Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 28, 1964, Winnipeg, Manitoba 14 Winnipeg free press monday september 28, 1964 commission spikes myths on Kennedy assassination fails to find evidence of conspiracy sets record straight on Ruby by Hugh a. Mulligan Washington a hundreds of questions have been raised since the assassination of president John f. Kennedy last november. Was Lee Harvey Oswald re ally the Assassin did he have accomplices was he a communist agent was it a right Wing plot did Jack Ruby know Oswald in a special appendix on speculations and the report of the Warren commis Sion attempts to answer Point by Point Many of the questions myths rumours and misconceptions that have grown up around the tragedy. Here follow some of the major questions with the answers in the commission s own words q. Was Lee Harvey Oswald really the Assassin a. The shots Whick killed president Kennedy and wounded governor Connally were fired by Lee Harvey q. Did Oswald have accomplices a. "0 s w a 1 d assassinated president Kennedy acting alone and without advice or assist Ance. The commission has found no credible evidence that he was a member of a foreign or Domestic conspiracy of any q. Was he a communist agent a. There is no credible Evi Dence that Oswald was an agent of the soviet government. There is no evidence that Oswald had any working relation ship with the soviet government or with soviet q. Was it a right Wing plot a. Commission has found no evidence that the extreme views expressed toward president Kennedy by some right Wing groups centred in Dallas or any other general atmosphere of hate or right Wing extremism which May have existed in the City of Dallas had any connection with Oswald s actions on nov. 22." q. Did Jack Ruby know Oswald a. The commission made intensive inquiry into the Back grounds and relationships of Oswald and Ruby to determine whether they knew each other or were involved in a plot of any kind with each other or oth ers. It was unable to find any credible evidence to support the rumours linking Oswald and Ruby directly or through oth j ers. The commission concluded they were not involved in a con j Spirat orial relationship with each other or any third Par i q. Do the ballistics tests j show that Oswald s Rifle was j the murder weapon a. To h e commission has j evaluated the evidence tending to show How Lee Harvey Oswald s Mann Licher Carcano i i Fie. Serial number c2766, was i brought into the depository building where it was found on i the sixth floor shortly after the assassination. In addition to the three Cartridge found in the Texas school Book depository building a nearly whole Bullet was found on governor Connally s Stretcher and two Bullet fragments were found on the front scat of the presi Dent s car. Based on a comparison with test bullets fired from the c2766 Rifle the Stretcher Bullet and both Bullet fragments were identified As having been fired from the c2766 that one shot probably missed the president s limousine mid its occupants and that the three shots were fired in a time period ranging from approximately 4.8 to in excess of seven q. Was Oswald that Good a shot a. Oswald qualified As a Sharpshooter and a Marksman with them a Rifle in the Marine corps. Marina Oswald testified that in new Orleans her husband Practised operating the Texas plot alleged Moscow a a soviet newspaper charged sunday that president Kennedy s assassination last year was the result of a conspiracy by the most reactionary forces in the United states in which Texas Oil Barons played a fatal the Moscow newspaper Kom Sokolskaya pravda made the charge in an article under the headline secret move of the Oil the article however re viewed Only disputes Between the late . President and Oil company interests Over pro posed changes in Oil depletion allowances for tax purposes. It said Oil company officials denounced Kennedy at a meet ing in Chicago 10 Days before the nov. 2 assassination. But it made no attempt to document its charges that the Oil Industry played a role in the slaying. The Trade Union newspaper trud informed its readers that the Warren commission report on the assassination would be made Public sunday. Bolt of the Rifle. Moreover experts stated that the scope was substantial for rapid accurate firing. The commission concluded that Oswald had the capability with a Rifle to com Mit q. Could he have fired that fast a. According to expert wit Nesses exacting tests conducted for the commission demonstrated that it was possible to fire three shots from the Rifle within q. Was it established that Oswald was at the sixth floor window a. Fingerprint and Palm print evidence established that Oswald handled two four Cartons next to the window and also handled a paper bag which was found near the Cartons. Oswald was seen in the Vicinity of the Southeast Corner of the sixth floor approximately 35 minutes before the. Assassination and no one could be found who saw Oswald anywhere else in the building until after the shooting. An eyewitness to the shooting immediately provided a description of the Man in the window which was similar to Oswald s a c t u a 1 appearance. This witness identified Oswald in a lineup As the Man most nearly resembling the Man he saw and later identified Oswald As the Man he observed. On the basis