Cadigan).
159. 4 H 366-368 (Cole); 7 H 421-422 (Cadigan).
160. 4 H 369-370 (Cole); 7 H 422 (Cadigan).
161. Ibid.
162. 4 H 371 (Cole). 163. Ibid. 164. CE 135.
165. 4 H 375-377 (Cole); 7 H 424 (Cadigan).
166. 7 H 527 (Holmes). 167. Ibid.
168. 4 H 377-378 (Cole); 7 H 424-425 ( Cadigan ).
169. 4 H 377 (Cole); 7 H 527 (Holmes). 170. 7 H 527 (Holmes): CE 2342,
2727.
171. CE 793; 4 H 379-380 (Cole);
7 H 425-426 (Cadigan); CE 2342, 2727. 172. CE 817.
173. 4 H 397-398 (Cole); 7 H 431-432 ( Cadigan ).
174. CE 795, 866, 801, 802; Cole DE 1; CE 1986, 1989, 1990, 2079, 2483,
2011, pp. 20-24; 7 H 187-188 (Richard S. Stovall); 7 H 228 (Rose).
175. 4 H 380-381, 389 (Cole); 7 H 427-429 (Cadigan).
NOTES TO PAGES 566-579
176. CE 2077, 2011, p. 26; 7 H 195 (Stovall).
177. 7 H 195 (Stovall). 178. CE 795. 179. CE 801. 180. CE 803. 181. CE
805.
182. 4 H 387 (Cole).
183. CE 804; 4 H 385-387 (Cole); 7 H 427-429 (Cadigan).
184. 4 H 381 (Cole); 7 H 427-428 (Cadigan).
185. Id. at 381-382. 186. Ibid.
187. Id. at 382.
188. Ibid; 7 H 427-428 (Cadigan). 189. 4 H 382 (Cole).
190. 4 H 383, 390-391 (Cole).
191. CE 798; 4 H 382-383 (Cadigan). 192. Ibid. 193. Ibid.
194. 4 H 391-392 (Cole); 15 H 707 (Cole).
195. 15 H 707 (Cole).
196. 15 H 707 708 (Cole).
197. 4 H 392-393 (Cole); CE 3105. 198. 4 H 392 393 (Cole). 199. CE 795.
200. 7 H 427 428 (Cadigan); 15 H 703-705; CE 803, 804: Cole DE 5, 6.
201. 7 H 428-429 (Cadigan); 15 H 703-705 (Cole); CE 801, 795, 803, 804,
805.
202. CE 795, 802, 811; 7 H 427 (Cadigan); 4 H 384 (Cole).
203. Ibid.
204. CE 802, 795; 15 H 708 (Cole). ,
205. Ibid.
206. CE 799; 4 H 382 (Cole).
207. Cole DE 1.
208. CE 812.
209. 7 H 430 (Cadigan); 15 H 706-707
(Cole).
210. CE 809; 4 H 390 (Cole). 211. 15 H 707 (Cole). 212. Ibid. 213. Ibid.
214. CE 808; 4 H 389-390 (Cole). 215. CE 810; 4 H 390 (Cole). 216. Id.
at 387.
217. Id. at 387-388. 218. Id. at 388. 219. CE 813.
220. CE 3097, 2003, p. 281; CE 2011, p. 25..
221. CE 813, 814, 815. 222. 4 H 395-396 (Cole).
223. 7 H 432-433 (Cadigan).
224. CE 115; 1 H 113 (Marina Oswald). 225. CE 816; 4 H 396 (Cole). 226.
4 H 396 (Cole). 227. CE 3105, 3136. 228. 4 H 397 (Cole). 229. Ibid.
230. Id. at 399; 7 H 436 (Cadigan). 231. Ibid.; 4 H 399 (Cole). 232. 7 H
436 (Cadigan). 233. 4 H 399 (Cole). 234. Id. at 399-400. 235. Ibid.
236. 5 H 401 (Marina Oswald). 237. CE 2726.
238. 7 H 437-438 (Cadigan). 239. Ibid. 240. CE 2723. 241. Ibid.
242. CE 677; 4 H 89-90 (Cadigan). 243. Id. at 90, 92-93. 244. Id. at 90.
245. Id. at 93. 246. Ibid.
247. Id. at 95-97. 248. Id. at 97.
249. Id. at 93, 97, 100-101. 250. Id. at 98.
251. CE 364; 4 H 93-94 (Cadigan).
855
Page 856
252. CE 677 ; 4 H 75-76 (Paul Morgan Stombaugh).
253. Ibid
254. 4 H 90-92 (Cadigan).
255. 5 H 74 (Dr. Alfred G. Oliver) ; 5H 91 (Dr. Arthur J. Dziemian).
256. 5 H 74 (Dr. Olivier) ; 5 H 91 (Dr. Dziemian) ; 5 H 94 (Dr.
Frederick W. Light Jr.).
257. 5 H 75 (Dr. Olivier) ; 5 H 94 (Dr. Light).
258. 5 H 91 (Dr. Dziemian).
259. Ibid
260. 5 H 94 (Dr. Light).
261. Ibid
262. 5 H 76, 78-79, 81 (Dr. Olivier).
263. Id. at 78 ; 5 H 96 (Dr. Light).
264. Ibid
265. 5 H 75 (Dr. Olivier).
266. Ibid
267. Ibid
268. Id. at 75, 78.
269. Id. at 75.
270. Id at 78.
271. Id at 76.
272. Ibid
273. Ibid
274. Id at 78
275. Id at 76
276. Id at 76-77
277. Id at 77
278. Ibid ; 5 H 164 (Lyndal L. Shaneyfelt) ; CE 893, 895.
279. 5 H 75, 77 (Dr. Olivier).
280. Id at 77.
281. Ibid
283. Ibid
283. Ibid
284. Id at 78
285. Ibid
286. Ibid
287. Id at 79-80
288. 5 H 164 (Shaneyfelt); CE 893, 895.
289. 5 H 80 (Dr. Olivier).
290. Id at 79.
291. Id at 78-79.
292. Id at 79.
293. Ibid
294. Ibid
295. 5 H 80 (Dr. Olivier).
296. Ibid
297. Ibid
298. Ibid
299. Ibid
300. Id at 86.
301. Id at 81.
302. Ibid
303. Ibid
304. Id at 82.
305. Ibid
306. Ibid
307. Ibid
308. Id at 82-83.
309. Id at 82.
310. Id at 83-87 ; 5 H 92-93 (Dr. Dziemian).
311. 5 H 86 (Dr. Olivier).
312. 6 H 90-91 (Dr. Robert R. Shaw; 6 H 101-102 (Dr. Charles F. Gregory)
; 6 H 109-110 (Dr. George T. Shires).
313. 5 H 83-87 (Dr. Olivier) ; 5 H 92-93 (Dr. Dziemian).
314. 5 H 86 (Dr. Olivier).
315. Id at 83
316. Id at 86
317. Ibid
318. Id at 84; 5 H 93 (Dr. Dziemian).
319. 5 H 95 (Dr. Light).
320. Ibid
321. 5 H 87 (Dr. Olivier).
322. Id at 89
323. Id at 87-88
324. 5 H 160 (Shaneyfelt) ; CE 902.
325. 5 H 89 (Dr. Olivier)
326. Ibid. 2 H 351 (Comdr. James J. Humes).
327. 5 H 89 (Dr. Olivier).
328. Ibid
329. Ibid
330. 5 H 67 (Frazier).
331. 5 H 88 (Dr. Olivier).
332. Ibid
333. Ibid
334. Id at 89
335. Ibid
336. Id at 87
337. Ibid
338. Ibid
339. 2 H 356 (Comdr. Humes) ; 2 H 380-381 (Lt. Col. Pierre A. Finck).
340. 5 H 89 (Dr. Olivier).
341. Id at 90 ; 5 H 93 (Dr. Dziemian).
342. 4 H 56-88 (Stombaugh).
343. Id at 56.
344. Id at 61-64, 69-70.
345. Id at 60-61, 78-80, 87; 15 H 702 (Stombaugh).
346. 4 H 57 (Stombaugh).
347. Id at 60.
348. Id at 78, 15 H 702 (Stombaugh).
349. 4 H 79-80 (Stombaugh)
350. CE 663 ; 4 H 57-58 (Stombaugh).
351. Ibid.
352. 4 H 58 (Stombaugh).
353. Id at 57-58.
354. Id at 58.
355. Ibid
356. Id at 84.
357. Id at 59.
358. Ibid
359. Id at 61.
360. Id at 61, 68, 72.
361. Id at 61, 64, 67, 68; CE 2011, p. 14 ; CE 2404.
362. 4 H 64-67 (Stombaugh).
363. Id at 67-68.
364. Id at 68.
365. Id at 75.
366. Id at 76-77.
367. Ibid
368. Id at 77-78.
369. Id at 78-80
370. 4 H 74 (Stombaugh).
371. Ibid
372. Id at 85-87 ; 15 H 702 (Stombaugh).
373. Ibid
374. 4 H 81 (Stombaugh).
375. Ibid
376. Id at 82.
377. Id at 82-83, 85
378. Id at 82.
379. Id at 83.
380. Id at 83-84.
381. Id at 85-87 ; 15 H 702 (Stombaugh).
382. 4 H 87-88 (Stombaugh).
383. CE 135-A, 135-B ; CE 2011, p. 27 ; 7 H 231 (Rose).
384. CE 3, 5, 749, 2011, p. 26 ; 7 H 194 (Stovall) ; 7 H 231 (Rose)
385. CE 750.
386. 1 H 117-118 (Marina Oswald) ; 5 H 406 (Marina Oswald) ; CE 2083.
387. 4 H 279-294 (Shaneyfelt) ; 7H 410-418 (Shaneyfelt) ; 15 H 686-702
(Shaneyfelt).
388. 4 H 279 (Shaneyfelt).
389. CE 133-A, 133-B ; 4 H 289 (Shaneyfelt).
390. CE 746 A-E; 4 H 279-280 (Shaneyfelt).
391. CE 747, 748 ; 4 H 280-281 (Shaneyfelt).
292. Id at 281.
393. Id at 289.
394. Ibid
Page 857
395. Id at 283.
396. Ibid.
397. Id. at 284.
398. Ibid.
399. Id. at 285-286, 289
400. Id at 285.
401. Id at 286.
402. Id. at 284-288.
403. Id. at 289 ; 15 h 692-693 (Shaneyfelt)
404. 4 H 226 (Fritz).
405. 4 H 28 (Shaneyfelt).
406. Id . 293.
407. Id at 28-289.
408. Id at 293.
409. Shaneyfelt DE 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; 15 H 689-690 (Shaneyfelt).
410. 4 H 290-293 (Shaneyfelt) ; 7 H 410-418 (Shaneyfelt).
411. Ibid.
412. 15 H 687-689 (Shaneyfelt).
413. Id. at 687, 689-690.
APPENDIX XII
1. See supra, pp. 61-71.
2. See supra, pp. 71-72.
3. See supra, pp. 72-73.
4. See supra, p. 79.
5. CE 2582, p. 2 ; 6 H 210-216 (Jean L. Hill) ; CE 2594.
6. See supra, p. 76.
7. See supra, pp. 110-117.
8. See supra, pp. 76-77, 79-80.
9. See supra, pp. 79-80.
10. 7 Hj 550 (Eddy R. jJWalthers) ; CE 2580, p. 2.
11. See supra, p. 50.
12. See supra, p. 77.
13. See supra, p. 87-91.
14. See supra, pp. 55-56.
15. See supra, pp. 96-109.
16. See supra, p. 140.
17. Ibid.
18. See supra, pp. 32, 40.
19. See supra, pp. 32, 39.
20. See supra, p. 130.
21. See supra, pp. 141-142.
22. See supra, p. 250.
23. Ibid.
24. CE 2585, p. 3 ; 2591, p. 6.
25. See supra, p. 147
26. See supra, pp. 312-315.
27. See supra, pp. 49, 189-190, 194
28. See supra, p. 117.
29. See supra, pp. 188-195
30. See supra, pp. 79, 553-554 ; CE 2585, p. 4.
31. See supra, pp. 79, 81
32. See supra, pp. 71-72, 76, 79, 248-251.
33. See supra, pp. 315-318.
34. See supra, p. 555.
35. See supra, pp. 123-124 ; CE 2584.
36. See supra, p. 123.
37. CE 2584, 3087.
38. See supra, pp. 15, 128 ; 3 H 79, 81-82 (Ruth Paine) ; CE 2580, p. 3
; CE 2003, p. 137a.
39. See supra, pp. 125-128 ; Lyndal Shaneyfelt DE 10, 11, 12, 16, 17.
40. See supra, p. 127.
41. See supra, pp. 151-153.
42. See supra, p. 151 ; CE 3035, 3076.
43. See supra, pp. 155-156.
44. See supra, pp. 143-144 ; CE 2580 p. 3.
45. See supra, pp. 156-163.
46. See supra, pp. 155-156.
47. See supra, pp. 161-163.
48. See supra, pp. 162-163; CE 2592.
49. See supra, pp. 359-365.
50. See supra, p. 163.
51. See supra, pp. 163-164.
52. CE 1974, pp. 8, 20, 21.
53. CE 2583.
54. See supra, pp. 144, 165.
55. See supra, p. 369.
56. See supra, pp. 166-167.
57. See supra, pp. 165-168.
58. See supra, p. 167.
59. See supra, pp. 166-167 ; Helen Markham DE 1, pp 295-299.
60. See supra, pp 166-168 ; CE 2593.
61. See supra, pp. 168-169, 174.
62. See supra, pp. 174-175.
63. Ibid ; WFAA-TV reels PKT 5--56:05 and PKF 10---8:43, 9:47.
64. 10 H 297 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson).
65. See supra, p. 128.
66. See supra, p. 174 ; 10 H 297 (Johnson).
67. See supra, p. 174.
68. See supra, p. 176.
69. See supra, pp. 178-179.
70. See supra, p. 179.
71. See supra, pp. 178-179, 200.
72. See supra, p. 198.
73. See supra, p. 182 ; see app. XI.
74. See supra, pp. 200-201.
75. See infra, pp. 685-687.
76. See infra, pp. 257, 685.
77. See supra, pp. 256-257.
78. See supra, pp. 257-258.
79. See supra, pp. 267, 269, 272, 274.
80. See supra, pp. 272, 274.
81. See supra, pp. 703, 708.
82. See supra, pp. 274, 280.
83. See supra, pp. 272-280.
84. See supra, pp. 278-279.
85. See supra, p. 278.
86. See infra, pp. 773-774 ; CE 952, 2754.
87. CE 2785
88. See supra, p. 331 ; app. XIV
89. See supra, p. 305 ; see infra, 731-733, 736.
90. See supra, p. 305.
91. See supra, pp. 307-309.
92. See supra, p. 307 ; CE 2952, 2953, 2954.
93. 1 H 191 (Marguerite Oswald).
94. See supra, pp. 325-327.
95. CE 2580, p. 3 ; CE 2581.
96. See supra, pp. 327, 437-440.
97. See supra, pp. 438-439 ; CE 2582, p. 5.
98. CE 2583.
99. See supra, pp. 438-439 ; CE 2582, p. 5.
100. See supra, pp. 118-122.
101. See supra, pp. 436-440.
102. CE 2585, p. 6.
103. See supra, pp. 328-333; see app. XIV.
104. See supra, p. 359.
105. CE 2585, p. 10.
106. See supra, pp. 359-362.
107. CE 2585, p. 10 ; 11 H 416 (E. Walker).
108. See supra, pp. 297-298.
109. See supra, p. 369 ; CE 2585, p. 6.
110. See supra, pp. 370-371 ; see infra, p. 801.
111. 11 H 434-442 (JWarren A. JReynolds) ; 8 H 2579, 2587, 2588.
Page 858
NOTES TO PAGES 664-671
112. 8 H 316 (Donald P, Camarata); 8 H 281 (Daniel P. Powers); CE 2586,
pp. 2-12.
113. See supra, pp. 246-247; CE 2585, p. 8.
114. See supra, pp. 447-449; CE 2583. 115. CE 705, p. 27. 116. CE 2583,
pp. 2-3.
117. See supra, pp. 192, 318-320. 118. See supra, pp. 320-321.
119. 10 H 424 (Laurance R. Wilcox). 120. See supra, pp. 332-333.
121. See infra, pp. 736-737; Dallas Morning News, Nov. 28, 1963, p. 20,
cols. 1-2.
122. See supra, p. 254.
123. See supra, p. 328.
124. 7 H 549-559 (Walthers); CE 2003, pp. 295-299.
125. 1 H 45, 109-110 (Marina Oswald); I H 247-249 (Marguerite Oswald); 3
H 13-17, 51-52 (Ruth Paine); 4 H 365, 369, 402 (Alwyn Cole).
126, CE 2578; CE 2579, pp. 171-180.
127. 1 H 59-60; 125-126 (Marina
Oswald ).
128. See supra, pp. 364-365. 129. CE 3122.
130. Revilo P. Oliver DE 8; 15 H 738-740 (Oliver).
131. CE 2711.
APPENDIX XIII
1. Allison G. Folsom, Jr., DE 1, p. 98; see CE 2205, p. 569.
2. 1 H 252 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 92 (Lillian Murret).
3. 1 H 252-253 (Marguerite Oswald): 8 H 95-96 (L. Murret).
4. I H 252 (Marguerite Oswald). 5. 8 H 98 (L. Murret). 6. CE 2207, p.
50.
7. 8 H 97 (L. Murret).
8. 1 H 252 (Marguerite Oswald).
9. Id. at 252-253; see 8 H 93 (L. Murret).
10. John Pic DE 1.
11. 8 H 197-198 (Edward John Pic Jr.); see 8 H 92-93 (L. Murret). Mrs.
Murret described Pic at that time as "a person who did not talk unless
you spoke to him"; id. at 93.
12. 1 H 253 (Marguerite Oswald); see 8 H 95, 99 (L. Murret).
13. 8 H 95, 99 (L. Murret), 162-163 (Marilyn Dorothea Murret): 11 H 5
(J. Pic) cf. 8 H 46 (Myrtle Evans). For Mrs. Oswald's testimony to the
same effect
before the Commission, see 1 H 253. 14. 8 H 198; 11 H 82 (E. Pic).
15. 11 H 2 (J. Pic); CE 2208; see 8 H 198 (E. Pic).
16. 8 H 201 (E. Pic); see 8 H 47 (M. Evans), 101 (L. Murret); 11 H 5 (J.
Pic).
17. Compare 8 H 199 (E. Pic) with I H 253 (Marguerite Oswald); cf. 8 H
47 (M. Evans ).
18. 8 H 104 (L. Murret); 11 H 5 (J.
Pic); see I H 253 (Marguerite Oswald). 19. Ibid.
20. CE 1958. 21. CE 1959.
22. CE 2000; 1 H 253 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 104 (L. Murret).
23. 1 H 253 (Marguerite Oswald).
24. CE 2208; 1 H 267 (Robert Edward Lee Oswald).
25. 1 H 253 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 105 (L. Murret).
26. CE 2197, p. 79.
27. 11 H 12 (J. Pic); see 8 H 105 (L. Murret); see generally CE 2198,
pp. 65-67, 69.
28. 1 H 269 (R. Oswald); 8 H 105 (L. Murret).
29. CE 2199; 8 H 269-270 (R. Oswald); 11 H 7 (J. Pic).
30. CE 2211, p. 618-1; see 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald), 268 (R. Oswald);
8 H 47 (M. Evans).
31. I H 225 (Marguerite Oswald); Folsom DE 1, p. 123.
32. 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald).
33. See 8 H 47 (M. Evans), 106 (L. Murret ).
34. CE 2200. 35. Ibid.
36. CE 2197, p. 79; see CE 2207, p. 51. 37. CE 2197, p. 79.
38. See CE 2201, p. 63; CE 2202.
39. I H 270 (R. Oswald); 11 H 7, 8-9, 11 (J. Pic); cf. 8 H 107 (L.
Murret).
40. Ibid.; 11 H 7 (J. Pic); but see id., at 17.
41. Id. at 9; cf. 8 H 107 (L. Murret). 42. See CE 2199, 2203.
43. 8 H 40 (Viola Peterman). 44. CE 2197.
45. 11 H 12 (J. Pic). 46. 8 H 43 (Peterman).
47. Ibid.; 11 H 11, 12 (J. Pic); see 8 H 48 (M. Evans).
48. 11 H 11 (J. Pic). 49. Id. at 12.
50. CE 2197, p. 80.
51. Pic DE 5. The record contains also a separate application for the
admission of Robert, dated Jan. 3, 1942; J. Pic DE 3.
52. J. Pic DE 2, p. 3; see 1 H 272 (R. Oswald ).
53. J. Pic DE 2, p. 4.
54. CE 2201, p. 63; see 8 H 35-36 (Anne Boudreaux).
55. J. Pic DE 2, p. 1.
56. 8 H 46, 51 (M. Evans); 11 H 18 (J. Pic).
57. 8 H 106-107 (L. Murret).
58. 8 H 36-37 (Boudreaux); see CE 2204.
59. 8 H 37 (Boudreaux).
60. 1 H 254 (Marguerite Oswald); cf.
8 H 47, 63 (M. Evans). 61. 8 H 36 (Boudreaux).
62. J. Pic DE 2, p. 1; 11 H 13, 14 (J. Pic).
63. See J. Pic DE 2, p. 2.
64. See 8 H 112-113 (L. Murret). 65. J. Pic DE 2, p. 4. 66. Id. at l.
67. 11 H 15 (J. Pic).
68. 11 H 17, 20 (J. Pic); see 1 H 271 (R. Oswald) cf. id. at 273.
69. 11 H 20 (J. Pic); see I H 271 (R.
Oswald); 8 H 108-109 (L. Murret). 70. I H 271 (R. Oswald).
71. 1 H 254 (Marguerite Oswald), 272, 273 (R. Oswald); 11 H 20-21 (J.
Pic).
72. I H 272, 273 (R. Oswald); 11 H 18, 20 (J. Pic).
73. CE 2213, p. 27.
74. 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald); see also 11 H 18 (J. Pic) ("Princess
Hosiery"); 8 H 48, 51 (M. Evans) ("Jean's Hosiery Shop"), 109 (L.
Murret) ("Jean's
858
Page 859
NOTES TO PAGES 671-675
Hosiery Shop"). It is unclear whether all these references are to the
same job or to different jobs.
75. CE 2213, p. 27. 76. Ibid.
77. For descriptions of Ekdahl, see 1 H 250 (Marguerite Oswald), 274 (R.
Oswald); 8 H 66-67 (Julian Evans), 110-111 (L. Murret); 11 H 21-22 (J.
Pic). Marguerite testified that she was working at a hosiery shop when
she met Ekdahl; 1 H 255; cf. CE 2213, p. 27; but cf. 11 H 18 (J. Pic).
78. See 11 H 21 (J. Pic); but see 1 H 274 (R. Oswald).
79. 11 H 21 (J. Pic); see 8 H 66 (J. Evans).
80. 1 H 2,55 (Marguerite Oswald); see 11 H 21 (J. Pic).
81. Pic DE 2-A.
82. 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald).
83. Ibid. The home's rules did not permit children with two living
parents to remain there; see 11 H 21 (J. Pic); cf. 8 H 107 (L. Murret).
84. 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald).
85. Ibid.; 8 H 50 (M. Evans), 110 (L. Murret).
86. 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald). 87. See p. 670, supra.
88. CE 1963, p. 543; 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald); see J. Pic DE 4, p. 1.
89. 1 H 269 (R. Oswald); 8 H 49-50 (M. Evans); 11 H 22, 23 (J. Pic).
90. J. Pic DE 2, p. 4; 1 H 272, 273 (R. Oswald); 11 H 21, 22 (J. Pic).
91. 1 H 274 (R. Oswald); 11 H 23 (J. Pic).
92. 1 H 255 (Marguerite Oswald); see 1 H 275 (R. Oswald); 11 H 22 (J.
Pic). Robert believed, apparently incorrectly, that Ekdahl was already
living in Dallas when the family moved there; 1 H 274 (R. Oswald).
93. See 1 H 250, 251 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 113 (L. Murret).
94. 8 H 53 (M. Evans), 110 (L. Murret). 95. J. Pic DE 4.
96. CE 2211, p. 618-1; 11 H 23 (J. Pic). 97. Ibid.
98. 1 H 281 (R. Oswald); 11 H 27 (J.
Pic); see id. at 21, 24. 99. Id. at 27.
100. 1 H 275 (R. Oswald); 11 H 23-24 (J. Pic); see 1 H 255 (Marguerite
Oswald).
101. Ibid.; 1 H 276 (R. Oswald); see 8 H 50-51 (M. Evans), 111 (L.
Murret); see p. 670, supra.
102. 1 H 277 (R. Oswald); 11 H 23-30 (J. Pic).
103. 1 H 277-278 (R. Oswald); 8 H 50-51 (M. Evans), 68-69 (J. Evans),
111 (L. Murret).
104. 8 H 45, 49 (M. Evans).
