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WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: AT THE DEPOSITORY I

March 25, 2012


WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report by Harold Weisberg, Chapter 5: At The Depository – The Tangible Evidence I


Knoxville, Tennessee (JFKASSASSINATION) Today this blog begins a report on Chapter 5 of Harold Weisberg’s book “Whitewash–the report on the Warren Report”, published in 1965. 

The title of Chapter 5 is At The Depository — The Tangible Evidence


Harold Weisberg begins this chapter with a description of the shooting upon the Presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas at about 12:30 p.m. November 22, 1963.


Mr. Weisberg writes:


“The President received a wound below the larynx & a massive head wound (which resulted in the loss of) much of the right side of his head.”


Mr. Weisberg also describes the wounds suffered by Governor John Connally.


He further states that most of the central facts “are among the few that are not subject to question, doubt or disbelief.”


But Mr. Weisberg believes that the Warren Commission investigation at the Texas School Book Depository “was highly dubious (in) character.”


Harold Weisberg reminds his readers that the crime was committed in the presence of a multitude of police eyewitnesses, including Secret Service agents & sheriff’s deputies & further that despite the fact that the building was almost immediately identified as the source of shots, it was “never sealed off–not ever.”


Weisberg further states that “there was no organized search of the building, either immediately or as an afterthought.”


He points out that the empty rifle shell casings in the Depository’s 6th floor corner window were not found by police until 42 minutes after the shooting & the rifle itself was not found until 10 minutes after that.


Added to these facts, Mr. Weisberg says that with the shooter apparently still in the building, no attempt was made to secure the exits & a description of the suspect was not announced over the police radio for another 15 minutes.


Harold Weisberg calls these happenings “blunders” that became a “persistent pattern of the entire police operation.”

WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: THE MARKSMAN

March 18, 2012


WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report by Harold Weisberg, Chapter 4: The Marksman


Knoxville, Tennessee (JFKASSASSINATION) Today this blog reports on Chapter 4 of Harold Weisberg’s book “Whitewash–the report on the Warren Report”, published in 1965. 

The title of Chapter 4 is The Marksman.


Harold Weisberg begins this chapter with a quote from Warren Commission member & former CIA director Allen Dulles:


“The essence of intelligence is to get one fact & bulldog it to death.”


In Mr. Weisberg’s view, Allen Dulles “did not practice what he preached.”


Weisberg writes:


“There is no single thing that is proved beyond reasonable doubt about the marksman, the rifle, the ammunition, the shooting or the number of shots except that (JFK) was killed, Officer Tippit was killed, & (John) Connally was wounded.”


He points out that the Commission evaded most of the solid evidence that “it could not avoid developing.”


Mr. Weisberg refers to the testimony of a former marksman in the US Navy, Ordinanceman Andrews, who said:


“You just don’t pick up a rifle….& stay proficient with it.  You have to know what you are doing….Somebody else pulled the trigger.”


Mr. Andrews points out that in his years of experience, everyone he knew could not stay proficient in the use of a rifle without constant, repetitive practice.


Weisberg argues that even if Oswald had been a skilled marksman, there is no evidence to show he practiced to maintain his skill.


He further states that while in the US Marines, Lee Oswald was a poor marksman.  In one test, he scored in the middle grade, but in another “did very badly.”


Added to this information is the fact that the Manlicher-Carcano found on the 6th floor of the TSBD “could not be fired accurately” due to a defective “sight”.


Another factor that Mr. Weisberg brings out is that the ammunition for the rifle is of “rather low velocity.”  The Commission, Weisberg points out, repeatedly refers to the rifle as being of high velocity.


Weisberg does admit that “the Commission did link the….rifle to Oswald” but after it came into his possession there was no further evidence produced that would connect him to this particular weapon.


Harold Weisberg ends this chapter with these words:


“(The Commission)…presumes Oswald’s possession of the rifle & ammunition &, on the basis of these presumptions, concludes that Oswald was the marksman who committed murder.”*


*Chapter 4 includes a copy of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Marine Corps qualification scores for May 6, 1959.  