of these findings the commission has concluded that Oswald at the time of the assassination was present at the window from which fee shots were q. Who then was the Man standing in front of the build ing in the widely published associated press picture a. The Man on the front Steps of the building thought or alleged by some to be Lee Harvey of w Aid is actually Billy Lovelady an employee of the Texas school Book depository who somewhat resembles tortured life is Laid Bare by Sid Moody Washington a Lee Oswald s pretty russian born wife once said her husband would have found happiness Only on the Moon certainly it was not in his stars. Gradually through the 888 pages of the Warren commis Sion report the Blurry image of Lee Harvey Oswald emerges in sharper focus than Ever before. From among All the rumours scattered facts speculations Oswald takes form As a Tor tured wanderer in quest of two things an Ever elusive Happi Ness or barring that a place in history. The first he never found. The latter he did finally Here in Brief Are the findings of the Warren commission s report on the assassination of president John f. Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby acted As loners there was no conspiracy Domestic or foreign. Secret service measures to guard the president were in sufficient also the Fri failed to tip the secret service to Oswald s presence in Dallas. Dallas police committed errors in the events that led up to the killing of Oswald by Ruby news Media must also share responsibility for the failure of Law enforcement which occurred in connection with the death of methods for protecting the president must be drastic ally modernized. Murder of a president or vice president should be made a Federal crime. The state department should be extremely careful in permitting american defectors to return to the United states. Secret service Fri police All get hauled Over coals Washington a Warren commission levelled sweeping criticism at secret service Security president John fateful journey owner Jack Ruby. Dallas police officials scored for their blow by blow in a Brief moment of fury in Dallas last november. Much of Oswald s life is known. But it has Only been skeletal. The report adds much More about this unfortunate whose 24 years were haunted by a brooding destiny. Oswald s fatherless childhood was spent with his Mother whom the commission called self centred roaming from new Orleans to Texas to new York City. While she worked at Odd jobs Lee sometimes lived at Home sometimes at a children s Home shaded a bed with his Mother until he was 10 or 11 but found few outlets for his affection became increasingly with drawn. At 15 he began to read communist literature thought pres ident Dwight d. Eisenhower should be killed for oppressing the working classes. At 17 he joined the marines baited his officers for not know ing As much about foreign affairs As he did. He was court Martiale twice made just barely passing Marks in proficiency. Fellow marines called him Ozzie or of i Wald Skovich because of his j Reading of communist Litera i Ture. J after he defected to Russia i he wrote his full brother Robert i that the United states is a country i hate. Happiness does not consist of a Small i Home of taking and getting i happiness is taking part in the i struggle in the event of War 1 would kill any american who put on a uniform in defence of the american tried suicide when the russians delayed in grafting him a visa. Oswald despaired tried to commit Sui cide. He wrote in a rambling almost incoherent Book he called his historic my Fondes dreams Are shattered. Than slash my left wrist that Plaug wrist into Bathtub i of water. Somewhere a violin tendencies his lies when inter plays As watch my Whir members of the Warren commission pose for an official portrait in Washington. Left to right Are rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan rep. Hale Boggs of Louisiana sen. Richard Russell of Georgia chief Justice Earl Warren sen. John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky John j. Mccloy former . High com missioner for Germany Allen Dulles former head of the Cen trial intelligence Agency j. Lee Rankin commission counsel. Love you., Jack mrs. Jefic cried Mother blasts probe by Martha Cole Washington a mrs. John f. Kennedy saw her Hus band s Skull torn open under the Impact of the Assassin s Bullet but does not remember climbing onto the Back of that automobile in Dallas. As use president Lay mortally wounded in the presidential limousine she cried of my god they have shot my husband. I love you reporting this sunday the Warren commission quoted a witness As saying mrs. Kennedy probably would have fallen off the rear end of the car and been killed if . Secret service agent Clinton j. Hill had not pushed her Back into the Auto. Pictures of the assassination last nov. 22 showed mrs. Ken by Mike Cochran Forth Worth Tex. Nedy who was Riding in the i the Mother of Lee Harvey Osback seat beside her husband Wald slammed her fist Down crawling onto the trunk with on a bound copy of the Warren it Al ____1 Hill trying to jump onto the bumper. Hill s testimony in the report mrs. Kennedy j had jumped of commission report sunday and declared i can break this whole thing oing to make fools up from the seat and was it mrs. Marguerite