105. Id. at 50-51.
106. CE 2218; 11 H 25 (J. Pic). Robert testified that his recollection
is that the family did not move to Benbrook until after Christmas 1945,
which he and John spent with school friends because the
Ekdahls (and Lee) were in Boston. 1 H
278.
107. Ibid. 11 H 25 (J. Pic).
108. CE 1874, pp. 5-6.
109. CE 2218.
110. Ibid.
111. CE 1413, p. 10.
112. Folsom DE 1, p. 1.
113. See 11 H 24-25 (J. Pic).
114. 1 H 251 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 111 (L. Murret); cf. 8 H 50-51 (M.
Evans).
115. I H 251 (Marguerite Oswald); see 11 H 73 (J. Pic).
116. 1 H 251 (Marguerite Oswald); 11 H 25-26 (J. Pic).
117. CE 1963, pp. 543-544; CE 1413, p. 18; CE 2217.
118. 8 H 52 (M. Evans). 119. CE 1413, p. 18. 120. CE 1874, p. 6. 121. CE
1413, p. 18. 122. Ibid.
123. 11 H 26 (J. Pic); CE 2206; see 1 H 251 (Marguerite Oswald); CE
2211, p. 618-6.
124. Ibid.
125. Id. at 618-5.
126. 11 H 27 (J. Pic); compare 1 H
251 (Marguerite Oswald). 127. Ibid.
128. Id. at 250.
129. Id. at 250-251; 11 H 27-28 (J. Pic); see 8 H 112 (L. Murret).
130. See CE 1960-A, p. 1; 11 H 28 (J. Pic); of. 1 H 251 (Marguerite
Oswald); for one explanation of Mrs. Oswald's con-
duct, see 8 H 112 (L. Murret). 131. CE 1960-A, p. 3. 132. CE 1960-A.
133. Id. at 1-4.
134. CE 1960-B; see 1 H 251-252 (Marguerite Oswald).
135. 11 H 29 (J. Pic); see 1 H 252 (Marguerite Oswald).
136. CE 1960-C, p. 2. 137. Id. at 3-5.
138. CE 1963, p. 544; CE 2212; 11 H
28 (J. Pic). 139. Ibid.
140. CE 2211, p. 618--6. 141. Id. at 618-5.
142. 8 H 78 (Philip Eugene Vinson).
143. Id. at 77.
144. Id. at 77-78, 79.
145. CE 1874, p. 6: CE 2219; see 1 H
279 (R. Oswald); 11 H 29 (J. Pic). 146. Ibid.
147. Id. at 30-31. 148. CE 2219.
149. CE 1874, p. 7. 150. Id. at 6-7.
151. 11 H 30 (J. Pic).
152. CE 1873--D; 1 H 292 (R. Oswald); 8 H 85 (Hiram Conway); 11 H 30 (J.
Pic).
153. Ibid. 154. Ibid.
155. 1 H 296 (R. Oswald). 156. CE 1873-D. 157. Ibid.
158. CE 1873-E, -F, -G; Robert Oswald testified that Ridglea West was
newly built, which probably explains the transfer; 1 H 297.
159. CE 1873-D; see CE 1873-E, -F, -G.
160. CE 1873-D.
161. See p. 687, infra, but see p. 733 infra.
162. CE 1873-D.
163. 1 H 297, 298 (R. Oswald) (insurance agent); 11 H 31, 32 (J. Pic)
(department stores); CE 2213, pp. 25-26 (assistant store manager, Lerner
Shops; department store sales representative, Literary Guild ).
164. 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald).
165.. 8 H 119 (L. Murret); 11 H 31
(J. Pic); see 8 H 163 (M. Murret). 166. CE 2220, p. 241. 167. CE 2221.
168. CE 2220, p. 241.
169. 1 H 281 (R. Oswald); 11 H 31, 34, 40, 80 (J. Pic).
170. 8 H 87 (Conway); 11 H 30-31 (J. Pic).
171. See id. at 31.
172. Ibid.; see 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 163 (M. Murret).
859
Page 860
NOTES TO PAGES 675-681
173. 1 H 225 (Marguerite Oswald); 11 H 81 (J. Pic). Hiram Conway
testified that he taught the game of chess to John and another boy, from
whom Lee learned it. 8 H
174. 8 H 122 (L. Murret). 175. Ibid.
176. 8 H 86 (Conway); see id. at 89-90. 177. 11 H 80 (J. Pic). 178. Id.
at 32-33. 179. Id. at 34.
180. 1 H 297-298 (R. Oswald). 181. Id. at 298-299.
182. 1 H 225-226 (Marguerite Oswald); 11 H 36-37 (J. Pic).
183. 1 H 225-226 (Marguerite Oswald). 184. 11 H 37 (J. Pic). 185. Ibid.
186. 1 H 226 (Marguerite Oswald); 11
H 37-39 (J. Pic). 187. Id. at 38. 188. Id. at 38-39.
189. Marguerite and John gave different accounts of the origins of the
quarrel. Compare 1 H 226-227 (Marguerite Oswald) with 11 H 38-39 (J.
Pic).
190. Id. at 39.
191. Id. at 38, 39. 192. Id. at 39-40.
193. 1 H 227 (Marguerite Oswald).
194. CE 1384; CE 2205, p. 570; CE 2222.
195. CE 1384. 196. Ibid.
197. CE 2213, p. 25.
198. CE 1384, 2224, p. 4. 199. CE 2213, p. 25.
200. John Carro DE 1, p. 1. 201. CE 2213, p. 28. 202. CE 1384.
203. See CE 2224, p. 4. 204. CE 1384. 205. Ibid.
206. Ibid.; cf. CE 2224, p. 4. 207. CE 2225.
208. CE 1384, 2226. 209. Id. at 7.
210. CE 2224, p. 4. 211. Ibid. 212. Id. at 5.
213. 11 H 42, 43-44, (J. Pic).
214. Carro DE 1, p. 1. Concerning this and subsequent truancy
proceedings, see
generally 8 H 202-214 (Carro). 215. Carro DE .1, p. 1. 216. CE 1384.
217. Carro DE 1, p. 1; see 1 H 227 (Marguerite Oswald).
218. Youth House is described by members of its staff at the time Lee
was sent there at 8 H 215-218 (Dr. Renatus Hartogs), 225-226 (Evelyn
Grace Strickman Siegel).
219. Carro DE 1, pp. 1-4; Siegel DE 1. p. 2: see generally ch. VII, pp.
379-382, supra.
220. 1 H 228 (Marguerite Oswald). 221. Hartogs DE 1, p. 2. Dr. Hartogs'
recommendations are discussed more fully in ch. VII, pp. 379-380.
222. Carro DE 1 P. 5. 223. Ibid.
224. CE 2224, p. 7. 22,5. Ibid.
226. Carro DE 1, p. 5; see CE 2213, p. 18.
227. CE 1384. 228. Ibid. 229. Ibid.
230. 1 H 301-302 (R. Oswald). John places this visit much earlier,
probably in October or November of 1952; 11 H 40 (J. Pic).
231. 1 H 308-309 (R. Oswald). 232. Id. at 309-310. 233. CE 1384.
860
234. Carro DE 1, p. 5. 235. Id. at 6. 236. Ibid. 237. Ibid. 238. Ibid.
239. CE 1384.
240. Carro DE 1, pp. 6-7. 241. CE 2223, p. 4. 242. Ibid.
243. Carro DE l, p. 7; CE 2223, p. 5. 244. Ibid. 245. See ibid.
246. Ibid; see Carro DE 1, p. 7. 247. Id. at 8.
248. 1 H 231 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 122-123 (L. Murret). The address
was later changed to 809 French Street; id. at 122.
249. CE 1413, pp. 12, 14. 250. Id. at 3-5, p. 14. 251. Id. at 6-8, 13,
14. 252. Id. at 17.
253. Id. at 9-10; see ch. VII, p. 383.
254. See 8 H 6-7, 12-13 (Edward Voebel), 63, 65 (M. Evans), 71 (J.
Evans), 131 (L. Murret), 159-160 (M. Murret); CE 2233, 2235, 2236.
255. 1 H 199-200 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 14 (Voebel), 28-29 (Frederick
S. O'Sullivan), 151 (L. Murret). Lillian Murret testified that Lee
belonged to the Sea Scouts also, probably a confusion with the Civil Air
Patrol; Cf 8 H 131, 151 (L. Murret).
256. 8 H 16-19 (William E. Wulf). 257. 8 H 3-4, 6, 8 (Voebel).
258. 1 H 198 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 70-71 (J. Evans); cf. 8 H 18
(Wulf). Edward Voebel, who thought Lee was not a "great reader," didn't
see him read any thing except "comic books and the normal
things that kids read"; 8 H 12 (Voebel). 259. 8 H 125, 131 (L. Murret).
260. 8 H 2-3, 5 (Voebel), 22-25 (Bennierita Smith), 124 (L. Murret),
159-160
(M. Murret); of. CE 2232, 2234. 261. 8 H 2-3 (Voebel).
262. 8 H 55-57 (M. Evans), 70 (J.
Evans); cf. 8 H 10-11 (Voebel). 263. CE 2201, p. 63. 264. CE 2238, p. 2.
265. Ibid.
266. Ibid.; see 1 H 198 (Marguerite Oswald); CE 1413, p. 9. 267. Ibid.
268. CE 2238, p. 2.
269. 8 H 53-54, 56-57 (M. Evans); see 8 H 123 (L. Murret).
270. See 8 H 56-57 (M. Evans).
271. 1 H 197 (Marguerite Oswald); see 8 H 57 (M. Evans), 123 (L.
Murret),
158-159 (M. Murret); CE 2231. 272. CE 1413, p. 9.
273. 8 H 56 (M. Evans); 8 H 151 (L. Murret).
274. 1 H 310-311 (R. Oswald).
275. CE 1413, p. 15; see CE 1873-I, -J.
276. CE 1413, p. 11; see generally 1 H 196-197 (Marguerite Oswald).
277. CE 1413, p. 15; see CE 1873-H. 278. 1 H 196-198 (Marguerite
Oswald);
8 H 130-131 (L. Murret). 279. 11 H 32 (J. Pic).
280. 1 H 200 (Marguerite Oswald); see 8 H 64-65 (M. Evans).
281. CE 2227, 2237; see 1 H 198-199
(Marguerite Oswald). 282. CE 2227.
283. CE 2228; see 1 H 224 (Marguerite Oswald).
284. CE 1386, p. 251; CE 2229, 2230;
see 1 H 198-199 (Marguerite Oswald). 285. Folsom DE 1, p. 7.
286. 1 H 199 (Marguerite Oswald).
287. CE 2205, p. 571; CE 2239; CE 1873-I, -K.
Page 861
NOTES TO PAGES 681-687
288. CE 1873-J, -K. 289. Ibid.
290. CE 2240, p. 2. 291. Id. at 2-3.
292. Folsom DE 1, p. 123.
293. Id. at 3,. The abbreviations used on the official record to
designate Lee's units and duty stations are explained in CE 1961, pp.
3-5.
294. Folsom DE 1, p. 1; see 8 H 304 (Folsom).
295. Folsom DE 1, p. 7; see 8 H 307-308 (Folsom).
296. Folsom DE 1, p. 7.
297. See CE 239; 8 H 310-311 (Fol-
298. CE 239; see 8 H 311 (Folsom).
299. Folsom DE 1, p. 6; see 8 H 311
(Folsom); see generally 11 H 104 (Kerry
Wendell Thornley).
300. Folsom DE 1, p. 6; see generally
8 H 233, 234-236 (Nelson Delgado).
301. Folsom DE 1, p. 6.
302. Id. at 3; see 8 H 305 (Folsom).
303. Folsom DE 1, p. 3.
304. Ibid.
305. CE 1962, p. 3.
306. Id. at 4.
307. Folsom DE 1, p. 36.
308. See CE 1963, p. 546.
309. Folsom DE 1, p. 3.
310. CE 1961, pp. 1-2.
311. See id., at 2-3.
312. Folsom DE 1, p. 10.
313. Id. at 120.
314. Id. at 118.
315. Id. at 3.
316. Ibid.; see 8 H 305 (Folsom); cf.
8 H 268 (Daniel Patrick Powers).
317. Folsom DE 1, p. 119; 8 H 267-268
(Powers).
318. CE 1961, p. 2; see 8 H 269
(Powers).
319. Id. at 267. 320. Id. at 268. 321. Ibid.
322. Id. at 270.
323. Id. at 277-278, 279; see generally id., at 269-271.
324. Id. at 272-273.
325. Folsom DE 1, p. 116. 326. Id. at 7. 327. Id. at 3, 36.
328. See 8 H 274 (Powers); CE 1963,
p. 546; see note 308, supra. 329. Folsom DE 1, p. 3. 330. 8 H 274
(Powers). 331. Folsom DE 1, p. 3. 332. Ibid.
333. Id. at 13.
334. 8 H 277 (Powers). 335. Ibid.
336. Folsom DE 1, p. 13.
337. Id. at 3; CE 1961, p. 4. 338. 8 H 278--279 (Powers). 339. Id. at
279. 340. Ibid.
341. Folsom DE 1, p. 111.
342. 8 H 32.0 (Paul Edward Murphy). 343. Folsom DE 1, p. 3; CE 1961, p.
4. 344. Folsom DE 1, pp. 111-112. 345. Id. at 8. 346. Ibid.
347. CE 1961, p. 4.
348. 8 H 279-280) (Powers). 349. Folsom DE 1, p. 5. 350. Id. at 3.
351. CE 1961, p. 4. 352. Ibid.
353. Folsom DE 1, p. 9.
354. Id. at 32; see 8 H 322 (Mack Os-
borne); 11 H 84, 85 (Thornley). 355. Folsom DE 1, p. 32. 356. Id. at 9.
357. Id. at 8; see 8 H 308 (Folsom). 358. Folsom DE 1, p. 3. 359. Id. at
10.
360. Id. at 3.
361. CE 1961, p. 5. 362. Folsom DE 1, p. 3.
363. CE 1961, p. 5; see generally 8 H
313-314 (George Donabedian). 364. Folsom DE 1, p. 3.
365. 8 H 317 (Peter Francis Connor),
318 (John Rene Heindel), 320 (Murphy).
366. See authorities cited in note 365 supra.
367. 8 H 320 (Murphy); cf. 8 H 285 (Powers).
368. Id. at 275, 283.
369. Folsom DE 1, p. 13; CE 1961, p. 5. 370. Folsom DE 1, p. 36. 371.
Id. at 3; CE 1961, p. 5.
372. 8 H 290 (John E. Donovan); see generally 8 H 231-232 (Delgado).
373. 8 H 297-298 (Donovan); but see CE 1961, p. 3.
374. 8 H 316 (James Anthony Botelho); 11 H 84 (Thornley).
375. 8 H 316 (Botelho); 11 H 84-85 ( Thornley ).
376. See CE 1961. p. 3; Folsom DE 1, p. 10.
377. 11 H 84 (Thornley).
378. 8 H 291, 292 (Donovan). 379. Id. at 298-299.
380. See 8 H 233-234, 258, 262 (Delgado), 316 (Botelho), 318 (Allen D.
Graf), 319 (David Christie Murray, Jr,), 320 (Murphy), 321-322
(Osborne), 323 (Richard Dennis Call); 11 H 85, 89-91, 100-101
(Thornley).
381. 8 H 233 (Delgado); see 8 H 291 (Donovan).
382. See 8 H 245 (Delgado), 297 (Donovan), 316 (Botelho), 319 (Murray),
321 (Henry J. Roussel, Jr.); 11 H 92 (Thorn-ley); but see 8 H 320
(Murphy).
383. 8 H 317 (Donald Camarata), 322 (Osborne), 323 (Call).
384. 8 H 265 (Delgado), 292-293, 297 (Donovan); 11 H 106-107 (Thornley);
but see 8 H 322 (Call).
385. Folsom DE 1, p. 7; see 8 H 307.
386. 8 H 244 (Delgado), 292 (Donovan), 315 (Botelho), 316 (Camarata),
319 (Murray), 320 (Murphy), 321 (Roussel), 321 (Osborne),
322 (Call), 323 (Erwin Lewis); 11 H 87 (Thornley).
387. 8 H 321 (Roussel). 383. CE 2015.
389. 8 H 293 (Donovan).
390. 8 H 242 (Delgado). 292 (Donovan), 315 (Botelho), 317 (Camarata), 11
H 87-88 (Thornley); cf. id. at 320 ( Murphy ).
391. 8 H 315 (Botelho), 323 (Call); but see 8 H 257-258 (Delgado).
392. 8 H 316 (Camarata).
393. Ibid.; see 8 H 321 (Roussel). 394. 8 H 319 (Murray). 395. 8 H 315
(Botelho).
396. 8 H 257-258 (Delgado), 321 (Roussel).
397. 8 H 323 (Call).
398. 8 H 317 (Camarata), 317 (Con-nor), 318 (Graf), 321 (Roussel), 322
(Os borne), 322-323 (Call).
399. 8 H 290 (Donovan).
400. Id. at 297.
401. Id. at 292.
402. Id. at 295.
403. Id. at 293.
404. Ibid.
405. Id. at 292.
406. Id. at 293.
407. 11 H 85 (Thornley).
408. Id. at 97.
409. Id. at 87.
410. Ibid.
411. Id. at 93.
412. Id. at 94-95.
413. Id. at 98.
414. Id. at 94, 98.
861
Page 862
NOTES TO PAGES 687-694
415. 8 H 232 (Delgado).
416. Id. at 233, 241, 246-248.
417. Id. at 233.
418. See id. at 240-241, 243-244, 255.
419. Id. at 240.
420. Id. at 241.
421. Id. at 241-243.
422. See 8 H 233, 240-241, 243-244,
246, 254-255 (Delgado), 292-295, 297, 300
(Donovan), 315 (Botelho), 320 (Murphy),
322-323 (Call); 11 H 86-87, 96-95, 105-
108 (Thornley).
423. 11 H 108 (Thornley); see 8 H 320
(Murphy) ("Harvey" after "Harvey the
Rabbit" ).
424. 8 H 234, 264 (Delgado), 300 (Donovan), 317 (Camarata), 318 (Graf),
319
( Murray ).
425. 8 H 244, 254 (Delgado); 11 H 90
,(Thornley); see id. at 105 ("something
* * by Dostoievsky").
426. 8 H 300 (Donovan), 316 (Botelho),
319 (Murray), 320 (Murphy), 322 (Os-
borne), 322-323 (Call).
427. Id. at 323.
428. 8 H 251 (Delgado), 315-316
(Botelho).
429. 8 H 251 (Delgado), 295 (Donovan).
430. Id. at 295-296.
431. 8 H 252 (Delgado).
432. 8 H 295 (Donovan); cf. 8 H 251
( Delgado ).
433. See id. at 241, 251 (Delgado), 316
(Camarata), 320 (Murphy), 322 (Os-
borne), 323 (Call).
434. 8 H 241 (Delgado).
435. Id. at 253-254; of. 8 H 301 (Donovan).
436. Folsom DE 1, p. 3. 437, Ibid.
438. Id. at 105.
439. Id. at 106; see 8 H 309 (Folsom). 440. CE 228, p. 1.
441. Ibid.; see id. at 3. 442. Id. at 2. 443. Ibid. 444. Ibid. 445.
Ibid. 446. Id. at 3.
447. See CE 229, 232. 448. CE 234.
449. 8 H 243 (Delgado). 450. 8 H 323 (Call).
451. Folsom DE 1, pp. 27, 79; see 8 H 304 (Folsom).
452. Folsom DE 1, p. 84.
453. Id. at 86-91; of. CE 2241. 454. Id. at 6, 75, 76, 83. 455. Id. at
79-80. 456. Id. at 10, 78. 457. Id. at 4.
458. Ibid.; id. at 28. 459. Ibid.
460. Id. at 10.
461. CE 2016, p. II-13.
462. CE 1114.
463. CE 946.
464. 1 H 201-202 (Marguerite Oswald); CE 1135, p. 172.
465. I H 201-202, 212 (Marguerite Oswald); CE 1396, p. 6.
466. Ibid.
467. 1 H 201-202, 212 (Marguerite
Oswald).
468. CE 1135, p. 172.
469. 1 H 329 (R. Oswald); 1 H 212 (Marguerite Oswald).
470. 1 H 203 (Marguerite Oswald). 471. CE 2673, 2665, p. 305. 472. CE
2712.
473. CE 2665, p. 305. 474. CE 200.
475. CE 2665, p. 305; see CE 2674. 476. CE 2675, p. 2.
862
477. Id. at 2-3; 11 H 116 (George B. Church, Jr.), 117 (Mrs. George B.
Church, Jr.).
478. CE 2711, p. 39; CE 946, p. 7; CE 2676, p. 1.
479. Id. at 1, 3.
480. CE 2677. Oswald could have arrived at 5:05 p.m., flying via
Copenhagen, or at 5:35 p.m., via Stockholm. See Official Airline Guide,
North American Edition, October 1959, p. C-721. But he would have been
too late to visit the
Russian consulate that day. See CE 2714. 481. CE 946, p. 9.
482. Priscilla Johnson DE 1, p. 8; P. Johnson DE 5, p. 8.
483. CE 946, p. 8; CE 24, entry of
Oct. 16, 1959; CE 985, document No. 1A. 484. CE 24, entry of Oct. 16,
1959. 485. CE 3124.
486. CE 24, entry of Oct. 16, 1959. 487. CE 24.
488. CE 18; see, e.g., pp. 3, 7, 22, 23, 27, 29, 31, 35, 61, 81; see
also CE 827; 1 H 30, 104 (Marina Oswald).
489. CE 24, entry of Oct. 16, 1959. 490. CE 24, entry of Oct. 17, 1959.
491. CE 24, entries of Oct. 17-21, 1959. 492. CE 24, entry of Oct. 17,
1959. 493. CE 24, entry of Oct. 18, 1959. 494. CE 1399.
495. 5 H 617 (Marina Oswald); CE 935,
827, 1438 (name misspelled by Oswald).
496. CE 2760; cf. CE 25, pp. 1B-2B.
497. 5 H 274 (Richard Edward Snyder).
498. CE 24, entry of Oct. 20, 1959.
499. CE 24, entry of Oct. 21, 1959.
500. Ibid.
501. Ibid, see oh. VII, p. 392.
502. CE 985, documents 1C-1--1C-4.
503. CE 985, document 1C-3, p. 10. 504. Id. at 11. 505. Id. at 10.
506. CE 24, entry of Oct. 23, 1959. 507. CE 24, entry of Oct. 21, 1959.
508. CE 24, entry of Oct. 23, 1959. 509. CE 24, entry of Oct. 23-26,
1959. 510. CE 985, document 1C-2, pp. 1, 8-9. 511. CE 24, entry of Oct.
28, 1959. 512. CE 3123.
513. CE 24, entry of Oct. 28, 1959.
514. Ibid.
515. Ibid.
516. CE 24, entries of Oct. 29-31, 1959.
517. CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959.
518. See CE 908, p. 1; CE 909, p. 1; 5 H 260-261 (Snyder).
519. See generally 5 H 262-265, 269-270, 287-291 (Snyder); 300-304,
322-324
(John A. McVickar); CE 908, 909, 910.
520. CE 913.
521. 8 USC sec. 1481 (1958); CE 101, 941, 958.
522. 5 H 269 (Snyder); see CE 101, 941.
523. CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959. 524. Ibid.; CE 2719.
525. CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959; CE 3098.
526. CE 24, entry of Oct. 31, 1959; CE 3098.
527. 1 H 201, 203 (Marguerite Oswald); CE 1396, pp. 8-9.
528. CE 24, entry of Nov. 1. 1959. 529. CE 2672; P. Johnson DE 5, P. 15.
530. 1 H 323 (R. Oswald); see 11 H 458 (P. Johnson).
531. CE 2715, p. 61; CE 2684; 1 H 322 (R. Oswald).
532. CE 2683, p. 29 CE 2672: CE 24, entry of Nov. 1, 1959;; see 1 H 323
(R. Oswald ).
533. CE 2715; 1 H 323 (R. Oswald). 534. CE 2715, p. 61.
535. CE 912; see CE 919, 920; 5 H 267-269 (Snyder).
536. CE 912.
Page 863
537. CE 919.
538. CE 24, entry of Nov. 2-15, 1959. 539. CE 294.
540. CE 24, entry of Nov. 16, 1959.
541. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4, 1960; CE 985, documents 1A, 2A.
542. CE 942, 943, 2683, p. 29; 5 H 302 ( McVickar ).
543. See Fort Worth Star Telegram, Nov. 15, 1959, "Fort Worth Defector
Confirms Red Beliefs"; CE 24, entry of Nov.
15, 1959; CE 1385; see also CE 1438. 544. CE 1385, p. 2. 545. Id. at
1-12.
546. CE 2717; CE 24, entry for Nov. 15, 1959.
547. CE 1385, p. 16.
548. CE 24, entry of Nov. 16, 1959. 549. Ibid.
550. 11 H 446-447 (P. Johnson).
551. The interview is described in P. Johnson DE 1, 5, 6; 11 H 444-460.
Oswald told Aline Mosby that he had read the
Communist Manifesto. CE 1385, p. 6. 552. P. Johnson DE 1, p. 6.
