jfk files: suddenly nuts appearedjfk.hood.edu/collection/weisberg subject index... · jackie's...
Post on 03-Jun-2020
1 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
14
JFK files .
- ,l'h
{e--V
eg
iV '5
; "
uddenly a bunch of nuts became suspects
-•
❑ Jack
ie's grief; JF
K's last
word
s; Osw
ald's p
sych
e. Pag
es 18-2
1.
-
Asso
ciated P
ress .
WA
SH
ING
TO
N —
Th
ere w
as H
obo S
mith
. And a M
iami B
each
gangster called Jimm
y Blue E
yes. A
Fren
ch w
om
an n
amed
Tru
th.
And G
lenn T
. Carth
ron, a telep
hone-
pole creo
sote salesm
an, w
ho said
Jim
my H
of fa paid $1.5 milliun to have
Joh
n K
enn
edy
killed
.
How
did
he k
now
? God to
ld h
im
in P
hilad
elphia.
All g
ot th
e -M
en
tion
of F
BI
agents a
s they h
unte
d fo
r the re
al
story behind the president's assassina-tion. P
ages an
d p
ages o
f files mad
e public yesterday by the F
BI —
40,001 pag
es to b
e precise —
show
that th
e b
ureau
chased
tips fro
m sh
oesh
ine
boys, m
ental p
atients, artists, d
runks,
phone operators, businessmen, house-
wiv
es. Alm
ost an
yo
ne w
ho
offered
an
yth
ing
by
way
of h
elp m
ade it In
to
the o
fficial record
.
A M
ichig
an m
an p
honed F
BI
head
qu
arters to say
the k
ussian
s had
p
aid fiv
e men
to k
ill Ken
ned
y. A
n
agen
t inv
estigated
. He d
uly
repo
rted
two em
pty
whisk
y b
ottles an
d th
e m
an's inability to get out of bed.
-., • A w
om
an su
ggested
that ag
ents
inv
estigate g
raffiti on
a bath
roo
m
wall at a M
arylan
d restau
rant. O
ne
agent thought a chalk scrawl, inside a
bo
xcar in
Mich
igan
mig
ht b
e Lee
Harv
ey O
swald
's. Ch
eck it o
ut, h
e o
rdered
.
. Ho
bo
Sm
ith w
as from
Sp
artan.
burg
, S.C
. " .ate
and in
terv
iew
,"
ord
ered W
ashin
gto
n. T
he files aren
't clear ab
ou
t wh
at agen
ts fou
nd
, bu
t it co
uld
n't h
ave b
een m
uch
.
The m
atter of "S
usp
ect Sm
ith,"
as agents called him, w
as dropped as a , "ch
ron
ic com
plain
t."
Agen
ts heard
about Jim
my B
lue
Eyes from
a shoeshine boy. He quoted
the g
ang
ster as sayin
g. "T
hey
sho
uld
have gotten the w
hole family, includ-
ing Robert K
ennedy."
The M
iami field office reported it
-'-See B
eek Page, C
ol. 1
JFK
files: Su
dd
enly n
uts ap
peared
—
Fro
m P
age 1
• to
Directo
r J. Ed
gar H
oo
ver. N
ot
much
came o
f that In
vestig
ation
either —
Jimm
y B
lue E
yes d
idn
't .really
mean
it.
"Angele" w
as ho
w th
e Fren
ch
.wom
an sig
ned
her letter: "Is H
itler re
ally
dead
an
d b
urie
d? Y
es, I
know, you w
ere told he is, although it h
as n
ot b
een
pro
ved
. Bu
t I, :T
ruth
,' am
tellin
g y
ou th
at th
at
:monste
r is not d
ead ... Y
ou a
re
now
warn
ed, b
e w
atc
hfu
l and
.merciless ... A
ttacks can
take p
lace _
with
in th
e very
near fu
ture."
Her h
andw
riting m
atc
hed
nothing In the bureau's Anonym
ous setter F
ile. Dead
end.