Oswald said appeared to me reaching for j the commission something coming off the right concluded that her son was the bumper of the i r e a r the right rear Tail car when Assassin of president John f. Ridiculous rang out. The commission report makes Only two direct references to mrs. K e n n e d y s testimony taken at her Home Here last Spring. The full account will be released later in a fifth volume. Mrs. Kennedy had no recon new York Lection of climbing onto the attorney general Robert f. Ken Back of the Nedy said sunday he does not said intend to read the Warren com Frk won t read report she noticed that i was trying to i can tear this Book climb on the car. She turned j one was not specific but said toward me and i grabbed her one Nad facts that Macle Ner be. And put her Back in the Back Kjeve in Ner sons innocence. Seat crawled up on top of the d Back seat and Lay j she says she devotes her life to learning the i truth about the i she recently sold some of her son s letters to a Magazine and i has made a recording concern j ing the assassination. More facts and leaped out when the shots Mission s report on the assassination of his brother Dent John f. Kennedy. But he said he had she criticized the omission from the Warren report of a de the report tailed account of her son s slay i ing. The commission said its re in another instance it said j port in this area was limited in mrs. Kennedy s testimony Indi i scope because the Jack Ruby rated that neither the first nor i Rase still was pending. The second shot fired at the my son was murdered and i been president missed. I have a right to know the presi rotated by the Fri his trip to Mexico where he was in con measures for accounts to reporters of the Case j tact with soviet authorities his f. Kennedy s to Dallas last q. Were Oswald s fingerprints i november. It also censured the found on the Rifle a. Oswald s pal print was on the Rifle in a position which shows that he had handled it while it was disassembled fibres found on the Rifle most probably came from the shirt Oswald was wearing on the Day of the q. What did the paraffin tests show a. During the evening of nov. 22, the Dallas police department p e r f o r me d paraffin tests on Oswald s hands and right Cheek in an apparent Effort to determine by Means of a scientific test whether Oswald had recently fired a weapon. The results were Posi Tive for the hands and negative for the right Cheek. Expert Tes Timony before the commission was to the effect that the paraffin test was unreliable in determining whether or not a per son had fired a Rifle or re Volver. The commission has therefore placed no Reliance on the paraffin tests administered by the Dallas q. Where were the shots fired Horn a. The cumulative evidence of eyewitnesses firearms and ballistic experts and medical authorities demonstrated that the shots were fired from above and behind president Kennedy and governor Connally More particularly from the sixth floor of the Texas school Book q. How Many shots were fired and How fast which hit the president a. Two bullets probably caused All the wounds suffered by president Kennedy and governor Connally. Since the pre Fri. It proposed a drastic overhaul 1 soon after of presidential protective a formation of against Oswald. These the com Mission said provided much of the basis for the myths and rumours that came into being the president s presence in then school Book depository Job and its location along the route of the motor Cade. All this does amount to enough seem to have Pon Derance rated that of evidence three shots Indi fired the commission concluded a Cabinet level watchdog com Mittee. It criticized the secret serv j ice the Agency with prime responsibility for lapses in plan Ning for the nov. 22 presidential visit when Kennedy was. Shot Down by a sniper. It raised the possibility of re Lieving the service of some or All of the Job suggesting that the president and Congress con Sider such a step. It called to task the Federal Bureau of investigation for not warning the secret service of the presence in Dallas of Lee Harvey Oswald named by the commission As Kennedy s Assas in. And it accused both agencies of a breakdown in co ordination and a too narrow understanding of their responsibilities in Safe guarding the president. Correct faults the Fri and the secret serv ice declined to comment on the report. But the commission said each has taken Steps since the assassination to co rect the deficiencies it attributed to them. For the agents on the scene at the moment of assassination the Warren commission had words of Praise their actions demonstrate that the president and the nation can expect Cour age and Devotion to duty from the agents of the secret serv but in dealing with the Dallas police department and its handling of Oswald the commis Sion was less kind. It said poor Security arrangements for Oswald contributed to his slaying at the hands of Dallas nightclub keeping Tab the commission s criticism of service operations dealt largely with what that Agency Calls its protective research unction keeping tabs on All persons who might be consid ered a threat to the president. But it also censured the serv ice for failing to inspect those buildings along the motorcade that presented the greatest threat of As the Texas school