Volume : SIRS 1991 History, Article 02 Subject: Keyword(s) : KENNEDY and ASSASSINATION Title : Conspiracy Theories: Doubts Refuse to Die Author : Bob Dudney Source : Dallas Times Herald (Dallas, Texas) Publication Date : Nov. 20, 1983 Page Number(s) : Special Sec. 11
DALLAS TIMES HERALD (Dallas, Texas) Nov. 20, 1983, Commemorative Section, pp. 11 Reprinted with permission from the author.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES: DOUBTS REFUSE TO DIE by Bob Dudney Special to the Times Herald
Editor's Note: Bob Dudney, a former reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, has written hundreds of articles about the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination. He has covered congressional inquiries on the subject, has interviewed dozens of people connected with it, and has examined thousands of government documents.
The shots fired in Dealey Plaza on a sunny Dallas day 20 years ago still reverberate in a bizarre way: the belief that President John F. Kennedy's assassination resulted from a conspiracy.
There is a deep, almost theological assumption by some Americans that the President was the victim of conspirators who still roam at large. The conclusion is strange because there is no solid evidence to support it--and significant reasons to believe it is false.
There is no denying the difficulty of accepting the Warren Commission's verdict on the events of Nov. 22, 1963--that a down-and-out, 24-year-old ex-Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald, with no outside assistance, murdered the most glamorous, powerful man in the world at the time.
But no matter how strong the unwillingness to believe, the evidence in the case demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that there was no plot. Undermining the scores of conspiracy theories that have cropped up over the years are three crucial factors:
- The scientific, eyewitness and medical data establishing that Oswald shot Kennedy.
- The absence of uncontroverted evidence linking Oswald to other conspirators.
- The lack of evidence to suggest that Oswald was unwittingly manipulated by others.
So long as these elements remain unshaken, claims that a sinister plot was afoot that November day will amount to nothing more than speculation.
Nevertheless, theories about the active involvement of others in the assassination thrive and multiply. Their proponents--some skilled and some not, some sincere and some not --have produced dozens of books, films and articles that purport to reveal the "full" treachery of events in Dallas two decades ago.
In fact, from the volume and variety of conspiracy theories, one might conclude that the possibility of a conspiracy had never been officially probed. The theories discount thousands of documents and millions of investigative man-hours devoted to that question by the Warren panel, the FBI and the CIA in 1963 and 1964; the Rockefeller Commission in 1975; the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 1975 and the House Committee on Assassinations in 1977-1978.
The list of "suspects" the theories implicate is extensive. Among them: The Soviet KGB; anti-Soviet exiles; Fidel Castro; pro-Castro Cubans in the United States; anti-Castro Cubans; loyalists of slain South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem; right wing fanatics; left wing Marxists; the Mafia; rogue Texas oilmen; labor unions; Southern white racists; the Dallas Police Department; the CIA; the FBI; the Secret Service; the Chinese communists; reactionary Army officers; and Jewish extremists.
But it is not enough to demonstrate that some group stood to benefit from the murder. Theorists must establish participation of two or more people in the murder. This they have not done.
Each theory alters the nature of Oswald's role in the death, but the possible changes are necessarily limited. The principle theories are:
Oswald is innocent: Adherents of this contention maintain that law enforcement officials--cynically or through honest error--settled on Oswald as the assassin even though there was no reliable evidence against him. They say Oswald could have exonerated himself at a trial had he not been killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
Challenging this theory is an abundance of evidence. Scientific testing and physical evidence found at the scene show that shots were fired at Kennedy's limousine from a sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository building.
Oswald worked in the building at Elm and Houston. He was seen leaving it shortly after the shooting. Crates were found stacked by the sixth-floor window as an apparent gun brace. Oswald's fingerprints were on the crates. The morning of the assassination, Oswald was seen carrying a long, paper-wrapped object into the building. Wrapping paper found near the window bore Oswald's fingerprints.
