27-04-2014, 11:37 PM
Nov 22 (Friday) - times are Central Standard Time unless indicated
"In l963, the Secret Service had identified six categories of persons who posed a threat to the President: right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Black militants, and a miscellaneous category that included mental patients. It identified two cities as particularly threatening--Miami and Chicago." (HSCA Report)"The Secret Service generally regarded Dallas as a tough town …" William Manchester, The Death of a President, p. 39 "The committee found that if the threats that the PRS was aware of had been communicated to agents responsible for the Dallas trip, additional precautions might have been taken. The Secret Service generally regarded Dallas as a tough town …" House Select Committee on Assassinations Report, p. 234 The third known check of PRS was done on the morning of November 22, 1963 by Agent Rufus Youngblood through yet another unnamed agentagain, nothing was found. (Manchester, pp. 1089; Bishop, p. 46; see also RIF#1801009310320: May 31, 1977 Memorandum from HSCA's Belford Lawson to fellow HSCA members Gary Cornwell & Ken Klein (revised August 15, 1977).
The day Kennedy was assassinated, Paramount Pictures, the distributor of the film Seven Days in May, planned to run an ad for the film, using a quote from one of its fictional military conspirators: "Impeach him, hell. There are better ways of getting rid of him." The studio quickly yanked the ad at the last minute, fearing it was too provocative, "narrowly avoiding an embarrasing coincidence on the very day the president was shot," Variety reported 12/4/1963.
JFK was to deliver a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart after the motorcade, and then go to Austin for a Democratic fundraising dinner, and finally to Lyndon Johnson's Texas ranch. The Trade Mart speech read, "Our assistance to these nations can be painful, risky and costly, as is true in Southeast Asia today. But we dare not weary of the task...We have increased our special counterinsurgency forces which are now engaged in South Vietnam by 600%...We in this country are - by destiny rather than choice - the watchmen on the walls of world freedom."
In Madrid, Spain today - the CIA reports hearing from a Cuban journalist who claims to have received a letter stating that GPIDEAL [CIA's official code name for President Kennedy] will be killed today. On December 3, 1963, the CIA reported that on November 27, 1963, the CIA Station, Madrid, received the following information from Source Two: On the morning of November 22, 1963, Amparo Godinez, the owner of the Marquesa De Cuba bar located in Madrid, overheard former Cuban journalist Baston Baquero tell Rosendo Canto Hernandez, editor of Accion Cubana, that he had received a letter stating Kennedy would be killed that day.
On this date, Aristotle Onassis is in Germany for the christening of his newest ship "The Olympic Chivalry."
On this date, Clay Shaw is in San Francisco. It is now known that Clay Shaw, eventually charged by New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison in the JFK murder, has a relationship with the CIA. Besides being a contact of the CIA's Domestic Contact Division, a 1967 memo released in 1992 notes that Shaw has been granted a covert security approval in December 1962 for "Project QKENCHANT." Another person approved for this same project is E. Howard Hunt, of Watergate fame.
Gerry Patrick Hemming is reportedly in Miami.
E. Howard Hunt is believed by some to be in Dallas. Hunt gave conflicting accounts of his exact whereabouts at the time of the shooting. In his 1985 libel trial in Miami, Florida, the jury's forewoman concluded Hunt was not being truthful about his whereabouts on the day of the assassination. Hunt's various accounts of where he was and what he was doing on the day of the shooting were markedly contradictory.
Jack Ruby meets Richard Meyers, of Brooklyn, NY for five minutes at the Cabana Motel in Dallas. H&L
Life magazine of this date features a story titled "The Bobby Baker Case: Scandal Grows and Grows in Washington." Clint Murchison's lawyers, Bedford Wynne and Thomas Webb, are named as members of the "Bobby Baker Set." Wynne is under federal investigation regarding government funds he is receiving through a Murchison family corporation, some of which have ended up as payoffs (via Thomas Webb) to the law firm of Bobby Baker. [Baker is LBJ's right hand man. Murchison's empire overlaps with that of Mafia financial expert Meyer Lansky and Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa.]
This morning, Wilbur Mills and Henry Hall Wilson reached an agreement on a formula to finance Medicare that was acceptable to both Mills and JFK. (No Final Victories p145)
The headlines of today's Dallas Morning News read: "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy Visit," and "Split State Party Continues Feuds."
In the 1960 election the Kennedy-Johnson ticket lost in Dallas while managing to carry Texas only by a disturbingly small margin. The "Kennedy camp" clearly realizes that LBJ may very well be a liability on the 64 Democratic ticket - particularly in light of the scandals now swirling around him. (LBJ must also be equally aware of this political reality.) In fact, though few realize it on this date, Dallas is already well on its way towards evolving into a seat of extreme conservative philosophy and burgeoning Republican politics. Besides LBJ, it is historically significant that Texas will also eventually send two more presidents to the White House - both from the same family: Bush - and both will be inextricably connected to oil interests as well as the Republican party. Both men - father and son - will also take the United States to war in the Middle East. While many influential Texans are today extremely apprehensive about the ramifications of a possible "Kennedy legacy" [Jack, Bobby, Ted], it is the "Bush dynasty" that will eventually emerge to take control.
Nixon was quoted in the Dallas Morning News as predicting that Kennedy would dump Johnson from the ticket in 1964 because LBJ had become a "political liability."
"The entire front page of the morning paper [DMN] of the day of the assassination was devoted to the President's visit and to the political situation in which it was being made. Buried in the body of one of these stories was some text the Report could and did use to connote something sinister on Oswald's part: "On the morning of the President's arrival, the Morning News noted the motorcade would travel through downtown Dallas onto the Stemmons Freeway, and reported 'the motorcade will travel slowly so that crowds "can get a good view" of the President and his wife.' "This planted the idea that Oswald knew all about the slow pace and found assurance of a better target because of it. Of course, the Report in this quotation does not find it necessary to use the exact language, "Main and Stemmons Freeway," as the route to the place of the luncheon meeting, with no mention of Elm Street. And what the Report totally suppresses is the major reference to the route on the front page of that issue of that paper. Headed "Presidential Motorcade Route," there is a map showing the entire route, beginning at the airport. This map shows the motorcade would not leave Main Street from the time it got on it until it reached the Triple Underpass. It showed the motorcade was not going to turn off into Elm Street, as it did. And it further showed that the planned route included an illegal turn into the Stemmons Freeway, the turn the Report infers could not be made because it was against regulations. And as though to answer the as yet unasked question, as though it knew the future significance of its front-page map, the paper marked the point of the only turn from Main Street with an arrow labeled "Triple Underpass."" (Weisberg, Whitewash)
The WC published a cropped photocopy of the front page of the Dallas Morning News of 11/22/1963 (CE 1365); the blanked-out section was of a map showing the motorcade route as heading straight down Main St, without turning onto Elm. Officer J.M. Smith later testified that he knew of nothing that would have prevented the motorcade from going straight down Main and then onto Stemmons Freeway. (H 7 538-539) Most of the Depository employees who were questioned on this matter say that they didn't learn of the exact motorcade route until Friday morning. (H 3 178,209)
From The Dallas Morning News - Friday, November 22, 1963 - Section 1-19 Dallas After Dark by Tony Zoppi "Robert Clary, the French musical comedy star made his Dallas supper club debut at Statler Hilton Friday night and committed the most common error in show business. He failed to get off while he was ahead. While Clary has made his mark onstage and in films, he simply isn't strong enough vocally to sustain at length in clubs. His manner is friendly and his songs are backed by tasty arraignments, but vocally he is far short of such Empire Room greats as Tony Bennett, Mel Torme and Frankie Laine. Perhaps an opening act would have solved the problem. It would have allowed Clary to condense his turn to a solid 28 minutes of such tunes instead of 45 minutes of this and that. Former Vice-President Richard Nixon and film star Joan Crawford graced the ringside and drew tremendous ovations when introduced. The Statler announced the signing of Jose Greco & Co. as its Cotton Bowl Week attraction. Greco once held the box office record at the hotel." [Zoppi's deadline was 11:00 PM and he waited until the last minute to leave to provide his review of Clary's show. Both Richard Nixon and Joan Crawford were there when he left.]
