Tuesday, May 1, 2012

1963: Dallas, The Government Decides That Truth Doesn't Exist


1963: Dallas

                The Government Decides That Truth Doesn't Exist


     At noon, on a street in Dallas, the president of the United States is
     assassinated.  He is hardly dead when the official version is
     broadcast.  In that version, which will be the definitive one, Lee
     Harvey Oswald alone has killed John Kennedy.
         The weapon does not coincide with the bullet, nor the bullet with
     the holes.  The accused does not coincide with the accusation:
     Oswald is an exceptionally bad shot of mediocre physique, but
     according to the official version, his acts were those of a champion
     marksman and Olympic sprinter.  He has fired an old rifle with
     impossible speed and his magic bullet, turning and twisting
     acrobatically to penetrate Kennedy and John Connally, the governor of
     Texas, remains miraculously intact.
         Oswald strenuously denies it.  But no one knows, no one will ever
     know what he has to say.  Two days later he collapses before the
     television cameras, the whole world witness to the spectacle, his
     mouth shut by Jack Ruby, a two-bit gangster and minor trafficker in
     women and drugs.  Ruby says he has avenged Kennedy out of patriotism
     and pity for the poor widow.

             -- Eduardo Galeano, "Memory of Fire:  III Century of the Wind."
                Part Three of a Trilogy, translated by Cedric Belfrage,
                Pantheon Books, 1988, p. 183




       the following is taken from "The People's Almanac #2," by David
       Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace, Bantam Books, 1978, pp. 47-52.
   _________________________________________________________________________
                      THE LAST WORDS OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD
                           Compiled by Mae Brussell


      Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone in shooting Pres. John F. Kennedy
      on Nov. 22, 1963, or did he conspire with others?  Was he serving
      as an agent of Cuba's Fidel Castro, himself the target of American
      assassins?  Or in squeezing the trigger of his carbine was he
      undertaking some super "dirty trick" for a CIA anxious to rid
      itself of a president whose faith in the "company" had evaporated
      in the wake of the Bay of Pigs fiasco?  Or was he representing a
      group of Cuban exiles, the Teamsters Union, the Mafia?  Indeed, was
      it Lee Harvey Oswald at all who killed JFK?  Or was there a double
      impersonating Oswald?  These questions continue to nag many people
      more than a decade and a half after that dreadful day in Dallas, in
      spite of the 26 volumes of hearings and exhibits served up by the
      Warren Commission, the congressional investigations, the release of
      heretofore classified FBI documents.
        Almost everyone, it seems, has been heard from on the Kennedy
      assassination and on Lee Harvey Oswald's guilt or innocence, except
      one person--Lee Harvey Oswald himself.  From the time of Oswald's
      arrest to his own assassination at the hands of Jack Ruby, no
      formal transcript or record was kept of statements made by the
      alleged killer.  It was said that no tape recordings were made of
      Oswald's remarks, and many notes taken of his statements were
      destroyed.
        Determined to learn Oswald's last words, his only testimony, "The
      People's Almanac" assigned one of the leading authorities on the
      Kennedy assassination, Mae Brussell, to compile every known
      statement or remark made by Oswald between his arrest and death.
      The quotes, edited for space and clarity, are based on the
      recollections of a variety of witnesses present at different times
      and are not verbatim transcripts.  "After 14 years of research on
      the JFK assassination," Mae Brussell concludes, "I am of the
      opinion that Lee Harvey Oswald was telling the truth about his role
      in the assassination during these interrogations."


  12:30 P.M., CST, NOV. 22, 1963   Pres. John F. Kennedy Assassinated


  12:33 P.M.

    Lee Harvey Oswald left work, entered a bus, and said, "Transfer, please."


  12:40 - 12:45 P.M.

    Oswald got off the bus, entered a cab, and said, "May I have this cab?"
  A woman approached, wanting a cab, and Oswald said, "I will let you have
  this one. . . .  500 North Beckley Street [instructions to William Whaley,
  driver of another cab]. . . .  This will be fine."  Oswald departed cab
  and walked a few blocks.


