A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination (88 page)

“I told Rankin”:
Memo from Hoover for Mr. Tolson, January 31, 1964, FBI.

The bureau’s attitude:
Rankin Deposition, p. 19.

It was a skill:
See Hoover biography at Web site of the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation,
http://www.jehooverfoundation.org/hoover-bio.asp
(accessed June 15, 2013).

“There was nothing up”:
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, May 14, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, p. 112.

In late November:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, p. 50.

The answer came on:
Description of Gales as “Barracuda” from Hosty interviews. See also Hosty,
Assignment: Oswald
, p. 179.

He would go forward:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, pp. 50–51.

“Rain clouds had formed”:
DeLoach,
Hoover’s FBI
, p. 149.

The failure to do so:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, pp. 51–52.

As he told the commission:
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, p. 159.

The FBI’s Domestic Intelligence:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, p. 37.

He had no memory:
“Castro Blasts Raids on Cuba,”
New Orleans Times-Picayune
, September 9, 1963.

Anderson had received:
Testimony of Clark Anderson, February 4, 1976, Church Committee (hereafter Anderson Testimony).

On October 18:
Ibid., p. 15.

“I don’t think”:
Anderson Testimony, p. 59.

“I don’t think there was ever”:
Ibid., p. 24.

“I don’t recall that”:
Ibid., p. 22.

His agents did determine:
Name and room rate of Hotel del Comercio, Warren Report, p. 433.

Anderson, who had:
Anderson Testimony, p. 32.

Almost from the moment:
Cable from Mann to State Department, “AMEMBASSY MEXICO CITY to SECSTATE,” November 28, 1963, RIF: 104–10438–10208, NARA (hereafter Mann cable).

The ambassador told colleagues:
Ibid.

Anderson reported Mann’s belief:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, p. 40.

A twenty-three-year-old:
For background on Alvarado, see Bugliosi,
Reclaiming History
, p. 1286.

In an urgent cable:
Mann cable.

“She denied all of that”:
“Cable: Translation of a Transcript of Telephone Conversation Between Cuban President and Cuban Ambassador,” November 26, 1963, CIA, RIF: 14–10429–10227, NARA.

In a cable to Washington:
Mann cable.

Back in Washington:
Church Committee, Vol. 5, p. 42.

Keenan, who had been:
Keenan interview. Many of Keenan’s allegations were detailed in a 2006 German documentary film, “Rendezvous with Death,” by filmmaker Wilfried Huismann, which was broadcast on the German channel ARD in January 2006. See
Financial Times
, January 6, 2006. Also see Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, December 1994.

He was given:
Testimony of Laurence P. Keenan, April 8, 1976, Church Committee, Vol. 1, p. 7, RIF: 157–10014–10091, NARA.

First, he would try:
Ibid., pp. 42, 9, 10, 83, 61.

On November 30, the Mexican:
“Cable: Re Gilberto Alvarado Story re Lee Oswald Received Money in Cuban Embassy Being False,” November 30, 1963, RIF: 104–10404–10098, NARA.

With Alvarado’s reversal:
Keenan testimony, Church Committee, Vol. 1, p. 58.

Waiting in Keenan’s office:
Ibid., pp. 71, 53.

Mann also left Mexico:
New York Times
, December 15, 1963.

In one of his final:
“Telegram: Mexican Authorities Have Informed Us That the Nicaraguan,” Mann to State Department, November 30, 1963, RIF: 104–104380–10210, NARA.

He was quoted:
Thomas Mann interview with author Dick Russell, July 5, 1992, as cited in Morley,
Our Man
, p. 334. See also Russell,
The Man Who Knew Too Much.

CHAPTER 17

And Arlen Specter, his junior:
Specter interviews; Specter,
Passion
, pp. 49–58.

During his tumultuous:
see
New York Times
obituary of Adams, April 21, 1990.

Specter remembered:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 49–58.

“He was one of the finest”:
Joseph Ball and Judith Fischer, “A Century in the Life of a Lawyer,”
California Western Law Review
, Fall 1999.

Specter, however, would:
Specter interviews.

“Adams should have”:
Belin,
You Are the Jury
, p. 15.

Specter remembered Ball:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 57, 76–78.

He outlined hundreds:
“Proposed Questioning of Marina Oswald,” undated document found in chronological staff files of the Warren Commission, NARA.

In a memo attached to:
Memo from Specter to Rankin, “Subject: Suggestions on Questioning of Marina Oswald,” January 30, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Warren asked the director:
Goldberg interviews.