From The Dallas Times Herald - Friday, November 22, 1963 - Page A25 Show Biz by Don Safran
"SPEAKING OF the president and vice president visiting Dallas today, they might get a kick out of an item from a press biography of folksingers Peter, Paul and Mary, who'll be appearing here Saturday at the SMU Coliseum. The item, which we imagine was a typographical error, or at least we hope it is, read: ". . . they performed at the home of Vice President and Mrs. Johnson, Carnegie Hall, N.Y." Could be lonely around the fireplace after shows . . . Dick Harp snared winsome jazz singer Melba Moore for this weekend at the 90th Floor . . . Dallas oil-man Buddy Fogelson, co-producing Broadway's "The Golden Age" threw the towel in after eight performances. Show closes Saturday despite winning over every critic but Walter Kerr.
Reviewing Stand (Statler's Clary) . . .
THERE'S NO escaping politics this Nov. 22. Note the above and then note that the elfin French boulevardier Robert Clary opened a three-week engagement at the Empire Room of the Statler Hilton last night with Richard Nixon ringsiding. He was with a group from Pepsi Cola that also included the chic and glamorous as ever Joan Crawford, but more about that later. If you remember M. Clary from "New Faces of 1952," you know the bombast and ruffled elegance of this totally captivating performer.
Robert has that marvelous character face and moves like a marionette on ice skates. He is the complete performer in that when he sings, there is more than a song; when he moves, it's the right eccentric steps. He sings his "New Faces" medley, a poignant "When the World Was Young," a staggering "West Side Story's" "Officer Krupke" and one of the most joyful and inventive "76 Trombones" ever put to stage. With it all, the Don Ragon Orchestra easily cuts through one of its toughest shows. The Empire Room has had phenomenal luck its last three bookings, and with Robert it has one of those rare striking talents that give supper clubs a reason for being.
The Night Line . . .
BACK TO THE politicos again - when Richard Nixon walked into the Empire Room last night the Don Ragon Band was playing "April in Portugal." Mrs. Nixon's favorite song, said the former vice president . . . Nixon was introduced by Clary as, "either you like him or you don't." which broke up Nixon . . .
The former VP got a big chuckle out of Clary's line "I sent Lady Bird to Greece to bring back a few dance steps for me." . . .
And speaking of dancing. La Crawford, looking every inch the movie star with a white fur hat, was first on the dance floor and requested twists all evening . . ."
The Dallas Police Dept had cancelled all leaves for the President's arrival, and "all personnel except a handful of squad cars and some detectives were working the Kennedy assignment. The dispatcher had been told to keep Channel One open for superior officers with the President and to use police Channel Two for all other business." (The Day Kennedy was Shot 10-11)
This morning's broadcast of Hunt's Life Line radio program predicted that if present trends continued, the American people would no longer be permitted by the government to buy firearms. (Texas Rich)
Nov 22 early morning to 6am
12:00 AM: Nine Secret Service agents drinking at Pat Kirkwood's bar the "Cellar Door" in Fort Worth, Texas. Several of the women serving liquor to the agents are also strippers from Jack Ruby's Carousel Club in Dallas. (Pat Kirkwood is a licensed pilot and owns a twin-engine plane. He will fly to Mexico hours after JFK's assassination.) Bob Schieffer, night police reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram remembers "... the waitresses wore underwear. That was their business attire, as it were, and people sat around on cushions on the floor.""For the Secret Service escort who dedicate themselves to the safety of the President, this day began with nine of them engaged in a post-midnight diversion, including moderate drinking, in clear violation of regulations. Although discipline was mandatory under the regulations, the Secret Service decided punishment would stigmatize these men for life. The men went unpunished, a decision with which the Commission found no fault (R450-1)." (Weisberg, Whitewash)
12:50 AM JFK arrives at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth.
2:00 AM Seven Secret Service agents are still drinking at "The Cellar."
2:15 AM Mary Lawrence, head waitress at the Lucas B&B Restaurant - two doors down from the Vegas Club, says she is positive that LHO enters the restaurant and tells her and the night cashier that he is waiting for Jack Ruby. When Ruby enters the restaurant, the two men sit together and talk for over a half an hour and then leave. A week and a half after the assassination, Mary will receive a phone call from an unknown man who says, "If you don't want to die, you better get out of town." She has known Jack Ruby for the past eight years. She and the night cashier see Jack Ruby and a person identical to Lee Harvey Oswald in the restaurant shortly after midnight. She reports this to the Dallas Police and receives a phone call on December 3 from an unknown male who states "If you don't want to die, you better get out of town." When questioned by the Dallas Police, Mary Lawrence states that the man with Ruby was "positively Lee Harvey Oswald." Neither Mary Lawrence nor her friend were interviewed by the WC.
3:30 AM The Secret Service men at "The Cellar" are joking about how several firemen are the only ones left guarding the President at the Hotel Texas, in Fort Worth.
5:00 AM One Secret Service agent is still drinking at "The Cellar." ALL AGENTS HAVE TO REPORT FOR DUTY AT 8:00 AM ON THE MORNING OF THE 22ND -- three hours from now. Bob Schieffer remembers: "While there, we were joined by some Secret Service agents from Kennedy's detail. They were off-duty, but they wanted to go. They weren't drinking. But we managed to see the dawn come up and see the sun rise in Fort Worth before we left the place."