Agents reported C
arthron, who
Ped
dled
creoso
te to k
eep telep
ho
ne
poles fro
m ro
tting, d
escribed
his
message from
God this w
ay: "H
e told
of h
is bein
g in
this
'room
at the B
en F
ranklin
Hotli,
Philad
elphia, P
a., and
while in
the
:bath
roo
m a lig
ht cam
e thrcu
gh
the
transo
m an
d a v
oice sp
oke ... H
e to
ld o
f bein
g so
frighten
ed h
e fell to
the flo
or a
nd
held
On
to th
e
bath
roo
m fix
tures."
Agents in
Louisian
a heard
that
a man
in a S
tetson h
at had
said, "If
we c
an't p
ut a
man in
by b
allo
t, w
e'll get rid
of th
is on
e with
a .30
-.3
0." T
hey
came u
p w
ith eig
ht m
en
who w
ore S
tetsons —
five sen
ators
and th
ree represen
tatives.
An
artist sent H
oo
ver a tw
o-p
age
lette
r ab
ou
t his th
eo
ry o
n th
e
assa
ssinatio
n —
and o
ffere
d to
pain
t his p
rotrait In
the b
argain
. T
he d
irector p
olitely
declin
ed.
A--
An E
l Cam
po
, Tex
as, wo
man
w
ho
disa
gre
ed
with
her -.uncle's
approval of Kennedy's policies sent
the u
ncle a w
ire:,"Th
ank
God, you
did
it." •
Agen
ts hu
nte
d th
e w
om
an
d
ow
n, an
d sh
e agreed
that it w
as a tasteless jo
ke.. .
, Bu
t the a
gelp
ts inte
rrog
ate
d
.her anyway —
for days.
"Exam
ine co
nten
ts of su
spect
Osw
ald sto
mach
and
intestin
es for
traces of ch
icken
," wired
a Califo
r-nia m
an. In
anoth
er telegram
, a N
ew
York
man sa
id: "S
uggest
analysis of feces of suspect Osw
ald H
arvey (sic) for traces of chicken."
Th
e c
on
cern
seem
s to h
av
e
been
pro
mpted
by th
e disco
very
of
chick
en b
ones n
ear the sp
ot w
here
Inv
estig
ato
rs said
Osw
ald
was
standin
g w
hen
he sh
ot at K
enned
y.
Osw
ald's "void" was exam
ined, but th
e files don't sh
ow
wheth
er an
alysts fo
und an
y ch
icken
. -
.• ,
S F
EX
AM
A/F
R
ta-i/7
7
p. )
Jackie's picture of the shooting
!I]
Page 18—S.F. EXAMINER * Thurs., Dec. 8, 1977
The JFK files
JACKIE ONASSIS' MEMORY `Oh my God, they shot him'
WASHINGTON fl1P11 — -Oh my God, they have shot my husband, Jack. Jack!"
From Jacqueline Kennedy's first anguished words as bullets ripped into the presidential limousine in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, to the autopsy hours later in a military hospital outside Washington, newly released FBI documents provide a vivid portrait of John Kennedy's assassination.
John Connally and his wife, Nellie, occupied Jump seals in front of the president and his wife. Connally was wounded and recalled the moments from his bed in St. Davis Hospital Dec. 11. 1963: "First sense or realization of anything unusual I became conscious of a shot on what seemed like a gunshot."
A bullet pierced Connally's body, passed through his wrist and lodged m his left leg where it shattered.
"Oh my God! They are going to kill us all," he recalled saying. He leaned toward his wife, who pulled him close.
"No, he still," she soothed him. "You are going to be all right."
"I was never really conscious of hearing t he second shot but felt it hit me." Connally said. "I was conscious of a third shot and heard it, I had a feeling the third shot hit President Kennedy but did not see it actually
'strike his body.
"About this time I became conscious of the fact that we were all splattered with what I thought was brain tissue from President Kennedy."