  1:15 P.M.  Officer J. D. Tippit Murdered


  1:45 P.M.  Arrest at the Texas Theater

    "This is it" or "Well, it's all over now."  Oswald arrested.  (Patrolman
  M. N. McDonald heard these remarks.  Other officers who were at the scene
  did not hear them.)  "I don't know why you are treating me like this.  The
  only thing I have done is carry a pistol into a movie. . . .  I don't see
  why you handcuffed me. . . .  Why should I hide my face?  I haven't done
  anything to be ashamed of. . . .  I want a lawyer. . . .  I am not
  resisting arrest. . . .  I didn't kill anybody. . . .  I haven't shot
  anybody. . . .  I protest this police brutality. . . .  I fought back
  there, but I know I wasn't supposed to be carrying a gun. . . .  What is
  this all about?"


  2:00 - 2:15 P.M.  Drive to Police Dept.

    "What is this all about? . . .  I know my rights. . . .  A police
  officer has been killed? . . .  I hear they burn for murder.  Well, they
  say it just takes a second to die. . . .  All I did was carry a gun. . . .
  No, Hidell is not my real name. . . .  I have been in the Marine Corps,
  have a dishonorable discharge, and went to Russia. . . .  I had some
  trouble with police in New Orleans for passing out pro-Castro literature.
  right. . . .  I demand my rights."


  2:15 P.M.  Taken into Police Dept.


  2:15 - 2:20 P.M.

    "Talked to" by officers Guy F. Rose and Richard S. Stovall.  No notes.


  2:25 - 4:04 P.M.  Interrogation of Oswald, Office of Capt Will Fritz

    "My name is Lee Harvey Oswald. . . .  I work at the Texas School Book
  Depository Building. . . .  I lived in Minsk and in Moscow. . . .  I
  worked in a factory. . . .  I liked everything over there except the
  weather. . . .  I have a wife and some children. . . .  My residence is
  1026 North Beckley, Dallas, Tex."  Oswald recognized FBI agent James Hosty
  and said, "You have been at my home two or three times talking to my wife.
  I don't appreciate your coming out there when I was not there. . . .  I
  was never in Mexico City.  I have been in Tijuana. . . .  Please take the
  handcuffs from behind me, behind my back. . . .  I observed a rifle in the
  Texas School Book Depository where I work, on Nov. 20, 1963. . . .  Mr.
  Roy Truly, the supervisor, displayed the rifle to individuals in his
  office on the first floor. . . .  I never owned a rifle myself. . . .  I
  resided in the Soviet Union for three years, where I have many friends and
  relatives of my wife. . . .  I was secretary of the Fair Play for Cuba
  Committee in New Orleans a few months ago. . . .  While in the Marines, I
  received an award for marksmanship as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.
  was present in the Texas School Book Depository Building, I have been
  employed there since Oct. 15, 1963. . . .  As a laborer, I have access to
  the entire building. . . .  My usual place of work is on the first floor.
  However, I frequently use the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh floors to get
  books.  I was on all floors this morning. . . .  Because of all the
  confusion, I figured there would be no work performed that afternoon so I
  decided to go home. . . .  I changed my clothing and went to a movie.
  no other reason. . . .  I fought the Dallas Police who arrested me in the
  movie theater where I received a cut and a bump. . . .  I didn't shoot
  Pres. John F. Kennedy or Officer J. D. Tippit. . . .  An officer struck
  me, causing the marks on my left eye, after I had struck him. . . .  I
  just had them in there," when asked why he had bullets in his pocket.


  3:54 P.M.

    NBC newsman Bill Ryan announced on national television that "Lee Oswald
  seems to be the prime suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy."


  4:45 P.M.  At a Lineup for Helen Markham, Witness to Tippit Murder

    "It isn't right to put me in line with these teenagers. . . .  You know
  what you are doing, and you are trying to railroad me. . . .  I want my
  lawyer. . . .  You are doing me an injustice by putting me out there
  dressed different than these other men. . . .  I am out there, the only
  one with a bruise on his head. . . .  I don t believe the lineup is fair,
  and I desire to put on a jacket similar to those worn by some of the other
  individuals in the lineup. . . .  All of you have a shirt on, and I have a
  T-shirt on.  I want a shirt or something. . . .  This T-shirt is unfair."