Nov 22 6am
6:15 AM Mrs. Marie Tippit has made breakfast for her husband, Dallas Police officer JD Tippit, who routinely leaves the house no later than 6:15 a.m. each day. She, too, has a hectic schedule. To make extra money, she is baby-sitting a boy during the day and other children during the evening. The Tippits have three children of their own: Charles Allan, born in 1950; Brenda, born in 1953; and Curtis, born in 1958. Officer Tippit is no stranger to tough situations while on duty. Once, a suspect's gun failed to fire. He has also been stabbed in the knee with a knife.An ad for Ruby's Carousel Club appeared in the Dallas Times Herald today. Ruby cancelled the show in the wake of the President's death.
6:30 AM Oswald dresses, talks to Marina. (Manchester, Death of a President)
6:40 AM Marina Oswald awakens to feed her baby, Rachel, and checks on her other child, June. (Bishop, The Day Kennedy Was Shot)
Nov 22 7am
7:00 AM In Dallas, seventeen men line up before Deputy Chief W. W. Stevenson. The patrolmen are told that their function will be to "seal" the Trade Mart in preparation for JFK's visit. Two thousand, five hundred people are expected to attend this event which is scheduled for 12:30 PM. (Bishop)Dallas Morning News this AM runs a full-page anti-Kennedy ad.
In the G. B. Dealey days of the Dallas Morning News, until his death in 1946, the Editorial policies of the paper might be considered conservative', but on occasion they would lean to the more Liberal side. A Professor Paul F. Boller, Jr. did a study on the Morning News editorial position in the mid 1940's, which concluded that the Morning News since the 1930's was a mildly New Deal, pro-Russian newspaper that favored U. S. recognition of the Russian government. During G. B. Dealey's stewardship in the late 1930's, the News had defended freedom of the press for the Daily Worker, criticized the Hearst Press' drive against academic freedoms, called Mayor Frank Hague un-American' and Hitleristic' for suppressing left-wing speakers in Jersey City, and dismissed an inquiry by the Texas legislature into alleged Communism at the University of Texas as a needless investigation. It criticized "Red Hunters" in 1936, and labeled the various "Red Scares", created by patriotic organizations, a racket to boost donations from thousands of "frightened suckers". In fact, G. B. Dealey's support of many Liberal' and Social' causes was often frowned upon by the Dallas Citizens' Council. This all changed under Edward Musgrove "Ted" Dealey. The conservative nature of the Dallas Morning News started taking the tone of the radical right. By the 1960's, the editorial page was not just dissenting, but downright insulting. Every President since FDR had been subject to its wrath, including the "much too liberal" Eisenhower (who was considered conservative by most standards). Lyndon Johnson was also a target for the paper, which had supported opponent Coke Stevenson, when Johnson was elected for the US Senate. When Johnson won by only 87 votes, the News immediately screamed "Fraud!" They then began a very personal campaign against Johnson that made Johnson look more like a common thief. In the fall of 1961, Ted Dealey attended a special lunch for newspaper publishers at Kennedy's White House. During the event, Dealey strongly angered the President by calling him soft on Communism, and produced and read a savage indictment of his host. He told the President, "You and your Administration are weak sisters". "What was needed was a man on horseback to lead this nation, and many people in Texas and the Southwest think that you are riding Caroline's tricycle." Bringing the 3-year old Caroline into the discussion was, of course, a bad breach of taste and infuriated the President, but it did accurately reflect the average Dallas citizen's distrust of the United Nations and the President. It was also Ted Dealey who later approved the infamous "Black Border" ad that ran in the Dallas Morning News the morning of November 22, 1963, much to the horror of his son, and Morning News President, Joe Dealey, Sr. Ted Dealey explained to his son that many of the points in the "Black Border" ad reflected what the paper had been saying in its editorials (which Ted Dealey was in charge of, by the way) over the previous months. In the 2 months prior to Kennedy's visit, the Morning News ran an entire tirade of Editorials criticizing the President for his "Communistic tendencies". The people of Dallas tended to agree with these views, and they probably influenced even the less outspoken, non-agreeing readers of these views.
J.D. Tippit's shift on November 22, 1963 was 7:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Tippit worked out of the Dallas Police Department Southwest Substation (Batchelor Exhibit No. 5002, page 9 and CE 2645, Volume 25, page 910.). This substation was in the 4200 block of West Illinois, Oak Cliff, Dallas. Tippit would have to drive his squad car approximately 5.7 miles to get to his patrol district #78. If Tippit had taken the most direct route and drove east on West Illinois to get to his district that means that he would pass Austin's Barbecue on his way. Ken M. Holmes Jr. was able to locate two eyewitnesses that saw Tippit at Austin's that morning, exact time unrecalled. Ken did much of the investigative work for the late Larry Ray Harris whom some had considered the world's leading authority on the Tippit murder. For some reason Ken has never gotten the credit due him for all of the important work that he has done. I know that I am very thankful for all the information and time that he has shared with me. Ken is responsible for many pieces of information that we have about Tippit today. As we can see the possibility of Tippit stopping of at Austin's certainly exists. (According to one source, Tippit's wife - Marie - visits a neighbor later this morning in tears because "on that morning Officer Tippit has told her he wanted a divorce to marry someone else.") Some researchers have pointed out the fact that J. D. Tippit closely resembles JFK - so much so that some members of the Dallas Police force often jokingly call Tippit "Jack" and "JFK." This similarity has led some researchers to advance the theory that it is Tippit's body in the autopsy photographs purporting to show the body of JFK. Additionally, Tippit's head wounds and JFK's head wounds are in almost identical locations - again leading some researchers to advance the theory that X-rays of Tippit's skull were later substituted for JFK's. It will also be noted that Tippit's body is taken from the murder scene before the arrival of police and is subsequently taken to two hospitals.
Two Secret Service agents are at Fort Worth Police Headquarters examining two limousines which have been rented for the Kennedys and the Secret Service to use during the four-mile drive from the Hotel Texas to Carswell Air Force Base. (Bishop)
JFK's valet, George Thomas, awakens the President - who is asleep in Suite 850 of the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth. (Bishop) As JFK dresses this morning in Fort Worth, Texas, he dons his underwear and a surgical corset. He laces it tightly, then pulls a long elastic bandage over his feet and twists it so that it forms a figure eight. He then slips it up over both legs. Finally, it is adjusted over his hips where it supports the bottom of his torso, while the back brace holds the lower spine rigid. The Warren Commission notes that JFK's back brace is six inches wide and only waist high, no higher than the navel.
