Deep Politics Timeline

[Tracy Riddle]

• 2/1964 Edward Benavides, brother of Domingo Benavides (who witnessed Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit's killing), is murdered, the victim of a gunshot to the back of the head. Some assassination researchers believe Edward so closely resembles his brother that his unknown assailant killed him in a case of mistaken identity. Benavides' father-in-law J.W. Jackson is not impressed by the investigation. He begins his own inquiry. Two weeks later, J.W. Jackson is shot at in his home. As the gunman escapes, a police car comes around the block. It makes no attempt to follow the speeding car with the gunman. The police advise that Jackson should "lay off this business." "Don't go around asking questions; that's our job." Jackson and Benavides are both convinced that Eddy's murder is a case of mistaken identity and that Domingo Benavides, the Tippit witness, was the intended victim.
  
• 2/1964 This month, RFK personally authorizes the FBI to place bugs and wiretaps on Marina Oswald's residence. No conspiratorial contact is ever overheard.
  
• 2/1964 John Stormer's None Dare Call it Treason is published. Also, the first hardcover book on the JFK assassination, Red Roses from Texas, by Nerin Gun, is published by Frederick Miller.
  
• 2/1964 Vincent Gaddis' article "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" in Argosy coined the phrase and started the explosion of interest in the subject.
  
• 2/1964 RFK's phone logs show that in February 1964, he discusses taking possession of JFK's death limousine, which has been sent to a Detroit repair shop where, Evelyn Lincoln informs him, the limo is to be "done over" for President Johnson. Perhaps the repair process - which will eliminate forensic evidence - "could be stopped," Lincoln tells RFK, if he declares that he wants the limousine to be "given to the [Kennedy] library." (Brothers)
  
• 2/1964 Lisa Howard returned from another news assignment in Cuba carrying an unusual memorandum, a "verbal message" addressed to Lyndon Johnson from Fidel Castro. In his message Castro went to extraordinary lengths to encourage Johnson to emulate Kennedy's courage in attempting a dialogue with their number one enemy, himself. That enemy had been won over to the dialogue, first, by the counsel of Kennedy's other enemy Khrushchev, then by the courage of Kennedy himself. Now Castro was using the example of Kennedy to encourage Johnson simply to talk with the enemy. He was also speaking much less like an enemy than a potentially helpful friend. It was as if Kennedy, in crossing a divide, had taken Castro with him. Castro said to Howard: " Tell the President that I understand quite well how much political courage it took for President Kennedy to instruct you [Lisa Howard] and Ambassador Attwood to phone my aide in Havana for the purpose of commencing a dialogue toward a settlement of our differences . . . I hope that we can soon continue where Ambassador Attwood's phone conversation to Havana left off . . . though I'm aware that pre-electoral political considerations may delay this approach until after November. " Tell the President ( and I cannot stress this too strongly) that I seriously hope that Cuba and the United States can eventually sit down in an atmosphere of good will and of mutual respect and negotiate our differences. I believe that there are no areas of contention between us that cannot be discussed and settled in a climate of mutual understanding. But first, of course, it is necessary to discuss our differences. I now believe that this hostility between Cuba and the United States is both unnatural and unnecessary and it can be eliminated . . ."Tell the President I realize fully the need for absolute secrecy, if he should decide to continue the Kennedy approach. I revealed nothing at that time . . . I have revealed nothing since . . . I would reveal nothing now. " " If the President feels it necessary during the campaign to make bellicose statements about Cuba or even to take some hostile action-if he will inform me, unofficially, that a specific action is required because of domestic political considerations, I shall understand and not take any serious retaliatory action. " Although Johnson as usual made no reply to this message, Castro kept trying to communicate with him through Lisa Howard and UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson. (William Attwood was no longer in the loop, having been appointed U.S. ambassador to Kenya in January 1964.) (Kornbluth, JFK and Castro)
  
• 2/1964 Marxmanship in Dallas Revilo P. Oliver, American Opinion, Volume VII, No. 2, February 1964, pp. 13-28
  
• 2/1/1964 LBJ picks Sargent Shriver to head his anti-poverty crusade, though his exact role was vaguely defined. He was also to remain as head of the Peace Corps.
  
• 2/1/1964 Maurice Bishop asks Antonio Veciana to contact his cousin, a Cuban intelligence officer in Mexico City, and offer him money to tell the press that he had met with Oswald. Veciana does not contact his cousin before he is recalled to Cuba. (Last Investigation 424)
  
• 2/1/1964 LBJ approved Operation Plan 34A, drawn up by the CIA, to engage in covert warfare against North Vietnam. LBJ rejected De Gaulle's plan for a neutral Vietnam.
  
• 2/1/1964 Billboard reports that Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh declare the song "Louie Louie" to be "pornographic" and asks the state Broadcasters Association to ban the record. Welsh claims his "ears tingled" when he first heard the song, though most people can't understand the lyrics. Welsh wrote to the president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, requesting that the song be banned from all radio stations in the state. The Marion County, Indiana, prosecutor's chief trial deputy, Leroy K. New, commented about the song: "The record is an abomination of out-of-tune guitars, and overbearing jungle rhythm and clanging cymbals," but he couldn't find anything obscene in the words.
  
• 2/3/1964 Marina Oswald is the first witness to testify before the Warren Commission. Commissioners present were Warren, Cooper, Boggs, Ford and Dulles. She has been coached for one week prior to her testimony by the Secret Service on what to say. She testifies, among other things, that she saw a box of ammunition "in New Orleans and on Neely Street." But two months earlier she told law enforcement officers that her husband did not have any ammunition in his possession. Mr. Rankin: Did you learn at any time that he had been practicing with the rifle? Mrs. Oswald: I think he went once or twice. I didn't actually see him take the rifle, but I knew he was practicing. Mr. Rankin: Could you give us a little help on how you knew? Mrs. Oswald: He told me. And he would mention that in passing . . . he would say, "Well, today I will take the rifle along for practice." (1H14-15)
  
• 2/3/1964 Darrell Wayne Garner was arrested again.
  
• 2/3/1964 Jury selection begins in Ruby trial; it will last until 3/3. 168 prospective jurors are questioned. A change of venue is not granted. THE STATE OF TEXAS vs. JACK RUBENSTEIN -- (Feb. 3 - Mar. 3) Jury selection. 168 prospective jurors, 58 by the defense, 1 for illness, 18 peremptory challenges made by the defense, 11 peremptory challenges made by the prosecution.
  
• 2/3/1964 464,000 students stayed home from school in NYC to protest de facto segregation.
  
• 2/4/1964 A reporter asked Earl Warren if the WC's work would be fully disclosed to the public; Warren replied, "Yes, there will come a time. But it might not be in your lifetime. I am not referring to anything especially, but there may be some things that would involve security. This would be preserved but not made public." (New York Times 2/5) Warren would later greatly regret making this statement. (Chief Justice 426)
  
• 2/4/1964 Darrell Wayne Garner explained he was drunk when he bragged to his sister-in-law that he shot at Warren Reynolds.
  