553. 11 H 447, 459 (P. Johnson); CE 911.
554. CE 24, entries of Nov. 17-Dec. 30,
Dee. 31, 1959; 5 H 616 (Marina Oswald). 555. CE 295. 556. CE 297.
557. CE 202, 206; 1 H 204 (Marguerite Oswald).
558. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4, 1960: cf. CE
985, documents 1A, 2A, 3A (1); CE 935. 559. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4,
1960.
560. In 1963, the population of Minsk was about 650,000.
561. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4, 1960.
562. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4-5, 1960; 5 H 292-293 (Snyder).
563. CE 24, entries of Jan. 5 and 7, 1960.
564. CE 24, entry of Jan. 7 1960. 565. CE 24, entry of Oct. 18, 1960.
566. CE 24, entry of Jan. 8, 1960. 567. CE 1108.
568. CE 24, entries of Jan. 11 and 13, 1960: CE 33.
569. CE 92, p. 3; see CE 2669. 570. CE 1128, p. 1; CE 1109, p. 2.
571. 5 H 616 (Marina Oswald); see 8 H 360 (George A. Bouhe); 9 H 145
(Paul Roderick Gregory); 9 H 79-80 (Gary E. Taylor); 2 H 339 (Peter Paul
Gregory); CE 2669.
572. CE 1108.
573. CE 92, pp. 8-9.
574. 5 H 590 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 347, 350 (Max Clark); 9 H 81 (Taylor),
147 (Paul Gregory); see P. Johnson DE 1, pp.
1, 6; P. Johnson DE 5, p. 7; CE 1385, p. 16. 575. 8 H 360 (Bouhe) (900
rubles), 385
(Anna N. Meller) (800 rubles); 5 H 407-408 (Marina Oswald) (800 rubles);
CE 1401, p. 271 (800-900 rubles); CE 1110 (700-850 rubles); CE 1128; CE
24, entry of Jan. 13, 1960 (700 rubles); 2 H 339 (Peter Gregory) (800
rubles); 8 H 348 (Clark) (800-900 rubles).
576. CE 2720; see CE 1401, p. 271.
577. 1 H 95 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, p. 275.
578. CE 24, entry of Jan. 13, 1960. 579. CE 1109.
580. CE 1110, 1128.
581. 1 H 92-93 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, p. 275.
582. CE 24, entry of Mar. 16, 1960; cf. 1 H 92 (Marina Oswald).
583. CE 24, entry of Mar. 16, 1960; see
also 1 H 92 (Marina Oswald). 584. See id. at 93.
585. CE 2721; CE 25, pp. 1B-2B.
586. CE 24, entries Jan. 7 to Mar. 17, 1960: see CE 93 p. 4
,(erroneously referring to "Roza Agafonava").
NOTES TO PAGES 694-702
587. CE 24, entry of Jan. 13, 1960.
588. CE 24, entry of Mar. 17, 1960); CE 2693.
589. CE 1403, p. 729; CE 42, 79. 590. Ibid.
591. CE 24, entry of June-July 1960.
592. I H 91 (Marina Oswald); CE 993, p. 5.
593. 1 H 96 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 396-397 (M. Paine); 5 H 405-406 (Marina
Oswald); 8 H 362 (Bouhe); CE 2678, pp. 13-14; CE 2679.
594. CE 2759; CE 24, entry of Jan. 1, 1961.
595. CE 24, entry of May 1, 1960. 596. CE 24, entry of June-July 1960.
597. CE 24 entry of Aug.-Sept. 1960.
598. CE 24, entries of Jan. 1, Jan. 2, 1961.
599. CE 24, entry of Jan. 3, 1961. 600. CE 24, entry of May 1, 1961.
601. CE 2759.
602. 11 H 142 (Mrs. Donald Gibson);
9 H 79 (Taylor). 603. Ibid.
604. 11 H 142 (Gibson). 605. 9 H 79 (Taylor).
606. 10 H 203 (Dennis Hyman Ofstein). 607. 8 H 348 (Clark).
608. 9 H 80 (Taylor); 5 H 590 (Marina Oswald).
609. Ibid.; see 8 H 348 (Clark).
610. 11 H 142 (Gibson); 8 H 60 (M. Evans); 5, H 590 (Marina Oswald).
611. 9 H 145, 151 (Paul Gregory). 612. Id. at 145, 154, 156.
613. I H 30 (Marina Oswald); CE 92, 94.
614. 8 H 330-332 (Pauline Virginia
Bates).
615. CE 92, p. 1.
616. Id. at 5.
617. Ibid.
618. Id. at 6-7.
619. 5 H 40,7 (Marina Oswald), but see CE 25, p. 3.
620. CE 92, pp. 7-8. 621. Id. at 12. 622. Id., passim.
623. CE 985, documents 3A (1)-(2);
cf. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4, 1961. 624. Ibid.
625. 5 H 277 (Snyder).
626. Id. at 276-277; CE 931.
627. 5 H 277 (Snyder); CE 24, entries
of Feb. 1-Mar. 6, 1961. 628. CE 933, 1084. 629. CE 930, 2681. 630. CE
2666. 631. CE 940.
632. CE 24, entry of Mar. 1-16, 1961.
633. 5 H 278 (Snyder); CE 1403, p. 727.
634. CE 25, pp. 1B-2B; see 5 H 407-408
(Marina Oswald). 635. CE 940.
636. Ibid.; CE 1085.
637. CE 970, 971; 5 H 352-354 (Bernice Waterman).
638. 11 H 210-212 (Katherine Mallory). 639. CE 24, entry of Mar. 17,
1961. Marina thought that the date was Mar. 4.
I H 90 (Marina Oswald); CE 994, p. 1. 640. CE 1401, p. 260. 641. Ibid.
642. CE 24, entry of Mar. 17, 1961.
643. I H 90-91 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, p. 267; CE 994, p. 7.
644. CE 24, entries of Mar. 17, 18-31, Apr. 1-30, 1961.
645. This and the succeeding paragraphs about Marina's life before she
met Oswald are based primarily on CE 1401, pp. 256-261. Additional
sources are indicated where appropriate.
646. See also 1 H 84 (Marina Oswald).
863
Page 864
NOTES TO PAGES 702-711
647. See id. at 84-85.
648. Marina is unclear about her age at the time of this move; cf. I H
84 (Marina Oswald) ("approximately five"), with CE
1401, p. 256 ("about seven"). 649. CE 49.
650. I H 84 (Marina Oswald). 651 Id. at 85.
652. Id. at 87; CE 49.
653. CE 21; see 1 H 89 (Marina Oswald ).
654. Id. at 85. 655. Ibid.
656. Id. at 87.
657. See CE 51, 57.
658. I H 89 (Marina Oswald). 659. Ibid.
660. Id. at 87-89.
661. Id. at 89; 5 H 608-609 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 305 (McVickar).
662. I H 88, 89 (Marina Oswald). 663. CE 1401, p. 261; CE 994, p. 5.
664. I H 91 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, pp. 267-268; CE 993, p. 7.
665. Cf. ibid, with CE 1401.
666. 1 H 91 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, p. 268.
667. CE 985, document 1C-l, p. 1.
668. 1 H 91 (Marina Oswald); CE 1401, p. 269.
669. Ibid.
670. CE 994, pp. 8-9; 2 H 302 (Katherine Ford).
671. CE 1401, p. 270; of. CE 994, p. 9. 672. CE 985, document 1C-l, pp.
19-20. 673. CE 1401, p. 269. 674. Id. at 269-270.
675. CE 24, entry of Apr. 1-30, 1961.
676. CE 1401, p. 269; but see 2 H 302 (K. Ford).
677. CE 1111; CE 24, entry of Apr. 31 [sic], 1961.
678. Ibid.
679. CE 1401, p. 274.
680. CE 24, entry of May 1, 1961. 681. CE 24, entry of May 1961. * 682.
CE 24, entry of June 1961. 683. Ibid. 684. CE 252.
685. CE 1401, p. 277; CE 1403, p. 725. 686. CE 1401, pp. 274-276. 687.
Id. at 274.
688. Id. at 276; CE 993, p. 12. 689. CE 1401, p. 277.
690. I H 101 (Marina Oswald). 691. CE 72.
692. 5 H 590 (Marina Oswald). 693. CE 298. 694. CE 299. 695. CE 180.
696. CE 252. 697. CE 936.
698. CE 1403, p. 727.
699. CE 24, entry of July 8, 1961; CE 24, entry of July 1961.
700. See app. w, p. 754, infra.
701. CE 24, entry of July 9, 1961; see I H 99-97 (Marina Oswald); CE
1401, p. 280.
702. Id at 290; CE 1403, p. 726. 703. CE 1401, p. 278. 704. CE 935.
705. CE 24, entries of Oct. 16, 1959, through Jan. 4, 1960; CE 908.
706. CE 1385, p. 4; P. Johnson DE 1, pp. 3, 6, 14; P. Johnson DE 2, pp.
1-2; 11 H 456 (P. Johnson); CE 985, document 1C-2, p. 6.
707. CE 1109, 1110, 1128. 708. CE 909, 935, p. 2. 709. Id. at 3.
710. CE 946, p. 2-3; 5 H 284 (Snyder). 711. CE 935, p. 2. 712. CE 938.
864
713. 5 H 284 (Snyder); CE 946, p. 6.
714. 5 H 319 (McVickar); CE 1401, pp. 278-279.
715. 5 H 319 (McVickar).
716. CE 944; 5 H 304-306, 318-319 (McVickar); CE 959.
717..CE 24, entry of July 14, 1961; CE 301.
718. Ibid.
719. CE 935, p. 1; CE 985, documents 1B, 2B, 3B, 4B; see CE 1401, pp.
277- 278, 280.
720. CE 24, entry of July 19-Aug. 20, 1961.
721. CE 1122, p. 1.
722. CE 24, entry of Aug. 21-Sept. 1, 1961.
723. CE 24, entry of Sept.-Oct. 18, 1961.
724. I H 90, 97 (Marina Oswald); but see CE 1401, p. 276.
725. I H 97 (Marina Oswald).
726. Ibid.; 5 H 591-592 (Marina Oswald ).
727. 9 H 147 (Paul Gregory); see also CE 301; CE 24, entry of July
15-Aug. 20, 1961.
728. CE 1122, pp. 2-3. 729. Ibid.
730. I H 97 (Marina Oswald). 731. CE 1087.
732. I H 98 (Marina Oswald); CE 1403, p. 740.
733. CE 306.
734. CE 55; but see I H 98 (Marina Oswald).
735. CE 24, entry of Nov.-Dec. 1961; see also CE 1401, p. 269.
736. CE 24, entry of Sept.-Oct. 18, 1961; see CE 66(I).
737. CE 24, entry of Sept.-Oct. 18, 1961. 738. CE 56, 306, CE 1315, pp.
1-2. 739. CE 24, entry of Nov. 12, 1961. 740. 5 H 591, 618 (Marina
Oswald).
741. CE 1403, p. 745; 5 H 592 (Marina Oswald).
742. Id. at 591-592, 604-605, 617-619 (Marina Oswald).
743. CE 181, 182, 183, 184, 185 (letters to Marguerite Oswald); CE 303,
305,
306, 307, 308, 309 (letters to R. Oswald). 744. CE 253. 745. CE 1076.
746. CE 1058.
747. CE 24, entry of Dec. 25, 1961; 5 H 592, 598, 604-605 (Marina
Oswald); see also CE 1403, p. 725.
748. CE 1401, p. 267.
749. CE 24, entry for "New Years" 1962; CE 313.
750. CE 189.
751. CE 2731; cf. CE 2660.
752. CE 2680, pp. 7-8.
753. Id., at 3-4.
754. CE 246.
755. CE 1078.
756. CE 256.
757. CE 1079.
758. CE 2692.
759. CE 247.
760. Ibid.
761. CE 190.
762. CE 1080, p. 2; CE 1101.
763. CE 314.
764. Folsom DE 1, p. 10; see p. 689, supra.
765. CE 314.
766. Folsom DE 1, p. 65.
767. Id. at 63.
768. Id. at 61.
769. Id. at 45-46.
770. CE 2658.
771. CE 2661.
772. CE 222.
773. CE 192.
774. CE 1082, 1102.
775. CE 193.
Page 865
NOTES TO PAGES 711-717
776. CE 24, entry of Feb. 15, 1962; CE
993, pp. 15-16; CE 1112.
777. CE 994, p. 16.
778. Ibid.; but see CE 60, 61, 64.
779. CE 24, entry of Feb. 23, 1962.
780. CE 40, 52, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 194.
781. CE 24, entries of Feb. 28-29, 1962;
1 H 95, (Marina Oswald); CE 316.
782. CE 59, 61.
783. CE 24, entry of Feb. 23, 1961.
784. CE 316.
785. CE 195.
786. CE 316.
787. CE 1093, 2682.
788. CE 1086.
789. CE 1095.
790. CE 249, 1103.
791. CE 196, 2683.
792. CE 2656; see app. w, p. 762, infra.
793. CE 24, entry of Mar. 24, 1962; CE
22.
794. CE 249, 1083, 1088, 2687, 2688.
795. CE 317.
796. CE 1313.
797. CE 985, document 9A; CE 1108,
1314.
798. CE 1108, 1109, 1128, p. 3.
799. CE 1401, p. 275; 1 H 93 (Marina
Oswald); see also 5 H 590 (Marina
Oswald).
800. CE 985, document 8A.
801. CE 946, p. 1
802. 5 H 604, 617-618 (Marina Oswald); CE 2722.
803. CE 318.
804. CE 946, pp. 11, 15; see CE 1401, p. 280.
805. CE 2654, 2662, 2690, 2704. 806. CE 2656. 807. CE 34.
808. CE 1098. After his return to the United States, Oswald repaid the
loan in
full. See app. w, p. 773, infra. 809. CE 1099, 1401, p. 280. 810. CE 57.
811. CE 29, 946, 1099.
812. 1 H 101 (Marina Oswald). 813. CE 25. 814. CE 100.
815. CE 946, p. 15. 816. CE 2655.
817. CE 1060, p. 10; CE 2656, 2718, pp. 2-3.
818. CE 2655; CE 2657.
819. CE 2213, pp. 19-20; CE 2657. 820. CE 2655, 2657.
821. CE 2213, pp. 19-24. 822. Ibid.: CE 2657. 823. CE 2213, p. 24. 824.
CE 2692.
825. 1 H 372 (R. Oswald).
826. Martin Isaacs DE 1.
827. I H 331 (R. Oswald); I H 4 (Marina Oswald).
828. 1 H 330-331 (R. Oswald). 829. Id. at 331: see id. at 464.
830. Ibid.; 2 H 343 (Peter Gregory); 1 H 30 (Marina Oswald); 4 H 415
(John W. Fain ).
831. CE 2189, p.1; 1 H 331 (R. Oswald).
832. Id. at 330.
833. 1 H 4 (Marina Oswald); 312 (R. Oswald).
834. Ibid. 835. Ibid.
836. Id. at 385-386. 837. Id. at 313-314.
838. 1 H 4 (Marina Oswald). 839. Ibid.
840. 8 H 331-332 (Bates).
841. Id. at 332-333; see pp. 700-701,
842. 8 H 332-333 (Bates).
843. Id. at 334-336.
844. Id. at 336.
845. Ibid. 846. Ibid.
847. See 2 H 338 (Peter Gregory); CE 384.
848. 2 H 337--338 (Peter Gregory). 849. Id. at 338; CE 384.
850. 2 H 338-339 (Peter Gregory). 851. See id. at 342, 343.
852. Id. at 339-340; 9 H 143 (Paul Gregory ).
853. CE 823, p. 11; 1H 315 (R. Oswald); 4 H 415 (Fain).
854. Id. at 418.
855. CE 823, p. 11.
856. Id. at 12; see CE 29. 857. Id. at 13.
858. 1 H 315, 389 (R. Oswald).
859. See 1 H 133 (Marguerite Oswald), CE 1943, 2189, p. 2; 1 H 4 (Marina
Oswald); 312 (R. Oswald).
860. 1 H 132-133 (Marguerite Oswald).
861. CE 2189, p. 2; 1 H 133-135 (Marguerite Oswald).
862. 1 H 131-132 (Marguerite Oswald). 863. Id. at 133. 864. Ibid.
865. 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald). 866. CE 2189, pp. 2, 18.
867. See 4 H 419 (Fain); CE 2189, pp. 2, 18; see 1 H 4-5 (Marina
Oswald); 1 H 135 (Marguerite Oswald).
868. CE 2189, pp. 2-3; 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald), 134-135 (Marguerite
Oswald); 10 H 230 (Chester Allen Riggs, Jr.).
869. Graves DE 1; CE 2189, p. 12;
10 H 163 (Tommy Bargas). 870. 10 H 161 (Bargas).
871. CE 1943; 10 H 162-163 (Bargas). 872. CE 1943.
873. Graves DE 1.
874. 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald).
875. 10 H 165 (Bargas); CE 2189, p. 13.
876. Ibid.; 10 H 165-166 (Bargas). 877. Id. at 165.
878. 1 H 136 (Marguerite Oswald).
879. See 1 H 6 (Marina Oswald); 2 300 (K. Ford).
880. 1 H 141 (Marguerite Oswald).
881. 9 H 226 (George De Mohrenschildt); see 9 H 77 ('Taylor), 308 (J. De
Mohrenschildt ).
882. 10 H 230 (Riggs).
883. 11 H 119 (Alexander Kleinlerer); 8 H 384 (Meller), 393 (Elena A.
Hall); 2 341 (Peter Gregory); 9 H 225-226 (G. De Mohrenschildt); cf. 5
H. 419 (Marina Oswald ).
884. CE 824, pp. 4-6; 4 H 419-424 (Fain).
885. 1 H 20 (Marina Oswald).
886. 8 H 357-358 (Bouhe), 452-455 (Igor Vladimir Voshinin); see
generally 9 H 4-12 (Paul M. Raigorodsky); 8 354-355 (Clark); 9 H 305-306
(J. De Mohrenschildt).
887. 9 H 143-144, 158 (Paul Gregory). 888. See id. at 144-151, 157.
889. See 8 H 358-359 (Bouhe), 2 H 341 (Peter Gregory).
890. Ibid: 8 H 358 (Bouhe), 379, 381-382 (Meller).
891. 2 H 297 (K. Ford), 323 (Declan P. Ford); 8 H 392-393 (E. Hall); 1 H
7 (Marina Oswald).
892. 11 H 119 (Kleinlerer). 893. 8 H 344-346 (Clark).
894. 9 H 168, 217, 281 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
895. Id at 224-226; see 1 H 7 (Marina Oswald ).
896. See 9 H 308 (J. De Mohrenschildt): 9 H 76-77 (Taylor); 11 H 125-127
(Gibson).
897. 9 H 236 (G. De Mohrenschildt); see 8 H 359, 371-372 (Bouhe).
865
Page 866
NOTES TO PAGES 717-721
898. Id. at 368-369 (Bouhe); 8 H 351-352, 354-355 (Clark); 11 H 122
(Kleinlerer); see 8 H ,383 (Meller), 404 (E. Hall), 435-436 (Mrs.
Voshinin).
899. 8 H 371-373 (Bouhe), 383--385 (Meller), 393-395 (E. Hall), 422-423
(Valentina Ray); 11 H 119 (Kleinlerer);
9 H 307, 324-325 (J. De Mohrenschildt). 900. See 1 H 7 (Marina Oswald);
9 H
231 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 119 ( Kleinlerer ).
901. E.g., 9 H 309, 311 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 8 H 366, 372 (Bouhe),
382, 384 (Meller), 394 (E. Hall).
902. See 8 H 384 (Meller); see also 8 H 394 (E. Hall).
903. 9 H 309 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 2 H 300 (K. Ford).
904. 1 H 10-11 (Marina Oswald).
905. See, e.g., 8 H 445 (Mrs. Voshinin), 376 (Bouhe).
906. 11 H 123 (Kleinlerer).
907. E.g., 2 H 308 (K. Ford); 8 H 374 (Bouhe), 381 (Meller).
908. 11 H 123 (Kleinlerer).
909. E.g., 9 H 77 (Taylor); 8 H 366 (Bouhe), 407 (John Hall); 1 H
137-138 (Marguerite Oswald).
910. 8 H 366 (Bouhe); see 8 H 407 (J. Hall):
911. Ibid, 9 H 230 (G. De Mohrenschildt); see 1 H 6 (Marina Oswald).
912. 11 H 120 (Kleinlerer); 8 H 394 (E. Hall); see 8 H 366 (Bouhe).
913. Helen Cunningham DE I-A; 10 H 120 (Cunningham).
914. 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald); see also 9 H 230 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 10 H
135 ( Cunningham ).
915. 8 H 366 (Bouhe).
916. CE 820-A; see 10 H 166 (Bargas). 917. 1 H 141 (Marguerite Oswald).
918. 8 H 345-346 (Clark), 364-365 (Bouhe).
919. 1 H 140 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 365 (Bouhe), 383 (Meller).
920. 1 H 140 (Marguerite Oswald); 8 H 365 (Bouhe), 383 (Meller).
921. 8 H 395-396 (E. Hall), 365 (Bouhe); see 2 H 300 (K. Ford).
922. E.g., 11 H 119--120 (Kleinlerer). 923. CE 994, p. 25.
924. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald); see id. at 32, 34.
925. 1 H 32 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 296 (Marina Oswald).
926. 1 H 7-8, 31 (Marina Oswald); 8 H 394-395 (E. Hall); 9 H 324 (J. De
Mohrenschildt).
927. 9 H 324, 327 (J. De Mohrenschildt); Albert Staples DE 1.
928. 8 H 373 (Bouhe); 9 H 306, 324-325 (J. De Mohrenschildt).
929. See 8 H 407 (J. Hall).
930. 9 H 46-47 (Samuel B. Ballen), 230 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
931. 8 H 388 (Meller), 366 (Bouhe); 10 H 119 (Cunningham).
932. 10 H 120--130 (Cunningham); Cunningham DE 1, I-A, 2, 2-A, 4; 11 H
477-478 (Cunningham); 10 H 144-146 (Donald E. Brooks); 150 (Irving Star-
933. 11 H 477 (Cunningham); Cunningham DE 4; 10 H 175-177 (John G.
Graef).
934. 10 H 181 (Graef), 172 (Robert Stovall); CE 1144, p. 13.
935. 1 H 8 (Marina Oswald).
936. 10 H 281-2.82 (Richard Leroy Hulen), 290 (Colin Barnhorst).
937. Cunningham DE 2, 4; 11 H 124, 149 (Gibson).
938. CE 792; 7 H 295 (Harry D. Holmes); CE 1152.
866
939. CE 1390, p. 177.
940. CE 994, p. 26.
941. 11 H 143-144 (Gibson); 8 H 399
(E. Hall); I H 33 (Marina Oswald);
CE 1957-A.
942. 8 H 394-395 (E. Hall); 11 H 120-
121 (Kleinlerer); 8 H 345-346 (Clark).
943. 1 H 8, 32 (Marina Oswald); 9 H
88-89 (Taylor).
944. Ibid; 11 H 138-139 (Gibson).
945. 1 H 8 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 120
(Kleinlerer), 137 (Gibson).
946. 8 H 395 (E. Hall); 11 H 120-121
(Kleinlerer); 10 H 232, 234, 237-238
(Mrs. Mahlon F. Tobias); see also 1 H 8
(Marina Oswald).
947. 10 H 237-238 (Mrs. Tobias); CE
1160, p. 2; see also 1 H 8 (Marina Oswald).
948. 9 H 89-91 (Taylor); 11 H 470
(Taylor), 120-121 (Kleinlerer), 139-140
(Gibson); 1 H 8 (Marina Oswald).
949. 11 H 120-121 (Kleinlerer).
950. Id. at 120.
951. 9 H 244 (G. De Mohrenschildt),
313 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 1 H 35
(Marina Oswald).
952. 5 H 415 (Marina Oswald); CE
994, p. 26; 10 H 242-243 (Mrs. Tobias),
258 (M. F. Tobias).
953. 2 H 309-310 (K. Ford); 8 H 375-
376 (Bouhe), 382 (Meller); see 9 H 226 (G.
De Mohrenschildt); CE 994, p. 22.
954. 2 H 309-310 (K. Ford); 9 H 240
(G. De Mohrenschildt); 11 H 128
(Gibson).
955. 9 H 233, 252 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
311, 313 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 8 H 396
(E. Hall).
956. 9 H 231-232 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
957. 1 H 32 (Marina Oswald).
958. Id. at 33.
959. Ibid.
960. 11 H 298 (Marina Oswald); 9 H
240 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
961. Id. at 232-233 (G. De Mohrenschildt), 310 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 8
H
386 (Meller); 10 H 245-246 (Mrs.
bias); 1 H 11 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 416
(Marina Oswald); 11 H 296 (Marina Oswald); CE 1817.
962. 8 H 388-(Meller).
963. 1 H 11 (Marina Oswald); 11 H 297
(Marina Oswald).
964. 1 H 11-12 (Marina Oswald), cf.
