*Ayres would later tell author William Manchester that he started to say “President” Johnson, but checked himself, apparently not wanting to further hurt Mrs. Kennedy with the declared reality that her son was no longer the president (Manchester, Death of a President, p.371).
*Most of the nearly one and a half million telephones in service in the Washington metropolitan area on November 22 were used during the first half hour. A staggering quarter-million long-distance calls alone were made on Friday, resulting in overloaded exchanges, delayed dial tones, and intermittent service. Normal telephone operations were not completely restored until 4:15 p.m. EST. (Manchester, Death of a President, pp.205–206, 253–254)
*When Boswell was informed that the autopsy would take place at Bethesda, he said, “That’s stupid. The autopsy should be done at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology [AFIP],” located just five miles up the road from Bethesda at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The AFIP was “the apex of military pathology and, perhaps, world pathology,” according to Boswell. However, his suggestion was rejected. “That’s the way it is,” he was told. “Admiral Burkley wants Bethesda.” (Breo, “JFK’s Death—The Plain Truth from the MDs Who Did the Autopsy,” p.2796; ARRB MD 26, Memorandum, Andy Purdy to Jim Kelly and Kenneth Klein, August 17, 1977, Notes of interview with Dr. J. Thornton Boswell, pp.1–2)
*In spite of all the planning for the landing, the ambulance is waiting there not by design but by order of Captain Robert Canada Jr., USN, commanding officer of Bethesda Naval Hospital. Canada, unaware of the role his hospital would play, had sent the navy ambulance to Andrews Air Force Base in case Lyndon Johnson, a navy veteran, whom Canada had treated after his massive heart attack in July 1955, had suffered another one. (Manchester, Death of a President, p.381)
*In a large-sample national poll in March of 1964 by the National Opinion Research Center, an affiliate of the University of Chicago, an astonishing 53 percent of those interviewed said they had wept when they heard the news of Kennedy’s death (New York Times, March 7, 1964, p.11). This percentage is remarkable by itself, and becomes even more so when you factor in the number of people who, though grieving as much, cannot bring tears to their eyes.
*Despite Marina’s suspicion that her husband had murdered the president, as she walked past the media at police headquarters upon her arrival, she said loyally, “Lee good man—he no shoot anyone” (JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, April 2006, p.8).
*Dr. Boswell said Humes was “afraid the sheets would end up in somebody’s barn on Highway 66 as exhibits” and immediately threw them into the morgue washing machine to be laundered (ARRB MD 26, Memorandum, Andy Purdy to Jim Kelly and Kenneth Klein, August 17, 1977, Notes of interview with Dr. J. Thornton Boswell, pp.2–3; ARRB Transcript of Proceedings, Deposition of Dr. J. Thornton Boswell, February 26, 1996, p.14).
†FBI agents O’Neill and Sibert noted the following were in attendance at the beginning of the autopsy: Admiral Calvin B. Galloway, USN, commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Medical Center, Bethesda; Captain John H. Stover, commanding officer, U.S. Naval Medical School; Admiral George G. Burkley, USN, the president’s personal physician; Commander James J. Humes, chief pathologist; Commander J. Thornton Boswell, chief of pathology at Bethesda; Jan G. Rudnicki, laboratory assistant to Dr. Boswell; John T. Stringer Jr., medical photographer; John H. Ebersole, assistant chief radiologist at Bethesda; Floyd A. Riebe, medical photographer; Paul K. O’Connor, laboratory technologist; James Curtis Jenkins, laboratory technologist; Jerrol F. Custer, X-ray technician; Edward F. Reed, X-ray technician; James E. Metzler, hospital corpsman, third-class; and Secret Service agents Roy Kellerman, William Greer, and John J. O’Leary (who stayed only briefly) (ARRB MD 44, FBI Report of O’Neill and Sibert, November 26, 1963, p.2). Admiral George Burkley reported that Admiral Edward Kenney, the surgeon general of the navy; Captain Robert O. Canada, commanding officer of Bethesda Naval Hospital; and Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh, air force aide to the president, were also present when the president’s body was moved to the autopsy table (NARA Record 189-10001-10048, Report of George Burkley, November 27, 1963, 8:45 a.m., p.7, ARRB MD 48). During the course of the autopsy Pierre A. Finck, chief of the wound ballistics pathology branch at Walter Reed medical center, arrived to assist Humes and Boswell. In addition, Lieutenant Commander Gregory H. Cross, resident in surgery, and Captain David Osborne, chief of surgery, entered the autopsy room. (ARRB MD 44, FBI Report of O’Neill and Sibert, November 26, 1963, p.2) At one point, Major General Philip C. Wehle, commanding officer of the U.S. Military District of Washington, D.C., entered the autopsy room to make arrangements with the Secret Service regarding the transportation of the president’s body back to the White House. Near the end of the autopsy, Chester H. Boyers, chief petty officer in charge of the pathology division, entered the room to type up receipts for items given to the FBI and Secret Service. At the end of the autopsy, John VanHoesen, Edwin Stroble, Thomas E. Robinson, and Joe Hagan (personnel from Gawler’s Funeral Home) prepared the president’s body for burial. Also in attendance at that time were Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh and Dr. George Bakeman, USN. (ARRB MD 44, FBI Report of O’Neill and Sibert, November 26, 1963, pp.2–3) The HSCA also noted that Richard A. Lipsey, personal aide to General Wehle, and Samuel A. Bird were also present at various times (7 HSCA 9).