• 2/4/1964 Lobbyist Robert Winter-Berger and House Speaker John McCormack are in McCormack's Washington office discussing public relations when LBJ barges in and begins ranting hysterically about Bobby Baker. LBJ says: "John, that son of a bitch [Bobby Baker] is going to ruin me. If that cocksucker talks, I'm gonna land in jail ... I practically raised that motherfucker, and no he's gonna make me the first President of the United States to spend the last days of his life behind bars."
  
• 2/4/1964 Marina Oswald second day of testimony before the Warren Commission (present are Warren, Cooper, Boggs, Ford, McCloy and Dulles); "In the police station there was a routine regular questioning, as always happens. And then after I was with the agents of the Secret Service and the FBI, they asked me many questions which had no bearing or relationship, and if I didn't want to answer they told me that if I wanted to live in this country, I would have to help in this matter, even though they were often irrelevant. That is the FBI ..."
  
• 2/4/1964 Hassan II, king of Morocco, was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Morocco.
  
• 2/4-6/1964 Viet Cong launches offensive in Tay Ninh Province and Mekong Delta.
  
• 2/4/1964 One of the first motion pictures about the Vietnam war, A Yank in Viet-Nam, was released in the US. It starred and was directed by Marshall Thompson and released by Allied Artists. Filmed entirely in South Vietnam, it is fully supportive of the US role in the war.
  
• 2/5/1964 Marina Oswald's third day of testimony before the WC (Warren, Russell, Cooper, Boggs, Ford, Dulles).
  
• 2/5/1964 Nancy Jane Mooney, formerly a striptease artist who has been employed by Jack Ruby, gives an affidavit to authorities which substantiates Darrell Wayne Garner's alibi for the night of January 23, 1964, when the shooting of witness Warren Reynolds occurred. The Dallas police drop all charges against their chief suspect, Garner, on Miss Mooney's assurance.
  
• 2/5/1964 Jackie Kennedy suggested to William Manchester that he write an account of the assasination. She and the Kennedy family wanted a definitive telling of the events to preempt other books, including Jim Bishop's forthcoming The Day Kennedy Was Shot. Kennedy was familiar with Manchester's work through Portrait of a President: John F. Kennedy in Profile, his account of the president's first year and a half in the White House. Manchester had met and grown to admire her husband when both were recovering from war wounds in Boston. The book agreement stipulated that Kennedy and the president's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, then Attorney General, would approve the manuscript. As part of the agreement, Mr. Manchester would receive an advance of $36,000 but only against the income from the first printing. All other earnings would go the John F. Kennedy Library. Kennedy promised Manchester exclusive interviews with members of the family, and sat for 10 hours of interviews with him. Manchester interviewed 1,000 people for the book, including Robert F. Kennedy; only Marina Oswald refused. Working 100 hours a week for two years to meet an accelerated 1967 publishing deadline, the stress of focusing on the assassination sent Manchester to a hospital due to nervous exhaustion for more than two months, where he completed a manuscript of 1,201 pages and 380,000 words.
  
• 2/6/1964 Marina Oswald's fourth day of testimony before the WC (Warren, Cooper, Boggs, Ford, Dulles).
  
• 2/6/1964 On about this date a WC staff meeting was held, and some of the staffers wanted to have further questioning of Marina; Rankin said there would be no further questioning. (Inquest)
  
• 2/6/1964 The Washington Evening Star found the initial statement and another by Warren a few days ago intended to clarify the first "astounding" and "unfortunate." It described Warren's explanatory statement as characterizing the initial statement as "a mixture of facetiousness and fact." Editorially, the Star demanded, "What conceivable kind of security' would require this Commission to play the role of censor?"
  
• 2/6/1964 Letter from Hoover to Rankin. Again Hoover denied that Oswald was an informant, and assured Rankin that he was aware of all persons hired by the Bureau. (Reproduced in Whitewash IV p152)
  
• 2/6-7/1964 NSC meetings discussed the recent VC attack on Americans; everyone except Sen. Mansfield supported a retaliatory air strike on the North. Mansfield warned, "The local populace in South Vietnam is not behind us, [or] else the Viet Cong could not have carried out their surprise attack."
  
• 2/6/1964 Cuba blocks water supply to Guantanamo Naval Base in rebuke for US seizure of four Cuban fishing boats.
  
• 2/6/1964 Paul Rothermel memo to H.L. Hunt: "Lyndon B. Johnson is mortally afraid of being assassinated and does not trust the Secret Service to protect him. He has ordered the FBI to be present everywhere he goes with no less than two men and more where there is any possibility that he will be exposed. Johnson has confidentially placed a direct telephone line from his office to J. Edgar Hoover's desk." (Texas Rich p237)
  
• 2/7/1964 A Gallup Poll shows that 48% of Americans said they attend church regularly, 20% not at all.
  
• 2/7/1964 At 1:35pm ET, 10,000 screaming fans welcomed the Beatles upon their arrival at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport as the "Fab Four" began their first U.S. tour and for their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." The police are overwhelmed by the fans and are paralyized for hours. Fans surround the Plaza Hotel, where the Beatles are staying. The 'Fab Four' controlled the top spot on the pop music charts for the next 15 weeks and owned the top of the album charts for 10 weeks.
  
• 2/7/1964 Letter from Howard Chapnick of Black Star Publishing to Rankin: "In reply to your letter of January 23 we are pleased to send you enclosed a set of contacts of the pictures taken by Shel Hershorn of the events related to the Kennedy assassination. Mr. Hershorn was not too closely related to the early events, but as you will see did pick up on the story late on the day of the assassination." 8 contacts (prints the size of the negative) were enclosed. (Photographic Whitewash 287)
  
• 2/7/1964 LBJ contacts Sen. Russell four separate times today.
  
• 2/7/1964 LBJ removes US dependents from South Vietnam.
  
• 2/7/1964 FBI memo about a letter from an angry parent to Attorney General Kennedy about the song "Louie Louie": "My daughter brought home a record of Louie Louie' and I, after reading that the record had been banned from being played on the air because it was obscene, proceeded to try to decipher the jumble of words. The lyrics are so filthy that I can-not enclose them in this letter…I would like to see these people, the artists,' the record company and the promoters prosecuted to the full extent of the law…This land of ours is headed for an extreme state of moral degradation what with this record, the biggest hit movies and the sex and violence exploited on TV. How can we stamp out this menace???"
  
• 2/8/1964 An FBI memo quotes judge Joe Brown telling agent Vincent Drain that Asst Dallas D.A. Bill Alexander was "a mental case" and that Brown "never could understand District Attorney Wade keeping him as a prosecutor..."
  