A rifle was found hidden between boxes in the building. A bullet and the bullet fragments removed from Kennedy, Connally and the limousine ballistically matched the rifle. Oswald's palm print was found on the rifle. The rifle, purchased from a Chicago mail order house, had been shipped to a Dallas post office box rented by Oswald. A photograph showed Oswald holding a rifle identical to the one found.
Proponents of this theory retort that all of the evidence was fabricated and put credence in Oswald's post-arrest declaration that he hadn't killed anyone.
But claims that the incriminating rifle photo was doctored-- with Oswald's head superimposed over another man's body--were dispelled by Marina Oswald's confirmation that she took the picture. And claims that Oswald's rifle was planted in the room after the assassination were refuted by ballistic tests that showed it fired the deadly shots.
Given the problems with claims of planted evidence, some theorists have argued that there must have been a "planted Oswald," or Oswald impersonator on the scene. This contention, however, has been difficult to reconcile with the Oswald fingerprints and palmprints found on the evidence.
Two years ago, conspiracy theorists, successfully pressed for the opening of Oswald's grave to show it contained an imposter--probably a Soviet agent. Subsequent examination, however, determined the body was the "real" Lee Harvey Oswald.
Oswald had accomplices: Faced with the weight of evidence indicating Oswald's guilt, quite a few conspiracy theories have contended he was only one of those involved.
Some theories assert that a person or persons helped put Oswald in position to shoot the President. They leave unexplained why Oswald would need such help. As an employee of the book depository, he had easy access to the building. After the shooting, according to witnesses' testimony, he sought no help in fleeing and left downtown Dallas by city bus and then a taxi.
Moreover, it would seem unlikely that accomplices could have helped get Oswald a job that put him on the motorcycle route. Oswald got his job at the depository on Oct. 15. White House planning for the President's motorcade route did not begin until Nov. 4, and the map of the route was not published until Nov. 19. Somewhat more credible is the contention others provided secret financing, planning, direction or encouragement for the murder that Oswald carried out.
In this scenario, the chief suspect over the years has been the Soviet Union. After all, Oswald defected to Russia in 1959. He married a Russian woman, Marina Prusakova, in 1961. He was a vociferous Marxist. Even after he returned to the United States in June 1962, Oswald had several fleeting contacts with Soviet diplomats.
However, no evidence of Soviet complicity has been found. Investigators who combed Oswald's effects discovered no unexplained funds, no code books, no messages--nothing to suggest a Soviet hand in Oswald's actions. Also, had Oswald been recruited as a Soviet agent, the Russians would not have been likely to allow him to defect, as he did--thereby exposing his relationship with them.
The other top suspect has been Cuba. Oswald admired Fidel Castro; he was a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in the United States; he visited the Cuban embassy in Mexico City a few weeks before the assassination, seeking a travel visa to that country. Because the CIA was backing assassination plots against Castro at the time, some speculate that Castro may have retaliated through Oswald.
But, as with the theory of Soviet involvement, there is no evidence. At one point, there did appear to be some. A young Central American informant told U.S. authorities he saw Oswald in the Cuban embassy, talking to two other men, one of whom was conversing in Spanish. Later, he said, Oswald supposedly received $6500 to kill an important person. Under questioning, however, the informant admitted he had never seen Oswald and had fabricated the transaction, wishing to stir up American hatred for Castro's Cuba. Subsequently, he retracted his retraction. Finally, he failed a lie-detector test. Anyway, Oswald did not speak Spanish.
Another account suggesting possible Cuban involvement was provided by a Cuban exile who testified before the Warren commission. She said two Hispanic men and an Anglo man they identified as "Leon Oswald" came to her Dallas apartment 28 days before the assassination. She said they spoke vaguely of Cuban revolutionary plans before she turned them away. She identified Oswald in television film as the man she had seen, but federal investigators said they do not believe it was him. They said they believe that at that time, Oswald was traveling from his New Orleans home to Mexico in his quest for a Cuban entry visa.