Using an M-1 rifle, Oswald’s score was 191, just 1 point above the minimum score to be qualified as “Marksman”.


A score of 220 was “Expert”, 210 “Sharpshooter”, & 190 “Marksman”.

WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: THE SET-UP FOR THE ASSASSINATION

March 11, 2012


WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report by Harold Weisberg, Chapter 3: The Set-Up for the Assassination


Knoxville, Tennessee (JFKASSASSINATION) Today this blog reports on Chapter 3 of Harold Weisberg’s book “Whitewash–the report on the Warren Report”, published in 1965. 

The title of Chapter 3 is The Set-Up for the Assassination.


Mr. Weisberg begins this chapter by writing that local & federal police never considered any other possibilities in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy other than that “Lee Harvey Oswald…(an) unknown, virtually friendless nobody” had committed the crime.


The “doubts”, Harold Weisberg says came much later & “almost entirely from abroad.”


In an effort to tie Oswald to the crime, the Warren Commission “believed only what it wanted to believe, without regard to logic or credibility.”


Mr. Weisberg says that almost a year after the assassination, the hard evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald was still based on “presumptions, inferences & theories.”


Weisberg writes:


“There’s nothing in the Report to indicate Oswald had even…belated interest in or knowledge of (JFK’s) motorcade.”


He adds:


“There is no proof that Oswald ever had (the Manlicher-Carcano rifle) in his possession after getting it at the  post office.”

                 Lee Harvey Oswald
                       Minsk (1959)
Warren Commission Exhibit 2892

WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: THE ASSASSIN

March 4, 2012


WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report by Harold Weisberg, Chapter 2: The Assassin


Knoxville, Tennessee (JFKASSASSINATION) Today this blog reports on Chapter 2 of Harold Weisberg’s book “Whitewash–the report on the Warren Report”, published in 1965.

The title of Chapter 2 is The Assassin.


Mr. Weisberg begins this chapter by writing:


“The most fundamental decision” of the Warren Commission was to determine “the scope of its inquiry.”


Weisberg says that the Executive Order creating the Commission gave it “extensive broad authority” but it also required it to examine the evidence provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation & make a report.*


*The FBI conducted 25,000 interviews & submitted over 2300 reports.


Mr. Weisberg asks this question:


“Did the Commission consider that anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald could have been the assassin?”


He concludes that there is nothing in the Warren Report , “or anywhere else,” to suggest any answer but NO.


Weisberg admits, however, that both the FBI & Dallas Police concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin.


It was Mr. Weisberg’s view, then, that the purpose of the Warren Commission was simply “to validate (that) conclusion.”


And looking into the future, he predicts that “historians…who might want to consider (the involvement of others) will find little to help them in the Commission’s 27 volumes.”


The Report can only be analyzed, according to Mr. Weisberg, in the context of the Commission’s “single-minded devotion to proving Oswald was the lone assassin.”


Further, the Report itself purposefully “portrayed Oswald as the sort of person from the murk of whose mind such evils could emerge.”


Most of the remainer of Chapter 2 is a biographical account of the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, but Mr. Weisberg begs to differ with the Commission’s conclusion that the man was a “lone nut”.


Weisberg writes that Oswald was, in fact, “a quiet person….who read…history & biography & (was) above all….devoted to his family.”

   Composite of Photos of Lee H. Oswald
          HSCA Public Hearing Exhibits
                 www.maryferrell.org

WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: DEATH IN DALLAS

February 26, 2012


WHITEWASH-the report on the Warren Report: DEATH IN DALLAS


Knoxville, Tennessee (JFKASSASSINATION) Today we begin our report on Harold Weisberg’s “Whitewash-the report on the Warren Report”, published by  Mr. Weisberg in 1965.

Mr. Weisberg writes in the introduction:


“The national honor & integrity, history & the memory of (JFK) demand that….the Report should have ignored no important question nor have any question unanswered, &, if (it) does not…then it (is) necessary to rectify it.  This book is one man’s effort to do just that.”*


The title of Chapter 1 is DEATH IN DALLAS.