7:08 AM Police Chief Jesse Curry appears on local television and announces that the President will be in Dallas today and that Dallas wants no incidents. Curry concludes by asking all good citizens to please report to the Dallas Police Department anyone who has voiced violent opinions against the President or who has boasted, publicly or privately, of plans to demonstrate today. (Bishop, The Day Kennedy Was Shot p11)
A retired Dallas police captain told Ovid Demaris and Ed Reid that the DPD "was rotten from top to bottom. Oh, there were some good cops. But, man, it was a dangerous place to work in. You never knew which side your boss or partner was on. There was plenty of money floating around. All you had to do was raise your hand." (Ruby Cover-Up p31)
7:10 AM Marina said that Oswald overslept the morning of 11/22 and got up at 7:10; he left and arrived at Frazier's home at 7:20 (H 18 638-639, H 24 408). "In the morning," she continued, "I did not usually get up to make breakfast for Lee -- he always did that for himself. (This of the man the Commission elsewhere said never ate breakfast, quoting Marina as its authority!) At 7:00 a.m. the alarm rang, but Lee did not get up. After 10 minutes I woke him up and began to feed Rachel. He said I should not get up, got dressed, said goodbye and went out . . ." When he left home that morning, Marina was still in bed; he told her to buy shoes for her and June. He put on a tan-gray work shirt, gray pants and a zipper jacket, left behind his wedding ring and wallet, (keeping $13.87 for himself) and said, "Maybe someday June will remember me." (Bishop p12)
"He went out into the garage...opened a rolled blanket on the floor, slipped a rifle out without disturbing the convolutions of the blanket, and closed the flap. He took some wrapping paper, placed the rifle in it, and wrapped it in such a way that one end appeared to be thick, the other thin. He went back into the kitchen, forgetting to turn the light off." (Bishop 16)
"Despite the emotional account attributed to his wife that she had denied her company and even her conversation to her husband the night before the assassination, in the narrative she wrote when first put under protective custody she indicated (18H638) that he knew nothing about the events of the next day: "Only when I told him Kennedy was coming the next day to Dallas and asked how I could see him -- on television, of course -- he answered that he did not know."" (Weisberg, Whitewash)
7:15 AM Oswald leaves the Paine house to walk to Wesley Frazier's sister's house. "...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." (Warren Report p15) Marina says that when he left, he came to the bedroom door: "He told me to take as much money as I needed and to buy everything, and said goodbye, and that is all." (H 1 72) Posner writes, "He walked out the door without kissing her, something he always did before leaving." (Case Closed 223) Posner: "Failed in his attempts to find happiness in Russia or the US, rejected by the Cubans, barely able to make a living in America, frustrated in his marriage, and hounded, in his view, by the FBI, he was desperate to break out of his downward spiral...Lee Oswald always thought he was smarter and better than other people...Now, by chance, he had an opportunity that he knew would only happen once in his lifetime."
Apparently no one asked Oswald during his police interrogation why he returned to Irving Thursday night. The story about Oswald visiting the garage at around 8 or 9pm is based on Ruth Paine's testimony that she found the light left on at 9pm. Neither Ruth or Marina actually saw Oswald in the garage. (H 3 67; H 1 66-67)
He does leave home wearing his U. S. Marine Corps signet ring and an identification bracelet with the name "Lee" inscribed on it. He will be wearing both of these items at the time of his arrest. Dallas Police detectives who will later search Ruth Paine's home do not list a wedding ring or any kind of ring on their inventory sheets. A wedding ring was not photographed with other items of evidence on the floor of the Dallas Police station, nor was it listed on the joint Dallas Police/FBI inventory of Nov. 26, 1963. LHO walks one block east from the Paine house and pokes his head into the back door of Linnie Mae Randle's home, looking for her brother Buell Frazier for a ride to work.
Both Randle and Frazier will later agree that they observed LHO place a package in the backseat. Both are adamant that the package is too small to be even a broken-down Mannlicher Carcano rifle. Mrs. Essie Mae Williams, Linnie Mae Randle's mother, will tell the FBI that she caught a glimpse of LHO from the kitchen and didn't see whether he was carrying anything or not.
7:20 AM Oswald had to hurry. He was due half a block away, dressed and with his "large and bulky package" 10 minutes from the time Marina awakened him. His "ride," Buell Wesley Frazier, testified the normal departure time was 7:20 (2H210ff.; 7H531ff.). In 10 minutes he had to dress (Marina was disturbed because he had not eaten) and get to Frazier's home, meanwhile either picking up the package the Report says he carried or, so far as we know, even having to make the package. On this the Report says nothing except in conclusion. It merely places his departure from the Paine home at about 7:15 a.m. (R131). (Weisberg, Whitewash)
7:23 AM Oswald is driven to work by Buell Wesley Frazier. They don't talk very much during the trip. When asked what the package in the backseat is, Frazier testifies that LHO answers: "Curtain rods." This is the package in which LHO supposedly carries the "broken down" assassination rifle. This bag is carried between his armpit and cupped hand into the TSBD. No one sees it come into the building. The rifle, broken down, can not fit under LHO's armpit and cupped hand -- as Frazier testifies he carries it. The "Bag" is homemade -- out of brown wrapping paper supposedly taken from the TSBD. The Warren Commission does not indicate its reasoning as to when and where Oswald fashioned the paper bag from materials taken from the TSBD. Presumably he did so only after the motorcade route become known on Tuesday, November 19, 1963, and before departing for Irving after work on Thursday. According to the Commission's findings, Oswald must have carried the paper bag concealed on his person when he accompanied Frazier to Irving on Thursday. Frazier saw no paper bag or any sign that Oswald had concealed on his person the six-foot length of wrapping paper necessary to construct a bag consisting of two sheets, each about three feet long, sealed at the edges. LHO's fingerprints will not be found on the brown paper bag. Researchers have posed the question that, if LHO did indeed carry curtain rods into the TSBD this morning -- what happened to them? Wouldn't they have been left in the building following LHO's exit immediately after the assassination? DPD will eventually possess photographs of curtain rods that were dusted for fingerprints, but there is no information on the photos identifying where they were found. Following the assassination, Counsel Jenner and Secret Service Agent Joe Howlett accompany Mrs. Ruth Paine to her garage and find two curtain rods on a shelf. The rods are measured and found to be 27 1/2 inches long. Mrs. Paine maintained that only those two curtain rods had been stored in the garage and that consequently Oswald did not take curtain rods from the premises on the fatal morning. Her husband, however, is not certain of the number of curtain rods which had been stored in the garage, before or after the assassination. (Meagher)
The Warren Commission will conclude the following: "During the morning of November 21, Oswald asked Frazier whether he could ride home with him that afternoon. Frazier, surprised, asked 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." The two men left work at 4: 40 p.m. and drove to Irving. There was little conversation between them on the way home. 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, 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, and that Oswald had never discussed the subject with her. 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. Oswald never asked Mrs. Paine about the use of curtain rods, and Marina Oswald testified that Oswald did not say anything about curtain rods on the day before the assassination. No curtain rods were known to have been discovered in the Depository Building after the assassination." Mrs. Linnie Mae Randle (2H245ff.) noticing Oswald approaching with a "heavy brown bag," in the Commission's words rather than Mrs. Randle's. "He 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.' Frazier recalls that LHO is wearing a "gray, more or less flannel, wool-looking type of jacket." Linnie Mae Randle says "to the best of her recollection Oswald was wearing a tan shirt and gray jacket."