• 2/8/1964 A speech by U.S. Representative Martha Griffiths in Congress on sex discrimination resulted in civil rights protection for women being added to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
  
• 2/8/1964 Marina Oswald leaves Washington, DC and returns to her manager's home in Dallas (Jim Martin).
  
• 2/8/1964 The case against the man accused of assassinating President Kennedy is "extremely weak," said Mark Lane, a Harlem civil tights attorney and former New York state assemblyman. "And at the time he [Oswald] was killed, there was no case at all."... His own investigation, he said, has led him to be "certain that he [Oswald] could not have been involved alone ... and I have very serious doubts he was involved in terms of actually pulling the trigger." San Francisco Chronicle
  
• 2/8/1964 Memorandum From Senator Mike Mansfield to President Johnson 11. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Name File, VietnamMansfield Memo and Reply. No classification marking. Mansfield was Majority Leader of the Senate. "On the basis of the meetings of the National Security Council on Saturday night and Sunday morning,22. February 6 and 7; see Documents 77 and 80. both of which I attended at your request, I endeavored to make my position clear on the situation as it has developed and may develop in Vietnam. I raised questions concerning the advisability of the action which you and your advisors proposed to undertake, not so much on the basis of the attack made on our installation but in view of the future possibilities which might be incurred by the retaliatory action. Contrary to Ambassador Thompson's analysis of the situation, it appears to me that what has happened in North Vietnam will, in a sense, force Kosygin's hand for a number of reasons: (1) Kosygin was there when it happened and he had just made a speech in which he said that the Soviet Union would supply assistance to North Vietnam in its struggle against the United States. (2) A closer degree of cooperation by the Soviet Union and the Chinese will be brought about because in view of what developed, Kosygin will have little choice to do otherwise. It may well express itself in this situation by a resumption of major Russian military aid to China and transference through China of Soviet aid to North Vietnam. This would be most unfortunate because one of the hopes of Western policy was to encourage the split between the two great communist powers, a hope which will now, I believe, lessen to a considerable degree. I raised questions about possible Chinese intervention and pointed out that the Communist Chinese had recently completed roads into Laos which could be used for troop and supply movements; that they had recently completed an air-field infrastructure in North Vietnam and that they had airfields and naval bases on the Island of Hainan, off the coast of the northern part of North Vietnam and South China. Whether or not the Chinese will intervene is a factor which only the future holds the answer to, but an increase in at least indirect Chinese intervention is to be anticipated. I pointed out also that South Vietnam has a very unstable government and that we could not depend upon it or the great majority of the population therein. That is proved by news stories from reliable American officials in today's press which state that there was plenty of opportunity for advance warnings on the Pleiku attack but that the attack when it came was, in effect, a complete surprise. It is especially hard to understand why we were caught off-guard ourselves, in view of the attack of November 1st on our force at Bien Hoa, 12 miles outside of Saigon. Our own security arrangements were certainly lax there and despite the explanation given at our meeting on Saturday night, it appears to me they were lax at Pleiku. It is my understanding that the American base at Pleiku is situated on a high plain, dotted with brush here and there but certainly not the kind of jungle area which surrounded Bien Hoa. While McNamara and Wheeler said that it would be extremely difficult to provide security two miles out, this is, nevertheless, a matter which should be looked into especially in view of the fact that aside from the more distant mortar shelling of the base, rifle fire and hand grenades were used right inside the American compound and explosives were placed against the barracks. This makes it clear that the Viet Cong were in the compound as has been stated in the press and proves that the security which was supposed to be furnished by both the United States forces and the Vietnamese military was lax. It is my understanding that more than half of the 23,000 U.S. personnel in South Vietnam are stationed in Saigon. Certainly some of them could be used to guard U.S. compounds. The explanations given this morning by General Goodpaster and others, in my opinion, were not convincing. At the recent meeting, I also pointed out that General Giap had an army of 350,000 men, well-trained, and that he was and is one of the best military tacticians in Asia. It is disturbing to me, though understandable, that the retaliatory move was essentially unilateral, initiated by us and then we had to wait until the South Vietnamese government was informed in order that the protocol of the situation might be maintained at least on the surface. In other words we had decided on what our moves would be without any request from the government of South Vietnam but only in anticipation of such a request. I have grave doubts about the ability of General Khanh's government. I have no doubt but that the great majority of the population of South Vietnam are tired of the war and will give us no significant assistance. I have a full awareness of your feelings, which I share, because of the attack on Pleiku. I appreciate, too, your repeated statements that it is not your desire to spread the war. However, the prospect for enlargement now looms larger and I think it is only fair that I give you my honest opinions, as I did on Saturday and Sunday, because to do otherwise would be a disservice to you and to the Nation. In this connection you will recall that I also stated at the meetings that before we make any moves that we understand their full implications, in terms of the costs involved, and the fact, as I see it, that if we went too far in North Vietnam we would be in a far worse position than we were in Korea. For, in a larger sense, not only can we not depend on the South Vietnamese population, but we can also place very little reliability on the Laotians and the Thais and none whatever on Cambodia. Moreover, beyond Indochina, we could well be squeezed in a nutcracker by developing events throughout Southeast Asia over which the Chinese cast an ominous shadow. Events in Malaysia could under certain circumstances bring into force the Anzus Treaty which would call for our giving assistance to Australia and New Zealand. Finally, as you know we have approximately 42 mutual security agreements of one kind or another with countries or groups of countries scattered over the face of the globe. Short of nuclear war, we have not got the resources or the power to honor those agreements if the demand-payments on them multiply. We are stretched too thin as it is and even with total mobilization there would be little hope of fulfilling simultaneously any large proportion of these commitments. What the answer to the situation is at the moment I do not know nor does anyone else. But I am persuaded that the trend toward enlargement of the conflict and a continuous deepening of our military commitment on the Asian mainland, despite your desire to the contrary, is not going to provide one. I did suggest on Sunday, therefore, that the matter be referred to the United Nations and I am glad that Ambassador Stevenson has brought it up at the Security Council.33. For text of Ambassador Stevenson's letter of February 7 to the President of the U.N. Security Council, see Department of State Bulletin, February 22, 1965, pp. 240241. I did suggest further that the Geneva powers be convened again for the purpose of seeing what if anything honorably could be done. I did suggest that any other forum might be considered in a search for acceptable ways to contract and to end the fighting in South Vietnam. I further suggested that Ambassador Kohler in Moscow could carry any or all of the above suggestions to Brezhnev in Moscow and that our Ambassador in Warsaw, who already has had in excess of 125 conferences with his Chinese Communist counterpart, follow the same procedure. The purpose of this memorandum is to furnish you with a brief analysis of my views in writing on this most difficult subject as I have expressed them in large part in the meetings at the White House over the past three days. Finally, you will recall that I stated to you that the burden of decision was yours but that, regardless of my individual views, I would do whatever I could to support you in the exercise of your grave responsibility."
  
• 2/9/1964 After conferring with Robert Oswald, Marina Oswald moves into Robert's home at 1009 Sierra Drive in Denton, Texas. She stays for only two days before moving out.
  