Harold Weisberg begins by writing that 9 of JFK’s secret service agents were “engaged in a diversion, including moderate drinking” in the early morning hours of November 22, 1963.


He, then, adds that JFK “desired the removal” of the protective bubble top on his car & that he did not allow agents to ride on the car itself.


Mr. Weisberg then includes excerpts from the Warren Commission testimonies of Secret Service agent Roy Kellerman & both Governor John B. Connally & his wife, Nellie.


Kellerman, who is described as an “experienced & careful veteran” & the agent “responsible for the entire Texas trip,”  testified that as…


“we passed this highway sign to the right (on Elm Street)…there is a report like a firecracker.  I turned to the right (&) heard a voice from the back seat (say) ‘My God, I am hit.'”


“Now, in…seconds….a flurry of shells come into the car.”**

               Agent Kellerman (far right)
           John & Nellie Connally (center)
                       November 22, 1963
      Warren Commission Exhibit #697


Nellie Connally testified:


“Then very soon there was a 2nd shot (after the 1st shot hit JFK) that hit John (Connally).”


Governor Connally said to the Commission:


“The thought (was) that there were either 2 or 3 people involved…or someone was shooting with an automatic rifle.”


Note: The Warren Report denied both of these possibilities saying that there was only 1 person involved (Oswald) & he was shooting with a manual rifle. 


The Manlicher-Carcano rifle (said by the Commission to be the only weapon used in the assassination) is “bolt-action” requiring a shooter to manually operate the bolt mechanism in between shots while with an automatic rifle a shooter simply pulls the trigger with no delay between shots.


Mr. Weisberg writes:


“The Commission elected not to believe the testimony of the Connallys, even though it was supported by (the Zapruder film).”


Even Dallas Police Chief Curry, riding in front of JFK’s car, said on his police radio just after the shooting:


“Get someone up in the railroad yard & check those people.”


At Parkland Hospital, the emergency room physicians believed the wound in JFK’s throat was one of entrance.


Mr. Weisberg concludes Chapter 1 by writing:


“after taking millions of words of testimony & examining thousands of exhibits, the Commission concluded Oswald acted alone.  


Never in history have such crimes been ‘solved’ by such a consistent disregard for truth.”


*Harold Weisberg is considered a leading expert on the JFK assassination.  He collected more than 250,000 documents on the topic.  His 1st self-published book sold 30,000 copies.  


He would write 4 more in the “Whitewash” series.


Mr. Weisberg was a graduate of the University of Delaware, served in the OSS during WWII & afterwards worked in the State Department.


Harold Weisberg died at his home in Frederick, Maryland at the age of 88 in 2002.

                           Harold Weisberg


**Weisberg does not include, at this point, the part of Kellerman’s testimony in which he says: “If (JFK) had….4 wounds, Connally 3, there has got to be more than 3 shots, gentlemen.”

JFK HEARSE SOLD AT AUCTION

January 23, 2012


JFK HEARSE SOLD AT AUCTION


Scottsdale, Arizona (JFK+50) The 1964 Cadillac hearse that carried President John F. Kennedy’s body from Parkland Hospital to Love Field in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 was sold at auction here in Scottsdale, Arizona today for a winning bid of $160,000.


The hearse was purchased by Colorado real estate developer Stephen Tebo.


Mr. Tebo cited the reasons for the purchase are the hearse’s historical significance as well as his desire to open a car museum in Boulder in 10 years.


Tebo currently owns 400 other vehicles including Frank Sinatra’s 1944 Jeep.


The auction was conducted by the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company.


The Cadillac hearse, with green & white interior, was originally owned by Vernon O’Neal of the O’Neal Funeral Home in Dallas.


O’Neal sold the hearse in the late 1960s to Arrdeen Vaughan who sold it 40 years later to the current owner.


The hearse runs on an 8 cylinder engine & has a 4 speed automatic transmission.


The Cadillac hearse was the very 1st unit built in 1964 by the Miller-Meteor Company of Ohio.