The most publicized theories involving Oswald accomplices are those that have featured other gunmen.
These various versions have assassins firing from other windows in the depository building; from the Dal-Tex building; from sewer drains, a grassy knoll near Dealey Plaza, the railroad bridge over Elm, Main and Commerce streets and the Dallas County Courthouse roof; and firing with silencers or automatic weapons.
The arguments surrounding these claims:
- One-man, one-bullet: The first shot that wounded Kennedy in the neck did not also hit John Connally, as the Warren Commission concluded. Rather they were struck by individual bullets simultaneously, requiring that there be two shooters. A team of experts, including a National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineer, conducted an exhaustive study of this question in 1978. The panel's conclusion: It is not only possible, but almost certain that Kennedy and Connally were hit by the same bullet.
- Filmed accomplices: Photographs of Dealey Plaza taken at the time of the assassination show a dim form behind a wall on a grassy knoll to the right and in front of the presidential limousine. However, investigators found no spent cartridges, weapons or footprints in this area. A panel of photography experts concluded in 1978 that the images on the film were shadows.
Films and photos also show a man in Dealey Plaza opening and closing a black umbrella. Conspiracy theories suggest he was signaling gunmen or that some weapon was hidden in the umbrella. But at a hearing of the House Assassinations Committee in 1978, a mild-mannered Dallas insurance worker identified himself as the mysterious "umbrella man" and said he was only trying to harass Kennedy.
- Head movement: The famous Zapruder film of the assassination clearly shows President Kennedy's head lurching backward when it was struck by the fatal gunshot. If the shot had come from behind, conspiracy theorists reason, the impact would have driven the President's head forward. Nonetheless, a panel of medical experts concluded in 1978 that Kennedy's head wounds were caused by a shot from the rear. Moreover, a panel of wound-ballistics scientists concluded that the backward motion was caused by the sudden tightening of the President's neck muscles.
- Tape-recorded sounds: Sound transmitted through the microphone of a motorcycle patrolman in the motorcade, and recorded at Dallas police headquarters, shows four noise "spikes." At the behest of the House Assassinations Committee in 1978, three acoustical experts conducted three test gunshot firings in Dealey Plaza, compared the sounds and concluded it was 95 percent certain that four shots had been fired. The Warren Commission had concluded that no more than three shots had been fired from the window. The source of the previously unknown one, the acoustical experts said, was the grassy knoll area.
The finding was the first scientific evidence supporting a conspiracy theory and stirred an uproar. But it, too, was later discounted. Twelve experts assembled by the National Research Council reviewed the tapes and concluded the "spikes" were actually recorded about a minute after the assassination.
The Assassinations Committee also grappled futily with the prospect of a likely colleague for Oswald. "The question is with who," said one member of the now-defunct committee. "If there's a conspirator, then who could it have been? We asked ourselves over and over: What associates did Oswald have, where was there evidence of conspiracy? We found none."
Oswald was manipulated: These theories suggest that Oswald, and perhaps other operatives, were unknowingly influenced in their actions.
There can be only one reasonable candidate to mastermind such a project--the KGB. It would have been the only organization with the scientific means and the extended access to Oswald. Even some Warren Commission lawyers and CIA members briefly toyed with the possibility. Because Oswald spent some time in a Soviet hospital while residing in Russia, there was the suspicion he might have been brainwashed.
Once again, the problem is that there is no evidence to suggest Oswald was brainwashed. Moreover, the CIA believes KGB "mind conditioning" techniques at the time were primitive.
Surely, it is impossible to rule out the prospect of a conspiracy in the assassination. The Warren Commission itself did not do so. "Because of the difficulty of providing negatives to a certainty," the panel said, proving there was no conspiracy "cannot be established categorically." However, the panel said, "if there is any such evidence it has been beyond the reach of all the investigative agencies and resources of the United States."
Twenty years later, that is still the case.