• 2/10/1964 Lee Oswald's mother, Marguerite, testifies before the WC (Warren, Russell, Boggs, Ford, Dulles).
  
• 2/10-14/1964 THE STATE OF TEXAS vs. JACK RUBENSTEIN -- Change of Venue Hearing. Judge Brown postpones decision until after an attempt has been made to select a jury. (Change of venue not granted)
  
• 2/10/1964 Memo from Minneapolis SAC Richard Held to Hoover: "United States Attorney Miles Lord of Minneapolis has always been a very good friend of the FBI, and an ardent admirer of you...he dropped in to see me, and...stated that during a recent trip to Washington, he had occasion to visit...with a group of individuals in the Justice Department whom he described as the 'Kennedy crowd.' Lord stated that these individuals openly discussed how they were doing everything they could to stir up the 'Bobby Baker mess', with the avowed purpose of trying to embarass the President in every way possible...whereby the President would be forced to pick...Robert Kennedy as his running-mate in order to assure his re-election. He further stated that...prior to the assassination...they had intended to use the Bobby Baker issue as a means of freezing Mr. Johnson out as Vice President...He claimed that this same group openly criticized you and the FBI..."
  
• 2/10/1964 Letter from Hoover to Rankin. He mentioned an FBI interview with Henry Wade, who stated that informants would not have been hired without the knowledge of the Bureau's leadership. (Reproduced in Whitewash IV 153)
  
• 2/10/1964 Memo from Charles Shaffer to Howard Willens. He mentioned the need to "facilitate independent analysis of the Bureau's ballistics conclusions...you might recall errors which occured in the placement of the 3 shots not only by the Bureau but by the Secret Service as well." (Post-Mortem 488)
  
• 2/10/1964 Memo from Samuel Stern to Rankin, outlining complaints about the FBI's handling of Oswald before the assassination: "an FBI agent told two Secret Service agents on November 22 that Oswald had, within the past 15 days, contacted two known subversive agents." Stern advocated more thorough questioning of the FBI on its relations with Oswald. (Whitewash IV 155)
  
• 2/10/1964 Paul Rothermel memo to H.L. Hunt: "There is information that the CIA and the State Department are currently planning a second invasion of Cuba. A very reliable source reports that the Manuel Ray group, which is extremely left-wing, has been in touch with the CIA and has agreed to a second invasion. The right-wing Cubans are being pressured to join the invasion. The second invasion is being closely scrutinized by John Martino, leader of the right-wing groups, for fear it will be a second Bay of Pigs fiasco." (Texas Rich p238)
  
• 2/11/1964 Marguerite Oswald's second day of testimony before the WC (Warren, Boggs, Ford, Dulles).
  
• 2/11 or 14/1964 Yuri Nosenko arrived in the US by Air Force jet and was taken to a CIA safehouse in Virginia. A news clipping about Nosenko was scribbled on by Hoover: "Do we know anything about this?"
  
• 2/11/1964 "Chief Justice Warren said Mrs. Oswald had telephoned Mr. Rankin last week, requesting that she be permitted to testify and that the commission name counsel for her. Mr. Rankin suggested, Mr. Warren said, that she bring her own lawyer but she replied that her lawyer was unable to be in Washington because he was engaged in other matters. Mrs. Oswald has said that Mark Lane of New York had agreed to represent her son before the Presidential commission without fee." [Warren Commission appointed John F. Doyle, a former United States Attorney.] New York Times, William M. Blair
  
• 2/11/1964 Washington - … Chief Justice Warren told reporters that [Marguerite Oswald] appeared today "with two lawyers," [John F.] Doyle and [Mark] Lane. Warren said he asked Lane if he was representing Mrs. Oswald in the proceeding; that Lane looked at Mrs. Oswald and she stated that he would be in the city only a few hours and asked if he could remain beside her. Doyle at that point said he had been appointed to represent her in the absence of her own counsel and that if she now had a lawyer he would have to ask to be excused. Warren then asked the witness which lawyer she wanted. She left the hearing room for a talk with Lane and returned to say that Doyle would represent her. Lane still said he would like to remain just to hear the testimony and not to participate. This, the commission refused. AP, 7:44 p.m. CST, Sterling F. Green
  
• 2/11/1964 Memo by Howard Willens about staff meeting of that day; Rankin briefed the staff about the allegations of Oswald's being an FBI informant. "Most of the members of the staff...thought that the omission of the Hosty information was of considerable importance and could not be ignored by the Commission." (Whitewash IV 157)
  
• 2/11/1964 New York Times reported that Professor Revilo P. Oliver of the University of Illinois believed that Kennedy had been a Communist puppet, but was falling behind in a schedule for the "effective capture of the United States in 1963" and was "rapidly becoming a political liabilty." This was the reason, Oliver argued, that he was shot.
  
• 2/12/1964 Marguerite Oswald's third day of testimony before the WC (Warren, Boggs, Ford).
  
• 2/12/1964 Message from Fidel Castro to Lyndon Johnson, "Verbal Message given to Miss Lisa Howard of ABC News on February 12, 1964, in Havana, Cuba." A private message carried by Howard to the White House in which Castro states that he would like the talks started with Kennedy to continue: "I seriously hope (and I cannot stress this too strongly) that Cuba and the United States can eventually sit down in an atmosphere of good will and of mutual respect and negotiate our differences." A verbal message is sent to LBJ from Fidel Castro - delivered first to Adlai Stevenson by Lisa Howard of ABC News in Havana - then to LBJ. Castro has asked Howard to tell LBJ "that I earnestly desire his election to the presidency in November... though that appears assured ... Seriously, I have observed how Republicans use Cuba as a weapon against the Democrats. So tell President Johnson to let me know what I can do." Castro even invites LBJ to take "hostile action" against Cuba if it will be to his political benefit. He also urges LBJ to continue the U.S.-Cuban dialogue that JFK had initiated in the months before his assassination. How LBJ responds to this message is so far unknown, but U.S. efforts to normalize relations with Cuba fade as the year progresses. This incident remains a secret until August, 1999.
  