11 H 297-29,8 (Marina Oswald).
965. 1 H 11-12 (Marina Oswald); 2 H
299-300 (K. Ford); 8 H 388 (Meller),
365 (Bouhe); 11 H 296 (Marina Oswald).
966. 2 H 299 (K. Ford); but see
CE 994, p. 27.
967. 2 H 299 (K. Ford).
968. 8 H 416 (V. Ray); 2 H 304 (K.
Ford), 325 (D. Ford); I H 11-12 (Marina
Oswald ).
969. CE 994, p. 27-28.
970. 11 H 299 (Marina Oswald).
971. 2 H 304 (K. Ford), 325 (D. Ford);
8 H 416 (V. Ray), see 1 H 11 (Marina
Oswald ).
972. 11 H 298 (Marina Oswald); see
also 2 H 307 (K. Ford); 9 H 252 (G. De
Mohrenschildt ).
973. 9 H 238, 266 (G. De Mohrenschildt).
974. 8 H 372 (Bouhe); 9 H 238, 266
(G. De Mohrenschildt); 1 H 35 (Marina Oswald ).
975. 5 H 419 (Marina Oswald); 9 H 266 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 1 H 34-35
(Marina Oswald).
976. 9 H 65-69 (Lydia Dymitruk); 5 H 419 (Marina Oswald); 10 H 247-248
(Mrs. Tobias).
977. 2 H 318 (K. Ford).
978. 11 H 299 (Marina Oswald).
979. 1 H 385-389 (R. Oswald); CE 320; 11 H 52-60 (J. Pic).
Page 867
NOTES TO PAGES 721-728
980. Id. at 53-54, 81. Accord, 2 H 341 (Peter Gregory); 8 H 423 (V.
Ray); 9 H 311 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 1 H 36 (Marina Oswald).
981. 9 H 143-144 (Paul Gregory); 11
H 58-59 (J. Pic); 1 H 389 (R. Oswald). 982. Id. at 389-391; CE 322, 324.
983. CE 986, p. 2748-A.
984. See e.g., CE 93, p. 3; 1147; 8 H 370-371 (Bouhe).
985. CE 986, p. 2757-A.
986. E.g., CE 31, 32, 33, 57. 987. CE 1172.
988. Farrell Dobbs DE 1, 9, 10, 11; 3 H 118 (R. Paine).
989. James J. Tormey DE 1; Arnold Johnson DE 5; Dobbs DE 12.
990. 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald); CE 2642.
991 8 H 371 (Bouhe); see id. at 382 (Meller); 9 H 150 (Paul Gregory).
992. 1 H 5 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 392-393, 416 (Marina Oswald); CE 1404,
p. 456: CE 2652.
993. 9 H 243, 253 (G. De Mohrenschildt); 2 H 326 (D. Ford); 305--307 (K.
Ford); 9 H 29-33 (Natalie Ray), 39-41 (Thomas Ray).
994. 9 H 245-246 (G. De Mohrenschildt), 319-320 (J. De Mohrenschildt); 2
H 306, 308 (K. Ford), 329 (D. Ford); 8
H 369-370 (Bouhe), 389 (Meller). 995. CE 1866, p. 573.
996. 2 H 307 (K. Ford); 8 H 389-390 (Meller), 370 (Bouhe); 9 H 33
(Natalie Ray).
997. See 9 H 256 (G. De Mohrenschildt). 998. 10 H 19-20 (Everett D.
Clover). 999. Id. at 21-25.
1000. Id. at 24-29; 2 H 435-444 (R. Paine).
1001. Ibid.; 2 H 385--386 (M. Paine); 1 H 35-36 (Marina Oswald).
1002. Id. at 36; 2 H 443-445 (R. Paine); CE 404.
1003. 11 H 155-156 (M. Waldo George); see CE 1133, 1134, 1167, pp. 465-
467.
1004. 10 H 241 (Mrs. Tobias), 258-259 (M. F. Tobias).
1005. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald); see 9 H 94 (Taylor).
1006. 8 H 370 (Bouhe).
1007. CE 2699; 1130; 1 H 9 (Marina Oswald); 9 H 94 (Taylor).
1008. 2 H 445-457 (R. Paine).
1009. CE 994, p. 32.
1010. See ch. IV, pp. 118-120, 172-174, supra.
1011. See ch. IV, p. 121, supra; app. X, pp. 571-577, supra; 10 H
198-199, 20.1 ( Of stein ).
1012. 7 H 365 (William J. Waldman), 376-377 (Heinz W. Michaelis).
1013. 5 H 396 (Marina Oswald). 1014. 1 H 13 (Marina Oswald).
1015. Id. at 14-15, 93-94; 5 H 396-398 (Marina Oswald); CE 1156, p. 442:
CE 2694.
1016. 1 H 15-16 (Marina Oswald). 1017. See ch. IV, pp. 184-185, supra.
1018. 1 H 17- 18, 38 (Marina Oswald). 1019. Id. at 16-17.
1020. Ibid.; 11 H 404-405 (Edwin A. Walker).
1021. 1 H 16-18 (Marina Oswald).
1022. Id. at 18; 9 H 249-250 (G. De Mohrenschildt), 317 (J. De
Mohrenschildt).
1023. 10 H 187-189 (Graef), 198-199, 204-205 (Ofstein), 172-173
(Stovall); 11 H 479 (Theodore F. Gangl).
1024. 10 H 189 (Graef); 11 H 479 (Gangl); Gangl DE 1.
1025. 8 H 409 (John Hall).
1026. 1 H 18 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 517 (R. Paine).
1027. Cunningham DE l-A; 11 H 478 ( Cunningham ).
1028. John W. Burcham DE 1. 1029. Ibid.
1030. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald).
1031. 11 H 155-156 (George); 2 H 470, 472 (R. Paine).
1032. Id. at 447, 472.'
1033. 11 H 155-156 (George). 1034. 1 H 10 (Marina Oswald). 1035. CE 7,
9, 986.
1036. 1 H 35, 68 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 448 (R. Paine).
1037. Id. at 457-458; 1 H 18 (Marina Oswald).
1038. Id. at 18-19.
1039. 2 H 459 (R. Paine); 1 H 19 (Marina Oswald).
1040. 8 H 133-134 (Lillian Murret),
164 (Marilyn Murret).
1041. 8 H 135-136 (L. Murret), 165-166 (M. Murret); CE 1919.
1042. 11 H 474-476 (John Rachal); Rachal DE 1.
1043. Ibid.; Rachal DE 2; 8 H 135 (L. Murret); CE 1893, 1946, 1951; Bobb
Hunley DE 3.
1044. 8 H 135 (L. Murret). 1045. Burcham DE 1. 1046. CE 1911. 1047. CE
68-A. 1048. CE 69-A.
1049. CE 1398; 11 H 473-474 (Emmett Charles Barbe, Jr.).
1050. 10 H 214-219 (Charles Joseph
LeBlanc); 11 H 473-474 (Barbe). 1051. 8 H 137 (L. Murret). 1052. 2 H 517
(R. Paine).
1053. 8 H 58 (M. Evans), 72-73 (J. Evans), 186 (Charles Murret); 10 H
265- 266 (Mrs. Jesse Garner).
1054. 2 H 468-469, 475-477, 484-485 (R. Paine); 8 H 139-141 (L. Murret),
186
(C. Murret); 1 H 19 (Marina Oswald). 1055. Id. at 25.
1056. 8 H 172 (M. Murret). 1057. 1 H 25 (Marina Oswald).
1058. 2 H 499-500 (R. Paine); 3 H 5, 8-9 (R. Paine); CE 421, 1929.
1059. 11 H 473-474 (Barbe); 10 H 214-219 (LeBlanc), 220-229 (Adrian
Alba).
1060. Burcham DE 1; Rachal DE 1;
Hunley DE 2, 5; CE 421, 1911. 1061. CE 1781, p. 550.
1062. Folsom DE 1, pp. 38-41. 1063. CE 1969. 1064. 1 H 10, 68 (Marina
Oswald); 2 H
448 (R. Paine); CE 408. 1065. CE 12. 1066. CE 13.
1067. 1 H 44 (Marina Oswald). 1068. Id. at 47.
1069. CE 994, pp. 34-35; see also CE 415; but see CE 408.
1070. 1 H 68 (Marina Oswald). 1071. CE 408.
1072. 2 H 470-472 (R. Paine).
1073. 2 H 449, 491-496 (R. Paine); CE 410, 411, 412.
1074. CE 415.
1075. CE 416.
1076. CE 2649; 8 H 147-148 (L. Murret); 8 H 186-187 (C. Murret); CE 421,
2648.
1077. CE 2649; 8 H 186, 187 (C. Murret); CE 2648.
1078. Lee DE 2, 4; CE 1410, 1411, 1413,
pp. 28 31; CE 2542, 2543, 2544, 2545. 1079. 10 H 34-37 (Bringuier).
1080. Id. at 37-38; CE 1413, pp. 19-27. He had probably passed out such
leaflets on another occasion in June, near a U.S. naval vessel. CE 1412.
1081. CE 826, pp. 5-10; 10 H 53-57 (Francis L. Martello).
867
Page 868
NOTES TO PAGES 729-736
1082. 10 H 90 (Vincent T. Lee); 1 H 64-65 (Marina Oswald); 5 H 402-403
(Marina Oswald).
1083. CE 1413, pp. 19, 21, 34; Lee DE 6; 10 H 38-39 (Bringuier).
1084. 1 H 24 (Marina Oswald).
1085. 10 H 39-41 (Bringuier), 64-66 (Charles Hall Steele, Jr.); Garner
DE 1; Frank Pizzo DE 453A, 453B; Bringuier DE 1, 2.
1086. 11 H 474-476 (Rachal).
1087. 10 H 41-42 (Bringuier); 1 H 25 (Marina Oswald).
1088. 11 H 158-165 (William Kirk Stuckey).
1089. Id. at ,166-169; 10 H 42-43 ( Bringuier ).
1090. 11 H 169-171 (Stuckey); Stuckey DE 3; Bringuier DE 3, 4.
1091. 11 H 171 (Stuckey).
1092. 11 H 162, 168-171 (Stuckey). 1093. Lee DE 1, 2, 4, 5., 6, 7. 1094.
Arnold Johnson DE 4. 1095. Arnold Johnson DE 4-A. 1096. Lee DE 4, 5, 6,
7.
1097. 3 H 4-7 (R. Paine); 1 H 26 (Marina Oswald); CE 1929, p. 193.
1098. 1 H 26 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 9 (R. Paine).
1099. 1 H 22-23, 37, 46--47 (Marina Oswald); CE 1404, pp. 451-453.
1100. CE 2478; CE 1143, p. I; CE 2119,
pp. 20-21; CE 2120; CE 2563, p. 1. 1101. See ch. VI, p. 314, supra.
1102. See CE 2481, 2478; app. XIV, p. 745, infra.
1103. CE 2124, p. 383; CE 2125, pp. 475, 477-478; CE 2479; cf. 10 H
276-277 (Jesse J. Garner).
1104. 1 H 37, 45 (Marina Oswald). 1105. Id. at 23. CE 1156, p. 444.
1106. 10 H 276 (Jesse J. Garner), 274 (Mrs. Jesse Garner).
1107. 11 H 460-464 (Eric Rogers). 1108. CE 2126.
1109. 10 H 276 (Jesse J. Garner). 1110. CE 116. 1111. CE 18.
1112. CE 1969; CE 946; 11 H 217 (Pamela Mumford); CE 2121, p. 39.
1113. CE 93, 986, 2121, p. 39; CE 2564. 1114. CE 2121, p. 39.
1115. 1 H 25 (Marina Oswald); CE 2121, p. 39; CE 93.
1116. 1 H 24-25 (Marina Oswald). 1117. CE 2121, p. 39. 1118. Ibid. 1119.
CE 93. 1120, CE 126 1121. Rogers DE 1.
1122. 11 H 214 (John Bryan and Meryl McFarland), 221-222 (Mumford); CE
2127, p. I; CE 2128, 2121, pp. 8, 9, 55, 119; CE 2129, pp. 18-19; CE
2532, pp. 12-13; 2460, p. 5: but see 11 H 462-463 (Rogers).
1123. When he picked up the check, he apparently also filed a change of
mailing address. CE 2131, 2476.
1124. App. XIV, p. 745, infra; but cf. CE 2481.
1125. 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald). 1126. CE 2533.
1127. 11 H 179-180 (Estelle Twiford), 179 (Horace E. Twiford); CE 2533;
CE 2961, 2962.
1128. 11 H 179 (H. Twiford), 179-180
(E. Twiford). 1129. Ibid. 1130. CE 2134.
1131. 11 H 179-180 (E. Twiford), 179 (H. Twiford).
1182. Ibid.; 11 H 179-180 (E. Twiford).
1133. CE 2137, pp. 8-12; CE 2138, p. 15.
1134. CE 2137, pp. 14-15, 17; CE 2138, p. 3.
1135. Id. at 12-14.
1136. 11 H 214 (McFarland).
1137. Ibid.; CE 1143, p. 4; CE 2191, pp. 5-7; CE 2534.
1138. 11 H 214-215 (McFarland); CE 2534.
1139. CE 2193, pp. 1-2; CE 2123, 2566, pp. 2-3.
1140. CE 2463, pp. 10-12; CE 2566, p. 2.
1141. 11 H 214-215 (McFarland), 215-224 (Mumford).
1142. Id. at 220. 1143. CE 2195.
1144. 11 H 217-218 (Mumford); CE 2121, pp. 114-115.
1145. 11 H 219 (Mumford); CE 116. 1146. CE 2566, p. 2.
1147. 11 H 220 (Mumford), 214-215 ( McFarland ).
1148. CE 2121, p. 54; CE 2120, 3073, p. 7.
1149. CE 1400, 2121, pp. 46, 54, 59; CE 2488.
1150. CE 2121, p. 59.
1151. Id. at 47; CE 2444, p. 53; CE 2480. 1152. CE 2121, pp. 47. 54.
1153. CE 2568.
1154. CE 1969, 2121, p. 1. i 155. CE 18, p. 54 CE 2567.
1156. CE 2121, p. 39; CE 3073, p. 7. 1157. CE 2564; see CE 93. 1158. CE
2445, p. 2. 1159. CE 2121, p. 39.
1160. CE 2764, 3073, p. 6; see 1 H 28
(Marina Oswald). 1161. CE 2764.
1162. CE 15. He appears to have attempted to record Kostikov's name in
his guide book. CE 2486.
1163. 1 H 28 (Marina Oswald). 1164. CE 2121, p. 39; CE 2449. 1165. CE
2121, p. 39.
1166. Id. at 39-40; CE 2120 ; cf. CE 2445.
1167. CE 2121, p. 40; CE 2465; CE 18,
p. 54; CE 2445, p. 2; CE 2120. 1168. CE 2121, p. 39.
1169. CE 2445, p. 3; CE 2121, p. 40. 1170. Confidential information.
1171. 1 H 27-28, 50 (Marina Oswald); CE 1156, p. 445.
1172. 3 H 13-18, 51-52 (R. Paine); 9 H
395 (R. Paine). 1173. CE 15.
1174. CE 2121, pp. 55, 57. 1175. Id. at 57.
1176. Id. at 54-55, 57. One Juarez has said he saw Oswald talking to
some Cubans, but an intensive investigation indicates that this is a
case of mistaken identity. CE 2450, 2451, 2569, 2570, 2571, 2572,
2573, 2574, 2575, 2787, 3095. 1177. CE 2450.
1178. CE 1400. Oswald marked them on his map of Mexico City. CE 2488, p.
5.
1179. See CE 1166, pp. 6-8; CE 2489; 1
H 27 (Marina Oswald); CE 3073, p. 8. 1180. Ibid. Oswald marked several
museums, art galleries, and parks on his guide map, CE 2488, pp. 1-2;
see CE 1166, pp. 9-10; CE 2.576, 3073, pp. 1, 6, 10.
1181. 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald); CE 3073, p. 10.
1182. CE 2486, 3073, pp. 4-5.
1183. CE 116, 2488, p. 2; CE 3073, pp. 1, 6.
1184. CE 2121, pp. 116-118.
1185. CE 2190; see CE 1166, p. 13. 1186. CE 2484.
1187. 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald); CE 3042, p. 59; CE 2484, 2121, pp.
124-128.
868
Page 869
1188. Ibid.
1189. CE 2467, pp. 152, 156-157; see
also 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald).
1190. Ibid; CE 116.
1191. See CE 1400.
1192. CE 2530, 2531, 2537, 2536, 2458,
2121, pp. 64-69; CE 1166, pp. 2-3; CE
2469, pp. 1-2; CE 2538, 2532, p. 5; CE
2638, 3073, pp. 2, 3.
1193. CE 2639, 2539, p. 1.
1194. CE 2452, 2121, pp. 99-103; CE
2470, 2471, pp. 1-2; CE 2527.
1195. CE 2121, pp. 99-105; CE 2535,
pp. 1-2; CE 1143, p. 3.
1196. CE 2540, p. 9.
1197. CE 2121, pp. 56, 119.
1198. Id. at 72-78; CE 2459, 2460,
2535, pp. 10-11.
1199. CE 2121, pp. 61, 76; CE 2456,
p. 3; CE 2459, pp. 2-3; CE 2460, p. 6;
CE 2532, p. 9.
1200. CE 2,121, p. 61; CE 2456, p. 4. 1201. 1 H 70 (Marina Oswald).
1202. CE 2456, p. 5. 1203. CE 2461.
1204. CE 2129, p. 6; CE 2121, pp. 8, 60, 75-77.
1205. CE 2577, 2121, pp. 61, 77-78; CE 2130, 2456, p. 6.
1206. CE 2129, p. 2; CE 2130, 2577. 1207. Burcham DE 1.
1208. Cunningham DE I-A; 11 H 478 (Cunningham).
1209. Hulen DE 7, 11; 10 H 281-283 (Hulen), 285-290 (Barnhorst); 1 H 27
(Marina Oswald).
1210. 11 H 479 (Gangl); Gangl DE 1.
12,11. 3 H 26, 28 29 (R. Paine); 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald).
1212. 3 H 26-31, 33 (R. Paine); 1 H
27-28, 50 (Marina Oswald). 1213. Id. at 50. 1214. Id. at 28.
1215. 3 H 30-31 (R. Paine). 1216. Id at 31.
1217. 10 H 293 (Gladys J. Johnson). 1218. 6 H 401-402 (Mary E. Bledsoe).
1219. Id. at 404; 10 H 139-140 (R. L.
Adams); 11 H 486-481 (R. L. Adams). 1220. 6 H 404-406 (Bledsoe).
1221. Id. at 404; 3 H 45 (R. Paine); CE 1401 p. 262.
1222. CE 994, p. 38.
1223. 6 H 405--406 (Bledsoe). 1224. 3 H 12, 32, 35 (R. Paine). 1225. Id.
at 5, 33-34.
1226. 3 H 32 (R. Paine); 9 H 428-429 (R. Paine).
1227. 6 H 407 (Bledsoe).
1228. 10 H 294 (G. Johnson); 6 H 436-437 (E. Roberts).
1229. 3 H 38-39 (R. Paine); 10 H 294 (G. Johnson).
1230. 6 H 437 (Roberts). 1231. CE 2642.
1232. 2 H 418-419 (M. Paine); 3 H 117-119 (R. Paine); 9 H 455 (M.
Paine); 7 H 293 (Holmes).
1233. 3 H 33-34 (R. Paine); 1 H 29 (Marina Oswald): CE 994, p. 38.
1234. 3 H 34 (R. Paine); CE 994, p. 38; 3 H 213 (Roy S. Truly).
NOTES TO PAGES 736-741
1235. 3 H 34-35 (R. Paine); CE 994, p. 38.
1236. 3 H 214, 216 (Truly); CE 1949,
1237. 3 H 37 (R. Paine); CE 994, p. 38. 1238. 3 H 214-216 (Truly). 1239.
1 H 68 (Marina Oswald).
1240. 3 H 214-216 (Truly); 6 H 328 (William H. Shelley),
1241. 3 H 217-218 (Truly): 6 H 375 (Jack E. Dougherty), 394 (Geneva L.
Hine), 382-383 (Eddie Piper); 2 H 219
(Buell W. Frazier). 1242. Id. at 216. 1243. Id. at 217.
1244. 3 H 40 (R. Paine); 1 H 52 (Marina Oswald); CE 994, p. 40.
1245. 3 H 39 (R. Paine); 1 H 54 (Marina Oswald).
1246. 3 H 39-40 (R. Paine); CE 994, p. 40.
1247. Ibid.
1248. 3 H 40 (R. Paine). 1249. Arnold Johnson DE 7.
1250. 1 H 55 (Marina Oswald); 2 H 407-408 (M. Paine); 9 H 462-468
(Raymond F. Krystinik).
1251. Ibid; 2 H 407-412 (M. Paine). 1252. 9 H 465 (Krystinik).
1253. 1 H 54-55 (Marina Oswald); 3
H 40-41 (R. Paine). 1254. Holmes DE 1. 1255. 3 H 41 (R. Paine).
1256. 4 H 441-448 (James A. Hosty), 432-440 (John L. Quigley); see CE
834, p. 8; see generally ch. VIII, pp. 434-440. supra.
1257. 4 H 449-454 (Hosty); 1 H 48, 56-57 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 92, 96-104
(R. Paine).
1258. 1 H 48 (Marina Oswald).
1259. 3 H 101-102 (R. Paine); 1 H 57 (Marina Oswald).
1260. 3 H 102 (R. Paine). 1261. CE 15.
1262. 1 H 48 49 (Marina Oswald). 1263. 2 H 217 (Frazier).
1264.2 H 514 (R. Paine); 3 H 41 (R. Paine); 11 H 153-154 (R. Paine); 1 H
62 (Marina Oswald).
1265. Id. at 54, 63; 2 H 515-516 (R. Paine); 3 H 41 (R. Paine).
1266. 1 H 53, 54, 63, 65-66 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 43-46 (R. Paine). Mrs.
Paine thought she had placed the call to Oswald
on Monday, November 18. Id. at 43. 1267. 3 H 45-46 (R. Paine). 1268. 2 H
222-223 (Frazier).
1269. 2 H 508 (R. Paine); 3 H 46, 56-57 (R. Paine); 9 H 414 (R. Paine);
1 H 65 (Marina Oswald).
1270. 2 H 508 (R. Paine); 3 H 46 (R.
Paine); 1 H 64-65 (Marina Oswald). 1271. Id. at 65.
1272. 3 H 46-47, 56-60 (R. Paine); 1 H 65 (Marina Oswald).
1273. Id. at 65-66; bat see 3 H 47 (R. Paine).
1274. 1 H 66 (Marina Oswald); 3 H 60 (R. Paine): 9 H 418 (R. Paine).
1275. 3 H 47-49 (R. Paine); 1 H 66 (Marina Oswald).
APPENDIX XIV
1. Martin Isaacs DE 1, but see footnote 9.
2. Ibid., 1 H 318 (Robert Oswald). 3. 1 H 132 (Marguerite Oswald). 4.
Isaacs DE 1; CE 1159. 5. Isaacs DE 1; CE 1159.
6. CE 1159; 1 H 3 (Marina Oswald). 7. Isaacs DE 1.
8. 8 H 336 (Pauline Bates).
9. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald). Robert Oswald testified that Lee paid him back a
little less than $100 upon Lee's arrival.
869
Page 870
NOTES TO PAGES 741-745
If this is so, Lee Harvey Oswald had more money than he reported to the
Welfare Department when he arrived in New York. The $30 figure is an
estimate based upon reported funds available to Lee Harvey Oswald when
he arrived in Fort Worth and upon Robert Oswald's statement as to later
payments. 10. CE 1165, 1173.
11. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald).
12. CE 1170, 1171, see footnote 56. There is no record of initial
subscription. This represents an estimate of cost based
on subscription rates in July 1962. 13. CE 1165, 1173. 14. CE 1120.
15. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald).
16. 10 H 230 (Chester Riggs). 17. CE 1172.
18. Estimate based on approximate time Oswalds resided on Mercedes Ave.,
Fort Worth in August. 4 H 419 (John W.
Fain); 1 H 134 (Marguerite Oswald). 19. CE 1165, 1173.
20. 9 H 144 (Paul R. Gregory); 2 H 340 (Peter P. Gregory); 5 H 419
(Marina Oswald ).
21. 10 H 230 (C. Riggs); CE 1160. 22. CE 1120.
23. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald). 24. CE 1147.
25. CE 1165, 1167, 1173, 1174. 26. 8 H 372 (George H. Bouhe). 27. CE
1120.
28. 10 H 288 (Colin Barnhorst); 10 H
281 (Richard L. Hulen); CE 1160. 29. CE 1160.
30. 1 H 318 (R. Oswald).
31. Marina Oswald lived at the Hall's for part of the month. 1 H 7, 31
(Marina Oswald). She also received assistance from other people. See
e.g. 11 H 119-120 (A. Kleinlerer); 8 H 345-346 (Clark); 5 H 419 (Marina
Oswald); 1 H
8 (Marina Oswald). 32. CE 1167, 1174.
33. 10 H 238-240 (Mrs. Mahlon F. To-bias) (included $5 key deposit which
was never returned).
