Although source B supports source A, source A shows no hard evidence of Oswald assassinating president Kennedy. As convincing as the evidence from both sources are written by the Warren Commission who had more intent in covering up a conspiracy and restoring the faith of citizens in the U.S government. The sources could have been tampered with to back one another up, making people believe this and restore their faith in the U.S government.
In what ways does the evidence of Sources C, D, E & F help you understand why the Warren Commission came up with the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the murder of JFK?
Sources C, D, E, and F help you understand the Warren Commissions theory that Oswald killed JFK as it shows the following hard evidence.
Source C states that Oswald forged his identity to obtain a gun (Manlincher Carcano rifle) the same gun found on the 6th floor where shots were heard from. Oswald obtained the gun is suspicious and the source infers that the suspicious behaviour is the start of Oswald’s plan.
Source D is a forensic report presented to the Warren Commission. A rifle was found on the 6th floor with Oswald's handprints on the barrel. A statement made by Oswald's wife Marina stated that her husband owned a rifle and when the garage was searched it was found to be missing. Found on the 6th floor was a paper bag, which concurs to source E, an eye witnesses statement from Lillie Mae Randall a neighbour. She stated, she saw Oswald carrying a long paper bag (28 inches long) whom backs up source D as there was a paper bag found on the crime scene. Lillie Mae is then backed up by Buell Wesley Fraizer who agreed the bag was about 27 inches long. Although the statements back one another up, its unlikely they could have guessed the length of Oswald's bag.
Source E states Howard Brennan picked out Oswald from an identity parade. This source could be unreliable as there’s no hard evidence and I find it hard to believe he could clearly see the rifleman on the 6th floor.
Source F doesn’t really explain that Oswald acted alone. It states he was on the Fair Play for Cuba committee and he was interested in left wing politics. Source F is meant to look like a communist conspiracy because at the time Kennedy was thought to have won a political battle over the Cuban missile crisis.
Study sources G, H, I and J
How useful are these sources in providing information to support the view that Lee Harvey Oswald was not acting alone?
These sources are useful in providing information that Oswald didn’t act alone in the assassination of JFK.
Source G shows eyewitness accounts contradict the Warren report. Jean Hill a schoolteacher said she heard 4-6 shots and there were different guns being fired, she knew this, as she was familiar to guns. Gordon Arnold a young soldier heard a shot come from behind him, as he was standing by grassy knoll.
Source G is unreliable, as two witnesses contradicts one another. Bonnie Williams said he ate lunch on the sixth floor and left at 12:20, he recalls nobody being there. While watching the parade Arnold Williams said he saw a man holding a rifle with a telescopic sight at about 12:15 (on 6th floor). Arnold Williams statement seems suspicious as it should of alarmed him more.
Source H infers it was unlikely Oswald was a lone killer, as the rifle he used was poor. Tests showed seventeen out of twenty bullets fired were defective. Oswald was said to have a pathetic shot. This means the assassination weapon was unlikely to be Oswald's Gun or him for that matter.
Source I backs up most of the eyewitness accounts given to the Warren Commission in source G. It’s a Dallas police tape and it states there were 4 shots in a time of 7.91 seconds. The 1st 2nd and 4th came from the depository and the 3rd from Grassy Knoll. The tape was discovered in 1978, I think it was meant never to be seen. This could mean it was the authority’s conspiracy, as they wanted never for this theory to get out.
Source J shows the movement of JFK’s limousine. Point D shows the cars position on the fatal shot. It suggests the best place to shoot from would be Grassy Knoll.
Study all the sources
The main conclusions of the Warren Commission were that a single gunman Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F Kennedy.
Use the sources and your own knowledge to explain why this view has been subject to so much controversy.
The Warren Commission conclusion caused a lot of controversy for many reasons.
Evidence suggests there were more shots fired as in source G an eyewitness Jean Hill said she heard 4-6 shots, whilst the Warren Commission said there were three. One bullet according to the commission pierced JFK’s throat, then hit the governor. This was called the magic bullet, and seems unbelievable.
Also in question was the area from which the shots came from. 58 out of 90 witnesses said they thought shots came from Grassy Knoll, they were ignored. 32 of the 58 supposedly committed suicide or died of unknown causes. This seems suspicious, I think someone wanted to silence the public by killing these people, who might have spoken up against the commission’s findings.
It seems like a big conspiracy, some believe it was a communist conspiracy. They believe JFK was killed because he got the better out of the Cuban missile crisis. I think this was part of the FBI conspiracy. The FBI should of known travelling in an open top limousine, at a slow speed was dangerous. This seems purposively done to make the assassination easier. Why would they want to that? Well it was found that JFK was going to withdraw troops from Vietnam. This would have cost the armed manufacturers, weakening the U.S economy. Not to be noticed they made it look like a communist conspiracy. The other suggestion is a Mafia conspiracy. JFK and his brother imprisoned many leaders of gangs. So with JFK dead more freedom for the Mafia and less for JFK’s brother.
I think the man to gain was Lyndon B Johnson. He would become the most powerful man in the world without Kennedy. Meaning he was capable of arranging the assassination (controlling the FBI etc). He was also head of the warren commission, which caused some controversy.
The warren commission was poorly done. The post-mortem done on JFK was done by hardly experienced pathologists, and seemed to change suspiciously (Doctors first believed fatal shot came from front. later changed to back.)
I think the Warren commission although poorly done was designed well. I think the published version was made so that the average person wouldn’t read it. The reason for this is that it had 13 volumes and probably wouldn’t have made any sense.
The witnesses accepted to be true contradict one another. This could have cleared Oswald's name. Source G states that Arnold Williams said he saw a man on the 6th floor at 12:15. While Carolyn Arnold said she saw Oswald eating his lunch on the 2nd floor at about 12:15. So how could Oswald get from the 6th to the 2nd floor in a matter of seconds? It seems impossible and could clear his name.
The way JFK reacted to the shots infers that it came grassy knoll as he fell backwards and not forwards. If he had fallen forwards the shot might well have come from the depository, but I think it did come from grassy knoll. Also source J shows that grassy knoll would have the ideal assassination place. Because it had the easiest shot and a good escape route to the freeway.
These are the reasons why I think warren commission’s views are wrong and I’m not surprised that they caused controversy.