The hearse was driven to Parkland Hospital by O’Neal employee Aubrey Rike.  Mr. Rike passed away in 2010.*


The secret service, however, took control of the hearse at Parkland & did not permit Rike or any other O’Neal employee  to drive or ride in the hearse from Parkland to Love Field.


*Mr. Rike published a book titled “At the Door of Memory: Aubrey Rike, A Witness to History & the Assassination of President Kennedy”.


The book, written with Colin McSween, includes a tribute by David Lifton. 


www.jfklancer.com/catalog/rike/

Sources for today’s post


www.cnn.com, article by Michael Martinez, 1/21/2012


www.news.consumerreports.org


blog.timesunion.com

LBJ DIES OF HEART ATTACK AT RANCH

January 22, 1969


LBJ DIES OF HEART ATTACK AT RANCH


Johnson City, Texas (JFK+50) The man who ascended to the Presidency on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, died of a heart attack this afternoon at his ranch here in Johnson City.

                 Lyndon Baines Johnson
           National Portrait Art Gallery
                      Washington, D.C.
           Photo by Billy Hathorn (2011)


Mr. Johnson, 64 years old & who had a long history of heart problems, was pronounced DOA at San Antonio International Airport at 4:33 p.m. (CST).


The 1st signs of trouble came at 3:50 p.m. when LBJ called the ranch switchboard from his bedroom asking for the head of his Secret Service detail, Mike Howard.


When agents reached the bedroom, they found LBJ lying on the floor beside his bed looking “dark blue.”


At 4:19, LBJ was put aboard the family plane with Dr. David J. Abbott attending.  They were headed to Brooke Army Medical Center when Dr. Abbott pronounced death.


The former President is survived by his wife Lady Bird & daughters Mrs. Patrick J. Nugent & Mrs. Charles S. Robb.*


*Source:  www.nytimes.com

               LBJ Takes Oath of Office
                  Aboard Air Force One
                         Dallas, Texas
                    November 22, 1963
          Photo by Cecil W. Stoughton

SIXTH FLOOR MUSEUM TO DISPLAY TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY SIGN

January 9, 2012


SIXTH FLOOR MUSEUM TO DISPLAY TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY SIGN


Dallas, Texas (JFK+50) The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza here in Dallas announced today that it will display “the original, 4-piece 3-dimensional metal sign that once hung over the southwest entrance to the former Texas School Depository at 411 Elm Street” beginning on Monday, January 23, 2012.

              Texas School Book Depository
           Scene at the southwest entrance
                    after the assassination
                         November 22, 1963
                          photo from FBI & 
                 Warren Commission files


Executive Director of the museum, Nicola Lungford said:


“As one of the few remaining signature architectural elements from the building’s 1960s era decorative facade, this sign is an important part of the museum’s collection.”


Mr. Lungford continued:


“The sign’s recognizable appearance, size & representation in images & footage are sure to captivate visitors & encourage interest in the building’s history.”

        Texas School Book Depository*
                          Dallas, Texas
photo by Weatherdrew at en.wikipedia


*For more information on the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza go to www.jfk.org.

JACK RUBY DIES IN DALLAS

January 3, 1967

JACK RUBY DIES IN DALLAS

Jack Rubinstein, a.k.a. Jack Ruby, the man who shot & killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, died today here in Dallas, Texas.

Ruby, who had ties to organized crime dating back to his hometown of Chicago, operated night clubs in Dallas in 1963.

Jack Ruby had been found guilty of murder but the Texas Court of Appeals overturned his death sentence & he was awaiting a new trial when he died today of cancer in a Dallas hospital.

Mr. Ruby had expressed concern about his safety while in jail in Dallas. In an interview with Earl Warren, Ruby asked to be taken to Washington, D.C. where he could “tell the truth”.

Warren did not approve the move & Ruby never told his complete story. He did, however, say these words in a filmed interview:

“The world will never know the true facts of what occurred–my motives. Unfortunately, the people that had so much to gain….will never let the true facts come above board to the world.”