A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination (91 page)

In June, Warren met privately:
Ibid.

“If the suicide incident”:
Memo from Slawson to Specter, March 13, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

In a memo to his colleagues:
Memo from Slawson to Hubert and Griffin, “Re: Silvia Odio,” April 6, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

“Einspruch stated that”:
Memo from Griffin to Slawson, “Interview with Dr. Burton C. Einspruch,” April 16, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

CHAPTER 34

Rankin remembered Liebeler:
Rankin Deposition, passim.

“Mr. Redlich and I have”:
Testimony of Wesley Liebeler, HSCA, November 16, 1977 (hereafter Liebeler Testimony).

Slawson recalled him:
Slawson, Griffin, Specter interviews. See also Specter memoir transcripts.

“It was a great, beautiful”:
Rankin Deposition.

Over the years, his younger:
Eric Liebeler interview.

“I finally decided to”:
Liebeler Testimony.

While Liebeler was:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

Back in Chicago:
For background on Jenner, see
New York Times
obituary, June 25, 1974.

Alfred Goldberg recalled:
Goldberg interviews, Specter interviews, Slawson interviews.

If there was any:
Memo from Ely to Jenner and Liebeler, March 9, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Ely was next asked:
Memo from Ely to Jenner and Liebeler, “Lee Harvey Oswald’s Military Career,” April 22, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

A Dallas homicide detective:
Testimony of Guy Rose, April 8, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 7, pp. 227–31.

“We were very close”:
Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt, April 22, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 9, pp. 166–264.

“Mrs. Paine, are you”:
Testimony of Ruth Hyde Paine, March 18, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 2, pp. 430–517.

“All sorts of speculation”:
Testimony of George S. de Mohrenschildt, April 22, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 9, pp. 166–264.

The commission later determined:
Although Moore was not identified by name in the central volume of the commission’s final report, apparently in deference to the CIA, his name does appear in the commission’s internal paperwork and in the official public transcript of de Mohrenschildt’s testimony.

CHAPTER 35

They joked about:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

Slawson, the staff lawyer:
Slawson interviews, Specter interviews.

The FBI agent who attended:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 83–84.

“I don’t think the commissioners”:
Specter interviews.

“I raised hell with Rankin”:
Specter,
Passion
, p. 87; Specter interviews.

The Kennedys, Belin said:
Belin,
You Are the Jury
, p. 347.

“It wasn’t a”:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

The memo, dated April 30:
Memo from Specter to Rankin, “Autopsy Photographs and X-Rays of President John F. Kennedy,” April 30, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

“The staff feels that”:
Warren Commission Executive Session, April 30, 1964, pp. 5860–92.

Thomas Kelley, the Secret Service:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 88–89; Specter interviews.

Back in Washington, Alfred:
Goldberg interviews.

CHAPTER 36

In a speech on the House:
For Gurney quotations, see nationally syndicated column by Fulton Lewis Jr., as published in the
Lebanon Daily News
, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1964 (accessed through
www.newspaperarchive.com
).

“It is absolutely”:
See republication of
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
editorial in the
News Tribune
of Jefferson City, Missouri, May 10, 1964 (accessed through
www.newspaperarchive.com
).

“The commission knows of no”:
Eisenberg interviews.

A script was prepared:
Undated copy of the script is found in the staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

The FBI’s background:
For additional background, see obituary of Redlich in the
New York Times
, June 11, 2011.

Eisenberg, as close to:
Eisenberg interviews, Slawson interviews.

Redlich’s wife, Evelyn:
Evelyn Redlich interview.

Warren opened the meeting:
Warren Commission Executive Session, May 19, 1964.

Redlich’s gratitude was:
Griffin interview.

CHAPTER 37

The phone rang:
Hosty interviews; Hosty,
Assignment: Oswald
, pp. 117–20.

Hosty spent much of:
Hosty,
Assignment: Oswald
, pp. 139–56.

“Did it occur”:
Testimony of James Hosty, May 5, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 4, pp. 440–76.

On May 5, Rankin:
Letter from Rankin to Hoover, May 5, 1965, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

On Thursday, May 14:
Testimony of J. Edgar Hoover, May 14, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, pp. 97–119.

That same day:
Testimony of John A. McCone and Richard M. Helms, May 14, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, pp. 120–29.