“They were incompetent”:
Slawson interviews.

CHAPTER 18

At the news conference:
New York Times
, January 15, 1964.

James Martin, her business:
New York Times
, January 8, 1964.

Reporters got wind:
Time
, February 14, 1964.

“Mrs. Oswald, did you have”:
All quotations from Testimony of Marina Oswald, February 3, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 1, pp. 1–126.

On February:
See “Telephone Conversation between Mr. Norman Redlich and Mrs. Margaret [
sic
] Oswald,” February 4, 1964, staff file on Marguerite Oswald, Warren Commission, NARA.

Rankin called her:
“Conversation between Mr. Rankin and Mrs. Margaret [
sic
] Oswald,” February 5, 1964, staff file on Marguerite Oswald, Warren Commission, NARA.

On Monday morning:
“Testimony of Mrs. Marguerite Oswald,” February 10, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 1, pp. 127–264.

Congressman Ford recalled:
Ford,
Portrait
, pp. 61–62.

“I have to have something”:
Time
, February 21, 1964.

Lane and Mrs. Oswald:
New York Times
, February 19, 1964.

Back in Washington:
See McCloy comments in Warren Commission Executive Sessions transcripts from December 1963 and January 1964, NARA.

It had begun:
See obituary for Jacqueline Kennedy,
New York Times
, May 20, 1994.

On January 9, Kennedy:
Telegram from Kennedy to Warren, correspondence files, Earl Warren papers, LOC.

On February 5, the journalist:
Manchester,
Controversy and Other Essays in Journalism
, p. 5.

Manchester remembered:
Ibid., pp. 6–7.

A few days later:
See unsigned staff note to Warren at the Supreme Court, May 21, 1964. “Mr. Rankin apparently did not share your views in regard to making available to Mr. Manchester some of the Commission material. Manchester says in view of that development he will drop the matter unless he hears from you or Mr. Rankin to the contrary.” Warren Commission files, Earl Warren papers, LOC.

CHAPTER 19

Away from the commission:
See Russell letter to Paul R. Eve, January 17, 1967, in personal correspondence files, Russell Library.

“For some reason”:
Russell note, January 7, 1964, Russell Library.

He began to draft:
Draft of letter from Russell to President Johnson, February 24, 1964, found in Russell office files at Russell Library.

“The only person”:
Oral history of Chief Justice Earl Warren, September 21, 1971, LBJ Library, p. 13. See also Alfred Goldberg interview of Warren, March 26, 1974, in Earl Warren papers, LOC.

If Russell stepped down:
Rankin Deposition, p. 6.

Scobey was a lawyer:
See the Scobey obituary in
Atlanta Constitution
, December 9, 2001.

Columnist Murray Kempton:
“Boy, Don’t You Know I’m on Camera?”
New Republic
, February 29, 1964.

The lowest moment:
New York Times
, March 6, 1964.

Ruby was represented:
Belli,
Dallas Justice
, passim.

Belli used an insanity defense:
Ibid. See also Brown,
Dallas and the Jack Ruby Trial
, p. 60.

“A village idiot”:
Associated Press, February 19, 1964.

“May I thank this”:
New York Times
, March 15, 1964.

“The fact that”:
Griffin interviews.

Phone records obtained:
Memo from Hubert and Griffin to “Members of the President’s Commission,” March 20, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

“That’s the first moment”:
Griffin interviews.

In mid-March, Hubert:
Memo from Hubert and Griffin to members of the commission, March 20, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

“Hubert and I were totally”:
Griffin interviews.

Hubert locked in:
Memo from Hubert to Rankin, “Checking persons who left or entered the United States,” February 19, 1964. Also see Hubert memo to Rankin, February 27, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

“He was demoralized”:
Griffin interviews.

CHAPTER 20

“Pure fabrication”:
Earl Warren Oral History for the LBJ Library, September 21, 1971, p. 14.

The bureau had already:
Memo from Willens to Rankin, “Re: Mark Lane,” February 26, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

In a separate memo:
Memo from Willens to Rankin, “Re: Interrogation of Mark Lane,” February 27, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

When he was promised:
Belin,
You Are the Jury
, p. 79.

“Could you just give me a moment”:
Lane telephone interview with Helen Markham as published in Warren Appendix, Vol. 20, p. 571.

“She gave to me a more detailed”:
Testimony of Mark Lane, March 4, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 2, p. 51.

David Belin thought:
Belin,
You Are the Jury
, p. 471.

Jim Liebeler compared:
Bugliosi,
Reclaiming History
, p. 1001.