  4:45 - 6:30 P.M.  Second Interrogation of Oswald, Captain Fritz's Office

    "When I left the Texas School Book Depository, I went to my room, where
  I changed my trousers, got a pistol, and went to a picture show. . . .
  You know how boys do when they have a gun, they carry it. . . .  Yes, I
  had written the Russian Embassy. (On Nov. 9, 1963, Oswald had written to
  the Russian Embassy that FBI agent James Hosty was making some kind of
  deals with Marina, and he didn't trust "the notorious FBI.") . . .  Mr.
  Hosty, you have been accosting my wife.  You mistreated her on two
  different occasions when you talked with her. . . .  I know you.  Well, he
  threatened her.  He practically told her she would have to go back to
  Russia.  You know, I can't use a phone. . . .  I want that attorney in New
  York, Mr. Abt.  I don't know him personally but I know about a case that
  he handled some years ago, where he represented the people who had
  violated the Smith Act, [which made it illegal to teach or advocate the
  violent overthrow of the U.S. government] . . . I don't know him
  personally, but that is the attorney I want. . . .  If I can't get him,
  then I may get the American Civil Liberties Union to send me an attorney."
    "I went to school in New York and in Fort Worth, Tex. . . .  After
  getting into the Marines, I finished my high school education. . . .  I
  support the Castro revolution. . . .  My landlady didn't understand my
  name correctly, so it was her idea to call me 0. H. Lee. . . .  I want to
  talk with Mr. Abt, a New York attorney. . . .  The only package I brought
  to work was my lunch. . . .  I never had a card to the Communist party.
  pistol in Fort Worth several months ago. . . .  I refuse to tell you
  where the pistol was purchased. . . .  I never ordered any guns. . . .  I
  am not malcontent.  Nothing irritated me about the President."  When Capt.
  Will Fritz asked Oswald, "Do you believe in a deity?"  Oswald replied, "I
  don't care to discuss that."  "How can I afford a rifle on the Book
  Depository salary of $1.25 an hour? . . .  John Kennedy had a nice family.
  minutes after the assassination.  Oswald confirmed this in Captain Fritz's
  office.  A man impersonating Oswald in Dallas just prior to the
  assassination could have been on the bus and in the taxicab.)  "That
  station wagon belongs to Mrs. Ruth Paine.  Don't try to tie her into this.
  She had nothing to do with it.  I told you people I did. . . .  Everybody
  will know who I am now."
    "Can I get an attorney?. . .  I have not been given the opportunity to
  have counsel. . . .  As I said, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee has
  definitely been investigated, that is very true. . . .  The results of
  that investigation were zero.  The Fair Play for Cuba Committee is not
  now on the attorney general's subversive list."


  6:30 P.M.  Lineup for Witnesses Cecil J. McWatters, Sam Guinyard, and
             Ted Callaway

    "I didn't shoot anyone," Oswald yelled in the halls to reporters. . . .
  "I want to get in touch with a lawyer, Mr. Abt, in New York City. . . .  I
  never killed anybody."


  7:10 P.M.  Arraignment:  State of Texas v. Lee Harvey Oswald for Murder
             with Malice of Officer J. D. Tippit of the Dallas Police Dept.

    "I insist upon my constitutional rights. . . .  The way you are treating
  me, I might as well be in Russia. . . .  I was not granted my request to
  put on a jacket similar to those worn by other individuals in some
  previous lineups."


  7:50 P.M.  Lineup for Witness J. D. Davis

    "I have been dressed differently than the other three. . . .  Don't you
  know the difference?  I still have on the same clothes I was arrested in.
  The other two were prisoners, already in jail."  Seth Kantor, reporter,
  heard Oswald yell, "I am only a patsy."


  7:55 P.M.  Third Interrogation, Captain Fritz's Office

    "I think I have talked long enough.  I don't have anything else to say.
  rather lengthy. . . .  I don't care to talk anymore. . . .  I am waiting
  for someone to come forward to give me legal assistance. . . .  It wasn't
  actually true as to how I got home.  I took a bus, but due to a traffic
  jam, I left the bus and got a taxicab, by which means I actually arrived
  at my residence."


  8:55 P.M.  Fingerprints, Identification Paraffin Tests--All in Fritz's
             Office

    "I will not sign the fingerprint card until I talk to my attorney.
  [Oswald's name is on the card anyway.] . . .  What are you trying to prove
  with this paraffin test, that I fired a gun? . . .  You are wasting your
  time.  I don't know anything about what you are accusing me."


  11:00 - 11:20 P.M.  "Talked To" by Police Officer John Adamcik and FBI
                      Agent M. Clements

    "I was in Russia two years and liked it in Russia. . . .  I am 5 ft. 9
  in., weigh 140 lb., have brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and have no tattoos
  or permanent scars."
    (Oswald had mastoidectomy scars and left upper-arm scars, both noted in
  Marine records.  "Warren Report," pp. 614-618, lists information from
  Oswald obtained during this interview about members of his family, past
  employment, past residences.)