34. 11 H 470 (Taylor). 35. CE 1120.
36. 9 H 143 (Paul R. Gregory); 1 H 387 (R. Oswald); CE 1168.
37. Marina Oswald lived with the Mellers, the Fords, and the Rays during
part of this month. 2 H 299 (Ford); 8 H 386-387 (Meller); 8 H 416-417
(Ray);
1 H 11-12 (Marina Oswald). 38. CE 1167, 1174.
39. 10 H 240 (Tobias). 40. CE 1160. 41. CE 1120.
42. Farrell Dobbs DE 1; 3 H 118 (Ruth Paine).
43. CE 1167, 1174.
44. 10 H 240 (Tobias); CE 1160. 45. CE 1120.
46. 7 H 376 (Heinz W. Michaelis);
Michaelis DE 2; CE 1137. 47. CE 1130. 48. CE 1147.
49. CE 1167, 1174.
50. 10 H 240 (Tobias); CE 1160.
51.2 H 418, 9 H 455 (Michael Paine);
3 H 118 (R. Paine); CE 1145, 1172. 52. CE 1167, 1174.
53. CE 1133, 1134, 1160; 11 H 155
(M. Waldo George). 54. CE 1160.
55. CE 1136; William J. Waldman DE
7.
56. CE 1152, 1170, 1171.
57. 7 H 376-378 (Michaelis); Michaelis DE 5; CE 1137.
58. CE 1167, 1174. 59. CE 1165.
870
60. 11 H 155 (George); CE 1134. 61. 2 H 459 (R. Paine); CE 1168.
62. Although Oswald spent part of this month at the Murrets, 8 H 133,
139 (Lillian Murret), and Marina Oswald spent part of the time at Ruth
Paine's, 2 H 457- 461 (R. Paine), he left money with his
wife, 3 H 9 (R. Paine). 63. CE 1161, 1175. 64. CE 1157, 1161.
65. 10 H 265, 274, 276 (Mrs. Jesse Garner); CE 1139.
66. Dobbs DE 2. Oswald received copies of the Militant after September
1963 but there is no record he paid for a subscription, 3 H 118, 119 (R.
Paine).
67..10 H 93 (Vincent T. Lee); V. T. Lee DE 3-4; CE 1140, 1410.
68. Although Oswald spent part of the time at the Murrets, 8 H 139 (L.
Murret), and his wife spent part of the time at Ruth Paine's, 2 H 468
(R. Paine), this would be offset by the fact that Ruth Paine and her
children spent time at the Oswald apartment, and the expenses involved
in moving into an apartment in
another city, 9 H 343 (R. Paine). 69. CE 1161, 1175. 70. See footnote
65. 71. CE 1158.
72. CE 1410, 1411. 73. CE 1176.
74. CE 1161, 1175. 75. See footnote 65. 76. CE 1411.
77. CE 1157, 1161. 78. See footnote 65.
79. CE 1177; V. T. Lee DE 6.
80. 10 H 64-66 (Charles H. Steele, Jr.) There is evidence that two
people were handing out literature, but it is not known if both were
paid $2.
81. CE 1157, 1161.
82. Although Oswald left for Mexico and his wife stayed with Ruth Paine
during the latter part of the month, this is offset by additional
expenses incurred in preparing for the Mexican trip.
83. Marina Oswald testified that just before she left New Orleans, her
husband had told her that he had a little over $100 which would be
sufficient for his Mexican trip, 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald). Later she
stated he told her he had between $160-$180, CE 1156. Oswald received
$33 in unemployment compensation after his wife left New Orleans. Oswald
failed to pay his rent for September 9. 10 H 274-275 (Mrs. Jesse
Garner).
84. CE 1146, 1166; 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald).
85. CE 1166.
86. CE 1156; 1 H 27 (Marina Oswald); CE 1166.
87. Marina Oswald testified that her husband returned from Mexico with
about $50 or $70, 1 H 51 (Marina Oswald); CE
1156. She later said he had about $70. 88. CE 1157, 1165. 89. CE 1129.
90. 10 H 283 (Hulen); 10 H 290 (Barn-horst); 6 H 401 (Mary L. Bledsoe);
10 H 294 (Mrs. A. C. Johnson).
91. Daring this time Marina Oswald was living with Ruth Paine. Oswald
spent weekends there also, 9 H 344 (R. Paine); I H 69-70 (Marina
Oswald); 2 H 216,
219 (Buell W. Frazier).
92. CE 1129.
93. 10 H 294 (Mrs. Johnson).
94. CE 1152, 1178.
95. CE 1151.
96. 2 H 256 (William W. Whaley); 2
H 268 (Cecil J. McWatters); CE 1168.
97. See footnote 91.
98. CE 1148, 1155.
Page 871
NOTES TO PAGES 746-758
APPENDIX XV
1. CE 1114.
2. He had made out his application for
admission on Mar. 19, 1959. See CE 228,
p. 1.
3. CE 1114.
4. CE 946.
5. 5 H 262 (Richard E. Snyder). 6. 5 H 295-296.
7. 5 H 262, 288-289. 8. CE 101.
9. Oswald's appearance at the Embassy has been reconstructed from the
testimony of Richard E. Snyder, 5 H 262-265, 269-270, and 287-291, and
of John A. McVickar, 5 H 300-304 and 322-324, from memoranda and
communications made at the time, CE 908, 909, 919, 941, and 958 and from
Oswald's own notes, CE 24 and 101.
10. 5 H 300 (McVickar); 5 H 289 ( Snyder ).
11. 5 H 262 (Snyder). 12. 5 H 263 (Snyder). 13. 5 H 263 (Snyder). 14. 5
H 289 (Snyder).
15. 5 H 270 (Snyder); CE 101. 16. 5 H 263; 289-290 (Snyder).
17. 5 H 289 (Snyder); CE 908, p. 1; CE 101.
18. 5 H 289 (Snyder); see passport, CE 946, p. 1.
19. 5 H 263 (Snyder).
20. CE 913; 5 H 263, 289 (Snyder). 21. CE 908, p. 2.
22. CE 946, pp. 8-9; CE 908, p. 2. 23. CE 908, p. 2. 24. CE 908, p. 1.
25. CE 908, p. 2. 26. CE 908, p. 2. 27. Ibid. 28. Ibid.
29. 5 H 290 (Snyder); see CE 908, p. 3. 30. 5 H 264, 290-291 (Snyder).
31. CE 908, p. 2; CE 909, pp. 2-3; 5 H 264, 290-291 (Snyder).
32. 5 H 291 (Snyder); see CE 910.
33. 5 H 266-267 (Snyder); CE 910. 34. CE 908, p. 2.
35. CE 950, p. 3; 5 H 341 (Abram Chayes).
36. CE 910.
37. CE 2750 (see stamp); CE 834, p. 1. 38. CE 2752; and see CE 2750. 39.
CE 908.
40. Id. at p. 3.
41. CE 2749 (see stamp); CE 834, p. 2
(FBI); CE 2752 and enclosure. 42. CE 910.
43. CE 916, 961.
44. Ibid.: 5 H 347-348 (Waterman). 45. CE 909, p. 3; CE 911, p. 2; CE
920. 46. CE 919, 920. 47. CE 912. 48 CE 920. 49. CE 919.
50. CE 942, 943, 2683, 2684, 2715. 51. Ibid.
52. 11 H 444 (Johnson). 53. CE 911.
54. CE 911, p. 2; 11 H 446-447, 450--
451 (Priscilla Johnson). 55. CE 921.
56. CE 24, entry of Jan. 4, 1960.
57. CE 985, Doc. Nos. i(A), 2(A) and 3(A)(1).
58. CE 921; 5 H 274 (Snyder). 59. CE 923. 60. CE 927. 61. Ibid. 62. CE
928. 63. CE 925. 64. CE 926.
65. 5 H 348-349 (Bernice Waterman).
66. 5 H 349 (Waterman); CE 948, question No. 12, pp. 1-2, and
regulations attached thereto.
67. CE 950, pt. 2, pp. 204; 5 H 317 (Chayes).
68. 5 H 80 (Knight); CE 950, 2,
pp. 3-4; and see CE 948, question No; 12
and all attachments thereto for a general
description of the lookout card procedure.
69. CE 948, question No. 12, pp. 1-2
and regulations attached thereto.
70. CE 962; 5 H 348-349 (Waterman).
71. CE 963; 5 H 349 (Waterman).
72. CE 963, 929.
73. CE 948, question No. 13, pp. 2-3;
5 H 313 (Chayes).
74. CE 948, question No. 13, p. 1.
75. 5 H 349-351.
76. Passport Office Instruction No.
2300.3 (reproduced in CE 948, question
No. 12).
77. 5 H 380 (Frances Knight); CE 948,
Question 12, p. 3; CE 3111.
78. CE 2748.
79. CE 930.
80. See date stamped on CE 2681 and
see CE 2757.
81. 5 H 276 (Snyder).
82. CE 931; 5 H 276-277 (Snyder).
83. 5 H 277 (Snyder).
84. CE 24, entry of Feb. 1, 1961.
85. CE 933.
86. CE 251, 940.
87. CE 932.
88. CE 940.
89. CE 1085.
90. 5 H 352-354 (Waterman).
91. Ibid; CE 970. See CE 934.
92. CE 971, 5 H 353-354 (Waterman).
93. CE 1111; CE 24, entry of Apt. 31
[sic], 1961.
94. CE 936.
95. CE 252.
96. CE 937.
97. 5 H 281 (Snyder); CE 24, entry of
July 8, 1961.
98. CE 24, entry of July 8, 1961; and see
I H 96-97 (Marina Oswald), and CE 1401.
99. CE 935, p. 3
100. CE 935, pp. 1-2.
101. 5 H 281 (Snyder); CE 938.
102. CE 946; 5 H 284 (Snyder).
103. 5 H 283 (Snyder).
104. 5 H 283 (Snyder).
105. CE 947;5 H 282-283, 286
(Snyder).
106. CE 938.
107. 5 H 283 (Snyder).
108. 5 H 359-360 (Waterman). 109. CE 938, pp. 3-4.
110. CE 946, p. 6; 5 H 284 (Snyder). 111. CE 935; 5 H 283-285 (Snyder).
112. CE 935, p. 3. 113. CE 935, p. 2.
114. 5 H 318-319 (McVickar).
115. CE 1122 (letter of July 15, 1961).
116. CE 979; 5 H 357-358 (Waterman); 11 H 198 (Carroll Hamilton Seeley,
Jr.).
117. CE 939. 118. CE 2747.
119. CE 981; 5 H 361-362 (Waterman).
120. CE 253-255, 246, 249, 256, 247, 1083, and 1093 (Oswald to Embassy,
from Embassy files); CE 1076-1082, 1086, 1088 (Embassy to Oswald, from
Embassy files); CE 1085, 1087, 1094, 1124; and 1100- 1106 (Embassy to
Oswald, found among his effects).
121. CE 946.
122. CE 1061, 1098.
123. 5 H 283 (Snyder).
124. CE 979: 5 H 347,357 (Waterman); CE 948, question No. 11, pp. 1-2.
871
Page 872
NOTES TO PAGES 758-770
125. 5 H 362 (Waterman); 5 H 286 ( Snyder ).
126. CE 989; 5 H 372-376 (Knight); 5 H 308-312 (Chayes).
127. Fourteenth amendment; United States v. Wong Kim Ark 169 U.S. 649
(1898).
128. ]2 U.S.C. sec. 1481(a)(1). 129. See pp. 1, 2, 7, 9-12, supra. 130.
12 U.S.C., sec. 1481(a)(6).
131. 22 CFR, secs. 50.1-50.2; 8 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 225.6.
132. CE 955; 5 H 263-265 (Snyder). 133. See pp. 2-4, supra.
134. 12 U.S.C., sec. 1481 (a)(2). 135. CE 913.
136. CE 244, 913.
137. III Hackworth, "Digest of Inter-
national Law," 219-220 (1942); see
Jalbuena v. Dulles, 254 F. 2d 379, 381
footnote 2 (3d Cir. 1958).
138. In re Bautista, 183 f. Supp. 271, 274 (D.C. Guam, 1960); see also,
Department of State to consul at Guadalajara, May 27, 1937, at 218;
Department of State consular official in charge at Birmingham, May 10,
1938; Director of Consular Service to Counsel Glazbrooke, Oct. 30, 1914;
Department of State to consul general in Berlin, Mar. 21, 1934; Roche,
"The Loss of American Nationality--The Development of Statutory
Expatriation," 99 U. Pa. L. Rev. 25, 33 (1950); III Hackworth, op. cit.
supra, footnote 138, at 218-219.
139. III Hackworth, op. cit. supra, footnote at 138 at 218; In the
Matter of L., 1 Dec. Imm. & Nat. Laws 317, 320, (B.I.A. 1942).
140. See e.g. CE 913.
141. 12 U.S.C., 1481(a)(4). 142. 5 H 310 (Chayes).
143. Cf Fletes-Mora v. Rogers, 160 F. Supp. 215 (S.D. Cal. 1958); Kenji
Kamada v. Dulles, 145 F. Supp. 457, 459 (N.D. Cal. 1956) (both arising
under sec. 401 of the Nationality Act of 1940); Roche, supra, footnote
138, at 51.
144. Insogna v. Dulles 116 F. Supp. 473 (D.D.C. 1953); Stipa v. Dulles,
233 F. 2d 551 (3d Cir. 1956).
145. 5 H 304-306, 318-319 (McVickar). 146. CE 944, 959. 147. CE 944.
148. CE 945; 5 H 305 (McVickar). 149. CE 944; 5 H 305 (McVickar).
150. 1 H 89-90, 97;5 H 607-608
(Marina Oswald).
151. CE 944.
152. 8 U.S.C., sec. 1155 (1953).
153. 8 U.S.C., sec. 1182(a)(28)(C); 8 U.S.C., sec. 1182(a)(28)(I)
(1953).
154. 8 U.S.C. sec. 1182(a)(15) (1953). 155. 8 U.S.C., sec. 1253(g).
156. CE 950, pt. IV, pp. 3-5; 5 H 339-340 (Chayes).
157. CE 944.
158. See CE 2746.
159. 11 H 184-185 (Virginia James); CE 2745 (code phrase used).
160. CE 190, 193, 247, 256, 1081, 1093,
1100, 1101, 1102, 1104, 1124; CE 2692. 161. CE 2740, 2742, 2743, 2744.
162. CE 1095, pp. 1-2.
163. CE 2653 (taken from the Immigration and Naturalization Service file
on Marina Oswald, p. 17 of CD 363); CE 196.
164. 8 U.S.C., sec. 1155; 8 CFR, sec. 9.5 a, b.
165. CE 1073. 166. CE 1072 167. CE 1073. 168. CE 1071.
169. CE 1069, 1070, 2751. 170. CE 1070, pp. 3-4. 171. CE 1070, p. 3.
172. CE 1070.
872
173. CE 1068. 174. Ibid. 175. Ibid. 176. CE 1067. 177. Ibid.
178. CE 1121. 179. CE 1066.
180. CE 1055, 1066, and see also 11 H
185-188 (James). 182. CE 1065. 182. Ibid. 183. CE 1064.
184. CE 249; see also CE 1103 (the notice itself).
185. CE 2735. 186. CE 1095. 187. CE 1096.
188. See CE 1095, p. 1, and CE 2734. 189.-11 H 186 (James). 190. CE
1123, p. 1. 191. CE 2741.
192. CE 1123, p. 2. 193. James DE 6.
194. CE 1777; James DE 4. 195. James DE 5. 196. James DE 7.
197. CE 2653, 2654, 2689, 2690, 2702, 2704, 2705.
198. 8 U.S.C., see. 1155. 199. CE 1070, pp. 3-4. 200. See CE 1073.
201. 8 U.S.C., see. 1182(a) (15).
202. 22 CFR, sec. 42.91(a)(15) (1963 Supp.).
203. 8 U.S.C., sec. 1182(a) (28) (I)
(1953).
204. CE 944; 5 H 607-608. 205. CE 950, pt. 4, pp. 203.
206. 1 H 89-90, 97; 5 H 607-608 H (Marina Oswald).
207. 5 H 321 (McVickar); Cf. Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 5.22, 527 (1954);
Rowoldt v. Perfetto, 355 U.S. 115, 120 (1957) (cases arising tinder sec.
22 of The Internal Security Act of 1950 as amended in 1951).
208. Immigration and Nationality Act, sec. 212(a)(19); 8 U.S.C., sec.
1182(a) (19) (1953).
209. See generally, Gordon and Rosenfield, "Immigration Law and
Procedure," 229, 424-427 (1959); Appleman, "Misrepresentation in
Immigration Law: Materiality." 22 Fed. B.J. 267 (1962).
210. Langhammer v. Hamilton, 295 F. 2d 642, 648 (1st Cir. ]961); see
also Chaunt v. United States, 364 U.S. 350, 355 (1960) (denaturalization
proceeding).
211. E.g., Calvillo v. Robinson, 271 F. 2d 249 (7th Cir. 1959).
212. Visa Office Bulletin 90, Mar. 2, 1962.
213. CE 950, pt. 4, p. 4. 214. Ibid.
215. Operation Instructions of the Immigration and Naturalization
Service 205.3. (This revised instruction was effective Feb. 15,
1962--June 30, 1962. Other versions which may have been considered
during Oswald's case were different only in irrelevant respects.)
216. 22 CFR, 42, 120 (1964. Supp.).
217. 22 CFR., sec. 42.120 (1964 Supp.). Procedural note 2 (reproduced in
CE 950, pt. 4, p. 5).
218. 11 H 184, 186, 190-191 (flames).
219. CE 950, pt. 4, p. 10; 11 H 190-191 (James).
220. CE 1058, pp. 1-2. 221. CE 1058, p. 11. 222. Id. at 4. 223. Id. at
5. 224. Id. at 6-11. 225. Id. at 2. 226. CE 246. 227. CE 1102.
228. CE 189, 2660, 2731.
229. CE 1138, 2660, 2680, 2760.
Page 873
230. CE 223.
231. CE 197, 1086.
232. CE 2737, 2738, 2739. 233. CE 2736. 234. CE 1098.
235. CE 950, pt. 5, pp. 1-2. E,g., 60 Star. 452, 79th Cong., 2d sess.
(1946); 75 Stat. 546, 87th Cong., 1st sess. (1961).
236. CE 950, pt. 5, pp. 1-2. E.g., H. Rept. 442, 87th Cong., 1st sess.
(1961) 4; H. Rept. 1996, 87th Cong., 2d sess. (1962) 4; H. Rept. 388,
88th Cong., 1st sess. (1963) 4.
237. CE 950, pt. 5, exhibit 2.
238. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423, 2-1.
239. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual, sec. 423, 1-2.
240. CE 950, pt. 5, p. 3.
241. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423, 3-2.
242. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423, 3-5; CE 223, 2660, 2766.
243. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423, 3--3.
244. See supra, p. 758; cf. 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423, 7-1.
245. CE 950, pt. 5, p. 6; 7 Foreign Affairs Manuel sec. 423.5; CE 950
(repatriation loan, p. 7); 7 Foreign Affairs Manual sec. 423.6.
246. CE 948, question No. 13, p. 3. 247. CE 1098.
248. CE 948, question No. 13, pp. 3-4. 249. CE 1099, 1401. 250. CE 29,
946, 1099. 251. CE 1099.
252. See generally CE 834 (communications to FBI) and CE 2752
(communications to CIA).
253. CE 1059.
254. CE 1060, 1776. 255. CE 2657. 256. CE 1120.
257. CE 781, 952, 1969. 258. CE 781. 259. CE 781.
260. CE 952; 5 H 335 (Chayes). 261. CE 1969.
262. CE 2754, 2755; and see CE 952 (all applications that were made on
June 24 for New Orleans in same teletype as Oswald's were authorized
within 24 hours ).
263. CE 948, question No. 1; 5 H 335 (Chayes). The accuracy of their
statement was confirmed, see CE 1057. 264. 5 H 334-335 (Chayes). 265. CE
950, pt. 2, p. 8.
266. CE 948, question No. 13, pp. 1-3. 267. Id. at question No. 13, pp.
3-4.
268. Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116 (1958).
269. Aptheker v. Secretary of State, 378 U.S. 500 (1964).
270. 64 Star. 993; 50 U.S.C. 785. 271. 22 CFR 51.135 (1964 Supp.). 272.
See ch. VI, pp. 287-290.
273. 66 Stat.-190 (1952); 8 U.S.C. see. 1185(b).
NOTES TO PAGES 770-779
274. Proclamation No. 2914 (Dec. 16, 1950), 64 Star. A454; Proclamation
No. 2974. (Apr. 18, 1952), set out preceding 50 U.S.C. app. 1;
Proclamation No. 3004 (Jan. 21, 1953), 18 Fed. Reg. 489.
275. 22 CFR sec. 51.136 (1964 Supp.).
276. CE 948, question No. 17; 5 H 327-328, 337 (Chayes).
277. 5 H 333 (Chayes).
278. CE 2750; Folsom DE 1.
279. CE 834, pp. 1-2; CE 2749, 2750; 5 H 333 (Chayes).
280. 5 H 333 (Chayes) and see 11 H 200 (Seeley) and 5 H 383 (Knight).
281. Hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on
Department of State Passport Policies, 85th Cong. 1st sess. pp. 38-39
(1957).
282. 11 H 186-187 (James); 5 H 332 (Chayes); CE 950 (Repatriation Loan,
p. 3); see Comment, "Passport Refusals for Political Reasons:
Constitutional Issues and Judicial Review," 61 Yale L.J. 171, 174-178
(1952), for examples of
passport refusals prior to Kent v. Dulles. 283. 357 U.S. 116 (1958).
284. 357 U.S. 144 (1958). 285. 357 U.S. 116, 125-126.
286. Hearings before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on S.
2770, et al., 85th Gong., 2d sess., p. 35 (1958); id. at 41 (Roderic
O'Connor, Administrator, Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs of the
Department of State); id. at 22; hearings before the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations on S. 806 et al. 86th Cong., 1st sess., p. 58 (1959);
see also testimony of John W. Hanes. Jr., Administrator, Bureau of
Security and Consular Affairs, Department of State; Hearings before a
special subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government Operations on
S. 2095, 86th Cong., 1st sess. 157 (1959); compare id. at 369. The
regulation was reenacted in 1962. 22 CFR sec. 51.136 (1964 Supp.).
287. CE 949; 5 H 327-328, 331-332 (Chayes); 5 H 379-380 (Knight).
288. 5 H 327-329, 333 (Chayes); id. at 338-339; CE 2756, attachment pp.
2-3. However, the Department had stamped Oswald's passport valid for
direct return to the United States only, prior to granting him a
repatriation loan. CE 946, p. 6, and 5 H 284 (Snyder).
289. 5 H 327-329, 333 (Chayes).
290. Copy of communication cannot be shown for security reasons.
291. CE 948, question No. 16.
292. 11 H 201-203 (Carroll Hamilton Seeley, Jr.) 11 H 191-193 (James L.
Ritchie); CE 948, question No. 16.
293. CE 948, question No. 16; see 5 H 382-383 (Knight).
294. 11 H 482 (James D. Crowley). 295. CE 2688; cf. 5 H 278, 280, 288.
296. James DE 9.
APPENDIX XVI
1. See also CE 1286. 2. See CE 1290.
3. CE 1254; CE 1297, p. 1.
4. See Mrs. Alice Nichols DE 5355, p. 285; CE 1234, 1274, 1654.
5. C. Ray Hall DE 2, pp. 13, 16; C. Ray
Hall DE 1; CE 1322, p. 748. 6. CE 1232. 7. CE 1181.
8. But cf. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185.
9. 15 H 15 (Hyman Rubenstein); CE 1252; CE 1281, p. 20; CE 1285.
10. See generally CE 1283, 1284. 11. See CE 1186.
12. CE 1254; see 14 H 439 (Eva Grant). 13. 1254; see 14 H 488 (Sam
Ruby).
14. 14 H 366 (Earl Ruby); but see CE 1286.
15. 15 H 276 (Eileen Kaminsky); CE 1698, p. 1.
873
730-900 0-64--57
Page 874
NOTES TO PAGES 779-787
16. See CE 1281, p. 20; of. 15 H 19
(Rubenstein) and CE 1297, p. 3, with
CE 1185.
17. CE 1283; see 15 H 14 (Rubenstein ).
18. CE 1283; cf. 15 H 14 (Rubenstein).
19. Id. at 14-15; CE 1297, pp. 3-4. 20. 15 H 18 (Rubenstein); see 14 H
439 (Grant); CE 1281, pp. 20, 42; CE 1297, p. 3.
21. 15 H 15 (Rubenstein); of. CE 1281, pp. 11, 20.
22. See CE 1284; 14 H 437-438
(Grant); 15 H 17 (Rubenstein). 23. CE 1281, p. 20.
24. 15 H 15 (Rubenstein); of. CE 1283. 25. See CE 1283.
26. See CE 1281, pp. 11-12. 27. 14 H 438-439 (Grant).
28. CE 1284; see CE 12 1, pp. 11, 20; cf. CE 1238.
29. See CE 1252; CE 1281, pp. 11, 20; CE 1284, 1285, p. 2; see also 15 H
2, 3 ( Rubenstein ).