Book depository where the Assassin lurked. Co ordination Between these Cret service and other Federal agencies such As the Fri was described As insufficient. The report said the Fri had Exten Sive information on Oswald s past and knew he worked in a building on the motorcade route. But the Fri did not relay this information. Noting that the Fri had a file on Oswald dating Back to octo ber 1959, the commission re ported no information concerning Lee Harvey Oswald appeared in secret service files before the but Fri Hoover testified there was nothing up to the time of the assassination that gave any indication that this Man was a dangerous character who might do harm to the president or to the vice president the commission however took another View there was much material in the hands of the Fri about Oswald the knowledge of his defection to his arro Gance and hostility to the United states his pro Castro diced an Alert Agency such As president s trip to director j. Edgar the Fri to list Oswald As a potential threat to the safety of the agents chided the service also was criticized on grounds of poor co ordination with local this Case the Dallas outlining their responsibilities for assisting in the presidential visit. Nine secret service agents were chilled for violating regu lations by visiting the fort Worth press club the night be fore the assassination and drinking Beer or mixed drinks in the Early hours of the fateful Day. The report did t name them. A secret service Rule prohibits drinking by the White House detail while travelling with the president. Four of the nine the report said were assigned to the serv ice s backup car on behind Ken the running Board the fourth in the open car. It is conceivable that those men who had Little sleep and who had consumed alcoholic beverages even in limited quantities might have been More Alert in the Dallas motor Cade if they had retired promptly in fort the commission said. However there is no Evi Dence that these men failed to take any action in Dallas within their Power that would have averted the tragedy the instantaneous and heroic response to the assassination of some of the agents concerned was in the finest tradition of government briefed on it and that he is completely of j shot struck the president s j Kennedy now the democratic head it said. Nominee for the . Senate j mrs. Kennedy also is quoted j from new York state issued j by one witness As crying out j away. I think to myself How easy to die he was found before he bled of death. But the russians allowed him into the country sent him to Minsk to work in an electronics factory paid him a month a above average. He attended opera read hunted went to dances but found compulsory meetings of the factory work ers aggravating. His supervisors reported the defector was Over sensitive to remarks from he Foreman careless in his work took no part in the social life of the shop kept very much to russian life called on him. In the historic diary he wrote the Money i get has no where to be spent. No night clubs or Bowling alleys no places of recreation except the Trade Union dances. I have had on rebound in 1961, on the rebound from a girl named Ella who had spurned him he married mar Ina a pharmacist he had met at a dance. In spite of fact i married Marina to Hurt Ella i found my self in love with he wrote in his diary. Marina was dropped from the communist youth organization for marrying an american and Oswald began seeking Permis Sion for him and his wife and their new child to return to the . His diary records Oswald s disillusion no Man having known hav my lived under the russian communist and american capitalist system could possibly make a Choice Between them. One offers oppression the other poverty. Both offer imperialistic injustice tinted with two brands of Russia he wrote had fat stinking politicians Over there just like we immediately after the first one said., satisfied that the noise she turned and saw j Ghe reacted vigorously to commission investigated every j her husband raise his hand a commission Lead and examined every piece his forehead. Then the second reference that Lee was an As t t i 11 r v ill p Sassy because of his Environ i am she said. None of Lee Harvey Oswald s after the first shot. I ear y history indicate that on turning she saw a quiz i he would Ever become an As summer i am convinced that tical look on her husband s i Sassy a Oswald was solely responsible j face Asha raised his left hand she criticized Oswald s for what happened and that he j to his Throat. She then heard i widow. Marina for accepting did not have any outside help i a second shot and saw the j the official theory of the Assas or assistance. He was a Malcon-1 president s Skull torn open in a Sina Tion and accused her Daugh tent who could not get along j Der the Impact of the j Ter in Law of lying to i Vestiga Here or in the soviet Union. Ithe report said. I tors about Oswald s diary. This statement through his Campaign office As i said in Poland last i what Are they doing to Jack Ruby gun in hand rushes Forward to kill the handcuffed Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren commission deals with Oswald s murder but puts an end to rumours that Ruby was involved in some sinister conspiracy when he shot Down president Kennedy s Assassin ;