Mrs. Connally told the agents that parts of Kennedy's brain tissue fell on her. She said she heard Mrs. Kennedy say, "They killed Jack, his brains are in ' my hand." 4
Doctors worked for seven frantic minutes to save Kennedy, using an assortment of sophisticated 'equip-'` ment. They ' put him on oxygen, connected to a respirator and later an anesthesia machine. He underwent an emergency tracheotomy to clear blood - from his throat, received blood tranfusions and an injection in his ankle with a solution to correct dehydration.
The resident surgeon and first doctor to examine Kennedy's massive head wounds, Dr. James Carrico,,, found Kennedy had "slow, agonal respiratory efforts.. Two external wounds, one in the lower third of the anterior neck, the other in the occipital region of the skull, were noted."
No bullets were found in the president's body during the autopsy, FBI documents showed.
A discrepancy over last words
WASHINGTON (UPI) — John Kennedy's last words may have been either "Get me to a hospital," or "My . God, I've been hit," according to two different versions by the head Secret Service agent in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963.
His first-person accounts of Kennedy's shooting were contained in 40,001 pages of FBI documents released yesterday. „ .
Roy Kellerman, assistant agent in charge of the White House detail, was the ranking Secret Service agent that day. He was riding next to the driver of the presidential car. He recalled that the car had just traveled through a crowd of 250,000 people and he "breathed a sigh of relief" as they 'approached an underpass.
He heard a shot. "observed the president slump, forward and heard him say 'Get me to a hospital."
Kellerman said it took eight minutes to get to the hospital. Upon arrival "the president was breathing and gasping for breath, but did not appear conscious."
In a separate interview Kellerman said he "dis-tinctly and positively" heard Kennedy say. "My God, I've been hit."
In this version of the events, Kellerman was sure of what Kennedy said because he had been "in almost)'. daily contact for the past three years, with the • president, and could pick his voice out from any group.... of people."
• , f
4•V
4 0'
46 -
Lee H
arvey
Osw
ald
Lo
okin
INCI TAX.
Pa
ge
20
—S
.F. E
XA
MIN
ER
* T
hu
rs.. Dec. 8
, 1977
Th
e JFK
files
As b
oy, O
swald
fantasized
abo
ut killin
g
WA
SH
ING
TO
N (U
PI) —
When L
ee Harvey O
swald
vas 1
3, a p
sych
iatrist fou
nd
him
to b
e sufferin
g fro
m
lelu
sion
s of p
ow
er a
nd
fan
tasie
s ab
ou
t killin
g o
r iu
ntin
g p
eople.
At 1
5, O
swald
had
beg
un
to stu
dy
Marx
ism. T
he
text y
ear he w
rote to
the S
ocialist P
arty in
New
Yo
rk
or m
ore in
form
ation ab
out its Y
outh
Leag
ue.
And
after the assassin
ation o
f Joh
n K
enn
edy
, )sw
ald's R
ussian
-bo
rn w
ife Marin
a told
po
lice it was
)swald
who "h
ad an
obsessio
n to
get h
is nam
e in
!story
" and trie
d to
kill G
en. E
dw
in W
alk
er, a
im
minent D
allas right-winger.
• T
hese facts em
erged
from
the n
ewly
-released F
BI
iocu
men
ts pro
vid
ing n
ew in
sight in
to O
swald
's psy
-hological m
akeup and motivations.
The W
arren C
om
missio
n's h
andlin
g o
f Osw
ald's
lotiv
es has o
ften b
een criticized
as unsatisfacto
ry.
"Lee," sta
ted a
psy
chia
tric p
rofile
on O
swald
A
mpiled in 1953. "has to be diagnosed as a personality
mem
distu
rban
ce with
schizo
id featu
res and
passiv
e .7
.ere
ssive te
ndencie
s. He h
as to
be se
en a
s an
-notio
nally
quite d
isturb
ed y
oungster w
ho su
ffers -id
er th
e im
pact o
f ... em
otio
nal iso
latio
n a
nd
-priv
ation, lack
of affectio
n, ab
sence o
f family
life
an
d re
jectio
n b
y a
self-in
vo
lved
an
d c
on
flicte
d
moth
er."