• 2/12/1964 The John Frankenheimer film Seven Days in May premieres. It was filmed apparently in spring-summer 1963. Originally a bestselling political thriller by Charles Waldo Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel (published 1962 by Harper and Row). It concerns a liberal President who makes a disarmament treaty with the Soviets, only to find his hard-line Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff plotting to oust him in a coup. The film's script was written by Rod Serling; it starred Fredric March, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas. It was filmed with the cooperation of the Kennedy administration. Ted Sorensen recalled that JFK joked darkly about how "I know a couple [of Joint Chiefs] who wish they could" overthrow him. (Kennedy 684). Arthur Schlesinger related how Kennedy saw the book as "a warning to the republic." (RFK and his Times 485) Frankenheimer recalled, "President Kennedy wanted Seven Days in May made. Pierre Salinger conveyed this to us. The Pentagon didn't want it done. Kennedy said that when we wanted to shoot at the White House he would conveniently go to Hyannis Port that weekend." (The Celluloid Muse: Hollywood Directors Speak, Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg, 1972 Signet, p92) The president's friend Paul Fay, Jr., told of an incident that showed JFK was keenly conscious of the peril of a military coup d'etat. One summer weekend in 1962 while out sailing with friends, Kennedy was asked what he thought of Seven Days in May, a best-selling novel that described a military takeover in the United States. JFK said he would read the book. He did so that night. The next day Kennedy discussed with his friends the possibility of their seeing such a coup in the United States. Consider that he said these words after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and before the Cuban Missile Crisis: " It's possible. It could happen in this country, but the conditions would have to be just right. If, for example, the country had a young President, and he had a Bay of Pigs, there would be a certain uneasiness. Maybe the military would do a little criticizing behind his back, but this would be written off as the usual military dissatisfaction with civilian control. Then if there were another Bay of Pigs, the reaction of the country would be, 'Is he too young and inexperienced ? ' The military would almost feel that it was their patriotic obligation to stand ready to preserve the integrity of the nation, and only God knows j ust what segment of democracy they would be defending if they overthrew the elected establishment. " Pausing a moment, he went on, "Then, if there were a third Bay of Pigs, it could happen. " Waiting again until his listeners absorbed his meaning, he concluded with an old Navy phrase, " But it won't happen on my watch. " (Fay, The Pleasure of His Company 190) "A voice next to me said, "do you intend to make a movie out of Seven Days in May?" I turned. President Kennedy! "Yes, Mr. President." "Good." He spent the next twenty minutes, while our dinner got cold, telling me that he thought it would make an excellent movie." (Kirk Douglas, Ragman's Son, p349) History caught up with Kirk Douglas's production of Seven Days in May. Based on a 1962 best-selling novel by Charles V. Bailey and Fletcher Knebel, it revealed a plot to overthrow US President Jordan Lyman (Frederic March) by members of his own administration, led by conspirators Gen. James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster) and narrowly foiled by Col. Martin "Jiggs" Casey, played by Douglas. Set in the then-distant future of 1974, it seemed to reflect the real-life clash between General Curtis Le May and President John F. Kennedy over the Cuban missile crisis. A United Artists executive declined to consider it because of the negative image it might project abroad. "If…the Executive branch of the Government were to encourage the making of this film, I'd certainly be happy to reconsider it with you at that time," he wrote. Apparently Douglas got the go-ahead he needed directly from the President himself. Rod Serling adapted the novel to the screen and John Frankenheimer not only directed but took a co-production interest. A letter to Douglas from Leon Kaplan, his business/legal advisor, demonstrates the complex partnership and financing arrangements that underlay independent production in the early 1960s. Promotion began long before production even started. In an early example of product placement, special arrangements were made with Bulova for the provision of its state of the art Accutron wristwatches for the picture. Douglas sent the screenplay out for comment to various interested and influential figures. Authors Bailey and Knebel suggested a long list of improvements and Douglas's former director Stanley Kubrick also made suggestions. The care that Douglas himself took in shaping the film's message can be seen in a long memo to Bryna head producer Edward Lewis reacting to one of the first cuts of the film. However, by the time the film was released in February 1964, the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas the preceding November made it seem strangely prescient. Douglas watched the reviews carefully, with particular attention to reactions in Europe, where it proved a considerable success. In the end, Douglas and his company successfully negotiated the pitfalls inherent in such controversial and timely subject matter. The film received a Blue Ribbon Award from the National Screen Council and was nominated for 2 Academy Awards. Edmond O'Brian won a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Senator Raymond Clark. Serling received a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for his screenplay. An opinion writer in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (3/5/1964) questioned whether films like Seven Days should be made: "The world is on too short a fuse" and pictures like this damaged "the American image abroad." A Los Angeles Times columnist (2/6/1964) felt compelled to reassure his readers that a military coup couldn't happen in America, quoting none other than retired admiral Arleigh Burke to support his case. Congressman Melvin Laird called for the movie to be clearly labeled fiction before it was shown overseas. (Variety 5/13/1964) John Frankenheimer years later pointed out, "Paranoia only exists if the circumstances are totally untrue." As for The Manchurian Candidate, he said history has "vividly demonstrated that there are lots and lots of plots to assassinate presidents and high-ranking figures for political gain…There's a certain grotesque reality about The Manchurian Candidate. And as far as Seven Days in May is concerned, we know that there was a very definite group in the military that would have, at one point, liked to have taken over the government…The extreme right has been very, very effective in undermining quite a few things that could've changed the destiny of this country." (HBO Website interview) Frankenheimer's widow recalled that her husband never believed the lone gunman theory of JFK's killing. She said that John would discuss his ideas about the assassination with Bobby Kennedy, with whom he drew close in 1968 while filming his presidential campaign ads. Both men agreed there were other forces at work in Dallas beside Oswald. (Brothers, Talbot)
  
• 2/12/1964 UPI reported: "The government has dropped investigations it had been conducting into complaints that a popular rock-and-roll record has obscene lyrics…Investigations of the record ["Louie Louie"] were started by the Federal Communications Commissions, the Post Office, and Justice Department…All three governmental agencies dropped their investigations because they were unable to determine what the lyrics of the song were," no matter what speed the song was played at. Actually, the FBI and FCC investigations would continue.
  
• 2/12/1964 The WC requested that Life send the original Zapruder film to Washington.
  
• 2/13/1964 LBJ asked Congress to appropriate partial funding for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Half of the cost of $34 million will be picked up by the government.
  
• 2/13/1964 De Gaulle assassination attempt.
  
• 2/13/1964 "The Secret Service checked the area where a bullet reportedly struck near the Triple Underpass but could find no indication that a bullet had struck near the street in that area." (from a June 1964 draft of the WC report; McKnight)
  
• 2/13/1964 Washington, Feb. 13 - .... The Dallas News reported on Tuesday [2/11/] that one of the witnesses who might soon be called was a janitor in the Texas School Book Depository …… The News said the janitor has reported that Oswald spoke to him on the fourth-floor stairway landing, saying he was going upstairs to eat lunch. … When advised of the Dallas report, the chief justice paused and smiled before replying: "Well, maybe they know - I don't." AP, 131 aes, Sterling Green [See National Guardian, 5/9/64]
  
• 2/13/1964 Nancy Jane Mooney is arrested by the Dallas police for "disturbing the peace," the charge being that she has had a fight with her roommate. She had provided Darrell Wayne Garner with an alibi in the Reynolds shooting. Less than two hours after being placed in a jail cell, according to the Dallas police, Nancy Jane Mooney hangs herself.
  