*This is a standard practice in professional photography wherein each angle is photographed three times at three different exposures—one slightly underexposed, one slightly overexposed, and one at the presumed proper exposure setting—ensuring that at least one of the three images will be perfectly exposed.
*Oswald was referring to an antisedition law enacted in 1940 to combat the threat of global Communism that prohibited advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government “by force or violence.” Abt, himself a member of the Communist Party, won his biggest victory in 1965 when the U.S. Supreme Court held that the nation’s 1950 Internal Security Act (commonly called the McCarran Act), which required that all Communists and Communist organizations register with the federal government, was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination. (Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board, 382 U.S. 70 [1965];Los Angeles Times, August 14, 1991, p.A14)
†Despite Captain Fritz’s instructions, there is no record that Oswald made any attempts to contact Attorney Abt in New York on November 22.
‡When I asked Alexander if at that time he also believed Oswald had killed Kennedy, he responded, “Yeah. We felt it was clear that the same person who killed Tippit killed Kennedy. That’s why he killed Tippit, because he was stopped while in flight from Kennedy’s murder. It was pretty obvious to all of us—I don’t remember anyone that was thinking otherwise—that Oswald had committed both murders” (Interview of William Alexander by author on December 11, 2000).
*No bullet, or significant portion thereof, was found in either Kennedy’s or Connally’s body.
*The young lad Amos Euins also saw a gunman firing from the window, but his description of the gunman, as we have seen, was of little value, Euins first describing the gunman as being a colored man, and later, a white man.
*Inspector Zarza checks the box and finds two copies of the Militant that had not yet been forwarded (7 H 296, WCT Harry D. Holmes).
*Under the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona, even if a suspect or arrestee has waived his right to have a lawyer present during his interrogation, and also waived his right against self-incrimination, once he indicates, at any time during the interrogation, that he does not want to answer any further questions, “the interrogation must cease,” and any statement he makes thereafter, even if apparently free and voluntary, cannot be used against him because said statement is deemed to be, as a matter of law, “the product of compulsion, subtle or otherwise” (Miranda v. Arizona, 86 S. Ct. 1627, 1628). Here, as we shall see, Oswald continued to be interrogated and continued to answer questions for two more days. But Miranda was
n’t yet in existence back in 1963.
*Some of the military men present talked of bringing in metal detectors to expedite the search for any bullets in the president’s body (ARRB MD 19, Memorandum to File, Andy Purdy, August 17, 1977, p.10).
*Predictably, the paraffin cast for Oswald’s right cheek showed no reaction, that is, no nitrates indicating he had fired a weapon (4 H 276, WCT J. C. Day), but the paraffin cast on his hands, also predictably, showed a positive reaction, indicating, though not conclusively, he had recently fired a weapon. Though, as indicated, there is no gap between the chamber and the barrel of a rifle through which gases can escape (resulting in no nitrate residue being found on Oswald’s right cheek from firing his Mannlicher-Carcano), there is a gap between the barrel and the cylinder on a revolver through which gases do escape; hence, nitrate residue was found on Oswald’s hands, most likely from his shooting Officer Tippit with his .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver (4 H 276, WCT J. C. Day). Indeed, the gun residue test was devised only for the firing of small arms, not rifles.
To confirm that firing a rifle will not leave nitrate residue on the firer’s cheeks, the FBI had one of their agents, Charles L. Killion, fire three rounds in Oswald’s Carcano rifle. The result of the paraffin test conducted thereafter was negative for his cheeks and hands (3 H 494, WCT Cortlandt Cunningham; WR, pp.561–562).