7:30 AM FBI Agent James Hosty visited the local SS office and was amazed at how relaxed everyone seemed, even though Kennedy would be arriving in a few hours. Agent Mike Howard wasn't interested in any information Hosty might have on right-wing groups. This morning, Hosty also received a case-transfer order, officially sending the Oswald case file back to him from New Orleans. (Assignment Oswald p7)
7:30 AM J. W. "Dub" Stark, owner of the Top Ten Record Shop at 338 W. Jefferson Blvd. in Oak Cliff (about a block and a half west of the Texas Theater) says that LHO is waiting at his store when Stark arrives at about this time. Stark says that LHO buys a ticket to the Dick Clark Show and leaves by bus. Stark says that Officer J.D. Tippit is not in the store at this time. [J.D. Tippit will reportedly be seen in this same store at 1:11 PM. He will reportedly make a phone call and then leave hurriedly.] WM Dub Stark says that LHO returns a short time later and buys another ticket to the Dick Clark Show. This time, Officer J.D. Tippit is in the store, but does not speak with LHO. (Armstrong)
7:45 AM
Mr. BELIN. All right, do you remember what time you got to work that day?
Mr. CHARLES DOUGLAS GIVENS. Yes; I got to work around about a quarter to eight.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you go when you got to work?
Mr. GIVENS. I went in a little lunchroom that we have downstairs.
Mr. BELIN. Is that what you call the domino room?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. You carry your lunch with you?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. You put your lunch there?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Did you wear a jacket to work that day?
Mr. GIVENS. I wore a raincoat, I believe. It was misting that morning.
Mr. BELIN. Did you hang up your coat in that room, too?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
7:55 AM. Oswald and Wesley Frazier arrive at the parking lot next to the TSBD. It is raining. LHO leaves the car and walks ahead of Frazier into the building. LHO is out of Frazier's sight for a few moments before he enters the building.
Mr. BALL - He was alone?
Mr. JACK DOUGHERTY - Yes; he was alone.
Mr. BALL - Do you recall him having anything in his hand?
Mr. DOUGHERTY - Well, I didn't see anything, if he did.
Mr. BALL - Did you pay enough attention to him, you think, that you would remember whether he did or didn't?
Mr. DOUGHERTY - Well, I believe I can---yes, sir---I'll put it this way; I didn't see anything in his hands at the time.
Mr. BALL - In other words, your memory is definite on that is it?
Mr. DOUGHERTY - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - In other words, you would say positively he had nothing in his hands?
Mr. DOUGHERTY - I would say that---yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Or, are you guessing?
Mr. DOUGHERTY - I don't think so.
Mr. BALL. What time did you get to work on the morning of November the 22d?
Mr. HAROLD NORMAN. I got there I would say about 5 minutes of 8 o'clock, 5 minutes until 8 in the morning.
Mr. BALL. You weren't late?
Mr. NORMAN. No; I wasn't.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Lee Oswald when you got to work?
Mr. NORMAN. No; I don't recall seeing him when I got to work.
There are 13 employees working on the 6th floor of the TSBD building today, laying a tile floor. The floor crew starts work in the west end of the large room which constitutes the 6th floor -- working eastward. Little by little, the cardboard boxes of school books are being inched toward the front windows of the building. LHO begins filling orders involving books published by Scott Foresman & Company. Two employees working on this floor have facial resemblances -- Billy Nolan Lovelady and Lee Harvey Oswald.
Nov 22 8am
8:00 AM Abraham Zapruder arrives at his office. (Trask)8:01 AM Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit, in police car #10, leaves the police station for patrol.
8:05 AM James Jarman Jr. arrives at work.
Mr. BALL - Now on November 22, what time did you get to work?
Mr. JARMAN - About 5 minutes after 8.
Mr. BALL - Was Oswald there when you got there?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Mr. BALL - Where did you see him the first time?
Mr. JARMAN - Well, he was on the first floor filling orders.
Mr. BALL - Did you talk to Oswald that morning?
Mr. JARMAN - I did.
Mr. BALL - When?
Mr. JARMAN - I had him to correct an order. I don't know exactly what time it was.
Mr. BALL - Oh, approximately. Nine, ten?
Mr. JARMAN - It was around, it was between eight and nine, I would say.
Mr. BALL - Between 8 and 9?
Mr. JARMAN - Between 5 minutes after 8 and 9.
"The testimony of all the witnesses who were employed at the Depository Building revealed a lack of excitement over the President's trip. Some did not even plan to view the motorcade and watched it only as an afterthought. Others became interested when they learned by the gathering of spectators that it would come nearby." (Weisberg, Whitewash)
8:15 AM JFK calls James Chambers Jr., president of the Dallas Times Herald and asks "Can you get me some Macanudo cigars? They don't have any over here in Fort Worth." Chambers says "Sure." JFK then says "Well, get me about a half a dozen." Chambers never gets to give the cigars to JFK.
Jack Ruby is reportedly seen by DPO Hansen on the Harwood sidewalk by City Hall where Dallas police officers assemble to get their assignments for JFK's visit.
8:30 AM SS agent Sorrels meets Agent Kinney and Agent George W. Hickey, Jr. outside hotel in Dallas. They then drive out to Love Field.
Representative FORD - When did you first learn of the President's motorcade route?
Mr. JARMAN - That morning.
Representative FORD - Friday morning, November 22d?
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir.
Representative FORD - How did you find out about it?
Mr. JARMAN - The foreman of the employees on the first floor.
Representative FORD - What is his name?
Mr. JARMAN - William Shelley was standing up talking to Mrs. Lee.
Representative FORD - To Mrs. Lee?
Mr. JARMAN - Miss Lee, or Mrs. Lee, I think, and he was discussing to her about the President coming, asked her was she going to stand out there and see him pass.
Representative FORD - About what time Friday morning was this?
Mr. JARMAN - I imagine it would be about--I think it was between 8:30 and 9:00. I am not sure.
Mr. BONNIE RAY WILLIAMS. The morning of November 22d Oswald was on the floor. The only time I saw him that morning was a little after eight, after I had started working. As usual, he was walking around with a clipboard in his hands, I believe he was.
Mr. BALL. That is on the first floor?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. He had a clipboard in his hand…That morning I worked on the sixth floor. I think we went directly up to the sixth floor and I got there.
Mr. BALL. And how many were working on the sixth floor with you?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I believe there were five.
Mr. BALL. What are their names?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, Bill Shelley, Charles Givens, and there was a fellow by the name of Danny Arce.