• 2/13/1964 On this day, according to witness Richard Giesbrecht, he overhears a meeting between two men at the Winnipeg International Airport. He identifies one of the men as David Ferrie. According to author Paris Flammonde: "Ferrie indicated that he was concerned over how much Oswald had told his wife about the plot to kill Kennedy. Additionally, they discussed a man named Isaacs, his relationship with Oswald, and how curious it was that he would have gotten himself involved with a "psycho" like Oswald ... Isaacs seemed to have allowed himself to be caught on television film near the President when JFK arrived in Dallas, and, at the time the conversation was taking place, was under the surveillance of a man named Hoffman, or Hochman, who was to "relieve" him and destroy a 1958 model automobile in Isaac's possession ...[Ferrie said,] "We have more money at our disposal now than at any other time."... The conversation moved to another area and the two began speaking of a meeting to take place at the Townhouse Motor Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 18. They mentioned that the rendezvous would be registered under the name of the textile firm. It was noted that no meeting had been held since November 1963 ... Ferrie mentioned that an "aunt" (or "auntie" -- gay slang for an older homosexual) would be flying in from California. A name which Giesbrecht thought sounded like "Romeniuk" was mentioned several times; Ferrie inquired about some paper, or merchandise, coming out of Nevada and the other man replied that things had gotten too risky and that the house, or shop, at a place called Mercury had been closed down, but that a "good shipment" had reached Caracas from Newport. It was also agreed that the Warren Commission would not stop its investigation, even if it did decide that Oswald was guilty."
  
• 2/13/1964 Each of the ten FBI agents who had contact with Oswald filed affidavits with the WC, and each denied that he had been an informant.
  
• 2/14/1964 A memorandum dated this date from Secret Service Agent Sorrels in Dallas referring to the assassination site states, "This concrete slab and manhole cover is located on the south side of Elm Street almost opposite to where the President's car was located when the last shot that killed President Kennedy was fired." The concrete manhole cover is located over seventy feet from the limousine's position at Z frame 313.
  
• 2/17/1964 Jury selection begins in the trial of Jack Ruby for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.
  
• 2/17/1964 New York - At an airport news conference, [Mark] Lane said he had documents to indicate that several persons were involved in the assassination plot. He described them as "persons very different in political philosophy" from Oswald, who called himself a Marxist. AP, 9:37 p.m. CST
  
• 2/17/1964 Marina is interviewed by the FBI. Marina Oswald is shown a photograph of a Russian camera and an American camera with a Realist trademark. She says the Realist camera is not Oswald's and that to her knowledge she has never seen that camera. She also testifies that sometime after the attempt on General Walker's life, Oswald told her that he had gone out to a nearby field to practice shooting his rifle. Yet during the month of December in four separate interviews, she said that he never mentioned any occasions when he went out to practice. She claims that she saw Oswald clean his rifle in January 1963. Yet in one December interview, she stated that she never saw him clean his rifle. (To say she saw him clean his rifle in Jan. 1963 does not conform well with the official chronology which maintains that Oswald did not have a rifle until March of that year. The January rifle cleaning episode is therefore a major discrepancy that must be resolved. When Marina testifies tomorrow, she will move the time period of this reported episode to the month of April, and thus saves the Warren Commission a great deal of trouble.)
  
• 2/17/1964 Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders (a followup to Baker v. Carr) that congressional districts must have roughly equal populations (the "one-man, one-vote" principle).
  
• 2/17/1964 Memo from Melvin Eisenberg gave Earl Warren's description (at a 1/20/1964 meeting) of the pressure Johnson put on him to chair the WC: "The President stated that rumors of the most exaggerated kind were circulating in this country and overseas...Some rumors went as far as attributing the assassination to a faction within the government wishing the presidency assumed by President Johnson. Others, if not quenched, could conceivably lead the country into a war which could cost forty million lives. No one could refuse to do something which might help prevent such a possibility..."
  
• 2/17/1964 McNamara testified about Vietnam before the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He said that the Saigon regime had to be stable and popular with the people in order for it to effectively fight the communists, or else the US could do little.
  
• 2/18/1964 Marina Oswald is interviewed by the FBI. She says that the American camera with which she took the photographs of Oswald with the rifle is grayish in color, a box-type camera, but that she does not know where the camera is now.
  
• 2/18/1964 FBI report DL 100-10461 dated February 18, 1964 (CE 1156) page 5 on Marina Oswald: "She said she had not told the interviewing agents about the trip and had, in fact, stated that she did not know about the trip whereas in truth she had known because she did not like the FBI and she had wanted to save something to tell the Commission…"
  
• 2/18/1964 An obscure article in a French newspaper causes a brief flurry of investigative activity in Europe and America, directed at Jean Souetre, Michel Roux, and Michel Mertz.
  
• 2/18/1964 1500 people packed the Town Hall in New York City to hear both Marguerite Oswald and lawyer Mark Lane speak. As reported in the Feb. 19 edition of the NYT (p.30): "Lane played a tape recording he said he made yesterday of a conversation he had with a woman Dallas school teacher [Jean Hill] whom he called 'the closest spectator' to the President's assassination. The woman said she heard 'four to six shots' and these came from a grassy knoll near an overpass in front of the President's car ... She also said she saw a man run from the knoll."
  
• 2/18/1964 The FBI provided the WC with the dental records of Ruby's mother, including the important information that she wore false teeth.
  
• 2/18/1964 US cuts military aid to five countries for refusing to abide by trade embargo on Cuba.
  
• 2/19/1964 The U.S. still hopes to withdraw most of its troops from South Vietnam before the end of 1965, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said.
  
• 2/19/1964 New York -- Mark Lane, attorney for the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, claimed last night that he has a "mystery witness" who heard four to six shots fired at the late President Kennedy from a different direction than the Texas Book Depository Building. The New York attorney said the witness who heard the shots said they came from the left (?) of the Presidential car and from the direction of the grassy plot opposite the Texas Book Depository. Lane also said he had information that a meeting involving several principals in the case was held in Jack Ruby's night club in Dallas two weeks before Mr. Kennedy was slain last November 22. Lane said among those at the Dallas meeting were Bernard Weisman, author of an anti-Kennedy advertisement that appeared in a Dallas newspaper the day of the shooting, and patrolman J. D. Tippit, the policeman slain while pursuing Oswald. Lane said a third person prominent in the case also was in attendance but he would not reveal the name until later. San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times Service
  