  11:20 - 11:25 P.M.  Lineup for Press Conference;  Jack Ruby Present

    When newsmen asked Oswald about his black eye, he answered, "A cop hit
  me."  When asked about the earlier arraignment, Oswald said "Well, I was
  questioned by Judge Johnston.  However, I protested at that time that I
  was not allowed legal representation during that very short and sweet
  hearing.  I really don't know what the situation is about.  Nobody has
  told me anything except that I am accused of murdering a policeman.  I
  know nothing more than that, and I do request someone to come forward to
  give me legal assistance."  When asked, "Did you kill the President?"
  Oswald replied, "No.  I have not been charged with that.  In fact, nobody
  has said that to me yet.  The first thing I heard about it was when the
  newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question. . . .  I did not
  do it.  I did not do it. . . .  I did not shoot anyone."


  12:23 A.M.,  NOV. 23, 1963  Placed in Jail Cell


  12:35 A.M.  Released by Jailer

    Oswald complained, "This is the third set of fingerprints, photographs
  being taken."


  1:10 A.M.  Back in Jail Cell


  1:35 A.M.  Arraignment:  State of Texas v. Lee Harvey Oswald for the
                           Murder with Malice of John F. Kennedy

    "Well, sir, I guess this is the trial. . . .  I want to contact my
  lawyer, Mr. Abt, in New York City.  I would like to have this gentleman.
  He is with the American Civil Liberties Union."  (John J. Abt now in
  private practice in New York, was the general counsel for the Senate
  Sub-Committee on Civil Liberties from 1935-1937, and later served as legal
  adviser for the Progressive party from 1948-1951.  Mr. Abt has never been
  a member of the ACLU.)


  10:30 A.M.-1:10 P.M.  Interrogation, Capt. Will Fritz's Office

    "I said I wanted to contact Attorney Abt, New York.  He defended the
  Smith Act cases in 1949, 1950, but I don't know his address, except that
  it is in New York. . . .  I never owned a rifle. . . .  Michael Paine
  owned a car, Ruth Paine owned two cars. . . .  Robert Oswald, my brother,
  lives in Fort Worth.  He and the Paines were closest friends in town. . .
  .  The FBI has thoroughly interrogated me at various other times. . . .
  They have used their hard and soft approach to me, and they use the buddy
  system. . . .  I am familiar with all types of questioning and have no
  intention of making any statements. . . .  In the past three weeks the FBI
  has talked to my wife.  They were abusive and impolite.  They frightened
  my wife, and I consider their activities obnoxious."
    (When arrested, Oswald had FBI Agent James Hosty's home phone and office
  phone numbers and car license number in his possession.)
    "I was arrested in New Orleans for disturbing the peace and paid a $10
  fine for demonstrating for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.  I had a
  fight with some anti-Castro refugees and they were released while I was
  fined. . . .  I refuse to take a polygraph.  It has always been my
  practice not to agree to take a polygraph . . .  The FBI has overstepped
  their bounds in using various tactics in interviewing me. . . .  I didn't
  shoot John Kennedy. . . .  I didn't even know Gov. John Connally had been
  shot. . . .  I don't own a rifle. . . .  I didn't tell Buell Wesley
  Frazier anything about bringing back some curtain rods. . . .  My wife
  lives with Mrs. Ruth Paine.  She [Mrs. Paine] was learning Russian.  They
  needed help with the young baby, so it made a nice arrangement for both of
  them. . . .  I don't know Mrs. Paine very well, but Mr. Paine and his wife
  were separated a great deal of the time."
    (Michael Paine worked at Bell Aerospace as a scientific engineer.  His
  boss, Walter Dornberger, was a Nazi war criminal.  The first call, the
  "tipoff," on Oswald, came from Bell Aerospace.)
    "The garage at the Paines' house has some seabags that have a lot of my
  personal belongings.  I left them after coming back from New Orleans in
  September. . . .  The name Alek Hidell was picked up while working in New
  Orleans in the Fair Play for Cuba organization. . . .  I speak Russian,
  correspond with people in Russia, and receive newspapers from Russia. . .
  .  I don't own a rifle at all. . . .  I did have a small rifle some years
  in the past.  You can't buy a rifle in Russia, you can only buy shotguns.
  I had a shotgun in Russia and hunted some while there.  I didn't bring the
  rifle from New Orleans. . . .  I am not a member of the Communist party. . 
  . .  I belong to the Civil Liberties Union. . . .  I did carry a package 
  to the Texas School Book Depository.  I carried my lunch, a sandwich and 
  fruit, which I made at Paine's house. . . .  I had nothing personal 
  against John Kennedy."