30. CE 1281, p. 11.
31. CE 1284; CE 1281, p. 11.
32. See CE 1281, pp. 11, 14, 20, 23; 15 H 17-18 (Rubenstein); 14 H 418
(Earl Ruby); 14 H 285 (Kaminsky).
33. See 15 H 8, 19-20 (Rubenstein). 34. CE 1185. 35. CE 1290. 36. CE
1185.
37. 14 H 366 (Earl Ruby). 38. 14 H 441 (Grant).
39. 14 H 367 (Earl Ruby). 40. 15 H 18 (Rubenstein). 41. CE 1256.
42. 14 H 439 (Grant); CE 1281, p. 11; see CE 1297, pp. 3, 8.
43. CE 1281, p. 21.
44. Id. at 42; see also 15 H 18-19 (Rubenstein).
45. CE 1291, p. 1.
46. CE 1297, p. 2; CE 1291, pp. 4-5. 47. CE 1297, p. 13 see CE 1291, pp.
5-6. 48. CE 1291, pp, 6-7.
49. CE 1297, p. 3; CE 1291, p. 1. 50. CE 1297, p. 1.
51. CE 1291, p. 4; see CE 1297, p. 2; see also id. at 7.
52. CE 1297, p. 9; see CE 1291, p. 2. 53. CE 1291, p. 2; see CE 1297, p.
9. 54. CE 1291, p. 2; see CE 1297, p. 22. 55. CE 1297, pp. 11, 16; CE
1291, p. 3. 56. CE 1291, p. 4; see CE 1297, p. 7. 57. CE 1291, p. 4.
58. CE 1297, p. 2; see CE 1291, p. 5. 59. CE 1291, p. 6. 60. CE 1254,
1286.
61. CE 1254; CE 1291, p. 1: see 14 H 367 (Earl Ruby).
62. CE 1254, 1255. 63. CE 1256.
64. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 12; 15 H 276-277 (Kaminsky).
65. 14 H 366-367 (Earl Ruby).
66. 15 H 9-10 (Rubenstein); 15 H
277-278 (Kaminsky); CE 1281, pp. 11-12. 67. Id. at 12. 68. CE 1188.
69. CE 1281, p. 23.
70. 15 H 19 (Rubenstein).
71. CE 1281, pp. 11, 13, 20, 23. 72. Id. at 3-8. 73. Id. at 35. 74. Id.
at 43.
75. Id. at 42-44; see also id. at 40-41. 76. Id. at 28. 77. Id. at 36,
34. 78. Id. at 47--48.
79. CE 1283, 1284; el. p. 780 supra. 80. CE 1238.
81. 15 H 19-20 (Rubenstein).
82. 14 H 120 (Alice Nichols); see 15 H 278 (Kaminsky).
874
83. CE 1253. 84. CE 1290.
85. See CE 1297, pp. 17, 22, 26.
86. See CE 1290; cf. CE 1202, and Earl Ruby DE 4, p. 174, with CE 1276.
87. See 15 H 10 (Rubenstein): 14 H 439 (Grant); 14 H 416, 420 (Earl
Ruby); Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185; C. Ray Hall DE 2,
p. 13; C. Ray Hall DE I; CE 1185. 88. See CE 1290.
89. See 15 H 10 (Rubenstein); CE 1297, pp. 2, 8.
90. CE 1297, pp. 12, 17; see CE 1291, p. 4.
91. 15 H 18 (Rubenstein); 14 H 418 (Earl Ruby); see 15 H 284-285
(Kaminsky ).
92. 14 H 418 (Earl Ruby).
93. See 15 H 18 (Rubenstein).
94. 15 H 10 (Rubenstein); Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185; C. Ray Mall DE I; CE
1195, 1197, 1200, 1282.
95. 15 H 26 (Rubenstein); C. Ray Hall
DE 1; CE 1193, 1195, 1204, 1282. 96. 15 H 12 (Rubenstein).
97. 15 H 533-534 (Jack Ruby).
98. See 15 H 9 (Rubenstein); CE 1254, 1255, 1699.
99. 14 H 443-445 (Grant); 15 H 21 ( Rubenstein ).
100. 15 H 21 (Rubenstein); 14 H 444-445 (Grant); see, e.g., CE 1193,
1194, 1195, 1196, 1197, 1200, 1202, 1205; Joseph Rossi DE 1; CE 1219.
101. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 15; CE 1195, 1196,
1197, 1205, 1219; but cf. CE 1217, 1218.
102. See 15 H 11-14 (Rubenstein); CE 1193.
103. CE 1200, 1216.
104. 15 H 21 (Rubenstein); CE 1288; CE 1289, p. 4.
105. CE 1244. 106. CE 1195.
107. CE 1200, 1242.
108. CE 1194, 1197, 1246, 1289, p. 3;
see also p. 781 supra. 109. CE 1267.
110. CE 1193; see also CE 1282. 111. CE 1282; CE 1289, p. 3. 112. E.g.,
CE 1208, 1266, 1267. 113. CE 1191.
114. See, e.g., CE 1191, 1194, 1198,
1261; cf. CE 1297, pp. 17, 23. 115. 14 H 440 (Grant). 116. CE 1191.
117. 14 H 440 (Grant).
118. 15 H 28 (Rubenstein): see, e.g., CE 1185, 1191, 1193, 1194, 1215,
1217.
119. C. Ray Hall DE 1; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13; see also 14 H 44
(Grant); CE 1239.
120. See CE 1195, 1198, 1231, 1241, 1263, 1278.
121. C. Ray Hall DE 1; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13.
122. See CE 1318.
123. 14 H 441-442 (Grant).
124. 14 H 441 (Grant); CE 1239.
125. 14 H 442 (Grant); see also CE 1225, 1237, p. 5; CE 1239, 1249.
126. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13; see C. Ray Hall DE 1.
127. 14 H 442 (Grant).
128. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13.
129. 14 H 442 (Grant); CE 1195, 1198, 1231, 1237, p. 5; CE 1239, 1249,
1263, 1323, 1324.
130. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185; CE 1195, 1323.
131. C. Ray Hall DE 1; CE 1239, 1249, 1263; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13.
132. 14 H 442 (Grant); see also CE 1198, 1237, p. 5; CE 1263, 1278,
1324.
133. See CE 1195, 1198, 1231, 1249, 1263, 1323, 1324.
134. CE 1249.
Page 875
NOTES TO PAGES 787-794
135. CE 1195. 136. CE 1263. 137. CE 1195. 138. CE 1248.
139. Alice Nichols DE 5355, p. 285. 140. See also Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185.
141. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13. 142. See p. 783 supra. 143. CE 1281, p.
10.
144. Cf. CE 1217, with CE 1205; cf. CE 1266.
145. CE 1241.
146. See CE 1200, 1203, 1207, 1208,
1246, 1261, 1299. 147. CE 1241.
148. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 15; of. C. Ray Hall DE 1.
149. See CE 1293, p. 1; CE 1292, p. 1; see also 14 H 419-420 (Earl
Ruby).
150. CE 1318; see also 14 H 420 (Earl Ruby ).
151. See 14 H 445 (Grant); CE 1190, 1206, 1279, 1289, pp. 2-3.
152. See CE 1236, 1279; but cf. CE 1235. 153. CE 1293, p. 4. 154. CE
1211.
155. See C. Ray Hall DE 1; CE 1190. 156. 14 H 523 (Jack Ruby); C. Ray
Hall DE 1; see also Alice Nichols DE
5355, p. 285; CE 1187. 157. CE 1190, p. 1.
158. See CE 1206, 1211; 5 H 200 (Jack Ruby ).
159. CE 1206, 1279.
160. CE 1279, 1289, p. 3.
161. See CE 1292, p. 3; CE 1293, p. 4. 162. See CE 1292, pp. 7-8.
163. See CE 1190, 1206, 1289, pp. 2-3; but cf. CE 1184, pp. 26-27.
164. See C. Ray Hall DE 1; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13; 14 H 442 (Grant); 14
H 368 (Earl Ruby).
165. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13. 166. Ibid.
167. CE 1702, p. 1; see also 14 H 443 ( Grant ).
168. See CE 1280. 169. CE 1702.
170. CE 1702; 14 H 443 (Grant); CE 1237, p. 8.
171. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 13; but cf. CE 1192.
172. CE 1274. 173. CE 1319.
174. See CE 1237, p. 8.
175. See, e.g., CE 1192, 1193, 1194, 1196, 1197. 1205, 1217, 1243, 1245,
p. 44.
176. See CE 1192, 1204, 1208, 1217. 177. CE 1248.
178. CE 1245, p. 46; CE 1246, 1299;
cf. CE 1205.
179. See e.g., 14 H 409-410 (Earl
Ruby); 15 H 20 (Rubenstein); CE 1192,
1203, 1208, 1246, 1289, pp. 2, 5.
180. CE 1257.
181. See CE 1289, p. 5.
182. 14 H 411 (Earl Ruby); 14 H 20 (Rubenstein); CE 1192.
183. CE 1241; CE 1289, p. 3.. 184. CE 1703: see also CE 1319.
185. See 15 H 21 (Rubenstein): CE 1191, 1199, 1205, 1220, 1239, 1244,
1246.
486. See CE 1193, 1203, 1207, 1217,
1239, 1244, 1289, p. 3. 187. CE 1193. 188. CE 1299.
189. See CE 1193, 1216, 1258.
190. See CE 1193, 1196, 1200,, 1201, 1202, 1203, 1207, 1208, 1241; CE
1245, p. 8; CE 1246.
191. See CE' 1202, 1210, 1212, 1321. 192. See CE 1321.
193. See, e.g., 5 H 200, 204 (Jack Ruby); 15 H 21, 28-29 (Rubenstein);
14 H 443-
444 (Grant); CE 1288; CE 1289, p. 3. 194. CE 1274. 195, Ibid.
196. CE 1704.
197. See CE 1296, 1705.
198. Cf. CE 1245, pp. 44-45 with p. 10 supra. Cf. CE 1245, p. 45, with
the next paragraph in text, cf. CE 1245, p. 46, with p. 791 infra; see
also CE 1245, p. 47.
199. 15 H 44 (Rubenstein); see also CE 1287.
200. CE 1274; see CE 1189.
201. See 14 H 366, 368-369 (Earl
Ruby); 14 H 443 (Grant); 15 H 4, 44
(Rubenstein); 14 H 497-498, 502-503
(Sam Ruby).
202. CE 1189.
203. See CE 1707, pp. 2, 14-15; CE
1706, p. 15.
204. CE 1706, p. 15, insert (2) to p. 15,
16-22.
205. CE 1707, p. 2.
206. CE 1287, 1295; see also 14 H 411
(Earl Ruby).
207. CE 1295.
208. Ibid.
209. CE 1294.
210. See CE 1294, 1287.
211. See CE 1294, 1295.
212. See p. 789 supra.
213. CE 1294.
214. See 14 H 370 (Earl Ruby); 15 H
3 (Rubenstein); Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 185;
but cf. C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 16.
215. 14 H 370 (Earl Ruby).
216. Id. at 369-370.
217. Id. at 371; see CE 1268.
218. 14 H 371 (Earl Ruby).
219. Id. at 422-423.
220. Id. at 370.
221. Id. at 370, 422-423; 14 H 493 (Sam
Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 1; C. Ray Hall
DE 3, p. 14; see also CE 1200, 1207, 1241.
222. See, e.g., CE 1213, 1240, 1245, p. 4;
CE 1247, 1277.
223. CE 1262; see CE 1209, 1211, 1214,
1247, 1320, 1321.
224. CE 1321.
225. CE 1241; see also CE 1289, p. 5.
226. 14 H 411 (Earl Ruby).
227. CE 1708.
228. See CE 1259.
229. See CE 1245, p. 7.
230. CE 1259.
231. CE 1268.
232. Cf. 14 H 436 (Grant) with id. at
447.
233. Id. at 436, 453.
234. Id. at 453; see 15 H 22-23
( Rubenstein ).
235. 14 H 449 (Grant).
236. Ibid.; 15 H 23 (Rubenstein). 237. See p. 793 infra. 238. CE 1271,
p. 274.
239. C. Ray Hall DE 1; C. Ray Hall DE 3. p. 14.
240. CE 1708; see CE 1250. 241. CE 1265, 1708, 1709.
242. See 14 H 449-451 (Grant); 14 H 23-24 (Rubenstein): CE 1250, 1710,
1711. 1271, 1272, 1273, 1300.
243. CE 1271, p. 279; CE 1708, 1711. 244. See footnote 242 supra. 245.
CE 1710; cf. CE 1711. 246. CE 1271, p. 274.
247. C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 13. 248. C. Ray Hall DE 1.
249. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 14. 250. See p. 791 supra.
251. CE 1251; see also CE 1298.
252. CE 1184, p. 21; CE 1265; see also CE 2887.
253. CE 2416.
254. 14 H 371 (Earl Ruby); 14 H 493 (Sam Ruby).
255. 14 H 371, 423 (Earl Ruby).
256. CE 1182; cf. C. Ray Hall DE 2, p. 13.
257. CE 1708.
875
Page 876
NOTES TO PAGES 794-799
258. CE 1224, 1229, 1264, 1712; but of. 15 H 516 (Stanley M. Kaufman).
259. See C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 14; CE 1318; see also CE 12300 p. 593.
260. 14 H 453 (Grant); C. Ray Hall DE 1.
261. 14 H 453-454 (Grant). 262. See p. 791 supra. 263. 14 H 453 (Grant).
264. Id. at 454; CE 1222, 1269, 1270; see CE 1190.
265. 14 H 138-139 (Ralph Paul); see Alice Nichols DE 5355, p. 238; C.
Ray Hall
DE 1; of. Ralph Paul DE 5319, p. 471. 266. See p. 788 supra.
267. 14 H 115-116 (Alice Nichols); CE 1221, 1223.
268. 14 H 116 (Alice Nichols); C. Ray Hall DE 1.
269. C Ray Hall DE 3, p. 14.
270. 14 H 117 (Alice Nichols); 14 H 417, 426 (Earl Ruby).
271. 14 H 117 (Alice Nichols); C. Ray Hall DE 1.
272. C. Ray Hall DE 1; CE 1227, 1228. 278. CE 1228; see C. Ray Hall DE
1.
274. 14 H 455 (Grant); see 15 H 220 (Joseph W. Johnson, Jr.).
275. Ibid.; 15 H 415 (Nancy Powell). 276. CE 1230, p. 593.
277. CE 1696; see C. Ray Hall DE 1, CE 1227.
278. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 187; C. Ray Hall DE 1 CE 1538; of. 14 H 117
(Alice Nichols); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 14.
279. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 187; C. Ray Hall DE 1, p. 3; C. Ray Hall DE 3, p.
14; see 14 H 454 (Grant).
280. 14 H. 496-497 (Sam Ruby).
281. 14 H 142 (Paul); CE 1675; but see CE 1569, 1656.
282. CE 1500, 1569.
283. 14 H 382 (Earl Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 14; cf. CE 1500, and CE
1549, with 14 H 382-383 (Earl Ruby) and 14 H 456-457 (Grant).
284. CE 1653, 1656, 1677.
285. CE 1500, 1569; 14 H 141 (Paul).
286. 14 H 141 (Paul); see C. Ray Hall DE 1.
287. 14 H 136 (Paul); CE 1504. 288. 14 H 139, 141 (Paul). 289. Id. at
142-143.
290. See 13 H 319 (Andrew Armstrong, Jr.); 15 H 212 (Thomas S. Palmer).
291. 13 H 436 (Curtis Laverne Crafard ).
292. CE 1322, pp. 744-745; see 15 H 193 (Marjorie Richey).
293. Cf. CE 1322, pp. 12-13; 14 H 458 (Grant); 13 H 320 (Armstrong).
294. See CE 1322, pp. 12-13; 14 H 458 (Grant); 13 H 320 (Armstrong).
295. See, e.g., CE 1514, 1616, 1629, 1630, 1631, 1634.
296. E.g., 15 H 414, 416-417 (Powell); 13 H 134 (Armstrong); 15 H 219,
221- 222 (J. Johnson); 14 H 642 (Kay Olsen); CE 1530.
297. CE 1222, 1512, 1527, 1529, 1541, 1542, 1623, 1624, 1647, 1649,
1650, 1670, 1685.
298. CE 1502, 1532, 1533, 1651, 1653, 1657.
299. CE 1517, 1561, p. 297; CE 1656,
1682, 1683, 1637; cf. CE 1565, 1681. 300. CE 1515, p. 549; CE 1635. 301.
CE 1648, 1657.
302. 12 H 216 (Karen Carlin); CE 1561, p. 300; CE 1653.
303. E.g., CE 1512, 1648; CE 1653. 304. CE 1530; 15 H 413 (Powell). 305.
CE 1556.
306. See CE 1548, 1568, 1676, 1633; 15 H 440 (T. M. Hansen).
876
307. CE 1674.
308. 14 H 616-619 (Joseph L. Peter-
son); CE 1564, 1566; but cf. 14 H 601-
602 (Breck Wall).
309. Cf. 14 H 617 (Peterson) and CE
1564 and 1566, with 14 H 614 (Wall);
see also CE 1657.
310. See CE 1514, 1554, 1672.
311. CE 1683.
312. 15 H 209 (Palmer).
313. E.g., CE 1530.
314. See 15 H 208 (Palmer).
315. Id. at 211-214; CE 1543, 1544.
316. 15 H 415-416 (Powell).
317. 14 H 459 (Grant).
318. See CE 1543, p. 191; CE 1562.
319. See 5 H 200 (Jack Ruby); 15 H
28-29 (Rubenstein); 14 H 458-460
(Grant); 13 H 500 (Crafard).
320. 15 H 209 (Palmer); see 14 H 605 (Wall).
321. 15 H 208, 214 (Palmer); 15 H 199 (Marjorie Richey); CE 1648; but
cf. 15 H 415 (Powell); CE 1540, 1541, 1542.
322. CE 1261, 1521, 1522, 1523, 1524, 1525, 1526.
323. See 15 H 211 (Palmer); CE 1322, pp. 744-45.
324. See 15 H 211 (Palmer); 15 H 200 (Marjorie Richey); 15 H 410
(Powell); CE 1561, p. 297.
325. 15 H 410-411 (Powell); CE 1561, p. 301.
326. See 15 H 210-211 (Palmer); 15 H 411-412 (Powell); 15 H 199
(Marjorie Richey); CE 1561, p. 299.
327. Cf. 15 H 412 (Powell) and CE 1501, and 1557 with CE 1550), and CE
15(;1, p. 300.
328. See 13 H 368-369 (Armstrong); 14 H 67-68 (Crafard); 15 H 99-100
(William D. Crowe, Jr.); 15 H 200-201 (Marjorie Richey); CE 1508, 1530,
1563.
329. See 14 H 456 (Grant); 15 H 219-220 (J. Johnson); CE 1560.
330. See 15 H 518 (Kaufman); CE 1519, 1571, 1572, 1573, 1574, 1575,
1662, 1664, 1665, 1666, 1667, 1668, 1669, 1680, 1686, 1687.
331. See 12 H 184 (August M. Eberhardt); 13 H 309-311 (Armstrong); 14
H 455 (Grant); CE 1735, 1748. 332. CE 1575.
333. See 13 H 310 (Armstrong); 14 H 455 (Grant); CE 1570, 1667, 1668,
1669, 1673.
334. CE 1669.
335. See CE 1574, 1662, 1664, 1665, 1680.
336. See CE 1519, 1574, 1679,
337. See CE 1571, 1572, 1573, 1686, 1687.
338. See CE 1519.
339. See footnote 335 supra; CE 1666. 340. CE 1660, 1661.
341. See CE 1678; cf. 15 H 385 (Abraham Kleinman); CE 1218, 1226.
342. See CE 1713, p. 3; CE 1719, p. 1;
see generally CE 1720. 343. CE 1539.
344. See CE 1720, 1721, 1723, 1724; of. CE 1722, 1725, 1726.
345. See CE 1720, p. 29; CE 1727, pp. 1-4; CE 1728, p. 2.
346. CE 1727, 1728, 1729, 1730,1731.
347. CE 1729, 1730, 1731; el. CE 1715, 1716.
348. CE 1713, p. 3; CE 1714.
349. See CE 1713, pp. 3, 9; CE 1714 pp. 1, 3; CE 1715, pp. 1, 4; CE
1716, pp. 1, 6; CE 1717, pp. 1, 2; CE 1718, pp. 1, 3; CE 1719, pp. 1, 5.
350. CE 1713, pp. 1, 3; CE 1714, p. 1.
351. See generally CE 1729.
352. See CE 1732, 1733.
353. See CE 1727, 1729, 1730, 1731.
Page 877
NOTES TO PAGES 799-804
354. CE 1728, pp. 2, 4. 355. CE 1516. 356. CE 1619.
357. See 15 H 26 (Rubenstein); Alice
Nichols DE 5355, p. 287; CE 1613. 358. CE 1552; see CE 1742.. 359. CE
1531.
360. Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 187; 14 H 391 (Earl Ruby); 15 H 27 (Rubenstein);
CE 1478, p. 4.
361. See Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 187; CE 1555, 1638, 1639, 1640, 1641, 1642,
1694; cf. CE 1720, p. 19.
362. 5 H 202 (Jack Ruby); C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 15; CE 1688, 1689.
363. CE 1534; cf. CE 1746.
364. 14 H 129-130 (Robert C. Patterson); CE 1503, 1507.
365. 15 H 224 (Edward J. Pullman); see also CE 1507.
366. 13 H 416-417 (Crafard); CE 1535, 1606.
367. See 13 H 386-388 (Bertha Cheek); 14 H 457-458 (Grant); 15 H 230
(Pullman); 15 H 237-238 (Joseph P.
Rossi); CE 1509, 1551, 1617, 1643, 1644. 368. 15 H 24-25 (Rubenstein).
369. Id. at 25; 14 H 390-391 (Earl Ruby).
370. CE 1567, 1695; see 15 H 237 (Rossi).
371. 15 H 224-227 (Pullman); 15 H 413 (Powell).
372. See CE 1528.
373. See CE 1607, 1608, 1609, 1610, 1611, 1612.
374. CE 1233, 1654. 375. CE 1518. 376. CE 1510.
377. Ibid.; CE 1233. 378. CE 1233. 379. Ibid.
380. See, e.g., CE 1505; 1537. 1632, 1736. 381. 4 H 167, 191-192 (Jesse
Curry). 382. See 4 H 240 (J. W. Fritz); 12
H 193-195 (Eberhardt); 14 H 626 (Harry
N. Olsen); Nancy Powell DE 3; CE 1180, 1224, 1511, pp. 152-153; CE 1512,
1542, 1592, 1615, 1621, 1622, 1632, 1646, 1735, 1743, 1744, 1745, 1748,
1749.
383. See, e.g., CE 1229, 1547, 1549, 1620, 1648, 1736, p. 2; Pullman DE
1.
384. 13 H 324 (Armstrong); see C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 17.
385. 13 H 434 (Crafard); 14 H 213-214 (George Senator); Pullman DE 1; C.
Ray Hall DE 3, p. 17; CE 1502, 1663.
386. See 14 H 213-214. (Senator); 15 H 228 (Pullman); Pullman DE 1; C.
Ray Hall DE 3, p. 17; CE 1505, 1513; CE 1515, p. 551; CE 1632, 1636,
1646; CE 1659, p. 198; CE 1663, 1739, 1741, 1744, 1747, 1749.
387. See CE 1615, 1636, 1684, 1740.
388. See 13 H 193 (Eberhardt); 14 H 485 (Grant).
389. 13 H 193 (Eberhardt); 15 H 447-448 (Hansen); CE 1592, 1646, 1736,
2325.
390. See 14 H 626 (Harry Olsen); 14 H 641-642 (Kay Olsen); but cf. CE
1749.
391. See pp. 792-793 supra. 392. See p. 794 supra.
393. See CE 1505, 1536, 1559, 1742, 1745, 1748, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1758;
but see
5 H 201 (Jack Ruby); CE 1697, pp. 2-5. 394. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 16.
395. See p. 802 infra.
396. Alice Nichols DE 5355, p. 289; cf.
14 H 115. 122-123 (Alice Nichols). 397. CE 1693.
398. See CE 1754, 1755; CE 1748, 1752. 399. CE 1506, 1520, 1585, 1618,
1652;
C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 16; cf. CE 1757, 1758. 400. 5 H 103 (J. Edgar
Hoover); CE
1353, 1628, 1760.
401. R. C. Patterson DE 5358; CE 1229, 1467, 1514, 1469, 1470; CE 1543,
p. 195; CE 1449, 1748; CE 1511, p. 151; CE 1741, 1473, 1474, 1742, 1223,
1745.
402. See pp. 797, 799 supra.
403. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p, 16; see 5 200 (Jack Ruby).
404. See 5 H 200 (Jack Ruby); CE 1580, 1581, 1582, 1583, 1765; Pullman
DE 1; cf. 1543, p. 193.
405. See CE 1576, 1577, 1578, 1579,
1625, 1626, 1627. 406. CE 1584.
407. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 16. 408. CE 1588.
409. CE 1600, 1601. 410. CE 1586.
411. CE 1587, 1588, 1589, 1590, 1591, 1593, 1594, 1595, 1596, 1597,
1598, 1599, 1602, 1603, 1604, 1605.
412. 5 H 200-202 (Jack Ruby); CE 1545, 1690, 1691, 1697.
413. See CE 1546, 1655; CE 1692, pp. 2-5.
414. 5 H 200-201 (Jack Ruby). 415. CE 1697, pp. 1, 4.
416. See 5 H 201-202 (Jack Ruby). 417. CE 1546; CE 1697, pp. 1-2.
418. CE 1440, 1767, 1768, 1769 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775; see
also CE 1766; 14 H 114-115 (Alice Nichols); CE 1471.
419. CE 1441.
420. Cf. CE 1444, pp. 8-15. 42.1. C. Ray Hall DE 3, p. 15. 422. CE 1445,
1446, 1447.
423. See p. 792 supra; Sam Ruby DE 1, p. 186.
424. See p. 794 supra.
425. 14 H 462 (Grant); CE 1448, 1648,
1744; CE 1561, p. 302; CE 1585. 426. 14 H 463-464 (Grant). 427. Id. at
465-466.
428. 14 H 391 (Earl Ruby); 14 H 499-500 (Sam Ruby).
429. 14 H 466 (Grant).
430. 14 H 493 494 (Sam Ruby); see 14 H 114 (Alice Nichols): 14 H 371-372
(Earl Ruby); pp. 791, 793 supra.
431. 14 H 494 (Sam Ruby). 432. See p. 798 supra.
433. 14 H 137 (Paul); 14 H 498 (Sam Ruby).
434. 14 H 498-499 (Sam Ruby).
435. 14 H 371, 373 (Earl Ruby); Earl Ruby DE 4, p. 177; see C. Ray Hall
DE 3, pp. 14-15.
436. 14 H 378, 382-384, 390-391, 417, 426 (Earl Ruby): C. Ray Hall DE 3,
pp. 14-15; see 14 H 457 (Grant); 14 H 491 (Sam Ruby).
437. 14 H 383 (Earl Ruby).
438. CE 1185; 14 H 491 (Sam Ruby). 439. CE 1458, 1542, 15.56.
440. 13 H 438-440 (Crafard): CE 1459, 1460, 1453, 1454, 1461, 1462,
1463, 1180, 1464, 1504, 1465, 1663, 1224.
441. CE 1180; 15 H 638 (Lawrence V. Meyers); 14 H 158 (Paul); 15 H 446
(Hansen): 14 H 203 (Senator); 13 H 194 (Eberhardt); 15 H 563 (Roy A.
Pryor); 14 H 319 (Armstrong); Powell DE 3; CE 1515, p. 553; CE 1742; CE
1478, p. 86; cf. 13 H 215-216 (Karen Carlin).
442. E.g., CE 1452, 1454, 1457, 1461, 1663.
443. See CE 1454.
444. 14 H 111 (Alice Nichols).
445. 14 H 113-114 (Alice Nichols).
446. 14 H 535 (Jack Ruby); 14 (Alice Nichols); 15 H 516 (Kaufman): see
14 H. 463 (Grant).
447. Alice Nichols DE 5355. p. 289.
448. Cf. 14 H 203-205 (Senator) and Powell DE 3, and Paul DE 5319, p.
473, and CE 1479, 1480, 1541, with 13 H 215
877
Page 878
NOTES TO PAGES 804--812
(Karen Carlin), and 13 H 318 (Armstrong), and CE 1481, 1482, 1505, 1512,
1739.
449. 14 H 203-205 (Senator); Powell DE 3; Paul DE 5319, p. 473; Wright
DE I; CE 1260, 1466, 1487, 1748.
450. 13 H 318 (Armstrong); 14 H 194-195 (Senator); 14 H 125 (Mice
Nichols); CE 1449, 1450, 1485, 1542, 1592, 1663, 1740, 1748.
451. CE 2406, p. 650; CE 2411, pp.
621-626; see 14 H 195 (Senator). 452. CE 1451, 1591.
453. CE 1483; see 14 H 152 (Paul); 14 H 503 (Sam Ruby); 14 H 552 (Jack
Ruby); 15 H 516 (Kaufman); CE 1484.
454. CE 1483, 1485; see 14 H 152 (Paul); 14 H 205-206 (Senator); 14 H
552 (Jack Ruby).
455. See 13 H 347 (Armstrong); 13 H 441 (Crafard); 14 H 205 (Senator);
CE 1486, 1478, p. 83; CE 1512, 1542, 1740; cf. 14 H 311 (Senator); 15 H
209-210 (Palmer); but see 15 H 441-442 (Hansen).
456. See 15 H 446 (Hansen); Hansen
DE 1; CE 1478, p. 83; CE 1488, 1542. 457. See ch. VI, pp. 335, 345, 348.
458. See, e.g., 14 H 196 (Senator); CE 1472, 1477, 1489, 1490, 1491,
1492, 1493, 1542, 1738.
459. See CE 1494.
460. See 15 H 240 (Rossi); CE 1449; but see CE 1511, p. 150.
461. See CE 1250, 1483, 1496, 1497,
1498, 1499, 1548, 1671, 2243, 2414. 462. CE 1645, 2243.
463. CE 1497, 1548, 1645, 1671, 1711. 464. CE 1496, 1497, 1499, 1671,
2414. 465. See p. 796 supra.
466. CE 1488, 1542.
467. CE 2495.
468. CE 1624, p. 2.
469. CE 2342, p. 748.
470. CE 1624.
471. CE 2243.
472. CE 2414.
473. CE 1499, 1671.
474. CE 1671.
475. CE 1499.
476. See 14 H 197-198 Senator);
CE 2492, 2493, 2503.
477. CE 2494.
478. CE 1467.
479. See 14 H 202 (Senator) 14 H 562 (Pryor); CE 1223, 1512, 1515, p.
551; CE 1653, 1624.
480. CE 1502.
481. Cf. Crafard DE 5226, p. 149, and 13 H 444-445 (Crafard) with 15 H
248-249 (Earl Wright), and 1.5 H 412-413 ( Powell ).
482. See 13 H 312, 349 (Armstrong): 14 H 147 (Paul); 14 H 122 (Alice
Nichols); Wright DE 1; CE 1470, 1623, 1624, 2243, 2509.
483. CE 1229; CE 1511, p. 150; CE 2499, 2500, 2505.
484. CE 1491, 1511, 2502. 485. CE 2497.
486. CE 1491, 2491, 1511, p. 150; 14 H 184, 188 (Senator).
487. See generally 15 H 413-414 (Powell). Paul DE 5319, p. 473; CE 1512;
15 H 441 (Hansen).
488. See, e.g., 1469, 1735, 1737, 1738,
1742, 1765, 2498, 2502, 2504, 2506. 489. See p. 782 supra.
490. See 15 H 522 (Kaufman).
APPENDIX
1. 14 H 507 (Jack Ruby). 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid.
4. CE 2785, p. 4 statement of Dr. R, L. Stubblefield, M.D.
5. 14 H 508 (Ruby).
6. 5 H 181-182 (Ruby).
7. Id. at 190, 192-193, 196, 211-212. 8. Id. at 123.
9. See CE 2728, 10. CE 2729. 11. CE 2730. 12. CE 2786.
13. 14 H 507-508 (Ruby). 14. CE 2784.
15. 14 H 504-505 (Ruby). 16. Id. at 512. 17. Id. at 504. 18. Ibid.
19. Id. at 504-506, 510. 20. Id. at 507, 509. 21. Id. at 510.
22. Id. at 506-507, 509, 511. 23. Id. at 509; see id. at 514. 24. Id. at
505, 510. 25. Id. at 505.
26. Id. at 508; 14 H 571 (Dr. William R. Beavers).
27. Id. at 511-512. 28. Id. at 512. 29. Id. at 513. 30. Ibid.
31. Id. at 515.
32. See id. at 517-524; see 14 H 581-582 (Bell P. Herndon).
33. 14 H 523 (Ruby). 34. Ibid.
35. Id. at 526. 36. Ibid.
878
XVII
37. Ibid.
,38. Ibid.
39. Id. at 534.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Id. at 536.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. Id. at 540.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Id. at 546.
51. Id. at 547.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Id. at 551.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Id. at 553.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
62. Ibid.
63. Id. at 556.
64. Ibid.
65. Ibid.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid.
68. Id. at 560.
69. Ibid.
70. Ibid.
71. Id. at 560-561.
72. Id. at 561.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid.
75. Ibid.
Page 879
76, Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Ibid.
79. Ibid.
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid.
83. Id. at 563.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Ibid.
87. Ibid.
88. Ibid.
89. 14 H 580 (Herndon).
90. Ibid.
91. Ibid.
92. Ibid.; 14 H 520 (Ruby).
93. 14 H. 580 (Herndon).
94. Ibid.; 14 H 520 (Ruby).
95. 14 H 580 (Herndon).
96. Id. at 581; 14 H 520 (Ruby).
97. Ibid.
98. 14 H 581 (Herndon).
99. Ibid.
100. Ibid.
101. Id. at 581-582.
102. Id. at 581.
103. Ibid.
104. Ibid.
105. Ibid.
106. Id. at 583.
NOTES TO PAGES 812-.816
107. Ibid.
108. See id. at 583.
109. Id. at 582-583; see 5 H 520, 523 (Ruby).
110. Id. at 583. 111. Ibid. 112. Ibid.
113. Id. at 590. 114. Ibid.
115. Id. at 593. 116. Id. at 588. 117. Id. at 590. 118. Id. at 591. 119.
Id. at 592. 120. Ibid.
121. Id. at 584. 122. Id. at 582. 123. Id. at 585. 124. Ibid.
125. 14 H 572 (Beavers). 126. Id. at 571.
127. 14 H 584 (Herndon). 128. Ibid.
129. 14 H 572 (Beavers). 130. Ibid. 131. Ibid. 132. Ibid.
133. Id. at 573-574 (Beavers). 134. CE 2651.
135. 14 H 504-570 (Ruby). 136. 14 H 579-598 (Herndon).
879
Index
Page 880
A
Abt, John J., 201, 289, 655.
Adams, President John Quincy, 505.
Adams, Victoria Elizabeth, 153-154.
Agafonova, Roza, 692, 696.
Akin, Dr. Gene Colman, 53.
Aksenov, Col. Nicolay, 708.
Alba, Adrian, 726.
Alexander, William F., 334, 808-809.
Alkana, Irving, 794.
Altgens, James W. 112, 115, 147.
American Factfinding Committee, 41,
295, 297, 661.
Anderson, Maj. Eugene D., 189, 191, 194.
Andrews Air Force Base, 4, 42, 59.
Andrews, Dean Adams, Jr., 326.
Apple, Tom, 347.
Applin, George Jefferson, Jr., 178, 654.
Armstrong, Andrew, Jr., 335-337, 345, 348.
Arnett, Charles Oliver, 224.
Aronson, Lev, 722.
Arthur, President Chester A., 508.
Ascue [sic.] (See Azque, Senor Eusebio. )
Azque, Senor Eusebio, 301-302, 310, 734-735.
Aszque. ( See Azque, Senor Eusebio. )
B
Baker, Marrion L., 5, 6, 149, 151-155, 160, 252, 642, 648-649.
Baker, T. L., 215.
Ballen, Samuel B., 718.
Barnett, W. E., 155, 253.
Bashour, Dr. Fouad A., 53-54.
Batchelor, Assistant Chief Charles, 32, 39, 204, 206, 209, 2/3, 215,
231,447.
Bates (Mrs.) Pauline Virginia, 326, 660, 714.
Baxter, Dr. Charles Rufus, 53-54, 56.
Beavers, Dr. William R. 809, 814-815.
Behn, Gerald A., 31, 57.
Belasco, David, 787.
Belasco, Virginia, 787, 789.
Bell (Mrs.) W. H., 674.
Bellocchio, Frank, 347-348.
Belmont, Alan H., 327, 437, 442, 462.
Benavides, Domingo, 7, 166, 171, 651.
Bennett, Glen A., 48, 111.
Bentley, Paul L., 176.
Bethesda Naval Hospital, 59-60, 85-88.
Bledsoe (Mrs.) Mary E., 6, 14, 124, 157-158, 162, 252, 653, 737.
Boerder, Frank, 363.
Bogard, Albert Guy, 320-321.
Bonds, Joe, 794-795, 801, 805.
Bookhout, James W., 200.
Boone, Deputy Sheriff Eugene, 9, 79, 645.
Booth, John Wilkes, 506.
Boswell, Dr. J. Thornton, 86, 88.
Bouck, Robert Inman, 429, 432-433, 458.
Bouhe, George A., 281-282, 400-401, 716-718, 729-723, 742.
Bowers, Lee E. Jr., 72, 76.
Bradshaw, J. E. 811.
Brantley, Ray, 812.
Brennan, Howard Leslie, 5, 63-64, 71, 143-145, 155, 250.
Brewer, Johnny Calvin, 7-8, 176, 178-179, 654.
Brian, V. J., 441.
Bright, H. R., 297.
Bringuier, Carlos, 407-408, 419, 728-789.
Brock, (Mrs.) Mary, 174, 653..
Brooks, Representative Jack, 57-58.
Brown, C. W., 215.
Brown, Oran, 321.
Brown, Tom, 346-347.
Buchanan, President James, 505.
Burkhead, Leola B., 772.
Burkley, Adm. George G., 46, 53, 55.
Burley, William B., III, 295-296.
Butler, Edward, 410.
Butler, Lt. George E., 793.
C
Cabell Hon. Earle, 41, 65.
Cabell, (Mrs.) Earle, 65.
Cadigan, James C., 135-136, 174, 183, 566-567, 569, 577-579.
Call, Richard Dennis, 688.
Callaway, Ted, 7, 168--169, 172, 175, 652.
Calverly, Gloria, 154.
Campbell, O. V., 154, 334-335.
Campos, Pedro Albizu, 513.
Page 881
Carcano, M., 554.
Carlin, Bruce Ray, 349, 359-360.
Carlin, Karen Bennett, 336, 348-350, 353-354, 357, 359-360, 362.
Carlton, Otis R., 674.
Carrico, Dr. Charles James, 53-56, 89, 91.
Carro, John, 379, 381-382.
Carroll, Bob K., 178.
Carroll, Marion, 340, 779.
Carter, B. Tom., 434.
Carter, Clifton C., 46, 52, 57.
Carter, John, 363-364.
Castro, Fidel, 11, 122, 290-291, 299, 304, 307-308, 322, 324-325, 389,
407, 414-415,
436-437, 440, 443, 659, 666, 728-729, 732, 812.
Central Intelligence Agency, 22, 245, 258, 259, 266, 269, 272, 274-275,
279-280, 284, 305, 309-310, 327, 359, 365, 371, 433-434, 438, 456, 459,
461, 463-464, 659-660, 748, 762, 777.
Cermak, Hon. Anton, 512.
Cheek, Bertha, 363.
Church, Lt. Col. George B., Jr., 690.
Church, (Mrs.) George B., Jr., 690.
Clark, Dr. William Kemp, 53-55, 90.
Clark, Max E., 717.
Clark, (Mrs.) Max E., 717, 719.
Claverie, Marguerite. (See Oswald, Marguerite. )
Clements, Manning C., 225.
Cleveland, President Grover, 457, 508-509.
Click, Darryl, 236-237, 654.
Cloy, Capt. Richard C. 668.
Cole, Alwyn, 174, 313, 566-570, 577-578.
Coleman, Kay Helen, 344, 350.
Collazo, Oscar, 513.
Combest, B. H., 216.
Communist Party, 11, 21, 244, 287-289, 293, 302, 304, 345, 367, 376,
384, 393, 398, 410-411, 415, 436-437, 695-696, 699, 703, 722, 729-732,
734, 738, 763, 775, 809-810.
Conforto, Janet Adams, 797.
Connally, Gov. John Bowden, Jr., 1-4, 18-20, 28-29, 41-42, 45, 49-50,
53, 56, 79, 81, 85, 92-93, 96-97, 105-107, 109, 112, 117-118, 129, 188,
195, 243, 387, 434, 462, 580-586, 639-641, 646, 710.
Connally (Mrs.), John Bowden, Jr., 42, 45, 48, 50, 57, 77, 97, 112, 581.
Conway, Hiram P. 675.
Cooke, Leon, 788.
Couch, Malcolm A., 65.
Crafard, Curtis LaVerne, 333-335, 337-338, 345-346, 357, 360, 362, 369,
805.
Craig, Deputy Sheriff, Roger D., 160, 251, 252, 253.
Crawford, James N., 68.
Crissey, Edgar R. 297.
Crowe, William D., Jr., 360.
Croy, Kenneth Hudson, 224.
Crull, Elgin E., 241.
Cuba, 14, 2-3, 243, 288, 301-302, 304, 307, 309, 322-323, 370, 374, 376,
389-390, 400, 406, 411, 413-415, 422, 658-659, 686-687, 689, 727,
730-735, 746, 799, 801, 811-812.
Cunningham, Cortlandt, 171. 547, 561.
Cunningham (Mrs.), Helen P., 718-719.
Curry, Chief Jesse E., 17, 31, 41, 43, 49, 52, 58, 103, 165, 196, 200,
202, 204, 208-210, 212-213, 215, 224-227, 229,
Curry, Chief Jesse E.-- Continued 231, 233-236, 238-239, 241, 342, 346,
441, 801.
Curtis, Dr. Don Teel, 53.
Curtis, Vice President Charles, 514.
Czolgosz, Leon F., 463, 509-510.
D
"D," 308-300.
Dallas Police Department, 4-6, 8, 17, 21, 30-31, 43, 52, 57-58, 64, 71,
76, 79, 122-123, 144, 169, 179-180, 185, 196, 208-209, 224-225, 228-
229, 231, 235-238, 240-241, 245, 249, 337, 340, 342, 344, 347, 359, 372,
446, 448, 565, 647, 649-651, 654, 660-662, 664--665, 657, 798, 800.
Daniels, Napoleon J. 221.
Dann, Sol, 808.
Darnell, James, 65.
Davis (Mrs.) Barbara Jeanette, 7, 167-168, 171, 174-175, 651-652.
Davis, Benjamin J., 410.
Davis (Mrs.) Virginia, 7, 167-168, 171, 651-652.
Day, Lt. J. C., 9, 79, 122-123, 135, 140, 645.
Dean, Sgt. Patrick Trevore, 212, 222, 224.
Decker, Sheriff J. E. ( Bill ), 43, 209, 664-665, 809.
Delgado, Nelson, 385, 389, 687-688.
DeMar, William. (See William D. Crowe, Jr.)
De Mohrenschildt, Alexandra, 313.
De Mohrenschildt, George S., 256, 282-283, 394, 400-401, 418, 717, 729-
722, 724.
881
Page 882
De Mohrenschildt, Jeanne, 282-283, 394, 400-401, 418, 717-718, 721, 724.
Department of Defense, 461, 464, 468.
Department of Justice, 238, 457.
Department of State, 13, 26, 244, 258, 266, 267, 275, 276, 277, 279,
326, 327, 330, 331, 432-434, 436, 438, 456, 459, 748. Department of the
Treasury, 454, 457, 460, 464.
Dhority, C. N., 215.
Dickerson, Willis, 796.
Dillon, Hon. C. Douglas, 374, 425, 464, 466, 468.
Dmitrieva, Lyndmila, 692.
Dobbs, Farrell, 289.
Donovan, John E., 385, 389, 685-687.
Dougherty, Jack Edwin, 133, 153.
Dowe, Kenneth Lawry, 346.
Downey, (Mrs.) William, 371.
Downey, William, 372.
Drittal, D. F. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Duff, William McEwan, 368.
Dulany, Dr. Richard B., 56.
Duncan, William Glenn, Jr., 343.
Duran, Senora Silvia Tirado de, 288-289, 301-302, 304-305, 309-310,
734-735.
Dymitruk, Lydia, 721.
Dziemian, Dr. Arthur J. 109, 580, 534.
E
Eberhardt, Augustus M., 342.
Edwards, Robert Edwin, 145-146.
Eisenhower, President Dwight D. 384.
Ekdahl, Edwin A., 9, 10, 377-378, 671-673.
Epstein, Harry, 788.
Epstein, Ruby, 788.
Epstein, Willie, 794.
Euins, Amos Lee, 64, 147, 155.
Evans, Lt. J. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Evans, (Mrs.) Myrtle, 672-673, 680, 726.
Evans, Sidney, Jr., 353.
Executive Order No. 11130, 501-502.
F
Fain, John W., 326, 434.
Fair Play for Cuba Committee, 19, 21-22, 122, 244, 287-292, 301-392,
312- 313, 315, 326, 331, 342-344, 390, 402, 404,
406-408, 410-413, 419, 435-436, 441-442, 567, 578, 661, 728-732, 734,
739, 744.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, 13-14, 16, 22, 24, 26, 30, 60, 76, 8l,
84-- 85, 96-97, 105, 118-119, 121, 123, 125, 131, 134-135,
140, 168-170, 172, 179, 185-186, 193, 199-200, 209, 224, 232, 235, 238,
244-245, 249, 251, 262, 284, 285-287, 289, 292,
309, 315-318, 320, 325-328, 344, 350, 358-359, 362, 364-365, 367-368,
407, 419-420, 429, 431, 433 444, 455-459,
461-464, 466, 514, 547, 555, 561, 565-566, 588, 591, 644, 646, 652,
659-662, 667, 715-716, 732, 739, 748, 762, 775, 777,
779, 807-808, 811.
Felde, Allan R., 682.
Ferraro, Frank, 796.
Finck, Lt. Col. Pierre A., 86, 88.
Fischer, Ronald B. 145-146.
Fisher, Deputy Chief N. T., 32, 206.
Fitgerald ( or Fitzsimmons ), Virginia, 787.
Folsom, Lt. Col. Allison G., Jr., 191.
Ford, Declan P., 722.
Ford, Katherine N. 282, 394, 417, 722.
Foster, J. W., 71-72, 76, 116, 640.
Fowler, Clayton, 808-809, 812.
Frazier Buell Wesley, 15, 129, 131,133-134, 137, 147, 181, 247, 332,
421, 738, 740.
Frazier, Robert A., 77, 84-85, 92, 105-106, 171, 185-186, 189, 193-194,
547-553.
Frazier, Capt. W. B., 229.
Fritz, Capt. J. Will, 8, 9, 16, 79, 122, 155, 160, 162, 179-182,
198-201, 208- 210, 215-216, 229-230, 232, 234, 239, 241, 346, 645.
G
Gadash, Clyde, 344-345.
Garfield, President James A., 425, 507, 509.
Garner, Darrell Wayne, 663.
Garrett, Richard W., 675.
German, Ella, 699, 704.
Gibson, John, 179, 654.
Giesecke, Dr. Adolph H. Jr., 53-54.
Gimpel, Martin, 788, 794.
Givens, Charles Douglas, 141, 142, 250, 644.
Clover, Everett D. 722.
Goldberg, A. I., 694.
Golovachev, Pavel, 698.
Gonzalez, Representative Henry B., 57.
Graef, John G., 719.
Grant, David B., 445.
Grant, Eva, 334-336, 338, 348-350, 352, 663, 779, 785-787, 792-794, 802-
803, 808.
Granovsky, Frank, 786.
Page 883
Grant, Frank. (See Granovsky, Frank. )
Graves, L. C., 167, 216.
Greener, Charles W., 315-316, 646.
Greer, William R., 2, 4, 45, 49-50, 53, 641.
Gregory, Dr. Charles F. 56, 93, 95, 581, 583.
Gregory, Paul Roderick, 281, 330, 707, 715-716, 721, 742.
Gregory, Peter Paul, 400, 714, 716.
Grinnan, Joseph P., 296-297.
Gruber, Alex, 337-338.
Guinyard, Sam, 168-169, 175, 652.
Guiteau, Charles J. 463, 507-508.
Guthrie, Steve, 793.
H
Hall, Elena A., 281, 329, 717-720.
Hall, Gus, 410.
Hallmark, Garnett Claud, 346-347.
Hamblen, C. A., 332-333, 665.
Hamlin, Cecil, 338.
Harkness, D. V., 64, 155.
Harrison, William J. 224.
Hartogs, Dr. Renatus, 379-381, 677.
Hawkins, Ray, 176, 178.
Haygood, Clyde A., 76, 640.
Helmick, Wanda Yvonne. ( See Sweat, Wanda. )
Helms, Richard M., 327.
Herbert, Arthur, 383.
Herndon, Bill P. 809, 815.
Hickey, George W., Jr., 51.
Hidell, A. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Hidell, Alek J. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Hidell, Alek James. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Hill, Clinton J., 3-4, 48, 50-51, 53, 57, 112, 453.
Hill, Gerald Lynn, 116, 179.
Hill, Jean Lollis, 640.
"Historic Diary," 258, 259, 262, 265, 267, 269, 392-394, 750.
Hitler, Adolph, 406, 722, 724.
Hoar, Senator George F. 455.
Holland, S. M. 72, 76.
Holman, E. L., 809.