In Dallas, Hugh:
Dallas Morning News
, June 27, 1964.

Two weeks after:
Life
, July 10, 1964.

Slawson worried, in particular:
Memo from Slawson to Rankin, “Publication of Oswald’s Historic Diary,” September 6, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Life
insisted:
Life
, July 10, 1964.

In a July 8:
Letter from Hart to Captain W. P. Gannaway of the Dallas police department, July 8, 1964, Dallas Municipal Archives, Office of the City Secretary.

The statement was drawn:
Memo from DeLoach to Mohr, “Lee Harvey Oswald,” August 24, 1964 (referring to interview with Ford on August 17, 1964), FBI.

The truth:
Aynesworth interviews; Aynesworth,
November 22, 1963: Witness to History
, pp. 134–135.

CHAPTER 38

“Warren was dead-set”:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

Specter got other welcome:
Warren Report, p. 95.

The army’s Edgewood Arsenal:
Olivier and Dziemian,
Wound Ballistics of 6.5-MM. Mannlicher-Carcano Ammunition
, May 1964, published by Edgewood Arsenal, Department of the Army, found in staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Like his colleagues:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

There was “frustration”:
Letter from Belin to Willens, October 20, 1966, Belin correspondence files, Belin papers, Ford Library.

“If she would”:
Memo from Belin to Rankin, “Examination of Marina Oswald,” January 29, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Belin thought it was:
Belin,
You Are the Jury
, pp. 431–33.

CHAPTER 39

David Slawson knew:
Slawson interview.

After consulting with:
Memo from Willens to Rankin, “Proposed Exchange of Letters,” June 4, 1964, and memo from Willens to Katzenbach, “Proposed letters to the President’s Commission,” June 12, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Warren’s letter:
Letter from Warren to Robert Kennedy, June 11, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

Other than the attorney general:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 120–22.

O’Donnell’s account:
Testimony of Kenneth P. O’Donnell, May 18, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 7, pp. 440–57.

Specter guessed that O’Donnell:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 120–22.

In conversations behind:
Ibid., p. 107.

Shortly after four p.m.:
Testimony of Mrs. John F. Kennedy, June 5, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, pp. 178–81.

“I’ll share him”:
The quotation appeared in the original manuscript of Manchester’s
Death,
but was cut out during negotiations in 1966 between Manchester and the Kennedy family. Manchester interviewed Ethel Kennedy in April 1964. See Thomas,
Robert Kennedy
, pp. 278, 451.

The transcript of:
For a description of how the exact wording from the transcript was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a Canadian filmmaker, see
Ottawa Citizen
(Ottawa, Canada), August 14, 2001.

CHAPTER 40

“I could smile at it”:
Oral history of Chief Justice Earl Warren, September 21, 1971, LBJ Library, p. 12. Also see Warren,
Memoirs
.

However reluctantly, Warren:
Specter,
Passion
, pp. 105–8.

From the book depository:
Ford report on trip and Ruby testimony, “Dallas Trip, June 7, 1964,” as found in congressional correspondence files, Ford Library.

“As the Chief Justice”:
Specter,
Passion
, p. 112.

“Without a lie detector”:
Testimony of Jack Ruby, June 7, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, pp. 181–213.

Down the hall:
Specter interviews; Specter,
Passion
, p. 113.

Ford could see that:
Ford report on trip, “Dallas Trip, June 7, 1964,” as found in congressional correspondence files, Ford Library.

“You see,” Tonahill:
Specter,
Passion
, p. 114.

“Instead of turning left”:
Specter interviews; Specter memoir transcripts.

On the plane home:
Specter,
Passion
, p. 115.

CHAPTER 41

The Bronx-born:
See the
New York Times
obituary of Rowley, November 3, 1992.

Shortly after nine a.m.:
Testimony of James Rowley, June 18, 1964, Warren Appendix, Vol. 5, pp. 449–85.

The department had not only:
Warren Report, p. 113. The exact amount was $435.71.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk:
See the
New York Times
obituary of Rusk, December 22, 1994.

“Rusk seemed to be”:
Slawson interviews.

Kennedy had chosen Rusk:
Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days
, p. 435.

Jacqueline Kennedy told:
Michael Beschloss, ed.,
Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy
, p. 112.