Document Posts
Never-before-seen personal documents and correspondence preserved for fifty years from my journal and collection of original Warren Commission documents. I have used these documents and my journal as a primary source in my book about the Warren Commission.
| Book Excerpt: the Hearing With Oliver Stone: A Heroic Moment for Our Protagonist May 27, 2014 // The Assassination Records Review Board (1992–98) Congress created the Assassination Records Review Board in 1992. The law aimed at ensuring that virtually all records generated by previous investigations or held by government institutions related to President Kennedy’s assassination would be turned over to the National Archives. Its enactment resulted from the continuing debate about the […] |
Warren Commission and Journal Documents Online April 3, 2014 // Early in January 1964, Warren Commission General Council J. Lee Rankin instructed his three secretaries that I should get a a copy of every letter or memorandum. I have maintained these documents since. In February of 1964, Chief Justice Warren insisted in February 1964 that historian Dr. Alfred Goldberg of the Department of Defense be […] |
| Warren Commission Documents: On Presidential Protection - Part 1 February 11, 2014 // Chief Justice Warren considered the Warren Commission’s evaluation of presidential protection – both past and forward looking – to be its most important assignment. This was not an easy task: the Department of the Treasury, which had responsibility for the Secret Service, did not wish to disclose to the Warren Commission its proposals for improving presidential […] |
Warren Commission Documnents: On Presidential Protection - Part 2 February 18, 2014 // Background: Warren Commission Communications with The Treasury Department on Presidential Protection Chief Justice Warren considered the Warren Commissions evaluation of presidential protection – both past and forward looking – to be its most important assignment. This was not an easy task: the Department of the Treasury, which had responsibility for the Secret Service, did not […] |
| Was Lee Harvey Oswald Brainwashed January 20, 2014 // In this exclusive Warren Commission document from my files, General Counsel Rankin asks CIA Director Helms for all current information on Soviet techniques of “mind-conditioning”, in an attempt to address whether Lee Harvey Oswald had been brainwashed into the assassination. Because the scan of the original document is slightly blurry, the document has been retyped: […] |
The Commission asks the FBI about Ballistics January 13, 2014 // In this exclusive Warren Commission document from my files, General Counsel J. Lee Rankin requests information from FBI Director Hoover. Rankin was following up a Dallas photograph which purported to show where one of the bullets fired from the Texas Book Depository hit the ground. Rankin requests analysis of the path the bullet would have […] |
| Warren Commission Memo: Polygraph Expectations January 11, 2014 // This original Warren Commission internal memo, which I prepared, discusses the use of Polygraph, or “lie-detector”, tests in our investigation. I note that the FBI is dubious as to the efficacy of these tests, a skepticism many of us shared. Ruby was the only witness before the Commission who was interviewed with a professional using […] |
Warren Commission Journal Entry: Preparations for Taking Depositions in Dallas January 3, 2014 In this excerpt from my Warren Commission journal**, I discuss a few of the preparations we on the staff made before our investigative trip to Dallas in March, 1964. Excerpt: Week of March 16-20, 1964 The first two days of the week were filled with discussions with various members of the staff and Mr. […] |
| Did Oswald Plan to Escape via Mexico? December 19, 2013 // In this exclusive Warren Commission document from my files, Staff member John Ely discusses whether Oswald ever had a plan to escape the United States via Mexico. Ely recounts a discussion with a potentially unreliable source who mentions Oswald believed he would be able to escape to the USSR through Mexico. Ultimately, we cannot know […] |
Discussion with Psychologists regarding Lee Harvey Oswald December 9, 2013 // This original Warren Commission internal memo reveals what information we had about the man who killed JFK. Further, it provides the proposed questions we hoped to use to gain a fuller understanding of Oswald’s psyche. Many of our assumptions about Lee Harvey Oswald were confirmed by Paul Gregory in the NY Times Sunday Review on […] |