Mr. BALL. He is a Mexican boy?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. And a fellow by the name of Billy Lovelady, and myself. And there was a fellow that came up--his name was Harold Norman. He really wasn't working at the time, but there wasn't anything to do, he would come around to help a little bit, and then back down.
Mr. BALL. Did you see Oswald on the sixth floor that morning?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I am not sure. I think I saw him once messing around with some cartons or something, back over the east side of the building. But he wasn't in the window that they said he shot the President from. He was more on the east side of the elevator, I think, messing around with cartons, because he always just messed around, kicking cartons around.
Mr. BALL. What was his job?
Mr. WILLIAMS. His job was an order filler.
Mr. BALL. What do you mean by that?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I mean by that an order filler--when orders come in for the State schools mostly, from Austin, he would take the orders and fill the orders. If the orders called for a certain amount of books, he would fill that order, and turn it in to be checked, to be shipped out.
Mr. BELIN. Where did you see him [Oswald] first?
Mr. CHARLES DOUGLAS GIVENS. Well, I first saw him on the first floor.
Mr. BELIN. About what time was that?
Mr. GIVENS. Well, about 8:30.
Mr. BELIN. What did you do between a quarter of 8 and 8:30? Where were
Mr. GIVENS. Well, I went upstairs. We went to work at 8 o'clock.
Mr. BELIN. Did you see him come into the domino room at all?
Mr. GIVENS. Not that morning, no, sir; I didn't.
Mr. BELIN. When did you leave the domino room to go up to the sixth floor?
Mr. GIVENS. 8 o'clock.
Mr. BELIN.. At 8 o'clock?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. So you don't feel he came in the domino room before 8 o'clock?
Mr. GIVENS. No, sir; not that morning he didn't.
Mr. BELIN. How did you get up to the sixth floor?
Mr. GIVENS. On the elevator.
Mr. BELIN. The east or the west one? The west one is the one that would be nearest the railroad tracks, and the east one would be nearer the Houston Street.
Mr. GIVENS. We went up on the east one.
Mr. BELIN. Any particular reason why you took the east one rather than the west one?
Mr. GIVENS. Well, I don't know whether you call it a particular reason, but on the west, you have double gates on that.
Mr. BELIN. Was the west elevator on the first floor when you took the east elevator up?
Mr. GIVENS. It was that morning, yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. It was that morning around 8 o'clock?
Mr. GIVENS. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. Now, where did you see him at 8:30 o'clock first?
Mr. GIVENS. I came back down to use the rest room.
Mr. BELIN. Where was he?
Mr. GIVENS. He was over there in the bin filling orders.
Mr. BELIN. Do you remember what he was wearing?
Mr. GIVENS. Well, I believe it was kind of a greenish looking shirt and pants was about the same color as his shirt, practically the same thing he wore all the time he worked there. He never changed clothes the whole time he worked there, and he would wear a grey looking jacket.
LHO reportedly enters a Jiffy store located at 310 S. Industrial (less than a mile SW of Dealey Plaza). Fred Moore, the store clerk says "identification of this individual arose when he asked him for identification as to proof of age for purchase of two bottles of beer. Moore said he figured the man was over 21 but the store frequently requires proof by reason of past difficulties with local authorities for serving beer to minors. This customer said, sure I got ID and pulled a Texas drivers license from his billfold. Moore said that he noted the name appeared as Lee Oswald or possibly as H. Lee Oswald. As Moore recalled, the birth date on the license was 1939 and he thought it to have been the 10th month." (Interview of Fred Moore by SA David Barry 12/2/63)
While showering this morning, JFK takes off his Saint Jude and Saint Christopher Medals and leaves them hanging on the shower head. When later "sweeping" the room, Secret Service agent Ron Pontius finds the medals and puts them in his pocket, with intentions of returning them to JFK after the Dallas motorcade. Pontius eventually gives the medals to Marty Underwood who, at last report, still retains them.
8:45 AM A light rain is falling. JFK emerges from his hotel in Fort Worth and strides across the street to greet a crowd waiting for him in a parking lot. Going downstairs, JFK sees his driver, Muggsy O'Leary and tells him: "Mary Gallagher wasn't here last night to help Jackie. Mary hasn't any business in motorcades. She's supposed to reach hotels before we do, and so far she's batting zero. Get her on the ball." At 8:45 a.m., President Kennedy, Congressman Wright at his side, strode out of the hotel, neither of them wearing raincoats. Flanking them were Vice President Johnson and Senator Yarborough, with Governor Connally a few steps behind, all three wearing raincoats against the drizzle. Mrs. Kennedy had remained behind in the Kennedys' suite. "There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth," President Kennedy began when he mounted the platform, "and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it. . . . We appreciate your welcome." He went on to speak about the country's defense and the part that Fort Worth, home of such major defense contractors as General Dynamics and Bell Helicopter, played in protecting national security. He touched on the nation's space effort. The President's delivery was warm and direct. Americans, he said, must be willing to bear the burdens of world leadership. "I know one place where they are," he told his wet audience. "Here in this rain, in Fort Worth, in the United States. We are going forward." There was prolonged applause from the eight thousand or so people in the parking lot.
Desmond FitzGerald, a senior CIA officer, meets today with (AM/LASH) Rolando Cubela in Paris, France. FitzGerald delivers assurance of full support of the U.S. government in the overthrow of the Castro regime, which includes the murder of the highest officials. FitzGerald presents Cubela with a deadly pen which, when filled with poison, can be used to murder Castro. The pen is a hypodermic needle so thin that the victim will not feel its insertion. (By March 1964, FitzGerald will have been promoted to chief of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division.) Upon conclusion of the meeting they learn of the President's assassination. (Book V Final Report of the [Senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76) John McCone's executive assistant Walt Elder sees Desmond Fitzgerald during the weekend, and FitzGerald tells Elder he has met with Rolando Cubela. He does not tell him that he gave him a poison pen to be used against Castro, nor that he pretended to be an emissary of Bobby Kennedy's (Richard Helms had told him not to worry, that he would approve that lie). No mention of assassination was made. But Elder gets the distinct impression that FitzGerald is particularly upset this weekend. Evan Thomas, in his book The Very Best Men, paints the following scene: Elder was struck by FitzGerald's clear discomfort. "Des was normally imperturbable, but he was very disturbed about his involvement." The normally smooth operator was "shaking his head and wringing his hands. It was very uncharacteristic. That's why I remember it so clearly," Elder said in 1993. He thought FitzGerald was "distraught and overreacting."
Nov 22 9am
9:00 AM (New Orleans) -- The last day of Carlos Marcello's deportation trial begins in a packed courtroom.9:00 AM SS agents Sorrels, Kinney and Hickey arrive at Love Field airport just outside of Dallas. They go directly to the garage and relieve the police of the security of the cars to be used in the motorcade. Both cars are washed, cleaned and checked outside, inside and underneath for security violations.