Children's probate court of N
ew Y
ork City ordered
the p
rofile b
ecause o
f Osw
ald's ex
cessive ab
sences
from school: "T
he root of his difficulties seems to be his
relationsh
ip w
ith h
is moth
er (Marg
uerite O
swald
) ... a rigid, self-involved w
oman w
ith strong ideas."
Years later, in the first F
BI interview
with O
swald,
conducted
18 m
onth
s befo
re the assassin
ation, ag
ents
found Osw
ald a "cold and arro
gan
t" man
.
Th
e mem
o said
Os-
wald
"beat h
is wife
..." M
arin
a, a
nd
"dra
nk
to
excess" w
hile liv
ing
in
Fo
rt Wo
rth.
Th
ere were th
ree FB
I view
s of O
swald
befo
re the assassination.
Th
e FB
I mem
o said
O
swald
was first in
ter-
view
ed u
pon h
is return
to
the U
nite
d S
tate
s from
th
e S
ov
iet U
nio
n. T
he
date w
as June 1
4, 1
962, in
Fort W
orth
, Tex
as. The
agents found Osw
ald "very curt and short in answering
man
y q
u estions an
d g
ave th
e impression of being cold
and arrogant. He advised that he w
as not willing to take
a poly
grap
h test"
Osw
ald told the agents he was never recruited "at
any tim
e- b
y S
ov
iet intellig
ence, an
d p
rov
ided
no
inform
ation on the Russians.
The seco
nd in
terview
too
k p
lace Au
g. 1
6, 1
96
2.
Osw
ald d
isclosed
that h
e had
contacted
the S
oviet
embassy
in W
ashin
gto
n to
pro
vid
e his R
ussian
-born
w
ife's curren
t address —
"which
was req
uired
by
Soviet law
."
At th
e end o
f that In
terview
, accord
ing to
the
docu
men
t, Osw
ald ag
reed to
"contact th
e FB
I if any
perso
n ev
er con
tacted h
im in
the U
nited
States u
nd
er suspicious circum
stances."
The th
ird —
and last —
interv
iew cam
e Aug. 1
0,
1963, in New
Orleans. O
swald told agents that he w
as unem
plo
yed
but v
olu
ntarily
wo
rkin
g fo
r the F
air Play
-for C
uba Com
mittee.
"Oth
er th
an th
e c
onnectio
n w
ith th
e F
PC
C,
investig
ation d
evelo
ped
no su
bversiv
e data reg
ardin
g
sub
ject ..." Bu
t the m
emo
end
s with
two
blan
ked
ou
t portio
ns w
ith h
andw
ritten q
uestio
ns —
"Why n
ot?
When? —
in the margin.
in defending FB
I i
a th
s is
. tt
tV~
.i
By S
aul F
riedm
an
Kn
ight N
ews S
ervice
WA
SH
ING
TO
N —
Docu
men
ts just re-
leased b
y the F
BI sh
ow th
at J. Ed
gar Hoover
was alm
ost as Interested
in d
efend
ing th
e F
BI as h
e was in
solving th
e mysteries b
ehin
d
the assn
.ssination
of John
F. K
enn
edy.
Hoover's fam
ous p
reoccup
ation w
ith h
is ow
n a
nd
the F
BI's rep
uta
tion
stan
d o
ut
clearly in th
e pap
ers. He took
great pain
s to d
efend
the B
ureau
against an
y outsid
ers.
Ind
eed, even
qu
estions from
ordin
ary A
merican
s did
not go u
nn
oticed b
y the F
BI
and
its investigative ap
paratu
s.
Wh
en a N
ew Y
ork cou
ple, in
a telegram
to H
oo
ver, w
on
dered
wh
at b
e wa
s do
ing
ab
out th
e case, the F
BI ch
ief replied
icily: "
Ind
ividu
als are qu
ick to fin
d fau
lt More
often
than
not th
ey sp
eak
with
ou
t an
y
kn
owled
ge of the facts . . ."