• 2/19/1964 Town Hall acknowledged yesterday that it had sought to cancel a public meeting involving Mrs. Marguerite Oswald on the ground that her appearance "could be incendiary." The hall, a part of New York University since 1958, allowed the meeting to go on last night only after the National Guardian weekly, sponsor of the meeting, deposited $25,000 in cash to cover any damages to Town Hall premises.… Fifteen hundred persons were reported to have bought all available tickets for last night's meeting …… [Town Hall's slogan, "You Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free," appears on the front of the building. [James Aronson, the weekly's editor] said National Guardian's $600 rental had been confirmed by a letter and check on 1/14 ... Town Hall confirmed that its director, Ormond J. Drake ... wrote in a letter on 1/28 that the understanding had been Mr. Mark Lane would speak, but that an article in The New York Journal-American had then announced Mrs. Oswald would appear ... "The terms of the proposed lease have been materially altered," Mr. Drake wrote. … Mr. Drake insisted on a bond The National Guardian ... submitted a one-day $25,000 insurance policy on 2/12, but this was rejected. After rejections from bonding companies, Mr. Aronson reported, $25,000 in negotiable bonds and cashier's checks was raised from four persons he preferred to leave unnamed …Queries to the Police Department, Town Hall and The National Guardian yesterday afternoon brought disclaimers from all quarters on knowledge of any threats to disturb the meeting. New York Times, Peter Kihss
  
• 2/19/1964 San Antonio, Texas: Larry Buchanan's exploitation film, Naughty Dallas, premieres. Shooting began in 1959 and the film was finally released in 1964. This film was made at the Colony Club, a strip joint owned by Abe Weinstein. Jack Ruby owned the Carousel Club, a few blocks down on Commerce Street in downtown Dallas. This film shows only a brief exterior of the Carousel.
  
• 2/20/1964 Lee Oswald's brother, Robert, testifies before the WC (Warren, Cooper, Boggs, Ford, Dulles)
  
• 2/20/1964 Warren Reynolds, the Tippit murder scene witness now recovering from a gunshot wound to his head, is released from the hospital. Three weeks from now, someone will try to abduct his ten year old daughter. At about the same time someone will unscrew the light bulb on the front porch of his home. Last month, Reynolds told the authorities that he could not identify the man fleeing the Tippit murder scene as Lee Harvey Oswald. By July of this year, Reynolds will have changed his testimony and be able to absolutely identify Lee Harvey Oswald as the man fleeing the scene of Tippit murder.
  
• 2/20/1964 Letter from Rankin to Hoover: "Your letter of January 27, 1964, advised the Commission that Special Agent James P. Hosty's name, office telephone number and automobile license number, one digit off, appeared in Oswald's address book. In so informing the Commission, your letter supplied information which appears to have been omitted from an earlier report of the FBI submitted to this Commission...the Commission would like to be informed of the circumstances surrounding this omission." (Whitewash IV 159)
  
• 2/21/1964 Life magazine had the famous photo of Oswald and his weapons on the magazine's cover along with the caption: "Lee Oswald with the weapons he used to kill President Kennedy and Officer Tippit," and an article titled "The Evolution of an Assassin." This photograph, the Warren Report later admitted, was "retouched...in various ways...for clarifying purposes."
  
• 2/21/1964 Robert Oswald's second day of WC testimony (Warren, Dulles).
  
• 2/21/1964 Memo from Redlich to Rankin: "The areas in which Mr. Eisenberg is working are as follows: 1. Cataloging the evidence in the FBI's possession and the exhibits introduced into evidence in connection with the Marina Oswald deposition....2. Working with me on the problem of studying assassination films to locate car position when bullets hit President Kennedy and Governor Connally. 3. Developing expert knowledge in certain areas of criminal investigation with a view toward assisting Messrs. Ball and Belin in the evaluation of the evidence concerning the assassination and related events. These areas, in the following order of priority, are: weapon identification; ballistics; paraffin tests; fingerprint and palm print evidence; handwriting identifications. 4. Mr. Eisenberg also considers it his responsibility to review the major underlying materials....PS: The difficulty of assigning priorities to our areas of work is best evidenced by the fact that since this memo was written I have been assigned the job of preparing the questions for James Martin which has assumed top priority over everything else." (Post-Mortem 606)
  
• 2/21/1964 LBJ told Lodge that "Rusk and McNamara, with my approval, have already begun preparing specific plans for pressure against North Vietnam, both in the diplomatic and military fields." McNamara requested that the JCS come up with ideas on how to encourage the North to stop supporting the communists in the South. (In Retrospect 111)
  
• 2/21/1964 Rothermel memo to H.L. Hunt: it reported that Bill Decker had "cooperatively indicated that there was nothing to the story that any prisoners had seen the Kennedy assassin or assassins" from the County jail during the shooting. (Man Who Knew Too Much 590)
  
• 2/22/1964 Robert Oswald's third day of testimony before the WC (only Allen Dulles is present).
  
• 2/22/1964 MLK and his entourage checked into the Hyatt House Motel; the FBI taped King's sexual activities and a joke he made about Jackie Kennedy kissing the middle of her husband's coffin: "That's what she's going to miss the most." This crack caused Hoover to bring RFK into the loop; Robert Kennedy began to distance himself from King. (The Man and the Secrets 570)
  
• 2/22/1964 Ismet Inonu, premier of Turkey, was the target of a failed assassination attempt.
  
• 2/24/1964 Robert Oswald turns an Imperial Reflex Duo Lens camera over to the FBI. Robert identifies the camera as having belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald. Robert states that he obtained it from the Paine residence in December 1963, several weeks after the assassination.
  
• 2/24/1964 Sen. Russell actually composed a letter of resignation from the Warren Commission. Dated February 24, 1964, it was never sent to President Johnson. In it, he complains that the Commission "has been scheduling, holding, and canceling meetings without notifying him." (Flagpole Magazine, 11/19/03, "Sen. Richard Russell and the Great American Murder Mystery") Russell's plan to resign from the Warren Commission is reflected in an entry on his desk calendar for Feb. 22/23, 1964: "write Pres J & Resign from Commission." In a 2-page letter of resignation addressed to President Johnson dated Feb. 24, 1964, but never mailed. Why Russell changed his mind about resigning is unexplained.
  
• 2/24/1964 A brief WC meeting began with the decision to depose Marina Oswald's manager James Martin because of Mrs. Oswald's testimony of her husband's attempt to shoot Richard Nixon (which she implausibly said she stopped by locking Lee in the bathroom). Rankin then reported on the Commission having received affidavits from the FBI denying the Oswald informant allegation and noted that Lonnie Hudkins had been contacted but "he refused to disclose his source."
  
• 2/24/1964 Memo from Howard Willens to Rankin: it mentioned that FBI agents were keeping tabs on Mark Lane's lectures and whereabouts, and these reports were being forwarded to the WC.
  