Holmes, Harry D. 121, 181, 201, 312.
Hoover, President Herbert, 512, 514, 668.
Hoover, Hon. J. Edgar, 225, 235-236, 327-328, 374, 428, 433, 442, 456,
458, 462, 514.
Horn, John T., 161.
Hornig, Donald F., 468.
Hosty, James P., Jr., 327-328, 419-420, 435, 437-444, 660-661, 739.
Howlett, John Joe, 152.
Hoy, David, 361.
Huber, Father Oscar L. 55.
Hudson, Emmett J., 116.
Hughes, Robert J. E., 644.
Hughes, Judge Sarah T. 4, 59.
Humes, Dr. James J., 86, 89.
Hunt, H. L., 367.
Hunt, Lamar, 368.
Hunt, Dr. Jackie H., 53.
Hunt, Nelson Bunker, 297.
Hunter, Gertrude, 317-318.
Hutchison, Leonard Edwin, 331-332.
Hutson, Thomas Alexander, 177.
J
Jackson, President Andrew, 505.
Jackson, Robert Hill, 64-65.
"Jada." (See Conforto, Janet Adams. )
Jarman, James, Jr., 68, 79-71, 144--145, 153, 182, 250.
Jefferson, President Thomas, 427, 564.
Jenkins, Dr. Marion T. 53-54.
John Birch Society, 296-297, 369, 738.
Johnson, Arnold Samuel, 288-289, 293, 410-412, 415-416, 738.
Johnson (Mrs.) Arthur Carl, 130, 163, 643, 653, 737.
Johnson, President Lyndon B., 1, 4, 28, 40, 43, 46, 51-53, 56-58, 188,
202, 453.
Johnson (Mrs.) Lyndon B., 43, 46, 52, 56-59.
Johnson, Priscilla Mary Post, 259, 263, 265-266, 696, 749-750.
Johnston, David L., 198, 200-201, 342, 655.
Joint Resolution 137, 501-502.
Jones, Capt. O. A., 213, 229- 230.
Jones, Milton, 157.
Jones, Paul Roland, 792-794, 801.
Jones, Dr. Ronald C. 53, 54.
K
Kaack, Milton R., 437.
Kaiser, Frankie, 143.
Kaminsky, Eileen, 337, 779.
Kantor, Seth, 335-336.
Kaufman, Stanley M. 347.
Kellerman, Roy H., 2, 3, 4, 29, 45, 49, 50, 52, 53, 57, 446, 449, 452.
Kennedy, President John F. 1-5, 15- 23, 25, 28-29, 32, 39-43, 45, 48-50,
883
Page 884
Kennedy, President John F.--Con.
53--61, 68-69, 79, 81, 85-87, 89, 90-91, 96-98, 105-107, 109-111,
115-118, 129, 173, 179-180, 182-183, 186, 188-190, 194-196, 198,
200-201, 228, 233, 236, 239-240, 242-248, 250, 254, 255, 284-285, 287,
292, 296-298, 304, 309, 316, 321, 322, 325, 333, 335-336, 338, 342,
344-346, 348-352, 354, 364, 366, 368, 370, 373-377, 387, 414-415, 422,
424-429, 431-433, 440, 443, 445, 447-450, 452-456, 459-460, 466,
580-582, 584-586, 637, 639-642, 644-646, 652, 655, 658, 663, 665,
667-668, 722, 739, 804.
Kennedy, (Mrs.) John F., 1-4, 40, 42, 43, 45, 49-51, 57-59, 116, 344,
349, 354, 372, 452-453, 812.
Kennedy, Hon. Robert F., 59, 374, 662.
Khrushchev, Nikita, 255, 722.
Kiev, 276.
Kilduff, Malcolm, 57, 335.
Killom, Wanda Joyce, 363-3,64.
Killion Charles L., 171.
King, Capt. Glen D., 205, 224, 226, 228, 231, 239, 241.
Klause, Robert G., 298-299.
Klein's Sporting Goods Co., 118-119, 127, 566, 569, 723.
Kleinlerer. Alexander, 717, 719-720.
Kloepfer, Ruth, 726.
Knapp, David, 161.
Knight, Russell. (See Moore, Russell Lee. )
Komsomol, 280, 761, 767.
Korengold, R. J., 694.
Kostikov, Valeriy Vladimirovich, 285, 309, 734.
Krystinik, Raymond Franklin, 739.
Kuznetsova, Roza, 697- 698.
L
Lamon, Ward H., 506.
Lane, Mark R., 297-298, 368.
Larkin, James, 347.
Latona, Sebastian F., 123, 135, 140, 249, 563, 566.
Lawrence, Capt. Perdue W., 448-449
Lawrence, Richard, 505.
Lawson, Winston G., 29, 30, 31, 32, 39, 43, 53, 57, 72, 202, 204, 431,
445- 449, 452.
Leavelle, James R. 215-216, 230.
Lee, H. O. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey.)
Lee, O. H. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey. )
Lee, Vincent T., 291, 407-408, 729.
Lewis, L. J. 169.
Light, Dr. Frederick W., Jr., 109, 580, 581, 585.
Lincoln, President Abraham, 425, 504-506, 508-510, 637.
"Little Lynn." (See Carlin, Karen Bennett. )
Livingston (Mrs.) Clyde I., 675.
Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot, 510.
Lord, Billy Joe, 690.
Louis, Joe, 789.
Louisiana Department of Labor, 404, 725.
Louisiana State Unemployment Commission, 292, 309. Love Field, 1-2, 4,
24, 30-31, 39-40, 42-43, 46, 58,
202, 245, 422, 445, 447, 450, 452, 665, 714.
Lovelady, Billy Nolan, 147, 153-154, 644.
Lucy, Forest L., 566.
Lujan, Daniel Gutierrez, 161.
M
McBride, Palmer, 384.
McChann, Rev. Walter J., 324.
McClelland, Dr. Robert N. 53-54, 56.
McCone, Hon. John Alex, 327, 374, 433.
McCurdy, Danny Patrick, 343.
McDonald, M. N. 8, 176, 178- 179, 560.
McFarland, John Bryan, 323, 732.
McKinley, President William, 425, 455, 457, 504, 509-511.
McKnight, Felix, 201.
McMillon, Thomas Donald, 213.
McNamara, Hon. Robert S., 374.
McVickar, John A., 693, 706, 747, 761.
McWatters, Cecil J., 157, 159, 252.
McWillie, Louis J., 370, 801-802, 812.
MacDonald, Betty, 663.
Magia, Hyman, 786.
Mallory, Katherine, 702.
Mamantov, Ilya A. 282.
Mancuso, Dr. Bruno F., 670.
Mandella, Arthur, 123, 135, 141, 563.
Marine Corps, 11, 12, 180, 189-192, 194, 244, 256-258, 262, 322, 326,
376-378, 383-386, 388, 390-391, 393, 395, 397, 402, 422, 434, 440, 569,
571, 645, 656, 660, 672, 675, 678, 689-682, 685, 689-690, 693, 696, 706,
710, 714, 716, 727,
731-732, 746, 748, 763, 766, 775.
Markham, Helen Louise, 7, 166-167, 169, 174-175, 651-652, 667.
Markham, James Alfred, 667.
Markham, William Edward, 667.
Martello, Francis L. 417.
Martin, James Herbert, 187, 372.
Martin, John, 788.
Page 885
Matthews, R. D., 369.
Maxey, Billy Joe, 215.
Maxwell, Alexander W., 772.
Medvedev, Aleksandr, 702.
Meller, Anna N., 281, 716-718, 720.
Mexico, 246, 285, 288, 299, 301-302, 304--305, 307-310, 324, 331, 362,
372, 413, 416, 419, 422, 438, 441, 443, 639, 658-659, 666, 730, 732-
733, 736, 739, 777, 811.
Meyers, Lawrence V., 334-335, 349, 358.
Michaelis, Heinz W., 172.
Miller, Austin L., 76.
Minsk, 12, 257-258, 267, 269, 272, 274--275, 277-278, 280, 393-394, 402,
656-657, 711, 713, 752, 755, 758, 760, 764, 766. Mitchell, Mary Ann, 68.
Molina, Joe R., 237-238.
Montgomery, L. D. 216.
Mooney, Deputy Sheriff Luke, 8, 79.
Moore, Henry M. 180.
Moore, Russell Lee, 343, 344, 349.
Mosby, Aline, 256, 259, 265, 656, 694-696.
Muchmore, Mary, 97, 109-110.
Murphy, Joe E. 71-72.
Murphy, Paul Edward, 683.
Murphy, Thomas J., 76.
Murret, Charles, 331, 728.
Murret, Eugene, 728.
Murret, Lillian, 313, 378, 383, 669-671, 675, 679-680, 690, 725-726.
N
National Naval Medical Center, 4, 59.
National Security Agency, 244.
Navarro, Horacio Duran, 304.
Nelson, "Little Daddy," 799, 802.
Newnam, John, 334-336.
Nichilayeva, Marina. (See Oswald, Marina. )
Nichols, Alice R., 337-338, 787, 801, 803-804.
Nichols, H. Louis, 201, 655.
Nicol, Joseph D., 84-85, 171, 186, 547, 562.
Nix, Orville O., 97, 109-110.
Nixon, Richard M. 187-188.
Norman, Earl, 805.
Norman, Harold, 68, 70-71, 144-145, 153, 250.
Norton, Robert L. 352.
O
O'Brien, Lawrence F., 59. Odio, Sylvia, 321-324.
O'Donnell, Kenneth, 2, 31, 42, 45, 48, 49, 57-59, 427.
Odum, Bardwell D., 364--365, 667.
Office of Naval Intelligence, 433-434.
Office of Science and Technology, 464.
O'Grady, Thomas J., 348.
Okui, Yaeko, 722.
Olivier, Dr. Alfred G., 87, 109, 580-581, 584-586.
Olsen, Harry N., 343-344, 350.
Olsen, (Mrs.) Harry N. 344.
Osborne. (See Oswald, Lee Harvey.)
Osborne, Albert, 305, 733.
Osborne, Dr. William, 56.
Oswald, Lee Harvey, 6, 9-17, 19-22, 24, 30, 118-119, 121-125, 127-131,
133-137, 140-141, 143-147, 149, 151-157, 159-163, 165-169, 171- 172,
174-176, 178-196, 198-202, 204, 206, 208-210, 212-213, 215- 216, 219,
221-222, 224-231, 233-250, 252-254, 256-260, 262, 265- 267, 269, 272,
274-293, 295, 297, 299, 301-302, 304-305, 307-310, 312-334, 342-345,
347, 350, 353-354, 357-365, 367-424, 428, 433- 444, 456, 458, 462-463,
558-560, 562, 565-567, 569-572, 575-579, 590), 592, 596, 637-639,
642-701, 703-713, 716, 719, 720, 722, 724- 728, 731-734, 736, 739-740,
746, 748-751, 753-766, 768-779, 794,
807, 809-811.
Oswald, Marina, 13-15, 122, 124, 127-131, 154, 175, 180-181, 184-188,
198, 235, 238, 246-248, 257, 260, 267, 269, 272, 274-234, 287, 292,
301-302, 309-310, 312, 317-318, 322-323, 328-332, 364, 376, 387,
394-395, 401-402, 404-407, 411-424, 435, 437-440, 567, 571, 578, 592,
643, 645, 647, 653, 657-658, 660-603, 665, 667, 697, 700, 702- 709,
711-712, 714-730, 734-740, 746, 753, 757-758, 761-769, 773.
Oswald, Hazel, 725.
Oswald, June Lee, 711, 714, 721, 724, 725, 726, 730, 737.
Oswald, Marguerite Claverie, 9, 10, 256, 275, 326-327, 329-330,
364--365, 377-381, 384, 401-402, 434, 667, 669-681, 688-689, 694, 697,
711, 741, 766.
Oswald, Rachel, 317, 738-739.
Oswald, Robert Edward Lee, 9, 13, 187, 199, 265, 274, 281, 329-331, 377-
378, 384, 390-392, 401, 434, 669-671, 678, 680, 690, 694, 697, 705- 706,
711-715, 721, 741-742, 763, 773.
Oswald, Robert Edward Lee (deceased ), 669-670.
Oswald, William Stout, 725.
885
Page 886
P
Paine, Michael R., 128, 284, 286-287, 293, 414, 419, 722, 738-740.
Paine, Ruth, 13-15, 125, 128131, 137, 181, 183-184, 199, 201, 246-248,
284-287, 309, 317-319, 322-323, 327, 329, 330-332, 360-361, 364, 403,
413, 416-417, 419, 421-422, 438-439, 442, 577, 586, 592, 643, 654-655,
660-661, 664-666, 722-723, 725-730, 734-740.
Panitz, Meyer, 802.
Pappas, Icarus M., 342.
Parker, Dr. John, 56.
Parker, John F., 506.
Parkland Memorial Hospital, 4, 17, 18, 28, 52-53, 55-58, 60-61, 77, 79,
85, 88-90, 92, 95-96, 107, 110, 155, 199, 202, 336-337, 581, 583, 638,
641-642, 667, 738, 812.
Patman, Dr. Ralph Don, 56.
Patterson, B. M. (Pat), 169, 174, 652.
Patterson, Robert K., 360.
Paul, Ralph, 334-336, 337-338, 350, 352, 358-359, 365, 373, 794-795,
803.
Pena, Orest, 325.
Perry, Dr. Malcolm O., 53-54, 89-91.
Peterman, Viola, 670.
Peters, Dr. Paul C., 53-54.
Peterson, Arnold, 290.
Peterson, Joe, 796.
Petrulli, Nicholas, 748-749.
Phillips, Byron K., 711.
Pic, Edward John, Jr., 669, 676.
Pic, John Edward, 9, 10, 377-379, 382, 384, 669-672, 674-677, 721.
Pic, Mrs. John Edward, 379.
Pierce, Rio S., 215-216, 219, 221, 224, 810.
Piper, Eddie, 153.
Pitts, Elnora, 353-354.
Pizzo, Frank, 321.
Poe, J. M., 166, 174.
Police and Courts Building, 196, 210, 212, 222, 226, 231, 241, 340, 347,
352, 357.
Pool, Representative Joe, 40.
Post Office Department, 119.
Postal (Mrs.) Julia, 8, 176, 654.
Powell, Nancy M. 348.
Powers, Daniel, 385-386, 682, 684.
Powers, David F. 42, 45, 49, 51, 59.
Price, Malcolm H., Jr., 318-319.
Prossa. (See Oswald, Marina. )
Protective Research Section, 23, 29-30, 429-433, 440, 461, 465, 513.
Prusakov, Ilya, 657.
Prusakova, Marina Nikolaevna. (SeeOswald, Marina. )
Pryor, Roy A., 344.
Prusakova, Klavdiya, 702. Putnam, James A., 215.
Q
Quigley, John L., 327, 436-437, 439.
Quinn, Rosaleen, 685.
R
Raiken, Spas T., 713.
Randle, Linnie Mac, 130-131, 133-134, 181, 247, 421, 738.
Randolph, Robert B. 565.
Raven, Gall, 802.
Ray, (Mrs.) Frank, 721.
Ready, John D., 48, 51.
Red Cross, 183, 269, 272.
Reeley, Richmond C., 772.
Reeves, Huey, 349-351.
Reid, Mrs. Robert A., 154-155, 252.
Reilly, Frank E., 76.
Revill, Lt. Jack, 441.
Reynolds, Warren Allen, 169, 173-174, 652, 663.
Richey, Warren E. 352-353.
Roach, (Mrs.) Thomas, 670- 671.
Roberts, (Mrs.) Earlene, 6, 163, 175, 252, 363, 653.
Roberts, Emory P. 51.
Roberts, Representative Ray, 65.
Robertson, Dr. Raymond E., 782.
Robinson, Roscoe, 795.
Rocco, Eddie, 361.
Rodriguez, Evaristo, 324.
Roosevelt, President Franklin D., 32, 366, 425, 427, 446, 455, 512-513,
789, 791.
Roosevelt, President Theodore, 425, 510-512, 514.
Rose, Guy F., 131, 180.
Ross, Barney, 785, 789.
Roussel, Henry J., Jr., 685.
Rowland, Arnold Louis, 250-252.
Rowland, Mrs. Barbara, 251.
Rowley, James J., 374, 450-451, 462, 466.
Rubenstein, Fannie, 780-781, 783-784.
Rubenstein, Harry, 791.
Rubenstein, Hyman, 340, 366, 779-780, 783-786, 789-792, 799.
Rubenstein, Jacob. (See Ruby, Jack. )
Rubenstein, Joseph, 779-784.
Ruby, Earl, 365, 370, 799-780, 782, 784, 791,793, 795, 803.
Ruby, Jack, 17, 21-22, 196, 206, 208, 216, 219, 221-222, 224, 227, 230,
243-244, 287, 297-299, 326, 333, 335, 337-338, 340, 342-350, 352-354,
357-374, 637-638, 650, 661-663, 779-816.
Ruby, Sam, 779, 782, 790-791, 793, 795, 803.
Page 887
Rusk, Hon. Dean, 255-256, 309, 374, 456.
Russell, Harold, 169, 653.
Rutkowski, Fannie Turek, 780.
Rutledge, John, 340.
Ryder, Dial D., 315-316, 646.
S
Saffran, Don, 337-338.
Sawyer, Inspector J. Herbert, 8, 76, 155, 253.
Schmidt, Larrie H., 295-297.
Schmidt, Volkmar, 722.
Schrand, Martin D., 664.
Schrank, John N., 463, 511.
Scoggins, Williams W., 7, 165-166, 169, 175, 651.
Secret Service, 2, 16, 23-26, 28, 30, 32, 39, 43, 45, 52, 57, 71, 96-97,
116, 179, 199, 245, 247, 316, 326, 374, 425, 427-433, 440-444, 446-461,
468, 508-515, 664, 667.
Seidband, Sidney, 801.
Senator, George, 344-346, 352-354, 371-372, 810.
Setyayev, Lev, 691.
Shaneyfelt, Lyndal L., 98, 125-126, 592-593, 595-597.
Shanklin, J. Gordon, 440, 647.
Shargol, Martin, 788.
Shaw, Dr. Robert Roeder, 56, 92-93, 581, 583.
Shelley, William H. 147, 153-154, 182.
Shires, Dr. George T., 56.
Shirokova, Rima, 259, 667, 690-693, 696-697.
Siegel, Evelyn G. S. 379-382.
Silverman, Rabbi Hillel, 340, 804.
Simmons, Ronald, 189, 194.
Simmons, William F. 364.
Skelton, Royce G., 76, 116.
Slack, Garland Glenwill, 318-320.
Slatin, Joe, 795.
Slaughter, Malcolm R., 353.
Smith, John Allison, 352-353.
Smith, William Arthur, 168, 175.
Snyder, Richard Edward, 262, 265, 277-278, 392, 693-695, 701, 705-706,
747-748, 754--758.
Sokolow, Irving, 381.
Sorrels, Forrest V., 29, 31-32, 39, 43, 52, 155, 204, 206, 210, 446,
448, 452.
Soviet Union, 11-13, 21, 23, 128, 192, 243-244, 254-259, 262, 265-267,
269, 272, 274-279, 285, 287, 289, 299, 301, 307, 309-310, 312, 326,
329-330, 374, 376-377, 387-388, 390-395, 397-399, 401-492, 408, 410,
412-414, 417, 420, 422, 434, 436-437, 442, 639, 655--657,
Soviet Union--Continued
650, 662, 696, 693-695, 698-699, 706, 709, 711, 714, 716, 727, 731, 747-
751, 753, 755-757, 759-761, 764-766, 768-
769, 771, 776, 778.
Stevenson, Hon. Adlai, 30, 41, 292, 295, 415-416, 433.
Stevenson, Deputy Chief M. W., 208-210, 213.
Stombaugh, Paul M. 124-125, 128, 136, 586, 588, 590-591.
Stovall, Richard S. 180.
Stovall, Robert L., 246.
Stuckey, William Kirk, 390, 408, 437, 729.
Studebaker, Robert Lee, 566.
Surrey, Robert Alan, 298-299.
Sweatt, Allan L., 809.
T
Tabon, Don, 805.
Taft, President William Howard, 426, 511.
Tague, James Thomas, 116.
Talbert, Capt. Cecil E., 210, 212-213, 230.
Tanay, Dr. Emanuel, 808-809.
Taylor, Alexander, 717.
Taylor, Gary E., 717-718.
Taylor, Robert Adrian, 318.
Texas Employment Commission, 246-247, 281, 308, 332, 400, 402--403, 715,
724.
Texas School Book Depository--3-6, 8-9, 14-16, 18-19, 21, 25, 32, 48,
52, 61, 63-65, 68, 71-72, 76, 79, 81,
85, 87, 95-98, 112, 115, 117-118, 122, 125, 128, 129-130, 133, 135-137,
140, 144, 146-147, 149, 153-155, 157, 159-160, 175, 179, 182, 185, 189-
190, 192, 195, 198, 233-235, 237-238, 245-248, 250-253, 285, 318, 335,
360, 370, 378, 404, 421-422, 438, 441, 443, 448-449, 458, 551, 553, 555,
557, 565-567, 579-580, 583, 588, 638-640, 642-649, 661, 664, 738.
Texas Theatre, 8, 9, 124, 159, 176, 198, 200, 206, 234, 423, 654.
Thomas, Representative Albert, 1, 42, 57-58.
Thornberry, Hon. Homer, 57-58.
Thornley, Kerry Wendell, 385-386, 388-389, 686.
Tippit J. D., 6-8, 16, 20, 22, 118, 144, 156, 165-168, 173-176, 179-180,
195 198, 200-201, 240, 252, 254, 297, 330, 368-370 376, 423, 639,
648-653, 655, 661-663, 667, 812.
Titovyets, Erik, 702, 708.
Tobias, (Mrs.) M. F., 435.
887
Page 888
Tomlinson, Darrell, C., 81.
Tonahill, Joe H., 807-808.
Tormey, James J., 289.
Torresola, Griselio, 513.
Tower, Senator John G., 769-770.
Trade Mart, 1-3, 24, 30-32, 39-40, 46, 53, 58, 245, 247, 422, 445, 447,
450, 729.
Trammel, Connie, 368.
Treasury Department, 119, 121, 314, 328, 433.
Truly, Roy S., 5, 6, 9, .149, 151-156, 247-248, 252, 648, 664, 738.
Truman, President Harry S., 425, 513.
Turman, Buddy, 805.
Turner, F. M., 221.
Twiford, Horace Elroy, 289, 731-732.
Tyler, President John, 505.
U
Underwood, James R., 64-65.
V
Van Buren, President Martin, 505.
Vaughn, Roy Eugene, 215, 221-222.
Vinson, Philip Eugene, 674.
Voebel, Edward, 383, 679.
Volpert, Ann, 338.
W
Wade, Henry, 201, 205, 208, 234-237, 342-343 346-347, 441, 654.
Waldman, William J., 119.
Walker, C. T., 176.
Walker, Maj. Gen. Edwin A., 13, 15, 20, 23, 118, 128, 182-187, 195, 282-
283, 286, 288, 298-299, 368, 376-377, 404-406, 416, 442-443, 562, 567,
592, 596, 661-663, 738.
Walker, Ira N. Jr., 352-353.
Wall, Breck, 350, 352, 358-359, 796.
Walthers, Eddy Raymond, 116, 178, 641.
Washington, President George, 426-427.
Waterman, Bernice L., 758.
Watherwax, Arthur Willliam, 344-345.
Weinstein, Abe, 349, 352, 358.
Weinstein, Barney, 349, 350, 359.
Weissman, Bernard, 293-299, 335, 344, 347, 357, 368-369, 661, 663.
Weitzman, Seymour, 79, 81, 645.
Westbrook, Capt. W. R., 175.
Weston, Wally, 797.
Whaley, William Wayne, 169-162, 252, 649-650.
White, J. C., 71, 640.
White House, 1-2, 29-31, 40, 42, 57, 59-60, 90, 245, 429, 431, 445-446,
459-452, 457, 460, 466-467, 505-506, 508-509, 510, 512-515.
Whitworth, Edith, 316.
Wiedersheim, Frederick J., 773.
Wiggins, Lt. Woodrow, 230.
Williams, Bonnie Ray, 68, 79-71, 153,
Willis, Billy Joe, 361.
Willis, Phillip L., 112.
Wilson, President Woodrow, 512, 514.
Wittmus, Ronald G., 123, 135, 141.
Wood, Dr. Homer, 318-319.
Wood, Sterling Charles, 319-320.
Worrell, James Richard, Jr., 253.
Wright, James C., Jr., 750.
Wulf, William E., 384.
Y
Yarborough, Senator Ralph W., 2, 42, 46, 52.
Yatskov, Antonovich, 734.
Young, Arthur, 286.
Young, Ruth Forbes, 286.
Youngblood, Rufus W., 3, 46, 48, 51-52, 57-58, 453.
Z
Zahn, James A., 189-191, 194.
Zangara, Guiseppe, 463.
Zapruder, Abraham, 49, 63, 97-98, 105, 109-110, 112, 115, 453.
Ziger, Alexander, 697, 709.
Zoppi, Tony, 334.
888
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