.
A typ
e-written
mem
orand
um
attached
to th
e bu
reau's file cop
y of Hoover's rep
ly n
otes omin
ously th
at the F
BI h
ad search
ed
its files to see wh
at it had
on th
e New
York
cou
ple.
"B
ased on
inform
ation availab
le," th
e n
ote said, "
no in
formation
iden
tifiable w
ith
correspon
den
t located in
Bu
files."
Th
eMu
reaut an
ger and
the p
ower of th
e F
BI w
ere not on
ly directed
at citizen critics.
Hoover's top
aides, In
an in
ternal m
emo,
den
oun
ced th
en C
IA D
irector John
McC
one
for allegedly leak
ing stories to n
ewsp
apers
design
ed to u
nd
ermin
e the F
BI in
vestigation.
McC
one, reach
ed in
Los A
ngeles. w
here
he n
ow lives, d
enied
leakin
g any in
formation
to th
e press regard
ing th
e investigation
.
"1 had
the closest p
ersonal relation
ship
w
ith J. Edgar H
oover and good relations with
the F
BI,"
McC
un
e said
. "I th
ink
if an
y
allegations of this k
ind
had
come to H
oover's atten
tion, h
e'd h
ave gotten on
the p
hon
e and
' called
me ab
out it"
• - :
Hoover, th
rough
top aid
es, enlisted
the h
elp of ran
kin
g pu
blish
ing an
d television
n
etwork
officials to protect th
e repu
tation of
the F
BL
tr"
•
•
J. ED
GA
R H
OO
VE
R (IN
1962) C
oncern
ed w
ith p
ub
lic relations_ ...-
An
d th
e FB
I Director fou
ght tooth
-and
-n
ail to
sho
rt-circuit th
e creatio
n o
f an
in
dep
end
ent com
mission
to investigate th
e assassination.
Even
tually, w
hen
the com
mission
un
der
then
Ch
ief Justice E
arl Warren
was created
, H
oover and
the F
BI coop
erated, A
nd
the
comm
ission, after ru
ne m
onth
s of investiga-
tion, reach
ed th
e same con
clusion
as Hoover
— that O
swald, acting alone, killed P
resident K
enn
edy.
Bu
t dou
bts h
ave lingered
amon
g man
y A
merica
ns. A
nd
critics of th
e Warren
C
omm
ission's fin
din
gs and
the F
BI h
ave su
ggested th
at the early p
ressure to solve th
e case q
uick
ly, for the sak
e of the C
oun
try and
to p
rotect the F
BI's rep
utation
, were am
ong
the reason
s for a shod
dy in
vestigation.
Da
vid
W. B
erlin a
ran
kin
g la
wy
er-in
vestigator for the com
mission
, said in
his
book
defen
din
g the fin
din
gs of the com
mis-
sion
, that th
e FB
I reports w
ere often
m
isleadin
g, filled w
ith error or ju
st plain
w
rong.
On
e examp
le, tb w
hich
Belin
poin
ts, is th
e FB
I report on
tile autop
sy on K
enn
edy's
bod
y. Th
e FB
I agents atten
din
g the au
topsy
reported
that th
ey saw tw
o entran
ce wou
nd
s in
the P
residen
t's bod
y, bu
t only on
e exit': w
ound, in his skull'-:'•sv -i!K
rie'"iss
Th
is has led
to sp
ecula
tion
tha
t then
T
exas Gov. John C
onnally was w
ounded by a secon
d assassin
and
that O
swald
did
n't act
alone. How
ever, the comm
ission said that the F
BI agen
ts were w
rong an
d th
at the secon
d
bu
llet wh
ich en
tered K
enn
edy's b
ody exited
an
d th
en h
it Con
nally
. Th
e com
missio
n
claimed that the exit w
ound was obscured by
a tracheatom
y incision
in th
e Presid
ent's
throat.