  1:10 - 1:30 P.M.  Lee Harvey Oswald Visited by Mother, Marguerite Oswald,
                    and Wife, Marina Oswald

    (To his Mother.) "No, there is nothing you can do.  Everything is fine.
  I know my rights, and I will have an attorney.  I already requested to get
  in touch with Attorney Abt, I think is his name.  Don't worry about a
  thing."
    (To his Wife.) "Oh, no, they have not been beating me.  They are
  treating me fine. . . .  You're not to worry about that.  Did you bring
  June and Rachel? . . .  Of course we can speak about absolutely anything
  at all. . . .  It's a mistake.  I'm not guilty.  There are people who will
  help me.  There is a lawyer in New York on whom I am counting for help. .
  . .  Don't cry.  There is nothing to cry about.  Try not to think about
  it. . . .  Everything is going to be all right.  If they ask you anything,
  you have a right not to answer.  You have a right to refuse.  Do you
  understand? . . .  You are not to worry.  You have friends.  They'll help
  you.  If it comes to that, you can ask the Red Cross for help.  You
  mustn't worry about me.  Kiss Junie and Rachel for me.  I love you. . . .
  Be sure to buy shoes for June."


  2:15 P.M.  Lineup for Witnesses William W. Scoggins and William Whaley

    "I refuse to answer questions.  I have my T-shirt on, the other men are
  dressed differently. . . .  Everybody's got a shirt and everything, and
  I've got a T-shirt on. . . .  This is unfair."


  3:30 - 3:40 P.M.  Robert Oswald, Brother, in Ten-Minute Visit

    "I cannot or would not say anything, because the line is apparently
  tapped.  [They were talking through telephones.] . . .  I got these
  bruises in the theater.  They haven't bothered me since.  They are
  treating me all right. . . .  What do you think of the baby?  Well, it was
  a girl, and I wanted a boy, but you know how that goes. . . .  I don't
  know what is going on.  I just don't know what they are talking about. . .
  .  Don't believe all the so-called evidence."  When Robert Oswald looked
  into Lee's eyes for some clue, Lee said to him, "Brother, you won't find
  anything there. . . .  My friends will take care of Marina and the two
  children."  When Robert Oswald stated that he didn't believe the Paines
  were friends of Lee's, he answered back, "Yes, they are. . . .  Junie
  needs a new pair of shoes."
    (Robert Oswald told the Warren Commission, "To me his answers were
  mechanical, and I was not talking to the Lee I knew.")


  3:40 P.M.  Lee Harvey Oswald Calls Mrs. Ruth Paine

    "This is Lee.  Would you please call John Abt in New York for me after
  6:00 P.M.  The number for his office is ___________, and his residence is
  _______________ . . . .  Thank you for your concern."


  5:30 - 5:35 P.M.  Visit with H. Louis Nichols, President of the Dallas
                    Bar Association

    "Well, I really don't know what this is all about, that I have been kept
  incarcerated and kept incommunicado. . . .  Do you know a lawyer in New
  York named John Abt?  I believe in New York City.  I would like to have
  him represent me.  That is the man I would like.  Do you know any lawyers
  who are members of the American Civil Liberties Union?  I am a member of
  that organization, and I would like to have somebody who is a member of
  that organization represent me."  Mr. Nichols offered to help find a
  lawyer, but Oswald said, "No, not now.  You might come back next week, and
  if I don't get some of these other people to assist me, I might ask you to
  get somebody to represent me."