†Virtually all high school, college, and professional sporting events were canceled or postponed throughout the nation that coming weekend. By far the most prominent exception (for which it has received criticism by many down through the years) was the National Football League. Although the American Football League postponed all of its Sunday games, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said that “it has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy,” and announced that the NFL’s schedule of seven games would be played on Sunday. CBS announced it would not televise the games. (Dallas Morning News, November 23, 1963, sect.2, p.1; Rozelle quote: Sunday Press [Binghamton, NY], November 24, 1963, sect.D, p.1)
*The way Grant explained it, when he and Thompson were at Dallas police headquarters earlier in the day, there were “so many reporters and photographers pushing and shoving” in the crammed corridor on the third floor, some “standing on chairs, some on their camera cases, all trying to get in position” for a “photograph of suspect Lee Harvey Oswald” whenever he happened to appear “being led from one room to another,” that he suggested to Thompson they “get out” of the madhouse and “look for a more exclusive angle to the story.” With Thompson, born in Texas, “using his Texas accent and disarming demeanor” to extract information out of a deputy sheriff, they got the address of Oswald’s rooming house, and Earlene Roberts, the housekeeper, then told them of the phone calls that Oswald used to make to Irving. They headed out there and after inquiring around town, finally found the Paine residence. (Allen Grant, “Life Catches Up to Marina Oswald,” Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1988, part V, pp.1, 8)
*Although Ruby was highly patriotic, he was completely apolitical, though a lifelong Democrat, “being devoid of political ideas to the point of naivete” (CE 2980, 26 H 469–470; CE 1747, 23 H 355). Carousel comic Bill Demar, who knew Ruby well, said he “never recalled ever having heard him discuss politics” (15 H 102, WCT William D. Crowe Jr. [Bill Demar]). His rabbi, Hillel Silverman, told the FBI that Ruby was a very shallow person intellectually, and he considered Ruby to be someone “who would not know the difference between a communistic philosophy and a totalitarian philosophy, in that he was not well-read and spent little time concerning himself with this type of information.” The rabbi, however, appears to have missed the mark when he said that although Ruby thought the president of the United States was the greatest individual in the world, it wasn’t because of the president himself, but because of Ruby’s respect for the position involved and of his high respect for the American government. (CE 1485, 22 H 906–907, FBI interview of Hillel Silverman on November 27, 1963) Though that was probably a large part of Ruby’s feeling for Kennedy, the consensus of others, including those who were much closer to Ruby than Silverman, is that Ruby had an extraordinary feeling for Kennedy personally.
†The fact that Barry Goldwater, who was already gearing up to run against Kennedy for president in 1964, was brought up in the discussion by the emcee at the Carousel around the same time as the remark about Kennedy, indicates the incident probably happened within months of the assassination.
*At some time during the afternoon, Ruby stopped in to see a friend of his, Joe Cavagnaro, the sales manager at the Statler Hilton Hotel. He told Cavagnaro about his plans to close the Carousel for three days. Cavagnaro said, “He asked me what we were going to do. I told him, ‘Jack, you can’t just close a hotel. People have to have a place to eat and sleep.’ But he expected the whole city to close down.” (Wills and Demaris, Jack Ruby, pp.38, 40)
*Throughout the rest of his life, Ruby rarely permitted the name “Oswald” to come from his lips, either purposefully or instinctively refraining from uttering the word. “I don’t know why,” he told the Warren Commission. “I don’t know how to explain it.” One explanation is that he unconsciously sensed that to do so would invest it with a human dignity it did not have. Authors Gary Wills and Ovid Demaris wrote that “Ruby could not bring himself to call the thing by name. It is the instinct that kept [Carl] Sandburg from using [John Wilkes] Booth’s name in his long description of Lincoln’s death. When he must refer to the assassin, he calls him ‘the Outsider.’” The authors note that William Manchester, who does use Oswald’s name many times in his book, is nonetheless “sickened by the need to do so.” Manchester writes, “Noticing him [Oswald], and even printing his name in history books…seems obscene. It is an outrage. He is an outrage.” (5 H 187, WCT Jack L. Ruby; Wills and Demaris, Jack Ruby, p.264; Manchester, Death of a President, pp.276–277)
In their book Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, JFK’s two closest aides, Kenneth P. O’Donnell and David F. Powers, never used Oswald’s name once, though they wrote about the horrors of JFK’s death.
*When I asked Alexander if Wade had immediately assigned him to the Oswald case, the tall, angular-faced Texan who speaks slowly, and sometimes sprinkles those words with salty, ranch-hand profanity, responded, “There was no need for any conversation between Henry and me. It was understood” (Telephone interview of William Alexander by author on December 11, 2000).
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