Th
is differen
ce is vital. Th
e comm
ission,
itself, in p
uttin
g forth th
e view th
at a single
bu
llet killed
Ken
ned
y and
wou
nd
ed C
onn
al-ly
, ack
now
ledged
that if th
ere were tw
o
bu
llets there h
ad to b
e two assassin
s.
Su
ch ap
paren
t' prob
lems h
owever w
ere ignored by H
oover and his investigators after th
ey reached
their con
clusion
s on th
e case d
urin
g the aftern
oon an
d even
ing of N
ov. 22.
Thus H
oover, at 4:01 p.m., 31/2 hours after
the sh
ootin
g, ca
lled th
e late R
ob
ert F.
Ken
ned
y, then
the attorn
ey general, to tell
him
the case w
as all bu
t solved.
"I ca
lled th
e atto
rney
gen
eral a
t his
home and told him
I thought we had the m
an w
ho k
illed th
e Presid
ent d
own
in D
allas,"
Hoover w
rote in a m
emo d
ated N
ov. 22. "I
stated the man's nam
e is Lee H
arvey Osw
ald . I said
that h
e is not a C
omm
un
ist bu
t has
Com
mu
nist lean
ings ..."
An
hou
r later, in
talk
ing to
a J
ustice
Dep
artmen
t official, Hoover said
Osw
ald
prob
ably w
as the gu
ilty man
and
"w
ould
be
in th
e category of a nu
t and
the extrem
ist pro-C
astro crowd."
Cu
riou
sly, H
oover's o
fficial o
rder to
agen
ts throu
ghou
t the cou
ntry to "
follow
and
resolve all allegations p
ertainin
g to the
assassination" did not go out on the FB
I wire
un
til 10 o'clock th
at nigh
t.
Agents scouted the nation running dow
n clu
es, tips an
d calls from
dru
nk
s, nu
ts and
even
bizarre p
ractical jokers.
Bu
t with
in d
ays, desp
ite the m
urd
er of O
swald
on N
ov. 24 by Jack
Ru
by an
d th
e grow
ing clam
or for a blu
e-ribb
on in
vestiga-tion
, Hoover issu
ed in
struction
s to win
d u
p
the in
vestigation b
y Nov. 29.Nv
The timeliest gift. 5FA
intro
du
ces tt
pretty face, b
ut a
electronic, accurate. and
ne
, n
um
erals, go
ld-to
ned
case -
s
,076hMitm
ad__;
'Warran
ty can b
e °blam
ed w
itho
ut ch
aff C
A
;z III ro: 91107
Hoover's zea
!The JFK files
Jack Ruby said he was blinded by fury
S -F- m /M5Q . t 9 7 7
p. iI
• • • New York News
WASHINGTON — All Jack Ruby said he could remember of the man he
..; •
murdered was that he emerged from •,-'• nowhere in between two men. "That's all .'I can =member. Naturally, I knew who qbe is. To me he had this quirky, smug
Vindictive attitude."
"I can't explain what impression he gave me, but that is all I can ... well, I just lost my senses. The next I knew I was on the ground and five or six (policemen) were on top of me."
• morn thousands of pages of newly released FBI documents Jack Leon Ruby (born Jack Rubenstein in Chicago in
• 1911) emerges as a tormented. sometimes belligerent, often emotional man. His decision to kill Lee Harvey Oswald appears to have been made on the spur
• of the moment, minutes after he man-. , aged to walk unnoticed into the base-, merit of Dallas Police Headquarters,
Nov. 24, 1983
Ruby apparently slipped in when a
guard left the entrance to stop traffic for an emerging police car. The FBI files, saying Ruby was not helped into the building by a member of the press, said he may have entered no more than 10 seconds before the shooting.
"No one knew I was going to shoot him." Ruby, a local nightclub operator, told the FBI. "I didn't discuss anything with anyone shout shooting him," It was easy, Ruby told the agents. He always carried heat la gun). You had to in the nightclub business in Dallas. There were so many stickups and he often carried a large amount of cash.