• 2/24/1964 Memo from Hubert to Rankin (2/14 or 24; cannot read it clearly), stating that the FBI's explanation of Oswald's non-involvement with the Bureau was not really complete enough for the record. (Whitewash IV 158)
  
• 2/24/1964 Hubert/Griffin memo to Richard Helms (called 'Jack Ruby - Background, Friends and other Pertinent Information'). Requested any CIA information on possible Ruby connections to Lamar Hunt or H.L. Hunt. "Name Lamar Hunt found in notebook of Ruby. Ruby visited his office on November 21. Hunt denies knowing Ruby. Ruby gives innocent explanation. Ruby found with literature of H.L. Hunt [in his apartment] after shooting Oswald." It also stated: "1. He is known to have brutally beaten at least 25 different persons. 2. To generalize, it can be said that, while living in Dallas, Ruby had very carefully cultivated friendships with police officers and other public officials. 3. At the same time, he was, peripherally, if not directly connected with members of the underwold. 4. Ruby is also rumored to have been the tip-off man between the Dallas police and the Dallas underworld. 5. Ruby operated his business on a cash basis, keeping no record whatsoever - a strong indication that Ruby himself was involved in illicit operations of some sort. 6. When it suited his own purposes, he did not hesitate to call on underworld characters for assistance. 7. In about 1959, Ruby became interested in the possibility of selling war materials to Cubans and in the possibility of opening a gambling casino in Havana. 8. Ruby is also rumored to have met in Dallas with an American Army Colonel (LNU) and some Cubans concerning the sale of arms. 9. A Government informant in Chicago connected with the sale of arms to anti-Castro Cubans has reported that such Cubans were behind the Kennedy assassination. 10. His primary technique in avoiding prosecution was the maintenance of friendship with police officers, public officials, and other influential persons in the Dallas community." The report suggested that the CIA look into "ties between Ruby and others who might have been interested in the assassination of President Kennedy" including "the Las Vegas gambling community" and "the Dallas Police Department." It went on to say "the most promising sources of contact between Ruby and politically motivated groups" included two Dallas oil millionaires and a John Birch Society official, plus Ruby's known personal contacts....Ruby is considered to be a highly emotional person. He speaks with a lisp, has been described as soft-spoken, is generally well mannered and well-dressed, but is given to sudden and extreme displays of temper and violence. He is known to have brutally beaten at least 25 different persons either as a result of a personal encounter or because they were causing disturbances in his club. He is said to have effiminate mannerisms and is alleged by some to be homosexual. However, there is no direct evidence of any homosexual behavior. Although he has never been married, he is known to have dated and at one time was known as a 'ladies' man.' In recent years, some of the women toward whom he has shown interest have indicated that he has perverted attitudes toward sex. One male witness describes an occasion when he [engaged in a sexual act] with one of his dogs and apparently derived great pleasure from it...To generalize, it can be said that, while living in Dallas, Ruby has very carefully cultivated friendships with police officers and other public officials. At the same time, he was peripherally, if not directly connected with members of the underworld. Ruby is also rumored to have been the tip-off man between the Dallas police and the Dallas underworld, especially in regard to enforcement of the local liquor laws...His associations with strip teasers and cheap entertainers brought him into constant contact with people of questionable reputations. Ruby operated his businesses on a cash basis, keeping no record whatsoever - a strong indication that Ruby himself was involved in illicit operations of some sort. When it suited his own purposes, he did not hesitate to call on underworld characters for assistance...In about 1959, Ruby became interested in the possibility of opening a gambling casino in Havana. He was in contact at that time with a friend, Lewis J. McWillie. Insufficient evidence is available on that episode to evaluate Ruby's connection with any Cuban (anti-Castro or pro-Castro) groups. Ruby is also rumored to have met in Dallas with an American Army colonel (LNU) and some Cubans concerning the sale of arms. A Government informant in Chicago connected with the sale of arms to anti-Castro Cubans has reported that such Cubans were behind the Kennedy assassination...On balance, it may be said that Ruby's primary interest in life was making money. He does not seem to have had any great scruples concerning the manner in which he might do so. However, he has usually been careful to avoid prosecution by law enforcement authorities...His primary technique in avoiding prosecution, was the maintenance of friendship with police officers, public officials, and other influential persons in the Dallas community. It is possible that Ruby could have been utilized by a politically motivated group either upon the promise of money or because of the influential character of the individual approaching Ruby. If he is a sex deviate, blackmail is also possible....the following groups and places seem significant in looking for ties between Ruby and others who might have been interested in the assassination of President Kennedy...The Las Vegas Gambling Community...Teamsters Union...The Dallas Police Department." The WC waited for Helms' response for two months; finally Rankin wrote to Helms: "At that time we requested that you review this memorandum and submit to the Commission any information contained in your files regarding the matters covered in the memorandum...We would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible whether you are in a position to comply with this request in the near future." (H 26 466-73, CE 2980).
  
• 2/25/1964 Herbert Orth, Assistant Chief of Life's photographic lab, brought the original Zapruder film to the WC for viewing, but refused to stop to view individual frames out of fear of causing burn damage. He offered to have color slides made up for the WC. The WC had been using a second-generation copy up til this time. This more detailed film showed that Connally was hit well before frame 249.
  
• 2/25/1964 Marina is interviewed by the FBI. She is shown the Imperial Reflex Duo Lens camera turned over to the FBI by Robert Oswald. CE 2083 Letter from Hoover to Rankin: "On February 24, 1964, Robert Lee Oswald, brother of Lee, furnished to a Special Agent of the Dallas Office of this Bureau a Duo-lens Imperial Reflex camera which he stated was the property of Lee...Robert advised that he obtained this camera from the residence of Mrs Ruth Paine, Irving, Texas, in December 1963...On February 25, 1964, this camera was displayed to Marina Oswald and she immediately identified it as the American camera which belonged to her husband and the one which she used to take the photograph of him with the rifle and the pistol."
  
• 2/25/1964 WC asked Walter Craig, president of the American Bar Association, to sit in on hearings to make sure that "the proceedings conformed to the basic principles of American justice."
  
• 2/25/1964 Joseph Ball and David Belin issued a report in which they stated "At no time have we assumed that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin of President Kennedy. Rather, our entire study has been based on an independent examination of all the evidence in an effort to determine who was the assassin..." They acknowledged that Charles Givens originally admitted seeing Oswald on the first floor.'
  
• 2/26/1964 LBJ signed Kennedy's bill that cut taxes by $11.5 billion. The bill had passed by 74 to 19 in the Senate, with GOP support. LBJ argued that the tax cut would stimulate the economy.
  
• 2/26/1964 J. Edgar Hoover, in letter to staff member W. David Slawson, writes: "The CIA is interested in the scar on Oswald's left wrist ... The FBI is reluctant to exhume Oswald's body as requested by the CIA."
  
• 2/27/1964 James H. Martin, Marina Oswald's lawyer, testifies before the WC (Warren, Cooper, Boggs, Ford, Dulles).
  
• 2/27/1964 Marina Oswald is questioned by the FBI about the type of camera that she allegedly used to take the backyard photographs of LHO.
  
• 2/27/1964 J. Edgar Hoover informs J. Lee Rankin that Jack Ruby had been an FBI potential criminal informant in 1959. Hoover demands, however, that the chief counsel conceal the fact from the public, raising the specter of "national security." Letter from Hoover to Rankin: "For your information, Ruby was contacted by an Agent of the Dallas Office on March 11,