Drew Phipps Wrote:I am 53. One of my first childhood memories is watching my mother cry at the TV set, and if my memory at age 2.5 can be trusted, it was JFK's funeral. Although our technology has evolved by leaps and bounds, our criminal justice system would be instantly recognizable to any Founding Father. The Warren Commission's whitewash (to borrow a phrase from Harold Weisberg) of the case was convincing enough scientifically that most ordinary people bought it at the time. Probably most people wanted to believe it. But, as you know, there were critics of the WC from the beginning, Harold Weisberg among them.
Why wasn't a better cover up done? I don't think the reason has solely to do with technology. I am of the opinion that if the "plotters" and the "plodders" were the same group of folks, they would have had a more convincing cover story.
I am not saying there were no WC conclusion doubters, and certainly after June '68, I had strong doubts about another lone gunman who happened to be at the right place at the right time. But, when considering the ability to share information so quickly from various places around the world,::computerpunch:: I have to believe that ramification was not a major concern in '63. I have no idea what those "Founding Fathers" would think of the current criminal justice industry. As for "plotters" and "plodders", that could very well be the case. JMO.
Dawn Meredith Wrote:Drew I have never heard that LHO was actually indicted.
Do you mean "indicted" as in "accused", as there was no time to convene a Grand Jury.
Dawn
sorry, you are correct, I should have said formally charged and arraigned. There was a formal complaint filed by one of the Assistant DA's, forget which one.
Jim Hargrove Wrote:To me, at least, it speaks volumes that before Oswald was even charged Hoover was concentrating on Oswald's teen-aged employment in New Orleans and his elementary and junior high school records in NYC, New Orleans, and Ft. Worth. Wouldn't most people say those are pretty strange priorities? How 'bout looking for co-conspirators first and looking for elementary school records later?
Not sure on the timing of that, but it is certainly telegraphing those punches.
Not quite sure how we would do it but, it would be interesting to see if there were any other young men in Dallas, in the months leading up to the assassination, who were doing "unusual" things similar to what LHO was doing.
Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964
Jim Hargrove Wrote:To me, at least, it speaks volumes that before Oswald was even charged Hoover was concentrating on Oswald's teen-aged employment in New Orleans and his elementary and junior high school records in NYC, New Orleans, and Ft. Worth. Wouldn't most people say those are pretty strange priorities? How 'bout looking for co-conspirators first and looking for elementary school records later?
Not sure on the timing of that, but it is certainly telegraphing those punches.
It certainly strains credulity, but it doesn't seem like much of an exaggeration to me. Will Fritz signed the formal complaint against Oswald for murdering JFK a little before midnight on the 22nd. By 8 am the next morning, Frank Kudlaty, assistant principal at Stripling Jr. High in Ft. Worth, was called by his principal and told to meet FBI agents at the empty school right away, indicating FBI personnel (Hoover?) must have been looking into Oswald's school records even earlier. The Stripling records vanished, leaving only Robert Oswald's testimony in the WC record that his brother ever attended that school. Kudlaty's three-part interview with John Armstrong is here:
All four owners of Pfisterer Dental Lab in New Orleans were interviewed separately by FBI agents on November 23. Pfisterers is one of the earliest employers of Lee Harvey Oswald, part of the employment history that the Social Security Administration refused to confirm to the HSCA, offering instead "three pages from the Warren Commission report." Whether you buy into John Armstrong's analysis of two Oswald's from the mid-1950s onward, the evidence seems to suggest that there was something being covered up about Oswald's youth, and FBI agents were deep into this stuff before the ink was dry on Fritz's complaint.
Hoover got personally involved with the Oswald file shortly after his defection to USSR, when it was alleged that someone pretending to be him tried to arrange for auto loans or something similar. The FBI determined that Oswald's official birth certificate was missing from the parish of his birth. (was this the first ever FBI identity theft case?) In addition to the normal "defector" file, they did have an active case agents assigned to him at all times in 1963, so some of the background information might have already been gathered prior to the assassination. I've no doubt that they were burning the midnight oil (and possibly other more relevant things) right after his name was announced. There is no question that the FBI knew a lot more about him than they pretended to know.
Jim Hargrove Wrote:To me, at least, it speaks volumes that before Oswald was even charged Hoover was concentrating on Oswald's teen-aged employment in New Orleans and his elementary and junior high school records in NYC, New Orleans, and Ft. Worth. Wouldn't most people say those are pretty strange priorities? How 'bout looking for co-conspirators first and looking for elementary school records later?
Not sure on the timing of that, but it is certainly telegraphing those punches.
I did not know about those things in particular but the fact that they "know" so much about this man so quickly and knew it was he alone was the reason I knew day one he was a patsy. Just does not happen that way in real life. Investigations take time. Drew I was 14. If you had been older I suspect that you would have figured it out at the get go too.
Dawn
Jim Hargrove Wrote:To me, at least, it speaks volumes that before Oswald was even charged Hoover was concentrating on Oswald's teen-aged employment in New Orleans and his elementary and junior high school records in NYC, New Orleans, and Ft. Worth. Wouldn't most people say those are pretty strange priorities? How 'bout looking for co-conspirators first and looking for elementary school records later?
Not sure on the timing of that, but it is certainly telegraphing those punches.
I did not know about those things in particular but the fact that they "know" so much about this man so quickly and knew it was he alone was the reason I knew day one he was a patsy. Just does not happen that way in real life. Investigations take time. Drew I was 14. If you had been older I suspect that you would have figured it out at the get go too.
Dawn
I was in HS, just shy of age 17 when JFK was murdered. I do think I felt it was all surreal, with something dark and deep going on, and the suspect being murdered while in police custody only solidified that feeling. But, when the Warren Commission was announced, I then began my wait for the report that would bring out the "true facts" of the assassination weekend about those two murders and the wounding of JBC. And then the report came out, basically repeating what had been established on that assassination weeked. That is how I remember November '63 through September '64 regarding the murder of JFK.