"When he shot before me like he did, something in my Insides tore out," Ruby said. The Texas "outsider" said he thought about Oswald "being associated with communism and how he blemished this beautiful city and Mrs. Kennedy having to come back for the trial.''
Then Ruby said, he reached into his pocket and took out his gun. He fired a single shot.
.
Jack Ruby, inset, may have slipped into police headquar-ters only seconds before gun-ning down Lee Harvey Oswald
Paper flood in JFK assassination s F. ,-Ya li;ricH , - TOTAL of 40,000 pages of FBI internal memos on the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy have been released tinder the Freedom of Information Act, providing an extensive feast of fact and speculation to Stimulate the appetite of that insatiable breed, the conspiracy cultists.
'Considerable time would be needed to digest the entire report. Once that has been done by the many who make either a career or a hobby of 9tuatitioning the conventional verdict on the assassination, a number of conclusions will emerge. All will differ.
e. While never foreclosing the possibility of a change of mind, we have accepted the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald did it on his own. His wife, Marina, has written a book holding that view.
for the newly released material, it discloses that J. Edgar Hoover had in hand letters
purportedly written to Oswald from Cuba that referred "to the job he was going to do." Hoover withheld these missives from the Warren Com-mission because he could not prove their authen-ticity.
We are loathe to second guess the director 14 years later, but it would seem that that was of sufficient interest to be turned over to the commission members, leaving them to judge the veracity.
The - newly released papers tell how the-Oswalds wanted to return to the Soviet Union because Marina was homesick and unemployed. They took the first action to effect the return nine months before the assassination.
Had the Soviet embassy acted promptly to process that request, encouraging the return, the course of history would have been changed. Life is full of might-have-beens, this one more poignant than most.
14 San Francisco 41)1rotticit Fri., Dec. 9, 1977
JFK Death Probe
What Next Batch of FBI Papers Will Tell
Washington
The FBI still pursues "tips" on who killed President Kennedy and the second stack of assa.ssInation due out next month, will reflect that sort of endless, leftover gumshoe work, a bureau spokesman said yesterday.
Continued scrutiny of the first 40,000 pages of the FBI's Kennedy murder files, released Wednesday, divulged more intriguing but inconclusive tidbits of insight into the 1963 Dallas slayings.
• Investigative memos show that the CIA assured the Oswald was never "an informant in their
organization,"'for example, and indicated that Warren ;Commission members were satisfied Lee Harvey
Oswald could have fired the fatal shots from his sixth-. f• floor window perch once they inspected the scene of
the crime.
The•filei also depicted Oswald as a hostile, hermit-like Marine who read Communist literature behind locked doors in his barracks room, and Jack Ruby, his killer, as a tough Chicago street kid who might have run errands for Al Capone.
But nothing emerged to undermine the Warren Commission's finding that Oswald alone killed Kennedy for motives still unknown, and an FBI spokesman who has helped prepare the files for public release said the 40,000 pages due for release in January won't change that picture.
"1 really don't think there are going to be any major new revelations from this new material any more than there were in the material just released," he said. "But, if this is your field, you'll find it interesting.
"Of course, the !conspiracy buff) people Who make a business of this will dispute that. 1 understand some of them are already saying the true stuff is what was never written down.
• "Well; there's not much you can do about that"
The initial files have already covered the most active, intensive period of the bureau's investigation.. They run through September, 1964, when the presiden-tial commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded Its probe and issued Its findings.
The next 40,000 pages of assassination papers will bring the investigation up to date — apparently with activities increasingly devoted to checking out wild goose chase tips.
• "If somebody jumped up out of a rose bush last
month — or let's say last year, since these things are becoming more infrequent — and said he knows who did it, we check that out and that will he included in the material," the spokesman said.
"I'd say it will predominate with that sort of thing."
United Preis
top related