9:00 AM LHO reportedly returns to the Jiffy Store. Oswald returns to buy two pieces of Peco Brittle at five cents each which he consumes on the premises. Moore remarks to him (Oswald) in the form of a question, Candy and beer? as he considers this to be an odd combination. The man seems to be nervous while in the store pacing the aisles as he eats the candy. (Interview of Fred Moore by SA David Barry 12/2/63)
9:00 AM JFK enters the Grand Ballroom of the hotel in Fort Worth by going through the kitchen. He is to address the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and special, invited guests. He asks Agent Duncan where Mrs. Kennedy is. "Call Clint Hill," he says. "I want her to come down to breakfast."
9:02 AM JFK confers with Gov. John Connally about Senator Yarborough's refusal to ride with LBJ yesterday. (Manchester) (It is Governor Connally who has postponed JFK's visit to Texas several times; it is Connally who feels that a Kennedy-Johnson ticket might be defeated in Texas in 1964, and there is considerable political risk in being seen with JFK.)
9:05 AM Nixon left Dallas by plane, arriving at Idlewild airport at 1pm, according to Ted White (The Making of the President 1964). He left on AA Flight 82 according to William Manchester. Later that day Nixon met with Stephen Hess, with whom he was going to work on a book about the 1964 presidential campaign; he heard about the assassination on his way to meet Hess. "He was very shaken," said Hess. (US News and World Report 5/2/1994) Nixon is legal counsel for PepsiCo and has been in Dallas to attend a bottling convention. (CIA agent Russell Bintliff will tell the Washington Star in 1976 that Pepsico had set up a bottling plant in Laos in the early 1960s that did not make Pepsi, but rather converted opium into heroin. One of the immediate consequences of the JFK assassination will be the escalation of American involvement in Vietnam, in theory providing the alleged Pepsico plant with a great deal more business.)
While waiting for the arrival of the President, a TV news reporter talks about the assassination of McKinley by a disturbed anarchist. (Evidence of Revision)
9:05 AM JFK breakfast, sponsored by Ft Worth Chamber of Commerce. (Manchester)
9:15 AM Ruth Paine says this is the time she takes her daughter, Lynn, to the dentist and then runs errands. She has left the television set on for Marina Oswald - who says she watches it all morning without getting dressed.
9:22 AM Agent Clint Hill advises Mrs. Kennedy that JFK expects her downstairs in the Ballroom.
9:25 AM Jackie Kennedy appears at the breakfast wearing a pink suit and pill box hat. She is warmly received. (Manchester)
9:30 AM Kennedy speech to Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. Johnson wrote in The Vantage Point' that the morning of the assassination, Kennedy's last words to him were: "We're going to carry two states next year if we don't carry any others: Massachusetts and Texas." He told Walter Cronkite the same thing 5/2/1970. Johnson felt Kennedy's statement meant that he would not be dumped from the ticket. (Lone Star p273)
9:30 AM Jack Ruby is awake by this time and heads downtown.
Mr. JARMAN - Yes, sir. I talked to him [Oswald] again later on that morning.
Mr. BALL - About what time?
Mr. JARMAN - It was between 9:30 and 10 o'clock, I believe.
Mr. BALL - Where were you when you talked to him?
Mr. JARMAN - In between two rows of bins.
Mr. BALL - On what floor?
Mr. JARMAN - On the first floor.
Mr. BALL - And what was said by him and by you?
Mr. JARMAN - Well, he was standing up in the window and I went to the window also, and 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.
Between 9:30 and 10am Julius Hardie later tells the Dallas Morning News that he saw three men with either rifles or shotguns standing atop the triple underpass. Whether these men are police officers or not will never be determined. Hardie claims he reported the incident to the FBI but no report about the incident has yet surfaced.
9:55 AM At the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth, JFK and Jackie have returned to Suite 850. JFK informs Kenny O'Donnell that the Presidential party will leave at 10:40. Jackie asks: "We have a whole hour?" JFK asks her if she is enjoying the trip. "Oh, Jack," she replies "campaigning is so easy when you're President."
Nov 22 10am
10:00 AM The parking area behind the Grassy Knoll fence was sealed off by police, according to Lee Bowers: "because of the fact that the area had been covered by police for some 2 hours. 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. Since I had worked there for a number of years I was familiar with most of the people who came in and out of the area."10:00 AM Marilyn Sitzman and Rogers persuade Zapruder to go home for his camera. (Wrone, 9; Trask, 29-30) Or 9am according to Manchester.
10-12 Between this time and noon today, Michel Roux attends classes with Leon Gachman's son, Arnold, amid a multitude of witnesses in Ft. Worth, Texas.
10:00 AM At approximately ten o'clock this morning, Harold Norman (a worker in the Texas School Book Depository) will later explain: "Junior Jarman and myself were on the first floor looking out towards Elm Street. Oswald walked up and asked us, What is everybody looking for? What is everybody waiting on?' So we told him we were waiting on the President to come boy. He put his hand in his pocket and laughed and walked away. I thought maybe he's just been happy that morning or something."
Mr. BALL. Did you remember seeing him at any time that morning?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes; around about 10 or 10:15, somewhere in the neighborhood of that.
Mr. BALL. Where did you see him?
Mr. NORMAN. Over in the bins by the windows, I mean looking out, you know, at Elm Street, towards Elm Street.
Mr. BALL. On what floor?
Mr. NORMAN. The first.
Mr. BALL. Looking out on Elm through windows, is that right?
Mr. NORMAN. Yes, sir. I was looking out the window. He happened to come by to fill orders.
Mr. BALL. Did he say anything to you?
Mr. NORMAN. No; he didn't.
Mr. BALL. Did you say anything to him?
Mr. NORMAN. No.
William Drenas: "I have not been able to locate any radio transcripts of the Dallas Police Department activities before 10:00 A.M. on this day. There are several different versions of the Channel 1 Dallas Police Department Radio Transcripts. Most transcripts have been edited to contain mostly the calls that were pertinent to the President's motorcade. There are not many calls about routine police business, such as squads going out of service for lunch, or coffee breaks. The only exception to this is in "The Kennedy Assassination Tapes" a rebuttal to the Acoustical Evidence Theory by James C. Bowles. This document is available from the National Archives and also appears in the appendix of "First Day Evidence" by Gary Savage. Dallas Police Radio Officer Bowles transcribed a very detailed and accurate log of channel 1 transmissions from 11:42 A.M. to 12:37 P.M. for 11/22/63. The Dallas Police Department audio tape that has been widely distributed in the Assassination Community begins at 12:15 P.M… In the original "Car 10 Where Are You" I theorized that Tippit was at the Dobbs House Restaurant that morning because of statements made by employees there. We now know by the mark out records that Tippit was not at the Dobbs House at 10:00 A.M., but was on a call in his district at 2800 East Illinois Ave. Not much is known about this call except that Tippit was ordered there at 9:56 A.M. on a signal 4 which means "out on investigation" (Warren Commission Exhibit #705 page 4) and that he cleared from that location at 10:17 A.M.. 2800 East Illinois was the location of Aluminum Screen Manufacturing Company in 1963 and that is about all that is known about this call.