  6:00 - 6:30 P.M.  Interrogation, Captain Fritz's Office

    "In time I will be able to show you that this is not my picture, but I
  don't want to answer any more questions. . . .  I will not discuss this
  photograph [which was used on the cover of Feb. 21, 1964 "Life" magazine]
  without advice of an attorney. . . .  There was another rifle in the
  building.  I have seen it.  Warren Caster had two rifles, a 30.06 Mauser
  and a .22 for his son. . . .  That picture is not mine, but the face is
  mine.  The picture has been made by superimposing my face.  The other part
  of the picture is not me at all, and I have never seen this picture
  before.  I understand photography real well, and that, in time, I will be
  able to show you that is not my picture and that it has been made by
  someone else. . . .  It was entirely possible that the Police Dept. has
  superimposed this part of the photograph over the body of someone else. .
  . .  The Dallas Police were the culprits. . . .  The small picture was
  reduced from the larger one, made by some persons unknown to me. . . .
  Since I have been photographed at City Hall, with people taking my picture
  while being transferred from the office to the jail door, someone has been
  able to get a picture of my face, and with that, they have made this
  picture. . . .  I never kept a rifle at Mrs. Paine's garage at Irving,
  Tex. . . .  We had no visitors at our apartment on North Beckley. . . .  I
  have no receipts for purchase of any gun, and I have never ordered any
  guns.  I do not own a rifle, never possessed a rifle. . . .  I will not
  say who wrote A. J. Hidell on my Selective Service card.  [It was later
  confirmed that Marina Oswald wrote in the name Hidell.] . . .  I will not
  tell you the purpose of carrying the card or the use I made of it. . . .
  The address book in my possession has the names of Russian immigrants in
  Dallas, Tex., whom I have visited."


  9:30 P.M.  Lee Harvey Oswald Calls His Wife, Marina, at Mrs. Paine's Home

    "Marina, please.  Would you try to locate her?"  (Marina had moved.)


  10:00 P.M.  Office of Captain Fritz

    "Life is better for the colored people in Russia than it is in the U.S."


  9:30 - 11:15 A.M.,  SUNDAY MORNING, NOV. 24,1963  Interrogation in Capt.
                      Will Fritz's Office

    "After the assassination, a policeman or some man came rushing into the
  School Book Depository Building and said, `Where is your telephone?'  He
  showed me some kind of credential and identified himself, so he might not
  have been a police officer. . . .  `Right there,' I answered, pointing to
  the phone. . . .  `Yes, I can eat lunch with you,' I told my co-worker,
  `but I can't go right now.  You go and take the elevator, but send the
  elevator back up.'  [The elevator in the building was broken.] . . .
  After all this commotion started, I just went downstairs and started to
  see what it was all about.  A police officer and my superintendent of the
  place stepped up and told officers that I am one of the employees in the
  building. . . .  If you ask me about the shooting of Tippit, I don't know
  what you are talking about. . . .  The only thing I am here for is because
  I popped a policeman in the nose in the theater on Jefferson Avenue, which
  I readily admit I did, because I was protecting myself. . . .  I learned
  about the job vacancy at the Texas School Book Depository from people in
  Mrs. Paine's neighborhood. . . .  I visited my wife Thursday night, Nov.
  21, whereas I normally visited her over the weekend, because Mrs. Paine
  was giving a party for the children on the weekend.  They were having a
  houseful of neighborhood children.  I didn't want to be around at such a
  time. . . .  Therefore, my weekly visit was on Thursday night instead of
  on the weekend. . . .  It didn't cost much to go to Mexico.  It cost me
  some $26, a small, ridiculous amount to eat, and another ridiculous small
  amount to stay all night. . . .  I went to the Mexican Embassy to try to
  get this permission to go to Russia by way of Cuba. . . .  I went to the
  Mexican Consulate in Mexico City.  I went to the Russian Embassy to go to
  Russia by way of Cuba.  They told me to come back in `thirty days.' . . .
  I don't recall the shape, it may have been a small sack, or a large sack;
  you don't always find one that just fits your sandwiches. . . .  The sack
  was in the car, beside me, on my lap, as it always is. . . .  I didn't get
  it crushed.  It was not on the back seat.  Mr. Frazier must have been
  mistaken or else thinking about the other time when he picked me up. . . .
  The Fair Play for Cuba Committee was a loosely organized thing and we had
  no officers.  Probably you can call me the secretary of it because I did
  collect money.  [Oswald was the only member in New Orleans.] . . .  In New
  York City they have a well-organized, or a better, organization. . . .
  No, not at all:  I didn't intend to organize here in Dallas;  I was too
  busy trying to get a job. . . .  If anyone else was entitled to get mail
  in P.O. Box 6525 at the Terminal Annex in New Orleans, the answer is no. .
  . .  The rental application said Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the
  American Civil Liberties Union.  Maybe I put them on there. . . .  It is
  possible that on rare occasions I may have handed one of the keys to my
  wife to get my mail, but certainly nobody else. . . .  I never ordered a
  rifle under the name of Hidell, Oswald, or any other name. . . .  I never
  permitted anyone else to order a rifle to be received in this box. . . .
  I never ordered any rifle by mail order or bought any money order for the
  purpose of paying for such a rifle. . . .  I didn't own any rifle.  I have
  not practiced or shot with a rifle. . . .  I subscribe to two publications
  from Russia, one being a hometown paper published in Minsk, where I met
  and married my wife. . . .  We moved around so much that it was more
  practical to simply rent post office boxes and have mail forwarded from
  one box to the next rather than going through the process of furnishing
  changes of address to the publishers. . . .  Marina Oswald and A. J.
  Hidell were listed under the caption of persons entitled to receive mail
  through my box in New Orleans. . . .  I don't recall anything about the
  A. J. Hidell being on the post office card. . . .  I presume you have
  reference to a map I had in my room with some X's on it.  I have no
  automobile.  I have no means of conveyance.  I have to walk from where I
  am going most of the time.  I had my applications with the Texas
  Employment Commission.  They furnished me names and addresses of places
  that had openings like I might fill, and neighborhood people had
  furnished me information on jobs I might get. . . .  I was seeking a job,
  and I would put these markings on this map so I could plan my itinerary
  around with less walking.  Each one of these X's represented a place where
  I went and interviewed for a job. . . .  You can check each one of them
  out if you want to. . . .  The X on the intersection of Elm and Houston is
  the location of the Texas School Book Depository.  I did go there and
  interview for a job.  In fact, I got the job there.  That is all the map
  amounts to.  [Ruth Paine later stated she had marked Lee's map.] . . .
  What religion am I?  I have no faith, I suppose you mean, in the Bible.  I
  have read the Bible.  It is fair reading, but not very interesting.  As a
  matter of fact, I am a student of philosophy and I don't consider the
  Bible as even a reasonable or intelligent philosophy.  I don't think of
  it. . . .  I told you I haven't shot a rifle since the Marines, possibly a
  small bore, maybe a .22, but not anything larger since I have left the
  Marine Corps. . . .  I never received a package sent to me through the
  mailbox in Dallas, Box No. 2915, under the name of Alek Hidell, absolutely
  not. . . .  Maybe my wife, but I couldn't say for sure whether my wife
  ever got this mail, but it is possible she could have."  Oswald was told
  that an attorney offered to assist him, and he answered, "I don't
  particularly want him, but I will take him if I can't do any better, and
  will contact him at a later date. . . .  I have been a student of Marxism
  since the age of 14. . . .  American people will soon forget the President
  was shot, but I didn't shoot him. . . .  Since the President was killed,
  someone else would take his place, perhaps Vice-President Johnson.  His
  views about Cuba would probably be largely the same as those of President
  Kennedy. . . .  I never lived on Neely Street.  These people are mistaken
  about visiting there, because I never lived there. . . .  It might not be
  proper to answer further questions, because what I say might be construed
  in a different light than what I actually meant it to be. . . .  When the
  head of any government dies, or is killed, there is always a second in
  command who would take over. . . .  I did not kill President Kennedy or
  Officer Tippit.  If you want me to cop out to hitting or pleading guilty
  to hitting a cop in the mouth when I was arrested, yeah, I plead guilty to
  that.  But I do deny shooting both the President and Tippit."


  11:10 A.M.  Preparation for Oswald's Transfer to County Jail

    "I would like to have a shirt from clothing that was brought to the
  office to wear over the T-shirt I am wearing. . . .  I prefer wearing a
  black Ivy League-type shirt, which might be a little warmer.  I don't want
  a hat. . . .  I will just take one of those sweaters, the black one."


  11:15 A.M.  Inspector Thomas J. Kelley, U.S. Secret Service, Has Final
              Conversation with Lee Harvey Oswald

    Kelley approached Oswald, out of the hearing of others, except perhaps
  Captain Fritz's men, and said that as a Secret Service agent, he was
  anxious to talk with him as soon as he secured counsel, because Oswald was
  charged with the assassination of the President but had denied it.  Oswald
  said, "I will be glad to discuss this proposition with my attorney, and
  that after I talk with one, we could either discuss it with him or discuss
  it with my attorney, if the attorney thinks it is a wise thing to do, but
  at the present time I have nothing more to say to you."


  11:21 A.M.  Lee Harvey Oswald Was Fatally Wounded by Jack Ruby




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