The Warren Commission will determine that LHO does not bring his lunch to work with him today, even though he allegedly told police that he did. If LHO did not bring his lunch to work, this is the time he might have purchased a sandwich from a caterer who stops by the TSBD about this same time every morning. (Meagher)
Two Secret Service men leave the hotel in Fort Worth to drive to Dallas (36 miles) in order to set up the presidential seal, flags, and JFK's prosthetic chair at The Trade Mart.
Three radio operators report for duty at Dallas Police Headquarters. Two of them man Channel One of KKB 364, and one mans Channel Two.
The White House switchboard has been set up in Dallas at the Sheraton Hotel - near the Southland Life Building in the downtown district.
George Herbert Walker Bush, now president of Zapata Offshore and chairman of the Harris County Republican Organization, which supports Barry Goldwater, calls the FBI to report a threat on JFK's life. He said that he had heard in recent weeks that a member of the Young Republicans named James Parrott had been talking about killing Kennedy when he arrived in Houston. The FBI characterized Parrot as rightwing, a quasi-Birchite, a student at University of Houston, and active in politics in the area. Further, that a check of Secret Service indices revealed that they had a report that Parrott had threatened to kill Kennedy in 1961. The FBI interviewed Parrott's mother and then Parrott himself. They found out that Parrott had been discharged from the Air Force for mental reasons in 1959. Parrott said that he had been in the company of another Republican activist at the time of the shootings. Bush at first denied making the call, and then he said he did not recall making it. (Tarpley, Chapter 8b.) At the time of the assassination, Bush was in Tyler, Texas. As Kitty Kelley established, the vice-president of the Kiwanis Club-a man named Aubrey Irby-was with Bush at the time of Kennedy's murder. Along with about a hundred other people. For Bush was about to give a luncheon speech at the Blackstone Hotel. He had just started when Irby told him what had happened. Bush called off the speech.
10:03 CST 11:03 AM (EST) Six members of the President's cabinet leave Honolulu for Japan by plane. Copies of their speeches have already been sent ahead. Some of these speeches will be printed in newspapers following the assassination as though nothing had occurred. It is highly unusual, if not unheard of, for so many members of the Presidential cabinet to be away from the nation's capitol at a given time.
10:10 AM JFK and Jacqueline return to their suite. (Manchester)
10:14 AM JFK phones former vice president John Nance Garner. (Manchester)
10:30 AM FBI informant, William Augustus Somersett receives a call in Miami from Joseph Milteer in Dallas stating that JFK will be there later that day and will not be visiting Miami again. Milteer then hangs up the phone and reportedly joins the crowd gathering near the corner of Elm Street in Dealey Plaza.
10:30 AM This morning, Kennedy was in his hotel room with his wife and aides. He was irritated by the headlines of Texas newspapers: "President's Visit Seen Widening State Democratic Split," "Yarborough Snubs LBJ," "Storm of Political Controversy Swirls Around Kennedy on Visit." When he saw a full-page anti-JFK ad, he remarked, "How can people write such things? We're really in nut country now." He spoke with contempt to his aides about oil barons and reactionaries. He did not see a column in the Dallas Morning News reading, "If the speech...is about Cuber, civil rights, taxes or Viet Nam, there will sure as shootin' be some who heave to and let go with a broadside of grapeshot in the presidential rigging." (The Day Kennedy Was Shot 24-25) When President Kennedy woke up that morning in Fort Worth, Texas the Dallas Morning News was delivered with his coffee. His face turned grim and he shook his head, commenting that it was unimaginable that a paper could do such a thing. He handed it to Jackie saying, "We're heading into nut country today." (Death of a President)
10:30 AM JFK muses about how easy it would be for someone to shoot a president. He remarked "Last night would have been a hell of a night to assassinate a president...anyone perched above the crowd with a rifle could do it." Another version of the story has him saying, "There was the rain, the dark, and we were all getting jostled. Suppose a man had a pistol in a briefcase...Then he could have dropped the gun into the case, dropped the case, and melted into the crowd." (Death of a President) Kennedy apparently told variations of these stories a few times to different people during the trip. (Lone Star p265, p271; No Final Victories 158)
The 112th Military Intelligence Group at 4th Army Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston is told to "stand down" rather than report for duty in Dallas, over the protests of the unit commander, Col. Maximillian Reich. (source: Prouty?) Nevertheless, Lt. Colonel George Whitmeyer, the commander of the local Army intelligence reserve, will be in the police pilot car which will precede the motorcade in Dallas, and an Army Intelligence officer is with FBI agent James Hosty 45 minutes before the parade, on Main Street.
It will be later revealed that the 112th MI Group, which maintains an office in Dallas, had possessed a file on a man named "Harvey Lee Oswald," identifying him as a pro-communist who had been in Russia and had been involved in pro-Castro activities in New Orleans. This military file erroneously gives Oswald's address as 605 Elsbeth, the same mistake found on Jack Revill's list. Apparently military intelligence is swift in providing Dallas police with information on Oswald, the man who will come to be labeled as the lone assassin of Kennedy. It is a fact that several Dallas police officers also serve in various military reserve units and are therefore in close contact with military intelligence. Information on Oswald apparently comes from the 112th MIG's operations officer, Lt. Col. Robert E. Jones, who is stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Testifying to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Jones will say that on the afternoon of the assassination he receives a call from his agents in Dallas advising that a man named A.J. Hidell has been arrested. (This is most interesting because, while Oswald did carry some cards identifying him as Hidell, no mention is made of this in the media today indicating a close relationship between the M.I. agents and Dallas Police.) Jones will testify that he begins a search of his intelligence indexes and locates a file on A.J. Hidell which cross-references into one for Lee Harvey Oswald. He says he then contacts the FBI in both San Antonio and Dallas with his information. The files on Hidell and Oswald give detailed information about his trip to Russia as well as pro-Castro activities in New Orleans. Jones says he had become aware of Oswald in the summer of 1963 when information had been passed along by the New Orleans Police Department regarding his arrest there. He says the 112th MIG took an interest in Oswald as a possible counterintelligence threat. The House committee, remarking on how quickly the military found files on Oswald, will state: "This information suggested the existence of a military intelligence file on Oswald and raised the possibility that he had intelligence associations of some kind." The Warren Commission will specifically ask to see any military files regarding Oswald but will never be shown the files mentioned by Jones or any others. In 1978, when the House Select Committee on Assassinations learns of these files and requests them from the